Dev Diary VIII: Götterdämmerung - Part II (Göring) news

Dev Diary VIII: Götterdämmerung

Greetings and salutations to the extremely on time diary from the always punctual The New Order development team. This one took a lot of work, and I don't think we'll be seeing diaries take quite as much time as this one for the foreseeable future. Anyway, thanks to benevolent mismanagement, abuse of the coding team and funding from a newfound career in pornography, we are proud to finally present to you the final Germany diary.

Oh, and this one is almost twice as long as the first one. Y'all asked for it.

We've already covered Speer, the reformist, and Bormann, the conservative. But what if you took Bormann's conservatism and all of the incompetence and failure that will totally not embody the administration and add a heaping of massive wars that the world thought they had moved on from, but still with the insanity, focus on Wunderwaffe, and somehow even more poorly planned industrial and economic management.

Let me introduce you to the wonderful, beautiful world, of Führer Hermann Göring.

Göring's Reich:

Göring has become the symbol for the rallying point for the Reich's militarists. Dead set on bringing fire and fury both west and east, Göring has attracted a literal army of like minded supporters from both within the Reichstag, the military, and without. Along with Göring's more military minded supporters are those disillusioned with Bormann's policies, who believe his insistence on a lack of change in the Reich will ultimately kill it, and who wish for any, any change that could possibly right the sinking ship.

Still, there are those who fought against their new leader, and Göring will have to put them down. Forcefully.

Using the military as a blunt object to repeatedly slam over anyone who disagrees with him, Göring will round up anyone who ever dared threaten what he perceives as the natural order of the Reich. This primarily involves the bankers, with their mysterious foreign business ties that they seem to value about the stability of the Reich, the students and intellectuals who had once fought in the streets and later in the war for Speer, and all other dissidents and scum.

It’ll be a fairly straightforward process, as it mostly involves using an angry and now bloodthirsty military like a pack of bloodhounds and setting them loose on already beaten men. When all are finished being shot, the beginning of the personality cult will be made.

The Führer is a proud man. A good man. One who demands excellence but rewards it as well. He is a mighty military ruler, the only one who can lead the Reich against her enemies. To support him, they’ve all hung pictures of him in their homes and in their workplaces. A new set of laws will help make sure they don’t forget their due duty as good patriots to do so.

With this finished, it is time to move on to the beating heart of his trees.

[img]https://imgur.com/a/Ge7PVGV

This tree will allow the player to choose which adventure to go on and when. Certain ones have requirements that you can’t see here that I’ll go into a bit later. For the purposes of this diary, I’m only going to cover the “A New Age of Science” tree, the “Five Year Industrial Plan” tree, and the various war trees, as they’re the most interesting.

So let’s start with the second most crucial bit of a Göring game (beyond invading everyone for reasons), his industry tree.

Göring’s industry tree is like Bormann’s if it was somehow more wild. Göring’s ideas for the economy is that nothing is true, everything is permitted. Debts aren’t real if we ignore them, loans are permanent money fixtures if you never intend to pay people back, any cash needed that can’t be grabbed from the citizenry can be grabbed by looting foreign nations of gold and paintings and selling them abroad.

This tree is simply the beginning of more, and both sides generalize much of what will later get much more precise. On the left, you are dealing with workers, slaves, industry, and other such things. On the right, you’re dealing with actual money and the fun and exciting ways the Fuhrer can try and find some. Let’s start on the left.

Much of Germany will need to be rebuilt, and Göring still has to deal with the teeming masses of the slave caste who didn’t escape during the chaos of the war. To this end, all architecture deemed ‘treasonous’, ie: made by Albert Speer and not the Volkshalle, will be demolished so the materials may be used elsewhere, and a new building plan created to simplify German architecture in order to save a bit of money.

For the slaves, any German citizen found with an excess number of slaves will have them stripped away for the use of the state, as will any industry that is deemed as having more slaves than they need to run their business. Personal slaves will also be outlawed, and the waste of resources will instead be used to help rebuild Germania.

New industries will need to sprout up, mostly focusing on war materials, but also on bringing Germany into the 21st century (so they can better do war). Computers and other such new and exciting technologies will need to be invested in, as well as old ones that had been abandoned since the war. In order to support this, those remaining factories dedicated to civilian use will be forced to begin making due with less materials, a ‘watering down’ of the ‘wine’. Cars will have to use simpler, weaker metals, old materials will be recycled into household pots and pans. Any metal deemed of military importance will go directly into state run factories. All for the good of the Reich.

German prisoners will also find themselves in the camps. While beforehand, a prisoner of German blood could still expect treatment above that of Germany’s lowest caste, Göring will allow no such thing, and put them to work all the same. In order to keep the people happy, they will be allowed to earn their freedom through work. How much work, exactly, will be left open for debate. Normally the answer is “More than you’re doing at the moment, thank you.”

On the right side of the tree, the beginnings of a glorious new economy will take root. The financial sector will be reformed to ensure that most money goes directly into the state and unnecessary agencies like education assistance and welfare abolished to save money.

Instead, the money will be inflated to ensure the government always has more than it needs. Taking this focus starts the Inflation ticker early, a constantly upward moving variable as long as you are taking most of Göring’s focuses. Taking the second focus, ‘Find the Cash!’, will involve the government, instead of inflating the value of their money, scrounging up every spare Reichsmark they can find and getting loans for the rest. This starts the Civilian Investment ticker early, which is a generalized variable for how much collective money the civilian sector has loaned to the government, either directly or through programs like MEFO.

If the ‘Inflate the Money’ focus is not taken, then every focus taken has a random chance to begin it, which gets higher as you go.

