I was most excited about the Italian focus tree but am now most interested in the Swiss one. Fingers crossed the next dlc has Belgium with a new focus tree, would be fun to see Bitt3rSteel play his own country.
To be fair with Switzerland in WW2, they weren't idle. They did mobilize preemptively and participated in the war indirectly. Still yeah, I'd prefer any other active participant instead. Brazil could have been a cooler choice as South America is so dull in game. This could make the entire region more enjoyable. Brazil also sent troops to Italy, so it would have been perfect for this.
Even a generic Latin American focus tree like they did with the Chinese War lords would be cool. Something to reflect the trade relations and aid to the allies from them. Almost all of them went to war against the axis and its a bit weird that when you go for the alliance as the US a bunch of them join the axis or Japan.
Why do you people always bich about everything like holyshit can’t you just be happy that we’re getting new content in the first place this update is centered around Italy the alps and Air rework, which are two nations I would love to play as imagine fighting off Italians as Ethiopia then later on you could attempt liberate more African countries and make them puppets or free them and make an alliance Swiss can be fun to you can join Allie’s and try to hold out against Germany and Italy it’s also a nice change of pace for players who like to take there time building spy networks doing espionage missions and building up bonus’s from national spirits and focus’s if your going to comment something please don’t just whine about shit that we have no control over and actually focus on the positives that this new update will bring personally I’m very happy with this dev diary
I genuinely want to know why the devs decided to go and make a Switzerland focus tree before actual combatants of WW2 (yes I’m aware of the air duels between the US and Swiss). Like, if this DLC was to partly focus on Africa with Ethiopia, then why not give Belgium a focus tree?
Helvetia is derived from the celtic tribe of the Helvetii that lived in what is now Switzerland. Caesar wrote a lot about them in his De Bello Gallico because the Romans fought multiple battles and campaigns against them. That is mainly because the Helvetii migrated from the Alps to the coast in western Gaul and in so doing angered the tribes that were allied to Rome. Wikipedia: "The Helvetii were re-discovered as the forebears of the Swiss in the early historiography of Switzerland, in the late 15th to early 16th century. Their name was adopted as the Latin equivalent of the designation Switzer, and the Swiss Confederacy was given the Latin name of Republica Helvetiorum. The name of the national personification of Switzerland, Helvetia, and the country's contemporary Neo-Latin name, Confoederatio Helvetica (abbreviated CH), are derived from this tradition." So Paradox took that part from Wikipedia as well, nice to see :) Just wanted to point that out as I am a historian (from Belgium btw, KU Leuven)
I mean, while everyone seems disappointed Switzerland is getting a focus tree, I don't mind it. Most nations people have been wanting is on the list of nations Paradox plans to do in the future.
its just the same complaints as always. they are just pivoting the nation constantly mentioned. "why is portugal getting a tree?! why not italy!" now its just "why not finland?!" the devs clearly like to regionally theme the dlc, if there is no link to the core target, no focus this time. the fact that after several years most of them haven't figured that out is kind of hilarious. Switzerland is getting a tree because it touches italy, and this is the italy dlc. its that simple lol.
@@e.corellius4495 Why Switzerland and not Austria(another nation in the same region as those two) is a valid question though, there's a lot of room for interesting mechanics(balancing sentiment for unity with the Nazis vs desire for Austria to go its own way). Austria is the only primary HRE nation which doesn't have a focus tree to form it (Czechs and Hungarians do but not Austria despite it being Austria-Hungary) and there's a lot of ways they could make it interesting, such as the old Austrian Empire, perhaps a better HRE formation method etc.
@@darthmalgus9039 An Austrian focus tree could end up being a buff for Germany, so Germany may need a rework, which would be a meme Rebuilding Austria-Hungary actually as Austria seems kinda cringe, like, I want to proclaim the new Roman empire as the Romanians, not Mussolini smh And probably the most important reason: Italy can't invade France via Austria.
@@Horizontalvertigo Eh you're right on that it probably has balance issues but I think a cool way to do it would be to add elements of the Austrian resistance into the game post-Anschluss, such as sabotage events or something(or maybe even make Germany core them state by state or something depending on pre-Anschluss sentiment). Personally, I definitely wouldn't be forming Austria Hungary as Austria because I found it really underwhelming as Hungary but I can see why people would want it in purely for the sake of having everyone be able to do it easily (and yes they should totally add a decision to form Rome as Romania and give Carol the cool hat) I actually like the addition of Switzerland as it's interesting political intrigue but I can see why people would rather have Austria, even if it is a way for Italy to invade France(doesn't seem like it'll be easy at all if the AI is competent with this new tree)
@@darthmalgus9039 As this is basically making Italy as interesting to play as a major as it ought to be, the challenge of balancing Swiss neutrality to protect your own flank, their positive opinion of you so they may join you, and your ability to punch through them militarily is pretty compelling. I think it's important to remember that alt-history paths are usually locked to the DLC, and not everyone can/will buy it. However, even if they don't, they still will get the updated historical focuses. So in effect, with a Swiss focus tree, a person with the free update can still get that compelling experience. Whereas with an Austrian tree, 1) if you tried to play them, your game will most likely end in 1938, and 2) if you play as Italy, you're basically limited to events to influence Austria. And then, what, you're going to spend 200PP to deny the Anschluss, gameruin the Germans, and have them declare on you in 1938? That seems a bit... A Swiss focus tree, with only historical focuses, presents an interesting obstacle where before you just had to wait to gain enough PP to manually declare on them, and then be competent enough to rout them.
I feel like the new impassable terrains will affect on the “southern maginot” of the German empire focus and will also affect on forming HRE, hopefully.
Or Paradox releases a South America Focus Tree pack for 15$ or Brazil will remain a generic country. I was hoping they would give us a focus tree in this dlc
Finally one of the most boring country and neutral country gets a focus tree when finland doesnt get one, also did u see my bermotian poland save i sent u? have fun with that
@@filce1232 shhhhh we don't use reasoning nor logic here, this is the hoi4 fanbase, we will find a way to complain about everything under the sun. Once Finland does get a focus tree everyone will begin complaining that paradox is stupid lazy and are all Nazis that should be executed by firing squad because Brazil doesn't have a focus tree
@@filce1232 Yes. They previously stated that, after the major countries (so Italy), there will be plenty of dlc related to regional powers in many parts of the world (Latin america and northern Europe).
It is an awesome tree, but the devs deciding to add a focus tree to a country that had almost no active participation in the war is disapointing, considering how many nations that participated directly in the war are waiting for focus trees of their own.
Im happy with an Ethiopia tree but switzerland is just pure frustration. States that actually participated in the war should have priority for trees. Period. Finland, Belgium, Siam, Norway and Brazil should have gotten trees before a single baltic state. This is getting beyond ridiculous.
Going by the rumours, PDX wants to update the Scandinavian countries as a single update, so Finland and Norway may be done at the same time. If we look at BBA, then their reasoning becomes a bit more obvious. It's focused on Italy, so Ethiopia is important, because otherwise the game would be imbalanced/boring as early game Italy if the AI can't respond. Same with Switzerland: if you pump up Italy, and can just easily crush the Swiss AI and punch through to France's undefended border, you're losing balance/long term fun. To make Italy a viable region, the back door to Italy, Germany, and France ought to be updated too. So we're looking at region by region updates. Belgium will probably get a proper tree when/if Africa gets overhauled. France will probably get an update at the same time too, being Belgium's neighbour and holding vast colonies, so perhaps Siam will get a focus tree at the same time to try and snipe French Indochina. And then if Brazil were to get a tree, then their surrounding countries in South America ought to too. Certainly if you update Brazil's tree, you need to do something about the terrain/states throughout the continent.
I usually play Brazil with Road 56 because of the focus tree, vanilla I only play Japan. I wish we had a Focus Tree. We are a huge country, we did important stuff in the atlantic and italy, a huge source of rubber to the US not to mention the crazy amount of rations.
If you want some copium, think about it like this: Brazil can end up kinda OP when it's a part of someone else's focus tree. If Brazil were to get a focus tree alone, then going through the min-maxed, optimised route, you could probably wipe out the Americas pretty easily. So PDX would probably prefer to flesh out a couple of Sth American countries at the same time for decent competition, like they seem to be planning for the Scandinavian countries. Considering all the terrain updates that entire continent needs, they may as well have a few countries primed to play there, right? Then there were all those dev diaries using Brazil as a stand in default army for testing, which certainly suggests the devs are aware of Brazil. On the flipside, if it _were_ an update to the continent's big players, it would take longer than a smaller update so you could be waiting longer in this scenario.
I am still waiting for a focus tree for Austria. It would be really interesting if we could from a alliance with Italy and fight Germany to prevent the Anschluss and take maybw southern Germany as there were some plans.
My family raised St Bernards when I was a teen. We had anywhere from 4-12 at any given time. I therefore of course approve of this focus tree. Go doggo, go.
@@ludwigvxnhentai3299 I've heard PDX wants to update the entire Scandinavian region at the same time, so if Finland got an update in NSB so would the other Scandis. Which would mean PDX would have to update and balance the entire combat meta, remake the supply system, rebuild Russia's focuses, (which they all accomplished pretty successfully,) and then also completely update the entire Scandi region basically from scratch on top of that. Seems a lot of work to have finished all at once.
71cloak has a video on using them/if they're useful or not (spoiler: probably not?) I've found his videos pretty helpful in figuring out what does and doesn't work so well. I've become somewhat competent even 👍
Only if they really buff field hospitals, otherwise the manpower you gain in trickleback is lost to actually having to staff the units. Really they seem to be only a small buff to veterancy retention.
I feel like more countries should have balance of power mechanics. Military vs Hitler in Germany, Doves vs Hawks in France, Congress vs the President or Pacifists vs FDR in the USA.
I feel like an Austrian focus tree would have made more sense if they wanted to add something related to Italy. Austria was a fascist dictatorship since 1933, very similar to Italy, and depended on protection from Italy. The Italians didn't follow through with it and gave Germany the OK for the Anschluss, but I feel like Austria could have been made more interesting than... Switzerland.
