How am I supposed to play it as the modders intended?
I'm gonna sound stupid, it's okay. I have never played TNO yet (which I've read you're supposed to play as a Cold War mod, otherwise you end up in a thermonuclear war), but so far I've had a very enjoyable time playing the different Russian States in TWR.
Now, I'm trying the United States and my question is: did the modders intend us to play the game as a cold war mod (spying, proxy wars, avoiding direct confrontation, getting a bigger sphere of influence/markets), or is the United States supposed to start a Third World War by invading Germany with/without their civil war, after losing millions of soldiers against Japan during Operation Olympic 8 years ago?