Hearts of Iron IV - 21st Development Diary - 21st of August 2015

[misterbean]

It all depends on who, where, when, doesn't it? The 1. Fallschirmjäger Division certainly held up more than 1 division on their own at Monte Casino.

 

[Kab00mBaby]

Ok folks, listen up.

1. ENG
2. MP
3. AT
4. AA
5. ART
6. REC

those are the classical ones used in the series. i am sure we will see them in this iteration too.
additionally confirmed:

7. Signal (command & coordination bonus)

leaves 3 open for speculations. here are my guesses:

8. Logistics / Supply

(bonus to: org loss in battles & general org replenishment)
​

9. Medics

(bonus to: manpower loss in battles & general attrition losses)
​

10. Maintenance / Repair

(bonus to: vehicle losses in battle & general vehicle durability)​

cheers

 

[SirRobin]

Ok folks, listen up.

1. ENG
2. MP
3. AT
4. AA
5. ART
6. REC

those are the classical ones used in the series. i am sure we will see them in this iteration too.
additionally confirmed:

7. Signal (command & coordination bonus)

leaves 3 open for speculations. here are my guesses:

8. Logistics / Supply

(bonus to: org loss in battles & general org replenishment)
​

9. Medics

(bonus to: manpower loss in battles & general attrition losses)
​

10. Maintenance / Repair

(bonus to: vehicle losses in battle & general vehicle durability)​

cheers

I suspect that sp versions of towed equipment will take the other three. Tank destroyers, self-propelled artillery, and self-propelled anti-aircraft.

 

[SirRobin]

Can we change support companies for individual divisions or are we stuck with whatever the template gave them? I would to be able to swap support units in the field so to speak.

Also, what tools will we have to help organize our armies? That long list could get painful to the eyeballs.

 

[VampiRos]

@podcat
some stuff that popped into my eyes... hoping for answers

1. SS Verfügungstruppe? Named randomly or can we "build" SS?
2. On the left under Rundestaedt, the boat floating on water... Transportships under this command or convoys needed to supply effectively if not land connection? Or are convoys and Transports now one thing?
3. Battleplans Icons (left to right): Naval attack, Paradropping (does the AI do that?), Frontline, Breakthrough?, Flank?
4. The medals are traits or "honours" for won battles?

Thanks for the DD. Enjoyed it

 

[Nicolas I]

Defending units in adjacent provinces should have a chance to enter the battle as reserves. The attacker is bringing in units along a 100km front. Why shouldn't the defender do the same? Defensive units reacting in this time dates back to Napoleonic times at least.

It was called "march to the sound of guns" and is portrayed in the game March of the Eagles. As modern guns a more powerful and louder, as well as having radio, this should be possible in HOI4.

 

[Nimeis]

I just can't wait till next Friday. All of this seems awesome! Also - I noticed the game becomes more and more complex with every DD. Which is fantastic, but brings one question: what will be the hardware requirement for this miracle to work smoothly? (i.e. should I be looking forward to buying a new PC?)

 

[podcat]

Looks very great!!! i've got some questions:

1st how many tactics are there in total to pick from?

2nd can the commanders level their skill up?

3rd will there be a detailed combat report like how many soldiers, tanks, planes etc i lost?

4th are there any multipliers in combat, which can affect the experience gained by the troops or is it just the same amount of exp every time?

5th can the troops in reserve give their bonusses (recon etc.) to the fighting troops?

6th can i influence an actual combat somehow?

7th can i forbid my planes to join combat, for example when i haven't many left and want to save them for other attacks?

Can't wait for the game!

1. not sure off the top of my head. a lot more doctrines specific ones compared to hoi3
2. fighting battles
3. we dont have one right now, we might add one however
4. some traits may, also length of combat etc. we'll talk more about this when we get to commanders
5. no
6. in many ways before the combat starts (where to fight, what troops, who leads them, army composition etc), but once it has started you can only say when to retreat
7. you can always put a mission on hold

Guh, I'm not sure how many more of these DD I can take without playing the game! The hype is too stronk. Anyway combat looks fantastic. I always said ground attack support was broken in HoI3 so I'm over joyed to see it being improved for HoI4. Bust out your Stukas, Thunderbolts, Typhoons and Sturmoviks!

Question. Are there any kind of entrenching bonuses if a division has been occupying a territory for a period of time? I would assume the longer a unit has been stationary the more time they've had to prepare a defense.

yes, troops can dig in when sitting still. Doctrines, comander traits and such control how much.

@podcat
some stuff that popped into my eyes... hoping for answers

1. SS Verfügungstruppe? Named randomly or can we "build" SS?
2. On the left under Rundestaedt, the boat floating on water... Transportships under this command or convoys needed to supply effectively if not land connection? Or are convoys and Transports now one thing?
3. Battleplans Icons (left to right): Naval attack, Paradropping (does the AI do that?), Frontline, Breakthrough?, Flank?
4. The medals are traits or "honours" for won battles?

