Did it but taking advantage of the many exploits in the game.
Germany is obshenly buffed and the others nerfed
first to compensate the bad manpower and LP
Exploit n.1 forever war
DoW Ethiopia quickly beat the army and encircle it in Addis Abeba. From that moment on I sent constantly bomber missions
1. being always at war consumer good stays low and the whole IC goes to war production
2. in few years Italy has the best and biggest pilot pool
Italians seem not to mind to being permanently mobilized and economy doesn't suffer a bit for shortage of workers
Exploit n.2 complete passiveness of great power
Here it get embarrassing
As soon as the neutrality goes down (when Austria got annexed) go for anexion spree
be quick, do not hesitate to DoW more minors at the same time to avoid they joining the allies.
Annexed Yugoslavia - 2 months
Puppet Czechoslovakia . 2 month
Puppet Hungary- 1,5 month
Annexed Greece - 1 month
Annexed Bulgaria - 2 weeks
Puppet Romania - 2 weeks
Annexed Turkey - 4 days !?
Puppet Persia - 3 months (very bad infrastructure never ending movement)
Annexed Afghanistan - 2 or 3 months (even worst infrastructure)
Annexed Portugal (it took a while as after the main Portugal I needed to spend some time taking african regions one by one)
Annexed Ireland
I conquered almost the whole free europe and no one seems to have ever minded!!!!
then Germany DoW Poland and everybody mind and WW2 starts
Not really Exploit 3. Use Guarantee to avoid Puppet involvement
I decided it was too early for declare.
Beside if I DoW all my puppets will automatically do. Puppets’ Armys are week and I haven't enough to cover the very large front
If I’d try to fight the whole front, will ended up flanked, if I’d leave puppet to their destiny, all my pre-war gains will be lost for Germany advantage.
Solution is guarantee Belgium, if Germany DoW Belgium I will be dragged into war WITHOUT puppets.
Preparation
During the prewar period I invested my few LP one only 3 branches: Infantry (including Airborne), Fighter + TAC, Artillery
My defense line on the alps is thing based on 3 infantry divisions initially baddly assorted
Main attacking army is composed of 2 Army and I always used as much as possible Army Corp always as an atomic unit
main Corp is made of 5 divisions
each division is made of
2 Inf+1 Art+1 AT
or
2 Inf + 2 Art
This means that each time a corp attacks I have 10 Inf (whole front) + 10 Ar\AT engaging from second line making a huge fire advantage
While the AT has lower power than Art it is important to deny Superior Armor.
To be true at beginning it is better have more 2 Art than Aer+AT, because early in the game and in the Alps Germany has more Inf than Arm
2 exploiting Corps made of LArm + Motorized
Interceptor enough to have local superiority and TAC to break thru
Exploit 4. THE ONE!!! Germany always respects neutral
At the break of the war when finally Germany DoW Belgium bringing Italy in the war I felt not ready to attack from my main front; i.e. the Alps facing Austria; too large for my still small army (remember Corps are 1 atomic unit --> 1 provice 1 whole corp)
What to do? Here the MAIN EXPLOIT
attack from Puppet Swiss!!!
Germany has army to face Italian and France border but completely empty the flanking border of Swiss
From Swiss my army quickly got out, moving up along the Neckar
Konstanz-Tubingen-Stuttgard-Heilbronn-mannheim-Karlsruhe
Many German divisions annihilated.
At that point withdraw to the original starting point in Swiss. Germany will not DoW Swiss, not follow and soon leave the flank weak again.
Wait till Germany regain most of the region (few remain in possession of France annoying)
Repeat the attack from Swiss, this time moving from the other side of the Neckar
Many German division annihilated
Now that Italian Army is bigger enough and we have 3 Airborne divisions (3 brigades each) we get bolder and ready to attack along the Austrian-German Border to encircle the army in front of Italy. we move following the Danube to protect the flank.
Starting point Stutgard from left and from neutral Check on the right along the Danube
Klatovy-Cham-Regensburg-Inglostadt-Doneuworth-ULM-Biberach-Ehingen
Use the Airborne to close the central part quickly until the due corps arrive.
In this case the biggest resistance is on Ehingen from Stuttgart, while form neutral Check it is a piece of cake.
Many German division annihilated
At this point with almost half of German army annihilated and the number of brigades Allies+Ita = Germ
France decides to capitulated; "conquered" by 5 (5!!!!!!) Germany Divisions, ma dai!?!?
