Incoming pasta from wiki.
Gameplay
Hearts of Iron II is a grand strategy game. The player can build land divisions, aircraft squadrons, and naval ships/fleets, and combine these into corps and armies. The player also has the ability to control the appointment of commanders of forces under their nation's flag or that of controlled nations as well as to control the appointment of individual government ministers and military commanders in key General Staff positions. The player also has a broader ability to control the heads of state and government; however, this option is only available to democracies and only then through elections, in which the player chooses the winner. Technological research is controlled by the player. All this is on a global scale, with the player simultaneously dealing and interacting with nations across the world. The game can be paused at any point.
[edit] Playable nations
The player can choose to play almost any nation from the time period, apart from some very small states such as Andorra, Monaco, Vatican City or others (and mods exist that make even these playable). The player can also play as a new nation that gains its independence as the game progresses, but will have to wait until the nation actually declares independence in the game before it can be played. However, many smaller nations do not have strong 'tech teams', nor do they possess a strong industrial base.
[edit] Politics
The player is able to manage his nation's foreign and internal policies on the Diplomacy page. The player can stage coups, declare war, annex territories and make alliances. The player can also alter the social and economic policies of their nation using sliders, such as democratic versus authoritarian, free market versus central planning and so on. Moving the sliders will result in different bonuses and penalties, allowing for a range of choices and strategies.
On the same page the player can appoint leaders and ministers, with some exceptions. The Head of State and Head of Government can only be changed through moving the Political Left vs Political Right slider, or through elections and other one-time events.
[edit] Resource management
Hearts of Iron II features nine resources, of which six are conventional resources, and the other three are manpower, industrial capacity and transport capacity.
* Energy, rare materials (e.g. rubber), and metal are produced by individual provinces and pooled together to power the nation's industry.
* Supplies are consumed by a player's armed forces.
* Oil is consumed by mechanized or armored units, air units and naval units. (and some infantry with attached units)
* Money is raised through the production of consumer goods. The amount gained also varies based on government type and policy settings. Money is needed to carry out diplomatic actions, as well as pay research teams.
* Manpower is needed to recruit and reinforce all of a player's armed forces. One unit of Manpower generally represents 1000 men, as a normal infantry division of 10,000 men requires ten Manpower.
* Each factory in a nation contributes one point of industrial capacity (IC). The total number of factories is known as the Base IC. Several factors, such as difficulty, ministerial appointments, technologies, and resources available can modify this number, producing the actual IC. Each actual IC requires two points of energy, one of metal and half a point of rare materials in order to function.
* Transport capacity (TC) is an abstract number that represents the trucks, trains and river barges which are used to supply a player's armed forces with fuel and supply. TC is a direct function of a player's IC; the player has a TC that is 150% his IC. When the TC used exceeds the available amount, movement, supplies and reinforcements are delayed.
The six conventional resources can be traded with other countries, subject to potential disruption by enemy forces if the routes to the other country are occupied. Trade offers can be made to any other country, even ones with poor diplomatic relations, although allied nations are more willing to accept more favorable trade offers. Manpower, IC and TC are not tradeable.
[edit] Scenarios
In the game, a player assumes direct control of a nation at the start of a scenario through 1948. The following scenarios are available:
* The Road to War, beginning on New Year's Day, 1936;
* The Gathering Storm, beginning in September 1938, just before the Munich Agreement; Added in the v1.2 patch.
* Blitzkrieg, beginning with Hitler's declaration of war upon Poland (the Invasion of Poland) on 1 September 1939;
* Awakening the Giant, beginning on 22 June 1941, at the beginning of Operation Barbarossa.
* Götterdämmerung, beginning on 20 June 1944, two weeks after the Western Allies landed at Normandy.
Playable operations are:
* Fall Gelb, the German invasion of France in 1940
* Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union in spring of 1941
* The Ardennes Offensive, centered around the Battle of the Bulge, on the Franco-Belgian-German frontier in winter of 1944, which was also playable in the game's demo.
* Southern Conquests, revolving around the Japanese centrifugal offensive into the southern resource area, following the attack on Pearl Harbor.
* Operation Watchtower, the battle for Guadalcanal in the Solomons.
