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sandborn9

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Feb 20, 2013
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So, I'm playing as Germany and it's June 1940. I've annexed Hungary and puppeted Bulgaria. Now I'm trying hard to convince Romania to join the Axis. I've increased the SU threat to over 60, I've increase German Party in Romania to 48% with spies, I have 200 relations with Romania and I'm influencing them from 1936. The problem is Romania is influencing itself to the Allies and it's doing this although the soviets took Basarabia this month so it's drifting to the Axis to slow. I'm influencing them with 23.40 and they are influencing themselves to the Allies with 22. The invite button is grey out and it says Romania needs to be lower than 50 and it's now 71. I don't know what else to do. There is not much time left until the spring of 41 when I plan to invade SU. Will Romania stop trying to align with the Allies? Is there any event left that could convince them?
 
Im just getting back into the game, but if i recall correctly the most important factors are when the events fire you 1) side with hungry so Romania loses territory, then after Bessarabia fires the Romanians run into your camp. The way your doing it, did you try a coup? influencing Romania is not just enough you have to put spies in increasing threat on the Soviet Union i believe. I never just influence. Also keep this in mind if you have a long front with the Soviets, the AI will send troops to cover it all. Hope this helps a little
 
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There is no Hungary, because I've annexed it already and I didn't think of a coup since this is my first game. And I don't think I have enough time for a coup now, it's August 1940. Maybe I'll wait until November 23 1940 when I see it's the real date for Romania to join the Axis. But I've positioned my tanks to the their border and I'll just puppet them if they don't give up to their "Allies" fantasy :D. I also don't use AI since I'm micromanaging everything including trade.
 
Let's unpack this situation compared to the 'normal' progression:
Germany took Hungary and Bulgaria by force, thus Romania experiences significantly more threat from Germany that in a situation where those nations were swayed to your side diplomatically.
The Soviets aren't part of the Allies, so Romania aligning itself towards the Allies is due mostly to it feeling very threatened by both the Comintern and the Axis. (The former because of Bessarabia, and the latter because of your conquest of Hungary and Bulgaria, on to of the other belligerent actions by Germany at this stage.)
Outside of the previous two factors, you've done everything right. Build up the relations. check. Increase third party threat. check. Support Our Party. check.
You are winning despite their own efforts to attempt to distance themselves. 71 is not that far off from 50 in the scope of the diplo triangle. You still have a year to bridge the gap, during which you will keep supporting your party, increasing their own internal push towards the Axis.
If the status quo is maintained, with no changes to their alignment, my estimate is that it should take about 210-250 days for Romania to reach the 50 mark. Of course, if you keep supporting your party and increasing Soviet threat, you'll decrease the time needed to bridge the gap. Just in case my estimate was off, or something happens to boost their drift towards the Allies, supporting your party will give you an ever higher chance to pull off a coup.
Long story short, I don't think there's a need to worry. (yet) Just keep doing what you're doing.
 
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Thanks for all the replies. Romania finally gave up on trying to align toward the Allies and is going pretty fast to the 50 target so everything is good. Now, there is also the problem of... Brazil :D I'm influencing them to keep having access to the rubber resource, and soon I might be in the position to invite them into the Axis. But I don't know if this is a good thing. I'm thinking what if the Allies invade Brazil and I lose the rubber? It might better for the Brazil to stay neutral?
 
Brazil's Neutrality will probably be too high for them to join anyway. As long as you keep them close enough to your corner to provide the strategic benefit, that should be good enough.
 
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The alignment policy of countries in HOI3 is rather erratic, reflecting the lack of strategic thinking of the AI. That is why I would have been surprised to hear that a country, e.g. Romania, is persistently aligning with a faction. For how long did Romania maintain the alignment towards the Allies? If it did so for long, it must have been because of the threat levels from both Germany and the Soviet Union.

Historically, Romania had little incentive to join any of the two alliances. Russia was THE expansionistic power threatening the very existence of all nations in Eastern Europe, and Hitler did sell Bessarabia to the Soviets on 23 August 1939 (The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, the secret addendum; Romanians didn't know that at the time despite some rumours in diplomatic circles) without blinking, and forced Romania to cede 1/3 of Transylvania and Southern Dobrogea to revisionist neighbours. No wonder the relations between the German and Romanian army were sour most of the time.
 
