Playing a minor nation

[Nukkxx]

Can playing a minor nation (Portugal, Czecho, Bulgaria, Sweeden, etc) be fun ?
What would be the main goals ? What would typically be the gameplay like ?
I'm asking because I started game with Czechoslovakia and so far it's quite boring. Not a lot of things to do but wait. So I started a new game as the SU and immediately there are zillions options for the player. Hence my question: can it be fun to play a minor nation and if yes, what would the gameplay be ?

[Hat8]

DH is somewhat scipted so your options are a bit limited. Spain experiences the Spanish Civil War and British Dominions/Axis Allies (Bulgaria/Romania/Hungary) all play supporting roles throughout the war.

[brutus_bg]

Playing with a minor, as you've seen, in general means: smaller army, not so good tech teams, fewer events and, of course, limited IC.
Some of the possible scenarios that come to my mind are:
- Romania (decent army/ tech/ resources/ everything. However they are just between Axis and Soviets)
- Argentina or Brazil (try to achive domination in South America and challenge/ assist US)
- Nationalist China (pretty ungrateful starting position. Have to deal with commies and a war with Japan starts in '37)

[bogeydope_420]

Try to create your own narrative with some nations. Re-conquer a Greek empire as Greece (personal fav), dominate the Middle East as one of the various countries there, attempt to liberate colonial holdings across Asia as a country there, the skys the limit. In all of these scenarios you can join an exisitng faction to try and influence the coming World War or even create your own. The key is, depending on your country, to shelve the ambitions for world domination. While completely possible, I find goals as minors are a lot more fun when kept regional and more realistic.

[Hat8]

Originally posted by brutus_bg:

Playing with a minor, as you've seen, in general means: smaller army, not so good tech teams, fewer events and, of course, limited IC.
Some of the possible scenarios that come to my mind are:
- Romania (decent army/ tech/ resources/ everything. However they are just between Axis and Soviets)
- Argentina or Brazil (try to achive domination in South America and challenge/ assist US)
- Nationalist China (pretty ungrateful starting position. Have to deal with commies and a war with Japan starts in '37)

Dunno if it's fair to call one of the big four a minor. They did fight the majority of the Japanese military.

[brutus_bg]

Originally posted by Hat21:

Dunno if it's fair to call one of the big four a minor. They did fight the majority of the Japanese military.

Er, it's the game ^__^ As you pointed out, there are some differences between DH and real history. Sure that's due to game balance/ lack of country depth.
p.s.: both Nat & Commie China start in a civil war. Then the Japanese Empire jumps in. After it's beaten, the Chinas continue with the civil war ... (and not to mention the warlord-era before the DH timeline, etc.)
p.p.s.: and to not spam the thread-

Originally posted by WombatNinja:

Try to create your own narrative with some nations. ..., the skys the limit.

says it all.
And, btw, sir.. Greek empire is pretty bad*** :D !
Have fun conquering the world , guys

[Nukkxx]

Thanks for these answers guys, I appreciate :-)

["Possibly" Shalfoon]

I've just started a Total Realism game as Nationalist China and I recommend it. Lots of interesting options, intriguing play in terms of balancing defence and offense, not to mention serious industrial and unit quality issues. And a really, really rubbish airforce. Also, if you play the longer game, you get to try to win the civil war after WW2, and possibly take advantage of a weakened British Empire in the East.

Good fun.

[Hirate Yurina]

depends on the mod. vanilla it's kinda boring because of lack of events. theres mods out there where even very minor nations like Portugal have plenty of events and stuff going on in order to include them into the big picture.

I always find it fun playing as an african warlord in any of the modern day mods, conquering the subsaharan africa, because the countries are quite weak and it allows you to build up an empire before taking on the big shots like Egypt and Tunisia.

[Mr Nich]

The game is limited by its design. If you are not going to be one of the major players in WWII then.... you're not going to be one of the major players in WWII. Furthermore, very few nations are idependent, being already aligned or ruled by someone else.

Only a few countries are able to take on the world and win, and the "smallest" of those is China. After that, you are looking at Nations able to make a difference, but not lead, and the problem with those is you leave the war to the computer and for me, that always goes the same way, Germany wins and there is no DDay (or equivilent).
If you play as a really minor nation, then very few are able to be independent. Sweden is worth a go, and also geting Ethiopia to win against Italy, but the world quickly leaves you behind, you cannot build up any IC so cannot build a navy or airforce. That will be fine until you need to cross an ocean to do anything.

I feel the problems with minor Nations are the biggest drawback to the game, as it means there are only six countries to take on the world with (UK, USA, USSR, Germany, Japan, China) and as I said at the start, this is a limiation of the design. The game may not be super-accurate to real life, but it shows the world in the 1930s, and so, that's what you get.

[M1haeel]

Originally posted by heej:

depends on the mod. vanilla it's kinda boring because of lack of events. theres mods out there where even very minor nations like Portugal have plenty of events and stuff going on in order to include them into the big picture.

I always find it fun playing as an african warlord in any of the modern day mods, conquering the subsaharan africa, because the countries are quite weak and it allows you to build up an empire before taking on the big shots like Egypt and Tunisia.

Are you talking about Mds 2015 mod? Do you know the way to play Vietnam, for example? How to unlock it? After unlocking some unplayable countries in DH Editor, my mod stoped loading game.

[Adamek]

check this
https://steamcommunity.com/app/73170/discussions/0/2995421717750021519/

[Mr Nich]

Most of the comments here already accurately describe the situation, so I'll try to not repeat them.

Several minor nations are reasonably playable, in each case they all have pretty much the same scenario. This is, that in real life they were crushed by a major invading power, and your one job is to stop that. Such nations include Norway, Greece, Ethiopia, Dutch East Indies. It is a little challenge to begin with, working out which tech to prioritise, desperately trying to balance your industry to build enough troops to defend with, and then fighting off the invasion. However, once that is done, there is almost nothing else to do, you can never then research or build enough to do anything else.

Playing as a puppet nation is awful, as all excess resources are sent to the parent country, while the dutch east indies begin as a puppet, they stop being so once the Netherlands are defeated.

The puppet problem affects some medium nations, the Raj are good to play with if you remove that restriction.

Playing as a minor Chinese faction can be ok too. If you group all your troops into one single army, you can play a decisive role in the defence of China as the AI always evenly spreads their troops, and you can be the one single army making all the difference.