Thanks for the DD. Enjoyed it

1. You start in 36 with an SS division template (motorized), so yeah you can build them
2. convoys and transports are one thing
4. traits

 

[VampiRos]

Thank you very much

 

[mdw1985]

1. not sure off the top of my head. a lot more doctrines specific ones compared to hoi3
2. fighting battles
3. we dont have one right now, we might add one however
4. some traits may, also length of combat etc. we'll talk more about this when we get to commanders
5. no
6. in many ways before the combat starts (where to fight, what troops, who leads them, army composition etc), but once it has started you can only say when to retreat
7. you can always put a mission on hold



yes, troops can dig in when sitting still. Doctrines, comander traits and such control how much.


1. You start in 36 with an SS division template (motorized), so yeah you can build them
2. convoys and transports are one thing
4. traits

Cool!!! Thanks!!!

 

[208]

Here Sikorski elected for a tactic of Shock

Ah, the "legendary" Polish Cavalry charges on German Tanks

 

[Praetori]

1) Is the mechanic of retreat the same as in HOI3? Meaning that if you push your fresh Guards Armored Division into Stalingrad to bolster the defense but the remaining troops decide they've had enough your armored division will also retreat into the Volga without firing a shot (because they missed their reinforce chance roll)?

2) Will retreating units as previously just vanish if an enemy appears in the province they're retreating to or will this cause a new combat to occur?

The above two things is one of the reasons that made HOI3 micro-management heavy since you couldn't trust the AI with dealing with reinforcing and retreating in a orderly fashion. With the battleplans presented for HOI4 this causes some concern (in theory).

 

[Tammo-Korsai]

Fantastic news. Air support never seemed to count for much in HoI3, so this is a welcome change. And hopefully the interdiction role is still available so I can slow down the enemy reserves.

 

[that-guy-is-it]

"We felt that the role of air support in HOI3 was not really showing off its historical importance, so decided to make it vital in HOI4. First of all having air superiority over the area you are fighting limits the enemy’s ability to defend properly (its hard to dig trenches when someone is strafing you) as well as slowing down movement (its really hard to drive a truck when someone is strafing you). Planes can also directly join combats unlike HOI3 where they had their own separate combats they now join with the ground forces and when this happens it even gives a bonus to your divisions fighting ability (its a really good morale boost when a plane is strafing the enemy). Enemy divisions with AA battalions or support companies can fire back of course, but to remove the effects of air superiority completely you need your own flyboys to help out."

Things Hearts of Iron taught me: Its really hard to do anything when someone is strafing you.

 

[that-guy-is-it]

Spanish Civil War Dev Diary when?

 

[Mevsrei]

Here were some speculation about other (not shown) support brigades:
https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/speculation-support-brigades.854167/

I don't think there will be any self propelled variant as support brigade since towed support allready matches the speed of the division.

 

[Razor]

Very good!

 

[rogerfenwickxii]

Cannot wait to play it.

 

[GhengisKhan]

Here were some speculation about other (not shown) support brigades:
https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/speculation-support-brigades.854167/

I don't think there will be any self propelled variant as support brigade since towed support allready matches the speed of the division.

They've already confirmed SPAA,SPART, TD and SPRART. You can research them in the tech tree so that's not been in question for a while.

 

[Axe99]

I assume the value of close air support will be variable over the life of the game and technology/doctrine will play a role, right, as well as weather? If I recall correctly, in WWII, the effects of air power on the battlefield were highly debated and in effectiveness grew over time.

Airpower had a pretty important effect early on, both in Poland and against France and the UK in Fall Gelb, so it was still important early. While the impact of airpower on actual losses was debated, having airpower was a definite plus if only for morale/shock reasons, and by having aircraft participate in the combat directly it will better help with the way the game models the synergistic benefits of air support on combat. I definitely agree that airpower should become more important, but doctrine and tech to counter it should also improve a bit as the war goes on.

I'm glad to see the DD's back again. I'm impressed with what I see so far so keep up the good work guys.

On the subject of support companies...I'm wondering if there might be some consideration towards allocation of support units from the Corp level or Army level. In Gary Grigsby's War in the East, that's how things like artillery support / recon support / engineer support are handled. I'm not suggesting that divisions shouldn't have organic support companies, but i believe there's plenty of historical examples of support units being distributed to division level units from the command structure above. Perhaps this could even be influenced by different doctrine pathways. I never felt like the importance of the HQ was properly modeled in HOI3 or previous versions.

It was a long time ago, but in the OOB thread (I think) Podcat mentioned that there weren't Corps-level units in the design at that stage, but that it was an interesting idea and something they could be interested in doint. Note this is so long ago it could well have been last year, so things may have changed.

It all depends on who, where, when, doesn't it? The 1. Fallschirmjäger Division certainly held up more than 1 division on their own at Monte Casino.

That was defending though - if you're responding to @alkomon's post (I think you are, but if not then please ignore) it sounded like they were talking about attacking, rather than defending units - so it'd be like the 1 Fallschirmjager Division attacking four divs in a province in front of it and being able to pin all for, rather than just tying up one or two.

1. not sure off the top of my head. a lot more doctrines specific ones compared to hoi3

Oooh, I like the sound of this - yet more depth to the doctrines is a good thing .