Hearts of Iron IV - The Ultimate WWII Strategy Game

[GarfunkeL]

https://www.heartsofiron4.com

Spoiler

So, Paradox has revealed that Project Amstrong is, surprise surprise, Hearts of Iron 4.

So far, we know that it will be Steam only and that it won't include the weather model from HoI3. It will also be easier to learn than HoI3.

 

[GarfunkeL]

HOI4
"We're going to make it better than EU4"
What we learned from CK2/EU4: Make the playability & replayability better. It shouldn't be a chore to play.
"Slightly easier learning curve (but not that easy.)"
You can still control individual units, but now battle plans actually do stuff
Battle plans can include bombing targets, movement, etc..
"Deep Political System". Political leaders are fewer, but more important. Ideas you can unlock & implement.
Ideas can include neutrality stances, for example.
Strategic Warfare. Not everything is on a single-province level.
Air raids & submarine stuff can happen over larger areas instead of province-by-province micro.
Detailed Technology Trees -- apparently we will see more on this later.
Hearts of Iron 4 will NOT be coming out in 2014

 

[Sulimo]

Will it be just as bugged as HOI3 was on release? Will minors actually be worth playing now?

 

[Raghar]

Will it be just as bugged as HOI3 was on release? Will minors actually be worth playing now?

Yes.

No.

That answered both your questions, right?

 

[yeye]

I really hope they'll make naval combat better this time around.

 

[Dragula]

It would be nice if battleships yknow, do stuff.

 

[Malakal]

Will minors actually be worth playing now?

I cant think of any way in which minors could be well represented in this game. The time span is just too small to make a global or even regional power of any real small nation. Its not CK or EU where you get to play with centuries, we are speaking decades at best. How many divisions could Hungary field? Not very many unless you magically multiply its population a few times.

I draw the line at Romania/Poland/Spain, anything with less population than that simply cant matter. Unless they go with fantasy manpower and IC figures.

 

[Dragula]

I would draw the line at Finland because the winter war can still be interesting to play out.

 

[anus_pounder]

I would draw the line at Finland because the winter war can still be interesting to play out.

Vaarna will fix it.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Not to mention in the overall scheme of the war due to the influence of the Winter War on the rest of the war (no severe beating in the Winter War, no fixing the Red Army) and the role of Continuation War on the Eastern Front Finland is more important to model than Romania/Poland/Spain. Of course as the joke in Finnish game circles goes, you walk an extremely hard situation there, since you can easily either end up with Stalin's delusions of a week-long conquest being easily enacted, or with a nation of invincible Sardaukar marching at Moscow.


Besides, HoI3 mods have proven that it's actually EASY to make minors fun to play in it due to the separation of IC, resources, and ESPECIALLY Leadership.

 

[Kane]

 

[DakaSha]

do we really need another buggy, horribly designed, more or less copy pasted, paradox game?

 

[Malakal]

The pool of available nations is indeed very limited but at least the game is very fun in MP.

 

[GarfunkeL]

Yeah right. I had a great game playing as Hungary and uniting the Balkans under Magyar rule, then helping the German AI kick some Commie ass. Sure, playing as Netherlands is pretty boring but that's to be expected if you want the game to even the least bit historical. With the slightly improved AI and new mechanics that Their Finest Hour introduced, a player-run France can no longer automatically kick AI German ass, for example.

As for mods, there are tons of good ones. HPP, RPM2, Black ICE, TRP, August Storm and if you like playing as Germany, DWI - Deutsches Wehrmacht Immersion - is a must try.

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

For me HoI II (with Arma) was definitely the most fun Paradox game and the only one of their games I played extensively. If they they deliver on the promise of making IV more like it through cutting out the tedious shit that constituted a significant part of III's gameplay then I'm sold. Their "new" eye-raping engine is still a shame though...

