First Question

[rich12545]

I never did get these answered in my other post so I'll try them in separate posts.

Why is it necessary to declare war on Benelux before it's possible to attack?

Nazi Germany didn't always follow the rules. And in the game an attack was possible against Norway, Denmark and France without the declaration.

[Bill101]

Hi Rich

The game needs a sharp definition between neutrals and belligerent countries.

Having to declare war on a country doesn't rob your attack of any surprise value, it just changes the status of the country you are attacking from neutral to belligerent, and at this stage any scripts tied to that country's joining the war are run, and their armed forces (if they are a minor) are also deployed.

One benefit is that minors can sometimes have their forces deployed in slightly different places, and this prevents the aggressor from being always 100% confident that their attack plan is going to work. If you didn't have to declare war, then this feature would probably be impossible to implement.

If it were possible to attack countries without declaring war, then there would be nothing stopping the USA from joining in the war against Germany whenever it wanted to, nor the USSR from attacking Germany in 1940 or Japan in 1943 (I'm just giving examples of when it might suit the allied player, because it would have the potential to totally mess things up for the Axis player if they did so).

To be honest, the game wouldn't work if you could attack anyone whenever you wanted, and it actually makes no difference whatsoever to your attack, you suffer no penalties at all from having to declare war.

One last thing to bear in mind is this: we all misclick every now and again, and rather than moving where we wanted to, we move somewhere else, or attack the wrong enemy unit. Having to declare war prevents you from accidentally attacking a neutral power before you are ready - just imagine what a game breaker it could be if the Germans accidentally attacked the USSR in 1939, rather than in 1941/2 when they are ready? Or if a Japanese unit in Manchukuo, rather than moving up to the Soviet frontier, is actually moved too far, crosses the frontier, and bang, you're suddenly kicking yourself as hard as you can because you've just brought the wrath of Stalin down upon yourself, and all your ground forces are already fighting for their lives in Burma and China. Game over! The need to declare war protects us from making such a simple error.

[rich12545]

This explains the situation very well. Thank you.