The Complete Guide to the Commune of France

  • We have updated our Community Code of Conduct. Please read through the new rules for the forum that are an integral part of Paradox Interactive’s User Agreement.
Introduction

TomorrowsHerald

Disreputable News Outlet
40 Badges
Mar 1, 2015
601
8.473
  • Darkest Hour
  • Hearts of Iron III
  • Stellaris: Ancient Relics
  • Hearts of Iron IV: Death or Dishonor
  • Stellaris: Synthetic Dawn
  • Hearts of Iron IV: Expansion Pass
  • Stellaris: Humanoids Species Pack
  • Stellaris: Apocalypse
  • Stellaris: Distant Stars
  • Surviving Mars: First Colony Edition
  • Stellaris: Megacorp
  • Imperator: Rome
  • Surviving Mars: First Colony Edition
  • Crusader Kings Complete
  • Age of Wonders: Planetfall
  • Stellaris: Lithoids
  • Stellaris: Federations
  • Imperator: Rome - Magna Graecia
  • Crusader Kings III
  • Stellaris: Necroids
  • Stellaris: Nemesis
  • Stellaris
  • Crusader Kings II: Legacy of Rome
  • Crusader Kings II: The Old Gods
  • Crusader Kings II: Sword of Islam
  • Europa Universalis IV
  • Victoria 2
  • Victoria 2: A House Divided
  • Victoria 2: Heart of Darkness
  • Crusader Kings II: Way of Life
  • Pillars of Eternity
  • Surviving Mars
  • Stellaris: Galaxy Edition
  • Stellaris: Galaxy Edition
  • Hearts of Iron IV: Cadet
  • Tyranny: Archon Edition
  • Stellaris: Digital Anniversary Edition
  • Stellaris: Leviathans Story Pack
  • Stellaris - Path to Destruction bundle
  • Crusader Kings II
The Complete Guide to the Commune of France

1637444495925.png

After playing several games as the Commune of France in KR DH, I thought I'd share what I have learned about what, in my view, is one of the more enjoyable nations in the game. In this guide, I aim to present both the arguably optimal ways to play the Commune and the various Role-Play centred directions possible with this faction and how to combine them with more practical gameplay. I expect this guide will take a few dozen posts in order to break up the task into smaller more manageable contributions. So, without further preamble, I present the first part of the guide, the set-up phase for the Commune.

1637445077959.png

The Commune of France is a Syndicalist nation in Western Europe unique in KR DH for being, with 168 starting IC (that can quickly expand to 200 via events) placing one of the more industrially powerful states in the game. Resource wise it possesses particularly plentiful reserves of metal for export and is more or less self-sufficient in energy and rare materials at least for its existing industry. That said, it often requires to import both to make up for shortfalls and turn to trade to compensate for its lack a domestic source of oil (particularly if it intends to create a mechanized army). This presents a consistent dilemma for the Commune in that its only exportable commodities are metal, supplies, and money, with the latter two reducing its effective IC the more trade expands the need for supply and consumer goods production all the while military demands for the coming war need every bit of IC. Another concern for the Commune is its relatively small starting manpower pool and poor generation, that while compensated for by events, can never be entirely ignored.

1637446343806.png

The Commune borders Spain to its South-West, the Italian Federation to its South East, the Mediterranean and National French-controlled North Africa to the South. The Union of Britain is to its North past the English Channel, while Flanders-Wallonia, Germany, and Switzerland lie along its Eastern border. The latter represents our chief concern both in terms of its territorial claims and in the threat posed by Germany, the industrial, imperial, and military hegemon of Europe and the wider world since its victory in the Weltkreig. While Switzerland is neutral, it still possesses a sizable French-speaking population, as does Flanders-Wallonia, Germany's replacement client Kingdom to pre-war Belgium. The Commune also shares claims on the Italian Federation with its ally, the Socialist Republic of Italy (based in the Southern part of the peninsula) though the military threat posed by the Papal ruled Federation is a minor one at best. Spain, while a neutral nation and a militarily and industrially weak one at that, does provide a potential second front against the Commune weakening its commitment to the East and should thus be closely watched for opportunities to keep it friendly. Of the three seas accessible from French shores, the Mediterranean presents a moderate amphibious threat from the National French requiring some defences on the coast while the rest are generally calm.


1637447149112.png

Politically, France is a Syndicalist Republic in the pre-Marxist-Leninist Communist tradition of the altered KR timeline where the Bolshevik revolution was defeated. In ideological terms, this is more or less consistent with radical left-wing ideas mostly grounded in the labour movement and some modern conceptions of Democratic Socialism, though, in gameplay terms, the Commune is still defined as a dictatorship (which is true in the sense that apart from Radical Socialist factions, no other form of politics are acceptable in the Commune) Between January and February of 1936, elections will trigger for the Commune pitting its four main political factions against each other. Unlike other elections that tend not to affect gameplay too much, the choice of leadership does have serious gameplay consequences and is thus considered as much a part of the set-up phase for the game as anything else. I will explain this point in greater detail in the next post, though for the time being, I recommend leaving the ideological sliders alone as events will move them quite a bit anyway possibly rendering your choice redundant. The international slider in particularly is easily changed via events as is the Hawk slider occasionally.


1637447885961.png

Technology-wise, the Commune is a little bit behind most other advanced Western nations though not in an insurmountable way. French tech teams, while not always the best, are good and varied enough in their specialization to research most techs fairly quickly. As a planned economy, you also have the possibility of increasing your research efficiency which I recommend doing in tandem with tech sales to other countries for some easy money generation. As tech is heavily game-focus dependent, I will leave specific war recommendations to when I explain the various routes you can take with the Commune in the next post. As a start, however, I do recommend researching some of the industrial techs as France is a bit behind on those. Practically all your unit options in the game's start are obsolete apart from motorized infantry and armoured cars which thus makes them a good starting point.

1637448290375.png
1637448311742.png


Since France is up to date on Motorized units, those seem to be a good place to start from while you are researching other techs. While your starting motorized units begin with light tanks attached to them, in my view, this is not very effective at this stage of the game as they seem to significantly slow down the motorized division's speed from 26 to 17. Your starting tanks are also obsolete whereas your armoured cars are up to date. My advice is to build six new motorized divisions with armoured cars as well as a serial run of six armoured cars to replace the light tanks attached to your six starting motorized divisions. The tanks can be later equipped for new cavalry divisions. Most other construction choices are very game direction-dependent, but as a general rule, I also recommend building one or two additional air bases along the German border and maximizing the serial run to level ten (that should be ready by the time of the war) A serial run of three additional levels of fortress to Belfort is also a good general policy as that province faces two German ones and only posses three levels of fortifications in comparison with Verdun's 6. This could go a long way towards protecting your flank.

Next time, I will overview the Commune's starting military situation and the elections/game direction choices. Until then, Vive la Commune!


 
Last edited:
  • 8Like
  • 1
Reactions:
Excellent tutorial! I enjoyed reading it.
I've played France once and conquered Europe, but this time I chose the moving doctrine, so I don't need to fortification the borders at all, I just attacked and encircled and destroyed them.
Also I wonder if of necessary for making 10 level airports. In Europe, there are already many good airports that exist (such as in Paris), so I don't feel necessary to add them.
 
Excellent tutorial! I enjoyed reading it.
I've played France once and conquered Europe, but this time I chose the moving doctrine, so I don't need to fortification the borders at all, I just attacked and encircled and destroyed them.
Also I wonder if of necessary for making 10 level airports. In Europe, there are already many good airports that exist (such as in Paris), so I don't feel necessary to add them.

I also tend towards very mobile gameplay which is why I don't bother with more extensive fortifications. That said, I do think Belfort is a potential weak point because it's rather distant from where I normally concentrate my forces (on the Belgian border) French infrastructure is relatively poor making rapid reinforcement difficult and once breached, Belfort potentially gives the Germans access to much of the French Sothern interior where they are much harder to stop prior to major industrial and infrastructure damage being done. The Commune AI often loses because of it and while I agree that a player should normally not have too much of a problem handling it, I find that fortifying the area does serve to buy time should the German AI make a serious attempt at it without having to place too many divisions there.

As for airbases, the reason I do think one or two more of them is not a bad idea is that most French airbases apart from one in Lille are not particularly close to the border restricting the range of aircraft. There is one in the province behind Charmont, and while it is ideal for bombers, I find it does not accommodate interceptors and other short-range aircraft as well as I'd like. Paris too is ideal as a bomber base but too far away to accommodate fighters (to which Lille is a better alternative) Airbases are also tied to how quickly aircraft get repaired, meaning that the more you have, the faster you can repair aircraft and I thus like having them close for maximum effect. One more airbase based in Verdun or Charmont should be enough for most games unless you go for a large air force (with CAS and Fighters)

For very large air forces, I'd probably go with two more airbases based in Sedan and Charmont giving the player a good coverage across the border.
 