Iirc, the alt history paths in BBA are part of the DLC whereas the focus trees are part of the new update. That means that really all a base game Italy player could do with Austria are event based mechanics, which would probably boil down to ruining the Anschluss and being declared on by the Germans. Whereas, with base game, you can just manually declare on Switzerland and push through to France, who is/will be one of your main enemies with historical focuses on. So they'd be working hard on content for Italy, and then basically paywalling off an entire section of the content. Not to mention the risk of buffing Germany, blah blah blah
@@chazzerman286 As if HoI4 was a completely historical game with no alternative history paths whatsoever. The R56 mod has tons of paths for Austria that could easily be in the main game, for example, and that wouldn't be as unbelievable as some of Paradox's alt history focuses. So I don't see how the anschluss in historical justifies an alpine nation with larger history than Switzerland not getting one. Furthermore, there is such as thing as a "historical focus" button which can be disable and I have seen on occasion Austria-Hungary brought back by the AI, even. So yeah, I think it's a terrible idea.
@@chazzerman286 the Czechs get annexed too. Same with the Poles for that matter. I can already see a few paths. One where you remain fascist but essentially rely on Italy, or even become their puppet. One where, you bring the Habsburgs back for obvious reasons and one where you can start another civil war between fascists and Social Democrats.
@@King_Shoto Yes, I look forward to the MP games where you either get screamed at for going non-historical/game ruining Germany in the 1930s, or your game ends in 1938. Yeah, SP exists, but it's not like the focus trees are on different forks, so why focus on content only one subset of the community can get the most out of when there are easier fish to fry? I imagine for Austria to get a full tree, Germany would need to get a rebalance, edit, or full update, and imagine the salt from the community if Germany got updated yet again when x country still has the generic tree. So look forward to Austria being one of the last countries to get an update.
I still hope that someday Paradox remembers that basically all of South America threw in with the allies and not Japan or the Axis or something, and shows them some love.
The moment when Austria does not get any interesting focus tree, like a cool Habsburg or Holy Roman Empire restoration, or an Anti-German Fascist path with an Italian Alliance, but the so neutral Switzerland and Ethiopia do.
Switzerland was an odd and frankly unsatisfying choice to give content to. Siam, Belgium, Finland, Denmark, Norway, Brazil, and The Philippines all lack Focus Trees and they all had direct combat involvement as opposed to minor accidental involvement.
It makes sense, considering Switzerland wouldn't fall in 6h like certain other countries and has a more interesting history, as they had more time to have some - as for Finland, I'd rather have that in a Nordic DLC - where Denmark will also be included.
@@oxlynz7328 I don't know why you fixated on 2 of the 7 countries I mentioned, but considering there's whole trees dedicated to the French and Dutch _after_ they capitulate, there's no reason to suggest Denmark couldn't have similar content.
@@KAPTAINmORGANnWo4eva I think The Swiss was just a side show of the DLC. To give a country in Europe a chance to have more involvement. As we still dont know the alt path anyways so the swiss could still get a good focus trees.
@@ARedOctober The quality of the Swiss Tree isn't the issue, it's that a truly neutral country in the time of the conflict got addon content before countries that were on the front line for the whole war in their theater. Hell, the Ecuador-Peru war isn't even in the game at all yet.
@@KAPTAINmORGANnWo4eva It's probably just to limit players cheesing the Swiss AI and punching through it to their enemies. Like, if you're updating Italy, then improving Swiss viability makes sense. Like, the Swiss were mobilised/at high readiness for a reason. They weren't belligerents in the war per se, but it wouldn't've taken much for that to have changed, so I don't see the issue for updating them before full belligerents.
"What would I do if you Germans were to invade? I'd click twice: first to select my army, once again to set my mountain frontline, and then I'd go home."
I’m failing to understand how it takes devs on a salary years to add a detailed focus tree to countries but it takes a group of players to do 10x the work in a 4th of the time (road to 56 great example). I love the game, respect the devs, but it’s been 6 years since release and Italy is just now getting a detailed tree
Because groups of modders/players don't have to worry about completely debugging the focuses or making sure they play nice with other focus trees, or making sure they're balanced compared to other nations.
"the AI loves using wargoals" meanwhile in my french campaign the Germans did "around the Maginot" focus, only to never actually go around the Maginot they sat around periodically attacking me head on until I managed to pull Poland into the allies (which Germany had an unused war goal on too) and break the stalemate that way
It's my opinion that some nations (like Switzerland) have focus trees that are meant to be for historical paths but aren't truly meant to be played. While you can do a historical Switzerland something tells me alt is the way to go.
Nordic countries: Kill or get killed during WW2 - No Focus Tree Belgium/Luxemburg: Die trying during WW2 - No Focus Tree Brazil: Sends 25k soldiers, it's entire navy and airforce to fight in italy - No Focus Tree Switzerland: Exists - PARADOX: LET'S RUMBLE BOISS
i'm so tired of having to get new dlc, and they always lock the most dope features behind them. waking the tiger has the really cool general trait system, the whole entire navy meta is locked behind man the guns, and now no step back is basically waking the tiger + the editor for tanks. then i see this and the airplane editor will also be locked behind a DLC.
hello i have a question to you. Did you record the aliies vs axis game i think you was the soviet union correct me if im wrong and if you did plz can you upload it so we can see your view of the game!
