Hello there! AveeBee here again to discuss alternate history Brazil this week. If you haven’t already, I highly recommend reading the historical dev diary where we also covered the industrial and military branches for Brazil as this week we will be just looking at the political branches. It’s worth keeping in mind that due to covering multiple branches this week, I’m going to try and keep the overview to the highlights as there will simply be too much to cram into a single dev diary and I imagine most of you are still digesting last week's big bag of goodies!

To get started, here’s some less obscured views of the full Brazilian tree and the political branches



First up, we’re going to look at the Integralist branch which constitutes the fascist path for Brazil. A little bit of context, the Integralist movement was established in the early 1930s by Plínio Salgado and in many ways mirrored the tendencies and aesthetics of Italian fascism with a distinctly Brazilian twist. In place of blackshirts, the Integralists formed greenshirted paramilitary groups which marched in opposition to liberalism and communism. Much of their doctrine consisted of an enforcement of typically traditional Christian values and a shared cultural/nationalist identity which glorified Brazil.

Last week we showed the historical/Vargas path and as you can see below, the Integralist branch is intertwined with that branch. The reason being, as Vargas attempted to increase his authority over the nation, he somewhat cozied up to the Integralists in order to sway them to back him. This can be seen in the manner Vargas adopted the rhetoric of contemporary fascists.


In this branch, the player has the option to Work with the Integralists which unlocks decisions to boost fascist support across the country.




Just as in the historical path, the goal at this point is to weaken support for democracy and to prepare for the forged Cohen Plan. With enough fascism support however, instead of taking the Estado Novo focus, the player can take Estado Moderno instead. This will realign Brazil to a fascist government with Vargas becoming leader of the Integralist party… for now.



With the Integralists in power, the need to to hold on to it becomes pressing. As such, the next logical step for the movement is to expand the greenshirted paramilitary groups across the nation and begin bringing Integralist advisors into government. In the states that we have already conducted an Integralist rally, militia divisions can be recruited.



(The Eagle Division Icon is a placeholder)


Following this, there are a number of focuses to choose from to reconfigure the nation along Integralist lines. But the most important of these decisions is the choice between who should lead the party.


If the player chooses In Vargas We Trust, Vargas will gain a new trait and secure himself as the face of the movement. Meanwhile, if For the Fatherland is taken instead, the previously mentioned Plínio Salgado will finally take his place as leader of Brazil.



Once the nation has been fully indoctrinated into the Integralist way of thinking, Brazil can begin to look at its neighbors and how to interact with them. This brings us to the Domination of South America sub-branch which will also be available to alt-history/fascist aligned Vargas and the Monarchist path.



This branch can be broken down into three components, alignment with Germany, alignment with Italy, and territorial expansion. By collaborating with Germany, Brazil will gain access to improved espionage abilities via operation Bolivar and the ability to purchase/develop Panzers and U-Boats. This will culminate in the final push by Germany and Brazil to dominate the South Atlantic Ocean, giving Brazil claims to a number of islands in the region.


Collaborating with Italy on the other hand, based on the historical connections between the two nations, will allow Brazil to procure/develop its air and motorized forces to better dominate the continent. This sub-branch culminates in a joint partitioning of Africa, which when taken in conjunction with some of the monarchist focuses for dominating Portugal, can lead to a sizable Brazilian overseas empire.



The territorial expansion section of this branch will of course give various wargoals and methods for conquest across the continent, up to and including the Panama canal. By this Brazil has more than likely gained the ire of the United States for a multitude of transgressions. As such, it better be prepared for an intercontinental war, and what better way to do that then to unify the continent under Brazilian leadership!


However, if Ethical Internationalism is a more appealing method of securing the continent, there’s also the option to Form Mercosul and work with Brazil’s neighbors to defend the continent.


Next up, let's take a look at the monarchist path for Brazil. The starting focus for this path is shared with the democratic path and consists of rallying the opposition to Vargas to end the state of emergency he instituted. Without this, Vargas has no justification for securing more power for himself and his support will begin to crumble.


Following on from this, a new movement can be created from those who are disgruntled with the instability wrought by years of democracy and revolutions. Initially the movement will coalesce around the romanticization of Brazil’s Imperial history.


Once the movement begins to gain momentum, calls for a restoration of the monarchy will grow. However, the difficult choice of which claim to the throne should be embraced will have to be made.




Once enough support has been gathered for the chosen leader of the royal house, an initial push towards restoration is the establishment of a constitutional monarchy. Don’t worry though, this is a stop-gap before the fun begins…


With increased influence in government, the newly crowned King can get to work undermining the democratic apparatus of the country before finally pulling a Vargas and using a national security law to suspend it completely. Once this is done, the Brazilian Empire can finally be restored.


However, Brazil will still have a number of political issues to contend with such as a population that has been forced to become subjects largely against their will. While this can be overcome, alternative military recruitment methods, such as penal battalions, may be used to swell the Empire’s forces.

Through expansion of the Brazilian Empire, either through conquest or diplomacy, the population's initial reluctance to accept the new monarch can be overcome. And of course their are methods for unifying with Portugal to create a global Empire.




From this point in the tree, Monarchist Brazil has the decision to make between either collaborating with the Allies or pursuing more conquest via the Domination of the Americas sub-branch.


Before moving on to the next political branch, here’s a close up of one of our prospective monarch's Portrait;


The democratic path, as mentioned earlier, shares the same starting point with the monarchist path which requires ending the state of emergency. However, instead of wallowing in nostalgia, the democratic path requires altering the constitution to prevent another such erosion of democracy.


This results in Vargas being ousted from power and Armando de Sales Oliveira being ushered in as President.


The primary concern for the new president will be preventing the military from attempting to overthrow the fragile government. As such, there are two methods for dealing with them. The first option is to promote federalism across the nation, embracing the distinct identities of the constituent states and allowing the creation of national guard. The government can also take a more social-democratic route, nationalizing the banks and meeting the promises of Article 138 of the constitution to support families.



The second option for dealing with the military is to promote centralization, strengthen the national government and find a compromise with the armed forces. Such a compromise will consist of allowing military personnel to take a more prominent role in the government as well as enforcing a policy of strict anti-communism by banning the movement completely. This will also force the government to take a less interventionist economic policy and promote traditional values.


Collaborating with the military will allow Brazil to be better prepared militarily, but increasing federalism will lead to a more stable country in the long run.

Once the initial concern over government stability in the face of military pressure, attention will have to shift towards preparing the country for potential conflict as the world descends into war.


Inviting foreign corporations to Brazil will allow those playing with Arms Against Tyranny to gain MIO’s from a number of democratic governments.


Meanwhile War Bonds will allow Brazil to cut the need for consumer goods and increase war support.


Finally, with enough war support, Brazil will be able to progress towards the Good Neighbor Policy via The International Crisis.


So, we touched on the Good Neighbor sub-branch in the historical dev diary but I didn’t expand on the alt-history aspects of it. You can of course do the historical thing of working with the United States and joining the war against the Axis powers. But There is also the potential to oust the fascists and communists from South America unilaterally as well as creating a faction based around the Organization of American States.



The culmination of this path results in the (somewhat) peaceful creation of a ‘United States of South America,’ which can be a pretty potent superpower in the late game.



