Can Germany attack the Allies instead of Poland?

[Shireknight]

I noticed on a World War Wednesday video the narrator mentioned that you can either play the game historically or play in a mode that means the AI does not follow what happened in real life.

If I play as Germany on the normal mode can I launch an attack into the lowlands and France in 1939 instead of attacking Poland or would I need to switch to the non-historical mode to do this or would the game even let me do that in non-historical mode full stop or would it only let me attack the allies after they have declared war on me first?

 

[Axe99]

The 'historical mode' only strongly encourages the AI to follow historical national focus paths. The player can still do anything they're allowed to via gameplay (which would absolutely include attacking into the lowlands and France in 1939, as long as you had an appropriate casus belli - and if you're fascist, once you've got a war going (not sure if it has to be a certain size) you can just keep on attacking). My understanding is you'd be able to generate one as well.

 

[scroggin]

In HOI3 poland became a member of the allies when Britain guaranteed Poland after Germany annexed Czechoslovakia. So attacking France would put Germany at war with poland anyway. Im interested to know how this chain of events will work in HOI4

 

[bengast]

if the Czechs do not accept the munich agreement and they are guaranteed by France you'll be at war with the allies in 1938.

 

[kviiri]

Heck, if you're playing Germany you can just sit on your bum and wait for the score screen. Or hopefully, fight a defensive war against expansionst USSR.

The historical focus option doesn't guarantee even AI Germany declaring war over Danzig. Poland can fold, especially if they lack the alliances needed to defend against Germany.

 

[griffor]

Heck, if you're playing Germany you can just sit on your bum and wait for the score screen. Or hopefully, fight a defensive war against expansionst USSR.

The historical focus option doesn't guarantee even AI Germany declaring war over Danzig. Poland can fold, especially if they lack the alliances needed to defend against Germany.

yep if Poland isn't guaranteed they fold which makes sense i guess in the grand scheme of things as without help they decide to give Germany it's land as it was theirs historically, least prior to WW1

 

[Daddl]

As other said, historical mode is just the 99% chance that the AI picks their historical national focusses at the correct time in the correct order - as long as this is still possible. It doesn't guarantee the outcome of the events caused by the focusses is historically correct. You as a player can always do whatever you want, whether in historical or non- historical mode, but if this causes that the AI can't do what it did historically, then they will do somehing else instead.

To answer your question, the german focus tree has the options of "Danzig for Slovakia" or "Danzig or War". So you could either get Danzig peacefully by exchanging it for Slovakia and further down even get Poland into the Axis, or Poland may just cede you Danzig, for example if they don't get the British Guarantee and feel like they are too weak to compete with you. Anyways, you don't need national focusses for war and can just ignore Poland if you like. If world tension is high enough, you can declare war on whoever you want - its just that in historical mode, you may need your focusses to get it high enough, as others won't do it for you.

 

[LordOfWar16]

In HOI3 poland became a member of the allies when Britain guaranteed Poland after Germany annexed Czechoslovakia. So attacking France would put Germany at war with poland anyway. Im interested to know how this chain of events will work in HOI4

France does NOT start off in the allies. All you have to do is justifying the war fast enough, that they cant be invited into the allies. Poland does NOT join the allies if guaranteed, they are simply just guaranteed in HoI IV by the UK.

That said, historical mode doesnt mean tha the AI is suicidal. If the UK doesnt guarantee poland before you demand danzig they will most likely fold, because they have no backing by an great power.

 

[wright1331]

The 'historical mode' only strongly encourages the AI to follow historical national focus paths. The player can still do anything they're allowed to via gameplay (which would absolutely include attacking into the lowlands and France in 1939, as long as you had an appropriate casus belli -

and if you're fascist, once you've got a war going (not sure if it has to be a certain size) you can just keep on attacking).

My understanding is you'd be able to generate one as well.

You have to be at war with a major power

 

[kviiri]

You have to be at war with a major power

Yeah, but we don't know exactly what constitutes a major power. In WWW it was based on relative IC, but since there's also a literal "Major Country" status that can be gained or lost it may have been changed to use that.

According to Daniel this limitation was included after he abused the older rule, presumably where any war allowed free wargoals. I don't think even Fascist countries could, with a straight face, claim a huge conquest spree over Asia is necessary for them to win the epic war against Luxembourg.

 

[Bridger15]

The 'historical mode' only strongly encourages the AI to follow historical national focus paths. The player can still do anything they're allowed to via gameplay (which would absolutely include attacking into the lowlands and France in 1939, as long as you had an appropriate casus belli - and if you're fascist, once you've got a war going (not sure if it has to be a certain size) you can just keep on attacking). My understanding is you'd be able to generate one as well.

My only concern: If the AI gets "mostly" locked in to a historical path, does that mean it won't adapt to what the player is doing? If the Germans go East First does France always just keep building the Maginot Line instead of adapting for an offensive war?

 

[ZanderD]

In theory it should be possible. In the National Focus tree we do have the option to befriend Poland, not sure if that path still allows for a fight with the west though.

 

[griffor]

In theory it should be possible. In the National Focus tree we do have the option to befriend Poland, not sure if that path still allows for a fight with the west though.

i think the mess up they had when the UK didn't guarantee Poland Germany started to fabricate on France after Poland joined the axis

 

[Axe99]

My only concern: If the AI gets "mostly" locked in to a historical path, does that mean it won't adapt to what the player is doing? If the Germans go East First does France always just keep building the Maginot Line instead of adapting for an offensive war?

We don't have enough information on this to really know, but in the WWW the AI did adapt when Johan and whoever was playing Germany at the time (there were three players for Germany across the first few vids, Jacob, Troy and Daniel, and I can't recall which of them made which decision), so that's a positive sign at least. There will always be a little bit of 'hindsight benefit' to players who choose historical mode then go crazy off the rails, but if they want an unpredictable game that responds to ahistorical actions, then they should probably play sandbox mode. My understanding is that 'historical mode' is primarily aimed at players who are looking to play out WW2 in the general direction it progressed. We'll see in 68 days either way .