The Ultimate HOI4 Challenge - Ethiopia on By Blood Alone

Today on the new Hearts of Iron 4 dlc By Blood Alone I'll try and survive as Ethiopia against Italy and thrive! Can I hold or will this be another classic HOI4 Rambler Fail?
►PATREON - / therambler146
►JOIN - / @alextherambler
Alex the Rambler produces videos on a variety of Strategy games while dabbling in other things from time to time. Expect extremely incompetent gameplay!
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#hoi4

[@AlextheRambler]

*The new ultimate challenge?*

[@ProbablyRose]

Yeah probably

[@ImStevan]

really? not a luxembourg 1939 start date?

[@trismica]

nah tuva is the hardest

[@ejbattlelord6436]

Try not use console commands challenge Alex the rambler when?

[@DoofusGoofus414]

nah do the sultanate of afar or whatever in Ethiopia that Italy annexes

[@KleinesStein]

Alex demonstrates that people make the same mistake multiple times regardless of knowing what will likely happen. He goes on the offensive every time and then regrets it Edit; since there appears to be a comment war going on below, I just want to say that I’m by no means judging or saying that Alex is godly at the game or shit at it. I personally also believe in the tactic of continuous offensives even if you know it won’t work

[@Tom-oj7si]

Most hoi4 tubers are actually incredibly bad at the game and repeat such mistakes over and over I watch these videos to fall asleep, but I can imagine it would be painful to see these mistakes

[@Ben-fk9ey]

@@Tom-oj7si Um actually Alex (otherwise known as "Alex the Rambler") is a pro gamer who graduated first of his class at the prestigious "Map Game Internet Celebrity School". Of course you cannot comprehend his genius tactical knowledge, very few people can. His encirclements are legendary, his equals are none.

[@ewwiott9599]

Did I ever tell you the definition of insanity

[@themaavpage8169]

it demonstates that he's a noob pretending to be the "greatest hoi4 player ever"

[@inleviwetrust]

@@Tom-oj7si 🤓

[@savageassassin8548]

Alex: i need to wait until the war escalates and not go on the offensive also Alex seeing an empty tile completely exposd to the italians: oh, piece of candy

[@whitezombie10]

The AI:

[@shirt3562]

Alex: "This is why I get so many disaster saves, people just don't understand that they need to sit tight and hold until they are in a position of strength!" Also Alex: Ethiopia go brrrr, oh wait

[@jerdigaming4856]

The new ultimate challange is going to be fighting as Aussa against Italy Edit: Ironically, I played Aussa its so easy. Maybe easier then Abysinnia.

[@AlextheRambler]

Video coming soon

[@robson1400]

i did it its preety easy ngl

[@robson1400]

just spam your military tree amd u have enough troops to hold ur capital then wait for like half of mil kil*ed italian troops and u can push them preety easily of africa

[@shadowlord1418]

its really not that hard by stacking their national spirits you just hold out on their cap which cant be pocketed because of french somalia

[@definitelynotstalin4306]

Finally I'm not the only one saying it!

[@mustarddust8788]

you might find it interesting that Assau has a secret focus tree which isn’t shown on the interesting countries tab

[@smureho3673]

its a generic focus tree for every african nation i think

[@Eiweing]

Yes definitely a part 2 of this. You deserve to reap the rewards of that hard fought result :)

[@crazysc0tsman]

I second this

[@libertylovin2359]

Never thought I'd see you play this game. Pleasantly surprised.

[@bighillraft]

I sure am glad that my favourite Risk player, Atomic Nerd, has tried out the new indie game Hearts of Iron IV on his second channel, Alex the Rambler. I sure hope that he makes a series out of it

[@SL1ppy101]

Love how Paradox made it harder as Ethiopia :D

[@gabrieldossantos1116]

It's harder because the debuffs make you're army weaker than before, but the fact that you now have enough divisions to cover the frontline instead of that bs of entrenching in three tiles. It's like they made it harder but less stressful by removing the grind factor

[@berkkarsi]

So it was actually easier before the DLC?

[@HistoryGameV]

@@berkkarsi You basically pulled back around the capital where the Italians wouldn't have enough supply to really beat you and you just have to shuffle your divisions around to repulse the attacks. Really stressful and annoying but overall easy. Now it's more difficult but more enjoyable too.

[@elborre5483]

Not really holding is extremely easy at the moment. Specially if you go historical path. Look for taureor video and it is absurd how easy it is to hold

[@gtp3185]

Not really, he just didnt do the best strat

[@carlosmiguelteixeiraott3643]

Alex: "My reputation among the Hearth of Iron community would drop even further if I failed at holding Addis Ababa." Me: "Wait...you mean it's not at rock bottom already?"

