Is anyone else puzzled by Pdox's half-hearted 'rollout' of Hearts of Iron IV?

[Pete Dero]

Hearts of Iron 4! PDXCon15 Livestream with Lead Designer Dan "podcat" Lind

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6D0jNe_dUVE

[bboyer66]

 Trust me, I have always wanted to like the HOI franchise. It's got all the bells and whistles. Just when you start playing it, you realize something  other than WWII is playing out in front of you. Still I hold out hope considering how surprisingly competent I found the AI in EUIV.

[Ian C]

If you have HOI3 complete (with Their Finest Hour) I recommend this excellent well-researched and produced mod:

http://blackicemod.com/

http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?637689-Black-ICE-TFH




One thing I spotted on the video (at 15:30+) was that you can group divisions under a leader but there's no unit hierarchy. No corps, no armies. I hope this is just because it's alpha. If it's not this is a no-go for me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=6D0jNe_dUVE#t=925

[Nefaro]

One thing I spotted on the video (at 15:30+) was that you can group divisions under a leader but there's no unit hierarchy. No corps, no armies. I hope this is just because it's alpha. If it's not this is a no-go for me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=6D0jNe_dUVE#t=925

Maybe I'm being too much the devil's advocate here.  But perhaps all the military hierarchy stuff in HOI3 helped cripple sensible AI control of it?

[smittyohio]

One thing I spotted on the video (at 15:30+) was that you can group divisions under a leader but there's no unit hierarchy. No corps, no armies. I hope this is just because it's alpha. If it's not this is a no-go for me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=6D0jNe_dUVE#t=925

Maybe I'm being too much the devil's advocate here.  But perhaps all the military hierarchy stuff in HOI3 helped cripple sensible AI control of it?

That would be my thought also.   Then again, they might also be getting rid of it because it added complexity that they decided wasn't worth it.

[Rayfer]

Then there's always the issue of too much pre-release publicity deadening interest in a game. This happens with movies that show trailer after trailer for months before release in theaters. By the time the movie is out I've seen so many trailers it's like I already saw the movie and my interest wanes. Can the same thing happen with a game?

[fabius]

Then there's always the issue of too much pre-release publicity deadening interest in a game. This happens with movies that show trailer after trailer for months before release in theaters. By the time the movie is out I've seen so many trailers it's like I already saw the movie and my interest wanes. Can the same thing happen with a game?

This happened with MS Surface tablet.

[smittyohio]

Then there's always the issue of too much pre-release publicity deadening interest in a game. This happens with movies that show trailer after trailer for months before release in theaters. By the time the movie is out I've seen so many trailers it's like I already saw the movie and my interest wanes. Can the same thing happen with a game?

This happened with MS Surface tablet.

I'm glad my interest in the Surface didn't wane....   I played some Diablo 3 at lunch on my Surface Pro 2.   ;-)

[sandman2575]

Elimination of the Chain of Command / OOB hierarchy is for me the biggest disappointment about HoI4's development. Dan Lind has openly admitted that it's gone because the AI in HoI3 couldn't handle it effectively. I understand that rationale, but I think it's a terrible decision. I'm not looking forward to returning to the "stack = army" simplifications of HoI and HoI2.

There's clearly a balance to strike between good promo and over-hyping a product. I'm not in favor of over-hyping anything.

[Ian C]

Elimination of the Chain of Command / OOB hierarchy is for me the biggest disappointment about HoI4's development. Dan Lind has openly admitted that it's gone because the AI in HoI3 couldn't handle it effectively.

Well, fair enough but they could at least allow an option for us to group units and label them in groups, for immersion; and the new AI had better be good, in that case.

[fabius]

Guys, yes HoI has it's deficiencies. In the past Pacific war didn't always play out so well. And I'm not sure the dropping of OOB will be the optimal progression.

But it's a grand-strategy WW2 that has economics, tech, some diplomacy, espionage, some partisans, etc etc... and there are very few games that compete with it's breadth.

In fact the only other recent release I can think of has no, none, zero, nothing AI.

[Nefaro]

Elimination of the Chain of Command / OOB hierarchy is for me the biggest disappointment about HoI4's development. Dan Lind has openly admitted that it's gone because the AI in HoI3 couldn't handle it effectively. I understand that rationale, but I think it's a terrible decision. I'm not looking forward to returning to the "stack = army" simplifications of HoI and HoI2.

There's clearly a balance to strike between good promo and over-hyping a product. I'm not in favor of over-hyping anything.

I'd rather it function better than feature full OOB designations.  Sounds like they had to choose one so in that case it's the right decision IMO.

[Huw the Poo]

I won't have a bloody clue what I'm doing when I play anyway, so they can do what they please as far as I'm concerned. :)

[Yskonyn]

I won't have a bloody clue what I'm doing when I play anyway, so they can do what they please as far as I'm concerned. :)

+1 ! Haha!


.

[bboyer66]

Guys, yes HoI has it's deficiencies. In the past Pacific war didn't always play out so well. And I'm not sure the dropping of OOB will be the optimal progression.

But it's a grand-strategy WW2 that has economics, tech, some diplomacy, espionage, some partisans, etc etc... and there are very few games that compete with it's breadth.

In fact the only other recent release I can think of has no, none, zero, nothing AI.

The question begs, why have all these bells and whistles if the AI cant use them effectively, or sometimes at all?