Later focuses in this branch involve cutting off further government fat, convincing businesses that weren’t burned down in the purges to invest in the government, increasing taxes on all to further grow funds (which begins the Taxation ticker, which if it goes too high will begin causing unrest, something you can change via decision but will need to be kept high at the start to fund your adventures), and the ‘A Refreshing New Idea’ focus, which lays the groundwork for our next wonderful idea.

The March to MEFO reintroduces the MEFO bill system to Germany. The system is similar to vanilla, you need to consistently take the focus or lose the benefits. Unlike vanilla, however, you’re notified if you take too long and are given a grace period to run over and click it again, and it lasts a bit longer. However, after it has been taken a few times, failing to continue it can cause massive issues, as civilians will expect payment and, if you don’t have the massive amounts of money to pay them back, you will have to declare them null. March to MEFO also begins the Civilian Investment variable, if not already started, and raises it, along with Inflation, every time it is taken.

Finally, you need to decide whether to focus your efforts in squeezing out everything you can from the workers or the banks (which introduces the Banking Participation variable), focusing on industry or money potential.

Depending on what you took for these focuses, you will then be allowed to continue to the next branch in a mini tree, or begin the main ‘Work the People’ tree, which will be the meat and bones of your industry and economy.

On the left, restructuring the camps and appeasing the workers is meant to please both the slaves and workers both. It should be noted that the slavery mechanics mentioned in previous diaries, a rising variable of slave unrest and organization that grows depending on how you treat the lowest caste and how much you invest in industry, are still active here. The two variables, Slave Organization and Slave Unrest will both be lowered by the leftmost tree, while Worker Enthusiasm, a rather straightforward one which will help increase productivity while up and will hurt it when down, will also be improved.

On the right, the ‘Financial Rodeo’ focus will involve playing the banks to try and exploit as much money from them as possible, while the ‘White Lies’ focus involves the government effectively twisting its fingers behind its back when it takes its loans, setting the groundwork for how best to ensure the Reich will not have to be beholden to those that paid out to it.

At the bottom, once the respective focuses are taken, you may continue down to Deutsche Wirtschaftsbetriebe for your continuous managing of the populace and industry, or Deutsche Arbeitsfront for your management of the commerce sector. Or, you may begin the aforementioned most important tree, the ‘Work the People’ tree.

First, we’ll cover the Wirtschaftsbetriebe tree.

I must apologize, for several more variables will come up and how they interact with you won’t be explained terribly well until we get to the ‘Work the People’ tree, as a player is meant to move down both in tandem (or with the Arbeitsfront tree, if that is the path that was taken). I’ll do my best to keep it simple as we go.

The main focus of this tree is getting Germans working and keeping them somewhat happy. At the beginning, on the left, we have a series of laws to try and fill factory floors that will otherwise be left fairly empty from the losses in the Civil War and Göring’s continual recruitment drives. As such, workers from abroad will be welcomed in, whether they are poor Italian and Frenchmen who work unofficially on no actual document practically for free, or skilled foreign intellectuals who will work in the laboratories, locked away from the plebs lest they spread their subversion. These focuses will start a series of decisions and events that will affect the Foreign Participation variable. If kept high, the economy and industry can improve greatly, though starting multiple wars on multiple fronts with numerous neutral nations will begin to cause issues if the variable is high, leading to internal unrest and sudden losses in production.

On the right side, the pitiful German workers will have their hand held as they cry about every boo boo and missing arm they suffer in the factories. A restructuring of labor laws and vague assurances that they will be looked after will have to do, as long as it keeps German labor in the workforce. This will be a great boon to Worker Enthusiasm and Civilian Investment, but will also affect the Work Payment variable introduced in the ‘Work the People’ tree (even if taken beforehand) which measures how much money you’re actually paying to the workers to keep them content with your rule.

The ‘Worker’s Assistance’ focus will also affect these variables, before branching into two more paths.

The ‘Poor in the Factories’ focus and the ones below will effect these variables primarily, ‘The Poor in the Factories’ will also introduce the Worker Participation variable (not to be confused with Worker Enthusiasm though both are effected by Civilian Investment and Work Payment in different ways. The two are radically different, confusing them could be bad) which will play against the Worker Taxation variable that is introduced in ‘Work the People’. Worker Participation will also be introduced there if not done here. These will conflict with the Slave Participation variable which will randomly appear at some point after dealing with slave organization. The higher it goes, the lower Worker Participation goes and the higher Slave Organization goes, though they may be better for the economy.

On the other end, we have the ‘From the Ground Up’ focus which branches into decisions based around rebuilding German factory plans to better utilize their space (which effects the Factory Efficiency ticker) while also lightly dealing with assisting workers (also modifying Worker Participation, Worker Enthusiasm, Civilian Investment, and others). These all lead to the ‘Honor the Workers’ focus, which also modifies the same variables.

Later down the tree you get the ‘Who Said We Pay Them?’ focus, which will extend MEFO duration greatly but also start to tank your Worker Enthusiasm variable, while also slowing the growth of Civilian Investment. This can be partially mitigated by the by the Slave Participation modifier, which will be affected greatly by the next focus, ‘We’ll Just Throw Slaves at Them’, and a set of decisions this will cause to appear.

The final focus can not be taken unless you get to the end of the ‘Work the People’ tree, which we will explain later.

Now for the Arbeitsfront.

Likewise, this will include things we haven’t seen yet, so excuse any confusion. It’s actually quite simple though, really.

