Whats the deal with Vichy France?

[21oliver]

Its been awhile for me and I haven't delved into this since TFH launched so... Im playing Siam, I join the Axis, set the wargoal on Indochina. I didn't quite conquer it all, Germany takes France and Indochina turns Vichy. Now my 1st Question is if I would have conquered it all would I have gotten it? and 2nd if not what can I do (mod?) short of waiting and invading Vichy France in Indochina later on (Modding out it turning over to Japan)??? :sad:

 

[Big Nev]

This is one of my favourite "bugs".

For various reasons (which I honestly don't understand) there isn't enough logic behind the Vichy decision. IMHO that is.

Even as Japan, if you conquer all of Cambodia & Vietnam, it gets given to Vichy when France falls. Whereas, if Japan leaves it alone, it all gets given to Japan.

All I do is just re-conquer. The troops stationed there are even more of a push-over but... this depends upon you being allowed the DoW.

Conquered by an Axis Siam though... It is possible (even probable) that Germany would have required Siam to give them up to Vichy if Japan wasn't in Axis (which she shouldn't be until after The Fall of France) but the greater chance is that Japan would have simply demanded them from Siam in order to "protect" them from the Europeans. That would have meant war between Japan & Siam regardless of Siam’s Axis membership. Japan had no fear of Germany and could, quite conceivably, have relished the idea of being on the side that would put positive political pressure on the USA in her favour, to say nothing of removing Allied support from China.

What to do? Re-conquer if you're allowed the DoW. Otherwise, accept an "unfair" political situation where the greater bias of your German "masters" is in favour of your former enemy.

 

[21oliver]

Im playing it again now. What I did was remove the "Demand for Indochine" for Japan, so they aint getting chit... Ill work on the British first, knowing I have a nice buffer with Vichy Behind me, I just have to get in there before the Japanese do. Im playing a CGM Siam/Axis, may do a AAR.

Along the same lines I remember a game in FTM where Germany literally took almost all of France except for maybe 7-8 small pieces on the Atlantic coast, then they gave it all back to Vichy!

 

[Big Nev]

I've got an early game running in the mod I'm helping-out with.

I think I'll test this out to see if the new logic works. When do you DoW France as Siam?

 

[21oliver]

I just had something get corrupted, had to re-install everything... agggggh!

Well, Im going to try again. This time knowing the deal Ill put just a few troops on the border of Indochina and go after the British. Ill wait until I can DOW Vichy then take it before the Japanese can get it. Last game I launched in at the same time Italy started up, so it was sometime in Spring of 40 I believe. I was doing well too, on all fronts.

 

[Secret Master]

The short version: The Vichy script is screwy. You aren't getting Indochina without another war or save game editing.

The longer version: Vichy is the weird "exception to the rule" for surrenders in HOI3. Even now with wargoals and non-event driven surrenders, Vichy only works because it has weird coding just for itself. This is because it has to be divided up into two countries, spawn and eliminate certain units, give Germany specific regions, and not be in a faction. And Italy can get screwed by the Vichy event, to, so it's not just Siam.

 

[21oliver]

Im not gonna sweat it. I yanked out the Japan/Indochine Event and ill just try and dow and get Indochina before the Japanese do when the NAP breaks.