[@Bombslugger]

I'm getting Hoi4 and a pc on October 8th because of your inspiring, consistent gameplay, love the multiplayer games.

[@someonethatlikesyou7713]

can you tell your pc specs?

[@someonethatlikesyou7713]

@Arblin Ujkani where you live china? :D

[@Bombslugger]

@@someonethatlikesyou7713 probably Turkmenistan or one of the stans

[@mrhater123]

@Arblin Ujkani vpn?

[@detroitvseverybody3813]

@Arblin Ujkani torrent it

[@BlackKnigth323]

I resisted first try, but then again mine was like a mix of BitterSteel and Feedback I retreated to the mountains and hills right away, not even trying to fight, but just enough to still protect the North and South in the decision objective But I also spammed the levies division (the ones with the sword icon, I do not remember the specific template name) to have enough people to cycle reinforce, moving troops in and retreating when their organization was low and replacing them with higher organization. It's tough and needs lots of focus, but is totally possible

[@Legohunter-uv1wc]

I would love to see a big KZbinr play the sultanate of Aussa, as they do have their own focus free and it would be interesting to see.

[@AclibButLikeTheRealOne]

Glad it took you 3 tries including off-cam tries, I was so disappointed when I didnt get it first try but it seems like im not the only one who's bad at hoi lol

[@SlipZz]

love your vids man, keep it up!!

[@ProbablyRose]

I wonder how this will go since I have 1.2k hours and can’t win as Ethiopia..

[@lukemccullough8384]

I have a thousand hours and I can barely win as Germany lol

[@ProbablyRose]

@@lukemccullough8384 oof that sucks

[@KinoTechUSA69]

@@ProbablyRose As a major history nerd who sucks at games but still loves HOI4, it does kinda suck. Lol

[@gamerdrache6076]

skill issue

[@CherokeeWill]

If you decolonize Ethiopia from the game setup settings it looks like a stained-glass window from the 14th century lol

[@dont-rump901]

Would definitely love to see a part two if possible! 😄

[@gustavrask8592]

Good video keep op the good work❤

[@PenguinofD00mxxx]

Will be trying this out soon

[@henryofskalitz6089]

Absolutely want to see this continued!

[@scottjuhnke6825]

Alex Alex, Alex....That was your Ethiopia Runs. Runs. Man! Multiple Runs! Thanks for the fun! Enjoyable as always!

[@derpiestderp325]

good one mr alex von ramballs

[@nanobots7004]

17:18 ahh sorry Alex but that felt so good ... since i lost to the same challenge 2 days ago XD

[@austinreed5805]

Who would win: Italian Tanks or Wooden Spears

[@Asztec]

Isn't that hard against tanks made out of paper.

[@gabrieldossantos1116]

@@Asztec And with the fuel reserves strapped on the *outside* of the armor... Can't see how that could've gone wrong for Italy

[@isaacrubin9291]

Yeah you should continue this

[@joelhicks5468]

I can only imagine the frustration of trying this war like 4 times...

[@thatoneterran5061]

Something worse than 39 poland...

[@ProbablyRose]

LOL true

[@bradynewbold3763]

You can do it Alex!

[@new_roro8329]

yay new video!

[@mypenisisunbelievablysmall2899]

"so we're holding until September 37th" -Alex

[@PSIRockOmega]

I've been playing as Ethiopia myself recently and I'd like to see how you'd do it differently after the first war.

[@MH-tr4kn]

Part two! lets go

[@Nathan-qj7jw]

Hell yeah we want a second part

[@davidray6047]

please continue this gameplay. I really what to see where this goes

[@fireironthesecond2909]

That goose must be exhausted lmao 😂

[@coldessa1210]

Hope there a part 2 to this

[@jshadowhunter]

The trick is that you keep 1 or 2 units in reserves so that you keep juggling between them back and forth in order to keep high morale.

[@Ben-fk9ey]

Continue!!

[@waluigiofthegucciweedclan2006]

Play as Bool's realm next

[@farmerjoe6204]

Please make a part 2!!!

[@frankiecedeno3724]

Huh, I’ve never seen anyone fail like this, they always beat the Italians

[@lordmilchreis1885]

If you hold and troll the Italians its actually pretty doable to hold out till WW2 and then send the Italians back through the Suez

[@HistoryGameV]

Sorry for critisizing you for not taking all of East Africa.^^ Great video, missed a good bit of the stream, nice to watch if fully.

