HOI3 noob - looking for some pointers

[Kashked]

I'm a longtime Paradox affecionado, having played EU3 back when it was new and shiny, and having loved CK2 I decided to get both Vic2, EU4 and HOI3 at the latest steam summer sale, and has finally gotten around to playing some HOI3. But I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm completely lost here. Is there some equivalent to CK2's "newbie island" (AKA Ireland), a reccomended country to play as on your first try? I'm not talking about winning the game, I'm just talking about learning the system, seeing as it's a PD game, and what that means for the tutorial... Maybe one of the scenarios? Or should I start by letting the AI handle production/espionage/politics/diplomacy and try to get my head around one thing at a time?

Also, are there any informative newbie-centered LP's on Youtube that anyone would care to recomend? I got my head around Vic2 fairly quickly, in the end the wars play out pretty much like EU or CK2, but battles in HOI3 seems to work with a completly different logic. I started up a game as Sweden and didn't have a clue what to do, so I messed around in the Spanish civil war scenario for a while and realised I didn't have a clue what I was doing there either...

 

[IronMurg]

The problem with the scenarios is that what works in the scenarios doesn't always also work in the main game.

They can teach you a few basic things though:

Desert Fox (play as Italy) -- how fast moving mobile warfare works

Spanish Civil War -- how infantry warfare works

Southern Conquests -- how naval/amphibious warfare works

Overlord -- how STRAT bombers and Paratroopers work

My first real game was as Canada, playing on the Easy difficulty level in 1936. That was a good pick because I had a decent amount of resources to work with, no hostile neighbors, and plenty of time to build up my forces before getting involved in WW2. The USA might be a good pick for the same reason, though with even more resources/units to work with it may be a bit overwhelming.

 

[Snow Wolf]

The problem with the scenarios is that what works in the scenarios doesn't always also work in the main game.

They can teach you a few basic things though:

Desert Fox (play as Italy) -- how fast moving mobile warfare works

Spanish Civil War -- how infantry warfare works

Southern Conquests -- how naval/amphibious warfare works

Overlord -- how STRAT bombers and Paratroopers work

what is there to learn about infantry warfare
you point the counter on the enemy and they start shooting eachother



The best way to learn the game is to play the game, just as said in generally 90% of these topics which, surprise, are about the same topic.

 

[Kashked]

Yeah, being overwhelmed was part of the problem. Just opening up the game as USA or the Soviet Union convinced me I had to start as a smaller nation to wrap my head around how things works before I try to play a mayor nation, hence choosing Sweden for my first attempt.

 

[Opanashc]

what is there to learn about infantry warfare
you point the counter on the enemy and they start shooting eachother

How about maneuver, concentration of force, fighting retreat?

 

[Pugmak]

I suggest Germany '36 Grand Campaign for a starter.

You can make it a "short game" and play only up through the conquest of Poland. That gives you a game you can play in a single sitting and not have so much time invested that you resist or resent going back to start and trying a new approach to some part or piece of the gameplay.

Things to focus on in such a game:

Trade. Get your economy stable. Try to avoid selling your own supplies as much as possible, since that's selling IC by proxy imo. Learn to work the repeated micro sale to push up relations with seller to get lower prices for yourself. Learn to work your market access to long range plans (i.e.: stuff you buy from over water has to be transported by your ships. During war time, your cargo ships become targets. A ship get sunk you loose whatever cargo was on that ship. Maybe focus on land based trade instead? And, both purchases and sales serve to increase relations. Relations help form alliances or at least help slow drift of targeted nations into enemy alliance. Maybe trades as part of diplomatic effort?)
Try to get it all done (except for the occasional touch up) by July '36. A stable economy is a good thing. Sooner is better.

Spies. Learn how to work the spy game. Develop understanding of the cause and effect of the spy slider setting in the tech page (how much is enough to get the spies in the numbers you need vs how much is too much and a waste of officer points). Play around with the various spy missions. Figure out which you find useful.

Military build. Decide before game start how much of which parts and pieces of your military you believe you need before war starts. Learn to work the build queue to reach desired military build in time.

The war with Poland is short but it's enough to learn the basics of warfighting. Subjects to work include but are not limited to: breakthroughs, encirclements, logistics and supply lines, air support both CAP and GS, interceptors vs bombers over your entire country, and naval stuff if you're that sort of person too.

As said above, the Germany vs Poland game started in 1936 grand campaign scenario (not an official scenario, just a player determined "short game") is a single sitting play which allows for post game reflection on choices and decisions made while avoiding the long time investment of a full game which makes it easier to start over and work on fine tuning game play and decision making process.

 

[rohitv2312]

Try empireerwinrommel's tutorials in youtube. Search for him and his HoI 3 tutorials. They are long, like 3 hours long, but I bet you would be familiar with most of the game by then.

Remember though that mods might drastically change your gameplay, and empireerwinrommel's videos are mostly relevant towards the vanilla HoI 3 TFH.

 

[BarrosRodrigues]

I'm a longtime Paradox affecionado, having played EU3 back when it was new and shiny, and having loved CK2 I decided to get both Vic2, EU4 and HOI3 at the latest steam summer sale, and has finally gotten around to playing some HOI3. But I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm completely lost here. Is there some equivalent to CK2's "newbie island" (AKA Ireland), a reccomended country to play as on your first try? I'm not talking about winning the game, I'm just talking about learning the system, seeing as it's a PD game, and what that means for the tutorial... Maybe one of the scenarios? Or should I start by letting the AI handle production/espionage/politics/diplomacy and try to get my head around one thing at a time?

Also, are there any informative newbie-centered LP's on Youtube that anyone would care to recomend? I got my head around Vic2 fairly quickly, in the end the wars play out pretty much like EU or CK2, but battles in HOI3 seems to work with a completly different logic. I started up a game as Sweden and didn't have a clue what to do, so I messed around in the Spanish civil war scenario for a while and realised I didn't have a clue what I was doing there either...

Start by this basic tutorial:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL177CF59636F80BD7

Then this:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLu_cbwbXcS740XvgSAbDRvYzrYWUQYdY-

You can also watch my videos (link in the signature) because lots of people tell me they learnt how to play HOI III by watching them. Have fun!

 

[was1262]

I to recommend Germany as a start. It is very forgiving and has a lot of action to learn from. Start at 36 a few times and play through to Poland at least as has been mentioned. Read the Germany guide here;

http://www.paradoxian.org/hoi3wiki/Germany_strategy_guide

And read these forums over, I learned a lot from these and did a lot of searching for HOI3 topics on google.