I haven't played HoI in a couple of years (since 1.02 patch). I have the current patch of HoI and CORE installed. What it is a good starting country to begin with, so I can get used to the game again?
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Haven't played since 1.02? I suggest starting as the U.S. then, you'll probably get creamed as Germany.
Actually as of 1.06 it's impossible to fail. German AI just can't beat the SU without human intervention anymore.
Play Germany. you learn alot playing the aggressor, you get lots of free troops and dont have to worry about the logistics penalty until later on!
I agree with 2Coats. Germany is a powerful country, and you don't have to manage and protect convoys, at least in the first years. In fact the first country I played with was Germany, and I learned a lot.
You have to deal with weak countries such as Poland at the beggining, after that harder enemies such as France and their Maginot Line, little amphibious operations such as the invasion of Norway, convoy hunting with your subs, naval battles with the Royal Navy (or use the naval bombers), big anphibious operations such as Sea Lion, and BIG fronts against the USSR. Of course there are other options, but I think tnat Germany will be the most complete choice, and I think that the difficulty increases in each operation you have to do. Just my thoughts.
You have to deal with weak countries such as Poland at the beggining, after that harder enemies such as France and their Maginot Line, little amphibious operations such as the invasion of Norway, convoy hunting with your subs, naval battles with the Royal Navy (or use the naval bombers), big anphibious operations such as Sea Lion, and BIG fronts against the USSR. Of course there are other options, but I think tnat Germany will be the most complete choice, and I think that the difficulty increases in each operation you have to do. Just my thoughts.
Germany is certainly the most fun, most options, most everything.
It's also a good beginner country because you will get to know each single facet of the game.
My first game was Brazil. I learned a lot about land warfare, but nothing more.
Just pick Germany and the lowest difficulty and aggression setting. That will be better than any boring tutorial game with USA.
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Whoops, just noticed that you have played HoI before... sorry.
It's also a good beginner country because you will get to know each single facet of the game.
My first game was Brazil. I learned a lot about land warfare, but nothing more.
Just pick Germany and the lowest difficulty and aggression setting. That will be better than any boring tutorial game with USA.
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Whoops, just noticed that you have played HoI before... sorry.
I agree with him though.MagicBacon said:
Haven't seen the Germans win without my direct help... Ever.
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Oh yeah and deffinitely play either Germany or SU (Ger is more fun though). With the USA you'll have to spend ages doing nothing, and when you start the action you'll have to deal with boring naval invasions and units not having supplies despite 5 convoys supplying them and logistic distances and crap like that...
German AI can win over SU, but it is RARE, I´ve seen it once in 1.06, otherwise, the russians steamroll the germans even before the germans got past the soviet part of Poland!
Zuckergußgebäck said:
In my 1936 games (always VH/F) I would say that Germany manages to defeat the soviets (or stalemate them) maybe 1/3 of the time. My last game (as USA) Germany got to the gates of Moscow and stayed there until 1944 around the time that Patton liberated Warsaw.
I guess it depends on the game. HoI is so random sometimes it becomes hard to test things out on it. Quite a few games I've seen Germany fail to take France, even though they outnumber the french 2:1 on all provinces.
Play Germany and Dow Latavia right after the Russians do. Latavia will join the Allies. No more Russian threat. 
cdat said:Play Germany and Dow Latavia right after the Russians do. Latavia will join the Allies. No more Russian threat.
Thats just another country for Russia to conquer it seems.
The way I have learned Paradox games was to cheat, yes cheat; I would not hassle myself with resources the first game and worry about land warfare, once I finished warfare I would slowly ease up on the cheats. I used this to learn Victoria and I'am learning EU2 like that. But thats just simple minded me.
Without using cheats I would say Romania, it is a small stable country that allows you to play a supporting role, join the side of the victor and it is easy to use, less micromanagement. Especially when you are new to the game you want to be less intimidating with convoys and all that stuff, so IMO a small stable country in the thick of the action seems well off.
