Hoi4 Dev Diary - Thoughts & roadmap

[Poopfaust]

Pro-tip, check out BICE and copy into paste into Vanilla! Pro-tip #2 - check out Old World Blues, copy and paste into vanilla or a DLC. But yeah, NSB is great and the future looks bright.

 

[Pixelated_Gamer]

Something I'd like to see you do is go back and look at older dlc focus trees and update them to match newer ones i.e. more 35 day focuses and updated focuses for docs that came after it. Basically what you did with battle for the bosporus but with the UK and commonwealth, the US, Germany and others. Also remove harsh leader from Omar Bradley and give it to Paton.

 

[Arthrodira]

Great Power Diplomacy
This is one area that I feel doesn’t need much explanation. More diplomatic tools are a clear area for expansion, and a careful look at how this module can be developed without interfering with the overarching global war, is likely to happen.

Economic Decision Making
The economic system is very abstracted in HoI, and I do not foresee ever making it a major part of the game loop. This said, there are elements of an industrial economy that I feel could do with being part of decision making in HoI.

Very interested in these two. If nothing else it would be nice if the starting diplomacy actually reflected the diplomatic situation as it existed in 1936 (i.e., countries already have historical diplomatic ties before you press play). League of Nations might be nice. Even just cleaning up the map would be nice. For example, Myanmar should not be part of the British Raj, it should be directly administered by the UK. Similarly Lesotho and Eswatini should, you know, exist (they're a heck of a lot bigger than Luxembourg) and be administered directly by the UK and not South Africa. Oman should be "Muscat & Oman" and it should be a British subject (honestly the entire British empire could use another pass - it's not all just land occupied by the UK, in the Middle East they were more often client kingdoms). Bahrain should be a state and in the British empire.

On economics, can we please finally have the existing "concessions" system applied to the countries where it's most relevant? I will never understand why this game changing feature was added to the game and then only applied to Mexico - it takes next to no effort to add concessions to Iraq (Red Line Agreement), Iran (BP), Venezuela (Shell), Saudi Arabia (SOCAL), etc. And this would make a big difference on the economic front

 

[kaguravitro]

Something I'd like to see you do is go back and look at older dlc focus trees and update them to match newer ones i.e. more 35 day focuses and updated focuses for docs that came after it. Basically what you did with battle for the bosporus but with the UK and commonwealth, the US, Germany and others. Also remove harsh leader from Omar Bradley and give it to Paton.

Us focus is the worst cursed thing in the game. Worst than Italy, only one step after the Japanese Communist aberration that they should erase from the game long time ago, like a democratic Russia, there's no place to commie Japan and unrestricted uncontrolled usa ramping with free wars by focus even been democratic...

 

[Goodfontana]

View attachment 804482

Ah yes, this must be the conversation and feedback you say you want to encourage. I shouldn't keep skeptical of the whole thing then

 

[DominusNovus]

View attachment 804450

• Improving peace conferences

…

In addition to these items, I will of course add some of my own personal intentions:

Great Power Diplomacy
This is one area that I feel doesn’t need much explanation. More diplomatic tools are a clear area for expansion, and a careful look at how this module can be developed without interfering with the overarching global war, is likely to happen.

Economic Decision Making
The economic system is very abstracted in HoI, and I do not foresee ever making it a major part of the game loop. This said, there are elements of an industrial economy that I feel could do with being part of decision making in HoI.

Immersive/Roleplay Elements
Optional tools for making your mark on a game, and/or development of further building blocks to enhance attachment to a HoI campaign. Bring the simulation to life.

• Advisors/internal politics improvements
• Ideological distinctions

I personally think these should be your highest priority.

Peace conferences suck so much that it takes away the satisfaction of winning.

Diplomacy is railroaded by NFs, leading to absurdities and exploits.

Economy is the foundation of war (the sinews of war is infinite money).

And ideology needs to matter more than just allowing/disallowing given laws (and sticking everything not explicitly fascist/communist/democratic into one lump).

 

[Prometheus_1]

View attachment 804450

Greetings all!

As you’ll no doubt be aware, the launch of the No Step Back expansion last year was the climax of a busy year of development for the HoI team, and it continues to be one of our best received releases to date.

Of course, the last year also saw the departure of @podcat as Game Director who was reassigned to Siberia greater things at Paradox. Many of you will also have read the roadmap document that was produced towards the beginning of HoI4 development, and are asking questions as to the veracity of that plan under a new director, and whether I have any different ideas or plans to announce.

Looking Forwards

I mentioned at the beginning of my tenure that both @podcat and I see HoI4 in broadly similar terms. This hasn’t changed, and you can expect to see many of the parts of the previous roadmap make an appearance at some point in the future.

