How do you carry out a coup?

I've couped several times in my games. I'll tell you what works and what doesn't work within the boundaries of my experience.

First off, the success chance is kinda low until you have massive support for your party. Even when you have the right support, I am convinced that national unity is a big factor in determining success. It was much easier to coup France in 39 than it was to coup Italy in 39. (I did a sequence of reloads to see how successful I could be in each case.) Totalitarian system versus open society might also have some kind of impact, but I am not sure (totalitarian governments kill spies easier, so maybe the differential "cost" is in the leadership used rather than a bonus/penalty to coups in general).

Ministers have something to do with it. If there are ministers in government that are not of the ruling party, it allows/increases the success chance of coups. Have you ever seen that "Fractured Government" modifier to national unity? Well, you can make it go away by either raising the support of the ruling party or inviting ministers of the opposition parties into power. This will remove the modifier, but open the way to coups.

There is really no point in attempting a coup until you are past 50% support for your party. I have never been successful below 50% support.

Even past 50% support, it is still an iffy proposition. I would never bet on a coup being successful as part of a long-term strategy unless you are going to reload every time until it is successful. This is probably a good thing, because coups are powerful. Taking France out of the Allies on August 31st makes the war much easier for Germany. No pesky western front at all.

I do not know if "Surrender Progress" makes a difference. I've never bothered to try and coup a government that I am defeating in the war, but it might be worth a try against the Soviets some day.

I do not know if the ideology of ministers makes a difference. Since you can't appoint ministers of radically different ideologies, this is mostly a moot point.

Be careful! Raising the support of your party in democracies can have unintended consequences. If an election is held, and your party is elected, you can't coup them anymore. I learned this the hard way with Germany. I supported the fascists in Britain prior to the 41 election. My goal was to try and overthrow their government to end the war sooner. Well, I didn't initiate the coup before the election, and the fascists won. No coup was possible afterwards because the ruling party was the same as mine (can't coup a ruling party with too much support or one that matches your ideology). And since they were fascist, they initiated a totalitarian state in the UK, countering my espionage. Fascist Allies for the win. o

No, that would be a bad idea, even if it was possible. Coups have a disadvantage that I didn't mention earlier.



I'll let you look at the screenshot until you see the problem.

Cheers for the info.
Anyone know what casues the 'attempt coup' button to be greye out when you have spies active in the country?
And does the country being a faction member prevent coups?

Click to expand...

It greys out if you don't meet the requirements. If the ruling party has too much support, a coup is not allowed. Keep supporting your own party to change that.

Also, being a faction is one of the best reasons to coup a country. Any country in a faction that is successfully couped will drop from its faction. That is its primary purpose, as far as I am concerned.

Note: Coups do not change puppet status. This means that if you coup Japan to get them out of the Axis, Manchukuo will stay in the Axis. This is a bug/exploit that needs addressing because Ethiopia and Manchukuo end up becoming casualties in the war while still being puppets of countries that no longer support a faction. I think coups should end puppet status (or pull the puppets out too).