Forming the Ultimate Italy in By Blood Alone (yes, the Pope) 

Conquered nation: finish it, go on kill me you coward. BitterSteel: *laughs* oh no death is too good for you, this is what I’m gonna do *proceeds to turn the conquered into an empty corpse on life support*

The best part was when he said, “It’s Popeing time” and pope-ed all over Europe

Fun fact: in Southern Ethiopa, the AI tends to move that one troop on the eastern flank away. Give it a few days and you can walk into 3-4 provinces for free, sometimes going right to the airfield. Really speeds up that war.

When Bitter Steel uploads, it's always a good day not just for me, but for all of us except when it's about Italy

Can you do another collab with Hatless and Antasil but instead form the Czech entente on historical? You can use mods to spice things up and avoid touching the DoD focus trees if you choose to. I really enjoyed the Baltic Brothers video and I know plenty of others did aswell.

I have an idea for a video: playing as Italy in 1936, set Germany tò go Monarchist and set Hungary tò reform Austria-Hungary (Monarchist too), then you go Monarchist and form a faction with them called "Renewed Triple Alliance" and then go tò war with the Allies and the Soviets

More and more Bitt3rSteel's Warhammer addiction grows, soon enough this will be a Warhammer channel.

re: 14:05 "We do not want the British involved" To be filed under "when the mistake makes it better": I messed this part up, the Brits had the chance to guarantee Austria. Thanksfully I had gotten docking permission from the Germans on day one, so my fleet was in Germany, not stuck in the Mediterranean . Took France quickly as you do via paradropping, than with my navy in position invaded the UK. By this time all the others in the war had Allied up, so upon taking down the Brits I got Austria, Yugo, Romania, Czcgh-watever, and all the allies and their colonies/puppets. One trick is I always upgrade my prewar subs filling that empty spot with a mine layer. While at war with Ethiopia I start mining the English Channel, so invading is a snap (work really well for the Germans).

the end of the video killed me when i saw the 60 requests of puppets wanting to join the war😂😂

Man, this video. The wars, the spies and collab governments, and the peace deals... filthy, absolutely filthy. I FREAKING LOVE IT. Bitter, my hat is off to you for your quality videos.

Would love an updated Germany guide given the BBA update broke alot of the things in the no step back guide

A strategy i personally use is to use the claims on yugoslavia from the foreign affairs branch (you'll need it for turkey and greece anyway) to get france paradropped, and instead of slogging through the balkans i go to war with the UK, which makes everyone join the allies (even turkey and greece, if you have time) and using the french navy i invade the uk. Doing this makes everything much faster and saves a lot of time and equipment :)

Bitt3rSteel didn't had the Papal Knights at his service, but at least he managed to find some... "eager volunteers"

This is great, I’ve been watching your Papal States video and the Roman Empire video and working out how best to do both. Hadn’t started yet so this video was perfectly timed! As I haven’t yet activated By Blood Alone, I’m unaware of what changes have been made since your last videos that meant you had to change strategy so much. Was it changes with the Balance of Power mechanic if you want to get rid of Mussolini? Not being able to annex?

One thing I've noticed is that when you decline giving Bessarabia to the Soviets it only gives them a wargoal against Romania, meaning if you aren't Romania it doesn't matter. I play Italy alot attempting to get this achievement and I thought it might be helpful to know that, also love the video 👍

Holy cow, that was some good conquest

Always a good day when Bittersteel uploads. Hope the family is doing well!

lightskin stare

I love your pronouncing of italian, i see you put effort in it which is very unlikely cos most of youtubers just say “this one” or “this focus” while you try to spell it out. So good job mate

One thing that puzzles me about Rome with the Pope in HOI4, is why the flag isn't the Chi-Rho (XP) sign. It would make much more sense with the Pope in charge

Hope you've been doing well with the kids! Thanks for the lovely content!

