It seems like such a small fraction of HOI4 owners actually play online, why is this?
Why dont as many people play multiplayer?
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Last time we had a statistic from Paradox it was only 12% play MP, though I suspect that has likely increased since.
Add to that the fact that there are several issues that act against random pickup games. There are a number of exploits that are not yet fixed. There are a number of balance issues that are best addressed by house rules. It is a pretty long game to try to cram into a single session of even 5 hours. Most players are not comfortable with playing it at the speed required to do so without pauses. It also tends to fall apart when key countries quit for whatever reason. Such rushed games also rarely get much past 1942, early 43 at the latest.
For me there is only one practical solution to the above issues and that is to find a group who meet on a regular schedule. I think it is much less likely in such groups that you will face cheaters who abuse exploits. Such groups always have a set of house rules that they have tried in a number of games. some such groups don't even attempt to cram it all into a single session.
The hard part is finding the group that fits you and your schedule. This is not a game well suited to just going into the lobby and jumping into a game, in my opinion.
Add to that the fact that there are several issues that act against random pickup games. There are a number of exploits that are not yet fixed. There are a number of balance issues that are best addressed by house rules. It is a pretty long game to try to cram into a single session of even 5 hours. Most players are not comfortable with playing it at the speed required to do so without pauses. It also tends to fall apart when key countries quit for whatever reason. Such rushed games also rarely get much past 1942, early 43 at the latest.
For me there is only one practical solution to the above issues and that is to find a group who meet on a regular schedule. I think it is much less likely in such groups that you will face cheaters who abuse exploits. Such groups always have a set of house rules that they have tried in a number of games. some such groups don't even attempt to cram it all into a single session.
The hard part is finding the group that fits you and your schedule. This is not a game well suited to just going into the lobby and jumping into a game, in my opinion.
Personally i prefer to play this sort of game in SP.
I don't want to have to know the latest exploits, the "best" tactic at any given point, dont need min/max.
Basically. i want to just have some fun. Dont need all the above, kthx.
And whenever people get involved stupid things start to happen. Such as someone getting mad about something useless and ragequitting.
I don't want to have to know the latest exploits, the "best" tactic at any given point, dont need min/max.
Basically. i want to just have some fun. Dont need all the above, kthx.
And whenever people get involved stupid things start to happen. Such as someone getting mad about something useless and ragequitting.
You also don't need to worry about exploits, or min maxing, or rage quitting if you make a few friends and play within that group. Random MP pickup games have given the whole MP concept a bit of an undeserved bad reputation. That and a few sore losers screaming their heads off on the forum.
Probably true.
I'm in the unfortunate situation that none of my IRL friends want to play any paradox grand strategy game
1. I don't have the regular time to dedicate to it.
2. I don't want to play with total randoms.
3. The lists of rules I've seen make me sad.
4. Equally the idea of a complete cluster f put me off.
5. Stories of how people behave and what that restricts you to (your can only play hungry and make fighters don't even think of having fun yourself) are not encouraging.
There might be more but I can't think of then right now.
I'd love to play some mp, something a bit more like the kind of slow, regular games that Secret Master and co play. Something between historical railroad and off the rails crazy (some rules but not to many) would be my preference.
The main thing that stops me is the time issue though. I just can't guarantee regular opportunities to play that kind of game.
Oh yeah and despite nearly 300 hours I don't want people to know how bad I am at this game still
2. I don't want to play with total randoms.
3. The lists of rules I've seen make me sad.
4. Equally the idea of a complete cluster f put me off.
5. Stories of how people behave and what that restricts you to (your can only play hungry and make fighters don't even think of having fun yourself) are not encouraging.
There might be more but I can't think of then right now.
I'd love to play some mp, something a bit more like the kind of slow, regular games that Secret Master and co play. Something between historical railroad and off the rails crazy (some rules but not to many) would be my preference.
The main thing that stops me is the time issue though. I just can't guarantee regular opportunities to play that kind of game.
Oh yeah and despite nearly 300 hours I don't want people to know how bad I am at this game still
I found myself in the exact same situation, but I started PMing a few people from the forums with whom I felt I had common ground when discussing various issues. This led to finding one opponent for some 1v1 games. We later expanded the group to 3 and then 5 and now 6. It is a blast. Much more interesting than SP if you can find some like minded people.Probably true.
I'm in the unfortunate situation that none of my IRL friends want to play any paradox grand strategy game
One solution might be CO-OP countries in MP, if you are not available for a session, your partner probably will be, he will have a bit harder time controlling everything but still a working session. Only problem is that you need twice as many people when you start the game
Yes we have done that at times when breaking in a new player. it gives him a chance to get comfortable with the group and lets us play a game with a relative stranger without concern that he will quit and force us to restart. Then again we play at a very deliberate pace with each game lasting 5-10 weeks.
Britain, USA, Russia and Germany all lend themselves well to the CO-OP concept. There is also the idea of jumping in as somebody like Canada, big enough to make a difference but small enough to not be overwhelming.
Main reasons I don't play much MP is you need to commit a lot of continuous time to a MP game and I don't like playing the game on fast speeds without pauses. I don't think it should be boiled down to a RTS and who can click units faster and manage multiple fronts in real time.
That's good advice for anyone looking to play multiplayer in this game, cuts down a lot of the down falls of multiplayer in this game. One question Dalwin how long roughly would your average multiplayer game last.
For me playing Heats of Iron multiplayer has to many negatives, house rules, tantrums, cheating, and time (and with time I mean speed of game, game span and committing time to suit the other players which in it's self is a big commitment) just to name a few. Not saying I would never play multiplayer but at present there is just to much hassle involved.
