Hearts of Iron 4

[physichull]

I watched this video the other day (I love watching WW2 lectures on Youtube!)

and you can see by one of the figures that the advance thru Russia that the panzers really did break miles behind the lines, leaving the infantry literally plodding on foot behind in a second echelon of fighting against the units the panzers left behind. Whilst the Germans advanced hundreds of km, there was still bitter fighting well behind the tip of the speer. Its fascinating really, and in that respect Hoi4 is realistic yes. Its not a moan, its more authentic and something else to master.

Logistics companies are now king, as well as the usual engineers, support arty and support anti air. Then maintenance for armoured and whatever you like for infantry.

I feel like I've taken a years regression in this game and need to re learn it all again!! Still need to figure out supply dumps and the right combination and what they actually do aswell. But they take loads of production, like 20k per supply dump, take ages to build.

 

[physichull]

You ever tried say 7 inf battalions then one anti-air? Gives a little breakthru and hard attack for a small inf unit? Might give it a try, especially if you don't have air supremacy. I am loving CAS right now, then can really blunt an enemy attack.

Or maybe a 7/2 but with one as anti-air, that might be good. 14/4s are done methinks, but it could still be that say a 32 width armoured could be good, I'll have to look more closely at terrain tile combat widths around the world. I'm not saying thats any good though.

Most of my Soviet campaign has been done with 18 width inf battalions full of support companies.

 

[physichull]

Going to delve into this today, bought it, any advice for a new player, havent really played a game like this before, was always more into real time tactics games and real time strategy, this more like turn based ? cheers !!

The other thing of course is to go back through this thread when I posted nearly the exact same thing!

It can seem complicated to get in to, and it is, but it is very rewarding. I love it when I nail a new achievement or a new focus tree route.


One of the main things about the new Soviet focus is that it is just soooo big. Its huge. Even the Bosporus focus trees were big but it can take a lot of getting your head around and you find yourself endlessly taking focusses or at least weighing it up against the build up of Political Power because there are simply so many.

 

[philstanbridge]

I'm not even attempting a run at a major until the new patch launches. I think they're looking at 2 weeks. There are quite a few niggles to iron out. But I'm enjoying the smaller campaigns with this beta patch much more. Canada is really good fun. I'm just using their army as a mobile expeditionary force and supporting weak fronts around the world.

 

[physichull]

That will give you a good idea of how to supply an overseas army, watched a feedback gaming video on the supply planes, I had no idea it was so bugged! I was actually really pleased with myself for finding something out that works on my own rather than reading about how somebody else did it!

Looking forward to new patch already but I am enjoying the transport plane supply bug in my giant 7-achievement run! I just want to get some of them out the way then can play as Soviets without the pressure!

Somebody formed Siberia as Tannu Tuva within 55 mins of release but I have literally no idea how, unless you wait till Russias demise then cavalry charge the land required before they can get to you. A proper head scratcher.

 

[arknor]

I was sending special forces divsions as an exped force but couldn't figure out how to supply them
I assigned them transport planes at a friendly airbase but it seemed to do nothing.

guess I will watch a video

there was still bitter fighting well behind the tip of the speer.

wasn't that the whole point of blitzkrieg ?

you rush hard and fast, you don't stop moving and you don't give the enemy any time to prepare a counter attack or to organise themselves.
anything "behind the spear" is basically cut off from reinforcements and supplies.

but I guess it becomes a problem when those behind get held up to much by the harsh fighting and you keep going. (the soviets captured huge numbers of Germany troops when they started winning? and before that the Germans had surrounded massive parts of the Russian army)


Dunkirk only happened because hitler rushed like 50 divisions straight into France pretty much deep into enemy lines and caused a mass panic?

 

[physichull]

Supply depends on many things, it depends how far from your capital you are, how good the local infrastructure is, where the nearest railways are, where the nearest supply hub is, what the terrain is like, naval efficiency on the route between your capital and your forces if overseas, whether you have convoys, weather, division size....so many variables!

