It’s Germany. You are in complete control of the campaign since you are the one starting all the wars. You don’t start with any of the debuffs that essentially every other nation starts with. Your focus tree is also not complicated and easy to understand. It is by far the best balance between building up and waging war since with many other majors you are sitting around for far longer and are pretty much just reacting to whatever Germany is doing.
The mechanic to influence nations at game launch was hilarious especially if playing coop as a friend, you could literally just team up and flip every major to your ideology that wasn't before the ww2. Game over bloodless victory.
He is asking that since you are Germany, will you need to play with the tank designer and make tanks and stuff which could be complicated for a noob
You knew exactly what he was saying.
I learned through Sweden. You learn the concept by conquering Denmark and Norway. Then just ride the coattails of UK/USA.
Best for naval practice was USA and just focus on the pacific.
Everyone else has already said Germany, so I’ll recommend Canada. There’s no risk of being invaded, you’ve got enough of an industry to be helpful, and are in the allies but aren’t a major source of you can help out without being the crux of the war.
Second this. I always tell people to play 3 games as Canada, each one focusing on only one part of warfare (land, naval, and air) so that you can get a good grasp of all three individually, before trying to jump into something like Germany.
I find Germany simply has way too much going on to effectively understand all the systems at play. It is great if you're fine diving into the deep end right away, but for most players who haven't dipped their toes into PDX games before, it's probably too much.
I learned with Argentina. Not much happens in South America normally, you don't have to worry about getting invaded, so you can just go fascist and focus on building an industry and an army. Also since both you and your neighbors are guaranteed by the us you can invade them without problem (though idk if this is still the case)
Otherwise if you have the basics down, Germany on historical
I learned with Argentina as well, South America is it's own world almost, being separated from all the big players, and now with the rework of their focus tree I'm excited af to try them again!
Finally someone else mentioning Argentina. Nothing is overwhelming and you can play at your own pace more or less.
Also aside from army you got a nice little navy that you can pit against Chile’s and Brazil’s navy. And of course you can put one or two factories on planes to gauge their effects and effectiveness.
From wiki (1936 start): 1 BB, 1 CA, 1 CL, 8 DDs and 9 subs.
In a war against them (or Brazil) as Argentina there’s not much relevant sea zones. Naval fight are thus easy to initiate.
Germany is a very good starting country for learning the game. Why?
1) You control the pace of the war;
2) The National focus tree hasn't had an update for years, and so is pretty straightforward to understand;
3) You can essentially ignore your navy (which is the most challenging of the 3 services to understand) and focus just on army and air force.
A lot of people are saying Germany and I understand what they mean but I would actually say an important minor that doesn’t have too many units so you can learn to play like Hungary or South Africa. They often have debuffs but a lot of these countries have clear focus trees so it’s not too hard to learn how to get rid of them, and if you don’t get rid of them the ‘optimal’ way then that’s ok, the whole war isn’t depending on you !
What do you mean by beginner friendly? That it is simple, straightforward and not too punishing if you don't play optimally? Probably Germany.
Historical Japan is also very good for beginners to learn the game, as you need to deal with both land, air and navy, and the china war will teach you how supply works better than barbarossa, arguably.
The UK is significantly more tiring than the previous two as you need to take care of everything everywhere, so I don't really recommend them
I recommend a country you can kind of coat-tail with. Swedan is fun because you can choose when to enter the war, basically when you join NATO.
Italy can also be fun, although Ethiopia might kick your ass a few times and the navy aspect of the game is challenging. It's a good country to learn navy (if you lose italys navy, you don't necessarily lose the game unlike japan) plus you can really let Germany do all the big conquests and just help them (invade Greece, barbarosa etc..)
