Countries not Joining Axis

[incognitus]

This is the second game that I have observed this and I'm beginning to wonder.

Japan joins Axis very early on, then usually Italy is next, bringing Ethiopia along. Next on the list has usually been Hungary. Bulgaria, on the other hand, despite being as far in the Axis corner as possible, just won't ever join. Is that normal? I have actually, not that I think about it, never seen anyone join AI-led Axis in my campaigns...

 

[Wraith11B]

Bulgaria is a hard fish to net in HoI3. While they do have an event chain to join the Axis, I don't think the conditions get met enough rapidly enough to get them in. I've gotten them in during this game I'm playing, but I think it took the USSR declaring war on Germany.

 

[marxianTJ]

The main reason a state would be strongly in the corner, but not joining, (for example this almost always happens with Yugoslavia) is because the nation's neutrality is still too high to actually join. Then Germany invades them out of course - IRL of course it's because the British staged a coup there and put in a pro-Allies faction in after an agreement was reached by the Yugoslavian government to join the Axis.

So depending on the behavior of the USSR, British, and French AI, Bulgaria can often end up in a situation where enough threat isn't leveled upon it and it won't join in time - the same often happens with Romania, as it typically drifts allies until the Soviet demands come in the summer of 41' and King Carl gets couped'. Many South American states also end up in this situation where they'll end up solidly in somebody's corner, but they'll almost never join due to lack of threat lowering their neutrality enough for them to actually join a faction.

 

[Mebsuta]

Remember that in order to allign to a faction you need not only to be within 50 points of the corner, but your neutrality minus the biggest threat against you needs to be less than 25. Is it possible that perhaps Bulgaria is too neutral in your game? According to my very little experience and hours reading, if they too are far-right governments then they will not feel threatened by Germany or Italy. You would have to raise the threat of neighbouring countries so they join.

In ny Axis playtroughs I sometimes do notice Bulgaria, Romania and a few others like Guanxi Clique either just not joining at all or joning very late on. A pity because almost every time Bulgaria and Romania join the Axis, the soviets are unable to hold off and lose. When they don't however, they usually drive off Germany and Italy quite a bit.

 

[Count Blue]

.... Bulgaria, on the other hand, despite being as far in the Axis corner as possible, just won't ever join..

This is also my observation.
I will see in my current game if it persists.

 

[incognitus]

I just checked, Bulgaria still has very high Neutrality. 76 in fact, it is January 1940. So this is the reason. I have created massive threat by now (370+ with democratic countries, but Bulgaria is right-wing, so they don't care. To them the highest threat is from the UK at 4 points.

 

[Strategy-Fan]

Lol.
I remember when I was Japnan,attemted coup in Usa ,and it worked,Usa was near the Axis corner,but it was 1940 and their neutrality was to low to join.By the end of 1941 they were closer to Alies than Axis. Keep that in mind while trying to bring someone in the faction,thus in newer versions you can't use spies to lower neutrality.



I had such questions..a lot of them.Take a look on couple of youtube tutorials.And I don' t mean those who last for 1 hour. Im not sure can I do this on this forum..(and Im sorry if mustn't) can I recomend someone's turorials. Michael..B..something he has best tutorial's for hoi.Short and clean.He talked about this too,in he's diplomacy tutorial.

 

[incognitus]

Lol.
I remember when I was Japnan,attemted coup in Usa ,and it worked,Usa was near the Axis corner,but it was 1940 and their neutrality was to low to join.By the end of 1941 they were closer to Alies than Axis. Keep that in mind while trying to bring someone in the faction,thus in newer versions you can't use spies to lower neutrality.



I had such questions..a lot of them.Take a look on couple of youtube tutorials.And I don' t mean those who last for 1 hour. Im not sure can I do this on this forum..(and Im sorry if mustn't) can I recomend someone's turorials. Michael..B..something he has best tutorial's for hoi.Short and clean.He talked about this too,in he's diplomacy tutorial.

You probably mean Michael Broschek. Yes, his tutorials are good, but I've seen them all.

This wasn't about me not understanding how diplomacy works, this was more of an issue of misjudging how much (and how little) my actions impact other nations' neutrality. I had amassed over 300 points of threat on most of South America, so I assumed that I must have threat against Bulgaria as well. But since they're fascist, they don't care if I conquer the world...

 

[Kovax]

That's why you use spies to raise the SU's threat practically from day 1. That chases Bulgaria into the waiting arms of the Axis, and often brings in Italy, Hungary, and Finland a bit earlier than usual. The bonus effect is that the other factions (Axis and Allies, if you boost the SU's threat) get a decrease in Consumer Demand, meaning more IC to put into military gadgets instead of furniture and home appliances.

Paradox nerfed diplomacy pretty heavily in the FtM expansion (I consider the Semper Fi expansion the best "diplomatic" version of the game), but you can still make a fairly decent impact if you work at it.