Here I aim to set up a basic summary/FAQ for AAO in order to help people create their stuff without me jumping on them. Feel free to comment and tell me if I should add anything, or just ask a question.
1. What is Against All Odds?
There are a few summaries on this wikia, the primary one being in that link. Other than that, all I can really offer you is a list of stories that form the backbone of AAO:
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2. What type of government/economic system is the UEG?
The closest term I can think of is a socialist democracy, in which officials are elected and represented, but the economy is Communist in nature. Kinda. Sorta.
Jobs still pay different wages. That is, a surgeon will make much more than the ditch digger. However, all surgeons make the same amount of money. This is all in an effort to control the flow of money and prevent any sort of collapse.
It's still on an hourly basis, so one person who works for ten hours will get paid for ten hours, and a person who works for forty will get paid for forty.
3. Can I create my own weapon/armor/whatever?
Yes. It's just best to clear it with me, first. If a weapon you want to create was made in, say, 2565, and the timeline has reached 2577, then readers may wonder "But they had X weapon, which would have been perfect for that situation! Why didn't they do that?"
Or what if a planet you create that's rich in uranium-238 be colonized in 2577 when a guy in 2580 just happens to say "We're going through a major uranium-238 shortage right now, and are thus short on nukes."
You can see how those situations might be problems, I hope.
4. OMGWTG Communism? Whaaa?
Yes, the financial pay system is based on a Communistic system. Everyone gets the same amount of pay dependent on their job, as stated above.
The issue has been brought up that people would try and cheat this system. Some very forward thinking men thought of this when setting this system up.
The penalty for siphoning off any extra money to yourself, or in any way increasing your income, is punishable by the immediate draining of any and all of your bank accounts except for the bare minimum you need to survive, followed by a minimum prison sentence of 10 years. ONI also has several ninth generation AIs monitoring income and transactions to make sure this doesn't happen.
5. Harsh.
Yes, it is. But that's only the way the economy is run. Remember, the UEG economy and infrastructure was utterly destroyed during the HCW. They want nothing even having a remote chance of disrupting the economy during reconstruction. In this system you're either useful or you're not. Next question.
6. So what about the rest of the government?
Surprisingly, the rest of the government is handled pretty much the same way it was during the war, with the addition of 30 human ambassadors being selected every now and then to take part in an Interspecies Union meeting in which they and members of the other member races go through a democratic process to decide on things from military deployment, aid, declarations of war, and other stuff.