Quick Questions/ Quick Answers - HoI4

[Riekopo]

Is there a point in researching encryption when playing against the AI? Does increasing your encryption actually hide your info and forces from the enemy AI?

So it appears that the arbitrary 24 limit on Special Forces battalions makes it impossible to create a historical army. At least for Italy. You already start with most of the historical Alpine Divisions. But now I can't build any Paratroop Divisions, Marine Divisions, or the last Alpine Division I need.

Is there a point in carrying Close Air Support (Dive Bombers) on your Carrier? Based on the visible stats they seem absolutely horrible and pointless. They literally only have 1 more point of damage than a Fighter. Are there any hidden stats at work? In real life Dive Bombers did just as much damage if not more to enemy Carriers and ships.

Is there a way to edit Divisional name lists and create your own? (like you can with ship namelists)

 

[Harin]

Here are the combat modifiers from the Wiki. Decryption is the last one.

Spoiler: Decryption

Combat factors[edit]
The following factors modify the number of attacks and/or defenses a unit has in combat (list is not exhaustive):

• Terrain: base penalties for attacker -20% in a forest, -30% in hills, -60% in mountains.
• River crossing: penalty of -30% or -60% for attacker attack and breakthrough depending on the river size
• Night: penalty of -50% for attacks of both sides
• Fort: penalty for attacker attack and breakthrough of -15% per fort level. Each extra attacking direction cancels out one fort level but not the last level.
• Encirclement: penalty for defender -30%
• Enemy air superiority: penalty for defender defense or attacker breakthrough. penalty = enemy air superiority * (1 + enemy doctrine modifiers + terrain modifier + concealment advisor) * -0.35 + 0.7 * AA / (AA + 112) (the latter part is "enemy air superiority reduction").
• Low supply: scaling penalties up to -33% at no supply
• Exceeding combat width penalty: divisions in active combat can slightly exceed allowed combat width with a small penalty to offset this (-2% per extra combat width).
• Stacking penalty for having too many divisions in combat: (-2% per division over the stacking limit. The stacking limit is 8, plus 4 per flanking direction.
• In multiple combats: -50% for a division that is attacked from a different direction while already attacking
• Paradrop penalty: -30% combat penalty 48 hours after being paradropped.
• Amphibious penalty: -70%
• Commander skill, +5% per skill point for both attack and defense
• Planning bonus, the base maximum is +30% which can be further improved by a doctrine to +110%
• Entrenchment: +2% per each point built. Maximum achievable: 5 base + 11 engineer IV + 10 doctrine = +52%
• Air support: bonus to attack and defense (in addition to direct damage support planes do)
• Country bonus
• Division experience: -25% for green, 0 for trained, +25% for regular, +50% for seasoned and +75% for veteran
• Combat tactics
• Decryption advantage: +5% per decryption level compared to enemies average encryption level (ex: dec. level is 5 and enemy average enc. level is 3 then 5-3 = 2 which gives 10 % increase)

Personally, I do not use dive bombers or fighters on my carriers. I only use the NAVs. The fighters do not seem to have much effect and the dive bombers in game are sub-par to the NAVs, in my opinion.

It is tedious, but you can open up an army, then click on the division symbol. This opens up the current template that specif division is using. You can then manually change the name of the division.

 

[Cavalry]

Is there a point in researching encryption when playing against the AI? Does increasing your encryption actually hide your info and forces from the enemy AI?

So it appears that the arbitrary 24 limit on Special Forces battalions makes it impossible to create a historical army. At least for Italy. You already start with most of the historical Alpine Divisions. But now I can't build any Paratroop Divisions, Marine Divisions, or the last Alpine Division I need.

Is there a point in carrying Close Air Support (Dive Bombers) on your Carrier? Based on the visible stats they seem absolutely horrible and pointless. They literally only have 1 more point of damage than a Fighter. Are there any hidden stats at work? In real life Dive Bombers did just as much damage if not more to enemy Carriers and ships.

Is there a way to edit Divisional name lists and create your own?

1. there are combat bonus. But I hear that there are AI scripts to make AI respond to armor/piercing level of your troops and encryption MAY prevent those scripts to kick in?
2. CV planes are much more costly and can be 5 times more effective in naval combat than regular planes. CAS can be very valuable if you need air support on naval invasion. But for naval combat, other has better result with just CV fighter and CV naval bomber.

 

[Riekopo]

Here are the combat modifiers from the Wiki. Decryption is the last one.