  • 1Like
  • 1
Reactions:
Chapter 1: The Communard Military & Doctrine
Chapter 1: The Communard Military & Doctrine

1637494590617.png



Part 1 - The Land Forces

1637494776433.png

The Commune of France arguably possesses the strongest starting army disposition in the game other than Germany, but whereas Germany has to worry about its imperial and Eastern interests, France has less immediate ground to cover and is thus better able to concentrate its forces. With 43 infantry divisions, the Commune is not too far off Germany's 69, especially when considering its 3 division mountain and marine corps (each). That said, of these 43 infantry divisions, only 13 are your most modern 1931 variants whereas the rest are either up to 1926/21 standards (the German infantry is more modern by comparison.) This tech problem is a consistent issue to consider when playing DH in that upgrading units is IC and time consuming making it often better to build units as research progresses rather than build them and upgrade them later. The Commune certainly does not have the IC to spare on upgrades in its early build-up phase making it a real concern.

While the infantry is a bit obsolete, the extensive mobile core you start the game with is quite up to date, consisting of six motorized divisions and ten cavalry divisions; double the starting German mobile force in comparison. Both motorized and cavalry divisions have light and medium tank brigades attached to them starting at the best possible tech available with 35 motorized, 32 cavalry, and 34 light/medium armour respectively (the brigade level medium tank tree starts in the light tank tree, not the medium one.) As stated previously, at least the early light/medium tanks seem to slow down motorized divisions.

1637496621919.png
1637496645447.png


While this is not as much of a concern should you opt towards using the motorized divisions for a future basis for your armoured corps via the mobility or manpower trees, at least for the early part of the game I find that the faster the motorized division are, the better they function as a rapid reserve or encirclement force. Armoured Cars by comparison don't slow down the divisions and bring enough to the table to make them a valid replacement. They offer more defensive bonuses to your motorized divisions, a valuable edge should they find themselves at the head of your early-game spearhead (especially in an early war) and aren't that far off light tanks in hitting power. In addition, they offer a decent Partisan suppression value giving them a later game value for garrison forces and do not cost much in additional supplies or IC to construct, though you will need to build them separately for your existing motorized divisions.

You don't have to build them, and as a rule, brigades are considered to be less efficient than simply building more divisions with the same resources, but as KR uses a different manpower system to vanilla and other mods, I find that brigades are an efficient means of increasing the qualitative edge of French units for a relatively small manpower cost relative to the greater investment of building more divisions. When fighting Germany, France is naturally disadvantaged in manpower, and while France can build a large army (even larger than Germany's) by 1939/40, its manpower reserves risk becoming dangerously low in case of attritional confrontations meaning that your effective ability to maintain a large army during combat is limited (and the Commune AI often loses due to attrition) That is why I recommend aiming for quality over quantity when it comes to France regardless of doctrine which we will come to at the end of this chapter.

There is also a distinct lack of artillery brigades compared to the German army totalling 2 brigades of heavy artillery (which are very useful against fortifications) and 9 brigades of expanded field artillery. That said, all infantry divisions possess both to some degree, and the brigades merely expand their existing capacity at the cost of reduced speed. Artillery and its heavy counterpart are most noteworthy as a means to destroy fortifications and suppress the defender's advantage, particularly when playing with a more static army, though even in a mobile play it can pay to concentrate the artillery and even expand it. The latter is easily done via one long-duration serial run that can fully benefit from gearing bonuses at a relatively low IC cost though heavier artillery is much more expensive to build. The latter is primarily useful if you intend to break through Nancy rather than Belgium, a topic that will be covered more extensively in the doctrinal part of the chapter.

On a final note, one drawback to artillery construction is that you will go through at least three models during the game; the 36, 38, and 40. This is a problem because serial runs restart every time you get a new model if you set them to auto-update reducing the value of the gearing bonus. I, therefore, recommend building runs to end whenever you expect to get the next models along with one-off runs with infantry if you aim for an artillery strong army, or simply building selective runs for as many divisions you intend to equip (such as those on the fortified border with Germany) Heavy Artillery in comparison is locked to its 1918 model until 1940 making it a better candidate for a continuous serial run until that date, though the IC cost for even one unit at a time is equivalent to a divisional cost.

1637495663345.png


As you can see from the above, the German Artillery component is somewhat larger than France's. It should be noted that the differences are actually greater and are only narrow at the game's start due to the French artillery divisions starting the game being fully reinforced whereas the German ones are not. In real terms, the Germans have a lot of artillery reinforced divisions and about the same starting number of heavy artillery making them more potent against fortresses.

Your mountain troops are quite useful as either an offensive force against the mountainous terrain of Nancy or as a defence/offensive force against Italy, though they will require a much larger commitment to be truly effective to which they return only a limited utility in their chosen terrain. That said, as a qualitative edge, they are a useful maximization of your returns from limited French manpower, particularly if you are using a more static doctrine or expect to invade Switzerland. Your starting small 3 division core is best used, in my view, in a defensive role covering the mountainous territory of Grenoble in the event of an early war with the Italian Federation. Your marines, however, do not have much utility during the early game (though they could come in useful against National France) and are, in my view, best used to secure your coastal provinces of Marseilles and Montpelier against National France as well as your border province of Toulon against Italy.

I recommend giving over your units to logistical wizards (which the AI generally does anyway) at least in the early stage of the game to offset supply cost. You might want to consider ministerial changes to either give you tech bonuses, construction bonuses, IC, or supply bonuses (though it is best to wait until after the Communard elections and make alterations around the 1st of May 1936 just before the big dissent reduction of the Internationale Congress.) In terms of deployment, my recommendation is to concentrate your motorized units in Lille and your cavalry on the other provinces of the Belgian Border. This will let you quickly grab Belgium in the event of early war or make a rapid dash to Liege in a later war if you build an enlarged mobile force to encircle the Germans in Alsace.

I would not recommend reinforcing your infantry immediately as it will increase your IC supply cost, but rather to station understrength infantry divisions in your fortified positions in Verdun, Charmont, and Belfort relative to the number of provinces they face (six for each province for a total of six in Charmont, 12 in Belfort, and 12 in Verdun) Assuming I go for a mobile army, I like to place my reinforced modern divisions and their artillery in Sedan where they can assist the armoured thrust, but if you opt for a more static doctrine, these would be better placed in the provinces around Nancy which offers the most attack vectors. As stated previously, I think your marines are best used covering the coast while the mountain divisions cover the Italian border. It doesn't hurt to keep a few divisions in Paris, perhaps an infantry and cavalry division as well as your HQ until you need it to assume command of a large concentration of troops somewhere.

Part 2 - The Air Force

1637500955890.png

The French air force starts on a strong footing roughly equivalent to its army. With 7 up-to-date 1930 interceptors, you are roughly equivalent to the starting German fighting force, though the latter outweighs you in bombers by about 2-1 (though thanks to an oversight, all your bombers are 38 models which is well ahead of your starting 32 technology). That said, Germany also benefits from a not insignificant number of fighters from its puppet states and potential allies that are likely to severely challenge your ability to maintain air superiority (though your Italian allies also tend to build a few interceptors squadrons eventually while the British and Post-Civil War CNT Spanish seem to prefer bombers and are unlikely to be much help on that front. If the CSA wins its civil war it provides more fighter cover.)

The above means that you are unlikely to outweigh the Germans in the air, especially if the Austrians join them, though this isn't an insurmountable difference. In order to safety bomb your targets, you have to establish at least local air superiority over the target area. The best immediate way to do this is to concentrate your forces into one large fighter formation and one large tactical bomber formation in order to avoid getting picked off and to try and time their operations together. Without fighter cover, your bombers can easily get shredded and rendered ineffective for weeks at a time. I recommend prioritizing your fighters and bombers for reinforcement and upgrades to mitigate this effect, though the only sure means of addressing this problem is by expanding your airforce.

There are several directions open to you on that latter point. The most basic direction is to focus entirely on interceptors and tactical bombers with the aim of simply outweighing the Germans in fighters and alternating between tactical bomber groups whenever one gets shredded. That said, I would not count on outweighing the Germans by numbers alone; quality is also important, both in terms of technology and in doctrine. In that sense, I think investing in fighters rather than in interceptors is a more effective means of maintaining a qualitative edge with the latter focusing on defending your forces from enemy bombers while the former focus on establishing air superiority over enemy territory. Escort fighters can offset damage to your tactical bombers at the cost of reduced range (which is negligible in the airbase rich Western European area) and it might be worth a single serial run of those to offset IC cost as well as equipping future bombers with them.

