The UK is by far the funniest democratic country to play as in HOI4. If you send the BEF to France and hold it against Germany, France won’t do it themselves they are set up in single player to lose, WW2 is usually over between 1942 - 1943.
I just got the game, and i'm using your guides to learn the game. You are a lifesaves, as a new player, thank you. It's a very good base, and i'm already changing my playthroughs as it fits me. (I'm still contemplating if it was a good idea to start with the british, looking back they are kind of overwhelming for a beginner lol.....well that's what i get for trying to learn using the Navy )
Thanks so much! I'm so glad I can help ☺️ and yeah haha the British have a lot of teapots up in the air so to speak 😂 just keep at it and you'll find what works for you!
I just used this guide to learn how to play UK. It was a huge help so thank you very much. There are some minor gaps that were missed most likely from editing but I was able to more or less fill in the blanks. I didn't win as fast as you but I have a great basis to continue to refine the UK strategy to my own style. This is a great guide for a new player.
The little jabs are what make this video for me lol. "Let's use our fairly compensated and unionized labor force" is probably my favorite. Amazing video though!! Exactly the type of HOI4 guide that can benefit both new players and vets
Nice video, subbed! WRT navy exercising, its a bit more micro-management, but I think the amount of XP generated is determined the number of ships exercising, so a sub generates as much XP as a carrier, but uses a fraction of the fuel. I'd recommend training all the ships to the max, then docking all larger ships. The subs and destroyers generate lots of XP. The other advantage is that exercising does put a small drain on dockyards (for repairing any accidents) and I think that this is much lower duration on cheaper ships.
The only thing I can think to add is using subs in single player. I always have subs ready to surround Africa because for some reason the AI tries to send a ton of German and Italian troop convoys through there. It usually takes out around 200k. And of course it interferes with their supply routes.
Could you do more of these types of videos but for other nations? I REALLY love detailed videos and this one's just top notch. Also, UK being one my fav countries might've played a role 😂 Maybe new ones for US and USSR?
Also, i think its better to build mils in the Raj & Malaya than non-core territory. You reduce autonomy and the mil output is split between you and the puppet, so no waste, rather than just losing production for it being non-core.
I normally play the Germans or Italians and didn't realize how easy it is to defeat the Axis as the UK. I more or less just copied your opening strategy andjust capitulated the Italians in late 1941. I used CW troops to hold Africa while I farmed land and air XP in France with the BEF. I evacuated France to let the Germans win, redeployed the BEF to Africa and then defeated Italy in Libya and Ethiopia. I virtually wiped out the Luftwaffe, Kriegsmarine, Regia Aeronautica, and Regia Marina by SEP 1940. I reinforced Greece and Norway and I'm still holding both fronts. When Barbarossa fired, I waited a month, and then invaded Sardinia, Sicily, and Italy simultaneously. Regno del Sud fired when I captured Rome and then I capitulated Italy not long after. I transfered as much as I could to the Pacific before the Japanese declared on the Phillipines. I've got two refitted and powerful battle groups in Sri Lanka and my ASW hunter/killer groups are growing by the day. I only wish I could take direct control over the surviving puppet Italian ships. The Axis in europe are more or less defeated already. The Germans are overstretched and their logistics don't exist. The Axis are split between five fronts: Eastern, Norwegian, Italian, Greek, and French (Alps), and I'm holding them down on four fronts with just 26 divisions and 14 of those are Italian puppet divisions. They're tying down 40+ divisions, many of them being partial strength German divisions that aren't reinforcing. Mentioning my air force is an afterthought. I've got more fighters and CAS than I'll ever be able to use effectively.
If you don't want to play so cautiously, follow these instructions as described, but after sending an attache to Spain, save up and send one to Ethiopia too. You'll get the option to send volunteers after a while and not long after will be able to justify against Italy. By 1938, north Africa is clear, France has taken Northern Italy, the Kingdom of Italy has joined the allies and you can support Czechoslovakia to tie down both the French and the Germans on the Italian Austrian border.
Sadly the video is too fast to really follow. Even at about 75% speed as a newbie in the game. I often don't know how to do certain things, so I want to see it in the video, but then you place a jumpcut and I can not see how you did it.
Whatsup! New player here and i only got 4 dlcs, (Together for victory, death or dishonor, waking the tiger and MTG) I did a few runs as a democratic uk, I have no problems for the navy as i always manage to reduce the italian navy to 10% of their original size by 1942 and in the air i pretty much have dominance however when it comes to land i always get pushed back or even destroyed by the germans. So i managed to secure the whole africa and the middle east inflicting abt 1m casualties or more to the axis, then took sardinia corsica and sicily but when i tried landing in mainland italy or defend greece from the germans my troops get obliterated. (I had 2000+ planes up in italy) So what infantry/marines templates are you using to get all those green bubbles against the germans? pls i need help
Great question! For my infantry it's pretty much just 22w with support AA and Arty. My marines are 12 marines, 2 arty with support engineers, medium flame tanks and AA and Arty, then just a standard 40w tank division. The main thing is though make sure you have supply and you're attacking around the mountain tiles as much as possible, and go for encirclements!
