Domestic and Foreign Policy - Early 1936
My stated aims as Italy are to join the Axis. When the wars starts I will attempt to hold East Africa and seize the Gate of Tears. Holding East Africa will allow me to attack Egypt from Libya in the west and the Sudan in the south.
Before the war, I will not shy away from looking at opportunities for conquest in the Mediterranean. As an example, Greece and Crete appear to be important strategic points for the future conquest of Egypt. Their air bases will support my eastern desert campaign. The important point here is not to make myself to much of a threat as this will cause the British and French to build up in East Africa (experiences from my first game).
Diplomacy and Trade
The only diplomatic move I have made so far is to align toward the Axis, although I now think this is irrelevant because I am already in th bottom right corner of the diplomatic triangle. On trade, I have let the AI handle this. It doesn't seem to be doing to well, always running in the red when I look at the top bar. This could have something to do with the war, I am not sure.
Production
Upgrades - negligible upgrades made so far, I figure I will start this after the war.
Reinforcements - set to amount needed.
Supplies - in an effort to boost the supply situation on the northern front I have been running supplies over the required level. As far as a I know this would push down a proportionate amount to the measly 2IC I have in Africa at the start of the game. Any excess should go into the stockpile.
Production - see to amount needed.
Consumer Goods - set to amount needed.
Production queue - you can see that there are three battleships in construction at the start, this is something I have modded in after researching Italy's battleship construction and refit program before the war. I have also started to build 2 binary divisions of Guards for posting on undefended islands and two light armor divisions (binary, 1 light armor and 1 motorized).
Technology
My aim here is to try and keep up to date in a broad range of categories, specialization and paths are detailed below. Leadership is focused on technology with a small portion to Espionage.
Theoretical and Practical Knowledge
These Techs assist either the speed of Research (for Theoretical) or the speed of Production (for Practical). In the Land, Naval,Air and Industry Air Sections, there has been a deterioration in both theoretical and practical from our starting position. Only practical experience in Land and Air doctrines has improved as a result of the war. Does this mean I should be building air assets given the high practical?
Regio Esercito (army) - an upgrade of the 34 militia techs, infantry small arms, armored car Armour for my tankettes (yes I know this is probably crazy). I plan to field a combined militia and infantry based army, with a few light armor divisions and hopefully a few tank destroyer divisions in the future
Regina Marina (navy) - Battleships are the key component with three active and three in construction/refit. They would form a nucleus around which the Regina Maria would be built using the so called Sea Lane Doctrine. Under this doctrine, cheap Destroyers would protect our vital convoys to colonial Africa and act as screens for the Battleships when they engaged in naval battles. The new carrier doctrine would not be ignored. Its usefulness in the Mediterranean Sea was doubted as Italy controlled many of the islands and a commanding position in the centre. These bases would act as static carriers for the Regina Marina. A research team being applied to look into the construction of Escort Carriers.
Regia Aeronautica (air force) - the air force was proving a very useful asset in the mountains of Ethiopia. These doctrines are either up to date or well advanced for Italy. The key focus is to keep these techs up to date as much as possible with an emphasis on Naval bomber techs to help against the British and French navies in the future. Advance testing of Naval Bomber strike range indicated that the Mediterranean was well covered.
Naval bomber ranges of the Italain Savoia-Marchetti SM.79's, from Cagliari, Tripoli and Benghazi.
Industry - here my priority is to be able to build infrastructure in AOI, this means I have to focus on Industrial Efficiency and Production at the moment. These will also ultimately improve my IC efficiency and effectiveness so that I can build the additional Infrastructure. Supply production tech is quite out of date so I have thrown this one into the pot as well. Later I would also like to build a few Radar stations throughout the Mediterranean so that I can keep a better track of the Royal Navy.
Land Doctrines - Italy has a large manpower level compared to the other majors. I think my focus here should be on the "Human Wave" army techs which tie into the larger manpower militia type armies. It will be tempting to take bits and pieces from the other doctrines in the future. Operational Level Organization is a good tech to focus on as its out of date and directly helps in combat maneuvers.
Research projects at start of the game
Politics
There are no real changes required here as far as I can see. There are few useful options among the leadership and no new laws to enact. There appears to be a drift way from fascist popularity but it is still dominant at 38%. I will keep an eye on this. Party organization is also dominant at 43.8.
Espionage
Spying priority for Ethiopia was maximized with Military Espionage as the principle focus. Priority was also given to Greece, Switzerland and Yugoslavia with the mission to increase the threat from these nations. All of these nations were potential targets for conquest in the future with the aim of increasing IC, resources to support the AOI building program and for strategic considerations. As a side note for a bit of flavor we have adopted support our/ruling party in Monaco, San Moreno and Austria.
On the home front I will be lowering neutrality for reasons stated above. After the war with Ethiopia I want to focus on increasing the Nazi threat, this will hopefully divert attention away from Italy and comparatively keep down our threat levels.