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HOI4 Dev Diary - Bulgaria

Здравейте всички - Hi everyone! And welcome to a new Hearts of Iron 4 Dev Diary!
Today we’ll be talking about the second country in the upcoming DLC, which I’ve been working on after La Resistance. A country that didn’t make it into DoD because by that time the team considered that they lacked the appropriate tools to depict both its multiple internal conflicts and its complex diplomatic relations. And as many of you had already guessed, the country in question is... Bulgaria!

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As a defeated member of the Central Powers, Bulgaria suffered severe territorial losses, army restrictions and economic sanctions after the Great War, which led to a period of great instability and depression in the country.
In May 1934, the military organization Zveno carried out a coup d’etat and formed a new government, led by Kimon Georgiev, which dissolved the National Assembly, banned political parties and dealt a critical blow to the Macedonian revolutionary organization IMRO.
However, the Tsar forced Georgiev to resign in January 1935, appointed new puppet ministers and managed to seize full control over the country, imposing an authoritarian regime that benefited greatly from the measures imposed by the Zveno.
In 1936 Bulgarian society was split between different political and military organizations and social movements, most of them illegal thanks to the Zveno and the Tsar.
Bulgarian international relations were not in better shape, the IMRO, one of the most important Macedonian revolutionary organizations, carried out numerous fights and terrorist acts during the 1920s in both Yugoslavia and Greece, frequently operating from Bulgaria, and culminating in the 1930s with several assassinations including King Alexander I of Yugoslavia and the French Foreign Minister Louis Barthou. The actions taken by the Zveno to eradicate the IMRO helped improve Bulgaria’s image in the Balkans, but relations with its neighbors and with the countries of the Entente were still very cold.
In contrast, a very welcoming Third Reich helped Bulgaria overcome its sorry economic situation and seemed to offer a very promising future for Bulgaria....

Now let’s see how this turbulent country looks in HOI4 when you start a new game:

02 Tsar Boris Trait.png


Bulgaria will start the game with Tsar Boris as the country leader, who will provide nice bonuses for non-aligned support and a flat penalty to war support (he seemed to be very reluctant to join the war after all, agreeing only to declare war on the allies later in 1941, probably believing that it would be nothing more than a symbolic act… How wrong he was!).
To be fair, the title ‘Tsar Unifier’ historically came with the Bulgarian occupation of previously lost territories in Greece, Yugoslavia and Romania, but I think the title fits pretty well with Boris’s modifiers.

Now let’s take a look at the Bulgarian National Spirits, from left to right:

03 Bulgarian National Spirits.png

04 Second National Catastrophe.png

The Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine, signed after the Bulgarian defeat in the Great War, required Bulgaria to pay huge amounts in war reparations and forced the country to cede various territories, including western Thrace, cutting off Bulgarian access to the Aegean, and a significant area on the western border, very close to Sofia. It is no wonder why this treaty was known in Bulgaria as the Second National Catastrophe...

05 Army Restrictions.png

In addition to the sanctions above, the Treaty of Neuilly imposed very severe restrictions on the Bulgarian army, not only drastically limiting the amount of troops and forbidding the acquisition of modern equipment, but also prohibiting any military maneuvers and even stipulating the number of rifles that the Bulgarian security forces could use.

06 IMRO.png

The Zveno dealt a major blow to the IMRO in 1934, but there were still many people that considered themselves Bulgarian Macedonians. In-game you can attempt to re-ignite this sentiment to your own benefit, or you can appease your neighbors and major European democracies by rooting out any remaining revolutionary cells in Bulgaria.

I know, there’s a lot of red in these three national spirits, not very inviting, huh...? Well fear not, for as you progress throughout the focus tree you will be provided with the tools you need to get rid of them, so we will be talking about them again later in the diary.

One last thing before we move on, did you notice that guy occupying a political advisor slot in the picture above? Well, since you will be seeing his face every time you start a new game with Bulgaria, let me introduce you to Georgi Kyoseivanov, Prime Minister of Bulgaria in 1936, who was not seen as a very competent leader, but more as a puppet of Tsar Boris, a prime minister who did not dare to defy the Tsar’s Regime and who was forced to resign and become ambassador to Switzerland in 1940. Even the Germans might ask you (as happened historically) to replace him with someone more suitable.

