Constructing a HoI4 Germany Guide

[aqvamare]

It is so easy as germany to defend the asia and southamerica area.

I normally send 30div infantery from my 200 start build up, to defend it. 16 goes to southamerica, so that you can take on day 1 WW2 the alluminium resources from UK/france...which cripples there airplane production (mostly from UK).

16 div for the ports in indonesia, and you are save. 3div for the burma oil, and you can take UK oil...which cripples them again.

Netherlands in 1936 is simply to OP. you do not only get resources, you actualy get striking chance on 300 alluminium and 80 oil...which is simply crazy, when real war starts.

 

[bristolduke]

I am going to propose a different path. (it has been mentioned by the fabricated approach), it can also be accomplished thru national focus, saving your PP and keeping the tension a little lower. The end result is that you can have 64 CIC and 77 MIC in Aug of 37 (it gets to 84/104 by spring of 38), and control Austria, Czech and Poland without getting the Allies involved. You are also several provinces closer to the Soviets to start Barbarossa.

Accelerate recruitment, exercise your troops and use this National focus sequence

1. Rhineland
2. Autobahn
3. Anschluss
4. Demand Sudetenland
5. First Vienna Award
6. Fate of Czechoslovakia (should be done by early months of 1938)
7. Reassert Eastern Claims
8. Danzig or WAR
9. Westwall
10. Army innovations 1
11. Soviet Treaty
12. Industry 1
13. Industry 2


This also has the advantage of

1) having your annexations complete before Japan start escalating world tension.
2) having enough experience to upgrade your army templates and thus upgrade your units quickly
3) And of course it gets you the strongest production start, by being able to spam MIC from the start.

 

[sunzoner]

I am going to propose a different path. (it has been mentioned by the fabricated approach), it can also be accomplished thru national focus, saving your PP and keeping the tension a little lower. The end result is that you can have 64 CIC and 77 MIC in Aug of 37 (it gets to 84/104 by spring of 38), and control Austria, Czech and Poland without getting the Allies involved. You are also several provinces closer to the Soviets to start Barbarossa.

Accelerate recruitment, exercise your troops and use this National focus sequence

1. Rhineland
2. Autobahn
3. Anschluss
4. Demand Sudetenland
5. First Vienna Award
6. Fate of Czechoslovakia (should be done by early months of 1938)
7. Reassert Eastern Claims
8. Danzig or WAR
9. Westwall
10. Army innovations 1
11. Soviet Treaty
12. Industry 1
13. Industry 2


This also has the advantage of

1) having your annexations complete before Japan start escalating world tension.
2) having enough experience to upgrade your army templates and thus upgrade your units quickly
3) And of course it gets you the strongest production start, by being able to spam MIC from the start.

The uk declare war on me everytime i do danzig... Too early for my liking.

 

[Beagá]

9. Westwall
10. Army innovations 1
11. Soviet Treaty
12. Industry 1
13. Industry 2


This also has the advantage of

1) having your annexations complete before Japan start escalating world tension.
2) having enough experience to upgrade your army templates and thus upgrade your units quickly
3) And of course it gets you the strongest production start, by being able to spam MIC from the start.

Man... you do know you need civilian industry to build more industry right? The industry focus gives you those and also makes you closer to the extra research slot...

Also, no Westwall before Danzig works in a single player game maybe because the AI is derpy and AI Italy is programmed to declare war on allies early... because if it didn´t the french would spank you and you wouldn´t EVER remove them from the Ruhr.

Doubt me play a game as France and see the difference that thing does.

 

[bristolduke]

The uk declare war on me everytime i do danzig... Too early for my liking.

I have never had UK declare war as long as the world tension is under 25 which it is in Jun 37.

Man... you do know you need civilian industry to build more industry right? The industry focus gives you those and also makes you closer to the extra research slot...

Also, no Westwall before Danzig works in a single player game maybe because the AI is derpy and AI Italy is programmed to declare war on allies early... because if it didn´t the french would spank you and you wouldn´t EVER remove them from the Ruhr.

Doubt me play a game as France and see the difference that thing does.

I have more CIC and MIC in 37 after Poland than I do by original posted approach. So the economy is actually stronger.

