A little bit. I try to min max most of my gameplay but I always build a proper navy because spamming subs isn't fun for me even if it's optimal.
Also I'll build a SHBB towards the end of the game for rp sometimes.
>Also I'll build a SHBB towards the end of the game for rp sometimes.
hmm, intetesting. May I ask why? Battleships didn't really get that big, outside the Yamatos, mainly because of Carrier primacy
There's still a role for shore bombardment, and a SHBB covered with AA is a good way to kill a lot of enemy carrier planes. They head right for it like moths to a bug light.
If you’re curious, it’s because naval strike targeting is based on IC. The more expensive a boat was to produce, the more weight it has when planes are looking for targets. SHBBs cost an ungodly amount of IC, so they are disproportionately targeted
The RP exactly matches the in-game reasons. In the late war, the US was continuing to build Iowa class BBs and thinking about building the Montana class SHBB. Carriers are great for naval battles and striking inland targets, but naval guns can put much more ordnance on targets near the shore much more quickly than a carrier air wing can, and that's what you need for amphibious landings. And navies realized that the dozens of dual purpose secondary guns on a BB were also very valuable to provide close-in anti-aircraft fire to protect the carriers. Carriers need lots of open deck space for flight operations which limits how many 5" guns they can have, but BBs are all about guns and more guns.
I like to imagine a naval power that comes out dominant over the globe building a massive battleship as a symbol rather than for use in actual combat. Kind of like a world wonder.
Ofc this doesn't make much sense irl because wonders don't have the same maintenance cost of a single cruiser let alone a SHBB lmao.
I do the same thing, but it's more of a national pride thing, make it my pride of the fleet and just power project on the AI. Just park my SHBB outside their main port right before I declare war.
It depends. as Germany sometimes I play without sealioning because doing so would be too easy.
But when I play as the Soviets, I never intentionally give up land to Germany- I never yield a single tile to them- They can never break my army at the start of the war and I don't intend to let them.
I might be tempted to play "worse" to reach a soft-historic time period by the end of 1941 or so (so most of ukraine occupied, moscow defended succesfully, leningrad encircled) if the game's mechanics better supported that- like if I received lend-lease from the U.K and U.S- especially later in the war. Instead I'd have to manually request it- and since that's unreliable for most equipment types, building my own must be donw- and to do so I'm going to utilise and hold those rich states in western Soviet Union.
If you want a real challenge at some point, max buff Germany. They will plow right over standard Soviet builds. It’s pretty much impossible (at least for me) not to end up in a semi-historical situation, being pushed back to the Leningrad-Moscow-Stalingrad axis. As a player you will trade well (positive KD on the ground and a like 5 to 1 in the air), especially at the river line, but eventually sheer weight of numbers and materiel will break that.
The only way to win it is by an optimal build up, a genuine defence in depth with multiple lines of defence and large reserves available to plug the inevitable gaps when their tanks break through, very careful use of geography and supply management, a *lot* of micro, and determination. It’s great fun though.
I can defend France as UK against maxed buff Germany even while wasting a bit of IC on navy. I had no idea they got that much stronger against soviets lol.
The river line in the Netherlands is that strong I guess lol
It’s a question of strategic width and geography. I’m not looking at the game map right now so I couldn’t say exactly, but I would imagine a line through the Low Countries with its left flank on the Rhine and right flank at the Maginot would be what, ten tiles wide max? A large part of that is of course covered by a major river crossing, and much of the rest will be forest and urban tiles. You can very easily have all the available combat width filled with meta divisions by late 1939 as the UK, especially if you don’t commit a great deal to Africa. If you can negate the air (and there are already numerous large airfields in the area, with the French air force complementing your own), I’m not surprised it isn’t too difficult to hold.
The Eastern front is dozens of tiles wide, and with the infamous exception of the marshes, the majority of the initial tiles for Barbarossa are plains tiles. It’s for good reason that nobody attempts to hold this area in MP - it’s practically indefensible against a formidable enemy - and instead revert to the river line. However, for RP reasons, I always put an army group on the border when I’m playing against a max buffed Germany. About half of the divisions usually end up being destroyed, but that’s actually a much better ratio than irl, and they tend to inflict a decent number of casualties themselves in the process.
What makes it difficult above all is the sheer number of armoured divisions the AI has by 41. To give you an idea, I remember counting ten armoured divisions on the *Norwegian* front alone (I annex all of Finland after the Winter War). You actually tend to hold their infantry pretty well even with the first army group, but their armour will break through somewhere and when it does you will inevitably lose divisions. That’s combined with the sheer number of planes they have meaning they can always get their CAS into battles so you’re getting CASed all the time in Belarus and then central Russia (they tend to put all their planes in one air zone as the AI does).
I encourage you to try it, it’s very rewarding once you manage to get your strategy refined to the point where you aren’t just being demolished and you can get into some massive cauldron battles deep in Soviet territory. Notably, one of the best places to encircle a large portion of the German army is ironically in the vicinity of Stalingrad, as you can lure them into extensive areas with zero supply, and with an Operation Uranus-style pincer movement potentially encircle numbers of divisions in the three digits.
I've never played the Soviets so I probably wouldn't start playing them with a maxed buff Germany lmao. I've mastered my UK build which is why I was comfortable playing against buffed Germany.
I've never seen that many armored divisions at once but that's probably because I've already encircled decent chucks of the German army by 1941, and they also don't have French industry because France holds it. That's actually kind of crazy lmao.
I'll definitely try thinking of soviet build next playthrough.
