Greetings all on this auspicious day,
As promised last week, today we have big news as well as an overview of what we’re working on for the next Hearts of Iron expansion: Arms Against Tyranny, and the accompanying Stella Polaris update.
After successfully evading capture and inclusion in numerous HOI expansions, we’re proud to announce that Finland and the Nordic countries will be setting the theme for the Arms Against Tyranny expansion. This is a region clearly very close to our hearts at Paradox, but also a region with significant involvement in the development of WW2. While the effects of the winter war, occupations, and policy-making of the Nordic countries are well documented on the progress of the war as a whole, domestic histories and perspectives of these countries are often overlooked in favor of more active theaters. Arms Against Tyranny offers us a chance to tell both aspects of these stories without compromising the greater strategic narrative we’ve come to expect from Hearts of Iron.
Over the next several months we’ll be introducing you to a more detailed perspective on each of the constituent parts of AAT, including deep dives into the mechanics you’ve already seen (International Markets and Military Industrial Organizations). The mechanics we’ve chosen to include here are ones which we feel augment the fantasy of playing in the Nordic area during this era, though as usual, we’ve tried to make sure that the expansion brings something for everyone.
Below, you’ll find the store-page overview for what’s coming in AAT - however beyond this summary, we will not be answering any questions on the features we haven’t produced a dev diary for.
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Hearts of Iron IV: Arms Against Tyranny
Four Northern democracies are seemingly helpless against nearby predatory dictatorships. Despite their size, Finland, Norway, Denmark, and Sweden have a chance to avoid conquest through clever diplomacy or fierce resistance. Write a new history of the Nordic countries in Arms Against Tyranny, a new expansion for Hearts of Iron IV.
This expansion to Paradox Interactive’s celebrated grand strategy wargame about the tumult of the years around the Second World War adds new focus trees and alternate histories for the northernmost nations of Europe, customization of weapons manufacturers, and new ways to take advantage of neutrality to profit your own citizens.
The Winter War
Relive the defining moment of Finnish history, defying the odds in a war against a much more powerful Soviet adversary. Though disadvantaged in air and armored forces, Finnish forces have a strong advantage on homeland defence, so you should prepare an army specifically designed for Finland’s terrain to fight invaders. Or, if you prefer, write your own history, strengthening Fascist sympathizers who want a Greater Finland or pursuing a socialist path - with or without Soviet support.
A Powerful Sweden
The richest of the Nordic nations, Sweden is well-suited to a path of vigorous neutrality and to serve as both an arms designer and arms trader. Strong unions risk crippling unstable governments unless you can provide enough work. In a world on fire, Sweden must also upgrade its obsolete forces so it can defend itself. Can the Swedish democracy avoid taking the side of its occupied neighbors, or will the government collapse in favor of monarchist or Fascist alternatives?
Norway
Relive the historical challenge of a young industrializing nation trying to stay neutral in the face of German aggression or prepare for war by quickly arming to resist the war that is coming to your doorstep. In alternate historical paths, unscrupulous domestic fascists may take advantage of domestic complacency and pursue Nordic union through betrayal, or a Communist revolution can choose to stand with or against Stalin’s regime.
Denmark
A long-standing policy of neutrality leaves Denmark unready for a continental war. Pursue the course of domestic harmony through a strong welfare state and agile diplomacy, or throw in with the democratic Allies, rearming for the coming storm. Alternate paths include chasing the dream of a united Scandinavia, reviving the old Kalmar Union.
A War Machine of Your Design
To make sure you have an industry that matches your ambitions, national manufacturers and weapons designers can specialize their craft, improving the production and research of various items through the course of the war. Military Industrial Organizations will offer new ways to streamline production lines or develop high-performance weapons systems with advantages on the battlefield.
Guns for Butter
In the new International Market, you can become an arms exporting powerhouse, selling weapons to other nations in return for civilian factory output, increasing your own industrial production at home while fueling the fires of war abroad. This is a new way for rich and advanced neutral nations to stay viable and active in a world war.
New Military Options
Many updates and changes to the design and organization of military divisions, including customization of special forces units, divisional specializations, and more.
New Art and Music
New unit art, including Finnish snowmobile brigades, and 10 new songs inspired by the key cultures in Arms Against Tyranny.
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This, however, is not all! I shall hand you over to our most prolific dev-diary artiste to introduce you to our plans for AAT’s headline nation: Finland!
Hei, it is Mano de Zombi to welcome you all to a new Hearts of Iron 4 Dev Diary!
With the beautiful Swedish summer approaching, good weather and bright sunny days have finally arrived in the North, and with them comes news about the first country to be revealed for the upcoming DLC Arms Against Tyranny, Finland!
As we have been doing in the latest DLCs, we are going to split the Finnish content into two Dev Diaries. Today, we will be talking about the historical and common branches of the Finnish Focus tree, and we will leave the alternative history for a future Dev Diary.
As usual, I need to warn you that you are about to see Work In Progress (WIP) content that might not be finalized, balanced, localized or that might contain placeholder art, and it is subject to change before release. Also keep in mind that some of the content might vary if certain previous DLCs are not active. Thanks for your understanding!
And with that said, let’s get to it!
In 1936, Finland found itself in a complex political, diplomatic, and military situation. Despite being a democratic nation, nationalism and right-wing ideology were on the rise. The proximity to the Soviet Union also made it vulnerable to aggression, and tensions between the two countries were high.
On the political front, Finland's government was fairly fragile, with several different parties (most remarkably the Agrarian Party, the National Coalition Party and the Social Democratic Party) vying for power and struggling to work together effectively.
Finland's relationships with its neighbors were strained. In 1932, the Soviet–Finnish Non-Aggression Pact was signed between both countries, and it was reaffirmed for ten years in 1934, but relations between the two countries were definitely not great, leaving Finland in a situation of uncertainty and vulnerability.
In terms of military, the Finnish Armed Forces were poorly equipped and trained, with an army that was ill-prepared to defend the country's borders. Despite this, Finland had a long history of military valor and determination, and its soldiers had proven to be fiercely loyal to their country on multiple occasions.
So after putting some context into the situation of Finland by 1936, let’s see how the country looks like in-game:
As you can see, Finland still starts the game with the Sisu National Spirit.
But what is Sisu? I can hear some of you asking, well let me try to explain very briefly:
Sisu is a Finnish concept that is used to express the national character of the Finns. It doesn’t really have a literal equivalent in English, but could be described as stoicism, tenacity, resilience, unrelenting willpower, hardiness and bravery (among several other qualities). It is used to explain the fierce determination and courage of the Finns in the face of extreme adversity.
Just a curiosity, after reading a bit more deep into Sisu, I found out that apparently one can also have bad sisu, meaning that the individual is a hostile and malignant person, and one can also have too much sisu, meaning foolhardiness and stubbornness.
