Population of Germany according to the 1933 census: 65,362,115 (incl. ~500k Jewish & ~1 million Romani)
Number of variable fighter capable pilots (~90% recruitment): 1,879 (one per 34,786) out of about 2000 - the Luftwaffe has about 1700 of these with most of the rest snapped up by the SS, though that does include the "untermensch" Kreigerakete pilots, 43 from Germany plus however many from later conquered territories.
other 80% of psis: 7,516/~9000 (one per 8696)
Population of the US in 1940: 133,402,471
Assuming similar 1/30k VF pilot candidates: ~4,500 + 18,000 ground pilots
I'm not sure what recruitment rates might look like, but given these numbers perhaps it's a little more clear why I figure that the role of mecha would have been initially dismissed and there's not a wide diversity of units types in production.
Population of Japan according to 1935 census: 69,254,148
I'm figuring on the strong bias against outsiders would have greatly reduced Blue intermarriage in Imperial Japan, by a factor of about five - also, most of the ship's crew had already evacuated before it reached the far east, so they got less refugees in the first place. Call it it 1/150,000 capable of being VF pilots, but about 98% recruitment for much the same reasons once the nature and value of esper powers became more clear. (There was probably a strong movement to rectify the initial exclusion and integrate this new gift from Amaterasu's sky into the population, but the children of that second wave would only be 6-8 and not physically capable of piloting units designed for adults or withstanding the g-forces involved.)
The resulting number of VF pilots Japan could field is around 450, and 1800 who could operate a ground unit; though the very low industrial infrastructure available means they probably still have more pilots than mecha to put them in.
The Soviet Union... I didn't bother checking for census data, because the social/political issues are more apt to be the pressing question there. The communists are certain to absolutely loathe the fact that one esper infantryman is worth 25 or more normal soldiers (being all but bulletproof against small arms and super-strong will do that,) and no number of infantry can achieve meaningful results against a single mecha aside from preparing fortifications or minefields. The fact that some espers can perform empathic attacks to boost themselves or allies and demoralize or outright bring others to their side and are difficult for normals to resist at all, makes even those numbers only the tip of the iceberg... which flies directly in the face of their ideals of any one man being equal to any another, but it's basically built into the setting that way. Maybe they'd just have instituted a eugenics program in reverse, to spread such benefits as widely as possible into the population?
Population of Britain in 1933: 46,250,00
potential 1542 VF, 6167 ground
Austria 1933: 6,746,000; 225 VF + 900 ground
Italy 1933: 41,928,000; 1398 + 5591
Finland 1933: 3,526,000; 118 + 470
France 1933: 41,520,000; 1384 + 5536
Spain 1935: 24,583,100; 820 + 3278
Sweden 1933: 6,201,000; 207 + 827
Switzerland 1933: 4,122,000; 138 + 550
... Meh. Estimated world population 1935: 2,209,040,289; 73635 potential VF pilots + 294,539 ground pilots - by comparison, the RL US armed forces had over 8 million members by 1945, and 450k even in 1940. Africa, South America, and the middle east don't get much mention in WW2 era history, either, mostly due to a lack of industrialization I suppose, so there's a significant portion of that that can't possibly be recruited, probably over 2/3 when you add China and Siberia, and 3/4 or more after the invasion fleet takes North America. It also explains why Macross style musical psy-ops are so important, if you can shake or turn a single enemy mecha pilot it's a significant fraction of their fighting force, and against millions of Imperial units it's the only real hope.
I know, I know, writers have no sense of scale, and I'm definitely including myself in that... even doubling or tripling those pilot numbers would still be pretty skint in terms of armies. Heck, five or ten times over, for that matter... I'll think about it. The number of German pilots was pulled out of the air and the rest worked out from there, so it's not like there's a super solid basis for any of it.
And yes, this does mean working on Astro Cross is filtering back up to the front of my queue, but there's still a lot to be done on the game system since I drifted off without getting much further than was mentioned previously aside from a pretty firm decision to scrap the Exhaustion mechanic and leave Probability Manipulation to Cinematic Points rather than having a second perk that introduces special rules of its own, or at most make it a "reroll X dice per Issue" thing (where Issues = tabletop gaming sessions, in keeping with the pulp comics theme where Panels are turns and Pages are rounds) rather than rolling three at once.