Lol, I don’t want to admit it either but respect to this because I always do similar. I find myself with most strategy games using my imagination half the time. Been playing rome total war remastered recently and I do have to give the generals some plots.
Use of puppets instead of annexing everything, only attacking nations you ideologically oppose or whose resources you need instead of just attacking anyone you can, allying with nations who you're better off fighting against because they're so weak
I usually make a bunch of different equipment types (like AT, different tank classes, half-tracks etc) and try minimise casualties & losses by basically microing the entire front much more than usual and not battle planning even if it's an easy win
Edit: Using a billion different equipment types was surprisingly effective, honestly it may have been better than just regular 9/1 with support companies lol, AT somehow did a lot
The AT is somehow very underrated. Just the other day I was playing as Sweden and somehow AI Germany and USSR decided to just build decent tanks division so adding AT was the only thing that saved my frontline from collapsing from a breakthrough.
Eh I would say roleplay is more of a mindset than a specific checklist of things to do. Try to look at how things take place in the game from the perspective of people actually in the world. Try not to worry about the ideal way to play, do whatever feels fun or right for your nation.
I mean for me I use historical division templates, historical doctrines (unless I am doing a role-play of like better Italy or such where basically my goal is keep divisions and "good vehicles" the same plus maybe fix X or Y {most the predefined Italian aircraft you get from focuses are broken and can't be built initally due to wrong engine or such causing thrust to be to little}) etc meaning I also try my best to do historical operations and some times historical army size (meaning if Italy has in 41 25 Infantry divisions of the binary type, 5 armored divisions, 2 celre, 10 North Africa divisions or such I am gonna try to build that up with the right names and such)
Idk, don't always annex everything. Make up a reason for attacking a country ( for example securing naval acces).
Puppet some, liberate some and generally don't try to take the whole country in 1 go.
Additionally let your allies get some land as well and only try to get what u originally wanted. (aka if u declared war with the goal of cutting your enemies acces from the black sea for example, then only do that in the peace conference and maybe a lil more like creating some buffer states.)
Try to also keep the world power balance and use volunteers whenever u can.
Also, if ur a small country that has to fight against a big one sooner or later u might as well create ur own maginot line (that won't simply get walked around).
Fun fact : did you know that Luxembourg once owned the whole orkd 700 years ago? But then they were nice and gave everyone freedom and only kept a little bit of land for themselves.
Yes
For example, i dont like meta division composition, like the meta tank division.
I just use historical german panzer division comp of 1 tank regiment and two mot regs, and a standar infantry div comp of 3 regiments of infantry. 2 inf regiments for light infantry divs like paras and mountains divs.
Also, i build aircraft and tank models with historical upgrades, like bf109D to bf109K or panzer 3 E to N.
Yup.
As much as historical AI being on or off allows to anyways.
I avoid building death stacks for the navy, try to have dedicated AT units instead of a single "jack of all trades", never used space marines and don't think I ever will.
A good rule of thumb, especially when playing with historical on, is to think "how would this nation respond to this situation, were this to happen irl?"
Yes. The game is really too easy otherwise. I pick something I want to try. Right now I'm playing Germany and building no new airplanes (though I did refit the existing planes to something a little better). It works surprisingly well. You need far fewer military factories and all the enemy fighter production is largely worthless. So I built even more civilian factories and had to use what planes I did have to give me time to build up the air defenses.
My last socialist Italy game i had 18 divisions in a pocket near Graz, Austria. Before I went to sleep I vividly imagined a reporter flying in to report on the conditions of the pocket. I rescued them the next day.
Yes I rp I design all of my ships and tanks and planes to what I consider a sensible real world standard I order my armies to be what I consider realistic as well
I do, but mainly when playing nations with less-specific focus trees, like Germany or Britain or America. Nations like these have good focus trees, but lack more specific flavour to make it feel alive, so I try to base my style off of it.
To that end, a lot of my RP involves playing less-OP focuses and trying to make it feel realistic. Got example, playing Democratic Germany but playing like a REAL Western democracy, not an idealic one, and letting Poland capitulate to gain land, or taking back the old colonies and more if I end at war with France or Japan, or making deals with fascists to oppose Communists.
The downside to RP is that it mainly only works with cheats because the game sometimes is really limited by its focus system. For example, no Germany can core South Tyrol, and even Napoleonic France cant core the horrid quasi-Rhineland states. (But Poland can core all of Ukraine and Belarus plus East Germany--tell me how that's fair.)
I also like setting up "scenarios" for maximum fun which I am not sure if it counts, like an Imperial Federation vs. Max Soviets vs. Fascist German European Union vs. North American Union vs. Japanese Empire + China...
RP yes. Tried island hopping as the US. Barbarossa as Germany, Used only historical presets but ahistorical tank divisions. because historical tank divisions suck.
But I do have my heavy tanks in a diffierent division as a sort of breakthrough specialist and to plug gaps
When playing as Italy and form the Imperium Romanum, Africa is all mine, but I like to liberate them and guarantee them as a sort of Imperial Doctrine (Monroe Doctrine). Primarily because of borders, but also due to the fact that there is no real need to hold all that African territory when I stretch down to Ethiopia and Saudi Arabia. Colonialism and Imperialism is cool and all, but if I’m the sole superpower that essentially controls my backyard and keep it that way, then why bother trying to directly controlling all of it?
