Development Diary #14 - 28th of January 2009

[SimoneZ]

Good job. A way easy to follow.
But I think there could be more research components and each research program could benefit from more than 2 components.

[Delta107]

That's really nice It allows us some kind of model variants thats a good idea.

[King]

I believe it was in the armour & artillery section.

Now I know you're going to just smile at me but the reason the asked was because there's only an armour section in the screen shot, it didnt say armour and artillery. Plus there's also anti tank listed in the infantry section.

And really, artillery is much more connected to infantry then armour, so I was thinking it was being moved....

Where ever we felt we could if we could hold over similaties from Hearts of Iron 2 we would. It reduces learning curve for Hearts of Iron 2 players. So because Artillery was in the Armour section in HoI2 we kept it there for HoI3

[208]

A question only partially related to research, more with production:

Will we be able to build units with older techs? For example if I want to build some cheaper units quickly, I don't have to use the latest "small arms" or whatever component (but later I can upgrade them when I have time) ?

[He-Man]

yes. open-ended techs.

and more radios-more chatter-more chance for radio intercepts-more intel for enemy-less chance to hide stuff.

And do we also have unlimited units?

[Devout]

I really like the way officers will impact countries like Italy, Russia, and China that had real life problems due to lack of leadership.

[nigo]

what about buy techs?


remember small and poor countrys like Brazil '40 need to buy some techs from the richs

[PIT_AMERO]

what about buy techs?


remember small and poor countrys like Brazil '40 need to buy some techs from the richs

Yeah, that is right.
The arms trade is very vital part of the strategy for many countries.

[zeekater]

Perhaps you could put the "alpha screenshot" text a bit higher up, it's kinda right in the way?

[Tskb18]

Great update!

Minor question, was there any word on the limit being hard-coded or not?

How detailed can you make these names?
Could you make model names for e.g. each of Panzers III Ausf. A-N?

Not 100% ceratain, but I think it is about 10 different models unique model names per brigade type.

Please don't hardcode this like in HoI2. It should be fairly easy for you to allow an unlimited number of models to be used, I presume. Or make the number higher, anything over about 30 should do.

And thank you for another very interesting update.

Unless it would chew up too many processing cycles or be absolute heck to program, then i'd agree on seeing the potential modding for more names as a good thing.

[es333]

in HOI 3, will the small countries like Estonia be weaker, or stronger?

[PIT_AMERO]

Great update!

Minor question, was there any word on the limit being hard-coded or not?

Johan or King said that the number of brigades in a division will be very easy moddable.

[hito1]

Johan or King said that the number of brigades in a division will be very easy moddable.

It's not that limit, though. They are talking about the limit of how many possible model names.

It's a flavour-only thing, but I have to agree with them (those who do not wish it to be hardcoded). Departing from hardcoded numbers has been the late Paradox policy, and it is faring quite well, it should be followed whenever possible.

[Tskb18]

Johan or King said that the number of brigades in a division will be very easy moddable.

That is very good news in and of itself.

Though i was more referring to "unique model names per brigade type" - the mostly flavour names. For example the Great War, Interwar, Early, Mid, Late, Just In Time For World Conquest and Atomic Hand-Grenades.

edit: emu'd!

[PIT_AMERO]

It's not that limit, though. They are talking about the limit of how many possible model names.

It's a flavour-only thing, but I have to agree with them (those who do not wish it to be hardcoded). Departing from hardcoded numbers has been the late Paradox policy, and it is faring quite well, it should be followed whenever possible.

It was in a different thread, but...

the amount of buildingblocks inside a unit is moddable. (you just have to mod .gui files if you want to go >5 as well.)

[barleyman]

So does upgrading units boost your "practical" tech bonus? Or only building new units?

Do the sliders have "inertia"? So you could play slider optimizing game all you want but it'd still take considerable time to shift leadership allocation radically?

[Devout]

So does upgrading units boost your "practical" tech bonus? Or only building new units?

Do the sliders have "inertia"? So you could play slider optimizing game all you want but it'd still take considerable time to shift leadership allocation radically?

My guess:
You can shift allocation radically, but the impact is a cumulative addition of the investment. So lets say you have 10 divisions and 8 officers (for 80% efficiency), you want 2 more officers to get to 100%, and each officer costs 60 points. You can set the officer value to "1" and wait 4 months to get your 2nd officer. Or you can set to 10 (and sacrifice research) and get them both in less than 2 weeks. I'm also assuming that diplomacy and espionage work in a similar way where there is no immediate advantage to have investment maxed out on a specific day.

[kstanb]

what about buy techs?


remember small and poor countrys like Brazil '40 need to buy some techs from the richs

Historically speaking, they should buy the finished product rather than the tech... I really hope Paradox will try to implement some form of weapons market for minors

[Chaos128]

wow, this looks great. One question, are doctrines going to be treated in a similar way?

[Palisadoes]

All in all Theory and Practical is one of those powerful game features we are most proud we added in Hearts of Iron 3. Very simple in conception, so easy for a player to grasp and understand. Yet at the same time highly flexible in how it works, meaning that the system offers many possibilities to explore while playing. Throw in that it gives us a real great way to both improve game balance and add to historical immersion and it is one of those things that we feel will make Hearts of Iron 3 be more than Hearts of Iron 2 with some new graphics and extra provinces.

Agreed!

A question though: will the theories and practicals be specific in a limiting way to a nation? What I mean is... if your nation had no experience or practicals in a chosen area, would you still be able to research in that area (albeit at a much slower rate) ??