* Fall Weiss, the German invasion of Poland
* Fall Grün, the planned German attack on Czechoslovakia
* Platinean War, a fantasy scenario where German-backed Argentina and American-backed Brazil clash in a conflict that will involve most of South America
* Winter War, the Soviet-Finnish War of 1939-1940
* Desert Fox, the African campaign that culminated in the Battle of El Alamein
* Operation Husky, the Allied landings in Sicily and the subsequent Italian Campaign
* Operation Overlord, the Allied landings in Europe
* Operation Downfall, the planned Allied invasion of the Japanese home isles
* Spanish Civil War, the conflict between the Spanish republicans and nationalists in 1936-1939
* Battle of the Coral Sea, the Japanese plan to capture Port Moresby on New Guinea by sea and the following carrier battle.
* Fall Blau, the German 1942 summer offensive against the USSR, eventually culminating in the Battle of Stalingrad; Added in the v1.2 patch.
[edit] Warfare
Hearts of Iron II is a grand strategy game. The smallest independent land unit is the division, although brigades such as engineers, artillery, or armoured cars can be attached to these. On sea, units are either single capital ships or flotillas of small ships such as destroyers. For the air force, the unit is a Wing or Group, depending on nationality.
Land divisions include infantry, cavalry, and tanks. Land brigades include anti-tank guns, anti-aircraft artillery and military police.
On the map the player can direct divisions or groups of divisions. Fighting starts when an army starts moving into a defended enemy territory. The invading units do not have to be inside enemy territory to attack. A province is immediately occupied when the invaders arrive there with no opposition left. Because of this, a player can blitz through large swaths of enemy lands with minimal micromanagement. In addition, units who move constantly lose organization and risk losing supply, so poorly executed attempts to blitzkrieg can be stopped.
Provinces can be fortified and infrastructure increased to improve combat performance. Structures include radar, and static AA. Many fortifications are pre-built, such as the Maginot Line along the French-German border.
Air units include bombers, fighters and transports. These divisions can, depending on type, engage in tactical or strategic missions.
Sea units include transports, aircraft carriers, battleships, cruisers, destroyers, and submarines. Each unit has a strength, speed, and effective engagement range. Naval combats simulate the range between fleets, allowing only units in range to fire. This can make naval combats tactically complex.
[edit] Controversy and censorship
Like its predecessor Hearts of Iron, the game is banned in the People's Republic of China. The main point of contention seems to be that the game portrays the various Chinese warlords as independent entities, while according to the PRC government they were nominally part of the Republic of China governed by the Chinese Nationalist government, represented in-game as 'Nationalist China'. Also, the Tibetan flag used in-game is banned in China. Paradox has stated that it will not reduce the level of historical accuracy in order to appease the PRC censors.[citation needed]
Anachronistically, Germany is represented with the flag of the German Empire as used by Germany until 1935, and not the Swastika flag, as was also done in the earlier board game Axis & Allies. Laws in Germany prohibit the use of the swastika. Additionally in the German version of the game pictures of leading Nazi leaders such as Hitler, Göring and Himmler were removed and their names subsequently altered, though this is not required under German censorship laws, and is not the case in non-German versions of the game. The game can be easily modified by users to include such graphics, but Paradox disallows discussion of this particular type of modification on their message boards.[1]
[edit] Expansions
In November 2005 a stand-alone expansion pack to the game, Hearts of Iron II: Doomsday was announced. It was released April 2006. The expansion pack features among other things a reworked intelligence model (which allows the player to use espionage, sabotage and other things in an "intelligence page" accessible through the main screen), extended time-line, improved AI and a scenario editor.
Another expansion was released in April 2007 in an alternate world scenario called Hearts of Iron II: Armageddon. It further allows more time and the player has the ability to choose 1964 as the end point. It allows the adding of modules to ships (such as improved radar, fire-control, anti-submarine or anti-aircraft weaponry) and submits two new scenarios for play, as well as an enhanced AI.
A bundle called Hearts of Iron: Anthology was released on August 31, 2007. It contains the previously released titles of the Hearts of Iron series, Hearts of Iron, Hearts of Iron II, Hearts of Iron II: Doomsday and Hearts of Iron II: Armageddon.
A new standalone game produced by an independent company but based on the Hearts of Iron II engine called Arsenal of Democracy will be released in Q1 2010.
Anyways, i rate the game
9/10, I would rate it 10/10. but i haven't figured out to use the nuke yet. so 9/10
If anyone wants to muiti, my name on it is Mallicoat.
I couldn't even take Poland by 1943. I suck at this game
[QUOTE=Super_Poo;20020963]I couldn't even take Poland by 1943. I suck at this game[/QUOTE]
No, Boost up your shit first. Nuke warsaw and then attack. there you go.
I still play this quite a lot, because HOI3 still runs too slow for my taste.
[QUOTE=Ruskie;20024664]I still play this quite a lot, because HOI3 still runs too slow for my taste.[/QUOTE]
You play muiti?
