Hearts Of Iron II - Is AI historical?

[ChrisG2100]

I've been playing SH3 for a while now and just got HOI2. Is the AI in HOI2 historical? Or if your playing the Axis, does the Soviet Union do random things, i.e., invade England, invade Turkey or invade Nazi Germany first. That kind of thing.

Thanks,

ChrisG2100

[FAdmiral]

I have played the Doomsday version numerous times and have had different
outcomes each time. The game will progress historical about 50% of the
time but will take advantage of any weakness to exploit thus sending the
game direction along many paths....

JIM

[ChrisG2100]

Good to know. Thanks JIM

CG

[CCIP]

Well the AI generally works along in its own ways and determines its own priorities, so it can do a whole variety of things - what keeps it to historical goals are, first of all, objectives (capturing certain regions gives a certain amount of points, and that's what the various powers will be after - so naturally there are areas Germany or the Soviets will want to attack or keep), and secondly various scripted events which initiate things along historical paths.

The AI will usually not do anything incredibly shocking and unexpected if you know history, at least until events develop far enough along an ahistorical path, then you can really expect anything. Generally the beginning of the war will always play out pretty similarly. It's later in the war that things can get way out of norm.

[ChrisG2100]

Great. The game looks good I just wanted it to follow the historical path for a while. So I can explore certain elemants of the war and get a better understanding for it on a military scale. I understand devating from the path after a certain point.

Thanks

[Torplexed]

It's certainly improved from the bizarre happenings in the original HOI. I still remember that 1942 Australian amphibious invasion of East Prussia vividly. :rotfl:

[FAdmiral]

Also I might add this comment to the mix:

It depends GREATLY on which year you start the game !!

1936 = 50% historical + many deviations (I always start here)
Each year beyond that relies on the historical outcome to that point
thus making the historical timelines more in line with the game.

Bottom Line: The later you start, the more historical the outcome !!


JIM

[ChrisG2100]

Great thanks very much. I'll most likely be starting from 1939.

[Egan]

I noticed after installing the Armageddon expansion that things certainly became more ahistorical than before. I had weird situations developing in the Balkans and France attacking me very early (as Germany.) None of which had happened before. In terms of major AI events, things seemed much the same as before: Munich, Czechoslovakia, Danzig and so on triggered historically enough.

Don't get me wrong, none of this is a complaint. The Balkans thing - where Italy basically dragged Bulgaria, Turkey, Greece, Romania and Yugoslavia into a crazy multi sided war was a real blast. I ended up having to send down a Heavy duty 'Peace keeping' force in order to smooth things over which was rather interesting considering I was getting ready for Barbarossa at the time. It was a lot of fun.

[ChrisG2100]

Thanks all for your help. Last question then: not to hijack my own thread, but... what PC games would you say are the most historical from a high-up POV?