Hearts of Iron IV - 49th Development Diary - 18th of March 2016

[Mr Burgundy]

Norwegian Ninjas got him.
Probably got trollbagged and eaten by the remaining norwegian Trolls.
HOIIV is looking very good, looking forward to D-day

 

[CrasherZZ]

Tojo was the head of government (prime minister) of Japan if i'm correct, wouldn't that make him the one on the portrait instead of Hirohito or am I confused.

I think it's because Hirohito wasn't considered just a figurehead by some.

 

[wright1331]

you dont need a top of the line bomber to deliver the nuke though. basic bombers have pretty decent range. I dont recall that you could launch nukes using rockets in HOI3. maybe it was some kind of mod?

its not really something that fits WW2. I'm sure if we time extend in some expansion the option will be there (fyi, if I had said that rockets could deliver nukes we'd have 2 pages of discussions about how this is unrealistic instead )

You most certainly can launch nuke using V rockets in vanilla HOI3, I do it all the time

 

[CrasherZZ]

you dont need a top of the line bomber to deliver the nuke though. basic bombers have pretty decent range. I dont recall that you could launch nukes using rockets in HOI3. maybe it was some kind of mod?

its not really something that fits WW2. I'm sure if we time extend in some expansion the option will be there (fyi, if I had said that rockets could deliver nukes we'd have 2 pages of discussions about how this is unrealistic instead )

In TFH I used upgraded V2s to launch nukes when I didn't have air superiority over the target. I don't know if basic V2s could have done it because I didn't attempt it.

I like the restriction in HOI4 that you need a bomber to deliver nukes. More realistic and better gameplay, because once one country has both nukes and missiles there's a huge swing in balance.

 

[Cimino12]

they will be a development diary about latin america?

 

[SIRMER]

I think Germany or Soviet Union could research A-bomb when one surrenders to other in early date like 1940 or 1941. I think Germany would make even greater weapons if they would take Soviet Union early. In real life that was impossible but it is game where allies have logistical exploit where in real life they had to spend most men in logistic tail.

 

[grandad1982]

So a little OT here but I have a UI question.

Do the buttons of the soldier/anchor/plane in the bottom right serve the same function as the buttons in the top right? Don't know why I don't know this or why I only just thought of it!

 

[Prince Rupert]

I think that maybe there should be consequences for using nuclear weapons. Not everyone in your country would support bombing the enemy. Maybe a small hit to your national unity, or decreased relations with surrounding nations. Idk just my thoughts some people may disagree.

 

[hewhoispale]

It also sounds like it would be pretty simple via modding add a new "Silverplate" variant to the strategic bombers to require a "Silverplate" plane to be available instead of just a regular strategic bomber drop a nuke.

 

[Lazy_Boy]

I think delivery of the bomb for Germany would have be the easy part. You don't exactly need to have air superiority to make a one way trip over London. They'd probably just Jerry-rig an extremely fast bomber and detonate while flying.

 

[Nicolas I]

So you need air superiority in order to use nukes...While lack of air superiority would certainly have been a problem historically, surely Germany would have come up with a plan for delivery if they had actually constructed a working bomb, e.g. a night raid or a heavier version of the V2.

I somewhat agree, I would prefer a non-binary system. If countries had a base chance that increase (or decrease) with your air superiority (or lack of), then it would be possible to try to use the bomb even if unlikely to succeed.

The fact that building a bomb is very costly and that you can only build a limited number would already be a strong limiting factor to make that unprofitable if you don't have air superiority, but not impossible.

 

[Sleight of Hand]

Several facist states were still monarchies Romania and Italy in particular as well as Japan in Both Romania and Italy the king was more of a figurehead though

But that's exactly my point. They were monarchies, not fascist dictatorships like Germany. Mussolini ruled in the King's name, and was eventually removed by him.