The final path we’re going to look at today is the communist path. As you can see below, this path is completely isolated from the others and does not have access to the Good Neighbor or Domination of South America sub-branches.


As mentioned in the historical dev diary, in 1935 the communists had taken part in an attempted overthrow of the Vargas government. As such, at game start the clock is ticking for the communists as Vargas and the military will be attempting to clamp down on communism, so any chance for a successful revolution will have to be taken as soon as possible.

The most likely result of increasing communist support will be a civil war. Therefore the communists need to make sure that they are better prepared than the government when it kicks off. This can be done by taking a number of optional focuses such as swaying the lower ranking personnel in the armed forces to the cause, reaching out to the Soviet Union for support or even persuading the Cangaço to take the side of the proletariat.



Gaining Soviet support for the revolution will however depend on releasing Luís Carlos Prestes and Olga Prestes from prison first. The pair were arrested following the 1935 attempted revolution as ‘ringleaders’ of the movement. Olga was believed to be an operative of Soviet intelligence due to undergoing military training at an academy in the Soviet Union.


Once enough support has been gained, the second revolution can begin.


Once the civil war is won, the next choice will be over who should govern the Brazilian Socialist Republic. Depending on the choices made earlier, there will be three potential options. First up is Prestes, allowing Brazil to become aligned with the Soviet Union. Next is the ANL council, which will allow Brazil to maintain its own path to communism. Finally, we have the wild card option of having the Cangaco trigger a coup and taking Brazil down an anarcho-communist path.






After a leader is chosen, the difficult task of rebuilding and modernizing the nation will begin. There are of course a number of ways to carry out the task.


Now we come to the foreign policy aspect of the communist branch which begins with Expand the Revolution.


After this, Brazil can either form its own communist faction in South America or join the Comintern. Regardless of the path chosen, Brazil will have the opportunity to expand its influence through both espionage and military aggression. However, the USA and the other great powers may not sit by idly while Brazil paints the continent red. In order to placate them however, they can take inspiration from China and dabble in some Jaguar Diplomacy.



With South America falling under the sway of Brazilian communism, a new world power can be forged to challenge the old powers.


Before wrapping up this week's dev diary, I want to share some of the awesome portraits and tech icons we’ve got hooked-in since the last Brazil diary, enjoy!












That’s it for this week, I hope you enjoyed this dive into alt-history Brazil. Next week we’ll be taking a broader look at art and achievements.
See you then!



Make sure to check out Trial of Allegiance here
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2695150/Hearts_of_Iron_IV_Trial_of_Allegiance/

Generals!

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Hello there, Aveebee here to introduce this week's chunky Dev Diary covering a variety of topics. We’ll be covering everything free going into the upcoming patch that will release alongside Trial of Allegiance, an overview of some major map changes in South America, as well as some content pack specific updates. So without further ado, let’s get started!

First up, we have Jonathan!

Hello again everyone, now it’s time for me to show you guys some of the things for this bag of treats that I have been working on for the patch coming alongside the Country Pack Trial of Allegiance!

First up in terms of what I have contributed to this bag of treats is the Peruvian-Ecuadorian war of 1941. Now, Ecuador starts with ownership and a core on Pastaza, and Peru will have to take it through war, with the option of a scripted peace if they manage to take it. Ecuador can however also secure themselves a scripted peace from this ordeal, as long as they take Loreto, which means a skilled Ecuador player can even gain territory from the conflict.



But wait, there’s more! Now onto new formable nations (that aren’t for the main countries getting a focus tree in the DLC) that are included in the patch. And for this part I’m especially looking at you Hovelax ;).

The First on up is the Peru-Bolivian Confederation, formable in-game by either Peru or Bolivia.



The next one is the United Guianas, formable by either Suriname, Guyana or Cayenne.



And finally for new free formable nations coming in this patch, we have Hispaniola, formable by either Haiti or the Dominican Republic.



Now then, we’ve arrived to the non formable, but instead releasable nations added alongside this patch, or at least the ones that I’ve implemented.

First up on the list we have Quebec.


After that comes Yucatan.


Then comes another historical Mexican breakaway state, the Republic of the Rio Grande.


And finally we have a new island nation, which you might have seen briefly in last week's Chile Dev Diary. That nation is Rapa Nui, most often known as Easter Island.


And now, merged into this patch is a Canadian War Effort, updating and adding a small extra amount of content for our home and native land, Canada.

To start off with, Canada has a new industrial concern available to them, that being the Canadian Pacific Railway.


And after that comes the fact that the Canadian country leaders now start with their own unique traits.





And there are also three new focuses available to Canada, this time with more focus on the democratic branches.


The first two each give a National Spirit;



And then this focus allows you to gain Newfoundland and Labrador despite staying with the Allies, or even when going independent democracy.


A few of the old focuses have also been touched up, so I will show some. Not all of them are here, so you will have to find some differences on your own once the patch releases ;)

This focus now takes 35 days.


Taking this focus when having Mackenzie King as your country leader also gives him an extra trait.


And this focus now gives you two civilian factories.


Oh and what’s this?


The old formable nation of Central America now has two possible follow-up decisions that can give them a small bit of extra core states.

First up is Integrating Panama.


And then you also have Integrating Yucatan.


And now we arrive at my final contributions to this patch. First up we have the Union Pacific Railroad for the USA.


As for the owners of La Resistance, you will also gain new operatives such as the new American Operatives, George Musulin, Joe Savoldi, René Joyeuse, Willian G Sebold and Serge Obolensky. These operatives are unlocked for the USA through some of the various War Plans focuses.


As for new German Operatives, there are Erich Gimpel, Johannes Sigfried Becker, Herbert Hans Haupt, Norman Baillie Stewart and Fritz Joubert Duquesne.

Johannes Sigfried Becker;


Fritz Joubert Duquesne:


And finally, there have also been some new Japanese Operatives added. They are Patrick Vaughan Heenan, John Semer Farnsworth and Ignatius Timothy Trebitsch Lincoln.

Ignatius Timothy Trebitsch Lincoln:


John Semer Farnsworth:


And that’s all from me folks, next up Mordred Viking!

Hello! My name is Mordred Viking, and I have recently joined the Hearts of Iron IV team. As some of you may know, I have a bit of a thing for naval warfare in HOI, and have wanted to retouch the Admiral Trait tree for a while now.

Here’s the old version:


There were a number of things about this tree I was not a huge fan of, firstly how certain earnable traits (the ones you need to get through use) effectively blocked the latter assigned ones. Cruiser Captain being a particular pain to get due to Fly Swatter being very slow to gain.

Furthermore, there were a couple of traits which very rarely saw use, Mine Sweeper / Layer being most prominent. Having two traits for an area not often focused on anyway basically meant they just never got used.

Working together with C0rax, we rejigged the positions, trying to keep traits in some kind of role order; Raiding, Escorting, Cruising, Carrier-ing, and Big-Gunning. We also increased the number of pathways to the assignable traits, meaning you should find yourself soft locked far less frequently. Fly Swatter has been made an assignable trait now instead.

And here’s the updated version:


We also combined the mine traits into one, and it has quite possibly the best description in the game (I’ll leave you to find that for yourselves!).

