What countries do you play and why?

[Altruist]

What are the countries you play and why?

Just curious... and often enough answeres from other players are quite inspiring to try out something new.

For me:
Germany
Germany - WiF II

Reasons:
# wanted to learn about the military side of the war
# as an unexpected extra: due to the many events and I found most carefully researched, I learned even more
# gamewise you can do whatever you want to: Declare war on a country? Sure, no problem.
# somehow I find it much easier to play the bad side, especially when looking at the statistics of all those dead and my mind starts to wander from game into reality

Only recently I started to play other countries, momentarily China - EoD which is actually great fun.

 

[Pandrea]

Germany
Best choice for a fun game, he is strong but not the strongest at the beginning, historical path is always challenging and allows different approaches every time

Japan
I call him "the final exam" of the game. You must master every side of the game against an enemy far stronger than you and on seas every fight can be fatal

Italy
I'm Italian, so I have a lot of fun leading Italy to success or at least to an honorable war, every English carrier sunken is a small drop of national pride. It's quite challenging even if not as much as Japan, underside is that you cannot win the entire war alone and if Germany is lost your downfall is near

USA
Great choice when I want a funny but also relaxing game. Also bringing democracy to all world is refreshing and I can really relate to my soldiers

UK
Could call him "the second to last exam"? Basically is a test bench for Japan, every game you have to defend your mainland against a stronger enemy mastering fleets and planes while kicking Italian ass in Africa, slowing Japan in Asia and making some 'hit-and-run' attacks on Germany. Two big undersides for me: you cannot invade Europe alone and, most of all, taking control of all Commonwealth armies to bring them on fronts is a pain in the ass

URSS
My big lack, never played a game as Urss. Too easy beating Germany in 1941 when players vs AI, after that it's a boring "bring communism to the rest of the world" crashing anyone under your tank tracks (yes, even US, just a quick landing in Alaska and you can roll them all without a fleet)

 

[Victor_21]

Majors:
Japan - my most played nation in vanilla, TRP and TGC (by a long, long, long margin); just really enjoy the naval/land-based multi-tasking (micro?) required to campaign across the Pacific, haven't ever attacked GER after world domination, perhaps another goal to set

Soviet Union - my next most played in the above mods as well as KR; enjoy the steam-roller aspect of this nation (as well as the multiple available paths in KR) - takes a while to get going, but once you do, it's hard to slow down

Germany - a favorite, but mostly when I played vanilla, playing a current campaign in EoD, pretty fun so far, also dabbled in Fatherland but haven't stuck with it - maybe I just dig the 30s-40s tech period too much; limited alternate path potential for GER when the SU is conquered so limited re-playability for me, never tried GER in KR (another potential goal?)

Minors:
Ottoman Empire in KR for a very satisfying small nation playthrough (remake the empire, all the way to Vienna!)

Italy can be fun if you abandon goals in Africa and work to aid Germany (ahistorical Turkey/Persia/UK take-overs), oh and singlehandedly sink the RN in the process.. always fun to do

Haven't ever really tried:
Nat/Com China (KR Qing), not sure why, interesting country and storylines available just never got worked up enough to see a campaign through

Thanks for the topic OP, I suppose there's plenty I haven't done in over a decade of HOI2/DH gameplay

 

[raiden1]

For me most played countries are:

Germany and/or Soviet union - War on the east front is very interesting in my opinion
Japan - because I just like this nation.
Some Minors (Finland, Hungary) - sometimes - just for fun.

 

[Pandrea]

Minors:
Ottoman Empire in KR for a very satisfying small nation playthrough (remake the empire, all the way to Vienna!)

I'm interested, how do you achieve reforms for Ataturk's death?

 

[Victor_21]

I'm interested, how do you achieve reforms for Ataturk's death?

Great question! I haven't played as the Ottoman's enough times to know the paths from memory, I just know where I want to end up. See below for screenshots from my last authoritarian game (I only have them since I was considering an AAR, but the effort has since fizzled).

For this game I tried to limit my slide to 'Closed Society' and 'Central Planning' (also used slider moves when I could, was reversed once by the event trees I think). Pushed to 'Standing Army' when I could.

Money production was my foremost priority since you absolutely must campaign for Political Influence (I went with Serenity Party) and enact reforms (five-ish times total between the two to get sufficient support). Both require significant sums.

