Kriegsgefahr (Impending War) – Germany 1936 AAR – (SF HPP)

[Rensslaer]

KRIEGSGEFAHR
(Impending War)

Germany in a World Wrought By Tensions Caused By Others

(HOI 3 Semper Fi 2.04c with HPP 1.8.1 mod – starting in 1936 on Hard)

The premise of this experimental AAR scenario is that Germans were proud and hopeful when Hitler – seemingly a strong, vital leader – took control of the German government and began restoring Germany to a sense of greatness that gradually became reality. But Germans were also uncomfortable – disapproving and fearful, at times – of the methods Hitler used to implement his rise to power. Most of us are familiar with a series of attempts to remove him from power, the more realistic of these plots reaching back as early as 1938.

Generaloberst Ludwig Beck, Chief of the German General Staff in that year, had been astonished to hear that Hitler intended to incorporate Austria into the German Reich, and had taken steps to overthrow him. It was not set into action then, but was again brought to the table again soon after, when Hitler began demanding German-populated territory from Czechoslovakia. Some historians believe it was forestalled only by the British irresolution at Munich.

The Kriegsgefahr scenario presumes that Hitler has instead been removed from power, one way or another, by a coalition of rightist and centrist figures, in early 1936, after Hitler had begun to restore the German military and violated many of the strictures of the Versailles Treaty, but before his most ambitious and reckless ventures which set Germany on a path toward war.

Historical evidence strongly suggests that most of the world, including Great Britain, had come to acknowledge that the terms of the Versailles Treaty were too burdensome, and that it would be safest for stability in Europe if these were gradually loosened in order to bring Germany into the congress of sovereign nations once more. Enough government figures believed this that there would likely have been no overwhelming call to react to the earliest of Germany’s moves to restore its independence – refusal to pay continued reparations, the rebuilding of a German army and brownwater navy (and, perhaps, even air force), severe restrictions upon the tonnage of Kriegsmarine ships, and other unwise insults to her pride and sovereignty.

This new government will wish to continue to acquire what rights Germany can regain for herself without pushing the Allies toward war. Germany will prepare to meet a feared Soviet war also. Germany will otherwise make every effort to avoid being drawn into war, while at the same time wishing to be prepared for war, should it come.

This is an entirely experimental approach. I have played out several years in SF 2.03 and SF 2.04c, and now wish to see how far I can get in HPP. Ideally, Germany will survive to the end of the game without going to war, but I’ll be ready if not. In the vanilla SF 2.03 game, I played into 1943, but something was dreadfully wrong – China and Japan were at war since 1937, but only naval conflict had occurred. And the USSR hadn’t taken any aggressive action either. No Winter War, no Bessarabia, etc. In the SF 2.04c vanilla game, Japan gobbled China quickly, but there ensued no further conflict through 1942. Russia was again quiet. I hope for more action this time around, despite the fact that I don’t want to participate.

I apologize if you’re looking for a wartime AAR. This may turn into one, but there will be years of inaction before you see it. As I said, this is purely experimental. We’ll see what I can do.

The Historical Plausibility Project mod (HPP) has been created by a team led by Slan and TheBromgrev with the intent of allowing a wider range of a-historical action/events without departing from the realm of plausibility. Please forgive me if I’m missing major elements to the purpose or origination of HPP. I’ll explain as we encounter areas where HPP is different from vanilla Semper Fi.

I plan to follow this with another experimental AAR with more action!

Yes, my other 3 current AARs -- I Am Siam (V2), Imperio Novo (HOI 3) and Sforza!!! (EU 3) -- will continue to be updated at a rate of one update per week or better! No, I don't really have time to be doing any of these AARs, but I'm updating them anyway!

Rensslaer

[Cybvep]

I love your Vicky2 Siam AAR and I'm eagerly waiting for this one You may be surprised by HPP's non-linearity

[loki100]

now this should be fun ... a very different approach to the conquer the world German AAR. It'll also be interesting to see if HOI3 can sustain an attempt to stay out of war, especially as at the moment its not that great at simulating domestic politics.

