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HoI 4 Dev Diary - Manchukuo

Hello and welcome back to another Dev Diary. This week we will look at the last unrevealed focus tree for Waking the Tiger: Manchukuo.


Manchukuo is perhaps one of the weirdest players in the Chinese Civil War. Formally an Empire led by an Emperor, it was also a puppet. Despite owning a large chunk of China, it was never able to field the numbers the other Chinese factions brought to the fight. Despite being ruled by the last legitimate Son of Heaven, no one particularly liked this government.


Capture_intro.JPG



As such, your position at the start of the game is precarious at best. You have practically no support from the population, your industry base is mostly working for the Japanese, your army is somewhat less than befitting your station and to start with, there are bandits running around the country causing havoc.


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So your first step has to be the pacification of the countryside. You can do this by either maintaining a military presence in the relevant areas or spending some manpower and infantry equipment in a more aggressive campaign to hunt them down. You should hurry, though, as the bandit raids will damage your infrastructure and industry if you let them proceed too long.


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Once the country is reasonably pacified, you face a more difficult choice: Either you decide to be an obedient little puppet or you start down on your path to independence and restoring the Empire that has always been yours by birth.


We developers, of course, withhold any judgment about which path you take.


Should you choose to remain a mere pathetic lapdog of the Japanese, you sell your dignity and freedom very dear indeed, as that branch gives you a much more powerful economy. Five year plans allow you to shape the direction of your industry for the next, well, five years, giving you the option to focus on industrial growth, military production or aircraft development. You will gain more infrastructure and factories along the way.


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Finally, by allying with the Kwantung Army, you can position yourself as the natural leader of China from the Japanese perspective and get all captured Chinese territories turned over to you. Only then can you gain some autonomy and finally arrive at an equal standing with your supposed “Brother-Emperor”.


Should you, however, decide to take a stand for your freedom and independence and assert yourself, you will have a much harder job ahead of you as your imperial masters will not invest nearly as heavily into your state.



hoi4_120.jpg


More than that, in order to gain your independence, you will have to be patient and gain some small concessions here and there. The next fundamental choice for you is whether you want to turn your country into a society dominated by Manchus, or if you will make good on the propaganda of five equal races under one banner. Each will give you different advantages.

Afterwards, you will at last prepare for the war of independence against Japan (we actually had to rewrite our war system to allow you to be at war with both Japan and China, while they are also at war with each other). However, this branch will allow you to eventually get rid of the penalties from low legitimacy as you climb the ladder to restore your Imperial rule all across China. Once you break free from your Japanese overlords, you will once again be known as Qing China. Conquering the rest of China allows you to claim the Mandate of Heaven and announce yourself to the world as The Chinese Empire (2.0)


hoi4_121.jpg



Much like the other main Chinese factions (Nationalists and Communists), Manchukuo has access to the shared focus tree that allows them to build up their industry and develop new technologies. Owing to its position in the world, the only viable paths at game start are Germany and Japan, but breaking free will give you the opportunity to reach out to new partners.


That is all for this week. There will be a dev diary next week, but we won't tell you what it is just yet (we are working on a number of things that may or may not be done in time for the dev diary). At World War Wednesday today, our intrepid team of Daniel and Gabriel will continue to try and conquer China while making some of the worst jokes known to humanity. Tune in at 16:00 CET and ask your questions about the focus tree: https://www.twitch.tv/paradoxinteractive


Rejected Titles for this Dev Diary:

China - under new MANagement

This Focus tree sponsored by Burger Qing

MAN-spreading all over China

Henry Puyi and the Dragon Throne

This focus tree will make a MAN out of you

This DLC is basically MAN-datory

Hail to the Qing

Coming up with rejected titles took longer than writing the rest of this diary
 
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Although this was announced last week, this is still unexpected. I'm happy that so much variety comes with a single DLC-update package thank you ::)

How does this affect the puppeting mechanic though? Thus far it was quite easy for Japan to annex Mengkukuo and Manchukuo by mid-game. Am I right in assuming that's no longer possible?
 
@podcat I understand Manchukuo being fascist because of the puppet status. But once they gain sovereignty and become the Empire of China shouldent they become neutral ideology (grey). Since that is what the Kaiser, hatsburgs, and Emanuel III political ideology are?
 
I don't know about a political adviser, but perhaps a an event that goes something like "We have captured Puyi, *short text explaining who Puyi is*" and an option to spare him or execute him. I guess he could be an adviser that gives national unity, but it should be unable to use him if you choose certain focuses due to being incompatible with said focues (like the historical PRC tree with the cultural revolution)
Maybe he should be a Leader of the Non-Aligned Party? I think it is a good idea.
 
I know we already have The Last Emperor, but Puyi reclaiming the throne and China would make for an epic movie.
 
If we decide to become the empire of china will the ideology switch to non-aligned or will we stay fascist.
 
Then how about the Mongols? (Mongolia or Mengkukuo?)
Will they have their own Focus trees too?

(Maybe Tannu Tuva can also be considered...)

Mongolia might be somewhat interesting down the line, but Tannu Tuva is just so inconsequential. It's just there because it existed, but other than it had no real/potential influence on the era.

In regards to the DD: it looks fantastic. Due to the new and improved National Focus tree, there will be about a dozen interesting playthroughs guaranteed by this expansion:
  • Nat China
  • Comm China
  • Manchukuo
  • Democratic Germany
  • Kaiserreich Germany
  • Commie Japan
  • Historical Japan
  • Against Soviet Japan
  • Allied Japan
Sounds like a lot of hours.
 
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If we decide to become the empire of china will the ideology switch to non-aligned or will we stay fascist.
Ideology will be switch to Non-Aligned in my opinion, because Manchukuo must be free country. Remember Puyi was a japanese marionette in Manchukuo...
No. As long as Manchukuo is a Japanese puppet, they will remain Manchukuo. Qing China is the name they get when they break free.
 
I have been refreshing the page waiting for this one. Could you say why a restored Qing is Facist? I understand why Puyi is facist while being a puppet, but I feel like he’d be more Non-alligned like Otto.

They already said why there aren't any ideology changes. Each "China" (KMT, Commies, Manchuria) represents one ideology. So basically you don't pick your ideology with focuses, but in the country selection screen.
 
Should we be worried that China was defeated in less then a year in today's stream?
 
Not entirely happy with how that war went timewise, but we're still tweaking the values on some of the stuff. The AI probably needs to be more aggressive about losing the army corruption penalties.
I was expecting a more epic struggle :p It took me 3 years to do what he did.
 
Not entirely happy with how that war went timewise, but we're still tweaking the values on some of the stuff. The AI probably needs to be more aggressive about losing the army corruption penalties.
I didn't watch the Stream, but it has been too easy for Japan to hold rear areas in China. To better represent the historical reality Japan should need to occupy Chinese territory or face revolts with partisan units. So the strength of the Chinese army is less the issue than the ability for Japan to garrison China.
 
Will we get everyone else's portraits as avatar options for the forum if we buy the pack, like we got Wilhelm II's portrait? Kind of want to replace my Victoria 2 one with Puyi in imperial garbs.
 
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Will we get everyone else's portraits as avatar options for the forum if we buy the pack, like we got Wilhelm II's portrait? Kind of want to replace my Victoria 2 one with Puyi's imperial garbs portrait.

God, I hope we get Xianyu's portrait in. I disapprove of people changing avatars, but I'd happily break my own rule for that.