Welcome to a new development diary. This time *takes a sip of earl grey* we are going to look at United Kingdom. They start as the leader of the allies (who at this point is basically the commonwealth) and what really sets them apart is their sprawling colonial empire and the Royal Navy – the strongest fleet in the world at this time at 35 capital ships and around 200 smaller vessels.
United Kingdom starts with 3 national spirits. British Stoicism which makes them less affected by foreign attempts to change their political alignment. The War to End All Wars which impacts their conscription negatively (war is not as popular as since the first world war), and finally the King (King George V) boosts their national unity.
United Kingdom has a well developed naval industry already at start with 19 dockyards. They also have 34 civilian factories and only 14 military factories.
United Kingdom has one of the widest focus trees with lots of different options. It’s split into 3 major parts.
Rearmament
The rearmament tree focuses on getting ready for and fighting another war. You will find things like research bonuses to motorized and mechanized troops, implementing the Shadow Factories scheme to allow quicker conversion of civilian industry to military.
Reinforce the Empire
Managing your empire takes up a large portion of the focus tree. The main choices are: Focus on buildup in asia, further developing the commonwealth nations, fortifying the mediterranean (suez malta etc), or securing Iraq and Iran which will set you on a path of war with the Soviet Union.
Home Defense
Home defense focus both on local defense such as coastal fortifications and getting rid of the The War to End All Wars spirit as well as allowing intervention to stop nations from joining the axis. You can for example step in and set up a puppet government in norway should their fascists leanings become too strong, so as to secure scandinavia from Hitler.
Armor & Planes
United Kingdom relied heavily on lend leased American Sherman tanks (which you of course also can through lend lease) but also had their own tank design and eventually developed the incredibly successful Centurion design (too late for the war though).
A well developed air force is important if you want to stop German bombers as well as give them back some of their own medicine.