[Slan]

I'm also quite interested in how this will turn out As the main programmer of the HPP AI, I have the following predictions (which may or may not hold up as you go along):
- If you keep your Threat low, the Allies will leave you alone.
- Italy has warplans in the Balkans. Don't be surprised if they start seemingly random wars. (But don't be surprised if they don't, either. It depends on a number of factors.)
- The Soviets need the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact for their expansions in vanilla (except for the Winter War, but that needs Finland to be independent, who sometimes join the Allies), but not so in HPP. They will start to grab the neighbouring minors sooner or later, even going for Poland in the early '40s.
- Without German expansionism, there won't be an Allied guarantee of Poland, making a Soviet war on them possible and relatively easy.
- The Allies will check other nations' threat as well, not only Germany, but (currently) they will hold Germany to be the most dangerous threat, and only take action against the Comintern, if the Axis is already dealt with. So unless something unexpected happens, there probably won't be an Allied-Comintern war. (And if there would be one, it would be a strange one too, with no real common borders...)

-> You could try to cause an Allied-Comintern war by forcing the British guarantee on Poland (by going through with the decisions up to Vienna), but that will probably generate enough threat so that you yourself will be attacked. (Not to mention that the war can start as early as Vienna...)

Anyway, this should be interesting. And it can easily turn into a staring contest (Which is not necessarely a problem. Kind of a three-way Cold War.)

[Tanzhang (譚張)]

Personally, I find the concept for this AAR very intriguing. I'm looking forward to seeing where you can take this.

[reis91]

I don't think the game will behave quite well in such a scenario. But it is important that someone tries different scenarios, so the game can be improved. And perhaps I might be found wrong...

[TheBromgrev]

Sounds interesting. One thing you should definitely be prepared for, is the Soviet Union attacking Poland. There's no set date for the AI to do so, but the AI is told to get its cores back, and the Soviet's have Belorussian and Ukrainian cores in eastern Poland. In Cybvep's AAR, the attack came during the Spring of '42. Since you also have cores on Poland, you'll be dragged into that war as well.

There's also a (small) chance Poland and Lithuania go to war over Vilnius in '38 or '39. In that case, the Soviets would also step in, dragging you into the war as well. The chances of that happening is very small though, like 10-15%.

[Slan]

Since you also have cores on Poland, you'll be dragged into that war as well.

No, not because of the cores, but because Germany guarantees the independence of Poland, until the M-R Pact. They are considered to be in Germany's sphere of influence. In general it might be a good idea to check around who you are guaranteeing, because those pacts are mandatory, you have no choice but to honour them.

[Cybvep]

In general it might be a good idea to check around who you are guaranteeing, because those pacts are mandatory, you have no choice but to honour them.

Which is rather strange... I hope that they will change it in the expansion or in the future patches. It doesn't make much sense.

[SSmith]

Germany not trying to start a war? This is definitely one to watch!

And yes, I agree with Cybvep, honouring guarantees should be optional.

[Brad1]

Very interesting! I'll be lurking around following this!

[TheBromgrev]

I stand corrected. Either way, unless he removes the guarantee via the M-R Pact, he'll eventually go to war with the Soviets. The only question is when.

Also, if he chooses to not bring Italy into the Axis, Italy may get a little trigger-happy in the Balkans and drag him into a war via the guarantee on Yugoslavia.

[GulMacet]

A Rensslaer AAR! And with HPP too! Has someone been reading my wishlist?

Will be following this, and how!

[Tian]

This sounds very promising and I will definitely follow your AAR.

[Rensslaer]

Before going on with the update, I want to briefly thank everybody who has already commented! I’ll do feedback soon, but not before the update. Welcome to you all!

I’ll also note that this update will be a sort of preview of the HPP mod, because many of the major differences from vanilla Semper Fi are impossible to miss, and require explanation before I go on.

________________

Some of the obvious differences with HPP are superficial. The German battle flag is used, instead of the old Imperial black-white-red. Germany is known as the German Reich. Japan also uses the Rising Sun flag instead.



I set the victory conditions. I don’t know why – I generally ignore them anyway. But just in case it matters for some reason, I excluded all of the victory conditions that involved conquest. Basically, this left me with just “Ownership of Berlin” as my sole victory condition. I’m playing on Hard (I usually play on Normal, but this scenario should be easy enough as it is). Ignore that silly picture of Hitler as Head of State – I have some Junker aristocrat as my Head of State – someone known for bringing various factions together to cooperate in the rise of a strong but peaceful German Reich.

