With all of the heart of iron games on sale I’m tempted to buy one, however I don’t really know which one, what’s the difference between hearts of iron 2 complete arsenal of democracy and darkest hour?
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I'm also interested in the difference between HOI2, HOI3 and Darkest Hours (the others being completely outdated). HOI3 ot 2 looks not worth it due to HOI4 being released soon and the 3 being hard, but is Darkest Hour different?
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HoI2 is obsolete and Darkest Hour and Arsenal of Democracy are new versions of HoI2 by some of HoI2s best modders. Darkest Hour is more faithful to the original and has what many consider to be the best mod for a paradox game. The mods name is kaiserreich and focuses on a if Germany won WW1 WW2 scenario. Also Darkest Hour has a WW1 scenario. Arsenal of Democracy expands a lot on the HoI2 base game in interesting ways and may be worth checking out too. Both are decent alternatives to each other. HoI3 was designed to allow micromanagement or make use of AI control for that whereas HoI2 has much less micromanagement. All three games are decent alternatives to each other but HoI2 complete does not stand a chance compared to DH and AoD. Also be warned that some people can't get into HoI3 due to it's design. All HoI games are different in design and HoI4 will be a completely different experince (at least based on what we know) from HoI2 and HoI3.
So HOI3 is engine-wise superior to Darkest Hour even though both are no longer getting updated? If HOI3 and 4 are so different I might consider buying the 3 too even thougfh I'm not sure I would manage it's complexity.
HoI3 has the better engine. They are all different and desinged by different people. Should be noted that HoI3 with no expansions is basically unplayable. Get the complete version if you want it.
Thanks for the help, I decided to buy both arsenal and darkest hour, I have already played the darkest hour Poland scenario and I enjoyed it quite a bit, i do dislike how two of the tutorials are broken.
wasn't a partial intention of Arsenal of Democracy to upstage HOI 3 because of how tremendously bad it was? (at least from our POV)
Almost everyone complaining about HOI3 only ever played the Vanilla game, or hasn't played the expansions. IF you own all the expansions HOI3 is pretty good.
If you want to take a look at HoI3 as Germany with all the DLC and latest patch, I just did a full Let's Play of it. Link in my signature.
Thankfully, this is the Paradox forum, where people are (generally) willing to help each other out without making noobs feel like morons. Unlike some other forums I have heard about.
Worst case scenario: when installing the complete HOI3-set, it gives you the ability to play both For The Motherland (previous expansion) and Their finest Hour (current expansion). And I have a tutorial for FTM, that has been stickied, so asking questions there will not be considered necromancy.
Arsenal of Democracy and Darkest Hour are both based on Hearts of Iron 2.
If you're new to the series/genre, I would suggest getting Darkest Hour. HOI3 can be very overwhelming to a beginner.
If you're new to the series/genre, I would suggest getting Darkest Hour. HOI3 can be very overwhelming to a beginner.
Thank you misterbean, will look into that in detail and ask if needed. The HoI fanbase, does seem a bit different to the other paradox gamers, though.
hah. We tend to get slightly...euh...overworked...when discussing details of the actual war, and sandbox vs history and such more. Just steer clear of any kind of warcrime discussions and you'll be fine (which has more to do with the mods closing down any thread that mentions them).
Comprehensible, it is a more recent timeframe after all. How do the DLC's for HOI3 work though? On the main forum I have seen a lot of unofficial community DLC meleed with mods and dev posting in them, are those supported by paradox too?
It's not that it is relatively recent. It is against forum rules because, and I quote, "this is a forum about a game. There are no warcrimes in the game, so they shall not be mentioned."
Anyway, back to more pleasant stuff.
There were a couple of DLCs made by a modder, but they are no longer supported. I think the easiest way would be to get the HOI3 collection (I think it's called that). What you need is:
- vanilla HOI3
- Semper Fi
- For The Motherland
- Their Finest Hour;
- version 4.2 is the current patch.
I would grab them all, since the game improves with leaps and bounds with the last 2 expansions. The one I mentioned above should have them all.