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HOI4 Dev Diary - Yugoslavia and Romania

Hello and welcome to another developer diary for the 1.10 Collie patch!

Today we’re going to be focusing on some content coming with the patch that will add new content for owners of the Death or Dishonor expansion. Everything that follows will be accessible to DoD owners and will not be unlocked by purchasing Battle for the Bosporus. Some of you may already know this from the leaked screenshot on the Steam store, but Yugoslavia will be getting a light rework coming free with the patch for any owners of Death or Dishonor.
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When I originally joined full-time on the project, I was given a list of common complaints from the community regarding the content in Death or Dishonor. Most of these issues were trivial, but none had a longer list of complaints than Yugoslavia so it seemed right that instead of attempting to stitch together a series of minimal low-visibility fixes, it would be best to do a partial rework of the Yugoslavia tree.

This is not quite to the scale of previous major reworks, however. The first draft of changes began as something I worked on out of my free time, so I wanted to keep scope low and avoid creating too much extra work on top of the existing BftB content while improving the overall quality of the Yugoslavia tree to give players more options to explore both history and alt-history.

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Let’s begin with the communist focuses, which have seen a little change. For a long time, Yugoslavia was able to branch off and make its own faction with itself, Bulgaria, and Albania but the chances of getting those nations to become Communist in a regular playthrough was pretty dang low. So, Yugoslavia now gains access to a series of decisions to steadily support a peasant’s uprising in both Bulgaria and Albania, creating a viable way to bring them into the Pan-Slavic Worker’s Congress.

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Once done, Yugoslavia will gain access to a whole slew of new focuses with their faction reorganizing into the Pan-Balkan Worker’s Congress. Romania, Turkey, Greece, and Hungary are all valid targets for peasant uprisings, so if you ever wanted to see the Balkans start wearing purple, Tito now has all the tools to do it.

