SMEP + DAIM + my modifications
Many years ago I started the UK and USA elections for HoI2 (base game) and then updated for Doomsday and then Armageddon. The work was then incorporated into Atruejedi’s SMEP and on top of that I installed DAIM.
But I never stopped there, and like my signature says, I’m still, some seventeen years later, playing Hearts of Iron 2 (Armageddon). Not Darkest Hour, not Arsenal of Democracy, Hearts of Iron 3 or 4, but plain old Hearts of Iron 2.
Over the last seventeen years I’ve slowly added more and more personal events, slight tweaks to the AI and even some event clean ups to make a very bespoke game of HoI2 built upon the SMEP + DAIM mods. I’ve somewhat lost count, but I suspect I have around 1,500 additional events (though I’ve also purged at least 100) from the base game + SMEP + DAIM.
And so I present, as a link to a Google Drive Zip file, my Hearts of Iron 2 install, with one crucial file missing – the original Hoi2.exe itself, which means you must of course have bought the game to get this to work.
Install instructions
Link to the Google Drive 7Zip file (yes, its 7Zip – you can download that from a website, I’m sure you can all use Google now).
The link is here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1iX0S5nka-WpiLeswnsgMiQuBZbiKq3FO/view?usp=sharing
EITHER:
1. Install a clean copy of HoI2 Armageddon, patched to 1.3 Beta 2 (PHVR) into a folder on your C drive – might I suggest C:/Games/Arma (or something similar – I’d not bother with Program Files).
2. Delete every file and folder EXCEPT Hoi2.exe.
3. Copy in the contents of the zipped file.
OR:
1. Copy the contents of the zipped file to somewhere on your C: drive (again, can I suggest C:/Games/Arma ).
2. Copy a legitimate copy of Hoi2.exe from the last 1.3 Beta2 patch (PHVR) into the main directory for the game.
Then just run Hoi2.exe and hopefully it should all work. It works on Windows 10 (and before that 7 and XP). I can’t honestly speak for Windows 11.
Note – I play 1936 scenario, and the other scenarios have had very little work on them, except 1944. They should all work, but I suspect 1938, 1939 and 1941 will throw an absolute fit on day 1 as a load of events fire that might not be best firing. I STRONGLY recommend only the 1936 scenario is played. The others don’t really work well (except 1944, and the last time I took a look at that was about 2018!).
My recommendation is to play the game on NORMAL difficulty and AGGRESSIVE aggressiveness level. It’s what I’ve been using for 15 years.
Note – the Sprites folder is empty. So its NATO counters or nothing! (or reimport the sprites files). I used to have a computer in the mid 2000s that had a man shovelling coal, so anything that could improve performance I tried. I deleted the sprites, loved the NATO counters and have never looked back.
You don’t need to fire event 70000. It will fire on Hour 1 of 1936.
Changelog
SMEP and DAIM are both fully implemented. My thanks to Atruejedi, G’Kar (now called e-stab) and Spocky for their original work.
Changes to base mechanics:
- Infantry never require oil post 1943 models (I hated this requirement) but keep their speed improvement.
- Helicopters are MUCH faster now (Speed 24 rather than 14).
- Infrastructure builds in 180 days (not 360) now, making building them a potentially viable strategy (I consider them ‘mini forts’ as they improve ESE for defenders). The AI will still never build infrastructure however.
- Partisan impact declines VERY slowly over time (I can’t remember what the base game had, they jiggled it about so much I can’t remember the last ‘official’ partisan activity monthly changes).
- Puppet states are now nerfed considerably. I despised that puppets got the master dissent for releasing and SMEP obviously agreed with me as almost all ‘indepedence’ triggers also had a 5% dissent reduction with it. Now almost every country has a local flag. If it is a puppet it suffers a 5% hit to dissent on puppetting, followed by 10% reduction to morale and organisation for all units, a 20% reduction to research speed and a 25% reduction to IC. Once released from this status, this effect goes away.
- Colonial release AI file has been deleted. I just didn’t like it at all.
- The difficulty levels have been changed. At Very Easy and Easy, the Human player gets a boost (the AI does not suffer anything) whilst at Hard and Very Hard, the AI gets a boost but the human player does not suffer anything.
AI changes:
- DAIM is fully implemented for the 1936 scenario, and event triggers which required old non-SMEP event numbers have been changed to the SMEP equivalents (DAIM SOV and GER files often checked old Molotov-Rippentrop pact event numbers so would not fire correctly, if at all).
