Quick Questions/ Quick Answers - HoI4

[tract]

Is there some way that the Alliance with Siam focus for Japan can fail, in historical mode?

I saw AI Japan taking the focus, moved my troops to Siam's borders in order to counter it. The focus finished a while ago, but Siam is not a puppet, Siam is not at war, nor is Siam part of the co-prosperity sphere. Japan does not seem to have a wargoal on Siam either.

(I know Siam can refuse the call to war if there are troops amassed on their borders, but it doesn't seem to be the problem here.)

 

[tract]

Apparently there used to be an event path called "Issue Ultimatum to Siam", which made Siam join Japan, or Japan get a puppet wargoal on them if they didn't.

In Waking the Tiger (1.5) it was replaced by event generic.5 which is just a simple "ask for alliance; AI is likely to join if its relations are high, but if it doesn't, there are no repercussions"

What fooled me was the Japanese events wiki page; it was (is) way out of date, describing the events as they existed in <1.5

So, yeah. This can happen, and I can stop guarding the border now.

 

[Voigt]

I have a question about Intel combat bonus against troops on foreign territory.

For example British divisions in Malaysia. If I fly recon planes as Japan over Malaysia I only get +intel for Malaysia but I now and then spot British divisions. But when I declare war and move against Singapur, do I get an intel combat bonus since those divisions fight in Malaysia, or would I have to fly recon planes over Hongkong to get more British Intel?

 

[Rudawitz]

Playing as Japan I have conquered naval bases as far as the Seychelles (and Germany controls Madagaskar, while I'm in the Axis), yet my fleets barely reach half of the sea zone outside the South African Coast. I have some short ranged lvl 1 DDs in the fleets, but with bases that close, it shouldn't matter right?

Edit: Forget it, it seems like I underestimated the actual distances involved.

 

[oriolebird38]

Can you get the Prussia of the Balkans achievement if there's no Yugoslavia cores to own (because Yugo dissolved itself)? And if not, is there a way to make it recombine itself?

Or is the problem that I need to control all the states directly and not have them controlled by puppets?

 

[Bossman Zero]

Can you get the Prussia of the Balkans achievement if there's no Yugoslavia cores to own (because Yugo dissolved itself)? And if not, is there a way to make it recombine itself?

Or is the problem that I need to control all the states directly and not have them controlled by puppets?

The achievement check is that every state that has a core claim by Romania, Yugoslavia, Greece (except Dodecanese) or Albania is controlled by Bulgaria. Except for cases where Yugoslavia is giving up territory to other countries though national foci, it doesn't lose the core claim when it splits off autonomous states. However, at the final step where it turns into Serbia (Fortify Banat, Banat for Support or Autonomy for Slavic Transylvania), it loses all core claims except the Serbian ones (technically, Yugoslavia is cosmetically renamed Serbia, and the Serbia cores are deleted while the remaining Yugoslavia cores get "Serbia" post-it notes over them). So you need to control all the Serbian cores in that case.

And they have to be directly controlled by Bulgaria. Puppets holding those cores don't count.

 

[Mantriel]

What is the best strategy when it comes to occupation?
Civilian government, or Local police, etc.?
Should I worry about uprisings, revolts, etc.?

I don't understand the mechanic, what is the best strategy to handle it?

 

[Voigt]

in most cases the long term benefit of compliance is greater than the short term benefit of a harsh occupation.

So either go Civilian Oversight for the most rapid increase of compliance or Local Police if you are strappend for occupation manpower/equipment. Local Police is slightly slower, but in return uses much less occupation force.

Also remember you initial values after conquest for equipment needed for occupation is incorrect, since it scales with current resistance. And resitance will go up to the target over time often around 40-50% initially. Local Police Force also has a decreased resistance target on top, further reducing equipment need after a while.

 

[duke engin]

What is the best strategy when it comes to occupation?
Civilian government, or Local police, etc.?
Should I worry about uprisings, revolts, etc.?

I don't understand the mechanic, what is the best strategy to handle it?

The answer isn't so quick but will try to keep it as quick as possible without just saying: "It depends on your goals"

Shortest answer:
If you don't want to deal with it all the time and looking for a quick fix: "Usually", local police force is a safe bet.
"Usually" keeping resistance below 25% for every state is desirable. So get whichever does that if there is high resistance.
You want resources now: Forced labour
You want factories now: Harsh quotas

Long answer:
There's no best strategy for everyone, every approach involves different benefits & hindrances - over time & immediate.