But anyhow, now that we have a better idea of what Sisu is, some of you might have noticed that the Sisu National Spirit in this screenshot is significantly weaker than its old version before the DLC.
Well fear not, this version of Sisu is not the definitive one, there are five stages for the Sisu National Spirit, and they are tied to the Balance of Power mechanic, this is one of the worst versions of it (a bit more info about why soon), and at its best tier, the Sisu National Spirit is even slightly more powerful than its older version.
Finland’s country leader has also changed. This is because, after delving into Finnish politics in the 30s and 40s, I realized how “unstable” the position of Prime Minister was: from 1936 to 1945 Finland saw some 11 different Prime Ministers, with some of them leaving their post to become President of the Republic while others seemed to be fairly irrelevant and last in their position for a very short time. In comparison, Finland had “only” 5 Presidents of the Republic in the same time period, including some of the most iconic and relevant political figures (like Mannerheim or Ryti) that had a huge impact on Finland's politics and fate.
So, I made up my mind and decided to represent these Presidents of Finland as the available country leaders in-game.
Worth noting that, even though Finland was historically really, really close to Germany in terms of relations and fascism was big in the country, Finland was considered by most a co-belligerent country to Germany, instead of an actual German ally and member of the Axis. In order to represent this in-game, and prevent certain issues such as having the AI naturally join the Axis, turn Fascist, and also being able to have a separate peace, in the game Finland’s historical path is represented by the Non-Aligned ideology.
Let’s take a look at the first one and see how these country leaders are also tied to the Finnish Balance of Power:
A skilled precision shooter, member of the Fascist Militia Suojeluskunta and staunch anti-communist, Pehr Evind Svinhufvud did not enjoy a huge popularity by 1936, so in the 1937 elections a coalition of centrists (Agrarian and Progressive) and social democrats voted for Kyösti Kallio to ensure that Svinhufvud would not be re-elected.
Among Svinhufvud’s traits, you can see this slightly weird “Personal Agenda” trait. All Finnish leaders have a Personal Agenda trait, although what this agenda is differs from leader to leader. As you might have guessed, this is directly tied to the Finnish Balance of Power, which is called “Public Trust”:
The Public Trust balance of power represents the trust of the people in their president, and how this affects the Finns and their means to overcome harsh times. It ties together the balance of power with the “Finnish spirit” (Sisu) and the Finnish leadership (country leader).
As mentioned before, Svinhufvud didn’t enjoy that much popularity by 1936, so the Balance of Power starts fairly low on the Low Public Trust side.
Low Public Trust will grant small Stability, War Support and Political Power Gain penalties.
High Public Trust, on the other hand grants Stability, War Support and Recruitable Population bonuses.
Besides this, there are 5 ranges in the Balance of Power, and each of them will provide a version of the Sisu National Spirit, so the higher the Public Trust on your leader, the more powerful Sisu you will get (note that, at its worst, the Sisu National Spirit doesn’t give you any penalties, it just become very weak).
When any of the items in the country leader’s Personal Agenda is fulfilled, the Balance of Power will move towards the appropriate side on a weekly basis. In the case of Svinhufvud, eliminating all communist and democratic support will push the Balance of Power towards High Trust over time, while losing control of a core state will do the opposite.
Last but not least, there are some decisions (and focuses) that will help you push the Balance of Power to either side. Some of them will even allow you to replace your leader, like Motion of No Confidence (which costs significantly less the lower the Public Trust is, so good in combination with Organize the Opposition, which will decrease Public Trust). As you might have guessed already, the decision to Form a Military Government, available when at war with a major country, is the way to put Mannerheim in charge of the country.
You will be able to change your Non-Aligned leader not only via Balance of Power decisions, but also via certain events. Svinhufvud’s term as President will end in 1937 and you will get an event in which you can decide if you want to re-elect him or not, Kallio will die at some point around late 1940, and if Mannerheim was appointed as President during war, there will be an event allowing him to resign in favor of Paasikivi, for free. You can still keep Mannerheim if you want and make him resign later on, at a cost, but as you will notice when you look at his Personal Agenda, that might not be a great idea. Here you have the different Non-Aligned leaders available to Finland:
And since we are already talking about Finnish characters, let’s jump into Finnish advisors, starting with a list of political advisors, most of which need to be unlocked in the Focus Tree. All the political advisors potentially available to a Non-Aligned Finland are shown with colored portraits below:
There are many more advisors but we’ll see them next time since they are exclusive to the alt-history branches.
When it comes to military advisors, as you can see below there are some new additions and many new portraits!
When it comes to Unit Leaders, Finland now starts the game with a fair amount of Generals to choose from. As you will see, most of them have a lot of terrain-related traits, and in general a rather high value on their defense skill, this is to represent the adaptability and competency of the Finnish army during the wars, especially utilizing terrain and weather conditions in their favor against drastically larger and better-equipped enemy forces (especially during the defensive Winter War).
The new Veteran Jaeger trait is used to represent officers who, during World War I, volunteered to train in Germany as Jaegers during the Great War and the civil war in Finland (this was one of many means employed by Germany to weaken Russia during the Great War).
Jaegers were highly trained, among other skills, in guerrilla warfare and sabotage operations behind enemy lines, and as you can see, in-game the trait provides huge bonuses towards gaining certain traits, including terrain ones, which will help your generals getting the key trait “Adaptable”, which can in turn really make the difference when defending against a much bigger enemy!
Does this still feel like not enough Finnish generals for you? Got you covered, throughout the focus tree you will be able to unlock many more generals:
And even though Finland was nothing close to the mightiest naval power even in the Baltic, Finland now starts with Ragnar Hakola as Admiral and can unlock Svante Sundman as an additional admiral early in the Naval branch, in case you want to go for some sort of naval run with Finland (hey, who am I to judge?).
Regarding Industrial Designers, Finland has now 5 of them, including a new Mining Company that will help with the lack resources:
Now let’s take a quick look at the Finnish Military Industrial Organizations and how Finland interacts with the MIO feature.
To keep things as short as possible, I won’t be going into any details about what an MIO is, (for more information about the feature you can check the MIO Dev corner here).
We will take a look at how MIOs look like in-game, so please keep in mind that this is still very much WIP (especially UI) and various things will definitely change before release.
Here you have the list of Finnish MIOs, featuring more generalist MIOs for ships, aircraft and tanks (the tank one is actually not historical, but still a possibility if you want to focus on tank development as Finland), and dedicated infantry equipment, guns and motorized MIOs:
All of these MIOs contain several unique traits, some specific to the MIO itself, some specific to Finnish MIOs, most of which will be unlocked by different focuses in the focus tree (will go into some examples later):
And before getting into the Focus Tree, I need to show you guys some map changes in Finland:
Here you can see that there are several new states, closer to the regional administration during the 30s/40s (which, by the way, changed significantly in some areas in a matter of a few years. Maybe you also noticed that Åland is now a demilitarized state at game start.