- I’ve binned a lot of irrelevent South American minister changes that didn’t work properly with DAIM anyway.
- The United States, Germany and the Soviet Union have additional AI files for very late war games. The US, if left to fight on alone after a German victory, will now go into overdrive post 1948 and seriously gear up. Germany will likewise do the same and (in theory) should attempt a naval war with the US. The Soviet Union in a WWIII situation will make an attempt at naval building and invasion (it never would under DAIM as it didn’t really consider a post WWII world much).
- There is an attempt by me to introduce a Japanese ‘Allies’ file should Japan find itself in the Allies.
- There are AI files for the new countries that are kicking around.
- Some more countries will now trigger the ‘all research’ AI file, to keep researching late game. I’ve also removed a few ‘ignores’ from research files so AI countries will keep researching last game.
- Some countries that pick the Assault Concentration Land Doctrine path will now start adding artillery to almost everything they build, to get the 20% organisation and morale boost available.
- There are some AI files for Vichy France in a German wins post war world, and for U87 (Nanjing China) should it be able to break free from puppet status.
- The US, Germany, UK, Soviet Union and Italy can now all develop and use Nukes. Only the US makes a serious effort. The rest are half hearted. This option can be turned off at the start.
Tech changes:
- Very few, though the Assault Concentration doctrine now adds 20% to all artillery units (SP, SP Rocket and Rocket) and not just plain artillery.
Minister and leader changes:
- Too many to even think about. Most countries have got more ministers, to give more choice. Leader changes are less so but still quite a few.
- The two I can think of are Himmler, who as a leader now has a maximum skill of just 1 (was 5!? The man was incapable of leading an army) and Vo Nguyen Giap who is the best general in the game with a starting skill of 6 (the only one).
Event changes:
- Far too many to detail out. I’ll try and list the main effects by country. This is on top of the already healthy amount added by SMEP. Note – there is no such thing as AI_chance = 100 in my files. With only one exception, there is a chance that options b, c or d might be picked, however low they might be. Makes for a more interesting game.
Startup events
- Quite a lot of startup events, from many countries being given the opportunity to make additional national core claims, to the chance to boost a major power (without boosting anyone else), to the ability to turn nukes on or off.
United Kingdom – Election events as per last SMEP plus a few more tweaks.
- Surrender events reworked for a ‘Halifax’ surrender (now far less likely).
- A defeated UK might try and rebuild over time, possibly falling to either communism or fascism.
- There is a half hearted attempt to move the capital if mainland GB falls.
- UK will release Ethiopia to help them.
- England, Wales and Scotland, after a UK defeat, can reform the UK eventually.
- Quite a lot of ‘reactive’ events to other countries doing stuff elsewhere.
United States – Election events as per last SMEP plus a few more options.
- US options if it is defeated (the CSA can come back).
- US can fall into an early war with Japan if the Japanese won’t compensate the US over the Panay incident.
- US might just DOW in September 1939 (with huge knock on effects for the war in Europe as Vichy will not fire if the US is in the fight).
- US has a few options with Kurile Islands post war.
- US and Germany might ‘White peace’ after Victory in the East and West.
Soviet Union -
- The Soviet Union will puppet the Baltic states in 1939… then annex in 1940 as historical.
- The Soviet Union doesn’t start in alliance with Mongolia – this occurs in March 1936 instead, but Mongolia is still a puppet.
- The SU suffers dissent if it loses Moscow.
- After the BP, if the SU manages to win the civil war, it will probably retreat into isolation, but it might just decide to ‘fight back’. There are events to deal with the SU coming back in this case.
- The 1937 Soviet-Sino war is fully implemented, and this is the first significant major change players will see, so please don’t get too anxious about suddenly finding yourself at war with China. The details of this chain of events is in the China section.
- Not purging the traitors leads to a ‘civil war’ but its not the same as in SMEP. I seem to have messed up the files such that if Russia and the Soviet Union are around, the game crashes. I think I’ve fixed it recently, but not had time to playtest it properly (ministers shared IDs was the problem). If anyone can help with this, please do let me know.
- The Soviet Union really don’t like the Baltics. If they somehow survive the M-R pact, they’ll get hammered in 1941 when Germany comes a knocking.
- The SU (and US) will probably trigger World War III after Germany and Japan are defeated.
