Germany Tutorial, Take 2.
Hello and welcome to my second attempt at creating a tutorial AAR for beginners. This AAR will show you step by step how to play Hearts Of Iron III: For the Motherland. We will play Germany in a mostly historical path. We will reoccupy the Rhineland, absorb Austria and annex part of Chechoslovakia peacefully, while keeping the Allies nice and docile. In 1939, we will invade Poland, followed by the Phoney War. In the early spring of 1940, we will invade Denmark, the Low Countries and France. There will be no early Sealion, even though that is my preference in my own games. But by not invading, we can learn how to set up a proper defense. We will invade Yugoslavia followed by the big one: Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union. Only after that is won, will we invade Great Brittain.I will teach you how to build up the Luftwaffe, how to read an Order of Battle at a glance, how to trade, engage in diplomacy and spycraft. And if that doesn’t work, I’ll show you how to win wars. I will not use overly gamey tactics, such as fiddling with Germany’s conscription laws to make divisions cheaper to build or such like. Plenty of opportunity for that in the forum once you know how to do it properly.
Finally, we will go convoy hunting even though experienced players know a strong surface fleet is a far better long term investment but there will be no Blitz, since it is pure suicide. Nor will there be an invasion of Norway, because it will simply be impossible to protect our convoys to Oslo from the Royal Navy.
In honor of Ironhead’s masterful tutorial AAR for HOI 2, I will post theory and explanations in green. Text written in white are instructions for those of you following along.
Index:
First off, I can’t show you a screenshot of the opening screen. For some reason or other, I get a picture of my desktop. But that’s okay, I’ll just talk you through it.
What you see is mostly pretty standard. Single Player and Mulitplayer speak for themselves.
The tutorial is actually a bunch of pictures and some silly text. What’s more, it is mostly wrong. Don’t read it, unless you want a quick laugh.
What does matter, are the options. Click on it and you will get a little window with tabs. From left to right, these are:
Game: gives you the option to set your autosave to weekly, monthly, yearly or never. I set mine at monthly.
Video: There shouldn’t be a reason to change the settings, but the checklist at the bottom needs some explaining.
Use counters: If you check this, you will see your forces as NATO counters. If you uncheck it, you will get sprites if you zoom in close enough. I only use counters because they give you more information than sprites. Looking at an enemy division, you can see at a glance exactly what you will be facing. The sprites are not always clear enough for that. So check the box to play with counters.
Show Hierarchy On Map:
One of the biggest differences between Hearts Of Iron II and III is the use of an actual military structure. I will get in more detail about it in the appropriate lesson, but checking this box will show lines between, for instance, armies and their subordinate corps and the divisions that it commands. Make sure it is checked, because in a few years time, Germany will have over 100 divisions, all attacking the Soviet Union. The last thing we need is having to figure out whether a given division is part of army A or army B.
Thick blue lines show the direct subordinates. Light blue lines show the units below it and white lines show units under that one. Make sure it is checked!
Controls: The only thing here that needs a word, is the “Use Legacy Camera” option. Before FtM, the only way to move to a different part of the map was to mouse over the screen edge. This is the Legacy Camera. If you keep it unchecked, you can now click the middle mouse button (or mouse wheel) and drag the map. Allows for much easier control. Keep it unchecked.
The last option in the main menu, “buy Bonus Items”, takes you to the website of Gamersgate, a digital games retailer, where you can buy things like sprites, music or DLCs, provided you enlist first, of course.
In the bottom left corner, you will see the version of your game as well as the checksum. This is a combination of letters that is used for multiplayer matchmaking. All involved in a multiplayer game must have the same checksum or the game will not start.
Finally, in the bottom right corner, you see “quick start”. This takes you to 4 possible game set-ups for beginners. But we won’t be using these since it is much better to learn everything properly. Besides, the AI can be a little fickle at times. Click “custom start” to return to the main menu and click Single Player.
There, we’ve only covered the first screen, and it’s a full post allready!
Next lesson: The Main Menu.