07 Georgi Kyoseivanov.png


Looking at his modifiers, you can see a pretty poor PP bonus, and a pretty decent weekly stability boost. Do you remember that -0.30% stability from IMRO National Spirit? Well, so as long as you do not mess with the Tsar, you will have this guy working on countering that malus. But if you don’t plan on getting along with the Bulgarian monarchy, then you should plan ahead for this important stability boost that you will lose, especially if the IMRO penalty is still active.

Alright, now that we know about the situation in Bulgaria at the start of the game, let’s have our first glance at the new Focus Tree!

08 Bulgarian Focus Tree.png


As you can see, there are two main branches, and as most of you have probably already guessed, the one on the left focuses on the industry and military, while the one on the right focuses on political affairs, but note that you will also find plenty of industrial, military and research stuff within the latter.

Let’s start with the industrial branch, on the left:

09 Industrial Branch.png


A very important decision that you’ll have to face when playing Bulgaria is how you want to develop your industry:
Relying on foreign investors leads to faster industrialization, being able to ask certain major powers to make industrial investments and build some civilian factories in Bulgaria.
Investing in your domestic industry, on the other hand, leads to slower industrialization, where you'll have to sacrifice some Consumer Goods to get progressively better bonuses in production and building speed, eventually removing that CG penalty and getting a fairly powerful national spirit by mid-to-late game.

Different industrial Designers will be unlocked based on your approach, national vs foreign. National designers are slightly weaker at first, but will be improved once you complete “Utmost Optimization” focus:

10 Industrial Designers.png


The small sub-branch to the right is more focused on getting some extra resources, a matter in which Bulgaria was really lacking at the time… I see you thinking “Uranium Prospecting… Bulgaria? What a waste!” Well, you may be right, but do not worry, if you feel that Bulgaria will not be able to get the most out of this focus, you can always sign a treaty with an allied major country granting them the associated National Spirit in exchange for a bonus in consumer goods, that’s what I call teamwork!

11 Uranium Prospecting.png


Then we have the military sub branches, within them you’ll find not only military factories and research bonuses, but powerful national spirits, valious XP and very appealing designers:

12 Military Branch.png


But before you can enjoy all that, you must get rid of the army restrictions imposed by the Treaty of Neuilly sur Seine, and how will you do that? Here is the answer:

13 Negotiate Rearmament.png


Historically, despite the fact that Bulgaria acquired some military equipment during the 30s, the country (unlike others…) generally complied with the military limitations imposed by the Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine. However, the Bulgarian government (or more accurately, governments) protested on several occasions and called for these restrictions to be lifted, arguing that the League of Nations could not protect Bulgaria against the rising powers and their threatening territorial ambitions in the Balkans… But it was not until Bulgaria strengthened diplomatic relations with its neighbors, and fearing that the Germans might exert too much influence over the country, that the United Kingdom eventually pressured France and the Balkan Entente to allow the Bulgarian rearmament.

In-game, this focus will unlock some decisions allowing you to pressure the British to lift your army restrictions. If you behave politely in your neighborhood, they may be more inclined to accept, but in case the British government does not listen to reason, you can always look for new friends elsewhere, friends who can back you up if you decide to flout the treaty.

13 Negotiate Rearmament Decisions.png


Once you have removed that disgusting National Spirit, you will be able to start working on your military industry for real.
Similar to the industrial branch, here you will be presented with foreign vs national designers, and likewise, national designers will be weaker at first, but will be upgraded once you complete “Prussia of the Balkans” focus, which by the way will also grant you one of the most powerful National Spirits:

15 Prussia of the Balkans.png


It may seem too powerful I know, but keep in mind that Bulgaria will have to spend some precious time (and PP) in dealing with those army restrictions before progressing on this branch and even start producing any big toys for the army!

Now let’s take a look at the Naval sub-branch:

16 Naval Branch.png


If Bulgaria wants to participate in naval conflicts, it must first develop its shipbuilding industry, which it can do in two stages, the first one leading to the construction of infrastructures and facilities to start the production of small warships and defend the Bulgarian coast in the Black Sea, and the second one focused on the expansion to the Aegean and the building of more powerful, capital ships.

