I have noticed that many of PDS’s games seem to find themselves suffering from a at least a single ‘chronic’ flaw which has existed from game launch to today, and which (for reasons I believe to be related to the most fundamental core of how these games are designed) cannot be permanently cured and then forgotten about, but instead must be continuously treated and painstakingly tested for with each update and DLC. In HOI IV, that chronic condition is:
Stalemates:
Hearts of Iron IV, at its most fundamental level, is unprepared for managing a stalemate on the front line between two AIs. Japan/China, Germany/Soviets, and on a smaller scale the Spanish civil war have all had their day in the operation chair by the devs in their attempt to introduce some balance for the sake of exasperated players who cannot hope to be on all fronts at once. None the less, Japan/China still almost always come to an end by 1944 and a non-significant number of times will conclude around late 1939 or 1940. The fate of the Germany/Soviets front can still be called correctly 75% of times by simply seeing who gains ground first in the first month of their war. Spain, despite being specifically designed with a special war case just for them, with the explicit point of artificially creating a stalemate in a game which cannot generate one naturally, still cannot end the war at the historical moment without player intervention, instead ending a year early on average, if not earlier.
This problem is chronic to HOI IV in a way which I am beginning to doubt is truly fixable once and for all. Instead I am encouraging the devs to take the next opportunity to continue to treat this problem in the upcoming DLC, and for the community to continue advocating vigilance against this issue.
(Pease be aware that I’m not suggesting that the game be completely redesigned to remove this issue, but that devs should continue to be aware that this is a persistent issue and that it should be constantly corrected for and treated to prevent the game from becoming too unbalanced)
Stalemates:
Hearts of Iron IV, at its most fundamental level, is unprepared for managing a stalemate on the front line between two AIs. Japan/China, Germany/Soviets, and on a smaller scale the Spanish civil war have all had their day in the operation chair by the devs in their attempt to introduce some balance for the sake of exasperated players who cannot hope to be on all fronts at once. None the less, Japan/China still almost always come to an end by 1944 and a non-significant number of times will conclude around late 1939 or 1940. The fate of the Germany/Soviets front can still be called correctly 75% of times by simply seeing who gains ground first in the first month of their war. Spain, despite being specifically designed with a special war case just for them, with the explicit point of artificially creating a stalemate in a game which cannot generate one naturally, still cannot end the war at the historical moment without player intervention, instead ending a year early on average, if not earlier.
This problem is chronic to HOI IV in a way which I am beginning to doubt is truly fixable once and for all. Instead I am encouraging the devs to take the next opportunity to continue to treat this problem in the upcoming DLC, and for the community to continue advocating vigilance against this issue.
(Pease be aware that I’m not suggesting that the game be completely redesigned to remove this issue, but that devs should continue to be aware that this is a persistent issue and that it should be constantly corrected for and treated to prevent the game from becoming too unbalanced)
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