Hoi4 - NSB - Comprehensive Germany Guide: Everything you need to know

Updated guide: • The META Germany Guide...
This guide shows every decision I make between the start of the game and the capitulation of the Soviet Union. The exception to this is grinding in Spain and China, trust me you don't want to watch that.
Guide for how to get the French Navy: • How To Get The French ...
Twitch.tv/71Cloak
0:00 Intro and Setup
12:26 Light Tank Design
12:49 Continued Setup
18:20 Early Game Medium Tank Design
19:20 Continuing Setup
22:40 Divisions for Poland/France
25:40 Invasion of Poland
29:10 Around the Benelux
31:50 Operation Sealion
34:20 Preparing for Barbarossa
36:48 Final Tank Division
37:06 Start of Barbarossa

[@PikaPilot]

for any folks who are looking to use this guide in the future: 1) Guderian doctrine advisor now costs 200PP 2) motorized breakthrough was aggressively nerfed, they are much less useful as pushing divisions and are best for following your tanks around, otherwise they are very IC lossy on offense 3) tanks were made much cheaper and much more useful, as powerful AT has been delayed to later techs 4) medium howitzers now give a breakthrough malus on your tanks, and medium cannons provide extra breakthrough 5) transport planes use fuel and command power for their supply missions

[@DaSadProfessorAlt]

Did they also nerf air experience?

[@houjisaifeddine5524]

you still need to put Mot/Mech in your tank divisions for org and def, might as well grind the 2 generals + field marshal you will used for mobile units for both armored and motorized for the extra bonus

[@whydid666]

@@DaSadProfessorAlt HI from latest pach. Yes air exp gain on volunteer has been nerfed. However from just Spain Civil and JAP vs CHN was able to complete full air doc + 200Xp to play with.

[@unclemestor]

This guide is S tier level. I never even considered leaving one research open to blast an existing tech research by 30 days. Much to think about.

[@SMGJohn]

Its old meta for sweaty multiplayer games back in the day. Pointless for singleplayer

[@71Cloak]

@@SMGJohn Its not pointless. It make sure you don't waste research bonuses on early industry tech.

[@SMGJohn]

@@71Cloak Sure, good if you play against humans but the AI is so goddamn stupid it still cheats its way to victory even on normal difficulty.

[@brandonthomas2623]

@@SMGJohn how does the AI cheat?

[@SMGJohn]

@@brandonthomas2623 AI gets bonuses to production and research, on top of it the AI also has more favourable tactic choices in combat

[@PabloGonzalez-ch3hz]

I was looking for these kind of guides for literally ages, thanks a lot, man!

[@Aiphiae]

3 minutes in and I realize what a complete n00b I am when it comes to this game. "Tech juggling?" No tanks? Infrastructure first? Guaranteed Sealion success? Man, I can barely take France and the Benelux 50% of the time and I've *never* successfully naval invaded England. Meanwhile players like you are remapping the world before the war has even started. Holy crap I am terrible at HoI4. lol.

[@gamerdrache6076]

how did you never landed in england scotland is mostley open and they often don´t have ter navy out there

[@2Links]

Infrastructure first is pretty new to be fair - before when it was 10 levels rather than just five it was only efficient in some very rare cases.

[@cc0767]

@@2Links its pretty old really. Infra buffs construction speed. So if you want to use infra than obviously you build it first. Only thing which changed is the level of infra and more importantly speed buffs applying to building more infra as well.

[@gamerdrache6076]

@TheLapster how

[@modernmaster55]

@TheLapster You were possibly exercizing your units while trying to push. A lot of new players do this i've noticed.

[@TheCredfield]

Great content! Keep it up!

[@dee-wreck]

Learning how to grind abilities is one thing this video has taught me

[@DreamyBoy67]

Excellent guide ! Learned new stuff ! 👍

[@Nacht4ktiv]

The thing is. This guide is made for players who already player 2000h and need some boost. For beginners it pure madness

[@doge3357]

can you help me? whenever i put my troops alongside the belgian border, my troops are suffering low supply. but my supply situation when atacking nethelands is good... i already upgraded the railways bottlenecks to try increase my supply, but still attrition fucks my troops.

[@Nacht4ktiv]

@@doge3357 it takes a while building up the supply. You could consider supply planes.

[@doge3357]

i cant build transport planes its too expensive and i dont have rubber

[@sf3166]

@@doge3357 stop sea zone supplies from coming. Idk why but default supply comes from the sea on that reagon. If you stop that, the main supply comes from the railways instead.

[@fantasy_4772]

@@sf3166 Fr i have the same problem in belgium but i always get to ruch em down before i get stuck

[@alatamore]

Okay I was liking this guide until you got to “Fate of Czechoslovakia.” Then you got me and totally earned my sub! You are the only KZbinr I’ve seen (and I watch a lot) who says to set up Slovakia! It’s 100% the right choice because of the 50% compliance in Bohemia/Moravia. That really makes a difference in the production you get there immediately. There isn’t anything in Slovakia itself to warrant needing direct control of it.