[@josephscioscio9649]

In my successful run, Italy declared on Communist Yugoslavia at war escalation 7 and France jumped em with the Allies. Italy had no faction. Since I'd fought them for so long, I kept over 50% of the war support n took their entire navy and African holdings plus I puppeted Sicily (no other options at that point). Didn't end up being able to use it, since the allies literally took out one of the three enemies they could possibly have in that game. BUT, it felt pretty good for an African desert minor to have 50+ ships outta nowhere (till the American divisions showed up when I declared on the UK during revolts I formented)

[@kamilr4145]

14:39 pain

[@HellFighterDiosis]

Part 2 please!!!!

[@cpat1068]

Part 2 mah lord

[@battelmaster1982]

Love your videos and cant believe people don't sub

[@ChristianSannino1904]

I like your video

[@bamatrooper2]

Please continue

[@Aldrahill]

“It went better off camera, I swear!” I’m afraid it’s a rule, Alex - The game knows you’re recording, so it goes elite beast mode. No joke, same thing happened to me playing Ethiopia - OBS closed? Italians ai turns off and I win easily. OBS open? I got force attacked to my capital and had to restart thrice :P

[@gamerdrache6076]

who can´t hold against force attack is not good

[@cameronlorenz6689]

interesting jump cut after clicking ironman and starting the game

[@calumclark1719]

Best i have managed so far is to hold out a year and level 5 but completely misunderstood the tree so couldn't get the league of nation speech or close the suez but will get there eventually, you missed a trick there is a mountain general in there he was the best for me

[@darrenb209-]

Regarding the Force Attack spam, do the Conquer the North/South mission give the Italians Command Power? That could be the source of it, they break through the South or north, get more Command power and repeat.

[@AlphaNumericKey]

It gives Italy significant bonuses and stops the Civil War from happening. Naturally, Italy being destroyed by a horrible internal war is usually pretty helpful for the defense of Ethiopia.

[@ashkaplan7548]

It'd be cool to see if Euthiopa can into space

[@patricksimpson1157]

Made the same mistake of attacking way too early with Ethiopia and paid the price

[@epiceen9069]

thats nice

[@ekeech]

going the stay path and not unlocking the ability to buy guns for pp make this very difficult

[@123blackvenom]

Part 2 please

[@crazysc0tsman]

I second this

[@poyloos4834]

I think im just not very good, as I’ve yet to beat the italians on historical. Either there’s something I’m missing, or I’ve been thinking about it wrong, because even with the command power exploit, I fall apart by mid 38. I should prefice that this is on the emperor stays path. Maybe I should be rushing the gun focus, or maybe I need to try and square off one of the fronts fast. I’ve tried rushing the south quick a couple times due to the much lower number of divisions on the southern border to start, but they get quickly reinforced and my hail mary turns into holy mother mary and now down an entire frontline that I already couldn’t afford as is. So should I push the north, due to only having one port and less ground to traverse? Do I just play the league of nations route a few times first as it’s probably easier? Should I be less reliant on command abilities as they chew equipment? I don’t want to have to suffer the indignity of looking up a guide, but a few tips would be real nice.

[@Jukletsplay]

First off, don’t attack. Holding’s a big enough problem and you haven’t got the guns or stats to attack anywhere, so don’t try encircling the Italians. Second, farm the war escalation as that helps you so much, even more so if you stay with Haile and don’t go commie. Third, to hold you have to shuffle units manually a bit so you have to stay alert. Run at 4 speed or less for the first few months until you stabilize the fronts. When you notice a losing battle bubble, sent in the most org’d division that will make it there in time, and retreat the least org’d division from the battle and let it reorg. You will have to do this quite often and you will lose territory, but from my experience the Italians don’t get anywhere near Addis Abbeba. Honestly it isn’t that hard, you just have to micro and that’s painful, but that’s about it. Good luck.

[@MrFaorry]

Don't try to push. You'll need to just find a defensive line and just hold until war escalation really starts to ruin Italy and you're able to start getting Lend-lease off people like Germany. Instantly pull back to the 4 hill tiles in the south with the Hills trait commander. And in the North give up Aksum, Adwa, and Macalle instantly holding on the tiles below them and then rush into Aussa's capital when you can since that's all mountains. Beyond that it's just a case of making sure you micro divisions enough that you never lose a tile, you shouldn't need to give up any more land beyond the initial retreat. Doing it this way their casualties should overtake yours pretty quickly so long as you don't fall back any further. Once you no longer have a gun deficit and Italy is at 7 or 8 War Escalation their troops should be pretty under equipped and deorged, at that point pick north or south whichever looks weaker and go for it. Just make sure to leave behind 3 or 4 divisions on the ports because Italy will try to naval invade them.