My system isn't cheating. I've taken the situation and exploited a weakness found. If you don't do this, you will not win many battles. Fair is for losers and dead guys.
cdat said:My system isn't cheating. I've taken the situation and exploited a weakness found. If you don't do this, you will not win many battles. Fair is for losers and dead guys.
No your system is not cheating its like playing hard agianst a handicapped child. There are no rules in war, granted but this is a game and which I tend to play as the AI is human and if I say got military acess or used the naval bomber tatic, the other player would get pissed and the game wouldn't be as fun.
cdat said:Play Germany and Dow Latavia right after the Russians do. Latavia will join the Allies. No more Russian threat.
In my current game as Germany I used your strategy. It's 1946 now and in fours years of war with Russia, I have lost one u-boat so far (they lost much more).
It's strange, but somehow nice to be able to play the game differently.
For the first time I don't have to deal with the Russians from 1942 on.
Besides Poland I also took the Romanian oil fields and assumed military control over Slovakia and Bulgaria, so they can't make a connection to Russia by conquering an adjacent Romanian province.
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It is kind of cheating though...
I think the German ai has problems figuring out how to capture Moscow, Leningrad and Stalingrad. The way the provinces are constructed it's almost a puzzle. There are only limited ways to pull it off, and I don't think the ai could. Especially Leningrad, where yu kind of have to ferry troops back and forth between Finland in most cases.
One could try Japan 36'.
You get lots of strategical options. I think I get more options with Japan than Germany.
One gets to train combined operations a lot. Army, navy, airforce. With Germany you could choose to play without investing in the navy or at least without using your navy. With Japan you are bound to use your fleets, heck, one can even do some basic training in using aircraft carriers.
Attack Nationalist China, don't provoke neither SU nor US, at least early on. You will get one big 1-to-1 war to focus on. China is a good training ground, although there is a mountain or two... Well, mountins are good in their way: they sit there and just wait, having no hurry in the world. When one have learned to deal with mountains - and with a few low infra provinces - one has learned some important HOI lessons.
Both you and your trait-loaded Japaneese leaders will get some exp!
Don't bother with all your Jap islands, collect their garrisons early on and take one thing at a time. Collecting these garrisons provides a good training of managing the map view plus in loading, transporting and unloading units.
Some time later, after getting Vietnam, Siam is an easy target. After that, you will have a decent platform to start on, experienced leaders and no immediate press from any of the giants. With some patience and some studying of the map one could annex a handful more smaller nations without provoking any of the giants. When you start messing with the big boys half way in the scenario - or rather they start messing with you - you have had some really good and steady game play with a moderate challenge.
Also, it could be a good thing to learn more about a different part of the world.
If one tend to know the European WWII theatre by heart, it could be refreshing to discover countries and leaders one barely know of.
You get lots of strategical options. I think I get more options with Japan than Germany.
One gets to train combined operations a lot. Army, navy, airforce. With Germany you could choose to play without investing in the navy or at least without using your navy. With Japan you are bound to use your fleets, heck, one can even do some basic training in using aircraft carriers.
Attack Nationalist China, don't provoke neither SU nor US, at least early on. You will get one big 1-to-1 war to focus on. China is a good training ground, although there is a mountain or two... Well, mountins are good in their way: they sit there and just wait, having no hurry in the world. When one have learned to deal with mountains - and with a few low infra provinces - one has learned some important HOI lessons.
Both you and your trait-loaded Japaneese leaders will get some exp!
Don't bother with all your Jap islands, collect their garrisons early on and take one thing at a time. Collecting these garrisons provides a good training of managing the map view plus in loading, transporting and unloading units.
Some time later, after getting Vietnam, Siam is an easy target. After that, you will have a decent platform to start on, experienced leaders and no immediate press from any of the giants. With some patience and some studying of the map one could annex a handful more smaller nations without provoking any of the giants. When you start messing with the big boys half way in the scenario - or rather they start messing with you - you have had some really good and steady game play with a moderate challenge.
Also, it could be a good thing to learn more about a different part of the world.
If one tend to know the European WWII theatre by heart, it could be refreshing to discover countries and leaders one barely know of.