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Is the game in a playable state?

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  • Hearts of Iron III
Hi everyone,

I bought HoI3 ages ago, pre Semper-Fi, For the Motherland and patch 1.3 and 1.4. At the time, I considered the game too broken to play, and never really came back. I did used to (and still do) love HoI2 though, played that for years and years with various different mods.

So my question is- now that the game has advanced somewhat, is it now in a playable condition? Is it as bug free as HoI2, or are there still major issues with the game? Are the expansions essential to buy? (I don't have a problem spending the money if they make the game better, but I don't want to sink cash into something if the game is still poor even with the expansions).

So, yeah, have the major issues been ironed out now?
 
Absolutely.
I don't really know the state of the game right now without the expansions since I always got the expansions as soon as they were released, but it's a great game now compared to vanilla HoI3 at release.

It runs much faster, smoother, there's no major issues that I know of and craploads of new features that makes the game much better overall.

So yeah, grab it with the expansions if you can. Shouldn't cost too much and it's worth it imo.
 
Yup!
You need to buy the expansions.
Because after a new one is out, only the expansion get new patches..
But also most Mods will only be available for the latest patch, or better, further developed for that latest patch.

If you can wait, then there will be for sure a sale in some time. You can GG/STEAM let you send an email if there's a pricedrop..
If not, well another 20 Euro for both expansions is also not that costly. But you will have a quite different gameplay.
(I remeber it well, because I tried all versions some weeks ago for some testing, and it is like day/night to compare FTM 3.05 and Std 1.4..)

Have fun,
Chromos
 
Cheers all. I can grab both expansions off gamersgate for £16 (£8 each), so that seems like a good investment if it makes the game a lot better.

I played HoI2 for years so hopefully this one is just as good!
 
Guns221 said:
Cheers all. I can grab both expansions off gamersgate for £16 (£8 each), so that seems like a good investment if it makes the game a lot better.

I played HoI2 for years so hopefully this one is just as good!
Click to expand...

I expect that you will find it significantly better at this point.
 
Guns221 said:
So my question is- now that the game has advanced somewhat, is it now in a playable condition? Is it as bug free as HoI2, or are there still major issues with the game? Are the expansions essential to buy?

So, yeah, have the major issues been ironed out now?
Click to expand...

It very much depends on what your definitions of "playable" and "major issues" are. The game with the latest expansions is much faster, more stable, and has some nice new features like being able to select only a few units out of a big list by holding shift+click and defining your own theaters or convoy routes. However, there are zero post-war events and the AI still does some odd things. The LUA files aren't written well enough to allow the AI to show its true potential.
 
Lack of post-war events wouldn't bother me as I never played past the end of WW2 anyway (seemed a bit pointless as once you'd knocked out Germany as the USSR/Allies, or alternatively, knocked out the USSR as Germany, the rest of the game was a cakewalk).

The AI thing does sound a bit concerning, but I suppose AI will never be as good as a human player. I remember when I first started playing HoI2 I thought the AI was really good, but with more experience soon found ways to beat it down. But the mods helped a lot to keep the challenge going.

On that note, which are the best mods out there right now? I liked the World in Flames mod for the old HoI2. Are there any out there for HoI3 that are basically a must-have?
 
Well, there are the 3 DLC mods you pay for. I don't own any of them, but they seem to be popular. There's a sticky thread for them in this forum. As for free mods, it would be a good idea to look at the stickied mods in the Other Mods and Projects sub-forum, and the three actively updated mods that have their own subforums (HPP, ICE, & August Storm). There are also the Community Map Project (a PI-sanctioned effort to improve the map for the next patch) and the Beta LUA (AI update for next patch) available in the sticky section of the main modding forum. The HPP is by-far the most popular mod for writing AARs, and has more completed and active AARs than all other mods combined. You can check out the AAR forum's LibrAARY thread, then look at the "AAR by Mod" section to get an idea of how the bigger mods play out to get a good idea of what they offer.

All of the mods offer something different, so only you really know what you'd like. In case it matters, the modder that created ICE is the author of the DLC mods and organizer of the CMP, and some parts of the HPP mod made it into those DLCs and For the Motherland, and portions of the HPP map may become part of the next patch.
 
