Was curious of everyone’s preference for tech priority according to each nation. I understand it may change according to circumstances but there should be a certain few that are mando for some nations at the outset. These are the 1st breakthroughs you would want playing as a particular nation. For the most part, i believe it is best (oddswise) to go for the 7+ tech rolls before moving on to the 8+ ones and then the two 9+ rolls. However there are some exceptions(e.g. i think its worth it as germany to go for adv subs(8+) right away before the other easier (oddswise) 7+ techs/ or for USSR & US, I will go for Heavy Bombers and Rockets at a certain point with the goal of getting their respective tech VPs, even though they are the hardest to breakthrough)

These are my preferences at the outset:

1936 Scenario:

Germany(4 to start):

Wartime Economy(1st u get tha money, then u get tha power)
Advanced Mech (early access to mech and armor for german make this mando & the SS unit is arguably one of the best land units for 4 IPP)
Long Range Air(immediate upgrade/effects, greater threat projection)
Advanced Subs(great unit for germany)

After those, these would follow in priority:

Improved Factories, Improved Construction, Radar (I honestly want these in the opening 4 for Germany as I think tech that takes effect right away & infrastructure tech will pay more dividends and make a bigger difference the earlier you have them, but in Germany’s case the top 4 I listed are just too good/important imo. Radar should be the last priority of these 3)

After that, these would be next:

Jets, Advanced Art, Heavy Armor, Heavy BBs, Heavy Bombers (no particular order, depends on the needs of the reich but usually want jets or armor 1st, also not usally inclined to try and breakthrough with bombers as i hate the 9+ roll)

These 4 should always be last imo barring some unusual necessity for Germany:

Advanced ASW, Heavy Carrier, Attack Transports(if going for a heavy Leningrad landing or Sea Lion, this should obviously be done sooner), Rockets(wish these were better but as is at 9+, nah dag)

USSR (3 to start):

• If molotov is signed I try and keep the free tech roll as long as possible but will typically upgrade the medium in stalkingrad to a major once molotov appears to be coming to an end, I like to have 4 tech rolls going, esp if Germany upgrades east German factory and they’re getting 5 tech rolls per turn

Advanced Art (katayushkas are sweet, and just a solid unit for soviets to have)
Improved Factories (allows USSR to get as many units as possible to the desired front, and the ability to rail their own factories makes this a mando for me)
Wartime Econ. (can’t go wrong w/money)

After those 3, these are next:

Advanced Mech (tech that allows better/cheaper land units is even more important for the USSR)
Heavy Armor (can’t hurt to have as a build option and need it for tech VP)
Long Range Air (same as h.armor)
Jets (i typically won’t invest in a soviet air force, esp cuz AAA is a much cheaper alternative, that all changes if I get the jets breakthrough, can be crucial, esp if axis do not have them yet)
Radar (better scramble options and better interception are solid for defending the motherland)
Improved Construction (the ability to drop forts in one turn, or any facility in the event of some scorched earth can be crucial, if running with a naval strat, this should be done earlier)

After these I make a point to go for the two 9+ rolls needed for their tech VP:

Heavy Bombers
Rockets

The rest of these don’t seem as important for USSR and as such I would do last unless necessity requires one to do so:

Attack Transports, Heavy BB, Advanced Subs, Heavy Carrier, Advanced ASW

Japan (1? to start):

-Japan has an uphill battle just to try and keep pace with everyone else when it comes to tech. But I am a firm believer in trying to maximize one’s chance at tech breakthroughs so I like having 3 tech rolls with Japan(2 min, but 3 seems ideal to me) so on 1st turn i upgrade the kyushu medium factory always, and typically even start another major in Honshu. Even with that finished, Japan is still probably behind pretty much everyone else except France, Italy, and Kmt /Ccp.