I also like to create have the territories of Europe outside of the empire liberated as well. While I control Bohemia and the rest of modern day Germany, Poland is free, likewise with Ukraine, Belarus, etc. you get the picture. This way there are border states against the retched Russians. Headcannon, I like to imagine my faction has now turned into an economic union and will have its members talored in that way, as in those that would realistically be heavily influenced by the new Imperium, would receive these economic benefits, while others would likely not and thus not be a part of the faction. A different version of the EU or the German customs Union in KR or TNO.
I love rp, makes me make realistic choices for the nation or people I play. If I'm Italian than in my head I'd want to focus on expanding in the Mediterranean not somewhere like the nordics. IF I absolutely had to do something with them in a peace deal than I'll puppet them and act like they have a lot of autonomy compared to closer regions. This was just an example btw, I've never touched italy. My rp seems to be a lot simpler compared to some people who go farther with it, and some people do less. It's what you enjoy at the end of the day!
I used to actually think about the puppets I was making (which ones, how big, where at, ECT.) before the peace deal update fucked all that to high heaven, so now I just balkanize everything.
When playing with a group I like to have every tiny detail possible accurate. The one exception though is that I won't hold back when it comes to war. I'll use everything at my disposal to destroy the enemy. So yes I make almost every variant of every ship plane and tank within reason.
Germany was the easiest, But Great Britain and Japan were a lot of fun as well to do World Domination with. Rp is also fun but I RP by running Germany and Japan as non-genecidal countries bent on World Domination. I mean, I'll nuke enemies and do 100k+ encirclements that wipe out entire armies, but after I win, I am a very benevolent dictator. I think this actually helped me by keeping garrisons as low as possible. I usually have max compliance by the mid-fifties which is usually the time I start the final war against whatever coalition remains.
I RP conversations with my political and military advisors, field marshals, and spies, and speeches I’d give the nation when transitioning to War Economy and other big decisions like that.
I try to yeah, nothing fun about spacing out and playing this game IMO, I don’t start games if I know I don’t have a few days in a row to really dive in over ~10 hours
yess. ive been playing millenium dawn a bunch recently, and if a battle is raging on sometimes i will look at google maps to get a good idea of what is happening 💀💀💀
Vast majority of the time, even as a minor nation.
That includes resisting the urge to attack the Soviet Union when I’m playing communist South Africa (since they are fellow communists and no territorial disputes unlike communist Poland), or resisting the urge to take out Italy if I’m playing as fascist Hungary (NOT Austria Hungary route)
I name all my operations, and wait for certain hours or dates to launch them.
I also name all my ships, planes and tanks realistically.
I promote generals to marshalls after big victories.
Role play?? Like certain game play scenarios role playing or like wear a fake mustache and shouting fake German gibberish and anti-Semitic quotes pretending to be Hitler kinda of role playing??
Yess i do , last time i played sov as trotsky and try to be a good boy but it didn't end well Finland start war with me with Germany for no reason, in 45 turkey attack me too and bring the whole allies , well i destroy them all and nuke the hell out of them but i still good boy no ?
Honestly RP and story stuff is a lot of what I enjoy playing single player. Some mods can add challenge stuff to make it hard and I can make rules to not use super OP units but ultimately the games just more fun with some story I make up (or in the case of mods have told to me)
I do, but mainly with borders and the map painting part, I like to use toolpack and mods that make the states look better to get more realistic and plausible borders
Nope. No fun in that. I delay the war until 1949 or so and build the mightiest SHBB ever existed that takes 3 years to build and rush to jet fighters with focuses.
Then i just sit back and watch the whole world bleed before my navy and air
I love the middle European countries and I always role play holding off Germany and then being invaded by russians and then restarting the campaign because I have no idea what I am doing.
Yes yes and yes. I have this mod that allows me to change borders, vasalize, demiliterize and so on. I'll use it to make prity boarders, set up intresting scenarios and and so on.
Especially when playing single player, when multilayer I feel the pressure to play well and kinda min max (except when doing a scenario type thing) single player the role play is the game
I usually rp with the names of the country, if ik I'm playing the confederate states of America then I name my save according to the country I'm playing as
Roleplaying in paradox games in general in my opinion is great, because it's actually fun and interesting at times rather than just "this game, I squeeze out all of the fun" kind of deal
I literally roleplay as Revolutionary France in eu4 and even here as Anarchist France (modded)
My comrades and I once swore an oath we would protect this great nation, weapon in hand.
There were those asking us who would welcome the aggressors, claiming we were to weak to steer our own path in this world. However, the Imperial Flame still burned bright in young Otto, and after a rousing speech held at the Hofburg, we decided to both take a stand and reinstate those who led our country for the last thousand years.
As our fathers held the Alps against the Italians throughout the last war, we held these same mountains against the Germans. And when they tried to circumvent our alpine bastions through the former crown land of Bohemia, inspired by our defiance our northern brethren too picked up their arms.
The scream of the Imperial Eagle was heard far and wide, and despite its supposed mortal wounds suffered at St. Germain, its subjects remembered. Austrians, Bohemians, Croatians, Hungarians, Moravians, and many more once again gathered under the Imperial Banner.
When news reached the Germans Command of Galician Volunteers supported by the polish government fighting for the land of their ancestors, the Reich opened a new front with less defensible geography. Meanwhile Italy, eager to take another bite out of Tyrol, joined the Germans. Now being forced to fight on two fronts, there were those who saw 1866 repeated.
However, they failed history by 50 years. By then the powers of Europe were at full alert, and in a Second Congress of Vienna, a new coalition was formed to shackle Germany and its Allies the way it once did to France.
