Hearts of Iron 3: Their Finest Hour - Post Mortem Dev Diary

[CplKatie]

Not how you're thinking, Cyb. If Germany breaks through the Maginot Line, or Italy breaks through in the south, or even France pushes into Germany, the French will still keep divisions double stacked on the Belgian border when they're urgently needed elsewhere.

Not to mention the fact that belgium is doing the same thing with france...and holland is doing the same thing with belgium. They can't do what they want to do with the engine, they want beglium and holland to sit idle while allied with france which just can't happen, the game makes the allies all dow. So the downside is having an AI that has to line up against a future ally because it doesn't have a brain. Happens everywhere, but the maginot line and the russian/manchuria borders are the biggest situations that shine a light on it.

 

[Cybvep]

Not how you're thinking, Cyb. If Germany breaks through the Maginot Line, or Italy breaks through in the south, or even France pushes into Germany, the French will still keep divisions double stacked on the Belgian border when they're urgently needed elsewhere.

Of course, if the situation changes, the AI should react, but I think that in principle keeping troops on the FRA-BEL border is a good idea. I do it every time I play France.

 

[Cpack]

Really good news. I like the way this game is getting better and better.

What I'm really wondering about is the lack of attention to the weather for now. Weather really has few to no impact for me now.

To sum it up, in all game I observe the same:
Summer is always to cold and winter always to warm.
In south Italy I obeserve in August temperatures about 14-18°C (should be 20-30°C) and in central Europe I see 5-10°C winter average, very rarely below 0°C and nearly no snow or frozen ground.

Maybe it's possible to get the possibility to tweak the weater impact better, not only in total or through ground type, but for seasons.

 

[CplKatie]

Really good news. I like the way this game is getting better and better.

What I'm really wondering about is the lack of attention to the weather for now. Weather really has few to no impact for me now.

To sum it up, in all game I observe the same:
Summer is always to cold and winter always to warm.
In south Italy I obeserve in August temperatures about 14-18°C (should be 20-30°C) and in central Europe I see 5-10°C average, very rarely below 0°C and nearly no snow or frozen ground.

Maybe it's possible to get the possibility to tweak the weater impact better, not only in total or through ground type, but for seasons.

I wish the weather mapmode could overlay with other mapmodes since it can be graphics and not part of the map.

 

[HeartsofMetal]

I want to have TFH. But my HOI crashs everytime and so I dont want to waste my money. Podcat, if you read this, I just want to ask you if you had time for the interacefix for FTM?

 

[Nicolas I]

It would be interesting if the spies acting against GIE could help find underground resistance as they help to see military units from normal opponents.

 

[Nats]

but there are no effects available for damaging planes afaik

It would be a brilliant addition to the game if doing runway cratering damaged planes situated at the airfield at the time of the bombing. So many strategies involved doing this in the first days of a war.

I would also love to see the AI paying more attention to high value provinces and high resource provinces - both in defending the ones it has and trying to capture the ones it doesnt. Just playing the SCW scenario quickly shows the enemy AI to be really stupid regarding leaving its capital cities open to capture. I think this should actually be an overiding factor for the AI and it may sort the Japanese theatre out if Japan went for its historical high value target provinces as an overriding priority. I find that the AI just does not defend its capital cities nor does it go after difficult high value provinces at all if there are undefended low value provinces nearby for it to take.

Since HOI2 this been a problem - that units take any old undefended easy provinces rather than defend or attack sensibly, ie with a purpose.

It really needs changing to make HOI3 a game you can play strategically rather than just fighting on fronts. And TFH doesnt seem to have helped with this at all nor did any of the other expansion to my knowledge.

 

[Secret Master]

I would also love to see the AI paying more attention to high value provinces and high resource provinces - both in defending the ones it has and trying to capture the ones it doesnt. Just playing the SCW scenario quickly shows the enemy AI to be really stupid regarding leaving its capital cities open to capture.

Part of the issue is that there are not enough units in the SCW scenario to even form a front. The AI is kind of set up for front-based warfare as far as I can tell, and it doesn't know how to allocate divisions when no front exists as such.

 

[jju_57]

It would be interesting if the spies acting against GIE could help find underground resistance as they help to see military units from normal opponents.

UR's are not really funded by the GIE's. But to answer your question UR's are found by having a unit in the province. As far as I can tell supression is not a factor in finding the UR. What is important is having a combat division in the province or next to it.

 

[CplKatie]

UR's are not really funded by the GIE's. But to answer your question UR's are found by having a unit in the province. As far as I can tell supression is not a factor in finding the UR. What is important is having a combat division in the province or next to it.

I've had HQ brigades be the only ones present in the province when it is discovered.

 

[Nicolas I]

UR's are not really funded by the GIE's. But to answer your question UR's are found by having a unit in the province. As far as I can tell supression is not a factor in finding the UR. What is important is having a combat division in the province or next to it.

I know that, but as I wrote it would be interesting (conditional = future = new feature) if having spies in the country who fund underground resistance cells could help (give some chance) unmask some of them.

As for suppression, here is was paradox said:

Underground resistance base building: Whatever their strength at deployment, once placed they will begin to grow towards full strength, the rate of growth is increased by the level of partisan support in the province and decreased by any nearby enemy units, especially those with high suppression values. FTM manual, p.5-6.

