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*Outdated* France - A path to victory
By Thiebau.
Since the end of World War II many authors tried to explain the French defeat, why it was inevitable : outdated doctrines, disorganisation, poor Air Force...That's a lot of weaknesses for one country isn't it ? But hell, this is Heart of Iron IV so we are gonna fix the baguette !
I read a few guides and videos before creating this one, explaining how to defeat Jerry and his friends in both solo and multiplayer. The problem is that it implies a change of political regime in the country (often in favor of communism), and many of them are outdated or hard for a beginner to understand.
So I decided to create my own (and First) guide to help everyone succeed with a democratic France. Please note that this guide uses tips explained in other guides, you'll find a link to them in the credits. Also, despite the fact that I have 180 hours on the game, I don't think that I can be called a "seasonned player", and even if I was one : do not forget that this guide is not perfect, and that it is made to help beginners, and also to be understandable by them. So if you have any tips, question or advice to improve the guide, don't hesitate to send a comment !

That being said, it is time to save France from Jerry the Hun !

PS : This guide is made for historical ruleset, and is supposed to work on both singleplayer and multiplayer.
   
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Created by
Thiebau.
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Category: Achievements, Gameplay Basics, Multiplayer, Walkthroughs
Languages: English
Posted
Updated
26 Jun, 2017 @ 12:04pm
10 Apr, 2020 @ 3:21am
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Guide Index
Overview
A quick summary of the guide 
Year 1936 : End of the Holydays 
1937-1939 : The rise to the extremes 
1939 - 1941 (Hopefully) : The time for war, the time to hate 
Conclusion and Credits 
Comments
A quick summary of the guide
In 1936, france is not a country ready for war, unlike Germany : it has a disjointed government, a lot of commies, a poor military industry....
To be short we will solve all of these issues, and some others to make sure that France is ready for war on September the 1st.
We'll focus ourselves on preparing France DEFENSES. So the goal here is not to rush Germany or something like that, but just to freeze the ennemy's assault and let him waste his manpower on our lines.
Here is a screen to show what might happen if you follow this guide.
Due to character limitation, I had to use acronyms : PP means Political Power

Year 1936 : End of the Holydays
  • Industrial Preparation
    First and Foremost, you must change France's peace economy to a true war economy, and also fortify the country to break the German Blitz. To do that, you must follow these steps : build 5 civilian factories in metropolitan France (preferably in regions with good infrastructures, like Île de France because infrastructure gives a construction speed bonus). Then order level 3 forts on each provinces next to the Belgian and Italian borders. And finally build as much military factories as possible in metropolitan France.
    Now there are two possibilities : either there is an event that changes your production law to early mobilisation, either there is no event at all. In this case, you'll have to wait for the remilitarization of Rhineland (and also wait until you have enough political power) to change the law.
    Once the law is modified, put all of your military factories on the top of the production list (shift+leftclick on the up arrow). Why ? Because you'll later do a focus that will boost your fort construction (so delaying the fort production is time saving), and also because the factory construction penalty is lowered by the new law, which means that it is time to build.
    Finally, we must take care of the equipment production. You will need 15 factories producing Infantry equipment, so fill the production line with reservation slots (and wait for the factories to be build). The production number 2 on the priority list is Artillery with 10 slots, then motorized equipment with 5 slots, then come light tanks with 10 slots and support equipment (10 slots as well), finally come the airforce : 15 slots of fighters (when there will be factories producing it, you should have researched Fighters I).
    As to the Navy, delete the outdated submarine production line, add 3 submarines to the submarine II production line and put 2 Dockyards on it. The last dockyard will be used to produce convoys.

  • The Army
    There is also work to do on the Army.