Hello and welcome to my second attempt at creating a tutorial AAR for beginners. This AAR will show you step by step how to play Hearts Of Iron III: For the Motherland. We will play Germany in a mostly historical path. We will reoccupy the Rhineland, absorb Austria and annex part of Chechoslovakia peacefully, while keeping the Allies nice and docile. In 1939, we will invade Poland, followed by the Phoney War. In the early spring of 1940, we will invade Denmark, the Low Countries and France. There will be no early Sealion, even though that is my preference in my own games. But by not invading, we can learn how to set up a proper defense. We will invade Yugoslavia followed by the big one: Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union. Only after that is won, will we invade Great Brittain.I will teach you how to build up the Luftwaffe, how to read an Order of Battle at a glance, how to trade, engage in diplomacy and spycraft. And if that doesn’t work, I’ll show you how to win wars. I will not use overly gamey tactics, such as fiddling with Germany’s conscription laws to make divisions cheaper to build or such like. Plenty of opportunity for that in the forum once you know how to do it properly.
Finally, we will go convoy hunting even though experienced players know a strong surface fleet is a far better long term investment but there will be no Blitz, since it is pure suicide. Nor will there be an invasion of Norway, because it will simply be impossible to protect our convoys to Oslo from the Royal Navy.
In honor of Ironhead’s masterful tutorial AAR for HOI 2, I will post theory and explanations in green. Text written in white are instructions for those of you following along.
Index:
- Chapter 1: Introduction http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/germany-tutorial-take-2.577185/
- Chapter 2: Start Menu http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/germany-tutorial-take-2.577185/#post-13243634
- Chapter 3: Game Screen-Part One http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/germany-tutorial-take-2.577185/#post-13244205
- Chapter 3: Game Screen-Part Two http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/germany-tutorial-take-2.577185/#post-13246664
- Chapter 4: Terrain, Weather and More Goodies http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/germany-tutorial-take-2.577185/#post-13247268
- Chapter 5: Diplomacy http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum...y-tutorial-take-2.577185/page-2#post-13263876
- Chapter 5B: Diplomatic Triangle http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum...y-tutorial-take-2.577185/page-2#post-13266580
- Chapter 6: Intelligence http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum...y-tutorial-take-2.577185/page-3#post-13270378
- Chapter 7: Politics http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum...y-tutorial-take-2.577185/page-4#post-13278992
- Intermission: La Douce France-A Nation Divided http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum...y-tutorial-take-2.577185/page-5#post-13282487
- Chapter 8: Leadership and Research http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum...y-tutorial-take-2.577185/page-5#post-13291016
- Chapter 9: Production http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum...y-tutorial-take-2.577185/page-7#post-13301304
- Chapter 11: 1936, January, 1st to January, 6th http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum...y-tutorial-take-2.577185/page-8#post-13319120
- Chapter 12: January, 7th to May, 31st, 1936 http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum...y-tutorial-take-2.577185/page-9#post-13331558
- Chapter 13: June to December 1936 http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum...-tutorial-take-2.577185/page-14#post-13415536
- Chapter 14: January, 1st 1937 to June, 26th 1937 http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum...-tutorial-take-2.577185/page-16#post-13458051
- Intermission: UK, an Island Fortress http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum...-tutorial-take-2.577185/page-21#post-13811349
- Chapter 15: June, 27 to December, 31 1937 http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum...-tutorial-take-2.577185/page-22#post-13822094
- Chapter 16: 1938 http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum...-tutorial-take-2.577185/page-23#post-13824530
- chapter 17: Sic The dogs Of War http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum...-tutorial-take-2.577185/page-24#post-13844425
- Chapter 18: Combat http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum...-tutorial-take-2.577185/page-24#post-13848462
- Chapter 19: Airpower http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum...-tutorial-take-2.577185/page-24#post-13874299
- Chapter 20: Naval Power http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum...-tutorial-take-2.577185/page-25#post-13878437