- The SU may hold the Baltics, but the Forest Brothers will cause trouble until 1956.
Germany -
- Germany might just ‘peace out’ with France, and only take Alsace-Lorraine in a peace deal!
- Germany won’t let Czechoslovakia exist, even if it honours Munich. They’ll get it one way or another in the end.
- Germany won’t let Austria just decide not to Anschluss. Likewise, Austria is either joining the Axis or is getting smacked.
- Germany really doesn’t like Republican Spain and will try and smack them after the fall of France. They’ll try and get Vichy on their side to do so (to prevent Spain holding up in the one province).
- Germany doesn’t like Romania. In the event of a total Axis win, they’re getting puppetted or annexed.
- Germany doesn’t like Italy!! After Victory in the West and East, there is one last territorial ambition to get. Trentino which was formerly Austrian is in the Germans sights!
- Germany gets to implement the Wannsee Conference. This is actually a negative as transport and IC are used to do so. Not doing so isn’t very National Socialist.
Japan -
- Japan can be more aggressive against the US in the Panay incident, potentially sparking the Pacific war in 1937.
- Japan usually rolls over China with the DAIM. It has a few more options with what to do with China after that win.
- Japan will probably go after the Soviet Union if it defeats China and is kicking around with nowt to do when Barbarossa starts.
- Japan won’t surrender if it controls Delhi.
- Japan might take Hong Kong when they sweep up Macao (which is an SMEP event). The UK reacts badly to this, as can be imagined.
- Japan can join the Axis with the obvious consequence of DOWing the Soviet Union (rather than two separate wars).
- If China defeats Japan, Japan must choose a path to follow. Democracy and the Allies, even more extreme right wing nationalism….. or tag U15 – The Socialist Republic of Japan, which might join the Comintern.
Italy -
- A few failsafes to ensure Albania is brought into the Italian control.
- If Italy is attacked by Germany post war, they’ll try and get Vichy on their side.
- There are a load of events for the RSI and an RSI/German victory over the UK/USA. However, these events rarely fire as the US and UK never invade southern Italy. It might fire in the 1944 scenario but its rare there too.
France -
- France can liberate itself (ie, play as France, allow Vichy to form and then reconquer France yourself).
- There are a lot of events around the territory of France, namely what happens if Vichy and France both end up in the Allies (Vichy dissolves and joins France).
- A French West Africa event tweak
- As well as Vichy, and France, there is also the ‘French State’ a German military government should France refuse Vichy which can form. It’s highly unstable, suffers from the puppet penalty just by existing (and suffers a FURTHER puppet penalty if its a puppet, so 50% loss in IC) and all the ministers are the rubbish ones (-5% IC etc etc) but it does exist and Germany might choose to go this route in their control of France.
- Some tiny tweaks around the 1936 French election.
- Some UK and French events around Syria and Lebanon after Vichy is formed.
China -
- Huge number of changes. SMEP incorporated the CCIP so there are already a load of changes here, but I’ve added even more!
- The first is the 1937 Sino-Soviet war. Long story short, Xingjiang starts independent in 1936 (but is a Soviet puppet in later scenarios). This is because in 1937, Xebei San Maa attacks Xingjiang. SIK called in the Soviet Union and after a short war, both sides white peace out but the Soviets took SIK as a puppet. The chain of events is – April 1937 – CXB attacks SIK. Shortly after, SIK askes SOV for help, SOV puppets SIK and DOWs CXB and CHI. Then about two weeks later, CHI offers a white peace and SOV accepts. Usually CSX and CGX also DOW the SU due to AI files, which I liked, so they get included in the white peace. The main advantage is this gears up CHI and the CHI client states (they all get slight slider movements towards Hawk and Standing Army) so it makes them better prepared for the Japanese in July.
- The ‘fun’ comes if the Soviet Union and China don’t agree a peace. In July 1937, the Japanese come knocking too and China finds itself at war with SOV and JAP. They’re basically dead, but GER, ENG and USA MIGHT intervene. Usually GER does, DOWing JAP and SOV which basically starts the equivalent of the ‘Balkans clusterfuck’ as SOV and JAP can end up fighting GER, and FRA and ENG might also DOW someone, anyone or everyone.
- Guangxi clique is now completely playable, and can become ‘China’ if you play your cards right (hint – try and join Japan and help them win)
- Shanxi and Yunnan get a few events to make them gear up a bit more.
