• We have updated our Community Code of Conduct. Please read through the new rules for the forum that are an integral part of Paradox Interactive’s User Agreement.

HOI4 Dev Diary - The Baltic States 1/2 and Poland 3/2

Hello and welcome to another dev diary for the Barbarossa patch! Today I’m back with you to talk about not one, not two, but three new focus trees coming with the upcoming expansion: Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia!
Baltic States Map.png


The Baltic States were in a difficult position in the build-up to world war 2; only recently liberated from Russian and German rule and less than 20 years on from a bloody struggle against both imperialist powers. In the 30s, each of the states had established authoritarian rule in fear of German and Soviet invasions, and a player hoping to survive as a Baltic state must take some extreme measures to overcome these overwhelming odds...

The Baltic States, like the Chinese, will share some branches of their focus tree while other branches will be unique to each country. This week I am going to talk about the shared branches; the industrial branch and the communist political branch.
Baltic Total Focuses.png


Starting up with the industrial branch, each Baltic state was in something of a similar situation economically; relying heavily on foreign investment and equipment for their industry and armed forces. As such, each Baltic state may decide if they wish to put their faith in the democratic nations to supply their economy, or the Axis powers to fuel the war machine.
Baltic Industry Branch.png


The other common issue facing the Baltics was that they had previously been occupied by the Soviets and Germany, and their industry was sorely lacking. So, the Balts can attract workers to their capital and begin their rearmament and develop their research sector.
Attract Workers.png


Lastly, by modernising their industry, the Baltic states may become much more self-sufficient and end their reliance on foreign powers to fuel their war machine. They may expand raw resource production in their nation, which for Estonia and Latvia means the development of their on-map resources.

Lithuania however was uniquely very reliant on its agriculture, and thus starts the game with a variant of the “Agrarian Society” national spirit which can be slowly turned into a great benefit via their industrial tree.
Natural Resources.png


Next up, each of the Baltic States had recently endured bloody struggles against the USSR, so popular support for communism was vanishingly low. A Baltic state hoping to overthrow the government and establish an independent communist state must do so through war.
Estonia civil war.png


The Balts can either choose to rely on the Soviet intervention or attempt to reconcile relations with the Baltic lower classes and try to maintain their independence while establishing communism on their own.
Restore Workers Republic.png


Once the revolution is done and your nation is communist, the player will have the option to re-establish the Lithuania-Belarus SSR. In the case you sided with the Soviets, the USSR will grant you their half of Belarus with the rest coming either through war or the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.
Lithuania Belarus Soviets.png


If you are independent however, Belarus must be acquired through adversarial means. The Baltic state must propagandise support for unification in Belarus similar to the Spanish Civil War garrison control system. When time runs out, Belarus will be released and fight a civil war; the victor will be annexed into either the victorious Baltic nation or the USSR.
Latvia Belarus decisions.png


The Baltic nation will also be able to try to convert their neighbours to communism through a propaganda war. No matter which path the Baltic player takes to establish socialism across the Baltics; they will be able to form the United Baltic SSR.
Baltic Socialist Republic.png


From there, they may use their newfound strength against Scandinavia and Poland and achieve communism across the entire Baltic Sea.
Baltic Warpath.png

That’s all for the Baltic States this week, next week I will be talking about the entirely unique political trees for each Baltic state.



Something worth bringing up here is we did make some changes to the Polish tree since we last talked about it. Firstly, I do just want to show off some of the new focus icons we got since I wrote those dev diaries and I feel like our artists have done a really great job. There are more, but I don't want to spoil all of them just yet! ;)
Poland focus icons.png


We originally planned to have Poland get an off-map reactor to essentially get them control of 1 nuke during play as an exile nation. This to reflect their role in the nuclear project, but we were already a bit on the fence on if this was too immersion breaking for the gameplay purpose, and it seemed many of you thought so too so we removed the off-map reactor and moved the focus to the industry branch.
Poland atomic bomb.png


Next, I managed to find time to implement Karl Albrecht von Habsburg as an option for monarchist Poland. He has his own branch which involves pressing the Habsburg claim on Czechoslovakia.
Karl Albrecht I.png

Habsburg Path.png


Claiming Czechoslovakia uses the same decision system as claiming Lithuania for the Commonwealth branch, and once the two nations are united, the ambition of West-Slavic unification is realised and the new nation may declare itself protector of the western Slavic peoples living in Germany.
West Slavia.png


Karl Albrecht I was known for the service he provided to the Polish army, and it’s unlikely that willingness to serve would vanish upon becoming King. So, as Soldier-King, he will gain a plethora of unique personality traits as well as becoming a field marshal.
Soldier King.png


