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HoI4 Dev Diary - Poland Focus Tree Rework Part 2/2

Hello folks and welcome back to the Poland dev-diary extravaganza! This week, I am going to continue covering the changes coming to Poland in 1.11 Barbarossa and the unannounced DLC.Today we’ll be covering the DLC content.
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So, I’m going to start here with something a bunch of you predicted last week; you can indeed play as the Peasants’ Strike! A Poland with ambitions to restore democracy or embrace the communist revolution must first build an organized peasant militia from the rabble of disorganized farmers!
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No matter how many or few states join you in the strike, the rebellious state will be in a delicate balancing act between democrats and socialists. Your first step towards revolution is to sway the Front Morges to take up the peasant’s cause, the Morges being an alliance of political parties supported by a select few Polish generals including Sikorski.
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Each focus you do in this initial block will add 5 support to either communism or democracy, with a total of 50% or more being needed for one to assert dominance over the other and take control of the government.
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Similar to the Spanish Civil War, the Peasants’ Strike will be on a tight schedule, taking up to a year before the revolution happens. Poland will at first be able to add agricultural states to the strike, but by expanding the strike to factory workers, Poland will also be able to bring states from Poland’s industrial heartland into the revolution.
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Along with contesting for popular support, gaining military support will be vital for the movement. Using decisions, certain field marshals and generals will be swayed to your cause and gain the “Peasant Sympathiser” trait, ensuring that they will join your side when the war begins.
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Poland will begin with socialist politician Stanisław Mikołajczyk as country leader, but those who wish to see the return of Wincenty Witos will be able to bring him back to leadership via event.
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Once the civil war is won, Poland will be in a vulnerable state. Recuperating manpower and resources after a civil war will place Poland in a precarious position, so some concessions and outreach for foreign assistance may be needed.
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A communist Poland will have two options: they may be bold and elect an anti-Stalinist candidate as Chairman, or they may elect the Soviet-aligned Władysław Gomułka. However, aligning with the Soviets will come at the cost of ceding Eastern Poland, but will unlock a few focuses for dealing with the USSR.

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With democracy, Poland may take advantage of the Front Morges’ ambitions for closer relations with the French and create the Morges Pact, a sort-of Poland-led Little Entente. Going down this route will allow Poland access to the Between the Seas branch we talked about last week.

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Anti-Soviet communists will be able to denounce both Capitalism and Fascism, diplomatically isolating this people’s republic, but allowing for new expansion options and military bonuses against the empires of this world. In doing so, they will gain a powerful attack and defence bonus against major powers.
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Both democrats and anti-Soviet communists will also be able to declare the destruction of fascism a greater cause than the spread of socialism and align themselves with the British Empire. Doing so will allow Poland to renew her interests in colonialism and attempt to purchase colonies from Allied powers. By officially recognising the Maritime and Colonial League, Poland can purchase Madagascar, Palestine, and more. If any of your purchases are successful, Poland will have somewhere to build their forces in exile, should the front back home fail.

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No matter which option you pick, either conquering or building alliances with the Baltic States will allow you to create a new kind of Commonwealth: the Commonwealth of Socialist Republics.

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Moving on to the next branch, we have the Regency Council: Poland’s attempt to “restore” the monarchy. The Act of the Fifth of November was the promise of the Central Powers to release a Kingdom of Poland from the occupied territories of the Russian Empire, but the Regency Council of the newly formed Kingdom of Poland failed to crown a King before Józef Piłsudski declared the Second Polish Republic.

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With the Regency Council assembled, Poland will be able to choose from one of three claimants, each with their own complete political path. There were countless claimants and candidates for the Polish throne so it was impossible for me to make content for them all, so we have: The Hohenzollern, The Commonwealth Claimant, and the Cossack-King to choose from!

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The Commonwealth Claimant is perhaps the most obvious: Poland’s preferred candidate for King was Friedrich Christian. Christian was preferred due to Poland’s long connection with the houses of Saxony, and with a claimant so supported by the Poles, you are able to claim the throne of Lithuania without the need for warfare.

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Through decisions, Poland can trend monarchist sentiment up in Lithuania, and when it reaches high enough, they may either enter a civil war or peacefully take over the government. When either case has happened, Poland can annex the Lithuanian Kingdom and begin integrating the industries of their two nations and preparing for war with the Soviets and Germans: restoring the old borders of the Commonwealth and then some!

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Poland and Romania enjoyed close relations at the start of HoI’s timeframe, and with the throne of Poland empty, Poland may throw herself into the complex mess of Romanian politics by electing a Romanian King.