A significant number of victory points have been added (most of which are low value), and some VPs, railways and supply hubs have been repositioned to more accurately represent their real location.
There has been some resource adjustment and, most importantly, infrastructure has been drastically reduced in most states, to better represent the real situation of roads and communications in most Finnish regions in the 1930s. Don’t worry too much about the infrastructure, since Finland has the means to improve that infrastructure and to deal with low supply areas and winter attrition, so these changes will potentially cause more harm to any enemy forces attempting to invade Finland from the East/North, getting away from their own supply lines.
And finally it is time to take a look at Finland’s Focus Tree. Quite modest in size, but hopefully with a good amount of flavor and interesting gameplay mechanics, something a player can enjoy while focusing on the actually important stuff: surviving the war against all odds!
First of all let me tell you that, as some of you might have hoped for, there is a significant amount of short focuses all over the Finnish tree, which will hopefully make it feel more dynamic and engaging. And now let’s start by talking about the Industrial branch:
The first two focuses in the Industrial Branch will help you deal with the dire infrastructure situation by granting some infrastructure and civilian factories, some improvements to the railway system, and also granting a National Spirit boosting infrastructure construction speed.
Below, Bank of Åland will boost your consumer goods for some time, and Suomen Akatemia will grant an extra research slot.
The several focuses related to resource production will in most cases slightly increase the resource production in a state, while also granting some extra building slots, civs, railways and more. There are also a few more powerful focuses in the bottom half of the branch:
In this branch you will also find focuses related to MIOs:
Last but not least, the rightmost focuses, which also requires the first focus in the Army branch, will be more focused on Military Industry, including boosting your infantry equipment and artillery MIOs, and even granting a very iconic tool during winter war, the famous Molotov Cocktail:
Now the military Branches. By completing the first focus, Increase Military Budget, you will get access to each one of the dedicated armed forces branches: Army, Airforce and Navy.
The military branch, which contains a fair amount of short focuses, starts with the “Suomen Maavoimat” focus which will grant, among other things, the Finnish Army national spirit, which will be improved throughout the branch.
As we mentioned at the very beginning, the Finnish military was by no means well-prepared or equipped by 1936, so you’ll have some work to do if you are to prevail against the odds. However, if you play your cards right, by the time you get to the last focuses in the Army Branch, Finland might not have one of the largest armies in the world, but it will definitely have a formidable force with which to defend against (and even push back) major powers.
Operation Kilpapurjehdus will remilitarize Åland and fortify the state, even if at peace, given that World Tension is kinda high:
To the right, Mannerheim Line, Defense in Depth and Helsinki Air Defense, will boost your defense capabilities in general, fortify several states (especially Karjala) and also provide better supply and railways in the South East border, very much needed to hold against the potentially not-so-well-supplied invaders coming from Leningrad and East Karelia.
Extra Refresher Exercises will grant, among other useful bonuses, some extra recruitable population and mobilization speed, and it acts as the gate towards the nitty-gritty of the army branch:
After this, you will get access to the really cool stuff, such as unlocking a lot of generals and military advisors, boosting your troops (especially in winter combat and rough terrain), improving your MIOs and unlocking some templates:
But there are also more unique content in this branch:
And this is the perfect time to learn about another Finnish word: Motti.
I honestly think that the description of Motti in wikipedia is really accurate and on point, so i will shamelessly cite it here for you guys interested in knowing more about it:
Motti is Finnish military slang for a totally encircled enemy unit. The tactic of encircling it is called motitus, literally meaning the formation of an isolated block or "motti", but in effect meaning an entrapment or envelopment.
A motti in military tactics refers to the formation of "bite sized" enemy units, which are easier to contain and deal with, in a relatively small area in which the encircled enemy could be "cut down" like trees.
This tactic of envelopment was used extensively by the Finnish forces in the Winter War and the Continuation War to good effect. It was especially effective against some of the mechanized units of the Soviet Army, which were effectively restricted to the long and narrow forest roads with virtually no way other than forwards or backwards. Once committed to a road, the Soviet troops effectively were trapped. Unlike the mechanized units of the Soviets, the Finnish troops could move quickly through the forests on skis and break columns of armored Soviet units into smaller chunks (by felling trees along the road, for example). Once the large column was split up into smaller armored units, the Finnish forces attacking from within the forest could strike the weakened column. The smaller pockets of enemy troops could then be dealt with individually by concentrating forces on all sides against the entrapped unit.
By cutting the enemy columns or units into smaller groups and then encircling them with light and mobile forces, such as ski-troops during winter, a smaller force can overwhelm a much larger force. If the encircled enemy unit was too strong, or if attacking it would have entailed an unacceptably high cost, e.g., because of a lack of heavy equipment, the motti was usually left to "stew" until it ran out of food, fuel, supplies, and ammunition and was weakened enough to be eliminated. Some of the larger mottis held out until the end of the war because they were resupplied by air. Being trapped, however, these units were not available for battle operations.
In-game, Motti Tactics are represented by state-based decisions to prepare these tactics in the area. Doing this will add a state modifier with some bonuses for Finland and harsh penalties for an enemy invader. Every time you prepare Motti Tactics in a state, the cost of the decisions will be doubled. You can also cancel the Motti Tactics in a state where it might no longer be necessary in order to half the cost. Note that these state modifiers only apply as long as Finland is still the controller of the state, if the enemy conquers the Victory Points in the area and takes control over the state, the modifier will be removed from the state (and the decision cost reduced accordingly).
Winter Warfare will unlock a new Finnish support Battalion, the Winter Logistics Company.
This battalion is designed to drastically help Finland hold and even push against a less-prepared enemy, under rough winter conditions:
Long Range Patrols will also unlock a new unique Finnish support battalion, an improved version of recon company that will, among other things, significantly boost your division’s initiative and their performance on different terrains. This battalion can be further boosted by the focus Sissi:
And, with one of my favorite icons, Sámi Pathfinders represents the Finnish Army utilizing the invaluable skills and expertise of the Sami people as pathfinders, trackers and scouts in order to gain the upper hand in very cold areas or rough terrain, as not only Finland, but also Soviet Union and Germany (in Norway) did historically, which unfortunately led to many instances of Sámi fighting Sámi:
Let’s move onto the Airforce branch now. Similarly to the Army Branch, Suomen Merivoimat will grant the Finnish Airforce national spirit, which will be further improved throughout the branch:
Despite its small size and limited resources, the Finnish Air Force of 1936 boasts a cadre of skilled pilots and innovative designers, who have honed their craft through years of experimentation and improvisation.
