Tier list and assessment of playable nations in Historic World War

    This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse this site, you are agreeing to our Cookie Policy.

    • Tier list and assessment of playable nations in Historic World War

      After gathering even more knowledge of the game, I can now assess the strengths and weaknesses of each nation.

      I'm going to exclude Germany here, as there is realistically improbable you even can get Germany at all since every player would take Germany immediately.

      Of course, this is presuming your threats are actually actively playing and are of decent quality command, capable of economic expansion and knows how to do doctrines.

      S-Tier
      United States
      Threats - Japan, United Kingdom, Canada, Mexico
      Excellent economic potential, god-tier geographic standing, good navy and many potential points of expansion. Starting procedure is to secure control over Canada and Mexico, peacefully or conquest, and check Japan's movements.

      United Kingdom
      Threats - France, Germany, Italy, Japan
      The best naval placement and amount of all. Secure as much support over all over the world except South America, as a safe front from one continent allows a full commitment on another continent. Starting procedure is to take British Egypt, as you can very easily overpower him by day 2.

      Soviet Union
      Threats - Japan, Germany
      A very good geographic position, as the minor nations rarely even unite their forces to push you on all fronts. Great economic potential and a better doctrine. Starting procedure is to check the movements of Germany and Japan if you are unable to ally them and take Persia.


      A-Tier
      China
      Threats - Japan
      Great economic potential and excellent doctrine for conquest. Starting procedure is to check Japan's movements (if unable to ally) and start taking Mongolia and Xinjiang. Should Japan be unwilling to ally, prepare to spam lvl 3 militias, artillery and fighters.

      Japan
      Threats - United States
      Good economy with a superb navy in Asia. Starting procedure is to negotiate with China on a peaceful relations, as an outright war would leave your already poor-resource Chinese provinces into ruins, and take over Manchukuo.


      B-Tier
      France
      Threats - Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain
      Good economy, but pretty bad geographic position, as you can only hold one front at the time. Unwinnable if two of them are committed to the front, as their combined economies would outpace your mobilization. Starting procedure is immediately reinforce your Maginot front with artillery, then reinforce the Italian front.

      Italy
      Threats - Germany, France, United Kingdom, Turkey
      While the navy is ok, the army is pretty meh for it's status as great power. Standard procedure is to secure neutrality at minimum with Germany and France, and if secured take Yugoslavia and Greece.

      Brazil
      Threats - None
      Excellent geography and economic potential being brought down with a doctrine not suitable for continental hegemony. Starting procedure is to take Argentina (since it's the only one that can really threaten your cities early on) and then deal with Peru and Venezuela.

      India
      Threats - United Kingdom
      Good geography and economic potential with lots of targets to expand. Starting procedure is just keep good relations with the UK and take Persia.


      C-Tier
      Argentina
      Threats - Brazil
      Trades economic potential with a better army and doctrine. Starting procedure is to take Brazil head on.

      Turkey
      Threats - Soviet Union, Italy, France, UK
      Decent economic potential with excellent geography. Starting procedure is to take either Greece or Iraq

      Sweden
      Threats - Germany, Soviet Union
      Good geography and ok economic potential.

      Netherlands
      Threats - Basically half of the countries of this map
      Pretty bad geography offset with the best non-core provinces as the Indies rural provinces are 750 instead of 250. Starting procedure is to secure as many diplomatic relations as possible, starting building industries ESPECIALLY on rural rare materials and never, NEVER give up the Indies voluntarily.

      Australia
      Threats - none (maybe Japan and USA?)
      The only two targets nearby is the Netherlands (who can spam faster with the lower level ships) and New Zealand. After those two are taken, it's basically a long trip to somewhere.

      Mexico
      Threats - USA
      Pretty much the Poland of America. You at least have central america to expand, and obviously keep good relations with Canada and USA.

      Romania
      Threats - Soviet Union, Germany, Italy
      Surprisingly good economic potential as it has oil, steel and rare materials in 3 provinces. It's basically China, but less cities.

      Spain
      Threats - France, UK
      Only nation nearby is Portugal, which is a glorified one-city state. Not much else to say than keep good relations with Europe.

      D-Tier
      Canada
      Threats - United States
      Pretty bad geography with no real targets (with Denmark taking 4 days to conquer). Good economic potential if it can keep good relations with USA.

      Poland
      Threats - Germany, Soviet Union
      Basically most Germany and Soviet Union, even the ones that go afk at day 2, attacks Poland. Game is unwinnable if both attack you. Standard procedure is ENSURE you can at least get support of either Germany or the Soviets, then you can expand to the Baltic states and Romania. If Germany and the Soviets aren't too interested in you, you're basically on par with Argentina.

      Yugoslavia
      Threats - Germany, Italy, Romania
      You basically traded the Soviet Union, which Poland is one of its targets, with Italy, which Yugoslavia is the primary target. Unwinnable if Italy is good and uses its navy and air force.


