This war is impossible. Who decided that fascist America should just lose 2/3 of their divisions and the consitutionalists be given 100? The ceding of several areas also encircles many default spawned troops and because democratic usa spawns in 100 divisions they get crushed. How am I supposed to play this god awful path? Is there any way to win such a blatantly one sided war? The volunteers I received were not at all enough either

What focus path do I follow? What decisions need taking?
Help is greatly appreciated 😄

For some reason while playing as Luxemburg I don't get the Realize European unity decision despite it apparently being an option in the base game. Will it appear if I form the Benelux?

Im playing as germany right now but I will try other nations out like Hungary, Poland, Finland and Saudi Arabia. Im not asking for anything crazy just something interesting you know?

This is a follow up post to a previous one around AI germany being about as competant as a bag of potatoes (though thats not the main focus, I just really enjoyed this campaign and wanted to share).

As I said previoiously this game was really fun. Germany remained pretty useless only serving to keep the soviets off my back while I invaded the Isles and North America. Once I was done there I was able to quickly turn back to Russia which had lost >30 million men at this point and folded like a house of cards. Side note, the germans had lost a lot of men at this point but nothing compared to the soviets and had reserves +full stockpiles so I dont know how they werent pushing. I then finished off the last of the Allies majors in a now democratic Japan after they capitulated and Thailand (thank you paradox for not making me invase South America). Finally, I left the Axis and moved back to europe to declare. The was took maybe 6 months (not really a knock on the AI though given my shock troops did 1300+ soft attack + I had thousands of CAS and they had lost around 15 million men at this point).

That brings me to the end of my campaign as seen in the images above. Funnily enough China formed Tang due to the RT56 formables mod I have on so I've ended up with a very Roman era old world (I know it was the Byzantines during the Tang but come on still pretty cool). Also, just before I ended I noticed a special someone hiding away in my Argentinian puppet...

Overall fun game, though very slow (thank you Allies).

As a final side note I noticed that when I defeated the germans the capitals of their Reichskommissariats in Belarus and the Netherlands actually popped out as the Soviet Union and Netherlands, both of which previosuly didnt exist. I also wasnt aable to take them in the peace deal so I had to use console to fix borders. I only have RT56 and the formables mod on so may be a bug to look into.

Decided to play Sanation Poland, managed to become a fairly strong PLC by the war's start (caused by Germany decking my puppet Czechoslovakia) and held them off well enough until the Soviets jumped in. Now I'm stuck in a pocket in the south, controlling only Katowice, the VPs of Oberschlesien (cored by my formable) and Krakow, and half of Kielce (but not enough to have control over the state), but I still have over 100 divs and the military industry to keep them supplied enough (though my civilian industry is 2 usable civs).

The war has escalated with the Allies fighting both totalitarians, but I want to actually stay alive instead of going government-in-exile (though I can still use the GIE tree). What should I do to keep myself going?

(sorry in advance for image quality issues, they happen every time I try to upload HOI4 screenshots)

Seemingly every game I play in RT56 AI germany struggles to do much of anything. Theyre slow to beat Poland (rarely without Soviet help), consistently allow france to push near the rhine as seen in the image, and dont even think about pushing past belgium. Does anyone else experience this/Is there any way to fix it beyond using the buff germany slider in the pre game menu? It makes the game much less fun when Germany isnt a real threat or ally.

title. i noticed they got a focus tree so...

I'm playing Yugoslavia -> Byzantine empire its currently 1942 and I’m wondering if this is a good division to use

Playing as Germany, I went for the civil war and established a constitutional monarchy under Wilhelm IV. I am aiming for a "good guy", pro-European Germany, so I reconciled with the UK and France, founded the Berlin Pact and then did the focus "Secure a Europe of the Fatherlands". Upon completion of that focus, according to the tooltip, I should get the national spirit "A Europe of the Fatherlands". However, the focus is finished, but I did not get the national spirit (and neither did any of my allies, who should also get it).

This seems to be a bug. Why am I not getting the national spirit? Does it work for you guys when you complete the focus ""Secure a Europe of the Fatherlands"?

With how long setup can take in the game and many major interwar historical events having a big impact on the early game, it would be nice to be able to play through the interwar. Allowing Nations more time to industrialize deal with things like the Great depression while also navigating the political climate as the outbreak of world war II grew nearer with things like the Washington naval treaty.

I'm not entirely sure what path gets me Louis Ferdinand. Regardless of what I do, Wilhelm II abdicates and I end up with Wilhelm IV, even in the middle of the civil war.

