Soviet Union

Soviet Union

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Capital:

Moscow

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Government type:

Communist, Stalinist

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Faction:

Comintern (Leader)

The Soviet Union (officially “Union of Soviet Socialist Republics” or “USSR”) is a major country and the leader of the Comintern faction. It is rich in both natural and human resources and has decent technology. It controls almost the entire northern third of Asia as well as the eastern edges of Europe.

Geography

The Soviet Union is a massive country, stretching from the barren wastelands of Kamchatka to the warm, fertile fields of Ukraine. Much of the north and east is forest, with polar regions of Siberia marshlands and plains. There is little mountains or hills besides the Caucasus and Ural ranges. The south is primarily plains, with a few urban provinces dispersed throughout the country.

Events

Main article: Soviet events

National focus

Soviet national focus tree.

Main article: Soviet national focus tree

 Soviet Union, as one of the seven major powers, has a unique national focus tree.

The Soviet focus tree includes four, both historical and alternative, branches:

• Finish the Five Year Plan focuses on development of infrastructure and factories
• Stalin Constitution focuses on manpower and research
• Found the PCDI is the main diplomatic tree that focuses on international relations
• Permanent Revolution / The Great Purge focuses on internal restructuring to unlock the full power of the Soviet Union.

Technology

Army Technology	Naval Technology	Air Technology	Electronics & Industry
SVT-38/40 (Infantry Eq. I) ZIS-5 (Motorized) Mountain Infantry I Paratroopers I Engineer Company I Recon Company I Military Police I T-26 (Light Tank I) M1936 76 mm (Towed Artillery I) M1939 37 mm AA (Towed Anti-Air I)	1936 Destroyer Hull B-1 Depth Charge Rack (Depth Charges I) Early Cruiser Hull Early Heavy Ship Hull 1936 Submarine Hull Triple 450mm TTs (Torpedo I) 130mm/50 B13 Ptn 1936 (Light Battery II) 180mm/60 B-1-K 1931 (Medium Battery I) 130mm/55 Pattern 1913 (Light Cruiser Battery I) 305mm/52 Pattern 1907 (Heavy Battery I) 120mm/50 Pattern 1905 (Secondary Battery I) Contact Mine Minelaying Submarine Transport Ship	Polikarpov I-16 (Fighter I) Ilyushin Il-4 (Naval Bomber I) Ilyushin DB-3 (Interwar Bomber) Petlyakov Pe-8 (Strategic Bomber I)	Fuel Storage Fuel Refining I
Doctrines
Mass Assault	Fleet in Being	None

Without Man the Guns
Orfey Class (Destroyer I) Krasniy Krym Class (Light Cruiser I) Upgraded Leningrad & Minsk Class Krasniy Kavkaz Class (Heavy Cruiser I) Borodino Class (Battlecruiser I) Marat Class (Battleship I) Series V Shchuka (Submarine II) Upgraded Series IX Srednyaya Transport Ship

Research and production

These are the choices of design companies and theorists for the  Soviet Union.

Tank designers

Designer	Type	Effect	Cost ()
Morozov Design Bureau	Mobile Tank Designer	Armor Research Speed: +15 % Armor: Max Speed: +5 % Reliability: +10 % By selecting this Design Company it will permanently affect capabilities on all equipment researched while they are hired.	150
Astrov Design Bureau	Medium Tank Designer	Armor Research Speed: +15 % Armor: Reliability: +5 % Soft attack: +5 % By selecting this Design Company it will permanently affect capabilities on all equipment researched while they are hired.	150
OKMO	Heavy Tank Designer	Armor Research Speed: +15 % Armor: Armor: +5 % Hard attack: +5 % By selecting this Design Company it will permanently affect capabilities on all equipment researched while they are hired.	150

Ship designers

Designer	Type	Effect	Cost ()
Nevskoye Design Bureau	Ship Designer	Naval Research Speed: +15 %	150