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With King Michael on the throne of Poland, the Kingdoms will be able to unite under the right circumstances. Either by Polish interference or by Romania completing “King Michael’s Coup”, Romania and Poland will be united, bringing their armies together and becoming a powerful wall between the Axis and the Comintern.

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This Intermarium nation may seek Balkan Domination and a restoration of Poland-Hungary, or (as with the Commonwealth) it may seek to maintain its alignment with the Allies.

Finally, we have the most unlikely candidate for the throne: Pavel Bermondt-Avalov.
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A warlord, a cossack, and a Georgian Prince, Pavel led an interesting life of conquest and warfare. In the interwar period, Pavel and his Bermontian host invaded Lithuania and Latvia for reasons historians are still unsure of, but his ambition for Baltic domination makes him the ideal candidate for militarizing the Polish state into action and dominating the Baltics and Czechoslovakia.
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When done conquering the Baltics, Pavel will be able to either turn his militarized Polish Kingdom against the Germans and asser Poland’s claims in Silesia and Pomerania or, as a National Socialist, Pavel may wish to seek alignment with the Germans, which brings us on to the fascist branch.
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Poland was home to a multitude of fascist and nationalist movements: the most notable of which are the Endecja (or National Democracy) and the Falanga. The Sanation historically made dealings with both of these groups, and as such, if you want either Endecja or Falanga to take control, you must collaborate with the Sanation until you are able to supplant them.

When either Endecja or Falanga have taken over the government, they will have a choice to either stand firm with Polish nationalism or make concessions to the Germans and attempt to seek an alliance.
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Aligning with the Germans will not place you on equal grounds, and it is not as easy as it once was. Germany will refuse to ally with Poland unless Danzig and Poznan are surrendered and Poland becomes a German subject. Unlike Czechoslovakia though, the Poles will be able to break their shackles and tear the Reich apart from within.

With either Pavel, Piasecki, or Dmowski in control, Poland will be presented with a ladder of focuses enabling them to either gain powerful bonuses from the Germans or plot with the Underground State to overthrow their current masters.
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Going for independence will allow Poland to switch sides and stab Germany in the back, whereas remaining loyal will enable Poland to gain some cores in the USSR in a sort-of reverse Yalta Conference.
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However, a Falanga or Endecja that does not bow to the Germans will be able to lean into the Polish Catholic identity and form the Falangist International: a faction devoted to the perseverance of Falangist ideals.
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Once the Spanish Civil War is done with, if either the Carlists, Nationalists, or Falangists come out on top, Poland will be able to bring them into their own faction and from there, they will be able to expand that faction to other nations where Falangism was present such as: Mexico, the Netherlands, and much of Latin America.

They will have access to decisions to boost fascism in those nations, and with a certain percentage achieved, those nations will be invited to join the Falangist International. These focuses invite multiple nations at once, so the faction can grow very large very quickly.
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Similar to the Sanation path, the Polish fascists must choose between allying with Lithuania or attempting to reclaim the legacy of the Commonwealth, but choose wisely. Without allying Lithuania, this Poland will be unable to progress down the Between the Seas path, severely limiting their faction’s ability to expand.

That’s about it for the political paths, so I’ll wrap this one up by talking about a feature we haven’t touched in quite some time: Governments in Exile.
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Unlike France and the Netherlands, Poland does not by default have a vast colonial empire to which they may retreat when things fall apart back home, so Poland will be entirely reliant on the support and goodwill of their allies and the network of resistance fighters in the Polish Underground State.
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In exile, the Polish government went through a number of Prime Ministers and Presidents before landing on something the Allies were satisfied with. If Poland is following a historical route and is exiled in a Democratic nation like Britain or France, they will demand the resignation of the Sanation leaders, and from there, Poland may pick from one of three new leaders, each with a unique personality enabling them to gain manpower while in exile.

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On top of that, they will gain access to Irena Anders as a political adviser, granting more legitimacy, stability, and exiled manpower.

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In the exile focus tree, Poland can gain a number of offmap factories and dockyards, and bonuses to their ace generation and an increase in special forces cap. Poland will never muster a major army while exiled, but with these bonuses, Poland will still be able to keep fighting on with a small but specialised force.

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Owners of La Resistance will gain access to a slew of agency bonuses including an increase to their spy capacity, free agency upgrades via focus, and the new Warsaw Uprising operation.

