You are being way too expansionary. As a minor, it's disadvantageous to have large swaths of non-core territory. It creates partisan problems, eats up your TC (and as a result your ESE), makes it necessary to invest more in Infra, has little-no impact on manpower, and little impact on IC since core IC is more important. Imho, if you had started runs of 20xserial runs of IC in your core provinces, that would've been better and more useful. Not only that, but the AI in DH DOES do amphibious landings, so by taking more territories, you open yourself up to attacks from the rear.
ESE is a combination of Infra from capital to the division location, local revolt risk, and your TC.
You should not be neglecting Artilley. It is one of the cheapest research/construction brigades and as a defensive brigade, it's stat is very very good for the manpower cost.
Armor is fine to neglect. Imo Armored Cars + Artillery is a very cost effective defensive combo.
Forget Tacticals, for defensive wars, Tacticals are useless. You want Air Superiority or Air Scramble (but scramble requires SO MUCH RADAR INVESTMENT that imo it's not worth it)
You know there is a DH manual you can read....
If I were you, I'd focus on Forts + AA asap. It should be maxed within 3 years (with sufficient tech) given you have 100 IC. Then you can either improve the Infra from your capital to the front to improve supply, or build IC in your core NON BORDER provinces. Add AA in those provinces as well (you can build AA outside of provinces in 99x serials, which finish really quick, about 2-3 months iirc). Once this is done, I suggest you release non-core territory as puppets (make sure to build buildings for your puppets first). This provides you with free firendly troops and they have more usable IC. You also get more resources for your national IC expansion. You may need to gift your puppets some resources though, they sometimes don't have enough. Next focus on reducing the dissent from releasing puppets. Finally mass upgrade your out of date units (assuming 2+ techs behind by now, which makes it cheaper to upgrade). If you recovered your manpower as stated above, you should have plenty to weather through the SOV onslaught.
Thanks for your advice, it is very useful. My expansionary aims are simply because I enjoy it, and I want to control as much oil as possible (I trade oil with several countries and have decent relations with the USSR as a result). The combination of ART + AC is a good one and I shall focus on them.
I like the emphasis on land forts and AA, but again, they cost manpower, but if it is preferable to fighters than I shall do so. I have invested in radars and have started building them, but am unsure where to place them. I put radars in all the provinces that I have air bases, and after that, on all border territories, is this a smart move?
So if I release puppets, how much of a manpower boost do I receive? And a country like Romania for example, will I be receiving their oil on favourable terms if I release them as a puppet. Also, what kind of buildings should I build before releasing the puppets. I have invested in air bases, but what else? AA? Industry? Forts?
My absolute priority in deciding whether or not to release puppets is ultimately to have the optimum IC available to me. Friendly troops would be a bonus, but max IC remains the abstract teleological goal, so would appreciate any advice on how to go about securing it. (Bearing in mind I have the possibility of loading multiple saves, from pre-Yugoslavia war in 1939, to pre-annex Turkey 1939 and post-annex Turkey 1939.
If you insist that releasing puppets is the optimum solution, how many? I annexed Albania, Bulgaria, Romania & possibly Turkey, but Yugoslavia was annexed by either USSR or UK.
My idea is to build fortifications on Greece's core national borders, and build lots of factories in the provinces behind them.
Should I be building industries in my mountain borders that contain land fortifications and AA as well? Also, in my border provinces with land fortifications, should I improve infrastructure (they are at 10%, 40%, 10% and 30% respectively)?
And to improve my supply chain, should I build a trail of improved infrastructure from Greece to my western, northern and eastern borders? Should I focus on one province at a time linking them to the front, or all of the provinces surrounding my core provinces, and gradually expand outwards? Also, bearing in mind the cost of manpower for infrastructure, what level infra should I be aiming for? 70%? 100%?? Which provinces should I be prioritising? Hills over mountains?
I essentially have at least until 1946 theoretically and more likely, a lot more time to focus on defence. Wouldn't an army of fighters help to reduce the invasion impact?
Should I convert my 8 TACs and if so, to what? INT or FIGHTERS, or an alternative? The TACS were crucial in beating Turkey in an early 1939 war, but as I am falling behind on research I do not have the slots to research multiple aircraft types. In the long-term, I would have to focus on 2, possibly 3 types of aircraft but am unsure which. Wouldn't a few naval bombers help to repel naval invasions?
I am sorry for all these questions. I have played HOI since the very first one, and read these forums regularly, I just cannot seem to get concrete answers to the aforementioned questions, which pop into my head time and time again, in every scenario I play.
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