Recommended starter countries? Plus a couple questions

[TentacleMayor]

I'm going to start playing shortly and have some ideas of how I'd like to play: peripheral country (to WW2) with a professional military (no conscription), probably Superior Firepower doctrine. Where would be a good place to start? I've picked out a few countries of interest:

Portugal
British Raj
Mexico
Australia

When it comes to DLCs, I'm already decided on getting LaR and MtG, but with the rest of my budget which should I pick up, TfV or DoD? In terms of national focuses the former is more interesting but I don't know which has the most important gameplay features.

 

[pheonicia]

Italy and the tutorial are decent. Simple to manage, and easy to recover from mistakes. As for dlc, just pick up everything since summer is next week anyways and all the stores will have sales.

 

[mursolini]

I'm going to start playing shortly and have some ideas of how I'd like to play: peripheral country (to WW2) with a professional military (no conscription), probably Superior Firepower doctrine. Where would be a good place to start? I've picked out a few countries of interest:

Portugal
British Raj
Mexico
Australia

When it comes to DLCs, I'm already decided on getting LaR and MtG, but with the rest of my budget which should I pick up, TfV or DoD? In terms of national focuses the former is more interesting but I don't know which has the most important gameplay features.

Germany is best "learning experience". Mostly because pretty much everyone knows what Germany is supposed to achieve(and how), thus you quickly get feedback that something is wrong with your buildup, if you`re not running smoothly at least till Barbarossa.
Also, France and Finland are kind of nice to learn defensive game play, nut learning curve is quite steeper there.

With a peripheral country, you never know IF or why things got wrong, due to how limited resources you have.

 

[eastcoastceojam]

Mexico has a lot of layers in it's focus tree, and can be a lot of fun and very frustrating for a new player. The Raj is a little more straightforward, and the fighting usually ends finding it's way to your doorstep.

I always thought Canada was a great place to start, but it can be a bit boring unless you send an army to help out your British overlords in Africa or Asia.

 

[Kryndude]

Any totalitarian major: Germany, USSR, Japan, and Italy (kind of). I don't recommend democratic countries because they're forced to play passively and neither minors because lack of industry isn't fun if you don't know how to overcome them.

 

[TentacleMayor]

Thanks all, I decided on Portugal just to learn the very basics since I never play Paradox tutorials. How many armies should I create and what should I do with overseas divisions, should they have their own armies? What do I do with fronts, is it okay to let the AI assign armies automatically? And what do I do with my surplus resources, do I just kinda have to hope the AI chooses to buy them from me?

 

[Harin]

I'm going to start playing shortly and have some ideas of how I'd like to play: peripheral country (to WW2) with a professional military (no conscription), probably Superior Firepower doctrine. Where would be a good place to start? I've picked out a few countries of interest:

Portugal
British Raj
Mexico
Australia

When it comes to DLCs, I'm already decided on getting LaR and MtG, but with the rest of my budget which should I pick up, TfV or DoD? In terms of national focuses the former is more interesting but I don't know which has the most important gameplay features.

Like @pheonicia said, the DLCs go on sale this summer. I, too, recommend you get them all.

As @mursolini said, starting with an outlier country will not teach you the economics or larger strategies of the game. It can teach you how to move armies, set up a production line, etc..., but you can pick that up playing any country.

In my opinion, Germany is a good country to learn the most about the game. At first it seems daunting, since there are so many pieces laying about the map and so many decisions to make in the beginning. It is an illusion. Every country has the same decisions to make; what to research, what equipment to produce, what factories to build, choose a focus, trade, and how to use those first political power points. Another advantage for starting with Germany is that everything it starts with and the actions is will take for the next several years is contained in a small space. Germany does not have fleets, divisions, or interests outside of Europe at the start of the game.

I tend to let myself get distracted by a country's starting setup and need to erase it so I make decisions based on what I want to accomplish. To do this I merge my surface fleet into one fleet and port it and merge all my subs into one fleet and port it. I also send all my aircraft to one airfield and then merge the squadrons so I have one squadron of each type of aircraft I have. I also put all the army divisions in one army and gather them in one place, like Berlin. With everything gathered, I can organize the available forces into units I need and redeploy as needed.

By concentrating everything, it is sort of like claiming the country as yours and now you will redeploy the units as you see fit. For me it makes the early decisions easier.

 

[elektrizikekswerk]

How many armies should I create

Depends. What do you want to achieve? I generally put as many divisions as possible in one army because more divisions means more combat means more XP for the general. But of course you may want to take the troop types into consideration (i.e. if a general has some tank traits and another has some infantry traits you would want to assign the troops accordingly)

what should I do with overseas divisions, should they have their own armies?