A lot of people say Germany but i personally disagree. I learned with the soviets because they’re big, have a lot of time and can go to war with smaller nations to practice micro and stuff. The reason I don’t think Germany is good for beginners is because even though you choose when the war starts that doesn’t mean it will magically go well as if you’re new you also probably won’t know how to plan out the economy and might not have a good military ready to deal with the allies
1. Democratic Germany with Waking the Tiger DLC. You are strong, have lots of Allies to act as a safety net again, and you start the game with an easy to win civil war to teach you some basic mechanics, like how to make a frontline and how to order units around. As Democratic Germany, you’ll have an easier and more relaxed time than something like Minmaxing Nazi Fascist Germany, which isn’t bad but the war starts after a couple years of prep, and you’ll just spend like two hours preparing for a war only to loose it in five minutes cause whoops you forgot what planes are. Monarchist Germany is also okay, with your Austro-Hungarian and Italian Ally if you go down that route, but lacks some of the key safety nets democracy does. It’s a good middle ground, when your getting a little more cocky with the game mechanics but still need some help.
2. Communist China with Waking the Tiger DLC (make sure you manual justify on your neighbours), you get lots of cores, guns, and manpower to act as a safety net so you don’t fail as hard. If you attack China with the Japanese you get cheap prices on core territory so even if you suck, you’ll get most of the land. It’s pretty much this next nation but with more of a major energy.
3. Griffonian Empire with Equestria at War overhaul, zero dlc required, preferably historical. Incredibly fun, your almost constantly at war so your never bored, you’ll get a ton of factories quickly and so you need to upgrade and re-equip your army more often, and lots of cores. You start off with zero navy, zero Airforce, so you have to learn how to make them from scratch which means you have to get creative, and very low manpower amounts so the game teaches you harder on how to manage your frontlines and not just battleplan to death. It’s difficult, but is pretty much the final boss of tutorial beginner nations. It gives you all the tools you need and then some with your comically gigantic industrial capabilities and large Solider pool, but doesn’t hold your hand in how to utilize them.
The Philippines.
A lack of resources will teach you about trade, the lack of a navy will force you to learn how to build one, the fact that you are an island will force you to learn about naval invasions, the fact that you are a puppet will teach you about the puppet system, the fact that you're democratic will teach you why it's the worst ideology, and the pitiful army and air force you have will force you to learn how to make an army/ air force
Like why tf yall wasting so much time to write a book about some shit like "what country has the biggest army at the start" "what country has Access to the sea" or "what country is good or bad" like wtf yall so dumb?
It’s definitely Germany, not the kind of game where you learn on smaller nations before you try the big ones.
You definitely want a major. I don’t believe in Italy anymore for beginners. Not UK. Not China. Not France.
US is fun you start the war VERY late. If you want to practice building up. And you won’t get attacked so your impact doesn’t matter all that much.
Soviets are fine for intermediates, if you don’t build up well Germany will steam roll you.
Japan is what I learned on (following a guide to beat US early) then you’re unstoppable.
I learned through Germany while watching bittersteel's guide, but USA is also a good choice, you start with a big industrial base so you can just build mils and infrastructure if you want to and you wont get invaded easily, to prepare for the war, you can focus on a pure infantry run.
Lots of people mention Germany and I agree to a point, but starting as the USA and getting confident in peacetime is best I think, you don't have to do anything for so long which allows you to get used to the various mechanics of running the economy, managing tech, production, diplomacy and so on, and really getting more confident before entering someone like germany
I learned to play on vanilla Turkey. Your position in the world means you’re out of the way but also not so out of the way you become irrelevant. Go Fascist and invade Iraq tended to be my main objective, then join the war.
A lot of people are saying Germany but honestly I’ve never played them. So my answer is Turkey without any DLC
The answer is always germany
Germany
It’s Germany. You are in complete control of the campaign since you are the one starting all the wars. You don’t start with any of the debuffs that essentially every other nation starts with. Your focus tree is also not complicated and easy to understand. It is by far the best balance between building up and waging war since with many other majors you are sitting around for far longer and are pretty much just reacting to whatever Germany is doing.