My approach to a ‘Grand Plan’, however, may be somewhat different. I have a preference for leaving plenty of space for reactive development (something that served us well on Imperator), and while there are many things that I feel are ripe for future development, I am also keen to leave a lot of space for changing course and acting on community sentiment.

There are two main points I want to raise before we get to details, however. Firstly, we intend to up the tempo of our releases a little. This is, of course, an ambition, and not a promise, however it informs some further decisions related to the development of HoI. Namely, that we are considering ways to change how and when we release information on development to you folks. Since faster development is the goal, this also means getting ideas into public view slightly faster, for feedback and conversation. We’re not exactly sure how this will look yet, but it is likely that there’ll be a reorganization of the traditional dev-diary schedule into something that feels less like a milestone delivery. This comes in tandem with a need to shift the community’s expectations on what ‘in development’ means: getting fans accustomed to seeing placeholders, WIP balance, and half-built systems in early phases, and seeing things develop as time goes on.

The last major point here is that we recognize a need to maintain the game as well as to develop it, especially if development pace is picking up. We’re still considering how best to achieve this, and I’m watching initiatives such as the Custodian team on Stellaris with curiosity. For the time being, what this is likely to manifest as, is the inclusion of older system maintenance into our patch planning - you may start to see patch bulletin features including things such as minor focus tree revamps, as well as attention paid to older systems and expansion content.

Roadmap

As mentioned above, the 2020 roadmap for HoI4 included many things which have now either been completed or rendered unnecessary. This leaves several from podcat’s list which I believe are still important for the future of the game:

• Improvements to frontline stability (progress in NSB, more to come)
• Long term goals and strategies to guide ai (progress in NSB)
• Improving peace conferences
• Update core national focus trees with alt-history paths and more options (Italy)
• Wunderwaffen projects
• More differences between sub-ideologies and government forms
• More National Focus trees
• Make defensive warfare more fun
• Adding mechanics to limit the size of your standing army, particularly post-war etc
• Have doctrines more strongly affect division designing
• Strategic and tactical AI improvements

In addition to these items, I will of course add some of my own personal intentions:

Great Power Diplomacy
This is one area that I feel doesn’t need much explanation. More diplomatic tools are a clear area for expansion, and a careful look at how this module can be developed without interfering with the overarching global war, is likely to happen.

Economic Decision Making
The economic system is very abstracted in HoI, and I do not foresee ever making it a major part of the game loop. This said, there are elements of an industrial economy that I feel could do with being part of decision making in HoI.

Immersive/Roleplay Elements
Optional tools for making your mark on a game, and/or development of further building blocks to enhance attachment to a HoI campaign. Bring the simulation to life.

And of course, many more that I feel do not need as much of an explanation:

• Battleplanner improvements
• Advisors/internal politics improvements
• Ideological distinctions
• Multiplayer & social layer improvements & support

I like to remain as open as possible to the needs of the community, and the inclusion or omission of any particular item above should not be considered ‘set in stone’.

As we look at how we plan on structuring future communications, there may be some space for a few more dev diaries on what you’ve all been getting up to in NSB in the near(ish) future!

/Arheo

Any plan for WW1?

 

[Vril266]

This sounds very good. You are right, It would be very important to update some of the old minors and majors. Cause the old focus trees do not fit the new ones. Japan as sample, or Germany. Their historically focus trees are so small, that they end way before the war ends (on higher difficulty).

WIth some minors it's the same.

 

[kaguravitro]

Any plan for WW1?

I love you but we all know that is not the time, even we know this game world better for ww1 instead of ww2

 

[ParsonLarson]

The last major point here is that we recognize a need to maintain the game as well as to develop it, especially if development pace is picking up. We’re still considering how best to achieve this, and I’m watching initiatives such as the Custodian team on Stellaris with curiosity. For the time being, what this is likely to manifest as, is the inclusion of older system maintenance into our patch planning - you may start to see patch bulletin features including things such as minor focus tree revamps, as well as attention paid to older systems and expansion content.

For me this is the most important item. NSB was the straw that broke the camel's back. HOI4 has become a house of cards that has collapsed upon itself. One broken system built upon another. One unresolved bug after another. I have moved on to other games and will wait to see if things get fixed. I most definitely will not purchase any more DLC until it does.

 

[Omnicide101]

Diplomacy is railroaded by NFs, leading to absurdities and exploits.

Hot take? Railroaded diplomacy in HOI4 is good, actually.