Laws with more compliance growth are usually a more long term thing and you want to be committing to keep the state under your control and to benefit more from it long term, by paying a price in losing more garrisons (men & equipment) & risking sabotages more short term.

Scenario 1:
You captured some states with a lot of aluminum, and you were importing a lot of it to produce planes.
Suppose that forced labour occupation law on that state means 5 civilian factories saved for you at this point and you think that's a good trade: Go for it.
Later, you got more aluminum from other places and you're at a surplus: Lower down the harshness and go for other laws now.

Scenario 2:
You captured a state with no factories or resources, but with good population, so you can get manpower from there.
You have enough manpower and spare rifles for now, but may need more manpower long term.
Looks like you also can stay below 25% resistance with the best compliance law: Go for a more compliance oriented law.

Thresholds:
One thing to watch out for is that there are certain thresholds at state level for resistance, which are nasty.
So make your decisions knowing where you will end up between those thresholds. 25% resistance is one.

There are also some at country level for compliance.
If you're close enough to them, you may want to achieve a threshold first before going for the law you want long term.

I really like the mechanic and would advise people to read that tab in its entirety and fiddle around with it and discover more of its quirks.

 

[BrotherJonathan]

What is the best strategy when it comes to occupation?
Civilian government, or Local police, etc.?
Should I worry about uprisings, revolts, etc.?

I don't understand the mechanic, what is the best strategy to handle it?

AFAIK you generally want to emphasize compliance over repression unless you have dangerously high resistance or you desperately need manpower/resources/industry.

 

[Harin]

What is the best strategy when it comes to occupation?
Civilian government, or Local police, etc.?
Should I worry about uprisings, revolts, etc.?

I don't understand the mechanic, what is the best strategy to handle it?

There is some very good advice there on what occupation law to use. The mistake I sometimes make is running low on infantry kits or manpower after quickly taking some territory. This effects the garrison efficiency which is applied to the occupation law for that area. It is not a mistake a player should make often, but if it happens to you, things can get off the rails pretty quickly.

From the Wiki
Occupation laws are scaled with Garrison Efficiency. If a Garrison reinforcement order is not fulfilled, all effects from the occupation law will be scaled by this value:

 

[Corpse Fool]

I wonder what the rule here is for posting answers without questions. I was stumbling around a bunch of my old recon stuff, did a little bit of testing to check on something and decided to leave a note here.

The bonus recon you get from officer traits like ambusher and trickster adds together, and and FM offers half as much as you'd expect from a general. Combined, you could get a total of +75% of whatever the company is offering. What I had originally set out to test though was whether the probing attacks from skirmisher not breaking entrenchment means that you could take the ambusher bonus on the offensive, and it appears as though you can.

This means that when trying to fight for initiative through recon, the absolute cap on either side is the same. The defender can't cap out on techs and make it impossible for the attacker to beat them, though the attacker does have to spend some trait slots on their officers and spend the CP to launch probing attacks, which is still a sort of natural advantage to the defender.

As a bonus I'll add that the game still only picks the single highest recon value from all formations on one side of the battle (not combat), and that includes the reinforcement pool.

I went back to exploring this because I've come across an increasing number of comments saying that recon is only good for the defenders, a statement that I disagree with. It being good for the defenders is exactly what makes it good for attackers as well.

 

[HugsAndSnuggles]

I went back to exploring this because I've come across an increasing number of comments saying that recon is only good for the defenders, a statement that I disagree with. It being good for the defenders is exactly what makes it good for attackers as well.

Not to the extent of launching probing attacks, I think: 20% attack reduction is, basically, what you'd get from countered tactic.

 

[Corpse Fool]

Not to the extent of launching probing attacks, I think: 20% attack reduction is, basically, what you'd get from countered tactic.

Well, attacks is attacks and tactics is damage, so not really directly comparable. And recon can't really be measured by a scenario in which you are countered, but the shift in averages of how many more counters happen than not, which would be much smaller than the shift in that scenario.

Which is to say that launching the probing attack is generally going to be way worse than what you would stand to gain by having recon/initiative.

 

[Federkiel]

I have a question on xp gain via lend lease. Older threads i found seem to be either outdated or not answer the specifics of what i want to know.

AFAIK, one does not gain any xp for lend leasing foreign equipment (any more). So far so good. But how can i make the best out of granting equipment to other nations?