We immediately evacuate the Rhine-Neckar area; now completely outflanked by the conquered France
That was the biggest crisis, but the scale's needle is now on my side.
We wait some months to build new corps, and move the evacuated corps into Czech.
The Bad Bet
We make a bad bet and call on war Rumania (well tag switch Germany and have it DoW Rumania, Because !? Well Rumania is a puppet so it may not DoW Germany as its foreign policy is controlled by Italy, but Italy can not call Rumania as ally!?!)
Bad bet since even a weakened Germany steamrolled Rumenia in no time, so I had to rush to close the gap before Rumania capitulate.
At least some German division Annihilated.
Stabilized Romanian front we can now come out from neutral Czech moving up from the rivers Spree and Elbe to protect the flank
Exploit or bug? 5 German suicides
Surprise of surprise the German, already in deep crisis, DoWed URSS!
Of course URSS easily steam rolled the few German divisions left on the border till the Spree, where it met my occupied area
Germany is doomed. The remaining part is now easily conquered. At this point England, till now totally passive, got bolder and try to snatch some land before me
Bug? 6 Germany is conquered twice!?
German capitulate to me ad conquered, but few days later capitulates to Allies too; all land not occupied by Italy goes to USA !?!?
Bug? 7 bad infrastructure and the war never ends
The war is not over yet as Japan is still at war.
Japan landed some divisions in my Persia, but the infrastructure is so bad there, that my and Japan army face each other incapable to fight, because both are out of supply!?!?
US comes to save the day forcing Japan mainland to surrender
Japan Capitulate but war is NOT OVER YET
We are at war with Yunnan!!!
Problem is that the whole Yunnan has infrastructure 0 or 1 --> no army can move in the land so the war is stalled
Yunnan can not move out and we can not move in to conquer the only VP!!!
year of ridiculous (NON)war passed by.
Finally somehow I managed to bring some Airborns in India and land them in the very same province where the VP
Finally WAR IS OVER
SO WHAT NOW?
I have 2 possible choice
1. keep on till 1948 try to fight URSS out of Poland - tough though; no neutral country exploy possible here, very large front, huge URSS army
2. restart from the start of the war and try to beat Germany without Neutral country Exploit.
I haven't decided yet and to make decision more difficult, few weeks ago Steam sold HOI4 at 60% off and now I may start a new game on the new version.
Germany is obshenly buffed and the others nerfed
first to compensate the bad manpower and LP
Exploit n.1 forever war
DoW Ethiopia quickly beat the army and encircle it in Addis Abeba. From that moment on I sent constantly bomber missions
1. being always at war consumer good stays low and the whole IC goes to war production
2. in few years Italy has the best and biggest pilot pool
Italians seem not to mind to being permanently mobilized and economy doesn't suffer a bit for shortage of workers
Exploit n.2 complete passiveness of great power
Here it get embarrassing
As soon as the neutrality goes down (when Austria got annexed) go for anexion spree
be quick, do not hesitate to DoW more minors at the same time to avoid they joining the allies.
Annexed Yugoslavia - 2 months
Puppet Czechoslovakia . 2 month
Puppet Hungary- 1,5 month
Annexed Greece - 1 month
Annexed Bulgaria - 2 weeks
Puppet Romania - 2 weeks
Annexed Turkey - 4 days !?
Puppet Persia - 3 months (very bad infrastructure never ending movement)
Annexed Afghanistan - 2 or 3 months (even worst infrastructure)
Annexed Portugal (it took a while as after the main Portugal I needed to spend some time taking african regions one by one)
Annexed Ireland
I conquered almost the whole free europe and no one seems to have ever minded!!!!
then Germany DoW Poland and everybody mind and WW2 starts
Not really Exploit 3. Use Guarantee to avoid Puppet involvement
I decided it was too early for declare.
Beside if I DoW all my puppets will automatically do. Puppets’ Armys are week and I haven't enough to cover the very large front
If I’d try to fight the whole front, will ended up flanked, if I’d leave puppet to their destiny, all my pre-war gains will be lost for Germany advantage.
Solution is guarantee Belgium, if Germany DoW Belgium I will be dragged into war WITHOUT puppets.
Preparation
During the prewar period I invested my few LP one only 3 branches: Infantry (including Airborne), Fighter + TAC, Artillery
My defense line on the alps is thing based on 3 infantry divisions initially baddly assorted
Main attacking army is composed of 2 Army and I always used as much as possible Army Corp always as an atomic unit
main Corp is made of 5 divisions
each division is made of
2 Inf+1 Art+1 AT
or
2 Inf + 2 Art
This means that each time a corp attacks I have 10 Inf (whole front) + 10 Ar\AT engaging from second line making a huge fire advantage
While the AT has lower power than Art it is important to deny Superior Armor.
