Home Trending Latest threads New posts Developer diaries

"How the heck do you play this game?!" A simple tutorial AAR

Jump to latest Follow Reply
  • We have updated our Community Code of Conduct. Please read through the new rules for the forum that are an integral part of Paradox Interactive’s User Agreement.
Azugal said:
Wow, this seems like a great AAR to learn the game. I'll have to actually load the game up tomorrow and play through (bought the game ages ago, but couldn't get into it), but it makes a great read, even without the game running.
Click to expand...

I had tried to play HoI2, and just couldn't figure things out. Then, a year after I bought the game, I found this AAR. I'm having a blast now! :) I'm up to November 1940, using my TACs to level England, and just waiting for the mud to clear in 1941 to go to war with the Soviet Union :) If I had been ready, I could have even done Sealion in 1940, as England doesn't have very many units on their island at all.

One of the nice things about this AAR is that you have some wiggle room in 1940. In my game, Nationalist Spain beat Republican Spain, and after their war, I invited NS into the Axis. The idea was for NS to take Gibraltar, although I didn't MC them. Unfortunately, France and the UK were beating them up pretty badly, and I had to go help them after the Vichy France event. But that also let me take Gibraltar away from the UK, and it was fun watching all the Italian ships head out into the Atlantic after that :)

So I didn't go to war with Yugoslavia until August 1, but annexed them on August 18, which was only a little over a month's time from Ironhead's annexing of Yugoslavia. Since there is that wiggle room, I'm still on track for invading Russia in May 1941 :)

BTW, be sure to read this thread from after the last of Ironhead's instructions (page 13 or so I think?), since there are a lot of questions answered, for example why Romania won't ally with you, and when they finally will. Also, you should be playing at least Doomsday version 1.3. You'll have problems if you just have vanilla HoI2. I'm using Armageddon version 1.2, and it's working out great going along with this AAR. The Hearts of Iron Anthology, which includes HoI, HoI2, Doomsday and Armageddon can be found online for purchase. Don't use the 1.3 patch for Armageddon with this AAR, as the patch changes things enough that I think it would be tough to follow this AAR.

We all hope that the only reason we haven't heard from Ironhead 5 is because he's busy in real life.
 
Well, I am playing it with the 1.3a patch, and it doesn't seem too different to date. A few research items happening out of order, I seem to be struggling a little for supplies (without dipping into production, and trading for them is outrageously expensive,e specially with the need to keep metal and rare materials for my Industry), but all in all, so far (early 1937 so not even at war yet) it's reasonably close to the AAR.

Republican Spain won in my game, worse luck. Ah well, c'est la vie. I mean, um... Das ist Leben!

Anyways, back to the game!
 
AndonSage said:
In my game, Nationalist Spain beat Republican Spain, and after their war, I invited NS into the Axis.
Click to expand...

did ironhead suggest this? its just that i've always found spain to be a massive hindrance due to their complete inability to defend their coast against the US.
 
I just finished the AAR...very fun!:) I guess now I have to think for myself for the rest of the war...

I have so for after "bitter Peace" put half my troops on the Persian border & half on the English channel coastline. thinking I will invade England & in the east either go for china or the middle east...haven't made up my mind east yet..

I have also taken this time to do the english "Blitz" that Ironhead suggested in lesson 17. I didnt have the resouces back then, but have more than I need now!

with England I have read that I must use either a marine invasion or land a paratrooper division on Norwich at night. I have neither, so Im gonna have to do some more infantry research & build new divisions...

I must also add that I did very poorly in the submarine campaign. I pretty much lost my whole fleet of submarines to the british navy!! I just didnt micro manage it enough during my land campaigns, & I paid for it.

One final thought. I wonder what techs are people researching after Ironheads last recomendation.
 
BritishImperial said:
did ironhead suggest this? its just that i've always found spain to be a massive hindrance due to their complete inability to defend their coast against the US.
Click to expand...

Really? I find that when I MC them they perform better. They're always the best performing troops of the Axis minors in my games.
 
