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First let me say having fun reading sofar and also the difference between the patches. One thing is that i believe that 1.1.c nationalist spain always wins in 1.2 it usually gets defeated.
So i hope this wont be a short AAR.
Also aking why you build garissons?? they have an attack of 1 km p/h???
by the time you are in barcalona it's 1948
Or am i seeing something wrong??
Reading this iam going to try the dutch tonight.
Seeing what they can do.
Keep it going.
 
First, I apologize for the number of supply and production related screens in this update – this is a sort of study in management of resources and slider management, and so is relatively technical, though it also includes a couple of “my heart skipped a beat” moments with regard to the Spanish Civil War, so….

FrenchIntv.jpg


All right… Well, that’s not good. Not on the heels of the British intervention, of a month before. Also, notice the boundaries between Nationalist and Republican provinces. I’m not sensing any major trends in the war right now. In fact, I can’t identify any obvious differences between the front lines in August versus those of a month before! No change is not good – the Nationalists need to be making progress, or else these interventions on behalf of the Republicans are going to tip the balance!

So it’s time to flex what small muscles I have, in hopes of maybe getting involved at some point, or at least in expectation that the world will become a more dangerous place, and recognition of our need to be ready for it…

IntelPriors.jpg


Our Neutrality is at 73 still, and Republican Spain has about 10 Threat to us… It’s going to be a while before there’s any chance of an intervention there. I did try an alliance with the Nationalists, but that’s refused. There’s nothing to be done but attempt to increase the leverage on the other side – reducing Neutrality as fast as I’m already doing, but trying to increase the Threat on the Republican side. This requires more than 2 spies (I had 3 at one point, but I’ve not had the leadership to spend on expanding anything in espionage). I do increase my espionage slider from 0 to 1.00, which I’m hoping will begin a resurgence of spypower there…

The reduction of research allocation from almost 4 down to just 2 means Industrial Production and Education are the only things progressing for now. Sadly, I also have Leadership being drawn away to other needs –,my officer corps is still in need of beefing up, and I need diplo points for trade deals, so…

OilMetal.jpg


I make two separate trade deals for the same commodities – 2 Oil and 1 Metal from USA, and 4 Oil and 5 Metal from Romania. Why? Because with only 37 money available right now, and with these two deals costing $2.29 per day, I’ll have to do one of three things – increase my CG production to bring in cash, or sell supplies somehow, or break off one of the deals. Two deals gives me the flexibility of cutting off only one, not both.

My research into Industrial Production pays off, though not visibly. The percentage increase of +2.5% didn’t move me from 23 IC to 24, but it’ll become important once I expand my economy yet more.

ReorientCG.jpg


Indeed, by early September, it’s time to change my Production Slider priorities. I have the ability to produce more than $7/day through massive CG spending – 3 times demand! But I pay a heavy price in production, where any spending on the Transport disappears, and I’m left only building the reserve garrisons and a convoy unit.

Note, above, that my supply production occupies only a slight percentage of my total IC. But watch…

SupplyDeal.jpg


By sorting the Diplomatic List to see who needs supplies, I notice the Germans are kind of short on supplies. And they’re my potential allies, so it’s important to me to support them, while getting something in return. I ask THEM (a switch from normal, worth trying) to buy my 50 Supplies per day, in return for $9/day money. They accept!

Now my daily supply need has jumped tremendously, but I’ve also funded my resource stockpile buildup for the time being. This huge sale of supplies replaces all the IC I’d put into CG, and the tradeoff actually benefits me, because supplies are a cheaper method of gaining money than CG (not as good, note, as in v1.1c – this is only a suspicion (I’ve not tested it). But it sure seems like I did much better financially when selling supplies in v1.1c than in v1.2. Oh well, they’re still better than CG.

The switch allows me to improve my resource buys, and tailor them more to what I need for my strategic stockpiles. All of my resource stockpiles are gaining, right now, and I have enough cash on hand, and a decent-enough balance of income vs. outcome so that I don’t bankrupt myself getting it!