AveeBee here again! Before jumping into the content pack specific part of this dev diary, I think it’s also worth pointing out that there will be a lot of bug fixes going into the Bolivar Patch that have not been mentioned here but are no less important. We’ll be looking more at those in a later Dev Diary.

The Amazon Rainforest is probably one of the most hostile places on the planet to get embroiled in a conflict due to the array of geographical features it includes. It is not the type of place you can sweep through with tanks or rapidly construct infrastructure to support massive infantry formations. As such, we’ve made some changes to its portrayal in Hearts of Iron to better represent the difficulty of fighting there.


As you can see in the screenshot above, we’ve added a number of impassible regions to represent the deepest parts of the Amazon where fighting would be almost impossible. However, we have created channels through the rainforest that follow the course of the major rivers along which troops can pass.


This creates some really fun gameplay due to the natural choke points that develop in the area. However, we wanted to make sure there were still enough provinces along the riverside to allow for encirclements and interesting maneuvers.


These changes have made the region challenging, but definitely more interesting. Anyone who can use the terrain to their advantage will likely enjoy fighting here. For example, using supply hubs along the river to support your troops without the need for railways can make a massive difference to your success in the region.

On the topic of map changes, we have also broken down the air regions above South America to make air combat more interesting.


Hey everyone, it’s Eilidh again. After taking your feedback into consideration, we have decided to implement a short alternate path in the historical branch where you, as the player, can decide to elect Juan Perón as the leader of Argentina. The position in this tree means that you can either choose to support the allies or go on your own conquest of South America, depending on the type of game you want to play.




And before I sign off, allow me to show you the leader portrait we have cooked up for the man himself.


We hope you enjoy this addition to the Argentinian tree! We appreciate you giving us feedback as we go, and whilst we cannot implement all changes in the time that we are allocated, we will do our best to accommodate!

Mba'éichapa!

Craniummuppet here to present two mini-trees, Paraguay and Uruguay. These trees started as a side-project for me after the release of AAT, mostly to give a small treat to you guys but kinda kept growing in size as time went on from a smaller shared tree into fully separated trees with a scope target like Aussa or Iceland. (Note that much of the icons are placeholders and will get updated)

At the start of the game Paraguay is reeling from two costly wars - The War of the Triple Alliance and the Chaco War against Bolivia.

This is felt in Paraguay



In Feb 1936 Rafael Franco will launch his coup against the government where you can pick to either let him seize control of the country or resist him. Allowing him to take power will lead you down the historical path, and resisting him will plunge you into a civil war.


Seizing power will allow you to do various socialist and military reforms, while not a communist per-se Franco (not that one) certainly had policies that were left leaning in nature, but also had typical military dictatorship tendencies.

He didn't last long though, and got ousted by the military after pulling back troops from the Chaco region. You can keep Franco though (not that one) by not pulling back from the Chaco, which is the second alt-history choice.

Pulling back from the Chaco will lead to a revolt within the army, putting Higinio Morínigo in power


If Franco was more left leaning, Morínigo is the polar opposite. To put it bluntly he had strong pro-Nazi sympathies,with parts of the police force and the military adopting the symbolism of the Third Reich. He also allied himself with militias, banned parties and consolidated his power.

This focus path will pivot the country from the Franco left leaning military dictatorship towards a more fascist and authoritarian military dictatorship under Morínigo.
(As an example the police chief at the time named his kid Adolfo Hioritho … )

While starting as unaligned in this path you can eventually commit fully to fascism, or you can stay as unaligned


One of the biggest reasons why Paraguay did not drift closer to the Axis powers was because of direct intervention from the USA. They started financing various endeavours in the country which kept Paraguay out of the war, such as favourable loans, road finance and technical assistance..

In game this is modelled by accepting American investment, whereby you won’t be able to join the Axis for the duration of the investment. Going down all the investment paths will keep you out of the Axis powers, but grant you massive boosts to the economy. How far you exploit this is up to you.

Going back to the world where Franco does not pull back from the Chaco, the alternative is war with Bolivia, this lets you keep Franco, and get some early conquest. With Bolivia conquered, you can finally get a coastline by getting wargoals against Peru and Chile, which leads to a very weird shape of a country. This is my current playthrough


And yeah… it has an interesting shape.


Going back to the top there is the other alternative history, the civil war route. Should you resist the Franco takeover you will enter a state of civil war where the army will rise up.


The army will have the upper hand at the start of the war, but the Paraguay river gives excellent defense.

To win the civil war, you can use the American scare of a “communist” state in its sphere of influence to increase your power. You can also use your wife's ties to France to get some aid from there.

Most powerful of all are the Marines, which will be used to break the river and win the war, or you can goad Bolivia to become involved in it which leads to a three way war that you can exploit.


When all is said and done you can use your civil war general, José Estigarribia to purge the military and cement your rule over the country. This leads to co-rule between Ayala and Estigarribia, or you can let Estigarribia take full control. It will take a while to rebuild the country as the civil war and various other wars have likely taken their toll, but eventually it will lead to a flourishing economy


Uruguay was comparatively more stable than Paraguay during the time frame, despite being under a quasi dictatorship under Gabriel Terra.

Despite this they enjoyed a rapid GDP growth and relative stability. The beginning of the period centers around industrialization and the policies under Terra.


Around 1938 he will step down and you can pick between either the Colorados or Blancos, which are the two main parties in Uruguay, but both are democratic aligned.


If Democracy isn’t to your liking you can instead go down to the Furhmann plan, ally with agitators like Adolfo Agorio become fascist and use it as a springboard for the Axis powers in South America. This path is now locked behind any election event and can be b-lined to at game start if so pleased.

Before asking, of course there's events for the Battle of the River Plate.


Which will be triggered whenever a British and German ship is in the Southern Georgia Sea or in the Argentine Coast at the same time.



There are also some shared branches between Paraguay and Uruguay which will appear in both trees.


First off, the conquest branch allows you to do a small-scale war at the start of the game for some quick conquests if you are cheeky enough. You can even conquer parts of Brazil while being in the Paraguayan civil war to bypass parts of the river line.

Uruguay has access to this as well but they target Rio Grande do Sul and Región Mesopotámica. Later you can decide whether you want to go on a crusade against imperialism, forgoing any factions but having the ability to core more land, or a more conservative approach where you can core some land but you can still join factions.


Paraguayan Version;


Uruguayan Version;


A bit silly fun where hopefully it can be a challenge as well as long term goals in a playthrough.

The industrial branch focuses on the exports of the country, which mostly comprises Beef, Wool, Hides and other agricultural products.


You can also choose to empower the landowners, upon which they will start improving your economy automatically. In this screenshot they seem really keen on adding a building slot.


The research branch is where you get your 3th,4th and 5th slot. You require to have some industry to unlock each, with each slot getting gradually more difficult to get.


This focus will also unlock more civs the more you have invested in the industrial focus. So if you want those slots early you might have to sacrifice some industry.

Similarly to all other focus trees in this pack, Uruguay and Paraguay will use the shared military branch. :)

Uruguay


Paraguay


AveeBee here again, that's it for this week, hope you enjoyed it and are looking forward to Trial of Allegiance!

Next week we will be taking a look at alt-history Brazil.

See you then!