BritishImperial said:
did ironhead suggest this? its just that i've always found spain to be a massive hindrance due to their complete inability to defend their coast against the US.
Click to expand...

Here is what Ironhead 5 said about Nationalist Spain, in response to my questions:

From Post #285:
Each game, the Nationalists have about a 50% chance of winning. Trading with them does not have anything more than a negligible influence on their chances of winning. If the Nationalists win, little about Germany's game changes. The only possible aberration is that Germany can try to entice Nat Spain to join the Axis, in which case Nat Spain (or you) can capture Gibraltar and open up the Mediterranean to your U-boats. I will edit this in.
Click to expand...

From Post #300:
3. Nat Spain will take Gibraltar on their own, although if you want to send your own soldiers in their to help them you can - Gibraltar, being a mountain province, takes a long time to subdue, so it is good experience for your generals. I don't think I have ever seen them invade southern France on their own, and I think that's because they are programmed not to accept invitations to join the Axis until 1941. Frnce should be subjugated by then.
Click to expand...

In my game, not only didn't Nationalist Spain take Gibraltar on their own, but the UK had taken six provinces by the time I got down there to help NS :rofl: It was ok, though, since I ended up taking Gibraltar, thus allowing Italy to get her ships out into the Atlantic.

As of Jan 1941, I haven't had any problems with the USA invading Nationalist Spain.
 
Gunsmoke said:
One final thought. I wonder what techs are people researching after Ironheads last recomendation.
Click to expand...

I haven't gotten to the end of the AAR yet, but one thing I know I'll be working on is Escort Fighters (Aircraft) for my TACs. Another one is Advanced Submarine Operations Doctrine (Naval Doctrines), which is a 1942 tech. Of course, if you don't have any subs left, you might not need that one, hehe.

*EDIT* I forgot another tech you'll want... Strategic Destruction Doctrine. Although the units helped directly are STR and TRA, which you don't have, it also gives Strategic Bombardment Efficiency: +50.0%, which helps your TACs with bombing the heck out of England :)
 
Last edited:
Strategic redeployment

Good day all you fine members of the forum.

It is really great to read your posts and what you struggled with and how you overcame them. I have just conquered Poland and I don't think my war machine and production line and upgrades are running as smoothly as they should...

Here is my questions though: I am playing HOI2 1.3a without DD and ARMA (So that would be Vanilla?) and now I need to "strategically redeploy" my troops from the new eastern part of Germany to Kassel on the western front. But I can't... I've tried shift-right click, the drop-down menu to issue the order, but it just doesn't happen... Is that a version thing?

Secondly I can't seem to click on the "do not upgrade button" because it is not there. Is this a version thing or maybe because there are no newer models availeble so I don't have the option?

Thanks for all your guidance and help guys!
 
Uzziel said:
Here is my questions though: I am playing HOI2 1.3a without DD and ARMA (So that would be Vanilla?) and now I need to "strategically redeploy" my troops from the new eastern part of Germany to Kassel on the western front. But I can't... I've tried shift-right click, the drop-down menu to issue the order, but it just doesn't happen... Is that a version thing?

Secondly I can't seem to click on the "do not upgrade button" because it is not there. Is this a version thing or maybe because there are no newer models availeble so I don't have the option?
Click to expand...

I think "Vanilla" is generally considered to mean without MODs. So you play HOI2 1.3a Vanilla, but one could also play HOI2 + DD + ARMA Vanilla.

I have never played HOI2 without DD or ARMA, so I cannot comment on the version thing. Hope someone else does that for you!

EDIT: You can only strat. redeploy with the rear area supply dump tech. You should have researched that if you followed the AAR, but maybe you can check to make sure.
 
Uzziel:

Once you get to the drop down menu for strategic redeployment option, try backing off the shift key before selecting SR. Watch for the grayed-out buttons to go black after you back off of shift, then select. Also (and this may be Mac specific) I need to hit CTRL- right click to get the drop down screen to drop down. But, as Beekmans says, the buttons will not be enabled out until you research Rear Area.
 
i'm thinking back about two years of my short life here, but i dont remember those 'do not upgrade' etc buttons being in original HoI2. i think they were new with doomsday.
 
