Romania has what 
Germany desperately needs: oil. That buys diplomatic weight, but it also makes your Ploiești fields target number one for anyone looking to hurt you. And internally, the country starts under a king — the 
King Carol II's Lifestyle spirit makes it clear — whose personal scandals are going to end up pushing the country toward a real dictatorship.
Historical Context
Romania came out of the First World War with enormous territorial gains — Transylvania, Bukovina, Banat, and Bessarabia — shaping what became known as Greater Romania, protected by a network of defensive alliances against neighbors with claims on that same territory. The game starts in 1936 with Gheorghe Tătărescu as prime minister under King Carol II, a monarch famous for personal scandals that were already generating political tension.
National Spirits at Start
Romania starts with only two national spirits — one of the shortest lists in this guide — but both are telling: one is a pure portrait of a troublesome king, the other sets the limits of the neutral foreign policy the country starts with.
King Carol II's Lifestyle
No direct modifiers: it's a narrative warning. The king is known for his expensive tastes and his willingness to indulge his mistress, and will keep causing scandals unless replaced or corrected.
Neutral Foreign Policy
+100% join faction tension limit, +20% send volunteers, +100% guarantee independence, +250% embargo — the diplomatic framework limiting your room to maneuver while you stay non-aligned.
Oil as a Weapon
Ploiești is a top-tier asset for any Axis power, and that gives Romania something few minor nations have: real leverage to negotiate support in exchange for guaranteeing supply. The flip side is that same dependence makes the country the first to feel any shift in the wind — and in the real Second World War, the wind shifted more than once.
The Focus Tree Branches
Romania's tree is organized around several main blocks:
Preserve Greater Romania — the diplomatic branch: lets you align with 
the Comintern, 
the Axis, 
the Allies, or form your own Cordon Sanitaire, without an early pick necessarily locking out the others later on.
Institute Royal Dictatorship — the historical domestic-politics branch: manages the monarch's influence and the popularity of different ideological currents.
Balkans Dominance — lets you puppet, annex, split, or declare war on neighboring Balkan states and 
Hungary or 
Czechoslovakia.
Expand the Air Force — modernizes the Romanian air force and eases licensing foreign plane models.
Army Maneuvers — free division templates, generals, and military research improvements.
Expand the Galați Shipyards — strengthens the navy with construction bonuses.
This guide doesn't go into the detail of the specific ideological currents the Royal Dictatorship can take once established — fascist with the Iron Guard, or others — they're playthrough paths that will be covered in separate content later.
Diplomatic Alliances or Royal Dictatorship
The central decision pits Preserve Greater Romania — the diplomatic route: strengthen the regional alliances inherited from the Little Entente and the Balkan Pact to protect the territory won in 1918 without touching domestic politics — against Institute Royal Dictatorship, which follows the historical script of February 1938: Carol II concentrates power in his own hands to try to control the country's internal instability.
For a first playthrough, the diplomatic route is the simpler one: it doesn't require managing an internal political transition and directly leverages the alliance network already in place. Royal Dictatorship gives more room to maneuver long-term — and unlocks several of the country's flashiest achievements — but requires dealing with the consequences of concentrating so much power in a king with Carol II's reputation.
How to Shield Ploiești
- Military build-up financed by trading oil for German equipment.
- Serious anti-air defense around the fields — it's the most obvious target on the map.
- Keep an eye on Hungary: it competes with you for the same Axis backing and your claims overlap.
- Have a backup plan. The real Romania switched sides in 1944 and it worked out — don't dismiss the option just because it's uncomfortable.
- For the land doctrine tree, with middling industry and a goal of holding out rather than breaking fronts,
Superior Firepower fits better than chasing armor you won't be able to sustain long-term.
To understand how to defend infrastructure like this from the air, check the air warfare guide.
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 to avoid the real territorial losses. Here's what to do at each stage:
- Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and northern Bukovina — don't contest it militarily unprepared: use the inherited alliance network to try to deter it beforehand, or accept the loss and focus resources on defending what's left instead of bleeding out over territory you can't hold alone.
- Vienna Award-style arbitration with Hungary — actively tend your relationship with Germany before this point arrives; whoever stands better with Berlin comes out ahead in the split of Transylvania.
- Craiova-style cession to
Bulgaria — accept this minor concession to keep the peace to the south and save resources for the bigger threats. - Abdication-of-Carol-II-style crisis — decide your internal direction in advance for if Royal Dictatorship reaches this breaking point, instead of improvising a leadership change in the middle of a territorial crisis.
- Barbarossa-style offensive — if you join the offensive against the
USSR to reclaim Bessarabia, don't neglect Ploiești's anti-air defense to fund the front; losing the oil to save on your own defense costs more than any territorial gain. - King Michael-style coup — keep the option to switch sides open; don't burn every bridge with the Allies, because switching in time, like the real Romania did in 1944, can save the country once the war is already decided.
When to Switch Sides
The most common mistake in Romania playthroughs is neglecting anti-air defense and leaving the fields open to strategic bombing once the war drags on — with no oil to offer, you lose your one piece of leverage overnight. The other is tying yourself so tightly to Germany that you have no way out once the balance starts to tip; King Michael proved in real life that switching sides in time can save the whole country.
Romania's Achievements
Only three achievements, but all three perfectly sum up the country's central dilemma: hold on, survive, or switch sides.
Death or Dishonor or Cake
As Romania, own a slice of all your starting neighbors.
Neither Death nor Dishonor
As Romania, make it to 1942 with all the states you started with and control either Moscow or Berlin.
Totally Not Cool, Bromania
As Romania, change sides in the war and capitulate a former ally.