Brutal Campaign

[DarkSoul]

Does anybody have any tips? I've made it to the 5th map several times but I find it nigh impossible to clear, with most areas already having insurgent presence. It becomes incredibly difficult to both defend the 1 or 2 secure areas you have for stability while also trying to clear insurgent infested zones before the insurgents arrive, meaning insurgent activity tends to just overwhelm me. Anybody who has beaten this, any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[thebadman]

- Take hardest maps first if possible so 5th map have neutral or positive traits mostly affecting you instead of something crushingly bad like no-fly zone.
- Do not enter red zones before first insutgents spawn else you will suffer extra insurgent capacity and earlier insurgency.
- If you do not attack zones early then you should not build HQ near them if possible as they will hurt earlygame stability with hostility flood AOE from red zones.
- Medicine/Sanitation/Schools are even more important than usual because of said hostility flood almost everywhere.
- Because its not mega brutal difficulty you should not care much about corruption and delay AC/purge initiatives till real corruption(one in operation tab saying how much % support is drained) is 20% or higher.
- Smuggler or economist are best govs most of the time, do not boost real corruption with military inc. till you have already used crackdown and both purges.
- Finishing map 1-4 earlier boosts your treasury in future maps with events so do not be afrraid to rush peace deals and end maps with 1 reputation point if that means early win.
- Try to get police 1 rolling as early as possible, even before PR, buy universal justice to skip terrible militia. That way you get powerful stability and security buff that won't get torched in seconds when insurgents show up, very low corruption for what it offers as well.

[hana.abaran]

join discord. you will get a lot of useful suggestions from pros and you can also keep tracks with the suggestions.

[Ceorl]

Generally agree with Badman, except that I always prioritize entering red zones asap on the 5th map (won on Mega Brutal fyi). Insurgents get massive support from red zones so you need to clear them or you'll be swamped in red dots. For that reason I tend to save the general governor for the last map. As Badman says, you should have access to good additional funds by this point so the general's civil side liability is less important.

The only other thing I'd add is your operation upgrades are very rougelite and can make or break a campaign. Try to maximize them as best you can. The gold standards are the road and construction speed boosts.

[DarkSoul]

Thank you both. Took both of your tips into account and managed to win one; I don't know why War Censorship is a 1 star bonus, it's honestly massive and needed to be able to clear out of those red zones without worry.

The one issue I found was if I focus on road too early they help a lot militarily but don't seem to generate as much support as I need to avoid lack of stability losses. I tend to save them for the midgame when I have a zone or two stabilized the money to throw around.

[Ceorl]

Roads are general purpose. They help with combat, intelligence and construction. Roads will not overcome local needs penalties but are generally sufficient to turn hostile pops into neutrals so your job creation programs can get to work.

A well developed road network has all sorts of synergy by allowing you to push back rebels faster while speeding up construction to convert provinces. I almost always prioritize Highways 1 followed by Main Roads 1 when I start a level.