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Next, we’ll take a look at the old monarchist focuses and how overall the decisions you made were pretty objectively one good decision and one bad. What I really liked about Yugoslavia was the fact that you were constantly making decisions with every focus you pick, following this kind of ladder-design, but with the new tree, I wanted to take that a step further and create some more meaningful and involved choices.
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At the very start of their focus tree, Yugoslavia has a choice to either pursue Evolution or Limited Self-Government. Evolution is basically the old Yugoslavia design, where you attempt to stomp out nationalism in your country by whatever means you see fit.
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First, establishing the Banate of Croatia no longer makes Croatia a puppet and instead gives Yugoslavia a temporary softer version of Croatian Opposition, but choosing to Crush the Ustase is now a much more involved process and can result in Croatian Nationalism being removed entirely. Crushing the Ustase is a series of decisions tied to two missions. One mission will make the Ustase rise up in an independence war, and the other will peacefully stamp them out. Players have access to a number of decisions to either delay the uprising or speed up the peaceful removal of the Ustase and it’ll take a lot of close attention to keep Yugoslavia in one piece while stamping out nationalism.
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For the next two focuses, Yugoslavia has the option to both play appeasement to Italy and Bulgaria while also permanently removing some of their problems. The old focuses do what they always have, but now the negative spirit gained only lasts for a few years, but giving up the territories to these powers will now grant a significant increase in opinion while removing the spirits completely.
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Now is as good a time as any to bring up the reworked Yugoslavian states! The goal of this state rework was to facilitate for both modern Balkan borders for the sake of releasables and historical occupation zones.
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But instead of doing all that work to maintain the union, Yugoslavia can choose instead to grant self-government to its constituent parts, permanently removing the negative spirits at the cost of losing all of its territory besides Serbia proper. Throughout this path, Yugoslavia will get to choose exactly how it wants to devolve itself; should the two Banovinas of Croatia be individually independent or should they be merged into one? Should the contested territory of Vojvodina be fortified against the Hungarians, given up to them as an act of appeasement, or granted self-government? The ladder design here is more of a choice of how chaotic you want the Balkans to be than a strategic decision. Personally, I enjoy achieving peak-Balkans and granting autonomy to everyone.
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Once done tearing itself apart, Yugoslavia can attempt to reintegrate its constituent parts, or grant full independence to the Balkans, replacing Yugoslavia with a military alliance backed up by a hefty number of free units shared between each of the Balkan nations. Going down the route of independence, the Balkans will have more than double the number of troops Yugoslavia begins the game with, so breaking yourself apart may not be such a bad decision with the Axis breathing down your neck.
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Prince Paul is no longer the blank slate he was in the old Yugoslavia design and trying to keep him in power means attempting to align yourself with the Axis. Just like before though, both Britain and the Yugoslavian military are deeply opposed to an Axis alliance, and attempting to do so may lead to a coup.
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However, should the coup fail and Paul remains in power, the regency will hardly be a regency after they rejected the right of the legitimate heir to take the throne, so perhaps a new King will be needed to guide Yugoslavia in its dark future…
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Joining the Allies brings its own set of difficulties, besides the distance of your friends in the West. King Peter is a mere 12 years old in 1936 and if you attempt to end the regency too early, you will be saddled with a monarch woefully unprepared for rulership.
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Given a few years however, King Peter matures into the legitimate heir of the Yugoslav throne and may marry himself into a little more than just the Allies.
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The Royal Wedding focus allows King Peter to marry himself to many of the major Princesses in Europe and who is available adapts dynamically based on the current state of the world. If the Kaiser returns, Yugoslavia will be able to marry a German princess, similarly they may marry a Spanish princess should the Carlists win the Spanish Civil War. Their choice will then inform the outcome of the focus “The Royal Alliance”, which can bring Yugoslavia into a faction with whomever they chose to marry, with Princess Alexandra of Greece resulting in a historic Yugoslav entry to the Allies.
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Yugoslavia is not the only Death or Dishonor country getting new content, however. Romania will now have the ability to change sides midway through the war via a decision following a government coup.
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On top of that, the Divide Yugoslavia focus is now a game of bidding and demanding from the powers Romania chooses to invite to the dogpile. Similar to the SCW garrison system, each nation can make up to three bids on a Yugoslav state before being locked in as the controller. When each state is claimed, Romania may push the button and issue their demands to Yugoslavia. This can lead to some… interesting looking Balkans.
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There are more changes coming to Romania, but for that I will hand you over to our Producer.

Hi everyone, Vash here with some of the changes I’ve made for Romania. Back in February, one of our forum members, Zeprion, made some suggestions for Romania that we unfortunately couldn’t get to in time for La Resistance. While I still didn’t have the chance to get through the full list, I was able to make a few changes that I’m happy to talk about!

Previously, you may have noticed that the political parties and leaders in 1936 were swapped. Historically, the ruling party in 1936 was Democratic PNL, with Gheorghe Tătărescu as the leader. Armand Calimanescu was also the leader of Non-Aligned FRN. This has now been fixed, and they both have the correct party affiliations. This also means that Romania now starts off in 1936 as Democratic instead of Non-Aligned. We’ve also done some balancing on the back end to account for this change.
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Next up, we also switched the starting fascist leader to Octavian Goga, who was the leader of the National Christian Party (Partidul Național Creștin). That means we’ve also switched the starting fascism party to the PNC.

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What this means for the player is that upon taking the Iron Guard focus, Ion Antonescu will become the figure head for the fascist party and the party will be renamed from the PNC to Garda de Fier.

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Another important historical fact that Zeprion brought up was that King Michael’s Coup was not against his father, but against the fascist Iron Guard. We’ve now relocated this focus to the bottom of the fascist tree.

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This now gives the player three options to choose from. You can either stage the coup and appoint King Michael as the leader of the Democratic Party under a constitutional monarchy, force King Carol’s abdication and replace him with the leader of the most popular party, or Handle the King and allow King Carol to stay in power since he has changed his ways for the better.

We’ve also updated the state priorities for some of our building focuses to ensure they don’t give infrastructure bonuses to states you may have given up prior to the start of the war such as Bukovina, Bessarabia, and Northern Transylvania.

