Trading blueprints for resources - an 'exploit'?

[unmerged(134505)]

Playing HoI2 DD from 1939 as UK, single player.

It seems I can go round all my allies selling out of date blueprints for massive amounts of resources. Great for my stockpiles. Is this considered 'gamey'?

Also, it seems as though I can make quite a profit by agreeing any and all trades with all countries (bar the most hostile) where I end up trading in and trading out all resource types and getting positive net flow on all types. What 'house rules' do others apply to this?

 

[Cally]

It's only 'Gamey' if you consider it that way. Normally if you play as a small country in a big alliance (like as Hungary in the Axis, or Canada/Australia/NZ in the Allies) then your 'leader nation' will eventually start giving you tons of blueprints for free. This is good strategy even if you are the leader nation, because you can't expect a small nation to have as many, or as high quality tech-teams as the big super-power. They need all the help in the tech war they can get.

Also, taking resources in exchange for your old blueprints has a hidden disadvantage: if you take away a minor nation's stockpile, their IC will falter and they won't be able to produce as many units. (Either they'll run out of resources, or they'll need to build more supplies/consumer goods to trade stuff for with other countries.) Your stockpile may keep you afloat indefinitely, but it might prevent other nations in the commonwealth from building units. This is why it's a good idea to keep an eye on the resource deficits of your allies and try to help them out.

As for house rules with trade, you might consider it gamey to say, buy up all of the oil Venezuela sells so no one else can get it. I remember playing as the Soviet Union and refusing to trade anything with Germany in the pre-war years (Germany needs a ton of resources and the USSR is the easiest source, if you decline every trade with Germany it will be harder for them to invade you later) is considered a little 'gamey'.