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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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If the rationale for including new content is that it would be enjoyed by some players, I'm eagerly awaiting the Moon Nazis DLC. I think the game is lacking direction, and that it is a problem that there doesn't seem to be any idea what it should be. And that adds to the many issues with the current state of it.

I would argue that you're exaggerating here. This isn't an announcement for a Polynesia and Al-Andalus DLC, it's one dev diary that's highlighting what one dev thought was some interesting new stuff done with spare time. I wasn't enthusiastic about the espionage focus initially, but on stream it looked like this would offer some interesting decision making during otherwise low-action periods of the game, so now I'm more interested. I would argue that's where to look for the overall direction of the game, and not every dev diary needs to be about that core direction.

Also, I feel like we pay for the game and the expansions, we don't pay for the dev diaries. I appreciate that the team takes the time to post these updates and involve the community, most games don't bother. They clearly don't owe us these frequent development updates.
 
I would argue that you're exaggerating here. This isn't an announcement for a Polynesia and Al-Andalus DLC, it's one dev diary that's highlighting what one dev thought was some interesting new stuff done with spare time. I wasn't enthusiastic about the espionage focus initially, but on stream it looked like this would offer some interesting decision making during otherwise low-action periods of the game, so now I'm more interested. I would argue that's where to look for the overall direction of the game, and not every dev diary needs to be about that core direction.

Also, I feel like we pay for the game and the expansions, we don't pay for the dev diaries. I appreciate that the team takes the time to post these updates and involve the community, most games don't bother. They clearly don't owe us these frequent development updates.

Maybe I am, but it's about as plausible as Trotsky taking power in Mexiko. Or a second civil war in the US. Or a royalist France. The fact that things like those get priority over the current state of USSR or Italy is to me a clear indication of where the game will end up, and it's far from what it is advertised as. Either fix the base game and make it possible to actually have something that resembles the war that the game is centered around, or go full sandbox and alt-history. Doing both things at the same time is not going to work or make anyone happy.
 
Doing both things at the same time is not going to work or make anyone happy.

I don't believe this is really true, everything I've seen indicates that HoI4 is more popular now than ever. I'm sure that one of these years they'll get around to updating the Italian and Soviet focus trees, and that when they do roughly half the community will be playing around with Communist Italy or Tsarist Russia rather than the historical focus trees. It seems like that DLC model of gradual updates mixed with new content has been really successful for them, even if some players would prefer a purely historical focus.
 
Maybe I am, but it's about as plausible as Trotsky taking power in Mexiko. Or a second civil war in the US. Or a royalist France. The fact that things like those get priority over the current state of USSR or Italy is to me a clear indication of where the game will end up, and it's far from what it is advertised as. Either fix the base game and make it possible to actually have something that resembles the war that the game is centered around, or go full sandbox and alt-history. Doing both things at the same time is not going to work or make anyone happy.

You’re clearly not reading, then. Podcat explicitly stated that they spend 3 times as many resources on historical play than on AH in this very thread. Alternate history is a side show compared to historical, one that helps pay for HOI4. Just because you don’t like ahistorical stuff in the game that lets the Nazis win WWII (oh the hypocrisy) doesn’t mean that “[d]oing both things at the same time is not going to work or make anyone happy.” You’re not happy because a minority of the resources are going to AH. Own up to it being your opinion, don’t try to say that HOI4 has to commit to one or nobody will like it.
 
I don't believe this is really true, everything I've seen indicates that HoI4 is more popular now than ever. I'm sure that one of these years they'll get around to updating the Italian and Soviet focus trees, and that when they do roughly half the community will be playing around with Communist Italy or Tsarist Russia rather than the historical focus trees. It seems like that DLC model of gradual updates mixed with new content has been really successful for them, even if some players would prefer a purely historical focus.

Would you say that the game is working fine and is playable as intended without any major issues, without mods right now? If not, what I'm saying is true. The will to do everything at once is a sure way to keep the game in a perpetual half-assed state.

You’re clearly not reading, then. Podcat explicitly stated that they spend 3 times as many resources on historical play than on AH in this very thread. Alternate history is a side show compared to historical, one that helps pay for HOI4. Just because you don’t like ahistorical stuff in the game that lets the Nazis win WWII (oh the hypocrisy) doesn’t mean that “[d]oing both things at the same time is not going to work or make anyone happy.” You’re not happy because a minority of the resources are going to AH. Own up to it being your opinion, don’t try to say that HOI4 has to commit to one or nobody will like it.