If you didn’t know, you can shift click when opening a new production line to bring it to the top, also, the Italian accent was top-notch.

perfect, been itching to do an Italy campaign

Great guide ! I think I did even better than you by accident though. I followed every step very closely until the justification on Austria finished, and by lack of luck, they'd already been guaranteed by the UK as World Tension reached 25%. I figured, why not roll with it, and capped France before declaring on Austria. I then Sea-Lioned and since all the other countries I was at war with joined the Allies, I ended up having France, the UK, Yugoslavia, Romania, Austria and Czechoslovakia pupetted by the end of May 1937 !

Bittersteel: we're gonna take the sudetenland back from germany! Also bittersteel: *gives sudetenland to his german puppet*

If you want to make the game go even faster, you can let the UK guarantee Austria -and just focus on paradropping the UK. You will have enough boats to protect your convoys and the UK usually has few garrisons to protect itself, and you puppet any nation you did casualties to.

I'd honestly go with the superheavy tank. you get a free research bonus for it with the pope line, and you can use it as support for your infantry to give them armor. Throw on rocket launchers and they get boosted by superior firepower doctrine, and these monsters make mincemeat out of basically anything they see. plus, papal states give a lot of bonuses to producing heavy and superheavy equipment.

i tried this myself and was having trouble getting the war goal to complete on austria before the UK would guarantee them. however, it turns out this makes everything substantially easier; just do the paradrop cheese on france before declaring on austria (you might need to wait until the justification nearly expires). then, once the UK gets pulled into the war by austria, the rest of the countries you're already at war with will get pulled into the allies. just use france's fleet to immediately naval invade britain, and you will get austria, czechoslovakia, yugoslavia, and romania for free without having to fight them at all. this might make certain achievements harder since it ends up screwing with the balance of power a bunch, but it's very fast to set up.

That paradrop is so stupid and fun at the same time. I did it and it was the most fun i've had with the game so far.

Goed bezig man, doe zo verder 👍🏻

First love your videos, between you and Feedback Gaming have really helped my own HOI4 playthroughs. On this I do have a couple of suggestions for others if they want to try this. First off, dont bother placing troops to defend Sardinia or any African territories against France, they will fold so quickly you just get any land taken right back, not worth the effort. Second, dont bother wasting time with collaboration government in France, it is not needed. Simply have 8 paratroopers hit 8 different victory points, including Paris obviously, and France falls in just a couple of days, no extra help needed. I have been experimenting with this in over 10 different play throughs now and the only time France did not capitulate right away was using less than 8 paratrooper units. Hope this helps save someone some time and better use of their resources.

For me it worked better when i declared on Austria BEFORE the anarchist spawned. Idk if it generates more threat or changes somethign within the A.I. but it seemed to help in comparision to the runs before.

for real? was doing pope rome last week and didnt found any guide and now you are doing it haha

I was lucky enough to do these achievements in a run, where you could still use all the old tricks against France and Britain so I'm curious to see how much pain I spared myself from. Edit: This already looks a lot smoother, nevermind.

Love the Italian Space Marine Thumbnail ❤

I tried this like 5 times on the hardest difficulty after seeing a shorts. Can’t believe the key to air superiority, is not having air superiority. Attempt 6 now LMAO. This time let’s focus on mega navy

Hey BitterSteel, I have only subbed to your channel recently and I have never played HOI4, but I wonder if the following is possible (as a challenge): Would it be possible to form the EU when playing as the Netherlands, but you have to use bicycle infantry instead of foot infantry? You may still use armour, air, sea etc.; you just can't use people on foot. You can tell I don't know the game well, since I have no clue whether this is easy or impossible. ^^'

Day 1 of asking bittersteel to conquer the entire of Europe as Luxembourg on the hardest difficulty

Great guide! Thanks for investing so much time in this. Just a short quesiton though: If you go full papal, what happens to the bonuses stacked on Vittorio Emanuele III ? Are they simply removed because you changed leader or are they transferred over to papa pio?

That poland pocket for the Soviet. It made my jaw drop 😂❤

I don’t know if they fixed it, but make sure to abdicate to the king’s son before the pope takes over. There was a bug where the old king would die while the pope was in charge and his son would take over, even if the bar was all the way over to the pope

The best part of the video Is listen ti Bitt3rsteel tring to pronunce the italian name.