- Manchuria gets a ‘decision day’ event to try and break Japanese control when Japan DOWs China.
- Manchuria can regain the Soviet Far East in the event of Bitter Peace.
- U87 – Nanjing China, like Guangxi, can become ‘China’ if they play their cards right.
- U87 isn’t annexed upon Japanese surrender. They’ll probably be hammered shortly afterwards by the Soviets, US and UK but they aren’t auto-loss upon a Japanese defeat.
Others -
- Ireland gets lots of choices around Northern Ireland as the German AI often manages to take Northern Ireland. Ireland and Germany can both make and receive offers, and Ireland can ignore everything, join the Allies (and get the North that way) or the Germans (and get the North that way).
- Some countries get a ‘should we join the war’ in September 1939 – Belgium, Luxemburg, Italy(!), USA(!).
- Romania and Moldova can join if they both exist.
- So can Czech Republic and Slovakia
- The Baltics aren’t surviving World War II. If they somehow make it through the MR pact, both Germany AND the Soviet Union will attack them when Barbarossa starts.
- Almost all Latin American countries get the chance (as they did historically) to join the Allies.
- Turkey, Chile and Bolivia make ‘fall of Berlin’ DOWs on Germany. If somehow that fall of Berlin was as a result of a Soviet overreach, it can cause a fairly large front in the Balkans to open up if Bulgaria and Italy are still around in the region.
- Ethiopia can come back and join the Allies.
- There are some ‘fun’ events around Syria and Lebanon when Vichy is formed.
- Republican Spain gets a load of choices should it win the Spanish civil war, from what government to form (democratic or communist) to what to do about Eskudi and Catalonia should they exist.
- Republican Spain will probably end up in the Allies if Democratic, or the Comintern if Communist. The latter could be a problem for Germany during Barbarossa.
- Switzerland will defend itself if attacked.
- Portugal can help Nationalist Spain.
- Indian civil war upon independence.
- Israeli war with Arabs now has peace options.
- Afghanistan now has options to join the Axis if the Axis are really winning.
- Most Soviet eastern europe puppet states don’t like being puppets and may take an opportunity to defect if one arises.
- South Africa can be liberated by the Axis if they get that far.
I’ve probably forgotten about a load of other events.
I welcome comments and corrections.
Many years ago I started the UK and USA elections for HoI2 (base game) and then updated for Doomsday and then Armageddon. The work was then incorporated into Atruejedi’s SMEP and on top of that I installed DAIM.
But I never stopped there, and like my signature says, I’m still, some seventeen years later, playing Hearts of Iron 2 (Armageddon). Not Darkest Hour, not Arsenal of Democracy, Hearts of Iron 3 or 4, but plain old Hearts of Iron 2.
Over the last seventeen years I’ve slowly added more and more personal events, slight tweaks to the AI and even some event clean ups to make a very bespoke game of HoI2 built upon the SMEP + DAIM mods. I’ve somewhat lost count, but I suspect I have around 1,500 additional events (though I’ve also purged at least 100) from the base game + SMEP + DAIM.
And so I present, as a link to a Google Drive Zip file, my Hearts of Iron 2 install, with one crucial file missing – the original Hoi2.exe itself, which means you must of course have bought the game to get this to work.
Install instructions
Link to the Google Drive 7Zip file (yes, its 7Zip – you can download that from a website, I’m sure you can all use Google now).
The link is here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1iX0S5nka-WpiLeswnsgMiQuBZbiKq3FO/view?usp=sharing
EITHER:
1. Install a clean copy of HoI2 Armageddon, patched to 1.3 Beta 2 (PHVR) into a folder on your C drive – might I suggest C:/Games/Arma (or something similar – I’d not bother with Program Files).
2. Delete every file and folder EXCEPT Hoi2.exe.
3. Copy in the contents of the zipped file.
OR:
1. Copy the contents of the zipped file to somewhere on your C: drive (again, can I suggest C:/Games/Arma ).
2. Copy a legitimate copy of Hoi2.exe from the last 1.3 Beta2 patch (PHVR) into the main directory for the game.
Then just run Hoi2.exe and hopefully it should all work. It works on Windows 10 (and before that 7 and XP). I can’t honestly speak for Windows 11.
Note – I play 1936 scenario, and the other scenarios have had very little work on them, except 1944. They should all work, but I suspect 1938, 1939 and 1941 will throw an absolute fit on day 1 as a load of events fire that might not be best firing. I STRONGLY recommend only the 1936 scenario is played. The others don’t really work well (except 1944, and the last time I took a look at that was about 2018!).