The problem isn't if content is done for historical or alt-history gameplay. It's that the game is a buggy mess and will continue as one until the adding of content like unnecessary nations and non-finished mechanisms is put on hold for a while.
 
The problem isn't if content is done for historical or alt-history gameplay. It's that the game is a buggy mess and will continue as one until the adding of content like unnecessary nations and non-finished mechanisms is put on hold for a while.

Do you really not understand or are you willfully pretending not to understand that the "unnecessary nations" are being worked on during people's free time and not during bugfixing work hours?
 
Would you say that the game is working fine and is playable as intended without any major issues, without mods right now?

It feels like you're ignoring the point that the game is being played more during this patch cycle than any previous patch cycle. The game has bugs, and balance problems, but those demonstrably don't prevent people from playing the game. I play the game without mods, and I can play through a game without major issues.

You keep framing your arguments as though the only way for the game to be successful is to hunker down and focus on fixing bugs rather than adding new content. It seems, based on the current success of the game, that this is false. Would I like to see the more visible bugs fixed? Absolutely! However, I don't think it should be the team's sole focus, to the exclusion of new content.

Also, I find it ironic that you're focusing your disappointment on one of the few dev diaries that has actually specifically talked about fixing bugs.
 
They locked me in a giant cargo container. I am not quite sure where I am, but I think I can hear helicopters and growling from what I can only assume are mountain lions from outside. plz send help
I understand you are just adding to the DLC/Patch right now with this Dev Diary, and behind the scenes you guys are hard at work on finishing it and squashing those bugs, however, I think if there was at least the release date announcement, more people would have been happy with the DD today. It's gotta be soon, and I am sure you guys have at least a week in mind for it. This DD wasn't for me and many others much to get excited about, and that would explain the massive disagrees with the DD.

You could have thrown us a bone here, podcat.
 
It makes it relevant to a game set during the WW2 timeline, with a major focus on alt-history, yes. Personally, I only play on historical. But as Podcat has pointed out in this thread, only about half the people who play the game play it on historical.
Count me among them, I never play historical.
I want to enjoy what if and not a real time history simulation :)
But thats each to his own.

On a general not, not you personal. I find this language that some use here deplorable.
 
Do you really not understand or are you willfully pretending not to understand that the "unnecessary nations" are being worked on during people's free time and not during bugfixing work hours?

I don’t care when it’s done, it’s still content that adds absolutely nothing to the current poor state of the game. It’s as we say in Sweden, putting make-up on a pig.

It feels like you're ignoring the point that the game is being played more during this patch cycle than any previous patch cycle. The game has bugs, and balance problems, but those demonstrably don't prevent people from playing the game. I play the game without mods, and I can play through a game without major issues.

You keep framing your arguments as though the only way for the game to be successful is to hunker down and focus on fixing bugs rather than adding new content. It seems, based on the current success of the game, that this is false. Would I like to see the more visible bugs fixed? Absolutely! However, I don't think it should be the team's sole focus, to the exclusion of new content.

Also, I find it ironic that you're focusing your disappointment on one of the few dev diaries that has actually specifically talked about fixing bugs.

Successful is your way of saying it, I’d call it work as intended. As in carrier fighters actually doing something after a huge naval rework for example. Or the naval ai working at all after a huge naval rework.
 
I don’t care when it’s done, it’s still content that adds absolutely nothing to the current poor state of the game. It’s as we say in Sweden, putting make-up on a pig.
Odd thought that this was an english phrase not a swedish one. Well never to late to learn something new.

About the bugfix, content issue.
How about both. Yes the game isn't running totally bugfree, but I must say that the bugs or underperformance of the game doesn't prevent me from having fun.
So if they would totally concentrate on only bugfixing, nothing new, this game would be boring as hell as ist would slow down the cycle to a new dlc evry three years...
No thanks.
I do enjoy the vast variety of alt history elements and I am more than willing to pay for it with minor performance issue.
 
I don’t care when it’s done, it’s still content that adds absolutely nothing to the current poor state of the game. It’s as we say in Sweden, putting make-up on a pig.

