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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
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Samoa
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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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Al-Andalus doesn't make sense at all, that's the Arabic name for Iberia. In fact Iberia is a good option for a formable nation.

Also, in Galicia, Fuco Gómez was a communist (I put him on my Broken Spain mod). Castelao or Otero Pedrayo are the best options for a democratic leader. A Portugalicia formable can be also neat.

Is Andreu Nin also the leader of independent communists for Spain? It is not the first time I see the same leader in different countries, but I would recommend Joan Comorera for Catalonia instead of Nin. They can also have cores in Valencia and the Balearic Islands.
 
Al-Andalus doesn't make sense at all, that's the Arabic name for Iberia. In fact Iberia is a good option for a formable nation.

To be fair, both Spains and Portugal's focus trees would core the whole Iberia if they unite the peninsula....

I just realize something, though..... With Chinese Empire and Imperial Federation included into the Formable Nations list in HoI4wiki, then other focus-related formables could be also included in this list.....

Such as:
  • Greater Hungary (Proclaim Greater Hungary)
  • and China/Communist China (Warlord's end political focus)
  • (also could be included) People's Republic of China (Proclaim the People's Republic foci)
 
Maybe I misread, but I thought the tag didn't actually change to the Umayyads, so much as make a territorial claim through that shared heritage. The reason the focus is being given to the Umayyads over Generic Caliphate is that their dynasty continued to rule Al-Andalus even after losing the honour of being Caleph.

Anyway, it seems a bit of an exaggeration to call something at the end of a weekly dev diary 'front and centre'.

The point is that, as someone else noted, you don't "restore" a Caliphate. So the whole thing feels very CKII.
 
i don't really think that excuses anything.



it is one, as far as i'm aware, i forget where or when it was mentioned.

At no point have I endorsed or excused what others have said. Despite which, I reserve the right to offer criticism of the choices the Devs make. I haven't always done this in the most constructive way, I admit, but if the developers are going to have forums where they actively interact with the hardcore players then presumably they do want constructive criticism.

That is why I raised the point about the Hawaiian flag, and it's also why I'm making the point that the decision should be "Found a new Caliphate" rather than restore an old one. Forming a Caliphate in this period is an entirely valid thing for a Muslim ruler to do, given that the last one only lapsed about a decade ago. In really life the Saudis chose not to do it and it's stuck but a broader pan-Muslim nation that was not confined to Arabia proper quite likely would have declared a new Caliphate, and not in a fundamentalist sword-waving way, either.

The problem is that, right now, there's no mechanic to track the religion of a given nation or its leader. That being said, there's no reason why a non-Muslim colonial power like the British couldn't create a Caliphate to pacify their Muslim subjects.
 
At no point have I endorsed or excused what others have said. Despite which, I reserve the right to offer criticism of the choices the Devs make. I haven't always done this in the most constructive way, I admit, but if the developers are going to have forums where they actively interact with the hardcore players then presumably they do want constructive criticism.

That is why I raised the point about the Hawaiian flag, and it's also why I'm making the point that the decision should be "Found a new Caliphate" rather than restore an old one. Forming a Caliphate in this period is an entirely valid thing for a Muslim ruler to do, given that the last one only lapsed about a decade ago. In really life the Saudis chose not to do it and it's stuck but a broader pan-Muslim nation that was not confined to Arabia proper quite likely would have declared a new Caliphate, and not in a fundamentalist sword-waving way, either.

The problem is that, right now, there's no mechanic to track the religion of a given nation or its leader. That being said, there's no reason why a non-Muslim colonial power like the British couldn't create a Caliphate to pacify their Muslim subjects.

Saudis can't create Caliph title because only Quraish can do that and Al Saud is not Quraishi so this will not give them any legitimacy.
 
Saudis can't create Caliph title because only Quraish can do that and Al Saud is not Quraishi so this will not give them any legitimacy.

The Hashemites and Alawites can, so the most probable ones to found the new caliphate were Iraq, Syria, Jordan, and Morocco.....

Ack!

20200130_020402.jpg


Just throw away this caliphate thing and stick to the original greens of Pan-Arabism instead. I already know from the start that the caliphate option was too wild (and even more meme-y than Byzantium)
 
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Not to get too political, but the Ottomans did it, and I can't find any indication of a patrilineal connection to the Quraish.

Ottomans created that without legitimacy, That's why when the Ottomans Sultan were under attack and he declared Jihad and no one help him!
because Muslims have no morale to the fake Caliph!
According to the " Hadith " which is like succession laws in CK2 , Caliph MUST be Sayyid from Quraish.
 
Ottomans created that without legitimacy, That's why when the Ottomans Sultan were under attack and he declared Jihad and no one help him!
because Muslims have no morale to the fake Caliph!
According to the " Hadith " which is like succession laws in CK2 , Caliph MUST be Sayyid from Quraish.

I dissagree - the Ottomans wielded effective Caliphal authority within their own domains for centuries and successfully used the position to progressively expand their Empire. This is not merely a question of theology, but of political reality.
 
And as several posters are trying to explain, we expect management to look at the dev's "pet project" and say "We appreciate your passion, but we're not going to put this into the core game as that's not the direction we're trying to take the product. But it should make for a nice little optional content pack. Almost like a company-sanctioned mod, for the AH crowd. Keep at it."
Guy or gal has spare time, g/g makes easter egg-ish conglomerate of nations, dev team puts it in game. Won't affect anyone's gameplay until they themselves decide to play those nations and try to start a sultanate. No sleep lost here. Also don't see how it affects the direction of anything. Easter eggs are easter eggs. I predict they'll stick to the road map and DLC/Patch plan even though you can form the Al-Andalusia or whatever it was come La Résistance :p .

But yeah, nofunallowed.jpg and all that.
 
it would be possible to have Luis companys or the lendankari aguirre as heads of state of a Catalonia and an independent Basque Country since these were the presidents elected both autonomous communities at that historical moment and both were nationalists
 
But it should make for a nice little optional content pack.
Oh, and they tried this with the Sunset Invasion and the number of pitchforks and torches convinced them not to do it again.
 
Damn, personally I'd like some French and German releasable. Waiting for those since you added USSR releasable. Also being able to start in shattered world is good. I like personally all the alt stuff way more then historical setting. Which I guess I am the minority
 
Damn, personally I'd like some French and German releasable. Waiting for those since you added USSR releasable. Also being able to start in shattered world is good. I like personally all the alt stuff way more then historical setting. Which I guess I am the minority

I don't think you're necessarily a minority, but the people who disagree with you are very loud.
 
I will say it again but releasable tags are not a good thing, lets put GB as example. You can divide GB in england, scotland, wales, Gibraltar, caribean islands and north ireland. Why would you like to start a game as wales? You are short of manpower if you dont cheese the fascist generic tree and/or land doctrines, you are also short of industry, equipment and your relevance in the game is minimal. There are exceptions like the CSA in USA but thats because USA is a monster with huge pop, resources and industry in their cores.

Formable nations are the way to go, they are in many games the end goal of said game. In fact it could be better if there were rules to put said formables from the start so the oposite of shatter GB or Yugoslavia could be "Ottoman Empire is reformed" "Quing China is formed" as those could prove more fun and challenging that beating several Belgiums with Germany