Bad part is the production impact, which is stymied through 1938 due to dissent (maxed out at 25-ish% early on and finally kicked it for good when reforms completed). I sometimes chose events that increased dissent, all depends on where you want your gov't to end up.

I finished up the transition in time for the Cairo Pact and the Arab/Persian war. Then onto Vienna. Hope this brief synopsis helps.

Spoiler: 1936 through 1938, Ottoman reforms

1936

​

1937

​

1938

 

[Eugenioso]

My favorites are 3, bar germany:

Italy, just because you are basically a second rate power facing off against the odds. WIth good management and smart conquests you can eventually puppet half the world, but only after the USSR dies. Screw Africa, go take a big armored force to SU and begin to lop off soviet divisions, guaranteeing almost a german win and giving you carte blanche to deal with the rest of the world while germany gets nuked by US forces.

China, because i like the do-or-die attitude you have to assume with them. Given time, they will become THE most powerful country due to their massive manpower.

USSR, because with WIF2 their struggle truly becomes a life-or-death scenario, where you are trading manpower for time. Time is blood, but if you manage to survive the first year and a half until '43, you can drain german MP and slowly grind them back towards Sauerkraut and eventually become master of the continent, as well as going to extended mobilization eventually as well.

 

[Vajizz]

I like playing TGC with minor countries to build-up the army during the interwar period and largely prefer gearing up for a defensive war to deal with AI shortcomings and the advantage the human player has (including limiting my army build to no more than 6 SUB fleet or limiting my NAV). My most played nations are:

1. Greece - Build up during WWI and prepare for Greco-Turkish war after WWI and take over of Bulgaria. From there, anything is possible from preparing for a defensive war stalemate on the Greek front and Istanbul vs Nazi Germany or attacking the Allies to take back Cyprus and fight for the Suez Canal.

2. Brazil - Take over all of South America ASAP and then prepare for a defensive war with either the US, Allies/US, Axis or whoever is the strongest country/alliance in the 1940s. This is more a naval/airforce battle and I avoid land invasions of USA.

3. Thailand - Try and expand the country by either joining Japan to attack the British Raj and parts of southern China or more ambitiously, attacking the Allies standalone and take over Vietnam(which is feasible, particularly if France is no longer in the Allies) and attempting to take over the parts of Malaysia bordering Thailand quickly, followed by taking over as much of the British Raj as possible (the latter being very hard usually as there is a war of attrition in the mountainous provinces around northwestern/western Thailand)..

 

[Altruist]

I like playing TGC

TGC?

 

[Igoryuri]

TGC?

I think he means TheGrandCampaign mod.

 

[Vajizz]

Yes that's right - The Grand Campaign Mod so I can start in 1914. It is a shame that it is not being updated anymore as I spend the majority of my time playing this mod!

 

[Mimmmo]

Hello everyone.

Currently I have rediscovered the pleasure of playing the major ones because you have a greater number of possibilities and you can devote yourself with pleasure to the creation of navy and air force without spamming only land units. I like to follow a historically plausible line even if it can lead to short or long term setbacks.

Germany: Simply all possible choices.
USSR: Hordes of infantry, magnificent war of attrition
Great Britain: Interesting to be busy simultaneously on many theaters. I like taking control of the commonweath forces even if it requires some management.
Japan: Go to the conquest of Asia and engage in an air-naval and peaceful struggle against the greatest power in the world.
Italy: my country.

Never played with the United States even though I am always tempted to do so. France, on the other hand, has never interested me.

I've played several minor nations in the past. Apart from nationalist China (which once Japan is defeated becomes really too strong), Turkey, Romania, Hungary, Finland, Nationalist Spain are very interesting Axis countries are very nice.
Commonwealth are playable and interesting Australia and Canada.

 

[awesomenessofme]

I absolutely love the first five to six years of a Nationalist China game from the 1933 start. Slowly but decisively crushing the Communists, modernizing your army, and pushing Japan off the mainland and getting the surrender event is always incredibly satisfying. Things get a bit less interesting at that point since there's not much in the way of direct threats, but there's still fun to be had, invading the European colonies surrounding you, or fighting the Soviets to reclaim ancestral lands. I've wanted to run a game long enough to fight a successful Germany and become master of Eurasia, but I've never gotten that far.

 

[dummy1234]

I ussualy like to play nations that have potential to dominate and arent too strong. Strong nations like USA are too boring for me since you can just destroy everything in your way. But I will say I find Russia very fun in KR.

