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Developer Corner | Aerohydrodynamics

Hello everyone!

It has been a while since the last dev corner, as many of us (including myself) went on vacations - but now I have returned, even if it has been quite hard to readjust my brain back to the work frequencies. As usual, keep in mind that everything discussed here is in a relatively early stage, and as such is subject to change, especially all the numbers and values. There is also quite a number of placeholder art.

Today we will talk a bit more about Islands, Carriers (and changes to them) and also about a new branch of Special Forces, so buckle up!

[h3]Strategic Locations[/h3]

Truk is what we call a ‘strategic location’, a place that can have increased building capacity or potential. In this case, currently it is a ‘placeholder’ name of Natural Harbor increasing the level cap of Naval Base Truk in Caroline Islands from 6 to 8. (note, that doesn't mean all the Caroline Islands have that increased level cap). This increased level cap of 8 can be quite important as it will allow…

As I mentioned in the Hydrodynamics Dev Corner, not all islands will be equal under the new system. We have created a concept called ‘Strategic Locations’ - that due to specific circumstances, historical importance, geographical location etc. deserves to be a bit more unique, while also having increased gameplay importance. Those locations will have increased limits for certain buildings, depending on the type of the strategic location. Some of the ‘Islands’ like Truk or Guam, may have increased Naval Base caps, others could have increased Airfield or Fort Caps. Or have a mix of them.

[h3]Defending Against Naval Strikes[/h3]

In this screenshot, you can see that planes from the British Carriers shot down some of the incoming German Naval Bombers performing Naval Strike.

One of the things that didn’t sit quite right with me for a long time, was the fact that whenever Naval Strike was performed on the Taskforce that included Carriers, Carrier Planes would sit idle and twiddle their thumbs. Now, carrier planes will participate in defense of the taskforce against Naval Strikes - with numbers depending on a few factors.

[h3]Carrier Missions[/h3]

In these screenshots you can see that while the task force is executing the mission (in this case it was naval exercises), planes on that carrier can also perform the air missions at the same time. In the second screenshot I’ve selected all planes to do exercises, while in the last screenshot I’ve opted for fighters to provide air cover and superiority, while I ordered my taskforce to operate in the North Pacific Sea Zone.

Another update when it comes to the Carriers that we will be doing, is the ability to set and execute air missions for the Carrier Air Groups, while the taskforce that contains Carriers are performing the missions. Planes will be executing the missions selected in the same region that the taskforce is currently operating in.

[h3]Carrier Hangar Detection Changes[/h3]

And another change for Carriers, is the introduction of ‘Carrier Sub/Surface Detection’ values on the Hangar modules. Essentially what it does - it provides increased Sub / Surface detection to the ship scaled by the % of the planes it currently has.

Deck Space / Hangar for the ‘regular’ carriers provide +2 Carrier Sub Detection and +5 Carrier Surface Detection. For example, a carrier with 3 hangars, will have a Deck Size of 60, and +6 Carrier Sub Detection, +15 Carrier Surface Detection. If it would have a full compartment of 60 planes, then it would get +15 Surface and +6 Sub Detection, while if it would have only 30 planes, it would only provide +3 Sub Detection and +7.5 Surface Detection. As usual, keep in mind those values may be adjusted down the line.

[h3]New Special Forces[/h3]

Who will guess which one is the new branch of Special Forces?

To fight in all the jungles and on the islands, we are introducing a new branch of Special Forces - which we internally called for quite some time ‘Jungle Specialists’. This temporary name was great as long as they remained on the design board, but for the actual implementation finding the right name for them proved to be quite challenging to me. They went under a few ‘name iterations’ (amongst them some like: Jaegers or Chindits), but finally decided to name them Rangers. But hold up, aren’t there Rangers in-game already as a Support Company unlocked by the Mountaineers Special Doctrine, you will ask? Yes, and they will be renamed to Recon Rangers. Recon Rangers will be now unlocked by either picking Mountaineers Special Doctrine OR Rangers Special Doctrine. Rangers specialty will be fighting in the Woods and Jungles, and of course they can be further customized and boosted by the Rangers Special Forces Doctrine branch.

And this is the new special forces doctrine branch in all its FINAL_BACKUP_DRAFT_FINAL_V5 glory and form.

And that’s pretty much it for this dev corner from my side. In time we will return with more dev corners, including me talking more about things that are opposite to dry amongst others. I am really curious to see and read all your feedback and opinions on what I mentioned today.

Thanks for reading and until next time, farewell!

/Zwirbaum

I am going to leave you with another teaser for one of the new ‘toys’ we will talk about in the future. This shouldn’t be a hard guess, I think?

Merch Survey!

Generals!

High Command has issued a survey in order to gauge your thoughts in future HOI Merchandise!

Get involved with the Form below, and let us know your thoughts about them;

Click the image above, or here, to fill out the survey!

WW2 grand strategy game Hearts of Iron 4 is cooking big Axis and Allies changes

Despite building Steam's leading WW2 grand strategy game, Hearts of Iron 4 developer Paradox refuses to rest on its laurels. Over nine years since it was first launched, the highly detailed World War II management sim boasts a 91%-positive rating on the Valve store from over 240,000 combined user reviews. As it nears double digits, Paradox has big plans for HoI 4, including a full redesign to the way factions work to make them more engaging. In a new developer blog, design manager 'Wrongwraith' walks us through what that might look like for the two biggest players, the Axis and Allies.

