This thread is both an expression of my admiration for the quality of the expansion and a response to the one-day-after-release bashers who seem to have forgotten that HoI 4 is being developed by real people. Yes, I get it: grognards who insist on the accuracy of the tiniest technical detail, who will only play MP games of 15+ players each with 1k hours of experience, and who create house rules to ban alternate history are a real demographic. They post here frequently. That's fine. But I think they represent a very small portion of the overall player base, and I would like to dilute a little of their venom with my positive impressions of the expansion thus far.
I have a mere 210 hours of game time so far, but I've been with Paradox since EU III, and I love the focus on alternate history and flexibility in HoI IV. The scripted nature of HoI III (which is what many seem to be pining for) always turned me off: I could never find a reason to get into the role of the UK or the Soviet Union. But the focus trees have changed all of that. And Waking the Tiger has enriched that aspect tremendously. In my first playthrough, Japan went down the Kodoha path, and it was great. I loved seeing a "traditional" Emperor making agreements with the U.S. and England to tackle the Soviets. And it allowed China to breathe, for the Civil War to go down its own road.
The improvements to the AI are just fantastic. The game feels so much more exciting and dynamic now. Germany now sends its initial panzer divisions to Spain, a development I'd never seen. Fronts are full of jabs, feints, and encirclements. The AI properly judges when to go to war and chooses national focuses intelligently.
The way wars are consolidated in the Current Wars menu, especially when they involve multiple factions, is very intuitive and much appreciated. Quality of life improvements, like sorting the production lines with the mouse, make playing the game even more enjoyable and streamlined. I haven't plunged into everything yet, like decisions and some of the rebalancing, but it is only the second day, after all!
Anyway, just wanted to say again how much I love the direction the game is headed in and to thank the developers again for all their hard work. I can't wait to see what the future brings.
