A friend of mine used to play as China all the time and he passed away in January, been trying to play successfully as China on ironman mode now around 17 times in his honor. Thanks for guide.

I think redoing some your guides to adapt to No Step Back when needed is a good idea since it changed the game so much. Not all of your guides need updates but for China it is really appreciated.

"Romance of the three kingdoms" only require you to puppet Guangxi and Yunnan, I think you can just outright annex Xibei San Ma at 9:34

Every time I start the counter attack through manchukuo I simply love how you instantly 'kill' everything in the north the moment you take Mukden. It's the single most important distribution point for the entire region and getting your hand on it seals the fate of all the troops in that area.

"We put the Emperor in his place. *Which is PRISON* " This sentence has a strong Gigachad aura.

Always a good day when a new Bald3rsteel video comes out!

Try restoring the mongolian empire, not an easy task I know, but it would be really cool wouldn't it?

Joining the axis and therefore fighting USA is probably the best way to get the one about getting a field marshal to level 9

I did the Awake and Angry achievement before they took away the requirements for the European cities. Hardest campaign I think I've done

Oh my, I just finished 100% achievements yesterday, but you're always a great teacher to watch again and again

Winnie the pooh want to know your location

I love playing China in HOI4. I can win the 2nd Sino-Japanese War in Mid 1938, but I have never thought about using spies to force a non-aggression pact. That's really cool! This gives me even more playthrough options. Thanks!

I was playing as Nationalist China earlier and I didn't like my playthrough, decided to check on your channel to see if you had any video to help and boom, you just released this. You are a godsend keep up the great work.

I remember some documentary or other being told "if you were to observe humanity at any point in history and pick which civilization would conquer the whole world, you'd probably pick China."

Thaaanks man I needed this. Been trying to do this for a while

I was just thinking about playing this, I could’ve sworn you made this already, but let’s gooooo!

Honestly without listening to the meta i did pretty good. I went historical and improved my template, i managed to kill off many Japanese divisions and now i am kinda stuck in Manchuria with low organization cause there are NO supplies at all, except a few railways at the Manchurian capital(that i already took). I had 600k casualties while they have 1.5 milion. PS.I ended that game by conquering Manchuria and starting pushing into North Korea, and PRC just decided to infiltrate 3 provinces at the worst moment and attacked me. But i had some spare divisions, i decided to enter a stalemate with Japan to kill of PRC, i did it, then i pushed into South Korea and as i took Seoul Japan asked to surrender leaving them with only Japanese island.

Like the additional explanation over the sped up footage. Nice addition.

I managed to do it the old way, the only difference is I build a supply hub in Suiyuan and completely hold the line. You can deliberately lose Shandong though, but don't let them take Qingdao, they will put a lot of troops there but cannot push because they run out of supply. I always manually assign port guards.

wow bitter steel these new videos are so engaging idk what you did but keep doing it

@Bitt3rSteel Thanks for the guide. There must have been some updates that have made it more difficult to achieve the same results as described in the guide. After a few attempts, I almost gave up. But then, out of the blue, I discovered an new cheesy way to accomplish it. This method works if Shanxi does not surrender and you have to conquer them. Here are the steps: 1. Focus on quickly focustree annex goals on the warlords, communists, and Japan (Japan step is crucial). 2. Gain enough favor from Japan so that you can establish a non-aggression pact with them (do not activate it yet). 3. Puppet or conquer all warlords except Shanxi. 4. Wait until Japan starts justify on China, then establish a non-aggression pact with them. 5. Position your troops on the border with Shanxi with the goal of cut out Japan's advance and swiftly to capture victory points. 6. Now for the unconventional part: Japan declares war on Shanxi, you declare war on Shanxi... Japan then invites you to join their faction!? If you accept, you will enjoy a lifetime of peace with Japan, with no troops stationed on your border. You can leave the faction whenever you desire. Additionally, if you have the "Conquer Japan" focus, you can swiftly claim all logistical advantages along the Beijing border before Japan can react. I successfully executed this strategy when Japan declared war on the USA and managed to conquer all areas without much difficulty.

My comments on this; its entirely possible to win if they attack in 1937. Just pump out five full armies and set two to guard the ports, two to hold the north and one as a 'rapid reaction' force to repel invasions. Also, from the game start, build four mils and then connect and build up the railways. If you dont have a level three (ideally level 4) railway connecting Beijing to Nanjing at the start of the war then you have no chance of holding the north. Make sure the railways connect to all the supply hubs as well. You should also turn off all sea routes to stop what few convoys you have getting immediately sunk.

Great video thank you for this!

