Why I DON'T Like Nationalist Spain - Hoi4

Today in Hearts of Iron IV I will be going my reasons as to why I dislike the other side of the Spanish Civil War, the Nationalists. From their prep to the aftermath all the issues I have shall be covered.
Along the way we go through the civil war, with naval invasions to encirclements galore. Much is in store for our foes, the Republicans. But something tells me they might not be up to the challenge.
Music used from:
A Hat in Time:
Hearts of Iron IV:
04/04/23.

[@BubblesZest]

2 in 2 weeks, yeah I'm surprised too. I should note, that despite my dislike of playing Nationalist Spain that doesn't mean I can't find things I like. There is a reason a nationalist path won the Spanish ranking after all. But sometimes this is the way things be, you know.

[@sigmaballs2004]

Can ask you to make a video of what is the point of democratic Brazil? No one is interested in it and there is no, person who would record a video about this... Thank you ❤️❤️❤️❤️

[@legaullonapoleonien8760]

Paradox didn't really make a lot for post civil war Spain. Would be really to get a faction with the Spanish old colonies... The script of the Republicans is so frustrating. Paradox should really take your advice. PS : It's so cool that's you're doing video again. I love them.

[@UlulvarCape]

An easy way of incorporating that is to expand the Latin Bloc. Francoist Branch already gets the ability to create a faction with itself and Portugal, and invite italy called the "Latin Bloc" Allow it to expand and invite non-aligned/fascist states in the Americas. It could be a nice neutral bloc in the Americas, and maybe some economic spirit like in KR/KX. Also give it more war goals then just "Gibraltar Claim" I'd like to see war goals on Portugal, Turkey, Liberia, France, and the Soviet Union, and Japan because IRL, Franco severed ties after Japan invaded the Philippines, and also give it claims on Camerun and Morroco, and that one flavor event of Franco and Hitler meeting. Another for those who interfered in the Spanish Civil War if they sent support to Carlists (if they rose up), Anarchists, and Republicans. Those are easy enough fixes

[@yorrbro]

we are sooo back

[@carlosduran4940]

You know, is Paradox, i really think they hate Spain, i read the Spanish mission tree in EU IV and is... insulting to say something polite. And Portugal is like they dont care at all about the country. But yes, they dont put so much effort in Spain, is the only country that has post-civil war negative modifiers, germany even has focuses that buffs them, while Spain needs over 5-6 70 days focuses to not suck

[@nimabanaie2171]

I personally agree. I don’t like KR Spain as well, not enough post-war content

[@darkphoenix2745]

Isn't the spanish mission tree in EU IV one of the most OP tho? And I agree in regards to the post civil war content, if you go anarchist you actually core outside lands faster than your iberean territories.

[@loirojose9298]

I'm just the opposite; I hate playing with the Republicans... Those debuffs are horrible... The Carlists for me are the best because they are the most difficult to play.

[@jamesoharte7098]

Carlists are the easiest, especially post civil war with the ticking compliance

[@FirieifjcjfbdkdjekDjkdndldhdk]

How to play carlist 1.secure states of eastern aragon and catolunia 2.in civil War annex these states thats keep you front divided(that one with bilbao and that next to it)3.secure 3 states:catalunia eastern aragon western aragon 4.dont run out of men that swiftly 5.buy from international market you dont need civilian idustry 6.you probably win because its most easy path

[@FirieifjcjfbdkdjekDjkdndldhdk]

I dont get that blue things on this so ignore this

[@meganoobbg3387]

No surprise here - Paradox compensates it's incompetent AI by giving it unfair advantages. Like no attrition on bad terrain, no supply zones or even when they stack tons of units against you. Im pretty sure it doesn't even need PP to take certain decisions, or even guarantee countries. This why i stopped playing - 90% of what i do in this game now is buildup industry/infrastructure for supply, micromanage the gazillion DLC "features" i didn't ask for... and only 10% do war :D

[@Thedefenses]

Nationalist Spain is another country where the historical path falls to the age old problems, its the historical path and historically, they didn´t do much. Spain kinda just chilled after the war and all the paths that the nationalist can go down kinda show that. You can join the Axis and just be another ally, a bit weird you can´t get any claims in that path but it is what it is. You can just be neutral as happened historically. Or you can join the allies and just be another member of the allies. I get why they made these paths this way, Spain stayed neutral as it was still quite weak after the civil war and thus would need a lot of rebuilding help from its faction, but it does feel like they could have put at least some unique things in each branch that are not just factories, construction boosts or factory output.

