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

Hofstadter · March 15, 2016, 05:08:16 AM

Quote from: Ian C on March 01, 2016, 08:43:43 AM
If someone could incorporate the detail of War in the West, knock it down a few notches, and cross it with Making History II and Hearts of Iron 3 I'll be happy.

I like simulations though. Something like a first-person turn-based sim where you're the Commander in chief with a beautifully rendered 3-D office, air ops room, naval map room, war cabinet meeting room. Zoom into maps, draw battle plans, have access to logistics and reports etc, appoint generals. That would be spectacular.

That makes me moist.

I cant get into HOI, I need some type of goal thats already set out for me. And it doesnt help that you can choose from any country even though THEY CANT DO ANYTHING THEY SHOULDNT BE AN OPTION

JasonPratt · March 15, 2016, 08:27:25 AM

Whereas, most of us like the insanity of optional play choices in Paradox's Europa/Clausewitz engine games.

I CAN BE THE LAST NESTORIAN KING, ON SOCOTRIA! (and get eventually steamrolled by the Abassayid Empire, duh. But it was fun while it lasted.)

Come to think of it, have they switched to a next generation engine after Clausewitz yet?

Kushan · March 15, 2016, 08:03:55 PM

Stellaris will be May 9th and their aiming for HoI 4 for June 6th. Paradox just overloaded my summer.

sandman2575 · March 15, 2016, 08:23:10 PM

June 6, eh? Very clever, Paradox.

Hope it's not later than that.... Not, you know, like December 7 or something...

Kushan · March 15, 2016, 08:25:59 PM

I got the impression June 6th isn't set in stone.

RedArgo · March 15, 2016, 08:56:01 PM

Yeah, they made a little skit about the release date and the developer guy said early summer and the boss guy said, so we'll say D-day then. So maybe not exactly June 6.

OJsDad · March 15, 2016, 08:57:09 PM

Even if they miss that date, I don't think it will be by more than a month.

JasonPratt · March 16, 2016, 12:35:56 PM

No doubt they'll ship the launch date around, based on how stormy final assembly is.

Ian C · March 17, 2016, 08:15:45 AM

Quote from: Hofstadter on March 15, 2016, 05:08:16 AM
Quote from: Ian C on March 01, 2016, 08:43:43 AM
If someone could incorporate the detail of War in the West, knock it down a few notches, and cross it with Making History II and Hearts of Iron 3 I'll be happy.

I like simulations though. Something like a first-person turn-based sim where you're the Commander in chief with a beautifully rendered 3-D office, air ops room, naval map room, war cabinet meeting room. Zoom into maps, draw battle plans, have access to logistics and reports etc, appoint generals. That would be spectacular.

That makes me moist.

It isn't a mystery what would work well. It would take one game developer with half a brain to realise this and blow everything else away. Just make a sodding WW2 C-I-C sim.

sandman2575 · March 17, 2016, 08:30:28 AM

On the bright side, June 6 looks pretty firmed up as the launch date, according to Pdox -- I don't think they'd have announced a specific date unless they were certain they could deliver. Although delays are not unheard of in the gaming world, as we well know....

@Ian -- I think HOI4 may come closer to your vision than anything else available or likely to become available in the near future. As I've mentioned, I'm most excited about the Battle Planner feature, which should make HOI more operationally focused than any of the previous games in the series. *Love* the idea of drawing up operational plans and OOBs and then having the AI execute. This was already available in HOI3 in a primitive form, but I think HOI4 is going to improve it dramatically.

Barthheart · March 17, 2016, 08:34:14 AM

It appears that World War Wednesdays has been going on since early Dec.

Here's the start for anyone interested:

Ian C · March 17, 2016, 09:14:43 AM

Quote from: sandman2575 on March 17, 2016, 08:30:28 AM

@Ian -- I think HOI4 may come closer to your vision than anything else available or likely to become available in the near future. As I've mentioned, I'm most excited about the Battle Planner feature, which should make HOI more operationally focused than any of the previous games in the series. *Love* the idea of drawing up operational plans and OOBs and then having the AI execute. This was already available in HOI3 in a primitive form, but I think HOI4 is going to improve it dramatically.

I agree. I've stopped raising false expectations of each game I buy and accept them for what they are (game-breaking bugs aside). I really can't wait.
There will be DLC. There will be mods (it has one of the best mod communities anywhere). It's all good. Roll on June!

bboyer66 · March 17, 2016, 12:01:52 PM

While the game looks great when they are playing it with 2 Humans. 95% of us will be playing against the AI. Show me how that is progressing !!!

bobarossa · March 17, 2016, 12:14:40 PM

Quote from: bboyer66 on March 17, 2016, 12:01:52 PM
While the game looks great when they are playing it with 2 Humans. 95% of us will be playing against the AI. Show me how that is progressing !!!

Yea, my only real complaint against HOI3 was the crappy AI. I LIKE managing all my divisions in an attack.

sandman2575 · March 17, 2016, 01:00:51 PM

I'd also like to see how the AI fares -- I think Pdox is planning a new 'World War Wednesdays' with one of the devs playing as Japan against the AI.

There are lots of reasons I liked army AI control in HOI3, imperfect as it was -- but one reason was that I liked how it leveled the playing field a bit -- I would give the overarching operational commands and let the AI figure out how to take the objectives. Yeah the AI would do some stupid things, but then, so was the defending AI. Made the game a little more challenging in a good way, IMO.