Spoiler: Decryption

Combat factors[edit]
The following factors modify the number of attacks and/or defenses a unit has in combat (list is not exhaustive):

• Terrain: base penalties for attacker -20% in a forest, -30% in hills, -60% in mountains.
• River crossing: penalty of -30% or -60% for attacker attack and breakthrough depending on the river size
• Night: penalty of -50% for attacks of both sides
• Fort: penalty for attacker attack and breakthrough of -15% per fort level. Each extra attacking direction cancels out one fort level but not the last level.
• Encirclement: penalty for defender -30%
• Enemy air superiority: penalty for defender defense or attacker breakthrough. penalty = enemy air superiority * (1 + enemy doctrine modifiers + terrain modifier + concealment advisor) * -0.35 + 0.7 * AA / (AA + 112) (the latter part is "enemy air superiority reduction").
• Low supply: scaling penalties up to -33% at no supply
• Exceeding combat width penalty: divisions in active combat can slightly exceed allowed combat width with a small penalty to offset this (-2% per extra combat width).
• Stacking penalty for having too many divisions in combat: (-2% per division over the stacking limit. The stacking limit is 8, plus 4 per flanking direction.
• In multiple combats: -50% for a division that is attacked from a different direction while already attacking
• Paradrop penalty: -30% combat penalty 48 hours after being paradropped.
• Amphibious penalty: -70%
• Commander skill, +5% per skill point for both attack and defense
• Planning bonus, the base maximum is +30% which can be further improved by a doctrine to +110%
• Entrenchment: +2% per each point built. Maximum achievable: 5 base + 11 engineer IV + 10 doctrine = +52%
• Air support: bonus to attack and defense (in addition to direct damage support planes do)
• Country bonus
• Division experience: -25% for green, 0 for trained, +25% for regular, +50% for seasoned and +75% for veteran
• Combat tactics
• Decryption advantage: +5% per decryption level compared to enemies average encryption level (ex: dec. level is 5 and enemy average enc. level is 3 then 5-3 = 2 which gives 10 % increase)

Personally, I do not use dive bombers or fighters on my carriers. I only use the NAVs. The fighters do not seem to have much effect and the dive bombers in game are sub-par to the NAVs, in my opinion.

It is tedious, but you can open up an army, then click on the division symbol. This opens up the current template that specif division is using. You can then manually change the name of the division.

Yeah I know there are combat modifiers for encryption/decryption, but that's not what I'm asking. I want to know if having higher encryption than the AI enemy hides your info and forces from the AI? Like it does for the human player.

 

[NeuGemi]

I’m pretty sure it hides it for the AI too

 

[bitmode]

I want to know if having higher encryption than the AI enemy hides your info and forces from the AI? Like it does for the human player.

If you mean whether it influences its decision making whether to attack or not: no, the AI looks directly at your division counts and data. In some other instances like judging how many divisions you have overall, it is bound by intel though.

 

[cetvrtak]

I need a step-by-step guide on how to alter naval invasion path.

Naval invasions are pain in the ass on their own, it gets exponentially frustrating when you unintentionally abort the invasion while trying to change the destination province.

 

[Cavalry]

I need a step-by-step guide on how to alter naval invasion path.

Naval invasions are pain in the ass on their own, it gets exponentially frustrating when you unintentionally abort the invasion while trying to change the destination province.

New destination means new naval invasion.

 

[elektrizikekswerk]

I need a step-by-step guide on how to alter naval invasion path.

Naval invasions are pain in the ass on their own, it gets exponentially frustrating when you unintentionally abort the invasion while trying to change the destination province.

To say it in pictures

 

[cetvrtak]

New destination means new naval invasion.

To say it in pictures
View attachment 539550

I read somewhere that you can use Alt key to edit the path, but I can't figure out how exactly.

Edit: And here's where that "somewhere" is - Naval Invasion Guide

Prerequisites for a Successful Naval Invasion:

1. Naval Superiority as well as sufficient intel of the area

2. Transport Tech (Located at the bottom of the naval tech tab)

3. Divisions actually assigned to naval invasion paths. These divisions must not exceed the naval capacity that are allowed by your transport tech. For example, if you have level 1 transport tech (naval capacity 10), generally it's a good idea to invade from 5 ports and assign 2 divisions to each of these 5 invasion paths.

4. Ctrl + left click to assign selected divisions to a naval invasion path. The more divisions are assigned to a path, the longer the invasion prep time is.

5. Enough convoys to carry your troops

Warning: If the number of assigned divisions exceeds naval capacity, invasion will not proceed. (Though the UI doesn't tell you the real reason why) For example, if you assign 12 divisions to an invasion path but you only have naval capacity 10, it would tell you that you need to have naval superiority, which you probably already do...

Tiny tip: Alt + Left click to change existing invasion path

 

[Riekopo]

Why is the scale of Iwo Jima island so ridiculous?

What size should my Submarine raiding Fleets/Task Forces be? Is there a certain size that maximizes efficiency?

What about Air Wings?

Does having Radar simply touch a sea zone give you an automatic efficiency boost? I think I read that it does.

It's June 1940 Italy. I'm about to declare war on the Allies. My navy is substantial with 4 Battleships, 8 Heavy Cruisers, 14 Light Cruisers, 125 Destroyers, and 99 submarines. I have many more ships in production including 2 Carriers, 5-7 Heavy Cruisers, about 13 minelayer Destroyers. What is the most effective organization for Fleets? My doctrine is Fleet in Being.