Why do I need 40 consumer goods and he only needs 32? I downloaded the patch he linked me to, any ideas? I have reinstalled my game and done this a few times, any ideas? This is driving me crazy

Also how can I get my name changed?
 
Uzziel said:
Here is my questions though: I am playing HOI2 1.3a without DD and ARMA (So that would be Vanilla?) and now I need to "strategically redeploy" my troops from the new eastern part of Germany to Kassel on the western front. But I can't... I've tried shift-right click, the drop-down menu to issue the order, but it just doesn't happen... Is that a version thing?
Click to expand...

Use Ctrl-right-click, not shift-right-click.
 
jmb said:
Why do I need 40 consumer goods and he only needs 32? I downloaded the patch he linked me to, any ideas? I have reinstalled my game and done this a few times, any ideas? This is driving me crazy

Also how can I get my name changed?
Click to expand...
My guess would be through trades. He's probably trading for those "missing" 8 consumer goods.
 
squigian said:
Can someone give me a brief explanation of what the intelligence/diplomacy bonuses actually mean? i.e. stuff like 'Coup Nation: -900 (-1000)' and 'Offer Alliance: -50 (-100)'. I've been playing HoI for a while now but this has always bothered me, if not affected my playing (in an ostensible way, that is).
Click to expand...

It refers to the money cost of those actions. The way they are applied is somewhat confusing though. I believe that the number in parenthesis is the base cost not counting other modifiers, and the number on the left is the new cost also not taking into account other modifiers. So if you see -50(-100) for offer alliance, what it means is that that minister will reduce the cost of offering an alliance by 50% on top of any other cost modifiers.
 
I have just started to invade the Netherlands, Belgium and France. My ARM however gets counter-attacked when approaching Paris and defeated...Anything I can do about this? Also France is attacking from their southern provinces and I can't hold them. Should I move some forces from Aachen? I think I can, but not sure if they are needed there later.

Also the ARM has three great leaders, all of which are Lt-Gen. Should I promote one, because my 2 ARM in the last province before Paris (Begins with a "T"...?) gets penalty due to leader only able to command three divs...?
 
Last edited:
Uzziel said:
I have just started to invade the Netherlands, Belgium and France. My ARM however gets counter-attacked when approaching Paris and defeated...Anything I can do about this? Also France is attacking from their southern provinces and I can't hold them. Should I move some forces from Aachen? I think I can, but not sure if they are needed there later.
Click to expand...

I suggest moving up INF to help your ARM. The forces used to take out the Netherlands and Belgium are not used for anything else until after France is defeated, so feel free to move them as needed, once you've taken those countries.

If the French are attacking into Stuttgart and Freiburg from the Maginot line, use the INF in Saarbrücken to attack south into Strasbourg and Mulhouse to cut off the French divisions from their supply, which will make it much easier to defeat them (no supply is a -20 modifier). Choose one province to protect (e.g. Stuttgart), and use the INF from the other province (e.g. Freiburg) on Support Defense (so they move quicker) to combine the two province's forces. Once you've cut off the supply for the French forces, you shouldn't have any problem defeating them.

Uzziel said:
Also the ARM has three great leaders, all of which are Lt-Gen. Should I promote one, because my 2 ARM in the last province before Paris (Begins with a "T"...?) gets penalty due to leader only able to command three divs...?
Click to expand...

You certainly can promote if needed, especially von Manstein, who will get promoted to Field Marshall before Operation Barbarossa, anyway. Is one of your HQ's in Reims yet? If so, it will help forces attacking from Compiègne and Troyes. In my game, once I was past those two provinces, it wasn't until I reached Argentan that I used multiple panzer corps for attack support, and the battles were over quickly, even with negative modifiers. I had brought up an INF corps to defend Paris, and used the panzer corps in Paris to help the northern panzer corps move into Argentan from Le Havre, which then turned north (to Caen and Cherbourg) while the panzer corps in Paris moved west (into Orléans and beyond).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back