Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[forsaken1111]

I don’t understand. Does the usual “all ships in one huge fleet in order to minimise ship damage” tactic no longer work?

If you're the US and have infinite fuel, sure. In reality you'll want to keep your capital battle groups on 'strike' missions so they will steam out and engage when your patrols spot an enemy. Keeping battleships running around the ocean for years is too expensive.

You really want a bunch of small fast scout groups of destroyers and subs running around looking for enemy ships.

[Trolldefender99]

I picked up HoI4 today+DLCs. I enjoy Victoria 2 and Europa Universalis 4 (both I still play quite a lot and both some of my top played games on steam), so I don't see why this will be any different.

Plus designing ships and what not sounds really cool from post above.

And...that is all I have for this post lol. I got it installed, but I know if its like vic 2/EU4, I'll need quite a bit of time aside to start it up+to learn the game. But I'm excited to sit down and play HoI4 tonight

For when I start the game. Any nations that are fun to play that would also be good to learn on? That isn't the US, since its apparently infinite fuel/oil in the new DLC, and probably be too easy for my liking, though it probably be a ton to manage anyway being such a big nation so probably hard in that aspect. My victoria 2 game, I've been playing as India, in EU4 I liked byzantines and the india nations. But I'm pretty sure byzantines don't exist in HoI4, but suppose there is a mod for everything

[Baffler]

I picked up HoI4 today+DLCs. I enjoy Victoria 2 and Europa Universalis 4 (both I still play quite a lot and both some of my top played games on steam), so I don't see why this will be any different.

Plus designing ships and what not sounds really cool from post above.

And...that is all I have for this post lol. I got it installed, but I know if its like vic 2/EU4, I'll need quite a bit of time aside to start it up+to learn the game. But I'm excited to sit down and play HoI4 tonight

For when I start the game. Any nations that are fun to play that would also be good to learn on? That isn't the US, since its apparently infinite fuel/oil in the new DLC, and probably be too easy for my liking, though it probably be a ton to manage anyway being such a big nation so probably hard in that aspect. My victoria 2 game, I've been playing as India, in EU4 I liked byzantines and the india nations. But I'm pretty sure byzantines don't exist in HoI4, but suppose there is a mod for everything

Italy is a good one to start with. They're fairly 'lean' so you can get through it pretty quickly without having to spend a whole bunch of time managing things but they're also strong and well positioned enough that you can actually get something done, and use all the features except (probably) the atomic bombs.

[pisskop]

Just keep pumping out oil and artillery.

Artillery and supplies for medics.  And airplanes and elite tanks for breakthrough.  Italy has to kind of balance everything to work, I find; you end up doing most things.

A fleet needs to quickly take down the strait of gabralter and a force needs to desert over to Cairo.  artillery keeps those mountains clear of Frogs, and medics keep their lesser manpower alive for longer.

[forsaken1111]

Did you figure out how reserve fleets work too? That's the major sticking point for me with this new naval update. I can't seem to get my fleets to reinforce properly and it's annoying me greatly.

I missed this post. What part of the reserves doesn't work for you? When I set a fleet to reinforce from reserve, if it loses a ship it pulls a ship from the reserves for that theatre. You can also set the desired number of ships and it will pull them if they're available or will grab newly produced ships of that type automatically. Fleet management is so much easier now.

[USEC_OFFICER]

The problem is that they don't seem to reinforce properly but I think it might be some kind of mismatch error. I'll experiment with it some more if it's really as easy as that.

[Tack]

If you're the US and have infinite fuel, sure.

Eh. Japan gets good synthetics eventually.

[Cthulhu]

Moved to this from Stellaris.  Boy this is confusing.  Going with Italy, seems like a good starter.  For the simplest starter experience what should my priorities be?  Starting with the ethiopian logistics path for all the industry.

[Persus13]

Priorities for what? Focuses, or otherwise?

One thing I'd recommend that's not obvious to do is send volunteers and planes to help the Spanish Civil War once the war in Ethiopia is done to build some experience (like Italy did in RL). If you want to take over territory in Europe, prioritize the stuff that gives you cause to do so. You can also send volunteers to other wars too, including China or Japan, as long as you're not at war yourself.

One thing to keep in mind while expanding is that when World Tension gets high (from you and Germany and others expanding), Britain and France will start guaranteeing European nations, which means if you try and take over countries after that, they'll go to war with you. When that happens, you'll need a navy strong enough to take over the Mediterranean, and you'll need to take Gibraltar and the Suez to lock it down for yourself.

[Cthulhu]

In general.  Especially production and economy.  I've got ethiopia and the provinces all have rubber icons but I haven't seen it increase my rubber stockpile in the production tab.  Is there something I need to do, like set convoys to transport it?

Most guides say to focus heavily on civilian factories to boost the economy for militarization later, but with Italy starting at war and needing to make moves early is that still the case?

Oil is also something I'm concerned about.  I've got 5 years of fuel left and I don't know when or if I should trade for it, or how best to acquire it, aside from gunning for Romania or Iraq or something.