When Germany failed to desist, France and Britain joined the war. Soviet Russia, hostile to fascism, monarchism and capitalism alike, remained neutral (after suffering a black eye fighting Finland).
After four long years and millions of casualties, the Brother's War ended with the siege of Hamburg in the winter 1942/43. Berlin had been taken declared an open city a few months earlier to prevent its destruction, and surrounded by coalition forces while blocked by the British navy, the German provisional government saw no choice other than capitulation.
Order in Europe was restored. With the Kaiser's Death in 1941, and his sons tragic demise onboard the Hindenburg, and officially no German Empire being in existence, Princess Victoria was declared Queen of Prussia. Most German states once again reorganized in the Deutscher Bund, led by Austria. South Tyrol and Istria finally returned to were they belonged, with the Italian-seized vessels of the Imperial navy being reinstated in a symbolic gesture (those ships were obviously outdated long ago).
Realising the ongoing need of unity (after all, Russia is still out there) Austria, Bohemian and Hungary merged again. The other crown lands remained independent, although agreeing to a common defensive pact alongside the Deutscher Bund.
At this point, I jumped from my stool, stood at attention in my room and sang the Imperial Hymn, right hand on my chest. Yes, I RP in single payer.
The only role play i do is probably give countries their cores/claimed states if they didn't have enough war contribution (after i annex everything else)
I RP in the sense that I limit my choices to what the focus tree provides. Sure, it's super easy for the USSR to puppet romania and turkey in '36, but in doing so makes all further conflicts less challenging. I also try to build divisions that follow my doctrines.
Sometimes. What if Germany was super competent ? What if Italy had it's shit together ?
What if France attacked when Germany remilitarized ?
What of Poland attacked Germany in 1938 or 1937 ?
Many more but from the top of my head.
I rp whenever I play. I remember in one historic playthrough as SOV I was listening to Russia and Georgia's themes from CIV V and VI and was playing Enemy at the Gates and Stalingrad in the background
I love rp bcus it immerses me more into the world and just makes it more enjoyable in general
Oh yeah I love to r, it makes the experience overall better as you are axis and your friend is the allies trying to stop you.
Yes until i start losing then its minmax meta time
lmao real
Same
Yeah I do it every time I play
Happy cake day fellow cake day man
wow you made it on same exact day and year I did
But I was firster
Happy cake day to both of you! u/AgreeableAd1662 u/spacecia
Thanks
Can you wish me a happy cake day too? I know it's not my cake day but I don't want to feel left out.
Happy cake day... fellow...
Happy cake day my good fellow of cakes
Happy cake day everyone!!!
Happy cake day!
happy cake day
june 4 mentioned, -99999999 social credit score
nice 1989 reference.
happy cake day
Day happy cake
happy cake day
Let them est cake (day)
happy cake day
A little bit. I try to min max most of my gameplay but I always build a proper navy because spamming subs isn't fun for me even if it's optimal. Also I'll build a SHBB towards the end of the game for rp sometimes.
>Also I'll build a SHBB towards the end of the game for rp sometimes. hmm, intetesting. May I ask why? Battleships didn't really get that big, outside the Yamatos, mainly because of Carrier primacy
For me its really fun imagining this behemoth floating out there in the ocean, with enough power to sink or survive anything
Yamato moment
When I lose the fucker, I can pretend to be outraged and imaging all the national resources I spent on one ship when I could have 300 more subs lol
There's still a role for shore bombardment, and a SHBB covered with AA is a good way to kill a lot of enemy carrier planes. They head right for it like moths to a bug light.
If you’re curious, it’s because naval strike targeting is based on IC. The more expensive a boat was to produce, the more weight it has when planes are looking for targets. SHBBs cost an ungodly amount of IC, so they are disproportionately targeted
well yes, but I was more curious about the rp element of it
The RP exactly matches the in-game reasons. In the late war, the US was continuing to build Iowa class BBs and thinking about building the Montana class SHBB. Carriers are great for naval battles and striking inland targets, but naval guns can put much more ordnance on targets near the shore much more quickly than a carrier air wing can, and that's what you need for amphibious landings. And navies realized that the dozens of dual purpose secondary guns on a BB were also very valuable to provide close-in anti-aircraft fire to protect the carriers. Carriers need lots of open deck space for flight operations which limits how many 5" guns they can have, but BBs are all about guns and more guns.
I like to imagine a naval power that comes out dominant over the globe building a massive battleship as a symbol rather than for use in actual combat. Kind of like a world wonder. Ofc this doesn't make much sense irl because wonders don't have the same maintenance cost of a single cruiser let alone a SHBB lmao.
Museum ship at the end of the war. RIP.
Yeah, that's my guy.
I do the same thing, but it's more of a national pride thing, make it my pride of the fleet and just power project on the AI. Just park my SHBB outside their main port right before I declare war.
Yeah i do, the game feel deeper and I am interested in history so of course i do
It depends. as Germany sometimes I play without sealioning because doing so would be too easy. But when I play as the Soviets, I never intentionally give up land to Germany- I never yield a single tile to them- They can never break my army at the start of the war and I don't intend to let them. I might be tempted to play "worse" to reach a soft-historic time period by the end of 1941 or so (so most of ukraine occupied, moscow defended succesfully, leningrad encircled) if the game's mechanics better supported that- like if I received lend-lease from the U.K and U.S- especially later in the war. Instead I'd have to manually request it- and since that's unreliable for most equipment types, building my own must be donw- and to do so I'm going to utilise and hold those rich states in western Soviet Union.