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@sandborn9 and @Kovax, why is Brazil important in HOI3 for the parties? Does it make any difference for the game balance what happens in South America?
It's arguably the most powerful country in Latin America, at least in-game, so if you're going for world domination by your faction, having Brazil in there seems like a decent enough plan. (closely followed by Argentina). Of course, the problem is that USA is likely to interfere in major Sth-American wars, and thus it is unwise to try to unify South-America until you can durably keep the US at bay in it's own back yard. Most likely late-game if you're Axis or Comintern.
More of use, even early game, is it's strategic resource: Rubber. Neither the Axis (before Japan grabs Malaysia or the island of Java), nor the Soviet Union usually have access to Rubber. Bringing Brazil very close to your faction, and keeping it there, will give you the bonuses associated with the resource. (Mobile Movement Speed +15%, in this case.) Brazil is also the only Neutral place (at the start of the game) to have Rubber. Of course, if you get Brazil into your faction, it'll stay there for ever with no effort on your part. (though it will be drawn into your wars if they aren't 'limited wars')
 
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More of use, even early game, is it's strategic resource: Rubber. Neither the Axis (before Japan grabs Malaysia or the island of Java), nor the Soviet Union usually have access to Rubber. Bringing Brazil very close to your faction, and keeping it there, will give you the bonuses associated with the resource. (Mobile Movement Speed +15%, in this case.)

A quote from Wiki:

"Faction leaders receive the benefits of strategic resources from any nation that is closely aligned to their faction so long as:
  • The aligned nation has their capital on the same continent as the faction leader
  • The aligned nation shares a coastline on the same ocean as the faction leader."
Do Germany or the Soviet Union share a coastline on the same ocean as Brasil? I mean, not being on the same continent should impede the said faction leaders from receiving acces to Brasilian rubber, even if having or manipulated to have a similar political leaning.
 
A quote from Wiki:

"Faction leaders receive the benefits of strategic resources from any nation that is closely aligned to their faction so long as:
  • The aligned nation has their capital on the same continent as the faction leader
  • The aligned nation shares a coastline on the same ocean as the faction leader."
Do Germany or the Soviet Union share a coastline on the same ocean as Brasil? I mean, not being on the same continent should impede the said faction leaders from receiving acces to Brasilian rubber, even if having or manipulated to have a similar political leaning.
I haven't tried this out, so it's possible that you can't get access to Rubber by alignment alone. That said, This does seem somewhat unfair, as many of the colonial powers reap the benefit from their strategic resources, which are often located on the other side of the globe. I don't see why German diplomats can't go into Brazil, hat in hand, and over time, convince the Brazilians to sell their rubber to them. Of course if it is possible you get the issue of there not being an actual convoy to bring rubber back to Germany. Ideally, they would have implemented it in such a way that you need a convoy connecting your metropolitan area with wherever the strategic resource comes from. A bit like the lend-lease convoys, except that if ships are sunk along the way, you get a reduction in the bonus form the resource.

As for the same Ocean. Once France or Norway are conquered, Germany finds itself with an Atlantic coastline, and Brazil always had one. This part is vague though, when you consider how other things in HOI3 work. Do they mean that you need to be able to route a convoy between the landmass of your capital and the origin of the strategic resource, in which case only land-locked countries are off-limits as soon as you have a coastline yourself. Or did they actually create borders between the Oceans to artificially limit your potential sources of strategic resources? Ill have to do some testing here. In my Soviet game I didn't work very hard on the diplomacy front and haven't gone looking for strategic resources beyond Europe...
 
To answer the question about rubber, I do have access to rubber from Brazil as Germany, but I've already conquered all of France. Anyway, another question regarding my gameplay. It's autumn 1940 and I've conquered Poland, all of France including Corsica (the UK was bombing Graz from Corsica), Switzerland, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Grece including Crete, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Gibraltar. The Axis members are Italy, Japan, Spain, Portugal, Bulgaria, Romania, Finland, Ethiopia and some Asians countries I've never heard of :p. While I'm building divisions for the war with SU, I'm also heavily bombing half of UK and I've sunk at least 4 battleship and a Carrier with Tactical bombers. The trouble is I'm fighting all alone. The Italians are doing nothing. They've just took Albania and never went to war with UK. Is there an event for them to go to war with UK? What about the Japanese? Should I ask any of them to go to war? I know from history that the war didn't went that great for the Italians and seeing that while I cripple the UK the Italians keep building all kind of stuff looks like a good thing to me. So, is there any event for the Italians and Japanese to go to war with the UK? Also, another important question. Should I guard the Swedish border with Finland when I go to war with SU in case SU overrun Finland and try to enter Sweden? The SU seems to have a lot of divisions at the Finish border.
 
