Hearts of Iron IV

[Rayfer]

Pre-release copy playthrough as U.S. It appears fuel management is now a key strategic element of planning. The ship designer looks interesting. Really looking forward to Thursday release day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65PjsdT0IjQ

Watched the first 30 minutes of this 90 minute video.  He does a good job explaining the changes and I'll finish it later today. Like you, I'm looking forward to the release later this week.  Thanks for posting the video.

[Ian C]

You're welcome!

Pre-release video on fuel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bL8q2IIY4iI

[JasonPratt]

The review we were all waiting for...

.....okay, that I was waiting for.

[Ian C]

Naval stuff: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdRe41MDUnM


Playing as Japan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3-dttN15C0

[Grim.Reaper]

pre purchased...waiting

[Ian C]

Naval gameplay with Japan and new submarine & convoy combat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDWzeDQSW1k

[Rayfer]

Naval gameplay with Japan and new submarine & convoy combat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDWzeDQSW1k

I'm still going through some of these videos so maybe my question is covered somewhere later.....what about research?  It appears that all those upgrades in ship design, be it guns, armor, etc., have to each be researched separately. With the limited number of research slots available already in the game making it hard to stay current in critical areas....how are we to research these new areas?  Are they giving us more research capacity?

[Pete Dero]

These might make research a bit clearer :

tech tree around minute 10 :

[Pete Dero]

Playing as Germany

[Ian C]

I'm still going through some of these videos so maybe my question is covered somewhere later.....what about research?  It appears that all those upgrades in ship design, be it guns, armor, etc., have to each be researched separately. With the limited number of research slots available already in the game making it hard to stay current in critical areas....how are we to research these new areas?  Are they giving us more research capacity?

No, but we can now use Naval XP to reduce research times drastically as there is quite a bit new naval tech. Naval XP can be gained fairly quickly through training fleets.
As a result, some people playing pre-release games are speculating that we research too much too soon. However, when put into the context of the game, I doubt it. It just means we can research things normally and also be up to date with the new extra naval tech. Possibly.

[Rayfer]

I'm still going through some of these videos so maybe my question is covered somewhere later.....what about research?  It appears that all those upgrades in ship design, be it guns, armor, etc., have to each be researched separately. With the limited number of research slots available already in the game making it hard to stay current in critical areas....how are we to research these new areas?  Are they giving us more research capacity?

No, but we can now use Naval XP to reduce research times drastically as there is quite a bit new naval tech. Naval XP can be gained fairly quickly through training fleets.
As a result, some people playing pre-release games are speculating that we research too much too soon. However, when put into the context of the game, I doubt it. It just means we can research things normally and also be up to date with the new extra naval tech. Possibly.

Thanks....makes sense and I like it.  At least for now...hope it works once the full release comes out this week.

[solops]

Someone let us know if the AI has become a credible opponent that can actually use the features that have been introduced....or even the ones the game started with. I have the game and a couple of the DLCs but I cannot bear to boot it anymore.

[SirAndrewD]

Someone let us know if the AI has become a credible opponent that can actually use the features that have been introduced....or even the ones the game started with. I have the game and a couple of the DLCs but I cannot bear to boot it anymore.

Based on the lets plays it looks about the same.  The guy doing the Japan playthrough had to do a lot of micro on the battle planner side to keep things going. 

I think part of the issue with seeing a hugely improved AI is going to be that it's taken until now for HoI to be "feature complete".  They had to almost completely redo the air and naval system, and make significant tweaks to how command and control works to even get it to the point, now, where they might have significant time to invest and a game infrastructure that allows them to concentrate on it. 

I hope I'll find otherwise on Thursday, but I'm not expecting a big change in that department.

[Rayfer]

Someone let us know if the AI has become a credible opponent that can actually use the features that have been introduced....or even the ones the game started with. I have the game and a couple of the DLCs but I cannot bear to boot it anymore.

Based on the lets plays it looks about the same.  The guy doing the Japan playthrough had to do a lot of micro on the battle planner side to keep things going. 

I think part of the issue with seeing a hugely improved AI is going to be that it's taken until now for HoI to be "feature complete".  They had to almost completely redo the air and naval system, and make significant tweaks to how command and control works to even get it to the point, now, where they might have significant time to invest and a game infrastructure that allows them to concentrate on it. 

I hope I'll find otherwise on Thursday, but I'm not expecting a big change in that department.

I found it to be a credible opponent from the get go.  But then again I don't try to game the AI by doing really off-beat things or seek to find and exploit loopholes in the AI like I've seen in many a YouTube video. If you play a major power and stay somewhat within historical bounds the AI does a fine as an opponent.

[JasonPratt]

For what it's worth, iSorrow noticed in his review that Japan was doing reasonably well on naval -- as long as he left it alone (and as long as the US decided not to contest the Pacific).