Hearts of Iron IV - 35th Development Diary - 27th of November 2015

[Sir Garnet]

Czechoslovakia has has a strong, well equipped army and formidable mounted border defenses and a defense treaty with France to secure its borders. Germany want the Sudetenland for its Germans. On this focus CZ is sitting pretty with little motivation to cozy up to dictators and risk the protection of its French alliance.

A different focus on making friends with Germany is conceivable, but unless EZ loses trust in France it has little motivation to risk what it has on paper. How that might happen would make a good contingent "Au revoir, mon ami" CZ Focus.

And, yes, a Focus could support the efforts for a Central Europe/Balkan defensive or offensive league.

Gerrmany, on the other hand gets a minor ally, some concessions on the Sudeten Germans, and the existing CZ army
swinging from Allies to Axis.

 

[seattle]

#bitter loser
I don't understand this German trait. First of all, isn't "sore loser" the proper term?
The effect is two-fold:
1. less likely to drift to another ideology
--> Germany is the Axis leader, that makes it hopefully impossible to move her towards another faction anyways. Redundant?
2. may form own faction
--> Germany has already founded the Axis, why make it possible to form another one? Redundant?

It looks like both effects are moot due to the inherent redundancy. As such, isn't that national trait a complete waste of a trait for Germany??
I would give this trait other effects:
1. make it easier to dow WW1 enemies
--> revenge factor that historically played a role in the support for the war. It would effectively give you casus belli against France, Poland (for the lost territory)...
2. increased fighting capacity on home turf
--> To simulate the determination of defending the national territory (Werewolf, Volkssturm...).

 

[Mac Lazer]

Awesome dev diary! So glad we're finally seeing Germany! Now, I can't wait for Japan!

 

[blue_yonder]

isn't "sore loser" the proper term?

I know it's not the main point of your post, but 'bitter loser' sounds far better to my ear, and is a correlate of bitter peace. 'Sore' as in aggrieved/pissed off is entirely American, and didn't reach Europe until the sixties or so.

 

[Nicolas I]

Will be there any Focus to turn Germany back to a Democracy, like the BRD before the 1940'? Read in another DD that there would be some countries with that possibility of change the government type, so I wonder what you guys are hidding in those Focus Tree screenshots

Look at the picture in DD#12, there is for Germany "Support Democracy" (Usher a more Democratic government) which cost 50 political power points.

 

[FOARP]

No, it will be somewhere next year. Probably March or April.

Or May, just as likely.

 

[FOARP]

I know it's not the main point of your post, but 'bitter loser' sounds far better to my ear, and is a correlate of bitter peace. 'Sore' as in aggrieved/pissed off is entirely American, and didn't reach Europe until the sixties or so.

We still don't really use it in that sense in the UK - it's an Americanism. We do say "sore winner/loser", but we wouldn't say "what are you sore about?".

 

[misterbean]

#bitter loser
I don't understand this German trait. First of all, isn't "sore loser" the proper term?
The effect is two-fold:
1. less likely to drift to another ideology
--> Germany is the Axis leader, that makes it hopefully impossible to move her towards another faction anyways. Redundant?
2. may form own faction
--> Germany has already founded the Axis, why make it possible to form another one? Redundant?

It looks like both effects are moot due to the inherent redundancy. As such, isn't that national trait a complete waste of a trait for Germany??
I would give this trait other effects:
1. make it easier to dow WW1 enemies
--> revenge factor that historically played a role in the support for the war. It would effectively give you casus belli against France, Poland (for the lost territory)...
2. increased fighting capacity on home turf
--> To simulate the determination of defending the national territory (Werewolf, Volkssturm...).

I think they did it this way so that they could use the same traits for other nations as well.

 

[BrotherSurplice]

Have the Pre Dreadnoughts been eliminated from the German navy as they did not fit into the Navy Tech?

It seems that they've been counted as battlecruisers again, like in HoI3.

 

[Traks]

Ally with China ? Ahistoric focus option for Germany to carve up Yugoslavia and Greece ? Found its own faction ?

NEIN NEIN NEIN ! I want my perfect WW2 !

What's the next step ? Axis leads by Sweden !???

Black Ice modders, please save us all. They are fools !!!!

No no no.
There exist all historical options, but you get some benefits playing other way.
Which was mostly possible in HOI3 too (especially HPP), but provided minimal benefits.
For instance - you got Greece into. Yay... now those minor 5 divisions can clog up your supply system and well, be useless.
It seems in HOI4 there will be a better reason to choose ahistorical way.
And after all, when you have won 20 times with Germany, you want to try something ahistorical, don't you?

 

[Denkt]

The developers have said they have made a "historical" option which mean that the ai will try to get the national focus in a historical order.

