I've had this for awhile, but never managed to get into it, I start it up, get lost in some menus and quit. With the steam sale I decided to give it another shot and picked up Semper Fi. It also helps that Ive been building and panting a Flames of War (WW2 miniature wargame) army so I've been in a WW2 mood.
Anyway I decided i'd dive into the "Your First Game" tutorial on one of the hearts of iron wiki sites, the one where you play nationalist china. I realize that 4 hours have passed and the game is starting to "click", haven't done any war yet, Japan has just invaded my neighbor to the north. I have no idea how I am going to control my army, I know I must be missing something because it almost seems like an impossible task to organize and control my forces once the fighting starts. So what I did was just create a new Theater on my northern border, put a large chunk of my army in it and set it to AI control.
My son has been busily taking over the world in his game as the Germans. The jackbooted thugs have defeated Russia, are almost through eliminating the UK and have managed to keep the US out of the war thus far. He says he hopes that the US has the sense to "play ball" with the axis countries, otherwise.......
Barab, remember in these games the theme is "set it and forget it", it's not micromanagement. If you need army units somewhere, send them and don't mess with them until they get there. Then set them to fight and don't mess with them until it's over. What aspect of control over your military forces is giving you trouble?
If I set everything to AI control could I theoretically just sit back and watch?
I'll admit I haven't had too much time to play, I've gotten distracted by Unreal Tournament, possibly as much of a polar opposite to HOI that can exist in video gaming.
If I set everything to AI control could I theoretically just sit back and watch?
I'll admit I haven't had too much time to play, I've gotten distracted by Unreal Tournament, possibly as much of a polar opposite to HOI that can exist in video gaming.
Sometimes meth is good, other times heroin. It's just a personal choice.
[/quote]Sometimes meth is good, other times heroin. It's just a personal choice.[/quote]
Im a weed and shroom man ma' self.
Ok why is the quote function not...uh...functioning?
Ok why is the quote function not...uh...functioning?
The tags won't work well until you've got a few more posts under your belt. It's to keep down spam problems we were having around here. Don't let it discourage you...welcome to the community!
Ok why is the quote function not...uh...functioning?
You have to have several posts before the HTML tags start to work, done to prevent spam bots from being able to post URLs or images.
Ok why is the quote function not...uh...functioning?
It's a subtle discouragement to keep the riff raff out.
[/quote]It's a subtle discouragement to keep the riff raff out. [/quote]
Ah. And yet ive managed to join so you guys have failed epically.
My son has been busily taking over the world in his game as the Germans. The jackbooted thugs have defeated Russia, are almost through eliminating the UK and have managed to keep the US out of the war thus far. He says he hopes that the US has the sense to "play ball" with the axis countries, otherwise.......
Damn right dad. Those pesky Americans and their formidable navy are not to be trifled with. I need them either on my side or things are going to have to get "interesting" for them now that ive eliminated all major resistance (U.K. surrendered). Maybe i should pull a Monty Python and strongarm their military into buying "protection." 
Thinking about picking this up on the steam sell. Still debating. I kind of want to take over the world in a turn based game. I don't mind not having pretty graphics, sometimes I play dwarf fortress in ascii. However, this looks like it might be beyond me.
I'm in the same boat Baron... but a current cycle paradox game at five bucks is hard to beat. Hell, I think the previous HoI is still ten.
Inner debate, externalized. Whee!
I picked up the expansion hoping it would click more with me than the vanila HoI3 did and it hasn't. I'm not saying it's a bad game, but if you have game ADD like myself, you might want to save your $10. It seems like it's one of those games that you have to let take over your life for a while to enjoy.
Thinking about picking this up on the steam sell. Still debating. I kind of want to take over the world in a turn based game. I don't mind not having pretty graphics, sometimes I play dwarf fortress in ascii. However, this looks like it might be beyond me.
If you can play Dwarf Fortress you can play HOI. But it's real time pausable, not turn based.
