HoI4 Dev Teasers (previously Podcat's Twitter Teasers)

[Voigt]

I mean you can.. just that the whole MP group will groan, that they have to do this. So yeah not easily.

And finally the MEFO change is coming, bugging the team on PDXcon seemed to have helped.

 

[pvt.conners]

I mean you can.. just that the whole MP group will groan, that they have to do this. So yeah not easily.

And finally the MEFO change is coming, bugging the team on PDXcon seemed to have helped.

Yeah that is pretty much my point, people already invest plenty of time in setting up the game, so having to reload is an annoyance most would rather do without.
Since I generally host I just prefer to ride out any mistakes I make.

 

[Dan1109]

Looking forward to the bag of tricks. They range from absolutely trivial and criminally negligent in not doing originally, to features you had never thought of and are SO game improving. Honestly, I hope they would do a DLC just called, Big Bag of Tricks!!

 

[GeorgieBest]

Hopeful to see some major quality of life improvements in the dev diary tomorrow.

 

[Daelyn75]

I think Germany should start with a tiny bit less industry, because of the MEFO bills advantage. Just like 2 or 3 less IC.

 

[Dan1109]

I think Germany should start with a tiny bit less industry, because of the MEFO bills advantage. Just like 2 or 3 less IC.

You say that now, but recall the GER is getting the nerf-bat due to occupation-industry changes (and it won't be balanced, as the devs stated in their objective that GER can get snow-balled with industry)

 

[FeVeronezi]

I can smell ages of Daniel yelling at the devs asking for this feature

 

[Voigt]

Germanys starting industry already got nerfed quite hard with the introduction of MEFO bills. I remember the times you put 15 factories on Fighter I production from the start, and still had quite alot of factories spare for everything else.

 

[Daelyn75]

You say that now, but recall the GER is getting the nerf-bat due to occupation-industry changes (and it won't be balanced, as the devs stated in their objective that GER can get snow-balled with industry)

I am aware of it. We cannot say for certain how it will all pan out until we get it in our hands to test it. I'm all for nerfing the power of Germany, but I don't want it destroyed to make it a non-challenge like it used to be. It's a bit of a fine line to walk.

 

[Dan1109]

I am aware of it. We cannot say for certain how it will all pan out until we get it in our hands to test it. I'm all for nerfing the power of Germany, but I don't want it destroyed to make it a non-challenge like it used to be. It's a bit of a fine line to walk.

Agreed. I actually expect PDS to do the most amount of balance testing they've done in quite a while, to make sure this change doesn't F up everything.

 

[Vohen]

Devs have stated that their balance target is for Germany to handily beat the USSR if the Allies don't manage to open a second and third front.
Since nothing has been stated in that regard and it's quite the reasonable target to begin with, I don't expect that to change.

 

[Daelyn75]

Devs have stated that their balance target is for Germany to handily beat the USSR if the Allies don't manage to open a second and third front.
Since nothing has been stated in that regard and it's quite the reasonable target to begin with, I don't expect that to change.

Sometimes it's really difficult to get in there and stop Germany as the USA, and even the UK. As the USA, how can you stop Germany if they invade in 1940, and you cannot even get the chance to join the allies until some point in at least in 1941. Even when you join, your military isn't large enough to tackle the Axis in Europe on your own. Sure you can open a second front right away but at best with little to no land and air doctrines researched and an economy that takes around 2 years to fully get going, the best you can hope for is a stalemate, the worst to get kicked out of the continent.

The latter happened to me when I opened up a front in Spain as the USA. The German aircraft swamped me, shooting down 2 to 1 US fighters, and later their land divisions literally kicked me out - to which has never happened to me before in all HOI games going back to HOI 1. The AI was actually competent for once.

This when I invaded in early 1942 to take the heat off of the Soviet Union, but what happened was that I was forced out, and the USSR still kept on slowly being pushed back.

What I think could be a big game changer is that we need a unified allied command so we can focus our armies and airforce into one area. If I had the full UK support with land and air forces in Spain, I might have been able to held on. Others have mentioned this in the forum as well. Historically, no one nation could have done it alone, but when they worked together, they were able to liberate Western Europe - to which we need something like this in the game.

 

[Orlunu]

Bag of Tricks, Artwork and Music, Bugs, Achievements. We're in to the final stretch here, then, en route for the predicted Feb release even if we gain or lose a diary or two from the usual rounder-outers.