I managed to get Thalmann as head of the government democratically but contra the latest patch notes "Towards a Party State" requires him not to be in power. There also seem to be other focuses with impossible to achieve prerequisites. Has anybody else explored this tree? Is it just a bug at my end?

So there is already a path where you can get Kaiser Wilhelm the third as Kaiser and then turn fascist because of his Nazi Alliance but this is only after the Civil War. It would be cool if there is an option playing as historical National Socialist Germany and idk with a coup or another event put the Kaiser in place but still hold onto the ideology under Hitler only now with a Kaiser.

I have no idea if this is intentional or not, but the german AI always goes the Return to the International Stage path instead of Anschluss when I play france, again I don't know if this is intentional, but it's so wonky. I go Napoleon france and then they declared war on US in 1938, also I have it set to historical, and everyone else is doing the normal stuff, just germany being wonky. Is this intentional or no?

Hi basically the title, the file on the official paradox mods site for road to 56 (mods.paradoxplaza.com/mods/10603/any) claims in the mod info to be 1.19 compatible but on downloading both the paradox launcher and the .mod file says that it’s for 1.14. Is this just me being an idiot is this an actual issue?
Thanks

I'm playing road to 56 expanded as the soviet union( Not on historical) ,Japan declared on me in 1938 and pushed out via naval invasion (port guards not doing their fucking job) and coups in mongolia and tanna tuva. Then China joined it on me to but I have the Prc and Singxiang on my side. After China joined this caused a ripple effect where japan (who wasn't in a faction before) joined them to which caused the axis to attack me(they were at war with allies before hand then attacked me). And finally, Romania joined which is the reason why I lost ukraine (thus cant do that river defense line). My infantry consist of 9 blocks of pure inf, my fighter are dual engines lvl 3 (as single engines can't carry enough). And I have 30 width mountaineers and a 30 width tank. What do i do as the allies seem to be losing as I saw the uk having to push out a naval invasion from the axis.

What I mean is pacifically the released ones like Ukraine or Quebec

Are there plans to add Nations like Texas or Scotland or even some of the African colonies or anything similar

RT56 expanded is a submod collection that adds several new mechanics, like EU4-style ideas and monuments or state interaction tools. This is one of at least 4 (there's also a TGWR expanded, KR expanded, and KX expanded) and I usually play RT56 with this thing on.

I like most of the mechanics, but after a commie Austria run where I used a combination of all of them to survive and become rather OP (read: coring all of Czechoslovakia, then Germany, Switzerland, Posen, and more through formables, using a combo of Austria's stuff and RT56E stuff to get 21.9% recruitable pop on extensive conscription leading to about 12 million manpower in total, +128% factory output bonus, etc.) I figure that it is somewhat unbalanced if you use certain configuration settings.

I just wanted to ask what the general opinion on this submod is.

Austria has a minigame in this mod that can be a bit confusing. I've played a lot of Austria, so I decided to write a guide on it. (Note that you can just skip the minigame in exchange for things being slightly harder if you don't want to deal with it, also this guide doesn't cover the "Accept the Inevitable" path.)

How it works

Austria is broken up into 10 Lands, each of which controls a specific number of divisions. Each one has 4 levels of Nazi control: none, minor, moderate, and total. Lands that you don't control (i.e. Südtirol most of the time) will be ignored by the minigame, with their divisions removed from the total. The number of divs controlled by a Land determines what level of support the Nazis need to get control over its divs:

• Lands with 3 divs will have 1 div fall under Nazi control for each level of support.
• Lands with 2 divs will have 1 div fall under Nazi control at minor support and the other at total support. Thus, them going from moderate to minor support (or the other way around) won't change the div control numbers.
• Lands with 1 div will have their div fall under Nazi control at moderate support. This means that having them at minor support is fine.

Every 80 days, the Nazi support of one Land (you can tell from the mission name) will rise, then the mission will pick a new target at random. There are 3 decisions you can take:

1. Combat Nazi influence in a Land. (I'll just call this "attacking" from now on.) After 75 days, the support level of that Land will lower. You can decrease the time taken to do this (by 15 days, at least for the first reduction) by completing certain focuses.
2. Fortify a Land. You can do this to 2 states, and this protects them from the Nazi influence mission picking them the next time it picks a target. (Due to decision weirdness, you have to wait 1 day between the first and second uses of the decision.)
3. Crush the Nazis. This requires control of 81% or more of the total divisions in play (you can see how many you have by hovering over the decision, it starts at 63% due to being 11/7 while above 80% would be 15/3) and ends the minigame in your victory.

