Hearts of Iron IV

[acctingman]

I find it extremely difficult to manage multi level (land, air, sea) wars on multiple fronts. It is very easy to get overwhelmed.

Same here JH. I've let go trying to play any major nation until I get a better grasp of things.

Enjoying a Romanian game right now  O0

[SirAndrewD]

I find it extremely difficult to manage multi level (land, air, sea) wars on multiple fronts. It is very easy to get overwhelmed.

Indeed.  This is where the battle planner should come in and help you a bit.  It didn't pre 1.1, but it seems better at doing it now. 

For air and sea though, you've just got to hope things are handling themselves.  The popups on the right side are easy to miss and the AI is a lot quicker at redeploying and concentrating its air power than I am.

For fleets, right now, just go stack of doom.  Putting the most ships possible under one fleet seems to trump everything else.   

[SirAndrewD]

And, after playing a while into 1940 as Japan, there are still very very messed up things in the 1.1 Patch.

Front priority is still, very badly messed up as the Axis.  Germany keeps over 80 divisions on the Soviet Border after taking Poland, leading to them being unable to make a dent in France. 

The UK still benefits from division spam and can put more than 100 divisions in the field by war's start, backed up by 5000+ fighters. 

AI Naval invasions are still very much ill advised and over aggressive, leading to the UK taking Rome in late '39 and then sitting there.

Ethiopia is still the primary battleground of early WW2, with Italy, the UK and Germany transferring most of their forces there to make the sands of Africa the deciding factor in the western war.

At least this time I'm over in Asia just watching and building my navy.  I'm wiping my hands of all these loons.

[Jarhead0331]

My last game as Germany was very enjoyable, but also very frustrating, as well, due to all of the irregularities, both AI and historical.

I was able to keep the global hostility level under 50% through 1941 and stay out of a direct war with the allies, or the soviets. Meanwhile, I was able to expand significantly through national goals, rather than through outright conquest. However, as I was planning to invade Poland and France through the Netherlands/Belgium corridor, I noticed that Italy, my ally, was in a war with France and the U.K., and it was losing badly. I was annoyed that my ally was at war and I had received no obvious notification of this, no request for intervention or aide of any kind, and no justification for war against either the uk or France. Before I knew it, Rome fell and although Italy continued the fight, it was slowly being pushed off of the italian peninsula. Now my entire southern flank was exposed. Making matters worse, Italy declares war on Greece, despite the fact that it's homeland is being overrun.

Eventually, Poland, Netherlands and Belgium all capitulate. My divisions are victorious, and I am preparing to move toward Paris. After I invaded the Netherlands, however, the stage was set for the massive confusion I was talking about in my above post. Now, the entire world is at war. US divisions start to appear in my conquered territories, causing me to have to break off significant forces to stop them. Although I'm making steady progress through northern France, British and French divisions are tearing through my unprotected southern flank. By this time I'm virtually out of aircraft reserves and I have lost the ability to control the air and naval wars since I'm so totally stretched over everything that is happening on the ground.

I think there is still a chance to turn things around, but I'm not sure I will continue with this game since the situation is so chaotic.

So the things that really bothered me....

1. The lack of notification that Italy was in a war with France and the U.K. And the inability for me to intervene because I had no justification for war.

2. Italy's decision to invade Greece while it was losing a war in Italy.

3. The ease with which US divisions were able to move into Europe and gain a significant foothold.

4. The stiff rules associated with war declarations. It took a long time for me to be able to invade the Netherlands and Poland through the diplomatic justification for war requirement.

5. The difficulty in getting information on the progress of air and naval operations.

[Ian C]

5. The difficulty in getting information on the progress of air and naval operations.

This is typical Paradox. It's like they almost have a fetish for burying info under minute check buttons and arcane methods (mousing over a bar under the airfield graphic on the air screen, you thought was just a bar).


On a different note: speaking of arcane, this is pretty eccentric

[RyanE]

"This is typical Paradox. It's like they almost have a fetish for burying info under minute check buttons and arcane methods (mousing over a bar under the airfield graphic on the air screen, you thought was just a bar)."

If that is a fetish, then Gary Grigsby has a raving psychosis...

[glen55]

I find it extremely difficult to manage multi level (land, air, sea) wars on multiple fronts. It is very easy to get overwhelmed.

I played it like a turn-based game and paused every morning at 1 a.m. to give everything a once-over.

[Ian C]

I find it extremely difficult to manage multi level (land, air, sea) wars on multiple fronts. It is very easy to get overwhelmed.

It is. I'm convinced that this game cannot and should not be played during war time at more than speed 2. I also sometimes find myself becoming fixated on one particular operation/battle and losing sight elsewhere.

If anyone has missing this, you can 'pin' a location to the gui. click on an area and on the right, the grey location box appears. Click on the button to pin it. Very useful for going straight to key areas and theatres.

[Jarhead0331]

I find it extremely difficult to manage multi level (land, air, sea) wars on multiple fronts. It is very easy to get overwhelmed.

I also sometimes find myself becoming fixated on one particular operation/battle and losing sight elsewhere.
.

This! Exactly my problem.

