Romania

Romania

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Capital:

Bucharest

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Government type:

Democratic, Conservative

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Faction:

Neutral

Romania is a country located in the north-eastern Balkans.  Hungary is disarmed,  Yugoslavia has great internal turmoil, and  Bulgaria poses no threat. Its other three neighbors are the  Soviet Union who will soon purge most of their command,  Czechoslovakia who has far greater concerns, and  Poland who is friendly but will soon be invaded by  Germany.

Although Romania starts out as a constitutional monarchy similar to  United Kingdom, the "Institute Royal Dictatorship" path allows her to turn into a de facto absolute monarchy. Historically, it happened in 1938, however, the player can institute it as soon as 1936. Further down the road, Romania can change its ideology yet again based on what king of government King Carol II decides to install: a loyalist government leading to greater support for the king and stronger Sentinels of the Motherland paramilitary units, a communist cabinet leading to the establishment of Securitate, a fascist government leading to the installment of the Iron Guard or the restoration of democracy under a pro-Allied government. The communist and fascist paths can end with the forced abdication of King Carol II and then the King Michael's Coup leading to the restoration of democracy as it happened historically. Because of this, the player can easily switch between what ideology he deems fit for the moment and allows Romania to have a truly flexible foreign policy.

Despite its start as the strongest nation in the Balkans, Romania is surrounded by existential threats from the west and east alike. Both the  Soviet Union and  Germany will soon demand territories from Romania. To meet these threats, Romania has many options available, and its main choices are joining with the  Soviet Union,  Germany,and  United Kingdom, and/or becoming a major power through the "Balkan Dominance" path or forming the "Cordon Sanitaire" faction with  Czechoslovakia and  Poland.

Due to its web of alliances formed in the interwar years: Little Entente, Polish-Romanian Alliance and Balkan Pact; depending on the actions of its neighbours, Romania can alternatively join the Entente if  France follows the "Confirm Eastern Commitments" path, the Czech Entente should  Czechoslovakia follow the "An Entente of Our Own" path or the Balkan Entete should  Turkey follow the "Continue to Prioritize Balkan Integrity" path.

Historical background

Romania was a member of the victorious Entente when World War I ended in 1918. In exchange for promises of significant territorial expansion, Romania sided with  France and the  United Kingdom in 1916. With the war's end the pre-eminent powers ( United States,  France and  United Kingdom) largely broke with their promises to lesser allies. However, Romania received a significant part of the promised territories using claims of historic rights and self-determination: Transylvania, Bukovina and two-thirds of Banat. Regions who despite being part of Austria-Hungary had a Romanian majority. Bessarabia who previously declared independence from the Russian Empire in 1917 and union with Romania in 1918 would make Romania the country with the most territorial gains of World War I.

To preserve this territory, Romania would become part of the Little Entente with  Yugoslavia and  Czechoslovakia in 1920 and form a separate alliance with  Poland who refused to become part of the Little Entente due to territorial conflict with  Czechoslovakia.

Romania received guarantees from  France and the  United Kingdom following  Italy's invasion of  Albania in April 1939. When  Germany invaded  Poland, they decided not to activate their alliance with  Romania in order to use the neutral state on their borders to ship in Allied troops and supplies. However the Allies would not provide troops and supplies. Eventually the Polish army brigades and government evacuated through  Romania to  France and thence to  United Kingdom.

Following the fall of  France in June 1940, Romania had to come to terms with German supremacy on the continent. In July 1940 the  Soviet Union demanded that Romania cede northern Bukovina and Bessarabia, Romania accepted. In August 1940  Germany demanded that Romania cede northern Transylvania to  Hungary and in September southern Dobruja to  Bulgaria, Romania accepted again. One-third of Romania's 1939 area was amputated in 1940 and with it Romania's population shrank from 19.9 million to 13.3 million, half of the lost population being ethnically Romanian.

In return for the territorial losses, King Carol II gained Hitler's guarantee but it also caused the popularity of the government to plummet, further reinforcing the fascist and military factions who eventually staged a coup that turned  Romania into a fascist dictatorship under Marshal Ion Antonescu and forced King Carol II to abdicate. The new regime firmly set the country towards the Axis, joining the Axis in November 1940 and entering the war in June 1941 against the  Soviet Union under the pretext of recovering northern Bukovina and Bessarabia. As compensation for the loss of northern Transylvania, Marshal Ion Antonescu requested Transnistria from  Germany to which Hitler agreed.