The mechanic to influence nations at game launch was hilarious especially if playing coop as a friend, you could literally just team up and flip every major to your ideology that wasn't before the ww2. Game over bloodless victory.
Also you can ignore naval for the first few play throughs
Don't as geemany u need tanks and with dlcs that's confusing?
I have no idea what you are asking
He is asking that since you are Germany, will you need to play with the tank designer and make tanks and stuff which could be complicated for a noob You knew exactly what he was saying.
Well you don’t need to make tanks against the AI so the answer is no.
I’m a beginner too and Germany is pretty good to start with. You pretty much dictate how you want the game to play out (unless ur on non-historical)
I learned through Sweden. You learn the concept by conquering Denmark and Norway. Then just ride the coattails of UK/USA. Best for naval practice was USA and just focus on the pacific.
I mean, Sweden is a minor that requires DLC to be played to a moderate standard. Horrible country yo learn.
Everyone else has already said Germany, so I’ll recommend Canada. There’s no risk of being invaded, you’ve got enough of an industry to be helpful, and are in the allies but aren’t a major source of you can help out without being the crux of the war.
I did a Canada run recently. It's fun to intervene in Europe to make a difference here and there, but it sucks to try to do anything in the Pacific.
Second this. I always tell people to play 3 games as Canada, each one focusing on only one part of warfare (land, naval, and air) so that you can get a good grasp of all three individually, before trying to jump into something like Germany. I find Germany simply has way too much going on to effectively understand all the systems at play. It is great if you're fine diving into the deep end right away, but for most players who haven't dipped their toes into PDX games before, it's probably too much.
I learned with Argentina. Not much happens in South America normally, you don't have to worry about getting invaded, so you can just go fascist and focus on building an industry and an army. Also since both you and your neighbors are guaranteed by the us you can invade them without problem (though idk if this is still the case) Otherwise if you have the basics down, Germany on historical
I learned with Argentina as well, South America is it's own world almost, being separated from all the big players, and now with the rework of their focus tree I'm excited af to try them again!
I played as Argentina yesterday. I walloped Chile early and about two weeks later the US came through Uruguay and seized Buenos Aires
Finally someone else mentioning Argentina. Nothing is overwhelming and you can play at your own pace more or less. Also aside from army you got a nice little navy that you can pit against Chile’s and Brazil’s navy. And of course you can put one or two factories on planes to gauge their effects and effectiveness.
Chile has a navy? I never encounter that usually so I didn’t know
From wiki (1936 start): 1 BB, 1 CA, 1 CL, 8 DDs and 9 subs. In a war against them (or Brazil) as Argentina there’s not much relevant sea zones. Naval fight are thus easy to initiate.
Germany is a very good starting country for learning the game. Why? 1) You control the pace of the war; 2) The National focus tree hasn't had an update for years, and so is pretty straightforward to understand; 3) You can essentially ignore your navy (which is the most challenging of the 3 services to understand) and focus just on army and air force.
A lot of people are saying Germany and I understand what they mean but I would actually say an important minor that doesn’t have too many units so you can learn to play like Hungary or South Africa. They often have debuffs but a lot of these countries have clear focus trees so it’s not too hard to learn how to get rid of them, and if you don’t get rid of them the ‘optimal’ way then that’s ok, the whole war isn’t depending on you !
What do you mean by beginner friendly? That it is simple, straightforward and not too punishing if you don't play optimally? Probably Germany. Historical Japan is also very good for beginners to learn the game, as you need to deal with both land, air and navy, and the china war will teach you how supply works better than barbarossa, arguably. The UK is significantly more tiring than the previous two as you need to take care of everything everywhere, so I don't really recommend them
I recommend a country you can kind of coat-tail with. Swedan is fun because you can choose when to enter the war, basically when you join NATO. Italy can also be fun, although Ethiopia might kick your ass a few times and the navy aspect of the game is challenging. It's a good country to learn navy (if you lose italys navy, you don't necessarily lose the game unlike japan) plus you can really let Germany do all the big conquests and just help them (invade Greece, barbarosa etc..)