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows
Number of variable fighter capable pilots (~90% recruitment): 1,879 (one per 34,786) out of about 2000 - the Luftwaffe has about 1700 of these with most of the rest snapped up by the SS, though that does include the "untermensch" Kreigerakete pilots, 43 from Germany plus however many from later conquered territories.
other 80% of psis: 7,516/~9000 (one per 8696)
Population of the US in 1940: 133,402,471
Assuming similar 1/30k VF pilot candidates: ~4,500 + 18,000 ground pilots
I'm not sure what recruitment rates might look like, but given these numbers perhaps it's a little more clear why I figure that the role of mecha would have been initially dismissed and there's not a wide diversity of units types in production.
Population of Japan according to 1935 census: 69,254,148
I'm figuring on the strong bias against outsiders would have greatly reduced Blue intermarriage in Imperial Japan, by a factor of about five - also, most of the ship's crew had already evacuated before it reached the far east, so they got less refugees in the first place. Call it it 1/150,000 capable of being VF pilots, but about 98% recruitment for much the same reasons once the nature and value of esper powers became more clear. (There was probably a strong movement to rectify the initial exclusion and integrate this new gift from Amaterasu's sky into the population, but the children of that second wave would only be 6-8 and not physically capable of piloting units designed for adults or withstanding the g-forces involved.)
The resulting number of VF pilots Japan could field is around 450, and 1800 who could operate a ground unit; though the very low industrial infrastructure available means they probably still have more pilots than mecha to put them in.
The Soviet Union... I didn't bother checking for census data, because the social/political issues are more apt to be the pressing question there. The communists are certain to absolutely loathe the fact that one esper infantryman is worth 25 or more normal soldiers (being all but bulletproof against small arms and super-strong will do that,) and no number of infantry can achieve meaningful results against a single mecha aside from preparing fortifications or minefields. The fact that some espers can perform empathic attacks to boost themselves or allies and demoralize or outright bring others to their side and are difficult for normals to resist at all, makes even those numbers only the tip of the iceberg... which flies directly in the face of their ideals of any one man being equal to any another, but it's basically built into the setting that way. Maybe they'd just have instituted a eugenics program in reverse, to spread such benefits as widely as possible into the population?
Population of Britain in 1933: 46,250,00
potential 1542 VF, 6167 ground
Austria 1933: 6,746,000; 225 VF + 900 ground
Italy 1933: 41,928,000; 1398 + 5591
Finland 1933: 3,526,000; 118 + 470
France 1933: 41,520,000; 1384 + 5536
Spain 1935: 24,583,100; 820 + 3278
Sweden 1933: 6,201,000; 207 + 827
Switzerland 1933: 4,122,000; 138 + 550
... Meh. Estimated world population 1935: 2,209,040,289; 73635 potential VF pilots + 294,539 ground pilots - by comparison, the RL US armed forces had over 8 million members by 1945, and 450k even in 1940. Africa, South America, and the middle east don't get much mention in WW2 era history, either, mostly due to a lack of industrialization I suppose, so there's a significant portion of that that can't possibly be recruited, probably over 2/3 when you add China and Siberia, and 3/4 or more after the invasion fleet takes North America. It also explains why Macross style musical psy-ops are so important, if you can shake or turn a single enemy mecha pilot it's a significant fraction of their fighting force, and against millions of Imperial units it's the only real hope.
I know, I know, writers have no sense of scale, and I'm definitely including myself in that... even doubling or tripling those pilot numbers would still be pretty skint in terms of armies. Heck, five or ten times over, for that matter... I'll think about it. The number of German pilots was pulled out of the air and the rest worked out from there, so it's not like there's a super solid basis for any of it.
And yes, this does mean working on Astro Cross is filtering back up to the front of my queue, but there's still a lot to be done on the game system since I drifted off without getting much further than was mentioned previously aside from a pretty firm decision to scrap the Exhaustion mechanic and leave Probability Manipulation to Cinematic Points rather than having a second perk that introduces special rules of its own, or at most make it a "reroll X dice per Issue" thing (where Issues = tabletop gaming sessions, in keeping with the pulp comics theme where Panels are turns and Pages are rounds) rather than rolling three at once.
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows