Developer Diary | Alt-History Germany

Hallo, wie geht es dir?

Stay tuned for tomorrow, Thursday November 7th, that there will be a Dev AMA over on Reddit!

Paradox_Danne here one last time to guide you through the final German Dev Diary before Götterdämmerung drops and you can experience all of this first hand. Buckle up, because today we’re diving into German alt-history! Before we get started though, let’s have one last look at the old German Focus Tree and then compare it with the new one.

The Old German Focus Tree has served us well over the years

But it’s time to let a new German Tree sprout

As you can see, the new German Focus Tree is something of a behemoth and by far the largest Tree in the game. If you’ve read the previous two Dev Diaries about the Historical branches and the German systems (if not, stop reading this and head over there immediately!) most of you will recognize a lot of this, but there’s uncharted territory here as well. Hoist your proverbial sails and let’s see where the current takes us as we explore Germany’s alt-history. But a word of warning before we cast off; all you are about to see is very much a work in progress, which means things might and will change.

Germany’s democrats and monarchists have received more to do and are now even accompanied by the communists

As you might be able to tell, the alt-historical branch has been greatly expanded upon and offers a wide range of different playstyles for Germany. One thing that remains the same though is the actual Civil War. We decided very early on not to expand this bit or alter it all that much; we reasoned that if you want to play alt-history you want the Civil War to begin and end as soon as possible. So it’s very much straight to the point still (with maybe one or two new minor surprises). Before moving on to the various political paths, let’s talk about the few Civil War-centric focuses there are.

After starting the Civil War you have a few focuses to help you through these dark times

With the Civil War tearing Germany apart, you can Rally the Nation to bring down the Nazis faster and Rebuild the Nation to help your industries recover faster, which then can be expedited with Revitalize the Nation. All of this should bolster Germany and help it recover quickly to move on to other things, such as tending to the future and deciding what kind of politics you want to pursue.

Democracy or Monarchism

The Democratic and Monarchist paths share most focuses but cater to different playstyles while not excluding any of them

You don’t have to be Sherlock Holmes to quickly deduce that the Democratic and Monarchist branches share almost all focuses between them. This of course means you can be hyper-aggressive as a Democratic Germany, or become the saviour of East Europe as the Kaiser and fend off Soviet aggression. This has been done to offer different ways of playing Germany, but it also has a basis in reality. After WW1 Germany never ratified the eastern borders set by the Versailles treaty (it would actually take until 1970 for the eastern borders to be accepted and ratified properly), and it always harboured a desire to regain these territories. Even during the Weimar Republic, Germany coveted these areas and never fully accepted the loss of these lands. You’ll be able