[editline]08:05PM[/editline]
Anyone play muiti anymore?
[QUOTE=Super_Poo;20020963]I couldn't even take Poland by 1943. I suck at this game[/QUOTE]
I took germany by 1943 as Poland :3.
[QUOTE=marcin1337;20026280]I took germany by 1943 as Poland :3.[/QUOTE]
1941 :colbert:
[QUOTE=marcin1337;20026280]I took germany by 1943 as Poland :3.[/QUOTE]
You play muiti?
I so want to play this, but the fixed resolution absolutely KILLS it for me. Although, I do have a laptop that wouldn't be so bad playing it.
[QUOTE=Radroach95;20024393]No, Boost up your shit first. Nuke warsaw and then attack. there you go.[/QUOTE]
What the hell could you possibly need nukes to take poland out for? Their military is a push-over.
Not if you're me.
DAMN IT THEY'RE IN BERLIN
I've had the Anthology for ages now, it's brilliant. HoI3 looked so amazingly better but then it ran like shit, crashed every second time you loaded a game, took forever to load/start up and had about as much personality as a brick. Those dull grey maps :geno:
Started playing 2 again recently and realised how much better it is, even if the political system is a bit too simple and there aren't as many provinces. Been playing as Communist China, I managed to survive the Chinese Civil War and have been slowly eating up territory in quick wars with Nationalist China, now a puppet of Japan along with Manchukuo and whatever that blue one in the desert is. Most recently I annexed Tibet and intervened in a little war Japan was having with that Chinese country in the northwest, stealing some nice chunks of land. In May 1942 my peace agreement with Nationalist China/Japan expires and I have motorised and mountain divisions positioned all along the eastern border. That naval base will be mine!
Money is a problem though, Mao Zedong pretty much destroys profit from consumer goods.
(I'll get a picture)
In Europe the Nationalists lost the Spanish Civil War, so Portugal joined the axis and is now being invaded by British forces. Due to my troublemaking in Asia, Pearl Harbour never happened but the USA decided to declare war on Germany anyway on the 30th of December 1941. There is no war in the Pacific.
Feb 1942, Japan feels left out and declares war on everybody with holdings or puppets in the Pacific. This is good news for me as Japanese troops will likely me moving away from mainland China.
They're invading east India :psyduck: and did Pearl harbour in March.
If you want to get anywhere in a war, you're going to need to research good military technology as soon as possible, if you do it as soon as the 'historical year' comes around you should have a good advantage as it gives you a penalty if you research too soon.
More IC means more tech slots, and more tech slots means better armies... Better armies mean more provinces for you and with that come more IC.
Also, make use of Supporting attacks as much as possible from other neighboring provinces, they really help.
I'd play Multiplayer if I knew how.
[QUOTE=cheesedelux;20029198]I've had the Anthology for ages now, it's brilliant. HoI3 looked so amazingly better but then it ran like shit, crashed every second time you loaded a game, took forever to load/start up and had about as much personality as a brick. Those dull grey maps :geno:
Started playing 2 again recently and realised how much better it is, even if the political system is a bit too simple and there aren't as many provinces. Been playing as Communist China, I managed to survive the Chinese Civil War and have been slowly eating up territory in quick wars with Nationalist China, now a puppet of Japan along with Manchukuo and whatever that blue one in the desert is. Most recently I annexed Tibet and intervened in a little war Japan was having with that Chinese country in the northwest, stealing some nice chunks of land. In May 1942 my peace agreement with Nationalist China/Japan expires and I have motorised and mountain divisions positioned all along the eastern border. That naval base will be mine!
Money is a problem though, Mao Zedong pretty much destroys profit from consumer goods.
(I'll get a picture)
In Europe the Nationalists lost the Spanish Civil War, so Portugal joined the axis and is now being invaded by British forces. Due to my troublemaking in Asia, Pearl Harbour never happened but the USA decided to declare war on Germany anyway on the 30th of December 1941. There is no war in the Pacific.
Feb 1942, Japan feels left out and declares war on everybody with holdings or puppets in the Pacific. This is good news for me as Japanese troops will likely me moving away from mainland China.
They're invading east India :psyduck: and did Pearl harbour in March.
If you want to get anywhere in a war, you're going to need to research good military technology as soon as possible, if you do it as soon as the 'historical year' comes around you should have a good advantage as it gives you a penalty if you research too soon.
More IC means more tech slots, and more tech slots means better armies... Better armies mean more provinces for you and with that come more IC.
