Command power (CP) represents the ability of the government to bypass the chain of command and directly influence the military. Command power is capped at 100, however, both the growth and the cap can be increased by Doctrines and National Spirits. Command power is limited to promotion of Field Marshals unless you have the Waking the Tiger DLC.
Command power is used for promoting generals to field marshals, taking certain military related decisions, managing air supply, assigning traits to field marshals, generals and admirals who qualify, and using special abilities to affect divisions. Note that in the case of military operations, command power can be spent on one-time operations or it can be allocated for continuous operations. Cost is based upon the total number of battalions in your army for which you activate a command ability.
Most of the command power abilities are unlocked by traits and apply to divisions under the general. These cost command power to trigger and run for a limited duration, giving bonuses or other effects such as offering up unique tactics.
Commander upgrades
Investment | Description | CP cost | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Assign trait | You can assign a trait to a Commander if they have an empty trait slot. | 15
|
Generals, Field Marshals and Admirals are treated in a similar fashion. |
Promote General to Field Marshal | You can promote Generals to Field Marshals, thus making them capable of controlling an Army Group. | 30
|
30 CP is only a base cost, it can be further modified by personality traits. |
Operations for field marshals and generals
Icon | Command Operation | Operation Description | CP cost per battalion | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Extra Supplies | Increases the time troops can be without supplies before suffering penalties. | 0.20
|
Unlocked by getting the Logistics Wizard Field Marshal trait. | |
Staff Office Plan | Increases planning speed for the cases when you need to finish and launch a new plan quickly. | 0.12
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All Generals and Field Marshals start with this ability. | |
Force Attack | Units gain attack bonuses and take no organization damage while attacking, but take increased strength damage. They are also unable to retreat from attacks when this is active. As the active units take damage this will also hurt your nation’s war support. | 0.22
|
All Generals start with this ability. | |
Last Stand | Similar to Force Attack but when on defense. Use it if you must absolutely hold somewhere no matter what while attacking elsewhere. Be aware that this action will most likely result in complete destruction of the unit. There is also some national flavor version of these for China and Japan. | 0.22
|
All Generals start with this ability. | |
Probing Attack | Divisions can launch attacks without losing entrenchment, but have a penalty to attack while doing so. | 0.10
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Unlocked by getting the Skirmisher General trait. | |
Siege Artillery | Combat bonus vs fortifications and also substantially increases damage to the fortifications themselves. | 0.10
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Unlocked by getting the Fortress Buster General trait. | |
Glider Planes | Used in combination with paratroopers, they let you drop more paratroopers per transport plane and give them a boost to organization and defense towards enemy AA. | 0.10
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Unlocked by getting the Paratroopers General trait. | |
Makeshift Bridges | Gives a substantial reduction to the river crossing penalty. | 0.10
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Unlocked by getting the Improvisation Expert General trait. | |
Naval Assault Plan | Cuts down the time needed to complete preparations for naval invasions. | 0.10
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Unlocked by getting the Amphibious General trait. |
Other operations
Icon | Command Operation | Operation Description | CP cost |
---|---|---|---|
Air Supply Mission | Allows transport planes to conduct air supply drop missions (0.05 supply per supply plane at full efficiency). | 0.30 per plane
| |
More Ground Crews | Improves air efficiency by +10% in a zone. | 20 per zone
| |
Send military attaché | Boosts war support and gains military experience from combat performed by foreign nations. | 50 per attache
|
Attaché
An attaché is a technical expert on a country's diplomatic staff at a foreign capital. Sending an attaché will result in higher military cooperation and give benefits to both countries. It costs the sending country 100 Political Power (PP) to send the attaché and 50 Command power (CP) to maintain the attaché.
The sending country receives the following benefits:
- Military intelligence sharing.
- Army, Air and Naval Experience equal to 20% of what the receiving country generates for itself
- +10% War Support
The receiving country gets the following benefits:
- +10% Division Organization
- +10% Planning Speed
Any country at war with the receiving country may ask the sending country to recall the attaché. This is a one time event that gives a choice of either recalling the attaché, improving relations with the demanding country or spending a variable (apparently depending on the demanding country's relative strength) amount of PP and worsening relations to the demanding country.
Strategy
As attachés are neither raising world tension nor limited by it, they are a viable alternative to volounteers and lend-leasing for any country. The Spanish Civil War and the Sino-Japanese War are both great sources of XP through attachés. Sourcing XP this way does not put a strain on equipment, manpower, world tension limits or fuel stockpiles, only the blocked CP and invested PP (and the ongoing cost of dismissing requests to recall the attaché) are to be considered. This however still allows for a rapid expansion of the army, as division templates can be expanded and new units created without losing equipment to training, while XP ramps up resonably fast (in case of the Sino-Japanese War and Land XP). The opportunity cost can be regarded as fairly low. The added 10% war support can go a long way to move towards at least early mobilization for democracies or, in case of Germany, to quickly convert to war economy, with the according benefits.