How to get all the ships?

[TheMoe]

There is nothing l like more in HOI 4 than the naval battles, and I want more of them.

The folks on the forums are quite helpful and most certainly know more about the game than I do, having just come back. I recall reading an answer to a somewhat recent post where the player says, "I conquered France and GB as Germany, then I puppeted their governments and took all their ships." Well, that's sound very interesting to me, though the mechanics are a bit above my current knowledge level.

This is how I think it would work:

1. Conquer France and GB, setting up collaboration governments, and do so before the US joins the war.
2. That triggers a "divide the territory" screen, which I've never seen while playing, though I have seen it in YouTube playthroughs.
3. The goal would be to choose as much of France and GB as possible, based on my contribution to the war.
4. Then, I guess you have some option to set up puppet governments or simply make all their territory part of Germany?

Once you claim victory, beat the Allies, and take as much of GB and France as you can, wouldn't you just get their navies anyway? Is there a benefit to creating puppet governments? If so, how might one go about doing so?

Also, do I have the order correct #1-4, or is it possible to create a puppet government and take France's ships before I attack GB? Thanks!

 

[Paul.Ketcham]

Note that annexing puppets requires the Together for Victory DLC.

In the peace conferences, you can puppet nations at any point in the conference if you have enough score for it; if you aren't competing with anyone for score, you can simply take whatever land you want then puppet them at the end if you want to keep their fleet intact (if you entirely annex them, the fleet ceases to exist). If you're fighting for warscore, you may want to puppet them right away (it will not return all of their land to them, but much of it) and if you're planning on annexing them anyways, it won't be very hard to in the postwar to acquire the lands you want.

There is no size restriction on how much land they need to be puppeted, but any puppet gets the full navy after the war (meaning the entire Royal Navy can be based out of Hong Kong if you take everything else). However, larger nations are much easier to develop and annex than smaller ones (since you have more land to build up, and if you're annexing them anyways you'll get all that development back anyways). Either build up their territory, or just lend lease them equipment (specifically your own equipment; I don't think captured equipment does anything to autonomy).

Once annexed, the nation's industry will turn over entirely intact, unlike during conquest where much of it is removed. Similarly, the navy will also turn over intact, whereas normally it would be destroyed if they were outright annexed after the war (think Germany in 1918 scuttling its fleet).

 

[TheMoe]

Note that annexing puppets requires the Together for Victory DLC.

In the peace conferences, you can puppet nations at any point in the conference if you have enough score for it; if you aren't competing with anyone for score, you can simply take whatever land you want then puppet them at the end if you want to keep their fleet intact (if you entirely annex them, the fleet ceases to exist). If you're fighting for warscore, you may want to puppet them right away (it will not return all of their land to them, but much of it) and if you're planning on annexing them anyways, it won't be very hard to in the postwar to acquire the lands you want.

There is no size restriction on how much land they need to be puppeted, but any puppet gets the full navy after the war (meaning the entire Royal Navy can be based out of Hong Kong if you take everything else). However, larger nations are much easier to develop and annex than smaller ones (since you have more land to build up, and if you're annexing them anyways you'll get all that development back anyways). Either build up their territory, or just lend lease them equipment (specifically your own equipment; I don't think captured equipment does anything to autonomy).

Once annexed, the nation's industry will turn over entirely intact, unlike during conquest where much of it is removed. Similarly, the navy will also turn over intact, whereas normally it would be destroyed if they were outright annexed after the war (think Germany in 1918 scuttling its fleet).

Thank you for the detailed response. I'm trying to understand a process I've never witnessed. I did check, and I do have all the DLC, except for the extra music. I specifically checked to ensure I had Together for Victory DLC.

Here's what I think you're saying, though I feel I don't have a good grasp of the process, yet.

First, conquer the Allies, and it's better or easier to get the land you want if you're the only one in your faction. Then take quite a bit of the land (GB for example), so that you can immediately benefit from the extra factories, ports, and resources. Leave a little bit of the land, and ensure you include a port, then puppet that government at the end of the peace conference.