Aircraft designers

Designer	Type	Effect	Cost ()
MiG Design Bureau	Light aircraft designer	Air Research Speed: +15 % Fighter: Agility: +10 % Max Speed: +10 % Carrier Fighter: Agility: +10 % Max Speed: +10 % By selecting this Design Company it will permanently affect capabilities on all equipment researched while they are hired.	150
Ilyushin Design Bureau	Medium aircraft designer	Air Research Speed: +15 % Heavy Fighter: Reliability: +20 % Tactical Bomber: Reliability: +20 % By selecting this Design Company it will permanently affect capabilities on all equipment researched while they are hired.	150
Tupolev Design Bureau	Heavy aircraft designer	Air Research Speed: +15 % Strategic Bomber: Strategic Bombing: +10 % By selecting this Design Company it will permanently affect capabilities on all equipment researched while they are hired.	150
Yakovlev Design Bureau	Naval aircraft designer	Air Research Speed: +15 % Naval Bomber: Range: +10 % Naval Attack: +10 % CV Naval Bomber: Range: +10 % Naval Attack: +10 % Carrier Fighter: Range: +10 % Agility: +10 % Carrier CAS: Range: +10 % Naval Attack: +10 % By selecting this Design Company it will permanently affect capabilities on all equipment researched while they are hired.	150

Materiel designers

Designer	Type	Effect	Cost ()
GAZ	Motorized Equipment Designer	Motorization Research Speed: +15 % Motorized Rocket Artillery Research Speed: +50 %	150
Tula Arms Plant	Infantry Equipment Designer	Weapons and Equipment Research Speed: +15 %	150
Grabin Design Bureau	Artillery Equipment Designer	Artillery Research Speed: +15 %	150

Industrial concerns

Designer	Type	Effect	Cost ()
Stalingrad Tractor Factory	Industrial Concern	Industrial Research Speed: +15 %	150
Leningrad Industrial Institute	Electronics Concern	Electronics Research Speed: +15 %	150

Theorists

Theorist	Type	Conditions ( Purged?, etc ) + Effects	Cost ()
Georgy Zhukov	Mass Assault Expert	Not: Purged by: Trotsky Has completed focus Positive Heroism Army Experience Gain: +0.05 daily Mass Assault Doctrine: +15 %	250
Sergey Gorshkov	Naval Theorist	Not: Purged by: Trotsky Naval Experience Gain: +0.05 daily Naval Doctrine Research Speed: +10 %	150
Sergei Rudenko	Close Air Support Proponent	Not: Purged by: Trotsky Air Experience Gain: +0.05 daily Battlefield Support Doctrine: +15 %	250
Mikhail Tukhachevsky	Mass Assault Expert	Not: Purged by Stalin Army Experience Gain: +0.05 daily Mass Assault Doctrine: +15 %	250
Vladimir Tributs	Grand Fleet Proponent	Naval Experience Gain: +0.05 daily Fleet in Being Doctrine: +15 %	250
Alexander Golovanov	Air Warfare Theorist	Air Experience Gain: +0.05 daily Air Doctrine Research Speed: +10 %	150
Boris Shaposhnikov	Military Theorist	Army Experience Gain: +0.05 daily Land Doctrine Research Speed: +10 %	150
Sergei Korolev	Rocket Scientist	Rocket Research Speed: +15 %	150
Igor Kurchatov	Nuclear Scientist	Nuclear Research Speed: +15 %	150

Politics

National spirits

Trotskyite Plot?

• Stability: −20%

Paranoia and pathological distrust stemming from old power struggles impact the leadership of this nation.

Home of the Revolution

• Ideology drift defense: +50%
• Can create factions

Comrades, with the defeat of the vile Trotskyite counter revolutionaries we were able to focus on defending the revolution. Our goal, our hope, our slogan is Socialism in One Country. We will build a bountiful socialist utopia here in the Soviet Union and the rest of the world will inevitably embrace it.