Word to the wise: take Coastal Command, not Fighter Command. Coastal Command gives a research bonus to small airframes. Fighter Command gives a research bonus to small OR medium airframes. So if you take Coastal Command you leave yourself the option to get faster medium airframes too.
Bro, I was playing UK yesterday, I did it step by step and when I got to the part of invading North Africa after the naval invasions, the Italians filled it with troops, what should I do?
Some more ideas and suggestions. 1. For convoy battles you need to hit with 4 up to date depth charges to sink a sub. So two fully up to date destroyers will sink a sub in one hit. If you can put 4 on a single ship, do it for the lulz. 2. There are three ways to spot subs - a) patrol spotting your fleet on patrol will find the subs eventually and then start the battle with the subs spotted and have 4 rounds of combat - b) active spotting in battle your average sub detection for the entire fleet has a medium chance of spotting subs in battle, put radar 3 on everything since it has sub detection - c) passive spotting any fleet that has any sub detection has a low chance of finding subs in combat. Any roach destroyer has 1 sub detection. run mostly cheap escort destroyers with some depth charges to escort convoys, back them up with high sub detection fleets (cl-asw and dd-asw setup) on patrol and/or strike force to kill the subs, and put radar 3 on everything since it will always help find subs in regular battles. 3. Subs on default agressiveness will always retreat from a destroyer, even if it has no depth charges or sonar or radar. Subs on high will still attack, players might set sub agresivveness to high. 4. Upgrade ships to suit their purposes, e.g. a default cl1 is mostly useless while an cl1 upgraded with sonar, depth charges, float planes and radar is a sub and convoy killer. If you have the dockyards upgrate air defense on capital ships. Always upgrade sonar, radar and firecontrol, its super cheap and gives massive bonuses in combat. 5. Aircraft have attack priorities, they attack from the back forwards, so CV and CONV first, BB, BC and CA second, DD, CL, SS last. Prioritize AA on carriers, battleships, battlecruisers and heavy cruisers. Ships mostly just defend themselves, this game does not model escorting ships providing aa support as happened historically. 6. With the exception of ethiopia almost all of your battles will be defensive, don't design tanks, design self propelled guns. 7. When building fighters compare your air attack to air defense. The stats are damage and hp for planes, you do not need more than air-defense +1 on your planes. 8. Put self sealing fuel tanks and drop tanks on all planes you can. Upgrade planes, especially the IW planes at start, they wont have agility, but they can have air attack and defense, the un upgraded ones will be slaughterd the upgraded ones can fight, not well, but htey can fight. 9. Use 'Request Forces' from your non-player dominions, they will give you their entire army. It does mess up their AI so be careful and if you aren't using them let them have their army back. 10. If mines are allowed or you are in SP put them everywhere. Upgrade your at start subs to lay mines, they will be slaughtered if htey fight anything and cl, ca and dd are much better convoy raiders. Areas of importance are Between norway and denmark (be careful of getting stuck here if denmark falls), sice that can stop an invasion of norway and the 'inland sea' areas in and around italy and japan. If you lay the south and east china seas up to 100% pre war then japan invades nothing. Also lay in the waters around britain since that will prevent cheap or silly invasions. You might even want to build 20-100 specialist mine laying destroyers just to fill all your rear areas up to 100% too. Doing the areas around america's pacific islands would also be super useful pre-war. 11. Be aware of speed on ships, your battleships are very slow BB1 is 22 knt, while the CV1 and BC1 are 30 knt. Your destroyers even with engine 1 are all over 30, so no need to spend resources on that, unless you want to make very speedy cruisers. Use the equipment tags to separate ships for role AND speed. putting your specialist fast fleet destroyers on convoy escort is something the AI WILL DO. 12. Ports are cheaper than supply hubs and also work as supply hubs, built them where you need them. It's important to remember that your main problem will be supply in ethiopia, egypt and burma-thailand. Spend time and resources thinking about supply before the war (basically build a rail road to and a supply hub in south sudan to keep your ethiopia army in supply. Try not to build rail roads in north africa since the axis can use htem if htey can connect the network while you still can always use boats while they can't. Never attack without supply and motorize supply and use air supply if you have bad supply. and the final tip 13. Get the licence for the American Clemson destroyer. This will allow you to create a, and only one, useful variant of the ship when you get 43 of them with ships for bases. I suggest slapping on two depth charge 3s a radar 3 and sonar 2 and use them to fight subs letting your own dd2s work as fleet destroyers. an extra final tip 14. Use the cruiser designer option to get a -80% pp cost for naval designers, use your first 35 exp to add the coastal naval designer to build your at start navy and then change later to build specialized ships since they can give +15% hard attack and armor on your battleships by simply adding radar 3 when you research it.
