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HOI4 Dev Diary - Intel

Hi everyone! Next to last dev diary before christmas, and today we are going to talk about intel. We have been talking about ways to get intel a bit in previous diaries, like code cracking, scout planes and spies but not really talked about the system as a whole. So lets get to it!

Before intel was based essentially on comparing two nations crypto tech levels and it was a flat value covering everything. To make this more interesting we are splitting it into 4 separate values: Civilian/Industry Intel, Army Intel, Navy Intel, Air Intel. These affect what you can see in our new intel ledger, that replaces the little intel bit in the diplomacy interface from before for people with La Resistance:
upload_2019-12-11_12-24-29.png

Each of the tabs cover each type of intel (here we have civilian/industry selected), and they also come with mapmode information. As an example in the one above we aggregate building values as you zoom out (if you zoom in you see the same by state). This can help you when figuring out where to bomb or where and what kind of sabotage can be most effective.

The more intel you have the more information is displayed, we break down the levels in a tooltip per category:
upload_2019-12-11_12-37-57.png

So right now I can see how many army techs have been researched, but not specifically which. That requires 70% but then you can look at their tech tree. If I had 5% more I could see roughly how many of each division template the other nation had. At the moment I can only see that they exist but no real info about what they contain.

The army intel tab also lets you get a breakdown of the enemy stockpile of equipment.

Naval and air are similar:
upload_2019-12-11_12-44-10.png


upload_2019-12-11_12-44-42.png


Naval intel mapmode is quite powerful and at high intel levels will let you see where the enemy is placing certain missions
upload_2019-12-11_13-2-10.png


Intel can come from many different sources, for example:
- Spy networks
- Infiltrated spy assets
- Captured enemy spies
- Radar
- Broken Ciphers
- Scout planes
- Fighting the enemy in land combat
- Fighting the enemy in air combat
- Fighting the enemy in naval combat
And probably some I forgot.

Each source has a max it can contribute and may affect different intel values in different ways. For example if you have a spy network over the enemies coast, or scout naval areas with traffic you will get more naval intel. Each source also decays over time so its important to actively do things to keep your intel levels current and make sure you combine many sources to get as much intel as possible.

Here I have multiple sources:
upload_2019-12-11_13-17-34.png

Do note that the biggest chunk here is me doing some quick events with rewards of intel to cheat my way to quick screenshots ;). Also note that simply being democratic and having open trade laws make hiding the civilian part of your intel hard.

Knowing what kind of build strategy, templates, tech and stockpile an enemy has can be very useful allowing you to counter and attack them in the best way possible, but there is also direct advantage from relative intel which replaces the crypto level comparison from before.
upload_2019-12-11_13-35-41.png


See you next week for more cool stuff, and don't forget to tune into twitch at 16:00CET where we will be showing of France for the first time (aka watch Daniel accidentally leak stuff).
 
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Can we now manually change tactics during real-time (ex. Using Suppressive Barrage as USA to counter AI Japan's Banzai Charges) or will the AI simply be able to automatically change tactics depending on the intel level?
 
Question will for example the USA be very good at spying due to all the immigrants and cultures they historically house?

They weren't though.

Sure, having a lot of Italian immigrants helped a lot to get local intel during the Italian campaign but the US didn't invest in a complex spying network until after the war. As Alt-history it's nice

What I hope they have is bonuses to encryption to represent the historical use of Navajo Code Talkers.
 
Honestly intel is something I never grasped in HoI4..
Sometimes even when I had full decryption and encryption I couldn't see some enemy divisions...

This is either looking to complicate things or make them clearer due to the increased control you have over intel.
Regardless, it looks interesting, looking forward to testing out the new systems.
 
This looks like a cool system. I hope this system will be more integrated in a future rework of the battleplanner.
 
Honestly intel is something I never grasped in HoI4..
Sometimes even when I had full decryption and encryption I couldn't see some enemy divisions...

It's due to a bug that was identified by bitmode; hopefully given that the intel system has been reworked, it's not actual anymore.
 
This looks great, will intel on industry have an impact on strategic bombing? In that you as a player know where the major concentrations of industry are, or an increase to the amount of bombing damage done?
 
It's due to a bug that was identified by bitmode; hopefully given that the intel system has been reworked, it's not actual anymore.

....
And here I was convinced it was some meta detail I failed to decrypt for the longest time... And it was just a bug....
Rolling my eyes.. Well thanks for clearing that up for me.
 
I have another question will this dlc do something about the fact that in non historical Britain grabs every possibility for an alt-history scenario while for example Czechoslovakia almost always stays a democracy? Like I’d like to sometimes see the old dlcs do interesting stuff without me playing them too
 
Also note that simply being democratic and having open trade laws make hiding the civilian part of your intel hard.
So Democracies get nerfed (again!) with this DLC?:rolleyes:
 
Will Military Police boost army fighting intellegence gain?

Will resistance &/or complience have any affect on intel? WIll the enemy have an intel advantage of fighting on its own territory?

Will occupied territory give some intel for free? Like Vicky France gets some german intel for free due to halv of its core is occupied by germany? Or will it just indirectly give intel boost due to nation taget operatives being more effective?
 
I don't understand the confusion about naval numbers. Any capital ship financed, builded and enroled was a front page news article in all nations of the world - and still is. Everything that happend to them was a matter of national pride. Repair and upgrades was wiedly reported. Even during the war. Seeing France having 3 to 6 BB as Germany requires a lack of ability to read French newspapers. Sorry, but BB, CV, HC and even LC should be known as long as your diplomats have funding to buy a newspaper. You should know numbers, names and operational status.

I would agree for peace time, but in war times?
I'm not sure if the USA printed a newspaper in 1942 to tell Japan "yes, we build approx 30 Essex CV to wipe you out"
 
Are there plans the close meta-spying especially in multiplayer with 1.9 and the revamped intel system?

For example clicking on a province, hovering over building slots you can see if the enemy chose concentrated or dispersed industry, and you can see how effective strat bombing could be. Aswell as seeing province buildings like forts. Or with licensing seeing what the future enemy has researched. Stuff like that.