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Developer Diary | Joint Focus Tree

Hej hei folks! Carlo here, and I’m super excited to present this new feature, probably the first to be made with multiplayer in mind. Just remember that this is all work in progress so you’ll definitely see stuff that will change for release.

Let me start with a hypothetical scenario:

You and your friends decide to play a co-op campaign of Hearts of Iron. You get your healthy snacks and drinks, jump into a voice chat and load the game, hoping to play as Monarchist Poland. There’s one problem though, one of your friends wants to play as monarchist Lithuania, and hopes to annex Poland and the other Baltic nations. If this has happened to you, then you’ll love the Joint Focus Tree. Actually I’m sure you’ll love it even if it hasn’t.

As nations that start the game disadvantaged against the big majors, a lot of minors rely on absorbing the countries around them to be able to compete. This happens with the Baltics, China, South America and importantly for us, the Nordic countries. We’re hoping the Joint Focus Tree will solve this by giving you and your friends the opportunity to collaborate with your neighbors and make your faction be more powerful than the sum of its parts, so you can take the fight to the Majors and win, TOGETHER!
1. Joint Focus Trees Combined.jpg

But what is it? Well it’s a shared focus tree that Nordics will have in addition to the country’s normal focus tree, but when you start it you create a special faction where anyone can complete focuses in it, and they will complete in every relevant country, giving effects to all Nordic members of the faction.
2. Form Alliance Tooltip.jpg

Let’s take “Joint Military Exercises" as a very basic example. If Norway completes it, it’ll get 80 Army Experience and 2 75% Land Doctrine bonuses, but because it’s a Joint Focus, it will give 60 Army Experience and 2 50% Land Doctrine bonuses to every other Nordic in the faction.
3. Joint Military Exercises.jpg

The best part is that then another country, say, Denmark, can complete any focus that requires it while Norway does another focus, Joint or otherwise. You’re all working together and strengthening each other.
20. Multiple focuses.jpg

Other focuses give the Originator (The player that completed the focus) a special National Spirit that makes it the leader in that certain area, and because the requirements are pretty high, you will have to coordinate with your friends so each country specializes in one area to continue spreading the benefits around.
4. Northern Navies.jpg

Now that I’ve explained the basic concept, let me describe how Arms Against Tyranny’s Joint Focus Tree will work:

If you’re playing as any of the Nordic countries and you’re not a puppet, you’ll eventually have the option of forming one of the three factions planned for this:

The Nordic Council: The Nordic democracies have joined forces to defend their political systems and to eradicate autocracy and oppression abroad (There’s currently an actual Nordic Council in real life, though with a different aim). They will use their resources and expertise to focus on quality over quantity, and manufacturing technologically advanced equipment, while still providing for their people.
5. Nordic Council Tree.png



The Northern People’s Union: The peoples of the North united against fascism and capitalism in Europe and beyond. Every worker that’s not making the tools of communism at home must take up arms and fight abroad. Expect superior numbers in both personnel and materiel
6. Northern People’s Union.png

And finally, the Kalmar League: A mirror of the historical Kalmar Union, the monarchies and dictatorships of Scandinavia and Finland call upon their shared past to bring forth their common goal of domination, through armed conflict and conquest. By any means necessary.
7. Kalmar League.png

As you can see, many of the icons, names and effects will change depending on which one fits your country’s current politics. Credit goes to Marie for her excellent art, there was a lot of back and forth to establish a unique visual identity for each faction, and they are some of my favorite focus icons in Hearts of Iron. Here’s some highlights
8. Some focus icons.jpg

And you probably noticed the title background for these is different from normal ones, so stay tuned and we’ll talk about them and how you can change them yourself through modding.
9. TItle.jpg

Let us continue then. The JFT has 7 different branches: Airforce, Navy, Army, Civilian Production, Research, Military Production and, right in the middle, a political branch that will let you unlock institutions that improve and further customize your faction.
10. Political Branch.jpg
For example, in the Communist faction, after establishing the Northern Federation, the faction’s National Spirit improves, and then you get something I call Capstone Selectors.

