New to DH (and Hoi2 games) but have played a lot of Hoi3. What should I expect?

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Hi guys,

As the title mentions, I've played a lot of HOI3, but have never dived into a HOI2 game before. Thanks to the GG sale today, I picked up DH out of curiosity, and my initial poking around tells me that there are going to be a lot of mechanical similarities between the games, but I'm guessing that I'm going to be lost when it comes to combat, supply, and production mechanics etc... and that HOI3 "rules" such as optimum fleet setups etc... will not carry over here.

So, my question is whether or not there is some sort of guide that covers the differences between the games? I plan on reading through the manual (if there is one) and reading some of the AAR's/trying to find some Let's Plays before diving into the game too deep, but any other guidance that you folks might be able to provide would be appreciated.

Cheers.
 
Hi guys,

As the title mentions, I've played a lot of HOI3, but have never dived into a HOI2 game before. Thanks to the GG sale today, I picked up DH out of curiosity, and my initial poking around tells me that there are going to be a lot of mechanical similarities between the games, but I'm guessing that I'm going to be lost when it comes to combat, supply, and production mechanics etc... and that HOI3 "rules" such as optimum fleet setups etc... will not carry over here.

So, my question is whether or not there is some sort of guide that covers the differences between the games? I plan on reading through the manual (if there is one) and reading some of the AAR's/trying to find some Let's Plays before diving into the game too deep, but any other guidance that you folks might be able to provide would be appreciated.

Cheers.

Unfortunately, there is no "guide" specifically for HoI 3 players, so reading some good gameplay AARs is probably the best way to get an idea of the game. HoI 2 and DH are, in contrast to HoI 3, pretty much straightforward (the lack of pointless MM BeardedHoplite mentioned is one of the prime reasons for that) and you should be able to play it without much knowledge -- only when it comes to succeed in some more challenging situations you will need some kind of external guidance.
 
Theaters don't exist, you have to manage by yourself the HQs position, you have to design by yourself your targets and paths to them. The focus is on combat, not on micromanagement.

Be patience for the first times and ask, you'll always get an answer.
 
Thank you all for your responses and welcome. It looks like I'll need to just dive into the game and be confused for a while, but that's what makes these games great in the end :)
 
I want to ask couple of questions before buying game (me as OP - a lot of HoI3, never - HoI2)
1. I read that there is possibility to start in 1914.
Could such game be continued in WW2 (of course if game would go through historical way?
If yes, will it have events and decisions?
2. Is it fun to play minors? Or as vanilla HoI3 they are doomed to be losers despite any efforts?
 
I want to ask couple of questions before buying game (me as OP - a lot of HoI3, never - HoI2)
1. I read that there is possibility to start in 1914.
Could such game be continued in WW2 (of course if game would go through historical way?
If yes, will it have events and decisions?
2. Is it fun to play minors? Or as vanilla HoI3 they are doomed to be losers despite any efforts?

Hello and welcome
- 1: No. But you may start at 1933.
- 2: It can be fun - depending upon your goals in the game. It is harder, because you get less IC, manpower.

Enjoy the game.
 
I want to ask couple of questions before buying game (me as OP - a lot of HoI3, never - HoI2)
1. I read that there is possibility to start in 1914.
Could such game be continued in WW2 (of course if game would go through historical way?
If yes, will it have events and decisions?
2. Is it fun to play minors? Or as vanilla HoI3 they are doomed to be losers despite any efforts?
1. Actually there's a mod that links the WW1 scenario with the WW2 one and yes, it has decisions and events. But it's a mod, not official stuff. The mod is called Arms, Armistice and Revolutions and you can find all the threads sticked in the mod subforum.
My suggestion is to begin from one of the WW2 scenarios, better the '36 one to get the game basis.
 
i'am too recently move from HOI III to DK, and at beginning found a little more difficult, but after some time I've adapted.
As explained the building and training time is longer than HOI III and there is no "practical bonus" there is the gearing bonus that reduce a little the time cost of training but not like HOI III.
Also no leadership and diplomatic, spy and research cost money, also you are limited in in 5 research you can do ( you can edit the to allow 50).
You have less manpower and some building uses it so take care.
And you have to take more attention on the weather mapmode as the conditions of the weather and the type of terrain have more influence in battle.
In other way the no micromanagement and no-supplies nightmare as it's use an different supplies system ( like the arcade in Hoi III) so the only way to a unit have low supplies is being surrounded. And the less provinces could allow an easier blitzkrieg. ( for instance i've defeat Russia in 1916 more easier than HOI's barbarossa 1941, same difficult).

