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Developer Diary | Historical Raj

Namaste, As-Salamu-Alaykum, Subh bakhair and Sat Sri Akal. Today we will look at the historical and shared military branches for the British Raj. I will use India and the Raj interchangeably to denote the subcontinent, and as always everything is under development and might change. Also a special thanks to @AveeBee who has provided invaluable help during the development of the Raj

Historical Context
In 1936 the Indian subcontinent was still under British rule and had been, in some form or other, for almost 2 centuries, either during the times of the East India Company, or directly by the crown.

In World War I the Raj fought as part of the British army against the Central Powers and afterwards the independence movement was rapidly picking up steam, no longer content to be ruled from London.

Demands by leaders such as Nehru, Gandhi and Jinnah were met in part by aloofness and part in indignation, while the population at large remained impoverished. At the outbreak of World War II India was once again called to fight in a country far away from home, amassing the biggest volunteer army in history of 2.5 million soldiers.

However this was not without controversy, as local leaders weren't consulted and even imprisoned. Some went as far as siding with the Axis, notably Subhas Chandra Bose to achieve independence, down the line helping the Japanese invade Burma and India itself, before being stopped at Imphal.

As World War II came to an end the British could no longer keep control over the Raj due to mounting pressure from abroad, as well as from within. In 1947 India and Pakistan gained independence by partitioning the subcontinent, with Bangladesh gaining independence in 1971.

Princely States
Princely States were historically local leaders of India that were a quasi-independent entity separated from direct British rule, but still under British control as a form of subsidiary alliance. As long as they supported the crown they could rule over their states.

In Hearts of Iron IV this is represented as high-compliance, non-core territory at the start of the game. Meaning that the Raj will now start with uncored territories, with ways to core it later.

We toyed with having the princes as puppets right from the start, but it leads to some funky interactions with subjects having subjects, and I don't think that everyone would like to be forced into having puppets as part of the main branch. However the princes can appear on the map at a later date.

The princes represented are: Mysore, Madras States, Kolhapur and Deccan States, Hyderabad, Central States, Rajputana, Western Indian States, Sindh, Balochistan, North-Western Frontier Provinces, Kashmir, Sikkim and Manipur. With Khalistan being releasable as well.
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The Raj also controls a bit of Aden, as they did historically before handing it over to the British.
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In the historical path you will have special ways to deal with the princes via the two special garrison laws
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Burma
Burma was officially transferred from the Raj to British control in 1937, but effectively it began with the 1935 Burma Act. In game this results in Burma being a colony of the UK instead of being occupied by the Raj.

That 1935 act notwithstanding, Burma is ethnically and culturally a bit different from the rest of India, so we believe that it makes sense to have them as a separate country. It also has mechanical implications which results in a Raj player not being able to, as easily, fortify the Siamese/Japanese front, thus having both countries having to rely more on their natural defenses instead.

Independence Branch
The independence branch is also the historical branch, where you try to build an independence movement to eventually break away from the British.

While there are positive elements of British rule they serve as an antagonistic force, as being attached to their yoke depresses your growth somewhat. A key tenet of the independence branch from the start was that the player unlocks India's latent industrial capabilities as they gain more independence. So as you grow the movement you also gain more industrial capabilities.

This takes another approach compared to the old focus tree where you would use the Increase autonomy focus to break free. I went under the assumption that most players do not like being a subject in general since it reduces player agency, and that you would most of the time default to breaking free, come Hell or high water. In this new tree it becomes more about in which order you build your independence movement and what industrial capabilities you gain with less need for using continuous focuses.
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As you build up your independence movement you will also get the side effect of spillover resistance. It is not easy controlling such a large group of people with different views and interests, and violence can spill over.

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Here are some more concrete examples of how focuses can add to the players road to independence

Two Nation theory or India United
Before becoming independent you will have to choose between keeping India united, which means that you will not have to partition India into Pakistan or Bangladesh. While initially strong, keeping a united India means you will have to appease the religious minorities, leading to a moderate long term suppression of compliance, meaning it will be a bit harder to core states later on.
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The two nation theory, which is the historical outcome, leads to the partition of the Raj into India and Pakistan. Some princely states will also rise up and become independent.
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Here you can either pressure them to join you, or attack them directly if you so desire. You can pressure individual states, which means you now can get something like the Kashmir split. If there's no decisive victor between Pakistan and India in regards to pressure versus a princely state they will remain independent.

