Quick Questions/ Quick Answers - HoI4

[Pro_Consul]

depends who you are. Germany, I usually go with military factories, you will get civilian factories from Austria and I think Czech, not sure on that one. Of course, once you start conquering, lots of civilian factories in western europe. As USA, I build civilian factories for 1-2 years. You definitely need a lot of civilian factories as the US. You will easily have the need for every single rubber available thats left in the world, plus you will run out of aluminum and tungsten, so you will need a lot of imports.

I go the opposite way. As Germany I build civilian factories for about the first year, then switch to milfacs. As USA i never build any civilian factories at all, for two reasons. First, with USA's ridiculously high consumer goods requirement, every civfac you produce raises your CG requirement, so that most of them end up being tasked to produce more consumer goods. Second, USA already has an obscene amount of civfacs from the beginning; it is only their CG requirement that makes it seem like they need more. In fact, once they ramp up to true wartime mode, they have more CIC than any two other countries on the planet...a LOT more.

 

[Wraith11B]

Random question since I couldn't find anything. Why can't I redeploy the Netherlands' navy from/to the Pacific?

 

[Dan1109]

Range - you need to hit CTRL + right click on the naval base, to re-base them there. Then it will "be within range" to move there.

 

[Wraith11B]

So, I need to first change their home port and then I can bring them back?

 

[Anaraxes]

Why can't I redeploy the Netherlands' navy from/to the Pacific?

So, I need to first change their home port and then I can bring them back?

Sea zones that are out of range have diagonal red stripes across them. Range is calculated from your closest port, so you don't always have to rebase close to your destination.

In the case of the Netherlands, in the 1936 start with their starting fleet selected, notice there's a barrier of red out-of-range zones in the mid Atlantic. It clears up near Brazil, thanks to the colonies in South America, and then appears again in the South Atlantic.

It seems as though you can't order a move through the out-of-range zones, so you can't move straight to Java. But you can change the home base, say to Java, and then then fleet can move there. To bring them back, change the home port back to the Netherlands, and then right-click on the port to move to that port.

(I'm not sure which part, if any, of this isn't working as intended. The behavior does seem a bit odd on the face of it.)

Researching later ship types usually increases their range. You can also use naval experience to create variant ship types with extended range.

 

[Pro_Consul]

So, I need to first change their home port and then I can bring them back?

Just form the habit of always reassigning their home port first, then move them to it, whenever you want a ship to take up a new operational area. This is not just for the ability to move them there, which is only required for very long movements. It also makes sure that for future operational orders you may give them after arrival, e.g. convoy raiding, patrols, etc., their max range is calculated from their new port.

 

[Wraith11B]

@Pro_Consul and @Anaraxes, thanks for the help. Got it working and picked up two achievements!

 

[scroggin]

I go the opposite way. As Germany I build civilian factories for about the first year, then switch to milfacs. As USA i never build any civilian factories at all, for two reasons. First, with USA's ridiculously high consumer goods requirement, every civfac you produce raises your CG requirement, so that most of them end up being tasked to produce more consumer goods. Second, USA already has an obscene amount of civfacs from the beginning; it is only their CG requirement that makes it seem like they need more. In fact, once they ramp up to true wartime mode, they have more CIC than any two other countries on the planet...a LOT more.

Yes Im the same as you when playing Germany. Any military goods produced near the beginning of the game will be obsolete by the start of ww2 so you had might as well go for more civ's early on

 

[Panncakemouse]

It's there an on map representation of radar and is range etc? If so where can I see it?

The Stratecic Air map mode shows radar coverage

 

[PvtPrivate]

Is putting TDs in your inf division any good? Easier research plus hardness, but might be hard to produce for minors and will leave your specialestate hanging if you don't keep up with AT guns even if it is only on the support companies.

 

[Pro_Consul]

Is putting TDs in your inf division any good? Easier research plus hardness, but might be hard to produce for minors and will leave your specialestate hanging if you don't keep up with AT guns even if it is only on the support companies.

It depends. For isolated cases, e.g. heavy infantry divisions intended to defend island or beach redoubts from amphibious invasion, the addition of TD to the mix can be quite useful. It adds a hardness element, obviously, but it also adds an armor element that the enemy is unlikely to be able to pierce, which will impose much higher org loss on the enemy and reduce your own org and strength losses. But for mass use, as part of the template for standard infantry division you plan to build in large numbers, not so much. Not saying it couldn't make the basis of a workable, if odd, build strategy, but in matters of simple cost effectiveness it is fairly wasteful, using a lot of resources that might be better spent making tanks.

