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| 12s | Hello and welcome to our second video on the upcoming expansion |
|---|---|
| 15s | for Hearts of Iron 4: By Blood Alone. |
| 17s | I'm Peter Nicholson, Game Director, and today, along with the team, |
| 21s | I'd like to begin by introducing to you |
| 23s | some of the country content shipping in By Blood Alone, |
| 26s | beginning with the Italian focus tree. |
| 32s | We've added a lot of possible options |
| 35s | so that the player can not only feel and immerse into the historical experience |
| 39s | but also have a lot of choice to customize their country |
| 44s | throughout the game. |
| 45s | For the 1936 start, we've changed, first of all, |
| 49s | the OOB, the divisions that were actually fighting |
| 51s | on the Ethiopian front. |
| 53s | We added regular troops, and we added the Blackshirts as well. |
| 57s | Then Italy starts with some debuffs now, |
| 60s | meant to represent dangers they had both in terms of industry, |
| 63s | especially military industry, and in the army. |
| 66s | The idea with these debuffs is that you can actually fix |
| 69s | some of these issues in the focus tree, |
| 71s | you can actually specialize your army branches |
| 75s | to make them very powerful and focused on a very specific kind of warfare. |
| 84s | The alt-fascist branch focuses mainly on Italo Balbo and Dino Grandi. |
| 89s | Italo Balbo was very much a military man, being an air marshal. |
| 93s | So it'll focus a lot on the military and building up Libya, |
| 98s | since he was a governor there. |
| 100s | And for Dino Grandi, |
| 102s | he will focus mostly on seeking new alliances and diplomatic ties |
| 107s | with other nations, |
| 108s | and with the help of other people, building up the industrial base of Italy. |
| 113s | The common branch between them |
| 115s | will focus on dealing with the Fascist Party of Italy |
| 120s | and the legacy of Mussolini. |
| 122s | And once you've done that, you can move forward |
| 126s | to a brand-new future for Italy and fascism. |
| 129s | The nonaligned path for Italy is basically the monarchist branch for Italy, |
| 135s | where you can go either absolute monarchist, |
| 138s | or you can go down the path of a democratic monarchy. |
| 142s | You will also have to decide what to do with the fascists, |
| 147s | the Grand Council of Fascism. |
| 149s | You can either disband the Blackshirts |
| 152s | or form the Royal Guard. |
| 155s | You can also seek the support of the Papacy |
| 158s | to oust the concept of fascism totally. |
| 161s | The monarchy branch will also have its own small industrial branch, |
| 166s | which will give different buffs and bonuses. |
| 169s | What would an Italian alt-history branch be without the Roman Empire? |
| 174s | Of course, we need to have that in the game, |
| 177s | and, of course, we do. |
| 179s | The idea with the Roman Empire branch |
| 181s | is that you try to find some epic war machines |
| 185s | to get this technological advantage that the Romans had, |
| 189s | with super-heavy tanks, super-heavy battleships, |
| 191s | stuff like that. |
| 192s | And you will also be able to deal with a lot of ancient Roman regions |
| 199s | that you will be controlling, and get the most out of them. |
| 202s | Italy, of course, is just the beginning. |
| 204s | No story of Italy's sphere of influence during World War II would be complete |
| 209s | without giving a voice to their main adversary |
| 211s | at the beginning of the campaign: Ethiopia. |
| 219s | Ethiopia started a war with Italy. They are probably going to lose that war: |
| 224s | trying to balance that is really fun. |
| 227s | It's going to be Heart of Iron on not easy mode, playing Ethiopia. |
| 232s | The main idea is that you can play as Ethiopia |
| 236s | and try to survive basically, |
| 239s | either by going into exile, or trying to stay and fight the Italians, |
| 243s | and then reclaim your country, and build on that. |
| 247s | Your main choice of action would probably be to find somewhere to go into exile |
| 252s | and try to get them on your side and then retake your country. |
| 258s | The idea of a fascist path is to try and survive |
| 262s | by collaborating with the Italians and backstabbing the Emperor of Ethiopia. |
| 268s | The other path is about doing the complete opposite of that |
| 273s | and focusing on regaining independence from Italy. |