I'm watching this after 13 days, so not everoone could read this, but I have a tip to focus against warlords. If you put your army on fronts with every posiible Warlords, they have more chance to submit. I tested it few times and it works, even Sinkinag could disagree

bitt3rsteel youre guides are so awsm

I was following your guide and I managed to get myself into the Greater East-Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere, I had really bad RNG and all of the war lords refused and the Marco Polo bridge event triggered whilst I was still fighting Shanxi and Japan invited to the faction... I am up currently up to 1941... and Japan is yet to start its attack

Week roughly 30 of asking for plan Z no trash ships or annexing puppet fleets other than Vichy. I’ve done it by doing all of the naval focuses first except plan z (wait until 39 to do it) and start your war at the beginning/mid 1940. I was able to do this with historically accurate designs level 3 battleships by 1942. If you do take this challenge an extra kicker would be not being allowed to invade Britain until after defeating the Soviet Union

The complete ROC (Capitalist China) territory also includes all of Mongolia and Tanutua, although there is no claim to Tanutua in the game

I've been doing the non-aggression pact thing but as the Soviet, I wet the "what is supplies? " Part of the mass assault doctrine and stack 150 division on the small German border between Latvia and Hungary. Work every time

I love your guides! Hopefully you could try to reform the Mongolian Empire !

I tried this strategy but instead of holding on to that land during Marco Polo, I gave it to the Japanese. The difference is after the 3 year non-aggression pact, Japan will have to justify on non-claimed provinces, which brought me another 230 days to prepare. And at the end, I was so strong that the lost territory didn’t matter, as I didn’t build there

I wouldn't say it's "ironic" that the Soviets help China more than the west in game (commenting on a miscellaneous comment you made in the beginning). The Soviets actually did help China substantially before 1941, more than any other nation, because they wanted to keep the Japanese from invading Siberia, and the Japanese were less likely to invade so long as they were fighting the Chinese. Shortly before Operation Barbarossa in 1941, the Soviets and Japanese signed a non-aggression pact where the Soviets agreed to stop supporting China and remain neutral. The Japanese considered breaking the neutrality pact that same year, but ultimately decided to attack the Philippines instead.

nice video havent watched it yet but know its gonna be a really good video :)

I'm loving these types of videos

No Step Back changed a lot of things for Napoleonic France playthrough, especially if you are going for the Moscow achievement. Could you do a Nappy France guide with heavy tanks for that achievement with Germany taken before UK?

Great run, I'll give this a go tomorrow

This would have been a great opportunity to show how to grind in this theater and achieve 'Sun Tzu Reborn'. Like the China pocket for example.

I love your content and guides, but with NSB many guides are almost impossible with new Focus trees and Supply, so if you can redo guides for for NSB or By blood alone will be amazing thanks ❤️

dude, i try this 2 time and in the second run, first time i see japan justify manually on shanxi before marcolopolo bridge, i love this game

Literally the hardest part about awake and angry isn't the japanese no it is you not having a navy

30:54 "One night in Bangkok and world's your oyster, one in Bangkok and we'll all be dead"

this is like my third run of trying to fully complete this

Good video, also even if you don't need the european cores, it still hurts my eyes to see them not annexed

HOI4 GUIDE ULTIMATE LIBERIA

I was just watching a documentary about China, and this notification popped up. What a coincidence :)

I would love to see a new Austria Hungary video with NSB or wait for BBA

you should put the required dlc in your description for your guides because a lot of us don't have the dlc.

good job and nice intro bro

Genuinely impressed you managed to get paratroopers to work. Always glitches out for me.

try to win the 1939 scenario as china, the first year of micro even against the ai is a complete hell

love the new editing

Great guide!

With the new By Blood Alone DLC, China doesn't have any starting planes researched. Would you recommend researching them as fast as possible?

I've never been able to subjugate the warlords since NSB came out, I think they changed something. I find it utterly impossible to get the warlords completed before the Japanese attack me.

"We've put the emperor in his place, which is prison." I'm💀

This game look so hard to play but I like to watch you play 😁

The tiger is not only awake and angry, they are also united and ready!

I’ve never used diplomatic pressure but that’s pretty cool I also don’t think that’s cheesy at all I feel like the dev wanted people to use this but no one cared

Would you be willing doing some guides on without any DLC? I love watching these videos but sometimes I have a hard time using them since there are some differences and still new to the game.

"im gonna take ya nan" - BitterSteel 2022

@Bitt3rSteel Been following your guides I've done Germany and Japan. Even with the outdated info in some of the older video's I can still manage. In this one though China starts with an Airforce but not the research so you can't produce CAS and fighters until you research. Which might be what's hampering me but the other issue I run into is even with my non agression with Japan they just declare on one of the warlord puppets and I'm at war again. Any advice?

I think the chance of the five warlords accepting to become your puppets is depended on the opinions you have with them, because when I played China I started by immediately improve their relations and I got 4 out of the five submitted to me 3 times in a row. I could be totally wrong, but I am quite curious to know if that is the case.

Hey man i submitted a diaster save where America is doing really badly, I think it would be cool if you played it and showed me how to win, thanks!