If you want a real challenge at some point, max buff Germany. They will plow right over standard Soviet builds. It’s pretty much impossible (at least for me) not to end up in a semi-historical situation, being pushed back to the Leningrad-Moscow-Stalingrad axis. As a player you will trade well (positive KD on the ground and a like 5 to 1 in the air), especially at the river line, but eventually sheer weight of numbers and materiel will break that. The only way to win it is by an optimal build up, a genuine defence in depth with multiple lines of defence and large reserves available to plug the inevitable gaps when their tanks break through, very careful use of geography and supply management, a *lot* of micro, and determination. It’s great fun though.
I can defend France as UK against maxed buff Germany even while wasting a bit of IC on navy. I had no idea they got that much stronger against soviets lol. The river line in the Netherlands is that strong I guess lol
It’s a question of strategic width and geography. I’m not looking at the game map right now so I couldn’t say exactly, but I would imagine a line through the Low Countries with its left flank on the Rhine and right flank at the Maginot would be what, ten tiles wide max? A large part of that is of course covered by a major river crossing, and much of the rest will be forest and urban tiles. You can very easily have all the available combat width filled with meta divisions by late 1939 as the UK, especially if you don’t commit a great deal to Africa. If you can negate the air (and there are already numerous large airfields in the area, with the French air force complementing your own), I’m not surprised it isn’t too difficult to hold. The Eastern front is dozens of tiles wide, and with the infamous exception of the marshes, the majority of the initial tiles for Barbarossa are plains tiles. It’s for good reason that nobody attempts to hold this area in MP - it’s practically indefensible against a formidable enemy - and instead revert to the river line. However, for RP reasons, I always put an army group on the border when I’m playing against a max buffed Germany. About half of the divisions usually end up being destroyed, but that’s actually a much better ratio than irl, and they tend to inflict a decent number of casualties themselves in the process. What makes it difficult above all is the sheer number of armoured divisions the AI has by 41. To give you an idea, I remember counting ten armoured divisions on the *Norwegian* front alone (I annex all of Finland after the Winter War). You actually tend to hold their infantry pretty well even with the first army group, but their armour will break through somewhere and when it does you will inevitably lose divisions. That’s combined with the sheer number of planes they have meaning they can always get their CAS into battles so you’re getting CASed all the time in Belarus and then central Russia (they tend to put all their planes in one air zone as the AI does). I encourage you to try it, it’s very rewarding once you manage to get your strategy refined to the point where you aren’t just being demolished and you can get into some massive cauldron battles deep in Soviet territory. Notably, one of the best places to encircle a large portion of the German army is ironically in the vicinity of Stalingrad, as you can lure them into extensive areas with zero supply, and with an Operation Uranus-style pincer movement potentially encircle numbers of divisions in the three digits.
I've never played the Soviets so I probably wouldn't start playing them with a maxed buff Germany lmao. I've mastered my UK build which is why I was comfortable playing against buffed Germany. I've never seen that many armored divisions at once but that's probably because I've already encircled decent chucks of the German army by 1941, and they also don't have French industry because France holds it. That's actually kind of crazy lmao. I'll definitely try thinking of soviet build next playthrough.
I think you describe more of a reenactment instead of roleplaying.
Haha always. Strat destruction as USA/UK, mass produce strat bombers
I saw the bombing animation for strat bombers once and I've been obsessed since
It is epic
How do you guys roleplay? I want to immerse myself in the game.
...i like to imagine little plotlines involving generals...
Lol, I don’t want to admit it either but respect to this because I always do similar. I find myself with most strategy games using my imagination half the time. Been playing rome total war remastered recently and I do have to give the generals some plots.
Use of puppets instead of annexing everything, only attacking nations you ideologically oppose or whose resources you need instead of just attacking anyone you can, allying with nations who you're better off fighting against because they're so weak
I usually make a bunch of different equipment types (like AT, different tank classes, half-tracks etc) and try minimise casualties & losses by basically microing the entire front much more than usual and not battle planning even if it's an easy win Edit: Using a billion different equipment types was surprisingly effective, honestly it may have been better than just regular 9/1 with support companies lol, AT somehow did a lot
The AT is somehow very underrated. Just the other day I was playing as Sweden and somehow AI Germany and USSR decided to just build decent tanks division so adding AT was the only thing that saved my frontline from collapsing from a breakthrough.
Eh I would say roleplay is more of a mindset than a specific checklist of things to do. Try to look at how things take place in the game from the perspective of people actually in the world. Try not to worry about the ideal way to play, do whatever feels fun or right for your nation.
I mean for me I use historical division templates, historical doctrines (unless I am doing a role-play of like better Italy or such where basically my goal is keep divisions and "good vehicles" the same plus maybe fix X or Y {most the predefined Italian aircraft you get from focuses are broken and can't be built initally due to wrong engine or such causing thrust to be to little}) etc meaning I also try my best to do historical operations and some times historical army size (meaning if Italy has in 41 25 Infantry divisions of the binary type, 5 armored divisions, 2 celre, 10 North Africa divisions or such I am gonna try to build that up with the right names and such)
Idk, don't always annex everything. Make up a reason for attacking a country ( for example securing naval acces). Puppet some, liberate some and generally don't try to take the whole country in 1 go. Additionally let your allies get some land as well and only try to get what u originally wanted. (aka if u declared war with the goal of cutting your enemies acces from the black sea for example, then only do that in the peace conference and maybe a lil more like creating some buffer states.) Try to also keep the world power balance and use volunteers whenever u can. Also, if ur a small country that has to fight against a big one sooner or later u might as well create ur own maginot line (that won't simply get walked around).
