Thoughts on plan?

[Deathknight15]

Bear in mind that the US never behaved like other nations. After World War II, we had a ton of Pacific islands that weren't ours, but rather than adopting them as our own, we gave them to the UN to decide what to do with..

Well when we are talking about annexing Canada and Mexico historical US policies become a bit less relevant.
Plus I tend to be a bit more cynical about such things.

But anyway if you intend to have some basic amount of roleplaying though your route does have the appeal of being less insane (not that its hard to be less nuts than the conquest of the entire western hemisphere) from a historical perspective.

Personally one of my first single player playthroughs will be a crazy world domination playthough as USA, to test AI and learn how all the bits of the game fit together. I forsee a lot of very interesting things happening in multiplayer games though...

To get back on the thread topic I think the biggest danger is Sweden running out of manpower. Or getting swarmed by the Soviets. Careful diplomacy is in order surely.

 

[RMS Gigantic]

Well when we are talking about annexing Canada and Mexico historical US policies become a bit less relevant.
if you intend to have some basic amount of roleplaying though your route does have the appeal of being less insane from a historical perspective.

Personally one of my first single player playthroughs will be a crazy world domination playthough as USA, to test AI and learn how all the bits of the game fit together. I forsee a lot of very interesting things happening in multiplayer games though...

To get back on the thread topic I think the biggest danger is Sweden running out of manpower. Or getting swarmed by the Soviets. Careful diplomacy is in order surely.

That's why I'm not invading Mexico, but I AM invading Canada because the US DID have a plan that was modified as recently as 1935 for declaring war against Great Britain, the first section of which is to invade, and then annex as quickly as possible, Canada and the British possessions in the Caribbean.

This entire plan started on my end as a "What if the US got all of the land it's ever shown an interest in acquiring?" (That is, Canada, the British posessions in the Caribbean, and Greenland; and maybe the Northern Marianas if Japan permits and reclaiming Cuba if I have time; Iceland was simply a bonus being offered by Heruure, which I justify by the US valuing the place heavily during World War II.) This whole plan, on my side, is a lot more historical than you think.

I plan to invade Canada because the US had a war plan specifically laid out for doing so. The war plan for Mexico, if indeed the US even had one, isn't anywhere nearly as accessible.

Also part of why I am so scaled back is because I have played EU4 but not Hearts of Iron before, so I don't want to get to overly ambitious and get doomed by my own newness to the game. Basically, I am using my favorite US war plan from the 1930's as a crutch.

 

[Heruure]

Well when we are talking about annexing Canada and Mexico historical US policies become a bit less relevant.
Plus I tend to be a bit more cynical about such things.

But anyway if you intend to have some basic amount of roleplaying though your route does have the appeal of being less insane (not that its hard to be less nuts than the conquest of the entire western hemisphere) from a historical perspective.

Personally one of my first single player playthroughs will be a crazy world domination playthough as USA, to test AI and learn how all the bits of the game fit together. I forsee a lot of very interesting things happening in multiplayer games though...

To get back on the thread topic I think the biggest danger is Sweden running out of manpower. Or getting swarmed by the Soviets. Careful diplomacy is in order surely.

That is why i belive an proper alliance with Germany might be needed and putting priority on taking the baltic states before Finland and them they getting swallowed.

 

[Deathknight15]

That's why I'm not invading Mexico, but I AM invading Canada because the US DID have a plan that was modified as recently as 1935 for declaring war against Great Britain, the first section of which is to invade, and then annex as quickly as possible, Canada and the British possessions in the Caribbean.

This entire plan started on my end as a "What if the US got all of the land it's ever shown an interest in acquiring?" (That is, Canada, the British posessions in the Caribbean, and Greenland; and maybe the Northern Marianas if Japan permits and reclaiming Cuba if I have time; Iceland was simply a bonus being offered by Heruure, which I justify by the US valuing the place heavily during World War II.) This whole plan, on my side, is a lot more historical than you think.

I plan to invade Canada because the US had a war plan specifically laid out for doing so. The war plan for Mexico, if indeed the US even had one, isn't anywhere nearly as accessible.

Also part of why I am so scaled back is because I have played EU4 but not Hearts of Iron before, so I don't want to get to overly ambitious and get doomed by my own newness to the game. Basically, I am using my favorite US war plan from the 1930's as a crutch.

Yes I understand. I too find War Plan Red and the other "colored-coded" plans very interesting. I was commenting on the plausibility of actually carrying that plan out historically given the immense isolationism and Roosevelt's determination to get us into the war on the side of the UK.

Now if the UK foolishly attacked the US first for some reason...

That is why i belive an proper alliance with Germany might be needed and putting priority on taking the baltic states before Finland and them they getting swallowed.

Definitely. Hopefully the AI is smart enough to make things interesting though...

It really would be that simple if this was HOI3.