On one hand, a Belgian tree and an Austrian tree would be very cool. On the other, it could very easily gimp Germany imo, particularly in mp. More often than not, Germany is relied upon almost solely to deliver on being a big enough threat, and belgium and austria are meant to be two of the given countries for them to succeed imo. Like, you don’t necessarily need austria to do well as Germany, but if every game the Anschluss is muddied with an austria player that doesn’t want to make it easy, it weakens Germany. Same with belgium. If their tree has something in it like a preemptive alliance with france, or an option to fortify their border via a focus or national spirit, then what becomes the intended method for Germany to cap France? A strong defensible Belgium negates the point of Belgium being there, and a strong independent Austria strays from the idea that it exists for Germany to occupy. All I’m saying is that Germany would need some more work arounds in their focus tree to compensate for a strong belgium or a defiant austria
@@oxlynz7328 it's almost a shame that HOI4's set in WW2 for Austria, the balance of power mechanics for WW1 Austria-Hungary would be pretty neato/migraine inducing. Actually, if you think about it, Austria with a powerful, or even just a good, focus tree could totally destroy a German historical game. I imagine that if they're going to do Austria, they may well have to rebalance/lightly edit Germany's focus tree, and it's not hard to imagine the amount of salt from the community if Germany got yet another touch up when other important countries still have the generic tree. So, maybe it'll take a long ass while for Austria to get a tree?
@@oxlynz7328 I would disagree on that note. Austria could have an very interesting Anti-Germany focus path since Schuschnigg current leader at that time didn't want to get Anschlussed by Germany but was pressured into doing so. Also there would be possibilities to form the an alpine federation of some sorts and of course a Habsburg path. I see potential for Austria
I was most excited about the Italian focus tree but am now most interested in the Swiss one.
Fingers crossed the next dlc has Belgium with a new focus tree, would be fun to see Bitt3rSteel play his own country.
Super looking forward to that
wait hes belgian? ...fellow belgian brother!
To be fair with Switzerland in WW2, they weren't idle. They did mobilize preemptively and participated in the war indirectly. Still yeah, I'd prefer any other active participant instead. Brazil could have been a cooler choice as South America is so dull in game. This could make the entire region more enjoyable. Brazil also sent troops to Italy, so it would have been perfect for this.
Even a generic Latin American focus tree like they did with the Chinese War lords would be cool. Something to reflect the trade relations and aid to the allies from them. Almost all of them went to war against the axis and its a bit weird that when you go for the alliance as the US a bunch of them join the axis or Japan.
If they add focus trees for South America and Central America they would bring a lot of players to the game and bring more content
Smoking Snakes from Sabaton starts playing in the background.
Why do you people always bich about everything like holyshit can’t you just be happy that we’re getting new content in the first place this update is centered around Italy the alps and Air rework, which are two nations I would love to play as imagine fighting off Italians as Ethiopia then later on you could attempt liberate more African countries and make them puppets or free them and make an alliance Swiss can be fun to you can join Allie’s and try to hold out against Germany and Italy it’s also a nice change of pace for players who like to take there time building spy networks doing espionage missions and building up bonus’s from national spirits and focus’s if your going to comment something please don’t just whine about shit that we have no control over and actually focus on the positives that this new update will bring personally I’m very happy with this dev diary
They'd shoot any plane down regardless of country
I genuinely want to know why the devs decided to go and make a Switzerland focus tree before actual combatants of WW2 (yes I’m aware of the air duels between the US and Swiss). Like, if this DLC was to partly focus on Africa with Ethiopia, then why not give Belgium a focus tree?
Ethiopia is getting a focus tree in this dlc lol
@@lloyed16 ?
Based ethiopia
Or Iran, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia. Could’ve been an Africa focused dlc
@@PSL416 The countrys you said aren't in africa my guy.
Switzerland: "You shall not pass!" *Mountain artillery barrage intensifies*
Helvetia is derived from the celtic tribe of the Helvetii that lived in what is now Switzerland. Caesar wrote a lot about them in his De Bello Gallico because the Romans fought multiple battles and campaigns against them. That is mainly because the Helvetii migrated from the Alps to the coast in western Gaul and in so doing angered the tribes that were allied to Rome.
Wikipedia: "The Helvetii were re-discovered as the forebears of the Swiss in the early historiography of Switzerland, in the late 15th to early 16th century. Their name was adopted as the Latin equivalent of the designation Switzer, and the Swiss Confederacy was given the Latin name of Republica Helvetiorum. The name of the national personification of Switzerland, Helvetia, and the country's contemporary Neo-Latin name, Confoederatio Helvetica (abbreviated CH), are derived from this tradition." So Paradox took that part from Wikipedia as well, nice to see :)
Just wanted to point that out as I am a historian (from Belgium btw, KU Leuven)
You mean it _isn't_ derived from the Helvetica Standard manga within a manga?!
@@Horizontalvertigo Had to look it up, didn't understand what you were talking about ;) but yes that's why I had to clarify it :)
Why does it feel like there's going to be a achievement for the Swiss called "an hour of hell" (basically the "30mins of hell" achievement for Poland)
I mean, while everyone seems disappointed Switzerland is getting a focus tree, I don't mind it. Most nations people have been wanting is on the list of nations Paradox plans to do in the future.
its just the same complaints as always. they are just pivoting the nation constantly mentioned. "why is portugal getting a tree?! why not italy!" now its just "why not finland?!" the devs clearly like to regionally theme the dlc, if there is no link to the core target, no focus this time. the fact that after several years most of them haven't figured that out is kind of hilarious. Switzerland is getting a tree because it touches italy, and this is the italy dlc. its that simple lol.