One of the key divergences of HPP from vanilla Semper Fi / HOI 3 is they have separated out some of the factors which in vanilla are agglomerated and abstracted into an “economic mobilization” status. One thing they’ve separated out is Taxation – how much money your government has available is related primarily to your taxation level, not to your mobilization level. I like this. Default is “Acceptable Taxes.” I’ll leave it there.



Laws in HPP are also more expensive to change, and the larger the change from the status quo, the larger the expense (as opposed to them all being the same cost in SF). HPP also has generally higher costs for changing any laws.

Industrial Policy Laws have changed somewhat, too. In the Strategy Guide for standard HOI 3 (page 13), I indicated Consumer Product Orientation was only useful during peacetime, and even then Mixed Industry was probably preferable. During war, I said Mixed Industry would do fine, but Heavy Industry was preferable. The choices were essentially “no-brainers” (if collective wisdom on this has changed for vanilla HOI 3 I’d be curious to hear why). In HPP, the consequences of each have changed, and there are no longer obvious choices.



In HPP they’ve added a consequence (greater Supply Consumption) for Heavy Industry emphasis. But the benefits during wartime are also greater (better Supply Throughput and better IC Efficiency – the two reasons you’d still want to choose this during war). The Mixed Industry has smaller degrees of the same tradeoffs, but without the IC Efficiency benefit, which makes it less useful (someone might still decide to stick with MI during wartime, though). HPP’s Consumer Product Orientation is still not a great choice for wartime economies (not a no-brainer, though – someone might choose to keep the Dissent Change benefits), but has become a likely choice for peacetime economies.

The Education and Training Laws (both sets) are significantly different in HPP, but I have no need to change anything here, and so won’t go into detail. The defaults for both are different from unmodded HOI 3. Germany has a “standing army” rather than a 2-year draft. And Germany has a far lower default for Education than in the unmodded game, which I think is probably realistic (again, balance probably decided the default in HOI 3). HPP makes the impact of more intensive Education Laws less (I think only 20% of the unmodded impact on Leadership) than in the unmodded game. I think this is also realistic – I’ve studied education policy a lot, over the years, and as far as I’m concerned, throwing money at education has a relatively minimal impact on results. In HPP the impact is directed more toward relative qualification of the officer corps, and less toward more effective research.

The Economic Laws – what is sometimes referred to as Industrial Mobilization – are also quite different. Because of the conceptual changes in HPP, the higher range options do increase available IC, but the lower ranges do not, unlike in unmodded HOI3/SF. Also, these don’t have as much impact on the availability of money (this effect having been mostly shifted into Taxation Laws).



I notice that in HPP I seem to need more relative IC devoted to Reinforcement, I believe because the “Manpower Rotation” during peacetime is higher (soldiers retiring, terms of service expiring, etc.). I think this is more realistic too.

Whereas when I played this scenario in HOI3/SF I reduced my mobilization to Full Civilian Economy, to save on Resource Cost/Use, the Resource Cost/Use is less in HPP for Basic Mobilization (the default for Germany), so I leave it where it is. This avoids what would have been higher Consumer Goods costs, and I get to keep my Reserve units at 60% instead of 75% (just in case). The difference between -10% and -20% Resource Use isn’t going to make an enormous difference in my stockpile sizes. The main thing that depletes Stockpiles is the IC use, which isn’t affected by these lower levels in HPP.

Before I move on, I’ll note that in HOI3/SF Germany starts out at War Economy, with +25% IC benefits. In HPP you start out at Basic Mobilization (in unmodded HOI3 that would have meant -25% IC, but not in HPP). This is more realistic and historical (the unmodded game may have set a higher level for balance purposes). The oft-quoted statistic is that Nazi Germany didn’t fully engage itself in a wartime economic footing until 1942 or 1943, historically. Basic Mobilization is about where Germany would have been, historically in 1936.



Free Press? Really? Read about it in the papers, even! This is done less for purposes of game strategy than for purposes of emphasizing in a role-playing sense how different this Germany is from Hitler’s. It also causes the Nazi Party to be less stable and entrenched, and I wonder if that might have some impact down the road. I’d prefer to just get rid of the Nazi hold on the government, but if this is the best I can do, at least I can do this.