As the threat of a major war became apparent, the Finnish Air Force initiated in 1936 an extensive preparation programme to acquire new equipment for the fighter squadrons, joint operations squadrons and remote operations squadrons. However, the programme had not reached completion by the time international political tension increased and military aircraft acquisitions dried out.
In any case, through sheer determination and a willingness to adapt to changing circumstances, the Finnish Air Force developed a reputation as a force to be reckoned with during the Winter War that broke out in November 1939.
In this branch you will get some air bases, XP, bonuses to your aircraft and pilots, and a number of iconic Finnish aces:
You will also find some research bonuses, military factories, MIO bonuses and some aircraft templates:
And now a quick look at the modest Finnish Naval Branch, and just like with the Army and Airforce branches, Suomen Ilmavoimat will add the Finnish Navy national spirit, which will be improved throughout the branch:
With the Finnish-Soviet border being the focus of the military’s attention, there was little left out of the military budget to spend on the navy. In 1928 a naval rearmament plan was developed, centered around two massive defense ships, submarines, motor torpedo boats, and small mine warfare ships. By 1936, the Finnish Navy had by no means a powerful fleet, nor the resources to address this problem.
However, if you want to dominate the Baltic as Finland in HOI, you can definitely use some help from this branch in order to form a decent fleet able to perform optimally according to your strategy.
The focuses to the right will mostly boost your ship-building industry, naval bases and naval MIO:
Coastal Defense focus will grant you a bit of everything, including a dockyard, doctrine bonus, extra speed for building Coastal Forts… It will even help you research and produce cheaper (and slightly weaker) Railway Guns!
To the left side of the branch you will find focuses to boost the production of convoys and to unlock decisions with which to convert convoys into weak military vessels:
The last focus in the branch, Expansion Towards the Atlantic, will grant you fairly powerful bonuses, proven that Finland controls at least one state on the Atlantic coast:
And we are now good to go check the Political branch!
The upper part of the branch includes a lot of political advisor unlocking, ideology support, balance of power, stability and political power.
To the left you have some Industrial focuses that, combined with the Industrial Branch, will help you put the Finnish industry and supply lines in a pretty good shape.
The three focuses at the bottom of the left sub-branch, will boost your country leader and grant some bonuses that vary based on who’s in charge:
The mid and bottom part of the central sub-branch, is focused on international relations. Here you can seek to Join the Allies (as long as you have certain amount of Democratic Support), form a Northern Defense Front faction with other Scandinavian and Baltic countries, or go on your own as The Lone Wolf.
The Lone Wolf is the most unique out of the three options, and it is intended to roughly represent the Finnish path after the Winter War.
Cooperation with Germany represents the secret pact between Finland and Nazi Germany to invade the Soviet Union.
The focuses below it will grant some industrial and military bonuses, and Finnish March of Conquest will help you dealing with major powers (for a limited period of time):
Weapon Caches unlock decisions to hide weapon caches around Finland (as happened historically), so in the event of occupation the Finnish resistance could still fight the invaders. These state-targeted decisions can prove to be very useful to hinder enemy progress into Finnish territory, by adding severe resistance and compliance penalties to any occupier of a state with the weapon caches state modifier.
In the right-most sub-branch, the focus A Cry for Help (which has a very cool icon imo) will help Finland with the dire low manpower situation during the Winter War:
The rest of this sub-branch is very fascistic, with the focuses in the central branch boosting Finland’s military (including the much needed manpower) and military production.
To the left, Viron Kansa will allow you to propose a unification with Estonia, that can result in Estonia getting annexed or joining Finland’s faction.
Ambitions in the South will grant claims in the rest of the Baltic countries and, the final focus in the branch, Greater Finland, will, among other irrelevant things such as granting some cores and a couple of claims on Soviet states, it will make Finland even more white on the map:
Last but not least, allow me to show you very quickly a few tweaks introduced to the Winter War.
As you probably know, on a historical playthrough, the Soviet Union will send an Ultimatum to Finland some time around 1939, demanding Karjala state, next to Leningrad. If Finland refuses to do so (historical outcome), then Soviets will declare war on the country and the Winter War will start:
The event grants Finland a very powerful national spirit to help the country hold against the might of the Soviet Union. But as you can see in the tooltip, now the Finns have a way out of the war if they manage to turn the tide of war and push the Soviets back.
Occupying the state of Leningrad and holding it for 30 days will allow Finland to demand peace negotiations.
But what does this mean? Well, as you might expect, an event will be sent to the Soviet Union demanding them to sign a white peace treaty. If Finland is in control of Murmansk, Olonets or Onega, then Soviets will also have to transfer any of those states under Finnish control:
But can the Soviets refuse? Yes, they can, but doing so comes with a (high) price:
Related to the Winter War, Finland will also receive a couple of flavorful historical events during the war, they are not super impactful, but hopefully they add to the immersion:
And before saying goodbye, allow me to tease you a bit with some more cool art from our wonderful artists (and a very big kudos to both our 2D and 3D artists because they’ve been doing an outstanding job for this DLC!!).
The Finnish tech tree will be a combination of custom icons and, for equipment that the country really didn’t produce, re-skins of existing equipment.
In terms of 3D models, Finland will count with plenty of very cool-looking 3D models, let me show you a few of them:
Finnish regular Infantry will have alternative versions with caps, winter hats and helmets, and they will also have acclimatization variants (because one just can’t fight a Winter War without a proper coat).
A couple of national fighter aircraft models, IVL Haukka (inter-war fighter) and VL Myrsky (improved fighter).:
Here you have the BT-43 troop transport, basically a repurposed captured BT-7, with the turret removed and a wooden platform added on top. It was not super successful so later on it was re-re-purposed into a weapons and ammunition carrier.
And finally, my favorite model:
We all are aware that trucks are not really a great in combination with snow, ice and really cold temperatures, but maybe some of you didn’t know about some of the creative solutions used, among others, by Finland and the Soviet Union, in the form of the really cool-looking military snowmobiles, used mostly for reconnaissance, communications and light raiding. I thought it would be very cool to have a 3D model of this vehicle as the winter-acclimatized version of the Finnish Motorized equipment, so in-game these will basically be cold-climate trucks. Kudos to our 3D artist who made an outstanding job with this one!
And with this awesome 3D model we’ve made it to the end of the Dev Diary, this was all from me! I hope that you all enjoyed reading through the upcoming Finnish content and are looking forward to knowing more about the new content and features coming with the next DLC!
I will be back in the near future with more Finnish content for the alt-history branches, but for now make sure to stay tuned for the next dev diary about Sweden!