 

[philstanbridge]

Dunkirk was a weird one tbh - the armoured divisions arrived first, as you would expect, but they were ordered to hold and not attack. They had to wait for their infantry support. From all accounts Hitler didn't dislike the British, (he was scared of the Royal Navy) and wanted a ceasefire before things deteriorated, so he didn't want to push his luck. He knew that invading Britain would have been a tough ask. The armoured divisions were more than capable of capturing Dunkirk on their own of course. It was said by his attache after the war he couldn't believe Britain declared war in support of Poland's guarantee. I think Dunkirk was Hitler's biggest mistake. If he had captured over 300,000 men, basically most of Britain's force, and all of their weapons, trucks and support, it may have changed the outcome. It's a very interesting debate, and one I discussed in depth whilst I was studying my degree. There is also a BBC mini series about it, which is quite authentic.

Anyway digressing, I'm still running with my Canadian campaign - I have worked out how the supply works mostly, just the tooltips are infuriating, and not intuitive in the slightest and understanding what the hell it all means needs a degree. I'm going to restart my Chinese campaign in the mean time, perhaps trying a different focus tree. I can't get the United Front to work at all!

 

[arknor]

I had a go as Bulgaria last night and found them more fun than poland, hungary etc...

I held out against the Germans, Romanians and Italians until 1942...
had something like 1:5 KD ratio but only India and Greece tried to help me

I think I spent too long doing non factory focuses at the start though and I'm assuming you need to hit Romania early to get manpower.

will have another go at it

Also I figured out the games more fun if you disband everyones colonies at the start and set it so you can always declare war no matter the ideology (not for my personal benefit but I want to see more of the world burn, shame to miss out of the Egypt campaign though)

much more of a civilised game now

 

[philstanbridge]

That's an interesting way to play! I've only ever followed historical options, although once you click go the outcome changes immediately. Are you playing with NSB installed or not? I'm running with the beta patch which is pretty good.

 

[arknor]

yea playing with NSB.

Historic focus is good for a challenge you can still play historic but change the war setting to free from ideology locked or whatever the options says and it seems to get a bit more random.

I like to play as random as possible though, seems kinda cheating when you already know basically how the game will unfold?

I'm not an expert though so could be wrong about how random the default settings are and how locked everything is.
I think I only played about 5 games as default ironman valid.
It's kinda lame when Hitler isn't in power going mental but I've had games where they sat the war out and Italy went mental on their own and actually did well.

I lost a lot though and quit around 1941/42 for a restart
I still suck at the early game it seems, I only just figured out you can force your neighbour to be democratic like you etc with spies, usually I never did the agency until the wars already in swing...

I'm trying to find a good small country that's fun to play like full defensive and just try to stay alive for as long as possible.

seems impossible though eventually your on your own completely surrounded and can't keep up with all the zerg stacks


USA basically sitting there watching as all over Europe crumbles away really makes you wonder how they became seen as the saviour of the world... they basically sat back and let like 10-20million people die? before they joined the war

 

[philstanbridge]

I see your point. But every game regardless of historical path will be different as soon as you click go. For really, really hard defensive games, there are two standout small nations. Finland, and Yugoslavia. Yugo can become quite a monster with the DLC. Finland lacks any form of content but by god its tough, and you are sandwiched right in between the Soviets and the Germans.

A larger nation, equally difficult is China. But if you can hold long enough you can become very powerful.

The other, obvious small nation is Poland.

Finally, if you are feeling masochistic, Ethiopia for the giggles. A nightmare lol..

 

[arknor]

I'm doing historic right now but just to be able to play like survival mode as Bulgaria.

doing the "join allies" democracy tree, I had the UK disband it's colonies though for the extra challenge, India still joined the allies though

This is after I split the axis in half with a corridor rush to the Netherlands from Bulgaria lol
Germany had a 77% surrender score then I realised Greece and Romania were about toe be conquered so ran back down before I lost all my land.

I thought the AI would mop of Germany and win... even Poland was free and I'm almost back to where I was.