 

[grandad1982]

@Jeremy971 no swastikas need to delete that post.

 

[jdavis86]

#bitter loser
I don't understand this German trait. First of all, isn't "sore loser" the proper term?
The effect is two-fold:
1. less likely to drift to another ideology
--> Germany is the Axis leader, that makes it hopefully impossible to move her towards another faction anyways. Redundant?
2. may form own faction
--> Germany has already founded the Axis, why make it possible to form another one? Redundant?

It looks like both effects are moot due to the inherent redundancy. As such, isn't that national trait a complete waste of a trait for Germany??
I would give this trait other effects:
1. make it easier to dow WW1 enemies
--> revenge factor that historically played a role in the support for the war. It would effectively give you casus belli against France, Poland (for the lost territory)...
2. increased fighting capacity on home turf
--> To simulate the determination of defending the national territory (Werewolf, Volkssturm...).

Bitter: (of people or their feelings or behavior) angry, hurt, or resentful because of one's bad experiences or a sense of unjust treatment.

Sounds about right . Smacks of Versailles.

 

[General Baker]

That's a good looking map.

 

[Kydax]

Look at the picture in DD#12, there is for Germany "Support Democracy" (Usher a more Democratic government) which cost 50 political power points.

It is not up to date information. Decisions is replaced by the nat. focuses

 

[joe9594]

That having been said you can still put in a democratic reformer adviser and you will presumably move toward democracy (although more slowly due to bitter loser).

 

[Drewbdu]

We still don't really use it in that sense in the UK - it's an Americanism. We do say "sore winner/loser", but we wouldn't say "what are you sore about?".

Saying "what are you sore about?" is also uncommon in the US. I believe sore is only used as a synonym for bitter/angry in the winner/loser sense.

 

[Nicolas I]

It is not up to date information. Decisions is replaced by the nat. focuses

You are right, surprisingly what was announced in DD#12 was already cancelled and replaced in DD#14.

That being said, IIRC it was said that you can try to change the political regime, so that may also be possible for Germany ?

 

[keytium]

Why is 'befriend Sweden' locked behind 'befriend Norway'? I understand why Denmark is first from a geographical sense, it is simply closer to Germany and were Germany to be aggressive towards them the rest of the Scandinavians would not be as open to friendly diplomacy. Depending on the situation in Norway or Sweden though I think that either makes sense as the next step in expanding the German sphere in Scandinavia. Based on how closely either aligns with the allies or how much of a threat USSR is posing to them (for example if the Russians build up a significant Baltic Naval presence Sweden would likely be feeling more threatened than Norway), befriending Sweden before Norway would be perfectly reasonable.

 

[canthinkofaname415]

Hi guys, a bit of a late diary today. We have let in a lot of betas recently and been very busy with that. Today we will be talking about Germany. I'm pretty sure everyone here is aware of Germany's historical role in WW2, so lets jump into details!

Germany is lead by Adolf Hitler who gives them +50% political power gain through his Dictator trait.

Germany starts with two nation spirits:
Bitter Loser (for some reason) making more resistant to people trying to make them move to another ideology and also be able to found their own faction.
General Staff which gives a boost to army organisation and planning speed.

The German army is very weak in 1936. just 30 division and only 3 of these are armoured and only one motorised. Germany will need to build up and to encourage you to do just that we have added in army strength triggers to some of the national focuses. If you wish to pursue the expansionist focuses (more on those in a bit) you will need to hit division size levels to be able to intimidate neighbors like Austria and the Czechs.

The Navy is an even worse state, 2 Battlecruisers, 2 Heavy Cruisers, 6 Light Cruiser, 12 Destroyers and 14 Submarines. With yard space at a premium the German player will have to make hard choices on the navy they want unless they want to invest heavily in naval dock yards. A suggested path is to use surface raiders early on to harass trade lanes of your enemies and later switch to a full focus on submarines.

The Air Force is just over 900 planes, but most of the Fighters and Tactical Bombers are obsolete models, you do have a bit of an edge in fighter tech though.

The German focus tree has some interesting choices over who do you want your friends to be, should you seek friendship with the Czechs or the Poles? Do you bet on Japan or China as your best ally in the East? For those of you who feel the going for Czechoslovakia after the Anschluss is just a little too passé we have added in an additional ahistoric focus option for Germany to carve up Yugoslavia and Greece and win friends at the same time. Hungary, Bulgaria and (depending on the focus choices) Italy are all more than willing to help you liberate Yugoslavia from the Yugoslavs. Every piece of land you hand out will make them like you more.
There are also focuses letting Germany progress faster through doctrines and even focus on their navy (perhaps a popular option once you have dealt with Stalin?", and improving industry and other construction focus.

Will there be any national focuses for Germany or Japan targeting the US?