IGiveUp.jpg


Bad news on the other front, though…

The Republicans have found all my spies! Those dogs! Their Counterespionage was 3 at one time. I wonder if they increased it. Three weeks of massive spending (okay “1” is not massive, if you’re a big power – it’s massive if you’re Portugal!) on spies has given me absolutely nothing to show for it. Time to give up on that. Too costly. Besides, the Republicans, by doing so well, are increasing their own threat to me. My points go back into research, with diplomacy and officers left as they are (notice officers % at 68%? – bad). I can’t read our neutrality – I think it’s about 70%.

Did I say the Republicans were doing better? Hmm…. Well, not much has changed on the ground, but remember what I said about the Nationalists needing to start getting some momentum? There’s very little going on over there. They haven’t moved the frontier appreciably in about 2 months now. That’s bad. That’s ominous…. And what can I do about it???

By the way, notice how I put Industrial Production back in the #1 slot just as soon as I finished the slot before? So long as I’m not researching “ahead of time” (and sometimes even if I am), this is the cheapest way to increase my IC. I don’t have the technology to build new factories yet, and I don’t have the leadership to spare to get there, and I don’t have the IC to build them even if I did! So Industrial Production is how it is… Why Coal Processing and Coal to Oil? Because that’s one of the major draws on my stockpiles right now. Those techs will both help me. I won’t pursue them doggedly, but through one level at least will help.

MonthLater.jpg


I think 65% neutrality was the threshold for increasing my economic mobilization to War Economy, and I achieve that point about a month later, in mid-October. I also increase my draft level, which allows me to start reinforcing my many reserve units to higher levels.

In this time, you might have seen, I start to breathe easier about the Spanish Civil War. The Nationalists have broken through, and linked their territories together (it was really fun watching the border, and seeing first a Republican detached brigade run past into the fog-of-war, then see it being chased by a Nationalist brigade, or even a Nationalist division!). Before this happened, though, I watched the Republicans actually reach my border in the north! That concerned me. So first I thought the Nationalists had just lost the whole thing, and just after that the Republican lines collapsed (overextended, then cut off, I’d bet!), and the Nationalists made a critical, decisive advance. Nicely done!

They haven’t won the war yet, but they’re getting there. That was an important step.

UsingSupplies.jpg


Back to the Production screen… Reinforcements are underfunded, at a rate of about 1/3 of need (I won’t need these guys right away – I can’t declare against anybody, and no one has the ability yet to declare against me). Supplies are still huge, because I’ve still got that lucrative deal going with Germany for supplies. CG is a little elevated, because I need to maintain a positive cashflow (just $1 does it). The rest is going into production. The increase of IC from 23 to 29 is very, very helpful in allowing me the freedom to do all these priorities at once. Most of the things in my queue will be finished in November, so…

NewGarrisons.jpg


Once they’re done, I start transporting them to colonies where I don’t have garrisons yet. Each transport can carry four brigades (probably could hold 5, but I carry 2 divisions of 2 brigades). I drop one division in Mozambique, and set out for Macao with the other one (that’ll be Macao’s 2nd division, I think).

Meanwhile, the Production Queue starts finishing off that non-reserve Garrison, and continues building my new Transport at increased speed. Next, you’ll see me working on cavalry and infantry. Not a lot of either – that’s not going the be the bulk of my military until after war gives me more flexibility – but enough to give me some power (infantry) and some speed and scouting power (cavalry). That’s flexibility I’ll need if I intend to get anything accomplished.

MoreSupplySales.jpg


Two last things to notice, here… My convoy ships are sufficient, now, to carry me through any emergency. I can build more if I need to – in fact, that guy you see at the bottom of the screen? I’ve actually taken that convoy unit I’d been building, and moved it to the bottom of the queue before completing it. If I get into war, I can throw it back into production and have it ready within a month or less. This way I don’t have to go through their whole run with my coveted peacetime IC – I get to spend it on other priorities – but I’ve progressed it enough that I’ll have it before I desperately need it, and will have time to produce it with wartime IC when that time comes.

