Fifth Empire Portugal

[Spelaren]

I find it rather interesting to play, you can't really trade with anyone to get sorely needed steel, you can't faction with anyone besides your puppets, although you get a lot of nice benefits with the fifth empire spirit, and a cool flag and name.

Anyhow, you get a focus that let's you declare war against all existing chinas, guangxhi has steel and a lot of factories, but is a bitch to invade even as republic of china, and you're portugal and you only got a single tile port that needs to be upgraded to be of any use. I guess you could naval invade from it but even then logistics will be an issue. I guess hainan would be useful to annex as a big fortified port for further invasions of asia, but puppet the rest of guangxhi. Then there's yunnan to your left, not much resources, hard to invade since it's like one tile gap between em. To the north is china which actually can be invaded if you have done the colonial manpower focuses and if you got enough factories, or you could help Japan and carve out your own little fiefdom there, but i'd rather have the whole thing puppet aside from a few concession cities like hong kong, that strip japan owns and taiwan for further dominance of the sea there.

You could also grab galicia from spain and gibraltar and puppet the rest and make a morocco puppet when you take over france.

 

[Knave]

I find it a very fun path too play. My tips so far:

-Use the early days when your construction speed is crap anyway to get your intelligence agency up and with 5 upgrades to get 2 agents. Prepare collaboration government will be your friend.

-Support the nationalists in the civil war, but do not intervene. Send 4 of your line infrantry and grind a lot of army xp. I disband the Cacadores divisions for their rifles and try to have only 8 20-width divisions by the end of the civil war.

-Prepare collaboration governments in Iraq and Siam while the Spanish Civil War is going on. You will be starved for support equipment and rifles by these missions and it will further hamper your construction, but that's okay because you will make all of this up later.

-Once you have the Fifth Empire started, immediately begin justifying on Iraq (the national spirit gives you a very quick justify bonus). You can naval invade from Goa with 8 divisions and easily take Baghdad in a few weeks. With good collaboration set up from intelligence missions you will quickly have access to a new supply of factories, manpower, and oil and a bunch of rifles and artillery to train new divisions.

-As soon as you declare on Iraq, begin justifying on Siam. Pull the same trick naval invading from Portugese Timor. It is a bit of a longer fight but you will get access again to more factories, manpower, and all the rubber you will ever need. During this you should be preparing a collaboration government in Guangxi.

-Use Siam as your naval invasion base for China. Put part of your divisions in Macau (upgrade with a fort, more naval base and infrastructure for supply). Set up naval invasions from Siam to hit several areas in Hainan and elsewhere in Guangxi. Begin the war and push out from all invasion sites and combine your lines. Guangxi can be capped quickly, and you should be able to push farther into China and take more of China in a peace deal once you and Japan finish it off.

-Now you have a world-spanning empire with access to all resources and a lot of manpower. You can play a lot of different ways after this, including:

-Declare on Britain to take Southern Africa territories and the Indies, essentially fight the war alongside the Axis.

-Wait for the Axis to take Africa and Southeast Asia and for the Alllies to start to turn the tide, then declare on Japan or Italy to take this territory back from the Axis and fight alongside the Allies.

-Declare on Brazil and get embroiled in the war that way by drawing in the US. You can pretty easily capture Brazil by naval invading all ports simultaneously and then sending light tanks or motorized to quickly capture the inland victory points.

-For templates, I have found a 10 INF w/ support artillery, engineers, armored recon companies (light tanks) to be really good in China. Most divisions cannot pierce the little bit of armor your armored recon company gives. It is expensive to research and produce all the light tanks, but when you are stealing so many guns and artillery from Iraq, Siam, and China, who cares? Once you get into the broader war the armored recon companies aren't as good anymore and the template will need some work again.

 

[Spelaren]

I find it a very fun path too play. My tips so far:

-Use the early days when your construction speed is crap anyway to get your intelligence agency up and with 5 upgrades to get 2 agents. Prepare collaboration government will be your friend.

-Support the nationalists in the civil war, but do not intervene. Send 4 of your line infrantry and grind a lot of army xp. I disband the Cacadores divisions for their rifles and try to have only 8 20-width divisions by the end of the civil war.