The contribution of  Romania was significant as it provided oil for  Germany and over a million men for Operation Barbarossa. By 1944, discontent among the elite and the populace had grown which led to Prince Michael's coup against Marshal Ion Antonescu and  Romania switching sides to the Allies. After that  Romania continued fighting on the allied side in  Hungary and  Czechoslovakia. After the war, they gained back northern Transylvania. In 1948 King Michael was forced to abdicate and  Romania became a puppet of the  Soviet Union.

Events

Main article: Romanian events

Main article: Romanian events 2

National focus

Romanian national focus tree.

Main article: Romanian national focus tree

 Romania, along with three other nations situated between  Germany and the  Soviet Union, gets a unique national focus tree as part of the Death or Dishonor expansion. Without the expansion, Romania utilizes the Generic national focus tree instead.

The Romanian national focus tree can be divided into 7 branches:

Preserve Greater Romania Branch

This Branch allows  Romania to join the Comintern, Axis or Allies or create the Cordon Sanitaire with  Poland and  Czechoslovakia. Unlike other focus trees, the separate ideologies in this tree are not mutually exclusive.

Civil Works/ National Defense Industry Sub-branch

This branch allows  Romania to develop its industry. To start this branch, one must start the "Preserve Greater Romania" or the "Balkans Dominance" Branch.

Balkans Dominance Branch

This branch allows  Romania to puppet, annex, split or declare war with  Bulgaria,  Greece,  Yugoslavia,  Turkey,  Hungary or  Czechoslovakia.

Institute Royal Dictatorship Branch

This Branch handles the King and political ideology popularity. the ideologies are not mutually exclusive with each other.

Expand the Airforce Branch

This branch allows the research and licensing of the airforce.

Army Maneuvers Branch

This branch gives the player free division templates and a general as well as army research.

Expand the Galati Shipyards Branch

This branch researches the navy.

Technology

Romania has most of the 1918 land techs and some early tank techs but is lacking in support. The country is also behind in most early naval and air techs. Like many smaller nations, Romania has three research slots.

Technology 1936

Army Technology	Naval Technology	Air Technology	Electronics & Industry
ZB vz.24 Infantry Eq. I AFB 3-ton Motorized Eq. I Mountain Infantry I R-1 Light Tank I Engineer Company I 105mm Schneider 13 Towed Artillery I Astra Rheinmetall 37mm Towed Anti-Air I	Early Destroyer Hull Basic Depth Charges 1936 Submarine Hull Basic Torpedo Naval Gunnery Contact Mine Minelaying Submarine	IAR 12 Interwar Fighter	None
Doctrines
None	None	None

Cosmetic names

Romania has several unique names and appearances for various technologies and equipment, listed here. Note that generic names are not listed.

Infantry & motorized techs

Type	1918	1936	1938	1939	1940	1941	1942	1943	1944
Infantry Equipment	Mannlicher M1893	ZB vz.24		Orita M1941			Orita Carbine
Motorized		AFB 3-ton

Armor techs

Tech year	Amphibious	Light (TD/SPG/AA)	Medium (TD/SPG/AA)	Modern (TD/SPG/AA)	Heavy (TD/SPG/AA)	Super-Heavy (TD/SPG/AA)
1918		FT-17
1934		R-1 (VDC R35 / NA / NA)			Horea
1936		R-2 (TACAM R-1 / NA / NA)
1939			T-39 (TACAM T-60 / 122mm M-03 / 4x20mm TA)
1941		T-41 (TACAM T-38 / NA / NA)	R-3 (TACAM R-2 / NA / NA)		Iancu
1943			R-43		Maresal (NA / NA / Maresal 37mm TA)	Maresal Mare
1945				NA

 

Artillery techs

Tech year	Anti-Air	Artillery	Rocket Artillery	Anti-Tank
1934		105mm Schneider 13
1936	Astra Rheinmetall 37mm			47mm Schneider 36
1939		150mm M1934
1940	75mm Vickers-Resita M1936			75 mm Schneider 97/38
1942		155mm M1917
1943	9cm Skoda 12/30			75 mm Resita Model 1943

Diplomacy

Romania guarantees the independence of  Czechoslovakia,  Yugoslavia,  Turkey and  Greece and is itself guaranteed by  France and  Czechoslovakia.

Alliances

Romania starts without any allies and belonging to no faction. If  France creates the Little Entente, Romania is a potential member.

Politics

National spirits

Romania has at 1936 start the national spirits:

King Carol II's Lifestyle

King Carol II is well known for his expensive tastes and his willingness to indulge the even more lavish tastes of his mistress. He has caused considerable scandals in the past, and will likely continue to do so unless he is replaced or shown the error of his ways.