The elements in the Tech Tree for HPP aren’t entirely different from unmodded HOI 3. There are some differences in what you can research, yes, including old Techs missing and new ones added. As far as I can tell, there is no Garrison/Militia set of Techs, which is fine with me (conceptually, there has never been a difference between technologies or techniques which benefit the regular army versus militias, etc. – militias just use older equipment).



The main change in HPP is that everything is organized differently. Techs are more definitely queued, one after the other (at least this is what I presume from my brief experience – correct me Slan or TheBromgrev if I’m wrong). And many techs cannot be researched automatically – they are keyed to General Staff policies, which may be very different from one army/navy to the next.

Basically, if I’ve not unlocked (chosen) a certain doctrine – differentiated by overall strategy/tactics concept and/or year of advancement – then I cannot research the techs keyed by that doctrine. Because of this, once I make a choice to follow one doctrine over another, there may be techs permanently locked off to me. This is not really a disadvantage because I’ve chosen not to need those techs – I’m heading in a different conceptual direction anyway.



Now, I’ll admit that in unmodded HOI 3 I would sometimes cherry-pick techs here and there, based on what benefit they provided. I believe this was sometimes necessary in unmodded HOI 3. I believe it is NOT necessary in HPP because the combat values affected by each tech have been switched around to be (in my opinion) more logical. I no longer have to research Militia Support Weapons (or whatever) to get my Militia units up to speed – they use the same techs as Infantry. I no longer have to have some obscure tech (one of a set of 5) to increase Artillery Morale – that’s affected by the same tech, hypothetically (i.e. I’m not looking this up), as would provide Organization for Artillery brigades. Again, this makes more sense to me – good job, HPP team!

The upshot of this conceptual change in the Tech Tree is that you must make sensible decisions about command/deployment/operation philosophy when those choices come up. It also means it’s wise to keep an eye on which doctrines your probable opponents are choosing, so you know what kind of techs they’ll be researching.



When the choice comes up for Infantry Doctrine (notice Germany is 4 years ahead of your “average” country in Infantry Doctrines), I choose what Prussian/German armies have always chosen since von Moltke – Infiltration Doctrine. Basically, I want to be mobile and send out scouting skirmishers to make contact with the enemy, allowing the rest of my unit to flank the enemy and surprise them. The Infantry Techs I can research will be affected by this, though I’m not entirely sure how, just yet.

I notice the USSR is also 4 years ahead of “average” in Tank Doctrines, and that they are choosing to follow a Combined Arms approach (as I think they did historically). The UK is 3 years behind Germany/USSR in Tank Doctrines, and follow the Infantry Support concept. It’s interesting to note, having studied armored history a lot in the past year or so, that the UK was probably the leader in developing new tanks and tank technologies in the 1920s and early 1930s. But it’s probably also true that Germany (and perhaps the USSR) were ahead of Britain in understanding HOW to use their tanks.

The last major difference I want to point out is that HPP adds a fourth tab to the Doctrine techs (I think this is merely an organizational change, but I may be wrong). You must choose your “Operational Doctrine” in addition to your Infantry, Tank, Air, Naval, etc. This affects (more rigidly, I think, than HOI 3) how you employ your whole military. The UK chooses Grand Battle Plan (which, again, is historical).



Forgive me if I’ve left off your favorite techs, but the above screenshot shows how I’ve lined up my first set of techs to research. I’m intending to remain at peace, and so my naval techs are mostly missing from this list, and I’m preferring high-level academic interests (Nuclear Research, Industrial, Computing, Education, Radar, etc.) instead of other things with more obvious military application. Mind you, these things DO have plenty of military applications, and I would normally recommend most of these to be on anyone’s list if you’re going to war or not. But some of these might be jockeying for position against other more militaristic techs if I were intending to go to war soon.

I’ve chosen to prefer Spearhead concepts (Blitzkrieg Doctrine, basically). I’m preferring defensive techs to offensive. And I’ll mention that I’ve left the Infantry, Tank Crew and Officer Training techs at the bottom not because they’re less important, but because they’re way ahead of their available year, and so I don’t mind if they sit there unresearched for a while (it’s to remind me not to forget them, mostly). I think these techs are unique to HPP – more conceptual differences.