Guns221 said:
I bought HoI3 ages ago, pre Semper-Fi, For the Motherland and patch 1.3 and 1.4. At the time, I considered the game too broken to play, and never really came back.
Click to expand...

Yes, the game became good with SF and better with FTM imo. Wouldn't consider playing HoI2 any more (something I considered after having tried HoI3 vanilla).

This is a damn frequent question btw, maybe this forum should have a stickied "no the game doesn't suck any more" post?
 
I consider the "vanilla" game to be "sort of" playable with the 1.4 patch. Before the 1.3 patch, I'd go so far as to call it "unplayable". With the patch, it actually makes for a good first half of a game, generally until the AI does monumentally stupid and historically absurd things to break it (Japan launching an amphibious invasion of Finland, Germany landing troops in India by way of S.Africa, Germany removing all but one division from Eastern front and then launching Barbarossa with that lone division, etc.). SF fixes several of the major problems, and I'm currently using that. At least it produces a wargame the vaguely resembles WWII, unless you do something to throw it way off course.

From what I read here, FtM fixes even more things, but introduces a couple of other issues, like countries "stealing" conquests from others via the funky and still-buggy Wargoals system, "couping" major opponents through espionage, and other nasty cheats and exploits for both the player and the AI. Hopefully, the next patch or expansion will resolve that, at which time I'll consider upgrading my game.
 
Does Germany still have to supply garrisons in France, Balkans and Greece by sea and air to prevent them starve to death? I had this issue with FTM but I'm not sure if it was with the latest 3.05 patch. I have never been able to finish any HoI3 game due to this kind of annoying "features".
 
DaMan said:
Does Germany still have to supply garrisons in France, Balkans and Greece by sea and air to prevent them starve to death? I had this issue with FTM but I'm not sure if it was with the latest 3.05 patch. I have never been able to finish any HoI3 game due to this kind of annoying "features".
Click to expand...

you had to supply your garrisons in france by air and sea? you must have done something wrong because such things were not even the case in 3.00.
 
DaMan said:
Does Germany still have to supply garrisons in France, Balkans and Greece by sea and air to prevent them starve to death? I had this issue with FTM but I'm not sure if it was with the latest 3.05 patch.
Click to expand...

You sure you're thinking about FTM? There were some iterations of the supply system (in particular in vanilla iirc) where the supply system should've merely been replaced with a card blanche for the troops to loot whatever they stumble upon. It seems to work very well in FTM imo (i.e. if you don't get supplies it's because you either have a REALLY Long supply line, or some of your supply lines have been cut).
 
I'm quite sure it was in FTM. I had to use also air supply because I was running out of convoys. Anyone else had this issue? Playing as Germany I had occupied Netherlands, Belgium, Luxemburg and France (not Vichy France) and I was not able to get supply through to my units in French west coast. The same thing in Greece, I had occupied Yugoslavia but I was not able to get supply through to units in Greece.

Maybe I have to give another try just to make sure... and now I wish I would not have uninstalled the game & lost the save game files :)
 
Right, another question. What order do I need to install all the patches and expansions?

I'm currently just on vanilla (no patches) HoI3.

Do I need to install the 1.4 patch, then Semper Fi, then the Semper Fi patches, then FtM, then the FtM patch?

Or do I just install Semper Fi over vanilla (1.0) HoI3, then install FtM over Semper Fi?

Basically what's the exact order I need to do this in?
 
DaMan said:
I'm quite sure it was in FTM. I had to use also air supply because I was running out of convoys. Anyone else had this issue? Playing as Germany I had occupied Netherlands, Belgium, Luxemburg and France (not Vichy France) and I was not able to get supply through to my units in French west coast. The same thing in Greece, I had occupied Yugoslavia but I was not able to get supply through to units in Greece.

Maybe I have to give another try just to make sure... and now I wish I would not have uninstalled the game & lost the save game files :)
Click to expand...

I'm also pretty sure this supply issue hasn't existed since vanilla where you'd sometimes see divisions in Germany proper being out of supply as well.

Anyway to the OP, the expansions are well worth it, they fix a lot of bugs and add a ton of much needed polish.

Don't forget to grab the latest LUA files if you buy the expansions. Get them here;

http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum...Beta-LUA-AI-Update-for-HoI-3-(Latest-Version)
 
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