Those of you with a keen eye will notice the .33 IC being spent for reinforcement, that doesn’t need to be there. I fixed that before the day was out – no sense in wasting IC! Those alerts in the upper left corner are there for a reason. Constant vigilance is also helpful, in keeping from spending IC on the wrong things.

Until next time, folks… I’ll try to increase the speed of updates if at all possible, so you can get through the peacetime number crunching and into some real action!
 
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It does not seem quite realistic that Portugal as a global colonial power would have so few convoys at the beginning of the game... :wacko:
Nor that the entire nation would produce that much leadership? :rofl:
 
It does not seem quite realistic that Portugal as a global colonial power would have so few convoys at the beginning of the game... :wacko:
Nor that the entire nation would produce that much leadership? :rofl:

Yeah, I think Portugal definitely needs a round of improvements.

I wonder what the leadership really should be. Brazil, its former colony, nearly has twice as much leadership :D. Not that Brazil shouldn't have more leadership, but it is still kind of embarrassing for poor Portugal.
 
The game starts exactly 10 years after the onset of a military and later fascist dictatorship, itself following 15 years of pure chaos. Nope, Portugal should suck a great deal of lot at that point.
 
Well, hopefully the SCW ends soon.
 
The game starts exactly 10 years after the onset of a military and later fascist dictatorship, itself following 15 years of pure chaos. Nope, Portugal should suck a great deal of lot at that point.

On the other hand, they had a navy and airforce, they have control over all of their colonies, and they are within viewing distance of modern warfare with Spain and all (And sent some volunteers too historically), so they shouldn't be completely technologically and leadership deprived :p.

It is strange that a nation that has colonies all over the world couldn't muster up some decent leadership. Arguably education policies should be really low but base leadership should be decent. I'm not saying Portugal should be on even Brazil's level, but they just have a head over many of the minor nations.
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rensslaer
Actually, having just played up to the point of when war begins, I've got an interesting story to tell!


*taps foot impatiently*

-- Beppo
Got it! :D

First let me say having fun reading sofar and also the difference between the patches. One thing is that i believe that 1.1.c nationalist spain always wins in 1.2 it usually gets defeated.
So i hope this wont be a short AAR.
Also aking why you build garissons?? they have an attack of 1 km p/h???
by the time you are in barcalona it's 1948
Or am i seeing something wrong??
Reading this iam going to try the dutch tonight.
Seeing what they can do.
Keep it going.
Welcome, Pwncake! The garrisons are not meant to move (except by sea), or attack -- they're meant to be defensive in nature, and a garrison acting defensively does nearly as well as an infantry division, according to my combat testing from the Strategy Guide Supplement. I'll produce cavalry and infantry for offensive moves, but not until I've got everything covered defensively.

It does not seem quite realistic that Portugal as a global colonial power would have so few convoys at the beginning of the game... :wacko:
Nor that the entire nation would produce that much leadership? :rofl:
I have a 1935 Almanac, which I refer to occasionally, and which I use as a keepsake and conversation piece. It indicates that, in the mid-thirties, Portugal had less than 1% of the world's merchant tonnage -- perhaps about 1/2 of one percent, actually. I'm not sure what's so bad about the leadership stats, either.

Yeah, I think Portugal definitely needs a round of improvements.

I wonder what the leadership really should be. Brazil, its former colony, nearly has twice as much leadership :D. Not that Brazil shouldn't have more leadership, but it is still kind of embarrassing for poor Portugal.
And on the subject of populations, the same almanac indicates 45 million Brazilians, compared with only about 7 million Portuguese, which I'm sure has an impact on the ability to produce leadership.

On the other hand, they had a navy and airforce, they have control over all of their colonies, and they are within viewing distance of modern warfare with Spain and all (And sent some volunteers too historically), so they shouldn't be completely technologically and leadership deprived :p.

It is strange that a nation that has colonies all over the world couldn't muster up some decent leadership. Arguably education policies should be really low but base leadership should be decent. I'm not saying Portugal should be on even Brazil's level, but they just have a head over many of the minor nations.
Brazil also, in the mid-30s, had twice the number of men-under-arms (active duty) as Portugal. Welcome, CoyotetheClever! Glad to have you following!

