By on. ( )Platforms: PCReviewed On: PCDeveloper: ParadoxPublisher: ParadoxSingleplayer: YesMultiplayer: YesReview code provided free of charge by the publisher.The grand strategy genre is dominated by one name: Paradox. Creators of the newly released Stellaris, the Europa Universalis series and the Crusader Kings games they have established a dedicated following. They also create and publish the Hearts of Iron franchise which takes Paradox’s now well established formula and slaps it into World War II. Now onto its fourth game Paradox have put considerable effort into making this the most accessible title yet without losing any of the depth that fans have come to expect from the company. So what better time for somebody who has never played Hearts of Iron to step forward and try to lead a nation to victory?

1. Hearts Of Iron 4 Supply Lines Guide

Hello, quick question - do you also have to manage supply lines for your divisions on the front line? Does the length of the supply lines affect it's evectivness? Can army become encircled and run out of supplies thus becoming combat inefective if no breakout or relieve efforts succeed? Can you paradrop supplies to encircled army? Can you harass enemy supply lines thus making the frontline.

Hearts Of Iron 4 Supply Lines Guide

As a relative Paradox noob I reached out to the company and asked if they were interested in having the game reviewed by somebody who wasn’t familiar with their mechanics nor their famously convoluted interfaces. With my lack of experience surely this would be a perfect test to see whether Hearts of Iron IV is a little easier to get to grips with? So, if you’re looking for an in-depth article talking about the changes that Paradox have implemented since Hearts of Iron III look elsewhere – I’m sure there will be plenty of awesome guys and gals out there who can tackle that subject with skill, especially on the forums.Taking place from 1936 or 1939 onwards (the choice is yours) Hearts of Iron 4 puts you in control of a nation of your choosing, letting you guide it through the relatively gentle years before becoming embroiled in World War 2.

This quiet period lets you begin constructing the basic infrastructure needed to develop a country and prepare for all out war. Political alliances will be formed, battle plans drawn up, laws changed and research undertaken to further your capabilities. With the historical focus option on the AI will attempt to follow the path of history to the best of their abilities, while you are free to try to change it as you see fit. Want to lead the Soviet Union on a stampede across the world?

Want to take America and form an unholy alliance with Germany? Ostensibly the goal is to end the game with as high a score as possible, but really this is a sandbox game where you set your own goals, be it trying to hold off the German offensive as Poland or leading China on the warpath. You pick an objective, fire up a campaign and set to it.The game demands that you think of just about everything. Let’s take a naval invasion of Japan, for example.

First you need to sort out the divisions you’ll be sending over, so infantry must be trained, perhaps in the form of marines who are more adept at gaining a foothold when storming out of landing craft. Infantry require equipment, though, so under the production tab factories must be assigned to crafting weapons and support gear for troops, otherwise they’ll have to be deployed to the field with old weapons or nothing at all which obviously hugely reduces their combat abilities. If you want your troops to take artillery, medical supplies or anti-tank weapons then those too will need to be produced in large enough quantity. If armored divisions are to be sent on the invasion then tanks will need to be constructed, too, while crews are trained alongside regular infantry divisions, which takes up more manpower. You’ll also need to carefully consider exactly where you’re going to be landing troops because they’ll need to be reinforced and resupplied, so it’s a good idea to assault a city or naval port since that helps hugely.

Without supply lines or without enough production to feed armies with the equipment they need in the field you’ll incur substantial penalties and will likely be decimated by the enemy force fighting in their own territory where supply lines are strong. But the fun doesn’t end there because a naval invasion requires you to have naval superiority in every sector of the sea you intend on crossing, so naval yards will have to be assigned to building destroyers, subs and battleships that can be sent out. You’ll also need to consider air support for the landing troops, so close support aircraft will need to be built along with fighters that can hold off the enemy airforce, so that’s more factories which need to be alloted. To field those aircraft requires either an airfield that’s close enough to the front lines for your planes to make the journey, perhaps one you’ve captured from the enemy, or you’ll need to begin work on carriers that can sit off the coast. It’s a lot to manage, but that isn’t the end of things. Chances are you’ll wind up short on resources so trading with other nations will be vital, something which means you have to give up some of your civilian factories and convoys for.

