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HOI4 Dev Diary - Formables and Releasables

Hello everyone and welcome to another dev diary for La Resistance! I should begin by introducing myself: I am Meka, I joined Paradox just a few months ago as a Content Designer. Some of you may be aware of me due to my work on Theocracies and Burgundy over on EUIV, but now I'm here to show what mischief I've been up to in my time on Hearts of Iron.

Man the Guns saw the creation of a lot of new tags, making some countries balkanisable, and almost all of the world decolonisable. Waking the Tiger saw the introduction of formable tags, a mechanic that until now has not been further utilised. However, with the Husky patch, a whole slew of new releasable tags will be added to the game along with two new formable nations; one as part of the free patch, and one for owners of La Resistance.
Polynesia 001.png

Starting with releasable tags, Man the Guns allowed most of the world to be decolonised, but Oceania was mostly left unloved with only one nation being added to the continent, leaving the rest of the disparate islands untouched and still under colonial rule. However, I have added 6 new releasable tags and one formable for the region.

The Kingdom of Hawaii was only annexed by the United States 38 years before the start of Hearts of Iron and can be released along with most of the US’s pacific holdings.
Polynesia 002.png


Tahiti
Polynesia 003.png


Samoa
Polynesia 004.png


The Federated States of Micronesia
Polynesia 005.png


The Solomon Islands
Polynesia 006.png


The Mariana Federation
Polynesia 007.png


These disparate islands may struggle to survive on their own, and so a nation who holds enough of the Polynesian Triangle will be able to unite all Pacific peoples into a single state known as Polynesia. This state will be formable by any nation listed above plus New Zealand. Unlike other formable tags, this nation can be created by dominions meaning New Zealand does not necessarily have to leave the Allies in order to form this tag.
Polynesia 008.png


But perhaps players wish to live out an alternate history where the Naha Prophecy was fulfilled and Kamehameha united the Pacific several years earlier. With the Polynesian Empire game rule, Hawaii will begin the game having already conquered the entirety of the Polynesian Islands and built up a fair-sized industry.
Polynesia 009.png

Polynesia 010.png


The ability to form Polynesia is a free feature, as are the releasable tags.


Along with adding these releasable nations, I did also touch up the old fragmentation game options to make the world fully split into different continents. The UK now surrenders its African, Asian, and American islands to its former colonies, Portugal surrenders Timor to Indonesia, and a few other small changes like that.


Also, armies standing around in former colonial territories is now a thing of the past and nations will now only have armies stationed in territories where they have access.
Armies.png


Iberia is a focal point of La Resistance and as such, a few releasable tags have been added to the subcontinent as well.


Catalonia
Catalonia.png


The Basque Country
Basque.png


Galicia
Galicia.png


Spain can of course be fractured from the start of the game by selecting the appropriate option in the game menu. However, I noticed Catalonia, the Basque Country, and Galicia simply weren’t enough to make Iberia look “shattered” so I took the liberty of adding an “11th of November” game rule, and I will leave it for you all to speculate what that option does.
Spanish Fragmentation.png


When it comes to the second formable, one must be opportunistic and take full advantage of the instability in Spain and Portugal. The Moorish people once reigned sovereign over all of Iberia, and owners of La Resistance will be able to restore the long-dead state of Al-Andalus.
Andalusia Conditions.png


Andalusia was once an Islamic Sultanate that ruled from the Iberian peninsula and a beacon of the Islamic world. Through struggles with the Catholic kingdoms in the medieval era, the Andalusians would slowly be pushed out of Iberia, ending with the conquest of the Emirate of Granada in 1520. However, the Moorish people continue to exist to this day in Morocco, Tunisia, Libya, and Algeria, many of whom are descendants from Moorish refugees fleeing the Spanish Reconquista.

Andalusia will be formable by any of the North African countries; Morocco, Tunisia, Western Sahara, Algeria, or Libya. In order to form this tag, one must occupy a large portion of both Spain and Portugal’s southern states and forming the tag grants cores on the entirety of the Iberian subcontinent.
Andalusia 1.png


But that isn’t the end of Andalusia. Similar to Byzantium’s “triumph” decisions, Andalusia will be able to sweep across the Mediterranean and beyond, restoring their old claims and titles.
Andalusia Decision 2.png


If a player can enact all decisions relating to the Andalusian conquests of North Africa and the Med, they will be able to press on for Egypt and Arabia and declare themselves the Umayyad Caliphate reborn, granting cores on the Arabian Peninsula.
Andalusia Decision 3.png


Upon doing so, Andalusia will unlock their final set of decisions, allowing them to restore the entire former claims and titles of the Umayyad Caliphate, effectively reuinifying the Islamic world.
Andalusia Decision 4.png

Andalusia 3.png


As we have expanded the scope of Hearts of Iron, some old bits of content started to become outdated and lead to some annoying bugs, which I have dedicated some time to fixing. One key thing I have improved is the way that the British Raj interacts with different game options and Britain doing strange things. From now on, the Raj will be able to freely pursue their focus tree even if Britain forces them into independence, with some focuses bypassing, and others no longer requiring the Raj to be a subject.
Raj Fix.png


Join Da9L, Bratyn and Jojo at 16:00CET on twitch.tv/paradoxinteractive as they have a closer look at Anarchist Spain!
 