Going down this path will greatly affect the Inflation and Taxation tickers, while also introducing a variable for Monetary Faith, which dictates how much people actually believe in your economy, beyond their simple participation in it, and is also a straight benefit while high and also interacts with the Taxation, Inflation, Worker Enthusiasm, Civilian Investment, Worker Participation, and Foreign Participation variables (especially the Work Payment variable), and will also play off whether you decide to focus on arms or rebuilding the Fatherland and the Civilian-Military Ratio variable, which goes up or down depending on how much you focus on the civilian or military side of the economy. For Goering, this will normally go up, which provides benefits to military production but harms construction and the Worker Enthusiasm, Civilian Investment, Worker Participation, Foreign Participation and Monetary Faith variables.

As you go down the tree, on the left you begin with the ‘Reinforce the Currency’ focus which corresponds with attempting to improve the Monetary Faith variable mainly, and involves doing anything that can be done to convince workers of its worth so they pay it back into the economy (affecting a hidden Monetary Circulation variable that is only monitored through occasional report events, that dictates the effects of most of the variables). On the other side, you practice the art of conning as much money as you can through selling goods and claiming they are much higher quality, tricking investors (affecting the Banking Participation variable). A hidden ticker will affect Worker Suspicion, which slowly goes up for every sneaky way you try to make money and raises much higher when Monetary Faith and Worker Enthusiasm is low. If the workers discover your exploits, it will spell very bad things for you.

Then a decision must be made, over whether we will focus on ‘Worker’s Wellness’ or on tricking the bankers further to try and continue to smash their piggy banks. The left side mainly plays with the Monetary Faith, Worker Enthusiasm, Worker Participation, Civilian Investment, and Work Payment modifiers, as well as the Military Industrial Participation variable introduced in the ‘Work the People’ tree. On the right, you’re dealing with Taxation, Inflation, Monetary Faith, Foreign Participation, Work Payment and Banking Participation variables, as well as the Goods Quality variable also introduced in aforementioned tree, which can be modified by multiple events and decisions as well.

Later focuses are similar to their counterparts in the Wirtschaftsbertriebe tree, serving as a saving grace if you allow some of the variables to get out of hand. The final focus also can’t be taken until the ‘Work the People’ tree.

And now, for that tree itself.

The ‘Work the People’ tree is your main industrial/economic tree, and introduces all previous variables in some form. Since it’s mostly things we’ve covered, I don’t want to get too bogged down in the specifics of each focus.

As you go down the left branch, you’re mainly dealing with the Good’s Quality, variable in every focus, but then you must choose between ‘Super Volk Engineering’, focusing on selling German goods abroad as high quality and superior to others (affecting the Monetary Faith, Foreign Participation, Civilian-Military Ratio, Banking Participation and Good’s Quality variables and introducing the Domestic-International Shipping Ratio variable, while on the right side you’re dealing with encouraging German businessmen to take such things in their own hands and also using them to make more money domestically (affecting the Worker Enthusiasm, Worker Participation, Civilian Investment, Work Payment, Monetary Circulation and also introducing Domestic-International Shipping Ratio, though in the opposite direction. The ‘We’ll Just Print More Money’ focus at the end will act as a boost, if needed. It will massively improve the benefits from one side or the other for a time, but will also massively increase the Inflation variable and the Worker Suspicion variable.

The center tree is mostly about putting the military, retired and active, to work. This will effect the Civilian-Military Ratio and Military Industrial Participation modifiers, as well as the Worker Enthusiasm, Worker Participation, Civilian Investment, Work Payment, Monetary Circulation and Monetary Faith variables.

On the right, we have a focus on construction and development, which will introduce a Homelessness variable which is affected by all others. The right side will deal with Monetary Faith, Worker Enthusiasm, Worker Participation, Civilian Investment, and Monetary Circulation variables. At the end, it must be decided whether or not to focus on military or civilian goods. Göring AI will almost always take the former, which massively skews the Civilian-Military Ratio variable.

Finally, at the end after some more, we get to the ‘This is Getting Complicated’ focus, which is a negative one which harms Monetary Faith, Worker Enthusiasm, Foreign Participation and Worker Suspicion variables, but lets you take the ‘Time for Plan B’ focus.

Plan B is for if you run out of options and desperately need to either quickly balance your sheets or if you are, say, embroiled in a massive war you started and need to focus elsewhere for a bit.

This tree is mostly about demolishing the variables you had to deal with before, either neutralizing them or outright removing them from the game. However, in doing so you’re creating massive holes in the economy, under the assumption you’re prepared to fill it with something like foreign wealth, looted from far off homelands. If you do not, then you’ve effectively lit the fuse on a ticking time bomb. Expect poor results.

Now for the science focuses.

Göring sees science as an extension of military development. He is much like Bormann in his obsession with Wunderwaffe that he believes will ultimately make his life much easier. Unlike Bormann, however, he wants all of his Wunderwaffe to also act as weapons and is always demanding his scientists strap moar dakka to them.

Each row of focuses can only be taken if the focus above it on the far left has been taken. They get more difficult to take as you go down, and normally require certain technologies to have been researched in each layer. ‘Weird Science’ is needed to take the ‘GMO’, ‘Industrial Waste Recycling’, ‘Future Weaponry’ and ‘Armored Focusing’ focuses, for example, while ‘Scientific Goal Orientation’ requires both ‘Future Farms’ and ‘Arms Redevelopment’ to have been taken.

On the left side we have Volkswissenschaft, which mainly focuses on using science and wunderwaffe to assist the people of Germany. This tree is much shorter, as there is less interest here in general for Göring. In it, it mainly focuses on modifying plants to give higher yields for less water, in order to take the weight from the shoulders of the German farmer. Later, experiments with this will expand into experiments on Humans as well, seeing if Humans can similarly be modified, either willingly or unwillingly, to be improved as well. Think of it as Göring’s version of Bormann’s Mars mission.