I will concede that I have only done this in solo, so it may not work in an MP game, However, I do have close to 100 divisions available and not all of them are in Poland, but I will defer to a MP expert.

 

[bristolduke]

Also, no Westwall before Danzig works in a single player game maybe because the AI is derpy and AI Italy is programmed to declare war on allies early... because if it didn´t the french would spank you and you wouldn´t EVER remove them from the Ruhr.

Doubt me play a game as France and see the difference that thing does.

Question. I did look at France. I don't see how they can declare war against Germany faster than a quick Danzig. They are not allowed to create a war goal as a democracy unless world tension is 100 (it starts at 0 and is about 10 for Dansig). It will take until Mid March 37 to go communist and they could not generate a war goal in 4 months. (Although having both France and USSR together might be challenging). Remember no one goes to war against you on Poland. Not sure what I am missing, but I think it is the same as historical except that there is no "Phony War".

 

[RFCTeddybear]

I would have to argue against your lack of artillery. In 1937, I added artillery (xp from training and Rommel's participation in the Spanish Civil War). I added two artillery regiments to my infantry and retained the artillery support company. I still was able to Anschluss in mid or late 1937 (I can't remember). More importantly, artillery equipped infantry will absolutely shatter any computer generated division in 1939 (unless they are entrenched in forts or mountains). I found this was invaluable for defeating the Poles and later the Russians. It was also useful against the French. For whatever reason, British divisions have incredibly high defense apparently, so dislodging them was still a pain.

 

[bristolduke]

I could not agree with you more, except on one point. You don't need the artillery regiments to defeat Poland. Right after the war I upgrade the template the same (and add anti-air support). I tell all my divisions to upgrade to the new template and I pump out artillery and anti-air as fast as I can, with all those great MIC I spammed. In less than a year you are fully upgraded.

 

[Schatten51]

that is all due to bad division design by AI and holding at outdated templates.
There is a Mod that solves this Problem and you suddenly will face AI with Armor Divisions of Medium and Heavy Tanks (not only light spam) and proper Infantry Divisions with latest equipment and support.
Infantry and Arty alone Divisions will than not help you much.

ah in case its unclear what i mean:
https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...ai-research-and-division-tweaks.950068/page-3

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=704100462&searchtext=

Paradox should pay the guy something....his work is awesome

 

[bristolduke]

That will have little impact on the approach, unless he plans on letting Poland have medium/heavy tanks in 36. The objective of this approach is to get maximum industry without starting WWII. This works because World tension is very low in 36/37. Certainly after the fall of Poland in 37, you will have to modify templates, build and strengthen for the Soviets/UK, maybe France. But you now have the industry to do it. Also, there is no partisan activity in Poland. You get the CIC of three countries without a world war, while you spam MIC. You are far stronger in 37 (not to start wars to to build for one).

I am not playing any mod, but the one referenced talks about enabling medium/heavy tanks in 38, (and not for Poland). That will certainly not impact a 37 Dansig. Will Paradox, change this in the next release? Who knows, but I doubt it. The French slogan of "No War for Dansig in 39" would certainly apply in 37 and the UK was certainly pacifist in 37. Changing the template would make it easier for Germany in 37 v Poland not harder. All the divisions on the current template have full material (the MIC spam gives you enough industry).

The original premise was how to get Germany quickly up on her feet. This works. May not be for everyone and may be changed by Paradox later.

The thread was to share approaches and I believe this approach is a stronger start than what was originally proposed.

 

[sunzoner]

That will have little impact on the approach, unless he plans on letting Poland have medium/heavy tanks in 36. The objective of this approach is to get maximum industry without starting WWII. This works because World tension is very low in 36/37. Certainly after the fall of Poland in 37, you will have to modify templates, build and strengthen for the Soviets/UK, maybe France. But you now have the industry to do it. Also, there is no partisan activity in Poland. You get the CIC of three countries without a world war, while you spam MIC. You are far stronger in 37 (not to start wars to to build for one).

