Stacking your defense until it's impossible to be pushed.

[@Onion__Duck]

The ol' minecraft trick of digging a hole and hiding in it. Works everytime.

[@Pydgin]

Also! If you also entrench with armoured cars you can beat the ender dragon in 15 minutes.

[@Amlaeuxrai]

Didn't know ww1 generals played Minecraft. Fascinating

[@Luredreier]

@@Amlaeuxrai You didn't know about the huge enderman charge of 1918? Oo

[@statelyeel]

Got to dig to china

[@randomguy-tg7ok]

Note that each "point" of entrenchment actually gives 2%; the blue entrenchment bar and the entrenchment tooltip in a battle give the raw stat bonuses, while everything else should be multiplied by 2. Because high levels of entrenchment take so long to build up, and do not regenerate against human waves, raw stat bonuses are generally considered better for attrition-fests.

[@gildedphoenix]

Entrenchment stacking is only viable for France anyway. Their economy is generally bust, industry is comparable to Italy, only thing that's going for them is digging down and hoping that they can hold on long enough.

[@TheLokibringer]

@@gildedphoenix in a real war, sure. But even in MP as USSR, you can stack entrench on the riverline and grind down opponents.

[@theunforgiven9386]

I remember back in MTG dlc, my friend and I decided to play with me on France and him on Germany. I rushed Engineer 3 before the war starts and since he was still a newbie, he didn't understand the power of Air Superiority and went hard on tanks. I just sat back and watched as his divisions slammed into my divisions with 3k defense and 600 soft attack.

[@jackspedicy2711]

i bet he was confused why his tanks, metal boxes your infantry could never hope to kill were not breaking trough... hoi4 realism becose tanks have like 2 soft attack and never die to enemy fire but break down instead

[@handlesarecringe957]

@@jackspedicy2711 Entrenchment doesn't only represent digging holes in the ground, it also represents mines, putting up obstacles, setting ambush locations, etc. There are plenty of ways infantry can take down a tank

[@jackspedicy2711]

@@handlesarecringe957 how could a infantry with no antitank weapons take down a tank? its not like you can just *_run up to it and stick a log in it_* kzbin.info/www/bejne/gaK3i5l4gNxog8U and its not like this new revolutsionary tank blitzgrieg can simply *_drive trough the woods_* kzbin.info/www/bejne/lXbNqoh9gd2esKc after all, we can fully trust that no tanks will ever cross the ardenne forest before 7 days, as such we can leave it unguarded

[@eyeli160]

@@jackspedicy2711 The Finnish did not have anti-tank weapons (they only had 2 anti-tank rifles in total) during the winter war. Did not stop them from destroying unprotected tanks on mass

[@KIKO00752]

Air superiority don't have such an effect cos only have 25% boost on overall stats

[@robertalaverdov8147]

No step back soviet focus tree also has +5 entrenchment along with 5% overall boost. Might be a mistake on their end. But still there on 1.114 update.

[@Pydgin]

Interesting, I might have to check that out. It might be possible to get a 194% bonus from entrenchment with them.

[@robertalaverdov8147]

@@Pydgin It's pretty doable. Even with the dozer nerfed you could still get 200%-300% entrenchment on specialized tank divisions. And of course get banned from any MP games you do it in. Seeing 7k defense just makes people cry foul.

[@willwalsh7591]

@@Pydgin The Dutch can get the highest possible entrenchment in the game. They can get a +10 from the minor democracies tree

[@Robert53area]

@@robertalaverdov8147 that is cursed yet based at the same time. Is this the soviet tree?

[@robertalaverdov8147]

@@Robert53area Yes masters of defense focus and defense industry focus.

[@rhyslewis]

I find these videos much more helpful then these 16 minutes videos everyone else does

[@Pydgin]

I do my best to keep them short.

[@rhyslewis]

@@Pydgin these videos really help I use to find it hard to rap my head around is this game and your video help a lot they made me enjoy playing

[@maxkennedy8075]

Played the entrenchment game in a black ice MP match. Armoured engineers, defence in depth and trench warfare gave my infantry so much defence and attack 5 elite Japanese infantry divisions with planning couldn’t push 1 of my Aussie boys fully dug in

[@ryanconnolly1950]

entrenchent is pretty Op for as easy as it is to accidentlly remove it from your owns troops with a simple move order

[@endsiegendsieg8971]

Did this as finland, its crazy how little troops you need to make this work, even air power cant break this

[@tiberiuswolf8259]

Finland also has Sisu, and the 20% buff to defense on core territory is *extremely powerful*

[@Runefrag]

Heavy CAS can break any defensive line, as can nukes since they directly damage troops.

