Hearts of Iron IV News

Hello there, Aveebee here to introduce this week's chunky Dev Diary covering a variety of topics. We’ll be covering everything free going into the upcoming patch that will release alongside Trial of Allegiance, an overview of some major map changes in South America, as well as some content pack specific updates. So without further ado, let’s get started!

First up, we have Jonathan!

[h2]Bolivar Patch[/h2]
Hello again everyone, now it’s time for me to show you guys some of the things for this bag of treats that I have been working on for the patch coming alongside the Country Pack Trial of Allegiance!

[h3]The Peru-Ecuador Conflict[/h3]
First up in terms of what I have contributed to this bag of treats is the Peruvian-Ecuadorian war of 1941. Now, Ecuador starts with ownership and a core on Pastaza, and Peru will have to take it through war, with the option of a scripted peace if they manage to take it. Ecuador can however also secure themselves a scripted peace from this ordeal, as long as they take Loreto, which means a skilled Ecuador player can even gain territory from the conflict.


[h3]New Formable Nations[/h3]
But wait, there’s more! Now onto new formable nations (that aren’t for the main countries getting a focus tree in the DLC) that are included in the patch. And for this part I’m especially looking at you Hovelax ;).

The First on up is the Peru-Bolivian Confederation, formable in-game by either Peru or Bolivia.


The next one is the United Guianas, formable by either Suriname, Guyana or Cayenne.


And finally for new free formable nations coming in this patch, we have Hispaniola, formable by either Haiti or the Dominican Republic.


[h3]New Releasable Nations[/h3]
Now then, we’ve arrived to the non formable, but instead releasable nations added alongside this patch, or at least the ones that I’ve implemented.

First up on the list we have Quebec.


After that comes Yucatan.


Then comes another historical Mexican breakaway state, the Republic of the Rio Grande.


And finally we have a new island nation, which you might have seen briefly in last week's Chile Dev Diary. That nation is Rapa Nui, most often known as Easter Island.


[h3]Canada War Effort[/h3]
And now, merged into this patch is a Canadian War Effort, updating and adding a small extra amount of content for our home and native land, Canada.

To start off with, Canada has a new industrial concern available to them, that being the Canadian Pacific Railway.


And after that comes the fact that the Canadian country leaders now start with their own unique traits.


And there are also three new focuses available to Canada, this time with more focus on the democratic branches.


The first two each give a National Spirit;


And then this focus allows you to gain Newfoundland and Labrador despite staying with the Allies, or even when going independent democracy.


A few of the old focuses have also been touched up, so I will show some. Not all of them are here, so you will have to find some differences on your own once the patch releases ;)

This focus now takes 35 days.


Taking this focus when having Mackenzie King as your country leader also gives him an extra trait.


And this focus now gives you two civilian factories.


Oh and what’s this?


[h3]Update Central American Formables[/h3]
The old formable nation of Central America now has two possible follow-up decisions that can give them a small bit of extra core states.

First up is Integrating Panama.


And then you also have Integrating Yucatan.


[h3]New American Industrial Concern[/h3]
And now we arrive at my final contributions to this patch. First up we have the Union Pacific Railroad for the USA.


[h3]New Operatives[/h3]
As for the owners of La Resistance, you will also gain new operatives such as the new American Operatives, George Musulin, Joe Savoldi, René Joyeuse, Willian G Sebold and Serge Obolensky. These operatives are unlocked for the USA through some of the various War Plans focuses.


As for new German Operatives, there are Erich Gimpel, Johannes Sigfried Becker, Herbert Hans Haupt, Norman Baillie Stewart and Fritz Joubert Duquesne.

Johannes Sigfried Becker;


Fritz Joubert Duquesne:


And finally, there have also been some new Japanese Operatives added. They are Patrick Vaughan Heenan, John Semer Farnsworth and Ignatius Timothy Trebitsch Lincoln.

Ignatius Timothy Trebitsch Lincoln:


John Semer Farnsworth:


And that’s all from me folks, next up Mordred Viking!

[h3]Naval Trait Rework[/h3]
Hello! My name is Mordred Viking, and I have recently joined the Hearts of Iron IV team. As some of you may know, I have a bit of a thing for naval warfare in HOI, and have wanted to retouch the Admiral Trait tree for a while now.

Here’s the old version:


There were a number of things about this tree I was not a huge fan of, firstly how certain earnable traits (the ones you need to get through use) effectively blocked the latter assigned ones. Cruiser Captain being a particular pain to get due to Fly Swatter being very slow to gain.

Furthermore, there were a couple of traits which very rarely saw use, Mine Sweeper / Layer being most prominent. Having two traits for an area not often focused on anyway basically meant they just never got used.

