Bhutan

Bhutan
Location Properties
Territories in-game
Continent	Asia
General Properties
Required XP	0
XP Multiplier	2.5x
Demonym	Bhutanese
Base Statistics
City Count	4
Square City Count	0
Capital	Thimphu
Population	123,676
Consumers Required to Upkeep	0.12
Income ($)	$107,578
Manpower Capacity	60,000
Starting Conscription Law	Volunteer
Starting Ideology	Non-Aligned
Formable Details
Can Form	The Land of the Thunder Dragon
Required to Form	Sacred Union of Shambhala The Land of the Thunder Dragon Maurya Empire Himalayan Confederation Pala Empire Tibetan Empire

Bhutan is a landlocked Tier I nation located in South Asia. It is a tiny country in both land and population, and shares land borders with India and China, and is very close to both Nepal and Bangladesh. Bhutan is a very dangerous country to be as it is needed for the Maurya Empire and is a rather small country.

If properly played as, it can become a superpower even being able to overcome it's neighbors.

Background

Bhutan's independence has endured for centuries. It has never been colonized in its history. Situated on the ancient Silk Road between Tibet, the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, the Bhutanese state developed a distinct national identity based on Buddhism. Headed by a spiritual leader known as the Zhabdrung Rinpoche, the territory comprised many fiefdoms and was governed as a Buddhist theocracy. Following a civil war in the 19th century, the House of Wangchuk reunited the country and established relations with the British Empire. After the end of the British Raj, Bhutan fostered a strategic partnership with India during the rise of Chinese communism; it has a disputed border with China. In the early 1990s, the government deported much of the country's Nepali-speaking Lhotsampa minority, sparking a refugee crisis in nearby Jhapa, Nepal. In 2008, Bhutan transitioned from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy and held the first election to the National Assembly of Bhutan. The National Assembly is part of the bicameral parliament of the Bhutanese democracy.

In South Asia, Bhutan ranks first in economic freedom, ease of doing business and peace and is the least corrupt country in the region as of 2016. It continues to be a least developed country, but expects to graduate from this status by 2023. Hydroelectricity accounts for most of its exports. The government is a parliamentary democracy; the head of state is the King of Bhutan, known as the "Dragon King." Bhutan maintains diplomatic relations with 52 countries and the European Union, but does not have formal ties with the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. It is a member of the United Nations, SAARC, BIMSTEC and the Non-Aligned Movement. The Royal Bhutan Army maintains a close relationship with the Indian Armed Forces.

Base Statistics

Economy

Bhutan starts off with a total income of $107,581 ($67,581 balance with homeguard upkeep).

Resources

Bhutan produces no resources.

Military

Bhutan has a starting manpower cap of 60,000. It gains 301 manpower.

Base Manpower Capacity of Bhutan per Conscription Law
The following columns below present the manpower capacity from lowest (Disarmed) to highest (Required). RP stands for "Recruitable Population".
Disarmed [1% RP]	60,000
Volunteer [2% RP]	60,000
Limited [5% RP]	60,000
Extensive [10% RP]	60,000
Required [25% RP]	60,000

Geography

Bhutan is completely made of Mountainous terrain and has no biome. Bhutan only borders China and India.

Cities

Bhutan's largest city is Thimphu, the capital. It has 4 cities including Thimphu: Paro, Punakha and Wangdue Prodrang

Strategy

1. As Bhutan your immediate survival depends mainly on India (and to a lesser extent, China). Immediately attempt to ally India, and if they accept, you are safe for the time being.
   1. If India declines your Alliance request and wants to form Maurya Empire, you have to act quickly. Because of your incredibly low manpower and income, there is no chance of you surviving India's attacks. Attempt to Ally with China if they are not affiliated with India and convince them to attack India. Other world powers, such as USA, have little to no chance of helping you due to your isolated location.
   2. If all else fails and India attacks you, create a sturdy defense. Entrenched troops on mountainous terrain mitigate lots of damage from offensive troops, and keeping an Artillery beside your troops may cause heavy losses for India.

1. Once India is dealt with, or there is no player as India, you should begin making as many infantry as you can and justifying on Nepal. Make sure to train your infantry before declaring war. Nepal is almost always an AI, so a strategy to make sure you have barely any losses is to attack the city closest to Bhutan and leave your stack there, allowing them time to entrench before the home guard arrives due to the mountainous terrain.
2. To continue growing larger, you should Ally China as this allows you to walk through their land without taking attrition. After doing so, the best way to gain more land is to justify and declare war on the various 'stan' countries, such as Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. It is not recommended you attempt to annex Kazakhstan due to the rich resources there being wanted by many superpowers. This, however, puts you in the sights of a Russia player who is attempting to from the Soviet Union . Attempt to Ally Russia.
   1. If Russia does not accept your alliance, Ally with China and convince them to attack Russia for its various resources as you are still too weak to fight against large countries like Russia.
3. Justify and Declare war on Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan and Annex them.
   1. It is recommended you Ally Turkey to ensure your safety.
4. Prepare to Annex Bangladesh (assuming it still exists).
   • Gather your Infantry near your capital and justify on Bangladesh.
   • Either make many units of infantry and train them, using the strategy of conquering the city closest to you to bait the entrenched homeguard towards you and overpower them with numbers and training, purchase the materials required for tanks, train them, and do the same thing or whittle them down with an artillery.
   • Annex Bangladesh.
5. At this point you have become powerful enough to begin colonizing countries around the world (mainly in Africa).

