31st July - Review from a Hearts of Iron Veteran

[Hagar]

It's pleasing that Paradox asked the Gamers and especially moder to improve the game really!

Paradox has pretty good relations with the modding community as a whole, I reckon. We have some inroads ourselves, via both the CORE and VIP dev teams. Plus the modders themselves share knowledge often as well - Lothos certainly has been helpful towards us and other modders in the past. It's a win-win relationship, as mods will increase the interest curve of the original game. Finally there are those freak moments you'll find yourself hunting for graphics, get in touch with a guy who claims to actually have that specific minister pic you're looking for, and find yourself mailing - and sharing - with the guy who actually did most if not all of the HoI2 graphics. I know I did...

 

[Murkk]

OMG... no sliders? WHAT?!?! o

I honestly can't believe this. This is absolutely dreadful for multiplayer games. Ahhhhhhhhrrrrgggg.

Hopefully this can be modded and quick.

 

[Hagar]

Patched more likely, based on Johan's remark and the volume of those that seem to like it.

 

[unmerged(1823)]

For all those complaining that they were "taken out," though...they probably weren't. They just weren't bothered to be added since this is a new engine. I highly doubt they were actively removed from the game. Johan likely felt time was better spent working on something else instead.

bingo.

 

[Socratatus]

After reading the review and most info on this forum, I really get the impression that this is one hell of a deep and intelligent game. It certainly appears to have truly taxed some brain matter to make!

Looking forward to it.

 

[Schwarzie]

Great Review, it even shattered some of my worries about the new research system.

But no sliderautomatism? Please add this ASAP!

 

[webprofessor]

ehh?

the alert at top of the screen tells you when you waste any IC, you dont need to check them every day.

It was like that in HOI 2 as well with the colored indicators. I'm not understanding whats changed here.

 

[Threviel]

bingo.

This worries me. What other useful things that you don't use hasn't been added to the game?

Will there, for example, be to many alerts as in Rome? Will all possible laws or whatever that one could enact end up as alerts on the top of the screen resulting in 4-5 eternal information alerts? Or will there only be the most acute ones? Or perhaps best of all, the ability to change which alerts should be shown? Or perhaps the ability to remove them once read.

 

[Necro]

Lothos,

Thanks for the review!!

I just wanted to confirm that you feel the tech tree, land, and air combat are as good as can be with the 10 ratings you gave them? I read these ratings as you feel there is nothing of significance that could be done to improve them?

 

[Baneslave]

Will there, for example, be to many alerts as in Rome? Will all possible laws or whatever that one could enact end up as alerts on the top of the screen resulting in 4-5 eternal information alerts? Or will there only be the most acute ones? Or perhaps best of all, the ability to change which alerts should be shown? Or perhaps the ability to remove them once read.

Alerting about possibility of changing laws doesn't make sense, but decisions IMO would make sense. But ability to modify which alerts are shown and how many times would be great.

 

[Lothos]

Lothos,

Thanks for the review!!

I just wanted to confirm that you feel the tech tree, land, and air combat are as good as can be with the 10 ratings you gave them? I read these ratings as you feel there is nothing of significance that could be done to improve them?

I loved the tech tree design and how to improve stuff. Sure every mod will want to change things around and maybe add their own techs etc... or modify existing stuff but my opinion (code wise) its perfect.

It's simple
It's compact
It's easy to read

Programatically I just cant think of anything they can do to improve it right now.

 

[unmerged(31044)]

Now all we need is a Pruffrock AAR???

 

[Threviel]

Alerting about possibility of changing laws doesn't make sense, but decisions IMO would make sense. But ability to modify which alerts are shown and how many times would be great.

Well, what if I don't want to decide just then? Then the alert would remain and if a new decision comes up I won't notice it. The best thing woul be if a right click or whatever removes the alert until something changes again and a new alert with new information comes up.

 

[Hagar]

This worries me. What other useful things that you don't use hasn't been added to the game?

If Paradox could develop it for HoI2, odds are that it can be for HoI3, problably with lesser effort. Given the potential HoI3 has over HoI2 I'm sure it's worth it. As Lothos basically said: it's good, very good, with room for even further improvement. As should be apparent Johan (and others) try to stay close to the community to keep tabs on what's mostly missed. Have faith, guys... Just be glad Paradox actually listens to it's fanbase.

Plus, if Paradox for some odd reason decides not to, then there's still the modding community.

 

[Baneslave]

Well, what if I don't want to decide just then? Then the alert would remain and if a new decision comes up I won't notice it. The best thing woul be if a right click or whatever removes the alert until something changes again and a new alert with new information comes up.

Yes, I agree with this.

 

[Rush]

I would like autosliders

 

[Alex_brunius]

From Wiki quoting Jane's:
Full (Ferry) Range (no ordinance)
P51-D (Land Ftr): 1,650 mi (2,755 km) with external tanks
F6F-5(CAG Ftr):1,330 nmi (1,530 mi, 2,460 km)

So its definitely possible to be CLOSE to the same I think, if you pushed for it

If your going to find the land based Fighter with the longest range all throughout the war you should find the CAG fighter that corresponds with it.

A6M Zero built 4 years earlier for example with 3100km external tank range.

Generally CAGs had superior range to land based counterparts. Land based CAS and FTR aircraft normally had 500-1000km range and Carrier based ones had twice of that if not more. At least if the Pacific should be used as a basis for Carrier warfare (and for good reasons I think it should).

 

[Threviel]

I have faith, that's why I argue. After all, I've been a customer since EU I and I know full well what Paradox goes for. If Johan says that the automatic sliders will be added I believe that they will be added.

What worries me though is that a feature that we screamed after in HoI 2 is left out of HoI 3 because Johan doesn't use it. Perhaps Johan isn't annoyed by the information overload of the alerts or by whatever other annoying thing and because of that the usability of the game loses out.

If I want micromanagement hell I could play WitP:AE, but I don't want that. I want to be able to just lay back in my chair and let the computer handle the boring chores so I can concentrate on strategy and roleplaying. i don't want to have to be on alert (hehe) for alerts, I want to be able to read a book or something for those boring years up to the war, not change sliders.

PS. What made EUI so revolutionary, amongst other things, was the ability to change how the game would present information to you. That trend has continued, but Rome was unplayable for me because of information overload, to many messages, to many alerts, I felt lost. EUIII with Magna Mundi also, to many alerts, even if it still is a good game. I hope that this will be remedied with HoI 3.

 

[Lordban]

Autosliders could be dreadfully helpful, yes, both in SP and in MP games...

If it's possible to include them in a patch, I'd love to see them there

 

[Hagar]

Well if you find those pre-war years boring, you really should have tried some of the mods by now.

Being in the business myself professionally (not games, but software development), there always might be some spilt milk when migrating to a new version. But certainly nothing that can be solved, usually with little effort.