Developer Diary | Switzerland #1

[CarloPDX]

- I'm not a big fan of these locked templates (for Italy too), tbh... does that mean that Switzerland cannot make any custom template at least in the beginning? Or did I read it wrong? Can I suggest that maybe, instead of a limited amount of locked templates, you can use a limited amount of militia battalions, but you can change/make your own templates? (effectively something similar to special forces).
- I remember reading that SWI rigged with explosives every major bridge in the country to deter invasion. I think a cool way to represent this could be a modifier that increases attrition for any invasion force in the core states.

Otherwise, this looks interesting! In the political part, it seems much focus is (rightfully) given to the diplomacy with the neighbors powers, but I think it would be cool if there was a decisions system to support/influence the war secretly (like sending supplies, giving bonuses, or access to factories or other things like that) though that would be more fitting for an alt-history branch.

Right now you cannot make or edit any templates until you go ahistorical, but you can improve the Militia template and increase the cap through decisions. Militias for Switzerland are a handicap for having such a high recruitable population, so it's assumed that if you wanna go on the offensive with better, custom templates you'll go ahistorical which will allow you to do just that.
Yeah, some of those focuses give modifiers to do something like that.
I agree on the last point

 

[CarloPDX]

Btw. how does the AI behave in your playtests? Does it manage to deal with the new mechanics and stay out of the war/not being attacked in historical?

My dream is to make the AI work perfectly with the Neutrality system but for the moment I just have it so if you're AI in historical, the Hostile towards you mission doesn't trigger. Right now there are other things I'd rather be working on, and it might now be worth all the hassle, when all we want is for Switzerland to not join the war we playing historical.

 

[CarloPDX]

This looks super interesting. Looking forward to the alt history part. Just curious about how the Intelligence focuses will work if you dont own La Resistance.

To be honest I'm making this tree assuming you own La Resistance, which will give you the best experience, but they will give you stuff if you don't

 

[CarloPDX]

Wouldnt it be possible to have an event for different scenarios (aka if germany attacks they get a decision to split siwtzerland between them and their allies and everyone gets a buff to the provinces they get and can core them with enough compliance), the western parts would be French, the southern italian and the rest german, it wouldnt be perfect but I think close enough for a game that doenst focus on this sort of stuff.

Maaaybe, we'll see. For now my focus is making it fun to play as Switzerland, if I get time I'll make more interactions for other countries to annex Switzerland in different ways.

 

[CarloPDX]

I really like thsi dev diary, I would however love to hear how this focus tree interacts with their neigbhours, like what if germany goes democratic and swiss stays democratic, is there a focus to "deepen ties with our gemran brothers" or something similar giving them a small economic boost, or a focus for a return of a Napoleon in France like "The Bonapartes are back" leading to a bonus againgst the French or some decisions to ask for german or italian gurantees if they aren*t fascist?

Well, because I'm the only one working on Switzerland and its scope is somewhat limited, I'm tryong to make the focus tree and the systems as flexible as possible, so I am adding custom things whenever possible, but a lot of the content I'm making looks for "The biggest fascist around" or "The biggest democracy" etc, with preferences for the historical ones such as France and Germany. Some of those things you suggested are possible, though, thanks!

 

[CarloPDX]

Good afternoon,a great dd as usual,however,question:
Will the new circular focus tree system for "Stay Neutral" and "Make Fondue" be available for modders for creating their own circular focus tree as well?
Thanks for any replies about this.

The circular focus tree functionality for modders will be sold separately on our next expansion, Heart of Iron 4: Round and Round $$$ (NOT)

 

[CarloPDX]

Thanks, I assume that templates will unlock if you are attacked though? A big part of this neutral historical path is avoiding war, but if war indeed breaks out it would make sense that I should gain the ability to edit my templates. Or is neutral historical Switzerland stuck forever with militias? That would be very unfortunate, I think.

I also wanted to take this opportunity to ask for some QoL improvements with battle plan interactions with unpassable terrains and other geographical choke points, given the new terrain changes. It is very frustrating how battle plans break and divisions reshuffle against these kinds of barriers. I'm not even sure if it is something that can be fixed, but I'm sure everyone will welcome any improvements to that.

Yeah, historical Switzerland will be stuck forever with Militias, I think it's part of the challenge and the reason why you would want to avoid war at all costs. However, for now, there is nothing preventing you from completing the historical path and then going ahistorical, with some effort. Hopefully that makes up for that!

 

[CarloPDX]

As a serious suggestion, what about focuses to represent Switzerland’s role as a bank for Germany?

Yeah there's some of that, and in the Neutrality system, didn't show them because I'm working on them

 

[CarloPDX]

Looks reasonably well-researched but I'm not sure if I'd call it "fun" given that it's a war game and, unless your neighbors invade you, there won't be that much to do in the historical path. But that's fine, I assume that the real meat of the focus tree are the alternative branches and that the neutrality branch is there more for the sake of the AI. I'll be looking forward to seeing more and hope there'll be interesting mechanics or possibilities open to players.

Well I like a good challenge and my goal was to make the neutral path fun, but yeah I expect a lot of people will go ahistorical for the combat.

