How many different playthroughs are there in HoI4 ?

[Mantriel]

I bought the game recently and I am still only just playing Italy (I think I finally managed to get to a level that I might be able to have a reasonable chance to reform the Roman empire) and I was wondering:

Q. 01.: How many playthroughs, or different games are there with only just the base game without the DLC?

I figured there are 8 "highlighted" nations in the base game (no DLC), you can play them all (I think) as Axis or Allies (that's 16) and some as Commintern. On top of that you can do a couple of achievement runs too. Let's say that's (at least) 20 different playthroughs.

And the DLCs add more mission trees and alternate historical focus trees.

Q. 02.: How many are there with all of the DLCs approximately?

I am guesstimating over 100 without achievement runs.

 

[LordWahu]

Base game doesn't have most of the alt history paths, so it's pretty much limited to the 7 highlighted nations (and France only half counts). Aside from the potential Germany/USSR alliance, or "can you save France" there isn't that much variance from historical. While some of them have different paths without the DLCs, they tend to be either "historical" or "slightly more/less aggressive than historical"

But once you get to the DLCs...

AFAIK there are 4 paths minimum for each major (except Italy...for the next few months). Most of them have one for each ideology, then more for potential sub paths. The USSR is one exception to that as it doesn't have a democratic path, but it has like...9 paths total, so it doesn't really lose out

Dominion minors get 3 or 4 each

Eastern Europe gets 3 ish each (Not counting BftB which I don't own)

Spain has 4

Portugal 3 or 4

Mexico has what...5, 6?

Each Chinese state has 3, but one of them gives you a new experience depending on which state you start with. The content is the same but the challenge varies wildly. Communist and Nationalist Chinas have their own thing going on I think, so that's another few

I know I'm forgetting a few, but suffice to say it's a lot. And that's just on focus trees. Each nation and their tree interacts vastly differently with the tech, and therefore the various strategies you develop, giving you extra playthroughs as you find out what strat you like best



And then there are the mods. Oh the mods


The final answer: Pretty much more than you will ever actually do

 

[Hoi Neuling]

Belongs if you all have DLCs or not. If you have all with every Country 3 to 4 Playthrougs (1 historicaly and 2 to 3 a-historicaly) then about 100+.

 

[Trans_Atlantic_Drawl]

It's also worth mentioning that each major update tends to shake things up enough to make replaying older content worth it. After the release of No Step Back some of my best games were with the UK, a country I had played countless times before and hasn't seen a focus tree update since Man the Guns. The new supply system and officer corps really made me rethink my old strategies, and I had a lot of fun with the new tank designer.

So I guess what I'm saying is, you can estimate the number of playthroughs you'll get for your money and multiply it again once the next big patch rolls out with BBA.

 

[jacekgk]

Dominion minors get 3 or 4 each

Eastern Europe gets 3 ish each (Not counting BftB which I don't own)

Spain has 4

Portugal 3 or 4

Mexico has what...5, 6?

Each Chinese state has 3, but one of them gives you a new experience depending on which state you start with. The content is the same but the challenge varies wildly. Communist and Nationalist Chinas have their own thing going on I think, so that's another few

Exactly. From NSB it is even more - for example, Poland has a tons of possibilities: few monarchist paths, shared democratic / communist ones, when You can decide - You want to be closer to Stalin or not, historical routes, etc. BftB (maybe not my favourite DLC from few reasons, but still cool) is more confusing, but if You like shennanigans, You get a encridible flexible countries. Like Bulgaria: You start as nonaligned, You can go democratic path, kill Your tsar and establish fascist goverment I like meme paths, so this is a really good work for me. Even oldest DLC's gives You few ways - for example as Communist China in Mao's path You can decide, if You want to help Nationalist against Japan or - on the contrary.
I have somewhere doc with paths I have never touched and I see, how many playthroughs I can get already My opinion is that HOI4 without DLC is like a demo - still cool and playable, but just demo.

 

[Kimberly]

I think there are a few different play situations, and you encounter multiple through a campaign but probably not all of them:

• An industrial country with many research slots versus a country with few factories and research slots
• Warfare in territory dense with supply nodes versus territory where they are sparse or nonexistent
• Warfare where difficult terrain is optional versus where it is unavoidable
• Naval warfare
• The need for naval invasions
• The need to conquer specific resources to keep your war machine going

In my view different focus trees don't actually make a significant gameplay difference so I wouldn't count them as different playthroughs. They're pre-set stories that you know before you even unpause.

 

[Harin]

I have all the DLC's and on steam it shows 152 achievements available.

You can try different buildups as playthroughs. For example, some players have played Germany many times just to see how many things they can build before a specific date. Some goals are how many factories, others are how many planes, etc...

Some players like to see how new military ideas play out. For example, an all infantry army, or no planes, or lots of strategic bombers, or lots of tanks, different division templates like space marines, etc...

Some players like to try a turtle defense. Others a world conquest.

Some like to try the harder settings. Some like to add bonuses on top of the harder settings.

Some play with a new goal in mind, like using the spy tools to take down a country.

As the poster above said, the mods!

There are a lot of playthroughs available in SP. I suspect playing MP would open the door to many more.