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HOI4 Dev Diary - Railway guns never tire

Hello there, C0RAX again.

It’s time again to reveal some more secret information that was hinted at in the last dev diary. Specifically this week will be revolving around the final part of railways and trains. So without any more need for introduction here are our stars of the show today.

The railway guns.

So to start off I'll go through how you get a railway gun on the map because it’s a little different to normal land units. First of all you are going to want to research railway guns which comes after armoured trains.
pasted image 0.png

Then you can find it in your production tab just like building normal equipment. But unlike other equipment you build, these production lines are limited to 5 factories and the railway gun won't be added to your stockpile.
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Instead, once completed, your brand new railway gun will appear in your capital, in this way they are built similar to capital ships.
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Moving your railway gun is limited to provinces with railways, and so to get to the front you must have a rail connection. Taking into account the rail conversion time when capturing territory is important as you will have to wait for the big guns to be able to help you out.
pasted image 0 (3).png


You can also attach railway guns to armies just like with planes and they will attempt to place themselves relative to the frontline. If you have several, they will be distributed where possible to support your army. There is also a quick select button on the army to select all railways guns attached to an army should you need to.
pasted image 0 (4).png
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Finally, the last bit of control understanding is range. Railway guns have a range in which they can support and so from any one point are limited in which provinces they can support. This range is shown by hovering over the unit icon.
pasted image 0 (6).png


On to combat now, here we can see a combat with a supporting railway gun, we have added the useful icon on the combat progress indicator that there is a supporting bombardment. This new icon will also show if there is shore bombardment happening in the combat.
pasted image 0 (7).png


The combat effects of railway gun bombardment work just like shore bombardment, causing negative combat stat modifiers to those on the receiving end of the big guns. These modifiers affect both soft and hard attack as well as defense values. Notably, these effects do not stack - it becomes more important to spread out your railway artillery than to concentrate it.
pasted image 0 (8).png


Finally we need to talk about capture and damage, railway guns can be captured via encircling them and damaged by damaging the railway they are placed upon.

Now railway guns are the biggest guns by far used on land and so it's important that we have representations of those built by the major powers. So now we look at the unique guns for the major powers.

This is the German Schwerer Gustav model you will see when playing as the Germans. It's perhaps the most famous railway gun and definitely the biggest and so had to have a part in this feature.
pasted image 0 (10).png

This is the BL 9.2inch railway gun, a relic of the first world war but these big guns were kept in service until 1945.
pasted image 0 (11).png


Following that we have the French Canon de 305 another veteran of the first world war.
pasted image 0 (12).png


Next up is the USA’s 8-inch Mk. VI which remarkably first entered service as late as 1941!
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Type 90 240 mm railway gun whose claim to fame is being destroyed by the retreating Japanese in the soviet invasion manchuria.
pasted image 0 (14).png


And finally the TM-3-12, three of these were made in 1938 and were used in the winter war against finland, unbelievably these where in service until 1999 (a whopping 61 years of service)
pasted image 0 (15).png


Finally here's a cool clip of the Schwerer Gustav firing in game.
Railway-1.gif
 
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Hello there, C0RAX again.

It’s time again to reveal some more secret information that was hinted at in the last dev diary. Specifically this week will be revolving around the final part of railways and trains. So without any more need for introduction here are our stars of the show today.

The railway guns.

So to start off I'll go through how you get a railway gun on the map because it’s a little different to normal land units. First of all you are going to want to research railway guns which comes after armoured trains.
View attachment 754461
Then you can find it in your production tab just like building normal equipment. But unlike other equipment you build, these production lines are limited to 5 factories and the railway gun won't be added to your stockpile.
View attachment 754462

Instead, once completed, your brand new railway gun will appear in your capital, in this way they are built similar to capital ships.
View attachment 754463

Moving your railway gun is limited to provinces with railways, and so to get to the front you must have a rail connection. Taking into account the rail conversion time when capturing territory is important as you will have to wait for the big guns to be able to help you out.
View attachment 754464

You can also attach railway guns to armies just like with planes and they will attempt to place themselves relative to the frontline. If you have several, they will be distributed where possible to support your army. There is also a quick select button on the army to select all railways guns attached to an army should you need to.
View attachment 754465View attachment 754466
Finally, the last bit of control understanding is range. Railway guns have a range in which they can support and so from any one point are limited in which provinces they can support. This range is shown by hovering over the unit icon.
View attachment 754467

On to combat now, here we can see a combat with a supporting railway gun, we have added the useful icon on the combat progress indicator that there is a supporting bombardment. This new icon will also show if there is shore bombardment happening in the combat.
View attachment 754468

The combat effects of railway gun bombardment work just like shore bombardment, causing negative combat stat modifiers to those on the receiving end of the big guns. These modifiers affect both soft and hard attack as well as defense values. Notably, these effects do not stack - it becomes more important to spread out your railway artillery than to concentrate it.
View attachment 754469

Finally we need to talk about capture and damage, railway guns can be captured via encircling them and damaged by damaging the railway they are placed upon.

Now railway guns are the biggest guns by far used on land and so it's important that we have representations of those built by the major powers. So now we look at the unique guns for the major powers.