17 Dominance in the Seas.png


This last part of the branch is kind of an experiment of mine. Once Bulgaria has developed its military industry and asserted its supremacy on the Bosporus (which is no small feat), the country will be in a position from which it could seek to consolidate its dominance in the various seas that, many centuries ago, bathed the coasts of the former Bulgarian Empires.

And we’ve made it to the political tree! Let’s start with the uppermost focuses, which will allow me to introduce you to the Bulgarian internal factions system:

18 Political Branch.png


Once you complete either “Power to the Tsar” or “Oppose the Royal Dictatorship” you will be presented with a new decision category where you can interact with the different Bulgarian internal factions represented in-game. These organizations were not actual political parties by 1936, since they were either banned political parties (Broad Socialists and Agrarian Union), a far-right paramilitary movement (National Social Movement) or a soon-to-be-dissolved political and military organization (Zveno).

19 Faction Decisions.png


You can interact with these factions in two ways: Cooperation or Oppression, each of them unlocking a decision chain that will lead to either the integration of the faction into your government or its utter destruction.
If a faction has a low Loyalty value towards the government it will eventually cause some trouble by triggering a dissident event, ranging from industrial strikes and disturbing far-right demonstrations to the Zveno plotting against the government and leading (if not addressed in time) to a military coup. So if you are not planning on getting along with any of these factions, it could be worth rooting them out before they start making noise.
The oppression chain is the shortest but, apart from getting rid of a potential nuisance it does not offer any other big rewards.
The cooperation chain, while being more expensive and time-consuming to complete, will grant some benefits in the form of new advisors: Each faction has its own political advisor available only once you are about to integrate the organization into your government. Additionally, cooperating with the Zveno will unlock a handful of military advisors.

20 Advisors.png


You will be able to cooperate or oppress these factions based on the Focus path you take, but save for a few exceptions (communists were probably not very eager to cooperate with the national social movement) you will be able to choose how to interact with each faction. The upper half of the political tree has plenty of focuses that (besides other effects) will have an impact on these factions as well as provide you with precious PP so that you can keep taking more decisions.

And before going through the different ideologies, let’s talk about the IMRO, because regardless of your ideology, you will have to deal with them eventually:

21 IMRO Focus.png


Publicly condemning the IMRO and investing resources in rooting out any remaining active cells in Bulgaria will help you in developing good diplomatic relations with the Allies and, of course, with your neighbors. Through a few decisions, you will be able to reduce the penalties of the IMRO National Spirit and eventually remove it completely.
If, on the contrary, you choose to support Macedonian Revolutionary Organizations in Bulgaria, you will be able to remove some of the penalties from IMRO National Spirit, but not all. However by cooperating with the IMRO you will increase Bulgarian popularity in Macedonian states, adding useful state modifiers that will take effect once you control them, and even creating resistance in Macedonian states controlled by others.

22 IMRO Decisions.png

23 IMRO State Modifier.png


And we are finally ready to talk about the political branches now! Let’s start with the communists!

24 Communist Branch Top.png


As I mentioned before, many of the focuses in the upper half of the branch will have a small impact on the internal factions and will provide you with some Political Power.
“Overthrow the Tsar” (just like its counterparts in other branches) can be taken fairly early, but be warned, if your stability is not high enough when you complete this focus, you might find yourself in the middle of a civil war, which might not be the ideal situation for Bulgaria once the major powers begin to make their moves in the Balkans…
In case of a peaceful abolition of the monarchy, the incompetent Georgi Kyoseivanov will be put in charge, so you might want to complete “The People’s Republic of Bulgaria” as soon as possible and form a communist government.
After that, you can approach the Soviet Union or Yugoslavia (or both of them) and attempt to sign a treaty with them. You will see similar focuses to approach different countries in the other branches, and as long as you don’t join a faction (or you join theirs) you will be able to approach both countries. Approaching major countries will also unlock decisions to purchase different types of military equipment from them.

