FINALLY! The long awaited Anschluss can happen! Then, the return of the Sudetenlands can begin. 
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Part XXVIII: February 1938
... Austria is annexed.
Now, before I enact the Anschluss decision, it's time to make some changes to my cabinet. I've already told you about the appointment of Joachim von Ribbentrop; he will decrease the costs for influencing nations and is therefore extremely useful, as our prime diplomatic action is influencing nations to improve relations. I also reappointed Franz Gürtner as Minister of Security. If you didn't read the comments and only the updates this might surprise you, because I replaced Gürtner with the manpower-boosting Walter Buch in 1937, praising the extreme usefulness of this minister. One of my readers pointed out that I was wrong:
If you wish to know something more about this topic I suggest that you read a deeper analysis I posted regarding ministers (and technologies) that increase manpower growth. But for the time being, we will just use Gürtner instead of Buch. A five percent discount to consumer goods is far more valuable than a non-existant increase to our manpower.
It is almost a divine moment. I enact the Anschluss decision. All of a sudden my 8.72 percent of dissent vanish. 300 manpower points are added to my MP pool. And I possess now the Austrian IC, army, leaders and provinces. The Anschluss will boost our Effective IC by 35 points after this day.
The Austrian army consists only of ten divisions, and two of them are cavalry and mountaineers. Because we won't research anything in this direction, this two divisions are disbanded for manpower. The rest of the Army consisting of infantry and one HQ division is ordered to Vienna and will be reorganized into a six division infantry corps. The remaining infantry division will be later used for minor border protecting tasks, like guarding the Danish-German border. The additional HQ will join the other HQs in Berlin shortly. At the same time, the two corps in Augsburg and Landshut are ordered to the Czechoslovakian border, as we need to occupy all adjacent provinces of Czechoslovakia in order to enact the Treaty of Munich decision later.
Now that we have more IC I will adjust my production queue accordingly. It still won't be enough to produce everything, but it is at least a step in the right direction. I add another PR of CAS, a single TAC in order to fill a three squadron TAC wing we already possess from the game start, 2 PRs of escort fighters for our TACs, and one PR of transport ships.
Gay or not? Well, I actually don't care, but simply dismiss him immediatly to prevent any strain on my bank account.
Which was a mistake I could kill myself for. After I've decided to retire him I remember that there was one event in which the "We need him" option actually doesn't cost anything. I check the event files and it is indeed the Fritsch affair. That's horrible, I killed a good minister and leader without any reason. If someone has an explanation while the Fritsch event does not cost money while the Blomberg event does, just say it, because I really don't have an explanation for this inconsistency.
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FINALLY! The long awaited Anschluss can happen! Then, the return of the Sudetenlands can begin.
It's still 150 days away.
And I also want to notice at this point that it is most diasppointing to see the person who requested the titles I worked two or three hours on was now banned. This must be another of this Spanish Republican conspiracies against me, this time from Bosnian exile.
Pretty sure the guy is still reading the forum, though he won't be able to get the patches anytime soon.
Part XXIX: April – July 1938
Now that the Anschluss was duly executed there is no much left to coordinate. I will deploy my produced land units as always in this game into six division corps, move them to the necessary places in order to pursue Germany's historical event chain (which will be now the Czechoslovakian border for the Treaty of Munich) and do some research and diplomacy according to my priority list. So until 1939 arrives and I start to present you my detailed considerations about the war I will speed things a little bit up because writing peace updates becomes increasingly repetitive after some time and leads to a lack of diligence (I've made a mistake in the last update concerning the Austrian divisions I inherited) as well as my inclination to write daily updates.
oOne of the next "extraordinary" actions of Germany in 1938 is, according to our priority list, the repair of relations with the Soviet Union, beginning in April. In order to conclude the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact that will add our final core provinces I need a + 50 relationship with the Soviet Union. I won't start the war without it, and as you can see from the screen my chances to influence the Soviet Union significantly are, due to the high Soviet IC, around zero. We have now around - 75 relationship points with the Soviets, and considering that the "Influence Nation" diplomatic mission will net us usually only five or ten relationship points, it's necessary to start now. So every two weeks as soon as the diplomatic cooldown expires I invest my money into influencing the Soviet Union. Fortunately our Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop reduces the costs of our undertaking considerably.