I reloaded an older save of my most current game. This time, I started war justification politics on Poland earlier than before, and Italy managed to stay out of a war with France and uk for a little longer. Once Italy went war, it actually fared better and was able to hold the border until I defeated Poland and was able to redeploy eastern front armies over to the west. Additionally, the Netherlands has not joined the allies yet, so I have been able to bypass the Dutch and sweep through Belgium to threaten France. We now have France fighting a two front war. Finally, the us has not sent any expeditionary force to Europe, so I have stable borders and a lot of conquered territory. South Africa and the U.K. Sent some forces over to try to save Poland, but they were surrounded and annihilated. If I can knock out the French, I have a fighting chance.

[sandman2575]

Overall I really like that HOI4 has eliminated the message pop-up spam that used to drive me crazy in HOI3 -- but I agree the game needs to do a better job about alerting you to critical events -- or even basic but still important events, like the fact that you get no notification when new units deploy.

My biggest pet peeves about the game so far -- and it doesn't look like the beta patch has done anything to address them:

1. Absurd air combat attrition. Good case where lack of notification can really hurt you. You might go 5-6 days without checking the air map for sectors you thought were 'quiet', only to find out that you've lost 800 fighters during that span.  It's simply ridiculous how you can lose 3/4 of you entire air force in a week if you're not paying super close attention to everything.

2. AI still builds thousands of rubbish divisions. I hate the fact that the AI clearly does not know how to use the division designer, and so churns out countless weak 'divisions' -- infantry divisions with 4 inf. battalions and no artillery support, that kind of thing. AI also still seems incapable of upgrading tanks and is content to spam light tank units.

3. Amphibious invasion spam. This seems to have gotten even worse with the patch. AI is like the Terminator now with naval invasions. It doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, until you are dead!  Or more likely, until it has wasted most of its own divisions in hopeless repeated landings. Don't get me wrong -- I like that the AI is aggressive, but don't like that it is suicidal and don't like how easy it is to launch naval invasions. As Germany, I had to send around 18 divisions down to Italy because UK will not stop invading -- in 1940 -- and Italy AI is too stupid to garrison its ports.

[Jarhead0331]

France capitulates. This was my primary long term goal. But for a tiny pocket of American divisions in the northwestern most corner of France, Fortress Europe is secure.

the Netherlands, Denmark and Norway all remain thoroughly neutral. However, I'm wondering if a conquest of these nations will enhance or weaken my security. Obviously, so long as they remain independent I'll need to keep adequate combat divisions ready to respond to a change in the diplomatic status. This is unacceptable in the long term since I will most likely need them in the east, so I guess that answers my question. Thoughts on strategy here? Is it better to attack? What about improving the diplomatic relationship and trying to bring them closer to the axis? What about doing nothing and remaining neutral?

A couple of questions....

1. How do you all manage conquered territory? When I get a message that there is resistance to occupation, I typically bring a division or two into that sector. Recently, I designed a new division with an MP brigade attached. Isn't there some kind of garrison division I can build? I know there is a garrison order for armies, but I hate to utilize a veteran army for this duty.

2. How do you stop the sabotage of factories? The obvious solution is putting more troops into garrison. Anything else that can be done?

I'm definitely frustrated by the amphibious invasion spam. Every few weeks a few allied divisions will land in northern France or Germany only to quickly be pushed back into the water. It gets pretty irritating, and even more so since there is no obvious message when forces land. I know there is a little gray message on the right, but it's very hard to notice. I shouldn't have to constantly check my coastline for incursions. I suppose I'll begin fortifying Normandy, just in case the allies get their act together and try something more organized.

I'm also frustrated by the air attrition issue. I can't even begin to imagine the number of losses I've taken. I'm virtually out of airplanes and my factories can't come even close to keeping up. The fact that I've occupied most of Western Europe doesn't seem to be helping. I figured things would settle down in the air once France fell. I'll double check, but I think there are still thousands of enemy aircraft over Western Europe. I presume they are coming from the UK. How effective are antiaircraft batteries in provinces? Germany has pretty heavy air defense throughout, but I'm not sure of the status of the occupied territory.

[W8taminute]

Sounds like you've got your hands full.  Your experience is very different from mine with this game.  I'm playing my third game again as Japan having lost the first two because the Soviets kept declaring war on me before the USA could.  Haven't seen much air attrition as you have.  It's probably because in the early game most of my minor country enemies have no air force.

As for controlling resistance in occupied territory I design small divisions with a combat width of 10.  So usually about 3 infantry battalions all in one brigade.  Then put one recon and one military police support unit and you've got a cheap security division.  Set the unit to rookie status so they use only obsolete equipment.  That way you're not wasting your latest gear on just police duty.

[Ian C]

A couple of questions....

1. How do you all manage conquered territory? When I get a message that there is resistance to occupation, I typically bring a division or two into that sector. Recently, I designed a new division with an MP brigade attached. Isn't there some kind of garrison division I can build? I know there is a garrison order for armies, but I hate to utilize a veteran army for this duty.

2. How do you stop the sabotage of factories? The obvious solution is putting more troops into garrison. Anything else that can be done?