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Completing the operation will trigger the Warsaw Uprising sooner than the game mechanics usually allow. With 50% resistance or higher in Polish states, the uprising can be started, but time this well as you can only complete this operation once. A well-timed uprising can shatter the German army and leave them short on supply as they attempt Operation Barbarossa.

Poland was also vital to assisting in decrypting the enigma machine, so they also gain access to the Mastermind Codebreaker advisor: Marian Rejewski.

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The old Cyclometer and Bombe focuses have been moved into the espionage branch, but I noted that without any territory left, a bonus to atomic research was fairly useless to Poland. So, when the Atomic Research focus is done, Poland gains an offmap nuclear reactor that will give roughly one nuke per year... Try not to think too hard about it.

There were a lot of interesting alternate-history scenarios for Poland to explore and new possibilities came up during my research and implementation. Though I didn’t represent everything in game (such as the proposed Japan-Polish alliance), Poland is a treasure-trove of alternate history scenarios if only you can find a way to survive.

That’s all for this week, and that wraps up the two week Poland extravaganza!
 
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Where should I start with this one.

Now, I am gonna say that I actually enjoyed last week dev-diary and historical path for Poland. Even if there were some inaccurate things, it was largely well done and did its job well to represent political land scape in government itself.
Similarly I have to say I like gov-in-exile part of the tree. Certainly very good additional which represents, more or less, how impactful Poland was even after the capitulation. Nukes are over-the-top, I would see something similar to Bulgarian research bonus for Germany that would be more in place, but even then, pretty happy with the addition.

But now for the alt-hist stuff.

Monarchy here is less of a problem.
Wettin path is reasonably plausible even if you consider that monarchist movements in Poland at the time were largely gone, but given we have ability to bring back monarchy in Germany, let's give it a benefit of the doubt and let's go with general theme of alt-history in the game. As mentioned earlier, Wettin was considered as one of the main contenders for the throne so he here is relatively reasonable pick to go for. The rest here makes relative sense, restore kingdom, go for PLC, then turn on Nazi Germany. However I see here somewhat missed opportunity for some focuses "just in case" Germany went back to being an Empire. I would see some possibilities here for cooperation between the two monarchies in this regard, but as I said. This one is more or less fine.

Next path is Romanian prince. Initially this part makes some sense. Given the assumption of Polish going back to monarchy, elements not exactly wanting German dynasty on the throne again and very good relations between Poland and Romania during Interbellum we can assume that this could be the case. More problematic is further part of this. I cant imagine a scenerio where Hungary or Slovakia would like to be in one country with one another especially under Romanian king. And good ties between Hungary with Poland would not change it just as it didn't help Polish plans for Intermarium historically. Of course I assume that Hungary in this scenerio would have to be conquered, but it's still doubtful one at best.

Finally... cossack king. I honestly have no idea how this guy came to be in this scope. Person with no relevance to Polish history whatsoever. Open national-socialist who aimed to take Baltics, never once was in Poland, never once was in Polish historiography. I dont even know what should I say here other than... i dont know, no.

The fact that the monarchy lacks Karol Olbracht von Habsburg, dynasty which led the most leniant and most well-remembered partition still treated with some, let's say respect, even today, prince who actively assisted in Polish independence wars of 1920s and finally was tortured by Germans after taking Polish nationality and refusing to sign Volksliste. He is ignored in favour of a gameplay choice, because let's be honest, fascist monarch who can go with Germany is there purely because of gameplay choice of people whose idea of game scenerio will be... "uh I want to play Poland monarchy... BUT ALSO... I want to go with Nazies". Understandable from gameplay perspective, but still very much not okay from perspective of Polish historiography, especially that such scenerio would make for much more interesting playthrough in regards to central Europe - why not use newly awarded position to try to influence Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Austria to recreate Habsburg Empire and then take on common enemies just like in 1683. Given A-H tag is already in the game, seems like missed opportunity more than anything else.

Generally speaking, aside from Mr Pavel there and lack of Habsburg let's say that this part of Polish alt-hist tree is... okay. But now... oh boy, here we go the gist of the problem. Non-monarchist path of alt-history. Because the stuff that goes here is just... extraordinarily wrong.