My recommendation is to play the game on NORMAL difficulty and AGGRESSIVE aggressiveness level. It’s what I’ve been using for 15 years.
Note – the Sprites folder is empty. So its NATO counters or nothing! (or reimport the sprites files). I used to have a computer in the mid 2000s that had a man shovelling coal, so anything that could improve performance I tried. I deleted the sprites, loved the NATO counters and have never looked back.
You don’t need to fire event 70000. It will fire on Hour 1 of 1936.
Changelog
SMEP and DAIM are both fully implemented. My thanks to Atruejedi, G’Kar (now called e-stab) and Spocky for their original work.
Changes to base mechanics:
- Infantry never require oil post 1943 models (I hated this requirement) but keep their speed improvement.
- Helicopters are MUCH faster now (Speed 24 rather than 14).
- Infrastructure builds in 180 days (not 360) now, making building them a potentially viable strategy (I consider them ‘mini forts’ as they improve ESE for defenders). The AI will still never build infrastructure however.
- Partisan impact declines VERY slowly over time (I can’t remember what the base game had, they jiggled it about so much I can’t remember the last ‘official’ partisan activity monthly changes).
- Puppet states are now nerfed considerably. I despised that puppets got the master dissent for releasing and SMEP obviously agreed with me as almost all ‘indepedence’ triggers also had a 5% dissent reduction with it. Now almost every country has a local flag. If it is a puppet it suffers a 5% hit to dissent on puppetting, followed by 10% reduction to morale and organisation for all units, a 20% reduction to research speed and a 25% reduction to IC. Once released from this status, this effect goes away.
- Colonial release AI file has been deleted. I just didn’t like it at all.
- The difficulty levels have been changed. At Very Easy and Easy, the Human player gets a boost (the AI does not suffer anything) whilst at Hard and Very Hard, the AI gets a boost but the human player does not suffer anything.
AI changes:
- DAIM is fully implemented for the 1936 scenario, and event triggers which required old non-SMEP event numbers have been changed to the SMEP equivalents (DAIM SOV and GER files often checked old Molotov-Rippentrop pact event numbers so would not fire correctly, if at all).
- I’ve binned a lot of irrelevent South American minister changes that didn’t work properly with DAIM anyway.
- The United States, Germany and the Soviet Union have additional AI files for very late war games. The US, if left to fight on alone after a German victory, will now go into overdrive post 1948 and seriously gear up. Germany will likewise do the same and (in theory) should attempt a naval war with the US. The Soviet Union in a WWIII situation will make an attempt at naval building and invasion (it never would under DAIM as it didn’t really consider a post WWII world much).
- There is an attempt by me to introduce a Japanese ‘Allies’ file should Japan find itself in the Allies.
- There are AI files for the new countries that are kicking around.
- Some more countries will now trigger the ‘all research’ AI file, to keep researching late game. I’ve also removed a few ‘ignores’ from research files so AI countries will keep researching last game.
- Some countries that pick the Assault Concentration Land Doctrine path will now start adding artillery to almost everything they build, to get the 20% organisation and morale boost available.
- There are some AI files for Vichy France in a German wins post war world, and for U87 (Nanjing China) should it be able to break free from puppet status.
- The US, Germany, UK, Soviet Union and Italy can now all develop and use Nukes. Only the US makes a serious effort. The rest are half hearted. This option can be turned off at the start.
Tech changes:
- Very few, though the Assault Concentration doctrine now adds 20% to all artillery units (SP, SP Rocket and Rocket) and not just plain artillery.
Minister and leader changes:
- Too many to even think about. Most countries have got more ministers, to give more choice. Leader changes are less so but still quite a few.
- The two I can think of are Himmler, who as a leader now has a maximum skill of just 1 (was 5!? The man was incapable of leading an army) and Vo Nguyen Giap who is the best general in the game with a starting skill of 6 (the only one).
Event changes:
- Far too many to detail out. I’ll try and list the main effects by country. This is on top of the already healthy amount added by SMEP. Note – there is no such thing as AI_chance = 100 in my files. With only one exception, there is a chance that options b, c or d might be picked, however low they might be. Makes for a more interesting game.
Startup events
- Quite a lot of startup events, from many countries being given the opportunity to make additional national core claims, to the chance to boost a major power (without boosting anyone else), to the ability to turn nukes on or off.