I would also normally take another measure at this point to repair the relations with the Soviet Union: I would conclude some trade agreements (not opening negotiations, I mean the long-term trade) with the Soviets. This would give us in a certain interval -- of several days I think -- a one point boost to our relations with the Soviets. This sounds negligible, but it is not -- in one of my test games I did not estimate the time I would need to influence the Soviets accurately and was barely able to conclude the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact in late August; the trade agreements saved me from delaying my attack. Trading Soviet oil for German supplies is here really useful, because Germany has normally plenty of supplies and the Soviets plenty of oil. However, due to our strained IC (we had no IC run, after all) and probably also the fact that I set the Trade AI to stockpile money our supplies are actually declining, so I delayed the trade agreement strategy. Starting in April 1938 would have certainly allowed to repair the relations even if we would have only used "Influence Nation".
The Trade AI, however, decided some weeks later after my first initial influence mission that trading with the Soviets would be cool, so I'm now trading energy in exchange for money and supplies. I'm really lucky here, because normally the Trade AI would cancel all my manual trades with the Soviets after some weeks. Now I don't have to bother.
OK, let's get over with the (perceived) millionth technology update. Because during the war I will refuse to spend too much of my writing resources on domestic affairs, I will handle all technology updates from now on in this format: Old Techteam on Slot X ---> Researched Technology Y | New Replacement Techteam on Slot X ---> Researching New Technology Z, followed by an explanation. This will relieve me from the task of finding new variants and synonyms (as a non-native English speaker) for describing my changes in technology while at the same time I can focus on my actual strategic deliberations. I hope you agree with this change of style.
So, let's talk about the technology changes during the timespan of this update:
Konrad Zuse ---> Basic Encryption Devices | Konrad Zuse ---> Basic Decryption Devices
Should be self-explanatory. After we've researched basic encryption devices to make enemy army intelligence more ineffective, we try to improve our own army intelligence by keeping the Konrad Zuse techteam and researching basic decryption devices.
Ernst Udet ---> Battlefield Interdiction Doctrine | Focke-Wulf ---> Strafing Doctrine
There are still much Air Doctrines to research, so I will reserve one techteam slot for the constant research of Air Doctrine technologies. Battlefield Interdiction will help the organisation and organisation replenishment ratio of our TACs and (currently non-existing) NAVs, the Strafing Doctrine will do the same with the nice addition that Ground Support missions -- the missions we will use extensively to decimate the organisation of enemy divisions -- become fifty percent more effective.
Focke-Wulf ---> Strafing Doctrine | Hugo Sperrle ---> Logistical Strike Doctrine
We even manage to finish the Strafing Doctrine during the timeframe of this update. We will continue with another techteam that is more suitable and will research the Logistical Strike Doctrine, yet another technology that will help our TACs and NAVs regarding their organisation and morale.
I.G. Farben ---> Basic Pharmacology | Mauser Werke ---> Infantry 1939
I think that barely half of the year was over when I ordered to research Infantry 1939. However, I can't stress the importance of this technology, 109 of our 118 divisions at the time when I started this research were infantry divisions. It would be very beneficial if Infantry 1939 is already available at the beginning of 1939, so we can start with the upgrade of our divisions without any interruption. Especially the outlook that we will have to battle the French without a full second armor corps makes a modern infantry imperial.
Junkers ---> 1938 Tactical Bomber | I.G. Farben ---> 1939 Engineer
With the research of the 1938 TACs almost all techs (except NAVs) that are necessary to upgrade the Luftwaffe to 1939 status are researched. And again I decided that we have to strengthen our landforces in time: Engineers are our main (and currently only) brigade that we will use, so having the 1939 Engineer technology at the beginning of 1939 will also become highly useful.