    The Ground Forces
    You will regroup all of your metropolitan forces in one army (affect one of your Field Marshalls to it) and send it on the Maginot Line/the German Border and draw an offensive plan. In this Army, change every Colonial infantry division (the ones with the red arrows) to Infantry divisions. Select every "Brigades de Char de combat" and Motorised infantry divisions and create a new army. You should have 14 divisions in it : give the control of this army to Gen.De Gaulle or Gen.Juin (De Gaulle is better because he will gain XP for traits quicker than Juin because of his lower level) and send them in Africa, on the Spanish border and draw an offensive plan.
    This army shall be moved on the Italian border in Libya during the beginning of the summer 1939. The point of this move : having the preparation bonus without showing the Italian player what forces you have in Africa.
    Finally, take every division in your colonies (21 divisions), form an army with them, give the army to one of your Field Marshalls and send them in the Alps, on the Italian Border. Then change every Colonial division into Mountaineer divisions. Order to all of your amy to train until there is no more divisions at the level "green", and preferably until every divisions are veteran (if you feel like the training is absorbing too much equipment, don't wait for the veteran level). This is important for two reasons : you'll need a lot of Army experience in the following years (and before the War), and to be victorious it is better to have experimented soldiers.

    The Navy
    Move every surface ship in the mediteranean sea (even the ones in Asia), and don't forget to change their main port (otherwise they will go back in Asia or in northern France, etc... once they are damaged, which is not good).

    The Air Force
    For now, there is nothing to do with it.

  • Government
    The first thing to do is to hire a Silent Workhorse to counter the effect of the Disjointed governement penalty. Then, if no event already changed it, change the production law to early mobilisation. Eventually take the war industrialist to boost a little bit more your military factory construction.

  • Focus Tree
    Here is the roadmap of the focus tree for this guide.



    It is very important to complete the political part of the focus tree (government reform etc...) since it helps you getting rid of a big penalty : the disjointed government. In this guide I've chosen to go with Britain, because it is the best thing to do in multiplayer, since it'll assure you Britain's support from the very beginning of the game.
    As to the industrial branch, just do 2 focus (both in the metropole or both in Algeria). In multiplayer, the British player might prefer that you do the Algerian branch, if he forecasts your defeat.

  • Research Tree
    For the researches, it is important to focus yourself on both the industrial and electronical ones in order to maximise your production before the beginning of the war. Once there is no other reasearch to do for the current year, research the Engineer company.

  • Answers to the Events
    I'm going to talk about every event that you may receive before the beginning of the war (If I forgot some of them please notify it to me in the comments section).
    Communist strikes : I strongly adivse you not to negociate, because it prevents the commies from gaining ground in the country, and also because the penalty last only 90 days. If you negociate, you'll have a significant penalty that will last and it could make you lose the war.
    Czechozlovakia : Let Jerry the Hun do whatever he wants with them, (even if you created the little entente), because you don't want to go to war too early.
    Communist ban : It is preferable to ban commies to avoid any future civil war and deter a soviet player from changing your government.
1937-1939 : The rise to the extremes
Now that you have a good beginning, it is time to finish your preparation work.

  • Industrial preparation
    There is nothing to change in the equipment production.
    As for the construction window, keep building military factories until you reached the Fortification Focus because it gives a bonus for Fort construction. Once they are built (it should not take long), resume the military factories construction. Do not forget to complete the Industrial focus while the fort are being build : your Army will need the factories that it creates.

  • The Army
    This is a the big part of this period. So I'll divide this part in two.
    Division Production
    You'll have 3 production line to create.
    The first one will be a line of 5 Infatry division (low priority, once the tanks division are done raise their priority, infinite production) that you will deploy in Calais. They will be used to reinforce your northern army, wich will face the Germans. The second one will be a line of 5 mountaineer division (max priority, 2 production), they will be sent in the army on the Italian border.
    The third one will be 4 divisions of "brigade de Chars de Combat" (max priority, once they are produced the production must be canceled), they will be sent to your motorized army in Africa.

  • Division Designer
    This a key element of the preparation. You will have to modify 3 types of divisions.
    The First one is the classical infantry Divison.



