Is Heart of Iron 3 worth playing anymore?

[Kovax]

Pops, as in population, but unlike HOI where it's a single generic number nationwide, in Vicky2, it represents any specific combination of ethnicity, religion, and occupation in a particular province: a North German Protestant Miner in Kiel, for example. Some provinces might have 8-10 different Pops, others might have 30 or more due to an ethnic mix of 3 or 4 cultures. HOI really could use a much simplified version of Pops in the provinces to represent the balance of various ethnicities, rather than having the "all or nothing" Core mechanism to determine how strongly a province supports its current owner. Those ethnic balances were the underlying driving forces behind the war, even though it was ideology that turned those desires for unification into military action. Without the ethnic issues, much of what happened historically really doesn't make sense, and doesn't have in-game motivations to happen without scripting and special events to force it along in the right direction.

...not that Vicky2 is anywhere near perfect, since the economy often goes "belly up" in the late game as the steadily increasing demand for goods and services by the world's Pops far outstrips their ability to afford them.

As soon as I finish up the current Vicky2 campaign I'm playing, I'll be back to HOI3. There's still plenty of reason to play HOI3 (despite its problems), and HOI4 really doesn't seem like something I'd enjoy.

 

[Orielis]

Would it be safe to assume that Victoria I and Victoria II bear a similar relationship to HOI1, HOI2, HOI3?

 

[Kovax]

Probably reasonably safe, although I haven't played Victoria I or HOI2. Just bear in mind that Vicky is primarily an empire builder, with combat as just one of several options for expansion, while in HOI, the game is all about The War, with the political and economic aspects merely building up for and supporting that.

 

[marxianTJ]

If you mean to say that Vicky 1 and Hoi2 are fairly similar in the ways that hoi3 and vicky 2 are similar then I *suppose* you may have something there.

The maps look fairly similar, they run the same on modern machines being from the same engine, etc. Vicky 1 ---) vicky 2 is not nearly the change that hoi2 was to 3, but vicky 2 is it's own game in enough ways that vicky1 still has its die-hards. As does hoi2 lol.

 

[GarfunkeL]

The difference between Vicky 1 and Vicky 2 is more like between HoI 1 and HoI 2. HoI 3 is quite a different beast, which is why HoI 2 still has its ardent fans. There aren't many reasons to play Vicky 1 over Vicky 2, just like there aren't many reasons to play HoI 1 over HoI 2. But that's just my opinion and I'm not a Vicky expert, I've only dabbled in them.

 

[Pat L]

I own both HoI4 and HoI3. The fact is I prefer HoI3 over HoI4. Closer to old wargames. Lot of depth. Couple of issues in vanilla versions though that any good MOD will allow you to get rid of.

Starting with ITA or USA is a good way to get accointed with the game. Both offer you land and navy and will thus allow you to test every aspects of the game.

Thanks for the advice. Love this game. Just bought it.

 

[Paglia]

Thanks for the advice. Love this game. Just bought it.

If you are looking for a good MOD, you can try mine
(always good to self-advertised... lol)

 

[Kovax]

Thanks for the advice. Love this game. Just bought it.

I hope you bought either the whole package deal, or else the base game and Semper Fi expansion. Without at least the first expansion, it's pretty close to broken, and that's WITH the patches.

 

[Pat L]

I hope you bought either the whole package deal, or else the base game and Semper Fi expansion. Without at least the first expansion, it's pretty close to broken, and that's WITH the patches.

Thanks for your post. I bought the HOI3 Complete CD game with SF and FTM expansion from Amazon. A monster game I must say.

 

[Count Blue]

Thanks for your post. I bought the HOI3 Complete CD game with TFH and FTM expansion from Amazon. A monster game I must say.

Welcome to the club.

 

[Pat L]

Welcome to the club.

Thank you! Look forward to reading the posts by you guys! Lots of generals and senior officers here>. I am just a recuit.

 

[Kovax]

Thank you! Look forward to reading the posts by you guys! Lots of generals and senior officers here>. I am just a recuit.

The key point to note is that its not just about "# Messages", although that provides rank, it's "Joined", and the comparison of the two figures. After well over a decade of playing and posting, one would certainly hope that they had learned something worth passing on. "Joined Yesterday" combined with "3 Messages" gives me a clear picture of a new player to the series, while "Joined yesterday" combined with "87 Messages" (spamming pointless posts merely to gain rank) would tell me something very different from "Joined 2010" and "3 Messages" (lurker, but possibly an experienced player).