Nähdään pian!
As promised last week, today we have big news as well as an overview of what we’re working on for the next Hearts of Iron expansion: Arms Against Tyranny, and the accompanying Stella Polaris update.
After successfully evading capture and inclusion in numerous HOI expansions, we’re proud to announce that Finland and the Nordic countries will be setting the theme for the Arms Against Tyranny expansion. This is a region clearly very close to our hearts at Paradox, but also a region with significant involvement in the development of WW2. While the effects of the winter war, occupations, and policy-making of the Nordic countries are well documented on the progress of the war as a whole, domestic histories and perspectives of these countries are often overlooked in favor of more active theaters. Arms Against Tyranny offers us a chance to tell both aspects of these stories without compromising the greater strategic narrative we’ve come to expect from Hearts of Iron.
Over the next several months we’ll be introducing you to a more detailed perspective on each of the constituent parts of AAT, including deep dives into the mechanics you’ve already seen (International Markets and Military Industrial Organizations). The mechanics we’ve chosen to include here are ones which we feel augment the fantasy of playing in the Nordic area during this era, though as usual, we’ve tried to make sure that the expansion brings something for everyone.
Below, you’ll find the store-page overview for what’s coming in AAT - however beyond this summary, we will not be answering any questions on the features we haven’t produced a dev diary for.
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Hearts of Iron IV: Arms Against Tyranny
Four Northern democracies are seemingly helpless against nearby predatory dictatorships. Despite their size, Finland, Norway, Denmark, and Sweden have a chance to avoid conquest through clever diplomacy or fierce resistance. Write a new history of the Nordic countries in Arms Against Tyranny, a new expansion for Hearts of Iron IV.
This expansion to Paradox Interactive’s celebrated grand strategy wargame about the tumult of the years around the Second World War adds new focus trees and alternate histories for the northernmost nations of Europe, customization of weapons manufacturers, and new ways to take advantage of neutrality to profit your own citizens.
The Winter War
Relive the defining moment of Finnish history, defying the odds in a war against a much more powerful Soviet adversary. Though disadvantaged in air and armored forces, Finnish forces have a strong advantage on homeland defence, so you should prepare an army specifically designed for Finland’s terrain to fight invaders. Or, if you prefer, write your own history, strengthening Fascist sympathizers who want a Greater Finland or pursuing a socialist path - with or without Soviet support.
A Powerful Sweden
The richest of the Nordic nations, Sweden is well-suited to a path of vigorous neutrality and to serve as both an arms designer and arms trader. Strong unions risk crippling unstable governments unless you can provide enough work. In a world on fire, Sweden must also upgrade its obsolete forces so it can defend itself. Can the Swedish democracy avoid taking the side of its occupied neighbors, or will the government collapse in favor of monarchist or Fascist alternatives?
Norway
Relive the historical challenge of a young industrializing nation trying to stay neutral in the face of German aggression or prepare for war by quickly arming to resist the war that is coming to your doorstep. In alternate historical paths, unscrupulous domestic fascists may take advantage of domestic complacency and pursue Nordic union through betrayal, or a Communist revolution can choose to stand with or against Stalin’s regime.
Denmark
A long-standing policy of neutrality leaves Denmark unready for a continental war. Pursue the course of domestic harmony through a strong welfare state and agile diplomacy, or throw in with the democratic Allies, rearming for the coming storm. Alternate paths include chasing the dream of a united Scandinavia, reviving the old Kalmar Union.
A War Machine of Your Design
To make sure you have an industry that matches your ambitions, national manufacturers and weapons designers can specialize their craft, improving the production and research of various items through the course of the war. Military Industrial Organizations will offer new ways to streamline production lines or develop high-performance weapons systems with advantages on the battlefield.
Guns for Butter
In the new International Market, you can become an arms exporting powerhouse, selling weapons to other nations in return for civilian factory output, increasing your own industrial production at home while fueling the fires of war abroad. This is a new way for rich and advanced neutral nations to stay viable and active in a world war.
New Military Options
Many updates and changes to the design and organization of military divisions, including customization of special forces units, divisional specializations, and more.
New Art and Music
New unit art, including Finnish snowmobile brigades, and 10 new songs inspired by the key cultures in Arms Against Tyranny.
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This, however, is not all! I shall hand you over to our most prolific dev-diary artiste to introduce you to our plans for AAT’s headline nation: Finland!
Hei, it is Mano de Zombi to welcome you all to a new Hearts of Iron 4 Dev Diary!
With the beautiful Swedish summer approaching, good weather and bright sunny days have finally arrived in the North, and with them comes news about the first country to be revealed for the upcoming DLC Arms Against Tyranny, Finland!
As we have been doing in the latest DLCs, we are going to split the Finnish content into two Dev Diaries. Today, we will be talking about the historical and common branches of the Finnish Focus tree, and we will leave the alternative history for a future Dev Diary.
As usual, I need to warn you that you are about to see Work In Progress (WIP) content that might not be finalized, balanced, localized or that might contain placeholder art, and it is subject to change before release. Also keep in mind that some of the content might vary if certain previous DLCs are not active. Thanks for your understanding!
And with that said, let’s get to it!
In 1936, Finland found itself in a complex political, diplomatic, and military situation. Despite being a democratic nation, nationalism and right-wing ideology were on the rise. The proximity to the Soviet Union also made it vulnerable to aggression, and tensions between the two countries were high.
On the political front, Finland's government was fairly fragile, with several different parties (most remarkably the Agrarian Party, the National Coalition Party and the Social Democratic Party) vying for power and struggling to work together effectively.
Finland's relationships with its neighbors were strained. In 1932, the Soviet–Finnish Non-Aggression Pact was signed between both countries, and it was reaffirmed for ten years in 1934, but relations between the two countries were definitely not great, leaving Finland in a situation of uncertainty and vulnerability.
In terms of military, the Finnish Armed Forces were poorly equipped and trained, with an army that was ill-prepared to defend the country's borders. Despite this, Finland had a long history of military valor and determination, and its soldiers had proven to be fiercely loyal to their country on multiple occasions.
So after putting some context into the situation of Finland by 1936, let’s see how the country looks like in-game:
As you can see, Finland still starts the game with the Sisu National Spirit.
But what is Sisu? I can hear some of you asking, well let me try to explain very briefly:
Sisu is a Finnish concept that is used to express the national character of the Finns. It doesn’t really have a literal equivalent in English, but could be described as stoicism, tenacity, resilience, unrelenting willpower, hardiness and bravery (among several other qualities). It is used to explain the fierce determination and courage of the Finns in the face of extreme adversity.
Just a curiosity, after reading a bit more deep into Sisu, I found out that apparently one can also have bad sisu, meaning that the individual is a hostile and malignant person, and one can also have too much sisu, meaning foolhardiness and stubbornness.
