As Germany what to do with Minors?

[sekelsenmat]

Hello, I am playing as Germany and took over Belgium, Poland and France.

The British did the pp shanigan and the Dutch started the focus "cave to the British", so I guess they will eventually join the allies so I took them over. Was that the right step? If I had spent the xp they would have joined me instead?

What about Denmark, Norway, Yoguslavis. I have to take them or I can ignore them and they will remain neutral? I just don't see the point, it just increases the coastal area to defend from the British and I have to garrison them. Or am I missing something?

 

[Dlin369]

Denmark you should take to ensure the strait remains closed to the British

Norway is your choice really in single player - historically it was invaded to prevent a Allied invasion of Scandinavia to cut off exports to Germany

Low Countries you should invade - they’re easy targets, allow you to get to France and have a decent number of industry to compensate for occupation costs

Yugoslavia is unnecessary in my opinion. Take it if you want to, if not it should eventually join the Axis.

 

[Emden1]

Denmark you should take to ensure the strait remains closed to the British

Norway is your choice really in single player - historically it was invaded to prevent a Allied invasion of Scandinavia to cut off exports to Germany

Low Countries you should invade - they’re easy targets, allow you to get to France and have a decent number of industry to compensate for occupation costs

Yugoslavia is unnecessary in my opinion. Take it if you want to, if not it should eventually join the Axis.

Agree with everything, but I recommend take Yugo... nice resources in the south and possibly a port to harass the British with U-boats... if you, Germany can get to them first...

 

[sekelsenmat]

thanks, what about Romania & Hungary? I started going down the "Align Romania" focus path, and when I finished it I noticed that both Romania & Hungary are already doing focus stuff to align me.... was it a waste of focus time to do the "Align Romania"? They will join me even if I didn't do it?

I've been reading in old threads that in historical mode, the Dutch will never pick the align Germany focuses, a nice gotcha considering that the decisions invite you do waste pp trying to awe them to your side.

About closing the straits, to me it looks better to keep it open, I'd gladly meet their fleet in a place where I can have total air supremacy. Also in this game the british actually sent 18 divisions that got encircled in Gdansk .... it was glorious. The only bad thing would be if they start sending subs (does this strait even keep subs out? I'd think not).

I know in reality the UK would have invaded Sweden like they did with Iraq & Iran. Also Norway was necessary to attack the Artic convoys. But in the game I guess the UK never atacks Sweden, Iraq and Iran? Also Lend Lease to the soviets is irrelevant in the game, isn't it? I'll try the focuses to awe Denmark & Norway. Maybe they will join me peacefully.

 

[squid_hills]

Hungary and Romania should stay independant (ish). You want to do "align X" for them, ally them, and then do the focus that integrates your economies. That actually turns both countries into puppets, which gives you access to a portion of their factories without garrisoning anything. No need for a messy invasion, and Romania is pretty decent in a fight if you keep them supplied through lend-lease. Deny Hungary's land claims in Romania (they won't attack Romania if they are both in the same faction) but back their claims for Czech territory. Yugo territory, too, if you feel like starting aggro on the Adriatic. Italy goes after Yugo without fail. If you are allied with them, they basically turn the whole Med and North Africa into another theater you have to worry about. Of course, if you aren't allied with them, they inevitably lose to the Allies and then you have to worry about the UK knocking on the Italian/Austrian border after Musssolini capitulates...

If you are allied with Italy, try to grab Greece before they do. The resources are very nice and Italy would just waste them building biplanes or tankettes or battleships that run away from destroyers or something. You'll have to put garrisons on the ports of the mainland, but Crete can be abandoned to the Aliies as it usually has few (if any) factories and no resources worth stealing.

 

[Simon_9732495]

I conquer and occupy all of mainland Europe except Italy, Spain and Portugal. (Including all of CZE, HUN, ROM, YUG, BUL, GRE, sometimes SWI).
Why? -> Because I can. (It's easy and can be done in the time between France and Barbarossa.)