[@royale7620]

All it needs is a lot more post-civil war content, like what if Germany loses the war, you get tons of germans in Spain, like generals, huge debuffs, research, nukes, etc and you attack the Allies and avenge the loss or smth like that.

[@budoslerry8360]

Been binging your videos during the past week, love to see new uploads!

[@giancocastillo6423]

I have found a way to make the prep a bit easier, if you do not take a focus and wait for the elections and hold onto it you can just influence a state while preventing the republican "ai" from doing anything while giving you one tick of influence above them when the event expires.

[@edspace.]

If it helps, in my native language every head of state is a monarch (there's no gender pronouns) so you can still be the Spanish Civil War King, "Die Espana Hemmet-Krieg Tzar" (literal translation, "The Homeland War of Spain Monarch") we'd just add an adjective to Tzar for each run, granted different adjectives can be used other than "Hemmet" depending on your view on what the conflict was about. Part of me wishes that Hearts of Iron had something akin to Estates or some kind of Non-State Actor mechanic which could be used to influence the way politics works in the game (the base ideology structure could still be fine for context by which they interact).

[@edspace.]

@LeifTunteri-s7r Ironically given how a lot of the frustration I've seen from players is that a Major will jump in and guarantee a country, this can even get rid of a major frustration with the game in a lot of ways by replacing the limiter on world conquests being something the player can't effect with something the player can. Like how in Superpower 2 one of the biggest barriers to a world conquest was the risk of Economic Failure or a Military Coup/Election Defeat if your approval dips too low, the nuances were somewhat limited but with 2004 tech it was understandable and perhaps paradox could remove the guarantee mechanic and bring in a more embellished version of Superpower 2's system.

[@edspace.]

@LeifTunteri-s7r Thanks, I had wondered if I'd gone into an incomprehensible ramble about an old game.

[@BortBortson]

Having just started playing as Nationalist Spain, if you only do break the strikes and focus on the two garrisons needed for the consolidate the North focus, if you hit the garrison button the instant it comes up, alternate between the two regions for the first two times. The AI will select one so focus on the other and max it out, the youll get in a loop where you increase the other and the AI decreases. If you hit the button the instant it comes up and always do break the strikes, youll have the 2 garrisons maxed out and the civil war start 3 days after you complete Con Paquito focus and the AI wont have time to complete theirs. They always delay a few days before making a choice. Has worked everytime. Then the AI will always remove the debuff to the West of Madrid, and if you do the same for Madrid and relieve the Alcazar focus, you can cut 35 days off and get Franco for free instead of siezing Toledo and then 70 days for the Caudillo focus. As long as you win the civil war before you merge the parties, thats as fast as you can realistically go. I cant find any other skips or shortcuts or bypasses. I ignore all of the foreign aid mini branch as well as the Portuguese aid and the bonus to offense that are bypassed when the war ends since they dont give any thing. But I can usually win right after the Anarchists rise up. If you ignore Barcelona, when they do it will usually kill the Republic outright since they have no more victory points and then Anarchists never have the unplanned offensive debuff so you can just walk over them.

[@niceto1998bt]

Well, Paradox did Nationalist Spain really good in a way, since the end of the Civil War, Franco didnt want to join WW2 since Spain didn´t have the means (little food and exhaustion) but the División Azul was sent to fight the soviets. So in that way, the did a right historical path (they also put the Spanish Miracle, but it happened later on the 1960s)

[@I_Hate_YouTube.]

Since you almost always play the republicans in the spanish civil war, you're not a king, you're the spanish civil war president.

[@BubblesZest]

Ngl, that was a cut line from my script lol. They're both tacky but King came first. So I'll use that instead.

[@oneballimann6425]

i hate the spanish civil war so much. just 3 achievements left. 5 spies with 5 coups, the gibraltar issue and win with anarchist.... oh my god. i hate myself for doing this.

[@halothere6995]

Just so you know the first time I played this game I unleashed the full force of the red army on the facist Spain, safe to say that was overkill.

[@Johnnylemoni]

i dont understand why you dont like nationalist spain specifically. your first point applies to republican spain as well. and about your second point all i have to say is that i find it weird that all you have to say is that you did the paths before.