    As you can see, we keep the classical pattern, and we add to it 5 companies and 2 units of artillery. Of course, you won't change the whole thing in one time, so here is the priority order : Engineer, Signal company, Recon Company, Field Hospital and eventually 2 artillery brigades (thanks to the training, I managed to add all of the companies several month before the war, this is why the companies are in disorder on the screenshot). Please note that it is a poor idea to rush the artillery brigades. Wait for your industry to have massives stocks of artillery to make sure your divisions doesn't lack of it : when you add those brigades, the division loses its XP, so if there is no artillery in reserve, the division will lose its bonuses due to XP, without gaining the ones due to the Artillery brigade. So it is better wait until you have many artillery in reserve to compensate the loss of XP and not to be disadvantaged in combat. In my games I usually add them after 6 month of war (= stockpile of 5000 Artilleries).

    The second one is the Mountaineer division.



    It is basically the same type of division as the Infanrty one but with mountaineers. As you can see the default pattern uses more manpower than the Infantry division default pattern. Wich mean that you will be able to put 3 artillery brigades in multyplayer thanks to the superior division widht (in the multiplayer games that limits the number of artillery brigades). You will notice the Artillery company i the bottom of the line here : there is also a priority order, but since I had stockpiles and a lot of XP available, I put everything in disorder, but at the same time. The priority order : Artillery Company, Engineer, Reconnaissance, Signal, Field Hospital, and finally the 3 Artillery brigades.

    And the last, but not the least is the Char de Batailles division.



    In order to avoid any overheating of you economy, we shall keep the basic pattern (cheap but efficient to rush Africa and support any offensives on any frontline). It is important to add a motorized infantry division. Why ? Because tanks division tend to diseappear quite easily when they are facing heavy casualties : an infantry division always has manpower, even after a fight, but a tank division can lost all of its manpower. So you need to put infantry with your tanks, and motorized (and later mechanized infantry) are the best mainly because they won't slow down your tanks. Priority order : Motorized brigade (once you can afford it, replace this brigade by a mechanized one), engineer company, repair company (to decrease the casualties) and signal company.

    If you have some XP in reserve, it would be interesting to spend it in motorized companies : recon and artillery companies will make them more efficient.
    So, why did we add all of those companies ? The artillery (both companies and brigades) improves the defense and the attack of your divisions, just like the reconnaissance brigade and the engineers (wich are OP when it comes to defend forts). The Field Hospital reduce the number of casualties in a fight, and the signal company improves the recovery rate of your divisions (after a fight they have a loss of organisation, equipment and manpower : the signal company will help you hold your ground by increasing the speed of the reorganisation).

  • Government
    In 1937 (or during the year), you should have a silent workhorse, a war industrialist and the early mobilization economic law. Now, you should try to change the law again to partial mobilization (no more penalties for your factories, but bonuses).
    Before the war it is important that you unlock other members of the government in this order : De Gaulle as theorist (improve Grand Battleplan doctrine research time), then AMX as tank designer (if Army reform completed), and the Commando expert (if the Army reform focus is not completed and that you have enoguh PP, take it before AMX). Once these people are recruited, compose the government like on this screen, there is no priority order, but once you are in 1939, please always keep at least 150 PP available the mobilisation level when it is possible (don't change the economic law and don't enact the service by requirement for now though, this screen has been taken after the war) :



  • Focus Tree
    You just have to keep following the instructions on the screen below (wich is the same as the one I posted in the precedent chapter). Please note that if you don't have completed the "Extend the Maginot Line" focus before the war it is not a real problem, at the beginning of the war you should have already begin to research it, and the existing forts should be enough to hold the line until the new one are built by the focus.