 

[CplKatie]

I'm noticing some issues showing up in my games related to puppets. Manchuria on very hard goes for a naval presence and The phillipines has a ratio of about 2:1 Garrison/MP's. Why would the phillipines even need MP's they will not be occupying any land ever, shouldnt it be spending most of its IC on licensed stuff off my selections as the USA? The manchuria thing is sorta game breaking imo, cause its not manning the north well enough and possibly is leading to the japanese AI lining up to make up for it.

 

[Secret Master]

If you look at the UR interface, there is a percentage indicator that shows how much suppression is affecting the UR. I don't know what that number means, exactly, but it seems clear that suppression is supposed to have some kind of impact.

Whether units with high suppression are worth the cost is a question I can't answer. I've tried using GAR/3xMP to clean up Poland, but I only destroy a few URs and still get bi-annual uprisings.

 

[Nilmerf]

Waiting for price drop. $20 a bit much for this, but curious how the Pacific War is going now.

 

[Modo]

Maybe it's possible to get the possibility to tweak the weater impact better, not only in total or through ground type, but for seasons.

This would be as simple as exposing the temperature amplitude(s) the weather model is using. Or, if these are already exposed, explaining to us where they are in the WEATHER part od defines.lua.

 

[CplKatie]

Waiting for price drop. $20 a bit much for this, but curious how the Pacific War is going now.

Japan is pretty fun with the unofficial hotfix for the USA warmonger bug. Hindsight still kills it for me but I could see a player with less knowledge of naval combat and prep having a blast with it. USA on the otherhand, I'm playing my first game in TFH and I must say....bravo Paradox. You have finally met your quota for me. I'm experiencing a fun pacific theatre war. As I type this I'm scrambling my east coast defense fleet to help a stretched thin 45 ship pacific fleet stressed with at times 3 invasions at once. And I've already lost phillipines, guam, wake, port moresby, and....worst of all Guadalcanal. I'm absolutely amazed facing CA's and BC's in the pacific and actually running away with 3cv/6cl fleets for fear of being sunk. They actually close with my fleets I'm just in awe. I've got the troops but I lack the org on my cags to sink stuff now and japan seems to have endless ships!

 

[Gabriel SPR]

It would be a brilliant addition to the game if doing runway cratering damaged planes situated at the airfield at the time of the bombing. So many strategies involved doing this in the first days of a war.

This. Planes shouldn't be invulnerable while in their airbase, just like ships aren't while in a naval base. It would also be a step closer to RL WWII in my opinion: think about the invasion of poland, pearl harbor or the first days of barbarossa.

 

[Cybvep]

Japan is pretty fun with the unofficial hotfix for the USA warmonger bug. Hindsight still kills it for me but I could see a player with less knowledge of naval combat and prep having a blast with it. USA on the otherhand, I'm playing my first game in TFH and I must say....bravo Paradox. You have finally met your quota for me. I'm experiencing a fun pacific theatre war. As I type this I'm scrambling my east coast defense fleet to help a stretched thin 45 ship pacific fleet stressed with at times 3 invasions at once. And I've already lost phillipines, guam, wake, port moresby, and....worst of all Guadalcanal. I'm absolutely amazed facing CA's and BC's in the pacific and actually running away with 3cv/6cl fleets for fear of being sunk. They actually close with my fleets I'm just in awe. I've got the troops but I lack the org on my cags to sink stuff now and japan seems to have endless ships!

Wow, you are so lucky. In my games Japan doesn't even conquer the Philippines and that's even when I gave AI Japan more of everything... It's painful to watch all those MARs being used to guard the JAP-CHI border after the new wargoal kicks in <_<

 

[CplKatie]

Wow, you are so lucky. In my games Japan doesn't even conquer the Philippines and that's even when I gave AI Japan more of everything... It's painful to watch all those MARs being used to guard the JAP-CHI border after the new wargoal kicks in <_<

I honestly thought It was going to end the usual way with me ignoring japan while I zilch italy and liberate france, but I'm scrambling to defend the pacific countries AND clear north africa. Thankfully I'm using the expo trick and I set an allied objective in my owned casablanca province and all the allies are filling it up with troops, 9 divisions and 4 hq brigades within 3 weeks of setting the objective, I love free troops!

 

[Cpack]

It would be a brilliant addition to the game if doing runway cratering damaged planes situated at the airfield at the time of the bombing. So many strategies involved doing this in the first days of a war.

I would also love to see the AI paying more attention to high value provinces and high resource provinces - both in defending the ones it has and trying to capture the ones it doesnt. Just playing the SCW scenario quickly shows the enemy AI to be really stupid regarding leaving its capital cities open to capture. I think this should actually be an overiding factor for the AI and it may sort the Japanese theatre out if Japan went for its historical high value target provinces as an overriding priority. I find that the AI just does not defend its capital cities nor does it go after difficult high value provinces at all if there are undefended low value provinces nearby for it to take.

Since HOI2 this been a problem - that units take any old undefended easy provinces rather than defend or attack sensibly, ie with a purpose.

It really needs changing to make HOI3 a game you can play strategically rather than just fighting on fronts. And TFH doesnt seem to have helped with this at all nor did any of the other expansion to my knowledge.

Agreed, also the AI never pays attention at strategic ressources. They never bomb them, nor really attack them prefered.