South Africa is a Tier IV nation. It is a fairly strong nation and arguably one the strongest nations in Africa 
along with 
Egypt, 
Nigeria, and the 
Democratic Republic of the Congo. South Africa contains large reserves of resources, however, it surprisingly lacks 
Oil, one of the most prevalent resources in-game.
South Africa is one of the most picked nations by players looking to play in Africa
, It is a great starting country which has alot of potential and alot of resources, It has a sizable Manpower pool, which makes it quite powerful early game, However it is best to look out for Superpowers colonizing or Nigeria, And Egypt, Trying to compete and defeat you. If you play right, you would probably take over all of Africa with your resources and amazing positioning.
Background[]
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Before the colonial era, Southern Africa was inhabited by two main groups of people. The western portions of modern-day South Africa were inhabited by the Khoisan peoples, who were nomadic and had a combination of hunter-gather and cattle-herder society. Because of this, they oftentimes didn’t stick around in one area. To the east lay the Bantu people, who had expanded from East Africa to most of Sub-Saharan Africa. Though this period of history is less known, it is instrumental to understanding not just pre-colonial South Africa, but South Africa in general. The first Europeans to discover the Cape of Good Hope were the Portuguese. The Portuguese wanted to find a trade route to Asia by sailing around Africa, and they christened the cape they sailed before getting to Asia “The Cape of Good Hope” due to the fact that they got extremely wealthy afterwards. Some, however, called it “The Cape of Storms” due to its stormy nature. It would be the Dutch, however, who would first colonize the Cape. The Dutch East India Company intended to set up a rest station in the Cape for VOC (Dutch East India Company) ships en route to Asia. Foreign ships too can dock, but for a price. Cape Colony, however, would also see settlers from Europe farm her lands. These farmers, known as the Afrikaners or the Boers, weren’t just Dutch, but were also deriving from French, German, and other European ancestries. It would be the fall of the Netherlands to France in the Napoleonic Wars, however, when the British arrive not as just settlers, but as colonizers. Great Britain would seize Cape Colony to prevent Napoleon Bonaparte from gaining it. After Napoleon lost, however, Britain was given Cape Colony in perpetuity by the Dutch. Britain passed & enforced legislation that made English the sole legal language for Cape Colony, and this would lead to the Boers moving East and establishing their own Boer Republics of Transvaal, the Orange Free State, and Natal, though Natal would quickly be seized by the British. The United Kingdom would initially leave the Boer Republics alone, yet with the discovery of diamonds in the region, Britain would be more interested in the Boer Republics. The first Boer War would be a British disaster. Britain would then invade the last Bantu state in the region: Zululand. Though the Zulus would repel the British at the Battle of Isandlwana, the British would see a significant victory at the Battle of Rorke’s Drift. In the end, Britain would annex the Zulu Kingdom, and then fight another Boer War. Almost half a million British-Imperial soldiers fought the Boers, and Britain used concentration camps to weaken Boer guerrilla resistance. The British, however, would also end slavery in the region. Eventually, the Boer Republics would capitulate and become British colonies. The Cape Colony, Natal Colony, Transvaal Colony, and Orange Free State Colony would unite into the Union of South Africa in 1910, and it would become a British Dominion. The Union of South Africa would soon join the Great War as a part of the allies. It would face German Namibia while having to deal with the Maritz Rebellion. By the end of the war, South Africa would gain a mandate over modern-day Namibia, though it would effectively be treated as South Africa’s fifth province. South Africa would also grow to feel further separate from Britain, and a new “Oranje, Blanje, and Blou” flag would replace the South Africa Red Ensign in 1928. The South Africans would gain de facto independence with the Statute of Westminster, which allowed South Africa to determine its own foreign policy. South Africa joined the Commonwealth of Nations, yet South Africa was divided on whether or not to help Britain in the Second World War. The United Party was pro-British and pro-Commonwealth, and wanted South Africa to help Britain. The National Party was pro-Afrikaner, and didn’t want to help Britain. Some even wanted to join the war against Britain and ally with Germany. In the end, the ruling United Party declared war on Germany and South Africa would play a key role in the North Africa Campaign and Battle of Britain. After the war, South Africa’s National Party would gain power, and would adopt a policy known as Apartheid. Though segregationist policies existed in the region ever since colonial rule, Apartheid was much more segregationist than anything before it. South Africa’s white minority restricted the black majority and other minorities from voting, moving throughout the country, and even using the same stairs as whites. This policy would initially be tolerated as the United States also had segregation laws and South Africa was anticommunist, yet