Make sure to check out Trial of Allegiance here
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2695150/Hearts_of_Iron_IV_Trial_of_Allegiance/

Hola a todos! Jonathan here to bring you a brand new Hearts of Iron 4 Dev Diary for the upcoming DLC Trial of Allegiance! I will be introducing you all to Chile, a country mostly known as South America’s Prussia. And as such, it’s time for a country almost no one knows about (nor is probably all too invested in), it’s time for Chile!

And breaking from how we have done it ever since No Step Back, this Dev Diary will tell you about all of the Chilean content, as was done in the Argentinian Dev Diary.

As usual, please do keep in mind that everything you’re about to see is still WIP so things might change before release and you will see some placeholder art and WIP values. The team thanks for your understanding!

Now then, on to the actual stuff!



So seeing as most if not practically all people know little-to nothing about Chile, I will start with some historical context, to get everyone on track, and catch you up (hopefully also slightly increasing interest in the country). I didn't know anything about the country prior to being assigned to work on it either, so you can imagine my surprise when I got to know what to work on, but after reading about it, despite having had no interest in the continent whatsoever, I can actually say that I now find it a whole lot more fascinating than I ever did before! The few things that are more widely known are Salvador Allende's socialist rule during the Cold War, and General Augusto Pinochet’s CIA-sponsored coup d‘etat in 1973. But those are much later, so let’s turn back the clock a bit.

In the beginning there was nothing, but somewhere around 3000 BC the first people seem to have moved in. Jumping forward, by the 16th century, Spanish conquistadors began to colonize the region of present-day Chile, and the territory was a colony between 1540 and 1818, when it gained independence from Spain. In Chilean history, the earliest period of the nation is referred to as the Patria Vieja, and the Patria Nueva (the old and new fatherland respectively), where Bernardo O'Higgins led the country to victory against the Spanish Empire during the Latin American wars of independence. From 1826 to 1932, Chile underwent many government changes and the people got quite used to coup d’etats and political instability. The Great Depression that began in 1929 was felt strongly in Chile starting from 1930, and was felt all the way into our current game-time. Chile was the country struck the hardest by the USA closing down their borders, as a vast majority of the Chilean economy revolved around exports of Nitrate and Copper to the United States. This all led to the coup that established the Chilean Socialist Republic briefly in 1932, and which led to a former president, Arturo Alessandri, being recalled to counter-coup the coup makers. Once the Republic of Chile was back on track, he began working to restore the country, and that is where we find ourselves at the start of the game.

Chile also took part in a few wars during this period, even winning conflicts in which they were outmatched. Examples of wars they took part in are the War of the Pacific against Peru and Bolivia from 1879 to 1884, and the Occupation of Araucanía against the Mapuche and the Kingdom of Araucanía and Patagonia that took place from 1861 to 1883. It’s all very interesting, have a read up on it sometime!

TLDR for the last two paragraphs: Chile is and was very unstable, but also pretty tough…

That’s that for historical context however, sorry for geeking out… Now it’s time for the actual things you all came for, the in-game content, as I’m sure you didn’t all come here for a history lesson!



Arturo Alessandri is a very important figure in Chilean history, and now, as is tradition with almost all countries that get unique content, he starts with a trait. Be aware however, that despite staying democratic, he will not be around forever, as the elections roll around and new presidents need to be elected!

By 1936, Chile has grown quite a bit since independence, having conquered the south from the Mapuche, as well as Antofagasta, Arica and Tacna from Bolivia and Peru, though having sold Tacna back to Peru in the treaty of Lima (1929) to secure more funds to recover from the economic troubles.




And here you can observe the fact that Chile just doesn’t really function at game start…















And then the other two spirits are the “Legacy of the Naval Arms Race” and the “Monroe Doctrine”, both of which have been discussed in the previous two Dev Diaries.

As you can also see, the Chilean order of battle has been adjusted to better represent the army at the start of the game.



Chile also has quite a few new cool 3d models!







Chile also has quite a few new generals coming with the DLC, so here you can see some of the ones you start with (keep in mind that their art isn’t fully in yet):






Chile also starts with a vast plethora of political advisors now, and though it may be many, are invisible from the start, or will go invisible once you start going down paths where the respective characters will no longer be available! So here are the ones visible from the start.






And here are the various Industrial Concerns the nations starts with:



But now finally, on to the thing you have all been waiting for, the glorious Chilean focus tree!



As you can see, the focus tree is divided into the classic political, industrial and military branches respectively.

The industrial tree is mainly divided into three parts, the public works, the mineral extraction, and the “post-peso devaluation” part.



The rightmost part gives bonuses to construction and infrastructure.



While the leftmost part gives bonuses to resource extraction and trade.



Then, when you want to move down to the stronger focuses below, you need to devalue the peso, in order for the economy to be on track so that you can properly undertake these big projects. Note that these stronger focuses require the devaluation of the peso to have run its time before they can be taken.





As you all might have, or might not have, seen in the Historical Brazil Dev Diary, the countries of the pack share the general layout and effects of this military branch, but as stated previously, they all have their own unique quirks and bonuses, as can be seen here.









Now then, on to the political, historical, democratic branch of the Chilean focus tree.



To start of with, in the early stages of the game, Chile has to try and deal with the upcoming attempted coup d'etat by the fascist party “Movimiento Nacional-Socialista”, or as they were more colloquially known as, the Nacistas.



There are various ways to deal with them, such as suppressing them, for the most part ignoring them, perhaps to your own detriment, or attempting to use them, unfortunately however subsequently increasing their power when the fated coup d’etat occurs.



As some of you eagle-eyed readers might have noticed, the first democratic focuses have to do with Arturo Alessandri being the president, and after that comes the 1938 Presidential Election focus. That is because, while you are locked out of the late-game focuses of the democratic tree until the election has happened and you have chosen a direction to take your country, but until then, you have Arturo Alessandri’s own policies to enact.



And as the founder of the Banco Central de Chile, a democratic Chile led by Arturo Alessandri can focus on upgrading this industrial concern, gaining hefty advantages to economy management.



And when the presidential election at the end of 1938 rolls around, it is time to say goodbye to Alessandri, and welcome a new president, where you need to decide, a left-wing president, or a right-wing one?



And throughout the game, the 1942 and 1946 elections will also occur, prompting you to select a new (or sometimes keep an old) country leader. These ones however will not lock you out of parts of the focus tree, at least in a sense…



You see, there are focuses in the democratic tree that can only be taken while having a left and right-leaning president respectively. As seen previously, you can change your president at certain intervals, allowing you to, in theory, go for practically all focuses, seeing as Chile during this time went from being ruled by the Liberals, then Social-Democrats, then the same, and the Conservatives who placed bans on all form of communism, and then back and forth, on and on.



There are of course also those within the military who dislike the political changes going through the country. For example, general Ariosto Herrera could try something.





There are also multiple important choices to take throughout the mid-to-late game for a democratic Chile, such as how to deal with the democratic processes, and in what way to prioritize the industry. This part is important for one of the alternative history branches, so remember this.



And finally, as historically happened, you can go to war with the fascists by declaring war on Japan, or perhaps someone else if the world has taken a different turn.



There are also a few other big things that happened to Chile throughout this time, such as the great 1939 Chillán earthquake:



And the sinking of the SS Tolten.



And if you want to, you can do things that didn’t really happen until quite a bit after the war.