[@ashera7014]

You only puppet it in Single player and on mp you 100% annex all including france unless the france player wants to play vichy

[@croqueta330]

@@ashera7014 i normally like to partition it with hungary cause HUNGARY GREAT

[@mal5245]

@@ashera7014 you always partition it with hungary in mp because they get cores on it

[@RobinMeineke]

Funny, i just read the comment asking you to do a germany guide and thought yes I’m interested. When back to the home page and there it is 😅

[@TheyCalledMeT]

14:17 50-100 fighters are enough, CAS grind xp way faster, so send up to 100 fighter and as much CAS as you can. you can EASILY grind well over 1k air xp there (another little difference CAS actually gains exp to levelup)

[@gabe75001]

Will you be making a Japan guide? It's so overwhelming since you invade everywhere and need a good understanding of land, air, and navy.

[@hawkerben1158]

Watch the Tommykay Japan guide from a couple years ago, yes it’s outdated and does not cover current metas considering it’s from a few dlcs ago but key stuff like delay attacking until after ichi go decision are good, rush Marco Polo in 4 focuses, get the war started as quickly as possible to delay China doing army reform. for a division use 1 arty and fill the rest to 15 width with infantry and naval invade to split China’s lines. With this in mind China should be easy and Japanese navy should stomp US navy with Tora Tora Tora bonuses if not just spam subs and only engage fleets in sea zones with overwhelming air superiority . India is easy just don’t invade through Himalayas, you could even get involved in Africa if you feel like it to take pressure off Germany.

[@eoungbyul378]

Japan isn't that hard. Now Germany... Germany is giving me headaches.

[@mentalaren8841]

Severely underrated channel. Wondering if you'd do some challenge/achievement type runs/guides?

[@71Cloak]

I might do some of the ones for the majors. But I'm not going to torture myself with all the minors achievement runs where you need near perfect luck or you have to restart.

[@uniedits5459]

Nice guide

[@TheEverburningFathom]

Hey Cloak, thanks for this video. You're my go-to source for HOI4 strategies, as I just feel other content producers aren't as in-depth or have done as much personal testing as you have. I keep coming back to this video every so often, to try and retain as much as possible. My last play-through, I tried to play along with you as closely as possible, alt-tabbing and going through ahead a couple minutes to make sure I understand what's happening. I just wanted to ask if it'd be possible for you to provide a text-guide so it's easier to follow and more accessible for different stages of the game. It's not your fault, video format is tricky for this type of thing, for example, I made this big mistake on my last play-through using the 4-year plan boost on Dispersed II, since I didn't realize the objective of all the teching and juggling was specifically for that. If you do get around to making the text guide, it'd be really helpful to see (1) Tech-path, and potential alternates - how it affects standard pathing, (2) Overall goal for each stage of the game (e.g. Jan '36 - Aug '38 preparation for invasion of Poland, focus on infrastructure and grinding), (3) Techniques and pathing essential for this strategy (e.g. dispersed III boost is vital, whereas French collaboration government / tanks are optional, (4) Division designs and explanations for why they are the way they are (5) Factory allocation and why (e.g. no need to maximize gun output since collected equipment will make up deficit from events like Anschluss), (6) A "hard-set" military staff with a planned route of traits to grind / who is going to be a field marshal, etc, (7) Expected army size at different stages (e.g. four-24 infantry and one-50-50 armored-motorized divisions before invasion of Poland), and (8) changes that the recent NSB patches may have caused to the strategy. Thanks for all the effort you put into your content! No worries if you can't get around to making it.

[@captainnutsack8151]

On all my Germany historical playthroughs, for a long time now, I always fight Poland in 1937. I justify in late '36 and fight them in '37 so I can straight up annex Poland and end them before the Allies get involved. I'm nearly always able to get all the other focus annexes too still (world tension). Gets a bunch of early Army XP for me and I ignore Molotov-Ribbentrop. Also gives me a slight shorter distance to Moscow for eventual Barbarossa since I don't split Poland. I used to assume this move would mess with World Tension too much and I wouldn't get some of the easy Focus annexes but I still always get them. The only one I have trouble with is Yugoslavia and historically they didn't lay down for an annex anyway, they were invaded. Sometimes I can get Slovenia surrendered in the "London Conference" but not always. Enjoying your channel, cheers!

[@MrAllanGA]

I follow exactly the same strat you do! While preparing to invading Poland, I get USSR collab as high as possible, eventually to 100% collaboration (3 collab missions) by the time they capitulate. All of their resources and factories assure you have everything you need, and I usually capitulate the USSR sometime in 1939-40.

[@berkayylmaz3285]

i do the same but i justify aganist netherlands at the same time. you can do rhineland-get pp-justify poland/netherlands (with cancel and redo justify exploit)-annex both world tension stands just below %25 so you wont get guarentees 👍

[@captainnutsack8151]

@@berkayylmaz3285 I've heard of this strategy....aren't you able to puppet/annex Dutch Indies doing this too? Obviously a valuable strategy to get all that rubber/oil

[@einosaari5844]

@@captainnutsack8151 Alternative is Sweden/Netherlands for even more resources and good hold of scandinavia from start. All depends on what u want to do. I sometimes go kaiser this way.. double justify.. do the war quick, return the kaiser and build up fast again. Whatever way u decide to do with double justify its good to send volunteers to Rep.Spain instead. You can seize the gold reserve just before u go into your double war. If u did for example swed, holland.. u can ally hungary moments before you go kaiser. Start civil war, with little luck hungary joins nazi war, go ally with austria, get the anex thing with them before u finish of nazis.. attack hungary and finish of nazi.. Now you have gotten a good start as kaiser with sweden, netherlands, austria and hungary anexed. You can as alternative go other ways with swed/pol etc etc As germany you dont need a single ally or puppet.. just to make the game little fun, too easy otherwise.