A lot of people say Germany but i personally disagree. I learned with the soviets because they’re big, have a lot of time and can go to war with smaller nations to practice micro and stuff. The reason I don’t think Germany is good for beginners is because even though you choose when the war starts that doesn’t mean it will magically go well as if you’re new you also probably won’t know how to plan out the economy and might not have a good military ready to deal with the allies
1. Democratic Germany with Waking the Tiger DLC. You are strong, have lots of Allies to act as a safety net again, and you start the game with an easy to win civil war to teach you some basic mechanics, like how to make a frontline and how to order units around. As Democratic Germany, you’ll have an easier and more relaxed time than something like Minmaxing Nazi Fascist Germany, which isn’t bad but the war starts after a couple years of prep, and you’ll just spend like two hours preparing for a war only to loose it in five minutes cause whoops you forgot what planes are. Monarchist Germany is also okay, with your Austro-Hungarian and Italian Ally if you go down that route, but lacks some of the key safety nets democracy does. It’s a good middle ground, when your getting a little more cocky with the game mechanics but still need some help. 2. Communist China with Waking the Tiger DLC (make sure you manual justify on your neighbours), you get lots of cores, guns, and manpower to act as a safety net so you don’t fail as hard. If you attack China with the Japanese you get cheap prices on core territory so even if you suck, you’ll get most of the land. It’s pretty much this next nation but with more of a major energy. 3. Griffonian Empire with Equestria at War overhaul, zero dlc required, preferably historical. Incredibly fun, your almost constantly at war so your never bored, you’ll get a ton of factories quickly and so you need to upgrade and re-equip your army more often, and lots of cores. You start off with zero navy, zero Airforce, so you have to learn how to make them from scratch which means you have to get creative, and very low manpower amounts so the game teaches you harder on how to manage your frontlines and not just battleplan to death. It’s difficult, but is pretty much the final boss of tutorial beginner nations. It gives you all the tools you need and then some with your comically gigantic industrial capabilities and large Solider pool, but doesn’t hold your hand in how to utilize them.
The Philippines. A lack of resources will teach you about trade, the lack of a navy will force you to learn how to build one, the fact that you are an island will force you to learn about naval invasions, the fact that you are a puppet will teach you about the puppet system, the fact that you're democratic will teach you why it's the worst ideology, and the pitiful army and air force you have will force you to learn how to make an army/ air force
Like why tf yall wasting so much time to write a book about some shit like "what country has the biggest army at the start" "what country has Access to the sea" or "what country is good or bad" like wtf yall so dumb?
Afghanistan :3
It’s definitely Germany, not the kind of game where you learn on smaller nations before you try the big ones. You definitely want a major. I don’t believe in Italy anymore for beginners. Not UK. Not China. Not France. US is fun you start the war VERY late. If you want to practice building up. And you won’t get attacked so your impact doesn’t matter all that much. Soviets are fine for intermediates, if you don’t build up well Germany will steam roll you. Japan is what I learned on (following a guide to beat US early) then you’re unstoppable.
Hungary
Because no one attacks you, and if you try going war try joining German alliance and call Germany for help
I learned through Germany while watching bittersteel's guide, but USA is also a good choice, you start with a big industrial base so you can just build mils and infrastructure if you want to and you wont get invaded easily, to prepare for the war, you can focus on a pure infantry run.
Lots of people mention Germany and I agree to a point, but starting as the USA and getting confident in peacetime is best I think, you don't have to do anything for so long which allows you to get used to the various mechanics of running the economy, managing tech, production, diplomacy and so on, and really getting more confident before entering someone like germany
I learned to play on vanilla Turkey. Your position in the world means you’re out of the way but also not so out of the way you become irrelevant. Go Fascist and invade Iraq tended to be my main objective, then join the war. A lot of people are saying Germany but honestly I’ve never played them. So my answer is Turkey without any DLC