25 Purchase Equipment.png


And back to the communist branch:

26 Communist Branch Bot.png


As you can see, approaching each of those countries leads to different “faction sub-branches”.
On the left we have the Stalinist branch, which is focused on cooperating with the Soviet Union, strengthening your army and your military industry and spreading the Stalinist doctrine within the Balkans.
On the right we have a branch mostly focused on the Balkans, leading to the formation of the Balkan Federation of Socialist Republics (an old project revisited several times, but never realized). Throughout this branch you will be able to influence Balkan countries and entice them to join your faction.

27 Balkan Federation Decisions.png


“Balkan Trade Union Secretariat” and “United, We Shall Prevail!” will grant economic and military boosts not only to Bulgaria, but to every other Balkan country in the faction too.
“The Unification of the Balkans” is the last step in the Balkan Federation Dream, unifying the territories and peoples of the Balkans under a centralized government, giving your Balkan allies the option to choose between being annexed by you or not (players can also choose to become puppets).

28 United Balkan Federation.png


If you go through the Democratic Branch you will be able to choose to follow a more socialist approach, abolishing the Bulgarian monarchy and forming a popular Bloc, or you can seek the cooperation of the Tsar, following more liberal policies.

29 Democratic Branch Top.png


As you can see, even if you cooperate with the Tsar, you will be able to remove him from charge eventually, via “Plot Against Boris” focus, which will unlock some decisions leading to the assassination of the Tsar. We will talk a little bit more about this later.
Once you complete “Legislative Elections” and become Democratic, you can start working on developing good relations with Greece and the UK.

30 Democratic Branch Bot.png


Similar to the communsit branch, approaching the major nation leads to joining its major faction, granting access to focuses offering, among other things, important military bonuses against Communist and Fascist nations.
“Assert our Claims” will grant you cores on any historically claimed state under your control (those former Bulgarian territories lost during the wars in the 1910s) and allow you to claim any neighboring enemy states.
And just like the communist branch, approaching the Balkan country (that being Greece) leads to the formation of a Balkan faction, this time the Balkan Confederation which, as you can see, shares its focuses with its communist counterpart. However, different decisions make for a slightly different way of influencing your neighbors. “Organize a Balkan Summit” will add a timed National Spirit to all Balkan countries, boosting democratic support and acceptance of democratic diplomacy. “Industrial Investments” and “Capital Injection” will boost democratic in the target country (and leave it more exposed to your ideology influence) while also providing them with some benefits.

31 Balkan Confederation Decisions.png


Last of all, “Free Balkan States”, accessible from both democratic faction branches, may be an interesting alternative to “United Balkan Federation”, guaranteeing every independent democratic and non-aligned Balkan countries, creating a war goal against the rest, and providing Bulgaria with a powerful National Spirit that escalates based on the number of countries guaranteed.

32 Free Balkan States.png


Now let me to talk about both the Monarchist and Fascist branches together, since their paths are very intertwined:

Fascist Monarchist Top.png


One of your short-term goals when going through either of these paths will probably be to complete “Bulgarian Irredentism” as soon as possible, since this focus will ignite an irredentist sentiment in Bulgaria, replacing “Second National Catastrophe” spirit and turning its former weekly stability penalty into a weekly war support bonus:

34 Bulgarian Irredentism.png


Fascist Bulgaria can choose between deposing the Tsar or forming a pro-fascist (yet monarchist) youth organization.
International relations will focus on Germany and Italy in both paths, while the monarchists will also be able to approach the UK and access the Allies branch.

Strengthening relations with Germany will unlock a decision to negotiate Bulgarian territorial claims in the Balkans with the Germans (yes, before actually choosing a side).

Negotiate our Claims.png


If Germany recognizes Bulgarian territorial claims, a state modifier will be applied to the appropriate states:

36 Negotiate Claims Event.png
37 Negotiate Claims State Modifier.png


And yes, you can combine this with the state modifier provided by the IMRO, so that when Macedonian territories are transferred to Bulgaria, you will benefit from some nice resistance & compliance bonuses right away!

Back to “Plot Against Boris”, which is available through both the Democratic and Monarchist branches… But it will also be automatically completed if Boris dies of “natural causes” throughout the game, replacing its name and description to fit the new context, and allowing you to go further in that branch (assuming you haven’t already abolished the monarchy).

