Velkommen til Danmarks historiske Dev Diary! As you might have so astutely observed, todays Dev Diary is all about Historical Denmark (and if you didnt catch that, its ok; no one understands Danish anyways, so youre not alone). Denmark has had the great misfortune to be designed by a Swede, namely me - and why would that be such a terrible thing you might ask yourself? Well, let me shed some light on that and give you a bit of context dear reader. Denmark and Sweden have fought the most wars between them than any other countries, so theres some old blood and rivalry here. Which is thrilling to me; I now have the chance to make them as underpowered as I want - muahahahaha! Before we go any further, do keep in mind that everything is still a work in progress and might change before releasing in- oooopsie! Spoilers ;) But every bit of feedback and correction is welcome! Do you think I missed something? Do let me know! Did I misspell something in Danish? Dont even bother - Ill never get it right anyways ;) Denmark is famous for surrendering after merely 2 hours when Germany invaded, so this Dev Diary will be similarly short and sweet. Lets jump straight into it, shall we?
And there you have it folks, thats all from- . . So, this is awkward. Ive been told that this wont do and that Denmark needs at least 2 more focuses. I might be able to throw something together. But before we get there we have other things we gotta talk about.

Historical Context

Lets start with some historical context because its crucial to understand Denmarks situation leading up to the war and why they surrendered so quickly. Denmarks entire foreign policy was based around their perceived biggest threat, which prior to WW2 was Germany (and thereafter the Soviet). This way of viewing the world was shaped by their disastrous war with Prussia and subsequent defeat by them in 1864. From this date onward they pursued a policy of neutrality and did all it could not to anger Germany, lowering military spending and eventually focusing on what would become the welfare state. One of the reasons why they kept this strict neutrality and disarmament was because they were unable to obtain security guarantees from the UK or from a Nordic Alliance once the war was looming on the horizon. The UK was in no position to offer any meaningful support to the Danes (and told them so in no uncertain terms) while the rest of the Nordic nations had widely different security concerns and couldnt unify behind a common policy. The Danes realized that they had no hope to withstand a potential German invasion and didnt, therefore, bother with military spending except to keep a symbolic force to emphasize their sovereignty.

Map changes

Before we delve into what changes are coming to Denmark, lets first look at some maps! My suggestion to simply bundle up all of Denmark into one state and rename it Southern Sweden was sadly downvoted (but just barely!). Instead, Denmark gets a whole bunch of new states (so that any Swedes - and Norwegians too! - can really savor the sweet, sweet sensation of conquering all of Denmark, bit by bit). As you can see, Germany is getting an additional state as well, and the Kiel channel has moved to a more accurate position. In total, Denmark starts out with 7 states now.
Besides that, the Danish Belts have gotten a makeup too

At the Game's Start

With that out of the way, lets take a look at Denmarks starting position in 1936.
The more observant of you might notice that Denmark now starts out as a Disarmed Nation to better reflect their unpreparedness and policy of disarmament. Secondly, you might also have noticed that theres an upcoming election in April of 1936 - which isnt at all the usual 4 years cycle other nations have. Denmark actually has this little quirk where an election has to be held within the next 4 years from the last one, meaning an election can be held after 2 years, or 3 years, or whatnot. In-game, this is represented by Denmark holding elections every 3 years (this will be a great opportunity for you to switch the ruling party - but more on that later), but I digress! Other things some of you might have picked up on is that the non-aligned party is now called Bondepartiet and not Venstre. I would say that this is a more accurate reflection of the political landscape in Denmark during the 1930s, but it also fits better with how elections and politics at large has been reworked for Denmark with Arms Against Tyranny. Whats also noticeable is that the Danes are starting out with 3 new National Spirits, 2 of them are quite bad and the third one is in bad shape. Neglected Military is a reflection of the poor state that the Danish military was in when WW2 broke out, but by completing certain focuses you can improve this spirit and remove it entirely.
The Great Depression hit Denmark slightly later than other places, but it did have a great effect on the country. It led to businesses going bankrupt, farmers foreclosing and skyhigh unemployment. All of this spurred the growth of extremist movements on the political fringes. This is all represented by Economic Crisis, which the player can use to their advantage if they wanna boost Bondepartiet, for example. But like with Neglected Military, you can improve and even remove this spirit through focuses.
The last of the 3 starting spirits is Danish Industrial Capabilities, which also can be improved through focuses, but as you can see is in a pretty rough spot at the start of the game. Oh, that Consumer Goods Factories factor might look quite high, and I know that a few of you are wondering about that. We know this seems high but don't worry it's a new modifier which we will be explaining in a future dev diary.

