So I begin my naval research and armament plan. Also known as "throw every single scientist and factory I've got into Naval Research and Dockyards."
The Dockyards that I do have are furiously producing the ships I have available- primarily Destroyers for escort and anti-sub duty, and Convoys for transportation purposes considering my ever-growing overseas empire.
Rather annoyingly, my massive amount of convoys from the United States insist on all going in one spot-
Literally right past the ubermassive Japanese fleet
So I'm not touching the Comintern for a while.
My armies remain restless, however...
Well there are still plenty of minor nations to annihilate conquer integrate into the glorious People's Republic, aren't there?
Brazil even has somewhat of a fleet for my burgeoning fleet to smack around for some veterancy and naval experience, I start with that-
I also start justifying for Ireland, Lithuania, Switzerland, and Yugoslavia for good measure-
(forgot the Ireland pic, sorry)
The moment my research in Air Doctrine finishes, I switch over to Naval Doctrine. And, seeing as I'm a sucker for Carriers, I go for Base Strike.
...What? Carriers are just the best.
Unfortunately Stalin butts in with a claim on Lithuania:
Guess I'm not getting that.
Goddammit Stalin =_=
I start developing my colonies more, especially Japan, the United States and Southeast Asia.
Why?
I've actually fully developed the entirety of Mainland China.
And finally, after what feels like years of research- the Tier 4 carrier finishes research.
Time to start shifting all of my production to CVs-
Wait a second.
Why is CV Naval Bomber completely blank?
Wait.
You're fucking kidding me.
I forgot to research Torpedo Bombers for the Carriers I so painstakingly built.
I suppose I have some seized Sharks and Devastators, so I can get away with reducing the Naval Bomber wing rather than outright getting rid of it.
Still though... this may be due to my time as a World of Warships CV main, but using Dive Bombers over Torpedo Bombers makes me almost feel dirty.
Goddammit I have no one and nothing to blame for this but myself.
Shanghai, which was once the nucleus of the Chinese Communist Party, finally flips back into the PRC. That's a nice way of bringing back my mood xD
Just Carriers aren't going to be enough for a fleet, though. I make sure to also get some more screening ships, like Light Cruisers, as well-
Meanwhile, my justifications finish on Brazil, Ireland, Yugoslavia, and Switzerland, and the wars promptly start.
Then, rather amusingly, the remnants of the Allies decide to commit geopolitical suicide by accepting Switzerland and Ireland into the Allies and rushing in with their meagre dozen-or-so divisions to try to help out
Well, at this point, the Allies are basically powerless to stop me, however hard they might try. This saves me the political power I would've needed for a war justification, I guess, so I'm okay with it.
Yugoslavia, basically without an army, folds like wet tissue paper.
Switzerland isn't exactly doing much better.
My subs also manage to catch out a bunch of convoys that I believe are trading with the Soviet Union.
...I must say, it's satisfying almost to a sense of catharsis to be on the other side of the convoy whack-a-mole
Meanwhile, Switzerland, too, capitulates
Meanwhile, Brazil remains a harder nut to crack- but my invasion forces manage to land on the southern coast and establish a beachhead
And, because I'm sick and tired of running out of oil, I start building Synthetic Oil refineries everywhere I have extra space. I start in Japan for the irony of Japan producing oil.
Even more free provinces from the GuoMingDang, too!
Chiang... I think you're running out of China to lose
Brazil's actually somewhat respectable navy sorties to engage my navy which consists of "DD murderball with some support"
Unfortunately for Brazil, however, my higher tech and more numerous DD murderball comes out on top.
I actually didn't realize that I owned British Mexico... but it's rather conveniently located next to Guatemala, so I promptly land and invade.
Similarly, forces I have lying around in Turkey are repurposed and close in around Liberia and South Africa.
Guatemala folds rather quickly, as does Ireland.
Brazil, meanwhile, is slow going, if only because everything's so far apart and there's no infrastructure at all to speak of.
Man, fighting through South America sucks.
My assorted naval forces, however, continue to completely screw over Brazil's every attempt to bring in outside resources for her factories.
Meanwhile, as I'm reshuffling some air elements, I come to the realization that perhaps, I may have gone a bit overboard with the fighters-
I blame the PTSD that the allied air force gave me back in Germany. *shivers*
As Base Strike finishes, I move onto the next leg on the Carrier doctrine tree- the leg that actually pertains to Carriers
And my progress in South Africa is also progressing nicely, unti-
Wait, what?
Really?
Well, I guess I know who my next target is
And... it's not just Columbia.