I am not playing any mod, but the one referenced talks about enabling medium/heavy tanks in 38, (and not for Poland). That will certainly not impact a 37 Dansig. Will Paradox, change this in the next release? Who knows, but I doubt it. The French slogan of "No War for Dansig in 39" would certainly apply in 37 and the UK was certainly pacifist in 37. Changing the template would make it easier for Germany in 37 v Poland not harder. All the divisions on the current template have full material (the MIC spam gives you enough industry).

The original premise was how to get Germany quickly up on her feet. This works. May not be for everyone and may be changed by Paradox later.

The thread was to share approaches and I believe this approach is a stronger start than what was originally proposed.

The france doesnt want a war in 1939?

 

[illathid]

Any chance someone could go over the technology choices in more detail? I'm not sure how best to approach it even after reading this guide.

 

[Insigna]

I finally got the UK to become Fascist but instead of leaving their alliance and joining mine all their allies left and they began to get brand new allies. Is there any way to get them to join my alliance?

 

[Wiebelo]

Thanks for the great historical guide. I love the omission of gamey aspects.

I've a question about this:

Appoint Goebells for Fascist Party solidarity

What is party solidarity / more party populairity good for? I couldn't see any bonusses attached to it. Is it purely cosmetic?

Another question, does historical AI focus influence reactions to Germany's national focuses, like demand Slovenia and the second Vienna award?

 

[aazard]

I am going to propose a different path. (it has been mentioned by the fabricated approach), it can also be accomplished thru national focus, saving your PP and keeping the tension a little lower. The end result is that you can have 64 CIC and 77 MIC in Aug of 37 (it gets to 84/104 by spring of 38), and control Austria, Czech and Poland without getting the Allies involved. You are also several provinces closer to the Soviets to start Barbarossa.

Accelerate recruitment, exercise your troops and use this National focus sequence

1. Rhineland
2. Autobahn
3. Anschluss
4. Demand Sudetenland
5. First Vienna Award
6. Fate of Czechoslovakia (should be done by early months of 1938)
7. Reassert Eastern Claims
8. Danzig or WAR
9. Westwall
10. Army innovations 1
11. Soviet Treaty
12. Industry 1
13. Industry 2


This also has the advantage of

1) having your annexations complete before Japan start escalating world tension.
2) having enough experience to upgrade your army templates and thus upgrade your units quickly
3) And of course it gets you the strongest production start, by being able to spam MIC from the start.

I would like to make a further alteration suggestion to rush Anschluss as second focus with no "time waited penalty" to national focus (ie within the 10 day grace period), this will allow the control of the most CIC/MIC/NIC and largest manpower pool possible:

*Note keeping the guides basis form BUT dont remove artillery support from infantry, cancel the tungsten importing, and altering production lines so its:
- 2 slots of infantry weapons one set to 15 factories, 1 set to 4 factories, (original at 15, new one at 4)
- 1 slot support supplies set to 15 factories,
- 1 slot artillery set to 3 factories,
- 1 slot light tanks set to 1 factory,
- 1 slot motorized set to 1 factory,
- 1 slot fighters set to 1 factory,
- all starting naval but subs set to make a single ship with 1 dockyard each , then subs set to infinity run with a full 15 dockyards (so it auto adds new dockyards)

Before game is unpaused a few small things can make a big difference:

0. Cancel the tungsten importing, set up oil trade from Venezuela and rubber from Siam to fill your needs after setting up production lines as out lined. Queue up building 8 civilian factories

1. Convert the 1 unit of starting mountaineers and 1 unit of cavalry into infantry divisions (the few extra thousand men will be a massive help speeding towards 550K fielded men)

2. Put everyone but 2 panzer divisions under a field marshal and exercise them, also fill recruitment queue to the max (should be 21 additional devisions, set for 1 recruitment run) set to deploy directly into field marshals army to maximize army exp gains, micromanage recruitment window and deploy them all at 20% training, note when only 10 units remain in queue set it to an infinity run. you will need to have global reinforcements and upgrades set to lowest priority, and the current recruitment runs reinforcements set to highest priority.