[@BubblesZest]

Because Republican Spain's prep is easy, I've literally shown multiple times on this channel that ignoring it is a viable strat to speedrunning it. I can't remember the last time a run with them has died due to the script cheating. And what do you want me to say for the other reason? There's only so many times you can do something before getting bored of it.

[@Johnnylemoni]

ok i didnt think the first one through but just because you dont like something doesnt mean it is the games fault. there are certain paths that it dont like doing again and again but it isnt the game thats to blame.@@BubblesZest

[@BubblesZest]

This is why the video is called Why *I* Don't Like Nationalist Spain. It's my problems with it that I know not everyone shares.

[@Johnnylemoni]

if you make a serious effort it isnt possible to lose the war period. also i have seen him he is ok with micro@@thisisaname5589

[@foxpickaxe]

Whens 1080p? I remember asking this question most likely more than a year ago. So when is 1080p HD video quality arriving to the great production of Bubbles Zest? Great video btw.

[@larsprophitius2968]

Hello bubble zest. I have a request for you. Could you try playing Ethiopia again. I have tried it again, but they now spawn 2 units in aussa upon Italy annexing the sultanate and I can’t take the tile above because the Italian Ai moves to fast.

[@FatheredPuma81]

I managed pre-1937 at the Nationalists. Was painful and very aggravating and what you're left with is a country weaker than literally any country in the Balkans except Albania. What you should do afterwards if wait until Vichy France spawns and then defeat them and make 30 puppets giving you well over 100 factories. Then you either need to join the war early and lose all of your resources to convoy raiding or stay at peace and lose all of your resources to Free France promising independence to your puppets.

[@sgrizzo48]

I wanna ask a question to everyone here, should spain have two alternate paths, one in which the civil war never happens and one in which Sanjurjo survives?

[@aidanmcnary-hickey6778]

Should rank all the polish paths including which monarchist path is best

[@shironee_2384]

I think the main problem with historical Spain is that their focus tree seems to be designed around what historical AI spain SHOULD be doing during and post SCW. The SCW path seems designed to be foolproof for the Nationalist Spain AI to have historical timeline and event. This result in lack of challenge unlike other paths do. Of course it's useless because in historical Spain is hard scripted to always have Nationalist Spain + no Carlist as the winner. For the post SCW, this is my speculation. What they envisioned is that historical AI for Nationalist Spain would be taking side based on the world's situation around them, which in my opinion is what the true historical Nationalist Spain should be. That's why their focus seems to be designed around rebuilding while AI reading the world's situation and then taking sides and wargoals accordingly. While longer wargoals is fine for game balance when they were played as AI, it's unnecessary and boring to do all that as player Spain because they certainly have their own end goal as soon as they choose to play Spain. Once again, all of this are pointless because the current AI's behaviour is just following script of them always be neutral and assuming Allies is always winning. If I could make suggestions for PDX, having better AI and trust in said AI performance to do focus that's not hard handicapped would result in better focus tree for Nationalist without breaking the game. Or, make historical no player Spain to be hard scripted to always gave Nationalist to win SCW within historical timeline without taking account the effect of the new focus that's designed to be played for players. I would prefer the former suggestion but considering current AI would occasionally break the game even in historical settings means the latter option is the more practical one. Or, you know, accepting the fact that Nationalist focus path is the AI path so the game won't break for the ~ time.

[@bencebartek8430]

Can you do a carlist guide? I just cant win as them

[@elpasta4609]

I don't think Bubbles has ever done a Turkey gameplay or path. Still a good video, as always :)

[@TricaGamer]

Nationalist Spain is no fun

[@danielutriabrooks477]

Spain but the "s" is silent

[@redoctober67]

Spain in this game is just awful in general. The political power battle for regions is ridiculous when there's virtually no gain to counteract the AI AND do some of the other things to alleviate problems, like reducing the impact of strikes. The unplanned offensive mechanic is just absolute buffoonery. The RNG with how the AI focuses on regions is awful. It just... SUCKS. Is it still a script when you're trying to go for the Anarchist achievement and the Nationalists do everything humanly possible and never run out of political power? It is equally infuriating. Let's not overlook the fact that the fake AI and timer will ALWAYS give whatever side you're against one extra decision/contest complete before you have a chance to do so and the civil war starts.

[@kleinerprinz99]

I dont see the point in Spain as a whole. What good is to win a civil war if you end up wit no cores anyways?