11. Capstone Selector.jpg

When someone completes it, it will unlock 4 extra focuses at the end of the relevant branch. The first choice in the NPU is between the Army and Civilian Industry, and if we choose the Army one, 4 new focuses will appear at the end of the army branch, giving you an extra advantage on that area, and letting you adapt to the situation.
12. Army Capstone.jpg

After that you can upgrade your faction again, and then you get another capstone choice, this time between Research and military production. Every one of these factions has 4 different configurations, depending on what you need, and how involved you want to be with it.
13. Research Capstone.jpg

Before we finish, I want to show you what are those focuses before the one that lets you form the Joint Alliance. These are simple old shared focuses that all Nordics will have access to. They are meant to represent how they all helped each other in the period, while avoiding all out war with their neighbor’s aggressors. The best examples are Sweden, Norway and Denmark secretly sending volunteers and equipment to Finland to fend off the Soviet Union, and Sweden’s surreptitious support for Norwegian and Danish liberation against Germany. Of course with these focuses and decisions you’ll be able to go further than that and join them in their struggle, or even join their enemies and gain territory yourself.
14. shared tree.jpg

Let’s dive in.

Reaching Out to Our Neighbors starts the decision category, and from the get go gives the option to promote Nordic Unity, letting you improve their opinion of you, especially handy if you want to form the Joint Faction with the AI.
15. Promote Nordic Unity.jpg

Then you can go for Industrial Cooperation, which unlocks decisions to improve your economy and the economy of a neighbor in equal terms, if you go the other route, Leverage Nordic Investments, you can invest in other Nordics and ask them to invest in your, always with better terms for the initiator, but they’ll still get something out of it.

16. Invest Decision.jpg

Mutual Guarantees is… Well… Mutual Guarantees. But Strengthen Ties is another useful one if you want to do the Joint Focus Tree, it not only makes your countries like each other more, but you’ll trade some party popularity, so if you’re communist, and they’re democratic, they will get some communism, and you’ll get some democracy, as a treat.
17. Strengthen Ties.jpg

It concludes in the focus to form the alliance, but I want to draw your attention to the focuses on the sides. One has the name of the expansion (Mostly) and the other one is the Nordic March. They both let you send volunteers more easily and give you bonuses for combat but their goals are very different.
18. support focuses.jpg

The TAAT focus unlocks several decisions that let you expand volunteer capacity, make it easier to send lend lease and even join the war, provided you’ve been involved in it enough participation in it. Every time you or any other Nordic helps them, the conflict scale increases, and the higher it is, the more likely your participation will go up, until your neighbor’s enemy sees you as a threat and attacks you too! It will be a balancing act for you to help your neighbors and not get invaded in the process.
19. support decisions.jpg

And that’s it! This is how we plan to make the nations in this expansion work together more than ever, and introduce a new vessel for cool alt history. Obviously there’s tons more details that I didn’t include, but you can always ask me and I’ll try to answer where and when possible. Don’t forget to stay tuned for the next one of these, where Arheo will show you some diverse cool things!
 
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I have 2 questions.

1: How does one open the joint focus tree? Will there be a new button on the UI or a button on the Focus tree UI?
1) Pretty sure it is just a section of the normal Focus Tree since you can't be working on a Focus from both the Joint Tree and your nation specific tree.
 
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Some mechanics questions:
It was mentioned that while a focus is actively pursued by a nation it will be marked by a flag which nation is doing it. Will this indicator remain there even after the focus is completed to allow one to track which tag completed which focuses?
Also it was said that AI will avoid picking mutually exclusive focuses is that something that was coded into the way AI always interacts with any JFTs or were the mutually exclusive focuses individually marked to be avoided by the AI like one would any other focus?
Finally are there any hard or soft limits to how many countries can be assigned the same JFT or how many can do a focus from a JFT at the same time? In this scenario only 4 countries will take part in this nordic JFT but with mods the number of tags involved could end up quite big if one chooses to do that and im worried whether this mechanic can handle that?
 
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I have 2 questions.

