Grand Strategy Games

[Nonagon]

Then what is the most balanced campaign in Hearts of Iron 2? I had been playing the 1938 campaign as Germany, and it was impossible to raise the number of troops as my enemies before they had captured almost half of my regions. It feels as if it were impossible to win unless you started the campaign with some gigantic army. I think the most I was able to muster up with Germany was something like 28 divisions, while France started out with easily over 60 divisions... this is my concern with balance atm.

Perhaps I was doing something wrong, but another thing that turned me off was that it didn't seem to matter whether or not you had prioritized something in your production queue, a set of troops at the bottom would have taken a few months, so I moved it to slot one, only to find the ETA the same.

 

[Patton89]

i would suggest playing with germany in the year 1936. It gives enough time to build an army, as you have to fight the war in 1939. Also, the build time does not change if you move the production que around, if it is completely green. Building tanks takes time, and it really cant be rushed. Might want to build factories only in 1936.

I usually have around 100+ divs in 1939, and a carrier group with landing ships. No UK, no normandy landings.

You might want to try USA for easy game, you can build enourmous army with it, but the relatively crappy infantry tactics tree negates some of its early war efficiency.

Uk or france are harder, and more revarding in the end, as they have smaller resource and industry base.

Soviets are intresting, but their army tactics are awful. Only way you can fight ze germans is to have a huge numerical superiority.

what difficulty are you using ?

 

[Roflcore]

Problem with HoI for me is: I don't know what to do. The tutorial is really short and doesn't explain much. I tried the game several times but I am unable to learn it. Other games I learn by playing them but that doesn't seem to work for HoI.
EU on the other hand was a bit easier, but I stopped playing after my 20000 men army go defeated in 1500 against a 300 men army. terrain was perfect and I lost because the enemy had his king in the army. Reminded me of Civ 3 battles so I quit playing..
Could use a new grant strategy game, but Colonization is really stupid and short and I don't like Civ 4 that much..

 

[Patton89]

Problem with HoI for me is: I don't know what to do. The tutorial is really short and doesn't explain much. I tried the game several times but I am unable to learn it. Other games I learn by playing them but that doesn't seem to work for HoI.
EU on the other hand was a bit easier, but I stopped playing after my 20000 men army go defeated in 1500 against a 300 men army. terrain was perfect and I lost because the enemy had his king in the army. Reminded me of Civ 3 battles so I quit playing..
Could use a new grant strategy game, but Colonization is really stupid and short and I don't like Civ 4 that much..

It takes some trying to get in to the game, and reading the manual thouroughlly helped me a lot. reading it twice helps. every page.One of those games

 

[Jebus]

Then what is the most balanced campaign in Hearts of Iron 2?

There are no balanced campaigns in HOI2.

Because WWII wasn't balanced.


If you only manage to muster that little troops by sept. 1939 then yes, you are doing something wrong. Germany was able to muster a lot more by then, and so should you.

Concerning tactics and strategy, actually knowing history helps immensely. The weak points of every nation historically are also its weaknesses in the game: the Soviet Union had crappy army organisation (which got better eventually); France will (almost) never leave their Maginot line; Italy's advance in North Africa invariably grinds to a halt, etc. etc.

All in all, it's one of the most rewarding games I've ever played. Nothing gives a bigger rush than defeating the USA as Japan, or conquering all of Africa with Italy. 't Just takes some intelligence and effort to get the hang of the game - the learning curve is notoriously steep.

 

[rcorporon]

I've been a fan of PI games since EU1 came out.

EU:Rome recently got an expansion called "Vae Victus" which has made EU:R just as good as EU3 with In Nomine.

You can't go wrong with a PI game, IMHO.

HOI2 is spectacular.

 

[Nonagon]

If you only manage to muster that little troops by sept. 1939 then yes, you are doing something wrong. Germany was able to muster a lot more by then, and so should you.