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With all these new game-rules, and the fair critique of all these fantasy additions, could we perhaps see a game-rule that limits them?

Back when formable nations was a mod I remember there being a menu for selecting which types of formables to allow. I think there were three options, realistic for those that weren't too far fetched during WWII, historical for all these old empires and finally free which allowed anyone to form anything pretty much.

It would also be nice if you could lay claim to formables, granting you perhaps a wargoal against all required nations and/or some bonus. Of course this would come with a cost/risk, but I really enjoy the multi-tiered approach to forming Byzantium and now Al-Andalus, which this would sorta mimic at a smaller scale.
 
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With all these new game-rules, and the fair critique of all these fantasy additions, could we perhaps see a game-rule that limits them
Thats called historical focus on. And as far as I understood the Devs during PDXCon there isn't a 50:50 chance for the AI what path it follows but it is weighted. Thats why most of the time you never see AI Germany going Anti Hitler.

Also as these are decisions to be made. Is the AI going to make such decisions at all?

This state will be formable by any nation listed above plus New Zealand. Unlike other formable tags, this nation can be created by dominions meaning New Zealand does not necessarily have to leave the Allies in order to form this tag.
But New Zealand of all States would have to conquer the whole of the Pacific in order to do this.
Or is there a diplomatic way.
 
No, you actually are complaining about exactly that:



It has been established that Meka66 has been working on bugs and events, but the diary is about the other stuff: what Meka66 has been doing while off the clock. Management saw the releasable tags and found them acceptable, there are people who enjoy this far-fetched stuff. It doesn't mean the HoI4 roadmap was altered or impeded by adding it to the next patch/DLC.

We had the same stink of a response a year and a half ago when Bratyn talked about the releasable African tags he created during his free time. There were people who could not handle a dev diary not about the things they cared about, but what an employee did for the game on his free time.

Someone sure found this relevant for the game as you say, and that’s the problem... To me (and apparently many others), this is a bad decision when the game is so deeply flawed as it is right now, something that management is refusing to acknowledge, instead we are served content that at best is totally irrelevant.
 
That trainwreck will need a DLC all by itself.
It will be either the next or the one after that.
Don't forget the Italian Focustree also leaves a lot to desire,

I'd imagine when they do Sovietunion, they will also do Finland. Maybe giving Ukraine it's own tree and probably fixing the Baltics
 
It will be either the next or the one after that.
Don't forget the Italian Focustree also leaves a lot to desire,

I'd imagine when they do Sovietunion, they will also do Finland. Maybe giving Ukraine it's own tree and probably fixing the Baltics

Not before Panama get a focus tree enabling us to form United Fruit Order.
 
With regards to all the comments about bugs, here's a brief summary of just a few content bugs I have fixed recently:

Bugfixes1.png
Supply areas in S. America and China were pretty wonky and have been redrawn

Bugfixes2.png

Chinese Warlords no longer go to war with themselves in the event of a civil war

Bugfixes3.png

These guys were not using their unique portraits for a long time but that is now fixed

Croatia will only break free from Yugoslavia if Yugoslavia owns Croatia.

Mexico can now freely change ideologies without owning MtG

All countries now have names generated for their Com/Fasc/Dem boosting advisors

You can no longer fire the Molotov-Rib pact as Germany if the Soviets already occupied all of Poland

You can now reintegrate multiple states at the same time during the American Civil War

Democratic Germany's AI no longer attempts to do its focuses in the wrong order or try to do Kaiser-related focuses

Japan will no longer go to war with the PRC immediately after losing against China

The Dutch focus "protect the colonies" will no longer bypass all the time

India and Pakistan will no longer go to war 100% of the time

One state countries can no longer have "civil wars"

That's just a handful of bugs I've fixed that I could remember off of the top of my head. More changes like this are incoming in patch notes. My creating content for the game does not substitute bugfixing.
 
"Programmers, keep fixing the AI.
Everyone else, paid vacation."
Granted, he is a content designer. Doesn't keep him from adding meaningful content, does it?
 
With regards to all the comments about bugs, here's a brief summary of just a few content bugs I have fixed recently:

View attachment 540632 Supply areas in S. America and China were pretty wonky and have been redrawn

View attachment 540634
Chinese Warlords no longer go to war with themselves in the event of a civil war

View attachment 540635
These guys were not using their unique portraits for a long time but that is now fixed

Croatia will only break free from Yugoslavia if Yugoslavia owns Croatia.