There’s not really a way to switch my form of government or my ruling party right now. I could mod it, but I won’t. For the most part it doesn’t matter. I do make some effort to avoid National Socialist ministers in favor of Paternal Autocrats, but there are times – as with the ever-useful Goebbels – when this just isn’t productive for me. Goebbels is necessary because he increases my Leadership (and thereby my research). I’m preferring ministers who increase Resource Production over IC Availability for the reason noted above – I am less concerned about maxing out IC than I am about building resource stockpiles. If I have more IC, using more Resources, then I’ll never get them built up.

My navy will be a brownwater, coastal defense force on the one hand, and a convoy-raiding, free-ranging navy on the other (think “Infiltration Doctrine” at sea!), and so I’ll prefer destroyer techs (and light cruisers) over heavy cruisers and battleships. I’m favoring small, light aircraft to bombers (more defensive in nature). The Army Chief will keep me from using up my Supply Stockpile. I wish I could change my “Heads” but I cannot (no alternatives).



On the left, in the above screenshot, you’ll notice a different set of Decisions than unmodded HOI 3. Two options for Anschluss, which is good (either might have been used, historically). The HPP Re-occupation of the Rhineland event requires fewer troops on the border than the unmodded event, and I believe the HPP event is more historical.

Slan or TheBromgrev, I’ll let you explain the Mobilize for War and Swedish Metal decisions because I’m not entirely clear on them (I think I mis-used the Swedish Metal one, and broke it -- ).

Finally, I’ll reveal my Diplomatic Influence targets. These may seem odd to players who are used to rushing toward war. I’m devoting 8 Leadership Points (a lot!) toward influencing, and will influence Poland, Romania, Hungary and Lithuania. Hungary and Romania are pretty obvious, typical choices.

Why a small country like Lithuania? Because they’re the closest among the Baltic States to being able to be drawn into the Axis, and because I’m wanting to build an anti-Soviet coalition of Central European countries. They will fit right in.

Why Poland? For a lot of reasons. Poland and Germany actually had a lot of common interests, so long as the fate of Danzig could be put aside. The Polish government was pretty much an authoritarian dictatorship (in my opinion). Even Hitler considered the possibility of bringing Poland into an anti-Soviet alliance before deciding that Danzig was non-negotiable (there’s some historical debate as to whether it even was non-negotiable to Hitler). Lastly, I need Poland if I consider the USSR to be my main potential rival. An independent, isolated Poland is the last thing Germany needs (that’s why Hitler eventually invaded them).

So there you go! This gets us started off. More to come in the next update, as I start to flesh out more of my overall strategy. Thanks for reading!

[Cybvep]

Regarding resources - it should be noted that in HPP stockpiling large amount of resources will give you penalties to resource production in order to simulate the problems of storage etc.

The Polish government was pretty much a fascist dictatorship (in my opinion).

Um... Not really. It was authoritarian, but not fascist. A minority wanted an alliance with Germany, but a definite majority didn't. Poland was both anti-German and anti-Soviet back then. There is a possibility that they would join the Axis, but only if they were completely cornered - that could happen if the UK didn't guarantee Poland's independence, for example. UK DOW on Germany on 3th of September actually produced a short-lived national euphoria. Moreover, later the French authorities claimed that their actions helped to relive the pressure on Poland. Well, we all know how that ended out.

[Rensslaer]

Regarding resources - it should be noted that in HPP stockpiling large amount of resources will give you penalties to resource production in order to simulate the problems of storage etc.

Ahh... That's what those weird storage difficulty events were for. I was wondering. That makes sense. Is there a threshold beyond which this is more likely, or is it a building scale, or entirely random?

Um... Not really. It was authoritarian, but not fascist. A minority wanted an alliance with Germany, but a definite majority didn't. Poland was both anti-German and anti-Soviet back then. There is a possibility that they would join the Axis, but only if they were completely cornered - that could happen if the UK didn't guarantee Poland's independence, for example. UK DOW on Germany on 3th of September actually produced a short-lived national euphoria. Moreover, later the French authorities claimed that their actions helped to relive the pressure on Poland. Well, we all know how that ended out.