@@bertvsrob CV=aircraft carrier conv=cargo ships BB=battleship BC=battlecruiser CA=heavy cruiser CL=light cruiser DD=destroyer SS=submarine. These abbreviations can mean different things in different navies or different periods in the same navy. And these are only the "main" ship classes for WW2. For example, there is DL=Destroyer leader, DE=Destroyer escort, KE=corvette, CVE= Take a guess, escort aircraft carrier I'd recommend @drachinifel here on youtube for a deeper dive to naval history.
@@AssassinAgent tx dude. probably need it too, farthest I can get is getting 10 divisions over to britain but then i lose when america joines as my navy is decimated and britain only half taken/unable to hold a line >
With the UK having 15% War Support from 10% base and 5% Pride of the Fleet plus alpha from world tension, Home Defense seems like a waste to do third focus. The attaché will give 10%, putting us at the 25% for partial mob, and world tension should keep us afloat otherwise above that. Then, isn't it better to just grab the 10% base stab from Reinforce the Empire for the stab bonuses? Additionally, I doubt World Tension will spike to 20% even for an early war build, so it's not like we need to be able to do Issue Gas Masks super soon. Also, 15:09 why don't you use flexible contracts for cheap ship designers? With the coastal defense fleet designer, you can make your ASW ships 25% cheaper, and the hit to range doesn't really hurt. On the same note, the earlier BB AA refits could also benefit from the Atlantic Fleet designer for more armor, although idk how much the extra armor will help against any naval bombers that do get through. Refits are already super cheap, so maybe it doesn't make sense to give them the Coastal Fleet defense Designer. Either way, it also makes sense to get the Pacific Fleet designer for carrier refits. In fact, by the time China War started, you had 32% war support. Even though Japan players can like to go all the way down to Spiritual Mobilization before China war, delaying the war start until November/December, you only need one active attaché to get and maintain Partial Mob, so why not use the command power somewhere else? Are we that starved on PP?
You seem to be able to construct civ factories at a faster rate than me, by 22nd august 1936 you have 77 factories in total, I have 6 less! How did you manage to super charge your civ factory production?
I believe this video came out before they placed caps on how much you can reduce consumer goods, so it could be something to do with this? Otherwise I only build Civs until shown in the video and go to free trade after the silent workhorse. I could also be factories from trade 😊
Can I ask what template design you used for your infantry and tank divisions attacking Europe? I struggle with the right combination in my infantry and rank design and I get stuck in western Germany
Tanks I would go for something around 35w in the current build, and infantry is about 30w when attacking, usually just two line arty and the rest infantry
From memory the hood has the same engine and armour as a different class, so you don't need to upgrade both, if you double check that part I show which ones you need to do 😄
I can't find video's without DLC's :( Like you research a lot of stuff I don't have. DLC's make it more complicated for me since I'm very new. Is there an option without DLC?
Hi, great video, especially the navy stuff. Question, I see you're using the fallback order a lot. Do you know if you get your planning bonus if you use a fallback order instead of a normal frontline order?
Thank you! And you only get planning bonus when you have an offensive order planned and divisions assigned to it 😊 so no planning bonus for fallback lines, garrison orders or frontlines without battleplans
Not quite sure why but survival studies for me is much longer than 90 days (it's like 500 days) is this an update or am I the only one having this issue? 😅
A bit late to the party, but when you first start, what do you do for division training? Is it just more garrison divisions, or do you train some regular infantry too, and how much of each? Cheers! I think the guide is perfectly understandable except for that bit, which is always what I'm weakest on--how aggressive to be about training divisions, that is.
No worries mate! Generally I'll work up a 24 stack of standard infantry, then build up garrison divisions until I've covered all my port garrisons like I've shown, then once I've got a decent amount of garrisons on Malta, Gibraltar and Cyprus, I'll just keep working on the infantry divisions! Don't forget to take the Commonwealth divisions about the start of 1939 for Africa!
Are you somehow experienced in the navy? I would like to see a Japan tutorial focusing a lot on the navy because it interests me very much and still I suck at it. Thanks!
Is stacking AA on battleships worth it for other large navies, like the Japanese or the American one, or to a smaller extent, the French and Italian navies ?