3. Put the 2 remaining panzers in an army under Von Manstein (best starting panzer general) and send them as volunteers for Italy in Ethiopia, it will be basically world tension free due to the treaty reduction being greater than the increase of sending them and its a GREAT source of starting army experience

4. as soon as you have the needed 50 political power fabricate against Netherlands and invade them for the oil and rubber they control, send a holding force of 5 infantry divisions to South America and 10 infantry divisions to the pacific islands to take French/English holdings there and hold them when war starts

5. As soon as you hit 5 army experience add an addition infantry to your infantry divisions to boost manpower in field, then when when you have 5 more army experience and/or Rhineland finishes add another addition infantry to your infantry divisions to tip fielded manpower over 550K

**** NOTE at this point Rhineland will have finished and you will have about 538K manpower in the field, not enough for Anschluss, dont panic, you have 10 days to choose a national focus with no penalty (its basicly going to bank those 10 days to put towards your next national focus), watch your fielded manpower under the army window in the manpower/equipment and as soon is it goes to or over 550K select Anschluss national focus.

6. continue early recruitment until you hit 850K men (then we will fix up infantry divisions to an ideal 20 or 22 combat width, i prefer 7x infantry, 2x artillery, 1x heavy tank, with engineers, recon, anti-tank, anti-air and artillery supports for 22 width, under a -10% own combat width field marshal for infantry divisions) this allows the demand XX and fate of XX national focuses. When you have the 850K manpower fielded set global reinforcements and upgrades set to highest priority, and the current recruitment runs reinforcements set to normal priority, until all equipment shortages are taken care of then set all to normal priority

7. when Spainsh cilil war starts help Franco with as many troops as possible, hopefully all your starting panzers and SS divisions, taking Madrid and Barcelona, plus maybe 1 other victory point should end it fast

So national focuses in order should be this, roughly, its the focuses to Reassert Eastern Claims that matter:

1. Rhineland (0 to 70 days)
2. Anschluss ((70 to 140 days)
3. Demand Sudetenland (140 to 210 days)
4. Demand Slovenia (210 to 280 days)
5. First Vienna Award (280 to 350 days)
6. Fate of Czechoslovakia (350 to 420 days)
7. First Ljubljana Award (420 to 490 days)
8. Fate of Yugoslavia (490 to 560 days)
9. Reassert Eastern Claims (560 to 630 days)
10. Danzig or WAR (630 to 700 days, THATS FINISHING DECEMBER 1ST 1937, 19 months early Historically)
---- past here its really up to playstyle---- i would go for:
11. Autobahn
12. Westwall
13. Army innovations 1
14. Soviet Treaty
15. Industry 1
16. Industry 2
then directly towards 5th research slot

And then political power spending in order should be this:

1.War Economy
2. Schact, the civilian factory building guy
3. Krupp, for faster industrial research
4. Walther Funk, the civilian military building guy
5. Guderian Army Chief, for faster tanks and army exp/land doctrine bonuses
6. Werner Von Fritsch, to reduce attrition
... past this its really upto your playstyle, bu i would start taking heavy tank, motorization, light fighter research bonuses

PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF THIS CAN BE IMPROVED ON

 

[GreenWhite1899]

I would like to make a further alteration suggestion to rush Anschluss as second focus with no "time waited penalty" to national focus (ie within the 10 day grace period), this will allow the control of the most CIC/MIC/NIC and largest manpower pool possible:

*Note keeping the guides basis form BUT dont remove artillery support from infantry, cancel the tungsten importing, and altering production lines so its:
- 2 slots of infantry weapons one set to 15 factories, 1 set to 4 factories, (original at 15, new one at 4)
- 1 slot support supplies set to 15 factories,
- 1 slot artillery set to 3 factories,
- 1 slot light tanks set to 1 factory,
- 1 slot motorized set to 1 factory,
- 1 slot fighters set to 1 factory,
- all starting naval but subs set to make a single ship with 1 dockyard each , then subs set to infinity run with a full 15 dockyards (so it auto adds new dockyards)

Before game is unpaused a few small things can make a big difference:

0. Cancel the tungsten importing, set up oil trade from Venezuela and rubber from Siam to fill your needs after setting up production lines as out lined. Queue up building 8 civilian factories

1. Convert the 1 unit of starting mountaineers and 1 unit of cavalry into infantry divisions (the few extra thousand men will be a massive help speeding towards 550K fielded men)

2. Put everyone but 2 panzer divisions under a field marshal and exercise them, also fill recruitment queue to the max (should be 21 additional devisions, set for 1 recruitment run) set to deploy directly into field marshals army to maximize army exp gains, micromanage recruitment window and deploy them all at 20% training, note when only 10 units remain in queue set it to an infinity run. you will need to have global reinforcements and upgrades set to lowest priority, and the current recruitment runs reinforcements set to highest priority.