38 Plot Branch.png
39 Death of Boris.png


So once Boris is dead you can choose to form a Regency Council, and there can be several versions of it:
First of all, depending on your ideology, you can form a pro-allies (democratic), pro-axis (fascist) or independent (non-aligned) regency council.
Additionally, you will keep your former country leader as the head of the council, meaning that it will inherit his trait together with the Regency Council’s specific trait.

40 Hristo Lukov.png
41 Regency Council.png


But maybe you think that the best person to rule Bulgaria is none other than Boris's father and former Tsar, Ferdinand I.
Ferdinand developed a great interest in Byzantium (as did his son) and it is said that he dreamed of the formation of a “New Byzantium”... Anyways, he definitely was a belligerent ruler who seeked to expand Bulgarian borders and who led the country into multiple wars during the 1910s (most of which didn’t end very well for his country), and was finally forced to abdicate in favor of his son after the defeat of Bulgaria in the Great War as part of the Central Powers.

42 Ferdinand I.png


Regarding the factions available to both Monarchist and Fascist Bulgaria, let’s start talking about the Axis branch:

43 Tripartite Branch.png


After Signing the Tripartite Pact you can choose the militaristic, aggressive “Total War” focus, by which you will join all wars against the enemies of your faction leader.
On the contrary, “Peaceful Development” leads to a more subtle path that will allow you to ask for control over neighboring Balkan States occupied by an ally.
In addition to this, “Bulgarisation of the Balkans” will grant you cores on certain historical claims if they are controlled by Bulgaria, and also unlock decisions to core other occupied Balkan states.

44 Bulgarisation.png


As some of you would have surely guessed, this is the Bulgarian historical path. After having signed the Tripartite Pact early in 1941, Bulgaria did not participate in the German invasion of Yugoslavia and Greece, but instead played the role of “peacekeepers”, taking control over certain pre-arranged territories and relieving Axis troops to be sent to other fronts, only declaring a symbolic war on the allies several months later. Bulgaria then started a Bulgarisation campaign in the occupation zones under its control, attempting to strengthen Bulgarian territorial claims on these regions after an Axis victory in the war.

As the final focuses on this branch, “Restore the Bulgarian Patriarchate” will grant powerful compliance, stability and political power bonuses while “Third Bulgarian Empire” will, among other things, set a new cosmetic tag for Bulgaria.

45 Third Bulgarian Empire.png


Last but not least, we have the “Fate of the Balkans” branch, available through not only the Fascist and Monarchist paths, but also the Democratic one (again, assuming you have not abolished the monarchy).

46 Fate of the Balkans Branch.png


Completing “The Fate of the Balkans” focus will create a Bulgarian faction and unlock decisions to influence and coerce Balkan nations to join your alliance. Once a country has joined the faction, you can demand its submission and puppet them (the more you influence a country, the more likely it is to give in).

47 Fate of the Balkans Decisions.png


“Toppling Giants” will give you wargoals and significant attack and defense bonuses against major European neighbors, while “Guardians of the Balkans” will grant very nice combat bonuses on core territory and construction speed for military buildings not only to you, but also to your Balkan puppets, as a slightly weaker version.

As you can see, this is a fairly harsh and independent path focused on subjugating the Balkans and defending them from foreign invaders, which will not be easy, but I’m sure you’ll be up for a challenge!

Now allow to me give you one last piece of advice before saying goodbye: Choose your allies and your wars wisely when playing as Bulgaria, because if you or your faction mates aren’t doing very well in the wars, you can end up in a very delicate situation, just like the one faced by Bogdan Filov and his government in September 1944…

48 Fatherland Front Event.png


(By the way, big kudos to our freelance artist Indyclone for his magnificent event pictures!)

Aaaaand that was all from me! I hope you enjoyed the dev diary and make sure to stay tuned for the next one!
 
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Alright, so I know that due to the structure of the tree the Fascist and Monarchist paths can look quite confusing, it was really tricky to sort them out without it looking really, really messy. Allow me to shed some light on the matter, I hope this pic helps clarifying what focuses are available if you go through the monarchist branch:

View attachment 627321

As you can see Monarchist Bulgaria can approach both the Allies and the Axis, and also plot against Boris. Then you can either join the Axis, join the Allies or create your own Balkan faction via "The Fate of the Balkans".