-Prepare collaboration governments in Iraq and Siam while the Spanish Civil War is going on. You will be starved for support equipment and rifles by these missions and it will further hamper your construction, but that's okay because you will make all of this up later.

-Once you have the Fifth Empire started, immediately begin justifying on Iraq (the national spirit gives you a very quick justify bonus). You can naval invade from Goa with 8 divisions and easily take Baghdad in a few weeks. With good collaboration set up from intelligence missions you will quickly have access to a new supply of factories, manpower, and oil and a bunch of rifles and artillery to train new divisions.

-As soon as you declare on Iraq, begin justifying on Siam. Pull the same trick naval invading from Portugese Timor. It is a bit of a longer fight but you will get access again to more factories, manpower, and all the rubber you will ever need. During this you should be preparing a collaboration government in Guangxi.

-Use Siam as your naval invasion base for China. Put part of your divisions in Macau (upgrade with a fort, more naval base and infrastructure for supply). Set up naval invasions from Siam to hit several areas in Hainan and elsewhere in Guangxi. Begin the war and push out from all invasion sites and combine your lines. Guangxi can be capped quickly, and you should be able to push farther into China and take more of China in a peace deal once you and Japan finish it off.

-Now you have a world-spanning empire with access to all resources and a lot of manpower. You can play a lot of different ways after this, including:

-Declare on Britain to take Southern Africa territories and the Indies, essentially fight the war alongside the Axis.

-Wait for the Axis to take Africa and Southeast Asia and for the Alllies to start to turn the tide, then declare on Japan or Italy to take this territory back from the Axis and fight alongside the Allies.

-Declare on Brazil and get embroiled in the war that way by drawing in the US. You can pretty easily capture Brazil by naval invading all ports simultaneously and then sending light tanks or motorized to quickly capture the inland victory points.

-For templates, I have found a 10 INF w/ support artillery, engineers, armored recon companies (light tanks) to be really good in China. Most divisions cannot pierce the little bit of armor your armored recon company gives. It is expensive to research and produce all the light tanks, but when you are stealing so many guns and artillery from Iraq, Siam, and China, who cares? Once you get into the broader war the armored recon companies aren't as good anymore and the template will need some work again.

Thank you! I'll try this!

 

[Spelaren]

I find it a very fun path too play. My tips so far:

-Use the early days when your construction speed is crap anyway to get your intelligence agency up and with 5 upgrades to get 2 agents. Prepare collaboration government will be your friend.

-Support the nationalists in the civil war, but do not intervene. Send 4 of your line infrantry and grind a lot of army xp. I disband the Cacadores divisions for their rifles and try to have only 8 20-width divisions by the end of the civil war.

-Prepare collaboration governments in Iraq and Siam while the Spanish Civil War is going on. You will be starved for support equipment and rifles by these missions and it will further hamper your construction, but that's okay because you will make all of this up later.

-Once you have the Fifth Empire started, immediately begin justifying on Iraq (the national spirit gives you a very quick justify bonus). You can naval invade from Goa with 8 divisions and easily take Baghdad in a few weeks. With good collaboration set up from intelligence missions you will quickly have access to a new supply of factories, manpower, and oil and a bunch of rifles and artillery to train new divisions.

-As soon as you declare on Iraq, begin justifying on Siam. Pull the same trick naval invading from Portugese Timor. It is a bit of a longer fight but you will get access again to more factories, manpower, and all the rubber you will ever need. During this you should be preparing a collaboration government in Guangxi.

-Use Siam as your naval invasion base for China. Put part of your divisions in Macau (upgrade with a fort, more naval base and infrastructure for supply). Set up naval invasions from Siam to hit several areas in Hainan and elsewhere in Guangxi. Begin the war and push out from all invasion sites and combine your lines. Guangxi can be capped quickly, and you should be able to push farther into China and take more of China in a peace deal once you and Japan finish it off.

-Now you have a world-spanning empire with access to all resources and a lot of manpower. You can play a lot of different ways after this, including:

-Declare on Britain to take Southern Africa territories and the Indies, essentially fight the war alongside the Axis.