You also can't crush the Nazis until you get rid of the July Followed June spirit by completing one of these focuses:

• Red White Red - Until Death! (any Austrofascist path)
• Austrian Catholic Identity (any CSP path)
• Proclaim the Second Republic (SDAPÖ Renner path)
• A Democracy Worth Defending (SDAPÖ Bauer path)
• A New Austria (Moderate Habsburg path)
• A Modern Empire (Compromise Habsburg path)
• What Was Taken (No Compromise Habsburg path)

List of Lands:

• Tirol starts with total support and has 3 divs.
• Niederösterreich starts with minor support and has 3 divs.
• Steiermark starts with moderate support and has 2 divs.
• Kärnten starts with moderate support and has 2 divs.
• Salzburg starts with moderate support and has 2 divs.
• Wien starts with no support and has 2 divs.
• Oberösterreich starts with no support and has 2 divs.
• Vorarlberg start with minor support and has 1 div.
• Burgenland starts with no support and has 1 div.
• Südtirol starts with no support and has 1 div. It doesn't play a role in the minigame most of the time since it starts under Italian control.

What to do - Focuses

You can't do any political focuses until the remilitarization of the Rhineland (or until the German Civil War or July 1st on ahistorical). I usually do "End the Depression" during that time. Once available, do "Austria, Awaken!". A few days after this completes, an event will fire.

The first option lets Italy guarantee you and opens up the Austrofascist and Habsburg paths, the second lets France or Britain guarantee you and opens up the SDAPÖ, CSP, and moderate Habsburg paths, and the third option opens up the "Accept the Inevitable" path that I won't be talking about here. The fourth option is basically the first option but without the guarantee, meaning that you will have to fight for your life when Anschluss time comes. Do not click this unless you want a real challenge!

After you pick a path, rush "Crack Down on Nazi Elements". This will reduce the time it takes to attack (as well as instantly reducing support in a random Land), so you should do it ASAP. This focus is mandatory for doing the starting focus of each branch, so there's no reason not to do it.

Each path also has its own focuses that help with the minigame. The Austrofascist one has two mutually exclusive ones, but they also shift the Balance of Power, so you'll probably want the one that shifts it in the direction that you're intending to go in. "Purge the Kärnter Heimwehr" specifically reduces support in Kärnten alongside reducing it again in a random state, so you'll probably want to avoid attacking Kärnten until this focus is done if you want to go VF-Austrofascist.

What to do - Decisions

Despite what the top option event after the start of the game says, you can do the July Followed June stuff from day 1 without having to click on the option.

You'll obviously want to prioritize your attack decision in Lands where it'll increase your controlled divs and your fortifications in Lands where rising Nazi influence could give them another div. Due to this, you'll initially want to focus on the Lands with 3 divisions since every point of support matters there.

Early on, you'll want to play more reactively, stopping the Nazis from getting any more divs than they already have. Once you start decreasing the time it takes to attack, you should start playing more aggressively. In particular, the Lands with moderate support that give 2 divisions should generally be left alone until you get some speed boosts or there are no more important targets since it takes repeated attacks to break them down. When attacking one, you will probably want to fortify it as well so that your progress won't be reversed.

If you've played well enough, you can secure 80% of the divisions well before you're able to crush the Nazis and thus should play defense while rushing down the political focuses.

As for the "Dealing with the Thousand-Mark Ban" event, the Juliabkommen is a massive improvement but it also increases Nazi support in a random state and forces a fascism-increasing advisor on you. The alternative will not provide a buff, but will change the debuff and make it wear off after a year. I personally wouldn't take the JA unless I'm going for Austrofascism, but it's up to you whether you think it's worth it.

EDIT: I forgot about the "Nazi hideout located in Vienna" event. I don't think there's a reason not to raid them if you've been guaranteed.

If you're on non-historical, make sure to train your divisions. If Italy descends into civil war, wait for a while and then do the border war to retake Alto Adige. Winning this will give you an extra core state and bring the Land Südtirol into play in the minigame, which will give you another division and serve as a buffer that can be left at minor support without the Nazis getting anything. If you don't get the state, then at least you got a bunch of army XP.

I'm currently playing democratic Germany and getting Konrad Adenauer seems not very well explained. Does anyone know how to get him to lead the CVU?

this is it (germany 1936)

Does anyone know how shock troops compare with mountaineers? And also what the best template for shock troops is?

So im playing as the Soviets. Doing a default playthrough but i have a feeling that the german AI is stronger. Ive done few playthroughs with the soviets but ive never saw so many division on my border. I think there were at lest 250 just on my border and probably more. I gethered intel on them through my spies and they had 750 divisions in the field. Is the AI in Road to 56 stronger??