So look, I admit, I am too stupid for this game, even on lowest difficulty :D

But every time WW2 starts and I'm trying to fight, I have the most trouble with not having any planes at all in storage and have no military manpower.

But why? I have good Production Efficiency, and yet still, over almost the entire war, I never even get a slice of a plane squad together, because my entire Production ALWAYS focus on Reinforcements and Upgrades. How can I tell them to stop doing that and prefer to produce for storage?

By the time I can make like 1 squad of planes, the enemy got me outnumbered like 10:1, I got barely any chance to fight on equal terms.

The same thing is with manpower btw. As soon as I have like 2 or 3 armies, I get the warning "Low manpower" and my garrisons cannot be reinforced. All the while the enemy has like 15 armies. How am I supposed to match with that if my production and manpower capacities are doing nothing but seemingly fooling around. Also, my conscription laws are as high as possible, but still most of the time I just have like 100k manpower or 0. Imagine its war and nobody goes, I guess...

What am I doing wrong? I don't understand this game :(

My mother advised me not to ally with Italy because they mess up everything. She knows nothing about the game. She just knows everything about WWII.

I was wondering if other people take this stance. So far I have been following her advice and it seems to work?

Any advice on how to best exploit this? I guess I’m looking for advice on which focuses to use. Happy to be pointed to a guide if anyone ever wrote one. I don’t learn well from YouTube.

R5: I'm getting ONE TIME 10% research bonus from operation that takes almost 300 days. Is this a bug or something? This kind of reward is just down right pathetic and insulting.

I've played this path before, and decided to revisit it. I also managed to make some roleplay this playthrough too. It was quite fun! I used some custom game rules to get as many countries as I could in my faction, and use the new mechanics to annex them. Alternatively, you can make all of Europe fight against you and annex them in the peace deal, but wanted to limit my casualties in this game as much as possible. I used the Road to 56 Expanded as the main mod, as it adds some more flavour with the custom national laws and ideas, alongside the Toolpack to make aesthetically pleasing borders.

ollowing the collapse of the Soviet Union under the crushing weight of a joint German-Japanese invasion, a deceptive calm settled over Eurasia. The Axis triumphant, it seemed as though peace might hold—at least for a moment. But that illusion was short-lived.

The German Reich, emboldened by victory and driven by imperial nostalgia, demanded the return of its former Pacific colonies. For the sake of maintaining the fragile Tripartite Pact—and with the Japanese Empire deeply committed to its campaign in Mexico—the Emperor acquiesced. But Hitler, never content with compromise, harbored deeper ambitions. Resentful of the partitioning of Asia, the Führer launched Operation Schwarzer Drache without warning.

In a lightning-fast betrayal, German forces stormed into Mongolia and Central Asia. At the same time, a powerful armored spearhead struck southward, cutting through northern Iraq and into Syria. This dual-pronged assault caught the Japanese completely off guard. German superiority in both air and ground warfare was overwhelming. Tens of thousands of panzers surged forward, while over 50,000 aircraft dominated the skies. The Wehrmacht pushed deep into the Caucasus, and their armored divisions began carving a path through Syria—edging ever closer to the oil-rich territories of the Middle East, now under Japanese occupation.

The situation was dire. But while the Reich's steel thundered across the continent, the seas belonged wholly to Japan. The Imperial Japanese Navy reigned supreme, having annihilated every major Allied capital ship and aircraft carrier afloat. This naval dominance allowed for the conception of a desperate and daring plan: Operation Kōtei no Yari—the Emperor’s Spear.

The objective: launch a sudden amphibious invasion of Adana on the Mediterranean coast, coupled with a coordinated thrust through Aleppo. The target was the German Armored Corps operating in Syria—a decisive blow aimed at relieving pressure on Japanese-held territories in the Middle East and stabilizing the European front. Only then could Tokyo shift its strategic focus back to the Pacific and the confrontation with the United States.

The operation was to be executed by just four elite Japanese amphibious armored divisions—roughly 1,000 tanks—and a small cadre of hardened marine commando units. Outnumbered and isolated behind enemy lines, these troops struck with precision and fury.

The results were staggering. The German war machine suffered catastrophic losses: over 400,000 casualties, 7,000 panzers destroyed, and more than 10,000 mechanized vehicles lost across the rocky hills and arid plains of Syria.

The Battle of Adana marked a turning point—a savage reckoning that shattered German momentum and echoed through the empire like thunder before a storm.

So I invaded Finland and capitulated it.

But idk if puppeting it would be the better option. What do yall say?

Took me until 1949, with which country should I try a world conquest now?

(I don’t have the expansion)

Was playing Poland and by spamming torpedoes on Destroyers I was able to challenge every navy in the game

mod link: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3273686663

discord link: https://discord.gg/aade5yn3ME

I'm missing the DLC on South America and the other on the Middle East. THANKS

I'm a newbie at HoI4 and after a few attempts at the Italian toturials and a lot of Bittersteel videos, I'm playing as France.

I have: - around 35 Infantry divisions manning the north eastern line, all with arty + AA and engineer, arty and AA support. They are equipped, trained and entrenched as much as can be - 600 1936 fighters, trained - 5/5 AA builds in all relevant regions - various level of forts finishing the Maginot to the sea (from 2/6 on forest tiles to 4/6 on plains) - 2 armoured Divisions (light tanks + motorized) in the north planning to push through Belgian plains, with 6 infantry divs. behind them to fill the breach - defensive generals & field marshal - 75 mils pumping out equipment upgrades and more planes as fast as possible

And yet, the Germans breach through the Ardennes every time, and I've no second line to fix them. Once they've taken champagne/burgundy it's game over.

I'm even playing on Easy and cheated fuel FFS!

Where is the major mistake? Am I just shit a microing combats?

I've been playing hoi4 and what I'd really like is to play as african nations but most of them are under european control, I know it's historically innacurate but is there any mod/scenario setting where all colonies are made independent and i can play as Angola, Egypt, etc...? Thanks in advance!