The other side of this tree involves waste recycling to try and get more out of Germany’s industries, and also nuclear development to revolutionize Germany. Also nukes. He mostly wants to figure out how to make bigger nuclear weapons, which is where it links to the military tree with the ‘Nuclear Ships’ and ‘Herr Bombe’ focuses. The ‘Nuclear Ships’ focus involves modernizing the German navy (the almost nonexistent one) to rapidly bring it on par and beyond that held by the Americans and Japanese, by focusing fully on building the most powerful, and cheapest, nuclear reactors in the sea.

Herr Bombe involves making bigger, better nuclear bombs, which Göring believes will help scare the enemies of the Reich into submission.

On the right side, you have military technology. The far right will see you developing bigger, heavier tanks, until you finish with the Kugelpanzer, a new and experiment type of tank designed to be the most maneuverable on the battlefield. We will need to see how it fares in an actual war to get a real opinion in it. Preliminary tests show… mixed? Results.

Focuses will also be put into the Luftwaffe, who receives the bulk of Göring’s attention. Experimental Flying Machines and even a floating saucer named the Flying Volkswagen will be experimented on, and surely even if their test models crash and burn with their brave pilots inside of them, much will be learnt in the sciences!

Projekt Germania involves a supersonic and low altitude missile, capable of delivering nuclear weapons to Germany’s enemies abroad like the V-2’s of old, while the North Sea Monster experiments with hydrofoils and super heavy aircraft, with the hope being that even if this fails, much will be learnt for naval air development.

Finally, Göring’s pet project. His biggest desire. The Sun Gun.

The Sun Gun is envisioned as the natural conclusion of the German space program. Invent a weapon that can harness the military potential of space like no other, one that will be able to instantly destroy any city on Earth in the blink of an eye. The Sun Gun is a massive satellite system with high powered solar panels designed to burn away any trace of the enemy from space.

Surely its development and possible launch will only end well.

And with technology finished, it’s time for the meat of the tree.

Instead of having a diplomacy tree, Göring only has a war tree. All enemies of the Reich will suffer, in his three war plans. War Plan A, War Plan B, and War Plan C. A involves crushing the neutral powers of Europe and any traitors to the Reich, B involves destroying the nations of the former Triumvirate and securing Europe once and for all, and C involves finishing off the biggest rivals to the Reich: Burgundy, America, and Japan.

Each one requires several of the invasions to be taken before the next can be done, as well as focuses from the industrial trees. You may only commit to one war at a time, but it is possible to open more fronts to hopefully secure materials to break any stalemates you end up in. It can only end well.

War Plan A is the simplest one. It involves Operation Tannenbaum, Operation Margarethe, Operation Tepes, Operation Sea Lion II, Case Cerdic, Operation Hansa, Operation Lapland, and Operation Henry. These are the invasions of Switzerland, Hungary, Romania, England, Britain, Sweden, Finland and Moskowien and the RKs respectively.

Each one of these conflicts can bring catastrophe if not dealt with quickly, for Göring has built an entire economy on the assumption that a good war will bring in enough wealth and unity that all issues ailing it will disappear. As long as Germany keeps its momentum moving forward, there is a chance of Göring’s plan working. It has precedent, during WW2, Germany’s momentum never ended and they never became bogged down in unwinnable conflicts against powers well above more powerful than themselves, which is why they won. Surely it’ll happen again? It’s not like any of the powers Germany is fighting have a chance to receive support from others. Well, not if Germany moves fast enough.

First off is Operation Tannenbaum, the simplest of all.

Switzerland is a tough nut to crack. Highly militarized, well prepared for a German invasion, and having prepared for this exact eventuality for years, it is only to be expected that they will put up a formidable resistance. Still, there are many, many more German soldiers than Swiss ones, and with a concentrated and rapid rush, Göring’s general staff refuse to believe they could possibly be slowed, even crossing the mighty Alps.

When the war is over, resistance will need to be put down forcefully, and without mercy. Any who dare strike at the Reich will see what such actions bring as their homes are burned and families tracked. Swiss culture will be supplanted by German as well, with the hope of eventually ending it once and for all and permanently annexing a Germanized Switzerland into the Reich. Finally, the banks and other money holders of the nation will be looted for every penny. The ultimate reason for the invasion and an early boost to the economy.

Next, is Operation Margarethe and Tepes.

Operation Margarethe is a straightforward invasion of Hungary. The nation is greatly weakened from the 50s and never recovered, and foolishly abandoned the Unity-Pakt when Germany graciously granted the Romanians with a portion of their land in the name of the regions stability which didn’t work. To make the invasion simpler, the Slovaks will be rearmed to assist in our struggle, and internal stabilities against the nations regent will be played on to ensure that Hungary stands divided when the war begins.

Afterwards, a new ruler will be allowed to rule (either as a puppet or in Germany, depending on the player’s choice), to keep the Hungarians subdued. New supply routes will also be established and built to ensure occupation forces remain in constant supply and that the nation is dragged closer and closer to the Reich.

Operation Tepes will be more of a struggle, but Romania has found itself in dark straits since their expansion in the 50s and now rules over a nation it can hardly control. While the so called ‘King’ Michael rules, fascists within his nation still chaff at what they see as a betrayal, and the people sit divided.

By inciting these tensions and assisting the fascists in turning the people against Michael, Germany can ensure that many will welcome German intervention with open arms. By allowing the fascists to rule, permanently, by assisting in their purging of monarchists after the war, Göring will make sure that the monarchy stays where he believes it belongs, in a grave.

The oil, naturally, will make a fine addition to Germany’s collection of looted resources, and will be secured by the military permanently. As payment for liberating Romania from the tyranny of democracy.

Next is Operation Sea Lion II, the second invasion of England. Collaborators and resistance both dare to act as if they are equals to the Reich, or even above it. They will be taught a sore lesson, and the Reich shall return anew. By tricking the collaborators into believing Göring’s forces are coming to save them, he can ensure that they land with no resistance and begin taking the coasts before they even realize what is happening.

