Just for clarification here, I am talking about post-war Republican Spain.
I am by no means a power gamer. I consider my playstyle cautious and conservative, despite that, I was able to win the Civil War as the Republicans(Maintain the Second Republic path) in just four months. That's not what this thread is about.
What it's about is how gimped the Republicans are industrially compared to the Nationalists after the civil war. I will break down the differences between my two campaigns: In my Francoist campaign I won the Civil War in August of 1937. By the beginning of 1941 my total IC was over 100. This was in going heavy on CIC for a year or two, then building a combination of MIC and CIC, along with going heavy on agency upgrades. By the beginning of 1941 I had 3 well designed 20 width Medium armor templates, and another 3 ready by the time Barbarossa kicked off. I had chosen the autarky economic policy.
In comparison, as Republican Spain with the Oppose the Communists route, I had 33 total IC at the beginning of 1940. This was not having any agency at all and building nothing but CIC from the start of the campaign even before the civil war started. I have to say that wtih both campaigns, the post-war situation is largely the same, as Francoist Spain I ended the civil war with 12 CIC, and with Republican Spain this number was 13, so they are both largely beginning the post-war situation the same.
Even as Portugal I had a stronger industry during this timeframe. The experience is not fun at all. If punching yourself repeatedly in the face sounds up your alley, then you may enjoy the post-civil war Republican Spain campaign.
There's quite a lot of issues here, really. For one, Republicans start the war at 0 stability, have multiple spirits that provide ticking negative stability for two years, and have no focuses or spirits that actually provide an effective rebound from this negative level of stability.
Additionally, if you're staying Democratic you actually have ZERO way to eliminate the recovering from the civil war penalty(which provides 10% consumer goods among other penalties and lasts for five years). There is one focus, Engineering Advances, which reduces the penalty from 10% consumer goods to 7%, but that is all you can do and are saddled with this for years. On top of this, you only have one focus that provides factories, Preparing for the Next War, which gives you a measly 2 MIC.
Firstly, there's an issue here. You take a lot of nasty penalties from choosing to stay Democratic. I'd say that missing out on the Soviet aid focuses is enough of a punishment itself(more on that in a second), but for all this punishment is there any actual payoff at the end? There isn't. There is actually no bonus or reward of any kind, unless you consider being stuck with that 10% consumer good penalty for five years a reward.
On to the Soviet aid focuses. They're actually pretty darn weak. Reducing Lend-lease tension limit isn't actually that helpful because the AI only offers you aid when you have negative stockpiles. A good player lives within their means so that the combat effectiveness of their units is not impacted. Also, it seems silly that the Soviet Military Advisors spirit is removed at the end of the Civil War. The Republican tree is so draconian and stingy it really wouldn't hurt to make it permanent.
One pattern I notice with several Republican bonuses is that they provide you construction speed bonuses and temporary consumer good reductions during the war. This is actually completely useless because your stability is 0% causing your construction speed to tank, but this would not matter even if you had good stability because your CIC is too low to take advantage of any such bonus.
Even the Soviet recovery focuses are actually extremely underwhelming compared to the Nationalist autarky focuses. With "Provide for the People" focus you get a permanent -5% consumer goods. As the Nationalists, you can get a -10% consumer goods bonus that lasts for several years. On top of this, if you restore Alfonso XIII to the throne you get another -5% bonus until he dies. The Soviet aid focuses granting IC also give less than even the Francoist autarky focuses.
On a semi-related note, some things are weird and broken in the Republican Focus tree as well. The focus "Enlist the Carabineros" requires you to have Indalecio Prieto as an advisor, which makes little senes because it is Juan Negrin who founded the civil war Carabaneros. Speaking of that, the historical path which sees the communists eventually seizing control of the Republic prevents you from having Negrin as an advisor. This makes no sense because Negrin is the Prime Minister who invited the communists into the government in the first place. On top of this, this focus breaks the tree for the AI because the AI will not hire the advisor and is prevented from going through the tree.
It also must be mentioned that if you finish the war quickly as I did you are prevented from getting Soviet aid at all, even if you went Stalinist. This is just another problem to be added to the list here.