Let's start with the simplest case here:
Dmowski and Endecja. Dmowski throught his political career was in staunch opposition to Germany. Even before World War 1 he openly vowed for loyalty towards Russian government in their potential conflict vs Germany which would allow creation of Polish state as a expression of gratitude from Russia for Polish assistance in the conflict. Following regaining the independence he was in opposition to Piłsudski, who treated Germany as an ally and Russia as the biggest enemy. It was his party which would be behind treaty of Riga which made Poland go back on some of their gains in Polish-Bolshevik war in favour of limiting Piłsudski power by sabotaging his Intermarium project as well as creating more ethnically cohesive state. Even during interbellum and after the war his external policies were these of cooperation with Russia and staunch anti-German and anti-British positions. That is why after German invasion, during operation Tannenberg, political figures from Endecja was amongst first one to be targeted and killed alongside veterans of Poznań and Silesian uprising and other groups of Polish Intelligentsia.
Ultimately Dmowski is treated somewhat like a fascist. Where the very core of his ideology was National DEMOCRACY. Of course you are trying to portray this scenerio as some coalition between Endecja and RN-R Falanga, which in this scenerio was fascist, but reality was that Falanga was a group of maybe 5000 people at most in their best year, had next to no popular support and still was not in favour of cooperating with Germany as proved by their activities post war and fighting against Germany with Piasecki - leader of RN-R would even become an MP in post-war communist government between 1965-1980.

This is yet again case of gameplay choice that if government is right wing they have to go with Germany, but the issue here that it's complete misrepresentation of political climate in Poland. Take that is really surprising given how historical path is handled or even how Greece is handled, when you have right wing - war like government democratic, as it, supposedly, was.

So what would be the alternative... the alternative as Dmowski path would be the one of minor cooperation with Soviets. Even after communists won during Russian Civil War Dmowski would maintain some of his contacts within Russia, and even amongst Soviets he was seen as plausible contact within Poland. This could lead to Dmowski-led Poland to discard unruly eastern lands which didnt fit to his vision of Piast Poland and instead focus on Silesia and Prussia, still with big parts of Polish population. He would aim to revert the outcome of Prussian plebiscite or 3rd Silesian Uprising which both led to big parts of Polish population still in German hands. This would enable to gain cores on this lands and some limited Soviet support. Dmowski would also be very supportive towards Czechs. Czechsd were supported by Soviet Union during Munich Conference and we could see some cooperation between Poland - Czechs and Soviets in the name of Panslavism which was very important part of ND ideaology and would sit relatively well within scope of Central Europe and Soviets.

So now we are left with a problem. If not Dmowski, then which part of Polish tree would allow for cooperation with Germany. The answer to it is kinda within the tree as is - pact Ribbentrop - Beck. Polish - German relations between 1933 and 1938 were very good and Poland was seen as somewhat of an ally towards Germany throught this time period. Sanacja as a government followed Piłsudski's vision. Primary enemy of Poland is Russia, always has been, always will be Russia and Germany, albeit in conflicts in the past could and would cooperate. This obviously changed with German demand of Gdańsk corridor, but here is where the alt-history kicks in. What if Poland agreed to giving up Gdańsk and instead focused on the east. In this part of the tree we also could see Prometheism which was very important part of Polish external policies in regards to the east. Supporting minorities in Soviet Union to weaken it and further in conflict estabilish them as states. This could go somewhat hand in hand with Germany goal in the area and could easily work as "what if Poland went with Germany", ultimately this could culminate in recreation of PLC with cores from Ukraine as envisioned by Piłsudski or some of federation. This could also give some context to Polish - Japan cooperation.

So now we have path for Soviets and path for Germany and now what's left is truly democratic path. Here we have it... somewhat. Obvious choice was Sikorski as he was considered the most pro-western, experienced and overall influential persona within Polish politics, however we have this path quite mishandled by showing his political tree as some sort of coalition with communists.

Reality of Polish politics was - communists were gone after 1921. While KPP - Communist Party of Poland technically existed, it was fully underground with most of its relevant personas either in Bereza Kartuska or in Moscow (where they were subject to Stalinist purges as well). What you are portraying here as communist are PPS or PSL, left and central, democratic parties in Poland which both were in opposition towards communists (as an example here we can take Kazimierz Pużak, leader of PPS-WRN during the war who was murdered by stalinists in 1950), portraying them as communists - even anti-Soviet communists are straight up misinterpretation even the most radical movements of PPS offered by, for example Daszyński. These parties were still very much democratic in nature and willing to cooperate with the west to bring back democracy (they would even cooperate with Dmowsky's Endecja to be part of opposition towards Piłsudski's Sanacja).
Generally this opens a possibility for big-tent democratic coalition against Sanacja with support of West and limited approval of Soviets and in opposition to Germany. Of course it leaves the gameplay issue "but what if you want to play communists". Well... that's the reality - the only way for openly communist government in Poland was shipping remnants of KPP from Moscow to Poland and waging civil war where communists would be fully supported by USSR. This could lead to a scenerio that other side - Sanacja - goes to Germany and that sparks Soviet - German war. But really outside of that anything remotely plausible in terms of communists taking over power in Poland were gone. Enough said that when PKWN was estabilished in 1943 Stalin would have to parachute his politicians to Poland simply because he would find noone that would be willing to cooperate with him.