1: How does one open the joint focus tree? Will there be a new button on the UI or a button on the Focus tree UI?

2: Is it possible for a country to be a member of 2 separate Joint Focus Trees? Like hypothetically speaking, for Britain to be a member of both an "Allies" JFT and a "British Empire" JFT?
1. The JFT is in the same window as the normal focus tree. We're not sure of the position yet. I have it below the normal focus tree, but others have it beside it. We'll see.
2. Nothing under the hood would stop such a scenario, but we would probably not design a JFT to be like that
 
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Some mechanics questions:
It was mentioned that while a focus is actively pursued by a nation it will be marked by a flag which nation is doing it. Will this indicator remain there even after the focus is completed to allow one to track which tag completed which focuses?
Also it was said that AI will avoid picking mutually exclusive focuses is that something that was coded into the way AI always interacts with any JFTs or were the mutually exclusive focuses individually marked to be avoided by the AI like one would any other focus?
Finally are there any hard or soft limits to how many countries can be assigned the same JFT or how many can do a focus from a JFT at the same time? In this scenario only 4 countries will take part in this nordic JFT but with mods the number of tags involved could end up quite big if one chooses to do that and im worried whether this mechanic can handle that?
Yep, they will remain, you can see it in one of the screenshots.
The AI will avoid them as they would any other focus, with a ai_will_do thingy.
As long as a country has the origin shared focus in their focus tree, and they meet the conditions, you should be able to have as many countries as you want. I have never tried it though, so not sure if there's a bug preventing that
 
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Don't you think +2.5pp for the Kalmar League's leader is a bit too much? I mean that's Germany levels of insane pp gain.
Yeah that always happens to me. I tend to make first pass stuff with very high modifiers and adjust from there, but every now and then one or two escapes. I changed that number to a more reasonable one.
 
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This looks cool, but since I only play SP, I will never use these.
 
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This looks perfect for the kind of coop playthroughs me and my gaming budd love to do. I would love a focus though where we can unite with the non-player nations through this. So if he plays Norway and I sweden that he unifies with denmark and I with finland.
 
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But what is it? Well it’s a shared focus tree that Nordics will have in addition to the country’s normal focus tree, but when you start it you create a special faction where anyone can complete focuses in it, and they will complete in every relevant country, giving effects to all Nordic members of the faction.

Sound goot but want it to be like at the end how the china shared focus tree?

1. All share the same focus but Nat. China benefits the most
- then the main focus is at Nat. China, for example can choose the german tank designer from the start other must unlock him with focus
- the events are only Nat. China: for example air carrier
- Nat. China can use all path and catch benefits, for example Navypath Manchukuo can only go submarine
- some focus are useless and will skip when you follow the path: 10 powers contract or Tibet will never accept there is no border
2. When some one finish a special focus other get at for free: for example Falkenhausen twins. I mean russian general too. You must have only the focus before.
3. When Falkenhausen call back but has the citizenship he will kick from the high command and can never put in. His Field Marshal traits is then worthless.
4. Germany goes crazy. Dont know is it better support China or Manchukuo. China can call for landlease. Manchu must take what Germany give. Most time it will cancel one day later.
5. When you laoding a game Germany will send a offer at China and Manchukuo to send untis. Can be make the game inbalanced.

The best part is that then another country, say, Denmark, can complete any focus that requires it while Norway does another focus, Joint or otherwise. You’re all working together and strengthening each other.

Wow. You have make the problems with skip and for free focus from the china shared focus to a full game meachanic. Respect! It work for every nation only and when you join a faction together? I hope that you not fail gain. What happens when Norway, Denmark and Sweden start the form the kalmare union leage focus to the same time? Denmark Norway Union vs Sweden Finland Alliance? How will work the benefits?

Next dlc Vikings every there?! ;) Some times i ask me why the other Falkenhausen use the same tactic or the perfect countertactic?