Working together with C0rax, we rejigged the positions, trying to keep traits in some kind of role order; Raiding, Escorting, Cruising, Carrier-ing, and Big-Gunning. We also increased the number of pathways to the assignable traits, meaning you should find yourself soft locked far less frequently. Fly Swatter has been made an assignable trait now instead.

And here’s the updated version:


We also combined the mine traits into one, and it has quite possibly the best description in the game (I’ll leave you to find that for yourselves!).

[h2]Trial of Allegiance[/h2]
AveeBee here again! Before jumping into the content pack specific part of this dev diary, I think it’s also worth pointing out that there will be a lot of bug fixes going into the Bolivar Patch that have not been mentioned here but are no less important. We’ll be looking more at those in a later Dev Diary.

[h3]Amazon Rework[/h3]
The Amazon Rainforest is probably one of the most hostile places on the planet to get embroiled in a conflict due to the array of geographical features it includes. It is not the type of place you can sweep through with tanks or rapidly construct infrastructure to support massive infantry formations. As such, we’ve made some changes to its portrayal in Hearts of Iron to better represent the difficulty of fighting there.


As you can see in the screenshot above, we’ve added a number of impassible regions to represent the deepest parts of the Amazon where fighting would be almost impossible. However, we have created channels through the rainforest that follow the course of the major rivers along which troops can pass.


This creates some really fun gameplay due to the natural choke points that develop in the area. However, we wanted to make sure there were still enough provinces along the riverside to allow for encirclements and interesting maneuvers.


These changes have made the region challenging, but definitely more interesting. Anyone who can use the terrain to their advantage will likely enjoy fighting here. For example, using supply hubs along the river to support your troops without the need for railways can make a massive difference to your success in the region.

On the topic of map changes, we have also broken down the air regions above South America to make air combat more interesting.


[h3]Peron[/h3]
Hey everyone, it’s Eilidh again. After taking your feedback into consideration, we have decided to implement a short alternate path in the historical branch where you, as the player, can decide to elect Juan Perón as the leader of Argentina. The position in this tree means that you can either choose to support the allies or go on your own conquest of South America, depending on the type of game you want to play.



And before I sign off, allow me to show you the leader portrait we have cooked up for the man himself.


We hope you enjoy this addition to the Argentinian tree! We appreciate you giving us feedback as we go, and whilst we cannot implement all changes in the time that we are allocated, we will do our best to accommodate!

[h3]Paraguay & Uruguay[/h3]
Mba'éichapa!

Craniummuppet here to present two mini-trees, Paraguay and Uruguay. These trees started as a side-project for me after the release of AAT, mostly to give a small treat to you guys but kinda kept growing in size as time went on from a smaller shared tree into fully separated trees with a scope target like Aussa or Iceland. (Note that much of the icons are placeholders and will get updated)

[h3]Paraguay[/h3]
At the start of the game Paraguay is reeling from two costly wars - The War of the Triple Alliance and the Chaco War against Bolivia.

This is felt in Paraguay


In Feb 1936 Rafael Franco will launch his coup against the government where you can pick to either let him seize control of the country or resist him. Allowing him to take power will lead you down the historical path, and resisting him will plunge you into a civil war.


Seizing power will allow you to do various socialist and military reforms, while not a communist per-se Franco (not that one) certainly had policies that were left leaning in nature, but also had typical military dictatorship tendencies.

He didn't last long though, and got ousted by the military after pulling back troops from the Chaco region. You can keep Franco though (not that one) by not pulling back from the Chaco, which is the second alt-history choice.

Pulling back from the Chaco will lead to a revolt within the army, putting Higinio Morínigo in power


If Franco was more left leaning, Morínigo is the polar opposite. To put it bluntly he had strong pro-Nazi sympathies,with parts of the police force and the military adopting the symbolism of the Third Reich. He also allied himself with militias, banned parties and consolidated his power.

This focus path will pivot the country from the Franco left leaning military dictatorship towards a more fascist and authoritarian military dictatorship under Morínigo.
(As an example the police chief at the time named his kid Adolfo Hioritho … )

While starting as unaligned in this path you can eventually commit fully to fascism, or you can stay as unaligned


One of the biggest reasons why Paraguay did not drift closer to the Axis powers was because of direct intervention from the USA. They started financing various endeavours in the country which kept Paraguay out of the war, such as favourable loans, road finance and technical assistance..

In game this is modelled by accepting American investment, whereby you won’t be able to join the Axis for the duration of the investment. Going down all the investment paths will keep you out of the Axis powers, but grant you massive boosts to the economy. How far you exploit this is up to you.

Going back to the world where Franco does not pull back from the Chaco, the alternative is war with Bolivia, this lets you keep Franco, and get some early conquest. With Bolivia conquered, you can finally get a coastline by getting wargoals against Peru and Chile, which leads to a very weird shape of a country. This is my current playthrough


And yeah… it has an interesting shape.