And here are some of the potential country leaders you can get:



























Chile also has their own operative, the actress Rosita Serrano, of course provided you own La Resistance!



Now then, remember the focus: Increase Presidential Powers? Well, if you have a communist president in charge when you take the focus, your country will become communist. This begins the Communist sub-branch, as can be seen on the left-hand side of the democratic tree.



Here you will be able to either align yourself with the Russians and take the aggressive approach, eventually attempting to achieve Hispanic Unity.



Or go it your own, and attempt to expand your influence through diplomacy and the support of communist revolutions in Latin American countries.



And now we continue away from the democratic branches, and ponder for ourselves, what if the Nacistsas had actually succeeded with their coup d’etat? Well, that’s what we will figure out in the fascist branch, starting off with you securing support for the coup, minimizing your loss of stability and war support once it commences, until you can finally take full control of the country.






Once securing your rule, you will have to shape the country to be better fit for your future ambitions.



After that comes an important choice for the party. Pick a side in the global conflict, siding with the Germans, or choosing to stay out of global affairs, though not counting out the possibilities for your own expansion and faction.



Both versions will have access to the small “Revision of our Borders” sub-branch, allowing for attempted territorial expansion gated by army size.



Both branches have their own focuses that they can do.



And in the end you will have two different choices of formable nations, choosing to either restore the old kingdoms borders, or going even further and uniting Hispanic America.



And finally, we move on to the alt-history branches that may indeed have the chance to bring every hoi fans’ beloved monarchy, and perhaps also something different.

These two branches start off by looking back to tradition to solve the issues the country is facing, and having the ex-president and general Carlos Ibáñez del Campo perform a coup d’etat to take matters into his own hands.



First, we will take a look at the leftmost branch, that being staying with general Ibáñez, and accidentally finding yourself in a civil war with a combined force of the fascists and communist on the opposing side.



During this civil war, the outnumbered president Ibáñez will be approached by a mysterious Frenchman who promises aid in exchange for the Chilean crown. His name is Jaques Antoine Bernard, and will be crowned the new king of the Kingdom of Araucania and Patagonia.






After having established your new french kingdom at the bottom of the americas, it is time to not only reclaim your namesake, that being Patagonia, but also going even further, becoming the Napoleon Bonaapate of South America.



And now for the final branch, we move onto a group that has lived in Chile long before the first conquistadors arrived. It’s time for the Mapuche and Anti-Imperialist Crusade branch.



The branch starts up with you molding the rising Mapuche-nationalist movement to fit your future goals, and finally rising up against the current Chilean government.



Once the war against Chile is over and you have secured the state, it is time to first reclaim the old Mapuche territory of Puelmapu, and then move on to liberate the Amerindian peoples from imperialist oppression.



And there is a lot of work to be done once the crusade has started.



In the end, America can be free from modern states, and the governments of the region can be reorganized to the desire of the leaders of the new Mapcuhe state.









Also for the end, here are some other advisors and leaders you might have interest in, such as the Mapuche advisors:



And Antoine III of the Kingdom of Araucanía and Patagonia.



And one of the possible fascist leaders, the starting leader for the ideology.



And that’s been all from me this time. Tune in next week for a look at a bag of treats that will hopefully satiate all the hungry mouths out there!

¡Adiós!


Make sure to check out Trial of Allegiance here
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2695150/Hearts_of_Iron_IV_Trial_of_Allegiance/

¡Hola amigos! My name is Eilidh, and this just so happens to be my first time writing a Dev Diary for you guys! I’m very excited to introduce to you the work I have been doing on Argentina, one of the nations you’ll be able to lead in Trial of Allegiance. Whilst Argentina didn’t get directly involved in the war until late in the game, the country went through massive changes and had an absolutely fascinating history during the 1930s through to the 1940s. So let’s take a look at this ‘Infamous Decade’ and allow me to give you a brief context overview of where the country is at the start of the game, before taking you on a tour around the various political branches you can take in the Argentinian focus tree. Without further ado, let’s get stuck in!


Prior to the start of the Great Depression, Argentina followed a trend of strong economic growth, enough to rival countries such as Canada or Australia in per capita income. This strong era of development for the country was also matched by social and economic reforms brought about by the government - which currently seated the Radical Civic Union party. However, it was during the second administration of president Hipólito Yrigoyen that things took a turn for the worst. The Great Depression arrived in Argentina, bringing with it a crippling economic crisis. In 1930, the military took things into their own hands, ousting Yrigoyen in the first military coup in modern Argentine history. It is this event that marked the beginning of what would later be called the Infamous Decade in Argentina; a period of fraudulent elections, government corruption and further military coup d’etats.

After Yrigoyen was removed from office, there was another election, this time putting Agustín Pedro Justo in power, supported by the newly created conservative party known as the Concordancia. This party was a union of various dissident sectors of other political parties that opposed the late Yrigoyen. It was Justo that orchestrated the practice of electoral fraud that became prevalent during the 1930s in Argentina; a case that would be attached to the legacy of the Concordancia.

The Great Depression hit Argentina relatively hard, and in the wake of such a global economic crisis, Great Britain, the principal economic partner of Argentina in the 1920s and 1930s, took measures to protect the meat supply market in the Commonwealth. One of these measures was to create a bilateral treaty with the Argentine Senate known as the Roca-Runciman treaty; named after the two men who signed it. This treaty ensured and strengthened the commercial tires between Argentina and Britain.

Moving back to the time before the first world war, Argentina engaged in a significant naval arms race with its neighbors Brazil and Chile. After years of conflict between Argentina and Chile, a pact was formed in 1902 that limited the naval armaments of both countries. However, alarmed by the sudden influx of Brazilian warships a few years later, Argentina quickly moved to nullify the remaining months of their pact with Chile to join in the naval arms race and match the naval capabilities of their northern neighbor Brazil. However when the first world war ended, so did the arms race. Suffering from the financial cost of trying to expand their naval capabilities, all three countries suddenly found themselves unable to acquire additional warships. After the conflict, the race never resumed, but many plans for post-war naval expansions were postulated by the Argentine, Brazilian, and Chilean governments.

In game, we represent these issues with a number of national spirits that must be overcome if the nation is to prosper or expand. (Icons may change before release)





When the game begins, no matter which ideology you wish to go down, Argentina will always start Non-Aligned with Agustín Pedro Justo in power. However, he likely will not remain there for long, as each branch will require the Argentinian player to make some drastic changes to their government and president. Whilst we won’t dwell on Señor Justo for long, please enjoy this updated art we have for his portrait!


With that out of the way, let’s take a wee look at the historical branch of the focus tree.



It should be noted that the foreign policy branch is shared with the democratic branch. As such, the path that begins with ‘Pan-American Cooperation’ and ends with ‘The Second Argentine Republic’ is available only to those who have taken Argentina into an independent democratic future.


The first part of the branch is all about putting Roberto Ortiz in power, a man who dedicated himself to ousting the corruption in the Concordancia, despite being chosen through the most fraudulent election in Argentine History. As such, you will try to minimize the ‘Political Corruption’ national spirit, by taking these focuses, as well as reinforcing the already existing relationship with Great Britain.


