Please help me to come back to the game: any mod or play style to automate or simplify production?

[Teodosio7]

Dear all, I stopped playing HoI4 a couple of years ago, I wonder whether anybody can help me come back to the game?

I like the game but I cannot stomach the production micromanagement. I would reguarly have some equipment in short supply, some other in excess. At that point I would reallocate the factories to try and bring some balance. A few months afterwards, bam, again some other equipment in shortage and others in excess.

Does anybody have suggestions on how to simplify production? Is there any mod perhaps that reimplements a HoI3-style production (that would be perfect for me)?

Else something in terms of playstyle? I am thinking about avoiding artillery, anti-air etc., but that would still leave me, at a minimum, with:
- small weapons
- light tanks
- medium tanks (once I discover them)
- trucks
- support equipment
- close attack planes (I could avoid tactical bombers altoghether perhaps?
- fighter planes
- some ships?
This could be still a bit too much for my limited mental capacities to handle. Any suggestions to trim it down any further?

NOTE: I don't have any of the expansions that allow to customize tanks, ships, etc.

Thanks!

 

[marcelo r. r.]

Try think in "groups".

Essential [without them u are very poor]:
- Weapons.
- Support Equip.
- Artilhery.

Essential for Supply & Garrison:
- Trucks.
- The interwar light tank.
- Trains.

Battlefield Support:

- Fighters.
- CAS.

 

[blahmaster6k]

I don't know what hoi3 production was like since I never played it, but in HoI4 production management is quite literally half the game. Half the game is building factories to produce equipment and managing those factories, the other half is managing your military to win wars. If you can't stomach the production part, hoi4 may not be the game for you.

The only advice I would offer is:

1. Look at the equipment needs of your division templates and allocate production ratios based on the equipment needs of your troops.
2. If you're not an experienced player, only train and deploy divisions once you have equipment for them.
3. Don't use the battle planner to attack, the AI attacks unintelligently and wastes manpower and equipment for little gain like world war 1. Micromanaging your divisions yourself and using focused efficient attacks will keep you from spiraling into a production deficit.

 

[Hoi Neuling]

Hoi 3 was not playable. Only for Experts and Veterans in all Parts.

 

[Maxwell Tornado]

I don't know what hoi3 production was like since I never played it

I've only ever seen videos, but basically, you know the priority buttons for reinforcement in the deployment tab? Imagine if those were sliders, and controlled what portion of your IC is used for them. None of this manual one-by-one factory assignment nonsense. The sliders auto-adjust as you gain or lose industry, and you can lock a slider onto a specific percentage, so it doesn't. It honestly looks way better than this "I suddenly ran out of infantry equipment, better take 5 factories off of planes and put them onto guns." (Yes, yes, I know we're supposed to real sweaty gamers here, and know the exact ratio of equipment to be produced before the war even begins.)

Dear all, I stopped playing HoI4 a couple of years ago, I wonder whether anybody can help me come back to the game?

I like the game but I cannot stomach the production micromanagement. I would reguarly have some equipment in short supply, some other in excess. At that point I would reallocate the factories to try and bring some balance. A few months afterwards, bam, again some other equipment in shortage and others in excess.

Does anybody have suggestions on how to simplify production? Is there any mod perhaps that reimplements a HoI3-style production (that would be perfect for me)?

Else something in terms of playstyle? I am thinking about avoiding artillery, anti-air etc., but that would still leave me, at a minimum, with:
- small weapons
- light tanks
- medium tanks (once I discover them)
- trucks
- support equipment
- close attack planes (I could avoid tactical bombers altoghether perhaps?
- fighter planes
- some ships?
This could be still a bit too much for my limited mental capacities to handle. Any suggestions to trim it down any further?

NOTE: I don't have any of the expansions that allow to customize tanks, ships, etc.

Thanks!

I usually just have one factory on trains, 5, sometimes 10 on trucks, 20-30 on artillery, support equipment, infantry equipment, fighter planes, and tactical bombers each. (Well, I have the plane designer, so now I just make CAS, because tactical bombers are weird and confusing with the plane designer.)
Then I just scale up mechanised as far as I can.

 

[mursolini]

Dear all, I stopped playing HoI4 a couple of years ago, I wonder whether anybody can help me come back to the game?

I like the game but I cannot stomach the production micromanagement. I would reguarly have some equipment in short supply, some other in excess. At that point I would reallocate the factories to try and bring some balance. A few months afterwards, bam, again some other equipment in shortage and others in excess.

Does anybody have suggestions on how to simplify production? Is there any mod perhaps that reimplements a HoI3-style production (that would be perfect for me)?