The only limitation to Boris is that he can never complete "The Fate of the Balkans", since the focus requires that he is either dead ("Plot Against Boris") or deposed by the fascists ("Depose the Tsar", which will retire Boris and put Kyoseivanov in charge of the non-aligned party).




Similar to "Plot Against Boris" focus, "Join the Tripartite Pact" will change slighly under the appropriate circumstances:

View attachment 627322




1. There are two main reasons for my color choice: First of all, this cosmetic tag is not exclusive for communist Bulgaria, but shared between communists and democrats. So I decided to find out what the colors on the Blakan Federation flag standed for, and when I read that the black stripe represented the death in the struggle for liberty I just couldn't resist, so there it is, I hope you all enjoy Mordor Bulgaria :)

2. Bulgaria cannot ask for control of states cored by its controller
3. Will keep that in mind for the future, however I can't make any promises

Wow you guys really thought of everything for this tree. Thank you!
 
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That's a lot of potential formables and government changes for a country that was just vibing down there, historically. Will Bulgaria refuse to declare war on Soviet Union, leading to the awkward political situation where Soviet Union had to knock on the door and declare war itself, and then the government gets couped? Will AI Communist Bulgaria ask to join the Soviet Union? (it got denied six times) Also, what's the over-under on the Montreux Convention Regarding the Regime of the Straits? It affects all Black Sea nations, and makes Soviet Union Aircraft Carriers ridiculous.
 
Luxenbourg would indeed be useless, but an Austrian focus would be interesting, not a big focus or another "restore the ah empire" meme focus, but a small focus that would revolve around Italy if let's say Italy get's a reworked focus tree and they deny germans the anschluss.


edit: such a focus would fit perfectly with the eventual Italian rework dlc, and some decisions and event's with fights between pro western, pro italian fascist and pro german fascist movements

I don't really see this happening all that much. Even with the historical focuses turned off, everything has to go the -right- way for this to happen. I just don't see many people playing Austria even with a tree. They should focus more on the countries people would play.

Sweden is a big one. Alot of the big content creators and better plays recognize Sweden's ability to be a major player.
Finland. This should go with the soviets.
Iran has a big potiential as well though I rather not see them get a tree for a long while.

Then they should do the touch ups to the power creeped trees.

Romania, Yugoslavia, Poland, Hungary((Remove the RNG from the Austria Hungary)), and just improve the tree on all of the ideologies. I think communism should get some love. Then give some love to the USA though im not sure what they can do to make them fun. USA is just in a position where they are going to be boring if they wanna keep them balanced. Touch up maybe the British colony trees and maybe even look at the Chinese again. The chinese power struggles is a huge one that I think is ridiculous. I mean thats just my opinion on that. I honestly was surprised Bulgaria was getting such a nice looking tree. I figured there were plenty of other minors that could use a tree more.

Heck even Brazil could get one. Brazil did play a part in WW2, so a good south America DLC would be nice. Im thinking Brazil, Venezula and Columbia. Heck if they were nice, give us Argentina on top. It would make playing on that side of the world more fun, if they could do something.

I am a memey person, as I enjoy the possibilities this game presents, plus alot of the memes give these countries fighting chances against the likes of the Soviets, Germans and the USA. Roman Empire for Italy heavily gives them that chance to do something akin to Germany, Byzatine for Greece, AH for hungary, Ottoman for Turkey, Persian and Arabia. All of these formables are really nice additions and add flavor, depth and replayability.


ANyways, work up on the power creeped trees first, then start adding more.

So hopefully they do:

Balkans DLC pack
Soviet Union and FInland Pack with a Poland update.
Power Creep DLC pack for Hungary, Romania, Yugoslavia.
Italian DLC pack. Though who would they put into this DLC with them? Just Italy with a great tree and a ton of new mechanics? ((I rather Italy gets reworked before the Soviets, but, I can deal with Italy the way it is. Soviet really needs to be reworked.))
Scandinavian DLC for Denmark, Norway and Sweden.

Then X for whatever they decide to do afterwards.
 