In the next part of the tree, things start to heat up for the Concordanica. Whilst you have the option to improve on Argentina’s damaged economy in the left hand branch, the historical player must then choose to elect Ramón Castillo. However, this creates tensions within the military factions in government, setting off a timed mission that spells an impending military coup. If the player does not take the appropriate actions, either by embracing the military factions or resisting them, then they will face a bloody civil war across Argentina.



In order to avoid a civil war, you have two choices. Either go the historical route and allow the march to create a quiet turnover in government via ‘March to La Casa Rosada’ or take things a-historically and enact federal intervention in states taken over by the military, before finally subduing the dissension within its ranks. However, if you fancy fighting a civil war, feel free to do absolutely nothing! The fun thing about Hearts of Iron IV is that you can play it however you want.



With your government secure, you can finally start to look towards engaging with the world and the war that is ravaging it. If fighting does not interest you what-so-ever, then feel free to reject the Allies and take your own path, remaining neutral. However, if you want to help the Allies in their fight against fascism, then you can join their faction, and begin Argentina’s foreign policy branch. Keep that branch in mind for now, for I will go into more detail with it when we talk about the democratic path!

Speaking of which, let’s talk about what happens if you have a clean election instead of one that is corrupt beyond belief. It’s time to see how Argentina fares as a true democracy.



At the beginning of the path, the ‘Infamous Decade’ national spirit becomes less of a hindrance as you are taking the actions necessary to avoid the rampant corruption that was rife within the Concordancia. With this in mind, you will then elect Marcelo T. De Alvear as the new leader of Argentina, placing the Radical Civic Union as the primary party in government. From here on out, you will be able to enact further social change to the country, building it up as a safe and comfortable home for all who live in Argentina.


With the country stable, it is time for the democratic player to turn their attention towards expanding their military by either reinforcing their connection with the United States or with Great Britain. Alternatively, there is a third branch in which Argentina focuses internally, and instead looks to becoming the new bastion of democracy in the Americas.


It is time for democratic Argentina to get itself involved in foreign policy. This branch is shared with the Historical tree, but really comes alive with the context of playing Democratic. Aligning yourself with the Monroe Doctrine will grant a national spirit to help set yourself up militarily, and allow you to develop your alliance with Britain and America. Bolstering your connection with the U.S.A will allow you to start engaging in counterintelligence, eventually ending the infamous Operation Bolivar in South America. This path then ends with the opportunity to work towards removing communism from the continent. Alternatively, send an envoy to London and have the potential to secure the Falkland and South Georgia islands from them, setting them up as strong naval fortresses to aid in the war. As time goes on, you will eventually gain the chance to have wargoals on any fascist nations in South America.

Let’s take a break from politics for a second and have a look at Argentina’s industrial branch, which is accessible for all ideologies.


Starting out by developing the Banco Central de la República Argentina, the path opens up to multiple branches that will on large provide multiple bonuses to restore the economic prowess Argentina had prior to the Great Depression.


One of the first things the Argentinian player can do is reach out to various major nations and take out loans from them. This is done through a decision system that will provide numerous bonuses at the expense of daily political power. Of course, if you then wish to repay, you will be able to swap those bonuses to regain the daily PP that you have lost.


This branch deals primarily with the development of your industry and research. Many of the focuses here will provide you with factories both civilian and military, as well as a number of research boosts to various categories. You will also have the option to capitalize on Argentina’s beef industry, and make changes to the ‘Roca-Runciman Treaty’ national treaty you have at game start. Either revisit it and redevelop it as the ‘Eden-Malbrán Treaty’ or revise it entirely, cutting Britain out of the equation and re-signing the treaty with any of your new allies.


This side of the tree is instead focused on developing Argentina’s infrastructure and raw resources. The latter in particular will create more steel and aluminum for extraction in certain regions of the country, eventually culminating in unlocking the Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales as an industrial concern, granting boosts to Industrial and Resource research speed.

On the right, the focus is on building up the Argentine Metropole. Encourage immigration from Wales, Germany and Italy and develop the civilian economy, overall promoting a move from the more traditional rural lifestyle of old towards the larger cities in Argentina.

As we move back to the political branches, we will be taking a look at Argentina’s fascist tree. This explores the ‘what-if’ scenario in which Roberto Ortiz worked with the Argentine nationalists instead of focusing on trying to improve the Concordancia.



In the 1910s - 1930s, a group known as the Ligas Patrióticas were operating in Argentina as a nationalistic paramilitary group. Eventually, they would be reformed into the Argentine Civic Legion and then the Unión Nacional Fascista. This tied with certain members of the Argentina government supporting the Axis in Europe, meant that there was plenty to draw on for an alternative history in which Argentina pursued fascism.

The idea of this path is for the player to bolster nationalist spirit throughout the country. including sending aid to Franco during the Spanish Civil War. Doing so will allow you to demand Equatorial Guinea from Spain, giving Argentina a foothold in the African front. The player can also re-establish the Ligas Patrióticas which will provide a number of divisions to use in the upcoming wars that you will no doubt be waging. Speaking of which, why not poke at Uruguay a little bit? If you can do so without escalating a conflict with Brazil, it would provide a nice foothold for your new regime to take on the rest of the continent.


Now the time has come to choose whether you will be a nationalistic Argentina or one that models itself after the German Reich. These branching paths will allow you to take fascist Argentina in two different directions. Taking ‘Guardia Nacional’ will take you down a more hyper-militaristic path and set you up in a good position to join the Axis and act as an extension of Germany on the South American continent. Alternatively, if you take ‘Unión Nacional Fascista’ then you will focus on bolstering the nationalistic spirit of Argentina, resulting in a pretty cool national spirit ‘Spirit of the Conquistadors’ which grants war support, division attack and makes it faster to justify war on your neighbors.


Eventually, regardless of what flavor of fascism you install in Argentina, the time will come where you must decide to join the Axis and the war in Europe, or create your own faction, and begin the conquest of South America.


At long last, it is time to dominate the south. This foreign policy branch will take you through a number of steps where you will have the option to either bully your neighbors into submitting to you, or straight up marching on their borders in an all out war. Eventually, it will be time to turn to Argentina’s oldest rival to the north: Brazil. By taking out the largest nation on the continent, the Argentinian player will be in a good position to secure the rest of South America, eventually creating the South American Confederation and opening up the opportunity to integrate conquered territories into your nation.


Of course, it wouldn’t be an Argentinian focus tree without the opportunity to set off the Falkland War early now would it? Be careful though. Putting your sights on the United Kingdom will mean that you might fall into the Allies’ ire if you aren’t already.

But what if you want a more radical change to Argentina’s government? Well, I have prepared a Communist branch just for that reason. Instead of a fraudulent or a clean election, it’s time for a call to reform as we dive into the Communist tree.



As with any communist movement, the first port of call is to begin garnering revolutionary support. This is started by inviting Rodolfo Ghioldi back to Argentina. Ghioldi was a political leader who supported the Argentine Communist Party. After a threat against his life, Ghioldi was exiled to Brazil, where he participated in a failed communist insurrection against Getúlio Vargas. However, in this timeline, you will bring him back to Argentina to lead your revolution.

Eventually, after legitimizing the Argentina Communist Party and reaching out to the Soviets for support and rallying the workers, you will be able to launch a revolution against the government of Argentina. If you are able to survive the civil war, then you will play as Argentina Populares!