That said, the more aircraft variants you want to maintain, the tougher it is to keep all of them up-to-date. Not to mention whatever you build in 38 may not match new enemy aircraft coming out in 1940 if you don't have enough IC to dedicate towards upgrading your equipment. Again, it is worth timing construction with new technology, but this can be tough to do with competing build orders making it easy to end up with a rather insignificant fighter force not really worth the investment. This is why it may be best to choose between interceptors and fighters at least in build orders, though I'd still say that some investment in interceptors is worthwhile, both in anti-bomber duty, but also in air-scramble over your Mediterranean ports, though you could delegate the latter role to the Italians. In that context, I recommend building some radar stations at least in Marseilles as well as AA as the Entente can get pretty darn brutal with NAVs from time to time.

In my opinion, the Commune simply lacks the IC and tech to invest in CAS or NAVs effectively without compromising your fighter component. Without air superiority, your bombers will get shredded anyway, which is why I tend to keep only to TACs. This question is, however, very dependent on your doctrine and its prescribed IC investments to the land forces and navy described in the final part of this chapter. If you are building a large tank force, for example, you won't have much spare IC. In terms of development, as stated, I recommend concentrating your fighter and bomber forces with your fighters stationed in Lille and your bombers in Paris. Later bomber can take point in Auxerre while your fighters operate from the additional Airbase I recommend in the previous post (Verdun or Charmont)

Edit - I also recommend building half a dozen occupation divisions, perhaps light infantry with police, to secure enemy airfields and protect them from partisans. These operating in tandem with 1-3 cavalry divisions armed with Armoured Cars should be able to stay on top of any insurgency.

Part 3 - The Navy

1637502725413.png


The Communard Navy isn't exactly your pride and glory, but it isn't altogether insignificant either. Most of your Battleships are relatively modern (certainly when compared with the rather large number of obsolete battleships in the German navy) though as the game does not favour battleships at this stage, certainly not in the rather limited confines of the Mediterranean, they are mostly relegated to shore bombardment duties that are only likely to become necessary once you invade National France. On that count, the National French navy is roughly equivalent to yours (or even slightly superior) and is likely to receive entente help in the event of war not to mention possible German naval resources in the theatre. For these reasons, it is best to keep the battleships in Marsiles (preferably in one large battleship formation, if you have an admiral with a high enough rank/level to command it, a question which will be addressed in your election choices.)

For an offensive naval arm, you have to turn elsewhere, though it is an open question if it is wise to invest in one at all this early. You already possess five submarine flotillas, which I recommend stationing in Brest to raid German convoys supplying its colonial empire in the event of war. Your transport force should probably remain in the same port as your battleships. You also start with one obsolete escort carrier though I tend to convert it to escorts along with spare old destroyers which do not fit in the 30 unit battleship fleet. Frankly, even your transports could be readily converted into convoys for more modern transports.

Your choices for further expansion should always aim to be as cheap as possible as your main investment will go to your land and air forces. In that regard, you have four choices - a submarine fleet, a war-ready light carrier fleet, a post-European war fleet carrier fleet, or not investing in your navy at all.

The submarine option is probably your cheapest effective offensive choice, though it will require some naval doctrine adaptation away from fleet-in-being to the indirect approach. You can either use a gamey 30 submarine formation to destroy practically anything that comes your way, or smaller more realistic formations to hit enemy convoy and transport formations in the Atlantic and Mediterranean. I generally prefer the latter, as I find 30 submarines too expensive for France's IC limitations, though you could serial run submarines fairly effectively on account of their short construction time (less than one year per unit)

The Light Carrier Option gives you a pretty solid force to hold the Mediterranean during the war as well as attack the National French navy in port all the while you develop Carrier tech for a later Fleet Carrier navy. Light carriers don't cost much more than submarines and offer more bang to your buck, though they do require quite a few tech slots from the carriers to the destroyer escort, ASW, to the carrier aircraft group. There are only five names in the Commune's database for light carriers, so you will have to get creative for at least one if not more of them if you intend to build additional light carriers. Light carriers also double as effective transport escorts giving them a late-game utility should you move to fleet carriers as your main offensive arm by then.

The Carrier option is frankly too expensive to build IC wise before 1940, but a credible direction to gradually develop towards tech-wise as you won't need much more tech compared to the above-fleet carrier, carrier group, destroyer, ASW, and possibly ship-mounted radar. When I take this direction, I like to start building the carriers around 1940 once I research the 1940 carrier tech (carrier groups do get upgraded so they are not as urgent as other air units) Ships built according to this plan should be ready by 1942-43, which while it will delay operations against national France compared to light carriers isn't too long to wait.

Not investing in the navy at all is actually a pretty credible option as you don't really need a navy to dominate the Mediterranean. Once you are done with Europe, you will get events to declare war on the Ottoman Empire and other neutral states which you can then expand to a general campaign across the Middle East and North Africa using the land route to capture Colonial Africa without even one amphibious landing (though Suez may be a problem) If you go via that route, you may want to consider selling off or decommissioning your navy entirely, though I personally find that prospect rather gamey.

Part 4 - Doctrine

1637505397235.png

Before I go into the topic of the Communard elections in full detail in the next post, I would like to cover in brief the question of military doctrine raised in the first choice of the elections separately in the context of doctrine choice rather than its political implications. The Commune technically gets four choices, but I frankly find the Jacobian Defensive Focus to be such a poor choice to be scarcely worth mentioning. France is doomed to lose an attritional confrontation so it makes no sense to prolonge the war via defensive measures. It only makes some measure of sense in the event of early war when the Commune isn't ready for offensive operations. Unless you purposely intend to start the war immediately in 1936, I do not think it's worth your time, and even then, it is a rather dubious choice.

Your effective choices are the Travilleur mobility doctrine, the Anarchist manpower doctrine, and the Sorelian firepower doctrine. Each one of them represents a distinctly different construction policy, with the mobility doctrine focused on creating armoured divisions (the more the better), the firepower doctrine focused on infantry and mountaineer divisions (preferably with a generous allocation of field and heavy artillery) while the Manpower doctrine combines both into a mixed infantry - armoured doctrine (since the latter can be unlocked prior to going to war) Choose according to what type of campaign you want.

In terms of which one is best, mobility represents the smallest demand on your limited manpower for the best returns (though at a considerable IC cost) and can fairly easily encircle the Germans at Alsace and push forwards soon after. The only real shortcomings of this doctrine is, firstly, in how the IC cost is liable to limit the overall size of your army compared to the German in the event they manage to stabilize the front into an attritional confrontation. Secondly, while the doctrine unlocks armoured divisions early, your tech is liable to lag behind, making many of your armoured divisions obsolete by the time the war starts. In that context, the mobile doctrine would probably be best served via an early war in 39 the moment the decision Alsace or War is available rather than waiting for 1940.

1637510371279.png


Multiple encirclements achieved via Liege breakout with armoured corps

Firepower isn't ideal as it is draws heavily upon your manpower and is liable to pit you in attritional confrontations the Commune may find hard to win. That said, if you build the motorized divisions I suggested along with some more cavalry, you will still possess a mobile core capable of limited encirclements. An artillery cannonade around Nancy along with attacking mountaineer troops should be able to breach the German defences and let your mobile core break through and achieve at least local encirclements. The reduced IC cost compared to mobility will give you more resources for naval and air force construction. Such an army may be ready by 1939 or 1940 depending on how it is built, but remember that Germany will gain access to its full industrial potential by 39 if not earlier.

1637510243133.png


Encirclement was achieved by a breakthrough via Nancy, though admittedly with the help of Dutch allies and an Imperialist second front against Japan

My favourite doctrine, however, is the manpower doctrine for several reasons. Firstly, it offers a 15% bonus to manpower growth via the People's War tech which is quite significant for the Commune's manpower shortcomings, especially when used in tandem with other manpower altering event decisions, ministers, and techs. It is also generally the stronger doctrine overall (at least by the late game) and unlocks armoured divisions not much later than mobile warfare around the time your tank tech should be fairly advanced allowing for a more optimized construction policy. That said, the latter point does make for a slower build plan that would benefit the most from a delayed war around 1940 (I personally like the 10th of May 1940 both for the weather and the humour as a good date to start it)

In the next chapter, I will cover the political implications of the Communard elections and how to optimize and/or role-play them effectively. I will also cover technology choices using a manpower doctrine build as a general example, probably using the Anarchist political route to showcase both.

Until then, Vive la Commune!

 
Last edited:
  • 6Like
Reactions:
Huh, interesting.
I'm not sure how much it's changed with the latest versions, but in my experience as an observer, I've seen that the commune will either get completely curbstomped by Germany or will do the same in return. Have you noticed this? And is it dependent on what doctrines they both have in play?
 
