Communist UK Tree

[Lysenkoite]

I have many issues with how the UK communist tree is, but one question I have is why is there a divide when it comes to choosing a faction. You cannot continue down the tree without joining either the Comintern or forming the British Communist Alternative (BCA).

Both these options seem strange and unnecessary as you can already join the Comintern from the moment you go communist. Other than the 5% stability bonus, which is nice but nothing to write home about, there is no benefit to this as the event chain that follows has no other effects than joining.

The BCA path is equally strange, as France will only join you if it has already gone communist, and if that is the case, why not just leave the allies (having rejected France's plea to join earlier) and form a faction with them manually, as Britain has a national idea which allows them to create factions anyway? The BCA option also has the disadvantage of removing Harry Pollitt as your leader, who gives an impressive 10% factory output (as strong as the final communist focus idea!), and replaces him with a leader with no bonuses to anything.

It begs the question of why are these focuses included in the tree? Both these focuses could just be done manually, in less than seventy days, for effectively the same outcome and in one case none of the negative side effects. All these two focuses achieve is to reduce the final eight ideas of the tree to four choices of two ideas. Why is this?

 

[squid_hills]

There's a hidden feature of BCA that might not be readily apparent from looking at the focus tree: they get a NF that has the UK order all nations with colonies/overseas annexed areas to give up those areas/ decolonize. You get war goals against any who refuse your demand. I mean, yeah, the +10% output Pollitt gives is more useful than a bunch of potential war goals, but if memory serves those war goals spawn without triggering guarantees from other nations, meaning you can smack the Spanish, Itallians, Portugese, sometimes the French, and the Dutch down without the US deciding to freedombomb you out of existence. That may be worth losing the +10% production to some folks.

As an aside, several of the Communist alt-history trees are kind of meh, not just the UK's. Have you looked at Hungary's tree? It boils down to: try to face the Axis on your own, or ask the USSR to puppet a bunch of countries for Russia, with no direct material benefit to Hungary. I mean; why?

 

[Lysenkoite]

There's a hidden feature of BCA that might not be readily apparent from looking at the focus tree: they get a NF that has the UK order all nations with colonies/overseas annexed areas to give up those areas/ decolonize... without triggering guarantees from other nations

I've always been critical of focuses that give you wargoals for fascist/communist countries where you can justify the war manually and often for the cost of less than 70pp, but I'll admit that being able to fight people one-on-one does sound pretty good. I just wish the tree was structured differently, without that choice and the four branches, it would turn an awful tree into a passable one. It makes no sense to only be able to prepare to invade one big power at the expense of the others.

As an aside, several of the Communist alt-history trees are kind of meh, not just the UK's. Have you looked at Hungary's tree? It boils down to: try to face the Axis on your own, or ask the USSR to puppet a bunch of countries for Russia, with no direct material benefit to Hungary. I mean; why?

I must admit I hadn't, but I can believe it. I wish Paradox put in half the effort to make alt-history trees as modders did though. When I get my head around coding I'd love to make my own. Alt-history has such potential for interesting stories, it's a shame paradox squanders that potential with unimaginative trees.

 

[squid_hills]

I've always been critical of focuses that give you wargoals for fascist/communist countries where you can justify the war manually and often for the cost of less than 70pp, but I'll admit that being able to fight people one-on-one does sound pretty good.

The way the mechanic works is: when you justify normally, other countries can see you doing it, and offer guarantees if WT is over 25%. Usually its France and the UK tossing guarantees around, but by late game the US will, too. When you do a NF to get a war goal, the other countries can also "see" this, and offer guarantees. You'll notice nobody guarantees Poland until Germany has started "Danzig or War"... a canny Germany player will hold off doing that focus as long as possible, because if Poland forms it's own (weaker) faction, the Allies cant guarantee.

But BCA's NF isn't a war justification, technically, so the AI sees you doing it and doesn't know that it should offer guarantees to anyone. The AI thinks that all you're doing is preparing to go on a Marxist rant to Portugal about the evils of colonialism, which is true, but at the end of the Marxist rant, if Portugal doesn't agree with you, you get to invade them.

Though as a cautionary note, if the US has created a faction, other nations can join it if WT is high enough. The NF keeps people from spamming guarantees, it does not stop them from getting cuddly with each other once the shooting starts. A good plan is to get yourself fully Commie as quickly as possible so that the US hasn't made a faction. A pro gamer move is to rush communist, get a war goal from the US refusing to release the Phillipines, and then going to war with them, although invading the US without Canada as a staging area is rough...