[pisskop]

You don't produce rubber.  It gets used up as you increase your production lines.  planes and trucks use it.

It's worth it to tech synthetic oil early.  and if you are peaceful to take the syrt-ian oil fields.



remember though, that you incur a production penalty if you are lacking resources, not a halt.

[Tack]

I'd personally suggest starting with something like France. No fleet, no aircraft. Just you, the 'Anti-Armor' tech path, and a whole lot of hold on to your balls.


In other news, apparently you can no longer continue playing after the war ends? Saddening.

Spoiler: accidental text wall (click to show/hide)

So I played "Strike North" Japan. I.E. Unaligned, Challenge the Zaibatsu's. That story is already in this thread elsewhere.

Since I left off, I'd used my Uber russian and Indian resources to bulldoze China- who then didn't join the Allies so I got a free puppet with 50 million manpower.

From then on it was a simple jump from Siberia to Alaska and apparently the Americans were all hanging out in Britain because i'd taken almost their entire west coast before I started seeing any non-garrison resistance (apart from the occasional "far better than your tanks" tank)

It was honestly easier to take than Britain, literally because despite me demolishing their fleet they had so much air power covering the channel and sides that all of my convoys got destroyed when attempting invasions.
Ended up getting onto Ireland though. Was an absolute shit fight until I could get some mechanised troops on there, and then I suddenly had a few airports that were close enough to project some actual force, even including the use of jet fighters.

Game ended 1952 and the majority of my manpower at the end was probably enslaved Indians and Americans, 'cos I'd already burned through all of my own while trying to take America.

What an absolute slog.

[USEC_OFFICER]

In general.  Especially production and economy.  I've got ethiopia and the provinces all have rubber icons but I haven't seen it increase my rubber stockpile in the production tab.  Is there something I need to do, like set convoys to transport it?

Resources are collected automatically. Are you checking the production tab, where you produce equipment, or the trade/resources tab? The latter shows all of the resources you're collecting, along with what you need for production, what you're buying and what you're trading away. If you own Enthopia and it's producing rubber in the state then chances are that you're looking in the wrong place if you don't see any increase.

Most guides say to focus heavily on civilian factories to boost the economy for militarization later, but with Italy starting at war and needing to make moves early is that still the case?

It depends. You should still build civilian factories at first, since Enthopia should be a bit of a push-over. Before you get into a major war you should build military factories, but there's no hard and fast rule for when so you just have to figure it out yourself. If you're going historical you aren't going to really fight until 1939 though, so plan accordingly.

Oil is also something I'm concerned about.  I've got 5 years of fuel left and I don't know when or if I should trade for it, or how best to acquire it, aside from gunning for Romania or Iraq or something.

5 years is a long time. In the short term, if you need fuel then trade for oil. In the long term, research the fuel production techs, build synthetic factories and look for areas to conquer with oil. As Italy, conquering the Middle East for oil will be your best bet, which will also secure the incredibly important Suez Canal.

[Persus13]

In general.  Especially production and economy.  I've got ethiopia and the provinces all have rubber icons but I haven't seen it increase my rubber stockpile in the production tab.  Is there something I need to do, like set convoys to transport it?

USEC's explanation of production is good, but I'd add that resources like Steel and Rubber and Oil aren't something you stockpile (Fuel from Oil is the only stockpiled good). You either have them or you don't. So when you started the game, you should have had like 2 rubber, and now you should have at least 3 more from taking over Ethiopia.

Most guides say to focus heavily on civilian factories to boost the economy for militarization later, but with Italy starting at war and needing to make moves early is that still the case?

Civilian Factories you use to trade for natural resources and build stuff, like military factories or more civilian factories. Building more of them early on means you can build more military factories later, but again, USEC's advice here is good. Initially its faster to get Civilian factories through focuses in the infrastructure focus tree you mentioned because they're pretty costly to build. You should always be producing more divisions though, and to arm those divisions you need military factories. You can take on minor countries with the military you've got, but in order to fight the big boys like France and UK you'll need to be constantly producing divisions.

Oil is also something I'm concerned about.  I've got 5 years of fuel left and I don't know when or if I should trade for it, or how best to acquire it, aside from gunning for Romania or Iraq or something.

Fuel is from Oil, which you can trade civilian factories for. You can also get more oil from your focus tree in Libya, and by building synthetic refineries, or by conquering countries that have it (like Romania). The industry tech page has techs for increasing the amount of fuel form oil, and increasing the amount you can stockpile. There's also buildings in the construction tab you can build to store oil.

I started with Italy too, and my first game I basically used to learn how stuff worked up to like 1940, then I abandoned to play Communist France and hold the line against Germany.

[Cthulhu]

Yeah, I figured the rubber part out, I didn't literally mean stockpile but it seemed like even with ethiopia my rubber didn't go up.  I think that was lack of infrastructure though, it looks like infrastructure increases how much of the resource you get?