Going back to the top there is the other alternative history, the civil war route. Should you resist the Franco takeover you will enter a state of civil war where the army will rise up.


The army will have the upper hand at the start of the war, but the Paraguay river gives excellent defense.

To win the civil war, you can use the American scare of a “communist” state in its sphere of influence to increase your power. You can also use your wife's ties to France to get some aid from there.

Most powerful of all are the Marines, which will be used to break the river and win the war, or you can goad Bolivia to become involved in it which leads to a three way war that you can exploit.


When all is said and done you can use your civil war general, José Estigarribia to purge the military and cement your rule over the country. This leads to co-rule between Ayala and Estigarribia, or you can let Estigarribia take full control. It will take a while to rebuild the country as the civil war and various other wars have likely taken their toll, but eventually it will lead to a flourishing economy


[h3]Uruguay[/h3]
Uruguay was comparatively more stable than Paraguay during the time frame, despite being under a quasi dictatorship under Gabriel Terra.

Despite this they enjoyed a rapid GDP growth and relative stability. The beginning of the period centers around industrialization and the policies under Terra.


Around 1938 he will step down and you can pick between either the Colorados or Blancos, which are the two main parties in Uruguay, but both are democratic aligned.


If Democracy isn’t to your liking you can instead go down to the Furhmann plan, ally with agitators like Adolfo Agorio become fascist and use it as a springboard for the Axis powers in South America. This path is now locked behind any election event and can be b-lined to at game start if so pleased.

Before asking, of course there's events for the Battle of the River Plate.


Which will be triggered whenever a British and German ship is in the Southern Georgia Sea or in the Argentine Coast at the same time.

[h3]Shared Branches[/h3]


There are also some shared branches between Paraguay and Uruguay which will appear in both trees.


First off, the conquest branch allows you to do a small-scale war at the start of the game for some quick conquests if you are cheeky enough. You can even conquer parts of Brazil while being in the Paraguayan civil war to bypass parts of the river line.

Uruguay has access to this as well but they target Rio Grande do Sul and Región Mesopotámica. Later you can decide whether you want to go on a crusade against imperialism, forgoing any factions but having the ability to core more land, or a more conservative approach where you can core some land but you can still join factions.


Paraguayan Version;


Uruguayan Version;


A bit silly fun where hopefully it can be a challenge as well as long term goals in a playthrough.

The industrial branch focuses on the exports of the country, which mostly comprises Beef, Wool, Hides and other agricultural products.


You can also choose to empower the landowners, upon which they will start improving your economy automatically. In this screenshot they seem really keen on adding a building slot.


The research branch is where you get your 3th,4th and 5th slot. You require to have some industry to unlock each, with each slot getting gradually more difficult to get.


This focus will also unlock more civs the more you have invested in the industrial focus. So if you want those slots early you might have to sacrifice some industry.

Similarly to all other focus trees in this pack, Uruguay and Paraguay will use the shared military branch. :)

Uruguay


Paraguay


[h3]Next Week[/h3]
AveeBee here again, that's it for this week, hope you enjoyed it and are looking forward to Trial of Allegiance!

Next week we will be taking a look at alt-history Brazil.

See you then!

Make sure to check out Trial of Allegiance here
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2695150/Hearts_of_Iron_IV_Trial_of_Allegiance/

Hola a todos! Jonathan here to bring you a brand new Hearts of Iron 4 Dev Diary for the upcoming DLC Trial of Allegiance! I will be introducing you all to Chile, a country mostly known as South America’s Prussia. And as such, it’s time for a country almost no one knows about (nor is probably all too invested in), it’s time for Chile!

And breaking from how we have done it ever since No Step Back, this Dev Diary will tell you about all of the Chilean content, as was done in the Argentinian Dev Diary.

As usual, please do keep in mind that everything you’re about to see is still WIP so things might change before release and you will see some placeholder art and WIP values. The team thanks for your understanding!

Now then, on to the actual stuff!



So seeing as most if not practically all people know little-to nothing about Chile, I will start with some historical context, to get everyone on track, and catch you up (hopefully also slightly increasing interest in the country). I didn't know anything about the country prior to being assigned to work on it either, so you can imagine my surprise when I got to know what to work on, but after reading about it, despite having had no interest in the continent whatsoever, I can actually say that I now find it a whole lot more fascinating than I ever did before! The few things that are more widely known are Salvador Allende's socialist rule during the Cold War, and General Augusto Pinochet’s CIA-sponsored coup d‘etat in 1973. But those are much later, so let’s turn back the clock a bit.