Diplomacy

As the premier communist nation in 1936, the Soviet Union is the head of the Comintern, consisting of  Tannu Tuva and  Mongolia.  Communist China,  Sinkiang and  Paraguay are the only other countries that have a favorable view.

Should  Republican Spain prevail in the Spanish Civil War, it may be amenable to joining, as would a communist-aligned  France.

If Leon Trotsky becomes leader of the USSR and Permanent Revolution and NKVD Primacy are taken, then the USSR can start Communist civil wars in countries without having to spend any Political Power.

Political parties

Political party	Ideology	Popularity	Party leader	Country name	Is ruling?
All-Union Communist Party	Communist	88%	Joseph Stalin	Soviet Union	Yes
Trudoviks	Democratic	10%	Alexander Fyodorovich Kerensky	Russian Federation	No
RFP	Fascist	2%	Konstantin Rodzaevsky	Russian Empire	No
Non-Aligned	Non-Aligned	0%	Random leader	Russia	No

Economy

A brief summary of the state of the nations economy in 1936.

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

Industry

Factories 1936

32 Military Factories

6 Naval Dockyards

44 Civilian Factories

Resources

Total resources 1936

Oil	Rubber	Steel	Aluminum	Tungsten	Chromium
193	0	543	133	67	353

These numbers represent the available resources, depending on trade law a certain amount may be traded away.

Military

1936 Scenario The player starts the game with 1.25M in manpower available and the monthly gain for manpower is 2.95k. The player starts with the Volunteer Only conscription law, providing 1.50% of the player's core population as manpower, totaling 2.42M. 1.13M of this manpower at game start is tied up in the army, 30.68k in the air force and 33.25k in the navy. The Soviet Union has a population of 161.43 million.

Army

Army 1936 Scenario

91Infantry Divisions	11Light Tank Divisions	1Motorized Division	22Cavalry Division	13Mountaineer Division

1936 Scenario: The player begins the game with 91 Infantry divisions, of which 18 are Reserve NKVD Divisions with Military Police. Additionally, the player has 22 Cavalry divisions, 13 Mountaineer divisions, 11 light tank divisions and 1 Motorized Infantry division. The player begins the game producing Infantry Equipment I at 36.19/day with 7 factories; Support Equipment 1 at 1.29/day on 2 factories; Towed Artillery at 5.17/week on 1 factory; Light Tank I at 6.78/week on 3 factories; and Motorized at 3.04/day on 3 factories. However, Motorized units lack rubber and have a penalty to production speed. The player has 14 additional military factories that can be allotted to production. The army is fairly average in the beginning, but the Soviet doctrine tree gives them a higher reinforce chance as well as either Large Front Operations or People's Army. It is up to the player upon reaching those decision points as to which line to pursue.

Examples of alternative division template names for the Soviet Union include:

• Mountaineers - Gornostrelkovaya Diviziya
• Marines - Morskaya Pekhota
• Paratroopers - Vozdushno-Desantnaya Diviziya
• Motorized - Motostrelkovaya Diviziya
• Mechanized - Mekhanizirovanaya Diviziya
• Armor - Tankovaya Diviziya or Tankovyj Korpus

Infantry equipment list

Name	Type	Techyear
M-N 1891/30	Basic Eq.	1918
SVT-38/40	Weapons I	1936
PPSh-41	Weapons II	1939
PPS-43	Weapons III	1942

Motorized units list

Name	Type	Techyear
ZIS-5	Motorized	1936
BTR M1941	Mechanized I	1940
BTR M1943	Mechanized II	1942
BTR-152	Mechanized III	1944