[@Bigzthegreat]

@@Runefrag CAS takes time to deal damage, with that being mitigated at higher techs. If enemy troops can't even enter a battle before being crushed, CAS won't have enough time to do anything.

[@Runefrag]

@@Bigzthegreat CAS alongside air superiority immediately adds large flat bonus modifiers on top of the substantial amount of over-time damage while fortifications primarily add just defense & attack penalties. If you're getting pushed by heavy CAS without defending your skies as you are the ground, you are going to melt.

[@Bigzthegreat]

@@Runefrag Why did I lose so many men as poland then

[@justdoitlater9507]

i guess you could also mention that entrenchment(like planning bonuses) can be neutralised by having a spy network.

[@WhiterThanRice]

By revealing a cipher?

[@JohnSmith-kb4re]

@@WhiterThanRice by putting spies near frontlines and letting the network build up. it also reduces max planning

[@TheOpalHammer]

I knew about the planning bonus, but I never even considered it would affect entrenchment!

[@l.h.9747]

I realy hope they reduce that debuff with a cap because it destroys what makes grand battle plan a viable doctrine both in offense amd in defense and no other doctrine relies that much on it

[@googane7755]

Spies literally destroy entrenchment and planning. They are so underrated and people still don't know how good they are.

[@UM96lol]

Love the short and to-the-point style of these guides, you did an excellent job making them! However, do you know of any up-to-date guides that go more in depth? I'm interested in how entrenchment changes during combat, and how it pairs up to planning bonuses.

[@theunforgiven9386]

Entrenchment changes relatively simple. So long as a unit is not in a battle, it gains entrenchment. If unit moves, the entrenchment is lost. Entrenchment and planning bonuses go hand in hand especially in Grand Battle Plan since both gives you bonuses to max entrenchment and max planning. Basically, Entrenchment solidifies your static line fending off any enemy attack thus allowing you to be build up your planning bonuses to the max. GBP allows you to build up to a single powerful offensive and then consolidating while planning the next offensive.

[@Pydgin]

This video might help. kzbin.info/www/bejne/nJOlm6ytf9KWe68

[@Kaiser282]

Entrenchment is exactly why I started putting a lot more arty and anti tank into my divisions. A lot of people think GBP is slow but against AI, the hyper aggression you can have with the near immediate steel wall can melt armies if you battle plan it correctly. Cavalry with pulled arty is a cheap fun division.

[@fattyMcGee97]

Crazy high entrenchment vs AI is broken. They try to push you but all they do is lose manpower to the point that you can eventually just walk all over them.

[@Ealdorman_of_Mercia]

Love how you are concise, get straight to the point, showcase it in the video, all in 1 minute. I love effective people. Well done.

[@tedarcher9120]

Defence doesn't actually matter that much past a 1000, as almost nothing has 1000+ attack. You are much better to get smalled divisions which can still surpass enemy attack, but have way more org and reinforcements

[@nveronline2914]

wrong

[@tedarcher9120]

@@nveronline2914 true

[@SJ-xb7lg]

same with breakthrough

[@austria-hungary7680]

Like someone said: "Fortress Luxembourg"

[@Kohdey]

Love the videos always short and to the point. Idk if you have made a video about hard/soft attack or attacking in general explaining breakthrough etc but that would be handy. I've look though your videos and haven't seen one about it

[@Pydgin]

It's on the list.

[@Kohdey]

@@Pydgin thanks I appreciate it

[@DatBoi_TheGudBIAS]

after axis entrenched the borders with me for 3 yrs (since 1939 mobilizing, i only declared when i was ready in ends of 1941), my divisions couldnt pierce, they had thousands of defense. I made 4 tank divisions, med tanks, 20 width, just melted tru them, (used no step back and made a moster med tank with huge piercing, soft attack ,armour (for a med bruh) and velocity).

[@gamerdrache6076]

why not 40 with tanks

[@TheLokibringer]

@@gamerdrache6076 NSB changed combat width, so 40 is no longer the best, depending on terrain.

