"Pearl Harbor Gambit" NF virtually useless

[Dean3000]

Hi all,

First off, I love HOI IV. The immersion, the detail, just all the other things I have yet to experience in game (looking at you, nuclear bomb) keep me coming back.

However, having already played the Soviet Union through to the end war game which for me, disappointedly ended in 1942, i decided to go over to America to get myself a better challenge.

The challenge is there, definitely. I cannot tell you how much it aches me to see the war unfurl in Europe without some good ol' Democracy present in 1940-41. I don't mind the wait, really - the satisfaction of going through the Depression would pay off for me - if it wasn't for how ridiculously easy it is for Japan to DOW on you at the same time.

Navy is not a problem for me, that I am working on. My issue is that in comparison to the Japanese NF "Strike at the USA!", the "Pearl Harbour Gambit" NF (which for me, a player that prefers to play ahistorically) is far too difficult and long winded to attain. That is if even you can attain it, because not only are you thrown required world tension, but then also are the chances that Japan will just get their CB on you first - rendering it absolutely useless.

Has anyone else felt or feel this way? Because I really do want to continue playing. Thanks all

 

[browd]

Don't bother with the Pearl Harbor gambit. It's too much of a slog to get to and there is too much else the USA needs (another historical focus that I always skip is Destroyers for Bases -- its quite historical, but walled too far away to be of practical use). The Japanese will usually launch their surprise attack by early 1942 (sometimes in December 1941), but in any event the UK will invite you to their faction around that time anyway (or you can join their faction as you please), so you can time your entry into the war for Dec. 7, 1941, if you desire, even if it isn't technically in response to a Japanese attack. Note that if you do take Pearl Harbor and the Japanese do DOW you, they don't actually attack the fleet sitting in Pearl Harbor -- they just DOW you and get the associated bonuses.

Part of the problem here is the separation, in the Japanese focus tree, between Southern Expansion and Attack the U.S. As we all know, they happened simultaneously in real life, but Paradox evidently thought the AI couldn't handle both at once. (For some reason, even though focus war goals last two years, the AI is incapable of sitting on a war goal without using it, so the AI (most notably Germany) seems to get into simultaneous wars at just the wrong times.)