      Every nation not mentioned above is your DIY nation, since they'll be the most handicapped with expansion. However, there are some deserving F-Tier.

      F-Tier

      British Egypt
      Threats - United Kingdom, France, Italy
      Any of these 3 can obliterate your entire economy with their navy. All the while your expansion there would yield pretty meagre resources.

      Manchukuo
      Threats - Japan, Soviet Union, Mongolia, China
      Basically the worst geography ever. While Poland has 2 majors on each side of the border, it at least can expand into Romania and the Baltics. Manchukuo, however, is surrounded by Japan, the Soviet Union, Mongolia (another badly geographic nation) and if it does expand to Mongolia, China. And good luck with naval expeditions, as it'll take a whole day to find the nearest nation that isn't China, USA or Japan.

      The post was edited 1 time, last by Therworldtube ().

    • Persia is worse than Poland? Taking India and Afghanistan with them is not too hard if you re smart… it shouldn’t be the lowest tier, at least.

      Poland should be lowest tier though, to be honest. The thin is there are very few scenarios where the USSR or Germany (especially the latter) don’t just kill them. Your decent starting army wont make up for that.

      Germany is playable BTW, just have to camp. I’ve played them multiple times before and have a playthrough with them taking place right now.

      Brazil is definitely A-tier. I have fought two competent players controlling them before, and while I won both times it was hellish and only because the way those games were played that I won like I did. A good Brazil player can definitely take on even the US. Mexico and Canada working together against America early also tends to work…

      Australia could be argued to be equal to India. You can use your good economy to take Indonesia without much effort (especially because Germany or France will likely take the Netherlands without much effort themselves) and then strike any continent you want after turtling. South America, Africa, Asia, etc… there is a good chance they won’t expect you…

      CarKing the 6th of the Abrahamic Caliphate

    • Carking the 6th wrote:

      Persia is worse than Poland? Taking India and Afghanistan with them is not too hard if you re smart… it shouldn’t be the lowest tier, at least.

      Poland should be lowest tier though, to be honest. The thin is there are very few scenarios where the USSR or Germany (especially the latter) don’t just kill them. Your decent starting army wont make up for that.

      Germany is playable BTW, just have to camp. I’ve played them multiple times before and have a playthrough with them taking place right now.

      Brazil is definitely A-tier. I have fought two competent players controlling them before, and while I won both times it was hellish and only because the way those games were played that I won like I did. A good Brazil player can definitely take on even the US. Mexico and Canada working together against America early also tends to work…

      Australia could be argued to be equal to India. You can use your good economy to take Indonesia without much effort (especially because Germany or France will likely take the Netherlands without much effort themselves) and then strike any continent you want after turtling. South America, Africa, Asia, etc… there is a good chance they won’t expect you…
      Currently, I am playing as Poland and just launched a successful guerilla counteroffensive against Germany with Soviet guarantee (though it didn't materialize into anything), so yeah, not F.

      I've also played Persia and won it, but only because both the Soviets and India was afk. And that was after good relations.

      Also, I took into account that the players have to be good in the game. A good USA player would not let Brazil grow too large without diplomatic control. And since it's expected the mainland will fall, good Netherland players' first priority would be defending the Indies, so Australia isn't getting freebies, especially if the Dutch can keep Germany and Britain in good relations.

    • Was that Germany active at ALL? I literally took all of Poland, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg at day (Poland was active btw) and was able to invade France right after… very few casualties. You could really argue the same with any other country that a superpower should back you. A smart Soviet Player wouldn’t truly care, and maybe would just use you and then kill you after… low survival chance.

      You could do the same even if they were tbh… make sure you’re ready for a defensive war and you can definitely deter the Russians, far more easily than Poland, at least. India has a weak starting army s well and small, hard to attack border with you. Axis doctrine helps you too. Build up, wait for them to attack after a day or so and you can bleed them dry and win. WAAY more tenable than being surrounded by two superpowers.

      I was a US player who did that, and I barely won. Defending an entire channel is not too hard, with the use of naval bombers and defensive units. If Brazil has the help of another American nation or so they can definitely win. As for Australia, they have cores and more resources, along with better military buildings. The Netherlands just can’t compare. They can fight, but they will lose, they are spread thin, weaker, and don’t even have their cores. A smart German player wouldn’t want a resurgent Netherlands on the other side of the world… a Brit wouldn’t want to get on Australias bad side to the extent that they would stick their next out for them.

      CarKing the 6th of the Abrahamic Caliphate

    • I’ve only played the HWW map once, so take my opinion for what it’s worth. I remember thinking UK’s geographic position was a liability, sure they probably start with a reasonable military, but they’re scattered and would struggle in many early confrontations. But maybe that’s a reflection on my play style too. I’m not big on fighting several small wars at once. I always prefer to quickly overwhelm an opponent before moving to the next one. I didn’t play as them either, so I could be wrong. Not sure if I’ll play that map again either. I always like games where everyone starts relatively equally.