Tank units list

Name	Type	Techyear	Variants TD / SPA / AAA
T-18	Great War Tank	1918
T-26	Light Tank I	1934	SU-37 / SU-76-26 / ZSU-12.7
BT-7	Light Tank II	1936	SU-45 / SU-76-7 / ZSU-12.2
T-60	Light Tank III	1941	ZiS-30 / SU-76-26 / ZSU-37
A-32	Medium Tank I	1939	SU-85-32 / SU-76-32 / ZSU-37-32
T-34	Medium Tank II	1941	SU-85 / SU-122 / ZSU-37-34
T-44	Medium Tank III	1943	SU-100 / SU-152-44 / ZSU-57-44
T-35	Heavy Tank I	1934	SMK / SU-14 / ZSU-12.7-4
KV-1	Heavy Tank II	1941	SU-100-Y / SU-152 / ZSU-37-Y
IS	Heavy Tank III	1943	ISU-122 / ISU-152 / ISU-57-2
IS-7	Super Heavy Tank	1943	ISU-130 / ISU-203 / ISU-57-4
T-54	MBT	1945	SU-122-54 / SU-152-54 / ZSU-57-2

Navy

Without Man the Guns

Capital ships 1936 Scenario 3 Battleships Screens and Submarines 1936 Scenario 4 Light Cruisers 17 Destroyers 43 Submarines

1936 Scenario: The player starts the game with only 3 Battleships, 4 Light Cruisers, 17 Destroyers and 43 Submarines. For production, the player only has 6 naval dockyards to begin with. The players dockyards are initially producing 4 Leningrad & Minsk Class 1936 Destroyers and 31 Series IX Srednyaya Submarines, the latter across four separate production lines. While the player can cancel these productions, the first of the four destroyers is set to be completed by April 19th, 1936 and two of the Submarine lines are set to complete another sub by February 8th, 1936, so to avoid any loss of time and production, simply finish these in production before canceling or changing the lines to a different ship class. Naval technology at game start in 1936 includes all of the early ship classes except for carriers, but only one 1936 ship class. The Soviets also start with the Naval Doctrine Fleet in Being, providing +10 organization to Battleships, Battlecruisers, and Heavy Cruisers.

Ship classes of the Red Fleet without Man the Guns
Type	Class	Amount	In Production	Tech
BB	Marat Class	3		Battleship I
BC	Borodino Class			Battlecruiser I
CA	Krasniy Kavkaz Class			Heavy Cruiser I
CL	Krasniy Krym Class	4		Light Cruiser I
DD	Leningrad & Minsk Class		4	Destroyer I*
DD	Orfey Class	17		Destroyer I
SS	O/P/R Class	21		Submarine I*
SS	Series IX Srednyaya		31	Submarine II*
SS	Series V Shchuka			Submarine II
SS	Series I Debakrist			Submarine I*
SS	AG Class	43		Submarine I
	Convoy	38
* marks a variant with increased base stats to symbolize ships that are not modern enough to warrant a full 1936 tech level but too modern to fit into the1922 tech level.

Man the Guns

Capital ships 1936 Scenario 3 Battleships Screens and Submarines 1936 Scenario 5 Light Cruisers 18 Destroyers 59 Submarines

1936 Scenario: The player starts the game with only 3 Battleships, 5 Light Cruisers, 18 Destroyers and 59 Submarines. For production, the player only has 6 naval dockyards to begin with. The players dockyards are initially producing 4 Leningrad & Minsk Class 1936 Destroyers, 2 Kirov Class Early Heavy Cruisers, and 35 Submarines of various types, the latter across four separate production lines. While the player can cancel these productions, the first of the four destroyers is set to be completed by May 8th, 1936 and two of the Submarine lines are set to complete another sub by February 1st, 1936, so to avoid any loss of time and production, simply finish these in production before canceling or changing the lines to a different ship class. The Soviets also start with the Naval Doctrine Fleet in Being, providing +10 organization to Battleships, Battlecruisers, and Heavy Cruisers.

