Hearts of Iron 3: How are you finding it?

Egan · 08-27-09, 12:52 PM

Now that i've got a couple of weeks or so under my belt I'm beginning to enjoy it a lot more than I was. Have to admit, though, I've yet to actually start a war, much less fight one; most of my time has been spent jumping from one game to another and seeing how the different countries stack up and trying to work out what the game is capable of.

So far, the things I like the most are the control you have over division design and the chain of command stuff, (although theatre level ai is bugged by all account. I'm not sure the theatre system works as well as PI thought it might but with a bit of work it will be great, especially if we get the ability to define out own theatres.)

I'm still trying to get used to the changes in research. I know leadership points can be used to boost the number of technologies you are working on but leadership has to be shared between training spies and officers, and funding diplomatic missions as well and there usually just isn't enough to do all four well. While I understand this is probably quite realistic, the ability to research as many techs as you want to is offset by the huge volume of new techs available. The tech tree actually reminds me of the one from the CORE mod for HOI2 ( I think it was,) and was one of the reasons I never got into that mod; there is realism and then there is bloody-mindedism. CORE always felt like it was swaying to the latter.

I do like the way building units has an effect on build times, costs and research, adding to your practical theory experience. Again though, this seems to be bugged with the appropriate modifiers not being passed on with serial builds. The thing to do, it seems, is to build lots of parallel constructions instead. Hopefully this will get fixed as serial construction was one of the great time savers in HOI2.

Another thing I've noticed with Germany is that I've had real problems with man power. I don't know what's changed but it seems very difficult to build the sort of army I was used to building in HOI2. Perhaps this is due to the huge increase in the number of provinces now and my perception - even a huge army looks small and spread out.

Part of the manpower problem probably comes from the various laws you can enact. This is something I love, especially the mobilisation and draft laws. The problem is that as Germany you need to bump up the draft laws to 'three year draft' as soon as you can in order to maximise the fresh meat. Also, moving to a war economy footing is probably a good thing to do as soon as possible just for all the extra boost to resources and IC you get.

The new supply system looks like it might be something to give headaches, though. It seems to depend heavily on infrastructure to the point that if you don't keep the trains running on time in those occupied territories, that final push into the soviet heartland will likely falter and fail. Personally, I like it but I think people might well be a little skeptical of it. Time will tell.

I would also like a historical scenario - either from PI or a modder. I don't care which. While the fairly ahistorical game is fun enough, a lot of people, myself included, do like to play a historical game. My main problem with it as it stands is the diplomacy seems to need balanced. By that I meen that there does not always seem to be a lot of logic behind who a nation will decide to side with. Having said that, In my current game I'm about a month away from bringing the Netherlands into the Axis. Hopefully they can help negate the clout of that Allied powerhouse, Luxemburg.

Well, so far so good, I guess. I'm mainly enjoying trying things out and seeing what happens. I'm going to start a new USA game tonight for the sole reason of trying out IC building. I've heard rumours of people building 20 factories every three months for 1.5IC each because their practical contruction theory has been so high. I figure that could give the USA a very silly amount of industrial clout by '41.

So, what about everyone else: Hit or Miss? I figure that by the time the inevitable expansion rolls around, HOI3 might be one of the finest strategy games ever made, but only if they start a serial production of patches. Lotsa bugs - but already better than release.

08-27-09, 12:52 PM	#1
Egan Admiral Join Date: Sep 2001 Posts: 2,020 Downloads: 15 Uploads: 0	Hearts of Iron 3: How are you finding it? Now that i've got a couple of weeks or so under my belt I'm beginning to enjoy it a lot more than I was. Have to admit, though, I've yet to actually start a war, much less fight one; most of my time has been spent jumping from one game to another and seeing how the different countries stack up and trying to work out what the game is capable of. So far, the things I like the most are the control you have over division design and the chain of command stuff, (although theatre level ai is bugged by all account. I'm not sure the theatre system works as well as PI thought it might but with a bit of work it will be great, especially if we get the ability to define out own theatres.) I'm still trying to get used to the changes in research. I know leadership points can be used to boost the number of technologies you are working on but leadership has to be shared between training spies and officers, and funding diplomatic missions as well and there usually just isn't enough to do all four well. While I understand this is probably quite realistic, the ability to research as many techs as you want to is offset by the huge volume of new techs available. The tech tree actually reminds me of the one from the CORE mod for HOI2 ( I think it was,) and was one of the reasons I never got into that mod; there is realism and then there is bloody-mindedism. CORE always felt like it was swaying to the latter. I do like the way building units has an effect on build times, costs and research, adding to your practical theory experience. Again though, this seems to be bugged with the appropriate modifiers not being passed on with serial builds. The thing to do, it seems, is to build lots of parallel constructions instead. Hopefully this will get fixed as serial construction was one of the great time savers in HOI2. Another thing I've noticed with Germany is that I've had real problems with man power. I don't know what's changed but it seems very difficult to build the sort of army I was used to building in HOI2. Perhaps this is due to the huge increase in the number of provinces now and my perception - even a huge army looks small and spread out. Part of the manpower problem probably comes from the various laws you can enact. This is something I love, especially the mobilisation and draft laws. The problem is that as Germany you need to bump up the draft laws to 'three year draft' as soon as you can in order to maximise the fresh meat. Also, moving to a war economy footing is probably a good thing to do as soon as possible just for all the extra boost to resources and IC you get. The new supply system looks like it might be something to give headaches, though. It seems to depend heavily on infrastructure to the point that if you don't keep the trains running on time in those occupied territories, that final push into the soviet heartland will likely falter and fail. Personally, I like it but I think people might well be a little skeptical of it. Time will tell. I would also like a historical scenario - either from PI or a modder. I don't care which. While the fairly ahistorical game is fun enough, a lot of people, myself included, do like to play a historical game. My main problem with it as it stands is the diplomacy seems to need balanced. By that I meen that there does not always seem to be a lot of logic behind who a nation will decide to side with. Having said that, In my current game I'm about a month away from bringing the Netherlands into the Axis. Hopefully they can help negate the clout of that Allied powerhouse, Luxemburg. Well, so far so good, I guess. I'm mainly enjoying trying things out and seeing what happens. I'm going to start a new USA game tonight for the sole reason of trying out IC building. I've heard rumours of people building 20 factories every three months for 1.5IC each because their practical contruction theory has been so high. I figure that could give the USA a very silly amount of industrial clout by '41. So, what about everyone else: Hit or Miss? I figure that by the time the inevitable expansion rolls around, HOI3 might be one of the finest strategy games ever made, but only if they start a serial production of patches. Lotsa bugs - but already better than release.