Improved Construction(ur buck will go much farther, the earlier you get this, I believe it should be priority #1 for Japan)
Long Range Air (Crucial for Japan)
Improved Factories(huge help if trying to hold onto those juicy coastal China tts)
Wartime Economy(just make sure you are at war with a major power to receive it(that means US, USSR, or Brits)
Radar (scramble options and better escort roll mody are crucial)

• All 7+

These can all come next depending on what is needed:

Jets, Heavy BBs, Attack Transports, Advanced Subs, Heavy Carrier(I tend to go for BBs 1st as they are 7+ but usually jets or transports are more useful to have earlier as japan)

I will go for these 4 next:
Advanced Art, Advanced Mech, Heavy Armor, Advanced ASW(these seem less important to Japan imo, mite be different if you could pump out the land units on the mainland but tech units have to be built at home)

I always go for the two 9+ tech rolls(heavy bombers and rockets) last with Japan as I believe u must maximize ur tech rolls and go with the ones that are easiest to get at first, and these 2 aren’t particularly good for Japan.

Italy (1):

With Italy I will usually resign to having just 1 tech roll.

Wartime Economy(this seems like the most important imo as an cash is always needed as italy and with a decent roll, they can double their income)

Improved Construction(this seems ideal for Italy as they will need plenty of ships and save a decent chunk the earlier they are able to breakthrough with this)

After this it depends on Italian situation

If needing to be defensive:

Radar(cover fleets with max ftr scramble)

If looking to expand the empire:

Attack Transports(but it is 8+)   or
Long Range Air

If looking to assist u-boats in the atlantic:

Advanced Subs (can move through a British Strait of Gib, and can be very useful for italy, but it is an 8+)

With 1 tech roll there’s no way you will get past 3 or 4 tech.

Well that seemed to take longer than I thought it would. I suppose I will do Allies later, but I am curious to see if anyone has any different thoughts on which tech should have priority for playing particular nations, this is just my opinion based off the games I have played. Let me know, thanks.

I can say as the UK that it can be difficult in the med to maneuver ur forces into an advantageous position while neutral, as a competent axis player will start the war with Italy the turn before germany makes its move in europe to avoid a taranto like attack of some kind from UK and to hopefully gain the upper hand in some way. Additionally Italy will most likely be close to having wartime economy at the outset of the war. What I’ve figured out is that in order to “lockdown” the med, you as UK will have to be prepared to lose something. But what that something is needs to not be BOATS. Egypt will likely be the target as gibraltar has the fort but never assume its impenetrable as all it takes is some bad dice on the 1st round to realize the vulnerability of a garrison. Aden and the west coast of gibraltar seem to be good staging points, however be careful with the fleet off gibraltar as Italy can always choose to force the strait, and all their subs can move freely through the strait anyway. Planes on corsica have a sweet range so watch out for that as well. The Italian fleet will be difficult to hit with air cover from corsica, northern Italy or both so ideally u will want to wait for them to shoot their shot and then engage after they leave the comfort of their air cover. It sounds easy enough but the trouble is usually the Italian player will only expose their fleet when they know they will be out of range of BBs or planes from one side of the med, or they know they will take either egypt to cut off ur boats from using the suez, or gibraltar forcing u to force the strait yourself. This leaves the UK player unable to bring all their proper force to bear on the Italian fleet. I like ur idea of having a 2 transport strike force on either side cuz that will allow u to take back Egypt or gibraltar quickly but be sure to have planes in range cuz they are both terrain tts meaning ur inf will be hitting on 1s. Priority should be to never allow Italy to take and hold either of these positions for more than a turn, or either of them at the same time, resulting in Spain aligning to germany. This happened in the game I am playing now and it makes life extremely difficult for the allies. I have since taken back gibraltar and egypt and sunk the Italian fleet but it was not without loss and a significant investment to boot. Had this coincided with Calcutta getting pressured or axis subs going to town on British shipping, I would have been looking at a commonwealth crumbling type scenario. Main thing is to keep the royal navy alive at all costs, and keep building planes and 1 or 2 marines a turn. Ur strategy does seem sound tho. Sorry if I rambled on there, just wanted to give my 2 cents.

@trig Of course. I was just referring to their insane roll of a 10 that would most likely be reduced as it would probably be the most likely target to be picked 1st. Even a possible 2nd target select hit would most likely go to the heavy as well as thend it would probably still be the most dangerous vessel still hitting on an 8.

@jbuckbuddy or would Paris be a “French” land zone at that point and not a “Free French” land zone, leaving Vichy unable to attack any french forces at that point since they are no longer the free french? Only poss solution I could think of, but wanted to be sure.

@trig hey I am curious, have been unable to get a definitive answer on this. If Vichy has not surrendured when Paris is liberated by allies, couldn’t Vichy forces attack the french in Paris and force the retreat of any UK or US troops as per Internal French Conflict on the Vichy reference sheet?

@insanehoshi Ha, not bad at all. But yes it would seem the only sure thing France can do is inflict maximum casualties on germans. Anything else is a coin toss at best.

1st priority should be inflicting losses on the germans. However my last game I did raise units in colonies and even flew the ftr and medium bomber to different colonies in the hope of them going FF.

The results?
Well about 50 50, the ftr went Vichy along with an infantry and militia who were all in algeria/tunisia.
I was able to keep all other colonies along with the French foreign legion in morocco, the medium bomber In west Africa and another man in syria.
I had high hopes but unfortunately there’s no way to properly predict what might happen, even scattering everything might still result in them just becomin Vichy making them harder to destroy.

On the other hand, the french air force seems destined to be destroyed by the blitz with a small chance of even taking down a German plane. The medium bomber in particular seems like it can do little in the defense of France except a possible air superiority casualty to be taken before the fighter, and in my game I was able to make great use of the medium bomber with the FF. And any help FF can get once France falls is good, especially planes which are expensive to LL. And worse case scenario u are looking at a slightly stronger Vichy, which can only atrack FF. In hindsight I wouldn’t have raised land troops, probably just sent the planes to different spots. (or just the medium bomber if going for a luftwaffe casualty in paris)

@trig Of course. I was just referring to their insane roll of a 10 that would most likely be reduced as it would probably be the most likely target to be picked 1st. Even a possible 2nd target select hit would most likely go to the heavy as well as thend it would probably still be the most dangerous vessel still hitting on an 8.

Heavy BBs are intimidating with their 3 hits to sink and the best attack/defense roll in the game of 10, but u will quickly find they are the 1st “target selected” with lucky sub rolls of 1 and especially Tacs on 1-3. Very rare that in a big naval battle u will be able to roll on that 10 for more than the 1st round.

Of course the best counter for Tacs are a superiorty of Ftrs or Jets, which can be conviently hauled around the sea with a Heavy Carrier.

@hbg-gw-enthusiast ah right u are, how could i blank on the tiger.

Was curious of everyone’s preference for tech priority according to each nation. I understand it may change according to circumstances but there should be a certain few that are mando for some nations at the outset. These are the 1st breakthroughs you would want playing as a particular nation. For the most part, i believe it is best (oddswise) to go for the 7+ tech rolls before moving on to the 8+ ones and then the two 9+ rolls. However there are some exceptions(e.g. i think its worth it as germany to go for adv subs(8+) right away before the other easier (oddswise) 7+ techs/ or for USSR & US, I will go for Heavy Bombers and Rockets at a certain point with the goal of getting their respective tech VPs, even though they are the hardest to breakthrough)

These are my preferences at the outset:

1936 Scenario:

Germany(4 to start):

Wartime Economy(1st u get tha money, then u get tha power)
Advanced Mech (early access to mech and armor for german make this mando & the SS unit is arguably one of the best land units for 4 IPP)
Long Range Air(immediate upgrade/effects, greater threat projection)
Advanced Subs(great unit for germany)

After those, these would follow in priority:

Improved Factories, Improved Construction, Radar (I honestly want these in the opening 4 for Germany as I think tech that takes effect right away & infrastructure tech will pay more dividends and make a bigger difference the earlier you have them, but in Germany’s case the top 4 I listed are just too good/important imo. Radar should be the last priority of these 3)

After that, these would be next:

Jets, Advanced Art, Heavy Armor, Heavy BBs, Heavy Bombers (no particular order, depends on the needs of the reich but usually want jets or armor 1st, also not usally inclined to try and breakthrough with bombers as i hate the 9+ roll)

These 4 should always be last imo barring some unusual necessity for Germany:

Advanced ASW, Heavy Carrier, Attack Transports(if going for a heavy Leningrad landing or Sea Lion, this should obviously be done sooner), Rockets(wish these were better but as is at 9+, nah dag)