Huh, interesting.
I'm not sure how much it's changed with the latest versions, but in my experience as an observer, I've seen that the commune will either get completely curbstomped by Germany or will do the same in return. Have you noticed this? And is it dependent on what doctrines they both have in play?
That's a good question I will probably test a bit more with the current version of the game than I have (I have mostly played games as the Commune) That said, as far as I can see, the Commune tends to lose to Germany either quickly due to a German breakthrough in Belfort or sometimes Sedan or simply down to attrition. In one game, I saw both Germany and France bleed white until 1946 until the Commune finally broke. When the Commune wins, it's usually in a quick knockout or an accidental encirclement or having extensive allies. That's why I am a bit obsessive about manpower when it comes to the Commune. If you manage it right, you can double the Commune's manpower generation. I don't need it having played it so much, but I think it will help less experienced players compensate for mistakes.

I find that the French AI does not know how to use the mobile doctrine and only starts building armoured divisions around 1940-41 making it a bad pick for the AI. Firepower is probably a better choice for it as it improves its infantry, though I would say manpower is the best pick for the AI for its manpower and other bonuses. That said, it's not only doctrine that matters but the Commune elections generally: how much industry does it get? Does it have to deal with a Jacobian power struggle? For example, Jacobians economics gives a large IC boost, anarchists give a large manpower bonus as does a travalur interior policy. Jacobians/Sorelian foreign policy gets the best slider changes at the cost of a German gearing bonus. I will go into more detail about this in the next post (weekend at the latest)

Thank you for going to the trouble of making this for us.

It is always good to know your enemy.
Thanks for reading, out of curiosity, who are you playing as at the moment?
 
  • 2
Reactions:
Chapter 2 - Part 1: Set-up Phase & The Commune Elections
Chapter 2: Set-up Phase & The Commune Elections

1637597180626.png


Part 1A - Military Re-deployment

Before I go into the details of the Commune elections I thought to quickly overview the set-up I will be using for this guide. Firstly, while it is rather gamey, I find it convenient to re-assign the scattered divisions of the army by bringing them all to Paris or any other point (apart from the marines and mountain divisions that have their assigned roles in the South) The navy is likewise concentrated in Marsiles, apart for the submarines resigned to Brest, while the fighters are being concentrated in Lille and the bombers in Paris as their operational stations against Belgium (apart from one fighter wing covering Marseilles for the time being)

Part 2 - Build Order, Tech, and the Economy

1637597995528.png

As you can see, I've proceeded to build six new motorized divisions as well as armoured cars to re-equip my existing ones. I am also expanding my fortifications in Belfort and building a new airbase in Verdun to service future fighter units. For the time being, I am not building more artillery until I research new models and even though that does not limit heavy artillery construction, I prefer to keep my IC commitment a bit lower ahead of the elections dissent hits and because I am not yet sure I want to make the whopping 7 IC investment required to build them (it may be a bit cheaper to build them pre-attached to a division)

I prefer not to get bogged down micromanaging the economy as I find that I generally don't make much better decisions than the AI on that front. That said, I am not going to bother with energy-oil conversion as France needs to trade in both anyway. If I were planning on using the mobility doctrine, however, I would consider synthetic oil worth the investment simply because oil sources may not always be readily available and your army will be entirely reliant on a lot of it. For my purposes, I find that energy to oil conversions aren't very efficient and that the cost of importing the additional energy demands a bit too much tradable IC.

(I highly recommend building up a large oil stockpile though before the war begins)

I have also disabled reinforcement for the time being to reduce supply costs. While our convoy reserve is rather small since I have no plan to use them I do not see any reason to serial build convoys as I would immediately set-out do for Germany and other naval powers from the get go. For our purposes, I think replacing our older transport ships and destroyers with newer designs and converting the older ones into convoys and escorts should be enough once we have the tech & IC.


1637598889640.png

For my initial tech choices, I have opted to go for a rather broad and unambitious direction capable of covering the most options possible. Infantry and artillery will star in this build alongside armoured divisions, but as I am going to use the manpower doctrine I am in no rush to get the tank technology researched as I'd normally be when playing via the mobility tree. I intended to try and build a few more submarines and light carriers for an expanded naval commitment (though I do not intend to change Fleet-In-Being for the Indirect Approach as I also would like to make use of my battleships. Fleet carriers are also a long way off) The cost for this will be paid by the air force by prioritizing fighters and tactical bombers with the multi-role fighter paving the way both for the former and for carrier groups.

(Edit, as some have rightly pointed out, interceptors are far more cost-effective than fighters and apart from the greater range there is no real difference between the two. I have therefore decided to opt for interceptors rather than fighters though the 32 model is still necessary to unlock carrier air groups.)

Radar isn't really necessary for the commune, but I do find it helps cover the South against NAVs and as a long duration project, I'd prefer to start sooner rather than later. I would also like to equip ship-mounted radar on future fleet carriers, though I probably won't research that tech for a while. The other two are simply some industrial refinements to try and squeeze as much optimization out of French industry as possible. Doctrines are currently locked but will open soon enough once we make our choice of doctrine in the elections for the communal army leadership and that last agri-tech should be done by then. I generally don't make much use out of intelligence so I have set it to auto-manage for the time being to keep up with counter-espionage. Personally, I prefer to use invest in tech & infrastructure.

Part 3 - Communal Elections

1637599753203.png

Since we've already covered the doctrinal concerns, I will use the first topic to cover the nature of the Communal elections in general. That said, I will quickly add that while draft army isn't very good in DH, it does offer a bigger gearing bonus for serial runs which actually makes it quite useful for an efficient build order. That said, standing army does offer better bonuses, which is another point in favour of the mobility doctrine which pushes you very far along the standing army slider.

The Commune of France has four political factions:​

The ruling Travailleurs represent the Orthodox Syndcalists and what we'd know as the radical labour movement. Syndicalists aren't too different from Anarchists in their commitment to devolved powers at least on the local level, but they do support the maintenance of larger institutions overseeing the Commune's affairs generally using labour unions along what appears to be a measure of compromise with the old state apparatus. I can't say I am very well versed in the theory and KR already stretches things past OTL writings a hell of a lot, but it's enough to think of them as your moderates trying to find a middle ground between local/union power and state power. This, along with free vs planned economy and nationalism vs internationalism seems to be one of the main issues of the day.

If the Syndicalists represent the middle ground between local and state power, the Anarchists are very much the champions of the former advocating the abolition or at least de-fanging for many state and other hierarchical institutions in favour of more local and direct authority. Unlike the autonomists in the UOB who can literally tare apart the Union, I don't think the mod translates this agenda all too well as for all the talk of devolved powers the Commune remains practically the same. They do favour more economic freedoms than other factions, though, in practical games, it remains a planned economy. That said, I think the anarchists have some of the strongest election bonuses (especially in manpower) and minister choices the Commune can offer which is why I intend to go with them for this tutorial.

The Sorelians are, to put it bluntly, what eventually became part of the groundwork of Fascism in OTL (making Mosely and Mussolini its British and Italian advocates was not exactly subtle and its French leaders likewise have a very checkered history) In OTL, Sorelianism is chiefly remembered a pre-communist revisionist strand of Syndicalism that was quite similar to later Fascistic ideas of a classless nationalism (the advancement of the nation over class in a community were all members of the nationality are dedicated towards the greater good of the nation.) Some Sorelians were involved in monarchist circles in the French Far-Right.

In Kasiereich, the split seems to have been somewhat less dramatic as there was no Bolshevik revolution to encourage such movements to emphasise the nation over Moscow-line communism. That said, they still represent the national element as opposed to the internationalist agenda set by the other Communard parties, particularly in their pursuit of a revanchist agenda against Germany rather than the liberation of its working class. They seem to tolerate the Anarchists and Travailleurs (who in turn tolerate all the other factions) but should they come to power, they very quickly liquidate the Jacobian Communist leaders. This latter point is particularly important because your best admiral happens to be a Jacobian and without him, you won't have a qualified admiral to lead a 30 ship fleet.


1637603122428.png


I guess even the Sorelians know how to be good internationalists when it suits them...

The Jacobians, in turn, represent the remnant of Marxist-Leninist communism, though in gameplay terms they are not so different from the Sorelians. Role-play wise, they are internationalists, but whereas they claim to be tolerant of other nations, they aren't nearly as tolerant of their political rivals in France. Needless to say, they gun down the Sorelian leadership the moment they gain power, but they can also go a step further and purge everybody else triggering a short civil war that can either see them destroy the final remnants of the Anarcho-Syndicalist order Barcelona style, or be deposed by general Gamelin of all people.

The elections have five issues, with each faction advancing its policy. Should any faction get three wins out of five, they will gain control over the Commune. Should no faction win a majority, you will be offered a variety of compromise solutions at the cost of a bit more dissent that fall into various shades of a Anarcho-Syndicalist coalition. The elections already hit you with ten dissent which can climb as high as 20 depending on your choices, but I wouldn't get too worried about reducing it since the Internationale Congress event will give you a huge dissent reduction generally enough to bring it back to zero.

