Hearts of Iron IV News

Greetings all,

At the risk of stating the obvious, the release of Graveyard of Empires has not gone the way we wanted. Today, I want to post a mini-retrospective that explains some of what happened leading up to the release, and how we plan on acting on the results of that and on subsequent feedback and reception moving forwards.

One of the most important parts of the pre-release process we perform in Studio Gold is the Go/No-Go meeting. This is where each discipline; QA, Tech, Design, Marketing, Business et al, present their perspective on the state of the game and expectations on the likely reception thereof. We do this so we’re all on the same page, and so we can jointly arrive at a consensus on whether to launch or not. In GoE’s case, while we identified some areas of uncertainty mostly relating to dev diary feedback, we agreed that there was nothing out of the ordinary here, and that a release at this stage was acceptable. I don’t want to diminish my role here or throw anyone under the bus: as Game Director I can overrule in either direction, and I did not - I did not see what I should have seen.

Collectively, and personally, we were quite clearly wrong. As an organization we were unaware of the issues present in this release, and this represents a serious need for some inward thinking on how we arrived at this decision, and how we reorganize ourselves to prevent it occurring again. I have few answers for you right now as we’re focusing on the short-term goals for putting Graveyard of Empires right, but we have no intention of sweeping this under the rug.

From a long term perspective, this is now the second release of a Country pack which has performed worse than expected. Review score is actually a surprisingly difficult metric to evaluate. It is better to think of it as a snapshot that, on balance, gives us an idea of how much of the community considers everything surrounding a release to be a net positive or negative. This can include price, quality, scope, overall opinion of a company, and many other things. What we tend to do is aggregate the key sentiments of negative and positive reviews and work out, on balance, where the main points for and against are. The two main negatives on Trial of Allegiance were, in first place the regional price adjustments in two specific markets, followed by scope. It’s a bit early to say for Graveyard of Empires, but first impressions are content direction & quality (as we’ve acknowledged), followed by scope.

Both regional pricing and content quality are things that I would hope are relevant only to the individual releases here. They’re localized. Scope, on the other hand, represents a clearer area where we need to offer more on a fundamental level. Scope in this context, is the nature of what we’re offering: focus trees, mechanics, 3d models; the whole package. Content-only releases are popular with some HoI fans, but on balance are not enough to resonate with the majority of the community. Once again, I don’t have an answer yet here, but we’re aware of it, and will be evaluating how to make these releases more exciting to more people.

And finally, in the short term, I want to address our plans for Graveyard of Empires. Beginning this week, we have a series of patches and updates planned for GoE as well as for the base game in order to both fix and improve content that you found lacking. I sincerely appreciate all those who have reached out with constructive suggestions. We have all hands on this endeavour right now.

/Arheo

Timeline:

• 12th March - Patch (Operation HEAD)
  
• 20th March - Patch (Operation KNEE)
  
• Late March - War Effort (Operation SHOULDER)
  
• April - Updates & Changes to GoE content

As we approach the end of our developer content, we stand at the precipice for Graveyard of Empires. Fresh opportunities await players from the lands along the Euphrates, to the Gulf of Bengal, and we are delighted to see how you will experience these new challenges!

To kickstart your journey, be sure to continue reading for the full release notes, the Release Trailer, as well as our Steam Sale that’s starting right now!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Grab Graveyard of Empires below (Note that if you have already purchased the Expansion Pass 1, Graveyard of Empires will already be included with it)

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3152790/Country_Pack__Hearts_of_Iron_IV_Graveyard_of_Empires/

[h3]Release Notes[/h3]
If you missed the release notes or changelog we posted yesterday, you can check it out here

[h3]All Developer Diaries and Country Showcases[/h3]
If you missed any of our developer diaries or spotlight videos and want to catch up on all the new features in this expansion, you can find everything you need at the bullet points below:

• The Complete List of Developer Diaries
• Country Showcases Playlist

[h3]Version Rollback[/h3]
As always, you’ll be able to roll back your game to previous versions. The rollback option will become available shortly after the DLC release, so if you don’t see it right away, please be patient.

If you’re unsure how to roll back your game, you can find a helpful guide here.

[h3]Known Issues[/h3]
There are some issues we know about; we’ve detailed them in this post, and are working on resolving them.

