Why do you love Hearts of Iron & how would you explain it to a friend?

Sir Garnet

Field Marshal

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Feb 10, 2004

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• Nov 17, 2014

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• #141

Living immersed in alternate history in an epic and remarkable period whenopportunity and destruction could hinge upon seemingly minor events and the future turn on any of a wealth of decisions.


(Getting more user-friendly and efficient to manage, I hope)

 

safe-keeper

• ← 2mm hole in reality

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livetkanfly.com

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• Nov 19, 2014

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• #142

Hayro said:

Autism simulator:ww2 map painting edition

Click to expand...

There are times while playing HOI3 that I have actually wished I had Aspergers.

The feeling passes quickly, but it has been there .

 

Leermeister

Major

On Probation

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Jul 13, 2012

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• Nov 22, 2014

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• #143

I remember i bought hoi1 at a store in a mall in 2003--- I liked it because it said 1936, you get a chance to re-arm Germany
really no WW2 grand strategy game that even comes close to being as accurate as hoi or at least try to be as accurate or in-depth.
best of all its not played with dice like a game of monopoly.

been playing hoi ever since

 

papa bear

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• Nov 28, 2014

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• #144

I have played all three versions of this game and have enjoyed them very much. This series is perfectly matched to anyone who has a deep interest in WWII history. The fact that it covers all aspects of the war leads to an unmatched richness in game play.

 

fabriziom9

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Jul 17, 2013

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• Nov 30, 2014

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• #145

The best game ever!

 

unmerged(766947)

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• Dec 1, 2014

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• #146

It's a paradox game.Everybody loves paradox games
But really I dunno it just feels good to manage everything in a country yourself and achieving victory feels really cool
I played over 700 hours of EU 4 and I'm really looking forward to HoI4 !

 

LordLemos

Second Lieutenant

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Jan 8, 2007

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• Dec 3, 2014

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• #147

Ok ... ready?
Have your ever asked yourself 'what if'? Now think about one of the most important turn point of our history, the world war two. If you could change the strategies, change the allies, make a country became powerful or be defeated by your enemies. Not only in a single map, not in simples units, not against just one enemy. All around the world, in the air, land and sea, great ships, fight formations, and battalions, against all odds. This is it, a great game for the ones who believe they can change history!
There are two kind of people:
The ones that accept they fate and the ones who play Hearts of Iron.

 

Munin

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Mar 7, 2009

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• Dec 21, 2014

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• #148

2 Words: GRAND STRATEGY (Economy, Diplomacy, ...)

And indeed the "What if?" is very nice. What paradox succeeds well in is the implementation of diplomacy at which other games like total war games totally suck at ...


The only problem is, the game is to complicated to convince it to my friends in HOI3 at least and it seems you got that message very well. They are scared shitless when they see how much they have to study before they can actually start playing and start a game in f.e. a game like HOI3.
Even I as a HOI2 player was intimidated by the complication of the army structure and the millions of provinces.

But HOI2 was the one that got me into it and got me addicted. I liked it simplicity much more than the HOI3 overcomplication of provinces & army structures. If I would recommend a game to my friends it would ve been HOI2 with all its expansions as one of the best grand strategy games out there.



I can easely convince people who play the board game "diplomacy" as this seems to be a virtual computer version of it ...

 

Last edited: Jan 23, 2015

LordLemos

Second Lieutenant

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Jan 8, 2007

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• Dec 22, 2014

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• #149

 

T

Twisted_hd

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• Dec 22, 2014

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• #150

Well, what I like is the massive control you get over a nation to guide it to victory by any means. The level of realism in the Grand Strategy genre impresses me aswell. Although I am not very good (which is a fancy way of saying that I suck) at this game, I love playing around with it, but I would prefer Victoria II and Crusared Kings 2.

 

Kagemusha

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• Jan 5, 2015

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• #151

The realism, control (for example, building your own divisions from the researched batallions, as well as creating your own OOB on every level), but also the fine granularity with which you can let pass the time (no turns that go by weeks or month, but everything being calculated on an per hour base).

Aside from this the moddability, keeping the game alive for a longer time and with some mods increasing complexity and realism over the already high complexity/realism of the base game

 

CocoCincinnati

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Aug 11, 2010

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• Jan 6, 2015

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• #152

I've always had an interest in WWII and have always loved strategy games. My favorite board games as a kid were Risk and Axis & Allies but even then I knew I wanted something with a lot more detail than what those provided. Stumbled on to the original HOI almost by accident and was instantly hooked. Since then I have tried other WWII games but none of them come close to HOI, except maybe War in the East, which almost goes into too much detail. I also love that the game is so easily modded and that there is a whole community of people out there who are willing to put their time in to create mods and then graciously let others enjoy the end product.