This are my thoughts about alt-history paths for Poland. I will be surprised if anyone reads it to the end, but I've given here several plausible and, in my opinion, very entertaining scenerios that would work both historically and gameplay wise. I am even offering to do it for you for nothing in return, because overall I am very happy that we will see Polish tree finally reworked. Contrary to popular myth Poland was relevant part of this war and I am very glad that finally it gets some love instead of 70 days for 1 factory focus.
I really love your ideas <3 Hope Paradox is taking some notes, but I would seperate Polish-Japanese alliance from collaborating with Reich. As I said earlier it could be interesting path in itself :)
 
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Hello folks and welcome back to the Poland dev-diary extravaganza! This week, I am going to continue covering the changes coming to Poland in 1.11 Barbarossa and the unannounced DLC.Today we’ll be covering the DLC content.
View attachment 707224
So, I’m going to start here with something a bunch of you predicted last week; you can indeed play as the Peasants’ Strike! A Poland with ambitions to restore democracy or embrace the communist revolution must first build an organized peasant militia from the rabble of disorganized farmers!
View attachment 707225
No matter how many or few states join you in the strike, the rebellious state will be in a delicate balancing act between democrats and socialists. Your first step towards revolution is to sway the Front Morges to take up the peasant’s cause, the Morges being an alliance of political parties supported by a select few Polish generals including Sikorski.
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Each focus you do in this initial block will add 5 support to either communism or democracy, with a total of 50% or more being needed for one to assert dominance over the other and take control of the government.
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Similar to the Spanish Civil War, the Peasants’ Strike will be on a tight schedule, taking up to a year before the revolution happens. Poland will at first be able to add agricultural states to the strike, but by expanding the strike to factory workers, Poland will also be able to bring states from Poland’s industrial heartland into the revolution.
View attachment 707229
Along with contesting for popular support, gaining military support will be vital for the movement. Using decisions, certain field marshals and generals will be swayed to your cause and gain the “Peasant Sympathiser” trait, ensuring that they will join your side when the war begins.
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Poland will begin with socialist politician Stanisław Mikołajczyk as country leader, but those who wish to see the return of Wincenty Witos will be able to bring him back to leadership via event.
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Once the civil war is won, Poland will be in a vulnerable state. Recuperating manpower and resources after a civil war will place Poland in a precarious position, so some concessions and outreach for foreign assistance may be needed.
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A communist Poland will have two options: they may be bold and elect an anti-Stalinist candidate as Chairman, or they may elect the Soviet-aligned Władysław Gomułka. However, aligning with the Soviets will come at the cost of ceding Eastern Poland, but will unlock a few focuses for dealing with the USSR.

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With democracy, Poland may take advantage of the Front Morges’ ambitions for closer relations with the French and create the Morges Pact, a sort-of Poland-led Little Entente. Going down this route will allow Poland access to the Between the Seas branch we talked about last week.

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Anti-Soviet communists will be able to denounce both Capitalism and Fascism, diplomatically isolating this people’s republic, but allowing for new expansion options and military bonuses against the empires of this world. In doing so, they will gain a powerful attack and defence bonus against major powers.
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Both democrats and anti-Soviet communists will also be able to declare the destruction of fascism a greater cause than the spread of socialism and align themselves with the British Empire. Doing so will allow Poland to renew her interests in colonialism and attempt to purchase colonies from Allied powers. By officially recognising the Maritime and Colonial League, Poland can purchase Madagascar, Palestine, and more. If any of your purchases are successful, Poland will have somewhere to build their forces in exile, should the front back home fail.

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No matter which option you pick, either conquering or building alliances with the Baltic States will allow you to create a new kind of Commonwealth: the Commonwealth of Socialist Republics.

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Moving on to the next branch, we have the Regency Council: Poland’s attempt to “restore” the monarchy. The Act of the Fifth of November was the promise of the Central Powers to release a Kingdom of Poland from the occupied territories of the Russian Empire, but the Regency Council of the newly formed Kingdom of Poland failed to crown a King before Józef Piłsudski declared the Second Polish Republic.