[h3]Release Sale![/h3]
Accompanying the release of Graveyard of Empires, we will also be running a sale! So if you want to grab something you're missing alongside this release, you can get up to 70-75% off on select purchases.

If the sale isn't currently live for you, it should be live within 30 minutes to an hour of this post going up!

[h3]BASE GAME[/h3]
Hearts of Iron IV - 70% off Hearts of Iron IV: Starter Edition - 70% off

[h3]Expansions[/h3]
Hearts of Iron IV: Arms Against Tyranny 20% off Hearts of Iron IV: By Blood Alone 30% off Hearts of Iron IV: No Step Back 30% off Hearts of Iron IV: La Résistance 50% off Hearts of Iron IV: Man the Guns 50% off

[h3]Country Packs[/h3]
Hearts of Iron IV: Battle for the Bosporus 50% off Hearts of Iron IV: Trial of Allegiance 20% off

[h3]Music & Unit Packs[/h3]
Hearts of Iron IV: Songs of the Eastern Front 50% off Hearts of Iron IV: Eastern Front Planes 50% off Hearts of Iron IV: Allied Speeches Pack 50% off Hearts of Iron IV: Radio Pack 50% off Hearts of Iron IV: Sabaton Soundtrack 50% off Hearts of Iron IV: Sabaton Soundtrack Vol. 2 50% off Hearts of Iron IV: Allied Armor 50% off Hearts of Iron IV: Axis Armor 50% off


That's all! We hope you enjoy the expansion!

Hi everyone,

with a mere one day to go before the release of Graveyard of Empires, it is tradition that we provide you with the Release Notes. The usual disclaimer applies; this list is comprehensive, but not necessarily complete. Any items we add will be placed in a separate spoiler underneath the main list. (Checksum isn’t final yet and will be added before Release.)

[h3]Graveyard of empires[/h3]

• Added focus tree for Iran
  
• Added focus tree for Iraq
  
• Added focus tree for Afghanistan
  
• Expanded focus tree for the British Raj
  
• Added numerous 3D models for Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and the Raj
  
• Added 8 new music tracks
  
• Added Voiceovers for Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and the Raj
  

[h3]Gameplay[/h3]

• British Burma now exists from game start as a British subject
  
• Mandatory Palestine now exists from game start as a British subject
  
• Jordan now exists from game start as a British subject
  
• Kuwait now exists from game start as a British subject
  
• Lebanon now exists from game start as a French subject
  
• Syria now exists from game start as a French subject
  
• Added new tactics and modifiers for city combat
  
• Added Burma namelist and oob
  
• Removed Prince Henry as leader for Palestine
  

[h3]Balance[/h3]

• Siam now joins the Co-Prosperity sphere on historical
  
• Added a port in Phuket
  
• Added a supply hub in Hat Yai
  
• Siam starts with army of Siam spirit
  
• Extra shared slots don't get removed when flipping state owners anymore
  
• Added railway line to Archangelsk
  
• Added some resources in Pakistan area (Peshawar 3 Steel, Baluchistan States 3 Oil)
  
• Updated Siams AI to produce more units and streamline production
  
• Increased Siams building slots
  

[h3]UI[/h3]

• Reliability and Torpedo upgrades no longer overlap for Torpedo Cruisers
  

[h3]Modding[/h3]

• has_artillery_ratio, has_cavalry_ratio and has_unit_type triggers now also consider support units
  

[h3]Bugfixes[/h3]

• Fixed a Crash To Desktop (CTD) when loading games with prepared raids
  
• Daily Army, Air and Naval XP gain can no longer be negative
  
• Prevent a rare Out Of Sync (OOS) related to operative mission names when using different languages
  
• Swedish national spirit "Hungersköld" is no longer removed too early
  
• The Netherlands can once again Placate the Germans through their Gateway of Europe Decision
  
• Without Götterdammerung, there can be only one Fascist Advisor in Belgium
  
• Fixed an issue where Germany's Operation Panzerfaust would result in Hungary getting puppeted and having their war reset, resulting in teleported divisions
  
• Dutch East Indies no longer starts with only 10% democratic support
  
• "Expansion Pass 1: Supporter Pack" is no longer included in save game compatibility checks
  