But anyhow, now that we have a better idea of what Sisu is, some of you might have noticed that the Sisu National Spirit in this screenshot is significantly weaker than its old version before the DLC.
Well fear not, this version of Sisu is not the definitive one, there are five stages for the Sisu National Spirit, and they are tied to the Balance of Power mechanic, this is one of the worst versions of it (a bit more info about why soon), and at its best tier, the Sisu National Spirit is even slightly more powerful than its older version.
Finland’s country leader has also changed. This is because, after delving into Finnish politics in the 30s and 40s, I realized how “unstable” the position of Prime Minister was: from 1936 to 1945 Finland saw some 11 different Prime Ministers, with some of them leaving their post to become President of the Republic while others seemed to be fairly irrelevant and last in their position for a very short time. In comparison, Finland had “only” 5 Presidents of the Republic in the same time period, including some of the most iconic and relevant political figures (like Mannerheim or Ryti) that had a huge impact on Finland's politics and fate.
So, I made up my mind and decided to represent these Presidents of Finland as the available country leaders in-game.
Worth noting that, even though Finland was historically really, really close to Germany in terms of relations and fascism was big in the country, Finland was considered by most a co-belligerent country to Germany, instead of an actual German ally and member of the Axis. In order to represent this in-game, and prevent certain issues such as having the AI naturally join the Axis, turn Fascist, and also being able to have a separate peace, in the game Finland’s historical path is represented by the Non-Aligned ideology.
Let’s take a look at the first one and see how these country leaders are also tied to the Finnish Balance of Power:
A skilled precision shooter, member of the Fascist Militia Suojeluskunta and staunch anti-communist, Pehr Evind Svinhufvud did not enjoy a huge popularity by 1936, so in the 1937 elections a coalition of centrists (Agrarian and Progressive) and social democrats voted for Kyösti Kallio to ensure that Svinhufvud would not be re-elected.
Among Svinhufvud’s traits, you can see this slightly weird “Personal Agenda” trait. All Finnish leaders have a Personal Agenda trait, although what this agenda is differs from leader to leader. As you might have guessed, this is directly tied to the Finnish Balance of Power, which is called “Public Trust”:
The Public Trust balance of power represents the trust of the people in their president, and how this affects the Finns and their means to overcome harsh times. It ties together the balance of power with the “Finnish spirit” (Sisu) and the Finnish leadership (country leader).
As mentioned before, Svinhufvud didn’t enjoy that much popularity by 1936, so the Balance of Power starts fairly low on the Low Public Trust side.
Low Public Trust will grant small Stability, War Support and Political Power Gain penalties.
High Public Trust, on the other hand grants Stability, War Support and Recruitable Population bonuses.
Besides this, there are 5 ranges in the Balance of Power, and each of them will provide a version of the Sisu National Spirit, so the higher the Public Trust on your leader, the more powerful Sisu you will get (note that, at its worst, the Sisu National Spirit doesn’t give you any penalties, it just become very weak).
When any of the items in the country leader’s Personal Agenda is fulfilled, the Balance of Power will move towards the appropriate side on a weekly basis. In the case of Svinhufvud, eliminating all communist and democratic support will push the Balance of Power towards High Trust over time, while losing control of a core state will do the opposite.
Last but not least, there are some decisions (and focuses) that will help you push the Balance of Power to either side. Some of them will even allow you to replace your leader, like Motion of No Confidence (which costs significantly less the lower the Public Trust is, so good in combination with Organize the Opposition, which will decrease Public Trust). As you might have guessed already, the decision to Form a Military Government, available when at war with a major country, is the way to put Mannerheim in charge of the country.
You will be able to change your Non-Aligned leader not only via Balance of Power decisions, but also via certain events. Svinhufvud’s term as President will end in 1937 and you will get an event in which you can decide if you want to re-elect him or not, Kallio will die at some point around late 1940, and if Mannerheim was appointed as President during war, there will be an event allowing him to resign in favor of Paasikivi, for free. You can still keep Mannerheim if you want and make him resign later on, at a cost, but as you will notice when you look at his Personal Agenda, that might not be a great idea. Here you have the different Non-Aligned leaders available to Finland:
And since we are already talking about Finnish characters, let’s jump into Finnish advisors, starting with a list of political advisors, most of which need to be unlocked in the Focus Tree. All the political advisors potentially available to a Non-Aligned Finland are shown with colored portraits below:
There are many more advisors but we’ll see them next time since they are exclusive to the alt-history branches.
When it comes to military advisors, as you can see below there are some new additions and many new portraits!
When it comes to Unit Leaders, Finland now starts the game with a fair amount of Generals to choose from. As you will see, most of them have a lot of terrain-related traits, and in general a rather high value on their defense skill, this is to represent the adaptability and competency of the Finnish army during the wars, especially utilizing terrain and weather conditions in their favor against drastically larger and better-equipped enemy forces (especially during the defensive Winter War).
The new Veteran Jaeger trait is used to represent officers who, during World War I, volunteered to train in Germany as Jaegers during the Great War and the civil war in Finland (this was one of many means employed by Germany to weaken Russia during the Great War).
Jaegers were highly trained, among other skills, in guerrilla warfare and sabotage operations behind enemy lines, and as you can see, in-game the trait provides huge bonuses towards gaining certain traits, including terrain ones, which will help your generals getting the key trait “Adaptable”, which can in turn really make the difference when defending against a much bigger enemy!
Does this still feel like not enough Finnish generals for you? Got you covered, throughout the focus tree you will be able to unlock many more generals:
And even though Finland was nothing close to the mightiest naval power even in the Baltic, Finland now starts with Ragnar Hakola as Admiral and can unlock Svante Sundman as an additional admiral early in the Naval branch, in case you want to go for some sort of naval run with Finland (hey, who am I to judge?).
Regarding Industrial Designers, Finland has now 5 of them, including a new Mining Company that will help with the lack resources:
Now let’s take a quick look at the Finnish Military Industrial Organizations and how Finland interacts with the MIO feature.
To keep things as short as possible, I won’t be going into any details about what an MIO is, (for more information about the feature you can check the MIO Dev corner here).
We will take a look at how MIOs look like in-game, so please keep in mind that this is still very much WIP (especially UI) and various things will definitely change before release.
Here you have the list of Finnish MIOs, featuring more generalist MIOs for ships, aircraft and tanks (the tank one is actually not historical, but still a possibility if you want to focus on tank development as Finland), and dedicated infantry equipment, guns and motorized MIOs:
All of these MIOs contain several unique traits, some specific to the MIO itself, some specific to Finnish MIOs, most of which will be unlocked by different focuses in the focus tree (will go into some examples later):
And before getting into the Focus Tree, I need to show you guys some map changes in Finland:
Here you can see that there are several new states, closer to the regional administration during the 30s/40s (which, by the way, changed significantly in some areas in a matter of a few years. Maybe you also noticed that Åland is now a demilitarized state at game start.