I don't conquer Norway and let Italy deal with (=losing, most of the time) Africa.

 

[sekelsenmat]

Hungary and Romania should stay independant (ish). You want to do "align X" for them, ally them, and then do the focus that integrates your economies. That actually turns both countries into puppets, which gives you access to a portion of their factories without garrisoning anything. No need for a messy invasion, and Romania is pretty decent in a fight if you keep them supplied through lend-lease. Deny Hungary's land claims in Romania (they won't attack Romania if they are both in the same faction) but back their claims for Czech territory. Yugo territory, too, if you feel like starting aggro on the Adriatic. Italy goes after Yugo without fail. If you are allied with them, they basically turn the whole Med and North Africa into another theater you have to worry about. Of course, if you aren't allied with them, they inevitably lose to the Allies and then you have to worry about the UK knocking on the Italian/Austrian border after Musssolini capitulates...

If you are allied with Italy, try to grab Greece before they do. The resources are very nice and Italy would just waste them building biplanes or tankettes or battleships that run away from destroyers or something. You'll have to put garrisons on the ports of the mainland, but Crete can be abandoned to the Aliies as it usually has few (if any) factories and no resources worth stealing.

AI Italy is so useless that it is kind of immersive. I actually have to garrison Sardigna and North Africa for them ... they won't defend the ports. they lost Albania while I wasn't looking.

North Africa is great for killing UK troops, it is worth it to fight there IMHO. Although it might be better to pull out before Barbarossa.

Didn't know Italy will attack Yugo in historical, I'll keep this in mind, thanks.

 

[Fulmen]

Eat them.

 

[squid_hills]

Didn't know Italy will attack Yugo in historical, I'll keep this in mind, thanks.

"Claims on Yugoslavia" and "War with Greece" are both available to Italy regardless of which faction they join (Axis, Nova Romanum, Pact of Rome). The AI loves to go for completion when doing NF trees, so it will go to war over Yugo eventually 95% of the time. I think I've seen the AI pick "befriend Yugoslavia" all of once in 1500 hours. One thing to remember; Claims on Yugo gives Italy claims on some states, but doesn't give them a war goal. They have to justify on Yugo like a normal country. Frequently, they will do Claims fairly early in the game, then not bother starting the justification process until a year or more later. What usually results from this is that UK and France will stack guarantees on Yugo by the time Italy decides to attack, so WWII ends up starting in the Balkans if it hasn't already started over Poland. Also, due to the AI dragging its feet over starting the justification, by the time Italy actually attacks Yugo, Germany is in a position to spawn Croatia as a puppet and rob Italy of some of the states they had started the war over.

...It's all very Mussolini, actually.

 

[ecpgieicg]

If you mean what you should do until World Tension allows British guarantees,

Spoiler

you should be able to declare on and annex 2 countries before World Tension ticks. If you prefer to keep your normal flow of filling govt positions (and thus optimal research speed) without any sacrifice, you will only have enough PP for 1 war justification at the highest difficulty; but 2 should still be doable under normal. (Also I can't remember whether if you are able to justify on 1, finish, justify on other, declare on first one, declare on 2nd as oppose to 2 simultaneous justification which costs a lot.)

Which two.... they are easy choices in my eyes:

Netherland + Belgium

If you mean what you should do eventually, besides role-playing, I see no reason not to conquer all. You only gain from conquests. Sure la Resistance adds a potential manpower drain for occupation but that can be managed and circumvented.

I just don't see the point, it just increases the coastal area to defend from the British and I have to garrison them. Or am I missing something?

The point is factories. With production, everything else can be overcome. Plus those countries also give you the resources to use your factories to the fullest. You don't need to pay continuous attention to coastal defense yourself either. You set up coastal defense garrison. You set up suppression garrison. Both are one-time effort. That's all.

(Or you don't set up coastal garrison and use your undefended coast line as fly traps.)

