Hoi4 1.9 Italy guide with spies

A complete multiplayer guide based on multiple sources that hopes to provide an optimized italy.

This guide unlike many other will touch on the use of spies and new naval production as well as what you should be asking your fellow axis members to do.

Disclaimer:This is all my personal opinion many people with have other thoughts such as when to build synths and many server rulesets can change this is just a strategy that I like and have found to work very well.

Opening war with ethiopia

Now as you likely know Italy starts the game at war with Ethiopia this is an excellent opportunity to gain some army experience that is necessary to upgrade your main divisions to 20 widths.

While Ethiopia is a good opportunity to gain some army xp and gain quite a nice puppet and position in Africa.
It is not necessary to take the "Ethiopian war Logistics" focus and bypassing it is of great benefit.

Here is how to skip it and save yourself time so that you can get to the much more valuable focuses sooner.
Step 1: take all of your divisions facing Ethiopia and draw a fall back line in the lowest part of Somalia assigning all of your units to it.
Step 2: Let the Ethiopians take Eritrea(northern part) and most of Somalia and you should have the option to click "bypass" on the focus.
Step 3: once you have skipped the focus you may take out ethiopia at your leisure or on the servers ruleset time-frame(note that you get a nice +10% war support and stability bonus when you triumph)
Step 4: Depending on the ruleset you may or may not be able to puppet ethiopia if you are able to do so I would strongly recommend this as getting 15 or so 20 width infantry divisions is better than getting one civ after like 3 years of compliance gain.
* Also by puppeting ethiopia and releasing somalia and eritrea you can take the divisions they produce but not call them into the war meaning that you don't have to defend them and get some much needed divisions for invasions and defense.
Italy really struggles to produce enough men to garrison Ethiopia so not having to guard it allows you more men and time to sweep the med and make your crucial naval invasions.


If you are desperate for army xp either because you are not allowed to drag out the war with Ethiopia or accidentally crushed them quickly.
Sending volunteers to Japan or an attache will definitely resolve this issue , however if you are using my heavy cruiser naval meta which requires a large amount of pp then you will just have to manage.

How and Who to grind xp with

Italy has terrible generals.
There isn't any other way of putting it most of them are one skill and need a lot of grinding to be passable or even to get infantry expert.
Now Italy's role in hoi4 MP is primarily defensive.
-You garrison the med and every port within
-You often man the west wall
-You make cheap divisions to hold the line so Germany can focus on tanks

SKL ATK DEF PLN LOG
Giovanni Messe 4 4 3 2 4 (General)
Rodolfo Graziani 2 3 2 2 1 (Field Marshal)
Pietro Badoglio 1 1 2 1 2 (Field marshal)

If you are doing a single player game then maybe consider grinding Rodolfo Graziani a grind as he can make your infantry better however in multiplayer defence is the priority.
Even though Pietro is worse he has the "Defensive Doctrine" Modifier that adds 30% to entrenchment bonuses which can result in up to 15 extra entrenchment (assuming Grand battleplan)


By 1940 you are going to have a lot of division and are going to need more than one field marshal.
I recommend having your Garrisons under a field marshal and a decent defensive general.
Your main frontline army borders (france , egypt , algeria , greece etc)

Early national focuses

Rushing Fighter Two's
*note that you should be researching fighter 1's immediately if you are going to get fighter two's for the axis
1.After bypassing ethiopian war logistics as shown above take "Mare Nostrum" or you could take Army primacy but it is generally best to get dockyards sooner than mills and you will not need the research bonuses yet to doctrine.
2.take "Air Innovations" for a 100% bonus to the research of fighter 2 (start researching the moment you have this bonus and fighter one's)
3.Industrial effort 1
4.Industrial effort 2
5.Extra research slot
6.Claims on Yugoslavia(store up pp so that you can start justifying a wargoal once this finishes on just one of the claimed provinces should be just over 120 days)
7.Now do army primacy or Mare nostrum (which ever one was left)
8.Albanian occupation
Note that you wargoal on yugoslavia should come about 20 days before you finish occupying albania this wargoal is permanent so wait until albania is occupied/owned by you get some troops on that new part of the border and go to war.
Or
If you are really determined not to give the allies any war support via world tension you can wait and should declare war on Yugoslavia first before the Albanians submit.