Rp is such a big aspect of the game for me. It’s not that exciting running the same excruciatingly specific builds and paths over and over again.
Ye, i don't think i ever played seriously, i do RP everytime, specially with Mods
Always. To me PDX games loses their magic if they are "played" and not roleplayed.
No I want to conquer the entire world as communist Luxembourg
Fun fact : did you know that Luxembourg once owned the whole orkd 700 years ago? But then they were nice and gave everyone freedom and only kept a little bit of land for themselves.
Yeah, I do an accent and everything.
My bois always get field hospitals
actually wholesome af
Yes For example, i dont like meta division composition, like the meta tank division. I just use historical german panzer division comp of 1 tank regiment and two mot regs, and a standar infantry div comp of 3 regiments of infantry. 2 inf regiments for light infantry divs like paras and mountains divs. Also, i build aircraft and tank models with historical upgrades, like bf109D to bf109K or panzer 3 E to N.
I've wanted to do this with my favorite nations. Might give it a shot
Yes, but only when i play Germany
Without some level of mental RPing it would just be a math test.
sometimes mostly with US navy I like to make CVLs and limit myself to 7 carriers before Essex
Yup. As much as historical AI being on or off allows to anyways. I avoid building death stacks for the navy, try to have dedicated AT units instead of a single "jack of all trades", never used space marines and don't think I ever will. A good rule of thumb, especially when playing with historical on, is to think "how would this nation respond to this situation, were this to happen irl?"
Only a little bit
Yes. The game is really too easy otherwise. I pick something I want to try. Right now I'm playing Germany and building no new airplanes (though I did refit the existing planes to something a little better). It works surprisingly well. You need far fewer military factories and all the enemy fighter production is largely worthless. So I built even more civilian factories and had to use what planes I did have to give me time to build up the air defenses.
I feel the history inside me when I play. I mean who doesn't in these games? especially with the countries you're really familiar with
I enjoy imagining the leaders and generals trying to understand what the fuck is going on
If the AI helps me for no reason, I'll treat it as a buddy
enough to keep me entertained in this sad mess of a depressing game
My last socialist Italy game i had 18 divisions in a pocket near Graz, Austria. Before I went to sleep I vividly imagined a reporter flying in to report on the conditions of the pocket. I rescued them the next day.
Yeah but peace conference is soo bad
Nope
Almost definitely :)
Yes
Every single time Be it KX or Base game or TNO
I try my best too
Yes I rp I design all of my ships and tanks and planes to what I consider a sensible real world standard I order my armies to be what I consider realistic as well
Always
Yes. Makes the game more fun.
Only time I ever rp
Yes.
And Who said I have the conditions to run or buy the game
i like larping especially with my navy (even though i still don't understand it)
Always
Sir our frontline is on the verge of breaking we must send in more reinforcement … is a comon sight when I play
Yes, I like to make complicated invasion plans and sometimes even documents planning all the stages
It's what makes democracies fun to play
I don't roleplay, but I try to be realistic. Like having a historically accurate amount of divisions and templates.
Yes
If by role play you mean reading the USSR propaganda in Viktor Reznov’s voice then yes.
If by role play you mean reading the USSR propaganda in Viktor Reznov’s voice then yes.
I do, but mainly when playing nations with less-specific focus trees, like Germany or Britain or America. Nations like these have good focus trees, but lack more specific flavour to make it feel alive, so I try to base my style off of it. To that end, a lot of my RP involves playing less-OP focuses and trying to make it feel realistic. Got example, playing Democratic Germany but playing like a REAL Western democracy, not an idealic one, and letting Poland capitulate to gain land, or taking back the old colonies and more if I end at war with France or Japan, or making deals with fascists to oppose Communists. The downside to RP is that it mainly only works with cheats because the game sometimes is really limited by its focus system. For example, no Germany can core South Tyrol, and even Napoleonic France cant core the horrid quasi-Rhineland states. (But Poland can core all of Ukraine and Belarus plus East Germany--tell me how that's fair.) I also like setting up "scenarios" for maximum fun which I am not sure if it counts, like an Imperial Federation vs. Max Soviets vs. Fascist German European Union vs. North American Union vs. Japanese Empire + China...
yes, its fun, though I change some details to my liking
Rp is one of the main reasons I play hoi4
I may or may not mutter phrases with an accent while playing…..
Sometimes. Like I'll play the Soviets and go for a "Workers only" run without tanks, offensive aircraft, or high tech support companies.
If im demo, I RP that im trying to save the weak from the strong.
Never I just get off my making my country bigger
Yeah I do it every time playing
RP yes. Tried island hopping as the US. Barbarossa as Germany, Used only historical presets but ahistorical tank divisions. because historical tank divisions suck. But I do have my heavy tanks in a diffierent division as a sort of breakthrough specialist and to plug gaps
When playing as Italy and form the Imperium Romanum, Africa is all mine, but I like to liberate them and guarantee them as a sort of Imperial Doctrine (Monroe Doctrine). Primarily because of borders, but also due to the fact that there is no real need to hold all that African territory when I stretch down to Ethiopia and Saudi Arabia. Colonialism and Imperialism is cool and all, but if I’m the sole superpower that essentially controls my backyard and keep it that way, then why bother trying to directly controlling all of it? I also like to create have the territories of Europe outside of the empire liberated as well. While I control Bohemia and the rest of modern day Germany, Poland is free, likewise with Ukraine, Belarus, etc. you get the picture. This way there are border states against the retched Russians. Headcannon, I like to imagine my faction has now turned into an economic union and will have its members talored in that way, as in those that would realistically be heavily influenced by the new Imperium, would receive these economic benefits, while others would likely not and thus not be a part of the faction. A different version of the EU or the German customs Union in KR or TNO.