Another problem is the inexplicable fact that only the anarchist portion of the focus tree gives you access to resource excavation decisions. Nationalist Spain can get access to 24 steel, 8 aluminum, and 50-some tungsten through its excavation decisions, so this is yet another point that severely weakens Republican Spain(sans anarchist branch).
When the dev diary for Republican Spain was posted on thh forum, myself and several others realized a potential problem with it is that unlike the Nationalist tree, there was no alternative to Soviet Aid and being puppeted. And so it has come to pass that this has become a major problem for the tree, even if it was not incredibly underpowered compared to its Nationalist equivalent. It would seem to make sense to offer the Republicans even more powerful advantages if they come out of the Civil War as an intact democracy given the sacrifices that are made. As it turns out, you're just stuck as an incredibly weak country with a weaker industry than Portugal. I would have at least run the game to 1941 so as to have a more accurate comparison to my Nationalist Spain numbers, but frankly it just became too boring and the industrial buildup too slow to really have a fun or meaningful game. I
I definitely get the impression that the Nationalist and Republican trees were made by different people. The Nationalist tree, barring some bugs, is pretty well designed in my opinion. I believe the balance of the economy between post-war Nationalist Spain and Republican Spain should be the same or similar, not a 300% difference in total IC.
Unless the numbers here are tweaked pretty extensively, and some revisions made to the Republican tree, I can't really seem myself ever playing it again unless I'm going anarchist. Sorry for this large exposition, but frankly the Republican Spain tree has so many problems with it that it required this much text to give the full breadth and depth of the problems with it.
To end it off, I think the "Communists in Government" focus under the Maintaining the Second Republic branch needs to be changed. It gives you the same flag and leader as if you just went Stalinist, so from an immersion and roleplaying factor there is no reason to do it. In my opinion, it should change the name of the ruling party to the "Frente Popular" and place Juan Negrin as the leader, and retain the normal flag of Republican Spain. This is of course small beans compared to the huge problems in terms of gameplay, but I felt like it should be mentioned as well.
I encourage people who read this to play a game as Nationalist Spain, and then one as Republican Spain to really see how bad this situation is. Please add any thoughts or comments you have on how this situation could be solved.
I am by no means a power gamer. I consider my playstyle cautious and conservative, despite that, I was able to win the Civil War as the Republicans(Maintain the Second Republic path) in just four months. That's not what this thread is about.
What it's about is how gimped the Republicans are industrially compared to the Nationalists after the civil war. I will break down the differences between my two campaigns: In my Francoist campaign I won the Civil War in August of 1937. By the beginning of 1941 my total IC was over 100. This was in going heavy on CIC for a year or two, then building a combination of MIC and CIC, along with going heavy on agency upgrades. By the beginning of 1941 I had 3 well designed 20 width Medium armor templates, and another 3 ready by the time Barbarossa kicked off. I had chosen the autarky economic policy.
In comparison, as Republican Spain with the Oppose the Communists route, I had 33 total IC at the beginning of 1940. This was not having any agency at all and building nothing but CIC from the start of the campaign even before the civil war started. I have to say that wtih both campaigns, the post-war situation is largely the same, as Francoist Spain I ended the civil war with 12 CIC, and with Republican Spain this number was 13, so they are both largely beginning the post-war situation the same.
Even as Portugal I had a stronger industry during this timeframe. The experience is not fun at all. If punching yourself repeatedly in the face sounds up your alley, then you may enjoy the post-civil war Republican Spain campaign.
There's quite a lot of issues here, really. For one, Republicans start the war at 0 stability, have multiple spirits that provide ticking negative stability for two years, and have no focuses or spirits that actually provide an effective rebound from this negative level of stability.
Additionally, if you're staying Democratic you actually have ZERO way to eliminate the recovering from the civil war penalty(which provides 10% consumer goods among other penalties and lasts for five years). There is one focus, Engineering Advances, which reduces the penalty from 10% consumer goods to 7%, but that is all you can do and are saddled with this for years. On top of this, you only have one focus that provides factories, Preparing for the Next War, which gives you a measly 2 MIC.