3. Put the 2 remaining panzers in an army under Von Manstein (best starting panzer general) and send them as volunteers for Italy in Ethiopia, it will be basically world tension free due to the treaty reduction being greater than the increase of sending them and its a GREAT source of starting army experience

4. as soon as you have the needed 50 political power fabricate against Netherlands and invade them for the oil and rubber they control, send a holding force of 5 infantry divisions to South America and 10 infantry divisions to the pacific islands to take French/English holdings there and hold them when war starts

5. As soon as you hit 5 army experience add an addition infantry to your infantry divisions to boost manpower in field, then when when you have 5 more army experience and/or Rhineland finishes add another addition infantry to your infantry divisions to tip fielded manpower over 550K

**** NOTE at this point Rhineland will have finished and you will have about 538K manpower in the field, not enough for Anschluss, dont panic, you have 10 days to choose a national focus with no penalty (its basicly going to bank those 10 days to put towards your next national focus), watch your fielded manpower under the army window in the manpower/equipment and as soon is it goes to or over 550K select Anschluss national focus.

6. continue early recruitment until you hit 850K men (then we will fix up infantry divisions to an ideal 20 or 22 combat width, i prefer 7x infantry, 2x artillery, 1x heavy tank, with engineers, recon, anti-tank, anti-air and artillery supports for 22 width, under a -10% own combat width field marshal for infantry divisions) this allows the demand XX and fate of XX national focuses. When you have the 850K manpower fielded set global reinforcements and upgrades set to highest priority, and the current recruitment runs reinforcements set to normal priority, until all equipment shortages are taken care of then set all to normal priority

7. when Spainsh cilil war starts help Franco with as many troops as possible, hopefully all your starting panzers and SS divisions, taking Madrid and Barcelona, plus maybe 1 other victory point should end it fast

So national focuses in order should be this, roughly, its the focuses to Reassert Eastern Claims that matter:

1. Rhineland (0 to 70 days)
2. Anschluss ((70 to 140 days)
3. Demand Sudetenland (140 to 210 days)
4. Demand Slovenia (210 to 280 days)
5. First Vienna Award (280 to 350 days)
6. Fate of Czechoslovakia (350 to 420 days)
7. First Ljubljana Award (420 to 490 days)
8. Fate of Yugoslavia (490 to 560 days)
9. Reassert Eastern Claims (560 to 630 days)
10. Danzig or WAR (630 to 700 days, THATS FINISHING DECEMBER 1ST 1937, 3 months late Historically)
---- past here its really up to playstyle---- i would go for:
11. Autobahn
12. Westwall
13. Army innovations 1
14. Soviet Treaty
15. Industry 1
16. Industry 2
then directly towards 5th research slot

And then political power spending in order should be this:

1.War Economy
2. Schact, the civilian factory building guy
3. Krupp, for faster industrial research
4. Walther Funk, the civilian military building guy
5. Guderian Army Chief, for faster tanks and army exp/land doctrine bonuses
6. Werner Von Fritsch, to reduce attrition
... past this its really upto your playstyle, bu i would start taking heavy tank, motorization, light fighter research bonuses

PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF THIS CAN BE IMPROVED ON

Will try that.

 

[lihp]

<snip>
So national focuses in order should be this, roughly, its the focuses to Reassert Eastern Claims that matter:

1. Rhineland (0 to 70 days)
2. Anschluss ((70 to 140 days)
3. Demand Sudetenland (140 to 210 days)
4. Demand Slovenia (210 to 280 days)
5. First Vienna Award (280 to 350 days)
6. Fate of Czechoslovakia (350 to 420 days)
7. First Ljubljana Award (420 to 490 days)
8. Fate of Yugoslavia (490 to 560 days)
9. Reassert Eastern Claims (560 to 630 days)
10. Danzig or WAR (630 to 700 days, THATS FINISHING DECEMBER 1ST 1937, 3 months late Historically)

Errr, no. Its actually 19 months early historically.