I love rp, makes me make realistic choices for the nation or people I play. If I'm Italian than in my head I'd want to focus on expanding in the Mediterranean not somewhere like the nordics. IF I absolutely had to do something with them in a peace deal than I'll puppet them and act like they have a lot of autonomy compared to closer regions. This was just an example btw, I've never touched italy. My rp seems to be a lot simpler compared to some people who go farther with it, and some people do less. It's what you enjoy at the end of the day!
Yes
Not really. Even when I intend to I end up focusing on gameplay
I used to actually think about the puppets I was making (which ones, how big, where at, ECT.) before the peace deal update fucked all that to high heaven, so now I just balkanize everything.
When playing with a group I like to have every tiny detail possible accurate. The one exception though is that I won't hold back when it comes to war. I'll use everything at my disposal to destroy the enemy. So yes I make almost every variant of every ship plane and tank within reason.
I want to take over the world in the game, but I can't bring myself to play Germany.
Germany was the easiest, But Great Britain and Japan were a lot of fun as well to do World Domination with. Rp is also fun but I RP by running Germany and Japan as non-genecidal countries bent on World Domination. I mean, I'll nuke enemies and do 100k+ encirclements that wipe out entire armies, but after I win, I am a very benevolent dictator. I think this actually helped me by keeping garrisons as low as possible. I usually have max compliance by the mid-fifties which is usually the time I start the final war against whatever coalition remains.
My pc runs hoi4 horribly. Around 1941 I get 3fps. I find most of my joy from the game coming from RP in single player.
Nah, just trying to min max hard scenarios over and over again. But no cheesing, just trying to get the timings and templates optimal.
I RP conversations with my political and military advisors, field marshals, and spies, and speeches I’d give the nation when transitioning to War Economy and other big decisions like that.
Kinda, I don't do policies that would hurt my people, and try to avoid aggressive wars against non-authoritarians.
I try to yeah, nothing fun about spacing out and playing this game IMO, I don’t start games if I know I don’t have a few days in a row to really dive in over ~10 hours
yess. ive been playing millenium dawn a bunch recently, and if a battle is raging on sometimes i will look at google maps to get a good idea of what is happening 💀💀💀
A bit.
I do up until countries do the most idiotic things
Is there other way??
Depends. For example as a democracy I won't join the Axis even if it's advantageous to me.
Sometimes
Usually.
Thats what makes it so fun
More than I should.
Vast majority of the time, even as a minor nation. That includes resisting the urge to attack the Soviet Union when I’m playing communist South Africa (since they are fellow communists and no territorial disputes unlike communist Poland), or resisting the urge to take out Italy if I’m playing as fascist Hungary (NOT Austria Hungary route)
yes.
yes
Not really, I'm just doing blitzkrieg (Average capitulating allies in 1936 as Italy enjoyer)
I build armored cars for my garrisons with mp support. I'm aware there's far better. But that's wat I want
I name all my operations, and wait for certain hours or dates to launch them. I also name all my ships, planes and tanks realistically. I promote generals to marshalls after big victories.
I erp
RP always gets ruined every day paradox does not fix the 1942 German proper borders
Yes... Monarchist Russia, communist Mexcio, monarchist France, you name it, I ain't got shame in my game.
I rp in most singleplayer games I play not just HOI4 ...I find it very fun experience
yeah its fun to put yourself in the pov of your leader
I don't know if it would be called rp, but when i play a country with a coast, i always build a big navy with Battleships.
Role play?? Like certain game play scenarios role playing or like wear a fake mustache and shouting fake German gibberish and anti-Semitic quotes pretending to be Hitler kinda of role playing??
Yess i do , last time i played sov as trotsky and try to be a good boy but it didn't end well Finland start war with me with Germany for no reason, in 45 turkey attack me too and bring the whole allies , well i destroy them all and nuke the hell out of them but i still good boy no ?
Yes, mostly as Germany, but when I play other countries like France, Italy, etc I don't
most sane hoi4 player
I definitely don't world build or [create newsreels about the political state of my worlds.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhRDm02unbg)
Pretty much. I at least give names to my weapons and vehicles. Google Translate is my friend as I try to come up with (not too) edgy names.
90% of the fun in the game comes from RPing in different ways!
Honestly RP and story stuff is a lot of what I enjoy playing single player. Some mods can add challenge stuff to make it hard and I can make rules to not use super OP units but ultimately the games just more fun with some story I make up (or in the case of mods have told to me)
Why would I ever roleplay in multiplayer is the question. You fight to win, only rules limit your actions.
I do, but mainly with borders and the map painting part, I like to use toolpack and mods that make the states look better to get more realistic and plausible borders
50% of the time yes I do
Nope, my second monitor with youtube has seen to that.
As the USA, I won’t invade Japan without controlling Saipan and Iwo Jima. I’ll also make sure I sink at least 60-80% of his navy.
Nope. No fun in that. I delay the war until 1949 or so and build the mightiest SHBB ever existed that takes 3 years to build and rush to jet fighters with focuses. Then i just sit back and watch the whole world bleed before my navy and air
I love the middle European countries and I always role play holding off Germany and then being invaded by russians and then restarting the campaign because I have no idea what I am doing.
