I've actually won the 2nd Balkan War as Bulgaria a few times. HOWEVER I've never done a full victory. I kept winning against Balkan League but just couldn't take out Ottomans.

I defend against Serbia, Greece and Ottomans, rush to Romania as soon as they join in and knock them out. (I also build level 2-3 forts in Romanian border before just in case if this fails) I try to hold the Ottomans but I fail, they manage to push me but they just leave the war after taking what they want. So I send all my troops to Serbia and Greece. I cut of Greece and Serbia by pushing to Albanian border, and rest is pretty easy. So I lose Edirne and Tekirdağ to Ottomans but gain all my other claims (except Mangalia. For some reason game doesn't give me that from Romania.).

When was the last time you have done that? Because in the previous version of great war redux I can knock them out pretty easily because bulgaria seems to have a industrial advantage unlike the newest version where it seems like their factories have been reduced significantly. (Previous version you start with 12-13 civs while now you start with 5 I think.) It is amazing that you can do that because it sounds impossible. I'll try next time!

And yeah... that is something great war redux lacks: Freedom to lead history however we want. You are basically stuck to scripted peace deals and because of that you might not get the land that you rightfully occupied (land of romania that you capitulated) but didn't claim because claiming in justification is once and long. While claim focuses might be impossible to open at that time or just isn't there.

I'd like to weigh in as someone who's played Bulgaria a few too many times.
Bulgaria's difficulty isn't the problem for me; so long as you build up right and play it carefully, it's manageable (market purchases are essential if you don't go Lone Liberator, so make sure you have the necessary DLC). What personally sucked for me was just the fact that the Balkan War phase of their focus tree was far too undynamic, and you could often be screwed out of the Balkan Hegemon path for reasons out of your control (IE the Lone Liberator path breaking and requiring you to manually capitulate the Ottomans to take their land through a peace conference).
A quick tip I can give for the Second Balkan War is that, TO MY KNOWLEDGE, the Ottomans will peace out of the Second Balkan War if they push into Western Thrace (hence the Russian Ultimatum event), so you should be able to just plant a couple units on Burgas and Yambol to keep them in line until they peace out. Too much of a risk to waste upwards of 6 divisions on a front that's very likely to either fall or at least be under constant threat from a much larger army. Whether to hold or push Romania before focusing Serbia is up to you, but the Ottomans are simply too big to deal with.

I should be clear in saying that I mean this in the best possible way, but I'd chalk this one up to a simple skill issue. Bulgaria is an intentionally difficult nation, as was their position historically, and it's intentional that you need to play the wars carefully to even survive, let alone come out on top. I feel like simply giving up territory to avoid war seems not only unrealistic/unhistorical but also a tad bit unfun.
The scripted peace deals can occasionally be wack, though, you're right on the money with that (still better than vanilla peace conferences IMO). I suppose it's just strange in this instance that they haven't scripted Romania to peace out separately if you rush them down before Serbia.



tl;dr:
The Second Balkan War is meant to be hard, and you're meant to lose. I personally don't feel like it's in need of a rework (other than a fix to Kočani state, because seriously how'd that one slip through the cracks).

edit: Nope, nevermind, the Ottomans will not peace out from pushing into Western Thrace. Ignore that part.

Originally posted by 9BoltVattery:

I should be clear in saying that I mean this in the best possible way, but I'd chalk this one up to a simple skill issue. Bulgaria is an intentionally difficult nation, as was their position historically, and it's intentional that you need to play the wars carefully to even survive, let alone come out on top. I feel like simply giving up territory to avoid war seems not only unrealistic/unhistorical but also a tad bit unfun.

tl;dr:
The Second Balkan War is meant to be hard, and you're meant to lose. I personally don't feel like it's in need of a rework


It takes a lot of time to think and present your argument reasonably and persuasively so I am just gonna say it:

You are right on the reason of not winning is a skill issue and giving up territory to avoid war sucks but it is way more realistic than winning a 1 vs 4 in which your enemies are more or less equal to you or even stronger than you. Just ceding a small amount of land would let people who has skill issue like me go down the Balkan Hegemon path and enjoy every part of the gameplay. I don't think that it is "rework"[though I said it was (I mixed up the meanings, sorry!)], only a small addition.

wining the 2nd balkan war is easy, the build I do is cavalry and agrarian economy, when the war starts, do 3 divs on Greece, 7 on Serbia, 3 on Ottoman and the rest to Romania. When Romania joins you have to push them ASAP, when they cap, send 2 divs to Ottoman border and the rest to Serbia. Push from Vidin to Nish to forest tiles and then its ez win. Dont cap Serbia, wait for them to send a peace treaty and then peace with Ottomans. I have done this thing many times just so that I can get the achivment!

I just played the mod today and after two runs I was able to beat Romania first and then slowly grind Serbia and Greece down, while holding the line against the Ottomans. I am yet to figure out how to win against them. I had 6 divisions of mostly artillery. Maybe next time I should try a push to Constantinople first.

I also think industrialization tree may be better than agrarian, but I did go agrarian.

It definitely is tight and I had 6 horse divisions for the speed, about 30*18w infantry and in the end 6*28 with artillery.

But it has to be hard to get it done, cause in reality Bulgaria stood no chance and was foolish to attack Serbia.