In the beginning there was nothing, but somewhere around 3000 BC the first people seem to have moved in. Jumping forward, by the 16th century, Spanish conquistadors began to colonize the region of present-day Chile, and the territory was a colony between 1540 and 1818, when it gained independence from Spain. In Chilean history, the earliest period of the nation is referred to as the Patria Vieja, and the Patria Nueva (the old and new fatherland respectively), where Bernardo O'Higgins led the country to victory against the Spanish Empire during the Latin American wars of independence. From 1826 to 1932, Chile underwent many government changes and the people got quite used to coup d’etats and political instability. The Great Depression that began in 1929 was felt strongly in Chile starting from 1930, and was felt all the way into our current game-time. Chile was the country struck the hardest by the USA closing down their borders, as a vast majority of the Chilean economy revolved around exports of Nitrate and Copper to the United States. This all led to the coup that established the Chilean Socialist Republic briefly in 1932, and which led to a former president, Arturo Alessandri, being recalled to counter-coup the coup makers. Once the Republic of Chile was back on track, he began working to restore the country, and that is where we find ourselves at the start of the game.

Chile also took part in a few wars during this period, even winning conflicts in which they were outmatched. Examples of wars they took part in are the War of the Pacific against Peru and Bolivia from 1879 to 1884, and the Occupation of Araucanía against the Mapuche and the Kingdom of Araucanía and Patagonia that took place from 1861 to 1883. It’s all very interesting, have a read up on it sometime!

TLDR for the last two paragraphs: Chile is and was very unstable, but also pretty tough…

That’s that for historical context however, sorry for geeking out… Now it’s time for the actual things you all came for, the in-game content, as I’m sure you didn’t all come here for a history lesson!



Arturo Alessandri is a very important figure in Chilean history, and now, as is tradition with almost all countries that get unique content, he starts with a trait. Be aware however, that despite staying democratic, he will not be around forever, as the elections roll around and new presidents need to be elected!

By 1936, Chile has grown quite a bit since independence, having conquered the south from the Mapuche, as well as Antofagasta, Arica and Tacna from Bolivia and Peru, though having sold Tacna back to Peru in the treaty of Lima (1929) to secure more funds to recover from the economic troubles.




And here you can observe the fact that Chile just doesn’t really function at game start…















And then the other two spirits are the “Legacy of the Naval Arms Race” and the “Monroe Doctrine”, both of which have been discussed in the previous two Dev Diaries.

As you can also see, the Chilean order of battle has been adjusted to better represent the army at the start of the game.



Chile also has quite a few new cool 3d models!







Chile also has quite a few new generals coming with the DLC, so here you can see some of the ones you start with (keep in mind that their art isn’t fully in yet):






Chile also starts with a vast plethora of political advisors now, and though it may be many, are invisible from the start, or will go invisible once you start going down paths where the respective characters will no longer be available! So here are the ones visible from the start.






And here are the various Industrial Concerns the nations starts with:



But now finally, on to the thing you have all been waiting for, the glorious Chilean focus tree!



As you can see, the focus tree is divided into the classic political, industrial and military branches respectively.

The industrial tree is mainly divided into three parts, the public works, the mineral extraction, and the “post-peso devaluation” part.



The rightmost part gives bonuses to construction and infrastructure.



While the leftmost part gives bonuses to resource extraction and trade.



Then, when you want to move down to the stronger focuses below, you need to devalue the peso, in order for the economy to be on track so that you can properly undertake these big projects. Note that these stronger focuses require the devaluation of the peso to have run its time before they can be taken.





As you all might have, or might not have, seen in the Historical Brazil Dev Diary, the countries of the pack share the general layout and effects of this military branch, but as stated previously, they all have their own unique quirks and bonuses, as can be seen here.









Now then, on to the political, historical, democratic branch of the Chilean focus tree.



To start of with, in the early stages of the game, Chile has to try and deal with the upcoming attempted coup d'etat by the fascist party “Movimiento Nacional-Socialista”, or as they were more colloquially known as, the Nacistas.



There are various ways to deal with them, such as suppressing them, for the most part ignoring them, perhaps to your own detriment, or attempting to use them, unfortunately however subsequently increasing their power when the fated coup d’etat occurs.



As some of you eagle-eyed readers might have noticed, the first democratic focuses have to do with Arturo Alessandri being the president, and after that comes the 1938 Presidential Election focus. That is because, while you are locked out of the late-game focuses of the democratic tree until the election has happened and you have chosen a direction to take your country, but until then, you have Arturo Alessandri’s own policies to enact.



And as the founder of the Banco Central de Chile, a democratic Chile led by Arturo Alessandri can focus on upgrading this industrial concern, gaining hefty advantages to economy management.



And when the presidential election at the end of 1938 rolls around, it is time to say goodbye to Alessandri, and welcome a new president, where you need to decide, a left-wing president, or a right-wing one?