For the purposes of this tutorial, I have elected to go with the Anarchists both politically and for the manpower doctrine which means they have 1/5 votes.

1637604122973.png


I am frankly not entirely sure what the second topic of the election is, but seeing as the appointment is for the intelligence minister, I assume it is basically a question of which faction will run the Commune's law enforcement (the way it may be a terrible weapon for extremist factions gives us a hint) In gameplay terms, however, this is the least important choice we are presented with and thus an easy one to give to whichever faction we want to win. The anarchist option is probably the best one anyway since it comes with a hefty dissent reduction as well as open society slider movement useful for reducing partisan activity later on. That said, Albert Camus, as much as I may enjoy his books, isn't a particularly gifted minister and I generally change him with someone more useful the 1st of May.


1637604165302.png

The third topic is basically a social freedoms issue in the sense that both Anarchists and Travailleurs advocate a more open policy whereas the Sorelians and Jacobians want to limit liberties. This is further expressed in the manpower you will either gain (perhaps newly acceptable members of society in role-play terms?) as opposed to how many you will lose if you go with the more extreme factions. That said, the latter offer some dissent reductions whereas the former raise dissent, but as stated before, I wouldn't worry about it too much. Since the Travilleurs grant the biggest boost to manpower, think they represent the best choice.


1637604372739.png

The economy represents our 2nd big dilemma after the doctrinal question. As the Sorelians offer no industrial boost (though they do add 4 infantry divisions) I consider them to be the least useful option, even in the event of early war with Germany, as the industrial bonuses offered by other factions only become more critical once Germany gets its war-time bonuses to industry. The Syndicalists offer a compromise between the Jacobian and Anarchist proposals but bring no industrial bonus (in addition to IC) nor the manpower bonus offered by the other two (though their one-point slide to free market can easily be addressed with that slide point I recommended keeping for the time being back to central-planning) This leaves the Jacobians and the Anarchists as the options for review.

Generally speaking, I think the Jacobians are the stronger choice, especially if you opt for the mobility doctrine which is quite IC consuming and not quite as desperate for manpower. They bring to the table not only the most IC, but also increase industrial efficiency (which is pretty significant for a large economy such as France) and don't penalize you with a free market point you have nothing to do with. The Anarchists, while they don't offer much industry or economic bonuses and set you back on the central planning slider by at least one point, they do offer the largest manpower growth bonus. Even so, I would still take the Jacobian option in most games, but as I do not like the Anarchist foreign policy options and I am still in need of a third vote for them in this case, I will still choose this option. The manpower bonus is still a pretty strong one, especially when taken with the 15% bonus of the manpower tree and others. It's also a good pick for the firepower tree.


1637605130012.png


As much as the Anarchists might want more economic freedoms, it does not help me.


1637605250704.png

Another point on which the Jacobians are definitely the strongest pick offering a huge slider change towards interventionism and the Hawk Lobby (letting us get on with returning to a properly planned economy rather than the anarchist mess) The Sorelians are another good option if you need votes for them but the other two factions are rather weak on this score. That said, if you chose either Jacobians or Sorelians, the Germans do get a small gearing bonus plus other nations don't think very highly of your plans to overthrow their governments (which does impact your trade value with them, or at least I think it does) Since we have all the votes we need for the anarchists I will go ahead with the Jacobian option this time around as I do think its the optimal way to deal with our slider options.


1637605754043.png


With that done, the Anarchists have come to power, though this isn't quite the end of the goodies coming our way by choosing them!

1637605955421.png

This is quite the list of bonuses making Makhno the strongest Commune leader by a longshot. While it did come at the cost of 3 more dissent, it's worth it. That's all I have time for at the moment I am afraid so I will have to delay the final details on deployment for next time, until then, let's end on a note of Ukrainian anarchy!

 

Attachments

  • 1637603431323.png
    1637603431323.png
    395,6 KB · Views: 0
  • 1637605705500.png
    1637605705500.png
    382,2 KB · Views: 0
Last edited:
  • 4Like
Reactions:
Even while having not played the KR mod yet, I really liked to read your guide. I definetly have to try Kaiserreich (KR) out one day and your guide is truly an additional motiviation.

A bit lenghty perhaps (but who am I to complain when I can't get a single post short *grin).

I'd recommend making usage of threadmarks (a new option with the last forum update). Gives a better overview for the reader. It also helps oneself as the author.

Some small add-on comments (most you'll know but for the purpose within a guide...):

AIRFORCE
I think investing in fighters rather than in interceptors is a more effective means of maintaining a qualitative edge with the latter focusing on defending your forces from enemy bombers while the former focus on establishing air superiority over enemy territory.
Actually the usual recommendation (to which I agree) is to decide on one type: fighters or intercepters, CAS or TAC. Otherwise it is really difficult to keep up with the necessary research. You've made already several hints to that.

INT/FTR: The base stats for airfights are near identical but fighters' (refered to as multi-role within the tech section) tech upgrade comes 1 year later than for interceptors. Interceptors excell in a defensive role especially when having to fight enemy bombers (they get a 25% bonus vs CAS/TAC/Strat) and are slightly cheaper. Fighters are more versatile (which means they have a better soft attack when used vs land units) and with longer range.

CAS/TAC: Similar situation with close air support (CAS) and tactical bombers (TAC). Both have overlapping "fields of work" and the usual problems with keeping up research for both makes it usually a good idea to choose wether to use the one or the other. CAS is cheaper, tech upgrades come 1 year earlier than for TAC and are slightly better in their core-role which is soft attack to support in land battles. TAC, like fighters, have a longer range and are more versatile (slightly worse stats for soft attack but better ones for strat- and naval-attacks).

Usually I let my choice be dictated by the theater of war: If it involves large distances between regions with few airports, I go for fighters and TAC due to their longer range, otherwise I go with the cheaper and in their core-role better interceptors and CAS. Additional decision variables can be with how many units of a type you start and if one unit type gets seriously enhanced due to in-game events but this is highly dependent on mod and country you play.

In the commune case: INT and TAC.
INT because it is the best choice, distances between regions are rather short in Europe and the Commune starts with already 7 very good units. TAC because the commune starts with 6 TAC but no CAS. Otherwise I'd choose CAS.

PARTISAN SUPPRESSION
I also recommend building half a dozen occupation divisions, perhaps light infantry with police, to secure enemy airfields and protect them from partisans.
For occupation = partisan control by far the best and cheapest option are garrisons (cheap not only in IC for production but also in supply longterm).

Partisan suppression also spreads over to adjascent regions (but only to a small percentage of around 20% or so but might make over-suppression in one region with a MP-brigade often worthwhile nevertheless). Until those are properly set up (best in a chessboard pattern to make usage of the spread-over effect), leaving behind some old, beaten down or lagging behind infantry in newly conquered territory prone to partisan activity is a good idea, plus a small fast force to strike down uprisings (cavalry or motorized) if that is really necessary.

Suppressing partisans is not only done to avoid uprisings but mainly due to the quite severe impact it has on TC and IC production (hovering over those numbers in the top right to see the popup-window with a detailed list of what impacts TC and IC can be quite an eye opener).
 
Last edited:
It has been many years since I played KR. I mostly played GER. My last game was Bunning bravely (and slowly) weathering the storm.
I think Germany has two ways to beat the Commune rather easily. The first is to simply outweigh it and grind down its offensive via attrition. A gamey way to do that is to pull out your Eastern client armies, though I tend to avoid doing so. Even just a large infantry army should be enough for it though. In a manpower slogging match, the Germans are the stronger. The other option is to enlarge the German mobile core and to either encircle the army or break out into the French industrial interior. Hell, I think it's entirely possible to make a dash for victory points if it's played right, though you'd probably still need to grind down their army.

A bit lenghty perhaps (but who am I to complain when I can't get a single post short *grin).
I imagine the length will go down a bit as both time and the end of the set-up phase mean there will be less stuff to cover per post.

I'd recommend making usage of threadmarks (a new option with the last forum update). Gives a better overview for the reader. It also helps oneself as the author.
I am not sure what you are referring to or how to do it, but it if makes things easier, I'd be happy to edit things with them. How do I use them?

INT/FTR: The base stats for airfights are near identical but fighters' (refered to as multi-role within the tech section) tech upgrade comes 1 year later than for interceptors. Interceptors excell in a defensive role especially when having to fight enemy bombers (they get a 25% bonus vs CAS/TAC/Strat) and are slightly cheaper. Fighters are more versatile (which means they have a better soft attack when used vs land units) and with longer range.
The longer-range is the main selling point for them largely because I am also looking forward to operations in the East against Russia where interceptor range is much more of an issue. Otherwise, perhaps mass construction of interceptors is better (much easier to serial run to be sure.) They seem to do better against interceptors from what I can tell, though perhaps that's down to tech and mass formation flying than the planes themselves.