After the revolution, you will then have a choice in the kind of communism you want to build in Argentina.

Firstly, on the left, you can align yourself with the Soviets. This will keep Rodolfo Ghioldi in power and will make Argentina join the Comintern. From here on out, Argentina will gain access to Soviet companies (or MIOs if you have Arms Against Tyranny!) and focus on establishing a strong intelligence program in the name of state security. This branch culminates in Ghioldi centralizing power and becoming a true communist dictator!

On the right, however, you can put Fanny Edelman in power, creating a more independent socialist power in South America. Edelman’s path looks to supporting the common worker and providing rights for women, as well as sending socialist volunteers across seas to aid in revolutions across the world. Eventually, it will be time to open up the Buenos Aires Conference, where you will decide whether to keep Fanny in power, or instead allow Anarcho-Syndicalist Antonio Soto a chance to rule (More on this guy later!)

The middle branch is accessible to both paths, and follows the standard economic upgrades that communist Argentina can install. Eventually, you will have to choose between enacting state atheism, or establishing Liberation Theology much earlier than it did historically. Liberation Theology, for those unaware, was a form of Catholicism created in South America that aligned itself ideologically with socialist theory.


The Foreign Policy branch of the Communist tree is fairly short and sweet. You will be able to choose between gaining war goals on all non-communist states in South America, or, if you’re feeling peaceful, invite any communist country on the continent to join your faction! Eventually, you will have the choice to integrate conquered territories into your nation or enact Operation Ocaso Escarlata, bringing forth a Scarlet Sunset to anyone who opposes you.


But wait… what’s this? Antonio Soto got into power at the Buenos Aires Conference? Soto was an Anarcho-Syndicalist who was one of the principal leaders during the well-known rural strikes in the Patagonia region of Argentina during 1921. He returns to the Communist branch as a potential leader!

When selected as the new leader during the Buenos Aires Conference, instead of going down the usual foreign policy path, you instead unlock an Anarcho-Syndicalist branch where you will improve Patagonia, making up for the strikes all those years go, Establish your Free Association and finally take the fight to liberate any occupied or colonized territories in South America!

Those with a keen eye would have spotted that we have a shared military branch that is accessed by all the nations that we are expanding upon in Trial of Allegiance. This is due to the fact that many of them start with similar military capabilities and issues at the start of the game.

To save me repeating myself, feel free to check out our first developer diary made by AveeBee on Brazil for more information on the Military Branch.


Don’t fret however! The tree may be shared, but there are a number of focuses available that are flavored to each country. And whilst it may be large, it will allow you to create a truly bespoke military without causing any major balancing issues. Sure, it’s not intended that you take every focus here, but nothing is stopping you from turning Argentina into a superpower. It just takes time, you see!


Well my friends, that brings me to the end of the Argentina Dev Diary. I hope this has given you more insight into what we have in store for you all and I hope you are looking forward to Trials of Allegiance.

There are some things that I have not touched upon in this Dev Diary, including a few easter eggs. But it wouldn’t be fun if I told you what they were, now would it?

If you have any questions, please feel free to post them below. Get ready, because the Dev Diaries don’t stop here - Chile is due to drop next week, so get excited!

Thanks for reading!

-Eilidh

Make sure to check out Trial of Allegiance here
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2695150/Hearts_of_Iron_IV_Trial_of_Allegiance/

Generals!

An Army is only as strong as its troops, and a good leader listens to their Officers - so its time for you to have your say once again!

Share you opinions about Focus Trees with the latest HOI4 Survey Below!



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Hello there generals, it's your friendly neighbourhood Community Manager, Katten, here to talk about, Trial of Allegiance, the first-ever country pack for South America. Our aim was to craft a thrilling experience, allowing you to feel the power of constructing a regional superpower to confront emerging international threats or to use its power to expand your empire abroad.

Last year, we announced the formation of a new team dedicated to content creation. The Trial of Allegiance Country pack is the result of their efforts, showcasing three major focus trees for Brazil, Argentina, and Chile. Furthermore, it introduces additional content for both old and new tags in South America. If you haven't seen our announcement trailer, be sure to watch it below!


Before I pass the mic to our Content Designer leading the development for Brazil, I also want to let you know that as part of our push for more HOI content, the team is also working on another big and exciting project that will be dropping later this year. So stay tuned, and as always happy map painting!



Hello there! AveeBee here to introduce you all to the work we’ve been doing in South America, kicking things off with a deep dive into historical Brazil! Some of you are likely very familiar with the history of the nation during this time period (we see you Brazil players!), but there’s likely a lot more of you that aren’t quite as familiar with this area of history beyond smoking snakes and the Brazilian Expeditionary force. So, I’m going to try and give a brief overview of the nation prior to 1936 and how that is represented in game, before moving into the narrower chapters of historical events from the establishment of Estado Novo, the Vargas era and Brazil’s eventual participation in World War II alongside the allies.



After the fall of the Brazilian Empire and its reconstruction as a republic, oligarchs from the agricultural industry dominated the nation's economic and political life. This came to an abrupt end in 1930 when Getúlio Vargas led a revolution to overthrow the old republic. Following this, the nation attempted to establish a new republican system that would avoid the issues of its predecessor. However, the various forces that backed Vargas ultimately created a constitution which satisfied none of them. In this power vacuum, Vargas dominated the politics of the nation in his role as president.

Amidst this political turmoil, the communist party and their allies orchestrated an attempted revolution of their own in late 1935. Although this revolution was ultimately crushed by forces loyal to the government, the ramifications of it were still being felt in 1936 as the establishment prepared to sentence and punish the leaders of the movement. Furthermore, the fear of communist infiltration of society would give politicians and the military a justification for their more authoritarian policies in years to come.

Another internal problem that had plagued Brazil for decades was the issue of separatism. Many of the constituent states of the republic had at one time or another attempted to secede or at the very least had sizable separatist movements. Many of these movements had grown from a sense of being neglected by the federal government. A related issue at the time was that of the Cangaço; bandits who operated in the North East of Brazil. Although violent in their activities, they often gained support among the poor for their resistance and attacks against the wealthy in the region.

On the economic side, Brazil was devastated by the Great Depression. As a largely extractive economy based on agriculture and resource exports, the economy began to collapse when other nations stopped importing goods such as coffee. The government attempted various measures to stabilize the situation but by 1936, it remained stagnant. As was often the case during the time period, this led to many Brazilians turning to more radical ideologies to lift them out of poverty and insecurity.

On the foreign policy front, prior to World War I, Brazil had been engaged in a naval arms race with its neighbors in Argentina and Chile.This had culminated in a number of famous dreadnoughts such as the Rio de Janeiro which would end up in the hands of the Ottoman Empire and ultimately the United Kingdom. Brazil had been aligned with the Allies during the first world war, following an attack on civilian shipping by Germany in 1917 which allowed the unpopular government of the time to focus the nation's anger at enemies overseas. In the inter-war years, Brazil would primarily be focused on its domestic issues, but anxiety remained that the old foe of Argentina could take advantage of Brazil’s internal strife.