On top of that you’ll need to protect your convoys or the enemy can begin attacking them, crippling your military production capabilities. Furthermore pumping out things for one offensive could leave you struggling on another front if you aren’t careful.Hearts of Iron wants you to think about a lot of things, then. Even if you launch a successful naval invasion there’s even more to do. If you’ve bombed the living hell out of the areas that you’ve gone in and captured, for example, then the infrastructure will be shot which will slow down supplies, so they’ll need to be repaired and possibly upgraded to help feed the front line. As for your airforce you’ll likely want to move that up become the further away planes are from their assigned regions the less effective they become, so you’ll need to either prioritize capturing existing airfields from the enemy or consider building new ones in the territory you’ve acquired. Meanwhile you’ll still need to think about defending your supply lines, keeping production running smoothly so that you’ve got everything you need at hand and work on new plans to assault the enemy.Of course all of these things can also be considered when attacking the enemy. Cutting off supply lines across the sea using submarines can leave an enemy struggling to get materials needed for construction to their country or new troops and equipment to their frontlines.

Long-distance strategic bombing can decimate their factories, slowing production of weapons, support, tanks and more. Focusing on wrecking naval bases will slow down the rate at which new ships can be launched, while hammering airfields can give you the edge in air superiority.

All of these mechanics reward smart play, and just like the real war victory is achieved by combining everything correctly. Stat bonuses for doing certain things can be huge, so sending in tired divisions against experienced, well-rested troops is practically suicide, but attacking with well equipped infantry against an enemy who has had their supply lines and equipment production ruined is a piece of cake. It’s all about learning how to set up an attack, rather than the attack itself.So let’s get down to the nitty-gritty of how all this works. Firstly building in your nation is handled across three different levels; state structures include infrastructure, which dictates the speed at which supplies and troops can move around; airfields; radar, and anti-air. Provincial buildings are land and naval forts, and ports.

The biggest area you’ll focus on, though, are the slots available in region where you can build up a variety of things. Civilian factories are the most basic and versatile. You’ll need to ensure there’s enough of these to create consumer goods for your people, as indicated by your chosen current economic law. As you move closer to war and modify these laws you’ll need to have less consumer goods being created. These civilian factories are also used when trading with other countries for resources, their production ability given over to the other nation in return for whatever you need, thus while you’ll almost always have to import resources being able to export a lot of stuff will make your nation much stronger. Civilian factories are also used in the construction of military infrastructure. Military factories are obviously used to pump out the many things needed to fuel a war, including weapons, tanks support equipment, planes and artillery.

When you enter the production tab you can specify how many factories will be assigned to creating whatever you’ve chosen, with efficiency bonuses being granted for production runs that have been going for a while. Naval factories work the same way except they can only be built on the coast and are used to put together ships. There’s a finite number of slots in every area of your country in which factories can be placed, and you’ll also need to leave room for other things such as synthetic oil, so managing your production capabilities is important. Thankfully civilian factories can be converted over to military use and vice versa, although it does cost.The research screen is an impressive beast with no less eleven tabs covering infantry, land doctrine, planes, ships, navy doctrine, air doctrine, support, construction and more. Each of these tabs then offers up a sizable selection of things to choose from as well. Land doctrine, for example, has no less than four trees of its own, although you can only choose to develop one them. These then split off as well, giving you further development options.

Planning out your initial strategy and goals is absolutely paramount since focusing your efforts can result in much more powerful armies. There’s no point in wasting time on developing a strong navy if the majority of your battles will be waged across the sprawling landscape of Germany and Russia where infantry and airforce will be key, after all.