But, while playing as a smaller power has its own charms, it’s the big seven of the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Germany, Japan, the Soviet Union, and the United States who offer the most distinct and defined variations. Hearts of Iron IV allows you to play as almost any global nation existing in 1936. It’s much more of a Crusader Kings II than a Stellaris, but in the tradition of many Paradox games there’s much to be learned, and enjoyed, through mistakes and experimentation. Persist through the plentiful tooltips, a bit of external online reading, and some trial and error, however, and most things will begin to make sense (though I sincerely doubt anybody at this stage really understands the full complexities of the military division designer). This tech tree seems pretty standard until you notice there are TEN OTHER RESEARCH TABS. Their Beginner Tutorial video series is a more reliable bet for now. Except even post-release a lot of those pages aren’t even close to complete, so that’s not a great help. You’re presumably supposed to fill in the gaps with the in-game links to the Hearts of Iron IV wiki pages. The tutorial does a semi-reasonable job of introducing basic concepts like army battle plans and research trees via Italy’s occupation of Ethiopia, but by no means manages (or even attempts) to explain every aspect of the game. While the user interface mostly does its best to be friendly and intuitive (the aircraft deployment section is a rare, clunky outlier), there can still be an awful lot of logistical and economic production information to process at once. Getting into the game will take a little more dedication than demanded by contemporary Paradox offerings, though. Hearts of Iron IV provides the mechanics and the possibilities to explore all of those types of questions at least within the game’s own closed system of simulations. What if the annexation of Austria takes place earlier, in 1937, and Britain and France opt to go to war over it? How do things change if Italy make significant military gains early in the war? If the US remains out of the conflict, can the Allies still triumph? Having at least a rough understanding of the political and military catalysts of WW2 makes their alternative versions that bit more satisfying. Hearts of Iron IV will appeal to the WW2 historians who like to play through hypothetical scenarios, just as Europa Universalis IV offers a sandbox of 16th Century nation states. The short answer to that would be a tentative yes. Does this image make you panic? Don’t worry, it’s not usually this baffling.
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