Another Strategy

This strategy is mainly an aggressive stance as Bhutan, using the power of Government Spending and Research Spending, as well as relying on India to be an AI.

1. Immediately put research and government spending on High and then wait until 2023 - 2025.
   1. By putting on max government and research spending you should be having a political power gain of more than 2 and research power of around 5. Put all of your research power to Research and the beginning of the Infantry tech tree. Infantry is the way to go as Bhutan because of high research spending and putting it to infantry tech, your infantry will be stronger than tanks, making tanks virtually useless.
   2. After that, immediately justify wargoals on Nepal and Bangladesh, BUT DO NOT DECLARE ON THEM YET. Wait until 2023-2025 like mentioned above. Then, make 2 Electronic Factories, and get 4 gold and 4 copper to supply the factories. Then sell the electronics to AI superpowers, India is a good one because it has to be AI for this strategy to work.

1. After you make the factories, all you need to do is train your army, build new armies, build 100 - 150 artillery to help with your wars. You must also develop constantly, and build recruitment centers on ALL of your cities. Make sure to also have the "Advance the Research Bureau" and "Encourage Economic Development" policies to help you.
2. Once you have a sizeable army (70k-100k), 100 - 150 artillery and it is around 2023 - 2025, first switch your ideology to either Socialism or Nationalism (Nationalism, in my opinion is best for Bhutan, having no debuffs and has reduced military costs), and then declare war on Nepal, and annex it. Place your artillery close enough to bombard Nepali troops minimizing your infantry causalities (remember, manpower is VERY precious early game). After that, micro your infantry and try not to auto capture to again, minimize causalities. After you annex Nepal, make a road from Kathmandu (the capital of Nepal) to your capital (Thimphu), and then prepare for Bangladesh.
3. Bangladesh will be very easy. All you have to do is put your artillery near Bangladesh's troops and wait until there are around 10k left. Make sure you have at least 150k infantry or taking Dhaka (capital of Bangladesh), will be difficult. After you take over Bangladesh, DO NOT ANNEX IT. Annexing it will drastically increase the costs of research and government spending. So in the mean time, make some troops in Nepal and switch your conscription law to "Limited". This will tremendously increase your manpower gain and cap. And put them close to the Indian border in Nepal.
4. Now we focus on India. Taking India will be difficult and time-consuming due to their enormous army size and population. Peace out Bangladesh and reduce your government and research spending to have a comfortable amount of income, then move your artillery near the largest city near the Bangladesh border where Indian troops are. Then, make some troops in homeland Bhutan (around 60k - 80k) and then switch to Massed Attack to increase manpower gain while you wait. Then take your 60k to 80k troop stack and place it on the coast of Bangladesh.
5. Declare war on India and wait for the Indian troops near Bangladesh to reach 20k or near. Then bring your original army (your 150k+ stack you used to take Bangladesh) and destroy the remaining Indian troops, and then retreat back to Bangladesh. Send your 80k troops on the Bangladeshi coast and send it down to southern India, where around 2-3 stacks of Indian troops are. Make sure your 80k stack of troops are in the water and take a city near the 2-3 Indian troop stacks. If successful, the stacks will head to the city you took. Retreat your 80k stack and merge it with your 150k+ stack in Bangladesh. The Indian troops who headed to the city you took with your 80k stack will go to the city you took when you destroyed the first stack near Bangladesh, which is what we want. Make sure your artillery is in range of the city and kill off the stack with your artillery and when it is below 30k take another city near the stack that is small and kill the troops.
6. By now, you should only have 2 India troop stacks left. Change your military doctrine to "Balanced" and start building more infantry, for when all of India's army is destroyed. Try to train it to silver star. Using the ORIGINAL troops you had in Nepal, take a city in the middle of the 2 troop stacks (you may have to take more than 1 to get there without suffering from attrition). The Indian armies will head to the city and then the city you took near Bangladesh. Make you retreat your troops near Bangladesh into Bangladesh and wait for the Indian army to head to the city for it to be decimated by your artillery.
7. Now you should have of destroyed all of India's armies. India is now free for the taking. Do not auto-capture. Make sure to micro your troops around India, first take the eastern part, linking Nepal to Bangladesh and Bangladesh to Burma, and then make your way North, slowly going south as you finish the northern part. The way you take India is up to you, but I recommend take the larger cities when you have enough manpower stocked in your manpower pool to resupply your army after you take it, or it is in a large stack of 150k+. Attrition is a very big deal in India, due to biomes.
8. After you take India, it is up to you what you want to do next. I recommend taking Pakistan and Burma 2 years after you have little unrest in India after you annex it, slowly going east and west until you reach Iran.

Notes

• If you do go Nationalism (which is highly recommended), try to work yourself to be Fascist. Even though the tax income loss and increased unrest might not appeal to you, it copes that by having a better base stability and allowing yourself to have a huge army pool though being a tiny nation
• Make sure to use Military groups and Generals. Defense and Movement buffs are very helpful with using this strategy.

Threats

• India needs Bhutan for Maurya Empire.
• China sometimes annexes Bhutan.
• Nepal will take Bhutan if it is a player.
• Bangladesh might annex Bhutan if it is a player, and is also needed for the Pala Empire.