On to the spy war. My enemies (the Allies and the Comintern) are still attacking me ferociously through intelligence missions. However, my investements into counter-intelligence paid dividends: Almost all hostile intelligence missions during the timeframe of this update failed. There were only two exceptions: The Czechoslovakian president is certainly delighted about the fact that he can now add Early Battleships from 1913 to the mighty Czechoslovakian Fleet that is currently cruising the Morava river after Czechoslovakian spies managed to steal the corresponding blueprints from us, while the British made again more use of their intelligence network and managed to disrupt the production of one PR of interceptors, which is inconvenient, but not a catastrophe. Nevertheless, the British have obviously formidable intelligence agencies, so I decide again to raise our intelligence level. I actually don't have enough money, but after a drinking spree with the Soviet ambassador the Kremlin agreed to buy 2789 tons of supplies in exchange for 943 currency units from us. In consequence our counter-intelligence efficiency again increases significantly and has now reached almost ninety percent.
Time flies, and July begins. The 150 days that must have passed since the Anschluss in order to enact the Treaty of Munich decision are over. Our units are guarding all German border provinces to Czechoslovakia and therefore we fire the Treaty of Munich as soon as possible and demand the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia.
Notice that this would have been an excellent chance to enact partial mobilization -- which would normally increase our dissent by twelve percent. The Treaty of Munich reduces dissent by ten percent, which would have effectively decreased our dissent to two percent. I have, however, decided not to enact Partial Mobilization so early. This would have not only increased our belligerence excessively, made a military coup possible (you don't want to know how much dissent such a coup would produce) and ultimately disturb our current production through the restoration of the negative partisan IC modifier. I would rather like to see the Partial Mobilization shortly before the outbreak of the war if we can economise with our manpower long enough. The production during war is not as important as the current production and the upgrades in 1939.
Czechoslovakia agrees to the Treaty of Munich.
Apart from the useless ten percent dissent reduction and the hawk slider move we get one hundred additional points to our manpower pool, five Base IC (which will increase our Effective IC to a total of 227) and the Sudetenland provinces with their resources and manpower. France and the United Kingdom get of course the obligatory "Gearing Up For War" events that reduce their peacetime IC penalty. The clock is ticking ...
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Thank you for mentioning the patches. I think I will have to address several issues concerning 1.01 Beta 3 tomorrow before I will proceed with the AAR.
Great stuff. Are you still going to execute your West First strategy, even though you can't go to war before 1939?
I have now talked so much about this strategy that it would be a clear sign of cowardice if I wouldn't at least try. So yes, France First. And I think that whatever the outcome of this will be; reading how I fail would be probably as much entertaining for my readers as to see how I win.
So yes, France First. And I think that whatever the outcome of this will be; reading how I fail would be probably as much entertaining for my readers as to see how I win. 
Thank you.
My PC died on Wednesday.
Until now I spent my spare time during the last two days to bring my dusty seven-year old emergency PC from the basement online and to declutter the hard drive of said PC. Reanimation in form of a computer mechanic for my main PC will arrive today in the evening -- I hope, because German mechanics are not famous for their punctuality -- and if everything runs smoothly, I will post the update concerning the beta patch tonight. However, should my PC indeed suffer from a major issue (I suspect it has something to do with the graphics card, so it's probably not very serious) it can take some days or weeks -- in this case it would be for this AAR probably even better if the PC is so dead that it can't be repaired, as in this case I would just rip the hard drive of my main PC out and transfer the save to this computer, should this PC fulfill the system requirements of DH. Anyway, this AAR will continue unless the hard drive is not damaged and the save gone; I will probably be able to acquire from one of my friends a slightly more modern laptop that should be able to run DH comfortably if the repair of my main PC would take several days.XP just finished the installation of Service Pack 3, so I have to restart. Wish me luck.
Good luck with XP, and I hope this AAR continues - it's the first thing I've seen that makes a Hearts of Iron game seem even slightly intuitive to me!
Thanks.
It was indeed the graphics card. While I'm trying to get my money back (the warranty would have expired in exactly five days
), I'm now stuck with an ancient graphics card, as the mechanic compensated his lack of punctuality with generosity and donated one so I can at least use my main PC for the most basic tasks. Just to make sure I immediatly transferred the save to my USB flash drive, so the continuation of this AAR is ensured. However, the gifted graphics card is really terrible, even for a game like DH. I will phone some friends and see if someone can lend me an excess graphics card in the meantime. Until I get another one, I will only be able to post tonight the update about the beta patch -- or the actual final 1.01, as I see now to my astonishment -- however, without pictures. I'm really sorry.