Ship classes of the Red Fleet
Name	Type	Count	Production	Techyear	Design note
BB	Marat Class	3		Early Heavy Ship Hull	2xBB I battery, 1xAA I, BB Armor I, 1xSecondary I
CA	Kirov Class		2	Early Cruiser Hull	Plane catapult, 2xCA I battery, 2xAA I, Armor I
CL	Marti Class	1		Early Cruiser Hull	Minelayer, 1xCL I battery, 1xAA I
CL	Chervona Ukraina Class	3		Early Cruiser Hull	Minelayer, 2xCL I battery, 1x AA I, 1xTT I
CL	Komintern Class*	1		Early Cruiser Hull	Minelayer, 2x CL I battery
DD	Leningrad & Minsk Class		4	1936 Destroyer Hull	1xDC I, 1xDD II battery, 1xAA I, 1xTT I
DD	Bug Class	1		Early Destroyer Hull	2xMinelayer, 1xDD I battery
DD	Fidonisi Class*	6		Early Destroyer Hull	2xTT I, 1xDC I, 1xDD I battery
DD	Orfey Class*	11		Early Destroyer Hull	2xTT I, 1xDD I battery
SS	Series IX Srednyaya		5	1936 Submarine Hull	1xTT II
SS	Series II Leninets	9		1936 Submarine Hull	1xTT I, Minelayer
SS	Series X Shchuka		24	Early Submarine Hull	1xTT II
SS	Series V Shchuka*	37	6	Early Submarine Hull	1xTT II
SS	Series I Debakrist	8		Early Submarine Hull	2xTT I
SS	AG Class*	5		Early Submarine Hull	1xTT I
	Convoy	38
* marks a variant as "obsolescent".

Air force

Air Force 1936 Scenario

658 Fighters

108 Naval Bombers

240 Tactical Bombers

72 Strategic Bombers

1936 Scenario: The player begins in 1936 with 0 Close Air Support, 658 Fighters, 108 Naval Bombers, 0 Heavy Fighters, 240 Tactical Bombers, 72 Strategic Bombers and 0 Transport Planes. However, more than half of the fighter fleet are I-15s, with fewer than 200 I-16s in service. For production, the Soviet Union is only producing fighters with a single factory for 3.14/month and strategic bombers for 1.23/month on a single factory. The player lacks rubber, which reduces production speed. Obtaining rubber via trade should be one of the player's first priorities. For technology, the Soviets begin with 1936 Fighters, Naval Bombers and Strategic Bombers. Tactical Bombers are outdated 1933 models. The player lacks the technology for Heavy Fighters and Close Air Support. The player does not begin with any air doctrine in 1936 and has full choice over any of the three branches.

Aircraft Types

Tech Year	Close Air Support (Carrier Variant)	Fighter (Carrier Variant)	Naval Bomber (Carrier Variant)	Heavy Fighter	Tactical Bomber	Strategic Bomber
1933		Polikarpov I-15 (Polikarpov I-15UD)			Ilyushin DB-3
1936	Kochyerigin LBSh (Tumansky PM-88)	Polikarpov I-16 (Polikarpov I-153)	Ilyushin Il-4 (Ilyushin PIl-4)	Petlyakov Pe-2	Tupolev SB-2M	Petlyakov Pe-8
1940	Ilyushin Il-2 (Ilyushin Il-2T)	LaGG-3 (Yakovlev Yak-1M)	Tupolev ANT-62T (Tupolev PANT-62T)	Petlyakov Pe-3	Tupolev Tu-2	Petlyakov Pe-10
1944	Ilyushin Il-10 (Ilyushin Il-10T)	Yakovlev Yak-3 (Yakovlev Yak-9T)	Ilyushin Il-6 (Ilyushin PIl-6)	Tupolev Tu-2	Tupolev Tu-8	Tupolev Tu-4
Jet Engine Technology
1945		Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-9			Ilyushin Il-28
1950		Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15			Tupolev Tu-16	Myasishchev M-4

Military staff

These are the Military Staff candidates for appointment of the Soviet Union.