[@meganoobbg3387]

Spain was fine before the DLC - you could choose to either grind it out for exp (in multiplayer), or finish it fast (ease the pain if you're playing Spain yourself). Instead Paradox decided people's most favorite thing about the game is civil wars - so they made Spain a battleroyale small unit grindfest with province debuffs, and also made sure to add civil wars for literally every next country that gets a focus tree, just so you don't miss out on the "fun" :D

[@BubblesZest]

@@meganoobbg3387 Bruh. The Spanish civil war lasted 3 years. So pdx's intention was to make it last that long. Hence the debuffs and stuff. Did they succeed? Debatably, but god. You make it seem like they did it for the fun of it without considering why it's there.

[@meganoobbg3387]

@@BubblesZest Wait till they add debuffs to make sure WW2 actually lasts 6 years - them im not gonna be the only one who's pissed :D This point would be valid if this was an accurate simulator, not a videogame.

[@jonC1208]

​@meganoobbg33if you saw what both sides, but mainly the republicans had would be 20 units of 5 combat width, for republicans and 15 of those for nationalists and 5 40 combat width african units and 3 elite 10 combat width requetes. That debuf is there as there is one in great war redux

[@UlulvarCape]

@@BubblesZest This. the Spanish civil war probably one of the most important things for pre-world war scene. It allowed the Soviets, Germans, and Italians get a taste of what is to come, and I think it really should be played out more. One thing I heard Paradox tried to do is make fascist spain into the "Third Major" if they joined the Axis, but it falls flat when they barely get anything to do with their buffs.

[@BennyTyroney]

Please make a what’s the point of Cakmak Fascist Turkey

[@BubblesZest]

No. What's the point is still retired. And I have still have nothing to say about Turkey's paths.

[@BennyTyroney]

@@BubblesZestyeah every turkey path except the ottoman path isn’t worth it

[@BennyTyroney]

Ok I know that this is a little much but 3 things 1. Is ranking paths retired 2. If not please rank Poland 3. My rankings are 13. Gomułka communist because you fight a war to free the peasants but become a Stalinist puppet for no reward 12. The Castle because it is a boring historical path 11. Beck-Ribbentrop pact because at least you get Lithuania and can core the black sea 10. Elect a PSL leader because it only has the colony buying thing but the Morges pact is pretty neat 9. Sanation Left because it is basically the PSL path but no civil war and better advisors 8. Reassert Silesian Claims because it unlocks the intermarium and it has some nice manpower and faction bonuses 7. Hohenzollern claimant because it is reliable but Michael is the worst royal leader and Romania isn’t as good as Czechoslovakia but it has a eu4 reference with the Hungary union. 6. Triumph of OZN because you have 4.5% manpower, Rydz Smigly is a great leader who makes doctrines cheaper, and can get The Baltics for free and Czechoslovakia if you need to, not to mention you can flip fascist if you really want too. 5. Cossack King because of his insane cavalry bonuses, though his path is a combination of Wettin and Romanov though slightly worse than both, though still very solid 4. Commonwealth claimant because it is very reliable and your leader comes with daily compliance, though not as much as another path 3. Habsburg King because you can early war Germany in 1938 and get Hungary on your side plus the Czech industry will make you a major. 2. Polish Path to Socialism just because of the massive 0.15 compliance gain, though Maria is a good leader and you have commonwealth path. 1. Romanov/Wojtek path. Do I really need to explain myself. It takes the best parts of Cossack King and Commonwealth claimant and blends them together into the greatest path in the game. Just being able to core every Slavic country and get a damn bear as leader is insane. Best path in entire game. Anyways do you agree?

[@BobbiusRossius]

The worst thing is that they have jeremy clarkson as a general

[@edgarvele1875]

Yeahhhhh he returned!!!!

[@Mr_Godmode]

Wooh this is great

[@BrillenpinguinDE]

yeah

[@duncanharrell5009]

*racks bolt action* Bold words for someone in crusade range.

[@Xictlii]

you’re not necessarily suppose to take Catalonia and eastern aragon. If you JUST take what the nationalists take normally, the ai won’t really bother you like this.

[@BubblesZest]

This is something I've heard before, but it's also something I disagree with. Railroading the player has a place, but not here. If pdx wants players to only start with what the nationalists did historically, they should remove the state expansion minigame completely. Why bother having a system that allows you to choose whatever states you want when the game also really doesn't want you to do that?

[@Shanecatgamer]

150th like!1!!1!1!

[@sigmaballs2004]

Risen from the dead 💀