The United States has, in the long run, the biggest industrial potential in the game — 128 starting civilian factories, more than double any other great power — but it starts tied down by the 
Great Depression and by neutrality laws that block full mobilization or serious intervention until public opinion and Congress let you. This guide is about managing that wait without wasting it.
Historical Context
The Crash of '29 and the Great Depression sank the American economy and fed a deep isolationism that led Congress to pass the Neutrality Acts, legally restricting arms sales to countries at war. The game starts in 1936 with Franklin D. Roosevelt pushing the New Deal but with his hands tied on foreign policy, something the game translates into mobilization and trade laws locked until you unlock them through the focus tree.
National Spirits at Start
The United States starts with four national spirits that sum up the country's 1936 contradiction well: immense industrial potential, but hands and feet tied by politics and economics.
London Naval Treaty Signatory
Design cost caps: 9,500 for carriers, 5,300 for cruisers, 10,000 for capital ships.
Monroe Doctrine Enforcer
Reflects the historical US influence over the American continent.
The Great Depression
+1.00 daily political power cost. -20% resource gain efficiency. -50% recruitable population factor.
Home of the Free
+20% ideology drift defense. Cannot join factions led by another ideology. Can create factions.
Tied Down by Neutrality
At the start, the United States has hard limits on mobilization and support for other countries — a direct reflection of the Great Depression spirit and the real isolationism of the era. A big chunk of the game is about gradually pushing the political needle toward interventionism, without neglecting the economy in the meantime. Even if you can't enter the war soon, you can still prepare industry and research from day one — no need to wait for permission to mobilize before you start planning.
The Focus Tree Branches
The American tree is organized around several main branches:
Continue the New Deal — economic and political recovery, with the option to branch into much more extreme routes (
communist or 
fascist) if you push it that way.
War Plans Division — military planning improvements and defensive bonuses against the great powers.
War Department — technology and production upgrades for the land army and air force.
Two Ocean Navy Act — massive naval expansion, with bonuses to dockyards and ship production.
Arsenal of Democracy — the focus that best sums up the country's industrial potential, with extra experience and construction slots.
This guide doesn't go into the detail of the New Deal's alternate political routes (communist or fascist) — they're playthrough paths that will be covered in separate content later.
Neutrality Act or Limited Intervention
The fork that really shapes the game's pace is the choice between keeping the Neutrality Act — which severely restricts your foreign policy — or turning toward Limited Intervention, which lets you send volunteers, guarantee other nations' independence, and provide lend-lease material at a lower world tension cost. The sooner you decide which way to push that needle, the sooner you can start supporting your future allies without waiting for a formal declaration of war.
Tied to that decision is the 
focus on Europe versus the 
focus on Asia — decide the relative weight of the Navy, land army, and air force based on whichever theater interests you more, Atlantic or Pacific, instead of splitting industry evenly between the two.
Doctrine and Division Templates
The United States doesn't start with any doctrine unlocked out of the box. With 22 starting dockyards — more than any other power — and a land army small relative to its population, a naval identity tends to arrive before a land one, though naval rearmament and land army development can advance in parallel thanks to the country's enormous industrial margin. That's why for the land doctrine tree we recommend 
Mobile Warfare: few nations have the industry to sustain mass production of armor and motorized units, and the United States, once it actually mobilizes, is one of the few that does — it has margin to spare to lean into speed and breakthrough power instead of settling for generic infantry.
For the exact breakdown of combat widths and template composition, the combat width guide and the doctrines guide go into the numerical detail this guide only sketches out.
War Campaigns
If you're going to follow the historical script, what really matters isn't the exact dates but what you need to have ready at each stage so you don't repeat the real country's mistakes. Here's what to do at each campaign:
- Neutrality Acts — don't stay passive while you wait to be able to mobilize: use these years to build industry and research, and push the political needle toward Limited Intervention as soon as you can, without waiting for an event to force it.
- Lend-Lease Act — as soon as it's available, start sending material to the
United Kingdom and the 
USSR: it's the cheapest way to keep them fighting while you're still not formally at war and not paying the world tension cost of a direct declaration. - Attack on Pearl Harbor by
Japan — if you've invested beforehand in fleet and detection in the Pacific, the initial blow hurts a lot less; once it happens you're going to be at war on two oceans at once, so you should already have your Europe/Asia industry split decided in advance. 
Germany and 
Italy declare war — don't let it catch you off guard: have your armor and aviation production already ramped up for the European front before this moment arrives, not after.- Torch-style landing — don't attempt it without enough landing capacity and naval escort; it's your first real land test against the Axis, and a poorly prepared landing costs whole divisions before anyone even hits the beach.
- Guadalcanal-style campaign — if you're going Asia-first, you need carriers and dedicated marine divisions before attempting an amphibious offensive in the Pacific; without local naval superiority, every island turns into needless attrition.
- Italian Campaign — the mountainous terrain heavily penalizes the advance; if you commit to this campaign, reinforce with artillery and air support instead of expecting Mobile Warfare to perform the same as on flat terrain.
- Normandy-style landings — by the time this moment arrives, your Mobile Warfare doctrine and armor production should already be running at full capacity; this landing is prepared years in advance, not at the last minute.
- Bulge-style counteroffensive — keep a strategic reserve behind the front during winter; the Germans can launch one last desperate push, and a line spread too thin can break even when the war is practically decided.
- Iwo Jima and Okinawa-style advance — the closer you get to Japan, the costlier every landing gets; secure local air and naval superiority before every island hop, not just the first one.
Common Mistakes
- Leaving the Pacific Fleet concentrated and unprotected at Pearl Harbor — dispersing and fortifying it in advance cuts the initial blow way down if Japan decides to replay the historical attack.
- Not making the most of the 128 starting
civilian factories — no other great power has an industrial base this big from day one.
This guide will expand with more detail on the transition from isolationism to interventionism and a comparison of Atlantic-first versus Pacific-first; the production guide helps you get the most out of that industrial base.
United States' Achievements
Seven achievements specific to the United States, from the most straightforward to the ones that require a whole game planned around them:
Arsenal of Democracy
As the USA, have more than 300 military factories.
Georgia On My Mind
As the USA, own and fully control all three Georgias.
History Repeated Itself
As the USA, win against the Confederate States. Again.
Team America
As the USA, drop a nuclear bomb on Paris.
To Arms in Dixie!
As the USA, start a new civil war as the South.
Underpaid, Undersexed, and Under Eisenhower
As the USA, assume faction leader of the Allies, and have over 50 expeditionary divisions from the United Kingdom.
American Prometheus
As the USA, have Robert Oppenheimer complete the Manhattan Project.