So you don't care about that and you don't care that you've repeatedly been told that those tags are addressing a group of players you don't belong to. Things just have to be your way.

Here's another question, are you an adult?
 
We will be needing unique polynesian portraits
More importantly! Will we get units in full Polynesian Army gear, and updated Al Andalus Army, navy and Air Units?

EDIT: This was sarcasm guys. Who the heck would take this seriously? Especially from someone who has been here for 17 years. Yet some of you seem to think it was serious.
 
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More importantly! Will we get units in full Polynesian Army gear, and updated Al Andalus Army, navy and Air Units?
Sure, as soon as one content designer has some free time at his hand and you 5 to 10 € for the cosmetic DLC :)
 
Because a lot of people enjoy it. HOI4 is a game played by lots of different people and formables is one of those things people keep asking for more of.
If you dont like it thats fine to say that, but try to keep in mind the different kinds of players we have. As an example we put a massive amount of development time into multiplayer despite the community not being particularly big. When it comes for ww2 history vs alt history content we probably spend 3x the resources on history stuff despite only about 50% of people play in a historical way. Its all about trying to balance a lot of different wants. Also fun side fact, me having to respond to people posting mean stuff to a guy who just wanted to show off some fun stuff he did in his off time IS eating into ai bugfixing which I am currently doing

I really enjoy al the alt-history add-ins. Makes it much more interesting in my opinion. Historical is kinda boring. Besides if I want to win the war as Germany I would much rather do it as the Kaiser than as Hitler. Keep up the great work!
 
As in carrier fighters actually doing something after a huge naval rework for example.

I feel like this is actually a great example. I just went back and reread the recent post about carrier fighters, and the universal conclusion was that they WERE doing something, they just weren't very good at it. Plus, podcat even popped up in that post and said it wasn't working as intended, and he was investigating it. In no way is a content designer adding releasable and formable nations in their spare time going to impact naval combat mechanics. Also, it wasn't until November that the community formed any kind of consensus on what was happening with naval fighters. Clearly it's not a major issue if it takes nine months for the most engaged players to fully grasp what's happening. I'm certainly hoping it gets fixed since podcat was looking at it, but again you're citing relatively niche bugs as an example of the poor state of the game.

Ultimately, I've been trying to show you why the devs work on these kinds of things. Some people enjoy it. I feel like you're arguing that your opinion is the only valid one, and I would disagree with that.
 
So you don't care about that and you don't care that you've repeatedly been told that those tags are addressing a group of players you don't belong to. Things just have to be your way.

Here's another question, are you an adult?

At least try to understand what I’m saying: Constantly adding content to a game where the basic mechanics, be it supply, naval ai, division management or the battle planner are all heavily flawed is a really bad idea in the long run. MtG is far from working as it’s supposed to, yet the main focus now is a whole new mechanic for espionage. These country tags might work fine or they may not, it doesn’t matter, so many more important things are functioning poorly anyway. This is just adding content that I bet very few players were missing. Even if it’s done on someone’s spare time.

I feel like this is actually a great example. I just went back and reread the recent post about carrier fighters, and the universal conclusion was that they WERE doing something, they just weren't very good at it. Plus, podcat even popped up in that post and said it wasn't working as intended, and he was investigating it. In no way is a content designer adding releasable and formable nations in their spare time going to impact naval combat mechanics. Also, it wasn't until November that the community formed any kind of consensus on what was happening with naval fighters. Clearly it's not a major issue if it takes nine months for the most engaged players to fully grasp what's happening. I'm certainly hoping it gets fixed since podcat was looking at it, but again you're citing relatively niche bugs as an example of the poor state of the game.

Ultimately, I've been trying to show you why the devs work on these kinds of things. Some people enjoy it. I feel like you're arguing that your opinion is the only valid one, and I would disagree with that.

I wouldn’t call the naval bugs niche, not when nations put every ship in one fleet and set it on a mission that it can’t perform, but ok. I’m fully aware that content design in this case takes no time from fixing ai bugs or whatever, but what it does is just pile on to the heap of things that currently are working badly. People can enjoy whatever they like, but you should stop pretending that the game is in a good place right now, and that the current model of dlcs followed by one or two patches, then a years wait with all the new bugs is something that benefits us players. My opinion is far from the only valid one, but at least it’s one that doesn’t praise everything that’s done regardless of what it is. What you feel is of less importance ;)