• Fixed a rare random OOS in AI truck production
  
• Fixed rare Out of Sync in character name generation
  
• Fixed UI Crash when reordering items in lists
  

[h3]Performance[/h3]

• AI is now more performant when upgrading equipment
  
• Weather updates are now more efficiently parallelized
  
• AI plans naval invasion in parallel (drastically reduced spikes on multi-core CPUs)
  
• Refactored a number of decision systems to improve performance
  
• Optimized AI diplomacy calculations
  
• Optimized how reinforcements are computed
  
• AI is now more performant when selecting which doctrines to upgrade
  
• MIO attributes are now computed faster across the board
  
• Naval supremacy is now better parallelized
  

Hello and welcome to the art Dev Diary for Graveyard of Empires!

I’m marblemadness, one of the artists responsible for bringing you the art content that will be present in the expansion and unless specified the “speaker” in this dev diary. There was a lot of positive reception for Götterdämmerung, so following up on that is a challenge. But we’ve greased our elbows and dug deep into the sand to excavate the best art we could find, so I really hope you enjoy what we have to show!

[h3]Focuses[/h3]
Focuses! The bread and butter of the HoI4 experience. Here are some selections from this DLC.

Persian focus Icons

British Raj focus Icons

Afghan focus Icons

Iraq focus Icons

[h3]Portraits[/h3]
A Dev Diary would not be complete without a selection of the various country Leaders!


Persian Portraits


British Raj Portraits


Afghan Portraits


Iraq Portraits

[h3]Loading Screen[/h3]
This is the Loading Screen for GoE, as graciously created by CremeGene


[h3]3D Models[/h3]
Hello everyone! It’s me again bringing you a closer look at the 3D models for this DLC!
To truly appreciate the artistry behind these models, I have gathered some definition images for us to examine. It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity to see the models at this level of fidelity so let’s not waste any more time!

Let’s start with an up-close and personal look at the soldiers who will be risking their lives this time around!


It can be very dangerous to tread these lands on foot. One way to get the upper hand on the battlefield is to get your hands on a tank. Here are some tanks that will be available for each nation:
The big tank to the right is apparently called the flying elephant, but I don’t think it will be flying anytime soon.

You won’t be able to survive by only dominating the battlefields with your tanks and soldiers. They will be easy pickings unless you have some competent airplanes to achieve air supremacy
as well!


Even when there is a fierce battle happening it can be hard to not stop and appreciate the rich history and architecture that can be seen around the globe. In addition to previously added landmarks, you will now be able to see the Hagia Sophia, Sa'dabad Complex and Taj Mahal as well!


Before we finish off with a look at the achievements, I would like to address the elephant in the room by addressing.. Well.. the elephant in the room! Horses and camels are great, but there is no greater ally than this gentle giant:


[h3]Achievements[/h3]
And to round everything up, we have the achievements. Enjoy!


Graveyard of Empires
As Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq or the Raj, control all of the other three nations' starting provinces.



This achievement is dedicated to the brave soldiers of...
As Afghanistan, capitulate the Soviet Union



I have the high ground
As Afghanistan, control all Himalayan states



Pesky Greeks
As Iran, become the owner of all Greek core states



The Sands of Time
As Iran, own the entire Middle East



The Legacy of Cyrus the Great
As Iran, become the owner of former Achaemenid Empire's states



From Tehran with Love
As Iran, guarantee Poland's independence and ensure it does not capitulate by 1945



Cradle of Civilization
As Iraq, build the maximum infrastructure level in all core states and achieve 100% stability



It's Just Good Business
As the East India Company, own Suez and Panama



Media Mughal
As the Mughal Empire, complete Agency Upgrade Psychological Warfare, become Spy Master and have at least 8 operatives



Oh, how the turntables
As India puppet the UK with Churchill as it's leader



I'm just passing by
Own a state on each continent while being at peace



That's SIkh!
As Khalistan, control all of the starting Raj states



Oil Sheiks
As Iraq, have 500 oil production



Revenge for 1925
As Iraq, form the Hashemite Arab Federation and defeat Saudi Arabia



Avenging the Sack of Baghdad
As Iraq, control the capital of Mongolia



I shall either find a way or make one
Control Rome and have an elephant unit in the state.



