Hearts of Iron IV - 41st Development Diary - 22nd of January 2016

[Kollatius]

Good information is good information

 

[Metz]

Will there be different levels of the traits?

 

[benst36]

For Panzer, I think Korps ar the best Formation, for main focus

 

[HerrWeltkrieg]

well the map is going to be colourful if you want to have some of those juicy general bonuses, especially in barbarossa

 

[CrasherZZ]

I feel the pangs already. My Corps, Army, and AG commanders in their proper heiarchies will be no more. Hopefully it's for the best - more streamlined and efficient gameplay.

I would prefer to see FMs in command of generals instead of divisions. An unlimited number of generals instead of an unlimited number of divisions. The effects of the traits would then be cumulative for each division under a general - generals traits plus the FM's.

We'll have to give it chance, no choice...

 

[Typical Wookie]

By the way, in the screenshot the Brits need to hurry up and take Tobruk already! Today is the 75th anniversary of the fall of Tobruk!

 

[jesperj13]

Could someone walk me through the different icons in the battle planner? Some are pretty obvious, but there are also a number of similar ones. Perhaps this has already been discussed somewhere else, in which case, pardon my laziness for not looking at all the threads no the forum.

 

[fabius]

Rommel can read the desert like a book. He glances at the sand dunes and can see ambushes and flank attacks laid out before him.

You promote him to field marshall and now he's stuck in a tent 6 miles behind the front line doing paperwork. He still knows everything about deserts but the people fighting under him don't gain the benefit of his experience because the closest he comes to the battle is an after action report he signs off on two days later.

Knee jerk reaction was agree with this. Commanding Army/Group is very different to commanding Corps, Division or even Battalion.

However. They are all COMMAND positions. Not staff officer positions.

On reflection they missed a trick.

Promoted generals could keep old traits at much reduced efficiency- say 10-50% maybe dependent on skill
And gain new higher command traits.

This would be nice game General character development. So more FUN !!

Also realistic. Commanders draw on their early lower command/combat experience in higher commands. A FM who has commanded tanks at lower levels would still benefit form his understanding of tank warfare. (but with direct less impact)

 

[seattle]

Wouldn't commando be very good trait for panzer generals as well. This would make them less affected of being temporary chopped of from their supply base while driving all around the enemy Army group, wouldn't it?

Yeah, was a coin toss between that and the engineer one.
But then I though: I won't let my tanks get cut off, period. Of course that Hitler-esque statement will come back to haunt me.

 

[MirageHarbinger]

I don't think I like the new setting of Trickster 0 0

 

[CrasherZZ]

I would prefer to see FMs in command of generals instead of divisions. An unlimited number of generals instead of an unlimited number of divisions.

I forgot to mention that a new kind of micromanaging may result without a heiarchy. In order to get the optimum effects of both FMs and generals, I would probably be shifting divisions around a lot between generals and FMs, unless there is some kind of organization penalty for that. Perhaps the penalty would just be having to micromanage it?

 

[seattle]

But please notice that most of those traits depend on specific conditions. Panzer leader and trickster work all the time, other ones only in particular circumstances.
While field marshal's stats work all the time. Higher morale, offensive and defensive doctrines, planning etc.

Fair enough. However, I assume that Barbarossa will be the one deciding campaign with Western Russia (west of the Urals) being the single most important region. You got rivers, urban and lots of winter there. Add trickster and panzer leader to that and you got a fantastic panzer general for Barbarossa. Plus, rivers and urban will work in 90% of your campaigns anyways. Poland, France, Scandinavia, England, Balkans...
Except for Northern Africa (which isn't necessary anyways if you take out Russia), this leader will be amazing for panzer corps everywhere.

At least I hope that it'll work out like that. It would be a shame if in the end you are better off with field marshalls only. Kinda like the old HoI2 problem where artillery was the only worthwhile attachment.

 

[draske]

I can imagine why a General looses all traits when promoted. The system is setup in such a way he would not use his experience any more. Now he need to worry about supply's instead of planning a tank attack. However it is a shame that units now only benefit on a FM or a General trait and not both. While in real life, when a general is promoted, a new general will take his place.

 

[Kaiserschmarrn]

Instead of 'mountaineer', how about 'fell fox'? It would add consistancy I think.

 

[FieldMedic]

Here's a question, will a Field Marshal get his traits back if he is demoted back to General? Or did the promotion come with a memory wipe.

 

[Prophet of ReShrek]

Somebody call up Fox News. I see Benghazi.

 

[melkor88]

Great DD

 

[TheDerpyBeagle]

I like the new traits, but am I the only one concerned that the British steamrolled Libya by September 1940? Unless the war started super early, it looks like the Italian AI didn't put up much of a fight...

 

[CocoCincinnati]

Is there a distance limit for commanders? Example: I'm about to invade Poland and I have two panzer armies with 4 to 6 divisions each. One is in puppeted Slovakia and one is in Prussia. I have two generals that have the Panzer leader trait but one of them is skill level 4 and the other is skill level 2. What reason would I have for not puting both of those groups of tanks under the general with the higher skill level? That doesn't make logical sense to me, I should be forced to put each panzer group under a different General or assign one or both to the Field Marshal shouldn't I? Actually I can fix that with my own house rules so no biggee I guess....still seems odd.

 

[realQuiGon]

I have to say this is the first time that I don't like some of the things mentioned in the dev diary. It's known for a while now that there will be only two (division, army) or three (theatre) levels of organization, and I wasn't happy about that from the beginning. But now that I see how this works I dislike it even more. I can only hope, that corps and maybe even army groups will find their way into the game at some point in the future. I think they are really missing.
Same thing with staff officer ranks. Just two ranks are too few!

Anyways, even though that was a bit disapointing I'm still excited for the game, since everything else seems perfect!