[@rizluz396]

But doing this in 1937 is not historical... Can not call it an historical playthrough then in my opinion.

[@TheyCalledMeT]

25:25 had a worse first time with NSB. GB called in lithuania while i had no troops on the border, in an ironman match .. that was a ... "nice" suprise

[@eyibilf]

For the spanish cw you can just create a new cav template wit 1 battalion from the army xp you get from rhineland. You can easily drop 100+ divisions with that and probably can send 7-8 divisions to spain. Also from the spirit of the army you can add motorisation drive for 35 army xp and design your mot/mech and tank templates for free, you can also add dive bombing for the air spirit and max out your CAS for about 200 air xp. I also like combining this with tactial effort focus and get CAS ıı by 38ish or CAS ııı by 41ish, it honestly is stupid how much dmg you can inflict with a good CAS plane.

[@bruhmammasnn7604]

No just train 1 inf div 96 times. Exactly enough to send 7 divs to spain

[@71Cloak]

121 is the number of divisions you need.

[@klioblue9771]

I tend to eat Holland (early 37)asap for their juicy resources in East Indies, then setup colabs in France, Poland and uk before mid 39. Then have them all in grasp before Christmas ‘39 😁

[@dersuchtie01]

Awesome

[@DealishTepes]

I wonder, if after so many tests done by You (Thank You for them, the insight they provided is priceless) would you change the division templates a little or the whole army composition (i.e. drop the motorized divisions)? Additionally what do You think about theory that CAS>All, i.e. dropping fighters and spamming CAS?

[@71Cloak]

I don't think dropping all fighters as a nation is really viable. I have seen instances of the ui claiming I lost 60-100 trains in the past month and 1000s of trucks due to enemy logistics strikes. That is 30 factories worth of trains (if you had to replace each month) and a bunch more to replace the trucks. This is assuming the ui isn't lying but I definitely ran out of trucks pretty quickly. The exception to this is if you are a minor in your faction and someone else will build fighters like the UK or Germany. They will mostly protect you from that.

[@dongizzardlizzwizzthelizar3694]

Nice Guide, Thanks for that! But how are you able to guarantee that the RAJ wont become a major? I tried several runs with invading and waiting to get london, with capping london even in january '40 and so on but after the first month after the fall of France they always become a major. A minor becomes a major after having 50 factories and being independent, right? How does the AI always manage to get RAJ independence right in time before GB falls? EDIT: I managed it to get the peace deal while sealion after finishing the netherlands and beating UK and France in the same month

[@JS-ly7rq]

I've always found building mills from the beginning is quite op. Set up collab governments on the places you'll annex and you will also get their civs to boost your mill construction then roll over the allies with medium tanks and spgs. By the time you barb it won't even look fair

[@c1bas3k7]

Honestly everything works for singleplayer purposes and defeating France/Britain/USSR... With more civs you can react better to anything that happens, you will be up for a stronger late game and pushing USA or whatever your heart desires... Building mils is obviously better in short term, but in general: building mils and setting up collaboration governments takes a lot of civs which will definitely hurt your industrial capabilities. Whatever you conquer might have a decent industry, but as Germany you have the building capacity and industry to totally snowball out of control by nicely balancing civ/mils/(docks) production.

[@cc0767]

More civs let you build more mils. More mils means you dont have civs to even build new railways

[@richgray8925]

solid guide- one question i had was with the general grinding- i've followed your steps and i'm looking a bit behind compared to you on certain dates; you had the traits finished on Dietrich by about april 37, whereas i've only got panzer 99% before switching templates like you suggested but organiser, cav and hill are both still at around 50%- do you have any suggestions, or is it a bit luck based? a lot of my organiser xp came from defending a tile so maybe its that

[@dawsontan9265]

I face the same situation here, also curious

[@dawsontan9265]

Ok I figured it out, so you don’t keep them always in combat, you gotta disengage and reengage every day or every other day, it works for me, I’m able to grind them out really fast.

[@reginaldoestremera3007]

@@dawsontan9265 the trick is max maybe7-10 days in combat 3 off

[@Mezzo396]

@@dawsontan9265 Also I found i grinded way faster when attacking the stronger Soviet divisions compared to weaker Repub ones. Look for Soviets or strong Spanish divisions on the terrains you want and a couple of days on one off did wonders for accerlerating my grind.

[@SmashingCapital]

@@dawsontan9265 didnt work

[@robertedwinhouse4733]

best hoi4 player

[@marks.2814]

Excellent guide.

[@MindplexLekker17]

Hello. Are you planning to make a similar guide for Japan?

[@Aiphiae]

Not sure if you read these comments but I'd love to see a quick video on how you grind *both* Sepp Dietrich and Miximillian von Weichs to multiple traits by 1938. I understand the general idea but I must be doing something wrong because I can only get Sepp to 99% Panzer Leader and 80% Cavalry by 1939. Clearly I'm making a mistake - just not sure what it is. I know my friends are stuck in the same boat. Probably not a lot of fun for you to make a vid like that but I know a number of people that would find value in it. Thanks for the detailed content thus far :)

[@71Cloak]

Stop and start the battles every couple of days. The longer the battle goes on the less trait experience you grind. By the time a battle is going on for a month you are basically grinding 0 experience. Other than avoiding traits that's all I'm doing. Stopping the battle every few days and then immediately restarting it.

