Conquer The World WW2 Puppet States Guide

Puppet states are live in Conquer The World WW2 (CTWWW2) — a diplomatic and military system that lets you keep conquered or aligned nations as semi-independent vassals instead of annexing every province directly. The feature shipped alongside other major updates and changed how major powers expand, how small nations survive, and how allies coordinate on shared fronts. If you only read the short puppet paragraph in the Diplomacy guide, this page goes deeper on when to puppet, when to annex, and how the fight-alongside-allies behavior works in practice.

What a puppet state is

A puppet retains nominal self-government on the map while funneling resources, manpower, and sometimes military cooperation back to its overlord. You get economic and strategic benefit without absorbing every border and admin cost of direct rule. Puppets appear as separate nations allied to you rather than as fully integrated core territory — which matters when you are trying to hold a wide front without garrisoning every new province yourself.

The system is live now, not upcoming. Check Latest Updates for how Puppet States fit next to the Missiles & Forts and Nuke Rework patches if you are returning after a break.

Puppet vs annex: the core decision

Annex when you need full direct control: core industrial zones, strategic chokepoints you will fortify yourself, or territory you plan to integrate into your main supply network immediately. Annexation gives you the province outright but increases your border length and administrative spread — every new annexed region is another direction someone can attack.

Puppet when you want expansion without overextension: buffer states on a secondary front, conquered nations whose manpower you need but whose borders you do not want to defend personally, or regions that would pull your attention away from the main war. A puppet on a fortified frontier can absorb pressure while your elite divisions stay on the decisive front.

Major powers running multi-front wars almost always puppet some conquests. Small nations rarely create puppets but may accept puppet status from a protector — see the survival section below.

Fighting alongside allies on their territory

One of the most important live additions tied to Puppet States is the ability to fight alongside allies on their territory — coordinating offensives and defensive lines inside a partner nation’s borders without treating every allied province as your own. This changes coalition warfare:

• You can reinforce an ally’s front without annexing their land first.
• Combined pushes become practical when diplomacy has aligned you with a neighbor against a shared threat.
• Puppet states can serve as the territorial host for your divisions while still contributing their own units to the same front.

Before the feature shipped, expanding help to an ally often meant awkward diplomacy or risky border gaps. Now plan joint wars explicitly: agree on who holds which front sector, whether the junior partner stays independent or becomes a puppet, and what happens to conquered land after victory. Read Warfare for front assignment basics before you stack divisions inside someone else’s country.

Economic value of puppets

Puppets send resources and manpower upstream to the overlord. For a resource-hungry major power, puppeting a uranium-rich minor nation can feed your nuclear program without the full cost of direct occupation. For an industrial major, puppets on outlying conquests continue producing while you focus factories on the metropole.

The tradeoff is control: you cannot micromanage every factory inside a puppet the way you do at home. If a specific province holds a resource you must personally queue buildings on, annexation may still be correct.

Diplomacy synergy

Puppet states sit at the intersection of diplomacy and warfare:

• Creating puppets after war reduces the diplomatic penalty of naked annexation in some situations and gives you a friendly buffer against third parties.
• Offering puppet status to a threatened minor can recruit a reliable subordinate instead of fighting a costly occupation — useful when the minor would otherwise join your enemy.
• Alliance coordination improves when puppets and independent allies can host your troops legally on their soil.

Stack non-aggression pacts before you puppet neighbors arbitrarily — turning a friendly neutral into a hostile target because you skipped justification still hurts. The war justification rules in Diplomacy apply before you decide puppet or annex outcomes.

Puppet states as a small nation

Small nations are usually overlords in rare circumstances, but they are often offered puppet status by a stronger neighbor. Accepting means protection and reduced invasion risk at the cost of autonomy and tribute. Refusing means independence with a target on your map icon.

Evaluate offers pragmatically: a puppet relationship with a major who shares your enemy is often better than independent extinction in week one. If you accept, learn how overlord wars pull you in — your divisions may fight on borders you did not choose. Small Nation Tips covers the broader survival frame; this page covers the puppet-specific fork.

Puppet states as a major power

Large nations should default to a puppet ladder for frontier conquests: puppet first, annex later only if the province is core to your strategy. Read Major Powers for how top-tier nations manage sprawling empires without collapsing under border length.

When fighting a coalition war, assign puppets to hold quiet sectors while your main army and independent allies strike the enemy capital region. After victory, decide which defeated nations become puppets (buffer + resources) versus which get annexed (industry + chokepoints).

Puppet mistakes to avoid

• Annexing everything on a multi-front war and running out of garrison manpower.
• Puppeting nations you needed to fully control for a missile or nuke site — verify resource access rules on a live server.
• Ignoring ally coordination and stacking troops in a puppet without a shared war plan.
• Creating puppets without justification and triggering diplomatic backlash from neutral majors.
• Refusing all puppet offers as a small nation when the alternative is immediate conquest by a stronger neighbor.

Checklist: puppet or annex?

Ask these before you click either option after a peace deal or conquest:

1. Will I need to personally build forts or factories here? If yes, lean annex.
2. Is this border a secondary front I want someone else to absorb? If yes, lean puppet.
3. Does the nation have a resource my research chain needs? Confirm puppet tribute includes it before puppeting.
4. Am I already overextended on border length? If yes, do not annex without a plan.
5. Do I have allied troops ready to fight on this territory? If yes, puppet + joint front may beat raw annexation.