A significant number of victory points have been added (most of which are low value), and some VPs, railways and supply hubs have been repositioned to more accurately represent their real location.
There has been some resource adjustment and, most importantly, infrastructure has been drastically reduced in most states, to better represent the real situation of roads and communications in most Finnish regions in the 1930s. Don’t worry too much about the infrastructure, since Finland has the means to improve that infrastructure and to deal with low supply areas and winter attrition, so these changes will potentially cause more harm to any enemy forces attempting to invade Finland from the East/North, getting away from their own supply lines.
And finally it is time to take a look at Finland’s Focus Tree. Quite modest in size, but hopefully with a good amount of flavor and interesting gameplay mechanics, something a player can enjoy while focusing on the actually important stuff: surviving the war against all odds!
First of all let me tell you that, as some of you might have hoped for, there is a significant amount of short focuses all over the Finnish tree, which will hopefully make it feel more dynamic and engaging. And now let’s start by talking about the Industrial branch:
The first two focuses in the Industrial Branch will help you deal with the dire infrastructure situation by granting some infrastructure and civilian factories, some improvements to the railway system, and also granting a National Spirit boosting infrastructure construction speed.
Below, Bank of Åland will boost your consumer goods for some time, and Suomen Akatemia will grant an extra research slot.
The several focuses related to resource production will in most cases slightly increase the resource production in a state, while also granting some extra building slots, civs, railways and more. There are also a few more powerful focuses in the bottom half of the branch:
In this branch you will also find focuses related to MIOs:
Last but not least, the rightmost focuses, which also requires the first focus in the Army branch, will be more focused on Military Industry, including boosting your infantry equipment and artillery MIOs, and even granting a very iconic tool during winter war, the famous Molotov Cocktail:
Now the military Branches. By completing the first focus, Increase Military Budget, you will get access to each one of the dedicated armed forces branches: Army, Airforce and Navy.
The military branch, which contains a fair amount of short focuses, starts with the “Suomen Maavoimat” focus which will grant, among other things, the Finnish Army national spirit, which will be improved throughout the branch.
As we mentioned at the very beginning, the Finnish military was by no means well-prepared or equipped by 1936, so you’ll have some work to do if you are to prevail against the odds. However, if you play your cards right, by the time you get to the last focuses in the Army Branch, Finland might not have one of the largest armies in the world, but it will definitely have a formidable force with which to defend against (and even push back) major powers.
Operation Kilpapurjehdus will remilitarize Åland and fortify the state, even if at peace, given that World Tension is kinda high:
To the right, Mannerheim Line, Defense in Depth and Helsinki Air Defense, will boost your defense capabilities in general, fortify several states (especially Karjala) and also provide better supply and railways in the South East border, very much needed to hold against the potentially not-so-well-supplied invaders coming from Leningrad and East Karelia.
Extra Refresher Exercises will grant, among other useful bonuses, some extra recruitable population and mobilization speed, and it acts as the gate towards the nitty-gritty of the army branch:
After this, you will get access to the really cool stuff, such as unlocking a lot of generals and military advisors, boosting your troops (especially in winter combat and rough terrain), improving your MIOs and unlocking some templates:
But there are also more unique content in this branch:
And this is the perfect time to learn about another Finnish word: Motti.
I honestly think that the description of Motti in wikipedia is really accurate and on point, so i will shamelessly cite it here for you guys interested in knowing more about it:
Motti is Finnish military slang for a totally encircled enemy unit. The tactic of encircling it is called motitus, literally meaning the formation of an isolated block or "motti", but in effect meaning an entrapment or envelopment.
A motti in military tactics refers to the formation of "bite sized" enemy units, which are easier to contain and deal with, in a relatively small area in which the encircled enemy could be "cut down" like trees.
This tactic of envelopment was used extensively by the Finnish forces in the Winter War and the Continuation War to good effect. It was especially effective against some of the mechanized units of the Soviet Army, which were effectively restricted to the long and narrow forest roads with virtually no way other than forwards or backwards. Once committed to a road, the Soviet troops effectively were trapped. Unlike the mechanized units of the Soviets, the Finnish troops could move quickly through the forests on skis and break columns of armored Soviet units into smaller chunks (by felling trees along the road, for example). Once the large column was split up into smaller armored units, the Finnish forces attacking from within the forest could strike the weakened column. The smaller pockets of enemy troops could then be dealt with individually by concentrating forces on all sides against the entrapped unit.
By cutting the enemy columns or units into smaller groups and then encircling them with light and mobile forces, such as ski-troops during winter, a smaller force can overwhelm a much larger force. If the encircled enemy unit was too strong, or if attacking it would have entailed an unacceptably high cost, e.g., because of a lack of heavy equipment, the motti was usually left to "stew" until it ran out of food, fuel, supplies, and ammunition and was weakened enough to be eliminated. Some of the larger mottis held out until the end of the war because they were resupplied by air. Being trapped, however, these units were not available for battle operations.
In-game, Motti Tactics are represented by state-based decisions to prepare these tactics in the area. Doing this will add a state modifier with some bonuses for Finland and harsh penalties for an enemy invader. Every time you prepare Motti Tactics in a state, the cost of the decisions will be doubled. You can also cancel the Motti Tactics in a state where it might no longer be necessary in order to half the cost. Note that these state modifiers only apply as long as Finland is still the controller of the state, if the enemy conquers the Victory Points in the area and takes control over the state, the modifier will be removed from the state (and the decision cost reduced accordingly).
Winter Warfare will unlock a new Finnish support Battalion, the Winter Logistics Company.
This battalion is designed to drastically help Finland hold and even push against a less-prepared enemy, under rough winter conditions:
Long Range Patrols will also unlock a new unique Finnish support battalion, an improved version of recon company that will, among other things, significantly boost your division’s initiative and their performance on different terrains. This battalion can be further boosted by the focus Sissi:
And, with one of my favorite icons, Sámi Pathfinders represents the Finnish Army utilizing the invaluable skills and expertise of the Sami people as pathfinders, trackers and scouts in order to gain the upper hand in very cold areas or rough terrain, as not only Finland, but also Soviet Union and Germany (in Norway) did historically, which unfortunately led to many instances of Sámi fighting Sámi:
Let’s move onto the Airforce branch now. Similarly to the Army Branch, Suomen Merivoimat will grant the Finnish Airforce national spirit, which will be further improved throughout the branch:
Despite its small size and limited resources, the Finnish Air Force of 1936 boasts a cadre of skilled pilots and innovative designers, who have honed their craft through years of experimentation and improvisation.
