EU4 vs HoI IV

[JBrown247]

Which one do you like better and why? What are the main gameplay differences between the two? I want to get one of the two during the next big sale. I have enjoyed CK2 a lot and Stellaris somewhat. I am sort of leaning towards EU4, but want some current opinions.

[☘♥♥♥♥♥♥Ireland]

Lets be clear, they are not even as similar as oranges and apples. HOI4 is purely a warfare simulator. Everything that you do regarding managing your country, politics, economy, ect is based soley on the coming world war and fighting it. It is not really at all a sandbox but merely a simulation that can play out a bit differently depending on which Great Powers chose which Focus this playthrough. EU on the other hand does not even come close to touching HOI's complexity and depth when it comes to fighting a war at every single level. What are you looking for? An emprire building game? HOI isnt it. Once the war is over, so is the game.

[JBrown247]

Originally posted by Esoteric Order of Dagon:

Lets be clear, they are not even as similar as oranges and apples. HOI4 is purely a warfare simulator. Everything that you do regarding managing your country, politics, economy, ect is based soley on the coming world war and fighting it. It is not really at all a sandbox but merely a simulation that can play out a bit differently depending on which Great Powers chose which Focus this playthrough. EU on the other hand does not even come close to touching HOI's complexity and depth when it comes to fighting a war at every single level. What are you looking for? An emprire building game? HOI isnt it. Once the war is over, so is the game.

how long do HoI games last? Seems like they would be short when compared to CK2 and Stellaris timelines. 10 years goes by fairly quickly in those games.

[76561198290354826]

Eu4 is better because they have been in development longer

[JBrown247]

Originally posted by Leo the Liquidator:

Eu4 is better because they have been in development longer

I was thinking this as well. They have a nice little package with the main DLC and base game. Prob a good idea to go for that and wait on HI4

[Eric Cartman]

Originally posted by JBrown247:

Originally posted by Esoteric Order of Dagon:

Lets be clear, they are not even as similar as oranges and apples. HOI4 is purely a warfare simulator. Everything that you do regarding managing your country, politics, economy, ect is based soley on the coming world war and fighting it. It is not really at all a sandbox but merely a simulation that can play out a bit differently depending on which Great Powers chose which Focus this playthrough. EU on the other hand does not even come close to touching HOI's complexity and depth when it comes to fighting a war at every single level. What are you looking for? An emprire building game? HOI isnt it. Once the war is over, so is the game.

how long do HoI games last? Seems like they would be short when compared to CK2 and Stellaris timelines. 10 years goes by fairly quickly in those games.

Hoi 4 simulates each hour of all those years. So, a year goes much slower than those games.

[Eric Cartman]

Both games are great. Ive spend over 300 hours on eu4 and over 200 on hoi4 so far. Very different though.

[Kalimist]

Originally posted by Esoteric Order of Dagon:

Lets be clear, they are not even as similar as oranges and apples. HOI4 is purely a warfare simulator. Everything that you do regarding managing your country, politics, economy, ect is based soley on the coming world war and fighting it. It is not really at all a sandbox but merely a simulation that can play out a bit differently depending on which Great Powers chose which Focus this playthrough. EU on the other hand does not even come close to touching HOI's complexity and depth when it comes to fighting a war at every single level. What are you looking for? An emprire building game? HOI isnt it. Once the war is over, so is the game.

This answer is what you're looking for, especially the last sentence. HoI 4 is a detailed ww2 sim with lots of depth to the combat that lets you play as any nation that existed at the time but with the clar goal of everyone building up to the main event of ww2, and without any timeline extension mods is more or less over once ww2 is over, unless you win and want to try to play ww3 in the 50's.

Eu4 is a detailed empire building sim with much less focus on combat and more on political maneuvering, economy and building things. Everyone is still gearing up for a big blow out near the end but you can (theoretically) play a whole game of EU and never fight a war.

Both games can last a long time, with EU having the scope to generally last a bit longer, but have less to do in that time and HoI games likely being a bit shorter but with more micro management during that time.

Hope this helps.

[MajorEarl12]

When it comes to Paradox games, EU4 is my second least favorite (even under the dreaded Napoleonic game XD) mostly because 70% of its content is behind a paywall and last i saw, it costs a good $100 to even get half of its content. The game is also rather boring as you cant simulate war very well with it being so bland and boring. But empire building seems equally as boring, as it seems alot weaker than every other Paradox game, but is the most popular apparently? Victoria 2 is my favorite Paradox game, but it is quite old in video game terms for it to be proplery played nowadays, its my favorite because it both accurately represents a military structure, an economy, and building up of a nation in that time period. EU4 doesnt do that in its time period, HoI4 does in its.

Sure HoI4 doesnt have money, but what it does have is Politcal Power that is very similar to it, but also the way the economy works with the factories, as well as it constantly being updated and adding new features into the game. Meanwhile EU4 justt seems to add tiny dlcs that dont give any new aspects to the game anymore.

Im hoping for a Victoria 3 really soon, as that time period is amazing for its technological innovations and how empires formed so fast. Just my 2 cents though.

[☘♥♥♥♥♥♥Ireland]

Originally posted by MajorEarl12:

When it comes to Paradox games, EU4 is my second least favorite (even under the dreaded Napoleonic game XD) mostly because 70% of its content is behind a paywall and last i saw, it costs a good $100 to even get half of its content. The game is also rather boring as you cant simulate war very well with it being so bland and boring. But empire building seems equally as boring, as it seems alot weaker than every other Paradox game, but is the most popular apparently? Victoria 2 is my favorite Paradox game, but it is quite old in video game terms for it to be proplery played nowadays, its my favorite because it both accurately represents a military structure, an economy, and building up of a nation in that time period. EU4 doesnt do that in its time period, HoI4 does in its.

Sure HoI4 doesnt have money, but what it does have is Politcal Power that is very similar to it, but also the way the economy works with the factories, as well as it constantly being updated and adding new features into the game. Meanwhile EU4 justt seems to add tiny dlcs that dont give any new aspects to the game anymore.

Im hoping for a Victoria 3 really soon, as that time period is amazing for its technological innovations and how empires formed so fast. Just my 2 cents though.

Paywall exists for HOI content as well so that is still IMO an issue. Both games can take along time to play if done a certain way or you could blow through them quickly depending on style. 100s of hours in any case. HOI4 has a better community of mods and modders which I feel adds value to the game. There is no 'wrong' choice here but you may get more enjoyment from one than the other.

[Montecalm]

I still find EU4 a challenge and would favor it. HOI4 AI is terrible.

[XerxesTheUndead]

Even though I like both games, I prefer EU4 over HOI4. Whenever I play HOI4, I feel like I spend a lot of time just sitting around doing nothing while waiting for supplies to be produced and focus trees to tick down, and by the time I do get into a war, I'd already be kind of bored from all of the waiting. EU4, on the other hand, allows you to do other things as you are waiting for your next conflict like go exploring the New World, organizing trade, etc. Furthermore, EU4 doesn't lag as badly (if at all) as HOI4 does, in which 5 speed at HOI4 can feel like 2 speed later in the game.

[MzEvilCanadian]

If you're a big fan of ck2 there is a conversion pack to take your ck2 game into eu4. So if suggest eu4 as it will play more similar to a game you already know. I've played HoI some it was first released (the eu4 series too) and I like EU4 over You for both single and multiplayer. However, if you want something that lives up to the Paradox name but is different You will be good. You really can't go wrong with either.