Another matter is the Cornwall Garrison. While ostensibly loyal to the Reich, Halder failed to come to its aid in time (most likely, the tree can change depending on what Cornwall did during the Civil War) and many believe he should be punished for his cowardice. The Garrison can thus either be bolstered by German forces, supporting their original mission and helping them finish it, or can be forcefully disarmed to ensure their potential disloyalty does not spread. If they dare raise a hand to stop us, they shall see what the Reich thinks of treason.

When England is taken, the resistance will need to be hunted to a man, lest they manage to plant the seeds for a future revolution. Likewise, the Royals will need to be captured, to ensure the crown loyalists who make up a large portion of the local collaborators are also kept in their place. Many have even suggested an international attempt to kidnap Queen Elizabeth.

When England is subdued, the time has come to finish off the rest of the isles and ensure stability across the channel forevermore. To this end, agents will have to infiltrate the Scots and ensure they are unprepared for our inevitable attack, incite tensions between the various religious groups in Ireland to make them already in collapse on our arrival, and blockade the Welsh and starve them out, so they can no longer even lift a rifle.

And when we are done wiping out all resistance, it will be time to fully end the British nations once and for all. The four nations will be looted for all of their material wealth, and a new Reichskommissariat created to ensure stability across the entire isle. The Saxon will finally be put back into Anglo Saxon.

Finally, we have Operation Hansa, Henry, and Lapland, the attacks on the Swedes, the Reichskommissars, and the Finns.

Operation Hansa has the potential to be the most dangerous for the Reich. Sweden is large, prepared for an invasion, and popular internationally. Any war is sure to bring on a massive amount of foreign support if not concluded quickly enough, and the Swedes will no doubt attempt to cause a prolonged struggle and bleed the Reich dry.

In order to tip the scales towards the Reich’s favor, a blockade will begin to ensure international support, if not stopped, is slowed. In addition, Germany can use its allies in Norway and Denmark to assist us in the attack, building them up to give us more bodies to secure the wastes.

Instead of plans for after this war, there are some to help the Reich push it forward. Attempts can be made to destroy anyone carrying supplies to the Swedes through a renewed U-Boat campaign, which could not possibly backfire. Otherwise, a deal can be cut with the traitors in Burgundy. If they send military support against the Swedes, the Reich promises not to invade in the future and respect Himmler’s rule. This nonsense need only last as long as this war does, but the Burgundian stormtroopers will no doubt come in great use.

Rumors of Burgundian supplies helping arm the Swedes are, hopefully, just that.

Operation Henry, meanwhile, is incredibly dynamic depending on who exactly the Reich is set to fight. Each RK who breaks off can be listed alongside Moskowien as targets in this, with the ultimate goal of blitzing east and ensuring the disloyal are put in their place, permanently. In addition, the colonies will be burnt to the ground and united with the Reich, to ensure their lands and people can never again possibly pose about to Deutschland.

Then, there is Operation Lapland, the invasion of Finland. The operation is almost as daring as both of the above, and will require a great deal of luck to pull off correctly. Aland will need to be seized beforehand, to ensure a stable base of operations against the Finns. Beyond that however, a second front will be needed to ensure the Finns remain distracted. This can either be done by hiring Russian mercenaries to pick up the heavy weights, or, if the RKs have been subdued, a pincer movement through both Sweden and Moskowien can be planned.

When at least three invasions from War Plan A have been taken, the player may continue to War Plan B.

War Plan B is a step higher than A. Instead of attacking relatively minor and isolated nations, the plan calls for Operation Isabella, Achse, Gertrude, and Fall Rot. These are the invasions of Iberia, Italy, Turkey, and the Russias. The stakes are much higher. The chances of being bogged down was high before, but are now nearly astronomical. The only way to ensure success is through pitting the lot against one another. Not actually too difficult in the region.

Operation Isabella has the singular goal of crushing Iberia and shattering any power the region still holds onto. To do this, several things must be done.

First, the Italian question must be answered. The Italians can most likely be won over with some vague promises about Africa, as Iberia has built itself to become their largest rival in the region. Alternatively, Germany can refuse to cut any deal, even one it had no intention of keeping, and go in alone.

This decision is what decides how, exactly, Germany will present its main front against the Iberians. If the Italians join us, Göring will have a stable ground in Algeria to rush into Iberian lands, cutting them off from Africa and then crossing the dam to finish them off. Germany can also incite local rebels who have been chafing under Iberian colonialism.

And if not, then the Reich can still go over the Pyrenees. To do so, however, Germany must decide on the matter of France. Germany will either need to pressure France into acting like a good child, force the nation to reaffirm its commitment to the Unity-Pakt, and invade through Occitan, or it can just directly beat the French down, ensuring the weak nation does not have a chance to deny the Reich passage.

We will also have the ability to build up our naval force, either way they will be a boon for taking on the Iberians, and if Germany solely focuses in the Marine direction, it may still invade Iberia, though it will most likely have a much harder time going about it.

When the invasion begins, the focuses will, like in the final trees of War Plan A, primarily involve how to better win the war.

Iberia has a multitude of partisans from a multitude of various parties hiding in the hills and mountains, and more vague promises will no doubt bring them on board with assisting the Reich. The Portuguese are similar, as while the Union attempts to function as equal in all ways, the Portuguese continually find themselves nervous of Spanish encroachment. A deal can easily be cut to allow them their freedom if they were to assist us.

Communications can be cut, to confuse and scatter Iberian forces but most of all, the dam can be threatened. The Iberians now more than anyone that if the dam falls then millions are doomed, and merely threatening it would force Iberian forces to scramble and panic to attempt to protect it.