Neutral Foreign Policy

• Join faction tension limit: +100%
• Send volunteers tension limit: +20%
• Guarantee tension limit: +100%
• AI Modifier: Threat receptivity: +1%
• AI Modifier: Desire to be in or expand a faction: −100

Neutrality is sometimes viewed as a craven stance, but this nation trusts that when the dust settles, those who didn't take sides may be better off than those who did.

Laws

Conscription Law	Economy Law	Trade Law
Volunteer Only 1.5% Recruitable population	Civilian Economy 35% Consumer Goods factories –30% Factory construction speed +30% Factory (type) conversion cost -40% Fuel Gain per Oil -25% Fuel Capacity	Export Focus 50% Resources to market +5% Research speed +10% Factory/Dockyard output +10% Construction speed +20% Civilian intelligence to others +10% Navy intelligence to others

Ministers

Advisor	Type	Effect	Cost
Iuliu Maniu	Democratic Reformer	Daily Democracy Support: +0.10	150
Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej	Communist Revolutionary	Daily Communism Support: +0.10	150
Gheorghe Argeseanu	Silent Workhorse	Political Power: +15%	150
Nicolae Malaxa	Captain of Industry	Civilian Factory/Infrastructure/Refinery Construction Speed: +10%	150
Armand Calinescu	Prince of Terror	Non-core Manpower: +2% Foreign subversive activities efficiency: -30% Damage to Garrisons: -25%	150
Petru Groza	Backroom Backstabber	Political Power: +5% Ideological Drift Defense: +15%	150
Mihail Sturdza	Fascist Demagogue	Daily Fascism Support: +0.10	150
ion Iancovescu	Illusive Gentleman	Operative slots: +1 Agency upgrade time: -15%	150

Political parties

The Romanian ruling party is democratic.

Political parties, 1936

Id.	Party name	Popularity	Leader	Ruling	Country Name
	Partidul National Liberal	60.00%	Gheorghe Tatarescu		Romania
	Partidul Comunist Roman	2.00%	Constantin Ion Parhon		Romanian People's Republic
	Partidul National Crestin	18.00%	Octavian Goga		Legionary Romania
	Frontul Renasterii Nationale	20.00%	Armand Calinescu		Kingdom of Romania

Political parties, 1939

Id.	Party name	Popularity	Leader	Ruling	Country Name
	Partidul National Liberal	20.00%	Gheorghe Tatarescu		Romania
	Partidul Comunist Roman	2.00%	Constantin Ion Parhon		Romanian People's Republic
	Garda de Fier	35.00%	Ion Antonescu		Legionary Romania
	Frontul Renasterii Nationale	43.00%	Armand Calinescu⠀ Carol II		Kingdom of Romania

Staff and designers

Tank designer

Icon	Designer	Type	Effect	Cost ()
	PZinż	Tank Designer	Armor Research Speed: +15% Armor: Max Speed: +5% Reliability: +10%	150

Ship designer

Icon	Designer	Type	Effect	Cost ()
	Constanta Shipyard	Ship Designer	Naval Research Speed: +15.0%

Aircraft designer

Icon	Designer	Type	Effect	Cost ()
	IAR	Light Aircraft Designer	Air Research Speed: +15% Fighter: Agility: +10% Max Speed: +10% Carrier Fighter: Agility: +10% Max Speed: +10%	150

Economy

1936

7 Military Factories	2 Naval Dockyard	11 Civilian Factories

Resources

Oil	Aluminium	Rubber	Tungsten	Steel	Chromium
70	6	0	0	4	0

1939

7 Military Factories	4 Naval Dockyard	15 Civilian Factories

Resources

Oil	Aluminium	Rubber	Tungsten	Steel	Chromium
75	6	0	0	21	0

Military

Army

1936

22Infantry Divisions	4Cavalry Divisions	4Mountaineer Divisions	1Light Tank Division

1939

20Infantry Divisions	4Cavalry Divisions	5Mountaineer Divisions	1Light Tank Division

Alternative names for divisions:

• Infantry: Divizie de Infanterie
• Motorized Infantry: Divizie de Infanterie Motorizata
• Mechanized Infantry: Divizie de Infanterie Mecanizata/Motomecanizata
• Cavalry: Divizie de Cavalerie
• Armor: Divizie de Blindate/Divizie de Care de Lupta
• Engineers: Divizie de Genisti
• Mountain: Divizie de Vanatori de Munte
• Paratroopers: Divizie de Parasutisti
• Marines: Divizie de Infanterie Marina/Divizie de Puscasi Marini
• Artillery/AA/AT: Divizie de Artilerie/Artilerie Anti-Aeriana/Artilerie Anti-Tanc

Navy

1936

The Romanian Navy consists of 4 Destroyers.