So it's a fun game as good as HOI III.
 
All the HOI2 games r far suppior to HOI3 and easier to get into. Ive played HOI3 but keep coming back to The HOI2 series cause i find them a lot more fun to play. Ive only just got DH so not sure about that yet. Ive been playing HOI2 since it 1st came out and added the expansions when they came out. Ive never been able to get into HOI3. I play it now and then but get bored with it very fast and return to HOI2.
Ive got about 30 games 14 r paradox games. But HOI2 is the only 1 i like playing.
 
All the HOI2 games r far suppior to HOI3 and easier to get into. Ive played HOI3 but keep coming back to The HOI2 series cause i find them a lot more fun to play. Ive only just got DH so not sure about that yet. Ive been playing HOI2 since it 1st came out and added the expansions when they came out. Ive never been able to get into HOI3. I play it now and then but get bored with it very fast and return to HOI2.
Ive got about 30 games 14 r paradox games. But HOI2 is the only 1 i like playing.

dh is so much better than HOI2, HOI2 "was" the pinnacle, and still "is" good
but that's all in the past, dh is where the future is for HOI2 players
 
Hello and welcome
- 1: No. But you may start at 1933.
Enjoy the game.

Yes, try out AAR. As you noted also, AAR currently relies on an at least semi-historical WW1 outcome (Central Powers are supposed to loose, AH and OE are supposed to break appart, Russia is supposed to become the USSR, ...). In the next few versions we will however add the option to continue playing a reverse-victory WW1 outcome, so you can play the Kaiserreich mod, which assumes Germany had won the Great War.
 
After playing a few days ive found units i can research but not build. I played germany on very easy and coward AI and got steam rollered by poland cause i could not build arm divs or AT brig. They dont activate after i research them. Same with Japan which im playing now. In the tech tree it says activate unit type on some units but not others. As Japan i can build TD but not AT. I can build L.Arm and M.Arm brig but not divs. Germany couldnt even build Arm brig let alone arm div's.

The prob im having with Japan is that China has way to many units. IE 30 divs in every prov and Japan can only muster 35 divs in total by 1940. With Germany i dont get Austria when i do anchluss. I get the officers but not Austria. Cause of that i cant do the treaty of Munich As i need to have units in Austria, but Austria refuses to give me access and even though i get 100% when i ask them to join the axis they still refuse.
I cheated with japan. I switched to China and disbanded every unit they had then switched back to Japan. But within a few days China had over 500 divs again. I didnt even get a chance to move into any of their provs before they were jammed full of Chinese divs again. Japan and Germany have 0MP and 0.0001 MP a day. But the AI has an unlimited amount of MP or they wouldnt be able to build so many units so fast. Its taking Japan 2 years just to build 1 inf div Due to lack of MP. Playing Germany i was only able to build 3 new divs before war broke out and was out numbered by 5 to 1 by poland. that was starting in 33.
I tried adding IC to it to see if it works better. But IC wont work with it. I just get error msgs saying its not compatable. But when i start up from the launcher it runs but i only get the blitzcrieg senario. Something is wrong with my version but cant work out what. Ive tried uninstalling it and redownloading it but still the same. It says 1.02 so it is the latest version. but i have known gamersgate to have the wrong version number before. I cant get the 1.03b patch to work on it as all i get is Not a win 32 program. So far cause of all the problems i have with DH i rate it even lower than the EU series which i thought were the worst games ive ever played till now. But if i can fix the problems with DH it might be good. But for now im going back to DD/ARM/IC as ive never had any probs with that. I did try AOd as well but that has major problems as well so gave up on it.
 
1) To be able to build Armour division and not only brigades, you need the Armor Division Formation tech, under Land Doctrine
2) There is no AT brigade, researching it improves hard attack of existing brigades; rocket artillery has a similar effect;
3) You didn't understand the manpower/mobilization system; if you don't change your conscription laws or mobilize, obviously you run out of manpower soon. Please take a look here for a few words on manpower/mobilization: http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?623385-New-1.2-Full-Scenario-Question
4) IC 1.02 works with DH 1.02. Be sure to patch both games to their respective patch 1.02. Also, you need to choose DH version on the installation and to select the main DH folder (not Mods or DHFull or another subfolder).