@@e.corellius4495 Why Switzerland and not Austria(another nation in the same region as those two) is a valid question though, there's a lot of room for interesting mechanics(balancing sentiment for unity with the Nazis vs desire for Austria to go its own way). Austria is the only primary HRE nation which doesn't have a focus tree to form it (Czechs and Hungarians do but not Austria despite it being Austria-Hungary) and there's a lot of ways they could make it interesting, such as the old Austrian Empire, perhaps a better HRE formation method etc.
@@darthmalgus9039 An Austrian focus tree could end up being a buff for Germany, so Germany may need a rework, which would be a meme
Rebuilding Austria-Hungary actually as Austria seems kinda cringe, like, I want to proclaim the new Roman empire as the Romanians, not Mussolini smh
And probably the most important reason: Italy can't invade France via Austria.
@@Horizontalvertigo Eh you're right on that it probably has balance issues but I think a cool way to do it would be to add elements of the Austrian resistance into the game post-Anschluss, such as sabotage events or something(or maybe even make Germany core them state by state or something depending on pre-Anschluss sentiment).
Personally, I definitely wouldn't be forming Austria Hungary as Austria because I found it really underwhelming as Hungary but I can see why people would want it in purely for the sake of having everyone be able to do it easily (and yes they should totally add a decision to form Rome as Romania and give Carol the cool hat)
I actually like the addition of Switzerland as it's interesting political intrigue but I can see why people would rather have Austria, even if it is a way for Italy to invade France(doesn't seem like it'll be easy at all if the AI is competent with this new tree)
@@darthmalgus9039 As this is basically making Italy as interesting to play as a major as it ought to be, the challenge of balancing Swiss neutrality to protect your own flank, their positive opinion of you so they may join you, and your ability to punch through them militarily is pretty compelling.
I think it's important to remember that alt-history paths are usually locked to the DLC, and not everyone can/will buy it. However, even if they don't, they still will get the updated historical focuses. So in effect, with a Swiss focus tree, a person with the free update can still get that compelling experience.
Whereas with an Austrian tree, 1) if you tried to play them, your game will most likely end in 1938, and 2) if you play as Italy, you're basically limited to events to influence Austria. And then, what, you're going to spend 200PP to deny the Anschluss, gameruin the Germans, and have them declare on you in 1938? That seems a bit...
A Swiss focus tree, with only historical focuses, presents an interesting obstacle where before you just had to wait to gain enough PP to manually declare on them, and then be competent enough to rout them.
I wish Finland would finally get a focus tree...
finland and sweden should get since they are the most interesting minors
I feel like the new impassable terrains will affect on the “southern maginot” of the German empire focus and will also affect on forming HRE, hopefully.
Still waiting for the Brazilian tree, our history could make a great game 🥲
Or Paradox releases a South America Focus Tree pack for 15$ or Brazil will remain a generic country. I was hoping they would give us a focus tree in this dlc
It's called portugese national focus. :P
@@MrGreghome 😂😂😂😂😂 the easy way to make Brazil relevant, so sad that we can’t get the South America without make war with the US 🥲
@@vendedor193 I was hoping, but was crushed 🥲
Does anyone just feel like Paradox loves something to eat up political power in the decisions tab
The moment when your place of origin, gets added to HOI4 but its spelling is wrong (Voralberg, Vorarlberg would be correct)
Fun fact: there is no legal mechanism with which switzerland can surrender
So Switzerland is the antithesis of France?
@@southfortahiti1072 Kinda
I have a feeling they are going to have something about nazi gold and allied gold, as well as some chocolate.
Might be cool to see Liechtenstein with Switzerland. Then being like a puppet or something.
Imagine if Switzerland gets a bigger focus than Italy
I wouldnt mind it with me being Swiss
I highly doubt it, new italian focus tree seems massive just by the photo.
Finally one of the most boring country and neutral country gets a focus tree when finland doesnt get one, also did u see my bermotian poland save i sent u? have fun with that
i think finland, sweden. denmark and norway will all get a focus tree in a big nordic update
@@filce1232 shhhhh we don't use reasoning nor logic here, this is the hoi4 fanbase, we will find a way to complain about everything under the sun. Once Finland does get a focus tree everyone will begin complaining that paradox is stupid lazy and are all Nazis that should be executed by firing squad because Brazil doesn't have a focus tree
@@filce1232 Yes. They previously stated that, after the major countries (so Italy), there will be plenty of dlc related to regional powers in many parts of the world (Latin america and northern Europe).
Didn't expect this but its a welcome addition. I've only played Switzerland once and it was fun though limited by the standard focus tree.
Why is everyone upset with the Swiss focus tree decision? Aren't you convinced by how awesome it is? Other focus trees can come later
It is an awesome tree, but the devs deciding to add a focus tree to a country that had almost no active participation in the war is disapointing, considering how many nations that participated directly in the war are waiting for focus trees of their own.
Some more hoi4 videos that aren't just declaration and peace conference compilations will be interesting.
Im happy with an Ethiopia tree but switzerland is just pure frustration. States that actually participated in the war should have priority for trees. Period. Finland, Belgium, Siam, Norway and Brazil should have gotten trees before a single baltic state. This is getting beyond ridiculous.
Going by the rumours, PDX wants to update the Scandinavian countries as a single update, so Finland and Norway may be done at the same time.