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So, the Italians going to war with the UK happens a certain time after Germany starts invading France. If you conquered France rather quickly it may be possible that the event wasn't triggered by the AI, which could then stop Italy's event chain cold in it's tracks. You might want to tag to Italy to trigger the appropriate events. I think the event in question is called 'It's our time'.

In the case of Finland: Has the winter war happened in your game? If it has happened, then you should probably prepare for Finland joining your war against the Soviet Union, and thus have some forces ready to assist Finland, or to hold the Red Army back if they make their way to the Swedish border.

I'm not sure how far Japan has gotten in it's own event chain. Which axis members did you add in Asia? Did the event that gives indochina to the Jap's trigger? In any case Pearl Harbour should trigger at around the historical time, and if Japan isn't at war with the Allies at that point, it will be from then on. There isn't a particular event for Japan to join in the war with the Allies before Pearl Harbour, but it does happen often.

Regardless of what has I mentioned before, you can always invite your fellow Axis members to join your limited war. The tricky thing here is that you seem to have given the UK a massive battering beyond what Germany could likely have ever achieved historically, at least by that time. This means that you are somehow able to hold off the Allies on your own. I guess it depends on how you want to play the game. If you get the Italians and the Japanese to fight the Allies now, the British will be distracted while the two top Axis navies start fighting the Royal Navy, Japan starts taking their colonies, and Italy starts pushing towards Suez. Against the Soviets the big navies of the Japanese and the Italians aren't going to be much use. Historically the Japanese didn't fight the Soviets until very late in the war, when the Soviet's declared war against them, and the Italians didn't have the greatest performance on the Eastern Front. The 'natural' state of affairs in 1940-1941 is for Italy to fight (badly) in North & East Africa on land, and in the Med on water. Japan would be gobbling up Allied colonies in SE-Asia until they go all-in with Pearl Harbour, and usually get beaten up very slowly by the USN. Unless they're still stuck in China, that is.
 
The Asians nations are Manchukuo, Mengukuo and Yunnan. The Japanese took a big slice of Nationalist China and now there is a Non Aggression pact between them. The Winter War has happend and the damn SU took Viipuri with the Fur resource I was hoping for :( I don't really need the Italians right now. I can deal with the UK but that requires a lot of micromanaging. Every two weeks I make air raids in England to keep the runways, ports and factories destroyed. I also keep an eye every day on the English Channel to see if I can catch another fleet, but it seems they moved whatever ships they still have up in Scotland where I can't reach with Tactical bombers. They have at least two badly damaged carriers in Scotland and one in Mediterranean sea that I know of. Anyway thanks for answers :)
 
