How should I buy Hearts of Iron 4?

[RedLikeHack]

Hello everyone I don't know something so I just ask it.
I want to buy the Hearts of Iron IV with all epxension and dlcs. But I don't know how. If I buy the Original game and the Battle for Bosphorus, then I will get all of the Expensions and Dlcs like (Death or Dishonor, Man of the Guns etc.). Or I have to buy all dlcs and expensions. So If I buy the Battle for Bosphorus I can't reform the Austro Hungarian Monarchy? Becouse that is another dlc. Thank you the aswers.

 

[GSP Jr]

Basically, there are features and/or country content upgrades in each DLC. To have 'everything' you need to check all the boxes.

That being said, you may also find there are some strong opinions on the value of each DLC also.

I have them all, except the music one, and don't regret a penny.

 

[DocDesastro]

I think an analogy is in order:
The game behaves like a jigsaw puzzle. You want to play the whole puzzle, you need to buy the whole puzzle pieces. Or take a lot of time reading what DLC changed (usually in the annoucement area in this forum) what for free in the base game and what features are hidden behind the proverbial paywall or what features you can play after unlockng them with $ (buying the DLC). BFB adds focus trees for some balkan states (Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia) but seems to do nothing beyond that. La Resistance adds some unit types (recon planes/AV) and the spy mechanisms, MtG added the ship designer (AFAIK) and so on.
But keep in mind: The way the game is created/evolved is that new content has to be bought in form of a DLC (with some minor adjustments coming for free). I can only advise on doing the research on what does what if you do not want to buy the full monty.

 

[RedLikeHack]

So simply I have to buy all dlcs/expensions. After that I can play with the game and the focus trees of the nations which are not in the original game. If I just buy the original game and the Battle for Bosphorus, then I won't have Hungarian/Chinese/Indian focus trees. I need to buy the Death or Dishonor/ Man of the Guns, and a lot of another expensions to call back the Bonapartes family as an example?

 

[Synicus]

Correct.

 

[Kaosium]

So simply I have to buy all dlcs/expensions. After that I can play with the game and the focus trees of the nations which are not in the original game. If I just buy the original game and the Battle for Bosphorus, then I won't have Hungarian/Chinese/Indian focus trees. I need to buy the Death or Dishonor/ Man of the Guns, and a lot of another expensions to call back the Bonapartes family as an example?

Not right now you don't! You can get something known as the 'Mobilization Pack' which includes the base game and the first four expansions for about $40, then asll you have to add is 'La Resistance' and the 'Battle for the Bosporus' for about $10 each, so ~$62.50 plus tax for the whole kit and caboodle.

 

[MJAnderson]

The correct response is, you shouldn't. It's still a terrible game after all these years. looking at your profile you have only played CK2 which is leaps and bounds better than this game.

 

[walt526]

The DLCs go on sale several times a year, so one option would be to just buy the base game now and only purchase the DLC if you like it. The base game is perfectly playable.

 

[Evethor]

There is a big sale for HOI4 on steam now.
It ends on the 5th of january, so make up your mind before then and you can save a lot of money!

 

[Vlad123]

This thing about Albania reminds me of what Austria was like in the old Hoi, whatever you did, it got annexed (it was in faction with you, you protected it, it was at war by your side etc). But I think this thing about Albania is the usual oversight due to the fact that there is no real test in the game.

 

[Biges]

If you want to experience a tolerable AI (and not some kind of AI parody), the feeling of WW2 experience and save some serious cash along the way try the Darkest Hour. The facts the DH is still alive even after HoI3 and HoI4 says something itself.