[@vihankrishna9644]

i like how u say velocity instead of speed

[@zapid6733]

@@TheLokibringer 42/43W tanks still meta

[@justinian-the-great]

You know I do wonder, how would increase in entrenchment be represented on the actual battlefield. Like what if you have hundreds of percents entrenchment? Would your soldiers dig like 20 lines of trenches or like bury themselves in one single 20 meters deep trench?

[@МихаилСтепанов-ь9ч]

I think it represents the difference between foxhole that was dug out during one night, and a Japanese defences on Guadalcanal, that were made out of local materials without any mechanical engineering tools, but were inpenetratable even for naval artillery

[@quentintin1]

it doesn't cover just the digging of trenches, but also killzones, ambush points, minefields, camouflage, mapping of the area for artillery, etc

[@Runefrag]

There are myriads of way trenches can be improved. Depth, zig-zagging to greatly decrease the effect of artillery/bombs, reinforcing the sides to prevent collapse, digging out trench bunkers/pillboxes to have barracks & store supplies in locally, adding steps for soldiers to stand on while firing, adding in primitive floors to decrease the amount of mud & swamp footing, etc.

[@josephrobinson6171]

For me it represents landmines, barbed wire, tank traps, wooden bunkers and trenches, caves etc

[@berkkarsi]

Hey Pydgin, I love these videos. They are very helpful. Please keep 'em coming. One suggestion I have for you which can make these better is after you explain the concept, show us an example of how to use it in a scenario.

[@Pydgin]

Thanks! I like to show examples while talking about it. I’ll try to point them out bit more, maybe emphasize that it’s an example. Just so you know you don’t need to post the same comment on every video though. I see them all.

[@kennandunn7533]

Is it possible to make an encirclement guide? I can occasionally catch one or two units but have no idea how to get the massive, entire army encirclements.

[@someinsignificantguy4433]

Break through with tanks or something and capture territory behind the enemy lines as fast as possible wihout risking to let the enemy encircle you. Then you'll see encirclement opportunities and just have to use them

[@theexam7394]

My general strategy for creating encirclements is to have a wall of infantry divisions covering the frontline, while concentrating all my motorized, mechanized, and tank divisions for a pincer attack on specific locations. When successfully achieving a breakthrough in the enemy frontlines, those fast-moving divisions can quickly push through behind enemy lines, and when the pincers meet, you would have encircled potentially an entire frontline's worth of enemy divisions. The infantry are there to primarily hold the line while your mobile forces focus on the attack. When an encirclement is done, infantry can handle the encircled divisions with support from your armor if necessary.

[@GundamReviver]

I'd be also interested in this one

[@samarkand1585]

Currently, instead of big tanks divisions, prioritize motorized artillery divisions, much more cost-effective. Put in almost as many mot. art. as you put mot inf or mechanized, just one or two less. If you can afford it, put in a single batallion of heavy tanks, with as much armour as possible, and speed in the 8km/h range or more. Do the breakthrough with them, while you pin the troops next to the pincers to prevent them from reinforcing, and pin the troops inside the pincers with a losing battle to prevent them from escaping. The AI doesn't do forced retreats, so it's easy to trick it this way

[@fourthstage9375]

Its seems like doing encirclements is much more difficult after logistics change, my units get instantly hit by attrition penalties when they cross the border

[@chezchex620]

Did this to get the “no step back” Soviet achievement with heavy flame tank support companies before their nerf in the recent patch

[@Andrw320isretarded]

i did no step back with mass infantry and fighter planes. no support for infantry. starting template 18w inf.

[@aspielm759]

Very nice, but I’d like to know more about some sneaky tricks on the defense stat, strats and tactics. I’m normally a very offensive player and never really cared about defense since “a good offense is the best defense” A base value of over 500 defense is immense to me.

[@Pydgin]

I agree with "a good offense is the best defense" if you can take the tiles before they have time to entrench you don't have to worry about it. :D

[@aspielm759]

@@Pydgin Yep, that's my playstyle! Though as defense is equally important, I'd love to see more of your playstyle and perhaps even another few video talking about stacking defense! You know something like: how to know how much AA you need to effectively counteract CAS without loosing softattack and defense, how deal with railway guns, how to use weather and terrain to it's fullest defensive potential, (as mentioned in my previous comment) maybe some sneaky tricks, strats, tactics on how to defend even better (like having a high reinforce and recovery rate and switching units constantly) and so on and so forth.