United Kingdom – Election events as per last SMEP plus a few more tweaks.
- Surrender events reworked for a ‘Halifax’ surrender (now far less likely).
- A defeated UK might try and rebuild over time, possibly falling to either communism or fascism.
- There is a half hearted attempt to move the capital if mainland GB falls.
- UK will release Ethiopia to help them.
- England, Wales and Scotland, after a UK defeat, can reform the UK eventually.
- Quite a lot of ‘reactive’ events to other countries doing stuff elsewhere.
United States – Election events as per last SMEP plus a few more options.
- US options if it is defeated (the CSA can come back).
- US can fall into an early war with Japan if the Japanese won’t compensate the US over the Panay incident.
- US might just DOW in September 1939 (with huge knock on effects for the war in Europe as Vichy will not fire if the US is in the fight).
- US has a few options with Kurile Islands post war.
- US and Germany might ‘White peace’ after Victory in the East and West.
Soviet Union -
- The Soviet Union will puppet the Baltic states in 1939… then annex in 1940 as historical.
- The Soviet Union doesn’t start in alliance with Mongolia – this occurs in March 1936 instead, but Mongolia is still a puppet.
- The SU suffers dissent if it loses Moscow.
- After the BP, if the SU manages to win the civil war, it will probably retreat into isolation, but it might just decide to ‘fight back’. There are events to deal with the SU coming back in this case.
- The 1937 Soviet-Sino war is fully implemented, and this is the first significant major change players will see, so please don’t get too anxious about suddenly finding yourself at war with China. The details of this chain of events is in the China section.
- Not purging the traitors leads to a ‘civil war’ but its not the same as in SMEP. I seem to have messed up the files such that if Russia and the Soviet Union are around, the game crashes. I think I’ve fixed it recently, but not had time to playtest it properly (ministers shared IDs was the problem). If anyone can help with this, please do let me know.
- The Soviet Union really don’t like the Baltics. If they somehow survive the M-R pact, they’ll get hammered in 1941 when Germany comes a knocking.
- The SU (and US) will probably trigger World War III after Germany and Japan are defeated.
- The SU may hold the Baltics, but the Forest Brothers will cause trouble until 1956.
Germany -
- Germany might just ‘peace out’ with France, and only take Alsace-Lorraine in a peace deal!
- Germany won’t let Czechoslovakia exist, even if it honours Munich. They’ll get it one way or another in the end.
- Germany won’t let Austria just decide not to Anschluss. Likewise, Austria is either joining the Axis or is getting smacked.
- Germany really doesn’t like Republican Spain and will try and smack them after the fall of France. They’ll try and get Vichy on their side to do so (to prevent Spain holding up in the one province).
- Germany doesn’t like Romania. In the event of a total Axis win, they’re getting puppetted or annexed.
- Germany doesn’t like Italy!! After Victory in the West and East, there is one last territorial ambition to get. Trentino which was formerly Austrian is in the Germans sights!
- Germany gets to implement the Wannsee Conference. This is actually a negative as transport and IC are used to do so. Not doing so isn’t very National Socialist.
Japan -
- Japan can be more aggressive against the US in the Panay incident, potentially sparking the Pacific war in 1937.
- Japan usually rolls over China with the DAIM. It has a few more options with what to do with China after that win.
- Japan will probably go after the Soviet Union if it defeats China and is kicking around with nowt to do when Barbarossa starts.
- Japan won’t surrender if it controls Delhi.
- Japan might take Hong Kong when they sweep up Macao (which is an SMEP event). The UK reacts badly to this, as can be imagined.
- Japan can join the Axis with the obvious consequence of DOWing the Soviet Union (rather than two separate wars).
- If China defeats Japan, Japan must choose a path to follow. Democracy and the Allies, even more extreme right wing nationalism….. or tag U15 – The Socialist Republic of Japan, which might join the Comintern.
Italy -
- A few failsafes to ensure Albania is brought into the Italian control.
- If Italy is attacked by Germany post war, they’ll try and get Vichy on their side.
- There are a load of events for the RSI and an RSI/German victory over the UK/USA. However, these events rarely fire as the US and UK never invade southern Italy. It might fire in the 1944 scenario but its rare there too.
France -
- France can liberate itself (ie, play as France, allow Vichy to form and then reconquer France yourself).