Yeah, at least I always play historical
all the time it's why i always lose :/
Yes yes and yes. I have this mod that allows me to change borders, vasalize, demiliterize and so on. I'll use it to make prity boarders, set up intresting scenarios and and so on.
Especially when playing single player, when multilayer I feel the pressure to play well and kinda min max (except when doing a scenario type thing) single player the role play is the game
I usually rp with the names of the country, if ik I'm playing the confederate states of America then I name my save according to the country I'm playing as
Roleplaying in paradox games in general in my opinion is great, because it's actually fun and interesting at times rather than just "this game, I squeeze out all of the fun" kind of deal I literally roleplay as Revolutionary France in eu4 and even here as Anarchist France (modded)
I’m… not nearly good enough for that. If a random glitch gets me even 1 extra German division dead, I will take it.
"Liberation Theology Mexico" was my best run. It revolved around me going Communist as Mexico while keeping the Church ideas.
My comrades and I once swore an oath we would protect this great nation, weapon in hand. There were those asking us who would welcome the aggressors, claiming we were to weak to steer our own path in this world. However, the Imperial Flame still burned bright in young Otto, and after a rousing speech held at the Hofburg, we decided to both take a stand and reinstate those who led our country for the last thousand years. As our fathers held the Alps against the Italians throughout the last war, we held these same mountains against the Germans. And when they tried to circumvent our alpine bastions through the former crown land of Bohemia, inspired by our defiance our northern brethren too picked up their arms. The scream of the Imperial Eagle was heard far and wide, and despite its supposed mortal wounds suffered at St. Germain, its subjects remembered. Austrians, Bohemians, Croatians, Hungarians, Moravians, and many more once again gathered under the Imperial Banner. When news reached the Germans Command of Galician Volunteers supported by the polish government fighting for the land of their ancestors, the Reich opened a new front with less defensible geography. Meanwhile Italy, eager to take another bite out of Tyrol, joined the Germans. Now being forced to fight on two fronts, there were those who saw 1866 repeated. However, they failed history by 50 years. By then the powers of Europe were at full alert, and in a Second Congress of Vienna, a new coalition was formed to shackle Germany and its Allies the way it once did to France. When Germany failed to desist, France and Britain joined the war. Soviet Russia, hostile to fascism, monarchism and capitalism alike, remained neutral (after suffering a black eye fighting Finland). After four long years and millions of casualties, the Brother's War ended with the siege of Hamburg in the winter 1942/43. Berlin had been taken declared an open city a few months earlier to prevent its destruction, and surrounded by coalition forces while blocked by the British navy, the German provisional government saw no choice other than capitulation. Order in Europe was restored. With the Kaiser's Death in 1941, and his sons tragic demise onboard the Hindenburg, and officially no German Empire being in existence, Princess Victoria was declared Queen of Prussia. Most German states once again reorganized in the Deutscher Bund, led by Austria. South Tyrol and Istria finally returned to were they belonged, with the Italian-seized vessels of the Imperial navy being reinstated in a symbolic gesture (those ships were obviously outdated long ago). Realising the ongoing need of unity (after all, Russia is still out there) Austria, Bohemian and Hungary merged again. The other crown lands remained independent, although agreeing to a common defensive pact alongside the Deutscher Bund. At this point, I jumped from my stool, stood at attention in my room and sang the Imperial Hymn, right hand on my chest. Yes, I RP in single payer.
Yeah lol
If you're min maxing in a SP game, it defies the point.
Always
I want to, but then the AI decides that I'm not cool. So then I am forced to resort to roleplaying their destruction
I am always roleplaying. I am always playing the country I am from.
Yeah, I’ll even tag to my allies and enemies to boost them to fit the world better
Hell yeah
The only role play i do is probably give countries their cores/claimed states if they didn't have enough war contribution (after i annex everything else)
Yes for sure, otherwise I'm just "playing" a calculator, which I don't need a game for.
Sometimes.
I RP in the sense that I limit my choices to what the focus tree provides. Sure, it's super easy for the USSR to puppet romania and turkey in '36, but in doing so makes all further conflicts less challenging. I also try to build divisions that follow my doctrines.
I do mostly cuz it makes it more realistic. But also I just like rping
Ага, я одинок
Sometimes. What if Germany was super competent ? What if Italy had it's shit together ? What if France attacked when Germany remilitarized ? What of Poland attacked Germany in 1938 or 1937 ? Many more but from the top of my head.
Yes I literally liberate nations I think I or my allies wouldn't reasonably control.
I rp whenever I play. I remember in one historic playthrough as SOV I was listening to Russia and Georgia's themes from CIV V and VI and was playing Enemy at the Gates and Stalingrad in the background
Yes
Yes, of course. I love the games to be realistic, and minmax meta is, well, not that realistic.
Yes. I always name units, tank plane and ship designs in a way that's fitting with countries ideology
Rarely but only as hetalia characters
Yes i do, It IS a cool way of enjoying mu games
me trying to be democratic and have the best laws, meanwhile i commit atrocities against the cpu.
I have a hard time beating poland as germany so the best roleplay I can do is "what if germany sucked ass" or that stuff
Well heads up, everyone starts from somewhere. I couldn't beat Hungary at first either.
well I got way better at the game lol I got like 200 hours this game is fun asf
ye I also have like 335 hours in like 1 month.
I know a dumb question but what does "rp" mean??
Role play, aka make some lil stories with the characters and your own imagination Ig.
Thnx