CAS/TAC: Similar situation with close air support (CAS) and tactical bombers (TAC). Both have overlapping "fields of work" and the usual problems with keeping up research for both makes it usually a good idea to choose wether to use the one or the other. CAS is cheaper, tech upgrades come 1 year earlier than for TAC and are slightly better in their core-role which is soft attack to support in land battles. TAC, like fighters, have a longer range and are more versatile (slightly worse stats for soft attack but better ones for strat- and naval-attacks).
I use CAS mainly in a mobile playthrough as a means of cutting down the cost in favour of armoured divisions. I still occasionally upgrade TACs and INTS if I get blueprints or have a free tech box I don't immediately need, but I don't go out of my way to upgrade whatever I am not focusing on. I can't really tell if Escorts are worth it or not; they do seem to cut down on TAC losses, but I am not sure they are worth it in comparison to focusing on air superiority.

INT because it is the best choice, distances between regions are rather short in Europe and the Commune starts with already 7 very good units. TAC because the commune starts with 6 TAC but no CAS. Otherwise I'd choose CAS.
You are probably right on this point. I think I will go with INTs, mostly because I don't think I will be able to slot in enough fighters for construction in time. I will have to see how I do. My naval investment is frankly inefficient for the Commune, but I do feel like having a few light carriers and subs around to cause trouble. I will need the 32 fighter tech to unlock more advanced carrier groups at any rate. As I am planning to research them in this game, I probably won't bother with Escorts.

For occupation = partisan control by far the best and cheapest option are garrisons (cheap not only in IC for production but also in supply longterm).
The reason I don't generally use them is that manpower wise the Commune can't always afford them, though perhaps as I am doubling down on manpower bonuses I will be able to slot it in. Manpower is generally a more critical concern to IC cost when I play the Commune though I do try to be efficient with the latter too.

I quite like using Cavs as I replace them with armoured for the anti-partisan role either with armoured cars (once my motorized divisions switch to Self-propelled artillery) or with MPs. When I have heavy artillery divisions, tossing a few MPs on them can be a viable way of an initial suppression force until the garrisons arrive. Light Infantry is another option (one I build mainly for supporting the CNT in Spain) but I think a few cavalry divisions and garrisons should be enough.
 
Chapter 2 - Part 2: Set-up Phase & The Commune Elections
Quick update ahead of the weekend when I expect too be too busy to do much with this guide. It isn't so much a chapter but a continuation of the above.

Firstly, I thought to make a quick note about how to optimize the Commune Elections more generally:

Anarchists: To summarize the above, I think that the best optimization for the Anarchists is to double down on their manpower bonus. Doing so will make for a very forgiving game in which even if your initial attack fails, you should be able to stop, dig in, reinforce, and attack in good order. In other words, there is less pressure to defeat Germany in a quick knock out blow than there is if you are operating with less manpower. When I first played the Commune as a bit of a noob, I recall getting checked along the Rhine when Austria joined the war and reached zero on my manpower pool to the point I had to cannibalize some divisions to stabilize the rest.

I hadn't fully recovered by the next spring, but luckily for me, Germany and Austria had doubled down on an attack into reunified Italy, penetrating all the way to Naples but leaving their Northen Flank exposed. It was a fairly simple matter to divert my mobile corps and cut off a sizable portion of their army there. The point is, that without that opportunity, I am not sure I would have won as simple attrition and enemy industrial superiority would have eventually snowballed beyond what I could reliably counter. A larger manpower growth bonus would have gone a long way to salvaging the situation faster because even with a pretty decent IC base, IC without the manpower to channel either into new divisions or reinforcement doesn't count for much (and that play was very industry bonus heavy)

Summary of election choices:

1) Military: Anarchist (manpower)
2) Intelligence: Anarchist
3) Interior: Travailleur
4) Economy: Anarchist
5) Foreign: Jacobian

Travailleurs: I am not sure if Travailleur is the optimal way to use the mobile doctrine. In my view, it needs the most IC as possible, which does mean Jacobian industry and foreign policy for the right IC, industrial bonus, and slider changes. While I did say dissent isn't too much of an issue, to get the three winning votes you need without compromising on your industry or your sliders does mean getting a rather hefty amount of it (mobile gets you five and so does interior) In regards to leadership choice, I prefer Pivert simply because his bonus to money generation makes it easier to invest in tech and infrastructure.

1) Military: Travailleur (mobile)
2) Intelligence: Travailleur
3) Interior: Travailleur
4) Economy: Jacobian
5) Foreign: Jacobian

Sorelians: It really depends on if you are going to challenge yourself to a firepower game or go with one of the above doctrines. Apart from a decent foreign policy option and a good intelligence minister pick (tech thief), there aren't many good choices for the Sorelians (certainly not industry and their interior choice still loses you 50 manpower which isn't good for either firepower or manpower doctrines.) For that reason, I'll propose three different directions around doctrine choice.

Sorelian Firepower: basically the same logic as the Anarchist build, expand your manpower bonus as much as possible. You won't need as much IC for firepower.

1) Military: Sorelian (Firepower)
2) Intelligence: Sorelian
3) Interior: Travailleur
4) Economy: Anarchist
5) Foreign: Sorelian

Sorelian Mobility: Same logic as the Travailleur build, expand your IC as much as possible even at the cost of manpower.

1) Military: Travailleur (mobile)
2) Intelligence: Sorelian
3) Interior: Sorelian
4) Economy: Jacobian
5) Foreign: Sorelian

Sorelian Manpower: Not very optimal, but it does preserve the manpower bonus even if at the cost of the overall pool.

1) Military: Manpower (Anarchist)
2) Intelligence: Sorelian
3) Interior: Sorelian
4) Economy: Anarchist
5) Foreign: Sorelian

Jacobian: Personally, I think that as they already get the industry they might as well use it for a mobile army. That said, it also comes down to a choice between do you want to purge the other factions or compromise with them. If the former, you will lose a chunk of your army and deal with more dissent meaning you will likely have to delay the war against Germany more so than other choices. I still think mobility is a better fit than manpower though, certainly better than defensive focus. I will assume you will go with purge for this build as it seems like a pretty substantial part of that faction's roleplay. Unlike other factions, the Jacobians have to worry about dissent a bit more as they keep getting increases, which is why I think dissent reducing choices early on are probably not a bad idea.

Yes, the manpower cost is pretty big, and considering you are going to lose some units, it isn't optimal, but as many of these will be cavalry it only lends to a more motorized/armoured focus which is more IC intensive than manpower greedy. I generally use calvary in other builds as a fast infantry, but in this case, I would not bother; use your remaining cavalry with armoured cars or police as a partisan suppression unit but concentrate on your motorized and armoured divisions. If you compromise, I still think mobile doctrine is the better pick to go with the Jacobian economics, but I will still offer a manpower alternative.

Jacobian Mobiity

1) Military: Travailleur (Mobility)
2) Intelligence: Anarchist (-5 dissent)
3) Interior: Jacobian (-5 dissent -100 manpower)
4) Economics: Jacobian
5) Foreign: Jacobian

Jacobian Manpower:
1) Military: Anarchist
2) Intelligence: Jacobian
3) Interior: Travailleur
4) Economics: Jacobian
5) Foreign: Jacobian

Compromise: Lets you pick the optimal choice for every election decision for a compromise government of Anarchists and Travailleurs + 5 dissent.

1) Military: Travailleur
2) Intelligence: Anarhcist
3) Interior: Travailleur
4) Economics: Jacobian
5) Foreign: Jacobian/Sorelian

To finish off the army's deployment, I've finished reorganizing the army on the basis of three assumptions:

1) In the event of early war with Germany, I will aim to grab Belgium as quickly as possible to narrow the Northen front from three provinces to two (with the added benefit of the Meuse river) The North is fairly well fortified (4 levels each) but Lille is too exposed for my tastes to potential attacks from three provinces. Consequently, most of my mobile units (6 mobile and 6 cavalry) have been focused on the Belgian border along with the air force to affect a rapid collapse.

1637856183872.png


1637856213082.png

1637856236976.png


I don't think my starting submarines are particularly useful, being rather obsolete, so I've opted to station them in the North to annoy German convoys. Once I research 37 subs, I will serial build a few modern ones for operations in the Mediterranean, though my sub force probably won't be very big.

1637856264393.png


2) In the event of early war with Germany, a 9 division allocation per border province forming the centre Front will hold long enough for reinforcements from the Northern and Sothern Fronts to reinforce them (primarily the mobile divisions, though I will need more infantry to hold Belgium in that case) I have also placed the heavy artillery in Charmont and the field artillery in Belfort and Verdun ahead of a possible cannonade around Nancy as it is the most exposed point. The smaller 3 division cores will also be in a position to move along the front to reinforce each other with a heavier allocation of support weapons.