- There are a lot of events around the territory of France, namely what happens if Vichy and France both end up in the Allies (Vichy dissolves and joins France).
- A French West Africa event tweak
- As well as Vichy, and France, there is also the ‘French State’ a German military government should France refuse Vichy which can form. It’s highly unstable, suffers from the puppet penalty just by existing (and suffers a FURTHER puppet penalty if its a puppet, so 50% loss in IC) and all the ministers are the rubbish ones (-5% IC etc etc) but it does exist and Germany might choose to go this route in their control of France.
- Some tiny tweaks around the 1936 French election.
- Some UK and French events around Syria and Lebanon after Vichy is formed.
China -
- Huge number of changes. SMEP incorporated the CCIP so there are already a load of changes here, but I’ve added even more!
- The first is the 1937 Sino-Soviet war. Long story short, Xingjiang starts independent in 1936 (but is a Soviet puppet in later scenarios). This is because in 1937, Xebei San Maa attacks Xingjiang. SIK called in the Soviet Union and after a short war, both sides white peace out but the Soviets took SIK as a puppet. The chain of events is – April 1937 – CXB attacks SIK. Shortly after, SIK askes SOV for help, SOV puppets SIK and DOWs CXB and CHI. Then about two weeks later, CHI offers a white peace and SOV accepts. Usually CSX and CGX also DOW the SU due to AI files, which I liked, so they get included in the white peace. The main advantage is this gears up CHI and the CHI client states (they all get slight slider movements towards Hawk and Standing Army) so it makes them better prepared for the Japanese in July.
- The ‘fun’ comes if the Soviet Union and China don’t agree a peace. In July 1937, the Japanese come knocking too and China finds itself at war with SOV and JAP. They’re basically dead, but GER, ENG and USA MIGHT intervene. Usually GER does, DOWing JAP and SOV which basically starts the equivalent of the ‘Balkans clusterfuck’ as SOV and JAP can end up fighting GER, and FRA and ENG might also DOW someone, anyone or everyone.
- Guangxi clique is now completely playable, and can become ‘China’ if you play your cards right (hint – try and join Japan and help them win)
- Shanxi and Yunnan get a few events to make them gear up a bit more.
- Manchuria gets a ‘decision day’ event to try and break Japanese control when Japan DOWs China.
- Manchuria can regain the Soviet Far East in the event of Bitter Peace.
- U87 – Nanjing China, like Guangxi, can become ‘China’ if they play their cards right.
- U87 isn’t annexed upon Japanese surrender. They’ll probably be hammered shortly afterwards by the Soviets, US and UK but they aren’t auto-loss upon a Japanese defeat.
Others -
- Ireland gets lots of choices around Northern Ireland as the German AI often manages to take Northern Ireland. Ireland and Germany can both make and receive offers, and Ireland can ignore everything, join the Allies (and get the North that way) or the Germans (and get the North that way).
- Some countries get a ‘should we join the war’ in September 1939 – Belgium, Luxemburg, Italy(!), USA(!).
- Romania and Moldova can join if they both exist.
- So can Czech Republic and Slovakia
- The Baltics aren’t surviving World War II. If they somehow make it through the MR pact, both Germany AND the Soviet Union will attack them when Barbarossa starts.
- Almost all Latin American countries get the chance (as they did historically) to join the Allies.
- Turkey, Chile and Bolivia make ‘fall of Berlin’ DOWs on Germany. If somehow that fall of Berlin was as a result of a Soviet overreach, it can cause a fairly large front in the Balkans to open up if Bulgaria and Italy are still around in the region.
- Ethiopia can come back and join the Allies.
- There are some ‘fun’ events around Syria and Lebanon when Vichy is formed.
- Republican Spain gets a load of choices should it win the Spanish civil war, from what government to form (democratic or communist) to what to do about Eskudi and Catalonia should they exist.
- Republican Spain will probably end up in the Allies if Democratic, or the Comintern if Communist. The latter could be a problem for Germany during Barbarossa.
- Switzerland will defend itself if attacked.
- Portugal can help Nationalist Spain.
- Indian civil war upon independence.
- Israeli war with Arabs now has peace options.
- Afghanistan now has options to join the Axis if the Axis are really winning.
- Most Soviet eastern europe puppet states don’t like being puppets and may take an opportunity to defect if one arises.
- South Africa can be liberated by the Axis if they get that far.
I’ve probably forgotten about a load of other events.
I welcome comments and corrections.
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