 

[Vohen]

Sometimes it's really difficult to get in there and stop Germany as the USA, and even the UK. As the USA, how can you stop Germany if they invade in 1940, and you cannot even get the chance to join the allies until some point in at least in 1941. Even when you join, your military isn't large enough to tackle the Axis in Europe on your own. Sure you can open a second front right away but at best with little to no land and air doctrines researched and an economy that takes around 2 years to fully get going, the best you can hope for is a stalemate, the worst to get kicked out of the continent.

The latter happened to me when I opened up a front in Spain as the USA. The German aircraft swamped me, shooting down 2 to 1 US fighters, and later their land divisions literally kicked me out - to which has never happened to me before in all HOI games going back to HOI 1. The AI was actually competent for once.

This when I invaded in early 1942 to take the heat off of the Soviet Union, but what happened was that I was forced out, and the USSR still kept on slowly being pushed back.

I never said the target is for Germany to overwhelm the Soviets and beat them by '42-'43, it's probably meant to do it by '45 at the earliest in most cases.
In my experience (which, granted, is not very extensive, as I haven't played without EAI since a few weeks after 1.8 was released), that target is being achieved in the current patch.
As the US you have a good amount of time to build up, while you bide your time on fronts which naturally require less troops gradually scaling up as you progress, going for the historical route with Operation Torch, where low supply automatically limits number of troops (and probably having to invade from Sudan into Egypt as well because the British can't hold the Suez for their lives), then going for Italy, where the narrow peninsula and defensive terrain makes it easy to hold with comparatively fewer troops if you're quick enough and don't give them enough time to reinforce, then culminating on a big European invasion.

What I think could be a big game changer is that we need a unified allied command so we can focus our armies and airforce into one area. If I had the full UK support with land and air forces in Spain, I might have been able to held on. Others have mentioned this in the forum as well. Historically, no one nation could have done it alone, but when they worked together, they were able to liberate Western Europe - to which we need something like this in the game.

That's another topic entirely, but I agree, the game needs to give you more control over you allies.
Requesting exp forces, though finicky, was a step in the right direction, but allies clogging up my airbases and not coordinating their navy for my invasions is really bad.

 

[Daelyn75]

I never said the target is for Germany to overwhelm the Soviets and beat them by '42-'43, it's probably meant to do it by '45 at the earliest in most cases.
In my experience (which, granted, is not very extensive, as I haven't played without EAI since a few weeks after 1.8 was released), that target is being achieved in the current patch.
As the US you have a good amount of time to build up, while you bide your time on fronts which naturally require less troops gradually scaling up as you progress, going for the historical route with Operation Torch, where low supply automatically limits number of troops (and probably having to invade from Sudan into Egypt as well because the British can't hold the Suez for their lives), then going for Italy, where the narrow peninsula and defensive terrain makes it easy to hold with comparatively fewer troops if you're quick enough and don't give them enough time to reinforce, then culminating on a big European invasion.


That's another topic entirely, but I agree, the game needs to give you more control over you allies.
Requesting exp forces, though finicky, was a step in the right direction, but allies clogging up my airbases and not coordinating their navy for my invasions is really bad.

I my experience if you don't do anything, the Soviets get taken down in 43 or 44. The point I was trying to make was that even entering the war in 1941, you really cannot do that much to stop the German eastward progression. I also invaded Italy in 43 in that game that I was referencing, and took most of Italy by 1944. The Axis starting dying in 1943, and a reversal of the German/Soviet front began to slowly progress, even though the Germans had Moscow. I think I was more or less fortunate in that game, as I have seen the USSR capitulate earlier than that. I also lend leased about as much as I could while trying to build up my army, this while keeping Japan at bay in Australia and New Guinea.

In some games, you just cannot do enough to slow the Germans down. In several of my UK games, I also had difficulty stopping the German progress in the east, even though I was lend leasing as much as I could while still trying to grow my army.

 

[Vohen]

I my experience if you don't do anything, the Soviets get taken down in 43 or 44. The point I was trying to make was that even entering the war in 1941, you really cannot do that much to stop the German eastward progression. I also invaded Italy in 43 in that game that I was referencing, and took most of Italy by 1944. The Axis starting dying in 1943, and a reversal of the German/Soviet front began to slowly progress, even though the Germans had Moscow. I think I was more or less fortunate in that game, as I have seen the USSR capitulate earlier than that. I also lend leased about as much as I could while trying to build up my army, this while keeping Japan at bay in Australia and New Guinea.

In some games, you just cannot do enough to slow the Germans down. In several of my UK games, I also had difficulty stopping the German progress in the east, even though I was lend leasing as much as I could while still trying to grow my army.