 

[TomorrowsHerald]

Well, in KR terms I'd list them like this (haven't played Vanilla or other mods in a long time)

1) Commune of France: practically the Germany of KR, especially since Russia became more likely to DoW the CoF (usually as part of a German Alliance) The most practical way to win is a Blitz tank army with TACS and CAS. It can make for a pretty easy game to one that's downright impossible depending on events. I like the challenge of managing a large land army with a very limited manpower pool. In one particularly challenging game, I got as far as the Rhine before reinforcements from Austria and a Rump Russia killed my manpower pool. A secondary front in Italy then gradually drew the Austrian army in allowing me to cut it from the North and destroy it in an investment that was more in line with my capabilities since a broad front was out of the question.

With Austria out, the German front collapsed, with Germany out, the Rump Russian state didn't stand a chance against my tanks. It was long and costly, but a lot of fun. There are various challenges you can play with France; an anarchist direction for an infantry focused army and more manpower generation but less industry. The Syndicalist direction for the easier tank army. The Sorelian direction for an infantry army without the anarchist manpower buff and more challenge. And finally, the Jacobian direction which involves a lot of dissent, a semi-civil war, and finally an infantry focused army that's more depleted at game's start but a lot of industry. After beating Germany, if it is partitioned, Prussia can align with Russia (if its still free) for a future Eastern Front or you can start painting the map red.

2) German Empire: Sort of mixes the challenges of playing Germany in vanilla with the British Empire at least in East Asia. Some games can be rather easy Case Yellow + Sealion affairs while others can become a tricky multi-front war against the International, Russia and Japan. Black Monday makes it hard to build much before the war (though the starting infantry and air units are pretty decent overall, especially if one uses the vassal armies which I generally prefer to keep in the East to make things harder) Hell, even the Entente can declare war which makes for a pretty epic challenge that the human player can potentially lose.

3) USA/Civil War Faction: Makes for an interesting war scenario in the civil war but then devolves into a pretty average paint the map vanilla US game. Playing as the Federalists against everyone + Mexico is pretty challenging, the AUS and PSA are both pretty handicapped compared to the others, while the CSA generally steamrollers everyone unless you add Canada into the belligerents which then makes for a pretty brutal game. A lot of choices there.

4) Canada/Nationalist France; both face the challenge of landing on their home territories with limited manpower and resources. While there are variations on government types I'd say actual gameplay tends to remain rather consistent as the limited manpower makes quality win over quantity most of the time.

5) UoB/Japan/Russia: Frankly, those states can do whatever they like in the game as there is no immediate challenge and plenty of room to expand.

6) Austria/Ottoman Empire/Bulgaria: All three face challenging conditions to maintain their empires including multi-front wars.

7) Qing Empire/Republic of China: Kind of the start from scratch - end as a superpower game which makes it quite rewarding.

 

[Tommy Vercetti]

In KR

Canada- Fun objective oriented game play. Fun restoring the British Empire to glory.

Russia- I like restoring the Tsar under a conservative constitutional monarchy a lot.

Thunder In The Sky

USA- Bringing Freedom to a dark world is fun

Peace Without Victory

United Kingdom- A fun challenge if you play it right.

 

[TomorrowsHerald]

Russia- I like restoring the Tsar under a conservative constitutional monarchy a lot.

My favourite Russia game was actually playing as a Republic; Germany elected the far-right and DoW's on me when I got a bit cute with their eastern clients. The Commune and I eventually met along the Elbe (I didn't have tanks so it took a while), the Commune actually looked like it might collapse for a time but they managed to rally and push through from the gates of Paris, probably because I'd bleed the German manpower pool white by then. Austria, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire all joined in the war on the German side while the remnants of the Entente (they'd lost Canada to the CSA) declared war on Germany.

I don't remember exactly when but I did join the Entente while the CSA wasn't a member of the international at the time (I don't think they actually ever joined come to think of it) At any rate, the war ended with practically a reverse cold war between the Democratic Entente (once Canada was out) with Russia as its superpower allied to a united India, Australia, Balkan and Middle Eastern puppets, and the Syndicalists led by a Jacobian France, a Totalist Britain and a Syndicalist Italy and Spain with the CSA some type of totalist too. Wish I had that save game on file but I lost it in between versions over the years. Could make good AAR material.