Germany

Germany is a fascist country in Europe during the period 1933 - 1945.

Overview


Germany, as in standard Hearts of Iron 4, is perhaps the country that the player actions have the most impact on the course of the game. There are many options available in how Germany wishes to secure its destiny, but a player cannot pursue them all. Careful decisions must be made to prioritize victory and to avoid the pitfalls it faced in World War I in pursuing too many things at once.

Tips

 * Perhaps counter-intuitively, Germany can be considered the most difficult nation to play in BICE. Germany does offer the player the most latitude in the sense that practically every type of tech and equipment is available and Germany has the most extensive National Focus tree. However, options also mean potential bad options. Germany's capacity will be tested to the extreme and stretched by the combined weight of United States and USSR: with Expert AI embedded, United States is sure to join the war as soon as it is allowed (and War Tension won't be low as all nations are more active in BICE). Similarly, AI USSR will constantly evaluate Germany's strength and will go on the offensive when it deems itself ready and Germany not. For Germany, bad options are fatal.
 * If you are new to BICE and want to play Germany, choose Dispersed Industry (on top of the usual production focus on fighters). Also try to obtain a alliance with the USSR. Perhaps also start the war later than you would in vanilla HOI4.
 * Germany without General Mobilization cannot hope to survive USSR offensive. However, that will not show until late in the game, giving a new player an illusion that the government tab can be sidelined just like in vanilla HOI4. Without General Mobilization, a player Germany may still stomp France, starve UK of fuel (although unable to invade it due to the mobilization malus) and encircle USSR units early on -- all the while in BICE/Panzeroo mode. However, as the game progresses, the malus from lack of mobilization will become too great to overcome when USSR is free of its early-game maluses. At that point if Germany is still not fully mobilized, USSR infantry divisions can stomp German Panzer IIIs and IVs at will. Thus, as a new BICE player, do NOT forget mobilization; also keep Stability high in order to preserve PP income.
 * When playing as Germany, if the player wishes to contest the seas with advanced ships full modules, naval xp will be scarce. That can in turn jeopardize the pursue of Plan Z. To circumvent the issue, either rely on existing named models or consider sending attache to Italy early on. As a side note, sending CAS planes to Mediterranean early on can help Italy eradicate the French fleet there.
 * A few notes about German armor tech tree that may not be visually obvious:
 * Either one of Panzer III and Panzer IV tech branch can lead to Panther
 * While either of Tiger II or Lowe can lead to Maus, superheavy battalion tech is required for deploying Maus and is with Lowe.
 * The associated battlion tech needs to unlocked before being able to field a piece of equipment from stockpile. For example, Flammpanzer III Ausf.M cannot be fielded without researching Flammpanzer Flamingo first, which is listed under SPG variant of 1942 light tank Pz II D.
 * Some of the armor variants are listed under a different category. For example, Flammpanzer III Ausf.M, which is a variant of the 1942 medium tank Panzer III M, is used as a SPG but is listed under SPAAG.
 * Both Stug III Ausf. E and Stug III Ausf. F-G can be converted from the same stockpile which are either Panzer III F-H or Panzer III J. (Stug III Ausf. F-G cannot be converted from Stug III Ausf. E.)