If we look at BBA, then their reasoning becomes a bit more obvious. It's focused on Italy, so Ethiopia is important, because otherwise the game would be imbalanced/boring as early game Italy if the AI can't respond.
Same with Switzerland: if you pump up Italy, and can just easily crush the Swiss AI and punch through to France's undefended border, you're losing balance/long term fun. To make Italy a viable region, the back door to Italy, Germany, and France ought to be updated too.
So we're looking at region by region updates.
Belgium will probably get a proper tree when/if Africa gets overhauled. France will probably get an update at the same time too, being Belgium's neighbour and holding vast colonies, so perhaps Siam will get a focus tree at the same time to try and snipe French Indochina.
And then if Brazil were to get a tree, then their surrounding countries in South America ought to too. Certainly if you update Brazil's tree, you need to do something about the terrain/states throughout the continent.
I can feel 30 minutes of Hel 2.0 but now with Switzerland standing in the Alps.
so now that Italy's getting a focus tree i guess we're memeing austria, belgium and finland.
I usually play Brazil with Road 56 because of the focus tree, vanilla I only play Japan. I wish we had a Focus Tree. We are a huge country, we did important stuff in the atlantic and italy, a huge source of rubber to the US not to mention the crazy amount of rations.
If you want some copium, think about it like this: Brazil can end up kinda OP when it's a part of someone else's focus tree. If Brazil were to get a focus tree alone, then going through the min-maxed, optimised route, you could probably wipe out the Americas pretty easily.
So PDX would probably prefer to flesh out a couple of Sth American countries at the same time for decent competition, like they seem to be planning for the Scandinavian countries. Considering all the terrain updates that entire continent needs, they may as well have a few countries primed to play there, right?
Then there were all those dev diaries using Brazil as a stand in default army for testing, which certainly suggests the devs are aware of Brazil.
On the flipside, if it _were_ an update to the continent's big players, it would take longer than a smaller update so you could be waiting longer in this scenario.
I am still waiting for a focus tree for Austria. It would be really interesting if we could from a alliance with Italy and fight Germany to prevent the Anschluss and take maybw southern Germany as there were some plans.
well i mean at this point, since Ethiopia is getting a tree, austria doesn't seem that crazy anymore
My family raised St Bernards when I was a teen. We had anywhere from 4-12 at any given time. I therefore of course approve of this focus tree. Go doggo, go.
No finnish focus tree 😁 love it thanks devs
Finland’s coming with the rest of the Nordic countries. 😎👍
@@crusader2112 its a must
@@crusader2112 youd think they would get one with no step back since winter war and all
@@ludwigvxnhentai3299 Same, but I guess Paradox didn’t think so. Unfortunately.
@@ludwigvxnhentai3299 I've heard PDX wants to update the entire Scandinavian region at the same time, so if Finland got an update in NSB so would the other Scandis.
Which would mean PDX would have to update and balance the entire combat meta, remake the supply system, rebuild Russia's focuses, (which they all accomplished pretty successfully,) and then also completely update the entire Scandi region basically from scratch on top of that.
Seems a lot of work to have finished all at once.
Where is the belgium tree :(
Saving the best for last!
Middle eastern focus tree when
Swiss gaining a focus tree: Yey!!
Finland, Brazil, Mongolia and Thailand: How could this happen to me? I've made my mistakes, got nowhere to run....
00:35
*Cries in reduit*
I use field hospitals ;-; ... Mostly for the fun roleplay'y bits I guess, but just because I don't understand the unit designer at all...
71cloak has a video on using them/if they're useful or not (spoiler: probably not?) I've found his videos pretty helpful in figuring out what does and doesn't work so well. I've become somewhat competent even 👍
CANT WAIT FOR FUCKING SWITZERLAND TO HAVE A BETTER, MORE EXPANSIVE, AND MORE INTERESTING FOCUS TREE THAN ITALY WOOOOOHOOOOOO
activating the militias sounds like mobilization from vicky2
Everyone should stop complaining about this. Paradox will obviously give focuses based on the region. They can't give a focus to Italy and Finland
Still no Lichtenstein
My one complaint about the new states map is that it doesn't preserve the Rosti Trench so you can't divide Switzerland between its linguistic areas.
Goad France into a very early war with all their negative modifiers and take them out sharpish = Super Switzerland start.
Can't wait to see the chaos that's gonna happen with Switzerland
Belgium focus tree when?
I wonder if hasburg kingdom is possible, seeing The hasburg house started in Switzerland
Population 10% at the start is dope.
Please find more other changes in focus tree in other countrys
I mean, you would need to retain alot of manpower as switzerland, so feildhospitals make sense.
Only if they really buff field hospitals, otherwise the manpower you gain in trickleback is lost to actually having to staff the units. Really they seem to be only a small buff to veterancy retention.
Still waiting for a Belgian focus tree 💀
I feel like more countries should have balance of power mechanics. Military vs Hitler in Germany, Doves vs Hawks in France, Congress vs the President or Pacifists vs FDR in the USA.
I use field hospitals :(
Surprising
damn I'm early but why give Switzerland a focus tree and not someone else that is involved in ww2
Be happy we got finally Italy
I feel like an Austrian focus tree would have made more sense if they wanted to add something related to Italy. Austria was a fascist dictatorship since 1933, very similar to Italy, and depended on protection from Italy. The Italians didn't follow through with it and gave Germany the OK for the Anschluss, but I feel like Austria could have been made more interesting than... Switzerland.