1939

The Romanian Navy consists of 4 Destroyers and 1 submarine.

Air Force

1936

The Romanian Air Force consists of 72 Interwar Fighters.

1939

The Romanian Air Force consists of 96 Interwar Fighters, 78 Fighter 1's and 48 Tactical bombers.

Strategies and guides

The below is one of many player suggested strategies for Romania. Bear in mind, due to the dynamic nature of the game, it may unfold differently for other players.

Legionary Romania

Use this guide if you don´t have Death or Dishonor DLC enabled.

At first, the player should start with the Political effort focus to gain some political power and hire the Fascist Demagogue minister that will provide the player with daily fascism support. The next step is to develop the player's civilian industry and to get an " extra research slot through the industrial effort focus. After that, get Armament effort I, II, III as that will increase the amount of the player's military factories, which is also a great idea at the beginning. The next focus that is recommended is the Militarism focus which increases the player's Recruitable Population up to 5%.

Meanwhile, after the fascists come to power, the player might want to send some volunteers to Nationalist Spain to help them win the Spanish civil war (getting Madrid and Barcelona right after that is the fastest way) and get a strong axis ally in future. Also, one of the player's first steps, after the fascists come to power, is to justify a war goal against Bulgaria and grab it. Now it's also the time to join Axis. During the Bulgarian war the player should start justifying a war goal against Greece as well and after Bulgaria is done - grab Greece (Greece is rather weak and has a nice deposit of the needed steel to produce some equipment for the player's army).

If everything is done correctly (if the player selected the historical AI focus), by mid-1939, close to world war II, they will have the Bulgarian and Greece territories, adequate equipment, access to the Mediterranean sea and the opportunity to go to war with Yugoslavia or Turkey to expand much faster.

Romania going its own way

Both in real history and the game when controlled by AI, Romania ends up fighting in the war as  Germany's eastern sidekick. But in this game, it is strong enough to be a world power in its own right, even without joining a faction. With Death and Dishonor, it is possible to go down this route as Non-Aligned, remaining a proper monarchy. Ideology is up to the player, and any pick will work with this guide, but it is assumed that the player will keep Romania non-aligned. Historical focuses are also assumed to be enabled.

1. Conquest of the Balkans (1936-1939)

Military

Given the lack of early industry and large fielded manpower requirements for many focuses, Romania will be fielding an almost exclusively infantry-based army for the first four years of the game. The beginning template of 9 infantry divisions should not be changed. All cavalry divisions on the field at the start should be converted to infantry. 20 new divisions must be queued up for training, and they should be given high equipment priority. The fielded divisions should be organized into two armies under an army group led by marshal Ion Antonescu. The whole army group should be placed at the Hungarian border and given an offensive line order. When it comes to doctrine, whatever the player chooses should be fine, but Superior Firepower would be the best choice for the early and mid-game and thus make the biggest difference. As concerns airpower, the two fighter squadrons should be combined into one. They will be used to support the coming invasions, but will not make much of an impact. The air force will be given proper attention later. When it comes to naval forces, Romania's starting fleet is laughable. Thankfully, naval power is not needed until much later - the fleet can stay safely in port at Constanta for the next 5-6 years, during which submarines and destroyers should be built for it with the available shipyards.

Industry

Romania has few civilian factories to start with, and they'll be busy covering for the king's expenses most of the time, but the Soviet border must be fortified well. To that end, infrastructure must first be built to the maximum in Bessarabia, Bucovina and North Transylvania. Once that is done and the Fortify the Borders focus is complete, level 4 forts should be built all along the Soviet and Polish borders (more than that will dissuade the Soviets from attacking, which is not ideal). Anti-air emplacements should also be built in the Eastern Balkans and Northern Balkans regions, as Romania's air force will not be able to stand up to its Soviet counterpart when the war comes. Military factories should be focused on manufacturing infantry equipment mainly, with one factory each devoted to artillery and support equipment. The order for light tanks should be cancelled. Once the early conquests are almost finished, fighters should be built as well.