POV: UK and France leaving Africa 4:00

If you want a more relaxed run here's my strat: Obviously rush ethiopia, then justify on Austria and turkey, before those focuses finish you have to use the decisions of balkan diplomacy to demand things from Yugoslavia, more often than not they'll deny one of the demand and you will have green light to invade austria, romania, Yugoslavia, and turkey without guarantees, spain and Portugal can be puppeted with a focus, and then there's just greece and France left to form the roman empire.

I found a cheese to rush Pope. Those 2 focuses on the left side? Using one of those. Remember you cannot take those focus branches anymore if you are no longer fascist but you will keep their bonuses, the one is needed which is the left one, you only need to rush the second one (Believe, Obey, Fight) as this will unlock some useful advisor. Why you want those advisor? Some of them will push the balance of power to the left by 15, so you know what I am thinking. They are locked for a time but after you take Utilize the Blackshirt focus, you can hire those advisors so it's instant pope. The other branch unlocks a unique support company and recruitable population so you might want it as well, but it gives a permanent fascist tick so it might slow you down slightly. I prefer to do my conquest before the balance of power opens up though, because I don't have to re-annex everything, and yes that includes UK.

Okay so I messed up the timing with Austria and the UK but I wonder if it's that big of a deal? What I ended up doing is : - Cap France before declaring on Austria. - Prep the invasion of the UK from Puppet France in Calais toward Dover and Portsmouth (+ nearby tiles). - Moved ASAP the captured fleet of France and Italy's fleet in northern France. - As soon as both are ready declared on Austria. - Austria, Romania Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia will all join the Allies. - At the same time the invasion is started and should be succesful. - Rush the UK to cap. - Now the Allies immediately surrender since the other countries that joined are not major. - Puppet everything. I'll admit I missmanaged the war with Germany as it ended up in a grind of Bratislava since I didn't plan correctly (although their Air Force is pretty much gone). Not sure if it's easier to do this way.

as a new player amazing to watch

I got my wargoal on Austria done a day after world tension got to 25%, so what you can do is justify on someone like ireland that is close to britain just before the tension spikes to 25%, and britain wont have the pp to guarantee austria

Hello Bitt3rSteel, thank you making this excellent video. Can you please make a video on China in Road to 56, I tried a couple times and I failed. Thank you!

If you shift and left click the production line starts at the top my friend.

As a challenge idea: Let ChatGPT give you the division, ship and plane designs

Blessed Good Friday and Easter for everyone. Christus vincit. Christus regnat. Christus imperat.

how many language "dialect" do you know? cuz from the 4 videos I've seen: Deutsche ✔ Italian ✔ish Ex: 2:54-5:33 good 3:20 and others mhe a little difficult but I've heard worst btw very nice videos earned a new subscriber bravo!

Hey Bittersteel, just wanted to ask if your division template video is still up to date. I recently got the game and am struggling with when to build what kind of template

I think Im missing something here. I beat ethiopia quickly but never got a peace conference. War screen says they capitulated but i never got a chance to puppet any of them

The Belgium Man has uploaded a great day to behold

What kind of background music do you use ? Its really nice

As an italian your pronunciation of the italian worlds Is to much funny😂😂😂 anyway great video!

omg yesterday i was hoping u would upload this lol. pls can u do a guide for ussr? maybe its just me, but it seems a lot more difficult than other majors, so a guide would be great

I have troubles doing it, could you realease a more uneddited single run cause the time jumps really screw me over and cause me to lose 10 - 35 hours trying to fill the holes...

I like how France capitulated because of two cities being invaded with paratroopers but on a disaster save held the Maginot, parts of the northern mainland and the colonies without capitulating

34:41 "it isn't rocket surgery" lmao great malaphor

IDK why but ive tried to do this like 10 more times and everytime without fail, Romania joins the allies and I get sucked into a giant war, this is in september 1937.