- Chapter 21: 1939, Last Year of Peace http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum...-tutorial-take-2.577185/page-26#post-13901688
- Chapter 21 Appendix: Wehrmacht OOB on 1/9/1939 http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum...-tutorial-take-2.577185/page-26#post-13906665
- Chapter 22: Conceiving a Battleplan http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum...-tutorial-take-2.577185/page-27#post-13917452
- Chapter 23: Fall Weiss http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum...-tutorial-take-2.577185/page-28#post-13934025
- Chapter 24: Sitzkrieg http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum...-tutorial-take-2.577185/page-28#post-13950706
- Chapter 25: Denmark and the plans for Taking Down France http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum...-tutorial-take-2.577185/page-29#post-13971196
- Chapter 26: The Fall of France http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum...-tutorial-take-2.577185/page-30#post-13974077
- Chapter 27: Second half of 1940 http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum...-tutorial-take-2.577185/page-31#post-14004569
- Chapter 28: Unternehmen Marita http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum...-tutorial-take-2.577185/page-31#post-14036627
- Chapter 28a: Germany OOB 5/5/1941 http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum...-tutorial-take-2.577185/page-32#post-14038107
- Chapter 29: Barbarossa General battleplan http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum...-tutorial-take-2.577185/page-33#post-14064719
- Chapter 30: Barbarossa-Part 1 (10/5 - 28/5) http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum...-tutorial-take-2.577185/page-33#post-14077577
- Chapter 31: Barbarossa-Part 2 (28/5 - 1/7) http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum...-tutorial-take-2.577185/page-34#post-14082136
- Chapter 32: Barbarossa-Part 3 (1/7-12/9) http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum...-tutorial-take-2.577185/page-34#post-14086917
- Chapter 33: Seelöwe http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum...-tutorial-take-2.577185/page-35#post-14096811
- Epilogue: Where Do We Go From Here? http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum...-tutorial-take-2.577185/page-35#post-14102940
First off, I can’t show you a screenshot of the opening screen. For some reason or other, I get a picture of my desktop. But that’s okay, I’ll just talk you through it.
What you see is mostly pretty standard. Single Player and Mulitplayer speak for themselves.
The tutorial is actually a bunch of pictures and some silly text. What’s more, it is mostly wrong. Don’t read it, unless you want a quick laugh.
What does matter, are the options. Click on it and you will get a little window with tabs. From left to right, these are:
Game: gives you the option to set your autosave to weekly, monthly, yearly or never. I set mine at monthly.
Video: There shouldn’t be a reason to change the settings, but the checklist at the bottom needs some explaining.
Use counters: If you check this, you will see your forces as NATO counters. If you uncheck it, you will get sprites if you zoom in close enough. I only use counters because they give you more information than sprites. Looking at an enemy division, you can see at a glance exactly what you will be facing. The sprites are not always clear enough for that. So check the box to play with counters.
Show Hierarchy On Map:
![oobt.png](http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/116/oobt.png)
Thick blue lines show the direct subordinates. Light blue lines show the units below it and white lines show units under that one. Make sure it is checked!
Controls: The only thing here that needs a word, is the “Use Legacy Camera” option. Before FtM, the only way to move to a different part of the map was to mouse over the screen edge. This is the Legacy Camera. If you keep it unchecked, you can now click the middle mouse button (or mouse wheel) and drag the map. Allows for much easier control. Keep it unchecked.
The last option in the main menu, “buy Bonus Items”, takes you to the website of Gamersgate, a digital games retailer, where you can buy things like sprites, music or DLCs, provided you enlist first, of course.
In the bottom left corner, you will see the version of your game as well as the checksum. This is a combination of letters that is used for multiplayer matchmaking. All involved in a multiplayer game must have the same checksum or the game will not start.
Finally, in the bottom right corner, you see “quick start”. This takes you to 4 possible game set-ups for beginners. But we won’t be using these since it is much better to learn everything properly. Besides, the AI can be a little fickle at times. Click “custom start” to return to the main menu and click Single Player.
There, we’ve only covered the first screen, and it’s a full post allready!
Next lesson: The Main Menu.
Last edited:
- 2
- 1