With Hungary aligning itself with Poland’s enemies, Karl Albrecht can demand that Horthy step down in favour of Otto von Habsburg and force Hungary down their Habsburg path, diplomatically aligning them with Habsburg Poland.
Demand Habsburg Rule.png


Galicia-Lodomeria represented Habsburg rule over Poland and as such, Karl Albrecht may restore the Diet of Galicia which as well as giving the Royal Sejm national spirit, moves the nation’s capital to Krakow. While this centralises the capital between Poland and Czechoslovakia and surrounds the capital in defensible hills, the old Polish capital is also very close to the German border and may prove an easy target…
Diet of Galicia.png


I feel I should also clarify the mechanics behind electing a monarch. When the Fulfil the 5th of November Act focus is complete, candidates come forward and present themselves to be King. So while it would make little sense for the regency council to reach out and invite candidates like Pavel Bermondt-Avalov to be King, Pavel is certainly the type to try and present himself for King.
Cossack King Event.png


The final thing I'd like to mention is that during testing we noticed that it was quite a chore to scroll back and forth between the Polish tree with it being so wide, so I implemented a system where the Polish tree automatically compacts itself when you've chosen a political path.
Tree compacting.png


That’s all for this week, next week we will be covering the paths unique to each Baltic state and for now I’ll leave you with this teaser.
funny_hat_dot_png.png
 
  • 282Like
  • 78Love
  • 61
  • 12
  • 6
  • 1Haha
Reactions:
Just wanted to say well done! I am from Latvia, so getting a little bit flavour is obviously nice, so looking forward to next week for more details!

I understand the frustration of some other people, obviously we all want to hear about the changes to the majors and mechanics. But this looks like being a massive DLC, so I'm sure everyone will end up getting something fromvtheir wishlist!
 
  • 8Like
Reactions:
Yeah the original plan was to give them the warlord treatment and just have one mega tree for all of them to share, but when it came time to research them, they were politically distinct enough that making an entirely shared tree didn't make much sense.

This is what I was scared of~ I never understood why the idea of a shared tree for the baltics was a thing, considering how different they could be politically. The middle ground of having them share a communist path and an adapted industrial branch, and differ elsewhere, is a very nice choice that I entirely approve.
I have studied the Estonian Era of Silence a lot and had fun drafting my own tree version a long time ago so I'll be looking forward to how they'll turn out~

On the side, thanks for having put some more time into the Polish tree with some of the feedback in mind. The effort doesn't go unappreciated~
 
  • 13Like
  • 1
Reactions:
Ok so if I get this right, if Poland and Czechoslovakia unify under the Sanation Right Poland doesn't core Czechoslovakia, but if they do it under the Habsburgs then they do core Czechoslovakia ? Also can any of the baltics get cores on Belarus or just Lithuania
Correct. The San Right takes Czechoslovakia through invasion whereas the Habsburg guy takes it by royal claim through a referendum, so the cores make a bit more sense there.
If that was the intention, then wouldn't it possible to gain a single nuke from a (decision) mission instead? Like if the mission is "triggered" and you manage to accomplish its objectives, then you get a single nuke in your stockpile (I'm not even sure if an effect for adding a nuke exists already). That should be a good compromise, shouldn't it?

While I do understand the concerns of breaking the immersion of some people, I thought an off-map reactor was a very novel idea of doing something different from the usual research bonus.
It would probably be possible, yeah, but we discussed options for this focus and moving it to the industry branch felt like the right call. It was an old focus from release that was attached to either the Cyclometer or the Bombe (don't remember which) and it didn't feel right to cut it. So it's just somewhere else. If you manage to survive against Germany long enough to research and build reactors, go ahead and nuke your way to Berlin ;)

1919 called, Wilhelm Karl, Duke of Urach wants his hat back.​

He can't have it. It's mine.
Wait, so if you are an independent communist state, you can invade one of the Soviet Republics without USSR being concerned at all? And the Soviets will just be OK if you win and annex a chunk of their territory?
They will not be okay with it, but they already weren't okay with the Baltic states existing to begin with.
Methinks Funny hat man is King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy (the one who asked Mussolini to form a government, and Mussolini did that and took control).
(Also a possibility it is King George V?)
Found the image on Reddit

View attachment 717757
Drat, you guessed it, we are doing a Victor Emmanuel path for Latvia. How did you know?
 
