Greetings comrades! As part of the No Step Back expansion, Soviet Union, the country that took no step back during WWII is coming with the Barbarossa update.
The developer diary bringing us information on the changes is enormous and is one of the biggest ones yet.
Starting off in 1936, players will immediately notice certain changes. Initial War Support has been significantly reduced, aiming at making it a bit harder to get to War Economy super early on, something that the Soviet Union was not really ready to do in 1936, historically.
Stalin will be getting his own trait, with more than just a single one to come. There are far more starting National Spirits than before, and the most recognizable ones are the Trotsky Plot and the Home of the Revolution.
The USSR also has a starting advisor, Genrikh Yagoda. He is one of three possible Heads of the NKVD, each one with different characteristics, that you will not be able to manually remove/replace until you get rid of the purges, during which, Yagoda might get purged and be replaced by Yezhov, who can, in turn, get purged and be replaced by Beriya, as happened historically.
Paradox Interactive
There have also been some changes to the Generals' roster. You will now start the game with the five first Marshals of the Soviet Union. Kulik has been demoted to General, since he was made marshal only in 1940, after having lost 3 of the previous marshals in the purges, and there is a new cavalry-specialized general, Vitaly Primakov, available at game start, although a potential target in the purges.
Aside from these changes, there are far more to come. These changes are purely those focused on the game start in 1936, and other aspects of the Motherland will be changed and updated as well.