Then at some point in the future, after the peace conference, annex the puppeted government's land and acquire the country's navy. I'm not quite sure how to annex land, but maybe there's some tips on YouTube or some guides somewhere. I'll have to search a bit.

Have I understood your message?

Edit: Looks like this is quite a popular topic. I easily found a couple of "How to" videos, once I knew what to search for.

There are also some videos I haven't watched yet regarding how to take manpower after a puppet. A simple search revealed enough videos to last me a little while. Thanks again!

 

[Paul.Ketcham]

There's an option for managing subject nations that enables you to lower their autonomy (and check where it is, since if they gain enough they can raise it). You find it by clicking your flag in the upper left corner.

Autonomy is lowered either by building in their territory, or lend-leasing them equipment (modern equipment is worth far more than obsolete equipment, so giving away crappy rifles and artillery won't do much; foreign and captured equipment won't do anything either). Having a large nation left over after puppeting makes building them up to lower development pretty easy, since you still get a portion of their factories (meaning that putting factories in Britain or France will pay you back about 30% as puppets, and about 60% as integrated puppets; the numbers could be off but its what I remember from last time).

Note that buying a puppet's resources, receiving lend lease from them, or having their troops contribute towards warscore (either with their own divisions, or your divisions with their manpower) will raise their autonomy. Usually the AI won't gain enough to make up for building in their land, however.

Edit: the flag is in the upper left, not upper right...

 

[TheMoe]

There's an option for managing subject nations that enables you to lower their autonomy (and check where it is, since if they gain enough they can raise it). You find it by clicking your flag in the upper right corner.

Autonomy is lowered either by building in their territory, or lend-leasing them equipment (modern equipment is worth far more than obsolete equipment, so giving away crappy rifles and artillery won't do much; foreign and captured equipment won't do anything either). Having a large nation left over after puppeting makes building them up to lower development pretty easy, since you still get a portion of their factories (meaning that putting factories in Britain or France will pay you back about 30% as puppets, and about 60% as integrated puppets; the numbers could be off but its what I remember from last time).

Note that buying a puppet's resources, receiving lend lease from them, or having their troops contribute towards warscore (either with their own divisions, or your divisions with their manpower) will raise their autonomy. Usually the AI won't gain enough to make up for building in their land, however.

Thank you! I'm learning more and more about the peace conference, puppets, satellites, and how all that works. I just watched a video explaining how to use a puppeted regime's manpower to build troops you control. Nice stuff!

I also found a video that explains what you were suggesting in your first response, and it also answers a few questions I had. It appears I cannot ever really add a puppeted nation's navy to my own, but I can have their navy fight on my side. I guess they would protect their own interests as the AI deems necessary and join in my wars. The only way to get the French navy is through Case Anton, as I understand it, though it's bugged again.

Here's a "How to" that explains creating a puppet of France, taking most of France's land which gives factories and resources, and how to leave just a sliver of land with a port where the entire French Navy now resides. I've cued it to the important part.

This video explains the part about reducing a puppeted country's autonomy that you mentioned in your answer. The Tuber starts as the Netherlands and uses both lend-lease and building up factories to get troops from the Dutch East Indies. It also shows how to annex a puppet outside of the peace conference. It's all coming together!

 

[TheMoe]

I just ran across this video (below) which shows how to puppet a state, like France or GB, then send them a bunch of convoys or lend-lease, as some of the folks in the previous responses have suggested, and then annex them. The difference is that this video actually shows the player taking the entire French navy. It's from Nov of 2019, so it's possible that game updates have changed the outcome from the process of Puppet--send lend-lease--annex--acquire entire navy of previously puppeted state.

See for yourself, though. I've queued the video to the relevant part.

Edit: I finished the video and found that he tries to see how many navies he can annex this way, and he claims to have made it to a 700 ship navy.