And throughout the game, the 1942 and 1946 elections will also occur, prompting you to select a new (or sometimes keep an old) country leader. These ones however will not lock you out of parts of the focus tree, at least in a sense…



You see, there are focuses in the democratic tree that can only be taken while having a left and right-leaning president respectively. As seen previously, you can change your president at certain intervals, allowing you to, in theory, go for practically all focuses, seeing as Chile during this time went from being ruled by the Liberals, then Social-Democrats, then the same, and the Conservatives who placed bans on all form of communism, and then back and forth, on and on.



There are of course also those within the military who dislike the political changes going through the country. For example, general Ariosto Herrera could try something.





There are also multiple important choices to take throughout the mid-to-late game for a democratic Chile, such as how to deal with the democratic processes, and in what way to prioritize the industry. This part is important for one of the alternative history branches, so remember this.



And finally, as historically happened, you can go to war with the fascists by declaring war on Japan, or perhaps someone else if the world has taken a different turn.



There are also a few other big things that happened to Chile throughout this time, such as the great 1939 Chillán earthquake:



And the sinking of the SS Tolten.



And if you want to, you can do things that didn’t really happen until quite a bit after the war.







And here are some of the potential country leaders you can get:



























Chile also has their own operative, the actress Rosita Serrano, of course provided you own La Resistance!



Now then, remember the focus: Increase Presidential Powers? Well, if you have a communist president in charge when you take the focus, your country will become communist. This begins the Communist sub-branch, as can be seen on the left-hand side of the democratic tree.



Here you will be able to either align yourself with the Russians and take the aggressive approach, eventually attempting to achieve Hispanic Unity.



Or go it your own, and attempt to expand your influence through diplomacy and the support of communist revolutions in Latin American countries.



And now we continue away from the democratic branches, and ponder for ourselves, what if the Nacistsas had actually succeeded with their coup d’etat? Well, that’s what we will figure out in the fascist branch, starting off with you securing support for the coup, minimizing your loss of stability and war support once it commences, until you can finally take full control of the country.






Once securing your rule, you will have to shape the country to be better fit for your future ambitions.



After that comes an important choice for the party. Pick a side in the global conflict, siding with the Germans, or choosing to stay out of global affairs, though not counting out the possibilities for your own expansion and faction.



Both versions will have access to the small “Revision of our Borders” sub-branch, allowing for attempted territorial expansion gated by army size.



Both branches have their own focuses that they can do.



And in the end you will have two different choices of formable nations, choosing to either restore the old kingdoms borders, or going even further and uniting Hispanic America.



And finally, we move on to the alt-history branches that may indeed have the chance to bring every hoi fans’ beloved monarchy, and perhaps also something different.

These two branches start off by looking back to tradition to solve the issues the country is facing, and having the ex-president and general Carlos Ibáñez del Campo perform a coup d’etat to take matters into his own hands.



First, we will take a look at the leftmost branch, that being staying with general Ibáñez, and accidentally finding yourself in a civil war with a combined force of the fascists and communist on the opposing side.



During this civil war, the outnumbered president Ibáñez will be approached by a mysterious Frenchman who promises aid in exchange for the Chilean crown. His name is Jaques Antoine Bernard, and will be crowned the new king of the Kingdom of Araucania and Patagonia.






After having established your new french kingdom at the bottom of the americas, it is time to not only reclaim your namesake, that being Patagonia, but also going even further, becoming the Napoleon Bonaapate of South America.



And now for the final branch, we move onto a group that has lived in Chile long before the first conquistadors arrived. It’s time for the Mapuche and Anti-Imperialist Crusade branch.



The branch starts up with you molding the rising Mapuche-nationalist movement to fit your future goals, and finally rising up against the current Chilean government.



Once the war against Chile is over and you have secured the state, it is time to first reclaim the old Mapuche territory of Puelmapu, and then move on to liberate the Amerindian peoples from imperialist oppression.



And there is a lot of work to be done once the crusade has started.



In the end, America can be free from modern states, and the governments of the region can be reorganized to the desire of the leaders of the new Mapcuhe state.









Also for the end, here are some other advisors and leaders you might have interest in, such as the Mapuche advisors:



And Antoine III of the Kingdom of Araucanía and Patagonia.



And one of the possible fascist leaders, the starting leader for the ideology.



And that’s been all from me this time. Tune in next week for a look at a bag of treats that will hopefully satiate all the hungry mouths out there!

¡Adiós!


Make sure to check out Trial of Allegiance here
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2695150/Hearts_of_Iron_IV_Trial_of_Allegiance/

¡Hola amigos! My name is Eilidh, and this just so happens to be my first time writing a Dev Diary for you guys! I’m very excited to introduce to you the work I have been doing on Argentina, one of the nations you’ll be able to lead in Trial of Allegiance. Whilst Argentina didn’t get directly involved in the war until late in the game, the country went through massive changes and had an absolutely fascinating history during the 1930s through to the 1940s. So let’s take a look at this ‘Infamous Decade’ and allow me to give you a brief context overview of where the country is at the start of the game, before taking you on a tour around the various political branches you can take in the Argentinian focus tree. Without further ado, let’s get stuck in!