Part XXX: Patch Time
Patch 1.01 has been released and I can say to your as well as mine pleasure that the save runs apparently without any problems. There are, however, some more or less important changes that affect the gameplay, so I will elaborate on these recent changes:
- The wartime IC penalty has been eliminated; there will be no longer a twenty percent IC penalty during war. Considering that we did not build any IC this is a change that will benefit us considerably. It also makes a war before the historical date far more profitable, as our IC would receive a nice ten percent boost (our current negative peacetime modifier is ten percent) prematurely.
- Germany is now only able to release the Reichskommissariate. The Reichskommissariate are in terms of game mechanics puppet countries that only gain a core province on their capital, so the release of them won't be as much profitable for us as the release of ordinary countries, as they suffer heavily from partisans. Although I did not plan to release any defeated countries during the war anyway, this basically destroys any ideas that would go into this direction.
- According to the changelog Yugoslavia has been weakened. How is not specified in detail (it could be very well possible that this only affects IC and resources and therefore only applies to new games I would start under 1.01), but as Yugoslavia was anyway not on my buddy list, this should also be a nice change that will allow us to guard the Yugoslavian border with light forces. On the other side, the British Raj received some bonuses (again, I don't know exactly which bonuses have been added), but should we ever reach India, I doubt that this will help them.
- We should now be able to force the United Kingdom into a proper surrender. This is of course not a disadvantage for us as it could spare us from the necessity to occupy every British VP province in order to defeat the Empire.
- The requirement that Germany must occupy a certain percentage of France's national provinces in order to fire the Vichy France event has been lowered from 40 to 35 percent. Very nice. This should shorten the war against France at least by some days, if not weeks.
- Soviet AI aggressiveness during the initial stages of Barbarossa has been decreased. I don't know what I should think of this, it can be an advantage as well as an disadvantage for us. If the Soviets will be less aggressive we won't be able to destroy considerable parts of their giant army during the opening of the war, but on the other side we should be able to take key provinces more easily.
Overall, we are more favored than obstructed by this patch. Especially the IC bonus and the new requirements for the Vichy France event will make things easier for us. At this point it would be probably opportune to declare war on Tibet or another remotely located backwater country in order to boost our IC, but as I don't wish to play with cheap tricks and an unnecessary high belligerence, we won't do this.
I've now acquired a sufficient graphics card and the game runs again at an acceptable speed.
On another side, I just discovered that I could annex continental Denmark through diplomacy. Claiming all of the Danish mainland and demanding it has a success chance of 24 percent. The outright annexation of all Danish provinces, including Iceland, Greenland and the Faroe Islands would also be possible with a success chance of 10 percent. Of course eleven additional Base IC would be very welcome -- on the other side, this could also qualify as a cheap (and very ahistorical) trick. So I ask you, my readers: Should we annex Denmark by diplomatic means?
On another side, I just discovered that I could annex continental Denmark through diplomacy. Claiming all of the Danish mainland and demanding it has a success chance of 24 percent.
The outright annexation of all Danish provinces, including Iceland, Greenland and the Faroe Islands would also be possible with a success chance of 10 percent. Of course eleven additional Base IC would be very welcome -- on the other side, this could also qualify as a cheap (and very ahistorical) trick. So I ask you, my readers: Should we annex Denmark by diplomatic means?
Well, are you playing for gameplay purposes or more or less historical purposes...furthermore I think it would make it dead easy if you manage to annex those lands...the only thing you could do is for example demand iceland and greenland, which would provide you with a nice base. This would also prevent the surrender event with Denmark (leading to Greenland and Iceland being annexed by the USA (Something you do not want...)) but it is up to you, hope you will update soon
Tim
Tim
I'm really undecided on this issue. DH runs in the background while I'm waiting for some more opinions. It is really tempting ...
I say go for the mainland, considering what happened in the historical 'invasion' of Denmark.
I can't seem to find that in the changelog. I've just installed the patch and the Germany.inc file for the 1936 scenario reads "wartime_ic_mod = 0.8".
In the Denmark question, I wouldn't annex them, at least before WWII begins. It wouldn't make much sense and will be changed in future patches, I guess.