From here you can bounce around where you like but I would recommend doing the Italian highways downwards as a priority after all the axis and your navy do desperately require oil.

There is no clever way of bypassing befriend Bulgaria but this should not be the way you join the axis as it wastes PP and time just ask the Germany to join when it gets really close to war so that the allies do not get as much war support early on.(and if you are lucky get strikes)

Not Rushing Fighter Two's
Similar to before but you basically get a free focus just replace air innovations with something else like getting industrial effort 1 earlier.

Taking Yugoslavia and Greece

This requires a high investment into Spies to actually benefit from this war by building a collaboration government in Yugoslavia and then building another one up in Greece once it is maxed out.
Taking these countries is incredibly important and should not be skipped unless the server rule set specifically bans them being taken before a certain date.
The french AI guarantee is weird but generally it seems that the guarantee is removed when Germany takes the Sudetenland so co-ordinate with your Germany so that you can get Yugo as fast as possible.


What resources do I get?
From Yugoslavia
Factories
Starts with (3 Mills, 1 Dockyard ,14 Civs)
Mid 1937(i.e. early) (
Mid 1938(i.e. late but Germany has sudetenland) (
End 1939(WW2 begins) (
Resources
Starts with(0 oil, 0 rubber,4 steel,124 aluminium,0 tungsten,124 chromium)
Mid 1937(i.e. early) (
Mid 1938(i.e. late but Germany has sudetenland) (
End 1939(WW2 begins) (
Equipment
No idea what equipment you will get but I seem to reliably get 5K guns so you can rely on that.
A maxed out collab government on minimal settings to build compliance can give up to 80% of that nations industry.
The Greek guarantee is more odd there is a chance that you can rush them down very early however this is banned in many rulesets and you will not be able to build a collab in both.



What resources do I get?
From Greece
Factories
Starts with (4 Mills, 1 Dockyard ,8 Civs)
Mid 1937(i.e. early) (
Mid 1938(i.e. late but Germany has sudetenland) (
End 1939(WW2 begins) (
Resources
Starts with(0 oil, 0 rubber,24 steel,124 aluminium,0 tungsten,124 chromium)
Mid 1937(i.e. early) (
Mid 1938(i.e. late but Germany has sudetenland) (
End 1939(WW2 begins) (
Equipment

Political Power Buys

Now here is where I and others clash on what to spend pp on mainly our trade policy if i take a quote from one of the more popular guides from the tribe.(https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1558681427)
They recommend the following
1. Free Trade
2. War Economy
3. Captain of Industry
4. Industrial Concern
5. Light Air Designer (make sure to have this before fighter twos are done researching)
Decision: Improve worker conditions.
I really disagree.
The main resource issue for Italy isn't oil but steel. Even if you do not change your export law you still almost immediately encounter problems in acquiring steel which massively hurts your whole production!
Now obviously you buy steel from Germany like every other axis country but the amount of civs extra is not at all worth the tempting bonuses from free trade your economy and war production will be crippled.
I propose the following.
1.Improved worker conditions(straight after Ethiopia)
2.War economy
3.Captain of industry
4.industrial concern
5.light air designer (have this before fighter two's are done so your fighters get the bonus before people start producing them.
6/7 war industrialist if you start building mills or dockyards
6/7 Artillery designer or infantry equipment researcher
8 Infantry specialist or navy people (see navy section)
after this start to get army people starting with the infantry expert
*note that you should be able to do improved worker conditions in my version sooner preventing strikes and allowing for high wartime stability always get improved worker conditions asap when at war.