[@Aiphiae]

@@71Cloak Hmm... thought I was doing that but maybe not often enough. Thanks for taking the time to get back on this. Great channel and great content. Much appreciated!

[@TheyCalledMeT]

12:17 i prefer motorization drive. adding/removing tanks and motorized from/to your divisions for free is (imho) better than the buffs from professional officer corps

[@houjisaifeddine5524]

i use professional officers to quickly get through the land doctrine with all the exp i get from volunteer forces and training at home, then switch to motorization drive once that is done to work on my templates. less wasted exp

[@TheyCalledMeT]

28:04 what for do you do the molotov ribbentrop pact after defeating poland?

[@md.tamzidislam6580]

Are the medium cannons for the tank worth it? They seem way too expensive resource wise and id rather stick with the close support gun In sp

[@71Cloak]

I didn't use medium cannons. To start off I used a combination of light tanks with basic high velocity guns and close support guns. For the 1943 medium, I switch to using improved medium cannons (currently have close to same soft attack as howitzers) and improved high velocity cannons for piercing and hard attack. Improved medium tank cannons also have better breakthrough than howitzers.

[@iconprince4700]

Honestly this man is on a new level

[@einosaari5844]

Isnt it better to send volunteers to rep.Spain and grind there until sometimes mid 37? You can size the gold reserves as payment and will give you some extra boost for a year.

[@_iceflow_5802]

Great Video, but i have a question, how did you manage to get so many air xp, i only got 40 by the end of april 37 while you were having 306 by that time

[@Cazline]

you get air xp from training

[@tobiasfendt87]

Fighting in China

[@2Links]

Spain, China and training I assume

[@jozefbabinicz9496]

Can you tell me what is your order of battle before Poland Invasion, France Invasion and Barbarossa? Great guide.

[@71Cloak]

1 general of 24 units on the Maginot. 1 general of 24 units attacking the north of Poland from Konigsberg. the remaining generals under a field marshal frontline attacking Poland from the West. Tanks did not take part in Poland. France: 1 Field Marshall Frontline (72 9/1s, maybe more) plus the the tanks used. USSR: 2 Field Marshalls (5 generals each) plus a separate general (with a field marshal) for the 24 tanks.

[@egaminghub813]

Quick question and this might seem stupid to some but I just got HOI4. How's it that you have like 4 years of oil saved up on August 28, 1936 and I have 270 days?

[@leafbou]

What do you replace the armor with now that medium tanks are behind 38

[@nonrumor]

I'm playing on the open beta and it seems that tanks have more reliability penalties now? And well, lower production cost.

[@UCKszbcV]

I can't replicate the batlleplan orders that you assign at 10:10. Frontline and attack for the Field Marshall and Defence for the General?

[@71Cloak]

Set your general as an area defence order then select your field marshall and shift left click to create a unified frontline and give it and order. If you do exactly what I did in the video it should work. I've never had any problems with it. So i don't.

[@hoffnicht8824]

Hey nice video. but one question, how do u have imroved medium tank chassis when ur in 1939 but u can research it in 1940?

[@71Cloak]

You use the bonus to research it ahead of time. The year is just an indication of whether you are going to take a penalty or not. Further ahead of time the larger the penalty.

[@hoffnicht8824]

@@71Cloak okay thanks!

[@HenriqueRJchiki]

Can you do a generic tree guide, like south American countries? Things like how to flip fast properly, etc...

[@popstarresearchingoblivion8778]

You really put the blitz in blitzkrieg

[@vauha27]

You are very good and you are talking very quickly.

[@seattlepunkgaming3825]

What mods are you using? I notice a few UI mods throughout, so I'm curious what they're called.

[@71Cloak]

Better air wing deployment and strategic view adjustments (mp variant)

[@seattlepunkgaming3825]

@@71Cloak Thanks!

[@starynatapczanie6865]

Hi man, for the grinding in spanish civil war i dont get how you set the battle plan so you can grind organizer without actually using the battleplan. Can you explain?

[@71Cloak]

Grinding organizer requires 1 or more battle plans. He has a battle plan so he grinds organizer. No where does it say the battleplan needs to be in use.

[@starynatapczanie6865]

@@71Cloak it doesnt work for me organizer desnt grind

[@starynatapczanie6865]

Any fix for this?

[@71Cloak]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/hpzVaoZsfLWpeZo Here i made a whole video on grinding generals.

[@cav1989]

I don't get the priority and order of ships/subs at the start. Can you please post the full template you use together with the order? That part is super-confusing.

[@71Cloak]

Don't finish the battleships. Finish the current ship in production for all the other lines (don't produce more). Build 10 cheap destroyers to help with naval supremacy. Then build subs.

[@JoshsbLUFC]

Probably a rookie question. Why do you make so many cavalry units for the Spanish civil war if you can only send 4/5 units to them as volunteers? Thanks

[@71Cloak]

More divisions you have the more volunteers you can send. If you really want to min max it you make a width infantry and spam that instead.

