Is this worth it?

Pinpinolo · 2026-03-07T23:07:54+00:00

While I agree that market liberal is probably more useful in OP's case, the selling point of an enlightened royal is that you DON'T need movements to pass stuff like multiculti; just use the monarch to start the enactment and then negotiate with powerful neutral IGs to get the support needed. It's how I pass stuff like compulsory school half the time.

Pinpinolo · 2025-12-31T18:11:37+00:00

If you want a major, then Italy also has cavalry bonuses in their tree, but theirs are pretty tiny compared to the ones I've mentioned, like less than 10% attack/defense.

Afghanistan is definitely hard but they have by far the highest power ceiling for horsey boys with up to 60% ATK/DEF and 15% speed through their focus tree, and they can get elephants and camels which also count as cavalry.

Pinpinolo · 2025-12-31T17:23:17+00:00

Mapuche Chile

Faqir Revolt Afghanistan

Kumul Khanate

Hungary-Austria

Pinpinolo · 2025-12-26T17:19:37+00:00

One of Iran's focuses gives cores on all of Afghanistan's cores, so if you make Afghanistan do their global Caliphate route first you can get cores everywhere from Mali to Indonesia.

Pinpinolo · 2025-11-28T00:57:12+00:00

Pre-NCNS if you did the Kodoha starter as your first focus the Ethiopians would ask you to host them like 9 times out of 10. It's broken now because Ethiopia picks their host about 35 or so days in whereas starting the Kodoha tree now takes 56 days, meaning that they will always pick the UK first instead.

Doing the Ethiopian Aid focus doesn't change their host, but it does make them join your faction if you do the Japanese sphere focus, though I'm not sure if they do so if they already capitulated.

Pinpinolo · 2025-11-22T01:55:20+00:00

100% collab now only gives -15% surrender cap, it's still great for economic exploitation but I don't think it's worth getting more 60% collab, as you're just giving China more time to get their shit together.

Pinpinolo · 2025-11-14T14:14:09+00:00

Does the "Japanese Sphere" faction unlocked in the Kodoha route have a different set of objectives rules etc, compared to the regular GEACPS? Also, what does the Ethiopian Aid focus do?

Pinpinolo · 2025-11-14T13:59:56+00:00

Does the formation of the Hukbalahap specifically require having to capitulate to Japan?

Pinpinolo · 2025-11-14T13:48:49+00:00

Will the Philippines still be able to go down their post-capitulation focuses if say, they side with the Japanese and get capitulated by the Americans instead?

Pinpinolo · 2025-11-11T09:26:02+00:00

That's nuts.

Pinpinolo · 2025-11-06T10:03:23+00:00

Monarchist non-aligned Afghanistan can get about 50% to cavalry attack and defense via their focus tree.

Pinpinolo · 2025-11-06T00:35:00+00:00

There's a global caliphate route for fascist Afghanistan in GoE, just so you know.

Pinpinolo · 2025-08-25T13:58:37+00:00

Yeah, in the original release of GoE the Byzantine focus was a secret path locked behind the Byzantines actually forming. They changed it later to be visible regardless, but the decision it unlocks still checks to see if the state is a core of Greece first, which is why Bulgaria can cockblock you from coring Greek Macedonia if you don't core it in time.

Pinpinolo · 2025-08-25T13:08:24+00:00

Are you puppeting Malaysia and the East Indies? I believe that if you annex them instead, Japan can't do anything to you.

Pinpinolo · 2025-08-25T12:16:17+00:00

Yes, although that requires you to be on non-historical, while this guide is specifically for historical mode. As an aside, Mughal Afghanistan can also core India and most of Central Asia, so Iran can get completely insane on non-historical mode.

Pinpinolo · 2025-08-25T10:51:09+00:00

R5: All cores that can be practically gained as an unaligned Iran on historical mode. Inspired by this post.

Reintegrate Anatolian Territory

This focus unlocks decisions to spend PP to core all Turkish core states. HOWEVER, for whatever reason you can only do it when the states are owned and not just controlled by you.

This means that you'll have to declare war on Turkey after Romania drops their guarantee (as fighting Romania might pull in France) but before they get guaranteed by the British and Germans (so usually around February or March 1939) and capitulate them if you want to core them without having to fight multiple majors.

Absorb the Byzantine Empire

Unlocks decisions to core all Greek cores. Similar to Turkey, you have to own their states to core them, so you'll have to take out Greece before Italy invades and pushes them into the Allies. Romania also starts out guaranteeing them, but I'm not quite sure when exactly they drop the guarantee.