Ahh, you're right. I should have been more specific (edited above). "Paternal Autocrat", as used in HOI 3, is pretty close, I think. Though to be fair, there was a fine line between "authoritarian dictatorship" and "fascist dictatorship" throughout Europe in the 1930s. You had Mussolini as the model of a firm dictator with moderately socialistic tendencies, and his model was replicated in Portugal, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Portugal (and Germany! -- Hitler was kind of a copycat), and I thought Poland, though Poland may have been more home-grown. Hitler was unique -- "Nationalist Socialism" was basically fascism, but Hitler's Nazi Party had a racist bent that was not particularly fascist in nature. Italy's fascist government wasn't especially racist, nor was Porgugal's. While racism might have been expressed by governments elsewhere, it seems that only in Germany was it made official policy and integrated into the philosophy (which is why I've always seen a distinct difference between fascism and Nazism).

[Cybvep]

Yeah, explicit racism is pretty much the only significant difference between fascism and Nazism, although there is also the Japanese version of "fascism", which is pretty unique. The rest comes from personal characteristics of a given leader, which pretty much defines a dictatorship. Polish system was less oppressive than German, Italian or later - Spanish one. It wasn't a free system, but looking at Europe in 1920s and 1930s, that wasn't uncommon Interwar period was a time of dictatorships in most of Europe.

Ahh... That's what those weird storage difficulty events were for. I was wondering. That makes sense. Is there a threshold beyond which this is more likely, or is it a building scale, or entirely random?

There are thresholds... Starting from 50k and getting worse with higher stockpiles, I think. Building up your resource base is still possible, but harder than in Vanilla. It's not a perfect system, but it's better than 99k stockpiles in every game by 1939

[TheBromgrev]

Impressive preview

There are a few things you should know that aren't documented yet. The first concerns the draft laws. As you can see, there are two types: standing and drafted. The second law in the list is for standing armies only, and can be activated either by being at war, or by firing the Mobilize for War decision. Aside from the negative political effects, the positive effect of a standing army mobilizing for war is that at the beginning of the next month, you'll get an event that lasts for about a year that provides a 450% MP boost for your country. This represents that a standing army relies on professional volunteers, and if the government needs more men beyond those who are volunteering, then there will be political consequences because the civilian population would not want to adjust. Nations like Germany, France, and Japan had standing armies.

That's in contrast to a drafted army. A drafted army will get a decision once war starts to mobilize the reserves, which gives a 3-month 3000% MP bonus. Nations like the Soviet Union and Switzerland used a drafted army. Basically, the culture of the nation is such that every citizen knows he would be required to fight if a war broke out. In a nation with a standing army, the average citizen would not expect to be pulled to the front, because the professionals would take care of the fighting.

Then there are the emergency drafts, which can be used by either army type. These laws have huge negative consequences, to model the fact that you're taking people by force to join the military, as well as increasing the age requirements. That translates to a less efficient force, and also hurts your industry as healthy factory workers are taken to the front lines. If you choose any of the harsher laws, aside from the base standing/drafted ones, then you can't go back; the effects to society are too damaging. These laws are meant to only be used when the nation is desperate for MP.

The second thing is about the techs. The land doctrines were split into two tabs in order to make everything be readable. The land doctrines, as you've already seen, are mutually-exclusive and triggered by event. In vanilla, there really wasn't a reason to only go with one or two paths, because all 4 land doctrine types had useful techs. It was better to just pick the techs you wanted and ignore the actual paths. That isn't true in the HPP, as you've seen.

Also, the naval techs are a little different. There are two types of naval techs - design principle and components. The design principle represents not only armor, but the quality of the ship itself. Things like ammo storage, location of crew quarters, hull shape, number of lavatories, etc. are also represented by that tech. The design principle tech in turn determines the maximum tech level of the components. At the start of the game, Germany's design principle techs are limited by the Treaty of Versailles, so you can't go higher than that. Reoccupying the Rhineland removes the effects of the treaty, so you can research better designs. The rest of the world's major naval powers (US, UK, France, Italy, & Japan) are limited by the London Naval Treaty. Later, the 2nd London Naval treaty will happen, in which Japan and Italy will most likely leave, thus removing their own naval restrictions.

If you look closely at your starting techs, you'll see that Germany starts off with light carriers already researched. That's because in WW1, the German Empire began converting the Italian passenger liner Ausonia into an aircraft carrier. Construction was later stopped, and funds redirected towards U-boats (doesn't that sound familiar ). Just something to keep in mind when designing your navy.