[@user-pn7jz9vr2z]

32:54 For some reason, Raj became s major foe me even before I landed on UK Any explanation for that?

[@71Cloak]

You waited way too long. For raj to become a major without the uk losing the british isles would require them to have 50 factories. Which shouldn't be possible unless you are waiting way too long to sealion. You should do it the month after you cap france.

[@user-pn7jz9vr2z]

@@71Cloak thx for a fast reply So around what time do they get 50 factories I think I did sealion in around early 41 late 40

[@UCKszbcV]

what do you advise to do regarding the MEFO bills?

[@71Cloak]

Keep them. 5% consumer goods is quite nice and so is the 25% construction speed bonus for military factories.

[@doge3357]

Late question. I managed to capitulate ussr but why i take a million losses? Last game i took 1.2 million losses and 2.7milion losses for ussr

[@hoszin8142]

i must be stupid why are you switching research? can someone explain it to me? ps. I can see that the development time is decreasing, but what will it depend on? when is it worth doing?

[@71Cloak]

The swapping of research at the beginning is so I can put an extra 30 days towards the research in the same amount of time. It allows me to start researching 1937 tech a coupe of days before finishing 4 year plan which gives 2 100% boost to industry research. Therefore, I can save the bonuses to do 1939 tech ahead of time faster.

[@patrickmccarron2817]

Maybe missed it in the video, should you send Fighters or CAS as volunteers as Germany?

[@71Cloak]

I sent tactical bombers

[@Bruh-ff2tw]

I might have missed it in the video, but why do you want to get combined armed expert?

[@71Cloak]

If you have 60% armour or less in a division combined arms expert gives a larger bonus then panzer expert. Above 60% panzer expert gives a large bonus. In single-player there is no need to be above 60% so you should go with combined arms expert.

[@susanhaynes6734]

I sent planes to Spain for the civil war on lend lease. My air experience isn't affected. Is there something else that you do to get the air experience?

[@71Cloak]

Send them as air volunteers. Lend lease barely gives any xp.

[@susanhaynes6734]

@@71Cloak Many thanks. So much to learn.

[@azuritewashere1909]

After I capitulated the Allies there started to be a ton of resistance in the territories eating up my infantry equipment forcing me to delay Barb. How to fix this ?

[@tgnm421]

change the occupation policy to martial law

[@dynamics1]

Anyone knows why do my UK have 6 max equipped division per tile when I land in 1940 july?

[@71Cloak]

Probably because you're waiting and extra 3 months which gives them all the time in the world to bring back all of their divisions abroad. You want to Sealion within a month or 2 of the fall of France. The longer you wait the harder it gets.

[@md.tamzidislam6580]

You can use 5 army experience from rhineland to create a single battalion division to spam out before spain

[@71Cloak]

You can. But that costs 5 army experience. The way I did it works just as well if you don't forget to deploy early like I did and costs 0 army experience.

[@cp627]

I have played this game so much yet the tech juggling I find to be the most frustrating.

[@doge3357]

why my divisons are suffering from low supplies in belgian border? i already upgraded all bottlenecks and i only have 48 diviosion in that border and still bad supply situation. How can i fix this?

[@71Cloak]

48 on the belgian border alone is a lot of troops. You don't need that many for belgium 24 should do. Outside of that do you actually have enough trains. Getmany doesn't start with many trains so you have to build them, 1 or 2 factories from the start of the game should be more than enough.

[@doge3357]

@@71Cloak i forgot to build trains until 1938 and i have 40 trains

[@doge3357]

@@71Cloak or should i just start producing transport planes in the very beginning of the game?

[@sanderdas9401]

I have the feeling that you use way less fuel in the start of the game then I do, at 6:13 you have enougb for the coming 3.7 years, I only have enough for 1 year. But I only do the naval exercises, and it seems that you also do them. Did you build extra oil refineries?

[@71Cloak]

No. I did import fuel for spain though. Just 1 or 2 factories worth.

[@sanderdas9401]

It seems that I'm doing much slower on the generals than you are, you have 99% panzer leader at oct 1, but I only have a couple experience by that point. I can't find out why that is, do you have any idea?

[@71Cloak]

@@sanderdas9401 2 things. Don't fight where the ai is fighting and stop and start the battles every few days. You get less xp the longer a battle goes on. I did a video on grinding generals. kzbin.info/www/bejne/hpzVaoZsfLWpeZo

[@sanderdas9401]

I suppose that if you are getting attacked that you have to move your unit out of that territory in order to really to the battle?

[@CecilA54]

My problem is with oil how do you keep it when you are training and grinding in Spain

[@CecilA54]

At the 20th of may you have like 3.7 years of oil an I only have 188 days are you trading for oil or something?

[@71Cloak]

@@CecilA54 Yes, I usually trade 2 civs for oil.

[@CecilA54]

@@71Cloak i thought so lol thanks

[@clau.mm7]

i tried following this two times, some things are not possible, such as getting anchluss at the same time as you (because i always have -16k deficit after i deployed all that cavalry for spain) and also getting that air experience,for some reason my bombers just dont give any air experience in spain,and also my fighters cant get to china because "not enough intel" or something

[@clau.mm7]

cas* i truly dont get how you have enough infantry equipment for anchluss at that time and how u got that much air experience from spain

[@71Cloak]

You don't need divisions to actually have equipment for anschluss, just manpower. Convert all the cav you spammed out for the spanish civil war to infantry and you will have enough manpower to do demand sudetenland. You can't send fighters to china if you don't remember to send them air volunteers.

