When should you start WWII as Germany in HOI4? (Götterdämmerung 2025)

[@denzblog2710]

This is what hoi4 players will do instead of talking to a woman

[@Diego000793]

Common hoi4 player W

[@theman2160]

Why would someone want to talk to women?

[@Higher-Ground]

Women are fucking scary.

[@JonCaliber45]

One of these is a positive use of your time. One is not. 😅

[@gokce9521]

Will women give me -50% advisor cost bonus?

[@matheusdesouzadomingheti9660]

bro, when you showed the first excel talking about which year each nation is stronger, I honestly spat water out of my mouth and thought to myself “no fucking way”. HAHAHA I'd just like to say that it was something I wasn't expecting, keep up the good work and I'll keep consuming it.

[@Kardia_of_Rhodes]

Meanwhile Italy solo'ing and steamrolling the Allies in 36 because, "Lmao, free War Economy from war with Ethiopia".

[@randomdudeoti]

There’s also a chance that if you do a late war, the Soviets will declare war on Poland, causing a three way war. Could help a bit late game especially if the Soviets and Uk have a front in Iran.

[@AccountNo-fg8fy]

if you want a three way war justify against finnland and uk will guarantee them and this idiots will fight the soviets works only when uk has enough PP

[@RobinMeineke]

Thats a very interesting question that I asked myself too. I usually play a mix of historical roleplay and minmaxing. And for me the joy is a lot when finding out that many historical decisions where actually the optimal ones. Like here with the 1939 start date. What bothers me though is is that irl the Germans declared on Poland in Sep 39 but waited for Benelux und France till May 40. There is no benefit for Germany to do a „phony war“ for more than half a year. In the contrary, it cuts you off from international trade and allows the allies to get to total mob, kickstarting their war industry. So Im always torn between playing historical and taking on the western allies immediately.

[@carthagegamingstudios]

The delayed invasion of the Benelux and France historically was because of uncertainty in the German high command. They knew they'd be successful in Poland, but not THAT successful. They didn't have the confidence the player has that such a thrust would work that easily. Additionally, German mobile warfare doctrine was HEAVILY predicated on favorable weather and terrain conditions that weren't available until the Spring/Summer when Germany invaded. Terrain and weather matters far less in HOI4 than it did IRL.

[@complexalp]

tbf if you're doing an early or late war you can do just as well as long as you build for it, if you use a mid war build as the test and then go to war a year early/late it won't be as good, but if you adjust when you start military buildup and focus on different aspects of your military then it would be more worth it. also if you have good divs and cas then you can beat an army twice the size of yours

[@carthagegamingstudios]

Yes, exactly my point. This playthrough was designed around a 1939 invasion date and the data bore that out. If you focus on military buildup first, then a 1938 invasion date is more than feasible.

[@lolman533]

I love the thumbnail so much

[@RikusentaiOfficial]

8:29 using Blomberg as FM definitely contributed to that. I usually promote Manstein and Guderian.

[@leonardorivelorivelo9253]

Somehow I'm one of the first comments? Well thats unusual, going to the topic, the better you are in the game the earlier you can declare war and maneuver your way into a victory, but, for most people? I say you can go early to mid 1938 with no problem if you know how the game works

[@carthagegamingstudios]

True. I don't want the video to give off the impression that you can't or shouldn't early war. This was a single playthrough with several save moments, but was built for my preference of going to war around September 1st. If you plan for an early 1938 war date, you certainly can do it with success. This playthrough wasn't made for that hence it struggling when forced to.

[@a_person_of_all_time]

I usually go in at 1940, because i never build planes before i get the proper fighter 3 tech. Starting in 1940 also allows me to have my tanks refitted with the med howitzer 2. Invading the UK isn't much of a issue because i usually build good marines and empty aircraft carries for cheap naval superiority, allowing me to invade right when the war starts

[@Rico-zq2ej]

Start researching 3th fighter in the beginning of 1937 you will get 1940 plane in the end of 1938 and you can go historically because this plane with machine gun and defence modules (don't forget to research this two modules of plane design) just absolutely clapping ai (with operational integrity air doctrine combined) and with medium howitzers as cannons on medium tanks you just become unstoppable against infantry stacks of ai troops

[@CommanderTavos99]

Would be interesting to think about when to build what as Germany in the lead up to ww2

[@tand8100]

Honestly huge factor of when one is ready for war is how much they overproduced infantry equipment. One only needs 72 inf 4 tanks and a superior airforce for the early war.

