HOI4 Dev Diary - 4th Anniversary

[Ricka the Rekka]

Lets hope this awesome speech was picked for the Soviets.

 

[yerro]

Lets hope this awesome speech was picked for the Soviets.

Just wanna give you some trivia if you are (or anyone else is) in the mood for it.

Yuri Levitan - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

This guy is the "Voice of the USSR". If you're listening to Soviet radio or propaganda, chances are you're listening to him. Stalin himself was a Georgian national, and that means his accent was fairly distinctive. When you hear him talking about the "Russian nation", it sounds a bit... like if you had the US president speak with a distinctive French or Spanish accent on air.

/Edit: I'm not sure so feel free to doublecheck this, but there's some rumor/trivia going around in Russia that the Germans were so keen on capturing him to deprive the Soviet people of a well-recognized voice, that there were some cat-and-mouse games (relocating Levitan, false broadcasts at diff locations, etc) during the siege of Leningrad / or when Germans were advancing to Leningrad. But like, that's totally far-fetched and I'm just trying to recollect the tales I heard when growing up there.

 

[MR2]

So it costs more to research a 1940/44 sub than a carrier??? But then it costs the same to research a carrier and a destroyer...

All-in-all, a good Hotfix.

 

[_mobin_]

so when on earth are we going to have some middle east focus trees especially Iran and Turkey?

 

[Harin]

or even a news report regarding the crashing of Hindenburg as another way to take this all just a faint reading of the current news headlines would be really interesting and immersive for me.

Sale tomorrow to celebrate. may be missing a DLC <.<

*Edit I just learned that @Mescaline has already made a link to the same thing I quoted, so the idea is his. I wholeheartedly agree.

I really like the idea of news reports from the radio. The Soviet Union had this man:

"Handpicked by Joseph Stalin, Yuri Levitan is still revered as the voice of World War II. It is 99 years this month since the so-called “Voice of the War,” Yuri Levitan, was born. Blessed with a naturally powerful and commanding voice, he unified the huge Soviet Union in the face of the Nazi threat."

I am sure the British had a similar voice, and there are probably other voices for the other countries. It would add to the atmosphere of the game to have the option to hear such newscasts, or something similar that works for the game.

 

[yerro]

I really like the idea of news reports from the radio. The Soviet Union had this man:

"Handpicked by Joseph Stalin, Yuri Levitan is still revered as the voice of World War II. It is 99 years this month since the so-called “Voice of the War,” Yuri Levitan, was born. Blessed with a naturally powerful and commanding voice, he unified the huge Soviet Union in the face of the Nazi threat."

I am sure the British had a similar voice, and there are probably other voices for the other countries. It would add to the atmosphere of the game to have the option to hear such newscasts, or something similar that works for the game.

Yup, I've linked his wiki above btw. I think there's some room to employ diff voice packs, though it might be a bit tough to deal with copyright in some cases.

 

[El_Ploplo]

No Appel du 18 Juin from De Gaulle ? What a shame for one of the most important speech in french history...

 

[Harin]

My issue with that approach is that it has proven very tricky to balance in an interesting and historical way both in single and multiplayer in mods.

If this "purge debuff" is connected to a NF ( which is the most common way to do it in mods at least ) then you can bet that every Soviet player that has basic knowledge of how this works is going to Purge Jan 1936 or as damn soon as it's possible to do so if that can shave a year or two of the debuff ( which is massive ), and in case of a Historical AI 1941 invasion you might even fight it without debuff or with a very low one.

At the same time this also greatly switches your German player strategy to be to attack Soviet as soon as possible, possibly even before France, if attacking Soviet in 1939 means the Soviets will have a penalty much larger and longer duration vs a historical date of attack. Even more so if the Soviet AI is punished by being scripted to do a more historical 1937-38 Purge while a much earlier one is possible to do.


I think a shorter unavoidable penalty upon war with a major power is a much better way to model the historical issues with the disorganized and "shocked" Soviet Army. This penalty could then be scaled dynamically to go away after either a set time or after Soviet losses / Axis progress have reached certain levels where it can be deemed the Soviet Army has had their "baptism by fire" and can start to fight back ( historically this would be mostly or fully gone around the battle of Moscow ).

Some parts of it could still be connected to the NF tree so that you feel what your doing as Soviet is reorganizing the army but I think indirect/long term things like speeded up doctrine research ( vs a very low peacetime penalty baseline ) or bringing back / unlocking key Generals or Ministers that can assist the Army/Airforce preparations would be much better suited for NFs. Because the alternative is to have the main path of a massive disorganization combat penalty from Purges -> Full recovery in NFs that can, will and must be rushed forcing a single and obvious NF path to be repeated for any Soviet player in a historical factions game.



I guess what I am trying to get at is that historically it's only 6 months from DoW in 1941 ( where the penalty should be very severe ) until gates of Moscow ( where the penalty should be almost gone so Soviet can make a historical successful winter counterattack ). If that is controlled by what NF order Soviet picks back in 1937 it could very easily be overly punishing towards a new player that Purges say 6 months late or easily avoidable by a knowledgeable one that Purges ASAP. And how can it possibly handle a 12 or 24 month early Barbarossa in 1939/40?

Good job pointing out some of the disadvantages of a single, or overpowering pre-war debuff and how it might force players down a predictable path to undo the debuff before the war starts. This is not optimal, as the decisions before the war is where a lot of fun is had. Making the path predetermined, turns 1936 to 1940 a simple fast forward exercise.

Instead of relying on such a debuff, maybe the Russian military could have an equipment disadvantage in its combat battalions that lasts until a specific time the developers see as appropriate to simulate those first months of fighting.

Why equipment? Well equipment is not just the tank or artillery piece. It is an abstraction of the tank, its spare parts, ammunition, and other costs to the nation to keep that one tank in the fight. In this abstraction, the Russian's national cost to keep that tank or artillery piece in the fight is much higher due to the Purge creating inefficiencies into the system. Many of these inefficiencies do not become self-evident until the war begins.

So before the war begins, making equipment needs for Russian battalions much higher than other major powers could reflect this national problem. Instead of an infantry battalion requiring 1000 infantry kits, it might require 1500, or whatever the developers discover is appropriate to reflect the unique national cost Russia had at the time. It could be realistic as the Russians had so much equipment in the beginning, only to loss much of it in the very first months with little effect on the enemy.

As the Russian military fights, its discovers the inefficiencies in its system and can use army xp to start reducing it through decisions. It could be a gradual increase in efficiency that could eventually make Russian battalions require the same number of equipment as other major powers. As the inefficiency is reduced the now excess equipment in the existing divisions would return to the stockpile to be more efficiently used as replacements or new divisions.

 

[yerro]

Good job pointing out some of the disadvantages of a single, or overpowering pre-war debuff and how it might force players down a predictable path to undo the debuff before the war starts. This is not optimal, as the decisions before the war is where a lot of fun is had. Making the path predetermined, turns 1936 to 1940 a simple fast forward exercise.

Instead of relying on such a debuff, maybe the Russian military could have an equipment disadvantage in its combat battalions that lasts until a specific time the developers see as appropriate to simulate those first months of fighting.

Why equipment? Well equipment is not just the tank or artillery piece. It is an abstraction of the tank, its spare parts, ammunition, and other costs to the nation to keep that one tank in the fight. In this abstraction, the Russian's national cost to keep that tank or artillery piece in the fight is much higher due to the Purge creating inefficiencies into the system. Many of these inefficiencies do not become self-evident until the war begins.

So before the war begins, making equipment needs for Russian battalions much higher than other major powers could reflect this national problem. Instead of an infantry battalion requiring 1000 infantry kits, it might require 1500, or whatever the developers discover is appropriate to reflect the unique national cost Russia had at the time. It could be realistic as the Russians had so much equipment in the beginning, only to loss much of it in the very first months with little effect on the enemy.

As the Russian military fights, its discovers the inefficiencies in its system and can use army xp to start reducing it through decisions. It could be a gradual increase in efficiency that could eventually make Russian battalions require the same number of equipment as other major powers. As the inefficiency is reduced the now excess equipment in the existing divisions would return to the stockpile to be more efficiently used as replacements or new divisions.

I agree with you in general, but wanna point out your last paragraphs in particular.

I think a gradual or scaling system like the one we can see in the Sino-Japanese war on both sides could be beneficial here. Same as the Japanese have to deal with "war commitment" debuffs or China has to root out its corruption, the Soviets should be able to gradually refill its CO ranks. What I want to see though and what I want to ask (or even beg for) in advance is make it an interactive system that is based on how you perform. If the SOV player manages to deal a certain amount of casualties, or hold the certain points by a certain time, or meet some other prerequisites, they should be able to get corresponding buffs to their generals or something of the like.

Please, invest into the events that make the Soviet Union feel like one. I can't say I have an exact idea as to which mechanic to "tie" it to precisely, but the general idea is that the game should go with what you're doing, not with RNG. And I'd for one love to create, drill and improve my generals (as I would love for that rework to be the very foundation of a new system for advancing your generals through ranks and skills and so on).

Because grinding FM in Spain/Ethiopia/etc is just dull.

 

[Kommunist Fried Chicken]

Effective carrier plane advantage in naval combat now gives penalties to positioning for the other side

Well, what is the formula between plane advantage and position? It's time to update wiki.
And why the level 4 heave battery only have one more heave attack than level 3? It's strange

 

[kettyo]

Thanks for the balance patch guys! Greatly appreciated!!!

I hope Collie will be diplomacy rework and Barbarossa, guess what.

 

[cursorhiker]

Very excited about the carrier buffs. The positioning buff sounds kind of like the old "combined arms" bonus from HOI3.
1) Would it be possible to grant a small "combined arms" buff to carrier planes if all three types are present in the battle? This would further incentivize the use of historical CAGs with fighters, dive bombers, and torpedo bombers.
2) Would it be possible to lower the screen requirement for heavy cruisers? Historically there was little difference in the use of heavy/light cruisers except as flagships for task forces and fleets.

 

[Captured Joe]

I am sure the British had a similar voice, and there are probably other voices for the other countries.

For the US it was definitely Roosevelt himself, with his "Fireside Chats" broadcasting directly to the people.

I am also still hoping for De Gaulle speeches...

 

[piki]

Have I missed something or there will be some DD today?

 

[Harin]

I agree with you in general, but wanna point out your last paragraphs in particular.

I think a gradual or scaling system like the one we can see in the Sino-Japanese war on both sides could be beneficial here. Same as the Japanese have to deal with "war commitment" debuffs or China has to root out its corruption, the Soviets should be able to gradually refill its CO ranks. What I want to see though and what I want to ask (or even beg for) in advance is make it an interactive system that is based on how you perform. If the SOV player manages to deal a certain amount of casualties, or hold the certain points by a certain time, or meet some other prerequisites, they should be able to get corresponding buffs to their generals or something of the like.

Please, invest into the events that make the Soviet Union feel like one. I can't say I have an exact idea as to which mechanic to "tie" it to precisely, but the general idea is that the game should go with what you're doing, not with RNG. And I'd for one love to create, drill and improve my generals (as I would love for that rework to be the very foundation of a new system for advancing your generals through ranks and skills and so on).

Because grinding FM in Spain/Ethiopia/etc is just dull.

I do like the idea of having player actions inside the game remove the Soviet debuff instead of using almost mandatory Focus or Decisions to remove it.

 

[Bobemor]

*Edit I just learned that @Mescaline has already made a link to the same thing I quoted, so the idea is his. I wholeheartedly agree.

I really like the idea of news reports from the radio. The Soviet Union had this man:

"Handpicked by Joseph Stalin, Yuri Levitan is still revered as the voice of World War II. It is 99 years this month since the so-called “Voice of the War,” Yuri Levitan, was born. Blessed with a naturally powerful and commanding voice, he unified the huge Soviet Union in the face of the Nazi threat."

I am sure the British had a similar voice, and there are probably other voices for the other countries. It would add to the atmosphere of the game to have the option to hear such newscasts, or something similar that works for the game.

They kind of do similar with Stellaris advisor voices so (Well i feel the technical aspect must be similar since its just a prerecorded clip playing with a trigger...). Would be great to hear a patriotic accented voice in a newsreel style in the background for each nation. Might be difficult to get every nation but would be great future flavour for DLCs to with a focus tree get a voice that reads some of the news articles.

 

[safe-keeper]

Hooray for speeches.

 

[Stonne]

With the Colonel Edition you got new Tank and Ships models.
The Colonel Edition isn't sold anymore, and the Tanks got transfered in the Allied Tank Pack, but the Ships aren't transfered into anything. So right now you can buy those Shipmodels/2D Art anymore which shall be changed in the future.

I bought the Allied Tank Pack but I didn't receive the tank models from the Colonel Edition, just the new models!

 

[Bearjuden]

For this patch we wanted to focus on naval issues and improvements as we didn't touch that very much for La Résistance. To summarize the most important changes:

Naval tech rebalance
...

Convoys and stun-locking
...

Carriers and other naval changes

Maybe you don't consider it one of the most important changes, but I sure do, so, uh. Are we finally going to be able to drap and drop squadrons and fleets to reorder them in the UI? And likewise for spies, while we're at it? I don't understand for the life of me why, after solving this problem so neatly with armies, you reintroduced it for two other theaters of war.

Also, imo the music over the speeches is a bit too loud, I would rebalance it a little. It's actually hard to hear the words in some parts, for me.

 

[MR2]

Operation Collie Speculate all you want.