The Asians nations are Manchukuo, Mengukuo and Yunnan. The Japanese took a big slice of Nationalist China and now there is a Non Aggression pact between them. The Winter War has happend and the damn SU took Viipuri with the Fur resource I was hoping for :( I don't really need the Italians right now. I can deal with the UK but that requires a lot of micromanaging. Every two weeks I make air raids in England to keep the runways, ports and factories destroyed. I also keep an eye every day on the English Channel to see if I can catch another fleet, but it seems they moved whatever ships they still have up in Scotland where I can't reach with Tactical bombers. They have at least two badly damaged carriers in Scotland and one in Mediterranean sea that I know of. Anyway thanks for answers :)
So Manchukuo is a Japanese puppet from the start, and Mengkukuo is another Japanese puppet created by event once Japan takes the relevant areas from Shanxi and Nationalist China. Yunnan is one of the smaller warlord 'states' of China which was likely swayed to the Axis by Japan itself, no issues there. Japan has a built-in event called 'seize the coast' which was probably implemented because Japan would sometimes get stuck fighting in China, and offer no real challenge, at least on land, to a player playing an Allied or Soviet Nation. It also prevents another somewhat unrealistic eventuality which is that in some cases AI Japan would manage to steamroll all of China quite quickly, and then you get a seriously OP Japan, which can steamroll SE Asia and start pushing into India before Pearl Harbour.
What this event does is exactly what you describe. It's basically a truce in the war in China, once the IJA takes enough ground, where Japan gets most of the coastline, the area around Hong Kong, and some more resource-rich areas further inland. Then Japan gets to focus on SE Asia, and later on the Pacific. Unless the Soviets get in the mix that is.
What about Indochina? Did the event trigger when you beat France?
The Winter war had a similar result as it had historically, no issues there. (It was probably a bit less bloody in-game...)
You're also going to need all those air assets you're using to fight the British, especially the bombers, on the eastern front. Getting the Italians into the war with the allies before you DOW the Soviets should allow you to back off a little bit with the pressure you're currently putting on the UK, as they will threaten the British empire in Africa, and deploy their rather powerful navy against the RN in the Med. More importantly you're going to be giving the Eastern front most, if not all, of your attention, and having to micromanage the air raids in England will be a distraction. All the damage you do to them before Barbarossa will be great, but once you go east, you'll likely have to adopt a defensive stance in the Air War in the west to be able to adequately support your Army. How are you doing on convoy raiding? That's something the Italians are also rather helpful for.

Considering your situation, and how you're looking at it. I'd suggest inviting Japan into the war soon so they can go and get some of those valuable resources in SE Asia, instead of mostly twiddling their thumbs, before they start fighting the US. As for Italy, you could wait until the day before Barbarossa to then give the British another headache to deal with while you shift your focus.
 
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Yeap, I'll call the Italians and the Japanese when I'll start Barbarossa. Also, I don't remember any Indochina event. I've conquered France very fast in June 1939 and I didn't even get the Vichy event on time. I had a popup asking me about Vichy a month after I finished the war and at that time I already had my troops guarding the France's south ports so I saw no benefit in a Vichy France. There is a Siam country but France still has territory where is Korea today, Hanoi and Seul cities.
 
To answer the question about rubber, I do have access to rubber from Brazil as Germany, but I've already conquered all of France.

Ok, question answered.

Another question: if you can as faction member, but not leader, influence an outside country toward your alliance. I could see no such button as such in the diplomacy menu, but doing trade is counting toward influence? In my game I play as Italy and I try to influence Spain/ Portugal via trade to secure Tungsten for Germany against the Soviet Union. I can't determine though if that helps! Should one of the two move politically close enough to supply Germany, i.e. the faction leader with Tungsten, will Italy access the resource as well?
 
The Influence Nation button is right above the Offer Trade Agrement. If it's already in an alliance or a puppet there is no button. The trade does improve relations and influence but very slowly. Something like 1-2 points. Influence nation action which consumes 2 lidership points contribute with 20 or more influence points. Plus Spain/Portugal has high neutrality, you have to rise the UK threat with spies right from the beginning of the game.
 
Germany can call its allies to war at any time. Your choice. I often wait until I've drawn out the Royal Navy, which buys Italy a little bit of breathing space in the Med, otherwise they tend to get their fleet demolished in a hurry, then can't protect their convoys to North Africa, leading to disaster in that theater. If Germany builds a decent navy and lures part of the RN into the Atlantic (sinking a few ships in the process), Italy usually goes wild in North Africa and takes Alexandria and the Suez Canal, then advances into Iraq.

I'd have brought both Italy and Japan into the war right after the defeat of France (usually fall of 1939), if I play GER. Note that if Italy isn't mobilized, dragging them in against the already mobilized UK can result in a lot of initial damage to the Italian troops in North Africa. In one game, I invaded YUG instead of Poland, which led to the UK DoW'ing Germany, drawing the Axis into the war immediately and giving the UK a significant boost in threat, rather than Germany. I've also left Japan out of the Axis in a couple of games, so they didn't draw the US into the war. In one crazy game, I put a guarantee on Nationalist China, which put Germany at war against Japan fairly early in the game....and what a strange campaign that turned into!
 
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