[@thesnassassn8521]

"entrenchment shouldn't be the only thing you focus on" my divisions at 26000 defense: 🤔

[@Pydgin]

26k defense? Damn what's that look like? 50w inf, level 5 unit experience, decryption, entrenchment, forest, river, fort, country bonus, +desperate defense, assuming level 9 field marshal and general. Like it might be possible, this is making me wonder what's the highest possible defense on a unit in vanilla....

[@willwalsh7591]

@@Pydgin It would have to be mech infantry to get the highest.

[@Glumbus1]

basically turns you into the maginot with the exact same weakness and any break in your line turns you into the french i do love gbp and enchrenchment

[@ryanmaris1917]

Entrenchment means nothing if you throw enough CAS at it.

[@samarkand1585]

Anti-air hurts though, put a full batallion of it on your divs and watch them lose 10 or more CAS per tick. Also CAS got a recent nerf to ground attack, not huge, they're still very good, but still

[@KIKO00752]

Bro air is not that strong for sure

[@heavydutydavid5020]

Ha! Not anymore~!

[@Flupenius]

You see, who needs consumer goods when experienced soldier super can hunt gracefully muddy waterlogged trenches for fantastic traditional fried rat on stick, glory to motherland soldier, fried rat on stick give you supreme health benefits

[@Pydgin]

Woah! A STICK!? Look at Mr. Moneybags over here. Guy can afford a stick!

[@gameer0037]

0:23 wow is this in the vanilla game? what is this? o.o

[@Pydgin]

That's one of the army spirits in officer corps. It's a new feature with the No Step Back DLC.

[@gameer0037]

@@Pydgin Thanks you! Somehow I completely missed these absolutely huge gigantic buttons. What a facepalm moment..

[@Aryawirantono1246]

Upload more and daily cus i need to beat Soviet

[@TheCarloCarlone]

If you have a problem the answer is planes. Red air? Fighters! Problem on land warfare? CAS! Problem on naval warfare? TAC!

[@LiterallyMe91]

@@TheCarloCarlone problem in Navy must be more like Naval Bombers

[@LiterallyMe91]

Defeating the Soviets is really easy, if you know what you're doing. Get a lot of filler infantry divisions, and very very good tanks. At the start, there will be a massive bulge at the region known as Lwow. This is a great place for a massive encirclement. But after that, don't stop. Push on to Odessa, and encircle the entirety of the Southern Soviet army. At the same time, encircle the Baltics and push onto the Leningrad. Then, take your Southern and Northern tanks in a pincer movement to encircle the entirety of the Centre. This will destroy the Soviet Infantry and divisions enough that they will not put up any defense. The only time this hasn't worked for me is when I used Expert AI. I haven't tried it in NSB, so I'm not sure about that. But I do think it will likely still work.

[@feliperojas9860]

@@LiterallyMe91 Yeah it still works but making big encirclements is kind of hard because of the new supply system because you need to prioritize supply hubs or it ends in an stalemate

[@Pydgin]

I can't upload daily, I don't have time.

[@KIKO00752]

Please explain what is planning bonus

[@Pydgin]

I will make a video on it eventually but it's like the opposite of entrenchment. Make a plan, wait, get bonuses.

[@stansearcheslife6363]

IM DIGGING A TRENCH TO THE CORE OF THE FUCKING EARTH

[@Pydgin]

I'm going to need some Xena tapes and hot pockets!

[@sirvickthereal]

I understand now, so I should only focus on entrenchment

[@Pydgin]

Yes, make sure all your divisions have 25 dozer blade tank battalions. ... /s

[@yuven437]

Does entrenchment degrade when cintinously under attack?

[@Pydgin]

No, but if you are pushed off the tile you will lose the bonus.

[@HunterTheCana.]

its time to play te un-breakable switzerland

[@enesb4797]

Thanks!

[@CosyGrave]

I fear no man, but that thing *5k defense* it scares me

[@Pydgin]

Seriously 5k defense is a lot.

[@IronWolf123]

Can you explain screening in naval combat?

[@Pydgin]

I plan to do some videos on naval combat and screening is one of them. Basically screens protect your capital ships. Screens (destroyers/light cruisers) with 3:1 ratio or higher will have a 100% screen efficiency meaning light attack from ships and subs on medium risk will target the screens first. If your efficiency is below 100% your capital ships are vulnerable.