So scratch that, next targets. As MaoZeDong argues, this clearly shows that the People's Republic will know no peace as long as any so-called "democratic" nation remains- and as such, they must be crushed destroyed showed the enlightenment of the Communist way!
In other words, justification for me to start bullying the entirety of South and Central America.
Meanwhile, despite switching to Limited Exports and researching all of the Excavation techs just to avoid it, I somehow run out of Oil again.
If that doesn't fix it, I'll be really irritated.
And also I continue progressing down the naval bomber line-
Maybe I'll actually get to build some decent strike planes for my carriers soon. ((Dive Bombers don't count =_=))
Anyways, New Zealand, Liberia, and South Africa all capitulate, and as such, the Allies are now no more.
And, of course, they are nommed for their troubles.
For some reason (I don't actually know why- maybe because of the volunteers thing?), my war justification on Columbia finishes first.
And shortly afterwards-
Somehow, I manage to run out of oil again.
I control literally over half the world. I have synthetic refineries everywhere.
How the hell am I still running out of oil
Meanwhile, the troops I'm moving into position to attack the other South American nations are running into... problems.
Apparently, trying to attack people through the Amazon Jungle means you get supply problems.
A lot of supply problems.
As a result, my glorious conquest great liberation of the South American workers is put on hold while I build a highway or two through the Amazon forest.
My naval plans regarding the Caribbean are progressing just fine though.
Looking back in Europe, though, is showing me something rather unpleasant.
Fifteen percent? What the hell is going on here? How-
So the Fascism focus still persists, rather irritatingly. But, he could still use a communist adviser to balan-
I have no words available to adequately express my current disappointment with the Polish government.
The worst part?
Bulgaria is doing the same exact thing.
At least Spain remains loyal to the party ideology... for now....
Great... now I have to watch my puppets in case they cave to either Democratic or Fascist influence as well.
To make me a bit happier, though, my first Fast Carrier Task Force is finally done. Could probably use some more BBs, but I... kinda need to research them first.
And yes, I am planning on manually naming my ships. I've created a bit of an internal naming convention, as well. CV naming practice I stole from the Japanese, being flying animals, both birds of prey and mythological creatures (T1 is Phoenix class, T2 is Eagle class, T3 is Dragon class, T4 is Crane class). BBs are provinces, first Chinese, then prominant colonial provinces. Cruisers are Chinese cities, then prominent colonial cities. DDs- well, screw DDs, there's too many of them
Speaking of Cruisers, Cruiser 4 finishes-
That extra slot, I put into Modern Tanks.
Not only are Modern Tanks a step up, but also I have to consider my resources.
I'm very, very close to running out of Oil (again ), and steel as well.
Medium tanks take 2 oil and 4 steel-
((and Tungstein, but I've got plenty of that already)).
Meanwhile, Modern tanks take only 1 and 3, respectively-
Well, and plenty of Chromium, but I already have plenty of that as well. Only problem is going to be switching over production lines and some reorganization, but we'll get to that in time, I'm sure.
Also, finishing Light Cruisers means that I can go straight for CA4- without touching any other part of the Heavy Cruiser Line!
xD
And just as I expect, the second I switch over a lot of my dockyards to the more resource-intense Light Cruisers-
Sigh.
Anyways, I've been keeping my politicians and diplomats very busy-
My naval research is progressing at a downright blistering pace, finishing Battleship 3s, and CV Naval Bomber 3.
Finally! I get to actually equip my Carriers with something decent!
Error: Happy_Chinese_CV.jpg not found
I replace with Battleship 4, and convoy escort, considering the sheer amount of subs likely to be stalking my convoys soon.
At this point, conquering random nations in South and Central America has almost turned into an afterthought-
Honestly, my invasion of Mexico takes a while simply because of the sheer size of that nation.
It's certainly not because of the Mexican Army-
And, as Heavy Cruiser 4 finishes, I switch over some of my DD and CL production to CAs, and start researching Logistics companies (because I have so many divisions that supply will be an issue now), and better Field Hospitals.
Try as they might, the Mexicans can't do a thing about the Chinese army casually strolling into their country. As Mexico City falls, their government loses hope and surrenders.
My first round of synthetic oil factories have finally finished, thank god-
Though, rather irritatingly, I still need oil imports to fully feed my production lines.
I also come to realize that I've forgotten to research radar.
...I've been busy with other things, okay? >_>
Well, better late than never, I suppose-
My (new) war justifications finally finish for Haiti and Costa Rica, and war is promptly declared-
And one quick naval invasion later, I add the islands to my collection of annexed states-
And as soon as the my currently researching Carrier doctrine finishes, I start on the next one.