[@tokicatch878]

I just dec around 1-2 months of the historic date both for poland and soviets

[@emprahsfinest7092]

Hey can you explain how you could do "influence the Baltics" and "Nordische Geselschafte" to make Sweden/Norway/Finland join the Axis? I've tried those focuses a couple times in an otherwise historical run, but never got them to work. Thanks!

[@Filip-bh9rn]

share your germany build?

[@samimikaba]

i really love your explanations but due to my self torture by doing veteran mode ironman achievement compatible runs, numbers may slightly vary and france has more political power

[@humpteedumptee8629]

I like doing early war. The Soviets get strong asf after all the buffs fall off.

[@clubert]

I'd love if you did a alt-hist germany WW2 guide

[@jimmyoflogerty9982]

Only 66 mils for Germany in sept 39? What where you building instead?

[@carthagegamingstudios]

When I play a (mostly) historical Germany game, I aim for 75 civs with intermittent breaks to build dockyards in high infrastructure states. Once I reach the Civs I want, I focus on refineries, mils, and then build up airfields on my borders. Optimally, I should only be building as many refineries as I need rubber, but on this one I went a little ham on it.

[@Rico-zq2ej]

​@@carthagegamingstudios i get 100 civilians in the beginning of 1938 than switch to military factories in the spring and than in april 1939 I'm end up getting 110 military factories and start to build refineries

[@doodooman4545]

Bro are you like staying on civ eco or something, how tf is your eco that bad, you should have like 110 mils 100 civs 150 rubber as left side by Danzig, or maybe 100 mils if no free trade, like stop fixating on the minimal things that have little change like when you go to war, before fixating on the very important stuff like eco maxing

[@BenjaminHolman-l8s]

"Ecomaxxing" zoomer moment

[@Freezefort]

I mean most allied nations have quite a bit of econ focuses to go through.

[@Rico-zq2ej]

AI take its time to woke up so you can take advantage of it

[@JDothan]

You build no mils between sept 38 and Jan 39?

[@carthagegamingstudios]

Was building way more refineries than I needed to.

[@carthagegamingstudios]

Either that or dockyards. I don't remember. I'm learning I build a lot more Navy than the average HOI4 player does for Germany.

[@Strepz-yq2nd]

you can do anchluss in 1936 with no cheese

[@hondoplays9461]

Daleel?

[@JacobFraps]

It's true!

[@brucesim2003]

Spamming 1 battalion cav divisions is the definition of cheese.

[@RobinMeineke]

@@brucesim2003You can also spam normal divisions.

[@RabbiJochanan]

Yes if you can get just enough fully equipped divisions out before Austria has time to deploy more units.

[@KhalerJex]

I always play on non-historical

[@zhaunju]

1'460'000 manpower deployed on 1 Sep 1939 is a very poor result. Germany is able to deploy up to 3 millions of manpower before engaging the war

[@carthagegamingstudios]

True, I had plenty of equipment and easily could've, but I prefer not to for supply reasons.

[@stormsand9]

Sep 1st 1939, November 1939 if you're doing Prioritise Economic Growth. Simple as

[@JaCrispy3060]

The overarching message of this video is that the AI is just really bad

[@Yirk-v7i]

commenting for algorithm :)

[@Jackspladt]

So wait unless their attacked poland really doesn’t build any divisions? That’s insane I assumed they’d have AT LEAST 50 in 1939 or 1940

[@Vaipts]

You should never start it. Be nice Germany. All that matters in hoi4 is to survive, not to conquer the world

[@Abulb99]

The destroy Europe wheel could also be applied to the Soviet and Brittish and American government.

[@Xindet]

You can beat vanilla ai if you declare on the allies in 36. Without exploits of course. You should prepare the sheets with real players or at least expert ai in mind. I think trying to analyze vanilla ai doesnt really make sense since it is very very bad.