Developer Diary | German Systems

Willkommen zurück to another German Dev Diary!

Last time we talked about the Common Branches and the Historical Branch of Germany. Now, I, Paradox_Danne, ManoDeZombi, D3vil and Nattmaran (please insert joke about how many content designers it takes to make a Germany) will at least try to explain the various new systems for Germany. As we alluded to and hinted at in the last German Dev Diary, Germany has a whole swath of new mechanics we’d like to go through with you. Keep in mind that all of this is still very much a work in progress, which means things may change. So without further ado, let’s press on!

The MEFO Bills

Historically, the MEFO Bills played a major role in the German rearmament in the 1930s and were devised by Hjalmar Schacht. It was partly a way to keep military production hidden (because it directly violated the Versailles Treaty from WW1) and functioned as a means to pay for the actual rearmament program. While Austrian and Czech gold reserves that were seized helped to bolster the economy and staved off an impending collapse, it only bought the Germans some time. In the end, this glorified Ponzi scheme almost bankrupted the country and can be seen as a motivation for why Germany went to war when it did. The armament program constantly required new resources to devour, so Germany was forced to continue to feed the beast as it were. This led to large-scale plundering and theft wherever the Nazis and the Wehrmacht went, to sustain the ever-hungry war machine.

In-game, this economic collapse was never really seen or felt, and it wasn’t until after the first war that you had to pay back the MEFO Bills. This means that the vast majority of players probably never even knew there was a price to pay for them. This is all changing. The intention of the reworked MEFO Bills is partly to slow down early German build-up somewhat and at the same time drive a German player to go on a conquering spree.

The MEFO Bills at the start of the game in1936

Granted, this is a far cry from what the MEFO Bills looked like in the old version, but if you read the previous German Dev Diary (which you really should) you know that this National Spirit can be improved. But something else you probably picked up on, is that Consumer Goods Factories factor (that is to say, the percentage of your civilian factories that are put on producing Consumer Goods, ergo not able to trade or build anything) is increasing each month, and it will continue to increase until it reaches 100%. This is the price Germany pays for quickly rearming again; all available resources are diverted to military production. The keen-eyed among you have also read two other things; additional penalties will be added once you reach 100% Consumer Goods Factories factor (henceforth known as CGFF because I can’t be bothered to type all of that out every time I refer to it), and that the rate of increasing CGFF will be higher based on the amount of non-core states controlled by Germany. What does all of this even mean? Well, simply put, if you fail to feed the beast that is your arms industry, you will start to produce less material. And by controlling non-core states, you’re diverting valuable resources away from rearmament.

Bad things will happen if you