Read the rest of the story...

Dev Corner | Faction Dynamics Part 2

If you haven't seen the previous Dev Corner, make sure to check it out here.

Reinventing Faction Dynamics Part 2

Generals!

Welcome to another Developer Corner. Let’s start with a reminder, or clarification, so you have a better idea of what kind of feedback we’re looking for.

Dev Diaries give you a clear preview of what’s coming very soon.

Dev Corners are our way of involving the community earlier in our design and development process so we have a chance to listen and tweak. This obviously means there is less detail to share, because we don’t (want to) have it all nailed down yet. It’s also possible that things we discuss here aren’t all meant for the next DLC.
Now that that’s all cleared up, settle in, read it all and give us your honest, and friendly, feedback.

Now on to Wrongwraith:

The first dev corner about all things factions got a bit too long as I tended to talk about more things than I had originally intended to. But it felt that I had to try to cover a lot of things in order to explain what I was talking about. To compensate for that, this one will be a bit more focused.

I wanted to talk about the different factions - what makes them different? Basically giving a little bit of an insight into the working day of a game designer.

What we have tried to do is to decide on a theme for a faction; and design a Manifest, and select a set of Faction Rules that relate to that theme. We want to have Goals that are more or less strategic in nature. You should be encouraged to act; and to act in a way that makes sense according to the theme wherever that is possible.

Just to say it one more time: This is very much an iterative process. The final result, whenever this feature actually makes it into the game, might be totally different.

To explain what I mean I will give a few examples and show you a few more screenshots (sorry, but they still very much have placeholder UI elements - and not at all pretty).

[h3]Designing the Axis[/h3]
Let's start with the Axis…

Germany starts the game as the leader of the Axis; nothing new there.

Thinking about the Axis, and especially the two major powers there - Germany and Italy - it is all about conquest and expansion. Subsequently that quite naturally becomes the theme for this faction. How do we measure conquest then? In HOI terms it is probably the amount of controlled territory that is outside your core nation.

Some of the bonuses you get from high fulfillment of the Manifest then also relate back to the conquest of territory, like non-core manpower, and resistance to occupation.

The Axis faction window - and no, it won’t look like this when ready.

The Axis goals then, are as follows:

Secure the Resource Supply - Faction members control resources enough to ensure they can be at war with the world for some time.
A European Bastion - Get European Continental countries to either join your faction or capitulate / become part of you.
Secure North Africa - Control key areas in, and on the way to, North Africa to ensure the safety of the core Axis territory of continental Europe
An Armored Fist - Deploy enough armored units so that you are ready to take on anyone who opposes your expansion plans.
The North Atlantic - stop any enemies from gaining control of the North Atlantic in order to disrupt any attempts to block you off from world trade and to disable support for enemies in Europe.

The Axis countries weren’t very good at cooperating with each other, so it is for this reason that the faction starts without any of the more cooperative features unlocked.

[h3]What about Japan[/h3]
How does this then contrast with e.g. the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere?

Here the theme is more centered around creating the prerequisites for expansion in Asia, ensuring that the Japanese industry has enough resources, and on creating puppets to establish control over the region. It is a very Japan-centered faction (at least if you play the historical version)

The manifest is about securing vital resources. The goals revolve around ensuring this is possible - and securing the necessary puppet countries.

Coastal security for example is about securing the sea zones around Japan and along the Chinese Coast, down to the South China Sea and the Gulf of Thailand. Secure the Oil Supply is a step on the way to fulfilling the manifest. Align China basically means creating Chinese puppets in China or conquering the country altogether. And so on.

Faction Goal: Coastal Security through naval dominance

[h3]The Allies[/h3]
The Allies on the other hand have a slightly different set of goals:
They start with just a few, and then they can get a few more through focuses and/or events, but this is what it looks like relatively early on:

Allied Goals

Arteries of trade Focusing on asserting dominance over critical sea zones around the world
Guardians of peace - try to ensure world peace
Atomic Race - ensure that no one else gets an atomic bomb before we do
Imperial Glory - Keep key parts of the colonial Empires under control even in times of war.

The idea is also that the Allies should get more bonuses to cooperation, and start with a slightly more 'upgraded faction' faction, and then get options to further improve on this as they go.

[h3]Stalin vs Trotsky[/h3]
We are looking at different themes for a Stalin-lead, Communist block versus one led by e.g. Trotsky. Where the Comintern under Stalin’s lead would be more focused on border security for the Soviet Union and its allies and securing key strategic locations, the Trotskyist one should be more about spreading the revolution - supporting communism in other countries and/or forcibly converting them.

[h3]The Chinese United Front[/h3]
The theme for the Chinese United Front is resistance to occupation and unity. Thus the manifest is about Territorial Integrity - uniting and liberating China. The goals connect to this in various ways; like trying to control the coastline for as long as possible, organizing the resistance to occupation, but also things like building the industrial capacity to be able to stand up against the Japanese - or any other aggressor.

[h3]On Feedback & Dev Corners[/h3]
This would be all for this time. Would love to hear your thoughts on what you think makes the historical factions different from each other. What other factions and goals would you like to see?

We hope you do like these glimpses into what we do. We at least appreciate the feedback we are getting, having gotten some really good feedback on factions, naval dominance, and coal/energy already.