As for how I would explain it to a friend, I would simply say it is a grand strategy game covering the time period of WWII. If they don't know what that means, then they won't be interested anyway.

 

Dutch Viper

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Oct 3, 2014

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• Jan 10, 2015

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• #153

Why do you love Hearts of Iron and how would you explain it to a friend?
Because it's one of the best World War II game series out there. I love the ability to lead the nation from top to bottom.
To a friend I'd say: if you were in charge of country 'X', what would you have done between '36 en '45? I'd listen to their response and tell them they can actually do so!
What do you feel makes the game series different from other WWII games out there?
The total control over all aspects of the nation, from division design to diplomacy and intelligence. And making use of the (brilliant) generals and admirals of those days.

 

Had a dad

V g H

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• Jan 16, 2015

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• #154

Dutch Viper said:

Why do you love Hearts of Iron and how would you explain it to a friend?
Because it's one of the best World War II game series out there. I love the ability to lead the nation from top to bottom.
To a friend I'd say: if you were in charge of country 'X', what would you have done between '36 en '45? I'd listen to their response and tell them they can actually do so!
What do you feel makes the game series different from other WWII games out there?
The total control over all aspects of the nation, from division design to diplomacy and intelligence. And making use of the (brilliant) generals and admirals of those days.

Click to expand...

Awesome first post, and welcome to the forum!

 

IconOfEvi

No John, you are the Syndies

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Dec 17, 2009

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• Jan 17, 2015

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• #155

There is nothing quite like spreading Syndicalism around the world

There is something magical about forming a puppet government, that actually FEELS like it's tied to you!

 

rhrtech

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Jul 14, 2013

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• Jan 17, 2015

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• #156

I love the game. The only issue I have is when using a TV, the font is so small and I would prefer not to switch resolutions to play the game.

 

Stenner

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Feb 11, 2014

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• Jan 19, 2015

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• #157

This is how I approach people with HOI (was just for III but now I point directly at 4 because it looks promising and I wouldn't want to take enough time to play III at this point).

Do you like WW2 stuff? Do you like strategy? This is a ww2 strategy, you play as the whole country not just some guys, it's pause-able so you can take your time, and it's got MP.

Pretty much the best at all the stuff I just said.

 

Antonine

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Jun 9, 2011

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• Jan 27, 2015

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• #158

In my first ever Hearts of Iron game I started in 1945 as the British and immediately found myself facing a Soviet invasion of western Europe. The Allies were driven back to a toehold in France before a long counter offensive finally started to roll the Soviets back. After six years of war across Africa, Europe and Asia the Soviet Union was finally crushed and Russia balkanised into British and American puppet states. The world was in ruins and I was hooked. In my next game, I took the reigns of the Soviet Union...

 

a.d.a.m

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• Jan 30, 2015

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• #159

It is, hands down, the most comprehensive and complex strategy game ever created in the modern age. The variations of each individual game can keep a player enthralled for years (and it has). It suffers in two aspects (NOT GRAPHICS!). It has incredibly bad AI to an experienced player and suffers from some bugs which are usually fixed if made known (like puppeting manchukuo and the japanese letting manchu keep the entire japanese army as expeditionary forces to continue the fight in china....against themselves, LOL!), but if you can get an online game rolling and dedicated people playing the major powers...you will find no funner game in the world.

 

ASPGolan

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Mar 9, 2012

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• Feb 25, 2015

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• #160

Let me quote something for you: "I just hope Hearts of Iron 4 comes with a really good tutorial."

Many people approach it with enthusiasm because they really want to have more control in that time and period, for their country (which no other video game comes even close to give you such an experience), or they want to experience the full weight of the war from the perspective of one side or the other during the war, or just because they want to reshape history in a completely random way. You have to have such a good reason and strong motivation to take this game up. And then they start playing and hit a brick wall. There are 2 types of players, those who go on and research what's needed to win at this game and those who quit.

If the experience is more important for you than the end result, you should play Hearts of Iron. It's not the best game, not the best wargame, not the best strategy and has many little issues (oh man, don't get me started on the bugs of HoI3). However I have read more about my country's history and that of Europe in that time and period than I did because of any other reason. It's an epic journey that goes far beyond the video game itself. That's why you should play the game.

But hey! Not everybody is up to the challenge, you don't have to feel embarrassed, just find an excuse for yourself. You probably don't have enough time available to take this journey... I'm not going to judge you for being a quitter.