Balance of Power

Before we move on to advisors and the actual Focus Tree, we need to check out Denmarks Balance of Power since its going to be affected by all of these things. This is where all of the political decisions will be happening, and all of them will affect the balance between Welfare and Warfare. Now, what exactly does Welfare and Warfare actually do? Good question, and Im glad you asked! Lets take a closer look.
The more you spend on Welfare, the more youre pouring into developing your country. This is reflected in population growth, faster research, and the construction of Infrastructure, Civilian Factories, and Railways. On the other hand, this means that you are pulling resources away from military build-up and construction.
If you go all out on Military Spending civilian construction will suffer, but youre going to produce military equipment much faster and deploy troops at a quicker pace.

Advisors

As I mentioned, Advisors will affect the Balance of Power - so you better think it through properly when hiring someone. What they will do is push the Balance of Power in either direction - largely based on their historical leanings.

Politics

Like I previously mentioned, Denmark has a 3-year election cycle now, and the perceptive among you might have noticed a Balance of Power decision called Motion of No Confidence. This all plays into how politics works in Denmark for Arms Against Tyranny. You will be able to select between different democratic parties and leaders now, as well as the Non-aligned, Communist, and Fascist parties. The Motion of No Confidence decision allows you to choose a different country leader based on if their political party meets the right criteria.
Not only can you change your country's leader, but you can also call for a snap election if other political parties have high enough popularity.
If you called for a snap election you get the opportunity to boost the popularity of a political party and give them a higher chance of forming a new government. This is also what happens during the regular elections.

The Focus Tree

Sadly, I wasnt allowed to only make a 2 focuses long tree - even though I argued it was historically accurate! Anyways, without further ado, here it is

The Industrial Branch

Its through the Industrial Branch that you can improve and eventually remove the Economic Crisis spirit, but even before starting out on the Industrial Branch, you have to make a decision that will affect the rest of your game. Will you go for Sign the Kanslergadeforlig or Fortify Our Borders?
Historically, Denmark signed an agreement called the Kanslergadeforlig which was the very beginning of the modern Welfare State they have to this day. This will also unlock Karl Kristian Steincke as an advisor.
Moving down this path will provide civilian factories and building slots, as well as a National Spirit called Danish Produce.
If you on the other hand are more concerned with how flat Denmark is and how its just perfectly suited for, lets say tanks, then you might wanna fortify the borders and receive the Defense Minister Alsing Andersen as an advisor.
This path will yield forts and military factories all over Denmark, as well as the spirit Improved Logistics
But no matter what your first choice is, there are plenty of focuses the 2 paths have in common! The first one is Devalue the Krone, which leads to being able to trade with both the UK and Germany. This is actually something Denmark did during WW1 and leading up to WW2

And with Connect the Islands both paths meet up again and share the same focuses.
You can also get Niels Bohr as an advisor
With Expand the Industries you unlock the decision to develop Greenland, the Faroe Islands, and Bornholm.

You can also improve an Industrial Concern and/or unlock one.



But you can also extract more minerals from Greenland

The intention with the Industrial Branch is to make it flexible so that you can really focus on your overarching strategy and have the branch complement that vision. And speaking of which, lets move on to the military side of things!

Military Branch

I gotta be honest with you all here. I could have put most of this part in the alt-history dev diary since Denmark didnt do most of these things. As Ive already mentioned, Denmark was fearful of angering their bigger, southern neighbor, so they spent as little money on the military as possible. But playing like that makes for a boring WW2 war game! Wanna play a little game? Guess how far Denmark got in the branch below ;)
Youve made a guess? Ready for the answer? They completed Expand Ubdsvbnet. To be fair, they were also like 90% through the Foreign Designs in the Airforce path. But thats it! The rest is me piecing together stuff they did after the war and just finding something to do that kinda makes sense for Denmark. Anyways, Im digressing again Do you remember that Neglected Military spirit I mentioned way back when we started this dev diary (feels like ages to me whos been writing this dev diary for several days now, but for you, its been like what? 5 minutes? 10?)? Yeah, this is where you work to improve it and completely remove it through various focuses, including Stockpile Oil
But lets take a closer look at the Army branch. This is where you receive the Hren spirit and improve it throughout the branch. You will also be able to improve your MIOs here. Its mainly defensive in nature, while the more aggressive stats can be found in the political branches.
The first Focus will see you take your first step in reorganizing the army after almost a century of peace and lack of actual combat experience.
Then you can choose between investing in your MIOs, namely Hrens Tekniske Korps, and Dansk Industry Syndikat

With Hjemmevrnet you get the decision to activate the Home Guard during wars, but also the Hren spirit.

I could go on about each individual focus here, but its mostly about improving Hren, research bonuses, and increasing funds for the various MIOs. Lets instead take a look at what Hren yields after completing these focuses instead!
These stats can be improved even further in the political branches - which will add entirely new modifiers as well. Now, lets turn our attention to the Naval Branch, where youll get the Svrnet spirit. Here you have a few choices to make, depending on where you want to take your navy. You can refit old ships, or modernize the navy. You can try to dominate the Baltic Sea with smaller ships or try to rule the North Sea with carriers and capital ships.
Going with the Refit Old Ships will improve the Danish Industrial Capabilities spirit and unlock two decisions to get access to ships fast.