  • 78Haha
  • 15Like
  • 3
  • 1Love
Reactions:
Great work, can't wait to play this. Though theres one thing i've always wanted to mention:
The border between Estonia/Latvia and the Soviet Union is not correct for the time period (1920-1940)
The current borders of Estonia and Latvia in HOI4 seem to be based on 2021 borders and not borders correct for 1936.
Now with a Baltic rework is the perfect time to fix this.
 
  • 16Like
  • 3
Reactions:
Will poland feature their historical OOB where they had tank divisions in 1936 (mostly tankettes and FT-17s, but they also had the 7tp which was superior to the panzer II)
this Dev Diary looks awesome ngl
 
  • 8
  • 4Like
  • 1Love
  • 1
Reactions:
Poland, Baltic Countries, Russia, maybe Finland... It will be the biggest dlc of the game, no? ;)
Also makes me happy for another reason. If even the Baltics get individual focus trees, this all but confirms focus trees for the Scandis. If not in this DLC, then in a future country pack.

Since country packs are released in-between DLCs, don't be surprised to see a Nordic country pack next, before the next DLC (which will probably be either the Med or the Pacific) :) .
 
  • 5Like
Reactions:
You're going to be very disappointed when I release part 25 of my Poland changes.
I was expecting you to be done with Poland since you reached the 2/2. Was looking forward to a Russia Teaser when i see poland 3/2.Personally im completely uninterested in the Polish Rework. When i play roleplay games they re almost always in R56 and when i play vanilla or vanilla based mods it s always in a historical setting therefore a rework for Poland is completely useless for me. Just a personal unpopular opinion since most people play sp and enjoy any new focus tree. That being said the baltic rework seems interesting and hopefully this huge focus on poland is not taking away from Russia.
 
  • 7
  • 3Like
Reactions:
Thanks for clarifying the Polish monarchy tree. It's nice to see that Baltic countries will get some attention, now I kinda wish we'll get Tannu Tuva before Italy just to tease "why aren't you doing X" guys. :D
BTW. In previous Polish dev diary Romanian king Michael was shown in Poland under polish name "Michał", shouldn't then Karl Albrecht be shown as Karol Olbracht?

Do NOT give them ideas.
They already stick to incorrect history memes enough.
 
  • 13
  • 5
  • 1Haha
Reactions:
Implementing the (partially) shared focus tree model in Europe - I called it a year ago! While this is certainly my crowning achievement in the Paradox-sphere, I'll waive all royalties for the upcoming DLC.
 
  • 8Haha
  • 3Like
Reactions:
I was expecting you to be done with Poland since you reached the 2/2. Was looking forward to a Russia Teaser when i see poland 3/2.Personally im completely uninterested in the Polish Rework. When i play roleplay games they re almost always in R56 and when i play vanilla or vanilla based mods it s always in a historical setting therefore a rework for Poland is completely useless for me. Just a personal unpopular opinion since most people play sp and enjoy any new focus tree. That being said the baltic rework seems interesting and hopefully this huge focus on poland is not taking away from Russia.
From what I've heard, the Russian tree will be revealed during PDX con.
 
  • 13
  • 1Like
Reactions:
Can you make Intermarium, that's formed by Poland, a confederation but not alliance as it is now? Because it is the original idea and it kept like that in 30s, 40s, etc. Like an alliance it was firstly mentioned in very late 20th century, literally in its end and in 21st one.
 
  • 2
Reactions:
I love how Poland has what appears to be a better Habsburg path than Hungary does. Between wonky unification focuses in the Hungarian tree and the lack of flavour, we can see which nation truly had a Habsburg legacy ;)
 
  • 4
Reactions:
It would probably be possible, yeah, but we discussed options for this focus and moving it to the industry branch felt like the right call. It was an old focus from release that was attached to either the Cyclometer or the Bombe (don't remember which) and it didn't feel right to cut it. So it's just somewhere else. If you manage to survive against Germany long enough to research and build reactors, go ahead and nuke your way to Berlin
How about giving research bonus/adding Stanisław Ulam as advisor for the faction leader if Poland has capitulated?
 
I don't really get why the Baltics get a focus tree, most of the time they are annexed before Czechoslovakia is carved up. It's nice, but I hope it doesn't come at the cost for the other core mechanics in the new Barbarossa DLC.
If it works like other paradox titles I don't think the teams working on content design (IE focus trees and flavor stuff) and new mechanics are the same.
 
  • 1
Reactions:
RIP the unique off map reactor..
Hello same old same old 100% research bonus everyone gets.
 
  • 28
  • 5Like
  • 3
  • 2Haha
  • 1
Reactions: