ALB - Grammar and Gameplay

[eneskristo]

Quick questions HOI4 version: Kaiserreich version: Master

Describe the change you would like: Some Grammar and Gameplay changes for Albania. The former is much more important than the latter.

Explain the reasoning behind this change:

Hello,

I will separate my suggested changes into two parts, grammar and gameplay.

Grammar

• [x] So let’s start with the most annoying thing about looking at Albanian troops, namely how bad their name looks. Essentially they are called divisions, but, the term used is that of numerical division rather than of a military division. Here are some suggested name changes:

• Infantry -> Divizioni i këmbesorisë Nr. (Insert number)

• Tanks -> Divizioni i koracuar Nr. (Insert number)

• Cavalry -> Divizioni i kavalerisë Nr. (Insert number)

• Mountaineers -> Divizioni i ushtarëve malesorë Nr. (Insert number)

• Marines -> Divizioni marins Nr. (Insert number)

• Paratroopers -> Divizioni parashutist Nr. (Insert number)

• Militia -> Divizioni i milicisë Nr. (Insert number)

These are the main ones I think division wise. I can provide more if need be for other stuff.

Let’s do Albanian names now.

• [x] The city of Scutari should become the city of Shkodra, as that is the Albanian name for it. Furthermore, the Albanian naval base is marked as Scutari right now, which is weird. I’d suggest Durrës or Vlora as the port, or even Tirana, although it would not be geographically correct.

• [x] I’d also suggest adding the city of Vlora to Albania in the south, although I understand that would mess with region code.

• [x] Politicians and political parties are also not that good. So it should be Partia Përparimtare. Furthermore some of the Company names are wrong. Arsenali i Ushtrisë, Tiranë would be more correct than the current name for the army comp, and so would Kanteri i Pashë Alimanit for the naval company.

Gameplay

So let us talk Albanian gameplay.

• [x] One of the things I’d like to see is a big advantage for mountaineers in Albania. Given its huge mountain presence, I would like to see bonuses on mountaineer research and even a spirit which gives mountaineer bonus attack and defense. You could go as far as to increase the mountaineer division cap, or even remove it entirely at the cost of tank and artillery penalties. It can easily be tied to the northern clans, but in all honesty the southern clans also were very mountain inclined if you want to throw them a bone. You could even have a decision where you go for the attack bonus with the northern clans or defensive bonus with the southern ones.

• [x] Let’s talk Albanian cores. This is a map of the so called greater Albania: https://www.novinite.com/media/images/2010-11/photo_verybig_122305.jpg. While it is unrealistic today as especially the Albanians in Greece have had a good ole Balkan treatment, in 1936 it was largely feasible as there were enough Albanian pops to warrant that. An Albanian expansionism focus tree would probably be in 3 tiers:

• Tier 1 - Kosovo and Epirus (Alliance with Bulgaria and if they win the Balkan war, Albania gets those, alternatively you can start a war with the Belgrade pact yourself or get some other way of doing it.)

• Tier 2 - Western Macedonia (Demand from Bulgaria, offer economic concessions like consumer goods or get a casus belli)

• Tier 3 - Illyria and Calabria (Ancient Illyrians were the ancestors of modern Albanians, although this is somewhat contested at times. While the regions of Illyria have little to nothing to do with Albania even at in 1936, getting a bonus to recruitable pop in them should be fine and you can start Albanization similar to Japan, although it would take much longer. A similar situation is going on with Calabria, although there is and was a slightly higher Albanian presence there than in Illyria. This would put Albania against the Reichspakt or Donau Adriabund gameplay wise, as the aims would be Illyria and Two Sicilies. You could also leave the option open for a 3I offensive.)

It is worth noting that if the Epirus aspiration is in game, there might be a need to reroute Corfu, as there was little to no Albanian presence in the island both historically and in 1936. Alternatively you could have Corfu be a part of stage 1 as a non Core and try giving it the Albanization treatment. This could go deeper into a foreign policy tree thing. In OTL, Albania allied itself with china towards its latter years of communism after it left the Warsaw Pact. It would not surprise me if Albania looked for friends elsewhere other than just the Peninsula. I could see America or even Japan being allies, with events like a “Port in the Mediterranean” popping up. I don’t see Russia as an ally because of the historical enmity between Albanians and Slavs.