You can get the game for a few bucks on GoG (without any annoying DRM or the Steam fat, fat client)... Hey, it is on 75 % sale right now for two euros

Darkest Hour: A Hearts of Iron Game

Developed by a team of experienced modders from the Paradox forum, Darkest Hour is a stan

www.gog.com

The game is discussed here on this very forum:

Darkest Hour

forum.paradoxplaza.com

A few bonuses of DH over HoI4:
- Better AI
- Research teams
- Supply lines are really important
- Policy sliders - You get that feel you play for a democracy or a totalitarian dictatorship from them, feel their effects...
- Ministers are always there from stars, no need to save some obscure political points to finally fill all the ministry positions at the end of the war

Or wait till HoI5 is announced and luckily the HoI4 and all its jigsaw puzzle pieces are put together in one box and not sold separately.

 

[Mirage2k]

It's a good game at its core, so with some caveats I can say that it's a fun game to learn. Downside is that it's not a fun game to master. Primarily because the AI is no challenge after the first campaign. Secondarily because 'mastering' is more about exploiting the broken pieces and meta strats. So if the expectation is to have 10-20 hours of WW2 grand strategy with the best war industrial system in a game so far, then Hoi4 delivers. If you're looking for 80+ hours of varied content to rival CK2, it will disappoint. So it depends on your expectations and price.

Multiplayer has great potential for longer term challenge and entertainment, but due to exploits and imbalances it's in practice mostly a game of making and enforcing rules. I have high hopes for the future, though! Modding support is good, so I'm sure there will be "How the game was meant to be" mods with balance and common sense fixes suitable for multiplayer soon after the devs let the more competent modders have a final version to gather around. There are some like that already, but they tend to be made by and for a particular multiplayer community with their own metagame and rulesets. Again, I believe it will materialize and that's all it needs for truly excellent multiplayer for years and years.

TL;DR; lot's of potential and a good game overall, just don't expect the longevity of singleplayer CK2.

 

[MJAnderson]

It's a good game at its core, so with some caveats I can say that it's a fun game to learn. Downside is that it's not a fun game to master. Primarily because the AI is no challenge after the first campaign. Secondarily because 'mastering' is more about exploiting the broken pieces and meta strats. So if the expectation is to have 10-20 hours of WW2 grand strategy with the best war industrial system in a game so far, then Hoi4 delivers. If you're looking for 80+ hours of varied content to rival CK2, it will disappoint. So it depends on your expectations and price.

I think the game's flaws at its core is why it can never excel. First all the non-historical paths and outcomes it tries to make possible really hamper the AI --- by trying to do so many things it does none of them well. Second is that it tries to simplify things too much, requiring compromises on basic concepts like supply lines, infrastructure, airspace, provinces vs. states, etc. It just needs to assume that the player will do a bit more to free up so much potential. Lastly core mechanics don't keep up with DLCs. I thought man the guns was a great expansion and creating the ships was fun, but I still can't create a fleet without a ton of manual intervention. What needs to get added with man the guns was the ability to manage a fleet --- I want 20 destroyers in this fleet, 7 of which are AA focused destroyers, 3 anti-sub and 10 torpedo. And I want older destroyers to be replaced by newer ones for my key fleets. Something as simple as assigning escort fleets to troop transports. With every DLC that core mechanics are left behind and become more and more frustrating.

I've played this game a lot and find I have a fun game about 1 in 5. Was on vacation for the holiday and started a Russia game. about 10 hours in I quit --- Italy took North Africa, the middle east and almost all of Africa. Japan took China, all the islands, dutch east indies, malaya, burma, NZ, Australia and Raj. Meanwhile the US and GB have about 70 divisions fighting in West Africa. US has no defense in the pacific and all their fleets are in the Atlantic. They have not moved a single division to the pacific. GB has fleets sitting at home while Germany is running convoys through the english channel unopposed. Japan has the largest military in the world, larger than Germany or Soviets due to an early win in China. I think it's 350 divisions at this point. I held Germany off to barely taking back any of the polish provinces and have killed about 2mm with a loss of 600k but Germany is fully self sufficient in rubber (synthetic), oil (Romania) and tungsten (portugal trade that is unopposed by allies). So maybe 2 more years of wearing their manpower down before they collapse. I'm actually sending lend/lease to the allies to try and keep them in the fight.