  • Research Tree
    To be ready for war, there are some rules. The first one is that you should always prioritize industry and electronics. But avoid any big tech rush (researching a technology too early), if you are only 3 month too early (maximum) you can tech rush. Before 1939 you must have reaserched every company that we spoke about in division designer part (engineer, signal, recon, field hospital, repair company), the fighter II, the infantry equipment II, the medium tank I, the artillery II (wait for the "Grande Batterie" focus bonus).
    Once the army reform is completed, you must begin to reasearch the doctrne research tree (at this moment, you can consider that there is always one research slot reserved for that). France has already researched the first technology of the Grand Battle Plan doctrine, so we will carry on this path and go on the infiltration branch . This doctrine is very important because it gives very important boosts to your army, wich are essential to hold the line against the Axis.


  • Important
    Just before joining he war against the axis, move all of your African Army on the Italian border and immediatly draw a battleplan : they must do a surprise invasion of Libya as soon as possible.
1939 - 1941 (Hopefully) : The time for war, the time to hate
Now your country is ready for war, but you still have to lead your mens to victory.
If you are in Multiplayer, kindly ask the British player to send you troops on your northern Front, they will be very usefull there. If you are in singleplayer or that he doesn't cooperate, you will still be able to hold the line, but it will be a little bit harder.
  • Northern France Frontline
    It will be the hardest frontline to hold. You should have around 50 divisions on this front. At the beginning of the war, they should be divided in two : the 35 divisions that exists since the beginning of the game, on the maginot line, and 15 divisions created before the war, on the Belgium border. Every Infantry division produced should be sent to the Belgium Frontier (cause it will be your weak spot). You should have the same commander for both frontline, because they are supposed to merge into one frontline once Belgium has surrendered. Your job is to hold the line and let the Germans die in vain offensives : so don't try to attack them until they cease attacking (wich will mean that they don't have any manpower left.
    You will face one difficulty on this front : when the Germans will attack Belgium and Luxembourg, it will totally disorganize your frontline so slow down the game speed if possible and be focused on this part of the world. I've been defeated several time because after the surrender of Belgium, my commander did not expanded the frontline (he even reduced the frontline due to the withdrawal of the Belgian Army), the consequence : a huge hole in my frontline that the german used (wich mean end game). So move manually your divisions to anticipate, and update your battleplan accordingly.
    Also, don't hesitate to deploy your division in training before they have finished their training : there must be 20 divisions on the belgian frontline when the Germans begin their invasion.

  • Italian Frontline
    You should have 28 divisions in the Alps, and fortifications. So you'll do the same thing as for the northern border : hold the line and wait for the Italians to die on your lines, and then counter-attack. It should be easy for you to win on this front.

  • Northern African Frontline
    Order your tanks to rush Libya, this Italian colony must fall as soon as possible. Let the British take care of Ethiopia and, when Libya is yours, send this Army on your northern front in France, they will be very useful there.

  • War in the Sea
    Deploy all of your surface ships in the Mediterrean sea, (in all of the western part) and order them to patrol, as for your submarines, deploy them in the same areas and order them to search and destroy for convoys. It is better if all your fleets have an Admiral.
    If you have submarines stationned near the Channel send them to help the Royal Navyor send them in the Mediterranean Sea if the British player doesn't need help.

  • War in the Sky
    Put all of your Air Force on Day mission only (to avoid accidents) and to come back when their operationnal integrity is low.
    Deploy all of your African Air Force over Libya (air superiority, ground support), once it is conquered, send them in northern france (same missions).
    Deploy all of your Air force stationned in the northern part of France in ... northern France (air superiority, ground support), and send in southern France the ones stationned in Southern France (same missions).
    You should have a good Fighter production in 1939, so you should have the air superiority in singleplayer. In multiplayer it will depend on how the Axis players handled their countries, and on the British goodwill. Anyway, it is important that the Axis players are not the absolute kings in the sky and that their ground support is disturbed.

  • The Spanish threat
    If Franco wins the civil war, it is very likely that Spain will join the Axis during the war. So my advice is to send the infantry divisions produced in Calais on the Spanish border once there are around 60 divisions on the northern front (with this amount of division on the frontline, the germans can't breakthrough your line, so any division added on the front will not really be useful). With these new divisions create a new army under the command of Gen. De Lattre de Tassigny. If you feel like Spain is really strong, you can send the Motorized Army (the one that was in Africa and was redeployed in northern France) to reinforce the frontline, and take some Mountaineers from the Alps frontline.