| 277s | In the communist path, there's an option to try and gain support |
| 282s | from the Soviet Union, and go down a more authoritarian communist path. |
| 287s | And the other option is to go down the anarchist path |
| 292s | and try to form a loose-knit federation in Ethiopia |
| 297s | to try and push back the Italians from East Africa. |
| 301s | The anti-colonialism mechanic is a way for Ethiopia |
| 306s | to liberate countries from imperial rule. |
| 309s | The colonial mechanic allows Ethiopia to funnel weapons |
| 314s | and give political support to resistance movements in countries |
| 318s | to overthrow those European powers. |
| 322s | The African Union is an organization |
| 325s | that allows Ethiopia to form a supranational federation |
| 330s | across the continent of Africa, |
| 332s | kind of in a similar style to the European Union or the Soviet Union. |
| 338s | With Italy and Ethiopia covered, we scale the Alps |
| 341s | to experience the tenuous balancing act of Switzerland's historical position |
| 345s | and a deeper look into timelines that might have been. |
| 352s | It's a country that was officially neutral, |
| 354s | but had a major influence on how the war developed |
| 357s | and how it ended up. |
| 358s | In the historical focus tree for Switzerland, |
| 360s | you will not join the war, |
| 362s | but you will have to keep all the external forces balanced |
| 365s | so you can manage to stay out of the war |
| 367s | and keep your independence and democracy alive. |
| 370s | In alt-history, Switzerland can join the war |
| 374s | and can train proper troops, |
| 377s | and there's two general ways it can go. |
| 379s | We do have a focus branch for fascism, |
| 382s | but it's a branch where Switzerland is coerced by its fascist neighbor, |
| 386s | in this case, Germany, as it was at the time, |
| 388s | to join them, or else. |
| 390s | In the fascist alt-history path, you can join Germany |
| 392s | as a reluctant ally of them. |
| 394s | On the other hand, you can stay democratic |
| 397s | and join the Allies either by joining France as a puppet, |
| 403s | joining the Allies as an equal partner in Europe, |
| 406s | or personally, my favorite one, |
| 407s | making a secret pact with the Allies: |
| 409s | you can stay "neutral," and then help the Allies covertly |
| 413s | until you're ready to join the war properly. |
| 416s | The Alpine Confederation is an alternate version of Switzerland, |
| 419s | where Switzerland seeks to spread their democratic system |
| 424s | to the other Alpine states. |
| 426s | Eventually, you will form a democratic confederation |
| 430s | that consists of all the Alpine states, |
| 432s | and this will put you on a better footing to go against major powers. |
| 437s | In By Blood Alone, |
| 439s | we'll be introducing the Balance of Power mechanic |
| 441s | designed to represent factional division on a governmental level. |
| 450s | The Balance of Power mechanic is a major new mechanic |
| 453s | that will affect all nations in different ways, |
| 456s | and will have major consequences for Italy. |
| 459s | Of course, you have Benito Mussolini, on the one side, |
| 462s | who will face off against the Grand Council of Fascism. |
| 466s | And if you want to oust Mussolini, |
| 468s | you just gotta make sure that he's not in power, |
| 472s | that he's not controlling the balance of power. |
| 475s | The balance of power will also affect the democratic path and the communist path |
| 480s | in different kinds of ways. |
| 482s | In Switzerland, the powers evolve to the cantons, |
| 484s | the leader is just a mere council with some vague powers, |
| 489s | but not a lot of power. |
| 490s | So the balance of power is between a decentralized Switzerland, |
| 496s | which is how it starts as, |
| 498s | and a more central Switzerland. |
| 500s | As you centralize Switzerland, |
| 502s | you're able to take more aggressive actions |
| 504s | because if you're decentralized, cantons don't want to join the war, |
| 508s | cantons want to stay neutral and deal with their own problems |
| 512s | instead of having to join a war. |
| 514s | You can leverage the centralized power to make a more militarized Switzerland. |
| 519s | And that's all for now. |
| 520s | But we'll be back soon to detail further mechanics |
| 523s | coming in By Blood Alone. |
| 524s | Until then, make sure to follow us on social media |
| 527s | and see you again soon. |