With TC not existing yet, did you (not necessary beyond making up what you need as you go) figure out what powers on Earth were in what power blocks, etc. during that period?
I always enjoy that sort of speculation about how the global geopolitics would change by ISW 1 or any other sort of look that starts where we are now on Earth.
There was a fair bit of that in the future history background of Stargrunt and Full Thrust (from which Power Projection came) in Jon's version of the future.
Some of the bits he put in there were uncannily like what's happening (and the possibility of a US Civil War is less non-zero than one would have thought a while back). I did think the Eurasian Solar Union (China and Russia) was unlikely as was the New Anglian Commonwealth (Brits which moved back into North America after WWIII and a civil war ravaged the US). But some of the other bits and pieces feel a lot like stuff that has happened. That timeline came from the mid 80s.
Like the Twilight 2000 timeline or the one that they used to create 2300 AD's timeline, they all had the challenge of dealing with present or near future which are the most prone to roll along and not look like what you planned.... (if you'd have told me in 1999 that the tech environment was going to crash *after* Y2K, not because of it... or that there would be years of issues with banks, savings and loan, hedge funds, etc. and then now that we'd have Trump as a president and a pandemic like 1918... well, I'd not have come up with that timeline).
I read one book from an ex-BBC HK/China bureau chief. It's speculation was China was the pre-eminent power in the long run. A few other authors have written series with that as a background. Of course, a scenario where unrest and interior issues could tear China apart isn't impossible either.
Look what happened with NATO, the G-7, and the EU/EEC of late...even NORAD is a bit of a worry now.
Anyway, the character backgrounds outlined some specifics of who and where for some things. Just colour perhaps, but it hints at a timeline and a geopolitical alignment that looks pretty interesting.
And I think you've convinced me that to get players that are new fully engaged, something they can tie to (not so far off in the future or so far off in distance that they can't relate) is likely a great notion for a game setting.
TomB