And last but not least, we’ve given Constantin Sanatescu a bit of an upgrade! Previously he was only available as an Army Chief with a defensive bonus, but he is now available as a General as well.

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That’s it for all the Romania changes for now. Thanks again to Zeprion for all the feedback, and I hope everyone enjoyed this week’s Dev Diary!
 
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I can't be sure of the Balkans to the point of making comparisons since I don't know the details, but saying the Russian peasanty supported the Bolsheviks and did it largely is such a false statement that it's even hard to pick where to start from.

First, a peasant, just like any [other] owner of any means of production and a self-employed worker, is naturally opposed towards any ideology which boils down to 'expropriate and redistribute' (effectively one of the bolshevist slogans of the era, expressed vividly through a key character in Heart of a Dog, "a biting satire of Bolshevism", as Wikipedia puts it).

Regardless of what the leftist apologists will now quote to the effect that this was [allegedly] not what Marxist or Bolshevist ideology was all about, we should judge by deeds, not by words. And making everyone [bar the rulling party class] equally poor and miserable has been one of the most significant achievements (!) of the era, along with maybe propelling a human body into space (luckily, a living one - but no way that was a guaranteed outcome) and winning the WW2 (rather, being a part of a victorious coalition enlisting 3 superpowers, but the Soviets never put it this way).

Then - unfortunately, forum rules are quite prohibitive, so I'll omit the most juicy details - Zhukov of all men got his first military decoration (this one) for smashing a really large peasant uprising.

The Bolsheviks invented their Commitees of the Poors for a reason. How else would your turn matters upside down and put the worst on top of the best, i.e. the least efficient above the most efficient?

And ever heard of this? 'Dekulakization'... Holy Lord, even the term itself is ugly as crap. You don't need to 'dekulak' peasantry 10-12 years after assuming the power and given it supports you.

In a nutshell, the Bolsheviks saw the peasants as their mortal enemies and to oppose and fight them in the most efficient manner Lenin invented a trick which - moral aside - was quite ingenious: he took all the bread off the peasants, refused it to the workers either, and addressing the latter declared: "the peasants are squirelling the bread, go grab it by force".

To the very end of the Soviet regime the peasants were outright prohibited (!) to possess not just cattle, but even chickens beyond some ridiculous quotes. Why? See the lines above: any production owner is a natural opposer of Bolshevism.

Oh, did I mention the peasants in the Soviet Union received passports only in the 70s? That's how you thank your supporters - you deny them freedom of basic movement for 50 years.

That's very informative, thanks! Seemingly my "knowledge" about peasantry in Soviet Russia is as anectotal as the devs' is about the one in the Balkans. :D
 
If we could have one more thing from this DD, its that Slovenia needs its historical occupation zones. Plenty of other microstates exist for things like that.
 
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Nice changes, although I do wonder if you couldn't be persuaded to throw in a little something for Hungary too?
 
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Gotta love how they’re out here reworking half a dozen little countries that nobody asked for while the damn Soviet Union is still trapped in Version 1.0 :mad:
They're working on it right now, I guarantee it. The next DLC, after this country pack, will be Italy and the Soviet Union.
 
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Cheers for the DD and improvements to the Yugoslav/Romanian focus trees Meka/Vash :cool: It's really tops that you're improving some of the TfV trees, and these are some great changes that reflect how the quality of the game (always good) has continued to grow over time :)

The Royal Wedding focus allows King Peter to marry himself to many of the major Princesses in Europe and who is available adapts dynamically based on the current state of the world. If the Kaiser returns, Yugoslavia will be able to marry a German princess, similarly they may marry a Spanish princess should the Carlists win the Spanish Civil War.

This kind of dynamism is super-duper cool - really makes the world feel more alive and dynamic - sensational work :cool:

peak-Balkans

I see you didn't balk at the most Balkany Balkans ever :)

As for a naval pic, here's one of Dubrovnik - a bit of an easy option, but a bit tired to go searching for more obscure photos today - next week!