[@poyloos4834]

@@MrFaorry an interesting thing ive noticed in my most recent attempt is the fact that the annexation of Aussa only triggers once Macalle. I figured this out when i made a 2-tile fall back line in the north emcompassing only Gondar and the tile *below* macalle and I had like 6+ divs unnassigned holding macalle. When one would break id throw in the next fully orged guy in the back, and it created a cycle of fresh org that the italians couldn’t break. I held macalle well into the year, but of course the second i looked away they took it. Then everything kinda melted from there. But yeah, that game I also focused entirely on defense. That’s def the way to go. Yeah there’s the whole “attack is always the better option” but you can have tribal warfare giving you an extra 50% defense going down the right mil path. But yeah, my biggest issue is my insistance on playing 5 speed and losing tiles by a few hours. Gotta work on that. But yeah, potentially huge boon for the northern front if I can consistently repeat holding macalle that way, because that could be huge.

[@TheJam1192]

Should have put Thriving as Ethiopia on Blood Alone 😂

[@esochibuike8477]

Great content Alex but when will you go back to non- HOI content? Like total war or something.

[@BetzeBert]

I want to see a complete run

[@crazysc0tsman]

2nd part please! Ethiopia to the moon!

[@mbaird4]

Please continue the game

[@josephshorr6781]

Continue!

[@golden-corners9919]

Yes

[@thermalrooikat]

Do a Scotland destroys England challenge for Matt

[@lego3952]

Paradox can help you with that, alex 😏 5:21

[@aghafariborz]

Please complete the tree for next parts ❤️

[@Sofa_Muncher]

When aussa world conquest

[@thatonekid1190]

Base game save my disaster

[@Mr_Godmode]

Yes more

[@McAwesomeNuggets]

I'm doing my part!

[@alphapi9211]

please continue it

[@arthurzwachte5537]

Tryed this on unhistorcial…… Italy joined the allies

[@Crusher29]

Continue this run please

[@Saphorik]

What is "career profile" (from a guy who hasn`t played for at least a year)?

[@gamerdrache6076]

its where you can see all the things you made in the game or the highest you ever had of something kinda like statistics it came from no step back

[@johnrode43]

epic

[@daremyeleshgeda8482]

Egypt still in Ethiopian Water

[@peytonsweatman1659]

Part 2 part 2 part 2

[@Gungnirs_revenge]

Bitt3r steel and feedback for the win on their strats, thought alex would get a bit further sooner was hoping for a commie branch of Ethiopia, already done the normal achiement and the kenya one, trying the commie one atm and the restoring the faction of Africa which is bugged atm. I want to see someone get Jerusalem aswell

[@peppp3598]

Alex has the same shirt on as me

[@peppp3598]

Because you are a fraudulent fraud

[@zoso8700]

Part Deux!!

[@newromanempire907]

Play with Greece and end it with world domination as a new Roman Empire!

[@The_platform763]

So, Alex, are you enjoying seizing a sewer 💀

[@sheep21]

Continue it

[@rps215]

If you are patient enough you can get to max escalation and eventually you will get Somalia and Eritrea (and Libya) to revolt from Italy, effectively trapping any Italians left in Ethiopia.

[@rodrigogiancristofaro5110]

Continue

[@cyanfloy2473]

Make a defensive line and I made a success run in July 1937

[@marcelinodolan7859]

hi alex

[@NineNoRouge]

We have Hearts of Iron :)

[@rihardsaar4635]

why does alex have the uncontrollable need to swich around letters in foreign words like here he said ASKUM multiple times when its AKSUM

[@alanguerra3256]

Please take Ethiopia and conquer Africa!

[@daremyeleshgeda8482]

Why Egypt stealing other people water

[@trismica]

yeah but will the top g respond

[@mrsausage666]

Hi matt

[@abhorash1]

Ethiopia really doesn't look fun at all to play

[@smein9536]

I want to send you a save game. I was playing as Germany for my first game ever and declared war on Czechoslovakia before I realized they were garunteed by the allies. I thought I would be able to beat them, but they cut my country in half. If you want to try to save it, just respond to this comment how you want me to send you it.

[@smein9536]

Sorry, I won't be able to send you it for a while. My computer broke. I can send it to you in 9-10 months, if you're willing to wait.