Also, make use of Supporting attacks as much as possible from other neighboring provinces, they really help.
I'd play Multiplayer if I knew how.[/QUOTE]
Ah ok.
[QUOTE=Ruskie;20024664]I still play this quite a lot, because HOI3 still runs too slow for my taste.[/QUOTE]Plays pretty decent for me, and I'm in 1942 just fine.
[QUOTE=cheesedelux;20029198]I've had the Anthology for ages now, it's brilliant. HoI3 looked so amazingly better but then it ran like shit, crashed every second time you loaded a game, took forever to load/start up and had about as much personality as a brick. [/QUOTE]
Delete your Config file.
[editline]04:17AM[/editline]
[QUOTE=Ruskie;20026338]1941 :colbert:[/QUOTE]
1940 August 4th :smug:
[QUOTE=kamikaze470;20034460]Plays pretty decent for me, and I'm in 1942 just fine.[/QUOTE]
......
you stole my avatar :(
The Kaiserreich mod still makes this game worth playing if you're tired of WWII. They still need to integrate the new tech tree and E3 map though.
[QUOTE=1.41gigawatts!;20036843]you stole my avatar :([/QUOTE]
You Stole mine, i was first.
[QUOTE=Zocom;20034870]Delete your Config file. [/QUOTE]
Where is it?
[QUOTE=Hick2;20042311]Where is it?[/QUOTE]He's probably referring to the settings.txt.
[editline]07:05PM[/editline]
[QUOTE=Radroach95;20036516]......[/QUOTE]Yeah I know this is a Hearts of Iron 2 topic but I just felt like saying that.
I remember one game I had as China. Beaten the other Chinese warloads and raged war against Japan with the help of a few allies until I finally won in 1945-ish. Fought Communist China for a bit in 1946-47 later annexing them. I noticed by now that Nazi Germany somehow won the war against their Soviet counterparts and was literally right outside of Asia.
Got bored by then, even though the game was like 3 months from being completed.
Lol I can't believe I still have these (really bad) screenshots from that game.
[IMG_thumb]http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii169/Sarkji/ohshi-2.jpg[/IMG_thumb]
[IMG_thumb]http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii169/Sarkji/ohshi-.jpg[/IMG_thumb]
That seems to be one of the things which is easily meddled with in this game. The Eastern Front can go really badly for the soviets. For me, they won the Winter War and annexed Finland, but Germany is about a mile outside Moscow with no signs of resistance.
The other things are the Spanish Civil War which the Nationalists seem a lose quite often and China usually get completely steamrolled by Japan, meaning that no real Chinese Civil War can take place.
With the expansions I have plenty of time to conquer the world, I think Armageddon lasts up until part way through the 1960s.
[QUOTE=cheesedelux;20049599]That seems to be one of the things which is easily meddled with in this game. The Eastern Front can go really badly for the soviets. For me, they won the Winter War and annexed Finland, but Germany is about a mile outside Moscow with no signs of resistance.
The other things are the Spanish Civil War which the Nationalists seem a lose quite often and China usually get completely steamrolled by Japan, meaning that no real Chinese Civil War can take place.
With the expansions I have plenty of time to conquer the world, I think Armageddon lasts up until part way through the 1960s.[/QUOTE]
The spanish civil war (as far as I can tell) is influenced by what nation you're playing as. If you play as the comintern, for example, nationalist spain usually wins. Play as germany and republic spain usually wins. Although this may be due to the difficulty modifier, it seems that the natioanlists win when you pick a democratic (allies) or stalinist/leninist nation (comintern), with the republicans winning if you play a dictatorship (axis).
Well I was playing as the very Stalinist Communist China and the Nationalists were demolished before they could even make gains beyond their initial provinces.
I did have a great game as the Nationalists for a while, managed to win the civil war, became best chums with Hitler, influenced Portugal for the cause and spent many years failing to take out the British garrison in Gibraltar. In 1943, D-day happened in Portugal and we started to lose, then I lost interest.
HoI III is better.
[QUOTE=Virtanen;20058184]HoI III is better.[/QUOTE]
When all the HoI2 mods are ported over and it's patched to perfection, then yes.
[QUOTE=Deadly-Virus;20058849]When all the HoI2 mods are ported over and it's patched to perfection, then yes.[/QUOTE]
Kaiserreich - Legacy of the Weltkrieg would be a blast in HOI3
[QUOTE=Virtanen;20058184]HoI III is better.[/QUOTE]You really shouldn't be saying that in a HoI2 topic, bro. :rolleyes:
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