eventually relations with the West would sour over Apartheid. South Africa would also attempt to move blacks to bantustans, or “homelands”. The National Party would also be strongly republican, and as a result of British disapproval of Apartheid and Afrikaners outpopulating the British, South Africa became a Republic and left the British Commonwealth in 1961. Apartheid would further isolate South Africa from its former allies. South Africa would fight a series of wars to defend the few allies it had. One example was the Rhodesian Bush War. Rhodesia was where Zimbabwe is today, and like South Africa, it would be a white-minority ruled nation. Rhodesia’s majority black population would revolt against the Rhodesian government, and the Soviet Union and People’s Republic of China would arm these rebels. The conflict between the Rhodesian government and the Communist backed ZAPU & ZANU would last from 1965 to 1980, and despite South Africa’s best efforts, international sanctions against Rhodesia would eventually result in a guerrilla victory. Another conflict that South Africa would intervene in was in Portuguese Africa. Portugal would covertly ally with South Africa and Rhodesia to suppress rebellions against their colonial rule in Angola and Mozambique (known as the Portuguese Colonial Wars), yet eventually Portugal would no longer be able to maintain their holdings in Africa. South Africa would try to intervene to place a friendly government in Angola, yet Cuba would fight against South Africa in the South African Border War, and South Africa would be forced to withdraw. Resistance to the Apartheid regime would increase in Namibia as a result of this. Near the end of Apartheid, South Africa would pursue nuclear weapons as it saw its allies fall to communist-backed black guerrillas. After the fall of the Soviet Union, however, international scrutiny would fall on South Africa with even greater intensity, and a reform-minded Frederick de Klerk would take office and, alongside a freedom-fighting Nelson Mandela, would bring down the Apartheid system and South Africa would become democratic in 1991. |
Base Statistics[]
Economy[]
South Africa has an income of $1,896,951, with a tax income of $1,004,369 and a resource income of $892,582, giving it a semi-large economy, usually it is recommended to increase resource income instead of tax income.
Resources[]
South Africa has quite a number of useful resources, having massive amounts of 
Chromium, 
Copper, 
Diamond, 
Gold, and a sizeable amount of 
Tungsten. Despite having all these resources, it lacks Oil, a common and essential resource, These useful resources can help you grow really fast and bigger in the starting match, It is a must to take advantage of your large stockpile of resources to expand quickly.
 Chromium
|
+21.1 |
|---|---|
 Copper
|
+4.43 |
 Diamond
|
+17.82 |
 Gold
|
+15.52 |
 Iron
|
+8.85 |
 Phosphate
|
+3.1 |
 Titanium
|
+7.21 |
 Tungsten
|
+3.33 |
Military[]
South Africa starts with 120,000 Home Guard, all stationed on Johannesburg. This is easily enough to invade your weak neighbors, so you won't have to worry about your manpower pool draining. It is strongly advised you get tanks, but do not feel pressured to do so as infantry works perfectly fine in the flat terrain of sub-Saharan Africa.
South Africa starts with a manpower cap of 445,911 and a manpower gain of +1,543, giving it a lot of potential when cities are upgraded and Recruitment Centers are built.
| Disarmed [1% RP] |
|
|---|---|
| Volunteer [2% RP] |
|
| Limited [5% RP] |
|
| Extensive [10% RP] |
|
| Required [25% RP] |
Geography[]
Biome[]
South Africa's only biome is Arid and it is located in the northwest of the country near the capital, The Arid biome reduces 33% of your unit speed and will cause you heavy casualties if you fight in it.
Terrain[]
South Africa's coast is Hilly on the west coast, and is Semi-Mountainous on the east coast and ends at the border with 
Mozambique, South Africa is hilly on the inside where it's 4 square cities are located with it's homeguard of 120k located there, It runs up till it's northern border with Zimbabwe, The only spot your natural defenses don't cover are the desertous border with 
Namibia and 
Botswana, However these 2 countries are quite weak and small so they are no threat to you, However any big power like Nigeria forming 
Sokoto Caliphate and attacking you, or any other African Power attacking you.
Borders[]
South Africa borders 2 enclaves, 
Lesotho and 
Eswatini, It then borders Namibia and Botswana to it's northwest, South Africa then borders Mozambique and Botswana to the northeast, All these countries are very weak in comparison to you, You can easily form 
South African Union by invading Lesotho, Eswatini, Namibia, Botswana and 
Zimbabwe.
Cities[]
South Africa has 66 cities. Before the city update, both Cape town and Bloemfontein were squares instead of cylinders, meaning that they were a capital, but only Bloemfontein was considered the real capital.
Out of 66 cities, you have 7 square cities, which make up 15 million out of your 22 million population. You can use those square cities to make tanks and steamroll Africa. You have a population gain of 5,671, which is quite small, so you will have to expand quickly to get a bigger population, which will lead you to getting a bigger manpower capacity and more manpower gain. If you play your cards right, you will be a powerhouse in Africa and might be able to form the 
African Union in a fast timespan.
