Although i agree a Soviet and Eastern Front Rework is the most pressing matter right now in the game, i understand the delay since such a task would certainly be enormous and not something to be rushed.
I'd rather wait for a great eastern front and soviet experience than getting some half-assed mostly alt-history patch.
Now on the topic of the France and Italy rework, i am absolutely thrilled by this, just because France and Italy are usually faithfull to their historical outcomes doesnt mean they are correctly portrayed, they are lacking in depth and flavour, and have very simplified mechanics of reasonably complex issues.
I see many people discussing a possible Mediterranean patch, which is something i've been anticipating for a long time, probably my second priority after the Eastern Front, many things in that region should get improved.
The Spanish Civil war is the elephant in the room, its an extremely enjoyable warm-up to the greater conflict later on and keeps the early game build up "grind" interesting and alive. Unfortunally it has far more potential than its currently worth.
For example, Nationalist Spain was technically not really fascist (althout it did share many traits with Fascist Italy) and Republican Spain was not Communist at all but a large coalition of several ideologies, including but not restrict to communism.
This is clearly intended for gameplay purposes of allowing Fascists to send Volunteers to the Nationalists and the Soviet Union to send volunteers to the Republicans, but this mechanic in itself is very restrictive because Spain got volunteers from many other countries and in different amounts than in the game.
France supported the Republicans diplomatically, in armament, logistics and (unofficial) volunteers, in fact the majority of International volunteers fighting in the republicans came from the French Republic (10,000), however in the game you can only help the Republicans if you go down the (ahistorical) communist path. You should be able to send volunteers even if a Democracy.
The Soviet Union support was actually far more logistic than in volunteers, the total amount of Soviet civilians contributing in Spain was barely over 3000, and they were more military advisors, pilots and technicians than actuall fighters. The major Soviet contribution was in aircraft (~700) tanks (~350) and artillery pieces (~1500).
When it comes to Nationalist Spain, Italy was the one who sent the most volunteers by far, with 50 000 men, 5 times more than Germany's 10 000, Germany's help was like the Soviet one, far more logistic and technical than in actual fighting volunteers.
The most overlooked supported of Nationalist Spain is likely Portugal, who sent 20,000 volunteers, of which 12,000 were an official division "The Viriatus", which were originally meant to be a much larger state sponsored expeditionary force but then reduced to a volunteer task due to diplomatic repercurssions. Portugal also supplied the Nationalists with guns, ammunition and logistical help, as well as serving as a reliable and cooperative supply route to other nations who meant to aid the Nationalists. Speaking of Portugal, the Estado Novo regime was very similar to the Falagist regime in Spain, to the point its sometimes considered the same ideology. If Nationalist Spain qualifies as "Fascist", then Estado Novo Portugal does as well.
Gameplay-wise, Portugal is not Fascist to keep them neutral in the conflict, fair point, but this could be achieved the same way as the way they made Spain neutral, with a National Spirit deterring Portugal from joining any faction, in Spain's case its the "recovering from the civil war" spirit, in Portugal's case it could the Iberian Pact (signed between Portugal and Spain in 1939 ensuring mutual neutrality in the event of an European War, and comitted both countries to defend the peninsula in case any of them was attacked) and it could even escalate into their own Iberian faction, (which knowing Paradox, will innevitable exist as an alt-history branch when Spain gets a unique tree anyway). Speaking of Portugal, there are few objective mistakes which should be fixed even if Portugal is not reworked, which is the population distribution (Guarda has 1,8M people in game when in actuality it had only barely 1M in 1936 and Porto having 850K when in real life it had 2,15M in 1936). The other mistake is Salazar's portrait, which is from the late 60's instead of 1936-39.
Back on the topic of the civil-war, currently the volunteers are usually the following:
Republicans:
5 Soviet Divisions
Nationalists:
3 German Divisions
2 Italian Divisions
It should be something like:
Republicans:
2 French Divisions
1 Soviet Division (with aircraft)
Soviet Attaché
Soviet Lend Lease
Mexican Lend Lease
Nationalists:
6 Italian Divisions
3 Portuguese Divisions
2 German Divisions (with aircraft)
German Attaché
German Lend-Lease
Around 50 other countries also sent volunteers and/or aid to Spain, but these serve little gameplay purpose and are already represented by the spawn of "International Brigades" in Spain when the civil war starts.
Of course, this would involve further balancing, expecially considering the Civil War already ends far too quickly (around 1937 or early 38) in game already as it is.