Germany doesn't have this problem, but you can't begin tank research without a single level of Tank Crew Training. Other than that, no other techs are restricted.

Third, the Swedish Iron trade and Chinese Rare trade. The reason you think it broke, is because you don't have a path for the iron to get to you. The game starts off in January, and the Baltic froze. Since Norway doesn't trust you yet, you don't get the iron. Make 2 trades with Norway (oil works) to build trust and the blockade SE will go away. Otherwise you'll only get the iron in the spring, summer, and fall. The Chinese trade will remain in effect as long as you support China and have an open port. If you decide to recognize Manchukuo, the trade will stop, China loses its German advisers and its German Support strategic effect (officer recruitment bonus).

Finally, is is possible to kick the Nazis out of power via a coup. You'll need to work on it though, especially if you want the PA party to gain power. The best way is to reduce the NSDAP's organization. To do so, lower your press and oppression laws (you'll get strategic effects that lower ruling party support), switch to a drafted army (you'll periodically get events that lower ruling party organization), change your industry focus to one of the other two (FCE gives the org reduction event, heavy industry gives a popularity hit). Then, when the Blomberg/Fritsch Affair events fire in '38, keep the ministers in power. Letting your dissent stay at a reasonable level also helps. The goal is to lower the NSDAP's org. If the NSDAP's org and popularity are low enough, you may get a coup. If you let the coup take place instead of fighting the opposition, then you can get a government change. It may take a while though, as the NSDAP is firmly entrenched in '36, but it isn't impossible.

That said, you could always wait for Operation Valkyrie to kick in sometime during '43 if you're at war. I don't remember the exact triggers for it though.

[Slan]

Some pointers which might be necessary because of the lack of a comprehensive manual for the Semper Fi version:
- The Swedish trade decision. If you do that decision, you (and Sweden) will get a Strategic Effect representing the Metal imported from there. But you will immediately lose it because the Baltic Sea is frozen over during the winter, and in January '36, you don't have access to Narvik in Norway. You need to work on your relations with them a bit first. 50 points will be enough. (That is kinda explained on the tooltip of the respective Strategic Effects.)
- The Mobilization for War decision is related to the reworked manpower and conscription system. In vanilla, the conscription laws influence the amount of manpower you get anually, which is kinda stupid, since increasing the draft range won't increase the number of young lads coming of age... In HPP, enacting a harsher conscription law will allow an event to fire (during the next month, because it takes time to organise things, and because the engine works that way), which will give a HUGE increase in manpower gain. And I mean HUGE. Like +3000% for a few months. That will represent the men called back to serve their country. The "Mobilize for War" decision will set a country flag, allowing you to enact the "Mobilize for War" conscription law, which will in turn give you 450% bonus for more than two years.
- Related to the above concept, there's an important difference between a Standing Army (like yours) and a Drafted Army. A Standing Army is mostly composed of professional soldiers. If you have such an army, you will get a bonus for Experience, and your troops will be available at all times. As I said above, you can popularize the soldier profession, giving you a nice increase of manpower for a long time. If, on the other hand, you have a Drafted Army, then you can only mobilize your reserves once you are at war. (Which, again, is a decision, not to be confused with the "Mobilize" button on the Politics interface!) That will immediately give you +3000% manpower for three months! (Note that the amount you get is the same, but you get this in a much lower time!) Later on you can enact an Extended Draft, if you have a Drafted Army, or you can even enact Emergency Draft, but those have dire consequences, and you can never go back on a Conscription Law! (Because I can't take away the manpower already given...)
- If you let your Ruling Party mess things up enough, you might get a coup. You may even end up with a Democratic, or heaven forbid, a Socialist government! But beware! If that happens, your German Reich will turn into a democratic or communist Germany! (In which case you will lose the game, but you can weather out the change if you switch to a third party for the time being...)
- Note that you don't really need to influence Hungary, since they will align to you on their own! The same goes for most nations with low Neutrality and an autocratic government.
- Also note that nations with high Neutrality will probably not join your faction, since they want to be left alone instead of worrying about World politics.

If you have any questions, you can contact me via PM, or ask in our sub-forum, or even here. I've subscribed this AAR


EMU'd... But that's what I get for typing such a long response I guess