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Do any of the research bonuses pertain to mot/mech, that one called war logistics maybe? I know that may seem like kind of a weird question but the default focus tree has a great mechanized bonus and that meant that for most vanilla lobbies, and also for the savvy single player, bulgaria could end up with a pretty decent mechanized army which fills a void not having the industry to really do 13 7 tanks normally creates for any small nation. I get it's not strictly historical, but hoi4 is about alt history and bulgaria did have an armor program in ww2. Mainly, though, being the odd faction member and having the freedom to do something unique like 40w mechanized was super enjoyable and made it so you could have some real game impact with the right planning even as the tiniest axis minor. I have some great memories of capitulating france as bulgaria in a historical multiplayer lobby because germany couldn't break the french in the north and I was the only faction member willing to risk their mot units on a naval invasion, and that happened twice! Nobody expected it either time, lol. So seeing some sort of mechanized or motorized bonus or just something that could let bulgaria retain its niche would be really cool and make bulgaria stand out a bit more.
 
I wanted to love this focus tree.
But come on.
This is way too bloated and, quite frankly... too powerful. This would be acceptable if it was a game specifically about Bulgaria. But, last I checked, HOI4... just isn't.

...Maybe I'm wrong, though. I guess only time will tell.
Only in the alternative historical paths. If you want to play it the historical way, you'll find that you'll have a hard time with every minor country.

Some alterantive historical paths are obviously exaggerated, like Greece for example. Taking back Constantinople seems doable, but restorying Byzantium, really? And not just the conquest, but the Turkish population will obviously protest and won't cooperate, making it impossible to core that region. It's the equivalent of having Germany form the Holy Roman Empire, having Romania form Dacia and having Bulgaria form the First Bulgarian Empire.

The only one of these ridiculosuly unrealistic alternative historical paths that is not that ridiculosuly unrealistic, although not far from it, is having Austria or Hungary form Austria-Hungary again. Given some circumstnaces, that would be believable.

But even so, we have some ridiculosuly overpowered alterantive historical paths because the players like them. The players like forming the European Union in singleplayer, even though, realistically you'll have no chance of doing it, given the political situation at that time. And you can't do it in multiplayer, because the nations you need to conquer to form that ridiculosuly overpowered states are usually other players.

So it's win-win situation. The players who want to conquer the word as minor nations can do so without mods now. And that same players won't be able to do it multiplayer because you have to beat a number of other player controled nations before World War II even starts, keeping it realistic.
 
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Man seeing this tree and all the potential it makes me sad now that Romania and Yugoslavia were part of the DoD expansion.

What they could do with Yugoslavia for example is when country capitulates it would erupt into civil war between Ustaše (Croatia), Chetniks (Serbs) and Partisans. Of course this would probably be hard to implement with resistance mechanics and making sure the Axis intervention in those states would be limited, maybe even use Spanish civil war debuff where all units would move and battle slowly.
 
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This actually looks great!
The Balkans are always an interesting place for some action, and I like how many options you have to spread your influence, especially territory guaranteed to be given to you by other countries.

Any prospects in making this "per-arranged territorial expansion" a core feature of the game for all countries I wonder?
 
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No sorry I think I didn't express myself properly.
When I talk about the Zveno and Fatherland Coup I mean AI coups against the player, so the player cannot lead the Zveno or the Fatherland Front sides on a civil war (not without using console commands).
When you overthrow the Tsar via the different focuses available for each ideology you can trigger a standard civil war, in which you will keep your Focus Tree. In case you, as would-be Communist Bulgaria, have already formed the Fatherland Front yourself (via focus), then you will be the Fatherland Front in the CW, but that's a different instance from the "AI version" of it.

Edit: Also, the focus "Balkan Federation of Socialist Republics" checks that you are communist and further focuses in the branch usually check that you are not fasicst, at least (since you could reach that branch even if you go democratic and then form an Independent Regency Council, for example.

If the Ai beats you in the standard civil war, will they load the focus tree for the Tsar? I know other civil war trees load up the standard tree if the unexpected side somehow wins so that the game doesn't break
 
Dear @ManoDeZombi How will Bulgaria interact with some DoD nations?