Else something in terms of playstyle? I am thinking about avoiding artillery, anti-air etc., but that would still leave me, at a minimum, with:
- small weapons
- light tanks
- medium tanks (once I discover them)
- trucks
- support equipment
- close attack planes (I could avoid tactical bombers altoghether perhaps?
- fighter planes
- some ships?
This could be still a bit too much for my limited mental capacities to handle. Any suggestions to trim it down any further?

NOTE: I don't have any of the expansions that allow to customize tanks, ships, etc.

Thanks!

A good rule of thumb is to whack the nail that sticks out the most. Akka try ordering large quantity of troops, see which equipment is in short supply, and add factories that you build there.
Don`t reassign factories, that is very inefficent.

you can also try to remember how much equipment you need for a particular division, and then try to equalise production so you roughtly get needed equipment at the same time.

There isn`t HOI3 style production mods, most people prefer new production.

As a rule of thumb, you want enough infantry to hold frontline, some tank divisions, and relatively green air.
What changed from HOI3, is that AT and AA actually matter, and you can relatively competently fight under red sky, and defeat tanks with infantry.

As for ships, HOI3 rule that Air>ship holds absolutely true, especially with designers that allow huge range naval bombers.

 

[Maxwell Tornado]

There isn`t HOI3 style production mods, most people prefer new production.

There is no universe in which this is true. At most, people tolerate the system, because they haven't seen any alternatives. Production and trade are horrible systems that you need constantly babysit. You just can't mod in an entire new game system.

 

[Teodosio7]

First of all, thanks everyone for all the good input! I will reflect on that and see whether I can setup production in a way that I can actually handle.

There is no universe in which this is true. At most, people tolerate the system, because they haven't seen any alternatives. Production and trade are horrible systems that you need constantly babysit. You just can't mod in an entire new game system.

It could be possible perhaps to mod the game so that all sort of unit types only require one input, that we could call e.g. "war materiel", so that you can just produce that and build whatever you want. I guess the only exception would be ships, that would still need to be built individually.
But perhaps a mod of this sort would confuse the AI? Or make it better?

I don't know what hoi3 production was like since I never played it

In HoI3 you had factories producing "Industrial Capacity" (IC) on a daily basis. Each unit type needed a certain amount of IC to be produced or reinforced. There was no equipment production, so there was no factory micromanagement.

 

[stavern]

Use priority buttons. In current game as Germany first deploy troops to 750k so can do Austria and checkh. After that reinforcements of troops since lacking in equipment. After won a war shift priority to garrison. After that again go to reinforcements for next war. Upgrades well do as you please i almost never use.

 

[blahmaster6k]

Use priority buttons. In current game as Germany first deploy troops to 750k so can do Austria and checkh. After that reinforcements of troops since lacking in equipment. After won a war shift priority to garrison. After that again go to reinforcements for next war. Upgrades well do as you please i almost never use.

Garrisons should always be at the highest priority, having unfulfilled garrison requests raises resistance, high resistance increases the casualties (and equipment losses) you take from resistance activity and damages your industry which further spirals any deficits you might have.

 

[mursolini]

There is no universe in which this is true. At most, people tolerate the system, because they haven't seen any alternatives. Production and trade are horrible systems that you need constantly babysit. You just can't mod in an entire new game system.

Neither are particularly terrible, at least compared to previous titles.

It could be possible perhaps to mod the game so that all sort of unit types only require one input, that we could call e.g. "war materiel", so that you can just produce that and build whatever you want. I guess the only exception would be ships, that would still need to be built individually.
But perhaps a mod of this sort would confuse the AI? Or make it better?

Divisions get stats based on what equipment they have. At best you can come up with some weird work-arounds, but then you would have to restrict templates.
And then, aircrafts are also produced separately.

In HoI3 you had factories producing "Industrial Capacity" (IC) on a daily basis. Each unit type needed a certain amount of IC to be produced or reinforced. There was no equipment production, so there was no factory micromanagement.

There was annoying practicals management.
Oh and annoyingly in HOI3 your old equipment just vanished. In HOI4 you can throw it on secondary units or LL to weaker states.

 

[Jays298]

The problem really is with the DLC and all the designers.

Production was always a huge part of the game. But having many designs, well, makes production more complicated.

You want simple? Play a country with few factories, few choices. France for instance. Similar to Italy.

France one of the best really because you start at a pretty huge deficit of equipment so no building random stuff.

 

[Hoi Neuling]

The DLCs and Designers are a must have. If not, the Game won´t be buyed.

Hoi 4 is already simplyfied in all Parts. And all normal Gamers which tried Hoi 1 to 3 throw the first 3 in the Trash Can about unplayability. And the Base-Game from Hoi 4 were be there too if the Devs hadn´t reacted to integrate such cool Features we have now and the Modders can work with.

All others which have a problem with that can play Ponnyhof.