If you are focusing on the navy then start getting you naval staff of choice here (see navy section)

Construction and Military Production

The main decision regarding construction for Italy is on how many synthetic refineries to produce this can vary infinitely so I have decided to simplify the approach to fuel and this part of construction.

Self Sufficient Italy
The main idea here is that you make enough synthetics to adequately supply yourself and your navy with oil
Pros:
+you are self sufficient leaving more fuel for Germany and the axis air force
+you can hold Africa and the med for a longer time making this strategy safe if you have insufficient forces to hold or defeat the allies in Africa
+you produce rubber which is needed for plane production
Cons:
-Less mills and dockyards as you are focusing on building synths overall making you and your army weaker
-if you manage to take Iraq then this was in a way pointless as you now have an overabundance of fuel and your military is weaker because of the time you put in to synth production
-requires you to spend a lot of research that could be spent on better things like naval doctrine or infantry equipment or other industrial techs.
CIVS: Jan 1936 - Oct 1937
Synths:OCT 1937 - Jul 1938
Mills and Synth Jul 1938-War (I recommend a ratio of two mills to one synth)
*also note that you should be building fuel silos so that you are always storing and not wasting oil once you begin to get close to filling your stockpile(30 days) start building 2 fuel silos in different areas and set to highest priority
Fuel stockpile you should have by wartime ~ 600 k

Conquer based Italy
Take over Iraq and maybe Iran to sustain you this relies on winning Africa and is therefore high risk
Pros:
+Should have a much stronger land army as a result of more mills
+if you take over Iraq and deal with resistance you should get enough fuel to sustain your war machine
Cons:
-if you fail in Africa and lose Libya you have no oil production making you very vulnerable to naval invasion
- if you lose Africa you bring down the axis oil production weakening the whole faction
CIVS: Jan 1936 - March 1938
Mills and dockyards March 1938 till War
Fuel stockpile you should have by wartime ~ 400k (build some silos like above)

Millitary Production
At the start of the game you have 19 mills and 11 dockyards.

Spies

Spy agencies are indeed useful but for Italy who lacks civilian factories the decision to invest heavily in spies is a tough call to make.
No matter what you will be taking over a large amount of territory where puppeting isn't really a valid option.
You need the factories from Greece and Yugoslavia directly to feed your war economy and there is little value in puppeting Algeria or Egypt.

So it should be obvious that the resistance suppression techs should be researched by the time you plan to take some territory.(i.e.when you declare war on Yugo you should be starting the second level of resistance suppression)

When to take spies High Investment
This Investment plan focuses on building compliance rapidly in the countries that you intend to conquer (Yugo and Greece) this is done at great construction cost however these territories will be better integrated and will give you better access to their industries. I do not know what the ideal balance is but you need at least 2 and preferably 3 spies.
1.Start of game form spy agency
2.Send the spy to Yugoslavia to build up Intel
3.Continuously take improvements with the lowest civ
cost such as(economy department,Military department etc) once you have taken 5 of these unique upgrades you will be allowed to take another spy.
4.Continue taking upgrades while your spies perform the operation gaining you 20% compliance when you win per execution.(Note that doing this also reduces the surrender limit of a country making them easier to kill)
*Make sure you tick the repeat and commence when ready boxes and that you are producing quite a lot of support equipment
5. get your third spy and use them to either
5.1 Increase the Intel network in Yugo so that the prepare collaboration government does not get cancelled by falling under 30%
5.2 Beginning to build an Intel network in Greece
6 Repeat for Greece Build compliance as high as it will go before the war with them starts if max compliance is reached then send your spies to Africa to gain some Intel on the British who will be your main opponent
7. Consider investing in cryptology further so that you can break the British cipher and grant fantastic attack and defense bonuses for fighting in Africa this also allows Germany and their spies to focus on the soviet union.
8.Use spies that remain to suppress your newly acquired clay.