  • The final push
    During the war, keep watching the strengh bar of the ennemy divisions (the yellow-brown one) : if they stop coming back to full strengh, it means that the ennemy is lacking manpower and/or equipment. So it is time for the counter-attack : at this moment the Axis is doomed. Push toward Berlin, Rome, and (maybe) Madrid, you are living the final hours of the war.

  • The Japanese threat
    Japan could declare war against you, if it does, then do not seek to defend Indochina/Vietnam. Let the British Raj take care of Asia, and send them troops once you have defeated Germany and Italy. Defeating a lonely Japan should be easy for your experimented and well equipped divisions.

  • The peace conference
    If the UK hasn't sent any troops on your frontlines, you should have by far most of the points. If you want to fight the Soviets or any other Major, you should try to take every German, and Italian provinces (especially the one with industry and ressources). So be very carefull when you choose a province to annex. By the way, If you take all of germany's ports, the UK should not try to take any provinces in Germany (it will be the same for any other country : if the AI can't have acess by land or by sea to the annexed territory, it will try to claim it).


  • The government
    When the War breaks out, change the conscription law to service by requirement, and the economic law to war industry. Then, try to keep 150 Political Points in reserve in case you begin to feel short in men to enact the Service by requirement (that should occur when you take an offensive stance).

  • The research
    Continue to focus electronic and industry, and ground doctrine. Once you have researched the Air focus, improve your fighters. And continue to do researches to improve your support companies, your infantry and your tanks : medium and heavy tanks will be useful in future wars (USSR ?) and you could be able to produce armored divisions with them during the end of the war.
Conclusion and Credits
41 Comments
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THE LIGHT BRINGER 8 Aug, 2021 @ 3:28pm 
Hey man I just want to say props for the guide, you say your not seasoned for 180 hours but you know alot more than I do in 600 hours. Also Negoveio sucks
Thiebau.  [author] 10 Apr, 2020 @ 3:20am 
Dear Amdamtt, thank you for your very corteous feedback. As you can see it in the guide's description, it is quite old and totally outdated. I will update the title to make it clearer. Please note that I am planning on updating this guide at some point and will make sure to take your comment into account during this process.
AmdaMtt 9 Apr, 2020 @ 6:47pm 
Terrible guide. No way you have that amount of mountain division slots without teching into useless stuff, no attention to width and doctrines, service by requirement is garbage, no mention of anti tanks. All you need as france to break germany in singleplayer is lvl 5 forts on the belgian border. And in multiplayer is to rely on your allies with lend leasing so you focus on fort and AA.
Thiebau.  [author] 22 Dec, 2019 @ 4:19am 
Hi! Thank you all for your comments, I do intend to come back to this guide after the launch of the next DLC, especially since this guide is becoming a bit old and can be improved on some points (division templates for instance). I can't give any specific date as to when i'll rewrite it since i'm a little busy IRL right now though.
Emperor_Eevan 15 Dec, 2019 @ 11:30am 
When the new dlc comes out. Will this guide change?
boy goo 27 Mar, 2018 @ 4:22pm 
Cheers, this helped me do my first ironman game where I ended up dominating the entirety of the old world, france spanned from the atlantic to pacific and was gorgeous.
Thiebau.  [author] 27 Mar, 2018 @ 2:55am 
True, I'll rewrite the all thing once I'll have time!
boy goo 26 Mar, 2018 @ 5:53pm 
This sadly doesn't work quite right anymore after cornflakes.. rip
Eve 17 Sep, 2017 @ 5:35am 
You also only start with 13 in the motorised tank army
Eve 17 Sep, 2017 @ 4:33am 
What about the cavalry divisions?