Hearts of Iron IV - 47th Development Diary - 4th of March 2016

[agentgb]

Thanks for the DD. I suppose, this was the best that could be done, considering how politically complicated the China theatre was at this time.
I do, also, like that it won't be so easy for Japan to defeat China. However, there should be some option/decision that allows for variation from the historical here - Japan does things differently, that would allow for a possible defeat, at the expense of being able to attack USA/SE Asia so easily in '41, IMHO.

I think if japan doesn't attack china, i think mao would have been finished, since he let the KMT bloody themselves against the japanese while the CCP conserved there forces for the civil war later. But then if japan doesn't attack china, i guess it missings out on alot of manpower, factories and resources? not sure if in the WWW if china actually had any resources though?

 

[Havebeard]

What if Japan gets pushed out of china but doesn't capitulate? Does that trigger the Civil war or it has to wait for the USA to kill Japan properly?

No, but it probably should.

Probably the wrong term, I guess I mean it's an example of pretty tight scripting designed specifically to get a conflict resembling the historical one, beyond what the mechanics would have otherwise produced.

So same as Spanish Civil War, Anschluss, Sudetenland, MR-Pact, Pearl Habor, etc...

Also, what is to stop me just moving my troops away from the border to avoid attrition?

You will lose the border war.

Next week got a really nasty cold so I'm home watching Sharknado 3 instead

Go to bed PhlegmCat

Also, please, please stop with this Peoples Republic of China bullshit, it wasn't founded. It is Communist or Soviet China at this point in time. That flag didn't exist until 1949, it shouldn't be there at the start date.

I'll look into it.

So the different Chinas do not use the generic (non majors) national focus trees and do have their own?

They use the generic. Creating a focus tree is a major design and implementation task. What we want in the game and what we have time to do unfortunately never seems to sync up.

Thumbs up for balance, thumbs down for historical accuracy.

I still think this is far more accurate than Communist China getting steamrolled within a matter of months.

not sure, there tends to be problems with us representing tibet as a separate nation

Go to bed FeverCat!

 

[Chukada]

So does this mean that when Japan declares war, the warlords join Nat China? Communist China stays Communist China but annexs Shanxi some of the time. What if it doesn't? Does nat China get Shanxi?

After united front fires, The resources, units, manpower and factories can be used by Nat China thereafter, and Nat China can build factories in for example, Yunnan?

Can we have some 1936 statistics for Nat China posted, industry, manpower, starting divisions, ect?

 

[Krakow]

not sure, there tends to be problems with us representing tibet as a separate nation

Whatever,Chinese can still get access to HOI series as long as steam is not banned in mainland China.

 

[Gort11]

You will lose the border war.

How does that work, exactly? Are you allowed to advance into the empty provinces but not attack divisions or something? Or is there just some trigger that says, "If you don't fill all the border provinces your country disappears"? Or what?

 

[Havebeard]

Thanks for the DD. I suppose, this was the best that could be done, considering how politically complicated the China theatre was at this time.
I do, also, like that it won't be so easy for Japan to defeat China. However, there should be some option/decision that allows for variation from the historical here - Japan does things differently, that would allow for a possible defeat, at the expense of being able to attack USA/SE Asia so easily in '41, IMHO.

There is nothing preventing a player from taking Japan in a different direction, but for the AI it is not likely to happen. This has nothing to do with how the Chinese civil war is structured.

So does this mean that when Japan declares war, the warlords join Nat China? Communist China stays Communist China but annexs Shanxi some of the time. What if it doesn't? Does nat China get Shanxi?

That is pretty much what it means.
Pretty sure Nat China don't get Shanxi no matter what.

Can we have some 1936 statistics for Nat China posted, industry, manpower, starting divisions, ect?

This DD was supposed to be just about the civil war, and since we are still working on China I'd prefer not to give you info that will be outdated pretty soon.

After united front, The resources, units, manpower and factories can be used by Nat China thereafter, and Nat China can build factories in for example, Yunnan?

