Why do you love Hearts of Iron & how would you explain it to a friend?
- Thread starter Regina
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I was attracted to the sandbox, the fact that i could take any nation i wanted, and lead it through world war 2 was a dream come true. I have hooked many a friend on to Paradox games by describing them as "a sandbox where you take any nation and control the military, economy and diplomacy to achieve global supremacy".
I once invaded USA close to Quebec in some 1944-1945 as Germany and was then stuck for a year unable to advance simply cause the ports didn't allow to allocate more supplies and had to be built up. Meanwhile my entire army group managed to hold the ground merely because of rough terrain and rivers. That's a drastic difference in comparison to 'normal' games where you just drop your troops wherever you want and go on rolling.
if I had to explain it I'd say Axis and Allies on mega steroids - that's the only similar scope game that I can describe to my friends
Why do I play it? Good Question - why, as a kid, did I gravitate from Chess to RPG's to board wargames? Why did I used to play Advanced Third Reich on a board or the Avalon Hill PC version of it? An interest in history coupled with the pleasure derived from winning a competition - plain and simple
I've played (or tried to play) some uber detailed strategic games - (War in the Pacific, ugh) - but this one has the right combo of strategy and nation building that draws me in -
It seems to me most games don't cover the Division/Corps level - they either uber stupify it (A&A) or uber detail it - HOI seems to have the right idea with it's flavor of technology, planning, and a detailed but not overly complicated combat system
Why do I play it? Good Question - why, as a kid, did I gravitate from Chess to RPG's to board wargames? Why did I used to play Advanced Third Reich on a board or the Avalon Hill PC version of it? An interest in history coupled with the pleasure derived from winning a competition - plain and simple
I've played (or tried to play) some uber detailed strategic games - (War in the Pacific, ugh) - but this one has the right combo of strategy and nation building that draws me in -
It seems to me most games don't cover the Division/Corps level - they either uber stupify it (A&A) or uber detail it - HOI seems to have the right idea with it's flavor of technology, planning, and a detailed but not overly complicated combat system
Hearts of Iron is a great grand strategy series. But the very best part of it is not an official HoI game, oh no.
It's a mod.
Kaiserreich mod.
It's a mod.
Kaiserreich mod.
Hearts of Iron is one of the few games, where the words "strategy" and "tactics" have a real meaning within the gameplay.
It takes around 20 hours to really learn the game mechanics and even more to win a game on "normal".
And the fringe benefit is you get free history, and geography lessons.
It takes around 20 hours to really learn the game mechanics and even more to win a game on "normal".
And the fringe benefit is you get free history, and geography lessons.
I've tried explaining it to friends, it rarely works even for those of a military or wargaming background. It's easier to show someone then it is to try and explain. But when I have tried to explain, it's usually something like below.
"It's a WWII grand strategy game where you take the reigns of any nation in existence during WWII. You have a broad control over the nations various aspects from the economy to military production and military decisions."
"It's a WWII grand strategy game where you take the reigns of any nation in existence during WWII. You have a broad control over the nations various aspects from the economy to military production and military decisions."
"It satisfies my meglomania better than any other world war 2 game out there at present"
I played part of the series and I like it for it's simplicity of command and easy to understand, yet it has a very wide perspective of the time period involved, the countries, the historic events, the possibilities one can achieve at the command of a nation and the fun it brings, and of course, the map. That's how most Paradox quality games are.
The Paradox games I bought reflect those qualities and expectations, the Paradox games I haven't bought also reflect it, so I hope HoI IV will lack the faults of HoI III(too stuffy management, very bad tutorial, weirdo and horrible political parties and governing system, weird army control and not easy to grasp *a nice tutorial was essential, which it lacked).
The Paradox games I bought reflect those qualities and expectations, the Paradox games I haven't bought also reflect it, so I hope HoI IV will lack the faults of HoI III(too stuffy management, very bad tutorial, weirdo and horrible political parties and governing system, weird army control and not easy to grasp *a nice tutorial was essential, which it lacked).
I have been a big fan of strategic WWII simulations since I got heavily into wargaming back in the 1970s. All of my friends know me well enough and get it to the point where I don't need to explain it to them.
My son, on the other hand, grew up with more tactical and faster paced games. He is just starting to come around to appreciate the sublime subtleties available to grand strategy.
My son, on the other hand, grew up with more tactical and faster paced games. He is just starting to come around to appreciate the sublime subtleties available to grand strategy.
There is a feeling of challenge and accomplishment in taking the perceived underdog to victory, in addition to the feeling of triumph when the big breakthrough is successful or the encirclement is closed and finished off.Hey there!
Here is a question for you:
Why do you love Hearts of Iron and how would you explain it to a friend?
What do you feel makes the game series different from other WWII games out there?
We want to know, please tell us
Cheers,
regina
The fact that it gives you the whole world as a sandbox. You're not just fighting isolated battles as you go from one scenario to the next like in most strategy games, you've got the whole world war, and what happens in one place can greatly affect what happens someplace else. I can take Gibraltar and the Suez Canal and thus trap a British armada in the Mediterranean, and this can give the Japanse a major advantage in the Pacific.
I love Hearts of Iron because it is, inherently, intelligent. You have to rack your brain to beat it, to come up with new success strategies. Everything surrounding it's community and development - from fan posts to dev diary - reflects an air of intelligent people playing with strategy and history. Playing HOI makes me feel part of a community of thinkers, like no other game does.
Oh, and how many realtime strategy games can boast of having the "one more turn" effect?
Oh, and how many realtime strategy games can boast of having the "one more turn" effect?
Because it's the only game in town that let's me DO things. Not just obey orders or using a predefined resorces- it makes me the world's architect in my favorite timespan in the whole histor of mankind. I BUILD history.
Most WW2 games focus only on one type of armed forces. However, with Hearts of Iron you focus on all branches, the technology which will make you a super power, as well as the diplomacy side of it. Overall it's a fun difficult game.
I personally love it because I am so miserably bad at it. Other paradox games I have little difficulty becoming the world super power in a hundred years. Hearts of Iron I am lucky to live through my first couple of wars.
I personally love it because I am so miserably bad at it. Other paradox games I have little difficulty becoming the world super power in a hundred years. Hearts of Iron I am lucky to live through my first couple of wars.