Chief of Army

Candidate	Type I	Type II	Effects + Conditions ( Purged? )	Cost ()
Semyon Timoshenko	Army Reformer	(Expert)	Army Experience Gain: +10 % Not: Purged by Stalin	150
Kliment Voroshilov	Army Drill	(Specialist)	Division training time: -5 % Not: Purged by Stalin	150
Alexander Yegorov	Army Defense	(Expert)	Division Defense: +10 % Not: Purged by Stalin	150
Vasily Blücher	Army Maneuver	(Expert)	Division speed: +10 % Not: Purged by Stalin	150

Chief of Navy

Candidate	Type I	Type II	Effects + Conditions ( Purged? )	Cost ()
Mikhail Frinovsky	Commerce Raiding	(Specialist)	Convoy Raiding Efficiency: +10 % Not: Purged by Stalin	150
Nikolay Kuznetsov	Naval Reformer	(Expert)	Naval Experience Gain: +10 % Not: Purged by Stalin	150
Ivan Yumashev	Decisive Battle	(Expert)	Capital Ship Attack: +10 % Capital Ship Armor: +10 % Screen Attack: +10 % Screen Defense: +10 % Not: Purged by Stalin	150
Pyotr Smirnov	Naval Aviation	(Specialist)	Naval Air Attacks from Carriers: +3 % Naval Air Targeting from Carriers: +3 % Naval Air Agility from Carriers: +4 % Not: Purged by Stalin	150

Chief of the Air force

Candidate	Type I	Type II	Effects + Conditions ( Purged? )	Cost ()
Alexander Novikov	Air Reformer	(Genius)	Air Experience Gain: +15 % Not: Purged by Stalin	150
Konstatin Vershinin	Ground Support	(Expert)	Air Superiority: +10 % Not: Purged by Stalin	150
Yakov Smushkevich	Air Safety	(Expert)	Air Accidents Chance: -10 % Not: Purged by Stalin	150
Pavel Rychagov	All-Weather	(Expert)	Bad Weather Penalty: -20 % Not: Purged by Stalin	150

Military High Command

Candidate	Type I	Type II	Conditions ( Purged?, etc ) + Effects	Cost ()
Pavel Zhigarev	Airborne Assault	(Specialist)	Not: Purged by: Trotsky Paradrop Attack: +1 % Paradrop Defense: +3 % Paradrop Agility: +3 %	150
Stepan Krasovsky	Air Combat Training	(Expert)	Not: Purged by: Trotsky Ace generation chance: +10 %	150
Ivan Konev	Concealment	(Expert)	Not: Purged by: Trotsky Konev is not supporting a civil war against the Soviet Union Enemy Air Support: -10 %	150
Arseniy Golovko	Amphibious Assault	(Expert)	Not: Purged by: Trotsky Amphibious invasion speed: +10 %	150
Konstatin Rokossovsky	Armor	(Genius)	Not: Purged by: Stalin Has completed focus Positive Heroism Armor Division Attack: +15 % Armor Division Defense: +15 %	150
Aleksandr Vasilevsky	Army Regrouping	(Expert)	Not: Purged by: Stalin Division Recovery Rate: +8 %	150
Vladimir Kasatonov	Submarines	(Expert)	Not: Purged by Stalin Submarine Attack: +15 % Submarine Defense: +10 %	150
Sergei Khudyakov	Close Air Support	(Expert)	Not: Purged by Stalin Close Air Support Attack: +3 % Close Air Support Defense: +3 % Close Air Support Agility: +3 %	150
Gorday Levchenko	Capital Ships	(Expert)	Not: Purged by Stalin Capital Ship Attack: +10 % Capital Ship Armor: +10 %	150

Strategies and guides

Roll out the red carpet for Trotsky

Joseph Stalin's "Socialism in One Country" has failed; the rapid industrialization policies of the 1920s and 1930s led to two massive famines in Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan in 1921-1922 and 1932-1933, resulting in a great loss of lives and Stalin's political violence have cost the lives of many people. This calls for a reform of the government, one that will be put into effect by one Leon Trotsky, a former Soviet politician who, after a failed power struggle with Stalin, was exiled to  Mexico. But Trotsky still commands notable support within the Soviet government and unless these secret supporters are purged out, Trotsky will eventually make a comeback and kill Stalin to reclaim his position as the General Secretary of the All-Union Communist Party, a position he was supposed to fulfill as per the late Vladimir Lenin's wishes.

