Prepare your invasion with the settlement in mind
Prepare a Geoplanetical invasion by setting your grounds and territorial claims, checking equipped forces, ammunition, military funds and logistics, then directing the general staff. To finish an annexation, occupy provinces within your declared territorial goals and secure an accepted, signed peace treaty; occupation alone does not transfer ownership.
Check claims, forces and funding before declaring
- Choose grounds that match your objective, from defending an ally to conquest. Review whether the declaration is regarded as legitimate or aggressive, the expected international response and your ministers' positions. Check the effects on stability, approval and existing treaties before confirming.
- Inspect Defense → Order of battle and your arsenal holdings. Equipment already committed to formations is separate from reserve stock, and the general staff distributes equipment and replacement personnel over time. An equipment delivery does not immediately mean every formation is fully reinforced.
- Review Defense treasury, especially Protected operating funds and Available for orders. Equipment purchases need the full contract amount available while operating funds remain protected. A higher annual defense allocation feeds the treasury over time; an Exceptional transfer draws immediately on national treasury cash.
- Compare ammunition held in storage with ammunition assigned to units, then review consumption and deliveries. Raising Depot target sets a desired reserve rather than supplying ammunition immediately. Replenishment needs military funds and production time, and consumption can outpace incoming deliveries.
Declare war and direct the general staff
- Set the territorial claims you intend to pursue in the declaration. These declared goals matter later because occupying land outside them is insufficient for annexation.
- Confirm the declaration after reviewing its grounds, international response and domestic consequences. Your offensive war does not automatically bring allied countries into the fighting.
- Choose a directive for the general staff: Hold, Limited pressure or Major offensive. The staff manages unit movements and combat, while your directive sets the approach to the campaign.
- Set priorities between theatres, then review them as the campaign develops. Strategic directives are subject to monthly reviews. Terrain, supply, encirclements, air superiority and sea control affect operations.
- Choose a targeting doctrine as part of your instructions to the general staff. The staff continues to handle unit movements rather than requiring you to direct each formation.
- Order an amphibious landing when that is your intended approach, or allow the general staff to initiate one. The staff handles the landing plan and unit movements. Check the embarkation requirements rather than treating ordinary overseas transit as a landing order.
Manage occupation and bring allies into the war
Provincial control follows the ground held by your forces. Occupation offers administration, repression or expulsion, and hostility can develop into revolt. Civilian casualties, displacement and refugees affect the population and the international response, including relations and sanctions.
Allies do not automatically join an offensive war. If you lead a side, open its theatre → Call allies, select an available ally in Cablegram and send Ask to join the war. Acceptance brings that ally into your coalition with its own formations, but its government can refuse after weighing its interests, relations, capabilities and risks.
For aid, open Defense → Alliances → Military support and choose Request support. A proposal needs acceptance before becoming active. Funding can repeat monthly, while an equipment shipment is a separate delivery. An arms embargo or closed route can block equipment even while financial support continues, so check what actually arrived.
Find out why the advance has stalled
- Select a unit on the military map and inspect Ammunition endurance. Resupply draws from the national depot but remains limited by logistics, and isolated units cannot receive it. Increasing the depot target does not fix an isolated formation's supply route.
- Read the movement explanation in the unit panel and Bases screen. These show where units are going and why a move is unavailable. Intercontinental troop movement does not require transport aircraft, so buying them is not a general solution to a stalled transfer.
- Review support for the war alongside the front. Losses, time and lost ground wear that support down. If it collapses, your military can capitulate despite having forces left, so remaining formations alone do not guarantee that the campaign can continue.
Finish annexation through peace negotiations
- Open Peace negotiations from the war's command controls. Read the negotiating margin and the opponent's response to your proposed terms before committing to a settlement.
- Select occupied provinces covered by your declared territorial war goals. Selecting an occupied province outside those goals is not a route to annexing it through this settlement.
- Remove a province you want to leave out by clicking it again. This takes that province out of the territorial demands in your proposed settlement.
- Choose Sign the treaty when your terms are accepted. This completes the settlement. A rejected offer leaves the war running.
- Review the war report after peace. It records the settlement, duration and losses, letting you check the outcome of the completed war.
| Option | What it changes |
|---|---|
| Annexation | Transfers eligible occupied provinces through an accepted, signed territorial settlement. |
| White peace | Use Clear all to remove territorial demands and propose peace without those annexations. |
| Ceasefire | Suspends fighting for a set duration without changing sovereignty. Fighting resumes automatically when it expires. |
| Armistice | Suspends fighting indefinitely, with forces holding their positions and sovereignty unchanged. |
Military changes since launch
Military updates added Stocks, Procurement, Industry and Contracts tabs, with choices between domestic production, foreign suppliers and surplus equipment. Compare prices, models, delivery times and maintenance costs before ordering. Movement fixes let troops reach fronts without a land route and take the fastest available land, air or sea route. Your overseas territories also join your wars, making their bases and units available.
Check nuclear risks before escalating
Check the AI nuclear first-use game rule when planning a war against a nuclear power. It controls whether an AI nuclear power may strike first when facing an existential threat. Review your own doctrine and alert level in Defense → Command → Deterrence. Nuclear strikes can also affect countries beyond their targets through soot that reduces sunlight, cools the climate and harms food and solar production.
Political control and console annexation
- Can I install a friendly government after a war?
- A puppet arrangement does not let you personally select the subordinate state's government. It gives the controlling country authority over that state's military and foreign policy. An available political-status settlement is a different outcome from annexing its provinces.
- Do annexation commands follow the peace process?
- No. The annex_prov console command directly takes a province, while annex_country takes a country's provinces and dissolves it. These are console effects, separate from negotiated annexation. Successful territory cheats disable achievements for the campaign.