Yes. Game mechanics wise it becomes one nation

 

[Havebeard]

How does that work, exactly? Are you allowed to advance into the empty provinces but not attack divisions or something? Or is there just some trigger that says, "If you don't fill all the border provinces your country disappears"? Or what?

When a border war is lost we have the option to do pretty much what we want. In this case you get an event with some bad stuff in it (WIP).

 

[sermaciej]

I remember writing one year ago "it would be cool if you released the game on 8th May", and I would like to repeat that statement
but because it's highly unlikely that you will finish in two months, I want to change my sentence into "it would be cool if you released the game on 1st September"

 

[TheDeaconBosco]

I can't say I approve of Mao looking exactly like he did in the 1950s, I mean I get it's his most recognizable look, but if the art department still has time I'd like to see it changed to something more appropriate.

 

[loup99]

Interesting modelling!

 

[Havebeard]

I can't say I approve of Mao looking exactly like he did in the 1950s, I mean I get it's his most recognizable look, but if the art department still has time I'd like to see it changed to something more appropriate.

You and me both. And Mao is not the only case, but art is unfortunately rather busy all the time.

 

[EmperorTojo]

It's a minor thing really, but the picture of Mao Zedong is after WW2 and when he was quite a bit older. This photo of him would be more accurate:

EDIT: Unsure of date, but here's a photo from 1938; he hasn't started balding yet, nor gotten chubby:

 

[Chukada]

It's a minor thing really, but the picture of Mao Zedong is after WW2 and when he was quite a bit older. This photo of him would be more accurate:

Also sexier.

 

[Krakow]

China is always a rather difficult beast for Hearts of Iron games, still we have put on our thinking cap and seen what we can do to at least make things better. So as the game opens we have the Chinas at peace but hostile to each other.

The Kuomintang government will get the option launch an offensive against the communist insurgents, which will eventually end up in the possibility of a border war between Mao and Chiang. There will be no actual fighting, but units in border states will start to suffer attrition.

Ask for military access,offer military access,Non-aggression pact...available?

 

[potski]

Whatever,Chinese can still get access to HOI series as long as steam is not banned in mainland China.

There are separate stores for each region, so that you can pay in your local currency. The Chinese store doesn't sell a number of games according to information on the web, including the Total War series. Whether they are formally banned or this is for commercial reasons is not very clear. Nevertheless, it does seem that China can restrict the sale of HOI4 through Steam, if they continue to take exception to the issues highlighted above that were in earlier versions - no Republic of China, and Manchuria not being part of China. The Unified Front, claims by the Republic of China on Manchuria, Tibet etc. go some way towards addressing the counter-factual issues in HOI1.

 

[Aries666]

Next week got a really nasty cold so I'm home watching Sharknado 3 instead

Wont that make you more ill

 

[The Menace]

I'm interested by this border war mechanic, is this applicable on, say, the Manchukou/Russian border?

 

[Krakow]

There are separate stores for each region, so that you can pay in your local currency. The Chinese store doesn't sell a number of games according to information on the web, including the Total War series. Whether they are formally banned or this is for commercial reasons is not very clear. Nevertheless, it does seem that China can restrict the sale of HOI4 through Steam, if they continue to take exception to the issues highlighted above that were in earlier versions - no Republic of China, and Manchuria not being part of China. The Unified Front, claims by the Republic of China on Manchuria, Tibet etc. go some way towards addressing the counter-factual issues in HOI1.

Region restriction is up to the publisher if I remember it correctly,and all Total war games from Shogun 1 to Attila are available on Steam in mainland China,as well as paradox games,HOI2&3,EU3&4,CK1&2,Vicky1&2.

 

[Italianajt]

I always hate it when historical fact gets in the way of political propaganda. Much like we are going through with Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump right now...

 

[Gort11]

When a border war is lost we have the option to do pretty much what we want. In this case you get an event with some bad stuff in it (WIP).

OK, but if there isn't any real combat in a border war (just a bunch of attrition on units in border states), how do you lose a border war?