USSR (3 to start):

• If molotov is signed I try and keep the free tech roll as long as possible but will typically upgrade the medium in stalkingrad to a major once molotov appears to be coming to an end, I like to have 4 tech rolls going, esp if Germany upgrades east German factory and they’re getting 5 tech rolls per turn

Advanced Art (katayushkas are sweet, and just a solid unit for soviets to have)
Improved Factories (allows USSR to get as many units as possible to the desired front, and the ability to rail their own factories makes this a mando for me)
Wartime Econ. (can’t go wrong w/money)

After those 3, these are next:

Advanced Mech (tech that allows better/cheaper land units is even more important for the USSR)
Heavy Armor (can’t hurt to have as a build option and need it for tech VP)
Long Range Air (same as h.armor)
Jets (i typically won’t invest in a soviet air force, esp cuz AAA is a much cheaper alternative, that all changes if I get the jets breakthrough, can be crucial, esp if axis do not have them yet)
Radar (better scramble options and better interception are solid for defending the motherland)
Improved Construction (the ability to drop forts in one turn, or any facility in the event of some scorched earth can be crucial, if running with a naval strat, this should be done earlier)

After these I make a point to go for the two 9+ rolls needed for their tech VP:

Heavy Bombers
Rockets

The rest of these don’t seem as important for USSR and as such I would do last unless necessity requires one to do so:

Attack Transports, Heavy BB, Advanced Subs, Heavy Carrier, Advanced ASW

Japan (1? to start):

-Japan has an uphill battle just to try and keep pace with everyone else when it comes to tech. But I am a firm believer in trying to maximize one’s chance at tech breakthroughs so I like having 3 tech rolls with Japan(2 min, but 3 seems ideal to me) so on 1st turn i upgrade the kyushu medium factory always, and typically even start another major in Honshu. Even with that finished, Japan is still probably behind pretty much everyone else except France, Italy, and Kmt /Ccp.

Improved Construction(ur buck will go much farther, the earlier you get this, I believe it should be priority #1 for Japan)
Long Range Air (Crucial for Japan)
Improved Factories(huge help if trying to hold onto those juicy coastal China tts)
Wartime Economy(just make sure you are at war with a major power to receive it(that means US, USSR, or Brits)
Radar (scramble options and better escort roll mody are crucial)

• All 7+

These can all come next depending on what is needed:

Jets, Heavy BBs, Attack Transports, Advanced Subs, Heavy Carrier(I tend to go for BBs 1st as they are 7+ but usually jets or transports are more useful to have earlier as japan)

I will go for these 4 next:
Advanced Art, Advanced Mech, Heavy Armor, Advanced ASW(these seem less important to Japan imo, mite be different if you could pump out the land units on the mainland but tech units have to be built at home)

I always go for the two 9+ tech rolls(heavy bombers and rockets) last with Japan as I believe u must maximize ur tech rolls and go with the ones that are easiest to get at first, and these 2 aren’t particularly good for Japan.

Italy (1):

With Italy I will usually resign to having just 1 tech roll.

Wartime Economy(this seems like the most important imo as an cash is always needed as italy and with a decent roll, they can double their income)

Improved Construction(this seems ideal for Italy as they will need plenty of ships and save a decent chunk the earlier they are able to breakthrough with this)

After this it depends on Italian situation

If needing to be defensive:

Radar(cover fleets with max ftr scramble)

If looking to expand the empire:

Attack Transports(but it is 8+)   or
Long Range Air

If looking to assist u-boats in the atlantic:

Advanced Subs (can move through a British Strait of Gib, and can be very useful for italy, but it is an 8+)

With 1 tech roll there’s no way you will get past 3 or 4 tech.

Well that seemed to take longer than I thought it would. I suppose I will do Allies later, but I am curious to see if anyone has any different thoughts on which tech should have priority for playing particular nations, this is just my opinion based off the games I have played. Let me know, thanks.

@Noneshallpass indeed, preciate the context.

@generalhandgrenade I understand that but it also mentions if Nationalist Spain later aligns, they no longer get blue divisions in berlin. I didn’t see that for a Republican Spain, I just wanted to verify that if they align to the Commintern, Moscow would still get the International Brigades.