Iirc, the alt history paths in BBA are part of the DLC whereas the focus trees are part of the new update.
That means that really all a base game Italy player could do with Austria are event based mechanics, which would probably boil down to ruining the Anschluss and being declared on by the Germans.
Whereas, with base game, you can just manually declare on Switzerland and push through to France, who is/will be one of your main enemies with historical focuses on.
So they'd be working hard on content for Italy, and then basically paywalling off an entire section of the content.
Not to mention the risk of buffing Germany, blah blah blah
Mr, may I know what song are you playing?
What about Czechoslovakia? 😪😪😪😪
Interesting eheheheh
Why does Brazil don't get a focus tree?
Ma è a pagamento Blood Alone?
I DLC sono sempre a pagamento
Ovvio, stiamo parlando della Paradox in fin dei conti
Nice we gets a Swiss, which played the tiniest role in the war compared to the entirety of Scandinavia having the default. 10/10 devs
Why on God's good Earth Switzerland gets one and Austria doesn't blows me away, what a stupid idea.
Because Austria gets annexed via focus in historical games?
@@chazzerman286 As if HoI4 was a completely historical game with no alternative history paths whatsoever. The R56 mod has tons of paths for Austria that could easily be in the main game, for example, and that wouldn't be as unbelievable as some of Paradox's alt history focuses. So I don't see how the anschluss in historical justifies an alpine nation with larger history than Switzerland not getting one. Furthermore, there is such as thing as a "historical focus" button which can be disable and I have seen on occasion Austria-Hungary brought back by the AI, even. So yeah, I think it's a terrible idea.
@@chazzerman286 the Czechs get annexed too. Same with the Poles for that matter. I can already see a few paths. One where you remain fascist but essentially rely on Italy, or even become their puppet. One where, you bring the Habsburgs back for obvious reasons and one where you can start another civil war between fascists and Social Democrats.
@@King_Shoto Yes, I look forward to the MP games where you either get screamed at for going non-historical/game ruining Germany in the 1930s, or your game ends in 1938.
Yeah, SP exists, but it's not like the focus trees are on different forks, so why focus on content only one subset of the community can get the most out of when there are easier fish to fry?
I imagine for Austria to get a full tree, Germany would need to get a rebalance, edit, or full update, and imagine the salt from the community if Germany got updated yet again when x country still has the generic tree. So look forward to Austria being one of the last countries to get an update.
@@Horizontalvertigo As if the community will get a lot from Switzerland, the mightiest nation of the 1930s. Who was asking for a Swiss tree anyway?
SWITZERLAND ENJOYERS ARISE, NEUTRALITY IS FINALLY FUN
Why give the Swiss a focus tree, but not Austria. Don‘t understand paradox
Hey blitter steel, is there a way to get HOI4 free?
Maybe not free, but it goes on sale pretty often!
Ok! Also am confused how you answered in a supersonic speed xd
@@futurealgerianmapperdroba9640 the summer sale is soon on Steam, I believe that it's this month I think and it'll be like -80 procent
@@futurealgerianmapperdroba9640 he’s the best, if you talk with him on discord he always answer
a l o t of comments..
Why on Earth isn't there a focus tree for Austria while all other Alpine countries got one?
I disagree completely, I want this in my WWII simulator, because it was a part of WWII.
nc
28th
I still hope that someday Paradox remembers that basically all of South America threw in with the allies and not Japan or the Axis or something, and shows them some love.
The moment when Austria does not get any interesting focus tree, like a cool Habsburg or Holy Roman Empire restoration, or an Anti-German Fascist path with an Italian Alliance, but the so neutral Switzerland and Ethiopia do.
Not sure Ethiopia was neutral 🤔
@@markselby9352 I mean only Switzerland is neutral.
Austria is getting 1 nerd
HRE restoration would be more for germany just like it already is.
Is reforming Austria-Hungary when you're actually Austria kinda cringe? 🤔
Switzerland was an odd and frankly unsatisfying choice to give content to. Siam, Belgium, Finland, Denmark, Norway, Brazil, and The Philippines all lack Focus Trees and they all had direct combat involvement as opposed to minor accidental involvement.
It makes sense, considering Switzerland wouldn't fall in 6h like certain other countries and has a more interesting history, as they had more time to have some - as for Finland, I'd rather have that in a Nordic DLC - where Denmark will also be included.
@@oxlynz7328 I don't know why you fixated on 2 of the 7 countries I mentioned, but considering there's whole trees dedicated to the French and Dutch _after_ they capitulate, there's no reason to suggest Denmark couldn't have similar content.
@@KAPTAINmORGANnWo4eva I think The Swiss was just a side show of the DLC. To give a country in Europe a chance to have more involvement. As we still dont know the alt path anyways so the swiss could still get a good focus trees.
@@ARedOctober The quality of the Swiss Tree isn't the issue, it's that a truly neutral country in the time of the conflict got addon content before countries that were on the front line for the whole war in their theater.
Hell, the Ecuador-Peru war isn't even in the game at all yet.
@@KAPTAINmORGANnWo4eva It's probably just to limit players cheesing the Swiss AI and punching through it to their enemies.
Like, if you're updating Italy, then improving Swiss viability makes sense.