Savior of the holy lands
As Afghanistan, become the owner of Palestine and Mecca


And this brings us to the end of the art Dev Diary! We really hope you’ve liked the content that has been presented so far and wish you the best of luck leading the new countries to a prosperous future!



If you haven't already, check out the Expansion pass by clicking here, or the picture above!

Generals! It’s Synth here, good to see you again! I hope you’re ready for our latest report in Graveyard of Empires! Last time we explored the historical events that took place in Iran during World War 2, as well as the potential alt history that lay within a strong Iranian Empire. This time, we take a look at what the opposition had to say in regards to the Pahlavi Dynasty. Buckle up soldiers, we’re going to be exploring the Democratic, Communist and Fascist paths and see what kind of alternate history awaits us.

From what we saw in history, Iran maintained its monarchy all the way through to the 1970s, but as with all nations, it was never a cut and dry case. In the 20th century, ideology took a forefront in modern politics, and Iran was no stranger to concepts such as communism and fascism. Today, we are going to explore a few what if scenarios, in which the Shah was faced with a strong enough opposition to change the trajectory of Iran on the world stage. Without further ado, let’s hop right in!

(A disclaimer: there may be some placeholder art for the time being)


Is being a King of Kings not your cup of tea? Well, we have a wide selection of ideology for you!

Taking power is not so simple. You must build your opposition first.

Before we dive into any specific branch, you must first establish your national front. Doing so will unlock a decision in which you can decide where to place your ‘headquarters’ should a civil war break out (And let me be real with you folks, it probably will). This will make that state your capital when you decide to go to war with the Shah, giving you a good foothold for your new government.

This will allow you to then take some more decisions through the next focuses, which will help you to lower support for the Shah and establish opposition groups in various states that will join you on the onset of a civil war.

From this point, you must then decide which ideology you want to use to spearhead Iran into the future.

[h3]Rallying behind Mosaddegh[/h3]
I love democracy, I love the Republic…

Have you heard the tale of Mohammad Mosaddegh? He was a prominent Iranian politician, author and lawyer. To this day, he remains one of the most popular figures in Iranian history. In the context of Graveyard of Empires, Mosaddegh is the man who will spearhead our democratic movement in Iran.
As the democratic Iranian player, you will have the choice of either restoring and maintaining constitutional limits on the Shah, allowing him to serve as a figurehead, or instead work towards a republic, which will inevitably result in the Shah’s deposition. Whilst forcing an abdication will result in a civil war no matter what, if you are able to garner enough democratic support, you should be able to avoid conflict and quietly become a full democracy if you instead decide to enforce a constitutional monarchy.

I’m sure the Shah won’t mind…

Oh yeah, he probably will mind…

At this point, you are now a democracy, and it is time to open up free elections and decide who you want to lead your nation. You will have three options, each with their own perks: Mohammad Mosaddegh, Mohammad Ali Foroughi, and Abol Ghasem Kashani.

If you choose to follow a constitutional monarchy, there will also be an option to strengthen the power of the Islamic clergy, and generally reject overt westernization. This won’t result in a take over, but it will ensure that religion will continue to have a place within your new government.

It always comes down to oil, doesn’t it?

There are two ways in which foreign policy can go when playing democratic Iran. One will take you down a path of anti-colonialist movements in the middle east (which I will touch on after the communist branch, as both ideologies can take this), and joining up with the Allies. The latter will allow you to secure Iraq and Afghanistan to have a better control over the region and ensure that the middle east remains democratic. Like I said, I will discuss international solidarity a bit later, but first let’s take a look at the communist branch of Iran!

[h3]The Rise of the Tudeh[/h3]
Red, as far as the eye can see

The Tudeh party was an Iranian communist party that had considerable influence in their early years of operation, including playing an important role alongside Mosaddegh in the attempts to nationalize the Anglo-Iranian oil company. Following the occupation of Iran, however, they became very pro-Soviet, which we have reflected here in the tree. The other option is to follow the Iran Party, which was not as far left as the Tudeh were, but also played their role as part of the backbone of the ‘National Front’. Even though their membership never exceeded the several hundreds, they remain a potential route to take in your efforts to bring the communist revolution to Iran!
In order to proceed down this path, it is crucial that you reach out to the Kurdish and Azerbaijani separatists, promising them independence once you have taken power. Once you carry out your revolution, you will have a certain amount of time to deliver on your promise of independence or they will try and take it from you by force!

