I think the base game is pretty good, but I feel like there is a lack of historical content for much of the third world, particularly on the Gold Coast and in Latin America. Are there any good submods with particular emphasis on these areas?
I like the system of Iron curtain because it adds a whole new economic aspect to the game. On the one hand, the debt mechanic is nice and allows for some economic risk taking. It also allows for more geographic and situational consideration, particularly with the food and agricultural complexes and the industrial parks and foundries and all that whose production sometimes differs based on location. Thus the player must now put somewhat considerable thought into where they build different structures. Or do they, because this is a pretty fun bit, economic development works more like irl. If you start of with a strong industrial base (like the US) or develop a strong industrial base, then you can start making a bunch of office parks (service sector) which, funny enough is where the most developed countries derive most of their income from. So it works kinda like real life, the rich countries make a bunch of money from services which in turn they use to buy everything else. So how much detail you put into your plans depends a lot on your position. You can also do the contracting stuff with the military, which I like a whole lot as an alternative to actual factories. If I’m playing USA, it ain’t a communist society. Theres competition, markets, for arms. Speaking of office parks, they also generate capital for more investment in the form of bonds, which you can use to take on government deficit, which can be used to speed up office construction, letting you take out more bonds. I love bonds. They are great. They also make you less dependent on foreign loans, which can have negative effects on your sovereignty. OMG ITS LIKE THE REAL IMF. speaking of exploitation, powerful countries can also influence other countries to exploit them economically, be it for factories or raw resources (huh, that kinda sound like the irl periphery, semi-periphery, and core). Uh, government, yeah, I like the system. I like that there are a bunch of policies that have actual effects on your country and that’s really cool. The ideology system is also much more nuanced which is nice. Of course, some of this stuff isn’t as applicable to WWII (particularly some of the civil right policy stuff), but the economic system is particularly noteworthy, as the international economy then was similarly complex particularly with German and French industrial relationships. Despite this complexity, I also don’t think the mod has very much micromanagement, it feels like just the right level of complexity to me. It’s a really solid economic system.