Been this way for years, come back to give it a try. Developers do not care about MP at all. Play a few solo games, and it is fracking boring against the AI. You have to have an IQ lower than room temperature to lose to AI. No challenge what so ever
I am off to other games now after playing a few solo games, and I am bored to death with AI. Tried 3 MP player games, started fun until the Trainer hacks kick in, or everything gets deleted, or the game forces a crash. All 3 using the trainer as a hack. Impossible to find an MP game not using a trainer hack in
I've had the same problem with HoI4 since the MP scene fractured into a bunch of sub-mod communities in early 2017, the overwhelming majority of which ban or remove large parts of content in the game and do things like "pre-grinding generals", which does not appeal to me.
I recommend
Strategic Command II: War in Europe with the
Total Realism Project mod by Lothos (the same guy behind TRP for HoI2 and DH). I recently went back to it and played a game as the Axis until around mid-1941. I did end up restarting after coming to the conclusion that I've made too many mistakes and my Sealion which got bogged down in Central England became prohibitively expensive. I considered the campaign a learning experience and I can honestly say I had more fun with it than I've probably ever had in any HoI, at least outside of multiplayer. And I've played the HoI series since the summer of 2006, including every game in the series save the very first one!
At any rate, SC II: WiE does have its issues: one hex can hold only one unit regardless of size, only a few units smaller than corps-size historically present on the map are represented (particularly noticeable in the scenarios that start after 1939, with huge gaps between units e.g. on the Eastern Front, gaps that simply weren't there IRL), some unit types make no sense in the size the game represents them, many unit names make no sense, etc. But overall the game delivers a much more authentic WW2 GSG experience than HoI does, HoI4 in particular: events unfold fairly historically without removing player agency to affect things, the AI knows how to fight the Battle of the Atlantic and while it is no human player, it is overall quite competent. The SC series is turn-based, which I think is a great help to the AI.
If you want to jump straight into PvP, I'd recommend
Strategic Command II: World at War instead, but again only with the TRP mod which brings the map scale to WiE zoom levels, but the AI in TRP for WaW specifically is not coded for singleplayer (in TRP for WiE it is).
That's my two cents. Hope you find your WW2 GSG fix.
P.S. If you're into more complex, theatre- and operational-level games, there's always Gary Grigsby's
War in the East 2,
War in the West,
War in the Pacific Admiral Edition, The Operational Art of War IV, Unity of Command II, and heaps of others.