[h3]Context Pre-1936[/h3]
Prior to the start of the Great Depression, Argentina followed a trend of strong economic growth, enough to rival countries such as Canada or Australia in per capita income. This strong era of development for the country was also matched by social and economic reforms brought about by the government - which currently seated the Radical Civic Union party. However, it was during the second administration of president Hipólito Yrigoyen that things took a turn for the worst. The Great Depression arrived in Argentina, bringing with it a crippling economic crisis. In 1930, the military took things into their own hands, ousting Yrigoyen in the first military coup in modern Argentine history. It is this event that marked the beginning of what would later be called the Infamous Decade in Argentina; a period of fraudulent elections, government corruption and further military coup d’etats.

After Yrigoyen was removed from office, there was another election, this time putting Agustín Pedro Justo in power, supported by the newly created conservative party known as the Concordancia. This party was a union of various dissident sectors of other political parties that opposed the late Yrigoyen. It was Justo that orchestrated the practice of electoral fraud that became prevalent during the 1930s in Argentina; a case that would be attached to the legacy of the Concordancia.

The Great Depression hit Argentina relatively hard, and in the wake of such a global economic crisis, Great Britain, the principal economic partner of Argentina in the 1920s and 1930s, took measures to protect the meat supply market in the Commonwealth. One of these measures was to create a bilateral treaty with the Argentine Senate known as the Roca-Runciman treaty; named after the two men who signed it. This treaty ensured and strengthened the commercial tires between Argentina and Britain.

Moving back to the time before the first world war, Argentina engaged in a significant naval arms race with its neighbors Brazil and Chile. After years of conflict between Argentina and Chile, a pact was formed in 1902 that limited the naval armaments of both countries. However, alarmed by the sudden influx of Brazilian warships a few years later, Argentina quickly moved to nullify the remaining months of their pact with Chile to join in the naval arms race and match the naval capabilities of their northern neighbor Brazil. However when the first world war ended, so did the arms race. Suffering from the financial cost of trying to expand their naval capabilities, all three countries suddenly found themselves unable to acquire additional warships. After the conflict, the race never resumed, but many plans for post-war naval expansions were postulated by the Argentine, Brazilian, and Chilean governments.

In game, we represent these issues with a number of national spirits that must be overcome if the nation is to prosper or expand. (Icons may change before release)


[h3]Historical Branch[/h3]
When the game begins, no matter which ideology you wish to go down, Argentina will always start Non-Aligned with Agustín Pedro Justo in power. However, he likely will not remain there for long, as each branch will require the Argentinian player to make some drastic changes to their government and president. Whilst we won’t dwell on Señor Justo for long, please enjoy this updated art we have for his portrait!


With that out of the way, let’s take a wee look at the historical branch of the focus tree.


It should be noted that the foreign policy branch is shared with the democratic branch. As such, the path that begins with ‘Pan-American Cooperation’ and ends with ‘The Second Argentine Republic’ is available only to those who have taken Argentina into an independent democratic future.


The first part of the branch is all about putting Roberto Ortiz in power, a man who dedicated himself to ousting the corruption in the Concordancia, despite being chosen through the most fraudulent election in Argentine History. As such, you will try to minimize the ‘Political Corruption’ national spirit, by taking these focuses, as well as reinforcing the already existing relationship with Great Britain.


In the next part of the tree, things start to heat up for the Concordanica. Whilst you have the option to improve on Argentina’s damaged economy in the left hand branch, the historical player must then choose to elect Ramón Castillo. However, this creates tensions within the military factions in government, setting off a timed mission that spells an impending military coup. If the player does not take the appropriate actions, either by embracing the military factions or resisting them, then they will face a bloody civil war across Argentina.


In order to avoid a civil war, you have two choices. Either go the historical route and allow the march to create a quiet turnover in government via ‘March to La Casa Rosada’ or take things a-historically and enact federal intervention in states taken over by the military, before finally subduing the dissension within its ranks. However, if you fancy fighting a civil war, feel free to do absolutely nothing! The fun thing about Hearts of Iron IV is that you can play it however you want.


With your government secure, you can finally start to look towards engaging with the world and the war that is ravaging it. If fighting does not interest you what-so-ever, then feel free to reject the Allies and take your own path, remaining neutral. However, if you want to help the Allies in their fight against fascism, then you can join their faction, and begin Argentina’s foreign policy branch. Keep that branch in mind for now, for I will go into more detail with it when we talk about the democratic path!

[h3]Democratic Branch[/h3]
Speaking of which, let’s talk about what happens if you have a clean election instead of one that is corrupt beyond belief. It’s time to see how Argentina fares as a true democracy.