So trying this on latest patch, Japan just bypasses the non-agro by war dec your puppet shanxi cause they get a war goal on both you and shanxi. Is that new? or did I do something wrong?

great nice video as usually but i would like to see more disaster saves,it was really funny back then when you were releasing it almost every week.

I know you just remade this guide 3 months ago, but already looks like you might need to remake it again since one of the key parts of this strategy was building up inter-war fighters at the start and now despite starting with multiple interwar plane air wings, China only starts with transport planes researched. Which with 181 days research time and 2 research slots, takes away a good bit of production efficiency gain time

Man, the non-aggression pact thing just makes it feel dirty!

united front china is pretty fun too if you know what youre doing

You only need to puppet and then integrate yunnan and guanxi, you don't need to puppet the others

My right ear loved this

Could you try out Sinkiang uniting China and forming Turkestan? I've recently done that but it was so tedious and exhausting I wonder if there could be easier way for it.

I followed this guide and ended up in a faction with Japan fighting the Soviets, Communist China joined the Soviet faction when Japan declared war on them right before I did, still got the achievement by building up an army after the Soviets were defeated

I did a run with KMT recently, was a lot of fun, really felt like achieving the good ending

I think the devs really need to at least ad an unconnected supply hub in Chongqing.

I am not sure if this still works after NSB, but if you hold off on getting the white peace to fire until after Japan gets French Indo-China and occupy it you get to keep it.

"There's just a bit of Mongolia I'd like to take, namely all of it"😂

By Blood Alone changed the freaking airzones and now air feels like a complete waste of resources in the buildup when going to war in '37. Not having the La Résistance DLC also negates the possibility to use spies or get any intel whatsoever. Playing with just Waking the tiger, Death or dishonor and Together for victory (I'm not cheap just buying the DLCs one by one to get a gradual experience rather than an overwhelming one) China can still be really challenging because of the AI supply bonusses and use of bs command power mechanics

In the base game no DLC I was able to take xibei San ma tibet and shanxi as communist China by 1939

Italy in SP is so weak that they fold well before 1944 in 9 of 10 historical single player games. Hopefully Paradox makes them able to hold enough that DDay would actually matter.

Best editing ever

I like how his videos are more then just a take all states compilation with generic jokes

I think the supply hub near xibei san ma is redundant, I never needed it in my china plays

Does the diplomatic pressure thing still work? Also does it work as communist china, you know the first year taking xibei, sinkiang etc but I always struggle to take china, I never have enough divisions and Japan always destroys me.

I love nationalist China. Such a fun game. If you can snipe Communist China you're pretty set, but the desperate defence is still really fun.

The ROC without Taiwan Province on the cover really makes me want to laugh.

Hey, why dont you try adding flame tank support companies to your divisions?

There is 0 supply in Manchuria. Can't figure out how to get Mukden. In one of my runs, I did get Mukden but supply was still low to the point where I couldn't do anything but defend

If I want to do the Sun Tzu achievement, who do you suggest I attack at the end of the guide to get more general upgrades and then promote. I was thinking Soviets or maybe USA?

No Step Back made the achievements for minors a real pain in the ass. Looking at you My Ships Don’t Lie.

I tried doing this strat but literally everyone refused when I tried to subjugate the warlords and I took too long to eat everyone and Japan declared on Shanxi in 39

how did you make that map cinematic at the start of the vid?

i dont know what i do wrong. Subjugate warlord makes all of them refuse and i am at +100 relationship. Every time they all refuse.

Thanks a lot for the great and helpful video. After I´ve watched some of your vids HOI is getting much easier. Initially I´ve played the German Reich. When I tried other countries I´ve followed the same strategy as with the German Reich. But that doesn´t work. Your vids showed me different ways to play HOI and use the intelligence - wonderful. Btw: I will never join the Allies again. I´ve done this several times and Mr. Churchill kicked me out every time, even though I didn´t do anything wrong and made a huge impact at war (yes, my portugese army liberated France, Belgium, Netherlands and then defeated Germany and Japan, while England did not get over the Alps). It´s not worth it - rather die lonely then betrayed by democrats.

Me using Calvary drive through Xi Bei San Ma capital to force surrender😎 Me having divisions dying in Sinkiang because it's "a little" far away from supply💀💀

I don't know what i did wrong for some reason i did not get Awake and Angry even tho i signed the peace treaty i even went to war again and signed the peace treaty again and still did not get it can someone explain?

I don’t have access to any planes or trucks as china. I also tried rushing those smaller nations and got completely bogged down against them. Looks like they completely nerfed this entire method

What DLCs are you using?

I have accpeted peace deal from japan and force her surrendered. It says i have to conquer all core territories of china and manchukuo. Do anyone know what am i missing? Many thanks

What time-lapse did you use in the opening?

Need to take Mongolia, Tanu Uriankhai and the Outer Manchuria back to really reform Greater China!