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Hi, I'm Senry, I've been Secretary of Defense (MoD) for a while now.

In this article I intend to shed some light on tactical decision making when planning an offensive war against an enemy. This article assumes you are aware of the basics, which you can find on the wiki, or alternatively found summarized in an article by Wild Owl very recently.



To start, when planning a war, you must first align your path to the target. If you neighbor country you wish to declare war on, this is a simple task of passing the Natural Enemy law in congress, as it is the free way to declare war, which also comes the 10% damage boost. The plan can become more complicated past this initial type, however. The cost of airstrike can be too great to warrant it at certain times, at which point you will need to either make deals with other countries to reach your destination, or carve a bloody path through wherever you can.

For the US right now, an airstrike costs approximately 1,000,000cc. This is worth it when the target is half the world away, when there is no way you can clear a path to the target, or when quick deployment is essential to the strategy, which could be for example, assisting allies and preventing their country from being wiped. Another factor to consider is the additional cost of airstrikes, in the form of Combat Orders. It's true that airstrikes draw a lot of attention. This is because there is no counter-attack available if you lose, as you will not land. You should have a decent chunk of cash available depending on who your enemy is, and who their primary benefactors are to be. Typically one would not need more than a few million cc, often a safe bet would be 5M cc, but there's going to be a clear difference in amounts when attacking Serbia, and when attacking Norway.

A good way to mitigate initial resistance to your landing is to attack an available, small, neighboring country to your target, in a region that is connected to at least one of their regions. The general perceived reason for this being is that it is harder for a country to direct large amounts of damage to move and fight against you, as opposed to a straight battle against you with their own allies against yours. At this stage, you should be aware that if there is only one region of your target to attack from your chosen region, and its original owner is not your target, they could very well start a resistance war in their own territory and slow you down greatly, as well as cost you DoW money, hence if this is the case you should try to pick a region where there is either multiple connections to your target, or where your region of attack is neighboring a region originally owned by your target.

The way to avoid the risks and costs involved in an airstrike, where your target is only one or two country borders away from you and you don't mind the loss in time (where time is also an important asset in that it allows your target to prepare for you, if they're aware of your plans), you should look to the countries on your path to help you if possible, by allowing you through in a sanctioned manner. This will reduce resistance on your path when compared to carving your way through them instead. These negotiations are typically within the realm of foreign affairs, and are best done with countries who do not share many large MPPs with you, as you will lose out on valuable support if you don't re-sign these MPPs in time. Often not a big problem, but be sure to consider that it will cost both you and the ally you lost some cash.

I would like to credit this paragraph to Exalted Druid for reminding me to point out another feature of planning your attacks. If your country is occupying another country, when you have an offensive planned elsewhere, you should be aware that it's possible to have your own damage diverted if the target starts a resistance war in one of your occupied regions when you attack, taking potential damage away from where you want it. This goes both ways, though, and can be used to your advantage if the enemy occupies other countries too. This is based in the reasoning that nobody on your side is required to fight in the region of the resistance war, whereas your target's citizens and certain aspects of their allied forces will desire to put some damage in there to maintain their grip.

The most important factor that you cannot overlook, which I've saved for last to try to catch your eye (look I even used some bold text), is support from your Military Units. It is absolutely vital that you at least talk with the leaders of your largest sources of damage, and draw from both their knowledge of the game and of their members. Not only are you looking for their thoughts on the war, which could be a major deciding factor in the outcome on its own, but you should plan along with these people to coordinate the best time to begin your attack. I learned this the hard way. Don't be a doof.

And tell your allies too. Other countries either in your alliance, or with whom you're friends with. It might take some foreign affairs to decide which countries should be informed and which shouldn't, but generally you can find solace within the alliance. They'll do their thing, gather their damage, and will usually be more than happy to help you as well.



Thank you for reading, this has been a fairly in-depth look at the preparation stage of an offensive war. I am by no means infallible (yet). Please leave a comment if you spot any flaws in what is written above, or if you have any questions, or if you just want to tell me you love me. I can take it.