At the beginning of the path, the ‘Infamous Decade’ national spirit becomes less of a hindrance as you are taking the actions necessary to avoid the rampant corruption that was rife within the Concordancia. With this in mind, you will then elect Marcelo T. De Alvear as the new leader of Argentina, placing the Radical Civic Union as the primary party in government. From here on out, you will be able to enact further social change to the country, building it up as a safe and comfortable home for all who live in Argentina.


With the country stable, it is time for the democratic player to turn their attention towards expanding their military by either reinforcing their connection with the United States or with Great Britain. Alternatively, there is a third branch in which Argentina focuses internally, and instead looks to becoming the new bastion of democracy in the Americas.


It is time for democratic Argentina to get itself involved in foreign policy. This branch is shared with the Historical tree, but really comes alive with the context of playing Democratic. Aligning yourself with the Monroe Doctrine will grant a national spirit to help set yourself up militarily, and allow you to develop your alliance with Britain and America. Bolstering your connection with the U.S.A will allow you to start engaging in counterintelligence, eventually ending the infamous Operation Bolivar in South America. This path then ends with the opportunity to work towards removing communism from the continent. Alternatively, send an envoy to London and have the potential to secure the Falkland and South Georgia islands from them, setting them up as strong naval fortresses to aid in the war. As time goes on, you will eventually gain the chance to have wargoals on any fascist nations in South America.

[h3]Industrial Branch[/h3]
Let’s take a break from politics for a second and have a look at Argentina’s industrial branch, which is accessible for all ideologies.


Starting out by developing the Banco Central de la República Argentina, the path opens up to multiple branches that will on large provide multiple bonuses to restore the economic prowess Argentina had prior to the Great Depression.


One of the first things the Argentinian player can do is reach out to various major nations and take out loans from them. This is done through a decision system that will provide numerous bonuses at the expense of daily political power. Of course, if you then wish to repay, you will be able to swap those bonuses to regain the daily PP that you have lost.


This branch deals primarily with the development of your industry and research. Many of the focuses here will provide you with factories both civilian and military, as well as a number of research boosts to various categories. You will also have the option to capitalize on Argentina’s beef industry, and make changes to the ‘Roca-Runciman Treaty’ national treaty you have at game start. Either revisit it and redevelop it as the ‘Eden-Malbrán Treaty’ or revise it entirely, cutting Britain out of the equation and re-signing the treaty with any of your new allies.


This side of the tree is instead focused on developing Argentina’s infrastructure and raw resources. The latter in particular will create more steel and aluminum for extraction in certain regions of the country, eventually culminating in unlocking the Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales as an industrial concern, granting boosts to Industrial and Resource research speed.

On the right, the focus is on building up the Argentine Metropole. Encourage immigration from Wales, Germany and Italy and develop the civilian economy, overall promoting a move from the more traditional rural lifestyle of old towards the larger cities in Argentina.

[h3]Fascist Branch[/h3]
As we move back to the political branches, we will be taking a look at Argentina’s fascist tree. This explores the ‘what-if’ scenario in which Roberto Ortiz worked with the Argentine nationalists instead of focusing on trying to improve the Concordancia.


In the 1910s - 1930s, a group known as the Ligas Patrióticas were operating in Argentina as a nationalistic paramilitary group. Eventually, they would be reformed into the Argentine Civic Legion and then the Unión Nacional Fascista. This tied with certain members of the Argentina government supporting the Axis in Europe, meant that there was plenty to draw on for an alternative history in which Argentina pursued fascism.

The idea of this path is for the player to bolster nationalist spirit throughout the country. including sending aid to Franco during the Spanish Civil War. Doing so will allow you to demand Equatorial Guinea from Spain, giving Argentina a foothold in the African front. The player can also re-establish the Ligas Patrióticas which will provide a number of divisions to use in the upcoming wars that you will no doubt be waging. Speaking of which, why not poke at Uruguay a little bit? If you can do so without escalating a conflict with Brazil, it would provide a nice foothold for your new regime to take on the rest of the continent.


Now the time has come to choose whether you will be a nationalistic Argentina or one that models itself after the German Reich. These branching paths will allow you to take fascist Argentina in two different directions. Taking ‘Guardia Nacional’ will take you down a more hyper-militaristic path and set you up in a good position to join the Axis and act as an extension of Germany on the South American continent. Alternatively, if you take ‘Unión Nacional Fascista’ then you will focus on bolstering the nationalistic spirit of Argentina, resulting in a pretty cool national spirit ‘Spirit of the Conquistadors’ which grants war support, division attack and makes it faster to justify war on your neighbors.


Eventually, regardless of what flavor of fascism you install in Argentina, the time will come where you must decide to join the Axis and the war in Europe, or create your own faction, and begin the conquest of South America.