The game starts exactly 10 years after the onset of a military and later fascist dictatorship, itself following 15 years of pure chaos. Nope, Portugal should suck a great deal of lot at that point.
Yeah, Portugal was hardly a world leader at that point in history. A country who history had passed by, to be sure!

Well, hopefully the SCW ends soon.
Actually.... I'll have to keep that secret for a bit. :rolleyes:

I'll try to get another update tomorrow, or so.

Thanks again for you readers, and lurkers! Thanks especially to those who stop to leave word!

Rensslaer
 
Uh oh, this potential of a Republican victory is a major monkey wrench in your long-term strategy. I take it you're considering an actual direct intervention, if you can get your neutrality down far enough? Risky, but you may not have much choice. :eek:
 
If he makes this "Intervention", hopefully the he keeps the land.;)
 
Why would Portugal want to keep land full of castilians? :p

The only parts of Spain that could ever interest us are Olivença and our older sister-nation of Galiza. :)
 
Portugal, around the end of the year, got to within about 50 points of being able to declare war upon Republican Spain. That’s not near, in case you didn’t pick that out.

I did join the Axis, figuring that would improve our ability to intervene in a variety of possible situations, but even then, still not close.

PortAxis.jpg


Having joined, though, I experimented with the possibility of influencing countries. I tried Guangxi very briefly, quickly determining it was of no use. I’d hoped that Guangxi would be an Axis ally against the British, with options against Hong Kong, but that would also screw up Japan if she had a possibility of joining (she would not if Guangxi were Axis), and for that reason and others I ended that experiment quickly.

Experimentally.jpg


Nationalist Spain would be a good addition to the Axis (potentially, potentially not!) at some point. Their joining would actually be a complicated issue, as to whether it would benefit me or not. But the option was important to keep open.

By January, 1937, I finally had the ability to start working on some offensive units. Infantry and cavalry are in the queue – serials and parallels – so that I can be adding to my military power up to and beyond the start of any possible war. I tweaked my sliders to allow some decent progress on both infantry and cavalry. I could not imagine a world war was possible before mid-1938 at the very earliest, so I have time to get these constructions done.

ProdEarly37.jpg


War is close elsewhere, though! The Soviets are insulated enough they think they can tear up their general staff. But in Japan they’re looking to their future as Asian imperialists. This concerns me little – very little, but a little. There’s potential for it to benefit me. There’s even potential for them to become a rival, snapping up goodies that I wanted! But not likely.

AroundWorld.jpg


One thing I started to realize, after remaining blissfully inattentive for a while, is that my research projects were being slowed by a plague of spies! I was down by about 5-6% when I finally noticed (I’d checked earlier, seen nothing, and grown lazy). As important as it was to reduce my neutrality, I found it necessary to shift for a week or two into counterespionage before returning to “neutrality patrols”.

HostileSpies.jpg


Actually, I found that over the next couple of years I had to do this periodically to prevent spies building up and retarding my research.

On 7 February, I happened to notice (because I was fixated – this was a fascinating war!) the Nationalists captured Madrid (practically from two directions at once!), and the Republican government was forced to flee to Barcelona. This makes it pretty clear I’ll have fascist neighbors for the foreseeable future.

7FebSCWMadrid.jpg


That’s mostly a good thing, as I don’t have the military potential to take on Spain. Not this decade, anyway!

My stockpile chase brought me down, finally to a reserve of only $8 (I’ll try to show you a chart, soon, showing how my stockpiles ebbed and flowed through 1936-37). It was time to make some major changes.

CGAgain.jpg


I had some major, important purchases to make – the infantry and cavalry, but also you’ll notice I’ve added a fort in Macao to my list. I’ve not concentrated as much on forts in this game (compared to v1.1c) as in the last one. Mainly because there’s lots of other stuff I realized I needed, and had never had a chance to build because I was working on forts. I still want the forts – I think they’re important – but they’re a lesser priority.