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Alright so the Yugoslavian stuff looks pretty good overall, Paul being fascist is questionable, he would be aligned with them for sure but his Yugoslavia would be a monarchy still so..... that's odd.

Romania is disappointing though, while the starting political situation, adjusting King Michael's Coup and All Parties Must End and industrial focuses is fantastic to see and much needed in my opinion, I can't help but say I'm disappointed.

- There was no mention of the starting Ukrainian cores on Southern Bessarabia, which is ridiculous for 1936
- Antonescu is leader of the Iron Guard and is fascist? Yes he was a horrible dictator but he was not a fascist, not every dictator is one, he used the fascists then purged them in a bloodbath, this whole political war between Antonescu and Codreanu is missing and it's a shame
- No mention of fixing the Transnistria claims or states, that's a bummer
- Romania and Hungary almost went to war after the invasion of Yugoslavia over claims for West Banat, this is still missing
- No state rework like other countries got, Romania needs some breaking up, especially North Dobruja missing hurts

So great work with Yugoslavia, minus the "fascist" Paul part and lack of a democratic path still, a Republic of Yugoslavia or something like that would be cool to see.

Romania needs more work, you can't say Codreanu is in the game but not use him and make Antonescu the fascist leader of the Iron Guard, it's baffling. The Romanian Axis right-wing dictator path should include the option of siding with Antonescu, Codreanu or keeping their uneasy coalition as co-rulers. Going democratic or communist still seems kind of bland too which is disappointing. It's a shame, Romania is a fantastic spot in geography and political situation and has so much potential and it's just being wasted.

Edit: When you take over Bulgaria with the focus Greater Yugoslavia, you should probably get cores on Bulgaria, you know, since Yugoslavia is the land of Southern Slavs and Bulgarians are some. Also I forgot to mention there doesn't appear to be a way to core/claim Zara and Istria anymore, is this gone or do they start with cores/claims now? And why does giving up Macedonia give Bulgaria the South Serbia state? The only part of that state that is in the Macedonia region is the bottom province, not the whole state, give that one province to the Macedonia state and keep the small South Serbia state for historical occupations, or just don't give Bulgaria the state of South Serbia, personally I prefer option 1 to keep the historical borders of Macedonia region and WWII occupation borders.
 
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Cheers for the DD and improvements to the Yugoslav/Romanian focus trees Meka/Vash :cool: It's really tops that you're improving some of the TfV trees, and these are some great changes that reflect how the quality of the game (always good) has continued to grow over time :)



This kind of dynamism is super-duper cool - really makes the world feel more alive and dynamic - sensational work :cool:



I see you didn't balk at the most Balkany Balkans ever :)

As for a naval pic, here's one of Dubrovnik - a bit of an easy option, but a bit tired to go searching for more obscure photos today - next week!

View attachment 634876
But is it Better Than the Szent Istvan?
 
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Why are people so concerned over these miniscule borders? Okay, I'm going to throw in mine as well. I demand a state that represents the 4-5 villages West of the Danube that Bulgaria annexed!

And why does giving up Macedonia give Bulgaria the South Serbia state?

Because it includes two cities that were part of Bulgaria up until the end of WW1 that also had their own regional revolutionary organization that can probably be lumped in with the Macedonian Opposition. The entire state mostly makes sense for appealing borders and simplicity. The alternative would be to split the state into three ( o_O ) states as the two cities aren't connected to one another.
 
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You are thinking of expanding these types of changes to other countries such as those of the TFV package, I also think something similar to the ground and air military branch of the German tree should be
 
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I mean I like this, but I would hope the focus King Michales coup would declare war on germany and give the soviets military access like IRL
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Deciding how exactly to represent Romania changing sides with Hearts of Iron mechanics was weird. The solution we went for in the end is that Romania gets a white peace with all nations who are currently at war with their old faction leader. In the event that they are currently being occupied, the occupying nation gets a subject state to compensate for their sunk costs. While historically the Soviets continued to occupy Romania, this leads to a lot of strangeness in-game mechanics-wise because they are occupying a country they are not at war with and it was best to just make something of a semi-historical outcome to keep both sides happy.