In order to get Trotsky into power, when starting out as the Soviet Union in the 1936 bookmark, the player must not pick the National Focus The Great Purge at all, as picking it will lead to the Soviet leadership being purged of its old guard and being filled with pro-stalinists which will eventually lead to Trotsky being assassinated. If the Great Purge isn't carried out however, at some point in 1938, a series of events will start triggering, starting with "The Fourth International" and finally ending with "Trotsky returns to the Soviet Union" and "Trotsykist Coup". The last one of these events, the "Trotskyist Coup", will result in Stalin being killed and replaced by Leon Trotsky and a minor civil war will break out. This civil war should be relatively easy to win and once won, the player will now have access to Leon Trotsky, who grants access to a particularly devious strategy for playing as the Soviet Union.

Leon Trotsky possesses a leadership trait named "Permanent Revolutionary" which grants a -30% reduction to Foreign Subversive Activities cost. If the National Focus "Permanent Revolution" is taken, this bonus will be increased to a -50% price discount. In addition to that, completing said National Focus will unlock the National Focus "NKVD Primacy" and its follow-up "NKVD Divisions". These National Focuses will give a national spirit with the same name that also grants a -50% reduction to Foreign Subversive Activities cost.

While that alone may not sound very surprising, what is surprising is that the two price discounts from Trotsky's trait and national spirit will stack, giving a -100% discount to Foreign Subversive Activities Cost. What this means is that the Soviet Union will, once both of these bonuses have been acquired, possess the ability to start communist civil wars in other countries with no political power cost or time delay. When opening up the diplomacy view for a country, simply click the button "Stage a Coup", choose a state to start the coup in and the civil war will immediately fire.

The ability to start communist civil wars on-demand opens up the possibility for a very unorthodox strategy for playing as the Soviet Union; rather than declaring wars of aggression and puppeting countries to spread communism, one can simply use the following steps to expand their dominion;

• Use the diplomacy action "Boost Party Popularity" to increase popular support for Communism in a given country
• Once the popular support is high enough, start a Communist civil war in said country
• Invite the rebels into the Comintern
• Join the civil war in defense of the rebels
• Defeat the loyalist government, allowing the rebels to take over the country, landing a new member into the Comintern

The communist countries created from staged coups will gain control of all the territory owned by the country they originated from but with one major twist; since they are created as splinter nations through a script, they will not inherit the national focus tree of the original country if it had one. Instead, the new communist country will use the Generic National Focus tree, which essentially means that they will more or less become quasi-puppets of the Soviet Union as the Generic National Focus Tree causes them to become loyal faction members with no further aspirations than to serve their faction leader, in this case the Soviet Union, as the Generic National Focus Tree does not contain any National Focuses that would allow them to take aggressive actions against other nations by themselves, while simultaneously they will gladly join any war that they are called into, allowing the Soviet Union to more or less dictate their foreign policy.

This allows the Soviet Union to pull off some really cheeky geopolitical maneuvers. One example would be using the above schema to convert  Poland and  France to Communism. Since the newly-created Communist nations will use the Generic National Focus Tree, they will not do anything out of the ordinary and will, for all intents and purposes function like quasi-puppets. This will cause  Germany to end up sandwiched between two Communist countries that are both members of the Comintern and thus host Soviet troops and if Germany declares war on either one, they will end up in a two-front war as the Soviet Union can join the war and, as the faction leader, call in the other Communist countries to join the fight.

Heck, the Soviets could even try targeting the Germans next with a communist missionary conversion by increasing communist support high enough and staging a coup. Since there is no time delay between staging the coup and the civil war breaking out, the coup can be initiated at any time and since there are two Comintern members bordering Germany, the Soviets can easily invade Germany to support the communist takeover.