Plans must be laid following your revolution

Following your rise to power, it is time to make some decisions on what to do. Given the proximity towards the Soviet Union, regardless of whether or not you align with them directly, you will be working closely with them. After working on restructuring your industry and making changes to your country, the path of the Iranian communist tree becomes a lot more focused on building a military and engaging in foreign policy.

That’s a lot of collaboration…

In order to keep up with the military behemoth of your communist neighbor, the latter part of this branch focuses on collaborating with them in order to strengthen your military technology. This should help the Iranian communist player prepare for any threats to their new ideology.

On the flip side, we can finally talk about international solidarity!

It’s time to de-colonize!

This little sub-branch is shared by the communist and democratic tree, and will give you the opportunity to cause a little chaos in the region. For many years, European powers have held colonial dominance in the Middle East, and now it is time to disrupt their great game and expel them from these lands. Don’t get it entirely twisted, however. There are gains to be made here, after all, if these lands are under your “protection”, then they won’t be in the hands of the great empires either.

These focuses will give you an opportunity to de-stabilize your immediate neighbors and solidify a sense of control in the region. Afterwards, you can encourage resistance in the border lands and eventually stake your own claims around the Persian gulf, replacing the external imperial powers with your own hegemony.

[h3]Under New Leadership[/h3]
The path to Iranian Fascism

Historically, the hyper-nationalist party SUMKA was not formed until the 1950s, under the leadership of Davud Monshizadeh and was directly inspired and reflective of the leadership of Germany during World War 2. In the context of our branch here, they will be formed early and will be the main party leading this new fascist Iran.

First we begin by uniting those with nationalist sentiments and collate them into forming SUMKA. Whilst this brings a hit to stability, it will start to tick favor to be more in line with fascism.

March of the shocktroopers

By organizing shocktrooper marches, more of the military will join your side when your coup begins, meaning you can overwhelm the Shah with numbers, ultimately leading to an easier grab for power. However, there is also the option to sway the elite in Iran to your side. When the war is over and you have secured power, it will give you an opportunity to select a new Shah who will be more sympathetic to your cause, relegating him to nothing more than a figurehead.

With that under way, it is time to take your stand.

An empire fractured…

Expanding outwards

After a brutal civil war, it is time to rebuild your nation into something more befitting of a hyper-nationalist and fascist regime. You can enforce secularism, which will cause a dip in support, stability and research for a while, but will ultimately allow you to spearhead new technologies through a research slot. You may also establish your own secret peace to maintain order in your new nation.

Eventually though, you will need to make a choice. Will you side with the nationalists in Germany? align yourself with the Japanese Empire? Or go your own way and develop your own fascist bloc? Either one of these will allow the Iranian player to begin intervening in their neighbors business, staking claims on Turkey, Iraq and Afghanistan, before eventually turning your gaze towards the pesky communists to the north.

Germany or Iran? Who will bring the New World Order?

After forming Greater Iran, you have a few choices ahead of you. Sow discourse in the Middle East, by flaring tensions between the Arab nations and turning them against each other. Turn your gaze to India and deal with the fracturing of Imperial power in the region. But ultimately, there is one final boss to deal with…

There can only be one fascist superpower in the world, and if you have your way, it will not be Germany.

[h2]Welcome to the Graveyard of Empires[/h2]
And that, Generals, brings me to our conclusion. With this Dev Diary, we have finished all the country specific spotlights, with Iran bringing them to a close. As you can see, we have given you a myriad of options to play with when it comes to this absolutely fascinating country. Whether you defend yourself against aggressive invaders; build an empire founded on national pride; or bring Iran into a new age of democratic, fascist or communist ideologies, there is something for everyone.

I truly hope you all enjoy playing these four nations when they release with Graveyard of Empires, as we had a blast making this content for you and exploring an often forgotten part of the world. So much happened here during World War 2, and we are delighted to shine a spotlight on it!

As always, have a great day, have fun, and I’ll see you all later!

-Synth



If you haven't already, check out the Expansion pass by clicking here, or the picture above!