Mexico can now freely change ideologies without owning MtG

All countries now have names generated for their Com/Fasc/Dem boosting advisors

You can no longer fire the Molotov-Rib pact as Germany if the Soviets already occupied all of Poland

You can now reintegrate multiple states at the same time during the American Civil War

Democratic Germany's AI no longer attempts to do its focuses in the wrong order or try to do Kaiser-related focuses

Japan will no longer go to war with the PRC immediately after losing against China

The Dutch focus "protect the colonies" will no longer bypass all the time

India and Pakistan will no longer go to war 100% of the time

One state countries can no longer have "civil wars"

That's just a handful of bugs I've fixed that I could remember off of the top of my head. More changes like this are incoming in patch notes. My creating content for the game does not substitute bugfixing.
Well that looks much better. Might have been good to put this in the dev diary.
 
I've read most of the comments and I haven't really seen personal attacks. Why can't people voice their concerns and opinions without being called out for supposedly doing something awful? Maybe the bad messages have been removed? Regardless the new content designer is not at fault, but the guy approving this is where the concern lies. As podcat says a lot of different people play hoi4 I get that and good for paradox so I'm guessing they want to cater to the biggest audience they can because money speaks. But should us that want a "real" ww2 game be ridiculed? It's a perfectly logical thing to want from a hearts of iron game even though we don't get that anymore because perhaps the majority wants something else? Which is absurd when you think about it and the history of hearts of iron games. But I get it, money speaks and I accept that, I still would like to voice my concern and opinion over the direction the game is going and what I miss from previous games.

Regarding bug fix dev diary I think you guys would be surprised. There are some old nasty bugs that people would REJOICE if they were addressed. It's a huge issue and complaints going on for years now, surely you must realize that.
 
But perhaps players wish to live out an alternate history where the Naha Prophecy was fulfilled and Kamehameha united the Pacific several years earlier. With the Polynesian Empire game rule, Hawaii will begin the game having already conquered the entirety of the Polynesian Islands and built up a fair-sized industry.
Huh...
I'm not saying it is bad, this look like a fun idea to give us some new way to play the game.
I'm just saying it's a big can of worm that you've opened here.
 
With regards to all the comments about bugs, here's a brief summary of just a few content bugs I have fixed recently:

View attachment 540632 Supply areas in S. America and China were pretty wonky and have been redrawn

View attachment 540634
Chinese Warlords no longer go to war with themselves in the event of a civil war

View attachment 540635
These guys were not using their unique portraits for a long time but that is now fixed

Croatia will only break free from Yugoslavia if Yugoslavia owns Croatia.

Mexico can now freely change ideologies without owning MtG

All countries now have names generated for their Com/Fasc/Dem boosting advisors

You can no longer fire the Molotov-Rib pact as Germany if the Soviets already occupied all of Poland

You can now reintegrate multiple states at the same time during the American Civil War

Democratic Germany's AI no longer attempts to do its focuses in the wrong order or try to do Kaiser-related focuses

Japan will no longer go to war with the PRC immediately after losing against China

The Dutch focus "protect the colonies" will no longer bypass all the time

India and Pakistan will no longer go to war 100% of the time

One state countries can no longer have "civil wars"

That's just a handful of bugs I've fixed that I could remember off of the top of my head. More changes like this are incoming in patch notes. My creating content for the game does not substitute bugfixing.

This should have been the first post.
 
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Just a suggestion: Go back to designing content for EU4 and Paradox get somebody to actually fix the shitty combat like teleporting planes?
Dunno. Maybe Al Andalusia is the next big thing though and I am wrong.

I didn't realise that teleporting planes were under the remit of content design?
 
I'm fairly indifferent to the new tags and will likely only release in peace conferences if that. That said, it's lovely to see developers adding content in their own free time. It shows passion for the project. So thanks for the hard work and good to have you on the team!
 
I think formable nations are fun and add new challenge to the game. I don't like releasable nations cause they are bad and have basic focus tree but I can live with that. Whatever...
Although I can't stand adding these things when for example Soviet Union is one of the most impactful nations in WW2 and they are still stucked with boring focus tree . For me it's just joking around . Mexico, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain are getting focus trees although they did almost nothing in WW2. I understand that developers want to give us the most interesting things they can come up with but i think most people would prefer to see countries that actually did something. Even when playing with historical turned off the game plays out almost always the same the changing factor being only if GB joins Axis or not and if Japan goes to war with Allies,Soviets or itself... I don't really like the way the hoi4 is going and for me there is more and more bs than real content.
 
This should have been the first post.
I did touch on bugs briefly such as fixing the bug with colonial troops standing around in their former territory and updating the Raj's focus tree to work better with MtG. I've been bugfixing as part of my work a lot since joining HoI and I wanted to share a part of my work that shows off some new content I have made of my own free will.