Newb Questions ...

[piratefish]

Considering purchasing HoI IV, but I have a few questions I am hoping some of you could answer for me first:

1. First, the big one - I know next to nothing about STEAM and am very hesitant to use it. My only experience with it to date was when I bought the Shogun Total War 3 game through STEAM a few years back. IIRC, I had to sign in to STEAM and play online, which I really did not care for. I want something I can download directly to my PC and play offline whenever I want - no signing in/on needed.
2. Is the feel of HoI IV closer to Arsenal of Democracy/HoI 2, or closer to HoI 3? I greatly prefer the mechanics and feel of HoI 2/Arsenal of Democracy. I was not a big fan of the army structure and play of 3. Also, I strongly prefer using NATO style counters in my games - makes things feel more like an actual general plotting strategy at HQ. The sprites feel too much like a junior high kid playing with cartoon characters.
3. How is the map? Are there more provinces relative to HoI 2? I prefer more, but not so many to where it becomes tedious to manage.
4. What are some of your favorite features of HoI 4?
5. What are some of your least favorite HoI 4 features?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts and responses!

 

[elektrizikekswerk]

Considering purchasing HoI IV, but I have a few questions I am hoping some of you could answer for me first:

1. First, the big one - I know next to nothing about STEAM and am very hesitant to use it. My only experience with it to date was when I bought the Shogun Total War 3 game through STEAM a few years back. IIRC, I had to sign in to STEAM and play online, which I really did not care for. I want something I can download directly to my PC and play offline whenever I want - no signing in/on needed.
2. Is the feel of HoI IV closer to Arsenal of Democracy/HoI 2, or closer to HoI 3? I greatly prefer the mechanics and feel of HoI 2/Arsenal of Democracy. I was not a big fan of the army structure and play of 3. Also, I strongly prefer using NATO style counters in my games - makes things feel more like an actual general plotting strategy at HQ. The sprites feel too much like a junior high kid playing with cartoon characters.
3. How is the map? Are there more provinces relative to HoI 2? I prefer more, but not so many to where it becomes tedious to manage.
4. What are some of your favorite features of HoI 4?
5. What are some of your least favorite HoI 4 features?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts and responses!

I'm somewhat in a hurry, so I won't answer to 4 and 5. I think someone else will enjoy to answer these questions

1. You need Steam to download the game. Once you did you can play offline. I'm not sure if HoI can be launched without Steam (I guess it can), but you don't need to be online to launch Steam. In the past you had to configure steam to be able to be launched offline (somewhere in the settings). I'm not sure if this is still needed. But if my memory is correct you don't need that anymore.
In case you are (or get) interested in achievements you need to be online via Steam, though.
2. I only played 3 besides of 4, so can't say much in comparison to 2: Army strcuture is far more simplified in comparsion to 3 (you assign divisions to armies and give that armies their commanders, that's it more or less) and you can use NATO counters for all your units. Plus there are mods that add even more NATO counters (e.g. designated counters for the SS among others)
3. They're (afaik) far more but the amount feels right. I once took a look at the map of DH after playing HoI 3 (I think it's more or less the same map as in HoI2) and that map had awful few provinces. Didn't like it at all.

 

[Misaka_Complex]

4. What are some of your favorite features of HoI 4?
5. What are some of your least favorite HoI 4 features?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts and responses!

4. The part where you can do anything you want to change the history between 1936-1950.

5. The AI is terrible, just terrible and you can win even against the strongest setting AI simply because the AI is just too dumb.

 

[rcbricker33]

Considering purchasing HoI IV, but I have a few questions I am hoping some of you could answer for me first:

1. First, the big one - I know next to nothing about STEAM and am very hesitant to use it. My only experience with it to date was when I bought the Shogun Total War 3 game through STEAM a few years back. IIRC, I had to sign in to STEAM and play online, which I really did not care for. I want something I can download directly to my PC and play offline whenever I want - no signing in/on needed.
2. Is the feel of HoI IV closer to Arsenal of Democracy/HoI 2, or closer to HoI 3? I greatly prefer the mechanics and feel of HoI 2/Arsenal of Democracy. I was not a big fan of the army structure and play of 3. Also, I strongly prefer using NATO style counters in my games - makes things feel more like an actual general plotting strategy at HQ. The sprites feel too much like a junior high kid playing with cartoon characters.
3. How is the map? Are there more provinces relative to HoI 2? I prefer more, but not so many to where it becomes tedious to manage.
4. What are some of your favorite features of HoI 4?
5. What are some of your least favorite HoI 4 features?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts and responses!

1. you will need steam. After installation there will be an icon on your desktop, you can play off-line through this but not sure how to do so if you have a connection.
2. I did not like HOI3 very much mainly due to the OOB (and air warfare). That said it is unfair to all three games to compare them. I really enjoy HOI IV and the direction the game is going (still got a ways to go to be as mature as the other two though).
3. The map is bigger than HOI II but not too big. I actually think it could use some more sea zones.
4. Production, unit design and training, and the BP (though I use it in conjunction with micro).
5. the AI is still pretty basic but then again it was so with all the HOI releases. The devs are doing a great job supporting the game and suspect that we will see major improvements to playability in the next dlc.