Should you decide to start hostilities with Pakistan make sure to finish quickly, or your old overlords can step in.

While you lose land in this path, you can become a Hegemon of the subcontinent, gaining you a big bonus if you gain a large advantage over your Pakistani rival, either via tech or industrial output.
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After Independence
Historically, the AI will not go for independence until after '47, but the player certainly can. Doing so will unlock the last bit of industrial focus. Here you can either decide to continue as a free nation with the allies, or remain neutral, trying to act in your own self interest by sending volunteers across the world.
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Here you will finally be able to core all territories that previously were controlled by the princes via the India Indivisible focus. This part of the focus also is meant to supercharge India's industry, moving from a suppressed nation economically to being able to play catch up with other industrialized nations.
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Army Shared Branches
Let’s look at some of the shared army branches now. These are generally available for all paths.
Beginning here you get to choose how to model your doctrine, either leaning into the UK and their doctrine, or modelling after one of the other big majors, gaining unique themed bonuses.
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The Raj's extensive railway network also has its own sub-branch, where the more focuses you complete the faster you can build things like supply hubs, railways and infrastructure.
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More to the right features the different Ordinance factories for the Raj, which not only adds extra factories, but each Ordinance factory unlocks extra traits for the MIO as well. When you get to the end of the path you'll get an upgraded MIO policy as a reward.
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Additionally there is an assortment of military focuses that deal with improving the general technology of the Raj. Particularly the Raj will have focuses that make their forces more adept in mountainous terrain, both for tanks, artillery and infantry.
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Agrarian society is still here, same as before with some additional maluses. There are a few ways to deal with it now
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When you first complete Local recruitment offices the malus will start to gradually ebb away. This can be shortened eventually by completing additional focuses.
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If you are in a hurry though you can complete additional focuses to instantly reduce the negative effects
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In the end you can unlock a decision to fully remove the Agrarian Society against a large cost of political power.
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The Bengal Famine
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The Bengal Famine was a devastating event where food became unavailable for a large majority of people due to several external shocks to a fragile food system. This now happens under certain conditions. When Burma loses a state and is in a faction with the Raj, when the Raj loses a state that it controls at game start, or after a certain date in history.

It will start in a certain state, after a series of escalating events. They are now both a state modifier and a country modifier. The country modifier scales how bad it is depending on how many state modifiers there are. For example in this scenario the famine started in Bengal and has spread out of control to three adjacent states.
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In addition to causing havoc in the state it also causes chaos on a country level
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As a result I have deployed several emergency measures to try and prevent the spread, such as asking for international aid, shutting down black markets and deploying emergency healthcare.

I should have also prepared better. Some focuses in the trees will also reduce the risk of the famine spreading.
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The preventative measures act as a "shield", both preventing the spread of famine and also reducing the time it takes for the famine to abate.
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I will leave it here, but if you have any questions about a specific focus or feature, feel free to ask!

 
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Hope that the province of Tawang can be added. Historically, Tawang remained under Tibetan jurisdiction until being occupied by India in 1951. It later became one of the major theatres of the Sino-Indian war.
 
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@Zhuti_Cn

When will Paradox update China??
Hopefully after the Japanese + SEA DLC

How many states will be added in Burma this update?
Around 6 by the looks of it, in total of 8 states for Burma in 1.16. I tried to draw it on province id map
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In my East Indies mod, there is also 6 new states but i merged Rakhine with Chin and Magway, and split Kachin from Sagaing.
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The two nation theory, which is the historical outcome, leads to the partition of the Raj into India and Pakistan. Some princely states will also rise up and become independent.