Again, depends on what you want to achieve. In most cases I move my oversea divisions to tha main land unless I want to to expand/defend especially the oversea territories. Keep in mind that in most cases the oversea divisions have really bad templates that you might want to change...

What do I do with fronts, is it okay to let the AI assign armies automatically?

You do the army assignment to fronts in any case. If it is sufficient to let the AI decide how to execute the battle plans depends on the situation. As a small country however you are in most cases better off if you do it all manually. Especially if you are punching above your weight.

And what do I do with my surplus resources, do I just kinda have to hope the AI chooses to buy them from me?

What you trade to other countries depends on your trade laws. You produce X resources. From these Y are exported. The size of Y depends on your trade laws. The difference Z of Y to X can be used by you. If you don't need Z but less, then the remaining resources are wasted no matter what. You could change trade laws so more gets exported in this case. However that you are exporting things doesn't mean that someone actually buys these. And if nobody buys your Y resources these are wasted, too...
The trade system isn't really great in this game...

since I never play Paradox tutorials

You should.

 

[Mister Analyst]

I'm going to start playing shortly and have some ideas of how I'd like to play: peripheral country (to WW2) with a professional military (no conscription), probably Superior Firepower doctrine. Where would be a good place to start? I've picked out a few countries of interest:

Portugal
British Raj
Mexico
Australia

When it comes to DLCs, I'm already decided on getting LaR and MtG, but with the rest of my budget which should I pick up, TfV or DoD? In terms of national focuses the former is more interesting but I don't know which has the most important gameplay features.

TfV
* The Spearhead order
* General Traits and Abilities: Generals’ traits can now unlock powerful Command Power abilities, allowing great flexibility and creativity.
* Decisions and Missions: Historical decisions and national missions give new places to spend Political Power, from domestic politics to start special projects.
* Added the ability to send attachés to other nations outside of your faction that are at war, allowing you to see their troops, as well as giving the sender army xp, and the receiver a small amount of organization and planning speed.
* And more: Scavenge equipment from the battlefield, use Volunteer Air Corps, as well as new music and art.
* Adds a new currency unique to the Chinese warlords: Political Support Points. Accumulate sufficient number of Political Support Points as a Warlord and wrest control of China's destiny.

DoD
* Equipment Conversion: Update your arsenal by converting older units - or make use of captured enemy vehicles and gear.
* New Diplomatic Interactions: License military technology to bring other nations' weapons to the field or sell your advances to the highest bidder.
* New Puppet Interactions: Fascist countries get new subject levels like Reichskommissariat, with access to licenses, industry and strategic resources. The instated governments are held in an iron grip, making it harder for them to break free.
* New Music and Art: 3 new thematic musical tracks from composer Andreas Waldetoft, new art content for the four focus nations, and new troop voiceovers.

 

[J1ffst3r]

I would avoid majors like Germany, there is simply too much to balance. Pick Romania, Hungary, Canada or someone small but with 'big daddies' to lean bit at at time. Focus on industry, building and managing an army before worrying about thinks like navy and airforce(which you have to do as a major), it gets overwhelming.
I tried to lean this game years ago as uk and germany but just didn't get anything and hated it as I felt there was always something I was forgetting. It was only when I started playing minors and focusing on learning bit at a time I got into it. Now I love it and am happy playing any nations.

 

[FindFloppies]

Italy is an excellent 'major' to learn with. You have to build your industry, and you don't have to join HItler. Many possibilities.

 

[fallgelb22061940]

Go for China, a little challenging with dlc, but also get Together for victory, since game is pretty much broken without it

 

[TentacleMayor]

So, playing as British Raj defensively (plus sending forces to help UK), how big should my divisions be?

 

[kettyo]

Play an Axis or Allied minor first.

I recommend playing with Expert AI mod since you can get clues about effective division templates for majors there.

 

[wesleytj]

So, playing as British Raj defensively (plus sending forces to help UK), how big should my divisions be?

The Raj can afford to build some really nice divisions. For your basic infantry, I would go with 7 infantry brigades, and 2 artillery brigades. Then your support you can flavor to taste, based on where and who you're up against. IF fighting Japanese or minors, anti-tank isn't going to matter as much as if you're fighting in Europe. Logistics will be important if you are fighting in low infra areas. Engineers are pretty much always good. ETC. AA if you can't keep up with enemy air power. At any rate, a good 7/2 division is going to help you push the Japanese out of southeast Asia incl. Burma, Siam, and Indochina. Beyond that, you can choose to help whereever you'd like.

You can raise your width up to 40, but honestly, for the Raj, I don't recommend it. They often fight in some pretty low infra areas, so you don't want them to be that big.

Then it would also be wise to build some special forces, in your case mountaineers. Use similar logic there.