your strategy supplement turned out very well! thanks a lot!
Thank you very much, Soulitaire! I appreciate that. I enjoyed putting it together.
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Império Novo
As of mid-March, I've finished building the convoy transports I'd needed to keep my international trade going. I was very close to the line, and if I intend to set up more trade deals (as I do) this keeps me covered. The underfunded reinforcements are slowly bringing the total need down, as intended, even though it's not quick.
I've been overproducing supplies, and several countries have asked to buy supplies. This brings in some money. You can see I'm now adding some IC toward extra Consumer Goods. I can't prove it, but I honestly believe I'm making more money selling supplies than I would from the same amount allocated to Consumer Goods. People will argue with me about that, but someone needs to do an analysis -- I haven't yet. The fringe benefit is I'm improving relations with these countries, and because of that, the prices we get on goods comes down.
I've begun buying extra crude oil from Venezuela and Romania, to try and reduce the loss against my stockpile. The 10 crude oil won't last -- I'll eventually run out of money. But it'll help me stem my losses and keep me from running out very quickly (just in 2 months, I've gone from an oil stockpile of 1920 to 1567). Many would argue that crude oil doesn't matter for anybody, because of the energy conversion being so easy. I'd have to respond that it's not necessarily going to always be this way (post v1.1c), and also that if you happen to run out of energy, you're quickly going to be in trouble. I'm already concerned about my stockpile, which is why I'm setting up other trade deals as I can afford them.
I'm concentrating on garrisons first so I can have some troops everywhere, hopefully. Once I have a little presence everywhere -- so that an enemy can't just walk into my islands and colonies -- then I'll start producing heavier units who have better combat odds. That cavalry guy I have in there is not a primary project -- I'll get some work on the production done, but not at the expense of my garrisons. I'm going to need a mobile force if I ever get into war -- Garrisons won't cut it. I'd love to get to that fort and the transport one day, but can't yet.
Now that my first garrison has been completed (2 brigades of garrison), it's time to start filling in my colonies with protective troops. I'm picking Guinea-Bissau first because it's relatively close, relatively important, and is clustered amongst many of the highest-value targets in west Africa.
You'll see below that west Africa's naval bases are all clustered here -- there are some to the southeast of here, but this is the largest concentration of them. Dakar, the French colony to the far north, also has a factory and a VP.
In mid-April, the world starts to change, with Germany reoccupying the Rhineland, and Ethiopia falling to Italy.
I feel it's wise, in light of the rising tensions, to move my infantry in Portugal proper toward some vital interests. While I'm not particularly expecting Spain to attack me, there's no other neighbor, and so it's natural for me to send defenders to my border, picking locations that coincide with two resource havens.
And it's just in the nick of time, too! Just two days after I issue this order, the Spanish Civil War begins. Everybody chooses to intervene on one side or the other.
Alas, even if Portugal were in a position to play a role in the war (we're not!), no Portuguese leader has the wherewithall to convince our people to go to war yet.
Spain is not yet seen as a threat.
I've aligned toward the Axis once, I think, at this point. I'm in no shape to enter a war, yet, so there's no hurry for me to enter a factional alliance that might get me killed.
A quick update on that cavalry division -- I've briefly moved it up to the number one slot, just to get it a little further on the way toward production. As you can see, it's going to take me until November to finish it even if I keep working on it at top speed from now (which is mid-May), which I'm not going to.
Reinforcement need is only about 2/3 of what it used to be now. I keep overproducing supplies, but I sell them as quickly as I make them. My supply stockpile hasn't grown much -- still around what it was when I started. But in this time I've increased my energy stockpile by nearly 20,000, my metal by about 800, increased rares by about 600, and my money is still holding out. The supplies are sustaining my stockpile buildup.
I'm concerned about my crude oil, though, and so I'm about to make a move on that front…