When the war is finished, Germany will break Iberia once and for all, ensuring the monstrosity can never return. Afterwards, the nation will mop up remaining partisans that had assisted them so far, as well as turn towards Portugal. Whatever deal the Portuguese think they made with Germany will be declared null and void, and the final nation on the peninsula will be crushed.

Next is Operation Achse, the destruction of Italy.

Like in the last war, Italy and Iberia’s rivalry can be exploited to ensure the destruction of both. By promising Algeria to the Iberians the Reich will have a powerful ally to help in their subjugation of the boot.

Likewise, an approach must also be decided on how best to tackle the Italians. One or more can be decided, each focus giving unique benefits for each location and terrain that the Reich can end up fighting on. Preparations can be made for a march on the Levant, Africa, through Tyrol, into the Balkans, or over the Alps. Training, likewise, can assist in desert environments, improve armored maneuvers against the Italians, or in the mountains.

When the war is declared, numerous things can be done to weaken the Italians resolve. Rail lines can be severed and destroyed to ensure transportation of the Italian Army is disabled, and the Atlantic sea can be blocked off at Gibraltar to ensure that the Italians receive no supplies from abroad.

The shape of Italy also provides benefit, and by cutting off northern Italy Göring can begin preparations to divide the peninsula by recruiting locals to assist in holding the area.

King Victor Emmanuel can be dragged out to ensure the Italian’s lose their figurehead, cutting the head from the viper and ensuring it loses its bite.

And finally, various native moments in the Empire can be inspired to revolt, whether they be in the Balkans or in Africa and the Middle East. Surely sparking such ideas in their head will not backfire, ever.

When this is done, Italy shall be divided among north and south, with Germany absorbing pieces of territory it has rightfully always deserved. However, a decision has to be made whether Germany will simply pillage and loot the boot or whether a slower, more methodical approach will be taken where Germany’s new puppet states will be drained to nothing.

And then there is the matter of the rebel groups the Reich could have inspired. A decision can be made to annihilate them, or let their rebellion continue to break Italian power further.

Also of note on the left is the “A Deal in Africa” focus tree. Once either Iberia or Italy is supported (or destroyed), the tree appears depending on how you assisted to decide who will rule Africa.

You can either fulfill your promise, for now, and grant it to Italy or Iberia, support the unlikely French claim to try and reestablish their nation as an ally to your expansion, or you can support local natives over all… before using this gambit to annihilate them and take it all for yourself.

Next on the list is Operation Herkules and Gertrude. The invasion of Turkey.

Herkules is the seizure of any Mediterranean islands within reach, and if Germany has not yet declared war on Italy or Iberia, can accidentally spark one early. Nevertheless, once the islands are taken, Germany has the option to sign a pact with the Italians, who have found themselves constantly in conflict with the Turks for the last few years.

If assistance is agreed upon, then the buildup will be over land, as the Italians and yourself build udp in the Balkans and in Africa for a massive, coordinated push. Otherwise, new methods will have to be devised to hopefully break the Turks. On the right side of the tree, you’ll gain numerous bonuses to your special units, such as Marines, paratroopers, and so on.

When Operation Gertrude begins, you have several options for how to destabilize your enemy. Both ethnic and religious tensions can be played on to damage the nation as much as possible. On one side, you can sponsor Islamists in the nation and try and push them towards active revolt against on the Turks. On the other, you can do similar to the Arabs who have been chafing under Turkish rule in the Levant.

Once done and the Turks defeated, you will need to deal with the Turkish resistance, the Wolves. You’ll also need to decide on what to do with any rebel groups you established on your romp through the east.

For the Arabs, you can either make an alliance with the rebel groups popping up and support their new states, or you can try and blast them all into dust while cackling evilly. You can do similar to the Islamists, where you have the option to round as many of them as you can up and locking them away, or you can try and support a new Caliph who will hopefully support your righteous conquest of every nation around you.

Finally, we have Fall Rot, the final invasion of Russia.

The invasion of Russia was a massive endeavor the first time, and it still is the second. There is a massive continent looming across from Germany, and a multitude of very angry and very well armed warlords who have been preparing for this exact scenario for decades. Even Germany in the 50s was nearly defeated by only a single one and a few nascent allies, so Deutschland must be cautious.

Which it will do by mass troop maneuvers and bombing Russia even more.

Your two goals are to gather the manpower to make the invasion, as manpower will be the largest obstacle to holding such a large area, and renewing the terror bombings of Russia to try and weaken the Russian spirit before your invasion.

For the first path, you can enlist local forces in Moskowien who may be willing to fight for you, before full on creating a mercenary army of Russian soldiers who are more happy to fight on your behalf for a quick buck. Otherwise, you may also start a renewed recruitment drive, and then focus on recruiting former members of the Cornwall Garrison if you’ve already dealt with that region (and not shot all of the Cornwall Garrison).

On the right side, you can renew the terror bombings, which then splits into two paths. You can either focus on sparking unrest and rebellions across the Western Warlords to cause as much chaos as possible, or you can focus on pummelling into dust anew, and begin an even more focused and driven air campaign. Or you can do both, if you’d like.

Once the army has been prepared and the Russians weakened, it is time to invade.

During the course of the war, you can try to prepare your troops for winter if they are not already ready, pushing hard to get your troops supplied and trained for the icy wastes after the invasion already begins.

You can also push the military towards a rush to the Urals, encouraging them to rapidly advance and grab as much land as possible no matter the cost, all the while focusing on rebuilding the infrastructure they leave behind to supply them.

When dealt with, work will be done on ensuring the Slavs do not get any ideas about fighting your forces from behind the lines. The earth will salted, and any signs of industry or urbanization dragged back to Germany for building materials.