-Wait for the Axis to take Africa and Southeast Asia and for the Alllies to start to turn the tide, then declare on Japan or Italy to take this territory back from the Axis and fight alongside the Allies.

-Declare on Brazil and get embroiled in the war that way by drawing in the US. You can pretty easily capture Brazil by naval invading all ports simultaneously and then sending light tanks or motorized to quickly capture the inland victory points.

-For templates, I have found a 10 INF w/ support artillery, engineers, armored recon companies (light tanks) to be really good in China. Most divisions cannot pierce the little bit of armor your armored recon company gives. It is expensive to research and produce all the light tanks, but when you are stealing so many guns and artillery from Iraq, Siam, and China, who cares? Once you get into the broader war the armored recon companies aren't as good anymore and the template will need some work again.

Alright, some testing later. A few obstacles i discovered.
You need to do the collaboration mission several times on a single country to be able to collaborate them immidately after capitulation.
Iraq is easy to capitulate, but by that point everyone hates you and justifying on Siam is kinda hard.
You get a 70 day focus for a wargoal on Spain, useful when they are recovering from the civil war and probably won't get any faction invites.

 

[Knave]

I generally just go for 1 collaboration mission each for Siam and Iraq. The point is not to immediately set up a collaboration government, just to get enough collaboration that their factories and resources come online at a reasonable level immediately. I agree you don't really have enough time to do 2. Though once you get rolling in a long war in China I have found it possible to get 2-3 collaboration missions done across various Chinese states.

The key to timing is to take the quickest path to the Fifth Empire focus (Support the Spanish Nationalists as soon as the war breaks out, go down to National Syndicalism as fast as possible, and save enough PP to get both the Fascist Demagoue and the National Integralist immediately). This will get you to 40% Fascist support quickly and keep your stability above 60% so you can do the rest of the chain. As soon as you get Fifth Empire, justify on Iraq. Have the naval invasion already prepped and ready to go the day the war goal fires. On that same day begin justifying on Siam. If you are quick you can finish the war in Iraq, move your troops to Timor and set the naval invasion for Siam before the war goal is ready. Remember, you can set a naval invasion plan to start working while your troops are still in transit to the starting location. By doing this I have managed to conquer Iraq and Siam with no one guaranteeing them. An alternative that is somewhat quicker is Liberia and Iraq, but less rubber.

I would be very interested if you can figure out a good strategy for Spain. The focus seems to turn off for me once I go Fifth Empire. I think maybe because we are both Fascist then? I can't figure out the timing and when I have tried it I've gotten stomped even by weakened, post-war Spain. Would love some tips if you can figure this part out.

 

[Spelaren]

I generally just go for 1 collaboration mission each for Siam and Iraq. The point is not to immediately set up a collaboration government, just to get enough collaboration that their factories and resources come online at a reasonable level immediately. I agree you don't really have enough time to do 2. Though once you get rolling in a long war in China I have found it possible to get 2-3 collaboration missions done across various Chinese states.

The key to timing is to take the quickest path to the Fifth Empire focus (Support the Spanish Nationalists as soon as the war breaks out, go down to National Syndicalism as fast as possible, and save enough PP to get both the Fascist Demagoue and the National Integralist immediately). This will get you to 40% Fascist support quickly and keep your stability above 60% so you can do the rest of the chain. As soon as you get Fifth Empire, justify on Iraq. Have the naval invasion already prepped and ready to go the day the war goal fires. On that same day begin justifying on Siam. If you are quick you can finish the war in Iraq, move your troops to Timor and set the naval invasion for Siam before the war goal is ready. Remember, you can set a naval invasion plan to start working while your troops are still in transit to the starting location. By doing this I have managed to conquer Iraq and Siam with no one guaranteeing them. An alternative that is somewhat quicker is Liberia and Iraq, but less rubber.

I would be very interested if you can figure out a good strategy for Spain. The focus seems to turn off for me once I go Fifth Empire. I think maybe because we are both Fascist then? I can't figure out the timing and when I have tried it I've gotten stomped even by weakened, post-war Spain. Would love some tips if you can figure this part out.

The intervene in spain focus works just fine for me as the fifth empire, i never chose the observation mission focus tho. I played on historical mode and made franco spain win.