As much as I hated to slow down on production, it’s necessary to continue my stockpile purchases, which I don’t want to cancel. I’m making good progress, and it’s also important to me to have serious reserves before war starts. I sense – again, this is not confirmed through any objective testing – that maintaining stockpiles is harder in v1.2 than in v1.1c. Just a feeling. I feel like I’m having to balance more – I think this is almost certainly because countries are more reluctant to buy supplies from me, which limits my purchasing ability.

It’s this – the lack of money from supply sales (excepting the magnificent deal with Germany!) – that’s causing me to have to increase my CG production at the expense of production.

ChangesMar37.jpg


In March, I made some major changes to my laws and my strategic situation. Coal Processing and Industrial Production increased (again, the 2.5% increase didn’t push my IC above 29, but will come in handy later). We tried to influence Nationalist Spain again. They move so slowly…

We increase our draft requirements, and improve our Education level (which translates to a modest improvement in leadership – perhaps .20 or .30. That might not seem like a lot, but it provides a nice “marginal” advantage, enabling us to slowly research or jump start a tech, etc.

AprilThenMay.jpg


In April, our African neighbor, South Africa, joined the Allies. This is no surprise – they’re a member of the British Commonwealth – but it’s a significant event which has huge impacts upon the threats we sense and the potential complications for war.

Then, in May, Japan succeeds in defeating Shanxi – a major victory. A stepping stone, anyway, for conquest of the rest of China. With Portugal’s presence in China, it’s obviously something that has the potential of affecting us for better or worse.

Partly because of this, but mostly because of the threat from Hong Kong, we accelerate our building schedule for the fort in Macao. If we can complete this first level by early 1938, there’s a chance we could finish a second level before 1939. A third? Maybe if I have IC to spare. Level 2 should be sufficient to prevent amphibious assaults from being very successful.

We tweak our production sliders again, almost doubling where production was at one point. The infantry has been moved lower on the queue, now that we’ve progressed the unit to close to being complete, and we’re working on cavalry for a bit. Hopefully, we’ll have both ready for the day when war comes.

MacaoFort.jpg


One last attempt…. With this final rebuff from Nationalist Spain – them refusing our offer of alliance (which would have enabled an expeditionary force) – we give up on Spain and choose to ignore our supposed co-idealists. They may become useful in the future as an ally, but for now they’re sufficiently useful as a backstop to protect our inland frontier.
 
I don't share Enewald's gloomy prediction. :D I think Portugal is placing themselves in position for glory down the road, but maintaining a low profile in order to avoid too much attention to themselves. Now, come 1939 I'm wondering how successful trades will be with Germany with a rampaging England running rampant in their seas. Great pair of updates and looking forward to the graph!
 
The SouthAfricans moved a bit too quickly. Getting them into war without Britain may be a little tricky. Unless you want to trigger WWII. Namibia the greatest threat to Portugal.

Portugal should start allied to Britain as it has been since 1382, Still this is the new empire.

Stalin's starting the great purge early. What's he gearing up for?

I am wondering just who will be Portugal's first target? At this rate Belgium will join the Allies before Portugal's offensive division will be ready.
 
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I'm hoping the Republicans win. It'd kinda suck if the Nationalists one and you had to both protect their ass and also share spoils with them.

That siad, if they joined the Allies it would probably be too much to handle, so a Nationalist victory is preferrable, but hopefully they don't but in on your plans.
 
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could we get some kind of index on the first page Rensslaer makes it easier to follow if we have to be away from the forum for a while. I come back 2 pages are added and I have to dig for an update.
 
Threat, danger and opportunity. Those three words basically sum up your situation. Lets hope you can minimize the danger to yourself while maximizing your opportunity!
 
Uh oh, this potential of a Republican victory is a major monkey wrench in your long-term strategy. I take it you're considering an actual direct intervention, if you can get your neutrality down far enough? Risky, but you may not have much choice. :eek:
Ahh, the Republicans are toast by this point, as you can see from this later update. I'll have a "friendly" but detached Nat. Spain at my backside. Naturally, with Portugal as part of the Axis, they should feel more comfortable being in the Axis, but then again I never understood why Nat. Spain didn't join the Axis historically. Maybe after civil war, they'd had enough fighting.