Ive only had 17-22 divisions the whole time with 6inf + 1anti tank/AA/Arty and support for defending

529k dead so far for me but killed around 2-3mil
America finally joined the allies though

 

[Witto]

Having owned this for around 2 years I've finally got around to playing it, and have around 150 hours now.

I think I've grasped the basics, so can make a decent fist of most campaigns, and I'm slowly working through the achievements.

One thing I'm struggling with though, every time I research a new plane, ship or tank chassis, I then have to design it from scratch (i.e. select what weapons, engines etc to fit), am I missing something or is there really no way to just use pre-designed models (e.g. German Tiger tank based on the actual one used in WW2)?

I'm guessing this was the case before the various DLC's added the designers in, but for a new player it is quite overwhelming trying to decide what to fit and what not to fit.

Other than that, I have to say focus trees are one of the worst (designed) features from any PDX game I've played

edit: so apparently there is an auto design button (that I've failed to notice it would seem) - are the auto design builds any good?

 

[Marku]

Which DLCs should i get for best HOI4 experience?
Any mods you guys would recommend?

 

[philstanbridge]

ALL of them. They all enhance and expand the game in some shape or form. I guess it depends on your interests. If it's world conquest, then you would benefit from them all.

8,130 hours and counting

 

[philstanbridge]

Okay, it's daunting to begin with for sure. What I might do is look up the Wiki or Google etc, and discover what aircraft were actually flying at the time. Then take your pic. So for a 1939 fighter for the UK I'd go with a Hawker Hurricane. Aim to replace/upgrade as soon as possible. You know the Hurricane is a single-engined fighter, so that's one engine and a set of guns. Likewise for the other models. The Auto-Design function usually works ok, if you specify the engine first, so you give it some direction. Look to upgrade individual components too. So look at adding armour plating, drop tanks etc. Lots of little things which improve survivability.

Another option you can go with is a mod. Look for the Blueprints mods. The German one for example, tells you exactly what you need to build an German AFV. It works well.

 

[Witto]

I checked last night and there is indeed an auto deisgn button, not sure how I've not noticed that before

Hopefully that should be enough to give me an idea where to start (thanks for the specify engine first tip)

I'm assuming the blueprint mods aren't going to be ironman compatible, but I'll check them out too.

Also it seems I have 250 hours and not 150!! Explains why the missus has been making comments about me playing too much.

 

[Spacedeck]

I keep coming back to this game, each time attempting to understand what's going on. I've watched quill18's beginner tutorial countless times. I understand the menus and have an idea on what different things do, I build infantry, I group armies and stick them on a front line, get them trained up, I get to a point where I can't research much without going into the following year, I build factories and infrastructure throughout Germany, hire different people to government.

I never know when I have enough of something and when is the right time to start making other things, or in general when to start war with another country without being demolished.

One thing I keep being confused by early on with Germany, is the notification for Missing Equipment Production. It's saying I'm missing Transport Plane and Naval Bomber, which I understand how to build, I just can't wrap my head around why they are saying I should build it.

 

[Witto]

I watched a lot of tutorials too, including Quill18's, but once you understand the basics you just need to dive in and give it a go.

If you're playing as Germany I would start in 1936 and try and follow the same timeline they did, that will give you a few years to build everything up ready for invading Poland.

The German focus tree has a historical path, and you can find guides that recommend what order to do it in to follow the same timeline as they did, that worked well for me.

Conquering mainland Europe is much easier than you would think, even as a new player, it only really starts to get challenging when (if) you declare war on Russia and when the US join the allies.

I also find the Missing Equipment Production notification confusing, I suspect you have planes deployed to air bases that are not at full strength, and you're not producing any to fix that. Everytime I start a new campaign I just select any air bases with planes and delete the wings, that puts them back in to reserve for deployment later.

The logistics tab is important, as that will show you anything that you are short of, and you want to fix that before going to war, e.g. you want to ensure you have lots of infantry equipment stored up.

All that said, I'm still learning too, so I'm sure the likes of Phil can provide much better advice than me

Edit: Forgot to add, the pdf found in this guide is also quite a good read for new players - https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/threads/hearts-of-iron-iv-advanced-guide-for-beginners.1032991/