Joining and being kicked out of faction disbanded my armies - 5 times in a year.

[CrasherZZ]

I know this is how it works with expeditions but in my case the UK has invited me to join the Allies and then kicked me out 5 times already in about a year's time. I have had over 100 divisions from Manchukuo and over 20 from Mengukuo, organized into 7 of my armies. Every time I joined the Allies and then got kicked out, all of those armies lost all the Manchukuo and Mengukuo divisions which completely blew apart my Armies and Army Groups. Pretty inconvenient when you are in the midst of combat operations.

So each time I then I had to Request Forces again, and then painstakingly rebuild all of my Armies and Army Groups, not to mention relocate my air wings and navel task forces. Having to do this 5 times in one year was pretty frustrating, so the last time I joined the Allies, I didn't bother Requesting Forces and let Mengukuo and Manchukuo do what they wanted. They both joined me in my War (against the Soviet Union), as did all the other Allied countries so that part has been okay. I'm waiting for the UK to kick me out again.

So I now have this mass of Allied divisions - 150 Manchukuo, 30 Mengukuo, plus miscellaneous Commonwealth divisions swarming the frontline while my Japan armies are trying to conduct organized offensives. This is a normal mess in HOI4 but should it be normal?

What really happened in WW2 was that each Theater had a Supreme Commander (Eisenhower, MacArthur) and included Allied divisions in their Battleplans. In HOI4 the faction leader and major countries should have supreme commander privileges in a particular Theater. Exactly how that would work I'm not sure but I am not expecting to see that happen anytime soon anyway. A big problem of course would be for the human player who is part of a faction but is not a major or faction leader. And there's always the problem of the AI - can it be trusted to be a supreme commander?

I will probably not play major countries anymore after this game because of this mess. Any helpful suggestions? Am I missing some mechanics that would make this all work better for me?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Dlin369]

I think there are two related problems you’re describing

1.) the Ai tends to kick out people without much warning for what will trigger it. Part of it is world tension generation, but it’s really annoying imo

2.) expeditionary forces are frequently recalled at unpleasant times. I know the devs wanted the Ai to be cautious and not let the player let their troops get grounded up, but even after basic amounts of sustained fighting you can see allies withdraw. I think expeditionary forces should be “locked” for a duration, maybe 6 months or 12 months

 

[CrasherZZ]

I think there are two related problems you’re describing


2.) expeditionary forces are frequently recalled at unpleasant times. I know the devs wanted the Ai to be cautious and not let the player let their troops get grounded up, but even after basic amounts of sustained fighting you can see allies withdraw. I think expeditionary forces should be “locked” for a duration, maybe 6 months or 12 months

That's sounds reasonable for ordinary countries but Mengukuo and Manchukuo are puppets. Maybe there should be an exception for expeditions from your puppet countries? For divisions from your puppet countries perhaps you should always be able to include them in frontlines and battleplans depending on their level of autonomy?

If there were a theater supreme commander in a faction, it would Request Forces from faction members for the purpose of creating battleplans. It probably makes no difference to AI in that case and might even help it?

 

[Dlin369]

That's sounds reasonable for ordinary countries but Mengukuo and Manchukuo are puppets. Maybe there should be an exception for expeditions from your puppet countries? For divisions from your puppet countries perhaps you should always be able to include them in frontlines and battleplans depending on their level of autonomy?

If there were a theater supreme commander in a faction, it would Request Forces from faction members for the purpose of creating battleplans. It probably makes no difference to AI in that case and might even help it?

For puppets if you demand expeditionaries I don’t think they can withdraw them, but I almost never use them on the front lines so I can’t give you an informed opinion

 

[CrasherZZ]

For puppets if you demand expeditionaries I don’t think they can withdraw them, but I almost never use them on the front lines so I can’t give you an informed opinion

Puppets can't refuse or withdraw them on their own. They were withdrawn all three times I joined the Allies, and twice when I was kicked out. It must tbe way the way the expedition mechanic is designed. Is it because it was Japan that joined the Allies, not the puppets? Since the puppets were technically not part of the faction their expeditions had to be withdrawn according to the internal rules of the mechanic?

Manchukuo has a lot of good divisions because they received a lot of XP and training when I used them to help conquer all the Chinese states, Siam, and Indochina. They formed the bulk of 4 frontline armies and were garrisons in China.