 

[Proutix]

Best way to learn the game => give entire controll to AI. Look at what it is trying to do. Next game, let AI manage eveything but manage your production and your units deployments. Next game manage production and see warfare, just dont attach naval units to Theatre. The next game manage every warfare and production, let AI handle Tech, Diplo and Intel.

Once you feel ok, go through the tech tree, read everything, learn what is most important to research compare to what you lacked to your previous game. And only then go through diplo and intel, which are the less important things cause paradox didnt went through seriously.

 

[Pat L]

Thanks guys! Hey this forum is full of very friendly people!!

 

[Kovax]

First game, see what the AI does. Second game, do whatever the AI DOESN'T do, and you'll probably be fine. Seriously, though, the AI is not the best example of "what to do". If you've ever watched a group of ants with a piece of food, where 40% of the ants are pulling it toward the nest, 20% of the ants are tugging it to the left, 20% to the right, and 20% completely in the wrong direction, the net pull is slightly more in the right direction, and the food inexorably moves in the general direction of the nest, but it's extremely inefficient. That's about how the AI works.

Learning the game one step at a time is a good method, which is why it's frequently suggested to start out with an industrialized minor country like Sweden, Brazil, Hungary, or Romania. You get to manage the economy and get a feel for the basics before having to deal with garrisons in overseas bases, supply routes, widely scattered fleets, international politics, or much of anything else but adjusting your production sliders and trading to balance your resources versus cash (selling surplus resources and/or supplies for resources you need). Once you can do that, your second try can be something harder, like Germany or Italy. Germany is balanced to provide a decent "tutorial" game, where it provides tips and goals to work toward (check the diplomatic screen and the available Decisions to see what you need to do to implement them), at least until the Soviet Union gets involved, then it turns into a more challenging task. Italy starts out with a small "training war" in Ethiopia, so you can get your feet wet in the combat side of the game before diving head-first into WWII. The other frequent suggestion is simply "sink or swim", and dive right in. After a few failures, you'll hopefully figure out what you did wrong and fix it.

Since Trade, Espionage, and Diplomacy can have a very significant impact on the game, I NEVER delegate these functions to the AI, otherwise it simply does whatever offers the best short-term gain and ignores any sense of long-term strategy. Normally, trade deals provide increased Relations, which not only makes it easier to make further deals, but provides a small amount of diplomatic drift toward whichever faction you are a part of (if you're in a faction). That drift can be a small but continuous and inexpensive force (free, after you pay the initial cost of 2 Diplomats for the trade deal) drawing other countries away from the opposing factions, and amplifies the effectiveness of direct political Influence (which is expensive in terms of scarce Leadership points). Once you learn how to use the tools as integral parts of a combined effort to lure and/or coerce nations into your grasp, the haphazard and short-sighted approach of the AI is almost painfully wasteful to watch. Learning by watching the AI can mislead you.

 

[Gnorf]

Same with let's plays on Youtube tbh, most of them are quite bad at the game and you'll pick up a lot of bad habits by trying to emulate them.
I can recommend @misterbean's AAR if you want to learn

 

[Animum24]

If you are looking for a good MOD, you can try mine
(always good to self-advertised... lol)

It was successful.
Downloaded your mod and find it really interesting. Love the additional units and the slight rebalance so far.
I don't like the map when it's zoomed out though, but it doesn't really matter since I normally play zoomed in.

Sigh... now I've got your mod to play, even though I'm in the middle of a very entertaining run, which I'm writing an AAR about.
Maybe when I've finished my AAR, I will write one with your mod installed.

 

[Paglia]

It was successful.
Downloaded your mod and find it really interesting. Love the additional units and the slight rebalance so far.
I don't like the map when it's zoomed out though, but it doesn't really matter since I normally play zoomed in.

Sigh... now I've got your mod to play, even though I'm in the middle of a very entertaining run, which I'm writing an AAR about.
Maybe when I've finished my AAR, I will write one with your mod installed.

Hahaha ! If you do write an AAR, keep me informed. I'll follow it with interest. Good luck in your game.

 

[Dannythewolf]

I still keep playing HOI3-TFH, although I bought HOI4.
I like better HOI3-TFH under nearly all points of view.
HOI4 has some new features, such as National Objectives and Division Building, that are really useful. HOI3-TFH is more complicated, but pehraps I like better it BECAUSE it's more detailed and complicated : I like micro-management. Obviously, if you don't have at least 1000+ hours of gameplay with HOI3-TFH, you can't really enjoy it.

 

[Kovax]

Q: Is Heart of Iron 3 worth playing anymore?
A: No, but it's not worth playing any less. I still dedicate the same excessive amounts of time to it now as I did a year or two ago.