To be true at beginning it is better have more 2 Art than Aer+AT, because early in the game and in the Alps Germany has more Inf than Arm
2 exploiting Corps made of LArm + Motorized
Interceptor enough to have local superiority and TAC to break thru
Exploit 4. THE ONE!!! Germany always respects neutral
At the break of the war when finally Germany DoW Belgium bringing Italy in the war I felt not ready to attack from my main front; i.e. the Alps facing Austria; too large for my still small army (remember Corps are 1 atomic unit --> 1 provice 1 whole corp)
What to do? Here the MAIN EXPLOIT
attack from Puppet Swiss!!!
Germany has army to face Italian and France border but completely empty the flanking border of Swiss
From Swiss my army quickly got out, moving up along the Neckar
Konstanz-Tubingen-Stuttgard-Heilbronn-mannheim-Karlsruhe
Many German divisions annihilated.
At that point withdraw to the original starting point in Swiss. Germany will not DoW Swiss, not follow and soon leave the flank weak again.
Wait till Germany regain most of the region (few remain in possession of France annoying)
Repeat the attack from Swiss, this time moving from the other side of the Neckar
Many German division annihilated
Now that Italian Army is bigger enough and we have 3 Airborne divisions (3 brigades each) we get bolder and ready to attack along the Austrian-German Border to encircle the army in front of Italy. we move following the Danube to protect the flank.
Starting point Stutgard from left and from neutral Check on the right along the Danube
Klatovy-Cham-Regensburg-Inglostadt-Doneuworth-ULM-Biberach-Ehingen
Use the Airborne to close the central part quickly until the due corps arrive.
In this case the biggest resistance is on Ehingen from Stuttgart, while form neutral Check it is a piece of cake.
Many German division annihilated
At this point with almost half of German army annihilated and the number of brigades Allies+Ita = Germ
France decides to capitulated; "conquered" by 5 (5!!!!!!) Germany Divisions, ma dai!?!?
We immediately evacuate the Rhine-Neckar area; now completely outflanked by the conquered France
That was the biggest crisis, but the scale's needle is now on my side.
We wait some months to build new corps, and move the evacuated corps into Czech.
The Bad Bet
We make a bad bet and call on war Rumania (well tag switch Germany and have it DoW Rumania, Because !? Well Rumania is a puppet so it may not DoW Germany as its foreign policy is controlled by Italy, but Italy can not call Rumania as ally!?!)
Bad bet since even a weakened Germany steamrolled Rumenia in no time, so I had to rush to close the gap before Rumania capitulate.
At least some German division Annihilated.
Stabilized Romanian front we can now come out from neutral Czech moving up from the rivers Spree and Elbe to protect the flank
Exploit or bug? 5 German suicides
Surprise of surprise the German, already in deep crisis, DoWed URSS!
Of course URSS easily steam rolled the few German divisions left on the border till the Spree, where it met my occupied area
Germany is doomed. The remaining part is now easily conquered. At this point England, till now totally passive, got bolder and try to snatch some land before me
Bug? 6 Germany is conquered twice!?
German capitulate to me ad conquered, but few days later capitulates to Allies too; all land not occupied by Italy goes to USA !?!?
Bug? 7 bad infrastructure and the war never ends
The war is not over yet as Japan is still at war.
Japan landed some divisions in my Persia, but the infrastructure is so bad there, that my and Japan army face each other incapable to fight, because both are out of supply!?!?
US comes to save the day forcing Japan mainland to surrender
Japan Capitulate but war is NOT OVER YET
We are at war with Yunnan!!!
Problem is that the whole Yunnan has infrastructure 0 or 1 --> no army can move in the land so the war is stalled
Yunnan can not move out and we can not move in to conquer the only VP!!!
year of ridiculous (NON)war passed by.
Finally somehow I managed to bring some Airborns in India and land them in the very same province where the VP
Finally WAR IS OVER
SO WHAT NOW?
I have 2 possible choice
1. keep on till 1948 try to fight URSS out of Poland - tough though; no neutral country exploy possible here, very large front, huge URSS army
2. restart from the start of the war and try to beat Germany without Neutral country Exploit.
I haven't decided yet and to make decision more difficult, few weeks ago Steam sold HOI4 at 60% off and now I may start a new game on the new version.