1637856511971.png


3) Until the months ahead of my invasion of Germany, I will assume that either an early war between the Federation and the SRI or a potentially hostile Austrian takeover of the Federation will occur. In either instance, I will be unable to leave the Southern border exposed, so some measure of commitment is necessary. Grenoble in particular is exposed and is thus covered by my elite mountain divisions, that said, it also offers the possibility of encircling Chambery via Turin or Nice via Genoa which is why I have decided to station three cavalry divisions there and three more infantry divisions to reinforce Grenoble should it prove necessary. The marines are covering the coast from potential National French attack, though they could quickly reinforce Toulon should it prove necessary against the Federation.

1637856748496.png


The navy has been concentrated in Marseilles and I have gone ahead with the decommissioning of an older escort carrier and destroyers into escorts which will be more useful in that role as I currently have no escorts for my convoys at all and nor do I plan to serial build them at this stage of the game while I need IC elsewhere. As Altruist pointed out in naval build discussions, destroyers aren't very good for escorting transports, which should either be left unescorted or escorted by light carriers which are the best for that role (as I find fleet carriers too expensive to delegate to that function) This is one reason why I plan on building an initial combat fleet of light carriers: once it is replaced with fleet carriers after the European war, I will be able to use the surviving light carriers as transport escorts. The other reason I am not really bothering to protect my existing transports is that at best I will recycle them into convoys after I build newer ones for amphibious operations.

1637857544154.png


1637857615852.png


I also have one interceptor wing covering Marseilles, though I will try to replace it with Italian interceptors if/when they build some.

1637857725599.png


That's all for this week, next week we shall set about realizing the Commune's potential to mobilize its citizens unseen since the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars!

 
Last edited:
  • 3Like
Reactions:
Whow, the political side of the commune seems a lot more interesting/difficult/complex than usual in DH... that's a nice change.

So, just to get this straight, you have 4 factions: Travailleur, Anarchist, Jacobian, Sorelian. Each with an own agenda and choices.
And 5 election days: on each one important matter will be chosen including quite vast mali/boni to dissent, IC etc. giving you altogether 4^5 different options.

Additionally, one should keep in mind, 3 out of 5 for one faction and it rules. If this is the Jacobins or Sorelian there will or might be quite far reaching purges.

This is an excellent base for whatever you want to do: be that role-playing or min-maxing. Great concept.

PS: I really appreciate the songs. Good athmosphere.
 
Whow, the political side of the commune seems a lot more interesting/difficult/complex than usual in DH... that's a nice change.

So, just to get this straight, you have 4 factions: Travailleur, Anarchist, Jacobian, Sorelian. Each with an own agenda and choices.
And 5 election days: on each one important matter will be chosen including quite vast mali/boni to dissent, IC etc. giving you altogether 4^5 different options.

Additionally, one should keep in mind, 3 out of 5 for one faction and it rules. If this is the Jacobins or Sorelian there will or might be quite far reaching purges.

This is an excellent base for whatever you want to do: be that role-playing or min-maxing. Great concept.

PS: I really appreciate the songs. Good athmosphere.
I thought so too; apart from Russia, other nations politics all feel rather samish. That said, not all decisions are equal as the above describes. You also get various choices for leadership for each faction or at least who will be head of state and who will be head of government. Travailleurs and Anarchists are basically your moderates with one more centralist and the other more decentralist though not to the point they are averse to working together (which is why in the event of no faction getting three wins, they will basically form a coalition under either the leaders of the two factions or a broader alliance of moderate forces under Leon Blum/Pivert.) Role-Play wise the Travailleurs keep things as they are while the Anarchists do make reforms to decentralise the commune, but nothing really changes.

The Sorelians don't purge the Travailleurs or the Anarchists per se, though, in the elections of 41, they do get an option to seize power (but as far as I can see the other factions don't seem to get purge apart from the Jacobians, who disappear as an election option after a Sorelian win in 36. The Jacobians likewise purge the Sorelains but they also get a definite event chain to purge everyone else if they begin Communist reforms (though alternatively, a popular front of Leon Blum and Gamlein takes over if the coup attempt against the Jacobians is successful) Of the various options, I'd say the most game-changing ones are day 1: Doctrine for how to build your army, Day 4: Economics for your industrial direction and Day 5 Foreign Policy for extensive slider changes. The other two effect manpower and dissent.

For all my talk about manpower, I do think IC is more important at the end of the day as an experienced player should know how to manage it properly. Germany will suffer the Black Monday debuff at least for a few years leaving the Commune open to a short-lived industrial superiority that should be fully exploited while it lasts. The reason I am focusing on manpower in this guide is that I think it is the Commune's biggest weakness when it isn't managed properly.

On another note, the reason I play based on assumptions is that I do not reload games. Whatever the AI decides goes, which is why I tend to avoid confrontation with Germany in the early part of the game as an early war is to Germany's advantage so long as the Commune isn't ready for it (which it isn't in 36) Potentially, the war can start as early as 36 or around various events such as suppression of French speakers in Germany, labour riots in the Rhine, allying with the Spanish Reds during the Civil War, trying to grab Geneva from the Swiss, UOB invasion of Norway, directly attacking Italy (but not if it declares war first) or 39 border incidents.

Oh, there is also an incident when a Syndicalist shoots a German diplomat over which Germany may declare war which has nothing to do with your decisions XD
 
Last edited:
Will the guide be continued?
Yes, I will update it this week. Probably on Thursday depending on the rainfall (can't work when it rains)

Edit: Sorry, been running around this week. The coming week, however, seems pretty leisurely, so I will write up a few updates then.

Fascinating, hadn't noticed this one going up, but now I'm going to have to read through and follow!
Thanks! I will eventually do a full narrative AAR with the commune but there is a lot of reading to do before I feel confident in my knowledge to pull it off.
 
Last edited:
Chapter 3 - Part 1: The International Conference & The First Three Months
Sorry for the wait, the past few weeks have been a bit more hectic than I predicted. That said, I have found a way to move things forward by playing a little between activities and taking screenshots whenever I come across something I think I should comment on and organizing those into specific topics. As the initial set-up is complete, I think I will simply write up updates in separate parts under a general chapter heading to get things posted faster. For example, while this chapter will cover the International conference, I only have time to finish off the last update's military build-up. The next part will cover the conference decisions.

Chapter 3: The International Conference & The First Three Months

Part 1: Military Build-Up (Continuation)


1640286337284.png

Continuing off from the military build-up in the prior update, between Mid-March to the 1st of June the main focus was the construction of the motorized divisions with work starting on the artillery infantry divisions as tech and industry allowed. One option I am considering is a longer duration serial run for another 6 motorized divisions exploiting the gearing bonus of a full draft army slider and the unlikelihood of researching the 39 motorized model until early 1940. The rationale here is that we only get to enjoy gearing bonuses while building the same tech model, with auto-upgrades starting the gearing bonus from zero. Gearing, in case anyone was wondering, speeds up the construction of units making for more efficient use of IC overall as opposed to one-off mass runs (that are sometimes necessary.)

21 Removing light tanks from motorized 2.png

Meanwhile, as the first run of my armoured cars comes off the line I have started removing light tanks from my motorized divisions for future use on new cavalry divisions while equipping the armoured cars on my motorized divisions in their place.

While waiting for infantry and artillery techs to reach the 36 standards, I recommend prioritizing upgrades since the international congress dissent reducing events in April-May and the lack of much to spend the IC on make investing in consumer goods quite redundant. I also started work on one run of heavy artillery to fill up an existing corps of two SHA equipped divisions. That said, after examining the IC investment, I think building them with infantry divisions is more efficient and while I'd still consider the investment to be of dubious benefit, they can help with fortifications and I can start building as soon as the infantry tech is finished.

1640287290976.png
1640287366553.png


Comparison of Artillery runs separately and with infantry, amounting to 5.2 extra with infantry as opposed to 6.4 built separately.

9 Prioritize upgrades.png


Production order for one heavy artillery brigade and prioritization of upgrades.
By the end of May, 36 infantry should be available with newer field artillery closely behind it once you finish researching your way through the 30 and 36 models (though not of the Super Heavy variety that only becomes available in 1940 so we have no choice but to use the 1918 model available for the time being.) Since most of the IC is still dedicated to the motorized divisions I have opted for one 6-unit serial run of heavy artillery infantry ahead of the 39 infantry model.

1640287992767.png


Since we still have a 38 field artillery model to research and not much IC, five 3-unit serial runs should see us through to the newer artillery model.