The people will be pressed into work or will form new All-Russian Penal Battalions, that Germany can use as an instrument of its will in the region, as well as try and find any Russians interested in forming a collaboration front, so that you may use them to help you keep the nascent insurgency down.
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Overall, this is probably going to be the most difficult invasion yet. Though surely, with the Russians so disunited they will topple like dominoes before the superior military of the Reich, and not possibly-

Finally now, we have War Plan C, with Fall Schwarz, Operation Ikarus, Fall Venedig, Fall Rockwell, and Operation Dammerung, the invasions of Burgundy, Iceland/Greenland, South America, the United States, and Japan, respectively.

First off is Fall Schwarz, the most straightforward of the operations due to the distance between Burgundy and Germany.

The invasion has two halves, a direct military one, but also a nuclear one. In order to neutralize Burgundy’s nuclear arsenal which they had looted during the Civil War for this exact purpose.

The first portion, the military one, takes place on the left primarily involves recruiting various groups to help fight the Burgundians from the inside. With the ‘Fight for France’ and ‘Fight for the Lowlands’ focus involves encouraging the French, Dutch and Belgians, few as they may be in Burgundy, and having them assist in taking Burgundy.

‘Fight for your Freedom’ encourages the slaves of both Germany and Burgundy to sign on to help smash the Burgundian oppressors. While Burgundy does not rely on slaves quite like Germany does, they do still have their own caste that can be encouraged to fight, especially with a bit of ‘encouragement’.

Finally, ‘Fight for the Fatherland’ contacts those in the Burgundian SS who may still harbor loyalty to the Reich that gave them everything. Contacting these men will be necessary to deal with the Burgundian nuclear arsenal, which we will discuss later.

Down the line, you have further integration with Resistance units to disrupt the Burgundians before you arrive. Burgundy maintains the most elite fighting force in the world, and they will need to be distracted if the Reich has a chance of smashing them like they have all others.

Likewise, the front in Elsass needs to be prepared. Elsass will need to be evacuated for the inevitabilities, the Elsass Line, Germany’s fortification network on the Burgundian border, will need to be rebuilt and reinforced, and all border garrisons will need to be mobilized in preparation for the counter attack.

On the right side of the tree we have the coup and the intimidation of Himmler.

With support of elements inside the SS, we can attempt a coup against Heinrich Himmler. While it will more than likely not work, if we can get our plotters into the nuclear silos of Burgundy, we can spark a civil war that will disable Burgundy’s nuclear potential before a missile is even launched. All we need is for them to hold their posts for a small time before German forces can link up with coup forces and ensure the Burgundians never regain access to their thermonuclear stockpile. Göring is adverse to this plan, however, fearing that the SS can not be trusted and that they will most likely fail in their plan to hold the nuclear silos.

Instead, he advocates for using the German science program to build up the German nuclear arsenal even more, and intimidate Himmler with Germany’s nuclear superiority. Surely, if the Reich has so many nukes ready to be fired off at a moments notice, Himmler would not dare fire his own? He’d only manage to destroy all of Europe, and while Himmler is a bastard, we all know he’s no madman!

Finally, once the focus to begin the war is completed, you have focuses for during the war on the left and after it on the right.

On the left, you will have the ability to create a new front by invading Brittany from the sea and air, truly a genius idea, as well as begin a total air and sea blockade to ensure the Burgundian’s do not manage to get supplies in or escape.

When the war is finished and Burgundy crush, the question must be answered, what will we do with the remaining SS officers, many of whom assisted us in the struggle? A deal can be struck where they can be returned to the Reich and prove their loyalty anew, or we can ensure they never dare raise a finger against it again.

Next up is Operation Ikarus, Fall Venedig, and Fall Rockwell, which I will discuss separately due to their size.

Ikarus calls for a rapid naval buildup and militarization, using the British Isles as a massive staging base to rapidly build up the German fleet. The goal? A rapid occupation of Iceland, and then Greenland, America’s puppet states in the Atlantic. While ostensibly independent, the nations serve not only as a jumping point to the America’s, but essentially as massive American military bases in the Atlantic. By neutralizing them, the Reich greatly reduces the Yank’s power projection capabilities. Of course, it can all fail and possibly lead to an early WW3 the Reich is utterly unprepared for, but when have such things stopped Göring.

Fall Venedig is Germany’s attempt to get allies and bases in South America and the Caribbean in order to give another staging ground to attack America and a steady flow of supplies. The plan is separated into the Continental Plan and the Island Plan, for Latin America and the Caribbean respectively.

The Continental Plan calls for the armed support of the Tacuara and other fascist groups in Argentina to have them overthrow the Argentine government and lend their support to the Reich. If successful, they can provide a strong first member of the Unity Pakt abroad, and give the Reich a good staging ground for further action in the Americas from the United States’ doorstep.

The next part of the plan is supporting the Fatherland and Liberty group in Chile, and their plan for the Tanquetazo, an armored push on the government capital in Santiago. With Fatherland and Liberty in charge of Chile, and the Tacuara in Argentina, Germany can safely begin igniting conflicts in the rest of South America to keep the United State’s distracted. Of course, Germany’s new friends will still have to contend with American backed Communist rebels across the continent, but when has Communism ever truly been a threat in South America?

The Island Plan revolves around inciting further tensions in the already divided Cuba. Primarily, however, with the ‘Secret Cigar’ focus, an attempt will be made on the US backed Fidel Castro’s life, with hopes of throwing the Communist forces on the island in chaos so German backed elements can sweep in and give the Reich a base directly across from the United States itself. Doing so will be an absolute boon, and will not doubt make the United States quake in fear and not just counter invade.