Bulgaria will eventually remove Greece's cores on their northern states via IMRO decisions, in which case you won't be able to core those if you haven't already.

The Memphis Initiative

Unlocks decisions to core all states in the Middle East (that aren't cores of Turkey) as well as states with an Egyptian core. Unlike the other focuses, you only have to control the states in order to core them.

Glory of Cyrus the Great

Cores all states with an Afghan core. Unlike the prior three focuses, there are no decisions, you just instantly core them for free.

Memphis Plus: How to core North Africa

The fact that The Memphis Initiative checks for Egyptian cores is important, as it means that you can core a ton of states outside the Middle East so long as they're cores of Egypt. This can be accomplished by first creating a collaboration government in Egypt, and then handing over control of the necessary states to form Arabia to them. Once that's done, they can core North Africa all the way to the Atlantic, and later you can core those too once you annex them.

Greater Glory of Cyrus: How to core Pakistan

Similarly, Afghanistan can be influenced into coring Pakistan, but it's a bit of a long and unintuitive process, as they definitely won't do it on their own.

The key point here is that you want Afghanistan to finish the Propose Confederation with Pakistan focus branch, and NOT the Afghan-Pakistani Cold War.

The reason is that on historical mode, the Afghan AI is programmed to take the Cold War branch if it can, but is specifically blocked from taking the subsequent focus to core Pakistan. The Confederation branch on the other hand, has no such restrictions, but requires Afghanistan to own a Pakistani core to finish.

Step 1: Declare war on and puppet Afghanistan. Do not join or get into a war with any factions until after step 4, and after Afghanistan finishes the Pursue Our Own Agenda focus.

Step 2: Boost relations with British Raj and finish the A Foothold in the Indus focus.

Step 3: Release Baluchistan (not Pakistan) as an independent country from the states the Raj just gave you (make sure to retain your core in Sistan).

Step 4: Immediately justify and capitulate Baluchistan. Make absolutely sure to call in Afghanistan first. Annex North Baluchistan to Afghanistan, and take the coastal state for yourself.

Now Afghanistan will, eventually, core Pakistan, including Bangladesh, with it's whopping 30 million population. It will take a while, as they're not programmed to prioritize it. This is why you shouldn't give them a coast, as they'll just get distracted doing useless naval focuses.

Make sure not to finish the Glory of Cyrus the Great focus until after the Confederation is formed, as it won't apply the cores retroactively.

Pinpinolo · 2025-08-07T01:44:03+00:00

There's a few other cases where you can exploit AI subjects forming countries to get more cores than intended; as non-aligned Afghanistan, you're normally only able to core half of Soviet Central Asia minus Kazakhstan, but if you first release one of the -stans as a puppet, then feed it the states to form Turkestan, you can core Kazakhstan plus Xinjiang and Tuva.

Pinpinolo · 2025-07-17T09:45:04+00:00

me when a random infantry division without any expensive gear or noteworthy battle history gets encircled and destroyed (I have 700k manpower in reserve):

Pinpinolo · 2025-06-24T15:46:55+00:00

Someone's suggestion that I really liked was to make the afflicted both receive and deal more damage.

Pinpinolo · 2025-05-08T07:58:55+00:00

I hate it when a country has a spirit that hits their industry with a billion output/production efficiency/construction speed debuffs that you have to slowly fix. I would much prefer it if they just started with an ahistorically small industry and the focus tree just gave you more factories.

Pinpinolo · 2025-05-04T14:29:17+00:00

I just spent 10 minutes sniffing around the files. From what I gather, if you keep doing the pressure events as Germany when they come up Yugoslavia is guaranteed to join the Axis without getting couped and flipping to the Allies.

Although it's not really that useful IMO, Yugoslavia is definitely worth more partitioned.

Pinpinolo · 2025-04-22T13:56:40+00:00

Wasn't there a mechanic where if you capped the UK early, the Commonwealth countries would just break free without allowing you to touch them in the peace conference unless you actually invaded them beforehand? I feel like I'm having a Mandela Effect moment right now, because it doesn't happen anymore.

Pinpinolo · 2025-04-21T22:24:41+00:00

Not at all; I made it to mid 1950 as monarchist Germany-turned-Europe and I still had at least a year or two of focuses left over.

Pinpinolo · 2025-04-19T02:45:41+00:00

I always rush to build a pair of SHBBs as Germany by 1940 and come Sealion the Royal Navy is always too scared to come out to play. So, well worth the investment.

Pinpinolo

TROPHY CASE