HOI4: Strongest Italy opening: Rush the Allies in BBA

There's quite a few Italy videos out there already, but here is my opening strat for Italy updated for By Blood Alone. This opening strategy will set you up for any conquest you want and almost every political path (the communists probably don't work for this one). So yeah, you can set yourself up for all the new italian achievements with this opening!
Following this guide will get you the UK, France, USA and all of UK's dominions as puppets as early as 1938.
Music is again from Age of Wonders.

[@hunterkingofworl]

I never would've thought to just naval invade the UK like that, I appreciate this video, I went from having my ass kicked by the allies to defeating the british empire in 37, you're awesome, now I can somewhat play italy now

[@antasil5768]

Excellent, good to hear!

[@EnduringGamer]

Superaereo or any focus that requires war with major should not cancel when the war concludes victorious. Having to prolong a war for a "lesson of war" does not make too much sense.

[@antasil5768]

I agree!

[@King_Shoto]

They should add a tick box "has been at war with a major" rather than "be at war with a major".

[@MatthewZzzz0]

Another excellent guide

[@Old_Harry7]

Excited to see the sequel! Nice work there.

[@vauxal1856]

hey bro i followed this guide and proceeded to do world conquest

[@alpacasmafia9265]

I've been struggling trying to go for a couple italian achievements (3 romes, holy roman and empire, and Pizza Time) and this strategy sets all those up perfectly!

[@eisbergsyndrom5010]

Tip: when puppeting India you should unselect one of their states so the original RAJ tag remains independent and a new India is created as your puppet. That new India won't have any national spirits, allowing it full access to it's huge manpower pool.

[@Stouzough]

Great opening: Italy world conquest is still definitely a lot of fun. Just surprised you don't take the British and French fleets, but rather prefer them to support you as puppets. I don't know your plans next, but I'd like to see other strategies with democratic France and mobile warfare, something I can succeed with but only in 1942-1943 (hence without the Little Entente path you already wonderfully advised).

[@Stouzough]

Hello, me again :) You know, I tried again to follow your guide, but it's so hard to give up the Ethiopian & Spanish wars, and even to kill the production of BC :D Oh well, I like that you included some comments, for those wanting to fork your strategy with same efficiency. I'm just puzzled by Germany: recently I often see they declare on the Soviet Union but with no border with them: they forgot to invade Poland. Invading Austria and the rest of Eastern Europa creates a glitch.

[@antasil5768]

Germany does the focus 'war with the USSR' a lot earlier, I believe because they are locked out of Anschluss and they have to do something. Then, they do not feel threatened by the soviets because they do not share a border and they declare. Thats my theory anyway.

[@SBragg88]

Italy's got such a big tree I really didn't know which branch to choose; I don't have all the DLC's yet, however, so some of the decisions are political ones in the absence of the correct DLC's; is my understanding. Interested to see what you do here :)

[@radeq]

Hi, nice strategy, just few questions: 1) wouldnt it be better to take the british/french/US fleet in peace deal? You would have the biggest in the world. 2) also, resource rights in your puppets (eg. british malaya, or US for their oil) 3) what I also like, is to create a lot of smaller puppets especially in Africa, they get their focus trees and spam factories

[@antasil5768]

Good suggestions: @1: yeah thats possible, but then I'd have to manage those fleets too. The puppets can handle them. @2: I haven't really looked that closely at resource rights, but this is probably a good idea :-) 3: I don't really like puppet spam as they tend to slow down the game. Also, you snowball so fast those few factories there matter very little.

[@radeq]

@@antasil5768 Thanks for reply, just tried some Italian strategies but this one of yours looks like it works best.

[@KilroyNoBrain]

Looking forward to the second part and the spanish conquest of america

[@johngalt5166]

This is a great strat, is Mussolini the best leader tho? Or would doing the alternate fascist paths be worth it?

[@antasil5768]

I'd need a spreadsheet for a full answer. But there are a LOT of extra traits for leaders and I believe mussoline can get the most.

[@alperensahan9856]

great work again :)

[@antasil5768]

Thanks again!

[@GlennWithTwoNs]

I'm not getting 50% naval supremacy on the British coast. It's hovering in the 40s. Any tips? My fighters cant range that zone for air superiority either and some of my planes don't have the naval strike mission set.

[@antasil5768]

It's tricky sometimes. I almost always get that naval supremacy in the first hours of the war. It can drop below fifty after that, but it usally comes back once the UK starts moving the fleet around.