And even more of Nationalist China revolts to join me.
I also do some cleaning in the Middle East- namely, Oman and Yemen, with Saudi Arabia not far behind- just need to get my main American Armies over to Mesapotamia.
It's also just now that I forget that I haven't actually justified against Ethiopia, yet.
But I suppose that could be fixed right now.
Oman and Yemen fall very quickly-
And my forces get into position around Saudi Arabia.
Battleship 4s finally finish, giving China her last bit of required Naval technology-
And... switching a bunch of my production lines over to Battleship 4s... causes problems.
...Well, shit. Apparently, I most definitely can run out of Chromium.
Oh well, I guess I'll just buy Chromium from the Soviets in order to build stuff with which I can then use to conquer the chromium in question in short order
As basic Convoy Protection finishes, I move to the next part of the escort doctrine-
Ah, the justification on Saudi Arabia is done.
Unfortunately for the Saudis... their armies don't exactly fare much better than anyone elses'.
And the Saudis fold very shortly after I march into Mecca and Riyadh.
It's time to turn my attention back to the Comintern. Stalin's armies are faffing around at the moment, but I'm sure that the moment they have reason to, they'll be at my borders within days.
I also still have close to 100 divisions under my control as expeditionary forces. Now, I know that if (heh, more like when) I leave the Comintern, control will automatically revert back to original owners... so why not do something about them while I can? Like send them to the farthest corner of the Earth that I can think of?
Hey Russians and GuoMingDang- I heard Tahiti is great at this time of year! ((Goodbye, suckers!))
I don't even have to worry about naval invasions, because they won't have the ships in place for naval superiority. So as they board their ships for a slow return to a friendly port- they'll have to get through my own sub and surface ship gauntlet.
As a whole, I'm actually far more worried about the assorted Comintern Navies stationed around.
Of course- there is the main Japanese Fleet stationed in the Kuril Islands-
The French also have a pair of leftover fleets- one in the Mediterranean-
And one off the coast of Spanish Africa-
The Russians also have two fleets- one smaller one stationed in the Baltic Sea-
And a decent fleet stationed in the Black Sea-
I, meanwhile, have access to essentially three and a half carrier task forces- each full one consisting of 4 CVs, some amount of capital ships (usually 2 BBs and maybe 3 CAs), and the accompanying swarm of DDs and CLs. I also have another CTF almost ready to launch- it will probably launch by the beginning of any hostilities.
I decide to send a full CTF to the Mediterranean. That French fleet is actually a massive threat to my troop movements and convoys in the area, and I want it sunk. I also send half a CTF to the Baltic to secure control of that region. Half a CTF should be plenty to take out the Russian Fleet at Leningrad, and then move down to either take out the other French Fleet hanging around Gibraltar, or help out at the Mediterranean if necessary.
I pointedly ignore the Russian fleet stationed in the Black Sea. Sure, it's quite large on paper, but it's also in a terrible position. Remember, I control the Bosporus, and so it's completely penned in there, and I can take it out at my own personal leisure.
The remaining 3 fleets (2 already out, 1 about to finish), I allocate to destroying the Japanese and GuoMingDang fleets. Obviously, the Japanese have the largest fleet, and I need to take it out.
I also have supporting fleets in position. Important convoy lines- both mine, and the rest of the Comintern's- are swarming with ships. Specifically of note is the Central Pacific- the GuoMingDang have a lot of troops stationed on the islands there, and as such, the area is swarming with my subs.
I also have plenty of fleets in position around the Russian ports. Any convoy that tries to leave Leningrad or Archangelsk would have to run a massive submarine and destroyer gauntlet.
I also have defenses in place to protect my convoys from North America and Europe.
I've also got plenty of planes in place in Europe and Turkey-
As well as in Asia, especially covering the Sea of Okhotsk where the Japanese Fleet awaits-
It's night of January 29, 1947, and MaoZeDong has been in talks with Stalin for a long time. He wants China- all of China, and the GuoMingDang gone. In order for that to happen, he insists that the GuoMingDang must leave the Comintern.
Stalin vehemently refuses to kick them out, though. The two leaders argue and argue, until eventually Stalin finally asks angrily, "in that case, why won't you leave the Comintern."
"Fine," Mao says simply.
And no time is wasted in starting to fan the flames of war.
Stalin quickly responds in kind, tearing up the non-aggression pact signed so long ago.
The armies quickly move into position, staring at their former allies across the border, waiting for the tension to break.
And then, it does.
Mao takes a deep breath before he speaks evenly into the telephone. One word.
