Now on one of my favorite underdogs: The Netherlands.
On paper, the Netherlands has over 70 provinces, way more than any of the minor nations, putting the Dutch as the middle power between minor and major. Most of its non-core provinces are actually on par with a poor-resource (750 at 100% morale) core province. It's army is on par with Australia and Brazil and it's navy is much better than any of the minor nations could have.
However, this is where the good ends. The Kingdom of the Netherlands is split in three areas: The European homeland, the Dutch East Indies and Suriname & Curacao. They are all valuable lands too much to lose. The two former for its aforementioned resources and Suriname since defense isn't worth unless active consideration.
Unless the player wants to end up as only Curacao (assuming they forget this island exist), these are the main ways to play a the netherlands (at least for the first week)
First, diplomacy. The Netherlands is a quite fragile empire, both geographically and diplomatically. In general, the Dutch should keep good relations with the French and the British, as both nations have colonies everywhere the Dutch is. German diplomacy should be considered if the Dutch doesn't want to struggle with oil issues. Other powers worth considering is Australia and Japan.
As mentioned above, Australia's army is on par with the KNIL (Koninklijk Nederlands Indisch Leger I> Royal Dutch Indian Army), so if Australia offers you to hand over the Indies for money, do not. The Indies alone contributes your entire Rare material production and half of everything else except Oil. And dependcy of the Indies grows if the Homeland falls. This is a battle that the Dutch can solo win against (unlike Mongolia/Manchukuo vs China/Russia/Japan or Poland vs Germany), however it requires the player to be very capable and flexible and so a higher standard of playstyle.
As for Japan, it's not really in a position to actually afford a Indies invasion. For one, it can take a whole day for your troops just to land on the Indies, with too many targets to cover, and diverts a large amount of the Japanese navy to your region, ironically giving you a stronger bargain to cooperate with China or Manchukuo.
Second, economy. There's nothing more important than to produce the materials required to construct industries to produce more. As oil is covered for a moment, focus on building rural industries on several rare material province, then steel. Should the mainland fall, focus on oil industrialization.
Third, the military. For the mainland, invest on a limited army if Belgium is an option. For most of the Indies, your army should consist of a large navy (even if they're low-leveled) and a good amount of landing units (infantry, armored vechiles and light tanks). Use your militia well, but don't invest on them (unless necessary) as Allied Militia are one of the most wasteful units in the game.
I know there's already a guide on the Netherlands before, but that one is not only from 1.0, but diplomacy are drastically different as well.
On paper, the Netherlands has over 70 provinces, way more than any of the minor nations, putting the Dutch as the middle power between minor and major. Most of its non-core provinces are actually on par with a poor-resource (750 at 100% morale) core province. It's army is on par with Australia and Brazil and it's navy is much better than any of the minor nations could have.
However, this is where the good ends. The Kingdom of the Netherlands is split in three areas: The European homeland, the Dutch East Indies and Suriname & Curacao. They are all valuable lands too much to lose. The two former for its aforementioned resources and Suriname since defense isn't worth unless active consideration.
Unless the player wants to end up as only Curacao (assuming they forget this island exist), these are the main ways to play a the netherlands (at least for the first week)
First, diplomacy. The Netherlands is a quite fragile empire, both geographically and diplomatically. In general, the Dutch should keep good relations with the French and the British, as both nations have colonies everywhere the Dutch is. German diplomacy should be considered if the Dutch doesn't want to struggle with oil issues. Other powers worth considering is Australia and Japan.
As mentioned above, Australia's army is on par with the KNIL (Koninklijk Nederlands Indisch Leger I> Royal Dutch Indian Army), so if Australia offers you to hand over the Indies for money, do not. The Indies alone contributes your entire Rare material production and half of everything else except Oil. And dependcy of the Indies grows if the Homeland falls. This is a battle that the Dutch can solo win against (unlike Mongolia/Manchukuo vs China/Russia/Japan or Poland vs Germany), however it requires the player to be very capable and flexible and so a higher standard of playstyle.
As for Japan, it's not really in a position to actually afford a Indies invasion. For one, it can take a whole day for your troops just to land on the Indies, with too many targets to cover, and diverts a large amount of the Japanese navy to your region, ironically giving you a stronger bargain to cooperate with China or Manchukuo.
Second, economy. There's nothing more important than to produce the materials required to construct industries to produce more. As oil is covered for a moment, focus on building rural industries on several rare material province, then steel. Should the mainland fall, focus on oil industrialization.
Third, the military. For the mainland, invest on a limited army if Belgium is an option. For most of the Indies, your army should consist of a large navy (even if they're low-leveled) and a good amount of landing units (infantry, armored vechiles and light tanks). Use your militia well, but don't invest on them (unless necessary) as Allied Militia are one of the most wasteful units in the game.
I know there's already a guide on the Netherlands before, but that one is not only from 1.0, but diplomacy are drastically different as well.