Threats[]
Brazil, United States, etc. will want you for your resources. (UNCOMMON)- Any African nation trying to form the African Union. (RARE)
- United Kingdom will want you for their Colonial Empire. (EXTREMELY RARE)
- The Netherlands needs you to form the Dutch Empire. (EXTREMELY RARE)
Politics[]
Ideology[]
South Africa's starting ideology is non-aligned. The best ideology to change to for South Africa is Communism, as it expands your resource, factory output and your manpower output. Using your nation's rich resources and Communism will allow you to create an incredible economy, However it is best to go Nationalism if you plan on being expansionist, It will greatly speed up expanding.
Formables[]
South Africa formed as the South African Union.
South Africa can form the following formables:
South Africa with all it's Releasables released.
Releasables[]
South Africa has four releasables:
Strategy[]
WARNING: It is recommended that you do not follow strategies word for word, since some unexpected things may happen which are outside the strategy. You may also need to do things not mentioned in the strategy, such as researching further in the research tree, doing multiple things at the same time, etc.
Starting Moves[]
Right when you enter the game, immediately justify conquest wars on Lesotho and Eswatini, increase government spending by one bar, and research the first two technologies on the research tree. Utilizing your abundance of natural resources, build one Steel, Motor, Electronic, and Fertilizer factory and buy 2 units of 
Phosphate from another country.
Invading Required Countries[]
After this, immediately justify war on Eswatini amd Lesotho. Once the justifications are done, declare war on Eswatini, and Lesotho and send your home guard to conquer the two. Now, make another 120 thousand troops and train them and your home guard to arid specialization.
Once you are done conquering Lesotho and Eswatini, use their money to build 3 Civilian Factories and trade those consumer goods to other countries for profit, and increase government spending to the maximum. Then, build an Aircraft Manufactory and start building attackers. Then, when you have a total of 240 thousand specialized troops, justify a conquest war on Botswana and Zimbabwe while you wait for those troops to be specialized. Once justification is complete, justify a conquest war on Namibia and declare war and take over Zimbabwe and Botswana. It is recommended to make more troops when needed to help attritioned troops.
South African Union.
Gaining A Foothold[]
Once you've formed the South African Union, it is now time you start invading Central Africa. Start researching the Infantry tech tree and try to find Military Leaders with the Jungle Warrior attribute. Start off by justifying war and invading Mozambique and 
Madagascar in order to gain some resources, as both have a lot of 
Titanium. Next, you should train jungle specialized troops and justify war on 
Zambia and 
Angola. Then, declare war on the two countries and support your infantry against the enemy home guard with attackers.
Invasion of the DRC[]
Once you've taken care of Zambia and Angola, justify war on 
Malawi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Invading the DRC isn't easy, so you'll need to prepare, especially if it's a player. Start making some 200 thousand jungle-specialized troops ready on the frontlines before invasion, and probably some tanks to blitz the square cities. Make sure to jungle-specialize them.
Once you're ready, declare war on the DRC and Malawi, quickly finishing off Malawi first with an auxiliary force then focusing your attention on the DRC. First, start off by sending attackers to the home guard in Kinshasa and concentrate tanks and infantry on the capital as well as said home guard troops. Once you've eliminated the troops, invading the rest of the country is easy but time-consuming. Make sure to resupply the invasion front with more troops to make things faster.
Invading other countries[]
Once you're finished invading the DRC, you should be able to boast a pretty decent economy and military capabilities. Use this advantage to invade other countries around you such as
Tanzania, 
Republic of Congo, 
Uganda, 
Central African Republic etc.
Now that you've conquered half of Africa, now it's time to form the African Union. Invading the rest of the continent will be very time consuming. By now, possible player countries that are powerful like Nigeria, Egypt, or lesser common, 
Ethiopia etc. may view you as threats. In order to combat this, your goal is to take them out first by any means possible, whether it be truce trapping, invading them, etc.
With a developed and maintained military, taking out these countries won't be hard, so use this to your advantage. With your resource power and strong economy as a result, conquering these countries should be a cake walk with military tech and a lot of tanks an infantry.
Blitzkrieging the rest of Africa should be streamlined at this point. The only problem with this is that other people may have gained foothold on Africa which can hinder with your expansion, but most players will be willing to give up said lands at this point. Otherwise, you may need to prepare for invasion.
Trivia[]
- In real life, South Africa has 3 capitals: Pretoria—the administrative capital, Cape town—the legislative, and Bloemfontein—the judicial.
- In game, however, the judicial capital is used.