[@Hussaria]

“Provides bonuses to ATTACK and defense…”. How for attack???

[@Pydgin]

stat modifier, it's similar to planning.

[@CharliMorganMusic]

What is Mobilization Speed?

[@Pydgin]

There is a delay when switching conscription laws, mobilization speed is the rate in which manpower moves into the available pool.

[@moritztabor1678]

Thank you

[@Pydgin]

Thank you!

[@sauronmordor7494]

yes

[@Robert53area]

Has anyone done the trench tree soviet? Curious how well trenching on the soviet side works? I always go superior firepower and heavy stack rocket arty,

[@Pydgin]

I'm considering trying to hold the molotov line in my next playthough for the "Not one step back" achievement. that +15% would definitely help.

[@Robert53area]

@@Pydgin let me know how effective it works I am assuming adding a 3x4 infantry, with eng company, and 1x4 rocket arty would make it almost impossible for the axis to break, but armor might be a problem

[@bedouinknight9437]

WW1 in nutshell

[@Pydgin]

Get entrenchment high enough and you can roleplay the war as a rerun.

[@adamsaputrama5934]

Thankssss

[@simonalejandro1854]

Hello v: kamaraden.

[@gamerx112]

Good thing I dont have no step back and reverted to 1.9 never looked back.

[@Pydgin]

Most of the things I talk about here are in vanilla.

[@Mr_Dimento]

You can get over 120% entrenchment as Bulgaria.. relive the Balkan wars now!

[@anonymous-rb2sr]

can ANYONE tell me what entranchement actually does? this tutorial doesn't answer the 1 question it's supposed to answer, I couldn't find the answer on the wiki or anywhere else either WHAT STATS does entrenchment affect?? there are 4 main combat stats: -soft attack (think of it as soft damage) -hard attack (think of it as hard damage) -breakthrough (think of it as attack, it counters the damage taken on the attack) -defense (think of it as defense it counters the damage taken on the defense) WHICH ONE OF THESE IS THE ENTRENCHMENT BONUS APPLIED TO?????? DOES ANYONE KNOW?

[@anonymous-rb2sr]

I would really like an answer because I am crunching the numbers for a build and the difference it makes if entrenchment affects soft attack+defense vs only soft attack is MASSIVE, if it doesn't then the strategy I have in mind can't work, if entrenchement affects the defence stat then it's an unbreakable wall, but NO ONE seems to know what entranchement actually does, your tutorial says "boosts attack and defense", those aren't even stats used by the game lol, what am I supposed to do with that useless info

[@Pydgin]

I mention it in the video. Entrenchment bonus is 2% defense, soft attack and hard attack when defending per point of entrenchment.

[@anonymous-rb2sr]

@@Pydgin ok so in that case entrenchment is pretty incredibly broken, thanks for the reply it would have been really weak if it only covered the damage stat or the defence stat also I heard of a glitch recently where because of poor coding the defence bonuses act as breakthrough, does that mean that entrenchment gives bonus attack? obliviously that would be only on the first attack since by attacking you move and by moving you lose all entrenchment except that.. thinking of that now, I now remember that there is a thing in the general skills called "probing attack", that allows you to attack without losing entrenchment, do you see where I'm getting at? something to look into, it would completely change the tank meta if my idea turns out to be true

[@gunsafety344]

@@Pydgin you forgot one thing

[@theglutton1815]

Make a discord for hoi4 tips

[@Pydgin]

Link in the description, but here it is too. discord.gg/378qRBNtvB

[@MetoFulcurm]

Maginot your units.

[@cpt.mystic_stirling]

When some history boys get mad Germany should have won WW2, present them this video

[@hamuegg6042]

tf

[@gregs1245]

Meta? Hah entrenchment go brrr

[@wetwillyis_1881]

These are great videos, it's a shame that no step back drove me to playing with mods, because of how weird the new DLC made the game.

[@Pydgin]

It takes some getting used it. Now that I understand the new additions I really like them.

[@user-jy3tr1rv8v]

Might I ask what mods you use?

[@wetwillyis_1881]

@@user-jy3tr1rv8v TFB (There Finest Bruh (The one Bokoen 1 uses)) and the Empire mod.

[@kennandunn7533]

I'm running an old version specifically because my favorite mods haven't updated yet.