Also, the graphics are by no means ugly. However, Lordpolish is right. You have to immerse yourself in the system for it to make sense and become fun. This will be a lot easier if you've played EU or Vicky, however. Similar systems.
In fact, I'd say that if you don't know EU3, it's harder to learn the system via HOI or Vicky.
So, I got the game and expansion on sale.
Is there a good tutorial like the one that guy (Bill Harris?) Did for Dwarf Fortress? Or should I just read the manual?
So, I got the game and expansion on sale.
Is there a good tutorial like the one that guy (Bill Harris?) Did for Dwarf Fortress? Or should I just read the manual?
In addition to the manual, Paradox made a Quick Start guide that's very useful. Both of which you can get after the somewhat annoying process of registering on the Paradox forums, registering your game keys on the forums, and then finding said documents in their expanded forum.
OR
Because that's annoying I'll just put these up for a while and whoever wants to grab them from my site can download them directly
The actual manual is downloadable from the Steam store page. I'll grab these too in case they're different.
I've seen Paradox usually put out three separate documents:
Quick Start
Manual
Strategy Guide
Listed in order of depth and technical information. I think there's a HOI3 strategy guide, and an update to said guide after the 1.3 patch. I'll look for them.
Wow, thanks, dude! Now I'll go find these for Victoria2 or necro that thread. Wheeeeeee!
One step ahead:
Victoria 2 Manual
Victoria 2 Tech Guide
I've never seen a quick start for Vic2, and the strategy guide is uploading now.
Thanks for the manuals and guides. I'm sure they will help.
I'm contemplating buying the complete pack but is doesn't include For The Motherland. Do I need that expansion? I'm trying to decide if I should pull the trigger now or wait. Any suggestions?
You certainly don't need it. FtM just came out and I don't think many of us have it yet - I haven't pulled the trigger yet myself. It adds a few conveniences and some scenario play, but HoI is a very complete game without it. Considering the awesome sale prices right now I wouldn't hesitate buying the complete HoI and getting FtM when it goes on sale later, if you find you dig the game.
I just got into this game finally. Based on this thread I bought it over a year ago. The key was to just pick anything to do, let the game run at full speed, watch, tweak and try to grok the system. THEN I read the manual. 
Time disappears to this game. I've sat down to play it twice, and I've already played 9 hours according to Steam. I'm still terrible, but you can't win them all. Currently I'm playing as Brazil, trying to set myself up as a local power, with eyes on taking the European colonies on my northern border and developing submarines to mess up allied transports and convoys in the area.
I was worried about my southern neighbors tying me up, since they're the only ones with an army in the area, but they're following me right along on a slow but steady political drift towards the Axis. If we can get invited in to the Axis, things will be very interesting in South America.
So, another expansion is coming out this year: Their Finest Hour.
What got me to post this, was this dev diary. Battle plans look pretty sweet!
Troy Goodfellow recommended starting HOI3 with Germany 1939 to takeover Poland and play as the US to learn economic strategy.
Any other tips for a beginner?
(NOTE: I've 22 hours in EU3 so I'm accustomed to Paradox's style of games)
HOI3 is a much more complex game than EU3: not only do you have the whole "running a country" thing (at a much deeper level, I might add) but it also is a semi-complex chit-based-style wargame as well.
My recommendation for learning the systems in the game is to play as a South American country, like Brazil. It will not be the most exciting game ever but you can play with the mechanics and learn what all the buttons do without any pressure. Pick a side and try to move your country over to it. Try to build up your armed forces. Set up trading relationships. Etc. Etc.
Then I would play as the US for a bit to get a handle on what a huge economy can do and Germany 1939 for the military aspect. And then pick a country to start a proper game.
I have well over 1000 hours in Paradox games and HOI3 still intimidates the hell out of me. even though I have a couple of "real" games under my belt (as opposed to games I spent trying to learn the systems and how they all work together).
I hope this isn't off-putting: HOI3 is one of the grandest of grand strategy games. There is just a lot of stuff to learn before you can start to be successful. The view at the top of the mountain is superb but getting there is difficult.
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