In game, we represent these issues with a number of national spirits that must be overcome if the nation is to prosper or expand. (Icons may change before release)







The period in which the game starts primarily revolves around Vargas attempting to maintain his grip on power under the constraints of the flawed 1934 constitution. As we will see throughout this diary, Vargas is an odd figure that often escapes the usual political categories we often place leaders in. He came to power on a wave of liberal reformism, but would eventually flirt with the tenants of contemporary fascism and would ultimately suspend democracy to keep himself in power. However he would also implement reforms that appealed to the rural poor and the urban workforce. To represent this in game, Vargas begins as the leader of the ruling democratic provisional government, but he won’t stay that way for long.


(Vargas will be getting a fresh portrait, but it wasn’t quite ready to be hooked into the game just yet)

Next, we’ll take a look at the historical portion of the focus tree.



As you can probably tell, the historical portion has some overlap with the alt-history branches too, but I’m keeping those relatively hidden for a later diary. The first portion of this branch requires building enough support among the military or fascist movement to be able to orchestrate a ‘self-coup’.


As you can see in the earlier screenshots of the ‘Weak Government’ and ‘State of Emergency’ national spirits, Brazil starts with a ticking time bomb of steadily increasing non-aligned and communist support. This requires the player to focus on curtailing the communist influence as quickly as possible. Historically, Vargas gained support from the military by taking a hardline anti-communist stance. Meanwhile, he also attempted to win over the Integralist movement to his cause in order to appeal to urban workers who might otherwise turn to communism. We will discuss the integralist movement in a later dev diary, but for now you can think of them as Brazil’s take on Italian fascism.


With enough anti-communist/democratic support, this culminates in ‘The Cohen Plan’ focus. Historically, a document that went by that name was forged by forces aligned with the government. The document supposedly outlined plans for a communist takeover of Brazil and was used by the government to justify a wave of authoritarian measures being used to protect the nation. Despite the document being a complete forgery, Vargas succeeded in suspending democracy. In game, taking this focus requires the player to complete the following focus: ‘Estado Novo.’



Estado Novo, or New State, marks the end of democracy in Brazil for the time being. While Vargas remains in power, his ideology is switched to non-aligned along with the ruling government. To cement his grasp on power, Vargas not only used the emergency powers of the 1934 constitution, but drafted an entirely new authoritarian one inspired by the Polish constitution of the time.


To the left of this branch, we have a number of focuses that represent the utilization of the new constitution by curtailing the separatist movement (Decree Number 37 - this focus removes the separatist movement national spirit) and increasing stability by clamping down on political movements and increasing employment.


In the center of the tree, we have a number of focuses that are shared with the Integralist path which are concerned with kickstarting the economy, expanding the nation's intelligence services and its research capacity.





Before jumping into the more foreign policy orientated aspect of the historical focus tree, let's take a look at the industrial branch.



Due to the aforementioned impact of the Great Depression, Brazil’s primary objective is overcoming its reliance on exporting coffee and raw goods, instead building up a domestic industrial base and consumer economy. As occurred historically, the first step towards this was the establishment of the coffee department to better control the supply and price of coffee exports.



Around this time, a number of radio stations were also established in Brazil that would keep the public informed and entertained. Although many would ultimately become propaganda outlets for the Vargas regime.




A number of the focuses in this branch interact with a modifier in many of Brazil’s states that were historically neglected. The ‘Resource Extraction’ focus for example gives a research bonus and reduces the penalty of the neglected state modifier.



A number of these focuses will be familiar to you, expanding industry, infrastructure and efficiency through various means. So we’ll skip towards the end of this branch to take a look at some of the more unique focuses for Brazil. We have two focuses at the end here which allow the player to make a choice between establishing a domestic motor company (taking the form of a military industrial organization for those who will be playing with Arms Against Tyranny) or expanding ties with the Ford Motor Company through the expansion of ‘Fordlandia.’ Fordlandia is a fascinating piece of Brazilian history, whereby Ford established a colony to expand production of rubber for their car tyres. During World War II, access to rubber became crucial for the Allies and Brazil attempted to meet the demand.




We also have some light alt-history in this branch allowing Brazil to establish its current capital a few years earlier than it did historically.


You may have also noticed a focus in this branch called ‘Deal with the Cangaço.’ A number of states in North East Brazil begin the game with a negative modifier where the Cangaço are operating. Every so often, a mission may be carried out by them which will lower stability or allow them to spread their influence to a new state. The aforementioned focus therefore unlocks decisions to allow law enforcement operations to take place that will remove the negative modifier from the respective state.




We have some interesting alternative interactions with the Cangaço, but you’ll have to wait for the alt-history dev diary to see them!

Let’s get back to the historical political branch. Once the domestic and economic situation in Brazil has been steadied, attention can be shifted towards foreign affairs. Historically, Vargas and his regime dismantled much of the democratic apparatus of the Brazilian Republic. As such, the Axis powers were keen to promote trade with Brazil and the United States became increasingly worried about the nation aligning with fascism. Despite concerns over the erosion of democracy, the US therefore attempted to win over Vargas to ensure Brazil remained aligned with them.


Much of the US attempts to sway Brazil consisted of economic and military support, for example, aiding in the construction of a massive steel production facility near Rio de Janeiro in exchange for setting up air bases in North East Brazil for the US Air Force. This alignment with the US however also served to deter Brazil’s age-old foe, Argentina, from antagonizing them for fear of American retaliation.

When World War II erupted in Europe, demand for Brazilian rubber and other resources began to increase as access to British controlled rubber plantations and supply lines across the seas became vulnerable to Axis interception. As ties between Brazil and the Allies increased, German U-Boats began attacking Brazilian shipping in the Atlantic. This pushed Brazil to declare war on Germany in 1942.



In game, we represent this situation in a number of focuses and decisions whereby Brazil can choose to work with the United States and gain some bonuses, but the US will expect Brazil to join the war within two years. Failure to do so will result in the US ‘intervening’ militarily to ensure Brazil makes better decisions in future…




Joining the war of course leads to the creation of the iconic Brazilian Expeditionary Force, along with a number of new 3D models to match.




Historically, the Brazilian Expeditionary Force, went on to fight in Italy and played a crucial role in defeating Axis forces there. But it is of course up to you how you intend to deploy your forces to win the war. In some of the screenshots you may have noticed some alt-history focuses. We will go into them more when we discuss alt-history Brazil in the coming weeks.

Now, some of you may have noticed I’ve been focused on the political and economic side of the focus tree so far. Don’t worry, we also have a separate military branch to finish off the tree.



As many of the nations we’re expanding on in this DLC start with fairly similar military capabilities and issues at the start of the game, we took the decision to create a core military branch that will be utilized by all the new nations. However, countries have their own unique focuses and effects built around this branch to better represent the more unique aspects of their history, as well as country specific icons etc.

As can be seen in the above screenshots, the branch contains distinct army, navy and air sub-branches. The intention with these sub-branches is to give as many options as possible for creating a truly bespoke military, without allowing the country to become out of proportionally strong. However, that isn’t to say that you can’t fully utilize the full tree and turn Brazil into a military superpower, it’s totally possible.

I hope that gives you some insight into what we have in store for you all. As always, if you have any questions please feel free to post them below. In the coming weeks I’ll be following this diary up with one on alt-history Brazil. But next week you have the Dev diary for Argentina to look forward to.

Thanks for reading!
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Generals!

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Generals!

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