Does the Left Opposition Deserve a SECOND Chance? - Hoi4

Today in the Soviet Union, it's once more time for the reign of Stalin to be cut-short. But instead of the usual oppositions we do. It's time for Trotsky and the Left Opposition to make their long overdue return as we evaluate whether or not giving them a second chance is worth it or not.
From aligning Tukhachevsky to unique bases, all of that this path others will be put through it's paces. We will find what's good, what's not and what deserves improvement. But in the end will it be enough to change my mind?
Music used from:
A Hat in Time:
Hearts of Iron IV:
This and the previous video started life as a one-part versus video, but I thought I could give the two of them a much better lookover by slicing it in two, and I still do. Combined this video would've been over 30 minutes long.
19-07-24

[@BubblesZest]

The last Left Opposition I did was in May 2022. And even then that focused on the Mountain Republic formable as much as it focused on this path. In basic terms this is the first full LO run for me since early 2022. Just turns out I find more stuff to do with the RO, I mean just it's bugs alone demanded more attention than this whole tree.

[@NightcallWasBanned]

fun fact: road to 56 actually tries to be more like the soviet civil war in the context of making the "oppose hitler" path a little slower with you rallying the monarchists, hiring a few guys and then overthrowing the nazis, still MUCH faster than the soviet civil war

[@s0lsticefr4]

honestly, road to 56 has a lot of cool stuff but it's just too slow compared to vanilla

[@a_person_of_all_time]

Iirc the Permanent Revolution decision thing doesn't actually pop up the "There is the justification on you" thing, so for the AI it's a big surprise attack

[@jeremyglass4283]

yeah which also means no Allied guarantees!

[@succadick2424]

​@@jeremyglass4283 just guarantee on other countries before lol. A guarantee's cost increases by 50 pp for every other guarantee

[@plconqueror5040]

@@jeremyglass4283 however if the wargoal appears you has a split second to declare, because then UK will guarantee. it would better for it to be instant war instead of a wargoal. This decision also doesnt raise war tension, unlike justyfing a wargoal would.

[@BubblesZest]

When justifications are 10 days, every one is a surprise attack. You could just spam them out and cause the ai to guarantee the wrong country.

[@gobreen4391]

Its funny because before NSB came out I thought my favourite path was gonna be the left opposition and it was my first game that I did where I played left but I realised wow I just really like the right opposition way more

[@endzor]

You dont enjoy 10 days justifications against everyone in the world at the same time? You don't enjoy order 66 allies as Trotsky? :(

[@Mrcoffe-xw8gz]

Just one thing, the decisions to steer the masses don't only give you war goals. After they are done you have a decision to spaw additonal divisions in enemy territory, kinda like soviet partisants. It's not a game changer but it's something.

[@jeremyglass4283]

Considering the Consumer goods rework, I think left opposition is better than the right, just not as good as historical

[@juncheok8579]

Wait, what rework?

[@azh698]

​@@juncheok8579The consumer goods reduction is not additive anymore, it's a multiplier that is applied to the expected number of factories from your economy law. This means it's almost impossible to get 0% consumer goods anymore.

[@kermoots9261]

@@azh698 It is still additive, it's just the introduction of "Consumer goods *factor"*. If it only says consumer goods, it's still additive. The factor however, is a percentage based of your main consumer goods value. For example, if you have 30% consumer goods, a -20% consumer goods factor would be (30 * 0.8), which gives a total of -6%. This is exactly how recruitable population works as well, since you have your recruitable population percentage, but then there's also the recruitable population factor as well. This means that the higher base value on both of them, the better the factor(s) are going to be, but it's always way more worth to decrease your base consumer goods value than to keep it high with your consumer goods factor bonuses. That being said, there are still some focuses, advisors etc on some countries that give + or - on just consumer goods, which then is additive.

[@titchymitchy56]

i love videos like these because they give a honest review of the path and show all the options

[@beefyblom]

frankly the german civil war focus tree needs a blanket nerf

[@Veniczar_pa]

Actually, Trotsky as a leader is a bad pick. Since you don't get him as an advisor. And he has a very strong +10% army organization buff in his advisor slot. And he does not take up a military advisor slot either. Practically nullifying the Soviet Union's Initial army organization debuff (I guess you can get it later by switching to the supreme soviet) I don't like the left opposition path but I think it has strong military potential both for early-game USSR and late-game USSR after you remove the org debuffs, I think that was the intention with the 15% attack for a year. You are meant to early game rush everyone as much as possible and just attack attack attack attack attack with no build-up and abandonment of the 5 year plan.

[@endzor]

So you watched that video of 1937 world capture with Trotsky 😊

[@BubblesZest]

No. I stumbled into it thanks to reshooting that segment multiple times.

[@thelakeman2538]

The good thing about left opposition is that pdx allows you to do it in the base game without any dlc. I personally only like playing historical USSR in vanilla, since the USSR tree alows you to be very flexible with your diplomacy and the civil war is just a hassle, though I don't own NSB and even when I could "access" it I never bothered with them, Stalin path is just too fun. But yeah I liked your commentary on the tree. Another thing to note is that Trotsky's subversive activities cost buff is way more helpful if you disable La Resistance since then you can use the old boost ideology and stage coup mechanics without worrying about operative slots, you can cause a lot more chaos across the world for shits and giggles.

[@thatcharlotte3248]

13:52 I assume the decisions are for the AI. The AI doesn’t usually justify unless given claims/cores, and as such the decisions would offer a simple way for the Soviet AI to be more aggressive.

[@BubblesZest]

I'm tired of this "made for the ai" excuse, even if it were true it would just make the left opposition look worse. Why make the main upside of a tree only something the ai can use? Just silly.

[@pootispow791]

Thx didn’t realize the tf2 summer update was out

[@dogan1954]

Not going to lie, there really isnt much to like about the left opposition. Its unique focus branch at the bottom which lets you release countries isnt really good. And the most you can get is some wargoals. In my opinion, the centre path is just much better. (Tho the left opposition ussr name is very cool)

[@boneman9751]

I don’t mind it being slow, I just don’t like that I’m losing advisors and I’m basically on a time limit. I’d rather be able to liberate people from gulags at a cost of increasing paranoia

[@thomasbaker6757]

I noticed that you seemed to never click the “forge satisfactory working conditions” decision until the very end. What’s the reason for that?

[@azh698]

Probably so he doesn't get the consumer goods penalty too early.

[@ComCommie]

Don't worry, Trotsky wouldn't know how to implement a permanent revolution in real life either

[@heathervidsdump]

Why did you choose to expand your territories? As the left opposition I never do it because I gain any territory I could gain in less than 30 days and that way I avoid unnecessary purges

[@BubblesZest]

Because there is more than one way to play hoi4.

[@viligerm6592]

TrotskyFortress2