It wasn't that I was not training more troops or anything, that's just foolish. I started out with that many troops, France seemed to have started out with a great deal more, either that or they built themselves up to so many divisions in about a month's time.

Also, a question about building: Does having more projects going at once slow down other projects?; If, say, I wanted to train an infantry division, would its ETA be effected by having other projects going at the same time? I honestly can't remember if they went over it in the tutorial, and I can't check as I am at work atm.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

I've never played any of the Paradox games so I can't say anything about them, except for the lulz I got from reading the patch notes, especially for the first HoI. Paradox games are buggy little blighters when released.

But I'll have to chime in with the people that said Alpha Centauri. It is simply awesome. The only downside to the game is the expansion, 3 of the new factions are so hideously overpowered that they almost break any game they're present in...especially if human players get their hands on them.

Another classic grand strategy game I recommend is Master Of Magic. It may be a little too old though.

 

[Dragula]

It wasn't that I was not training more troops or anything, that's just foolish. I started out with that many troops, France seemed to have started out with a great deal more, either that or they built themselves up to so many divisions in about a month's time.

Also, a question about building: Does having more projects going at once slow down other projects?; If, say, I wanted to train an infantry division, would its ETA be effected by having other projects going at the same time? I honestly can't remember if they went over it in the tutorial, and I can't check as I am at work atm.

Everything counts towards you industry points, if you have 200, and builds one infantry that costs 10, you can build 20 without it halting progress.

 

[Jebus]

It wasn't that I was not training more troops or anything, that's just foolish. I started out with that many troops, France seemed to have started out with a great deal more, either that or they built themselves up to so many divisions in about a month's time.

All starting armies are exactly the same as they were at that point in history. France DID have a massively larger army than Germany in the beginning of 1938 - and Germany's wasn't all that much bigger than theirs when they invaded in the spring of 1940, either.
Basically, you just have to start churning out tanks & infantry like crazy, and use the historical tactics when the invasion comes around. Also remember that as your doctrines are vastly superior to theirs in that point in time, you'll cut though the French like butter.

Also, a question about building: Does having more projects going at once slow down other projects?; If, say, I wanted to train an infantry division, would its ETA be effected by having other projects going at the same time? I honestly can't remember if they went over it in the tutorial, and I can't check as I am at work atm.

Everything counts towards you industry points, if you have 200, and builds one infantry that costs 10, you can build 20 without it halting progress.

Like Dragula said: it all comes down to the available Industrial Capacitiy (IC) you have free. If you use 200 for construction, you can build 20 infantry divisions worth 10 IC at the same time - but everything more than that will be halted untill the IC frees up.

 

[LogisticEarth]

For HOI2, there's a really high learning curve. This is one game where I recommend reading the manual and checking online for strategy wiki's and such.

I would definitely reccommend staying away from the 1938 campaign. It was really only created and balanced for multiplayer games, from what I remember. Either go with 1936 (my favorite) 1939, or 1941.

You Industrial capacity system if pretty straightforward. If building a certain unit takes 10 IC per day for 6 months, then that's what it takes. There's no way to speed it up directly. You CAN reserach certain techs and doctrines that change unit times and costs, and your political sliders have an effect on build times, upgrade costs, etc.

Untill you get land combat down I would reccomend a non-naval country. Generally this means Germany or the USSR. A player controlled USSR can usually eat up Germany with some persistance. The way you should organize your units differs for each country also. Generally though, you want to keep your "hard units" (tanks and mechanized infantry) in 3 division groups, and use them for breakthroughs so you can flank and encircle enemies.

It's a really complicated game, but once you get a hang of it, it's the best hardcore strategy game out there.

 

[UniversalWolf]

Anything that's not a crappy remake of Risk?

Fail.

 

[Nonagon]

Okay, I am trying the 1936 campaign, and so far I am not as screwed as I was in the '38 campaign, so I'll probably change my mind about the whole game... it just sucked ass getting raped by the French as a country so notorious as Germany, I had already taken out the Czechs and the Yugoslavians, though, in my defense .(I didn't lose one division)

Fail.

