HOI4 - Development Diary - September 23rd 2016

[Jeff_Ahl]

I've been requesting something along those lines for a while now. (See sig.)

Yes, and they have to fix it, it is so annoying! Alot of persons that I know playing HOI4 feels the same. We have to continue to make posts about it over and over again...until Paradox acknowledge the problem and fix it.

 

[just_a_beaver]

I feel like the drawings on the tank are an indication of patch names to come...

 

[Alex_brunius]

I dont really care that much about what is realistic or not to be honest. At least its not a very good argument for doing something gameplay wise. I do think at least a 1 level heirarchy would add a lot to gameplay as well as realism though. Field marshals sittign at the same level as generals atm feels a bit messy and doesnt really make you care so much about their traits

To be honest I think 2 levels could also add quite a bit of gameplay value if done right. More is probably not worth it. Even at 24 divisions it can be a bit difficult to keep track of divisions inside your army, so allowing subgroups of say 6 or 4 divisions each would make it fast and easy to build battle-plans ( assigning a corps of 6 tanks to one battleplan attack arrow in a single click for example without it needing a separate army ). I agree that doing field marshals first makes more sense though.

 

[Doctoxic]

Nice to see the expansion plans (and i am looking forward to them) but personally i would rather you fixed the base game and did quality of life and GUI improvements before moving onto them.

 

[Elwin00]

Will the French Entente Alliance see some benefits from the Allies/Commonwealth cooperation improvements? What's their intended standing, anyway? They are not really enemies, but perhaps competitors? Reluctant friends? Or just going about their own business?

 

[Starisc]

the percentage is for daily unique players playing MP. It moves around a bit as its daily, but sits roughly there

Wow, those are impressive numbers. When you first released this KPI, people here expected it to be share of users, who ever joined an MP session. 12% of DAU is very solid. Congratulations! @podcat Do you have comparable data from the EU4 launch (3 months after launch before first expansion?)

 

[Dakka]

And this DLC will be included in the marshall ed. ? I can't wait for this.

Should be the first of two and their associated content packs

 

[Xaelyn]

aww come on, I was aiming for at least 99% >;-D

Well you probably managed 99% of the forum base, you've just been let down by all the filthy steam casuals you've been (successfully) trying to cater to.

Can we expect much in the way of air war changes in 1.3? I can't be alone in thinking that of the three branches, land is the least in need of mechanical changes (though some ai and balance fixes are certainly necessary), whilst air could do with more or less a total revamp.

 

[Guest0999]

Is there any plan to include more battle statistics (number of tanks lost for example) on the War Summary report screen? This would really give some more insight on how costly a war is beyond just number of casualties, and I think a lot of people want something like this!

 

[just_a_beaver]

aww come on, I was aiming for at least 99% >;-D



yup

We ARE the 99%! Fight ahistorical Wall Street! Don't make deals with pseudo realistic companies that take 50% of the OOB!





(I dunno that was some random shit on my part haha )

 

[tom_jones]

How would aircraft carriers work in that situation, though?

I imagine you could have CVW template(s) (created in the unit planner, like other division/wing types) used to train the air wings, and then such wing could be assigned to selected carrier; as long as this wing remains assigned, it's 'transported' by the carrier around, similar to how regular divisions are moved through sea zones.

 

[Ibn_Solmyr]

1st DLC and main work of next big patch, all for Xmas if we're "lucky", and about Allies synergy and Japan-USA pacific war ? But :
- No Japan-USA war in the Pacific since Japan is only able to get destroyed in China and so never invades south-east Asia.
- Axis forces are quite weak yet.

And above all, as said previously, I'd really prefer that you make the game a minimum playable before planning a so far next improve, and before thinking about DLCs.

So, for the 3 next months, we'll keep :
- A German (for example) AI that keeps Paris 100% in revolt without any troops to secure anything ?
- An AI that declares war to anyone when not able to handle its actual front ?
- An AI that endlessly continues to make stupid small amphibious invasions without any mid-term vision ?

Really sad to hear...

 

[Mannstien]

To be honest I think 2 levels could also add quite a bit of gameplay value if done right. More is probably not worth it. Even at 24 divisions it can be a bit difficult to keep track of divisions inside your army, so allowing subgroups of say 6 or 4 divisions each would make it fast and easy to build battle-plans ( assigning a corps of 6 tanks to one battleplan attack arrow in a single click for example without it needing a separate army ). I agree that doing field marshals first makes more sense though.

Indeed, when the first stated there would be no OOB it didn't make sense to me, remove the HQ's from map ok fine, no bonuses for having a correct OOB in radio range ok fine, removing it completely as an excellent means to organize your fronts, theatres, and armies Not Ok...

 

[AradoX]

Long term, I think the air mechanics could really use a 'paradigm shift' to where an air wing is handled like the ground force division -- that is, you use the "division planner" to put squadrons (battalions) in groups (columns), use the existing unit training interface to crank them out, and then such units are attached to the current battle plans just like the ground force divisions, and handle support/bombing/interception in the marked/assigned area/province(s) accordingly.

So kind of similar to HOI3, but instead of having to make separate plan strikes for all your air units etc you just draw the fronts and their advances the regular HOI4 way, and assigned planes automatically get involved in fights along these fronts.

Yes +1 from me. Airwings moving along with fronts, would make it easier to handle, and thus more fun.
I also like your idea of handling prodution and training of air wings.

Edit: And thanks to the team for the continued support - with version 1.2 I'm already enjoying the game immensely!

 

[fabius]

Is there any plan to include more battle statistics (number of tanks lost for example) on the War Summary report screen? This would really give some more insight on how costly a war is beyond just number of casualties, and I think a lot of people want something like this!

Oh I hope so at some point. There's a tool tip in battle box where we see number of men. vehicles and artillery. But it doesn't seem to update to losses. I would love to see number of tanks lost etc.

Also

I plan the next expansion to focus on the core of the game - the land war

Can we get any clarification on the scope of expansion to the land war? Like will the core combat mechanics get some more love?
For example: I advocated for Artillery to be powerful. But without ammunition use being a factor it can lead to wacky divisions for min maxing.

Something like phased combat. Abstracted so early phases draw more on artillery; and long range tanks, support guns. Later stages, infantry, and esp infantry AT being more useful. Tactics and terrain being tied to phases. Like close assault more likely in Urban and Forrest.

So I guess my question is the combat mechanics getting some love at all or does focus on land war mean something else?

 

[podcat]

Can you tell us if you plan on adding more constraints to the NF system for the AI. Pretty much every game I play is in some way ruined because the AI took a war dec NF and used it despite being in no position to win that war.

Do report a bug with these with savegames and we can add checks, but you have to realize that to get any historical game AI must be forced to make stupid choices also or germany would never start ww2 and japan would never attack china or USA.

Wow, those are impressive numbers. When you first released this KPI, people here expected it to be share of users, who ever joined an MP session. 12% of DAU is very solid. Congratulations! @podcat Do you have comparable data from the EU4 launch (3 months after launch before first expansion?)

Sadly we have no metrics from back then I think. at least not ones I can read. MP play metrics on EU4 atm is about the same as HOI4.

- No Japan-USA war in the Pacific since Japan is only able to get destroyed in China and so never invades south-east Asia.
- Axis forces are quite weak yet.

You might be incredibly unlucky, but I see japan win in more than half my test games (being conservative here, its probably more around 70% tbh). I see germany beat soviets in roughly 50% of games and I havent seen them struggle before attacking soviets in weeks.
Are you basing this on the 1.2.1 patch?

 

[podcat]

Can we get any clarification on the scope of expansion to the land war? Like will the core combat mechanics get some more love?
For example: I advocated for Artillery to be powerful. But without ammunition use being a factor it can lead to wacky divisions for min maxing.

No, I was just hinting roughly at the next expansion to give you an idea for where we are going. Realistically we might be talking about this in late Q1 or such.

 

[BurdenedWarrior]

Looking good and excited for the updates. Definitely happy to see the island hopping ai high on the list.

 

[fabius]

No, I was just hinting roughly at the next expansion to give you an idea for where we are going. Realistically we might be talking about this in late Q1 or such.

Hey, thanks for your quick clarification. And to the team for efforts with latest patch- definitely see improvements with that.

 

[rcbricker33]

No, I was just hinting roughly at the next expansion to give you an idea for where we are going. Realistically we might be talking about this in late Q1 or such.

Are you all on a calendar year or a fiscal year?

Thanks for the update as always you all are doing a great job. Look forward to the DLC/Patch.

I will echo a need for a slightly deeper OOB (and I hated the OOB in HOI3).

I would also like the following to either have the ability to mod this in or you all to code it in...

NFs need to change based on ideology for all countries. I am fine with a generic set for the minors, and each of the majors to have their own sets. Basically if I go into a game and go Fascist UK, my focuses should no longer be the same as a democratic UK. This will also cause the AI to make more logical decisions once I have conquered Germany and forced them into the democratic line...at that point they should not still expansionist (or at least not as bad as when they were fascist).

Love the game, love the support.