 

[CarloPDX]

I wonder if it could relate to decisions and events in later diaries?

Yeah, hopefully by then I can talk about them!

 

[CarloPDX]

I wonder on how the alt historical paths will be... alpine federation with Austria?

I can confirm there will be alpine content

 

[CarloPDX]

Oh, that sucks... I strongly suggest to reconsider it. And to be clear in order to avoid misunderstanding, I'm fine with being stuck to having only militia and mountaineers battalions (and not being able to recruit regular troops). It's just that having templates being permanently locked really takes out the fun of being invested in the divisions that you designed. I just want to be able to make new militia division with maybe some support companies or something like that if I'm at war. Though I suppose mountaineers are not locked now that I think about it?

But I guess if I can get out of the historical path and break free of the locked templates, it will achieve the same thing. Hopefully, I won't need to change ideology.

Yeah I totally understand! Nothing is set in stone so that could change in the future, mountaineers are locked at the moment but I think I agree with you so I'll unlock them.
And you won't have to change ideology to get rid of the militia system

 

[CarloPDX]

Have you fixed the AI units not knowing how to act around impassable province borders and constantly trying to cross them?

Yep! We made some fixes for units around impassable borders. Not sure if it's already patch or will be included in the BBA patch though

 

[CarloPDX]

Maybe this will be explained in the next DD but (how) will party politics be modelled in the DLC ?

Historically the Federal council was made up of the Bourgeois Bloc, a coalition of three parties (the radicals, the agrarians and the catholic-conservatives) who worked together (despite having sometimes competing interests). On the other hand, the Socialist Party (which was the biggest party in the Federal assembly) was not included in the coalition because the Bourgeois Bloc considered the socialists as too radical. In the end, the socialists were included in the coalition in 1943 (mainly because of their victory in the last elections but also as a show of good will to the allies).

Nowhere near as detailed as that I'm afraid! Each advisor will have a trait that roughly represents their politics and you can choose which ones you want as leading councilors, and depending on that trait they get one of the special initiatives.

 

[CarloPDX]

Well, if you take the easternmost province of the Jura Mountains state and transfer it to the Swiss Plateau state (and modify a bit the next province), you have basically the border of the French language zone of Switzerland.

We'll see what I can do, thanks for the suggestion though!!

 

[CarloPDX]

So do the 5 states represent Switzerland's linguistic regions and the defensive region you spoke about?

No, except for Ticino, this was partly on purpose.

 

[CarloPDX]

Looks really interesting so far! I'm always most curious to see how y'all handle nations that played very minor roles or maintained neutrality as I think it usually offers some of the most interesting opportunities in ahistoric games. But I do have a few questions/comments:

1.) With the opinion system, will the AI always use the wargoal they get against you if you favor one major too much? I worry that if they don't there would be little reason to be invested with it. Moreover in some cases (IE France) it could be seriously detrimental to declare war on you unless some of their negative modifiers are somehow negated with their wargoal. Basically: is the opinion system actually going to lead to war if you mismanage it? And will the majors involved in that war be set to not implode if they do go to war with you early (IE hopefully French Communist civil war doesn't fire because Leon Blum decides to invade Switzerland)

2.) I like the idea of the militia system but I do worry about not having editable templates for the rest of your army. Without editable templates there is little meaning to actually prepping your military industry (IE Why would I ever design or produce tanks/AT/AA since I can't field any units that use them?) I think it might be best to have a sort-of division cap of regular units on historical (IE 6-10 divisions of regulars, be they mountaineers, infantry, tanks, whatever) and this cap can be raised a bit when war were declared through a focus. This would still make the bulk of your army militias but still allow you to have a decently supplied and designed professional army; albeit a small one. I definitely agree with your above decision to make the mountaineers editable but I think you might want to consider taking it a bit further. Without editable templates the entire production element of the gameplay is sort-of decided for you.

1) It will lead to war if you mismanage it. But hopefully it'll be really hard to mismanage unless you really want to go to war. Now that I think about it maybe I should add something to reduce the effect if the angry country is the same ideology as you. But also, hopefully it'll be really hard to mismanage, you also will have Military Readiness options to defuse it.

2) Militias are sort of a punishment, and something you want to get rid of when going alt-history. Maybe it'll be clearer in the next Dev Diary but we'll see.

 

[CarloPDX]

Amazing work! Just two questions:


1) Will Switzerland get its own 3D models for infantry divisions and planes?

2) Will there be some impassable borders in the Alps between France and Italy (Mont Blanc region for exemple)?

1 -Yes
2 - No plans for anything like that unfortunately.

 

[CarloPDX]

I realy hope that they will include the "Anbauschlacht" as a national spirit or as a focus.

It's not an explicit focus but some of its influence is embedded in some bits and pieces

 

[CarloPDX]

Will this balance of power be unique to Ethiopia, Italy, and Switzerland or will every country have this is you have BBA?

This is a new feature that will become part of our toolkit, we're using it a lot because it's new but whether we use it in future countries will depend on if it fits or not. My guess is that this is not the last time you see Balance of Power!!!