Who fails? Since you didn't specify, I'm just going to assume that people call you Fail... Hello, Fail, thank you for contributing jack-shit to this thread .

 

[Slaughter Manslaught]

Because WWII wasn't balanced.

Indeed it was not. I've heard the French and the Soviets were shouting "NERF PANZERZ PLZ" in the chatbox the whole time.

And Hitler was yelling about how Stalin was fucking cheating because he simply COULD'T have all that much cannon fodder.

I've heard they nerfed panzers in the patch, that's why the Soviets steamrolled over the nazis.

 

[Starseeker]

Oh, yeah, almost forgot to mention, Romance of the Three Kingdoms series was pretty decent up to 7.

5 or 6 was the cut off point for the classical purist though.

 

[Dragula]

Crusader Kings is probably the best game Paradox has ever done, problem is, how many americans has an active intrest in european middle age?

 

[Nonagon]

Crusader Kings is probably the best game Paradox has ever done, problem is, how many americans has an active intrest in european middle age?

Hell, I've been playing the Total War series since Medieval 1, Medieval Europe is kick ass. I'll go ahead and check this Crusader Kings game out, too.

EDIT: Holy shit, apparently if you start with CK, you can go through all the other Paradox Interactive games up to Hearts of Iron 2 on the same save game... Nice!

 

[Jebus]

as Germany, I had already taken out the Czechs and the Yugoslavians,

Lil' advice: in the 1936 campaign (I don't know about the 1938 one, I've never played it), you don't have to fight the Czechs. The entire country will fall into your hands as core territory though diplomacy alone (council of munich). You don't really have to fight anything untill september 1939 - actually, it is advised you don't, because events like the anschluss of Austria (where Austria falls into your hands as core territory free of charge), the annexation of the Czech republic and the acquisition of Memel (as core territory) only happen if you are, in fact, at peace.

 

[Roflcore]

I just started as a total newb again. 1936 and the sowjet union, but I am unsure what to do. I started teching (Inf. Doc, Tank Destroyers, Research and IC production) but I don't know if I should produce units, produce factorys (if so: where and how long) or just spent all my IC on upgrading/reinforcing. I lack the experience to say what units are good and what units are crap and in which way I should prepare.. etc.
any advise how to proceed? I just which their would be a youtube tutorial that explains more than the poor tutorial ingame :/

 

[Jebus]

I just started as a total newb again. 1936 and the sowjet union, but I am unsure what to do. I started teching (Inf. Doc, Tank Destroyers, Research and IC production) but I don't know if I should produce units, produce factorys (if so: where and how long) or just spent all my IC on upgrading/reinforcing. I lack the experience to say what units are good and what units are crap and in which way I should prepare.. etc.
any advise how to proceed?

You're doing well.

The best way to go with Soviet Union (when you're not a HOI2 veteran) is to put all research efforts in Infantry, the artillery you're going to use, tanks, planes, applicable doctrines and industrial research (in that order). And use ALL you IC for unit production. (If you are more of a veteran, you can use your all your IC to build one round of factories - but beware, this is only for those who know what they're doing)

Don't start upgrading 'till late 1940/early 1941: upgrades cost much less when your current technology is two levels or more over the unit's technology - so that's a lot of IC-days spared.

When Germany invades (or you declare war on Germany) - just throw as much meat at them as possible, and keep a lot of IC on reinforcements. If you cannot defeat them yet, don't be afraid to trade space for time: you have more than enough land you can afford to lose for a while, and as they progress deeper into Russia their over-extended supply lines and attrition will weigh heavier and heavier. Fight for every scrap of land, retreat when losing and avoid encirclements, and soon you'll be facing half-strength Wehrmacht divisions.

As the Soviet Union, it's practically impossible to lose. Just don't spend resources on fancy stuff like boats or nukes before you've beaten back the Hun.