Politics

The antics of King Carol II will be a major headache for the player in this first phase and must be dealt with quickly, second in priority only to conquering the Balkans. Political power should be saved for better laws, advisors and eliminating opposition parties, so the player should take the industry hit every time the king is caught red-handed. However, the king does get a very useful trait with the second focus that allows choosing laws and advisors from the top and bottom rows with only 115 political power. The initial order of assigning laws and advisors should be:

1. Industrial Concern
2. Limited conscription
3. Free trade
4. Silent Workhorse
5. Backroom Backstabber
6. Military theorist
7. Captain of Industry
8. Infantry Expert
9. Army Offense Expert
10. Tank designer (PZinz)

Once these are assigned, the player should devote political power to increasing stability and war support and removing all traces of democracy, fascism and communism from the country.

The first focus should be Institute Royal Dictatorship. This will put the king in charge and grant the player political power which should be used to pick the Industrial Concern. Following up, the next focus should be to Revise the Constitution. Once that is finished, the king will have gotten his new trait and the player can change the conscription law. The Royal Foundation should be next, it will give the player another research slot. Balkans Dominance should then be picked, and it will open up the conquest/puppeting focuses. Whenever there is a choice, the player should go for annexation rather than puppets, as the nations in the region have relatively low manpower and their industry would be far more helpful if under direct Romanian control. Still, at least one puppet is necessary for proper defence against the Soviets.

By this point, the queued divisions should have been trained to a level where enough can be manually deployed to bring the fielded manpower up past 400K. The player should do so and then pick the Puppet Bulgaria focus. Almost always, the Bulgarians will give up their independence without a fight, but if they decide to fight, it should be easy to conquer them.

With the changes to how the Divide Yugoslavia focus works, that should be your next choice. Hungary should be the only nation that you invite when using the decision. At this point, it is wise to have saved up political power as you have to place claims on all provinces in  Yugoslavia. Focus your priorities on Serbia, Montenegro, and Macedonia as Hungary will likely focus on Croatia. Once all provinces have a single claim on them you can submit the ultimatum. If Yugoslavia is smart they will fold willingly and you gain full control of the areas you bid on, if not then the war should be easy enough and you can satellite the individual states or claim all territory depending on your preference. Hungary shouldn’t have enough score to claim too much of Yugoslavia but we can easily remedy that with the next focus.

The next focus should be Align Hungary. The Hungarians are much more likely to put up a fight, and it is quite rare that they submit willingly. They might offer a "friendship treaty", but the player must deny it if it happens. Regardless, most of the time the player will need to invade  Hungary and annex them. You will also be able to regain any of the territory lost in the partitioning of Yugoslavia. Since it should only be early 1937 by this point, the Hungarian army will offer little resistance, even to the under-strength Romanian divisions. At this point, there will not be enough trained divisions to bring the fielded manpower up past 500K, so the next focus should be to Fortify the Borders. Also, fort construction should now begin.

Now, the player should be able to deploy enough divisions to reach 500K fielded manpower, so the next focus should be Split Czechoslovakia. Hitler may or may not agree to the split, but he likely will. Once that is done,  Slovakia will become a Romanian puppet and  Germany will annex Czechia. An unfortunate side effect is that  Germany is thus strengthened one year early. Immediately afterwards, Secure Greece should be done, followed by an invasion and annexation of  Greece.

There will not be enough manpower at this point to pick the  Turkey focus, so the player should take the three Loyal Government focuses: His Majesty's Loyal Government, then Militarize the Sentinels, which will grant another 1% recruitable population, then All Parties Must End, which will put the king in his place and stop his negative events from firing again. National Defense Industry should be the last focus taken while waiting for the new troops to train. Once all of these are finished, enough troops should be deployable to bring the fielded manpower to 750K and pick the Secure the Bosphorus focus.

Invading  Turkey in November 1938 should be trickier than any other nation thus far. A puppet-like  Bulgaria should be called into the war. One army should be placed on the Thracian border, while another army should be placed in the Aegean islands off the west coast of Anatolia. With luck, the army invading from Thrace can cross the Bosphorus and invade Anatolia before they are trapped in a bottleneck. The two armies can then meet and push to Ankara. With a sweep to the south-eastern victory points of Adana and Gaziantep,  Turkey will capitulate, and can be fully annexed. However, Romania should not take the two provinces bordering the Soviets, as an extra front might be too much for the army to handle. Instead, they should be given to a puppet-like  Bulgaria. With the entire Balkans conquered, there will be no more manpower requirement on focuses, so the basic infantry division can now be edited to replace two infantry regiments with artillery ones. Also, support companies should be added while removing the existing support artillery company.