Given the incredibly limited timeframe of the game compared to other PDX games, HOI4 just does not lend itself to sandbox game design the way games spanning a bigger timeframe like CK3 or EU4 do. HOI4 sucks as a sandbox, but it absolutely shines as a narratively-driven game. It's why most big-time mods lean so heavily on pre-scripted paths nations can take. KR, TNO, EAW, all of them to lesser or greater degrees design specific paths for your country, and then - and this is the important bit vanilla really needs to improve on - has pre-scripted responses at the ready for countries that interact with you.

The absurdities and exploits we see in vanilla are a consequence of the game having no real response to your country going off the historical rails. Give countries paths/decisions/events to respond to alt-history paths. Sandboxing it entirely would just lead to even more bizzare scenarios since there's only so much leeway you can have in a country's politics in a short timespan without it becoming completely absurd.

 

[necroblood]

Can you please also think about the mods before you add in a mechanic. I like that there are going to come new mechanics but yea make them not mod breaking. please

 

[51states]

View attachment 804450

Greetings all!

As you’ll no doubt be aware, the launch of the No Step Back expansion last year was the climax of a busy year of development for the HoI team, and it continues to be one of our best received releases to date.

Of course, the last year also saw the departure of @podcat as Game Director who was reassigned to Siberia greater things at Paradox. Many of you will also have read the roadmap document that was produced towards the beginning of HoI4 development, and are asking questions as to the veracity of that plan under a new director, and whether I have any different ideas or plans to announce.

Looking Forwards

I mentioned at the beginning of my tenure that both @podcat and I see HoI4 in broadly similar terms. This hasn’t changed, and you can expect to see many of the parts of the previous roadmap make an appearance at some point in the future.

My approach to a ‘Grand Plan’, however, may be somewhat different. I have a preference for leaving plenty of space for reactive development (something that served us well on Imperator), and while there are many things that I feel are ripe for future development, I am also keen to leave a lot of space for changing course and acting on community sentiment.

There are two main points I want to raise before we get to details, however. Firstly, we intend to up the tempo of our releases a little. This is, of course, an ambition, and not a promise, however it informs some further decisions related to the development of HoI. Namely, that we are considering ways to change how and when we release information on development to you folks. Since faster development is the goal, this also means getting ideas into public view slightly faster, for feedback and conversation. We’re not exactly sure how this will look yet, but it is likely that there’ll be a reorganization of the traditional dev-diary schedule into something that feels less like a milestone delivery. This comes in tandem with a need to shift the community’s expectations on what ‘in development’ means: getting fans accustomed to seeing placeholders, WIP balance, and half-built systems in early phases, and seeing things develop as time goes on.

The last major point here is that we recognize a need to maintain the game as well as to develop it, especially if development pace is picking up. We’re still considering how best to achieve this, and I’m watching initiatives such as the Custodian team on Stellaris with curiosity. For the time being, what this is likely to manifest as, is the inclusion of older system maintenance into our patch planning - you may start to see patch bulletin features including things such as minor focus tree revamps, as well as attention paid to older systems and expansion content.

Roadmap

As mentioned above, the 2020 roadmap for HoI4 included many things which have now either been completed or rendered unnecessary. This leaves several from podcat’s list which I believe are still important for the future of the game:

• Improvements to frontline stability (progress in NSB, more to come)
• Long term goals and strategies to guide ai (progress in NSB)
• Improving peace conferences
• Update core national focus trees with alt-history paths and more options (Italy)
• Wunderwaffen projects
• More differences between sub-ideologies and government forms
• More National Focus trees
• Make defensive warfare more fun
• Adding mechanics to limit the size of your standing army, particularly post-war etc
• Have doctrines more strongly affect division designing
• Strategic and tactical AI improvements

In addition to these items, I will of course add some of my own personal intentions:

Great Power Diplomacy
This is one area that I feel doesn’t need much explanation. More diplomatic tools are a clear area for expansion, and a careful look at how this module can be developed without interfering with the overarching global war, is likely to happen.

Economic Decision Making
The economic system is very abstracted in HoI, and I do not foresee ever making it a major part of the game loop. This said, there are elements of an industrial economy that I feel could do with being part of decision making in HoI.

Immersive/Roleplay Elements
Optional tools for making your mark on a game, and/or development of further building blocks to enhance attachment to a HoI campaign. Bring the simulation to life.

And of course, many more that I feel do not need as much of an explanation:

• Battleplanner improvements
• Advisors/internal politics improvements
• Ideological distinctions
• Multiplayer & social layer improvements & support

I like to remain as open as possible to the needs of the community, and the inclusion or omission of any particular item above should not be considered ‘set in stone’.

As we look at how we plan on structuring future communications, there may be some space for a few more dev diaries on what you’ve all been getting up to in NSB in the near(ish) future!