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With the Regency Council assembled, Poland will be able to choose from one of three claimants, each with their own complete political path. There were countless claimants and candidates for the Polish throne so it was impossible for me to make content for them all, so we have: The Hohenzollern, The Commonwealth Claimant, and the Cossack-King to choose from!

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The Commonwealth Claimant is perhaps the most obvious: Poland’s preferred candidate for King was Friedrich Christian. Christian was preferred due to Poland’s long connection with the houses of Saxony, and with a claimant so supported by the Poles, you are able to claim the throne of Lithuania without the need for warfare.

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Through decisions, Poland can trend monarchist sentiment up in Lithuania, and when it reaches high enough, they may either enter a civil war or peacefully take over the government. When either case has happened, Poland can annex the Lithuanian Kingdom and begin integrating the industries of their two nations and preparing for war with the Soviets and Germans: restoring the old borders of the Commonwealth and then some!

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Poland and Romania enjoyed close relations at the start of HoI’s timeframe, and with the throne of Poland empty, Poland may throw herself into the complex mess of Romanian politics by electing a Romanian King.

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With King Michael on the throne of Poland, the Kingdoms will be able to unite under the right circumstances. Either by Polish interference or by Romania completing “King Michael’s Coup”, Romania and Poland will be united, bringing their armies together and becoming a powerful wall between the Axis and the Comintern.

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This Intermarium nation may seek Balkan Domination and a restoration of Poland-Hungary, or (as with the Commonwealth) it may seek to maintain its alignment with the Allies.

Finally, we have the most unlikely candidate for the throne: Pavel Bermondt-Avalov.
View attachment 707249
A warlord, a cossack, and a Georgian Prince, Pavel led an interesting life of conquest and warfare. In the interwar period, Pavel and his Bermontian host invaded Lithuania and Latvia for reasons historians are still unsure of, but his ambition for Baltic domination makes him the ideal candidate for militarizing the Polish state into action and dominating the Baltics and Czechoslovakia.
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When done conquering the Baltics, Pavel will be able to either turn his militarized Polish Kingdom against the Germans and asser Poland’s claims in Silesia and Pomerania or, as a National Socialist, Pavel may wish to seek alignment with the Germans, which brings us on to the fascist branch.
View attachment 707251
Poland was home to a multitude of fascist and nationalist movements: the most notable of which are the Endecja (or National Democracy) and the Falanga. The Sanation historically made dealings with both of these groups, and as such, if you want either Endecja or Falanga to take control, you must collaborate with the Sanation until you are able to supplant them.

When either Endecja or Falanga have taken over the government, they will have a choice to either stand firm with Polish nationalism or make concessions to the Germans and attempt to seek an alliance.
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Aligning with the Germans will not place you on equal grounds, and it is not as easy as it once was. Germany will refuse to ally with Poland unless Danzig and Poznan are surrendered and Poland becomes a German subject. Unlike Czechoslovakia though, the Poles will be able to break their shackles and tear the Reich apart from within.

With either Pavel, Piasecki, or Dmowski in control, Poland will be presented with a ladder of focuses enabling them to either gain powerful bonuses from the Germans or plot with the Underground State to overthrow their current masters.
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Going for independence will allow Poland to switch sides and stab Germany in the back, whereas remaining loyal will enable Poland to gain some cores in the USSR in a sort-of reverse Yalta Conference.
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However, a Falanga or Endecja that does not bow to the Germans will be able to lean into the Polish Catholic identity and form the Falangist International: a faction devoted to the perseverance of Falangist ideals.
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Once the Spanish Civil War is done with, if either the Carlists, Nationalists, or Falangists come out on top, Poland will be able to bring them into their own faction and from there, they will be able to expand that faction to other nations where Falangism was present such as: Mexico, the Netherlands, and much of Latin America.

They will have access to decisions to boost fascism in those nations, and with a certain percentage achieved, those nations will be invited to join the Falangist International. These focuses invite multiple nations at once, so the faction can grow very large very quickly.
View attachment 707256
Similar to the Sanation path, the Polish fascists must choose between allying with Lithuania or attempting to reclaim the legacy of the Commonwealth, but choose wisely. Without allying Lithuania, this Poland will be unable to progress down the Between the Seas path, severely limiting their faction’s ability to expand.