 

[JamesJameson]

Okay so they are off the whole next week for Easter?
Easter is March, 27 - Sunday. If what is written is true, I need to move to Sweden. You mean to tell me that even though Easter is on the weekend, you guys get the week before that off from work? So basically Sweden gives Spring Break to it's workforce? This is pure awesome.

 

[Razor]

There where horrible things taking place during the war that are forbidden subjects both in the game and on the forums but devastating use of nukes seem perfectly alright to discuss. I never really understood why, but anyhow, thanks for the DD Podcat

 

[JamesJameson]

There where horrible things taking place during the war that are forbidden subjects both in the game and on the forums but devastating use of nukes seem perfectly alright to discuss. I never really understood why, but anyhow, thanks for the DD Podcat

They talk about combat as well, which involves horrible things, but we wont go removing that from the game. The difference is that Nukes are in the game, not the things that are banned. If nuclear weapons were banned, they would not talk about them. It's all in the abstraction, in your head you can play the game and think there doing whatever you want, but on screen it shows it in a abstracted way.

 

[Axe99]

Cheers for the DD Podcat, approach to nukes sounds . Also a fan that they won't be rocket-deliverable (at least between '36 and '48 in the base game), as it always felt a bit funny in HoI3.

There is an event series that can happen after a fascist takeover where the rightful king can return and take over from Mosley

That this event stream exists in the game speaks volumes about the effort and attention to detail that you and your team have put into HoI4, love it .

Since it's hard to tell from the DevDiary --

Please, some reassurance that atomic weapons are **really** hard and resource intensive to make -- that the player will have to sacrifice a lot in order to achieve it. That they are *not* just a "I've got all other useful techs, time to get the A-Bomb" late-game tech choice.

Frankly, I think there should be a chance of 'terminal failure' for high-tech experimental research projects. I.e. it should in some games be simply impossible for a nation get the Bomb within the game's timeframe. (In case people haven't noticed -- most nations even in 2016 don't have nuclear weapons.... they are *hard* to make and require vast resources and technical expertise to produce and maintain.)

If Germany or Japan routinely get the A-Bomb late in the game -- it's going to be completely game breaking (and obviously unrealistic).

In the WWW this week we saw that nuclear reactors took something like 15,000 or 30,000 (can't remember which) construction widgets to build, so a heap (a military factory was under 4,000), so would take a long time, and a lot of civilian factories to make. Once it's been built, that reactor only gives you one bomb a year (and is presumably subject to damage from bombing if there's any going on). The tech itself looked like it took a long time to research as well. We don't know exactly how long/hard it'll take/be (not least as it's probably still subject to balance), but it does seem like it won't be easy for nations to get them.

The resources and expertise required were VAST, and in the context of WW2, actually beyond the capabilities of any nation besides the United States. (An argument might be made for Great Britain, but it's a stretch.)

Even the US only had one in 1945 because of British and Commonwealth assistance. Without that, I suspect we wouldn't have seen nukes until after WW2.

That said, imagine a Germany that defeats France and the UK early, and then is at peace with the USSR - they'd have a good chance of being able to devote the resources to a nuke-sized project without interference in a plausible sense. Any other nation developing it I think is a concession to gameplay, but I don't have an issue with that - I'm sure we'll have mods that focus more on plausibility in good time .

Look, if the argument is, a specially-modified Lancaster could have been developed to deliver the A-Bomb, then I agree that seems possible. My main point is that 'not just any' strategic bomber could've delivered the atomic bomb, which is the premise of HOI4.

Agreed - I'm with Gort in that I'd expect a Lancaster to be able to be modified to carry it (or a Lincoln, depending on when they went to drop it) - but the key point being a quality strategic bomber would be necessary. Strapping it to a He-111 or a Blenheim wouldn't be terribly plausible .

 

[OBRkenobi]

YES!!! Finally an animation for it!

 

[OBRkenobi]

For Queen and country.

you mean King and country?

 

[OBRkenobi]

I really hope nukes are worth the effort this time around.

 

[SnowHawkKiller]

My AP World History class got me excited about this game.