Which is the Best Hearts of Iron to Start Out On?

[Mercenary]

Recently started to get back into strategy games. My got to strategy games have been Rome 1 Total War, Medieval 2, Civ 3 and 4, and the original Making History The Calm and the Storm. Never played a Hearts of Iron or Paradox game for more than a handful of hours to "demo" it. Now looking for a more "hardcore" strategy game with a lot of depth and realism and the paradox games seems to be it. Looking to start out in the Hearts of Iron Series before Europa Universalis or Crusader Kings etc.

I have HO2, HO3, and Darkest Hour sitting in my Steam library that I barely touched. Plan on getting HO4 when the supposed Lunar Sale starts in mid February.

Which Hearts of Iron game would be the best to learn on for a noob? Which is the best one overall in your opinions?

[ancienthighway]

If you are looking for a "hardcore" game, HOI3 is probably the better choice over HOI4. Really hardcore would be Victoria II.

[RalphRoberts]

Hearts of Iron 4 is far and away the easiest of them to get into.

[Mercenary]

Sounds good, but which would you say is the most complete game?

[DutaDoge]

none

[Obiwan]

4 all day

[Obiwan]

Originally posted by avantech:

I'd say HOI2, but since you have DH why bother. Just start with DH, it's a much improved HOI2.

After that HOI3 will probably seem fiddly, less streamlined, even tiresome. But you'll hardly find a more "complete" WW2 strategy game, apart from Grigsby's, which is just tedious.

HOI4, from what I've tried and seen, is the easiest and the nicest to look at, but it's too dumbed down. And the AI ranges from utterly incompetent to borderline insane.

people who dont own should not feel they have authority to make derogatory comments

[Obiwan]

Originally posted by avantech:

Originally posted by Obiwan:

people who dont own should not feel they have authority to make derogatory comments

Well, fortunately people don't need your authority to have authority, or opinions, or friends who own the game. But thanks for your input.

private profile, condoning grey market, lots to say nothing to show and "friends". You might have mocked that other guy but the only thing lacking is an anime profile pic.

I also have low tolerance for buggy software, games or not. I work in development myself, and when there's a problem my clients don't just smile and say "ah OK, it's just alpha"... they demand it to be solved, or their money back.

claims to be a dev yet seems lacking in the inherent empathy we afford each other .... are your clients for a gambling site because this is not a pissing contest u want to have with actual devs.

When you cannot relate you prove you are full of ♥♥♥♥. You can run along or I can further expose why you hide behind your profile,

Opinions or not don't condescend to people older and wiser than you are sir.

[Obiwan]

lmao oh my goodness you guys never fail. Honestly mate go back to playing with people your own age.

preaches the reddit cliches while tainting the quote he replied with. You are not even worth indulging.

Failed on all levels to actually acknowledge or refute the claims too. Dont't pretend to be more than you are and maybe you wont need to write Ad Hominem so much.

Will we get a straw man going too so you have the trifecta??? hehehe thank you for the giggles it has been a crappy night.

[Obiwan]

Originally posted by avantech:

Originally posted by Obiwan:

lmao oh my goodness ...

Sorry, I have no idea what you're on about. Do you ever talk about HOI4?

Well its the act of a coward to poke the bear and cry ad hominem when it wakes up and slaps them.

Another wanna be armchair dev who knows everything about nothing and condescends to people far more experienced and informed than he is.

Maybe if you showed a little humility and gave you smarmy comments a break people like me wouldn't have to knock you off your peg on occassion for you to have to come out with all the excuse of the day to begin with.

You couldn't be more millenial if you tried. Infact it's hilarious people like you will go out your way to claim you are more than you are purely to get confrimation and credit in a discussion only to completely fall flat on your face when it comes to the very simple traits that would actually confirm you were even remotely close to being what you claim.

What kind of insidious coward provokes and then throws his toys out the pram because he got exactly what he was asking for?

I was talking about HOI4 before you felt compelled to run your thrap.

[WesternFail]

Ladies and Gentleman, The Internet summed up in one thread.

Battle of ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥.

[Obiwan]

Originally posted by WesternFail:

Ladies and Gentleman, The Internet summed up in one thread.

Battle of ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥.

If you are not on his friends list do me a favor and appreciate that I did nothing until provoked and he is the one who curled up into the fecal position.

You don't exactly shine a light on yourself with additions like this.

[Obiwan]

You were never born in the 70's someone born in the 70's would have a level of humility or at the very least they would appreciate the irony in how they act vs what they claim.

Keep preaching your BS to the naive little boys and girls because it will never wash with me.

When you fail to relate then you have never experienced and the fact you fall back on cliche after being the one to provoke proves you do not have the upbringing on ANYONE from the 70's . That or you actually think your ♥♥♥♥ doesn't stink but either case is not a positive outcome on your character .. or lack there of.

Run along mate cause no names were called and no trash was spoke. Only pure fact and I will remind you YOU were the one who felt the need to get mouthy so don't throw your toys out the pram when you bite off more than you can chew.

I have never in my life heard or seen anyone fall back on ad hominem or straw men that is even remotely close to my age let alone the 70's you lie so hard you fall flat on your face because your ego and your persona do not afford you the full bluff.

Learn from this and perhaps next time you will think twice before poking the bear.

The fact you make ridiculous comments like "you wont understand explanations" if you are telling the truth im not that much younger than you are so why put yourself in a position to have your bluff called and further prove you couldn't stand up to the plate despite how much you run your mouth. Learn and be hush. You got yourself into this mess with your inability to actually BE someone over 40.

It is the act of your average millenial to think that simply quoting a year prior to 2000 will get the lie past but the thing is the older you claim to be and the less generation X you clearly are let alone even being able to identify someone who is ... well nuff said really eh.

Honestly spare yourself and leave me alone like you should have done to begin with. Only a millenial would have the audacity to pick a fight and then cry cause they hit too hard.

[Twelvefield]

OP, Paradox games are a little different from everything else on the market. Most of them run on the "Clausewitz Engine", which means that the AI and the UI are fairly standard from game to game.

The absolute best Paradox game is Crusader Kings II. It combines war and grand strategy with characters and families that you have to maintain. Your genetics get passed on from generation to generation, so while porking the milkmaid might seem like great fun in the twelfth century, two hundred years later you'll find a bastard with your Hapsburg lip and an army of ten thousand angry mercenaries arrive at your doorstep to rip the crown from your head.

The easiest games to get into for rookies are HOI4 and Stellaris. I'd also reccommend a little-known game called Sengoku, which is really easy for rookies to learn. Impossible to win, but easy to learn since the map is feudal Japan and very small.

[Obiwan]

Your comment toward Introversion was disgusting. Those guys are as old as you claim you are and have seen a damn site more success enough they don't spend any of their time trolling on the sodding Steam forums.

You have the audacity to mock and criticize the work of people you like to kid on to the internet you actually are ... no self respecting dev .. correction NO dev with a shred of understanding of how things are would do that.

Even calling me son you could not help yourself. I deliberately made sure I used no such derogatory remarks so that when you did - and the fact I KNEW you would should be about all the confirmation more you need to realise that if you are lieing you need to leave me alone and if you are not you need to drastically change your entire approach.

Again you drew first blood and I have very little tolerance for people who hide behind a monitor while slashing at people who didnt grow up with the internet and understand that difference between running your mouth online and running your mouth in public.

You lack the fat lip to ever convince me a word you have said is true.

[Twelvefield]

Oh, right, fighting. Sorry to get in the middle of that, please continue.