Like, the Swiss were mobilised/at high readiness for a reason. They weren't belligerents in the war per se, but it wouldn't've taken much for that to have changed, so I don't see the issue for updating them before full belligerents.
Oh man, I just had a thought...
The Swiss disaster saves are going to be absolutely _miserable_
Thoughts and prayers Bitt3rSteel!
Paradox should have made Switzerland 's states following linguistic borders.
WIP ofc, Carlo only needs to assign the easternmost Jura province to Plateau to make it linguistic-based
@@krasnamerah1926 True
Tfw Switzerland gets a focus tree before nordic countries, makes me cry
Same feeling with the South American countries 🤡
So true
And Belgian focus tree
@@lucaskalebef Do they really need a focus tree? The only event I can think of is the Ecuadorian-Peruvian war
And Austria
"What would I do if you Germans were to invade? I'd click twice: first to select my army, once again to set my mountain frontline, and then I'd go home."
I’m failing to understand how it takes devs on a salary years to add a detailed focus tree to countries but it takes a group of players to do 10x the work in a 4th of the time (road to 56 great example). I love the game, respect the devs, but it’s been 6 years since release and Italy is just now getting a detailed tree
Because groups of modders/players don't have to worry about completely debugging the focuses or making sure they play nice with other focus trees, or making sure they're balanced compared to other nations.
Switzerland got a focus tree before Norway.
Based
holy shit the dev diary hasnt even been out for a hour and you already have a 19 minute video on it
Many spies died bringing you this information
@@Bitt3rSteel just get a spy with seducer and commando
Yay fianlly the swiss can be playable!
Great War stream plz
holly shit I have claws
"the AI loves using wargoals" meanwhile in my french campaign the Germans did "around the Maginot" focus, only to never actually go around the Maginot
they sat around periodically attacking me head on until I managed to pull Poland into the allies (which Germany had an unused war goal on too) and break the stalemate that way
It's my opinion that some nations (like Switzerland) have focus trees that are meant to be for historical paths but aren't truly meant to be played. While you can do a historical Switzerland something tells me alt is the way to go.
Nordic countries: Kill or get killed during WW2 - No Focus Tree
Belgium/Luxemburg: Die trying during WW2 - No Focus Tree
Brazil: Sends 25k soldiers, it's entire navy and airforce to fight in italy - No Focus Tree
Switzerland: Exists - PARADOX: LET'S RUMBLE BOISS
i'm so tired of having to get new dlc, and they always lock the most dope features behind them. waking the tiger has the really cool general trait system, the whole entire navy meta is locked behind man the guns, and now no step back is basically waking the tiger + the editor for tanks. then i see this and the airplane editor will also be locked behind a DLC.
hello i have a question to you. Did you record the aliies vs axis game i think you was the soviet union correct me if im wrong and if you did plz can you upload it so we can see your view of the game!
On one hand, a Belgian tree and an Austrian tree would be very cool. On the other, it could very easily gimp Germany imo, particularly in mp. More often than not, Germany is relied upon almost solely to deliver on being a big enough threat, and belgium and austria are meant to be two of the given countries for them to succeed imo. Like, you don’t necessarily need austria to do well as Germany, but if every game the Anschluss is muddied with an austria player that doesn’t want to make it easy, it weakens Germany. Same with belgium. If their tree has something in it like a preemptive alliance with france, or an option to fortify their border via a focus or national spirit, then what becomes the intended method for Germany to cap France? A strong defensible Belgium negates the point of Belgium being there, and a strong independent Austria strays from the idea that it exists for Germany to occupy. All I’m saying is that Germany would need some more work arounds in their focus tree to compensate for a strong belgium or a defiant austria
Finally I can play economy simulator
In WW2 strategy game
There better be an achievement called "Swiss Cheese'.
Gives Switzerland a Focus Tree
Doesb't give Finland a focus tree
Finland is most likely being saved for a potential Nordic dlc
The forgotten pass wouod be the Brenner pass. My favourite one.
Im just impressed, how switzerland gets a focus before austria
Pog
I would rather would have an Austrian focus tree than a Swiss one.
Austria didn't really do a lot nor has it potential for as many interesting mechanics
@@oxlynz7328 it's almost a shame that HOI4's set in WW2 for Austria, the balance of power mechanics for WW1 Austria-Hungary would be pretty neato/migraine inducing.
Actually, if you think about it, Austria with a powerful, or even just a good, focus tree could totally destroy a German historical game. I imagine that if they're going to do Austria, they may well have to rebalance/lightly edit Germany's focus tree, and it's not hard to imagine the amount of salt from the community if Germany got yet another touch up when other important countries still have the generic tree. So, maybe it'll take a long ass while for Austria to get a tree?
@@oxlynz7328 I would disagree on that note. Austria could have an very interesting Anti-Germany focus path since Schuschnigg current leader at that time didn't want to get Anschlussed by Germany but was pressured into doing so. Also there would be possibilities to form the an alpine federation of some sorts and of course a Habsburg path. I see potential for Austria
@@klausren1813 I'd even expect some brotherhood with Czechoslovakia path there. They could very well help each other not get anschlussed.
I hope you can play as "Die Front(isten)"
I need a hoi4 "infiltrate paradox" mod
I liked the first focus tree better
I hope they add an Austrian one to fit in with the alps.