[@WitcherLover-pd9ye]

Probably late but still, you can use paratroopers. First capture france 8 victory points from allied territory(to avoid air supremacy battle) and then use paratroopers again from allied land(germany for example(most of the times)) on UK harbors make like 3 divisions on different harbors and 5 on the land near other harbors(to wait when defenders get away to easily capture it) also you can manually order ships to swim close to UK coast to see if there are anyone defending port(harbor) Also before that prepare main army to stay on your ports so they can quickly get on UK territory cause paratroopers cant hold ports for even small time

[@ZarkinDrife]

finally got around to doing this and thanks so much. I did things a bit late and ran out of time on some of the focuses so its nov 39 when war with USA ended. Germany for some reason went to war with soviets in 38 despite no border with soviets so at least I can let them fight before I gobble them up. Trying to go pope path but BoP 50% on the right so gotta somehow get it down so I can get rid of the Duce haha.

[@CarvaxIV]

You need to get rid of the Duce before you start spamming war. Every victory you get shoots the BoP to the right.

[@jamieLtaker]

Boggles my mind that you don’t have more subscribers

[@antasil5768]

Same here man..... :-(

[@vedeeski]

I cant get enough naval supermacy for invading uk, even tough i have 75% naval intel etc

[@jamesflynn6827]

It's not 70 days it's 185 days till the emperor does board the train, wich makes the capitulation entirely doable, the easiest way is to just go full in, spike the escalation to 2 or 3. Choose the by any means necessary decision at 15 days spike the escalation by to 2, then dissolve some of your units in Italy to fill the frontline troops and bring the rest to Ethiopia wich spikes to 3 make sure to keep the airwings in Ethiopia under the limit as to not go to 4 escalation. And then use the tanks because they can't be pierced that makes you able to cap Ethiopia within the time limit.

[@antasil5768]

yup, that 70 days appears to be a mistake. Thanks for the addition!

[@SmashingCapital]

You get cores on britain and the whole of northern africa with mare nostrum man

[@namkang6525]

Cool vid man

[@antasil5768]

Thanks!

[@SmashingCapital]

BROO YOU DIDNT TAKE THEIR FLEET

[@poprostukaktus]

also i did this way befor tutorial but dont pick the first focus and wait for 15 political power so u can end ethiopia war faster and loose less atrition

[@sahilhossain8204]

Hmm yes lore of Hoi4 italy runs momentum 100

[@patsycards]

What soundtrack did you use for this video?

[@ZarkinDrife]

thanks for this, gonna use this to hopefully get all Italian achievements except communist one in one game. are you able to get mil access from germany If your fact since for the Austria achievement Im pretty sure you can't be in a faction with germany at any point in the run?

[@antasil5768]

well I actually got that achievement using this strat. I'm pretty sure I wasn't supposed to get it that way, but I did. I did take over Axis leadership, kick out germany, conquered and annexed them....

[@ZarkinDrife]

@@antasil5768 oh, well i think i wont take the chances since wanna try and get themm all in the same game. Is it worth rushing ethiopia before he boards the train or is it not that bad if you just keep rye on the BoP?

[@Stouzough]

@@ZarkinDrife Hi, a bit late: I also couldn't join the axis at first, so just improve the relations and after a few weeks they'll accept and you can use their ports. As for Ethiopia, give up early or fight aggressively: in both cases the BoP doesn't start so you won't need to care.

[@Chorutowo]

Great Strategy! Do you think that this would work in MP or some version of this?

[@antasil5768]

In MP this is probably banned by some rule. But if not, you can easily team up with the Germans this way.

[@Chorutowo]

@@antasil5768 Yeah I'd assume so, but the trolling possibility is golden

[@rps215]

If you want to conquer Ethiopia, I strongly suggest research MP first. Use the MXP to get that spirit of the army that gives you free design cost for cavalry and make the largest cavalry division with MP for your garrison. Create Italian East Africa ASAP because of that annoying balance of power will screw you over otherwise once you get to war with France and UK. I prefer to justify on France first, if you are confident to fight the war on two fronts like the other guy, then do that on Yugoslavia instead as you can immediately also eat Yugoslavia and Romania as well and potentially Czechoslovakia (sorry Hitler, no Austria and Sudetenland for you), but I can't. Getting the French navy is enough for you to secure naval supremacy on the English Channel. You don't need your navy anymore after that unless you get to war with Japan that is, because you can invade USA from Canada.