[@clau.mm7]

@@71Cloak tried to do that too, i converted them to infantry and the manpower in the field did not change by a single bit

[@clau.mm7]

@@71Cloak it may be bugged for me, because i did this multiple times in other saves and the manpower in the field did change

[@clau.mm7]

also i meant my cas cant go there not my fighters

[@pedropena6789]

How do you learn to play this?

[@kimogandall8298]

Against AI, is there any reason not to just spam paras? You can easily force capitulation early game that way.

[@71Cloak]

At that point where is the challenge. The ai is largely too dumb to prevent paradropping ever so you could just win every war doing that.

[@dawsontan9265]

I copied your panzer 4 design, how come mine is 0.5km/h slower than you? Triple checked, pretty sure it’s the same, did it change in the new update or did I miss anything?

[@71Cloak]

Probably. Your should be cheaper than mine but slightly slower. They have made a couple of changes to tanks since this video came out.

[@dawsontan9265]

@@71Cloak yea, mine is cheaper than yours, thanks a lot! I was so confused since this vid wasn’t uploaded that long ago

[@dawsontan9265]

@@71Cloak another question, why not using Rommel guderian and other historically famous generals and field marshals? They have better traits

[@71Cloak]

The more traits you have the harder it is to grind more traits. I did a whole video on it if you would like to know more.

[@dawsontan9265]

@@71Cloak ok got it I’ll check it out, thanks!

[@rovsea-3761]

A question: Is it worthwhile to also send volunteers to the Japanese puppets like Manchukuo? It seems like a relatively easy way to grind extra xp/generals. EDIT: Aaaand I just realized you sent volunteers to china instead of Japan. Any particular reason for that? I believe with the united front, however, a similar thing could still be done from the Chinese side.

[@rovsea-3761]

Follow up: Is there a particular reason to wait on the invasion of France and the low countries? Admittedly I don't tend to play on the higher difficulty settings, but even with a much less optimal build, it was fairly easy to completely overwhelm both Poland and France within a few months.

[@71Cloak]

@@rovsea-3761 There are 2 advantages to sending you volunteers to china versus japan. 1. Is the air experience generated by the constant air combat with the Japanese Air Force. 2. You slow down the Japanese and weaken them substantially which is important if you know your going to capitulate the UK and take British Malaysia and Dutch East Indies. I was mainly waiting for the tanks to train up so I could test them against the French. They were also a bit short on equipment. Outside of that I just avoided the winter and did some other things instead. You don't have to wait, you could go immediately for around the Maginot but I did.

[@JohnSmith-kn5xx]

ive found its the easiest way to grind air xp and army xp its insanely broken and overpowered

[@Ancient_Hoplite]

Great guide, one question about India becoming a major? Why did you need to wait for month to tick over before taking London? How does this work with India becoming a major or not? Also 71Cloak 2022: outrun your problems and you won't have any problems!! 🤣

[@71Cloak]

If I don't take London then the UK isn't going to lose their industrial base too early. If India is in the top 7 industries in the world the will become a major. If you take all of Southern England and then a month ends you are likely to have a new nation in the top 7 and that nation might be the UK. It's better to just not risk it and delay a couple of days.

[@Ancient_Hoplite]

@@71Cloak ah I get it now thanks! So the check to become a major happens only every month?

[@71Cloak]

@@Ancient_Hoplite yes.

[@SmashingCapital]

how do you have such a low deficit mate i need 31k guns while you need 8k

[@zackcotton6296]

Did you send militarry attache to Spain and Japan

[@71Cloak]

No.

[@BigUndertaker]

Which mods are you using in this video?

[@71Cloak]

Better air wing deployment (makes the deployment screen bigger, nothing else) and strategic view adjustments mp variant (changes the colour of some of the battleplan ui to make it easier to see)

[@willowsburg4062]

What's the reason for delaying 4 Year Plan when you're going to finish the industry tech in like a day, the research bonuses are saved and you're not going to go over 30 days it doesn't matter unless I'm forgetting something. Edit: I don't think I am forgetting anything, the only real reason to delay 4 Year Plan is if you're not already researching all 1937 industry tech, which you were because you tech juggled the research boost Edit 2: Another minor thing, put trucks on the bottom of your production line, you'll get more fighters that way

[@71Cloak]

I would not have been researching 1937 tech without the delay. Dispersed 1 will not be done in time to start Dispersed 2 without the delaying 4 year plan and tech juggling.

[@SmashingCapital]

wait how did you get so much xp and trait progress tf

[@mercuryproyt]

did the game change or am i just missing some dlc ?

[@mercuryproyt]

my tank reserach page doesnt look like that

[@bernaldo6051]

very good guide for Germany. Question: Why Molotov-Rippentrop Pact? What is the benefit? With historical KI on, the Soviet Union never attacked me.

[@tg-sj2nu]

tank research bonus

[@SmashingCapital]

how do you get so much air xp

[@devinmccane8343]

Watching the way you meta game this just shows how truly broken this game is. This strategy takes the fun out of trying to play authentic and realistic. I’ve loved HOI but I think I’m done with HOI IV now after watching this vid.

