HOI4 Dev Diary - Back from summer!

[--Yigito123--]

People seem to forget the AI tweaks and other small stuff that made Germany into what it is today was made in an update whose theme had nothing to do with Germany. While their focus tree and lack of unique mechanics is bad, the main problem with the Western Allies and the Soviets is AI. If the Soviet AI was good and the Allied AI was able to open an effective second front, Barbarossa would be a lot more fun to play, unique mechanics or no.

At the end of the day, the fact that the focus tree revamps and unique mechanics are going to be given to France and Italy does not mean the Soviets cannot be tweaked alongside the free update to put up more of a fight. If you take away the AI problems, French and Italian focuses are really not in a much better shape compared to the Soviet one, and an entire DLC cycle dedicated to them will make sure it'll be a higher quality work once finished.

 

[NilsFabian]

Maybe Franco-Iberia? With France, Spain and Portugal getting trees?

This would be nice so there might be some Wordplay on Mare Nostrum and Italy really does need a better focus tree.
Scandinavia is off the table I'd say as Finnland can only be done together with the Soviet Union and the other Scandinavian countries hadn't been that important. Sorry Danmark.

So what do the other countries might be.

 

[kimidf]

People seem to forget the AI tweaks and other small stuff that made Germany into what it is today was made in an update whose theme had nothing to do with Germany. While their focus tree and lack of unique mechanics is bad, the main problem with the Western Allies and the Soviets is AI. If the Soviet AI was good and the Allied AI was able to open an effective second front, Barbarossa would be a lot more fun to play, unique mechanics or no.

At the end of the day, the fact that the focus tree revamps and unique mechanics are going to be given to France and Italy does not mean the Soviets cannot be tweaked alongside the free update to put up more of a fight. If you take away the AI problems, French and Italian focuses are really not in a much better shape compared to the Soviet one, and an entire DLC cycle dedicated to them will make sure it'll be a higher quality work once finished.

I personally believe in the current Soviet focus is the worst of today and it was more urgent to make a rework that the current French and Italian trees were still passable and I hope that the French rework will come a new issue of autonomy for some of its colonies especially in Indonchina, Syria and North Africa .

That somehow you must be reflected in your rework your inability to keep these from rebel groups attacks in the colonial territories as historically happened in the Indonchina, Algeria or Syria

 

[Abadon777]

Glad to hear your back with great anticipation on the upcoming dev diary to come'

 

[wesleytj]

People seem to forget the AI tweaks and other small stuff that made Germany into what it is today was made in an update whose theme had nothing to do with Germany. While their focus tree and lack of unique mechanics is bad, the main problem with the Western Allies and the Soviets is AI. If the Soviet AI was good and the Allied AI was able to open an effective second front, Barbarossa would be a lot more fun to play, unique mechanics or no.

At the end of the day, the fact that the focus tree revamps and unique mechanics are going to be given to France and Italy does not mean the Soviets cannot be tweaked alongside the free update to put up more of a fight. If you take away the AI problems, French and Italian focuses are really not in a much better shape compared to the Soviet one, and an entire DLC cycle dedicated to them will make sure it'll be a higher quality work once finished.

That's basically what I was trying to say a couple of pages back. Thank you for saying it so much better!

 

[GeorgieBest]

Don't really care which nations get a focus tree, most important thing I want to see is fixes for the bugs introduced in the last expansion, and then some improvements to the AI. Four years later and your 'allies' are still more of a hindrance than a help, as they just flood the frontlines with division spam and make sure no progress is made without massive cost due to lack of supply penalties. It's bad enough the AI does it to itself, but you can't even stop it from ruining your frontlines/battle plans.

 

[Edungeon]

I am hoping for a cool revolutionary leftist France focus tree :]

 

[Brucesim2003]

Can we please have other ways of changing ideology than civil war? Japan, India, Germany, Mexico and USA all are forced to have a civil war to change ideologies, and it's getting boring. It's a major reason why I don't play Kaiserreich.

 

[Calle]

Don't really care which nations get a focus tree, most important thing I want to see is fixes for the bugs introduced in the last expansion, and then some improvements to the AI. Four years later and your 'allies' are still more of a hindrance than a help, as they just flood the frontlines with division spam and make sure no progress is made without massive cost due to lack of supply penalties. It's bad enough the AI does it to yourself, but you can't even stop it from ruining your frontlines/battle plans.