Firstly, there's an issue here. You take a lot of nasty penalties from choosing to stay Democratic. I'd say that missing out on the Soviet aid focuses is enough of a punishment itself(more on that in a second), but for all this punishment is there any actual payoff at the end? There isn't. There is actually no bonus or reward of any kind, unless you consider being stuck with that 10% consumer good penalty for five years a reward.
On to the Soviet aid focuses. They're actually pretty darn weak. Reducing Lend-lease tension limit isn't actually that helpful because the AI only offers you aid when you have negative stockpiles. A good player lives within their means so that the combat effectiveness of their units is not impacted. Also, it seems silly that the Soviet Military Advisors spirit is removed at the end of the Civil War. The Republican tree is so draconian and stingy it really wouldn't hurt to make it permanent.
One pattern I notice with several Republican bonuses is that they provide you construction speed bonuses and temporary consumer good reductions during the war. This is actually completely useless because your stability is 0% causing your construction speed to tank, but this would not matter even if you had good stability because your CIC is too low to take advantage of any such bonus.
Even the Soviet recovery focuses are actually extremely underwhelming compared to the Nationalist autarky focuses. With "Provide for the People" focus you get a permanent -5% consumer goods. As the Nationalists, you can get a -10% consumer goods bonus that lasts for several years. On top of this, if you restore Alfonso XIII to the throne you get another -5% bonus until he dies. The Soviet aid focuses granting IC also give less than even the Francoist autarky focuses.
On a semi-related note, some things are weird and broken in the Republican Focus tree as well. The focus "Enlist the Carabineros" requires you to have Indalecio Prieto as an advisor, which makes little senes because it is Juan Negrin who founded the civil war Carabaneros. Speaking of that, the historical path which sees the communists eventually seizing control of the Republic prevents you from having Negrin as an advisor. This makes no sense because Negrin is the Prime Minister who invited the communists into the government in the first place. On top of this, this focus breaks the tree for the AI because the AI will not hire the advisor and is prevented from going through the tree.
It also must be mentioned that if you finish the war quickly as I did you are prevented from getting Soviet aid at all, even if you went Stalinist. This is just another problem to be added to the list here.
Another problem is the inexplicable fact that only the anarchist portion of the focus tree gives you access to resource excavation decisions. Nationalist Spain can get access to 24 steel, 8 aluminum, and 50-some tungsten through its excavation decisions, so this is yet another point that severely weakens Republican Spain(sans anarchist branch).
When the dev diary for Republican Spain was posted on thh forum, myself and several others realized a potential problem with it is that unlike the Nationalist tree, there was no alternative to Soviet Aid and being puppeted. And so it has come to pass that this has become a major problem for the tree, even if it was not incredibly underpowered compared to its Nationalist equivalent. It would seem to make sense to offer the Republicans even more powerful advantages if they come out of the Civil War as an intact democracy given the sacrifices that are made. As it turns out, you're just stuck as an incredibly weak country with a weaker industry than Portugal. I would have at least run the game to 1941 so as to have a more accurate comparison to my Nationalist Spain numbers, but frankly it just became too boring and the industrial buildup too slow to really have a fun or meaningful game. I
I definitely get the impression that the Nationalist and Republican trees were made by different people. The Nationalist tree, barring some bugs, is pretty well designed in my opinion. I believe the balance of the economy between post-war Nationalist Spain and Republican Spain should be the same or similar, not a 300% difference in total IC.
Unless the numbers here are tweaked pretty extensively, and some revisions made to the Republican tree, I can't really seem myself ever playing it again unless I'm going anarchist. Sorry for this large exposition, but frankly the Republican Spain tree has so many problems with it that it required this much text to give the full breadth and depth of the problems with it.
To end it off, I think the "Communists in Government" focus under the Maintaining the Second Republic branch needs to be changed. It gives you the same flag and leader as if you just went Stalinist, so from an immersion and roleplaying factor there is no reason to do it. In my opinion, it should change the name of the ruling party to the "Frente Popular" and place Juan Negrin as the leader, and retain the normal flag of Republican Spain. This is of course small beans compared to the huge problems in terms of gameplay, but I felt like it should be mentioned as well.
I encourage people who read this to play a game as Nationalist Spain, and then one as Republican Spain to really see how bad this situation is. Please add any thoughts or comments you have on how this situation could be solved.
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