[@cc0767]

if you want to play """authentic""" then meta doesnt concern you at all. I know how you feel though, Paradox games are always best before you fully understand them. Once you figure out the mechanics is super bland.

[@grayal11]

GOO-DARE-EE-ANN!!!!!!!!!!!

[@letiandai4948]

Great guide with many hidden gems even for experienced players. But on the flip side, this guide falls crucially short on a number of important areas. Its outdated, and I suspect you are playing on easy. With very hard/expert AI/MP this build is not going to fly at all. 1. Way too little planes by start of war 1939, I usually have 4k fighters and even then it would be a tough grind against the UK for air superiority 2. Way too little tanks by start of war 1939, pushing with infantry on harder difficulties is not going to work, and very "unlike" Germany especially if you are going mobile warfare 3. Building infrastructure at the beginning is a waste of time as shown in numerous guides, just go civs straight and transition to mils. Too little min/maxing on industrial production/advisors/policies which is why you are falling short on (1) and (2) above 4. There is no plane designer etc. With the latest updates in plane designer, plane meta is a huge question mark, and rushing fighter three in SP is very difficult

[@SmashingCapital]

i had basically less than half the air xp you had how

[@dapimp6861]

Bruh this guy essentially just ate everyone, one by fuckin one dude really said "nom nom nom" then just swallowed the soviets

[@casuspacis3196]

why you detached pilot aces?

[@71Cloak]

1. Generate more for basically infinite war support. 2. Can't lose war support from them dying if they aren't assigned.

[@Mitsch93]

Are your used templates still the meta?

[@71Cloak]

Meta enough. Unless your playing in a super sweaty MP lobby, they will do just fine. (they might work there too I just haven't had the chance to try)

[@Mitsch93]

@@71Cloak According to your latest video, you used 22w infantry division, no tanks, no motorized infantry. Would you recommend using this template? I am a pretty new player I think it would easier for me focussing on only infantry instead of producing also tanks (light and medium).

[@71Cloak]

@@Mitsch93 Going for an infantry only build can work. You are going to need to focus on building fighters and Close air support to help your infantry out. 9 inf 1 art or 7 inf 2 art will both work just fine. Doctrine wise you are going to want to switch to Superior Firepower going right right.

[@Mitsch93]

@@71Cloak First of all thank you! One more question: You used 22w template (8inf, 2art) in your latest video. So should I go for 9inf+1art, 8inf+2art or 7inf+2art? I tried some weeks ago a 10w inf template (i think it was without art). But that was pretty crappy, I couldnt advanced with this template well even with air superiority. Again thank you, I subscribed to your channel and hope to see some more good videos in the future.

[@71Cloak]

@@Mitsch93 Any of the 3 you mentioned will work.

[@md.tamzidislam6580]

Hey, a question. why not go for attache to spain instead of goebbels? And i usually go for krupp after bormann since most of the early research go to industry and delaying that war economy by a couple of months doesnt seem too harmful since it only gives you a couple more civies

[@71Cloak]

50 PP doesn't really matter too much to Germany because they have so much and Spain doesn't really last long enough to justify an attaché, China sure but Spain not really. There is actually an argument to be made to change the entire order of what I do at the beginning. Go Goebbels, War Economy, Krupp, then Bormann. While going Rhineland straight into 4 year plan, tech juggling to make sure you have start 1937 machine tools before finishing 4 year plan. You get dispersed 3 100 days later but you get the civs 140 days earlier plus an early war economy starting the snow ball earlier. You also get the research slot 140 days earlier which kind of offsets getting dispersed 3 later.

[@Aiphiae]

I don't understand how lack of supply isn't absolutely crippling you. I must be designing my divisions wrong or something because I am losing between 13% and 50% combat effectiveness simply due to supply issues, while you're plowing through Russia like it's no problem with red supply.

[@71Cloak]

I am taking penalties from it. But the combination of air supremacy and the sheer number of causalities the soviets had taken to that point meant it didn't matter. After those first couple of encirclements the Red Army was no longer an effective fighting force.

[@Rophaz]

Do you use upgraded supply companies and max the supply motorization?

[@Aiphiae]

​@@Rophaz Probably not. I'll have to look into it. I think I also had too many units attacking into certain regions. Honestly, this video made me realize the game is so complicated and I've been playing like such a noob that I actually stopped playing since. Tech juggling and trait grinding, all things I didn't even know existed as options. If it's this complicated to play well clearly I am out of my depth. Hell, just dealing with garrison/resistance issues was enough to frustrate me enough to pull the plug a few times. Not a lot of fun conquering when you end up losing 2k manpower every few weeks to resistance - even with a full armored car/MP garrison template.

[@Rophaz]

@@Aiphiae Yeah I get it. But the min-maxing with tech juggling and trait grinding and such aren't needed in single-player, especially not as a major nation. As for resistance, the manpower loss is only temporary since compliance will steadily rise. I just use the Local Police Force policy and the pure cavalry template you get from Austria with maybe a MP-company when you have time to research it.