Here you can either pressure them to join you, or attack them directly if you so desire. You can pressure individual states, which means you now can get something like the Kashmir split. If there's no decisive victor between Pakistan and India in regards to pressure versus a princely state they will remain independent.
Would it be possible to update Pakistan's capital to Karachi? It was the capital from Pakistan's independence until 1959 (only being changed to Rawalpindi in 1959 and Islamabad in 1967). It's nice that the location of Lahore has been made more accurate, but it should not be the capital. I know I'm not the only one in this thread to mention this, though I've also been calling for this back in 2019 and more recently after it was announced we'd be getting an India revamp expansion (more details in those suggestion threads). Could be a fairly small but easy to make history/flavour improvement.
 
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Damn I can't believe that the steam announcement thread got flooded and eventually closed due to bots. Anyway can't wait to conquer Tibet as the New Silk Road Empire and LAUGH HARD while doing it!

But man... Elephants in ww2?

I really hope that there is an achiement to beat Italy by using elephants and do it by crossing the mountains!

;)

Carthago strikes back! Or something like that!
 
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I really hope that there is an achiement to beat Italy by using elephants and do it by crossing the mountains!

;)

Carthago strikes back! Or something like that!

lol, that certainly would be epic.

Perhaps my post was a bit off-topic since its the "historical route" for india but since the alt historical threads are closed I couldn't post on those, so I will apologize, in any case. Still, I don't think ww2 has a place for elephants, and thats pratically everything I wanted to speak about (elephants).

Perhaps as a support company to help with the wounded / logistics, a mix of the already existing field hospital / logistic company (with some terrain bonus like in jungle), but thats it. They were definetely useful for transporting stuff in large quantites in the far east (burma etc). And in this case, it should be made available to both historical / non-historical paths.
 
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In the event of the Bengal Famine can the UK have an event with the option to replace Linlithgow with Archibald Wavell as Viceroy.

This would remove him as a uk general, but would provide a buff to ensure the famine is dealt with quicker due to the reforms he made.

Post independence in 1947 on historical he would be replaced with Mountbatten.
 
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Can we add a transitional event for the occurrence of famine? For example, after being invaded in South Asia, incompetent British Raj officials decided to urgently mobilize, leading to the collapse of agricultural production and triggering famine.
 
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Someone wrote that developers have received death treats by some hotheads. That is taken seriously in Europe. We all suffer, when the developers are not allowed to do their work in peace.
Bloody hell, seriously?! What is wrong with people these days?! o_O
 
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That is taken seriously in Europe.
And this is why i prefer more subtle ways to criticize rather than letting your emotion take over.

2chan-style bantz and hooligan manners are too tough.
 
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And this is why i prefer more subtle ways to criticize rather than letting your emotion take over.

2chan-style bantz and hooligan manners are too tough.
Yeah, sadly many do this here too. I am sure this forum largely isn't responsible for what is happening now, but it seems as if especially "competitive" players are more toxing when it comes to discussing the game.

However in this instance, it is completely absurd for the HoI4 players from that particular country to sperg out so hard, because their nation wasn't reworked now, and India got a core on a region they disagree with. They must have some really big inferiority complexes going on, for a supposed superpower, that they throw such a big tantrum over this.

I hope the devs stay strong and i hope the wider community and the interaction with the developers doesn't suffer because of this, in the future.
 
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Yeah, sadly many do this here too. I am sure this forum largely isn't responsible for what is happening now, but it seems as if especially "competitive" players are more toxing when it comes to discussing the game.

However in this instance, it is completely absurd for the HoI4 players from that particular country to sperg out so hard, because their nation wasn't reworked now, and India got a core on a region they disagree with. They must have some really big inferiority complexes going on, for a supposed superpower, that they throw such a big tantrum over this.

I hope the devs stay strong and i hope the wider community and the interaction with the developers doesn't suffer because of this, in the future.
Fully agree ngl, some people need to seriously chill, i get that some choices can be seen as......"controversial" (?) so to speak, but yeah, doing what they did, it's seriously not cool ngl......
 
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, it is completely absurd for the HoI4 players from that particular country to sperg out so hard, because their nation wasn't reworked now, and India got a core on a region they disagree with. They must have some really big inferiority complexes going on, for a supposed superpower, that they throw such a big tantrum over this.
The Firewall isn't there to keep them from us. It is there to keep us from them.

Indonesia is currently the #1 most toxic online users according to Microsoft. Imagine if the Firewall is taken down.
 
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