@@hammotimee thank you ! And great video as always :) I don't really play HoI4 but I like to stay in the know of the game mechanics lol, glad to see that the Plane Designer can be used to do highly specific missions !
@@hammotimeeCant speak for mp but for SP france and little entente focus is pretty strong. Combined with intervening in Spanish civil war, france can do pretty OK and hit the axis’ soft underbelly pretty early:)
@@hortamaciel no it hasn't, you might be accidentally refitting to the wrong design, when you make multiple forms of the same design now it'll hide them, make sure to check the "show outdated designs" button!
I'm curious how this works out with AAT. I'm about to run another campaign as Britain to see the results with the changes. I know Survivability Studies is out early on since they changed it to more than a year, so I'll be researching something else until then. Range Improvements will be first.
Yes I got that. I'm into 1940 with clear skies. Italy is ushered out of Africa, working over Norway now. Minor fleet losses with the Axis navies now on the bottom. It's a dang good strategy all the way around.@@hammotimee
Ataches give 10% war support, but you lose 5% when Chamberlain becomes PM. Also the 'Burma Road' focus gives 5% war support. All in all a very good video filled with information. I would love to see a similar video about italy. ( haven't bothered with them since BBA ). EDIT: instead of trading with the US for oil you can trade with British Malaya instead ( 17 oil for 1 factory ).
Thanks for the comment! I chose battlefield support for the extra stats for CAS and tacs, and I went for base strike as it adds the most bonuses to spotting and detection for your cruisers and destroyers, as well as really targeting your carriers 😁 other doctrines work well to though if you have your own preference!
how do you maintain such high man power. Im in nov 1941 and have 0 with women in the workplace, garrison support from puppets and all the rest you mentioned
Only thing I would guess is that you possibly have too many divisions? I ended up having around 50k guns in stockpile a few times, so I just send them to the Americans, Chinese or Russians, basically anyone who has the manpower to use them 😂
In this I legit just use 20w with support arty and AA, but the special forces templates are shown in the video. Marines are pretty much 30w with 4 line arty, engineers, AA and support arty
For a historical game you usually can't do the imperial Federation, I want to do a seperate video for that! And Japan is also on the cards don't worry 😎
Please also use collaboration in China. It makes my games so much easier. My strat for historical is work down industry/political side until you get to spiritual mobilization. Then go to China war but don’t advance until you get all of the escalating the war in China done. Then do naval invasions in Shanghai with 10 divisions and have 38 extras to reinforce and push as fast as possible capitulation is quick after that.
@@syco3428 In my last campaign, I had just linked the invasion force out of Qingdao to the northern force and set the entire line to a pure field marshal order to cross China and take Chungking. But with 3 collaborations, I never got near it. They surrendered within a month with Ichi-go active.
Oooft this one was already so long haha all I'll recommend for Africa is to make sure you're building up your supply and airports! And use all the colonial divisions for Ethiopia like I show in this
@@hammotimee I have By Blood Alone and Man the Guns, but I have never played through without Vichy declaring war on Free France , and German divisions appearing all over West Africa.
UK for SP is way too easy, you destroy Germany in like 1942-43, you have to build CLs spotters and DDs anti sub for convoy escort, keep 5 naval dockyards on CV and your set, refiting BBs is optional (important for MP), 1936 hulls are good to go in like 99% of the times, I don't agree tho with the screen, DDs with no fit like in your video / cannon fodder is for countries with little to no navy such as Germany or Italy, UK can be better off with CLs for light attack, CAs is not worth it right now, SHBBs are great for MP because nobody builds them, but they are powerhouses, pretty expensive but they shred normal BBs. Subs as of right now don't matter how many you group anymore, the more you group the more they sink, here hulls matter so try to have the latest hull and latest torpedo + snorkel/radio, as UK subs are optional, you can make spotter subs as Germany combine them with Naval Bombers and profit. CVs should have AA and Hangar Space the rest is a waste of PC, such as Armor which is useless, the more Hangar Space you have the better. As for the CVs airplanes, you can go for 60% naval bombers and 40% fighters or 100% naval bombers (I usually add to my naval bombers a HMG, or a LMG just for some attack if I go for 100%). Anyway great video and tutorial, especially for MP. Cheers!
at what point do you change from the navy spirit that buffs refit, to one for researching modules faster? or a different one? or do you retain the refit one for faster repair throughout the war?
I am still learning the game but i still dont understand how you have so many troops by 1939. As you have 6 stacks of 24 and 1 stack of 12. While by the time i get there i have 2 stacks of 24 and 1 stack of 10. I must be missing some huge.
Sorry same question again. How do you get your air XP up? at the early game to make the planes. I'm really struggling with this mechanic and understanding how to get XP. I did not see an option to send air volunteers for the Spanish civil war. Should I be placing an Air General?