[@71Cloak]

@@Rophaz I almost always use max supply motorization. I did not have supply companies but my infantry field marshal and tank field marshal had logistics wizard for the -15% supply consumption. When fighting in low supply regions having either logistics wizard or supply companies seems like it should be incredibly important. However, I find you are either within range of a supply hub and getting supply or outside of the range of a supply hub and not getting supply. So they don't actually do that much.

[@UCKszbcV]

When do you recall the volunteers from China?

[@71Cloak]

They get automatically recalled when you go to war. I don't think it is possible to do it before then. Unless they added it BBA and I have forgotten about it.

[@UCKszbcV]

@@71Cloak it worked, thank you.

[@resalder7317]

How do you solve supply problem in USSR war? Whenever i attack them with 240 infantry(30width)+48 mobile infantry(motorized/tank) i always got attrition damage. Because of that mostly half of my troops suffer and my army fails. By the time i get to 3 big cities date-logistics becomes too bad to recover.

[@71Cloak]

Do you grind organizer on your field marshal in spain. Its pretty important. Otherwise using an army that big is going to require logistics companies. In this vidwo I'm only using 21 widths, lower supply requirements.

[@iwillnoteatzebugs]

How the hell you have so many factories??? I only have 300 in 1941.. also my tanks can t push anything ... i have 27 width medium tanks with mechanized

[@71Cloak]

By capitulating the allies, you get a ton of factories from it. Also don't use 27 widths they are absolutely horrible in plains, the main place you should be pushing. Use the tank design i did in the guide and you will have no problem pushing.

[@epiclighthd7655]

This tank division is a meme xD

[@fantasy_4772]

How many tanks sould u have?

[@71Cloak]

That depends on when. 6 for France should be good enough but you could also just build good inf and air. There are multiple ways to win as Germany.

[@RobinMeineke]

I think you are contradicting yourself a bit. You said reliability doesn’t matter that much on tanks, yet you spend so much on getting 1940 medium which main advantage is essentially only the better reliability.

[@71Cloak]

Reliability didn't matter because I went and got the 1940 medium tank chassis. Build the same tank with the 1934 medium tank chassis and you will have no reliability at all. The stats difference between a 1934 design and 1940 design is 62.1% reliability and 79.6 armour vs 82.8% reliability and 102.3 armour. This is with the same components. The 1940 design has over 80% reliability which is the soft cap for reliability for medium tanks (outside of recovery). Going over this number will not reduce the amount of losses to attrition because there is a base attrition amount regardless of reliability. The math is 1- (10/number of equipment in battalion/company). For medium tanks that is 1- (10/50) = 1-0.2 =0.8. Therefore, the reliability loss from the change I made didn't matter, I'm still over 80%.

[@Aiphiae]

@@71Cloak So I'm an idiot for trying to get 100% reliability. Gotcha. LOL! I am *so* bad at this game.

[@71Cloak]

@@Aiphiae Your not an idiot. Your just trusting the game when it tells you more reliability is better. Nowhere in the game does it actually tell you their is a base line amount of attrition that is unavoidable. But there is, put a maintenance company on your infantry to give them over 100% reliability and you will still suffer losses to attrition when invading russia.

[@shortrandommemes7295]

11:45 how does he have so many traits? i only had one

[@71Cloak]

I did a whole video on general grinding and which traits to get. you can watch it here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hpzVaoZsfLWpeZo

[@shortrandommemes7295]

@@71Cloak oh ok, thanks! That was quite helpful

[@SmashingCapital]

my traits dont progress too much

[@good8503]

Why did u spend 150 politic p. on war economy and then research war economy again ?

[@71Cloak]

I went to war economy close to a year before I did the focus. The war econony focus still gives 6 mils for 70 days while integrate war economies is 280 days worth of focuses and potentially gives 8 mils if they accept.

[@jakehughes3424]

You should swap moterized recon with armoured recon

[@71Cloak]

Then I would have to build armoured cars and I didn't do that. I only used motorized recon for the movement speed buffs. Recon on the offensive is pretty worthless.

[@jakehughes3424]

Sorry I mean light tanks on the motorized division you used so you gain more breakthrough and armor to the whole div

[@CasualGamingDad187]

Instead of doing the cav for spam division use that 5 army experience and create a 1 infantry division. Easier to spam

[@71Cloak]

I'm aware, I consider it a waste of army experience.

[@doge3357]

@@71Cloak hey can you help me. my divions are having low supply in belgian border like wtf.

[@TheyCalledMeT]

31:29 it's mannst ei n like einstein. not stine

[@williammiller8613]

What is the width of the JagdPanther in your Barbarossa tank division? 2 or 3?

[@71Cloak]

Tds have a width of 2.

[@zengamer321]

how do you get air xp?

[@71Cloak]

Air volunteers to spain and china.

[@zengamer321]

@@71Cloak What stance should the planes be set to? And how do I deal with 0 fuel? I barely got any air xp (i got around 70~ xp by the time you have 300) from sending volunteers to spain and china just doing close air support on tac bombers and cas

[@71Cloak]

@@zengamer321 Import a bit of fuel and go to the logistics tab and set it to prioritize air force.

[@UCKszbcV]

Why dispersed industry?

[@71Cloak]

1. Ai loves to try and bomb you wherever you don't have planes. 2. Much better in the short-term (first year or so) or if you ever switch a production line.

[@evelinpolanco675]

Bruh i have a lot of problems to blitzkrieg poland