And I’ll leave the West Indies and their unique situation for a future idea, you can probably get some idea of what’s going on over there from the focuses, however. I will say that it’s unlikely they’ll still be around when Göring arrives, and the tree will change to reflect that situation.

The Atlantic Wall will also need to be built back up and both marine forces and coast guard units will both have to be prepared for the inevitable. After this, the Reich will have to prepare its overseas power projection, and use it to weaken the Americans from the inside.

Namely, efforts will be made to radicalize the NPP further, and arms will be shipped to encourage them to fight against the government there, not that the Americans needed more guns to fight the government with. While an outright war is unlikely, any amount of unrest that can be stirred in the United States means the invasion will be just that much easier.

Meddling in the election might also result in positives, who knows, maybe we can just put an NPP president on the throne and win through peaceful means, as boring as they may be.

Finally, Fall Rockwell can begin. The invasion of the United States.

The invasion will need to be rapid. We will need to strike hard, strike fast, and have no mercy. Our allies in Latin America will be brought in to assist us in our lightning strike, and infiltrators will sow the seeds of destruction across the continent. In order to ensure America does not dare use its nuclear stockpile, we will unveil the Amerika Bomber, and begin terror bomb campaigns over their cities while reminding them that we can easily make such things nuclear.

However, one thing is to fear, the American Star Wars project, legendarily claimed to have given them a system capable of shooting down nuclear projectiles. This system is what prevents a nuclear first strike to finish off the nation, and it will be need to be destroyed to let us truly threaten the Yanks. Finding and capturing the program is the main purpose of the invasion.

And once the United States has fallen, a new order will rise.

Bases and ports will be taken for use in the Reich, and a permanent overseas presence will be established. Civilian shipping will be utterly dismantled, to prevent the United States from influencing foreign nations. The nation will be dismantled, north and south, and both shall be brought into the Pakt.

Finally, without them meddling in Africa, the Reich will be free to smash the continent back into a shape they like, avenging their loss to the United States and South Africa years prior.

Finally, we have Operation Dammerung and the invasion of Asia.

(Tree isn’t finished, which is why there’s no during-post war section, didn’t want to have to delay the diary further)

The invasion has three main paths, taking India or Arabia to secure our road to the east, (you must have invaded Italy or Turkey to take the first, or Turkey for the second) destabilizing the Japanese sphere further than it already has been, and securing a more direct route through the Russias (requires Russia to have been smashed, obviously).

‘The Southern Route’ is the effort to secure a western base to strike the Japanese from in either India or Arabia. To take down Arabia, bases must be owned in either the southern or northern Levant, and involves either trying to support local minorities to have them assist in the Reich’s invasion or simply bombing everything to dust.

The route can also be taken through India. First, Iran will need to be dealt with, the only real obstacle until German forces can reach the subcontinent. The Shah can either be pressured to allow German soldiers to march into their nation to get to India, or Operation Alexander can be sanctioned, and Iran invaded and the Shah assassinated to destroy any threat they may pose.

The Indians have been courting all powers for much of the Cold War, enjoying the patronage of all three sides. This will end, the Reich will no longer bend to their whims, a simple invasion will surely stomp them out once and for all, and give the Reich direct access to Japan’s sphere in Asia.

The sphere itself shall also be struck. Separate focus will be put into three hotbeds of resistance against the Japanese in Vietnam, Syonan (the Japanese colony in northern Indonesia and Singapore) and China.

Vietnam and Syonan will be rather simple, with simple assurances that they’ll be allowed to choose their own paths in the future, and uniting them in mutual resentment against the Japanese.

China, however, will be a bit tougher to break into, with the area’s massive size, diverse group of nations and colonies and conflicting ideologies. You will need to finish a path through Russia to truly affect them, but when you do, you will be able to carry a wide basis of support against the Japanese. Warlords can be paid off to begin pillaging Japan’s colonies on the mainland, and the Reich and old elements of either the Communists or the nationalists can be brought in for assistance. Nevermind some advisors claims that such divides no longer matter in Chinese society, surely history can repeat.

Finally, a route can also be established through the north.

Partisans will need to be forcefully put down in order to ensure a stable movement of supplies to the east, and a gentle hand will be offered to the Russians to ensure they assist us in this endeavor. Russian soldiers will also need to be used to cover the massive front against the Japanese, and old rusting tanks and disgraced SS commanders both can be used to arm and lead these units.

Supply depots will also need to be established, either built in Manchuria and funded by local German and Russian emigre’s possibly friendly to our cause, or through a supply route to the Americas (assuming America is alive). The Americans despise the Japanese more than they ever would Germany, surely they’d be more than happy to help bolster German military forces in their invasion.

And when all of this is finished, Dammerung may begin. The design of the plan is to wipe out the Japanese colonies so the island, which has grown so reliant on them, starves out and surrenders. Surely the Reich does not even have to bother worrying about their nuclear stockpile, why would they ever dare use it over China?

And that is all of the war plans for today, but not all for Göring. It should be noted that his path has multiple ways it can bog down and fail, with every nation getting a significant amount of attention to ensure that they get a fighting chance and have plenty of content for defending against the German menace. For example, here are two events for Sweden, detailing new fighting methods to fight Germany and support coming from abroad:

Likewise, if any war drags on long enough, it may have domestic repercussions as well. Göring’s war economy relies entirely on its continual plunder, if it stalls and the German people lose their faith in him, it can spell certain doom.

Of course, none of that may happen, and Göring may be able to rule over a Reich to last a thousand years. Surely, since he broke his addictions in the 40s, he’s as healthy as can be. We most likely won’t to worry about his health for at least a few dec-

And that’s all for Göring!

As the diary was too long for ModDB, I had to split it in two, you can find Heydrich's portion in another article.