The final step in the first phase should be entering a war with the  Soviet Union. This must be done as soon as possible as waiting too long might result in a German invasion of the USSR before Romania is ready to invade. To that end, the player should guarantee  Finland as soon as world tension exceeds 50%. This will allow Romania to enter a defensive war against the USSR sooner than normal as they will usually start the Winter War in 1939. A faction should be created with Finland so that they don't sign a negotiated peace.

2. The Red Menace (1939-~1941)

By the time war with the  Soviet Union begins, Romania should have four armies. One army should be excluded from the army group and placed along the Anatolian coast, as the Soviets are not averse to naval invasions and the Romanian navy is no match for the Soviet Black Sea fleet. The other armies should be placed on the front-line in Moldova.  Bulgaria or whichever puppet was granted the eastern Anatolian provinces will place troops on that border, but no puppets should initially be called into the war. As the war begins, it might take a while for the enemy to begin mounting attacks, but they eventually will.  Finland will be forced to capitulate sooner or later, but that is no issue. The player will simply have to hold the line long enough for the Red Army to exhaust its reserves of manpower and equipment. The Soviets will heavily bomb the Romanian industry, but that cannot be prevented. The Romanian air force will have to defend the Eastern Balkans region to prevent the forts there from being destroyed. As the Soviets suffer casualties in the millions attacking the Romanian borders, the Romanian army should be no worse for the wear. The player should also begin building armoured divisions once the infantry divisions are sufficiently up to strength. Those armoured divisions should consist of 6 medium armour brigades and 4 motorized (later mechanized) brigades.

Once the Soviets have suffered about 2 million casualties, it will be time to mount an offensive. Waiting any longer would result in an early German invasion and relegate Romania to the role of a junior partner in the war. No doubt the Germans are already planning their offensive at this point, so the player will need to focus all efforts on a push North, to the Baltic sea (or states, if they're still independent). If it all goes well,  Germany will be cut off from Soviet lands, and they'll also be facing ~50 encircled Red Army divisions that they'll clean up for the player. At that point, it should be easy to push through the remaining Soviet troops and occupy the Russian heartlands.  Japan will likely invade and take Vladivostok, forcing a Soviet capitulation. During the peace treaty, the player should first take all Soviet border and coastal provinces,  Mongolia (if possible), then anything else. That will stop  Germany and  Japan from getting anything for themselves, and Romania will annex the entire USSR. Shortly after that, one of the best events in the game will fire.

At this point, Romania will have become an industrial and military great power. The newly acquired lands will mostly lie in ruins, but with the vast Soviet industry under the player's control, and taking the Construction Repair continuous focus, the new factories can be quickly put to work.

3. Destroying Fascism (~1941-~1944)

In the very likely event that the Allies have done poorly,  Germany will have been sitting on an occupied Western/Central Europe for quite a long time, building up its army to a ridiculous size (~400 divisions). As the player's army by this point would only be around 200 divisions, Romania would have no hope of facing the Axis alone ( Finland wouldn't help much either), offensively or even defensively.  Germany alone would still have more manpower and industry than Romania, so waiting to build up a stronger army is out of the question. Invading small countries would bring Romania into a war with the Allies, so what is there to do?

The answer lies east. As of Waking the Tiger,  Japan now forms its own faction rather than joining the Axis. They still have a focus wherein  Japan,  Germany and  Italy all guarantee each other, but this doesn't apply to their puppets.  Japan will have likely taken over  China and started fighting the Allies, but their army will be equal or weaker to Romania's, so they make for a prime next target. The key to defeating  Japan lies in occupying their Home Islands, which they do not defend nearly as well as they should. The player should start planning two naval invasions, each using a full army, one from Vladivostok and one from a newly built naval base a few provinces to the north, aiming towards Northern Honshu and Southern Hokkaido respectively (the second amphibious assault tech should be researched beforehand). The ramshackle Romanian Navy should be brought to Vladivostok as well. Every army not participating in the invasion should be preparing for an offensive against Japan's Chinese lands. Once everything is in place, war should be justified against  Manchukuo.

When the war begins, the player should have the navy doing convoy escort on the Sea of  Japan and trigger the invasions. The IJN will likely intercept one of the invasions, but the other one will be able to land. With one army, it should be easy enough to push south to Nagasaki, and once that city is taken,  Japan will capitulate. During the peace treaty, the player should first annex  Japan's puppets, as the Allies will prefer setting up democracies there to taking provinces directly. Then, the player should take  Siam (if they joined the war) and Indochina for their resources, after which Chinese lands should be prioritized.