/Arheo

1. These are great points and I thank you for upping the dev pace. I would like to add and suggest the following:

A. We're ripe for implementing the module system for air units. Implementing unique modules for countries is something that could be fleshed out in the future. (Like the modules for Flagships in EUIV)
B. Battle for the Bosphorus can be replicated for South and Central America. (The Smoking Snakes DLC take my money!)

Great power diplomacy:
As the USA right now it is downright silly the lack of influence you have in the Western Hemisphere, fleshing out active diplomacy from spying missions might help.

It's impossible to replicate the 1942 declarations of war that happened in the Americas right now. The closest you can get to it is spamming divisions to lead the allies then going down the hemispheric defense tree. This makes el Salvador Venezuela and the DR declare war on you which is suicidal for them.


Economic decision making
Maybe implement food?

 

[sprites]

• Update core national focus trees with alt-history paths and more options (Italy)

Can you check the old focus trees? they can do some weird shit in the balkans or Turkey can create/join factions as a puppet
Or a defeated Germany will happily continue its focus tree and rekindle the war

 

[kaguravitro]

Hot take? Railroaded diplomacy in HOI4 is good, actually.

Given the incredibly limited timeframe of the game compared to other PDX games, HOI4 just does not lend itself to sandbox game design the way games spanning a bigger timeframe like CK3 or EU4 do. HOI4 sucks as a sandbox, but it absolutely shines as a narratively-driven game. It's why most big-time mods lean so heavily on pre-scripted paths nations can take. KR, TNO, EAW, all of them to lesser or greater degrees design specific paths for your country, and then - and this is the important bit vanilla really needs to improve on - has pre-scripted responses at the ready for countries that interact with you.

The absurdities and exploits we see in vanilla are a consequence of the game having no real response to your country going off the historical rails. Give countries paths/decisions/events to respond to alt-history paths. Sandboxing it entirely would just lead to even more bizzare scenarios since there's only so much leeway you can have in a country's politics in a short timespan without it becoming completely absurd.

I don't have a big issue with this level of railroad diplo, but what the game needs is reactivity in some level and avoid some unexpected events, in non historic ai I get all europe except France and checs into the 4th international, even the kaiser.... Really the kaiser and that was not the railroad but all reacting to the events

 

[C1 Ariete]

Great Power Diplomacy
This is one area that I feel doesn’t need much explanation. More diplomatic tools are a clear area for expansion, and a careful look at how this module can be developed without interfering with the overarching global war, is likely to happen.

It is 1946 and the World is in pieces after the most devastating war in human history.

Europe is on the path of reconstruction while the last pockets of resistance simply fade away.

It is finally Peace in Our Tim... wait.

Turkay joins the Allies,
Turkey claims a piece of Romania,
Turkey declares war to Romania (and to all of its faction members, consequently),
Turkey asks help to the Allies (who blindly accept to help because why not?)

...

It is 1950,

The arsenals of the World Super powers are bustling with guns and war machines.

Too bad there is no one able to use them.

All Manpower in the World has washed the battlefield with its blood, until it dried up.

All for a piece of Romania...

...

This is the history of my last campaign in HOI4 (all DLCs active and no mods), which was fun until it took this unexplainable, self-destructive turn

 

[filmaty98]

Two questions lads:

About economics:
1. Are you going to finally add back money to the game and rework resource cost of stuff so it would finally keep pace with production efficiency?

About diplomacy:
2. Will you finally completely remove diplomacy from focus trees, and add separate alliances, capitulations as well as other diplomatic options, so it would be finally possible to build your alliances, factions and others using only game mechanics, like it is possible in EU4 for ex., and not only by coding another focus tree and making mod?

 

[kaguravitro]

It is 1946 and the World is in pieces after the most devastating war in human history.

Europe is on the path of reconstruction while the last pockets of resistance simply fade away.

It is finally Peace in Our Tim... wait.

Turkay joins the Allies,
Turkey claims a piece of Romania,
Turkey declares war to Romania (and to all of its faction members, consequently),
Turkey asks help to the Allies (who blindly accept to help because why not?)

...

It is 1950,

The arsenals of the World Super powers are bustling with guns and war machines.

Too bad there is no one able to use them.

All Manpower in the World has washed the battlefield with its blood, until it dried up.

All for a piece of Romania...

...

This is the history of my last campaign in HOI4 (all DLCs active and no mods), which was fun until it took this unexplainable, self-destructive turn

That's no auto preservation sense in the ai

 

[Lamartine]

This is great to hear. Involving the community is a great ambition but also difficult if player expectations get out of hand.

Looking forward to hearing how the team wants to take that forward, and to ongoing dialogue with the Devs!

 

[Reman]

Still waiting on that peace conference rework...