Additional comments: I am willing to give more insight into other stuff and answer more questions about Albania.

[PPsyrius]

@eneskristo Mind providing division names for motorized, mechanized and garrison troops too?

[PPsyrius]

Regarding the city naming, you can toggle the native naming system by pressing where the achievement button is on the upper right corner of the screen - it's already "Shkodër" over there, while the port has been renamed from Tirana to Durrës in #9188 a while back I think?

Adding Vlorë in seems like a overkill for me, so probably no, unless you can justify its strategic importance in KRTL (rather than from OTL standpoint alone)

Other naming changes for political party and company names are all accepted and changed accordingly

[eneskristo]

Motorized -> Divizioni mobil Nr. (Insert number) Mechanized -> Divizioni i blinduar Nr. (Insert number) Garrison is a bit more difficult. Divizioni i Xhandamërisë sounds right. Although the xhandamerie is more akin to a police force, but you so use it in the albania tree as a garrison thing, so it works out.

[eneskristo]

I did notice the shift option only yesterday. Sorry about that. Idk why it flipped for me, ad in vanilla i recalled the city being Shkodra, and figured it was a geopolitical KRTL thing which seemed weird.

So there is a couple of ways I can justify Vlora in KR. The first thing worth noting is that the Kantier of Pash Alimani is very close to Vlora. Furthermore, vlora was the symbol of Albanian independence as it was where the flag was raised in 1912. In OTL, the Albanians were willing to attack the italians in vlora in 1920 iirc to kick them out. Who attacks a world war winning power like that if they have to faith in the symbol? (https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vlora_War&ved=2ahUKEwj3t6n5p4nrAhU4oHIEHf4LAmUQFjAAegQIEBAB&usg=AOvVaw1m8pY_O8Tsq2s4gAG6mUhH)

A weak Italy that loses combined with the Austrian influence being mostly in the north and center would leave Vlora as one of the more powerful cities around. It is worth noting that Tirana was a small town that essentialy became the consensus capital to avoid several other local lords being to powerful. Theres an above 0 chance that Vlora would be the capital depening on how weak Esat Pashe Toptani is, and even if not, it would still not be a second hand city, but would essentialy be the queen of the south with a damaged north and a necessary hq for the vorioepir conflicts.

At this point weve gone really deep into Albanian history. I can go deeper. Idk if the person who wrote KR albania was albanian themselves, although i do like a good chunk of the stuff he did.

[eneskristo]

Also I checked, and in my game Scutari appears as the Albanian port

[PPsyrius]

@eneskristo I would beg to differ regarding the port (at least for the dev build):

Division name for those unit are fixed now

[eneskristo]

You are right. I saw the name on the port being Scutari and figured that was the port. Why is the whole region of northern and central albania named Scutari? Why not just Northern Albania, or Albania?

[PPsyrius]

Good question, but I will leave that up to @Vidyaorszag 's discretion I guess

[eneskristo]

That's fair. I'm also willing to give more insight into anything Albania related. Otherwise seems good.

[Alpinia]

Vlore is now a VP for Albania.

[stale[bot]]

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it was created more than a month ago. Any dev is now free to relabel, close or implement it.

[Vidyaorszag]

For the gameplay suggestions: 1) A good idea to keep in mind when Albania gets touched up 2) Albania can already claim Tier 1 and 2 via decisions. No need for a focus tree. Whether we decide to split off Western Macedonia just for Albanian claims, it's very unlikely. Tier 3 is absolutely ludicrous, though, and that's not happening. Albanizing these areas is completely implausible as well.

As for more foreign politics, the issue is that you're comparing WW2 and pre-WW2 Albania with the Cold War, which was a completely different context. Albania in the KR timeframe is unlikely to look outside Europe or MENA (or rather OTT and EGY), really.

Thank you for your suggestions, however. The grammar ones were absolutely invaluable.