1640288277200.png


Again, this may be a rather wasteful use of resources on my part, but I think I am doing it as efficiently as possible and justify on the grounds that this guide aims to showcase both mobile and firepower strategies to fighting Germany rather than the most efficient use of either. Since this playthrough will benefit from the full range of French manpower bonuses, there might not even be justification for it on the grounds of maximizing manpower potential, but as I do intend to assault the fortified frontier (once it is encircled) I find that using mass artillery formations does maximize damage output and reduce my own losses. A more efficient method may be to simply build infantry divisions with no brigade attachments, which I will do later on with the 39 model I can't produce in mass via serial runs.

Techwise, with infantry and artillery complete for the time being I have moved on to 36 cavalry and 36 armoured while continuing down the manpower doctrine tree as well as the relevant industrial techs. While hardly efficient for France, I am also researching quite a few naval techs to explore the full range of naval options the Commune has starting with the 33 submarine model (not for construction as 37s are around the corner) and moving on to better transports. I also recommend engaging in a generous tech investment policy via the decision screen possible for a planned market as the cumulative bonus of small investments can really do wonders to your research speed along with prompt research of industrial research bonus techs. I also recommend investing in 1000 cash instalments as both the 1000 cash and 2000, while differing in research bonus (the latter gets double), give you a single blueprint (meaning more 1000s = more blueprints)

You can get extra cash for it by selling tech to anyone but hostile actors you expect to fight with. Who does that include? The USA is far enough away not to be a concern and has a fat enough purse and tech deficiency to make quite a nice sum (even better, you can really milk the various factions of the Civil War for the same techs once the civil war starts as they won't get whatever the USA hasn't actually researched.) Russia, on the other hand, is potentially hostile though I'd still consider trading in some money in exchange for naval and other techs that are unlikely to threaten you. Just don't sell them land & industry techs. Practically everyone else apart from Poland, Bulgaria, and maybe Spain is fair game (Germany and Austria can't trade with you anyway) The UoB tends to research things fast so I recommend dealing with them whenever you get a new tech. You can also sell metal at least in the early game until the AI stockpiles it.


4 What you can trade with Russia.png


That's all for now, until then I will leave you with things that go BOOM!

 
Last edited:
  • 1Like
Reactions:
Chapter 3 - Part 2: The International Conference & The First Three Months
Part 2: The International Congress

19 La Troisleme Interationale.png

The international congress serves two primary functions: firstly, it reduces all, most, or in some cases more than the dissent you've accumulated from the election events (depending on which decisions you took) Secondly, it sets up the International's foreign policy as either an interventionist or isolationist one.

In order to make the most of the dissent reductions, there is a bit of a timetable involved regarding when to appoint new ministers or enact a monetary devaluation. The announcement of the congress in mid-March takes off the lion's share of your remaining election dissent. That said, there is another option to reduce dissent even further while also improving your infrastructure at the same time and that is choosing Dijon, France as the location for the Spartakiade on the 8th of April. You could leave it for the UoB, but I don't really see much of a reason to do so in-game as the UoB has no dissent to reduce in early 36.

1640350880479.png
1640350959487.png


As I forgot to prioritize upgrades from the beginning, I ended up cutting much of my remaining dissent via consumer goods production and research investment (-0.5 dissent) but ordinarily, I would have left dissent as it is since later congress events in April-May will cut the remaining dissent. The best time to start replacing ministers you got via the elections with ones that offer better in-game bonuses is in two stages; the first one on the 29th of April ahead of the Labour Day event on the 30th and the 2nd one right before the congress in May. That way all your dissent increases are immediately reduced by events.

1640347657569.png
1640347751625.png


For the first round of new appointments, the 10% industry bonus with Auriol in armaments and 10% manpower with Joyeux in security are the most useful. Broutchoux cuts into his IC bonus via the increase in consumer good needs and as I don't intend to build factories, his other bonus is quite useless for my purposes. The same logic applies to Pivert; his appointment may have given me +100 manpower in the elections, but Joyeux offers more going forwards.

30 Labour Day.png


Labour day events usefully cut the dissent increases made on the 29th a day later.

1640351498360.png

There aren't that many ministerial changes left I have to make ahead of the -5 dissent reduction of the opening of the congress, which is why I recommend saving up money (3000 cash) for a money devaluation decision that generates +3 dissent and improves your industrial efficiency plus two minister appointments by the 6th of May. In this playthrough, I ended up spending a little bit too much by spending also on infrastructure investment as well as research which left me with too little money to make it by that deadline. Infrastructure improvements are quite useful for the Commune's modifiers as its infrastructure while good could be better, but I recommend waiting until after the congress to begin investing in that direction. For the time being, just make the 1000 tech investments and save 3000 cash.

1640351149525.png
1640351180526.png


The only other changes I found worth making to the Anarchist set-up. I think the event generated foreign minister, chief of staff, and army are fine as they are. I would prefer someone else as navy chief (marine division bonus) but France has no good options to choose from that's any better. A slight beef-up to the marines doesn't seem all that bad in that sense, especially if you intend to ignore naval investments and just use your existing divisions as is.

It's worth remembering that your tech sales are dependent on how much money other states possess (it can take them a month or two to stockpile enough to justify another trade) and on your own research relative to AI research. That means that you do get an edge early on selling various starting techs the AI lacks before it has the time to research them as well as an edge selling what you research faster. I like to go through the major powers every month or so to check what they have, especially when I have completed new techs. Lesser powers are a mixed bag of states that tend to produce money in excess of their industry thanks to some resource in excess of their needs (such as oil in the case of Azerbaijan) and states that take a long time, if ever, to generate a sum worth trading for.

Monthly/Trimonthly Trade -------------------------- Trimonthly/bi-annual Trade

Union of Britain (trade all) ---------------------------------- Sweden (Trade all)
Spain (no land & air techs?) --------------------------------- Poland (no land)
Netherlands (trade all) -------------------------------------- Bulgaria (no land)
Russia (naval only) ------------------------------------------ Romania (trade all)
USA (trade all) ----------------------------------------------- Brazil (trade all)
Mexico (trade all) ------------------------------------------- Venezuela (trade all)
Azerbaijan (trade all) ----------------------------------------- Egypt (trade all)
-------------------------------------------------------------- Persia (after civil war)
--------------------------------------------------------------- Bhartiya Commune
------------------------------------------------------------------- Mongolia
------------------------------------------------------------------- Alash Orda
------------------------------------------------------------------- Turkestan
------------------------------------------------------------------ Don Kuban
-------------------------------------------------------------------- Yunnan

Everyone else fits either generates/offers only a little cash and is thus more of a bi-annual/annual category or is embargoing you. Things do change as the game progresses, civil wars offer new trade options (especially the US and Spain) while some states may remove the embargo and/or become friendly to you.

1640351678884.png
1640351711104.png


The second topic you need to address in the congress is the nature of the International alliance's foreign policy. It's frankly a bit of a no brainer in the sense your only real choices are between intervention and isolation, and as the entire point of this game is to make your alliance win, only the interventionist choices make any sense. The only way I can justify the 2nd option of the above is if you already have a high dove lobby score from the election decisions. Choosing it then will have less terrible slider consequences and will also prevent Germany from getting the "France shows its true face" event and its associated bonus (assuming it didn't already get one from the Sorelian and Jacobian foreign policy picks in the commune elections) That said, I never took it so I am not sure if it has other consequences.

Other decisions amount to a choice of supporting Syndcalist parties around the world or not. I don't see any reason not to support them.

1640351984633.png
1640352005776.png
1640352041526.png


1640352068284.png
1640352100553.png

That said, there is one interventionist option I'd say you should avoid unless you want the challenge of a very early war with Germany. Going to war via this decision actually costs you less dissent than other possibilities, but unless you build up France on the assumption of early war (militia divisions, immediate reinforcement, whatever you can get ready by May) I don't think the Commune is in any position to do anything beyond defend its borders and maybe grab Belgium. You don't get much in the way of IC bonuses by going to war whereas Germany, currently experiencing the worst of Black Monday, gets much of its IC back.

1640352649408.png

Finally, you get one more domestic decision on the role of women in the revolution. It's a manpower bonus, so unless there is some RP reason not to take it (Sorelian BS about keeping mothers at home to increase French demographics perhaps?) I don't see any reason not to take it. The +3 dissent hit you get is quickly axed by the end of the congress event that happens to give you a -3 dissent reduction a few days later so its not event a calculation in this instance.

1640352372521.png
1640352401093.png


That's all for now, while this isn't an AAR, I did find this curious turn of events noteworthy enough to bring to your attention.

26 Well this just happened.png


 

Attachments

  • 1640350812535.png
    1640350812535.png
    34,4 KB · Views: 0
  • 1640350848677.png
    1640350848677.png
    38,4 KB · Views: 0
  • 1640350903131.png
    1640350903131.png
    93,1 KB · Views: 0
  • 1Like
Reactions: