Hi everyone I hope you are enjoying 1.9.1 and La Resistance. Today will be a smaller diary to let you know that we are putting out a beta for 1.9.2, and also to fill you in on what the plan is now moving forward into next expansion work.

1.9.2 Beta
Since we came back from easter we have been working hard on nailing down some stubborn out of sync bugs. Some of those still elude us so the quest continues but we have also gotten some other things dealt with. Click below for changelog:

Spoiler: Changelog so far

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# Balance
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- added mil factory to china that was incorrectly set up in 1.9.1

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# Bugfix
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- Soviet now retains the old behaviour of sending volunteers to spain
- Fix end of civil war events no longer firing (initially reported on German Civil war)

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# Stability & Performance
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- Fixed OOS related to different language settings between the host and client
- Fixed OOS due to differing ship name in combat result
- Fixed OOS when joining a MP that has not LaR with a client that has LaR enable while comming back from a game with active operatives
- Added basic land and naval combat details to hourly OOS checks
- Fixed save game formatting of AI strategies for managing production of army roles, to use text instead of unstable numeric IDs
- Enabled the abort on map error for when game files are modified in the installation directory
- Fixed CTD when showing the leaderboard before going back to the main menu
- Fix a CTD on related to clearing strategic air data and processing air activity

The beta patch thread is over here and includes info on how to opt into it

We have no release date on this yet, but its not planned to be a giant mega patch like 1.9.1. The goal is to deal with the OOS issues and mop up anything major we missed as well as do some balancing (some operations need a buff for example).

Future
Working from home during the corona pandemic has started to feel more and more normal for us although I really miss hanging out with co-workers at the pub or the like. We are very fortunate to be able to work on at home and not be impacted as heavily as other companies. Paradox has also been super supportive and sending us dinners from local restaurants (gotto make sure they are still there when we go back to work!) and the like.

As for development we are still fixing some stuff but the team is transitioning over to working on the next expansion now. That means that this will be the last dev diary for a while. We will let you know when they kick off again when we know If you want to follow work on 1.9.2 keep an eye on the beta thread. That said expect to hear from us from time to time during the work period .

Stay safe inside your panzers everyone!

 

[j4l]

Totally disagree. The community has been asking for such changes since the base game was lunched. And I honestly don't believe that adding a couple of Italian commanders would hinder the process of other DLC at all. I just feel that the Dev want to wait until the Italian DLC before making such change, in order to sell well. Which is a really dumb though IMO. People would buy the DLC regardless.

Even only one new commander would be a significant impovement.
Despite the fact that new art is always a difficult point, there is more without new art which shouldn't have to wait till a dlc arrives. I also think, that the italien templates need some little love. The Blackshirts need their own template, which should have extra support arty. Also italy should have artillery in the production queue from the start.

 

[himmlerdaimler]

Hi all!

I've been playing as Manchukuo and subsequently Qing China a lot. I have noticed that since LaR on Ironman (doing it for The Dragon Swallowed the Sun), it is NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE to become the Chinese Empire, due to the following:

• I rebel (without war with Nationalist China), succeed, get a peace deal, China peaces out. I attempt to vassalize the warlords, and IMMEDIATELY following the truce expiring, Japan goes to war. Instantly. Because they retain a wargoal for Shanxi Yan and sometimes Guangxi.
• I join the war against China. Then I turn against them once they're deep in China's cores. I then turn on Japan and peace out. They continue the war with China even after they're expelled, for some reason some of their units get stuck and Nationalists never peace out with them. And then somehow, they get more war score despite it being an unrelated war, and puppet half of China. Initially the war looks correct - Qing China vs. Nationalists, then somehow, Japan is grouped on the same side as soon as a peace is accepted.
• I join the war against China with a large amount of divisions. For some reason, Japan barely attempts naval invasions for 4 to 5 years, and basically lets the Nationalists capitulate me. For some reason they keep spamming troops on the Soviet border randomly.

• I go with Obedience. I get cores on all territory in China prior to Japan declaring war. Japan still gets occupation on ALL cores of China THEN asks for garrison support.

I have also noticed that Japan has been a lot more aggressive with division spamming since LaR, even as a puppet... I remember one game as the Imperial Federation, I puppeted them and they had somewhere in the order of 300 to 500 divisions. Side note, does equipment spawn into some AI nations? Side note, I agree with the others in this thread that the spies need to be reworked a bit, in one way or another, because as they are, they're just an extra bit of micro that's particularly superfluous apart from resistance suppression.

Also, for whatever reason, if released as puppets, (is this a bug?), the Commonwealth realms get strange leaders that don't match the Imperialist focuses, which seem to change the tags. Especially Canada, where if released as a puppet, they consistently say no at the Imperial Conference, despite improved relations +100. Plus, after releasing despite annexing and also after releasing at the peace conference, Canada and the other realms still have wargoals placed on ALL their provinces. Thus, -100 diplomatic penalty.

The superfluous wargoals are ridiculous. Also, here's a wishlist item... provided we went all the way with the wargoals from becoming autocratic Britain, I think it might follow as a corollary that there should be a focus for wargoals on the former Angevin holdings, or at least Calais and/or Brittany? As well as a possible claim on the Netherlands (addressed via conquer focuses to counter Germany as democratic UK) Just an odd final note since France can claim Wallonia. Oh, where's Jersey and Guernsey, if St. Pierre & Miquelon is there? Historically, the Germans occupied Jersey & Guernsey under civilian administration. Just to add some complexity perhaps.

Since we've got all these weird options, maybe a method of fabricating a claim/a special colony status/collaborative governments when annexed giving a claim and 90% compliance? Just a suggestion. Thanks!

 

[StanCollins]

Would it be possible to include pop-up messages when an intelligence mission has been completed? If intelligence is supposed to be such a big part of LaR, it sort of defeats the purpose if your agents are sitting around doing nothing because you missed the auditory notification.

 

[Gort11]

Would it be possible to include pop-up messages when an intelligence mission has been completed? If intelligence is supposed to be such a big part of LaR, it sort of defeats the purpose if your agents are sitting around doing nothing because you missed the auditory notification.

Yeah, I pretty much always miss these too.

 

[Daelyn75]

telling AI germany to go for norway in this situation would be straight up suicide unless we hardcoded a lot of allied behaviour or a special teleporter to oslo. It would hurt the game too much. Germany needs to do Around Maginot to make sure it is ready to hit the low countries fast. Its quite close to disaster if allies start getting ready to support france. imo timing is how we intend it as its the way that will work best.

Podcat, I don't disagree here with your point, but my last game as the USA was a disappointment. Germany by mid 1940 was already losing. They declared war on Poland, which brought Romania into the war against them, and before those two were dealt with, they had declared war on Benelux - which brought in the allies against them. Then they declared war on Denmark, Norway, Switzerland, and then the Soviets attacked Finland, and then Finland joined the Axis in early 1940. Germany did defeat the Polish Romanian alliance, but couldn't cope with war on all their other fronts, even with Italy, and Hungary in the Axis.

Germany declared war on all these nations, and invited Finland into the Axis within 6 months, and not one of their enemies were defeated before they declared war on everyone else. Poland was not guaranteed by the UK, nor was it in the Allies, so why would the AI go nuts like that for no reason? They couldn't even defeat Denmark and were stuck outside of Copenhagen.

There has got to be a way to logically have AI Germany not start wars on all their fronts at the same time. It just destroys the game, and I really think you guys need to prioritize getting them working right because hours poured in HOI4 as any other nation but Germany can easily be ruined by their AI acting nonsensical like this.

 

[StanCollins]

There has got to be a way to logically have AI Germany not start wars on all their fronts at the same time. It just destroys the game, and I really think you guys need to prioritize getting them working right because hours poured in HOI4 as any other nation but Germany can easily be ruined by their AI acting nonsensical like this.

And not just Germany. Japan will declare against the Allies and USA, or even USSR, while being bogged down in China. Italy against Yugoslavia and/or Greece while being pushed out of Africa. And China, too. In a recent game where China was going after the warlords, it declared on Yunan and Sinkiang while already at war with Communist China and Japan. I know there are instances where the AIs get, but don't use, war goals for whatever reason. The same should be true for the cases where they are already at war. Some sanity check on another DoW is needed.

 

[xtfoster]

As a solution, I proposed the following: Add a few more focuses to Japan to make it possible to invade USSR if they have firm control over the pacific. That should really motivate the US player to fight Japan in the pacific. This is historically accurate but it didn't happen since Japan lost, I'll explain in a bit.

The non-aligned and fascist paths are too rigid. With the fascist path you can only strike south, with the non-aligned path you can only strike north.

In the fascist path, after the non-aggression pact with USSR expires you should be able to declare war on them, via focus tree.
In the non-aligned path, after the non-aggression pact with China expires you should be able to declare war on them, via focus tree.

You do realize you don't NEED a focus to declare war...or do you just want a free DoW?

 

[Romasex]

When 1.9.2 new update??? This is wednesday, comeon/ I cant start playing new game without it/ I am waiting you!!!!

 

[Voigt]

You do realize you don't NEED a focus to declare war...or do you just want a free DoW?

He wants a Focus so the Ai gets a reason to attack Soviet Union. But I'd rather see a ai_strategy for Japan to conquer USSR after certain conditions are met.

 

[blackpowder320]

@podcat I noticed one thing when playing in the late game

Britain is still the Faction Leader of the Allies even if the United States already joined a few years early.

Maybe make AI USA more likely to usurp Britain as the new Leader of the Allies? It's kinda what happened IRL. Thanks

 

[GeorgieBest]

make AI USA more likely to usurp Britain as the new Leader of the Allies? It's kinda what happened IRL

This is news to me

 

[ComKay]

Hi PDX, there's an annoying bug where if you let Trotsky rule the USSR, a second Trotskyist Coup event will occur, causing Trotsky to kill and replace himself. It reverts the Triumphant Revolutionary attribute to the Permanent Revolutionary attribute with no way of fixing it (since you'd have already taken the Permanent Revolution NF). It also spawns a second civil war, and it's extremely annoying and game breaking.

I've had one fire in an Ironman game in 1942 as I was fighting the Germans, when I had already beaten the Soviet Civil War once already.

 

[safe-keeper]

Hi PDX, there's an annoying bug where if you let Trotsky rule the USSR, a second Trotskyist Coup event will occur, causing Trotsky to due and replace himself.

This is even better than that bug where the name of Siam or whatever it was is changed to a description of the Fourth International .

 

[hkrommel]

Japan will declare against the Allies and USA, or even USSR, while being bogged down in China

So aside from declaring war on the USSR...historical? What's the problem here?

 

[Idle America]

I would like a "Distance From" modifier for factions: https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/a-simple-fix-for-factions.1343622/

 

[Baldos]

Not only is that extremely tedious but why the hell is the AI sending bombers from London, or wherever in Southern England, all the way to regions like Eastern Germany or even the Alps, not like they were really far missions that were dangerous...

I agree...it makes no sense that the UK in 1940 with un-encored bombers can bomb Poland, Berlin, the Alps ...while flying through German Air controlled areas of Holland, Northern France and Western Germany....the transported bombers like in Star Trek is very silly.

 

[mikwarleo]

Does anyone know if it's possible for a player to roll back to 1.9.2 (41aa) from the latest beta 1.9.2 (595b)?

Since 595b dropped all my unit animations have slowed down to a crawl. Was fine in 41aa and not present in 1.9.1 but there was some important changes to tech stealing in 41aa that I'd like to keep (otherwise I'd just roll back to 1.9.1 until the beta is knocked into shape).

 

[Mr.Grizzly]

Does anyone know if it's possible for a player to roll back to 1.9.2 (41aa) from the latest beta 1.9.2 (595b)?

Since 595b dropped all my unit animations have slowed down to a crawl. Was fine in 41aa and not present in 1.9.1 but there was some important changes to tech stealing in 41aa that I'd like to keep (otherwise I'd just roll back to 1.9.1 until the beta is knocked into shape).

There's only one beta version, so it's play on the latest beta build or play the current release of 1.9.1

 

[mikwarleo]

it's play on the latest beta build or play the current release of 1.9.1

Thanks for clarifying, I expected as much but thought there might be a manual way to roll back (outside of steam etc) as there is with some other games.

I've posted a bug report, feel free to respond there if it's more appropriate:
Has anyone else experienced the issue of unit animations slowing considerably in 1.9.2 (595b) Beta by contrast to 1.9.1 or 1.9.2 (41aa) beta?

 

[gmanusm]

I love this game, but there are a few mprovements I'd like to see in future are any of these in the pipeline without having to use mods?

Aircraft: This is in major need of an overhaul, this should be expanded: We are missing Night Fighters specialisation, Light Bombers, Multi-role, and Ground Attack and Dive Bombers should be seperate.
Aircraft missions: this part of the game is particular frustrating, Fighters should be able to be assigned to ground attack missions (I'd expect the bonus to be less obviously) Heavy Fighters should be the same (the PE-2 was actually a more effective Light Bomber).
Political System: This is a little too simplistic and where hoi3 was better, there should be more political options each with there own bonuses and flaws
Research: It is all too easy to fall behind historically on one type of tech or ignore a tech totally, Perhaps research could be done by a kind of slider system so everything is being researched at a the same time, just you choose the rate of research; or you get a research slot(s) per department (even if said research takes longer, i wouldn't mind that would be better!) I'd just like the chance of having all accurate historical models on time (I don't mind obviously if a few were a year or two late) and would be more inclined to use them.
Production: Again to encourage production of more than one type of equipment, perhaps we could have different types of factories with specialisations (aircraft, tanks, small arms etc...) rather than just military factories
Civic production: I'd like this to be more like military production where you can assign factories to a project, this could be still capped at 15.
Corps Level Command: this would be a simple adjustment, just when you create an army there should be a way to seperate divisions into corps (that always group roughly together) so if you are managing a front or mutiple fronts. you can assign a Corps to a certain section rather than having to individuallly find units in a stack. This doesn't have to be as complicated as HOI3 where you have to assign a commander etc... just a way to group units together in an army list.