 

[Mortmal]

Heart of iron is one of the paradox game i spent the less of time on, because its really deterministic and without surprises, theres much less replayability as only majors are worth playing . If the timeline was rather from the end to victoria 2 up to 1960 it would be better.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Yeah right. I had a great game playing as Hungary and uniting the Balkans under Magyar rule, then helping the German AI kick some Commie ass. Sure, playing as Netherlands is pretty boring but that's to be expected if you want the game to even the least bit historical. With the slightly improved AI and new mechanics that Their Finest Hour introduced, a player-run France can no longer automatically kick AI German ass, for example.

As for mods, there are tons of good ones. HPP, RPM2, Black ICE, TRP, August Storm and if you like playing as Germany, DWI - Deutsches Wehrmacht Immersion - is a must try.

I'd say Black ICE deserves a special mention for the fact it puts a lot of things for meddling around with for minor nations (even though some of these tend to lead to player Germany becoming an unstoppable juggernaut that shits rare materials and bleeds oil).

 

[Malakal]

I would draw the line at Finland because the winter war can still be interesting to play out.

Finland is a very specific case stemming from both opponents incompetence and situation of war during the winter. Could Finland try any offensive actions? Could it fight during the summer?
For me its a no and no thus this case should be represented with good terrain/weather model and issues with leadership for big armies.

 

[Kane]

do we really need another buggy, horribly designed, more or less copy pasted, paradox game?

no. of people in multiplayer are the deciding factor:
1) EU
2) HOI
.
.
.
.
.
.
3-inf) the other paradox crap

can't blame them for good business though i would prefer vicy3 of course.

 

[Dragula]

I would draw the line at Finland because the winter war can still be interesting to play out.

Finland is a very specific case stemming from both opponents incompetence and situation of war during the winter. Could Finland try any offensive actions? Could it fight during the summer?
For me its a no and no thus this case should be represented with good terrain/weather model and issues with leadership for big armies.

With Sweden as an ally it would be viable to go for an offensive action, and since Sweden almost allied with Finland during the crisis, instead of just sending volunteers, it could happen. It is modelled in both HOI2 and HOI3.

 

[Raghar]

Actually I think the most funny way how to play HOI2 is to send money troops and suplies to MAO, and play as comchi.

 

[Random Word]

HoI 3 was an amazing MP game with a huge amount of replayability and variability. If you stick players in all the majors and get anything like historical WW2 your players are incredibly unimaginative. Some minors can be quite entertaining in MP, too (Canada, Australia, China (Ton of fun), Hungary, etc).

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

I would draw the line at Finland because the winter war can still be interesting to play out.

Finland is a very specific case stemming from both opponents incompetence and situation of war during the winter. Could Finland try any offensive actions? Could it fight during the summer?
For me its a no and no thus this case should be represented with good terrain/weather model and issues with leadership for big armies.

The Battle of Tali-Ihantala was fought during the summer, as were the offensive actions during the Continuation War. The more difficult aspect to model is the rather complex relationship Finland had with Germany during the Continuation War, what with Finnish refusal to operate beyond a certain point (or even provide support, German artillery spotters were prohibited from operating on the Finnish front during the siege of Leningrad which Mannerheim refused to participate in; another very pivotal part Finland's involvement had for the course of the war).

And it goes beyond that as well. The highest ranked (non-German) fighter ace of all time is Finnish for example. Another example is the absurd almost 11 to 1 kill ratio (missing one tank killed) Finnish armored forces (StuGIII's) had in the Continuation War. See, there's a reason for the whole "nation which appears to consist of Space Marines" problem for game design.

GarfunkeL can give a pretty extensive lecture on the importance of the Winter War for the larger war both in its shaping of Hitler's ambitions and Soviet Union's global image (and internal affairs), and the role of the Continuation War on the Eastern Front.

 

[Delbaeth]

How many DLCs will be necessary to have a decent game, this time? Or would it be a F2P MMORTS?

 

[Malakal]

How many DLCs will be necessary to have a decent game, this time? Or would it be a F2P MMORTS?

Judging by EU4 game will be playable by 1.2. Feature complete? Who knows. But EU4 is leaps and leaps ahead of vanilla EU3 so I have rather high hopes.