Is the xp being gained by spender depending on whether the equipment gets
- shipped to recipient?
- equipped to onmap units?
- being used in combat actually?


Does it actually make more sense to send as much as possible at once or rather let it trickle in (i know of the convoy prerequisitebeing fulfilled)?

How do i gain a maxed constant xp gain? I read so often that it makes sense to have a specific item be on 1 LL per month to get continued xp gain? How does that mechanic actually work?

Thx in advance!

 

[bitmode]

I have a question on xp gain via lend lease. Older threads i found seem to be either outdated or not answer the specifics of what i want to know.

AFAIK, one does not gain any xp for lend leasing foreign equipment (any more). So far so good. But how can i make the best out of granting equipment to other nations?

Is the xp being gained by spender depending on whether the equipment gets
- shipped to recipient?
- equipped to onmap units?
- being used in combat actually?


Does it actually make more sense to send as much as possible at once or rather let it trickle in (i know of the convoy prerequisitebeing fulfilled)?

How do i gain a maxed constant xp gain? I read so often that it makes sense to have a specific item be on 1 LL per month to get continued xp gain? How does that mechanic actually work?

Thx in advance!

The equipment needs to be equipped by divisions during combat, designed by you and you need an active lend-lease (of any content).
XP is proportional to the ratio of items in the division, making anything but rifles rather inefficient.

 

[Federkiel]

The equipment needs to be equipped by divisions during combat, designed by you and you need an active lend-lease (of any content).
XP is proportional to the ratio of items in the division, making anything but rifles rather inefficient.

A big thx for your swift - and as usual - extremely insightful answer!

To make sure i got it correctly, i'd like to go a step further for clarification:

E.g.: I send a bundle of 3,000 rifles (one time delivery) to a participant of SCW and 1 support equipment (monthly) - will i then gain constant land xp (depending of the amount of rifles being used by recipient) or do i have to switch to 1 rifle (monthly) after the first delivery?

i.e. - the specific item of the monthly delivery does not matter at all?

Does the same formula also work for planes? Do i need to have a separate monthly delivery of 1 plane (any type) as well or does any kind monthly delivery (even rifles) count for the constant gain regarding equipment i sent in the past?

What happens if i interrupt delivery for a month and later take up again? Will the count start anew or will older deliveries gain xp again?


Do i also gain xp if the equipment recipient uses his units (divs / wings) for training?

 

[Anaraxes]

E.g.: I send a bundle of 3,000 rifles (one time delivery) to a participant of SCW and 1 support equipment (monthly) - will i then gain constant land xp (depending of the amount of rifles being used by recipient) or do i have to switch to 1 rifle (monthly) after the first delivery?

Bitmode's answer mentioned the need for an "active lend-lease (of any content)" to earn xp. In that case, 1 support equipment would keep the xp earning channel alive. The initial 3000 rifles will be gradually lost in combat, so without ongoing gifts of rifles, the xp earned will decline.

I assume the active lend-lease has to be to each specific country whose troops are fighting. Lend-lease to five allies and you'd need to keep five of those 1 support equipment trickles going, not just one to some sixth country.

The "designed by you" clause makes me sad, as it removes a reason for using AI countries as dumping grounds for all the captured equipment I don't want

 

[bitmode]

I'll just respond to what @Anaraxes has not already covered.

Does the same formula also work for planes? Do i need to have a separate monthly delivery of 1 plane (any type) as well or does any kind monthly delivery (even rifles) count for the constant gain regarding equipment i sent in the past?

The principle is the same in this regard (you can use monthly rifles to get XP from planes). The XP calculation uses different defines though (NAir.LEND_LEASED_EQUIPMENT_EXPERIENCE_GAIN = 50% versus NMilitary.LEND_LEASE_FIELD_EXPERIENCE_SCALE / NMilitary.FIELD_EXPERIENCE_SCALE= 33%).

What happens if i interrupt delivery for a month and later take up again? Will the count start anew or will older deliveries gain xp again?

Though the lend-lease diplomacy tooltip will show you how much you have sent in total during the current agreement, that information is not attached to the equipment. The XP calculation only sees that equipment has been designed by you. It doesn't matter whether it arrived as part of the current LL, a previous one, captured through a third country or any other way equipment might change owners.

Do i also gain xp if the equipment recipient uses his units (divs / wings) for training?

For divisions no, for air wings yes.

 

[Federkiel]

A big kudos to @bitmode and @Anaraxes for the enlightening answers! This opens up quite a few options for experiments in the future!