If you on the other hand Modernize The Navy you will get the Svrnet spirit. This will give you two ship variants in production; one for a Coastal Defense Ship and one for a Destroyer. These variants are actually based on designs the Danish navy had but were abandoned due to budget constraints. There are actually different variations of these variants depending on the tech level.




Towards the end of the branch, you face the second choice you will have to make; do you aim for Baltic Sea Domination or do you have North Sea Ambitions? The Baltic Sea Domination is the more straightforward of the two;
Having completed this focus and the Generalkommandoen in the army branch will open up the Frmandskorpset, which might be helpful for naval invasions
The North Sea Ambitions is a bit more complicated though, since its affected by what choice you made between Refit Old Ships or Modernize the Navy (and I know the tooltip is egregious, but its necessary to show off the effects):


And finishing off this focus will also open up the Torpedofly focus in the Airforce Branch;
Before we leave the Navy Branch and take our first look at how the International Market can interact with the Focus Trees, lets see what the Svrnet can look like after completing the Naval branch. After completing the Baltic Sea Domination:
And after completing North Sea Ambitions;
Now, lets fly over to the Airforce Branch - where youll have to decide between Domestic Designs or Foreign Designs for your aircraft straightaway.
What youll get by completing Domestic Designs is two aircraft variants which are actually based on historical designs Denmark were working on when they got invaded.


But if you on the other hand opt to go for Foreign Designs youll receive something called a Subsidy, which will make you as a buyer pay off your purchase faster. As a seller, youre receiving the full payment with the only difference that the deliveries will go faster. So its kind of a win-win situation. You can read more about the International Market in the this dev diary.
This specific Subsidy is for airplanes, but others can be for tanks, trucks, infantry equipment or what have you. If you look closely youll also realize that this Subsidy is only eligible for airplanes purchased from the Netherlands, The UK, Germany, or Sweden. Thats pretty cool, huh? I know you wanna know more about all of this, and well talk more in-depth about it in an upcoming dev diary, so dont you worry! Anyways, lets move on with the Airforce Branch. The next focus is Unify Flyvevbnet, where youll get the Flyvevbnet spirit. Denmark used to have two different airforces; the Armys and the Navys, but they were eventually unified in the 50s. You dont have to wait that long though!
After that, you improve the Flyvevbnet even further before choosing how you want to specify your Airforce; do you want to focus on fighters, close air support, or bombers? Its really up to you and how you want to play the game. After completing the Airforce branch and having done the Jagerfly focus, the Flyvevbnet spirit would look like this:

Political Path

Now weve come to the Political branch, where well only take a look at a small part of it, and leave the rest for the alt-history dev diary (because this is getting long). The left part of the branch is accessible after completing the Policy of Disarmament, which will see you enhancing your industrial capabilities even more.
And in the end, you'll be able to complete Full Employment
But before getting this far you have to first Reaffirm Neutrality as your very first focus in the political branch. Yeah, yeah Im doing this backward; finishing with the beginning - but theres good response for that! You see, when you have taken Reaffirm Neutrality youll get the Declaration of Neutrality spirit which will give you the option to fight or fold when attacked.
Historically, Denmark surrendered after two hours of the German invasion (even though fighting took place up to four more hours). The Danes had a very different experience as an occupied country from everyone else that got invaded; they got to keep their government and even had elections during the occupation. And thats what youll get too if becoming a puppet while having the Declaration of Neutrality spirit.
And to be honest, this is the true historical path. Let me introduce to you the resistance, or as they say in Denmark; velkommen til modstanden!

Occupation

This is what you have to work with as a subject; the Industrial Branch and the Occupation Branch. But dont think for one moment that youll be a good little puppet that will do your master's bidding. No no, this branch is all about gathering foreign support and building up a Resistance so you can topple your overlord! There are also plenty of International Market Subsidies throughout the branch, to build up your forces even more.
With Align with Foreign Powers youll seek out support that can provide you with weapons and support during the occupation, but once you declare independence youll also be able to join their faction - gaining an ally in your war for freedom.
Historically, Denmark set up an exile force in Sweden. They were training to help in the liberation of Denmark under the guise as military police. This is of course something youll be able to do as well! Having gained a host for your Danish Brigades, youll also get a new division template that you can improve through focuses.

To help you resist your overlord you have the Motstandsbevgelsen spirit which you have to improve to stand a chance against Germany.

Balance of Power Redux

As a subject youll also get a different Balance of Power which will be crucial to regaining your freedom. All of these decisions are unlocked through various focuses and will help you in your struggle against your overlord.
And thats about it for me this time around. Who knew there was so much to say about such a small country? Its barely more than a suburb of Sweden, but there are surprisingly many interesting things going on in Denmark during this time period. I hope you enjoyed the (looong) read! And if you dont want to become a puppet of the Germans - dont fret! There are ways to resist an invasion, but those will have to wait until another time. Farvel!

[ 2023-06-28 13:00:27 CET ] [ Original post ]