Armored cars lost their use.

[vermicious knid]

I think there is some game in it. I sometimes find myself changing occupation policies and watching resistance levels. Whether or not this is engaging gameplay is debatable. I honestly kind of miss earlier iterations of HOI (and aother paradox games) where you had to run around and swat actual partisan units.

I'd still like to see armored cars in the tank designer, although I've heard the theory that they won't release content that renders a DLC feature obsolete/fundamentally changed. It seems like they could release a free/extremely cheap armored car plugin for people that own both DLC.

 

[vermicious knid]

And I'm still not sure the AI even knows how to build effective Garrison templates.

I'm not even sure the AI makes any attempt to manage resistance. My last game I was letting puppeted Poland control the Soviet territory as I advanced...which was admittedly a terrible decision. Two years in I noticed my captured airbases had 0 capacity. AI had let resistance go up to 70+ in every state...and wasn't doing any repairs.

I can't say that horrible governance by a Nazi puppet is ahistorical, but that level of pure negligence is impressive.

 

[Secret Master]

I can't say that horrible governance by a Nazi puppet is ahistorical, but that level of pure negligence is impressive.

 

[billcorr]

This does not compute. Surely there must be some benefit to producing AC? Maybe some hidden attribute.

I am speculating here:

A group of customers asked for Armored Cars and the development team
delivered Armored Cars. (Kudos to the devs for responding to customer demand).

Then the armor designer came out, that (according to the thesis of the OP), made Armored Cars obsolete.

It might be a case of the right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing.

In Hollywood, the production studios pay money to a "continuity editor" so that different movie scenes connect with other scenes in the movie (and franchise and canon).

Perhaps gaming companies would benefit from paying someone whose job it is to make sure all the pieces connect. (you might know of other aspects -- like armored cars -- that just don't make too much sense anymore as HoI4 has evolved. One example is that the infrastructure focuses that were previously labeled "rail" or "railway" now reward low-cost railways instead of the more valuable infrastructure. )

Like a mad scientist's creature sewn together from different parts, HoI4 is lumbering along trying to make all the pieces work and trying to get its right hand to synchronize with its left hand.

I like the game.

 

[billcorr]

Only downside is that it doesn't offer the recon value.

Right.

This would be an important point (Armored Cars provide recon values) if

Recon is valuable (?).

(recon might be valuable...I'm going to dig up a theorycrafting website and see what the Masters of TheoryCrafting say about recon).

 

[aletoledo]

Right.

This would be an important point (Armored Cars provide recon values) if

Recon is valuable (?).

(recon might be valuable...I'm going to dig up a theorycrafting website and see what the Masters of TheoryCrafting say about recon).

There have been plenty of debates on this here. One interesting thing someone on the Steam forums supposedly tested was that tactics and thereby recon are better for defending, since there are more chances to produce a counter than when you're on the attack. So thats something to keep in mind when factoring this in. Most tests and theorycrafting looks at it strictly from the attackers perspective.

 

[Corpse Fool]

Most tests and theorycrafting looks at it strictly from the attackers perspective.

The neat thing about this, is that while having recon (compared to neutral) is better for the defender than the attacker, being able to deny that increased bonus to the defender (and having the bonus to the attacker) makes recon just as important for either side.

 

[dratheos]

There's an unused recon stat in the tank designer, so I suspect there was an intent to have armored cars be designed in it with something like a "recon suite" module, similar to flame tanks and amphibious tanks, that got removed at the last minute.

 

[vermicious knid]

I think it would be pretty easy to create a "recon suite" module and even a armored car role. I haven't tried because I have no idea how to get the armored car models to map to that tank role, nor do I want to go through every country history and fix their stockpiles/designs/research. Then there is the matter of telling the AI to use the things and mapping the recon module to a tech. The other armored car techs would need to be deleted or given a purpose.

...I've been hoping a mod pops up that does all this in a way I consider usable.

 

[Cavalry]

There have been plenty of debates on this here. One interesting thing someone on the Steam forums supposedly tested was that tactics and thereby recon are better for defending, since there are more chances to produce a counter than when you're on the attack. So thats something to keep in mind when factoring this in. Most tests and theorycrafting looks at it strictly from the attackers perspective.

The benefit of recon for infantry defenders should be consider in the combo: Ambusher trait generals (+recon, + entrenchment) +Defensive leader FM (+ entrenchment) + cheap horse recon. Because it is so easy to get this sync.

 

[nymet260]

There's an unused recon stat in the tank designer, so I suspect there was an intent to have armored cars be designed in it with something like a "recon suite" module, similar to flame tanks and amphibious tanks, that got removed at the last minute.

I dunno why but I remember around after NSB got released someone asked why AC's couldnt be classified in the tank designer instead of being its own tech line and the response to it from a dev was there was a core coding issue that prevented it from working and would require a rework of the base code to get it functioning.

So they probably tried and it kept bugging out or crashing the game so they said screw it to make sure NSB released on time. In hindsight that move makes sense because AC makes up such a niche portion of the game that it wouldnt make sense to delay an entire DLC just cause an AC wasnt 100% functional or balanced.

 

[Leinad965]

They have bad time with balancing. I just checked game after a two months and I see tanks are extremely cheap now...

 

[Corpse Fool]

I think it would be pretty easy to create a "recon suite" module and even a armored car role. I haven't tried because I have no idea how to get the armored car models to map to that tank role, nor do I want to go through every country history and fix their stockpiles/designs/research. Then there is the matter of telling the AI to use the things and mapping the recon module to a tech. The other armored car techs would need to be deleted or given a purpose.

...I've been hoping a mod pops up that does all this in a way I consider usable.

The issue with putting recon stat on equipment that can also be used in a battalion/company that offers recon stat, is that the two combine in an extremely strange war.

Since LaR was released and only until now when barb patch fixed it ( in other words, a known issue for a long time), the armoured car anti tank used to have a 'recon=1' stat on the equipment. This had the effect of doubling and adding 1 to the recon value of whatever battalion/company used that equipment, which is absolutely broken.

I'm pretty sure this is why we dont have a recon suite we can put on tanks, and why we dont have any sort of engineering vehicle that we could mount dozers to.

I am also 100% confident in saying they could have added the cars to the designer. I'm pretty sure they came out the gate saying we wouldnt have flame tanks, and now we have flame tanks. I think they just didnt have time to do everything, so some stuff got left behind.

 

[Sinthecyza]

Why they don’t remove ac or even trucks and half tracks.

Give us the „vehicle designer“!

Imagine:
Super fast ferrari division with 20 km/h halftacks and glascannons
or
4 km/h super heavy fulltracked transporter with aa and rocket launcher

on this point hoi4 kills itself.