We have a few house rules but nothing that I would call excessive. They are just ways of trying to ensure good balance between the two teams. I would not even consider them a negative. No one in the group wants to exploit the weak points in the game design, but if you don't specify a clear line to certain things then different people may have different interpretations. Tantrums or cheating are more or less inconceivable. Scheduling and finding a group that you fit into is really the only hard part.
I think I said it further up in this thread but it could have been in another one. My group plays typically for 4 hours or so a week. Our shortest game ran 5 weeks and our longest ran 10. Single session games are to me too much like RTS and not enough like a strategy game. If I beat someone I want it to be because I made better decisions and not because I have better multitasking skills or they got distracted.
You seem to have established a pretty good group there Dalwin, and it's good to see your group play's longer campaigns. My impression of multiplayer was short and sweet which in my opinion doesn't suit this game at all.
There are more such groups out there (or in here or how you want to put it) so I can only second Dalwin's statement.
With regard to the Hungary point, last mp game I played Hungary did only build fighters but they did also get half of the German eastern army sent as expeditionaries to them for barbarossa.1. I don't have the regular time to dedicate to it.
2. I don't want to play with total randoms.
3. The lists of rules I've seen make me sad.
4. Equally the idea of a complete cluster f put me off.
5. Stories of how people behave and what that restricts you to (your can only play hungry and make fighters don't even think of having fun yourself) are not encouraging.
There might be more but I can't think of then right now.
I'd love to play some mp, something a bit more like the kind of slow, regular games that Secret Master and co play. Something between historical railroad and off the rails crazy (some rules but not to many) would be my preference.
The main thing that stops me is the time issue though. I just can't guarantee regular opportunities to play that kind of game.
Oh yeah and despite nearly 300 hours I don't want people to know how bad I am at this game still
The problem with hungry is they get fighter research bonuses and have all the resources to build them as well whereas they have no decent land advisers and very few of the resources needed to build a land army.
To be honest it depends what you want from the game. The minors tend to be more specialised because they don't have the research or factories to do multiple things well but thwy are good for learning different aspects of the game in a mp setting whereas the majors are afforded more flexibility.
Well I stopped playing public multiplayer since russophobia currently being at it's peek I get fucking insulted when people discover I'm Russian and usually banned. Other reasons being getting kick whilst winning or getting kicked because I was cheeki briki.
Fun story: I was playing Romania, Hungary went communist, Axis wanted to get rid of Hungary so they declared war on it. Hungary joined Comintern, I was going to join Axis, but USSR had a war goal on me. So we found a compromise: I had to give free access to the Red Army and stay neutral in the war. When the Red Army finished crossing my country (80 divisions or so) I closed the access. All Hungarian army and half Soviet army died encircled
Joined Axis and got kicked as usual!
Fun story: I was playing Romania, Hungary went communist, Axis wanted to get rid of Hungary so they declared war on it. Hungary joined Comintern, I was going to join Axis, but USSR had a war goal on me. So we found a compromise: I had to give free access to the Red Army and stay neutral in the war. When the Red Army finished crossing my country (80 divisions or so) I closed the access. All Hungarian army and half Soviet army died encircled
Joined Axis and got kicked as usual!
I've never been tempted by MP in the HOI-series.
For me this kind of gaming is recreational and my day is so I can't always plan ahead. I also like to leave the keyboard when I like and for whatever reason and for as long as I like.
I'm not a supergamer with min-max expertise. I might be a bourdon to my allies...
In SP I can play a game just for fun. I like the roleplaying part and can even play a game with max sliders just to get my hands on more advanced weapons early. I have even thrown in some cheats at such times...
MP for me is a bunch of friends, a Saturday evening and Settlers or another boardgame. Thats FUN!
For me this kind of gaming is recreational and my day is so I can't always plan ahead. I also like to leave the keyboard when I like and for whatever reason and for as long as I like.
I'm not a supergamer with min-max expertise. I might be a bourdon to my allies...
In SP I can play a game just for fun. I like the roleplaying part and can even play a game with max sliders just to get my hands on more advanced weapons early. I have even thrown in some cheats at such times...
MP for me is a bunch of friends, a Saturday evening and Settlers or another boardgame. Thats FUN!
And that's exactly one of the many ways you can play HOIIV in MP. Like a recreational boardgame. It all comes down to the people you play with.
Mostly the same reasons as people have already said about it being difficult to find people, a fully pre-made game is really the only way you can have much fun but if you organise one they are still unpredictable.
The main reason for the multiplayer trouble is finding good players, since single player experience doesn't transfer to multiplayer well, human players are far less predictable. Finding a good Germany is very difficult and if Germany is not played well the entire game falls apart. The axis need to coordinate properly to control WT otherwise America can join to early etc.
Even then I've spent entire multi games as the Soviets waiting to get involved, only to have Italy quit 20 minutes in and Germany get stuck in Belgium.
Overall SP is just a more consistent and enjoyable experience.
The main reason for the multiplayer trouble is finding good players, since single player experience doesn't transfer to multiplayer well, human players are far less predictable. Finding a good Germany is very difficult and if Germany is not played well the entire game falls apart. The axis need to coordinate properly to control WT otherwise America can join to early etc.
Even then I've spent entire multi games as the Soviets waiting to get involved, only to have Italy quit 20 minutes in and Germany get stuck in Belgium.
Overall SP is just a more consistent and enjoyable experience.
Well it's pretty simple boy. I'm a no-life, so I don't have any friends and on top of that I don't like meeting new people. Besides, since I have nothing to do with my days I often spend 12h+ on a session, from 4PM when I wake up to 6AM when I go to sleep. That's how you learn to play like a real baller however it also means not many people can adjust to my habits.
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