[@Stouzough]

That's a nice tip for MP. I puppeted all my early wins, but then I couldn't finish world conquest before 1951 because all PP needed for annexing. As for BP I followed Antasil and didn't get any problem: you don't see BP at all until you search the Triumph in Africa focus, so why matter? As for the order, I like the order shown here because it works well: Ethiopia (easy to swallow), Austria and then UK. Make UK last while encircling London and you'll get all the Empire + any country that you declare upon (Netherlands, Portugal...) Then you can finish your air + navy + army focus improvements. Don't touch France/Belgium/Yougoslavia, as these can be made rightafter and don't need any navy effort

[@SmashingCapital]

Make a tutorual for communist italy! Theres a path that basically gets you cores on the whole of africa if you control it

[@antasil5768]

yeah I'll do that! I'm into Italy now and I barely understand Ethiopia or Switzerland in depth enough for a video on that.

[@itsyurx7316]

switzerland next!

[@un-coglione-nostalgico]

I have one question: a few hours ago I was playing as Italy going to get the pope but I arledy invaded Austria France and capitulated Britain but was still at war whit the US now I didn't lose any territory and the support for the council grew randomly and I went into a Civil War do you know why?

[@antasil5768]

As far as I know support for the council doesn't grow randomly. However, losing territory doesn't always give a popup, while it does eat away support. I had a civil war in my pope run because I lost territories in africa to Portugal and the ports of hong kong etc to Japan....

[@un-coglione-nostalgico]

@@antasil5768 yeah after commenting that I remembered that France has some small islands near the US so they probably took those kinda stopid this should be only if you lose cores nice vid btw

[@rps215]

Losing colonies (including those ones you got from annexing others) pushes you 5 points to the left, while losing cores will push you 20 points plus add some ticking point push to the left as well. I think you need to get away from Council of Fascism ASAP and get them replaced with the Pope instead to prevent that, which is by taking the focus Get Papal Support which gets rid of that.

[@Stouzough]

@@antasil5768 this will be nerfed in 1.12.5: losing territory will not have as much impact in future. But thanks for reminding to protect North Africa, I didn't have any problem in my run. I saw one where UK was invading Sardigna though, so we must be careful with that

[@antasil5768]

@@Stouzough Personally I'm not too bothered with that BOP thing, you should always guard your territories ;-)

[@admincat1621]

You should take the navy and the rights

[@antasil5768]

yeah I could have done more with the peacedeal. Seeing several suggestions in the comments, so I'll include that in the next video!

[@Stouzough]

@@antasil5768 you planted the seed: after it's just fine tuning (which is a lot of fun!). Ethiopia & Spanish wars are nice, also being patient while in the UK to declare many countries also pays off, but in the end there's not much changes: your doctrines are full well before 1941, you have a jet fighter well before 1939 and world conquest is super easy. But of course, revisiting the strategy, as you did in France, is great because we learn from wizards like you.

[@billyzm]

Bro you should really just take the navy as well, they are free ships :)

[@SmashingCapital]

AAAAAH YOU FORGOT HATAY

[@based8223]

Are you drunk?

[@SmashingCapital]

@@based8223 its been 2 years mate

[@zorawarsinghghuman8911]

Which all dlc are you using ?

[@antasil5768]

I use all of them, always :-)

[@poprostukaktus]

what is the template?

[@antasil5768]

The starting template was used in the invasion of the UK. I built AA and researched recon but never bothered to add them ;-)

[@poprostukaktus]

@@antasil5768 also i have a problem with naval supremacy i couldnt invade uk , ill probably restart it but do you have any tips

[@radeq]

@@poprostukaktus Have the same problem, but in my second run I figured it out, you definitely need spy network in UK and have naval department in your spy agency researched. (also could infiltrate UK navy). Also Put your main fleet on strike force and submarines on convoy raiding.

[@poprostukaktus]

@@radeq thank you so much

[@Stouzough]

@@antasil5768 yes, I was suspecting so! MP would have been more convenient. Also I'll start another run this time with early African ministry focus: I think we can win the first Mussolini mission. After that it's super easy, especially if you already focus on fighters production.

[@SmashingCapital]

YOU DIDNT TAKE THE NAVY

[@based8223]

Not one like.