Naval Meta's

How much you are willing to invest into your naval production is entirely up to you , the various changes in the game decisive battles, foolish mistakes and demands placed upon you by the axis will all require a change in strategy.
I cannot specify exactly how many Mills or Dockyards to build by a specific date but here are two naval meta's that will help give your fleet a nasty punch.

If you are unfamiliar with the Man the guns naval system here is a pretty good guide
https://www.reddit.com/r/hoi4/comments/g0r06o/navy_a_hoi4_guide/

Heavy cruiser meta
This Meta is designed to give you as many ships that count as "Capital" ships as you have two Italy exclusive items that can give you some pretty insane damage to screens.(Which in turn wins you the battle as the first one to lose screens and be subject to torpedos loses)
Advantages
+ uses less research slots when compared to the carrier meta as you will want to rush carrier 3's you will pretty much not have access to a research slot until wartime.
+no need to change the naval doctrine
+less time needs to be spent to reach the maximum power of this build in regard to doctrine
Disadvantages
-High political power cost( as you will need capital ship expert and decisive battle chief of navy)
-Will need to invest heavily in screens to protect the capital ships (ideal ratio of 1 capital to 4 destroyers)once your screening efficiency goes below 50% you are ♥♥♥♥♥♥

How it works
Italy has access to some very capital ship oriented advisers and admirals who with a bit of grinding can stack up some insane bonuses to capital ship attack.By making our heavy cruisers contain mostly light guns this attack bonus applies to our screen killing ability allowing us to win battles.
You will have a single "deathstack" fleet under Carlo Bergamini
Advisors
Carlo Bergamini +10% Capital Ship Attack and Armor
Inigo Campioni +5% Capital Ship Attack,Capital Ship Armor,Screen Attack,Screen Defense
Admiral
Carlo Bergamini +10% Capital Ship Attack +10% Capital Ship Armor (once he is leveled up he can take the following traits : Big Guns Expert +15% Capital Ship Attack)
*Also it is possible for him to grind and unlock cruiser captain which give another +10% Damage and speed to heavy cruisers.

Bonuses from Fleet in being
Rush the left side of the doctrine first then do as you wish or leave it there.
Final bonus from fleet in being is the Grand Battlefleet bonus which gives another +10% Capital Ship Attack

Important techs to research other than ship hulls
-Fire control methods 1 and 2 to get more attack
In total this adds up to a whopping 65% bonus to attack with our "capital ships"
How to implement this huge explanation
How to convert already existing ships
At the start of the game you will want to gain some naval xp by following the focus path recommended and getting 50 from the "Mare Nostrum" focus as well as separating off and training your subs.
Make the new ship designs with the latest hulls as shown below, group your fleet together and any ship that is listed with a yellow plus arrow facing upwards acn be converted to another template.
Do this to all of your heavy and light cruisers finish off the battleships then produce the following.
10 to 15 dockyards on destroyers
The rest on the new heavy cruisers


Ship designs to convert to
Heavy cruiser design:Main gun(bottom left slot) is medium battery, Entire top row of design become light guns,engine 2,AA2,and Secondary weapons 2, No Armor(it just is pointless you want speed and no armor for heavy cruisers can protect from torpedos it greatly adds to the production cost for no gain remove it)
Screen design:Main gun(bottom left slot) is a light battery,AA2,sonar,engine2,torpedos2,Depth chrges in first and second slot of top row
We are aiming to make the cheapest screens possible but we still want to deal with subs.


* thanks to new sheed for showing me this meta on youtube :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dkh22MfEAT8&list=PL6nN36coc9dkw9Bpw_0N2HSv9AAs2M89e&index=36&t=0s
Traditional carrier meta
I wouldn't recommend this as much as the capital ship meta there are many good guides to this but here is a summary.

1.) Immediately start researching carrier 1's continue through focus path and get carrier primacy focus before you finish carrier 1's
2.) rush carrier threes and start building
3.) build naval fighters and cv naval bombers


I don't care subs
Finish off the battleships that are being produced train fleet and watch it get annihilated.
Have your subs raid the atlantic or help out japan.