I'm definitely frustrated by the amphibious invasion spam. Every few weeks a few allied divisions will land in northern France or Germany only to quickly be pushed back into the water. It gets pretty irritating, and even more so since there is no obvious message when forces land. I know there is a little gray message on the right, but it's very hard to notice. I shouldn't have to constantly check my coastline for incursions. I suppose I'll begin fortifying Normandy, just in case the allies get their act together and try something more organized.

I'm also frustrated by the air attrition issue. I can't even begin to imagine the number of losses I've taken. I'm virtually out of airplanes and my factories can't come even close to keeping up. The fact that I've occupied most of Western Europe doesn't seem to be helping. I figured things would settle down in the air once France fell. I'll double check, but I think there are still thousands of enemy aircraft over Western Europe. I presume they are coming from the UK. How effective are antiaircraft batteries in provinces? Germany has pretty heavy air defense throughout, but I'm not sure of the status of the occupied territory.

Hope this helps.


Note: I'm on the 1.1.0 beta.

Air Losses
Air missions are set to Fight To The Death and night/day by default. Changing them to day and another type of option will reduce air losses. 
If you set your Bombers to fly missions into an enemy region it will also divert some of the AI fighters there.
For example, as France, if you are fighting Air Superiority in Northern France in 1940, sending bombers into Western Germany will see the AI suddenly place some of it's fighters in Northern France into Western Germany. I've seen a 500 Fighter force go down to 300 after doing this - the other 200 fighters being transferred to the other region. Even if you don't need or want to bomb anything there, just set the bombers to a low casualty avoidance mission, night, and it works.
I guess this is a strategic lure?

Defending Against Naval Invasion
As far as preventing naval invasions, put CAS and Naval Bombers on Naval Strike missions in the vulnerable sea areas as well as Sub patrols. It seems to work for me. Playing as The Reich, the UK seemed to waste a lot of troops on invasions in the north of Germany. Once I placed the missions, they seemed to stop. As a last resort, surface naval will always interfere with a naval invasion but it risks damaging or even sacrificing your navy if you are going up against a stronger foe e.g. Kriegsmarine vs. Royal Navy.
Note that air Naval Strikes against troop transports do NOT work in anything other than the 1.1.0 beta.


Coastal defences. Making a coastal fort, even a level 1, will give an invader a 15% penalty to invade. Two Forts give a whopping -30%. I always invest in a level 1 or 2 Fort in port areas.
Just 1 division with a level two Engineer Company will give you 200% entrenchment. 2 Divisions in a port is my usual basic defence and will hold off an 8-Division invasion force. 3 Divs will usually stop anything.

Air Superiority.
This gives a significant bonus to any combat in the area you have it in. Even if it's just a token force. I broke a month-long deadlock in East Africa by sending 20 Fighters over. The enemy had no air power. My Fighters swung it and I won the stalemate. Never overlook the Air Superiority bonus.



Preventing Resistance
For me, the two considerations for an occupying force are suppression and conservation of manpower and equipment.
For this reason, I build cheap custom Occupation Regiments of Infantry with 3 Battalions of Infantry and an MP Company.
Regiment-size because you are not using them as front line divisions and because they take less manpower per unit. You can build them cheaper (and faster if you deploy them before they finish training).  You can cover three key areas with 3 regiments for the same manpower cost as a full Inf Div which covers only 1 area.
Set them as Low Priority for reinforcements and Equipment and also to use older equipment, and they won't drain your front line divisions.
Creating a separate Theatre for all occupying forces and setting that to Low Priority will further conserve resources.

Also, if you expect future invasions, include Support Artillery, Anti-Air and Engineer Companies.

Alternatively, using Cavalry Battalions will gain a larger Suppression value, as Cavalry are the best type of Battalion for suppressing Resistance. It's your choice.


Occupation Policy
Setting your Occupation Policy can affect the growth of the resistance:

[Jarhead0331]

Excellent. Thanks for the tips guys. Very insightful.

[Pete Dero]

Preventing Resistance
For me, the two considerations for an occupying force are suppression and conservation of manpower and equipment.
For this reason, I build cheap custom Occupation Regiments of Infantry with 3 Battalions of Infantry and an MP Company.
Regiment-size because you are not using them as front line divisions and because they take less manpower per unit. You can build them cheaper (and faster if you deploy them before they finish training).  You can cover three key areas with 3 regiments for the same manpower cost as a full Inf Div which covers only 1 area.
Set them as Low Priority for reinforcements and Equipment and also to use older equipment, and they won't drain your front line divisions.
Creating a separate Theatre for all occupying forces and setting that to Low Priority will further conserve resources.

Also, if you expect future invasions, include Support Artillery, Anti-Air and Engineer Companies.

Alternatively, using Cavalry Battalions will gain a larger Suppression value, as Cavalry are the best type of Battalion for suppressing Resistance. It's your choice.

I find that divisions with a few regiments of cavalry combined with a MP company (researched up to level 3) are my best solution.
I put a number of these divisions in to an army and give that army a garrison command.

I also have a small 100% mobile army (tanks + motorised/mechanised) in reserve to quickly respond if necessary.

+ everything Iac said.