If he makes this "Intervention", hopefully the he keeps the land.;)
This is part of the problem that would make intervention less useful -- the land automatically becomes part of Nat. Spain, not Portugal. This causes problems, not just because I wanted territorial expansion, but wouldn't get it for my troubles, but also because I can't supply my units in Nat. Spain. Expeditionary Force would have solved that, but again I wouldn't have gotten the land. I believe it's just not worth the trouble.

Why would Portugal want to keep land full of castilians? :p

The only parts of Spain that could ever interest us are Olivença and our older sister-nation of Galiza. :)
Yes, and that would be nice if I could fight for that. But I'd probably have to fight even the Nat. Spanish for it, as Galiza was one of the portions of Spain that ended up on their side from the very beginning.

Joining Axis?
Oh dear...
I fear that you won't survive year 1939...
Well... We'll see about that!

Actually, what happens is beyond what I could have predicted. A very interesting turn of events. It wouldn't be fair for me to even hint here... Better to leave you with just a tease! :p

I don't share Enewald's gloomy prediction. :D I think Portugal is placing themselves in position for glory down the road, but maintaining a low profile in order to avoid too much attention to themselves. Now, come 1939 I'm wondering how successful trades will be with Germany with a rampaging England running rampant in their seas. Great pair of updates and looking forward to the graph!
A low profile is important, to keep from getting crushed. At the same time, in 1937, Germany (Axis) looked like the winners already, and looked like the best chance for glory. This is true not just from a strategic perspective, early on, but also from a roleplaying perspective -- given the situation, Portugal might logically believe she'd best join up or miss the boat. Perhaps, in the back of the Portuguese mind, she might even envision a potential alliance between Germany, Italy and Spain that had potential for conquest beyond just central Europe. Might Portugal, then, consider herself a possible target, if she were not an ally? Surely, Carmona and Salazar must have considered this possibility historically. I'm curious why they made decisions as they did -- perhaps it had something to do with the traditional alliance with Britain. I don't know.

The SouthAfricans moved a bit too quickly. Getting them into war without Britain may be a little tricky. Unless you want to trigger WWII. Namibia the greatest threat to Portugal.

I am wondering just who will be Portugal's first target? At this rate Belgium will join the Allies before Portugal's offensive division will be ready.
Is it so important to have a "first target"? You're correct that almost anybody I might attack, even if I could get my neutrality low enough, would already be enough provocation to perhaps draw me into war with great powers. I'm not sure Portugal ever had this opportunity, but even if she did/does, I'm not sure it's in Portugal's best interests to try to move first.

I'm hoping the Republicans win. It'd kinda suck if the Nationalists one and you had to both protect their ass and also share spoils with them.

That siad, if they joined the Allies it would probably be too much to handle, so a Nationalist victory is preferrable, but hopefully they don't but in on your plans.
This is something that many people miss -- it's not necessarily a bad thing for Portugal if the Republicans win, especially if the Nationalists remain aloof like they're being. A Republican Spain as a member of the Allies (as certainly has the potential to be) -- now THAT would be a problem! :D

could we get some kind of index on the first page Rensslaer makes it easier to follow if we have to be away from the forum for a while. I come back 2 pages are added and I have to dig for an update.
Umm... Yes! But it may take me a day or two to get it ready. I'm also not sure where I'd put it. Underneath the first post, I suppose. Let me work on that! Welcome, CynicalYouth!

Threat, danger and opportunity. Those three words basically sum up your situation. Lets hope you can minimize the danger to yourself while maximizing your opportunity!
Indeed! That's what makes this scenario so fun! :) Quite a challenge.

Thanks again, everybody, for your reading and especially for your comments! Any other lurkers out there?

Another update tomorrow, probably. And I need to get writing on some new fictional scenes. You won't see them right away, but I need to have them ready for when they need to be fit in. Much work ahead!

Rensslaer
 
What exactly are the benefits for you for joining the axis now instead of after Vichy, or so?
Will you get some licensed runs from Germany?
Immediate expansion in Africa once Poland gets attacked?

Because now you will have to garrison all the beaches in Portugal, and are dependent on Germany once war start.