Development Diary #12 - 14th of January 2009

[unmerged(38672)]

I really hope the military and political strength of a neighbor will be taken into account as well. Sweden may for example have democratic nations Denmark, Finland and Norway in proximity but the power of Germany should make their influence stronger than any of those countries.

 

[unmerged(38672)]

So that is Alignment, we have aimed to strike a balance between the historical outcome and logical reasons that cause it diverge.

And here’s a quick look at how it looks like in the game.

That picture in the right corner is neat! A summary of the current alignments of all participants i one graph! I can´f find Japan though, is it hidden under the huge mass of flags in the middle?

 

[Sovereign]

Hello everybody and welcome to yet another issue of the Hearts of Iron 3 development diaries. The cold darkness of winter is still upon us, and we labour endlessly in front of our computers. This last week, our artists have been working on implementing more animated planes, and the Japanese Zero is now in the game. They’ve also worked quite a lot at improving the ingame interfaces. Our programmers have been busy working on the core of the AI, while wrapping up the logic for the final unit interfaces. Order of Battles are being adapted for the scenarios, while we still discuss exactly how certain functions will work. All in all, the project is going along nicely ... etc

Great stuff, and may I say it's good to see some distinct influences from EU3 in the game. The system sounds like a great new dimension to strategic game-play.

Question- not read the rest of thread yet so maybe it's been asked, why is the Fasci symbol not in the triangle?

The cold darkness of winter is still upon us, and we labour endlessly in front of our computers.

Fella! Ya Aaaaaaalright.

 

[Berrrie]

Looks like a great diplomatic system you have there! Keep it up!

 

[aphrochine]

Yes you must be aligned to the faction to join in. A whole number of factors kick into drift and Germany influencing the USA is one of them. Although even if they cannot get the USA to become an Axis aligned country if they move the USA neutral they won't be allied either. The Romanians have two tricks up thier sleaves, they can use Intellgence points to on the Comintern leader to improve their natural drift towards Comintern and they can pick a forgien minister that will increase thier dirft towards Comintern.

P.S. I still read all the Dev diaries, just never have anything worth posting.

Thanks! This concern comes from an internal conflict in our group about what we call 'radically ahistorical play'. Where crazy alliances happen, like Japan-US for example that really disenfranchise players some player's in the game. We've tried to stray away from strict house rules since it's impossible to really truely enforce them. Seeing this mechanic in the game ( I didnt play HOI) really makes me happy for the improvement of our MP experience for HOI3.

One last question if you feel so inclined. I see there are values registering how much of a threat countries perceive each other as being. Can this be effected by troop deployments, heavy clandestine activity and/or diplomatic action. So if I'm Germany and I start heavily meddling in the affairs of Romanian internal politics to usurp the party in power, that country could see Germany as a higher threat and thus drift towards the comintern/allies?? (sorry for the love fest on romania, just one of those countries that makes for easy examples)

 

[Sovereign]

No if Greece has allies they are all in War Against Italy.

So if Greece were in the Allies, the Allied faction would be at war with a member of the Axis without all members of both factions being in total war...

 

[TheLand]

The Romanians have two tricks up thier sleaves, they can use Intellgence points to on the Comintern leader to improve their natural drift towards Comintern and they can pick a forgien minister that will increase thier dirft towards Comintern.

Oooooh.... nice.....

 

[fmac42064]

:rofl: As always a great update. Trying to wait patiently on the release of this game. Keep up the great work.

 

[Sparrow]

So if Greece were in the Allies, the Allied faction would be at war with a member of the Axis without all members of both factions being in total war...

Well I imagine at that point Italy should be able to bump it up to total war. Which kind of brings up a point that has been itching at the back of my mind about sending a "volunteer force" without entering the war or something like that. But right now I can't think of how to phrase it properly. o

 

[Alexander Seil]

So if Greece were in the Allies, the Allied faction would be at war with a member of the Axis without all members of both factions being in total war...

Why not?