I started playing the game very recently and I saw this guide . I’m so bad at this game on my 4th attempt it took me a year to invade Czechoslovakia but then for some reason got into civil war Looks like I failed again 😨 😂

Hello my friend I am a new hoi4 player and I liked the game a lot and I tried many mods but every time I ask a question is it better to play the original or reboot mode and since you are an expert in the game I want advice and what are the best mods you advise me With your experience, your follower from Libya

Bro I just did the pope run for the first time yesterday, can’t be a coincidence 😳

What do you use for your background music?

you have the best videos

Gave you strategy a couple of tries now and the UK always guarantees Austria at 24 per cent WT. Does the pope need Austria for anything other than to weaken Hitler?

just in time for Easter

Can you please do a guide for the holy, roman and an empire achievement? I think that would be interesting.

Hey BitterSteel, what nation did you liberate during the French peace deal?

My advise is, to get the pope and IMMENDETLY, go back to vittorio. Because he is the faaaar better leader (yes, this is possible), then you got the pope tree + the better leader.

Just because you played with Italy instant like

I have a question:if you do "defeat mussolini "in the focus tree and then you do the roman empire mussolini will return?

Žilina is read as ZHI-li-na. the [zh] sound is the same as the J sound in (British) Raj

Doesn’t it make more sens to do “Disband the Blackshirts” before Seek Papal Support/etc., since the 1-year timer for Lithurgical Reforms stops you from progressing? 25:45 Also in my run I either got a NAP with Germany or something to stop giving up Sudetenland, and it was fine.

"This isn't rocket surgery"

Can’t wait til you’re called up for service and lead Vatican City to victory

Yeah, not sure if anyone else has this issue, but the irregular troops you borrow from your Ethiopian puppets are a bit janky. If you are doing this run, do NOT get them, no matter how helpful they can be. You can NOT give them back because they can't be disbanded. I dont know if there is a work around or what, but if you annex those puppets later they won't go away because it is still a bugged part of the game that if you have divisions borrowed from an annexed nation they do NOT go away. I guess it really doesn't change anything since you can't get rid of them when they are a puppet. Also, they REFUSE to move manually move them to a port

love your italian accent

"Soviet Raj" had me scratching my head for a bit.

I think the summer beta patch killed the france-airdrop strat, i cant get my paratroopers to execute when i try it

I can only get the Ethiopian war to end on May 20th? Every single time May 20th? I’ve got all the recommendations even same officers. Any advice

I realize I'm catching this video eight months late, and will confess to still being pretty new to HOI4 so no expert. But, the paradrop that led to the capitulation of France felt pretty cheesy. Is this a bug or an exploit? I think BitterSteel mentioned something about not sending air to France, "if you don't send, the AI wont either," something like that? Anyway, love the videos! Just looking for a guide on playing Italy in BBA. Thanks again for the work!

As a Michigander, I'm dying laughing at 38:20, on behalf of the entire Midwest, good enough man

You can actually puppet a country for each state

36:20 Look at the list of countries involved in the peace deal. Is that little 1 war score kid below the Soviet Union in the list Communist-occupied Luxembourg?

Bittersteel im going to to say thank you! Literally wasted 3 hours yesterday for the pop achievement and 2 hours this morning. I will now be using your follow route for it now

27:53 The real memey thing to do would be to leave Spain as a puppet on the Balearic Islands while annexing the rest of their territory.

That little Purple Russia puppet at the end!

Hi ! I don't know if you noticed but your air numbers are exactly the same as the enemy's throughout the video. I think it's a bug that occurs when you send air volunteers to Spain.

Your pronounce is really good! Just remember that you need to read Fiocchi as Fiokki, and Munizioni as Munizzioni and not Munisioni👍🏻

Complete noob here, are the paradrops on France consistent? they seem ridiculously unbalanced but stupid fun

Hope your family is doing well

9 RUNS DIOCANE AND NOT BEING ABLE TO FINISH THE FIRST WAR

BRITT please do a World ablaze tutorial for italy!

"The Pope? How many divisions does he have? WHAT?!"

Does this still work after arms against tyranny? I'm having trouble justifying on austria without uk guarantee. Seems maybe the world tension requirement chenged because I get a Guarantee even under 25% WT.

19:00 "You can tell I'm already short some" *0 available*