Once the war is over,  Communist China can be released as a puppet, and work should immediately begin on building infrastructure in their lands to make them an integrated puppet. At that level, their colonial troops will use Chinese manpower exclusively. All templates that the player is currently using should be copied as Chinese colonial templates, and all deployed divisions turned into these templates. That will mean that Romanians no longer have to serve in the army, and the conscription laws can be brought down to limited conscription, removing any debuffs from those laws. Also, the Chinese will have around 40 million men ready for duty, so immediately, 150 Chinese infantry divisions should be queued for training.

At this point,  Germany and  Italy will have both used their "Influence Romania" focuses, which will boost fascism significantly, even if it was previously banned. Unfortunately, these national spirits are permanent, even if  Italy and  Germany are destroyed. Unless the player wants to go fascist, the Democratic Crusader should be hired, or the Iron Guard will start a civil war when their support reaches 70%.

Once the player has around 500 divisions in the field, and  Germany has released Reichsprotekorates from its occupied countries, the time will have finally come to face the Axis, so war should be justified against  Germany. Three full army groups should be placed on the German border. One army should defend the Syrian border (if Syria is held by  Vichy France), another army should be in southern Anatolia ready to take the Dodecanese islands from the Italians, another army should be poised to take Zara and Albania, and yet another army defending the Italian border in Slovenia.

When the war begins, for the first few months the player should stay on the defensive. The relentless German attacks will cause them millions of casualties that they won't be able to recover and soon enough, most of their divisions will be under-strength. The three army groups on the German border should then go on the offensive, and  Germany will soon capitulate. Two of the army groups should then continue into  Vichy France while the other goes south to attack  Italy. The armies fighting the Italians so far should also begin an offensive. Finally,  Nationalist Spain will need to be invaded from France, and their capitulation will end the war.

It might be possible to actually take lands from  France in the peace conference. If that is the case, the player should take all French colonial holdings before anything else. The Allies will likely set up some small democracies, but the player should have enough warscore to take the lion's share of provinces.

4. Pax Romanica (1944+)

Romania is now a superpower with hegemony over Afro-Eurasia, and with the three aggressive factions out of the picture, the player can rightfully claim victory. However, Romania will definitely be capable of full world conquest. With vast resources at their disposal, the player can now begin mechanizing their army and building a world-class fleet. Of the remaining countries, the  United States will put up a stiff resistance, but with the overwhelming number of Chinese thralls under Romanian command, Romanian dominance is assured. Once every other country has been conquered,  China can finally be annexed.

And so, Carol II becomes king of the world. Now, at last, he has an excuse for all his party!

Carol II, King of the Balkans

This strategy involves a focus on military size and conquering the balkan nations through "Balkan Dominance" path.

1. As soon as the game starts: train cavalry units, they are the cheapest units and for the "Balkan Dominance" path you need a large army.
2. When it comes to industry: build Civillian Factories until you have 15/15 on construction then switch to building Military Factories.
3. On research: your 1st reserach slot should always be a military doctrine, for this path Superior Firepower is recommended, then industrial and electronic researches.
4. On focus tree: Start with "Institute Royal Dicatorship" -> "Revise the Constitution" -> "The Royal Foundation" for that extra research slot.
5. Put all your military industry on guns. You don't want to waste military factories on support equipment, artillery or tanks yet.
6. Romania is going to be very offensive on this path, so Field Marshal Petre Dumitrescu and Generals Constantin Sanatescu & Gheorghe Avramescu are recommended.

You can now order the army you already have to train and unpause the game. Additionally, you can train the Air Force and the Navy as well.

7. Keep building your army. Your military factories should produce guns that allow you to train cavalry regiments.
8. On the focus tree, after "The Royal Foundation" go for "Balkans Dominance" and go down on the industrial branch all the way to "Hunedoara Steel Works" & "Invest in the IAR".
9. Between the exclusive focuses "MALAXA" and "Invite Foreign Motor Companies" pick "MALAXA".
10. As soon as you reach 500.000 field troops, invade Hungary. If Hungary refuses, the original 31 divisions should be more than a match for the Hungarians.
11. Afterwards, focus on Bulgaria. Bulgaria is a lot more likely than Hungary to submit and become a puppet.
12. Immediately after Bulgaria, go for "Divide Yugoslavia" and split Yugoslavia between yourself and your Hungarian puppet. Or Italy if Hungary ressisted.

Now, it's time to play the game of splitting Yugoslavia, it requires a lot of political power so make sure you have plenty, in the meantime, increase the size of your army.

