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

  • We have updated our Community Code of Conduct. Please read through the new rules for the forum that are an integral part of Paradox Interactive’s User Agreement.

Havebeard

Yes
Aug 11, 2015
710
2.012
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.
1_hoi4_25.jpg


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.
2_hoi4_17.jpg


Maybe not 100% accurate but we are much more interested in what happens when Japan attacks and the peace afterwards. Should a Nationalist player chose to go for a real war, we’ve given Mao the ‘Cornered Fox’ trait which will help him defend.
3_hoi4_368.jpg


Sometime during the hostilities, the Xi’an incident occurs and pressures Chiang to accept a temporary truce with Mao. This is the first step towards the Chinas looking outwards to the imminent threat of Japan that looms to the east.
When Japan attacks China the Nationalists get an event that allows them to set up the Chinese United Front faction against Japan. Communist China will get the option to join this faction. If they do then there is a follow up event where they annex Shanxi (a player Shanxi can refuse this). The other warlord states (except Sinkiang) will get the option to join with the Nationalist Chinese. Sinkiang will continue to be the odd man out until a war between the USSR and Germany breaks out. At that point they will throw their lot in the Chiang because the USSR is now a little too busy.
5_hoi4_23.jpg


Our united China has proven a much more effective road block to Japan (more balancing to be done there but we are pleased with our progress). If Japan gets defeated the Chinese United Front will end, this was always an alliance of convenience for the two sides. Sneaky Mao will take advantage of the confusion to seize northern China and Manchuria. This is part a reflection of communist strength in those areas but also to give the PRC a better territorial base from which to get the civil war rolling.
4_hoi4_21.jpg


Before we kick off the civil war we first give the PRC some free troops (supplied from unspecified communists somewhere in the world). With the PRC armies now nicely reinforced with their new territorial base, we fire an event to kick of the war between the two sides, to help the communists along we also hit the KMT forces with a morale penalty for the opening stages of the war. China is far more finely balanced than before.
6_hoi4_27.jpg
 
  • 79
  • 77
  • 10
Reactions:
Sounds a little railroady, but I guess that's the only option to prevent the "Communist never do anything and sit there or occasionally get killed" stuff from previous games. The series has never been complex enough to truly simulate the complexities of the civil war.
 
  • 44
  • 1
Reactions:
hmmm whats wrong with "cornered rat" , you got somthing against rats? Looks great! sounds logicial with mao & chiang, it was more of a phoney war, where podcat?
 
  • 3
  • 1
Reactions:
Posting for platypus flagging, and also to inform that Podcat is not feeling well today, so we had to re-arrange in the Dev Diary schedule last minute. Naval invasions coming up next week I think.
 
  • 51
  • 4
Reactions:
Nice and interesting DD though i wanted a naval invasions DD ... If the transport ships loaded with marine divisions teleport like bombers over targets and paratroopers i will commit suicide ... :eek:
 
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?
 
  • 4
Reactions:
There are still other options available to the player

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. The border attrition makes sense given the limitations but is of an odd duck, as an example. The morale penalty to give the communists a fighting chance also feels like some of the HoI3 stuff, where there would be blanket modifiers to try and get historical-ish outcomes to some things, e.g. simulate Germans dominating in the opening days of their offensive against Russia.

I understand the reason for it, just observing it. The Chinese Civil War and Sino Japanese War are ripe for an expansion DLC to flesh out related mechanics six months or a year down the line.
 
  • 19
Reactions:
Yeah, thats a lot of railroading right there, but if you say it works, I guess its better than a civil war that never happens and Communists who forever sit in their one province. I like it.

Finally looks like a chinese faction will be a very interesting nation to play, especially if you continue after 1948, where things might just begin to really roll for them.
 
  • 3
  • 1
Reactions:
Oppose Naval Invasions, Support the United Front!

il_fullxfull-352217606.jpg


Also, what is to stop me just moving my troops away from the border to avoid attrition?
 
  • 37
  • 2
  • 2
Reactions:
Naval invasions coming up next week I think.

you think!? best leave this to podcat to sort out i think! and if you can, please ask him to do an update on airwars please, to help put some of the debate to rest! and also on how airplane transport supplies will work? if it is included in the game in some form? and also if you can lay down makeshift ports, if included int he naval invasion next week!
 
  • 12
  • 2
Reactions:
I was looking forward too the naval invasion DD :( but hope Podcat gets better :).

Next week :) got a really nasty cold so I'm home watching Sharknado 3 instead :eek:
 
  • 48
  • 17
  • 4
Reactions: