HoI5

[Fletz]

I am sorry, i am not 100% sure if this thread is in the right Subforum, but if i am totally wrong, please bring it where it belongs.

However, I am writing because i want to discuss how future HoIs should be and what I dislike and like about HoI. I try to keep it short and simple. I just wanna know about your opinions.

First of all, Hoi4 is great in many ways (Production, Research, graphics, little details and so on) and i really appreciate the ongoing improvement of HoI4. The "preparing for war"-phase is great and motivating. But after all, i still just cant enjoy Hoi4 after '39 when the War breaks out. I feel so unengaged and overwhelmed and just tell the battleplanner what to do. Leading & commanding Armies was so much more satisfiying in HoI2. Hoi3 without the Hoi4-Battleplanner was already more work than fun because of the huge amount of provinces and divisions.

What i wish for future HoI? A System where the Player has the overview and control like in HoI2 (it was possible because there were so few provinces) + all the possibilites of hoi4. A game where i tell my army to conquer the next province like in HoI2 and all the little battles like in Hoi4 happen more abstract.

Sorry for my quite modest try of telling what i want… I just despair with HoI4

 

[halvorni]

Respectfully disagree, but feel free to discuss. I actually like HoI4. For my own part I'd like to focus on the next patches and DLCs in order to make HoI4 as good as it can get before starting to think about the next.

 

[kettyo]

I think improving the battleplanner will do it.

Problem is it currently doesn't handle force concentration well. As your concentrated force advances the battleplanner will spread the 'front' out dispersing your units so you have to manually adjust it all the time which is indeed tiresome. Fixing this will probably need a new army order which aims to keep your army as concentrated as it is, it will stay let's say three provinces wide during advance. And we need another exploitation order to accompany this. And we need an AI which can use both well and so we have a WW2 game where concentrated breakthroughs indeed happen

 

[Fletz]

dear halvorni,

I agree in some way i actually like hoi4 too, but in some other way i miss the simple times of HoI2 (DH).

Usually i love it complex and difficult (like in Gary Grigsbys WitE) and if its about games I say: "More is better!"

Thats why I am confused why HoI4 does not motivate me in the same way like HoI2 even if i know that HoI4 offers so much more. Its mainly because I am feeling so unengaged and useless during the warfare... just correcting some little details (for example for encirclements) and more and more control of the whole warfare and after all my motivation to continue the game is blown away.

Its the first time as someone who always love to think about game design suggestions, that i have no plan how this could be different in a future HoI5 if the premise will still be "More is Better!" …

 

[Nyrael]

What's the point in discussing a game that will not come for 10 years at least? HoI4 uses the same update model as CK2, EU4 and Stellaris, meaning it will be getting numerous expansions for great many years instead of frequent sequels.

 

[Fletz]

I think improving the battleplanner will do it.

Problem is it currently doesn't handle force concentration well. As your concentrated force advances the battleplanner will spread the 'front' out dispersing your units so you have to manually adjust it all the time which is indeed tiresome. Fixing this will probably need a new army order which aims to keep your army as concentrated as it is, it will stay let's say three provinces wide during advance. And we need another exploitation order to accompany this. And we need an AI which can use both well and so we have a WW2 game where concentrated breakthroughs indeed happen

yes, but i dont know how to do it. i dont think that the current battleplanner is the solution for it. the handling of the grand warfare should be more like in HoI2 but the ongoing battles inside the province should be handled by an AI.

 

[Fletz]

What's the point in discussing a game that will not come for 10 years at least? HoI4 uses the same update model as CK2, EU4 and Stellaris, meaning it will be getting numerous expansions for great many years instead of frequent sequels.

I just wanted to let the developers know that HoI3 and 4 may went a little bit wrong and when they start developing a future HoI-like-Game (does not have to be HoI5) they may think about it.

 

[Fletz]

Ok. I see… it seems the users here respectfully disagree with my statement... so may i am "wrong", but i am satisfied with the hope that one of the responsible developer read it and think about it one day.

thank you!

 

[kettyo]

yes, but i dont know how to do it. i dont think that the current battleplanner is the solution for it. the handling of the grand warfare should be more like in HoI2 but the ongoing battles inside the province should be handled by an AI.

I did not play HOI2 so unfortunately can't compare.

I think the battleplanner can be improved but maybe needs a total rewrite. It was seemingly developed originally with a premise that you will use similar units for all types of tasks in which case the dynamic reshaping of fronts make sense but in reality you use very different units for different tasks so it fails too often.

 

[grandad1982]

The main things that I'd like to see change are the battleplanner and the way national focus trees work.

Of those two I think the only one that really would need to wait till the next hoi (so far in the future is barely worth thinking about) it's the national focus system. It can add nice flavour but it just isn't dynamic enough, or feels like to much of a straight jacket on the ai. I don't know maybe with decisions that dynamism can be added but so far it doesn't seem to have happened.

 

[adam_grif]

Regardless of any specific design decision, I feel that the technical back-end of the game needs to be reconsidered and possibly undergo a more serious overhaul than has happened in the past. I understand that core scaling can be difficult, but the present state of the game where even after several optimization passes it bogs down top spec processors quite badly is a real friction point for me. It really would be a great improvement if the Clauzewitz engine (or a future successor) could scale more evenly across cores. Currently it certainly does utilize several, but it still thrashes the 1-2 main threads very hard and that causes a large bottleneck.

 

[BeauNiddle]

Ok. I see… it seems the users here respectfully disagree with my statement... so may i am "wrong", but i am satisfied with the hope that one of the responsible developer read it and think about it one day.

thank you!

A lot if it comes down to immersion, unfortunately there is no one definition of immersion and everybody has their own threshold.

Some people want more news story. Some people want the tech groups back, or practicals from HOI3. Some say fuel or political subgroups or ... etc. Lots of people have put forward their own idea of why they don't feel immersed in the new version unfortunately that's all people can offer opinions.

Me personally I get so immersed into the game I forget to eat so it's not a universal thing.