13. Whether it's Italy or Hungary, you will want to give them Vojvodina, Croatia, Slovenia, Dalmatia and Hertegovina while keeping the rest.
14. If you're dealing with Hungary, claim West Banat -> Belgrade -> Bosnia -> Montenegro -> Moravia -> Kosovo -> North Macedonia.
15. If you could get a better deal out of them such as Croatia or Dalmatia as well that would be great, but it depends on the AI's claims.
16. If you're dealing with Italy, claim -> Bosnia -> Montengro -> Belgrade -> West Banat -> Moravia -> Kosovo -> North Macedonia.
17. Similar to Hungary, if you could get a better deal out of it depending on the AI's claims, go for it.
18. After you have at least 1 claim on every region, invite Germany and Italy as well, as soon as they join, send an ultimatum to Yugoslavia.
19. Since there are 4 powers against one, they are most likely to submit without a fight.

At this point, you already have Hungary, Bulgaria and most of Yugoslavia as well as a large army in production, things are going according to the plan.

20. While you play the Yugoslav game, keep building your army. Your military factories should produce guns that allow you to train cavalry regiments.
21. When you reach 750.000 field units, go for Split Czechoslovakia and improve relationship with Germany, hopefully it's before 1938 when they take it anyway.
22. On the focus tree, if you reached "Hunedoara Steel Works" & "Invest in the IAR" go for "His Majesty's Loyal Government" -> "Militarize the Santinels" -> "All Parties Must End".
23. Alternatively or afterwards, you can take the focuses: "Army Manouvers" -> "Army War College" -> "Royal Guard Divisions" -> "Reserve Divisions".
24. Now that you got everything you could have got without a fight, time to switch your army to a proper fighting force.

Right now, you should have a huge army as well as: Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Hungary and Slovakia under your control. But why stop here? Since you can invade Greece and Turkey via focus tree, the Allies won't guarantee them, so you can actually with the "Battle for the Bosporus" as Romania, but you need to turn all those cavalry divisions into a fully fledged fighting force first.

25. If you haven't already make defensive infantry division templates with 10 infantry regiments and attack infantry division templates with 7 infantry and 2 artillery regiments.
26. For the moment you'll have to use the defensive infantry divisions on the offensive since you have a lot of guns and almost no support equipment or artillery.
27. On the production tab, move a lot of the production from guns to support equipment and artillery as well so you can catch up and be able to build better offensive divisions.
28. When you are ready, convert all your cavalry to defensive infantry divisions of 10 infantry regiments and go for "Secure Greece" focus.
29. As soon as you beat Greece, annex them and go for "Secure the Bosporus" focus, Turkey will be stronger than Greece but not a match for you, make use of naval invasions.

Now that you got everything that you could get with "Balkan Dominance" the King Carol II became King of the Balkans. If you want to conquer the whole world, the next septs from here are simple:

30. Join the Axis and invade the USSR, you will have 2 frontlines: one in Bessarabia and another in Turkey, make sure you cut Germany territorial progress to gain occupation.
31. After you defeat USSR and take most of the land, take some time to pacify the region, then leave the Axis and declare war on Germany to take the other half of Europe.
32. Since you are non-aligned and there's over 50% world tension, you are free to declare war on the United Kingdom or the United States, even on Japan and China.

Achievements

Death or Dishonor or Cake As Romania, own a slice of all your starting neighbors.

Neither Death nor Dishonor As Romania, make it to 1942 with all the states you started it with and control either Moscow or Berlin.

Totally Not Cool, Bromania As Romania, change sides in the war and capitulate a former ally. Countries Europe Albania Austria Belgium Bulgaria Czechoslovakia Denmark Estonia Finland France Free France Vichy France German Reich Greece Hungary Ireland Italy Latvia Lithuania Luxembourg Netherlands Norway Poland Portugal Nationalist Spain Republican Spain Kingdom of Romania Slovakia Soviet Union Sweden Switzerland Turkey United Kingdom Yugoslavia North America Dominion of Canada Costa Rica Cuba Dominican Republic El Salvador Guatemala Haiti Honduras Mexico Nicaragua Panama United States South America Argentina Bolivia Brazil Chile Colombia Ecuador Paraguay Peru Uruguay Venezuela Asia Afghanistan Bhutan British Malaya British Raj China Communist China Guangxi Clique Iran Iraq Japan Manchukuo Mengkukuo Mongolia Nepal Oman Philippines Saudi Arabia Shanxi Siam Sinkiang Tannu Tuva Tibet Xibei San Ma Yemen Yunnan Africa Kingdom of Egypt Ethiopia Liberia South Africa Oceania Australia New Zealand Tahiti