 

[bristolduke]

I am unable to replicate the 550K manpower by 22 March (Rhineland + 10 days). Is there a timing or additional step needed? The additional inf in the division doesn't flesh out the manpower only the potential for the manpower.

 

[aazard]

I am unable to replicate the 550K manpower by 22 March (Rhineland + 10 days). Is there a timing or additional step needed? The additional inf in the division doesn't flesh out the manpower only the potential for the manpower.

As the guide says make sure the starting cav/mountaineers are converyed to inf, then add 1 extra as soon as you get 5exp, add the 2nd after rhineland finishes, you should have over 550K by march 19th/20th.... on the 19th or 20th your manpower in feild should jump from 538k to over 560k. I have tried it myself over 5 times from a new start to make sure it was not a fluke. If you dont get it somehow a 2nd attempt should get you there

 

[Shifted]

I know this might be considered too gamey, but there's a very good way of completely dominating with Germany, and I don't think there exists any other way of achieving the same level of dominance so fast.

What you do is, with the very first 50 political power you get, you start justifying war against Britain. You continue more or less like how this guide suggests, though I kept artillery production to make sure my infantry was strong enough early in the game. You then get war economy with the next 150 PP, and then also start justifying against the Netherlands. Right before your war justification with Britain finishes, you set your fleet to patrol the English Chanel, and declare war.

Move over 10 of your infantry divisions as a naval invasion to Britain, make them land on one of the ports provinces near the south east side. Mind you, we are still in 1936 at this point. Your fleet will start to loose against the royal navy, but that doesn't matter. As soon as your 10 division invasion force lands and enables the port on the island, you move your fleet out of there and hide it. Move the rest of your 24 man infantry army as convoys, along with your initial 3 tanks and cavalry as a separate army. What I did was set the 24 infantry divisions to hold the frontline, and micro managed the tanks to break through quickly around the island. You have to be fast and micro it. They will already have air superiority and ground support, but your infantry should be strong enough to hold the line without problems. I found that breaking through was harder, since their infantry has a lot of defense, but they also can't do much against the light tanks you have. They key, however, is not to take too long and micro the tanks around to encircle and take cities before they manage to stabilize and cause a stalemate. Pause and look at your exact situation, and think a bit on how you'll move the tanks around to accomplish this. Maybe I was lucky, but I managed to make Britain capitulate on January 1937.

Meanwhile, on continental Europe, you can take the Netherlands with a 15 or so infantry army fairly easy. Make the plan beforehand and let them get the plan bonus. Once the Netherlands has capitulated, and while you're still at war with Britain (late 1936), world tension is already so high that you can justify against Belgium fairly quickly. Keep the bulk of your infantry on the front line with France, and have a 15 or so army push through Belgium. In my game, France joined the allies while I was fighting Britain, but they were still fairly weak. After Britain fell, I just pushed into France through the north skipping the forts, and it was fairly easy to take Paris. When France capitulated on early 1937 and Vichy France was made, the allies lost the war basically. I got into a peace conference and took all of Britain, while letting Vichy France keep the entirety of France. Mid 1937, and here I am with no wars active, a crap ton of factories of all kinds, more resources than I'd ever need, and no more allies to worry about. The Eastern front was a cakewalk after that.

Now I may have been lucky on my Britain invasion, I'll try replicate it again tonight and see how it goes. Their infantry definitely has a lot of defense, to the point where fighting them head on would take too long even if you are winning. I had to micro my tanks very heavily to encircle and overrun as much as possible. I did micro the infantry a bit too, especially at the start to spread out as much as possible. I also don't know how much of a difference keeping artillery on my infantry from the beginning made. I had to ramp up artillery production with about 4 factories from the start to keep up with demand. If you manage to win in Britain, the rest of the game is basically won. France and the Netherlands in early 1937 were a cakewalk. And without the allies bothering you, the Eastern Front is laughable.