Another similar (albeit more challenging) maneuver would be to systematically dismantle the Allies by starting civil wars in the  United Kingdom and all of its dominions. If communist support is high enough, any targeted country will lose a large chunk of its territory, industry and military to a rebellious country that is hostile to it and can be invited into the Comintern by the Soviet Union and used by them as a staging ground for landing troops into the target country.

If the Soviets are feeling particularly daring, they could even attempt to target the  United States by increasing communist support high enough and staging a coup. The United States has a rather weak starting military for a country of its size industry-wise and so should be very susceptible to a Soviet-backed coup attempt. This is a very risky strategy, as attacking the United States in any way, (whether that be directly or indirectly) will allow them to quickly get rid of the National Spirit " The Great Depression ", thus allowing them to mobilize their economy and bring their military-industrial might to bear on any opponents. But if the Soviets can pull off a successful communist coup and convert the United States to Communism, they will now have an ally that is unrivaled in terms of industrial strength and could easily facilitate a global conquest from this point.

Switching to non-aligned

It is possible to use the civil war to turn Russia into a Non-Aligned country, even on Ironman. There is a benefit for going this way as you will lose most of the national spirits though it is no longer possible to get the NKVD upgrade since this swaps the country to use generic focus tree including the Fascist side bonuses. It is even possible to get more than 5 research slot if at least one more research slot focuses in the USSR tree has been taken.

You need either of the civil war to start, Stalinist-backed coup which you will get Ivan Konev as the leader or the anti-Stalin coup which is lead by Andrey Vlasov. In order to get Konev's rebellion, you must not complete The Great Purge focus at all, and once the Trotsky event starts you have to pick the option which makes Trotsky to return. The difference between the 2 other than the leader is just the generals you get, but the rest is similar. To get Vlasov's rebellion you can either start The Great Purge focus while choosing the bottom option in all the popup dialogues that follows or by not completing it at all like the Trotsky's path but choose the option which causes a large civil war instead of allowing Trotsky to return. When the civil war starts, you have to let the rebels defeat the USSR in any way, such as disbanding all existing army. Once USSR capitulates, you have to choose to continue to watch. Afterwards you need to save the game and exit to main menu and then load the saved game which you can pick to play as the new Russia.

Middle East

Once you have increased the amount of political power you have, you could set your sights on the middle east. as long as you can justify a war a year or so before the Germans attack you, you should be good. The middle eastern countries have very little power and are unlikely to have an alliance. you have two options for an attack.

Naval Invasion

You could build naval power and convoys and leave the ports in southern Russia in the Black Sea. from here you can invade and have the element of surprise. However, you will probably not have the time or the resources to do this, so if you don't here is the obvious strategy.

Land Invasion

If you want to do it the good old regular Russian way, get together about 15 divisions on the border and invade using a lot of cavalry and air support. Do not charge them with low amounts of tanks and artillery, supply lines will be a toll. So, take it quickly.

Achievements

The Revolution Triumphant Have Germany as a puppet of Soviet.

Countries

Europe

France Italy Netherlands Kingdom of Romania United Kingdom

North America

South America

Brazil Colombia

Asia	China Japan Manchukuo Mengkukuo Shanxi

Africa

Ethiopia

Oceania

Europe

Albania Austria Belgium Bulgaria Czechoslovakia Denmark Estonia Finland German Reich Greece Hungary Ireland Latvia Lithuania Luxembourg Norway Poland Portugal Nationalist Spain Republican Spain Soviet Union Sweden Switzerland Turkey 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 Chile Ecuador Paraguay Peru Uruguay Venezuela

Asia	Afghanistan Bhutan British Malaya British Raj Communist China Guangxi Clique Iran Iraq Mongolia Nepal Oman Philippines Saudi Arabia Siam Sinkiang Tannu Tuva Tibet Xibei San Ma Yemen Yunnan

Africa

Liberia South Africa

Oceania

Australia New Zealand