This is the German Schwerer Gustav model you will see when playing as the Germans. It's perhaps the most famous railway gun and definitely the biggest and so had to have a part in this feature.
View attachment 754470
This is the BL 9.2inch railway gun, a relic of the first world war but these big guns were kept in service until 1945.
View attachment 754471

Following that we have the French Canon de 305 another veteran of the first world war.
View attachment 754472

Next up is the USA’s 8-inch Mk. VI which remarkably first entered service as late as 1941!
View attachment 754473

Type 90 240 mm railway gun whose claim to fame is being destroyed by the retreating Japanese in the soviet invasion manchuria.
View attachment 754474

And finally the TM-3-12, three of these were made in 1938 and were used in the winter war against finland, unbelievably these where in service until 1999 (a whopping 61 years of service)
View attachment 754475

Finally here's a cool clip of the Schwerer Gustav firing in game.
View attachment 754497
Does the range adjust by latitude? Obviously as a version of Mercator is used, the distances (across the map) in the north represent a much smaller real distance than at the equator.
 
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IMO armoured trains should be used for frontline support (with much closer range of course), while railway guns should work primarily like air bombing against enemy's bunkers. It would make much more sense.
 
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I can't stop wondering how or if the railway guns will be portable via sea, i mean as USA there is no use of building those unless you can port them to europe and use them there, right?
Or, as japan, move your guns to manchuria and use them to fight off the chinese.
 
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question could railway guns in certain cases be destroyed by either rebels or airplanes by raids on resistance? also how much time would a railway take to construct or would they be automatically built?
 
It looks great!
I have a small question for you, will there be a possibility of fast transportation of technics along the railway in the game?
And also, given that armored trains are considered as divisions, will it be possible to capture an enemy province only with their help?)
 
I can't stop wondering how or if the railway guns will be portable via sea, i mean as USA there is no use of building those unless you can port them to europe and use them there, right?
Or, as japan, move your guns to manchuria and use them to fight off the chinese.
They really should have clarified that you can move then by sea in the dev diary considering how many people have asked.
 
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Like many of the other commenters in this thread, I think that railway guns should take on a more specialized purpose, rather than a flat stat increase. There are already good options for increasing your combat stats. I envision them as being a “mountaineer division for cities and forts” type of thing. Not only would this give them a more specialized use, making them feel like a more unique feature, but would also make tactics like hunkering down behind forts require more thought.
 
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So let me get this straight:

You have to spend research time, 5 factories at a cost of 20 steel, 10 tungsten and 10 chromium to build 1 of those 800 IC behemoths, that can only support 1 combat at a time so long as it is close enough to a railroad to be in range, and that railroad has the right gauge, to get a maximum effect of -15% on enemy stats? Which is the same bonus a lvl1 fort would provide? And after doing all of that, if the enemy pockets it, can capture it and use it against you for free?

In what scenario will this be a sensible investment instead of assigning those 5 factories and resources to tanks, fighters or CAS?

Wouldn't it make more sense if they provided bombardment bonuses similar to CAS?

Not being sarcastic, just trying to understand the purpose of these.
 
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So let me get this straight:

You have to spend research time, 5 factories at a cost of 20 steel, 10 tungsten and 10 chromium to build 1 of those 800 IC behemoths, that can only support 1 combat at a time so long as it is close enough to a railroad to be in range, and that railroad has the right gauge, to get a maximum effect of -15% on enemy stats? Which is the same bonus a lvl1 fort would provide? And after doing all of that, if the enemy pockets it, can capture it and use it against you for free?

In what scenario will this be a sensible investment instead of assigning those 5 factories and resources to tanks, fighters or CAS?

Wouldn't it make more sense if they provided bombardment bonuses similar to CAS?

Not being sarcastic, just trying to understand the purpose of these.
Just like real life, railway guns are a waste of resources that could be used better. If anything they are far more powerful here than in reality given they provide the same debuff as shore bombardment
 
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So basically a land-going Battleship?
Choo-choo!
 
So let me get this straight:

You have to spend research time, 5 factories at a cost of 20 steel, 10 tungsten and 10 chromium to build 1 of those 800 IC behemoths, that can only support 1 combat at a time so long as it is close enough to a railroad to be in range, and that railroad has the right gauge, to get a maximum effect of -15% on enemy stats? Which is the same bonus a lvl1 fort would provide? And after doing all of that, if the enemy pockets it, can capture it and use it against you for free?

In what scenario will this be a sensible investment instead of assigning those 5 factories and resources to tanks, fighters or CAS?

Wouldn't it make more sense if they provided bombardment bonuses similar to CAS?

Not being sarcastic, just trying to understand the purpose of these.

Not limited to 1 combat
 
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I too support the notion to make railway guns fortress buster weapons.
At the moment, fortified positions lead to hard to break stalemates with little action going on. In my last game 5 divisions, 100 fighters and 3 level 10 forts kept the British from retaking the Suez for the whole game.

Making railway guns damage forts would spice these situations up. You could literally "bring in the big guns", leading to some interesting gameplay decisions and forcing action:
- The enemy is shelling my forts, do I try to break through to capture the railway gun? Deploy my airforce to damage it? Bomb the railway?
- Do I risk my expensive railway guns for the breakthrough? Or should I go around the forts and use my IC for something else?

It'd be great if you could consider something like this.

Otherwise, I'm looking very much forward to the expansion!
 
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