Specifically:
  • Will supporting Macedonian organizations make the Yugosalvian Macedonian Opposition spirit worse for Yugoslavia?
  • If Yugoslavia chooses the Concessions for Macedonians focus, how will it affect the IMRO in Bulgaria?
  • If Romania goes the Balkan Dominance path, would she be able to Puppet-feed Bulgaria (after puppetizing)?
  • Can a monarchist Bulgaria seek alliance with Hungary? They have the same enemies: Romania and Yugoslavia.

3. Will keep that in mind for the future, however I can't make any promises
Please take a look at @WelshStalker 's proposed state borders.
 
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Dear @ManoDeZombi How will Bulgaria interact with some DoD nations?

Specifically:
  • Will supporting Macedonian organizations make the Yugosalvian Macedonian Opposition spirit worse for Yugoslavia?
  • If Yugoslavia chooses the Concessions for Macedonians focus, how will it affect the IMRO in Bulgaria?
  • If Romania goes the Balkan Dominance path, would she be able to Puppet-feed Bulgaria (after puppetizing)?
  • Can a monarchist Bulgaria seek alliance with Hungary? They have the same enemies: Romania and Yugoslavia.


Please take a look at @WelshStalker 's proposed state borders.
Yeah the Bulgarian's ability to play with the IMRO should really be able to worsen the debuffs for Yugo + create debuffs for Greece, but I don't know if they'd do that. Someone mentioned on a previous dev diary that the focus trees really don't interact with eachother. This would be a great dlc to prove them wrong!
 
So it's win-win situation. The players who want to conquer the word as minor nations can do so without mods now. And that same players won't be able to do it multiplayer because you have to beat a number of other player controled nations before World War II even starts, keeping it realistic.
I think most of the problems come from the AI doing it. Which becomes a problem if the "historical" AI takes a bad set of foci (e.g. Poland, France, Soviets...)
 
Wow, the focus trees are really becoming elaborate. Makes me wish even more that the devs eventually go back and redo all the earlier ones.
 
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Alright, so I know that due to the structure of the tree the Fascist and Monarchist paths can look quite confusing, it was really tricky to sort them out without it looking really, really messy. Allow me to shed some light on the matter, I hope this pic helps clarifying what focuses are available if you go through the monarchist branch:

View attachment 627321

As you can see Monarchist Bulgaria can approach both the Allies and the Axis, and also plot against Boris. Then you can either join the Axis, join the Allies or create your own Balkan faction via "The Fate of the Balkans".

The only limitation to Boris is that he can never complete "The Fate of the Balkans", since the focus requires that he is either dead ("Plot Against Boris") or deposed by the fascists ("Depose the Tsar", which will retire Boris and put Kyoseivanov in charge of the non-aligned party).

Also, quick tip that might be useful while checking the Bulgarian tree, note that the links between focuses ALWAYS move horizontally before going down (that's in fact why all those focuses around Bulgarian Irredentism are placed in that strange way), I know it's not the most intuitive thing ever, but I tried to use that to help ppl recognize where certain focus can lead to in messy areas like this one.




Similar to "Plot Against Boris" focus, "Join the Tripartite Pact" will change slighly under the appropriate circumstances:

View attachment 627322




1. There are two main reasons for my color choice: First of all, this cosmetic tag is not exclusive for communist Bulgaria, but shared between communists and democrats. So I decided to find out what the colors on the Blakan Federation flag standed for, and when I read that the black stripe represented the death in the struggle for liberty I just couldn't resist, so there it is, I hope you all enjoy Mordor Bulgaria :)

2. Bulgaria cannot ask for control of states cored by its controller
3. Will keep that in mind for the future, however I can't make any promises
1. Maybe a lighter black then? A dark shade of grey, so that it doesn't look like Nazi Balkans. Anyway, it's just a color. If you are happy, don't mind.
2. Only cores isn't too abusable? Wouldn't Bulgaria be able to annex all of Yugoslavia, Albania and Greece without even being at war with the Allies? Is there any other limit? Anyway, I keep thinking that Bulgaria shouldn't be able to ask for Albania, or at least, that Italy should never accept. Italy wouldn't give its claimed lands to Bulgaria. Annexed (and claimed*) Albania shouldn't be in the same category as non-owned occupied states like Macedonia.

* In the game, IIRC, Italy can't claim Albania but it should, historically Italy claimed Albania and Greater Albania.
 
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