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/1867304070762441623/510CECAA86EEB624DF30CB3ED216AFEA959A1B20/?imw=256&&ima=fit&impolicy=Letterbox&imcolor=%23000000&letterbox=false

Comparison of doctrines shows that Trade interdictions is competitive for less focuses.

Raiding build

This is risky if you go into an area with quick enemy ships and you get bogged down long enough for a main fleet to arrive you are rather bugggered.
Doctrine: Trade interdiction (left and right paths relating to surface raiding , surface detection/visibility etc)
A shown in Feedback gaming's video :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFZTXH5X-_s
if your ships are faster and do a lot of light attack you can devastate convoys and slip away before the main fleet arrives.
This exact strategy cannot be replicated by Italy easily it lacks the industrial might necessary to get 40+ light cruisers out by war time.
However the general principle of quick raiding and bringing greater force to bear before a large battle can occur could still apply.
The problem with Submarines is that (assuming sub 3's are banned as is common) they are so slow that convoys are able to be rescued by nearby destroyers.
Feedback gamings idea is essentially aiming to over-power the escorting destroyers and light cruisers(like what roams around the eastern and western med) and over power them sink the convoys quickly and dash away before a large fleet is able to form up and find them.
Battleships/Battlecruisers normally aren't used for this as torpedos basically bypass their armour and can sink near anything they hit.
Thus they need screens and your fleet is more visible , expensive and will incur greater attention from the enemy.

Why this can work.
1.) Spirit of the academy surface raiding means less vulnerable to torps
2.) enemy fleet penalty from being larger in terms of no of ships
3.) low ships + bonuses means hard to detect which means high dodge chance
4.)battlecruisers can out range destroyers for long enough to destroy them
5.) fleet speed while retreating admiral +smokescreen + faster ships means escape is likely.

Desireable traits in no order
(blockade runner + superior tactician , craven , bold , smoke screen specialist , concealment expert , big guns expert)

Tech
Smokescreen generators(speed while retreating +20%)
Small calibre armour piercing shell +5% light and heavy attack
armor piercing capped shell +5% light and heavy attack
Bracket shooting , ladder shooting , shell dyes = 30% light and heavy attack

Admirals
Angelo Iachino 2 2 1 3 1 Bold Bold Career Officer Career Officer Superior Tactician Superior Tactician Spotter Spotter
Trait total=)Naval Speed: +10%,Damage: +5.00%,25% positioning,10% spotting speed)
Giuseppe Fioravanzo 3 2 2 4 2 Aviation Enthusiast Aviation Enthusiast Blockade Runner Blockade Runner
Trait total =(+20% Retreat decision chance+15%F
Inigo Campioni 3 2 2 3 3 Battleship Adherent Battleship Adherent Superior Tactician Superior Tactician Spotter Spotter

Battlecruisers with basic heavy batteries can pierce all British battleships (excluding doctrine)

NoStep Back Notes

-Ships if docked in a port denies the supply to the province
-Naval Refit Yards VERY VERY POG FOR CURISER META
-Spirit of naval command bonuses are very good (decisive battle is best if you are going for UK navy)
-Get Carlo Bergamini earlier as he gives 0.09 navy exp per day

[davout]

1 war eco before free tarde is better u will delay u f2 by alot if u take the designer as 5 pp buy and it will be after the f2 then u dont need to collab yugo i would say its worth it if after that u can tech steal industry from spain after or siam or manchu and u get more civ from nto doing spy then collbing yugo then doing syntch is dumm lel romania has enough fue,and can give u like 300 k when yugo for u nayv and u can just buy for like 7 days 100 fuel of iran and other then building docs will make u lose the airwar or a weaker d day wall

[PrussianDingo]

its a general guide give the guy a break! Personally I thought it was a pretty decent guide.
Bravo!

[Fluff Fox]

Please add punctuation. Also, your guide does not account for mexico starting world war and a super greece invading everything.