That’s about it for the political paths, so I’ll wrap this one up by talking about a feature we haven’t touched in quite some time: Governments in Exile.
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Unlike France and the Netherlands, Poland does not by default have a vast colonial empire to which they may retreat when things fall apart back home, so Poland will be entirely reliant on the support and goodwill of their allies and the network of resistance fighters in the Polish Underground State.
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In exile, the Polish government went through a number of Prime Ministers and Presidents before landing on something the Allies were satisfied with. If Poland is following a historical route and is exiled in a Democratic nation like Britain or France, they will demand the resignation of the Sanation leaders, and from there, Poland may pick from one of three new leaders, each with a unique personality enabling them to gain manpower while in exile.

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On top of that, they will gain access to Irena Anders as a political adviser, granting more legitimacy, stability, and exiled manpower.

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In the exile focus tree, Poland can gain a number of offmap factories and dockyards, and bonuses to their ace generation and an increase in special forces cap. Poland will never muster a major army while exiled, but with these bonuses, Poland will still be able to keep fighting on with a small but specialised force.

View attachment 707261

Owners of La Resistance will gain access to a slew of agency bonuses including an increase to their spy capacity, free agency upgrades via focus, and the new Warsaw Uprising operation.

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Completing the operation will trigger the Warsaw Uprising sooner than the game mechanics usually allow. With 50% resistance or higher in Polish states, the uprising can be started, but time this well as you can only complete this operation once. A well-timed uprising can shatter the German army and leave them short on supply as they attempt Operation Barbarossa.

Poland was also vital to assisting in decrypting the enigma machine, so they also gain access to the Mastermind Codebreaker advisor: Marian Rejewski.

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The old Cyclometer and Bombe focuses have been moved into the espionage branch, but I noted that without any territory left, a bonus to atomic research was fairly useless to Poland. So, when the Atomic Research focus is done, Poland gains an offmap nuclear reactor that will give roughly one nuke per year... Try not to think too hard about it.

There were a lot of interesting alternate-history scenarios for Poland to explore and new possibilities came up during my research and implementation. Though I didn’t represent everything in game (such as the proposed Japan-Polish alliance), Poland is a treasure-trove of alternate history scenarios if only you can find a way to survive.

That’s all for this week, and that wraps up the two week Poland extravaganza!
Can i have a little suggestion about one of the the focus names, "Niech żyje opór" just doesn't sound right for the Polish focus about resistance, is there any possibility to change this name for "W imieniu Polski Podziemnej...", those are the words the executors of Polish Home Army used before killing a high rank German officials during occupation of Poland?
 
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Did anyone else notice this map mode change?
It's for inspecting your off-map focus tree assets.
When Norway gets its own focus trees, I hope we get to build Andøya missile base early. Off-map. With nuclear missiles, and rocket ships that can carry starship troopers to the enemy capital. Did I say starship troopers? I meant armoured polar bears.

d5cl7bv-2e29bfbb-a8a6-434a-a7ac-a7b1a7b974b9.jpg
 
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Madagascar has sense, there was supposed king of Madagascar who was Polish called Maurycy Beniowski in XVIII century and the buyout of the colony from French was also considered.
Palastine the only reason why I can accept it is because of Jews. There were many Jews in Poland and thats why or maybe because of Polish Catholicism idk.
Rest is weird and definitely out of place. Romanov candidate would be more suiting than random cossack prince or Romanian king...
Well, the colonies listed were all ones the Second Republic did actually try to buy. They also tried to annex part of Brazil.
What bugs me most is the lack of a Habsburg route.
 
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Dmowski was a staunchly anti-german. I can't see him becoming a german puppet. If you want a fascist anti-german path then maybe do an alliance between Poland, Italy and Austria something simillar to the Stresa Front. Everything is better then the Latin America's help for Poland.
You are able to go pro or anti German as either Endecja or Falanga. Both Endecja and Falanga were very much about the Polish Catholic identity, which is why their fascist alternative is a Falangist faction. You only have so much time to convert other countries to Falangism so you're only realistically going to get a handful of countries on other continents onboard with your faction.

Calling PSL socialist is a bit of a stretch. They didn't plan to get rid of private property and they olny planned to nationalise the strategic industrial branches. True they wanted to promote rural cooperatives, but in my opinion it's not enough to call them socialist. Social democrats with socialist elements is much more suiting.
Maybe I should be more clear, they are social-democrat as you can see in the screenshot of the PSL being the Democratic party. "Socialism" is a broad term, I should have been more specific with what I was referring to; PSL is by no means communist.