At long last, it is time to dominate the south. This foreign policy branch will take you through a number of steps where you will have the option to either bully your neighbors into submitting to you, or straight up marching on their borders in an all out war. Eventually, it will be time to turn to Argentina’s oldest rival to the north: Brazil. By taking out the largest nation on the continent, the Argentinian player will be in a good position to secure the rest of South America, eventually creating the South American Confederation and opening up the opportunity to integrate conquered territories into your nation.


Of course, it wouldn’t be an Argentinian focus tree without the opportunity to set off the Falkland War early now would it? Be careful though. Putting your sights on the United Kingdom will mean that you might fall into the Allies’ ire if you aren’t already.

[h3]Communist Branch[/h3]
But what if you want a more radical change to Argentina’s government? Well, I have prepared a Communist branch just for that reason. Instead of a fraudulent or a clean election, it’s time for a call to reform as we dive into the Communist tree.


As with any communist movement, the first port of call is to begin garnering revolutionary support. This is started by inviting Rodolfo Ghioldi back to Argentina. Ghioldi was a political leader who supported the Argentine Communist Party. After a threat against his life, Ghioldi was exiled to Brazil, where he participated in a failed communist insurrection against Getúlio Vargas. However, in this timeline, you will bring him back to Argentina to lead your revolution.

Eventually, after legitimizing the Argentina Communist Party and reaching out to the Soviets for support and rallying the workers, you will be able to launch a revolution against the government of Argentina. If you are able to survive the civil war, then you will play as Argentina Populares!


After the revolution, you will then have a choice in the kind of communism you want to build in Argentina.

Firstly, on the left, you can align yourself with the Soviets. This will keep Rodolfo Ghioldi in power and will make Argentina join the Comintern. From here on out, Argentina will gain access to Soviet companies (or MIOs if you have Arms Against Tyranny!) and focus on establishing a strong intelligence program in the name of state security. This branch culminates in Ghioldi centralizing power and becoming a true communist dictator!

On the right, however, you can put Fanny Edelman in power, creating a more independent socialist power in South America. Edelman’s path looks to supporting the common worker and providing rights for women, as well as sending socialist volunteers across seas to aid in revolutions across the world. Eventually, it will be time to open up the Buenos Aires Conference, where you will decide whether to keep Fanny in power, or instead allow Anarcho-Syndicalist Antonio Soto a chance to rule (More on this guy later!)

The middle branch is accessible to both paths, and follows the standard economic upgrades that communist Argentina can install. Eventually, you will have to choose between enacting state atheism, or establishing Liberation Theology much earlier than it did historically. Liberation Theology, for those unaware, was a form of Catholicism created in South America that aligned itself ideologically with socialist theory.


The Foreign Policy branch of the Communist tree is fairly short and sweet. You will be able to choose between gaining war goals on all non-communist states in South America, or, if you’re feeling peaceful, invite any communist country on the continent to join your faction! Eventually, you will have the choice to integrate conquered territories into your nation or enact Operation Ocaso Escarlata, bringing forth a Scarlet Sunset to anyone who opposes you.


But wait… what’s this? Antonio Soto got into power at the Buenos Aires Conference? Soto was an Anarcho-Syndicalist who was one of the principal leaders during the well-known rural strikes in the Patagonia region of Argentina during 1921. He returns to the Communist branch as a potential leader!

When selected as the new leader during the Buenos Aires Conference, instead of going down the usual foreign policy path, you instead unlock an Anarcho-Syndicalist branch where you will improve Patagonia, making up for the strikes all those years go, Establish your Free Association and finally take the fight to liberate any occupied or colonized territories in South America!

[h3]Military Branch[/h3]
Those with a keen eye would have spotted that we have a shared military branch that is accessed by all the nations that we are expanding upon in Trial of Allegiance. This is due to the fact that many of them start with similar military capabilities and issues at the start of the game.

To save me repeating myself, feel free to check out our first developer diary made by AveeBee on Brazil for more information on the Military Branch.


Don’t fret however! The tree may be shared, but there are a number of focuses available that are flavored to each country. And whilst it may be large, it will allow you to create a truly bespoke military without causing any major balancing issues. Sure, it’s not intended that you take every focus here, but nothing is stopping you from turning Argentina into a superpower. It just takes time, you see!

[h3]Conclusion[/h3]

Well my friends, that brings me to the end of the Argentina Dev Diary. I hope this has given you more insight into what we have in store for you all and I hope you are looking forward to Trials of Allegiance.

There are some things that I have not touched upon in this Dev Diary, including a few easter eggs. But it wouldn’t be fun if I told you what they were, now would it?

If you have any questions, please feel free to post them below. Get ready, because the Dev Diaries don’t stop here - Chile is due to drop next week, so get excited!

Thanks for reading!

-Eilidh

Make sure to check out Trial of Allegiance here
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2695150/Hearts_of_Iron_IV_Trial_of_Allegiance/

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