Hearts of Iron IV

[acctingman]

I just went blind  :D

[bobarossa]

I just went blind  :D

Didn't your parents warn you about that!

Seriously, that picture is almost enough to make me give up my online-DRM aversion.  I AM worried about the simplifications (ok, streamlining) of HOI4.  I recently reinstalled HOI2 and forgot how much I disliked the tech simplifications where you just researched division levels instead of being able to focus on speed/armor/guns, etc. 

I am happy to see the counter and map mods.  When HOI3 came out with that base map, everyone screamed about how you couldn't tell the terrain type without looking at the pop-ups.  They quickly added a simplified terrain map but then didn't enable it to be used with weather overlay.  Hopefully, these mods fix those possible issues.

[Ian C]

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I like the 3D models. The colours of the map, the day/night cycle, the weather, rain, snow, sound FX. I think it's a nice as the CIV map.
I just watched snow fall in winter as troops were training near a German forest area in Bavaria. That's when I caved in.

A couple of tips: some decorative icons on screens panels might not be decorative. Click 'everything' that looks like a design just in case. I've just discovered how to alter conscription and other things by clicking on 'icons' on the Politics screen. Without a manual the learning curve is steep but rewarding. Interesting to see a Conscription law called 'Scraping The Barrel'. I guess I'll save that one for when I'm playing as Germany in '45 and need old men and children.

Battle plans have sunk in with me and I have to say, they are wonderful. As The Reich, I set up an Invasion of Austria just in case Anschluss failed (one of the focuses). It took me an hour of planning and selecting the divisions and also designing a couple of new ones. Anschluss went without incident, and I got all of Austria, with extra factory's and units. Having to plan it all didn't matter as I got my fun out of this as much as making OOB's in HOI3.
In HOI3, planning wasn't this big a deal. Here, it is. You can direct divisions on-the-fly and don't even need to make a battle plan, but the benefits on making one is compelling. The bonuses you get are good. Mousing over the arrow on your General icon will give you a risk assessment of the plans chance of success and tell you why it's not good or bad (divisions not in place, Rain, Superior Enemy Force etc).

I'm finding it more immersive than any other game of this genre I've played. Naval combat is a hoot for detail. Single submarines and destroyers, not a counter of a squadron, but all individually named Single subs. In a UK game a Battleship got sunk by ONE Nazi sub on patrol, and it was named in the battle report (you need to click on the left icon to see more details).

Seriously, I think this is a freaking amazing game once you forget HOI3 and get past the learning curve.

[W8taminute]

I love this game.  Paradox did a wonderful job streamlining the interface whilst maintaining the depth they're famous for.

[Grim.Reaper]

Looks like beta patch available....

Stability & Performance
- Fixed several rare CTDs.
- Late-game performance optimizations.
- Large peace conference resolutions are now faster and also properly indicate that they are active to non-participants.
- Added GUI scaling option for people with very small or very high resolutin displays (experimental).
- Added a max framerate limiting system (defaults to 75fps) to help people with the combination of bad cooling, great graphics cards and very high screen refresh. If you are one of these with heat issues I would love to hear if this solved it (changing max_fram_rate in settings can let you remove its effect by making it higher, or go lower if you still have issues)

Gameplay
- Fixed an issue with deploying troops during spanish civil war when continuing savegames.
- Can now zoom in and out using PgUp and PgDown buttons on keyboard.
- Stopped an exploit where player could redirect a naval transfer into an invasion without preparation.
- Fixed a case where fleets who found themselves outside base range would be instantly deleted.
- Fixed some highlighting issues in tutorial.

Content
- Added 8 new unique nation leader portraits.
- Improved some VP/state names in China.
- Improved a lot of alternate ideology nation names and party/leader names.
- France can now send volunteers to Spain if they choose the Support Nationalists focus.
- Fixed many localization issues, both in english and other languages.

[sandman2575]

Glad to hear some are enjoying it as much as I am. I think it's fantastic. By no means a polished gem yet - still a fair number of things that need improving, some serious. But as a foundation and overall concept, this is the HOI I've always wanted.

The Battle Planner takes some getting used to. And getting the AI to do what you want takes some patience and finessing - hence the jumble of arrows in my screenshot. Overall I LOVE this feature though.

Air war needs work. I like the new way air units are handled - a lot less micromanagement than HOI3. But the combat outcomes are fairly absurd. I basically lost my entire fighter arm in the span of 2 weeks once war broke out - over 300 fighters. Casualty figures are way out of whack.

[Barthheart]

Man! You basturds are the worst AA group ever... how am I supposed to hold off buying this when you all are gushings like little girls! 


CRAP!....
>:(

When the hell I'm I going to play this! 


EDIT--- HA! Saved by expire GMG coupon.... for a while anyway.... :P

[Grim.Reaper]

Only $28 here

http://www.kinguin.net/hearts-of-iron-steam

[Barthheart]

Only $28 here

http://www.kinguin.net/hearts-of-iron-steam

>:(

Yer not helping at all..... 

[Grim.Reaper]

You know you want to:)

[tgb]

I caved.  The streamlining and lack of fiddly micromanagement sealed the deal for me.

[RyanE]

I'm right behind you.  I hated HOI2/3 because of the micro-management issues.  I might give this a shot.

[jomni]

I'm right behind you.  I hated HOI2/3 because of the micro-management issues.  I might give this a shot.

Me too.

[-budd-]

Well shit, isn't anybody gonna hold out. I need a role model here. The stream lining is what's drawing me in, the other games just had to much micromanagement. Not to mention I can't think of one grand strategy game I've stuck with, yea that's it grand strategy isn't my thing, not gonna fold.

[Greybriar]

Well shit, isn't anybody gonna hold out....

I haven't caved yet.