 

[bitmode]

I read somewhere that you can use Alt key to edit the path, but I can't figure out how exactly.

You alt-left click the invasion arrow (or alternatively select "Edit mode" in the battle plan toolbar and then left-click the invasion arrow). You can now add and remove invasion target provinces by right-clicking them. Left clicking a different source port sets a new source. Left-clicking the existing source deletes the order. Exit the edit mode by clicking the "Naval Invasion Order" button in the toolbar.

 

[bitmode]

With Man the Guns, does the naval design company only need to be selected when researching the hull? Or when creating the ship class?

 

[Federkiel]

With Man the Guns, does the naval design company only need to be selected when researching the hull? Or when creating the ship class?

Quite an interesting question. In sue to find an answer i just fired the game and tried to reverse-engineer it. I changed the design company and then modified a hull i had researched using that company. I found out that the icon for the company being shown in the ship designer does not change. Thus the values of the initial company (ship hull) still get applied for the modules you add later.

This makes clear that the decision of the designer to use when researching a hull you consider to be crucial in your game is an important one.

 

[Federkiel]

I have (a) combined quickie question(s) myself:

Assuming i have a small army of four divs and a general commanding them. Two of the divisions are MOT and two are ARM type. I then attack with them all (20 width each as an example) - does the combat time qualify the army leader to gain both panzer leader and cavalry leader? Acoording to the wiki this should work.

As far as i can see time spent in combat only helps with gaining one trait at a time. Is this notice correct?

 

[Cavalry]

I have (a) combined quickie question(s) myself:

Assuming i have a small army of four divs and a general commanding them. Two of the divisions are MOT and two are ARM type. I then attack with them all (20 width each as an example) - does the combat time qualify the army leader to gain both panzer leader and cavalry leader? Acoording to the wiki this should work.

As far as i can see time spent in combat only helps with gaining one trait at a time. Is this notice correct?

I don't remember but it looks only one of these at a time. You can check it fast after a few hour of battle. Also there is the old trick: attack as usual, then send 20 cavalry divisions in the reserve. Those in reserve will count to get the cavalry leader trait.

 

[NeuGemi]

I suddenly got 1000 military factories, after only having around 200. My civilian factories are now also only used for consumer goods despite having War Economy. I haven't changed the occupation policy either. Why did I get so many military factories suddenly and how do I get back my civilian factories?

Edit: I now have over somehow 3000 military factories

 

[Riekopo]

I was reading about Air Wing missions and the Wiki says: Wings with multiple assigned missions will generally only perform the first applicable mission and only mission efficiency bonuses (e.g. from air doctrines) for that mission get applied. To perform multiple missions simultaneously, create multiple smaller wings and assign them individually.

So why does the game even allow you to assign multiple missions to an Air Wing then? If it doesn't do anything? That's just bad UI design that's misleading the player.

I'm also confused about what the point of day time vs. night time missions is? It appears there is no penalty to operating your Air Wing 24/7 day and night. It seems to be only a benefit. Why would I not operate all my Air Wings 24/7?

"Bombers of allied countries don't get escorted." I think that's really dumb. I should be able to escort my allies if I want to.

I think there's a bug with making Air Wings. A lot of the times I make a new Air Wing, I select a certain number. And then when it creates the Wing it adds one more aircraft to the number. This happens a lot.

I really wish you could rename Generals. I can't create historical armies without that ability.

 

[bitmode]

I was reading about Air Wing missions and the Wiki says: Wings with multiple assigned missions will generally only perform the first applicable mission and only mission efficiency bonuses (e.g. from air doctrines) for that mission get applied. To perform multiple missions simultaneously, create multiple smaller wings and assign them individually.

So why does the game even allow you to assign multiple missions to an Air Wing then? If it doesn't do anything? That's just bad UI design that's misleading the player.

The important word is "applicable". Sometimes the first selected mission does not have any targets, e.g. no land battles to do CAS for. In that case bombers with another mission selected will fall back to that one.

I'm also confused about what the point of day time vs. night time missions is? It appears there is no penalty to operating your Air Wing 24/7 day and night. It seems to be only a benefit. Why would I not operate all my Air Wings 24/7?

The penalty is more fuel usage, accidents, and combat losses. Some mission types like CAS or strat bombing are quite ineffective at night, so you could opt for doing them at day time only. Air superiority also carries over to the hours where you are not flying (2 year old bug). So the setting can be helpful when you are very low on planes or fuel to make the most out of them, but is not really critical either.

"Bombers of allied countries don't get escorted." I think that's really dumb. I should be able to escort my allies if I want to.

Write a suggestion in the suggestions forum.

 

[Riekopo]

So I built a radar station in Calabria and it's not giving me any coverage in the Central Med, but it's giving me coverage in the Tyrr sea. Wtf? Despite the radar circle going into the central Med. Also, I complete a fortress building Focus and it put a costal fort on a completely useless province where I don't even have a port. And there's a port right beside it. WTF.