After a break from HOI4, I ended up playing 1.93 quite extensively, with more than ten full playthroughs until a peace conference (including all majors, and a few minors such as the Netherlands).
Let me start with the things I liked. Overall, I would say that this is the first time HOI4 felt truly complete. While one can argue that this time around the balance shifted a little too much in favor of the allies, it seems to me that this is a natural part of how the game evolves. But the overall behavior of all countries in historic mode (including Vichy France) now has a genuine feel to it. While the improved AI ability to make naval invasions was mentioned early on - I am not so sure if this particular aspect really reflects better AI or the lack of huge garrisons, which incidentally also defend against invasions. The allied AI did repeatedly impress me however, in adapting to my actions. If playing as the UK I was invading Italy, the US would land in Norway and France, for instance, and semed much more mindful of supply limits. This really made the game much more enjoyable.
So what are the issues? Well, one of the biggest ones is that at some point Italy reverted to the behavior of entering the war as soon as Germany invades on Poland rather than after the Germans at least cross the French border. This is not just a matter of flavor, but it sets up the Italian Navy for defeat against a combined British-French fleet, making it way too easy for the UK to secure the mediterranean later on. This is particularly important since the Italian AI insist on massing troops in Ethiopia rather than focusing on North Africa, ultimately leading to an almost inevitable collapse.
The other global problem is the extreme Allied focus on Europe. I have very rarely seen any country other than Australia being active in the Pacific at all. And when playing as Nat China, after defeating Japan, eliminating their entire army in the process, I saw them take all almost all of Asia (including India and Australia) less than a year later. It should be relatively straightforward to balance this a little better - in particular by deploying more US naval assets there.
And finally, a few details specific to La Resistance. Overall, both the spying and resistance systems seem to be working surprisingly well. There are a few quirks, though. In particular, territories often do not get handed over correctly, meaning that when control changes (in terms of the color of the map), the game remembers the previous owner. A simple example can be that US troops take the majority of a UK-controlled province, switching it to US control, but even as that happens, the British feel the effect of the resistance and need to garrison it. In this example, the issue can easily be fixed by giving control of the province to the US, which removes the resistance - but sometimes this leads to funny consequences. For instance, if China accepts the peace with Japan that releases Korea, it often leaves the latter as "Chinese occupied." And since AI China rarely goes democratic (at least early on), it means that there will eventually be a collaboration government in Korea. This surprised me at first, but I reproduced it playing as China.
Among minor issues, I never saw a spy with the linguist trait acquire a nationality. If this was just bad luck - the odds need to be adjusted. Also, the progress of some diplomatic spy missions resets on reload, which is a little annoying if one wants to save and quit for the day.
But in general, it was very nice DLC and I am looking forward to future developments!
Let me start with the things I liked. Overall, I would say that this is the first time HOI4 felt truly complete. While one can argue that this time around the balance shifted a little too much in favor of the allies, it seems to me that this is a natural part of how the game evolves. But the overall behavior of all countries in historic mode (including Vichy France) now has a genuine feel to it. While the improved AI ability to make naval invasions was mentioned early on - I am not so sure if this particular aspect really reflects better AI or the lack of huge garrisons, which incidentally also defend against invasions. The allied AI did repeatedly impress me however, in adapting to my actions. If playing as the UK I was invading Italy, the US would land in Norway and France, for instance, and semed much more mindful of supply limits. This really made the game much more enjoyable.
So what are the issues? Well, one of the biggest ones is that at some point Italy reverted to the behavior of entering the war as soon as Germany invades on Poland rather than after the Germans at least cross the French border. This is not just a matter of flavor, but it sets up the Italian Navy for defeat against a combined British-French fleet, making it way too easy for the UK to secure the mediterranean later on. This is particularly important since the Italian AI insist on massing troops in Ethiopia rather than focusing on North Africa, ultimately leading to an almost inevitable collapse.
The other global problem is the extreme Allied focus on Europe. I have very rarely seen any country other than Australia being active in the Pacific at all. And when playing as Nat China, after defeating Japan, eliminating their entire army in the process, I saw them take all almost all of Asia (including India and Australia) less than a year later. It should be relatively straightforward to balance this a little better - in particular by deploying more US naval assets there.
And finally, a few details specific to La Resistance. Overall, both the spying and resistance systems seem to be working surprisingly well. There are a few quirks, though. In particular, territories often do not get handed over correctly, meaning that when control changes (in terms of the color of the map), the game remembers the previous owner. A simple example can be that US troops take the majority of a UK-controlled province, switching it to US control, but even as that happens, the British feel the effect of the resistance and need to garrison it. In this example, the issue can easily be fixed by giving control of the province to the US, which removes the resistance - but sometimes this leads to funny consequences. For instance, if China accepts the peace with Japan that releases Korea, it often leaves the latter as "Chinese occupied." And since AI China rarely goes democratic (at least early on), it means that there will eventually be a collaboration government in Korea. This surprised me at first, but I reproduced it playing as China.
Among minor issues, I never saw a spy with the linguist trait acquire a nationality. If this was just bad luck - the odds need to be adjusted. Also, the progress of some diplomatic spy missions resets on reload, which is a little annoying if one wants to save and quit for the day.
But in general, it was very nice DLC and I am looking forward to future developments!
- 4
- 3
- 2