 

[King]

One last question if you feel so inclined. I see there are values registering how much of a threat countries perceive each other as being. Can this be effected by troop deployments, heavy clandestine activity and/or diplomatic action. So if I'm Germany and I start heavily meddling in the affairs of Romanian internal politics to usurp the party in power, that country could see Germany as a higher threat and thus drift towards the comintern/allies?? (sorry for the love fest on romania, just one of those countries that makes for easy examples)

Sorry to torment you here, but I am afraid you are going to have to wait for a later Dev diary for that one.

 

[Sparrow]

Why not?

Because originally Greece did not want outside help to avoid Italy escalating the conflict by getting Bulgaria or Germany involved.

 

[Osprey22]

May be beating a dead horse, and I am wording this carefully, is the Triangle where you show the Different "SYMBOLS" for ideologys modable?

 

[King]

So if Greece were in the Allies, the Allied faction would be at war with a member of the Axis without all members of both factions being in total war...

Well it wasn't like the fear of British troops being sent to Greece to support them against the Italians caused German to declare war on Greece and invade them or anything like that.

 

[TheLand]

May be beating a dead horse, and I am wording this carefully, is the Triangle where you show the Different "SYMBOLS" for ideologys modable?

You are rather beating a dead horse.

Graphics of a similar nature have been moddable in recent Paradox games, so if you wanted to change it you probably could.

Of course the screenshot is pre-beta so there is still a chance Paradox will find an appropriate image for the graphic. However, it will certainly not be any Nazi symbol which is banned in Germany.

 

[Alexander Seil]

Because originally Greece did not want outside help to avoid Italy escalating the conflict by getting Bulgaria or Germany involved.

That has more to do with Greece being in the Allies or not, not with the Limited War feature...

 

[Khevenhuller]

A brief history lesson for you. In the run up to the Munich conference the Prime Minister of New Zealand (then considered to be the most loyal of the Dominions) stated quite clearly that under no circumstances would New Zealand fight over Czechoslovakia. As Chamberlian did not want to go down in history as the man who cost Britain her Empire he was left with no real options. In fact we consider that if Britain were to go to war without her Dominions it would probably have a negative impact on National Unity. In March 1939 the Germans would tear up the Munich agreement and one by one the dominions would align in behind Britain and becomes members of the allies. In fact as Britain you are a global power with global interests and your diplomacic choices reflect this.

Interesting. Overy and Wheatcroft quote the New Zealand governmnt as the only Dominion willing to fight for Czechoslovakia.

'All the Dominions except New Zealand were hostile to the idea of fighting for Czechoslovakia' :The Road to War, Overy and Wheatcroft, Penguin 1999 p106

However, they go on to say that all four Dominion High Commissioners were detrmined that German demands should not become a casus belli...

But, as another writer has stated, the British should be forced to consider Dominion opinion before they do anything that would involve them in a war.

My queries revolve around:

1) What are the advantages for an alliance member to have a limited war?
2) Despite Johan's idea that people would not join the Axis because they felt they were 'doomed', in fact I found the reverse; an over mighty Axis by thirty nine. How is this to be addressed? As stated elsewhere many eastern european countries and Italy only aligned with Germany when it looked like they would be the winning side.

K

 

[Sparrow]

That has more to do with Greece being in the Allies or not, not with the Limited War feature...

Italy isn't going to be invading Greece if it is part of the Allies. There is actually a very complicated political background behind this. To boil it down it was to be a fait accompli annexation of a part of Greece that Albania had some historical claim on. Ignoring intelligence that the Greeks that were bribed weren't staying bribed and Greece had been preparing for this for over a year. Then came paranoia Brits were using Greek territory for their own purposes, Prasca seeing political gains for himself, yada yada yada.

 

[Alexander Seil]

Italy isn't going to be invading Greece if it is part of the Allies.

Well, then, what's the problem that you seem to have with the Limited War feature? There weren't any hostilities between Greece and Axis members other than Italy until almost 8 months after the Italian invasion. From a HoI3 standpoint, Greece also was not in the Allies until invaded by Germany. Problem solved.

 

[Sparrow]

Well, then, what's the problem that you seem to have with the Limited War feature? There weren't any hostilities between Greece and Axis members other than Italy until almost 8 months after the Italian invasion. From a HoI3 standpoint, Greece also was not in the Allies until invaded by Germany. Problem solved.

I didn't realize I had a problem, I was making a comment on the scenario presented. Simma dahn nah.