 

[RMS Gigantic]

Yes I understand. I too find War Plan Red and the other "colored-coded" plans very interesting. I was commenting on the plausibility of actually carrying that plan out historically given the immense isolationism and Roosevelt's determination to get us into the war on the side of the UK.

Now if the UK foolishly attacked the US first for some reason...

The UK might, actually, since one of the steps towards War Plan Red is to embargo them. Embargoing Japan led to them either ending their war or attacking the US. Here, I plan to improve relations with Japan and embargo Britain instead, which would lead to Britain either facing obliteration at the hands of Germany or choose that same second option.

 

[Heruure]

To give a small map of my plans for the future of Sweden.
That is atleast my plans during the normal war timespan, i will gradually expand further over time since it does not end.

 

[Deathknight15]

The UK might, actually, since one of the steps towards War Plan Red is to embargo them. Embargoing Japan led to them either ending their war or attacking the US. Here, I plan to improve relations with Japan and embargo Britain instead, which would lead to Britain either facing obliteration at the hands of Germany or choose that same second option.

Well game-wise and alternate-history wise you may be correct. If the US embargoed the UK for whatever reason they would be in quite a bad situation. I wonder if the AI is smart enough to understand when another country is starving it of resources with an embargo and whether it will declare war on its own against that country.

Of course in real-life the US would probably not have embargoed the UK without a major divergence in history since that would require antagonism instigated by the UK (which it is not likely to do with a resurgent Germany breaking all of its treaties among many other reasons) or a huge shift in the policies of the US (hard to do with deep-rooted isolationism).

Don't get me wrong though, I think it is a quite good addition to the USA's national focus tree for the game.

 

[RMS Gigantic]

Well game-wise and alternate-history wise you may be correct. If the US embargoed the UK for whatever reason they would be in quite a bad situation. I wonder if the AI is smart enough to understand when another country is starving it of resources with an embargo and whether it will declare war on its own against that country.

Of course in real-life the US would probably not have embargoed the UK without a major divergence in history since that would require antagonism instigated by the UK (which it is not likely to do with a resurgent Germany breaking all of its treaties among many other reasons) or a huge shift in the policies of the US (hard to do with deep-rooted isolationism).

Don't get me wrong though, I think it is a quite good addition to the USA's national focus tree for the game.

At least for the purposes of the game, my rationale for embargoing Britain is that they've been fighting the US and preventing our growth as a country at every possible turn, and we've been at our most friendly as merely associated powers, only to go back to being at odds again over the Washington Naval Treaty, among other conflicts in the '20's and '30's. Additionally, Germany, Ireland, Japan, and Sweden are four of the largest immigration groups to the United States from the mid-19th century to the 1930's, so to fight those nations would be to fight many Americans' homelands. That's my role playing backstory for this, if you will. I even prepared an entire propaganda essay/speech of sorts against Great Britain, from the perspective of our planned game's 1940, to get myself into the mindset.

 

[druebey1]

At least for the purposes of the game, my rationale for embargoing Britain is that they've been fighting the US and preventing our growth as a country at every possible turn, and we've been at our most friendly as merely associated powers, only to go back to being at odds again over the Washington Naval Treaty, among other conflicts in the '20's and '30's. Additionally, Germany, Ireland, Japan, and Sweden are four of the largest immigration groups to the United States from the mid-19th century to the 1930's, so to fight those nations would be to fight many Americans' homelands. That's my role playing backstory for this, if you will. I even prepared an entire propaganda essay/speech of sorts against Great Britain, from the perspective of our planned game's 1940, to get myself into the mindset.

Why dont you take actual essays and like from the time period, as there were and still are circulating such?

 

[RMS Gigantic]

I have a new "role-playing" rationale for embargoing Britain to prompt their attack:

War reparations.

Along with attempted peace talks (where the Brits and Americans were attempting to get deals that would elevate themselves over the other), World War I reparations are one of the major subjects that the US and UK were at odds over during the 1920's to 1930's. Namely, the US had loaned Britain several, several war supplies during the Great War, but the UK refused to pay us back until they received their money from the war reparations they were charging France and Germany. The Germans in particular were struggling to pay back the astronomical toll that Great Britain had placed on them, which the US, as well as John Keynes, had opposed.

Basically, the United Kingdom, I could argue, placed themselves into a position where they couldn't be paid back in a reasonable time, but they're passing this lack of money onto the United States as if we were somehow the cause of this.

Well, Great Britain, pay up or be embargoed! Maybe if we stop exporting to you, we'll be able to negotiate some terms so we can get our money back (Note: Since money is not in HoI4, Canada is also accepted as payment). Rather than pay up, however, Britain's solution might (read as: probably will; it's what I'm baking on) instead be to attack my oil fields, such as in Alaska (from Canada) or Texas (from Belize or islands the Caribbean).