The effort of invading is also minimal because those countries are weak enough for you to use battle plan and run auto. While Norway requires naval invasion, which is technically some effort, they also capitulates quickly as long as you rush for victory points.

There is just no drawback in conquest.

 

[him_15]

Annex.

 

[marcelo r. r.]

i like historical run, with a help of 5 light panzers divisions u can take norway really fast, starting on historical date(09 Apr 1940) and even have time to comeback to do invasion of benelux(10 may 1940).

the actual allied AI is scripted to ignore more the straits(like storically), so u can abuse naval landings on denmark/norway to take them quickly.

 

[kettyo]

I don't like playing HOI4 as Risk so invading someone just to get stronger. I usually invade someone if they are a threat to me or if there are strategic reasons to do it.

As hitlerist Germany nobody is really a threat to you so you can play either to fulfill historical national socialist goals of lebensraum in the East and autarky or you can set your own goals like playing Hitler's brinkmanship to it's fullest so as how far you can get without actually breaking WW2 or some really ahistorical twist like cooperating with Stalin against the Allies. You have limitless options.

 

[Kazanov]

Playing as a pacifist Imperial Germany i got attacked by France, betrayed by Poland and attacked by all the small nations anyway, so you must eat them all or you will be attacked by them anyways.

 

[kettyo]

Playing as a pacifist Imperial Germany i got attacked by France, betrayed by Poland and attacked by all the small nations anyway, so you must eat them all or you will be attacked by them anyways.

That is a very uncommon case. Afaik only communist or monarchist France AI can attack Germany.

 

[Kazanov]

That is a very uncommon case. Afaik only communist or monarchist France AI can attack Germany.

I got invaded by France and the UK at first, then uncle Joe remembered that the Empire aided Lenin and offered me to join the Comitern.

The entire run is hilarious but i got some achievements doing it.

 

[kettyo]

I got invaded by France and the UK at first

Did you check by which focus it happened?

Looks a really amusing game indeed. Kaiser Germany on the side of Stalin. Fun as hell.

 

[Kazanov]

Did you check by which focus it happened?

Looks a really amusing game indeed. Kaiser Germany on the side of Stalin. Fun as hell.

A lot of fun, i was starting to believe that the war would be lost until the unexpected help began to arrive <3

 

[Secret Master]

A lot of fun, i was starting to believe that the war would be lost until the unexpected help began to arrive <3

 

[FindFloppies]

"Claims on Yugoslavia" and "War with Greece" are both available to Italy regardless of which faction they join (Axis, Nova Romanum, Pact of Rome). The AI loves to go for completion when doing NF trees, so it will go to war over Yugo eventually 95% of the time. I think I've seen the AI pick "befriend Yugoslavia" all of once in 1500 hours. One thing to remember; Claims on Yugo gives Italy claims on some states, but doesn't give them a war goal. They have to justify on Yugo like a normal country. Frequently, they will do Claims fairly early in the game, then not bother starting the justification process until a year or more later. What usually results from this is that UK and France will stack guarantees on Yugo by the time Italy decides to attack, so WWII ends up starting in the Balkans if it hasn't already started over Poland. Also, due to the AI dragging its feet over starting the justification, by the time Italy actually attacks Yugo, Germany is in a position to spawn Croatia as a puppet and rob Italy of some of the states they had started the war over.

...It's all very Mussolini, actually.

Well, on the other side of the coin, if I play Italy, and don't join HItler (yes, it's a choice!), I invade/annex Yugoslavia and Greece, because even befriending either one usually runs afoul of a German focus. 2/3 of the time, about, that I have tried to befriend them, they end up as German puppets, instead of Italian friends. One time in particular, I started to invade Greece, and 1 day later, the German focus fired and stole Greece right out from under me. So, I take them over end up with collab puppets in the end to steal manpower from. (I said what is this, I don't even, and put it right back. Crazy AI focus...)