Stanisław Mikołajczyk being leader of the strike was again preliminary research done early on through Wikipedia https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strajk_chłopski_(1937)
 
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@Meka66 I see Witold Pilecki and, as you say, some new ops... Any possibilities to have infiltration ops in certain kind of camps? And if so, what impact does it have?
Pilecki can become an operative through the exile branch if you own La Resistance, but we have no Pilecki's Report related content as of right now. The nature of depicting atrocities in our content is an ongoing discussion and we want to ensure that if we do depict these things, we do it in a way which is sensitive to those affected by it. :)
 
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They do, yes! If Germany goes with the Kaiser, Monarchists will have access to the "Seek an Alliance with the Kaiser" focus which allows them to align with Germany without making concessions.

Similarly, the pro-Allies focuses try to find another democratic major power to ally with if Britain has done something wacky ;)
Without concessions?

Doesn't that invalidate Imperial Germanys "Danzig for Guarantees" national focus?
Plus it feels like they wouldn't allow someone into their alliance who still holds territory they consider theirs. And given that Poland is living right next to a huge communist state that not only wants a lot more of Polands territory but also hate monarchies, the Kaiser would absolutely have the leverage. Maybe have them give up the contested provinces in exchange for new claims in the east?

That would seem more realistic. Plus it would be more in line with actual history (e.g. how Poland ultimately lost land in the east and gained some in the west, or how Germany pressured Romania to give up contested territory but promised more by conquest).
 
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Let me get this straight: for the Carlist to come out on top, they need to uprise against and defeat the Falange, and right after they do that, they are going to join the Falangist International?
No, the Falangist International will invite any of the right-wing Spains who win; Carlist, Falangist, or Franco's Spain.
All good but the off map nuclear reactor. IDK what are the capabilities of the engine, but maybe gain plutonium(%) from an ally? At the cost of PP.
It's Schrodinger's nuclear reactor.
For the exile government perhaps there could be a decision/focus that allows the raising of the 1st Polish Parachute brigade and 1st Polish Armoured division?
You get a bonus to your special forces cap. I wanted to give you the ability to build your own special divisions instead of being railroaded into making the historical ones.
I really love your ideas <3 Hope Paradox is taking some notes, but I would seperate Polish-Japanese alliance from collaborating with Reich. As I said earlier it could be interesting path in itself :)
There's a lot of interesting paths I wish I could've done, but the tree is already pretty huge compared to what we usually do and we only have so much time to implement and test everything. A Polish-Japanese alliance for smashing the USSR would have been fun, but it would have required a bunch of extra work and there's only so much time. If you're in multiplayer, there's nothing stopping you from joining the Co-Prosperity Sphere or inviting Japan to the Intermarrium though.
Can i have a little suggestion about one of the the focus names, "Niech żyje opór" just doesn't sound right for the Polish focus about resistance, is there any possibility to change this name for "W imieniu Polski Podziemnej..."
I'll make a note to change it, thank you for the suggestion!
Without concessions?

Doesn't that invalidate Imperial Germanys "Danzig for Guarantees" national focus?
No, Germany gets an event where they can respond "Yes, no, or yes but only if you gib Danzig" the AI will usually just say yes or no, but the player can ask for Danzig if they want to.
 
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I am back from getting ice cream. It was delicious. I will answer a few more questions before I go make dinner, so if you have any questions I haven't acknowledged already, now's the time :)
 
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It's a big file :oops:
I suggest making the Plan East & Plan West branch a bit more vertical (similar to Dutch War on Pacifism branch) to save some space in the focus tree.

Overall, I'm very excited to have such a replayable Polish tree in the game, but my favorite part is GiE and the Warsaw Uprising operation. I hope we see more of the like in the future!
 
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I suggest making the Plan East & Plan West branch a bit more vertical (similar to Dutch War on Pacifism branch) to save some space in the focus tree.
We're looking at adjusting Plan East & West right now, because yeah I agree it's a bit of a cluster.
 
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Pilecki can become an operative through the exile branch if you own La Resistance, but we have no Pilecki's Report related content as of right now. The nature of depicting atrocities in our content is an ongoing discussion and we want to ensure that if we do depict these things, we do it in a way which is sensitive to those affected by it. :)
Its okay, I know its a really sensitive aspect. It would be cool to have some kind of infiltration op to get tho. Say, bonus for cracking cipher really fast or deorganize the occupant's army, earning some bonuses for the uprising. Thanks for your answer.
 
Im really happy seeing that Meka66 thanked us for the feedback, it means a lot to see that as a community we actually have a say in what is actually happening, this guy is already my favorite Dev Diary writer just because of the humour and recognizing when the community doesn't necessarily agree with something, cheers.
Hopefully he'll take it into account.
 
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