1690446008650.png
 
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Thanks! It's not impossible in princple, but since we treat each country very differently and there are gradients of minor and major, we deal with them on a case by case basis, even if there will always be discrepancies.
During WWII the USA, Germany and the UK were ahead of other nations in Research & Development. The USA won the race to nukes, Germany was ahead in rockets and jet planes, the UK had advanced radars and code cracking, to name a few. I think that should show in game, so that these three have possibility for maximum (6) research slots.

Other majors, like the Soviet Union, Japan and Italy lagged behind in high-tech during WWII. The Soviet strength was in quantity, not in quality, as Stalin noted. To be historically accurate, the Soviets could be allowed more efficient technology stealing (nuclear spies), while their own research was not as advanced during the war.
 
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This a very nice game mechanic, but I have a question:
Wouldn't it be more effective to make them Decisions instead of Focuses, so that EVERY country that you can play as can have similar options, without having to update every single Focus Tree? There are a bunch of Focus Trees that need an update, and this is just going to make them seem even more obsolete.
 
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This a very nice game mechanic, but I have a question:
Wouldn't it be more effective to make them Decisions instead of Focuses, so that EVERY country that you can play as can have similar options, without having to update every single Focus Tree? There are a bunch of Focus Trees that need an update, and this is just going to make them seem even more obsolete.
Well, there are several reasons why I wouldn't use decisions:
First of all, the decisions panel is already pretty packed and we throw most things that are not focuses at it. They're not as flavorful as a focus tree and it's harder to show a progression, in a focus tree, you can clearly see all the options and what you need to do to get to them, plus, in my opinion decisions are best for quick and repeatable actions, instead of shaping a faction through them. Also, even if we made it into decisions, I wouldn't want them to be generic for every country, we want every country and expansion to feel different from the rest.
And on the last bit, if we didn't add features because they would make old content feel obsolete we wouldn't add any features period. And changing the old content to incorporate every feature we release would take an enormous amount of effort and time. We already do stuff like going back and replacing effects in old content when we add a new designer, or making old design company content work with the new MIO system and it takes a lot of time away from making new content. You can at least be sure that every new feature, makes every following DLC potentially better and more diverse.
 
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During WWII the USA, Germany and the UK were ahead of other nations in Research & Development. The USA won the race to nukes, Germany was ahead in rockets and jet planes, the UK had advanced radars and code cracking, to name a few. I think that should show in game, so that these three have possibility for maximum (6) research slots.

Other majors, like the Soviet Union, Japan and Italy lagged behind in high-tech during WWII. The Soviet strength was in quantity, not in quality, as Stalin noted. To be historically accurate, the Soviets could be allowed more efficient technology stealing (nuclear spies), while their own research was not as advanced during the war.
We are definitly out of topic here, but during World War II, the Soviet Union made significant strides in the development and implementation of advanced armored warfare technologies. Despite initial setbacks, the Soviets managed to turn the tide and assert their dominance on the battlefield. Key technological advancements included:

  1. T-34 Medium Tank: The T-34 was a groundbreaking medium tank, combining impressive firepower, sloped armor design, and mobility. Its 76mm gun and well-protected crew compartment gave it a formidable advantage over German tanks, earning it the reputation of being one of the best tanks of the war.
  2. KV Heavy Tanks: The Soviet KV tanks were heavily armored and designed to withstand enemy fire. They played a crucial role in breaking through German defensive lines and provided crucial support to infantry units.
  3. SU-76 Self-Propelled Gun: The SU-76 was a highly effective self-propelled gun, mounting a 76mm gun on a tank chassis. It proved to be instrumental in supporting infantry assaults and providing mobile artillery support.
  4. Katyusha Rocket Launcher: The iconic Katyusha rocket launcher, formally known as the BM-13, was a multiple rocket launcher system. It could unleash a devastating barrage of rockets over a wide area, causing chaos among enemy troops and fortifications.
  5. T-70 Light Tank: The T-70 was a small, nimble tank used for reconnaissance and infantry support. It was highly maneuverable and versatile, allowing Soviet forces to exploit weaknesses in the enemy's defense.
  6. Improved Communication Systems: The Soviets also made strides in improving communication systems between tanks and infantry, enhancing coordination and responsiveness on the battlefield.
 
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