The game you described seems to be working perfectly as designed, but if you have consistently seen the Soviets capitulating to the Germans before '45, even with LL and multiple fronts (say, more than 20% of the time), then I guess something must be wrong indeed.
Playing mostly EAI, I can say that I have the opposite experience, I have to buff the Germans whenever I'm playing against them, or they rarely make it past Smolensk or Kiev, nevermind getting to Moscow.

My point really is, the balancing target is what I mentioned, and even if that's not perfectly achieved now, for whatever reason, I'd expect them to at least keep that target.

 

[Daelyn75]

The game you described seems to be working perfectly as designed, but if you have consistently seen the Soviets capitulating to the Germans before '45, even with LL and multiple fronts (say, more than 20% of the time), then I guess something must be wrong indeed.
Playing mostly EAI, I can say that I have the opposite experience, I have to buff the Germans whenever I'm playing against them, or they rarely make it past Smolensk or Kiev, nevermind getting to Moscow.

My point really is, the balancing target is what I mentioned, and even if that's not perfectly achieved now, for whatever reason, I'd expect them to at least keep that target.

Well, Expert AI is a different beast. I've used it a few times. My issue is that it's not always possible to stop the Germans before they take down the Soviet Union. AS the UK, I found it difficult, depending on how well the AI does, which varies from time to time. I had the Soviet Union surrender in 1942, and as the UK, I'm sort of lost at that point.

 

[Vohen]

Well, Expert AI is a different beast. I've used it a few times. My issue is that it's not always possible to stop the Germans before they take down the Soviet Union. AS the UK, I found it difficult, depending on how well the AI does, which varies from time to time. I had the Soviet Union surrender in 1942, and as the UK, I'm sort of lost at that point.

Then, again, something's off with balance.
But, again, that doesn't change the target, if it's off now, then their aim is to likely improve it in the next patch, probably by nerfing Germany with resistance mechanics.

 

[Dan1109]

I my experience if you don't do anything, the Soviets get taken down in 43 or 44. The point I was trying to make was that even entering the war in 1941, you really cannot do that much to stop the German eastward progression. I also invaded Italy in 43 in that game that I was referencing, and took most of Italy by 1944. The Axis starting dying in 1943, and a reversal of the German/Soviet front began to slowly progress, even though the Germans had Moscow. I think I was more or less fortunate in that game, as I have seen the USSR capitulate earlier than that. I also lend leased about as much as I could while trying to build up my army, this while keeping Japan at bay in Australia and New Guinea.

In some games, you just cannot do enough to slow the Germans down. In several of my UK games, I also had difficulty stopping the German progress in the east, even though I was lend leasing as much as I could while still trying to grow my army.

I'll assume you are not playing EAI, as GER has been quite weak since 1.8. SOV AI is pretty easy compared to the allies with numerous fronts to handle, you just need to have great production AI which EAI excels at. And EAI is the only mod I know that will make the AI do good LLing (even has a feature to direct your ENTIRE alliance to LL to a specific country). As the UK, you simply don't have the power to do it on your own, you need the USA's help. Requesting her forces (which should be well equipped, but may possibly had bad templates) should fulfill your own lackings. Of course the airpower is the most important part, and even in EAI, its very stingy on LLing aircraft (AI is usually, ALWAYS in the red on aircraft stockpiles) - and the MOST frustrating thing is seeing allied aircraft "awaiting orders" in a zone that you are getting massacred. However, as UK or USA, taking the pressure off is also done via Strat bombing. This diverts a lot of the Luftwaffe back to Western Europe, and you will begin over time to slow down the german war machine. Even if you are losing the Production cost war, its worth it to help SOV. Your production should continue to grow, GER's will begin to fall.

I do hope, the day that they get to the SOV Tree, they finally polish up the turd known as Lend Lease. It was vital to the Soviet offfensive (holding the line at Moscow and Stalingrad was their own doing, but hey, anything is possible if you throw human lives in front of bullets). Right now, the amount of materials that the US is allowed to produce, and CAN send via LL, is a rediculously insignificant amount. I can only recall one game where LLed seemed to make a difference, but honestly that is skewed because once I invaded ITA and took rome, a good chunk of the german army was diverted (which was historical).

Another thing that may be "balanced" out in La Resistance is western front garrisoning. As the suppression will now be done by off the board units, the AI can now properly garrison combat units on the Atlantic wall. This will make the initial landings more difficult (and it NEVER is), and take the heat off the Soviet Union prior to D-Day. Right now, the germans can literally put their entire army on the Eastern Front, which is a far cry of what really happened.

 

[Enriador]

Hoping India be able to create its own faction. It has been 3+ years since their (honestly, half-baked) tree launched.

It's the only tag that cannot get the "Can Create Factions" rule. Clearly an oversight, and Bag of Tricks normally covers stuff like this.