 

[Schmeethe]

Alright- got a question regarding ships and planes. Doing a PRC game, started pushing communism in China on day 1, blitzed across my core territory claims- Shanxi, Xibei San Ma, Sinkiang, and also Tibet since world tension was low and I was ahead of schedule. Japan declares war, I join the unified front so I could keep China in the fight long enough to flip their territory to me. Over a long and protracted conflict, we manage to not only push the Japanese out of mainland Asia, but cut through and take the ports before they could retreat. Japan lost around 900k manpower to our combined 300k or so.

I open the diplomacy window and check to see how many divisions Japan has left. 5 divisions. Wow. If only I could invade their mainland right now and end the war....

Which leads to my question- I'm playing PRC and have no coastal provinces. Since I'm allied with China and we've captured all of Korea, I think hey, let's just grab South Korea and start making an invasion force! I painstakingly research both the level 1 invasion tech and destroyers, and ask China to hand over control of South Korea. They do so. I check over South Korea, they have a level 3 port and 1 shipyard. I boost that up by building more shipyards there and throw down one extra level 1 port to have a second vector to invade from and get ready..... only.....

I can't use the ports or shipyards? Looking at the territory I can see them. In the construction screen there is no damage waiting to be repaired. I've actually gone and built extra shipyards. No dice. What's the deal? How do I invade Japan proper? Do I seriously have to wait until likely 1942 for enough Chinese territories to flip that I gain a coastline? After waiting those months for all my construction, Japan is already up to 14-27 divisions. What is the point of asking an ally to hand over territory if you don't actually gain anything from it? Just the manpower? Military factories? Do you even get that much? Seems like a bug.

 

[colakki]

Is it possible to retreat from Gibraltar by just clicking the division and then to a port or how is it done?

 

[Anaraxes]

Is it possible to retreat from Gibraltar by just clicking the division and then to a port or how is it done?

It's possible to move out of Gibraltar that way, but not retreat out of an active combat. In fact, the lack of a place to retreat is the biggest weakness of The Rock (or any other isolated province). You'd need at least a brief pause in the action to evacuate Dunkirk-style.

Conversely, if you want to take Gibraltar, you'll want to rotate troops in the surrounding provinces to keep the pressure on constantly, allowing the defenders no rest or respite, and you'll eventually wear them down.

 

[Agenor]

Is there any easy way to edit the recruitable population you get from conquered territory? I'd like to increase it slightly.

 

[Fyras]

It's possible to move out of Gibraltar that way, but not retreat out of an active combat. In fact, the lack of a place to retreat is the biggest weakness of The Rock (or any other isolated province). You'd need at least a brief pause in the action to evacuate Dunkirk-style.

Conversely, if you want to take Gibraltar, you'll want to rotate troops in the surrounding provinces to keep the pressure on constantly, allowing the defenders no rest or respite, and you'll eventually wear them down.

That is actually not correct: You can manually retreat from a single port province by clicking on another port: But if the enemy is faster in the province than you are able to leave it, you will get overrun. So if you are losing in Gibraltar with more than one division and you want to rescue them, it is advisable to leave one division behind. As soon as the others are safe onto the sea und might try your luck - if the enemy doesn't have any fast divisions (motorized, cavalry or light tanks) you are normally safe. Sadly the battle AI isn't doing this by itself - even though AI countries in general try this kind of retreat.

 

[Dr. Kernzl kein Doktor]

Hey, two questions:

1. In our mp Game my Sub Fleet covers all the Atlantic in Packs of 8 to 15 Subs, each Group one seazone, Convoy raiding and do not engage activated... 1 year into the conflict i've only managed to sink ai Canada convoys.
I know that the UK player gets oil n stuff from the US player, why are my Subs not sinking his convoys?


2. Dunkirk style evacuation happened for the UK player in Holland, i attacked his Harbor with multiple motorized and light Tank divisions, he evacuated 18 of his 20 divisions, wanting to sacrifice 2 to save the Rest when his 18 divisions were on the seazone i took the Harbor, overrunning the remaining 2... Then the divisions at sea just died... Bug?

 

[Anaraxes]

You can manually retreat from a single port province by clicking on another port

Interesting. I'd never pulled it off -- but then, I haven't had to try it all that often, so I was no doubt screwing it up for other reasons. Nice to know it's possible, just as another trick up the sleeve if nothing else. Thanks for the correction.

 

[Josephus I]

Can you stop a naval invasion as its happening?

 

[Fyras]

Can you stop a naval invasion as its happening?

Yes you can... if your or an allied navy intercepts the convoys while they are still landing/fighting the whole invasion can get sunk to the ocean. So if they fight takes longer and you have a fleet nearby you might always try to set them on convoy-raiding and hope for the best!