I think after all these years that we need to accept that as a feature rather than a bug. Sure as hell treated as one by the developers.

 

[BlueAndGrey]

Imagine going back 3 years and telling everyone we would have confederate America, communist japan and probably monarchist france in game before a decent eastern front

 

[Brucesim2003]

Imagine going back 3 years and telling everyone we would have confederate America, communist japan and probably monarchist france in game before a decent eastern front

 

[Crecer13]

Don't really care which nations get a focus tree, most important thing I want to see is fixes for the bugs introduced in the last expansion, and then some improvements to the AI. Four years later and your 'allies' are still more of a hindrance than a help, as they just flood the frontlines with division spam and make sure no progress is made without massive cost due to lack of supply penalties. It's bad enough the AI does it to yourself, but you can't even stop it from ruining your frontlines/battle plans.

The Soviet tree is disgusting, generals and advisers disgusting. And although AI is an important part in the USSR, it is simply not interesting to play.

 

[Mr.Grizzly]

While I do agree that the eastern front is a pressing matter for the development to tackle, I will disagree that it should be the next update and expansion. Of course this is all subjective to one's opinion, but I would much prefer that France and Italy are updated before the USSR. I've never seen the Allies pull an Operation Overlord or Dragoon unless the player starts it, Operation Husky kind of happens and usually fails unless the player helps out but even than they send way too many divisions and supply becomes atrocious, Italy doesn't have it's civil war that started in 1943 so there should still be fighting for two more years, Italy doesn't have any representation of the lack of industry or how most of their officers were political which contributed to so many of their embarrassing defeats, France does have some of it's issues represented but they are very generic and nothing really comes out of them besides penalties and the two events about worker strikes, Italy jumps into the war early by joining Germany in 1939 or they invade Yugoslavia or Greece for no reason other than focuses. And those are just some of the problems I can name off the top of my head from just the two majors that are more or less confirmed for this expansion, no mentioning of Spain, Portugal, Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria or Belgium, all major candidates for reworks in the expansion. For me it makes more sense to work your way up to the huge meat grinder that was the eastern front, it was after all the last major German invasion and should be standalone.

I'd like to see Mediterranean Sea fleshed out with France and Italy being the major reworks, with Spain, Portugal, Greece and Turkey and if that's too much I'd say prioritize Spain and Portugal and make the DLC centred around the Latin countries, after that you tackle the huge beast of the Soviet Union with Finland, then do Greece, Bulgaria, Norway, Brazil, Belgium, Philippines and Siam/Thailand to name a few countries that should have representation since they actually fought in the war.

Eventually old DLC focus trees should be updated, TfV in particular has aged rather poorly and Poland's is very generic and lackluster too.

 

[ltccone]

I think after all these years that we need to accept that as a feature rather than a bug. Sure as hell treated as one by the developers.

That's why I play EAI where you can deny allies your front.

 

[orochi2k]

Can a French rework help Allies to successfully land a D-Day?

 

[DicRoNero]

...

Upon getting into the plant, they dressed into British uniform and then left a British sub-machine gun on leaving, so as to give a hint and no locals would get accused. I don't deny the Norwegians also took part, though

 

[Vohen]

Meaning that the USSR isn't getting a look on until fall next year, at the very earliest...
Looks like I will complete two whole years without playing the Soviets, sadly.

 

[Calle]

That's why I play EAI where you can deny allies your front.

I get your point, but I'm not a fan of fixing a cut-off artery with a band-aid The issue is way bigger than just my fronts.

 

[Had a dad]

At the moment we are all working on an unannounced expansion

technically speaking, if it hadn't been announced, wouldn't this be an announcement?

 

[Luckierexpert]

True! and maybe Italy and Belgium?

Belgium seems like a guaranteed tree to be paired with France, although part of me thinks the team may split Italy and France into separate DLC, as both had very different wars and would need extremely different mechanical improvements (Logistics and army warfare for Italy, espionage, governments in exile and partisans for France). I see Switzerland as another possible tree with France, possibly being similar to the Czechoslovakia tree with focuses on fortification. Austria could be another to complete Central Europe but that depends on whether the dev's want to give Austria a focus tree, especially as they get absorbed by Germany most games or by Hungary in many of the others. If Italy is also getting reworked, Greece and Spain could also be up, although I'd wait with Spain for a politics revamp, as the civil war was substantially influenced by the various factions on both the Nationalist and Republican sides.