As the threat of a major war became apparent, the Finnish Air Force initiated in 1936 an extensive preparation programme to acquire new equipment for the fighter squadrons, joint operations squadrons and remote operations squadrons. However, the programme had not reached completion by the time international political tension increased and military aircraft acquisitions dried out.
In any case, through sheer determination and a willingness to adapt to changing circumstances, the Finnish Air Force developed a reputation as a force to be reckoned with during the Winter War that broke out in November 1939.
In this branch you will get some air bases, XP, bonuses to your aircraft and pilots, and a number of iconic Finnish aces:
You will also find some research bonuses, military factories, MIO bonuses and some aircraft templates:
And now a quick look at the modest Finnish Naval Branch, and just like with the Army and Airforce branches, Suomen Ilmavoimat will add the Finnish Navy national spirit, which will be improved throughout the branch:
With the Finnish-Soviet border being the focus of the military’s attention, there was little left out of the military budget to spend on the navy. In 1928 a naval rearmament plan was developed, centered around two massive defense ships, submarines, motor torpedo boats, and small mine warfare ships. By 1936, the Finnish Navy had by no means a powerful fleet, nor the resources to address this problem.
However, if you want to dominate the Baltic as Finland in HOI, you can definitely use some help from this branch in order to form a decent fleet able to perform optimally according to your strategy.
The focuses to the right will mostly boost your ship-building industry, naval bases and naval MIO:
Coastal Defense focus will grant you a bit of everything, including a dockyard, doctrine bonus, extra speed for building Coastal Forts… It will even help you research and produce cheaper (and slightly weaker) Railway Guns!
To the left side of the branch you will find focuses to boost the production of convoys and to unlock decisions with which to convert convoys into weak military vessels:
The last focus in the branch, Expansion Towards the Atlantic, will grant you fairly powerful bonuses, proven that Finland controls at least one state on the Atlantic coast:
And we are now good to go check the Political branch!
The upper part of the branch includes a lot of political advisor unlocking, ideology support, balance of power, stability and political power.
To the left you have some Industrial focuses that, combined with the Industrial Branch, will help you put the Finnish industry and supply lines in a pretty good shape.
The three focuses at the bottom of the left sub-branch, will boost your country leader and grant some bonuses that vary based on who’s in charge:
The mid and bottom part of the central sub-branch, is focused on international relations. Here you can seek to Join the Allies (as long as you have certain amount of Democratic Support), form a Northern Defense Front faction with other Scandinavian and Baltic countries, or go on your own as The Lone Wolf.
The Lone Wolf is the most unique out of the three options, and it is intended to roughly represent the Finnish path after the Winter War.
Cooperation with Germany represents the secret pact between Finland and Nazi Germany to invade the Soviet Union.
The focuses below it will grant some industrial and military bonuses, and Finnish March of Conquest will help you dealing with major powers (for a limited period of time):
Weapon Caches unlock decisions to hide weapon caches around Finland (as happened historically), so in the event of occupation the Finnish resistance could still fight the invaders. These state-targeted decisions can prove to be very useful to hinder enemy progress into Finnish territory, by adding severe resistance and compliance penalties to any occupier of a state with the weapon caches state modifier.
In the right-most sub-branch, the focus A Cry for Help (which has a very cool icon imo) will help Finland with the dire low manpower situation during the Winter War:
The rest of this sub-branch is very fascistic, with the focuses in the central branch boosting Finland’s military (including the much needed manpower) and military production.
To the left, Viron Kansa will allow you to propose a unification with Estonia, that can result in Estonia getting annexed or joining Finland’s faction.
Ambitions in the South will grant claims in the rest of the Baltic countries and, the final focus in the branch, Greater Finland, will, among other irrelevant things such as granting some cores and a couple of claims on Soviet states, it will make Finland even more white on the map:
Last but not least, allow me to show you very quickly a few tweaks introduced to the Winter War.
As you probably know, on a historical playthrough, the Soviet Union will send an Ultimatum to Finland some time around 1939, demanding Karjala state, next to Leningrad. If Finland refuses to do so (historical outcome), then Soviets will declare war on the country and the Winter War will start:
The event grants Finland a very powerful national spirit to help the country hold against the might of the Soviet Union. But as you can see in the tooltip, now the Finns have a way out of the war if they manage to turn the tide of war and push the Soviets back.
Occupying the state of Leningrad and holding it for 30 days will allow Finland to demand peace negotiations.
But what does this mean? Well, as you might expect, an event will be sent to the Soviet Union demanding them to sign a white peace treaty. If Finland is in control of Murmansk, Olonets or Onega, then Soviets will also have to transfer any of those states under Finnish control:
But can the Soviets refuse? Yes, they can, but doing so comes with a (high) price:
Related to the Winter War, Finland will also receive a couple of flavorful historical events during the war, they are not super impactful, but hopefully they add to the immersion:
And before saying goodbye, allow me to tease you a bit with some more cool art from our wonderful artists (and a very big kudos to both our 2D and 3D artists because they’ve been doing an outstanding job for this DLC!!).
The Finnish tech tree will be a combination of custom icons and, for equipment that the country really didn’t produce, re-skins of existing equipment.
In terms of 3D models, Finland will count with plenty of very cool-looking 3D models, let me show you a few of them:
Finnish regular Infantry will have alternative versions with caps, winter hats and helmets, and they will also have acclimatization variants (because one just can’t fight a Winter War without a proper coat).
A couple of national fighter aircraft models, IVL Haukka (inter-war fighter) and VL Myrsky (improved fighter).:
Here you have the BT-43 troop transport, basically a repurposed captured BT-7, with the turret removed and a wooden platform added on top. It was not super successful so later on it was re-re-purposed into a weapons and ammunition carrier.
And finally, my favorite model:
We all are aware that trucks are not really a great in combination with snow, ice and really cold temperatures, but maybe some of you didn’t know about some of the creative solutions used, among others, by Finland and the Soviet Union, in the form of the really cool-looking military snowmobiles, used mostly for reconnaissance, communications and light raiding. I thought it would be very cool to have a 3D model of this vehicle as the winter-acclimatized version of the Finnish Motorized equipment, so in-game these will basically be cold-climate trucks. Kudos to our 3D artist who made an outstanding job with this one!
And with this awesome 3D model we’ve made it to the end of the Dev Diary, this was all from me! I hope that you all enjoyed reading through the upcoming Finnish content and are looking forward to knowing more about the new content and features coming with the next DLC!
I will be back in the near future with more Finnish content for the alt-history branches, but for now make sure to stay tuned for the next dev diary about Sweden!
Nähdään pian!
