Yugoslavia and Air Zones

Hi everyone and welcome to another dev diary on Death or Dishonor and the 1.4 Oak Update. Today's country highlight is Yugoslavia! When we envisioned Death or Dishonor, we wanted to put the player into a position where they had to make hard choices and decisions that they knew may come back to haunt them. Yugoslavia is in many ways made for that kind of gameplay.

Historically, Yugoslavia attempted to remain neutral for as long as possible, despite heavy pressure from both the Axis and the Allies to declare for their side. When the government of Prince Paul finally decided to join the axis - attempting as much as they could to stay out of the war even then - the government was swiftly replaced by a coup. This caused Hitler to decide on an invasion, and the country collapsed in less than two weeks - with some areas openly welcoming the invaders as liberators. But we are in this to allow you to change that history.

The reasons for the collapse are many, from poor military preparations to discontent amongst the various ethnic groups, who believe that Yugoslavia is not so much a union of equals as it is a Greater Serbia with some attached territories. This situation is represented in game by a set of National Spirits, which lower national unity to just 30%, make political appointments and law changes more expensive, reduce factory output and make officer recruitment costly. You have several avenues open to deal with these issues, which may even require you to give up some territory and allow some measure of self-government. Consequently, your decisions in other areas must take this into consideration - why build up territory that will not necessarily remain yours? Time is quite literally of the essence, as both Germany and Britain have a keen interest to see you join their faction, and they will be around from time to time to remind you of that fact. Declaring for one will, of course, get you into conflict with the other, and declaring too early might well see your government rather aggressively changed or the country descend into a civil war. To get to the focuses that allow you to join a faction, you must first solve the pressing issues of the country, which takes precious time. Considering that you will also want to rebuild your military, you will have to make tough choices. Some of the mutually exclusive branches have been deliberately designed to be short - the time saved being the major advantage. With such huge problems to solve, we felt that it made less sense to give Yugoslavia many options to expand - that would require a capable military and a united population, both things the historical Yugoslavia famously lacked. However, you may find that a military solution to some problems might be preferable. Joining the Axis or the Allies will also give you the option to at least claim some reward. Of course, you can also choose to join the world revolution and seclude yourself from the petty struggles of the destruction-bound imperialists. Unfortunately, your closest ally is on the other side of some rather aggressive neighbours, and while you can solve the main issues plaguing the country reasonably quickly, your military still leaves a lot to be desired. With enemies on all sides, you must choose...Death or Dishonor. Of course also some neat portraits for new generals and leaders. Here is a sample:

And 3d models:

And of