The Banovina borders are important if the game is giving you the option to make them, which they are. Literally the entire point of that path is releasing the Banovinas into independent states, the problem I had with it was both the borders and the exact releasables are decently inaccurate, which is why I've decided to factor them in too.
That's only partially true. The Banovina were divided based on geographical divides and had little relation to culture or ethnic groups, whereas the narrative of the devolution route is that you're granting the various peoples of Yugoslavia self-governance, so actual Banovina borders for states would make little sense.

Why can't Yugoslavia get cores on Bulgaria again? Bulgaria can get cores on Yugoslavia...
They actually can! If you devolve Yugoslavia and complete the Greater Yugoslavia focus to puppet Bulgaria, you will gain cores on them if you then go on to Reunite the Kingdom.

Romania historically tried to change sides when the soviets where close to Romania, at the same time Michael tried to get coup the government. If Romania achieves to join the Allies, they would still be at war with the USSR, so theoretically they could call the Allies to the war. Have you planned to give the AI to change faction? In case the answer is yes, How will you manage this? I want to know because the decision is very historically accurate and I would want it to work fine.
Right now, Romania's AI will not change sides unless historical AIs are turned on and the historical changing sides date has been reached.

Hungary and Austria next week, I presume? With Pan-Europa decisions for Otto?
There are things I would love to change about Hungary, but sadly the scope of changes for this patch were confined mainly to Romania and Yugoslavia. So, for everyone asking for updates to Hungary and Czechoslovakia, I can confirm it will not be happening this patch.
 
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Deciding how exactly to represent Romania changing sides with Hearts of Iron mechanics was weird. The solution we went for in the end is that Romania gets a white peace with all nations who are currently at war with their old faction leader. In the event that they are currently being occupied, the occupying nation gets a subject state to compensate for their sunk costs. While historically the Soviets continued to occupy Romania, this leads to a lot of strangeness in-game mechanics-wise because they are occupying a country they are not at war with and it was best to just make something of a semi-historical outcome to keep both sides happy.

This is great, although I think it will produce a very ahistorical post war Europe until more content is added in this regard. At the end of WW2 Romania was still a Kingdom but still very much a Soviet puppet as the later and in 1947 the monarchy was dissolved after the "abdication" of Michael.

But unless I am missing something here unless the USSR can capitulate Romania before they change sides we will end with a West-East Germany situation where the USSR will be unable to turn Romania into a communist puppet as half of the later will be under the umbrella of the allies
 
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That's only partially true. The Banovina were divided based on geographical divides and had little relation to culture or ethnic groups, whereas the narrative of the devolution route is that you're granting the various peoples of Yugoslavia self-governance, so actual Banovina borders for states would make little sense.
thanks for the reply! that does make sense, but would it not make more sense to use the name of the people for all the banovinas instead of using historical ones for a few? such as zeta existing when it being called the banovina of Montenegro might be better? similar to how Bosnia is called the banovina of Bosnia even though it doesn't own as much territory as the real one. it would just help not confuse the two types of banovina as I hope you can understand my confusion for assuming you were aiming for the historical states :)

edit: to help reinforce they're not the same banovinas could there bot be some flavour text in a focus about restructuring the banovinas into different ones or something too? if it's not already there that is.
 
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This is great, although I think it will produce a very ahistorical post war Europe until more content is added in this regard. At the end of WW2 Romania was still a Kingdom but still very much a Soviet puppet as the later and in 1947 the monarchy was dissolved after the "abdication" of Michael.

But unless I am missing something here unless the USSR can capitulate Romania before they change sides we will end with a West-East Germany situation where the USSR will be unable to turn Romania into a communist puppet as half of the later will be under the umbrella of the allies
Yes, although it is entirely dynamic. The requirements are that an occupying country IS at war with Romania's old faction leader but is NOT at war with their new one. It will work the same if say the UK is occupying Romania while they change sides to the Comintern. It's not entirely historical, but it is as close an approximation as we can get within the confines of the existing game mechanics.
 
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