Best way to learn this game?

[✚ Mariel ✚]

I've been watching videos and trying to play the game but I just keep losing. The worst part is I don't know what I'm doing wrong.

I found a video series on youtube that is 7 parts long but its slow, ponderous and rambling, I found another one thats 5 minutes long and it taught me the basics well so I can actually do stuff but I need something deeper now.

[CheapChievos]

Depends on your individual preferences. From the sound of it you are probably not someone who is going to want to sit through a long youtube tutorial series or sift through the Wiki.

Just try to "learn by doing" and probably readjust your expectations. When i started on Paradox games I basically played them as a roguelike. I would fail the first couple of times but each time I would learn something and get better.

With HOI4 I wholeheartedly reccomend Portugal as a starter campaign. You get to have a handle on the basics of Army, Air and Naval control in a relatively limited space, you can just enjoy an easy 1v1 against spain. A lot of people suggest Germany to new starters but I think for someone who is completely new to HOI its often too much too fast.

[Noldo]

Originally posted by Kiri:

I've been watching videos and trying to play the game but I just keep losing. The worst part is I don't know what I'm doing wrong.

I found a video series on youtube that is 7 parts long but its slow, ponderous and rambling, I found another one thats 5 minutes long and it taught me the basics well so I can actually do stuff but I need something deeper now.

Well, to REALLY understand what is goin on, I think you will have to go to wikipedia. Not all at once, of course, but that is where you will find all the information you need about every aspect. In the end is about numbers and mechanics. Whenever you dont understand anything, you can pause a game, peek into wiki, find real data, how radar works, etc. It is all there, to the last screw.

[Mr_Faorry]

Yeah that's a problem the Paradox games have, people who make tutorials for them make them excessively large where you end up with 20 1 hours long videos of just ramblings.

CallMeEzekiel has one which is actually brief and to the point (less than 20 minutes), it's from before NSB so some things have changed but it still covers the basics and most of the game really well. Biggest thing to disregard is when he talks about combat width needing to be either 20 or 40, now 18/27 or 42 is what you want instead.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GufD3sJsgrU

Only thing I'd really disagree with is his assertion that Germany is a bad choice for newcomers, Germany is honestly the best and easiest nation to learn with. Other Paradox games it's a good idea to start as a small minor nation so you aren't overwhelmed, but with HOI4 you definitely want to start as a major so you can actually do something other than press buttons for hours to no end.

[Squashbuckler]

Play non historical, on recruit, and pick bolivia. Play on slowest level. Learn Army, Logistics, then airforce, then navy. Make sure you have all dlc.

[niniopablo]

a good option is to use germany, and learn tactics in the spanish civil war, or better, in the japan-china war. I say i prefer that because in spain you can send less divisions and they have the spanish offensive issue, in japan you can send to china or japan and send more (and even more if you send division to overlords). For the constructions or what templates use, is better to start with a video

[✚ Mariel ✚]

Thankyou very much for the replies!

[Squashbuckler]

My pleasure, In my opinion, If you pick a major player, or play too fast, you will be overwhelmed. I think only experienced players can handle large factions/countries, and only after they know how to play. Its simply too much going at once, and no idea of the building blocks and how it got there. Small nation, Army focus, take over a neighbour. You wont be doing anything productive if you have no idea how the game works, it will just be frustrating. This way, it may be slower, but you will learn foundations. Of course, everyone will have their own take, do what works for you. Just use 20 widths for now.

[CheapChievos]

Originally posted by Mr_Faorry:

Only thing I'd really disagree with is his assertion that Germany is a bad choice for newcomers, Germany is honestly the best and easiest nation to learn with. Other Paradox games it's a good idea to start as a small minor nation so you aren't overwhelmed, but with HOI4 you definitely want to start as a major so you can actually do something other than press buttons for hours to no end.

Germany is a good choice for a starter Major but I think for someone completely new to the game it can be alot to have to keep track of as whether you like it or not you are going to end up in a multi front war. For me Portugal gave me enough to think about in the focus trees to give me a handle on how that worked while allowing me a manageable economy, I learn about how to handle occupied territory and puppets plus I can have a much more manageable war with spain that i can use to build an understanding of troop usage, impact of terrain and how air and ground work together. Plus building in to a minor naval power as well.

For sure its a case of "each to their own" in terms of what works well but it seems like everyone just spams out Germany for every new player without a seconds thought about what they might be looking for.

[Loquitran]

I honestly think Italy is the best nation to learn the game. Although the focus tree is not that interesting, it's a pretty balanced nation. You won't be extremely strong, neither weak. You will have a decent amount of factories to play with, but not that much to be overwhelmed. You'll also have a decent amount of navy so you can play around with, decent-ish amount of airplanes.

As i said, although the focus tree is not very good, the nation itself is in a pretty good spot for learning the game at your own pace, without feeling too overpowered or too weak to only watch the events unfold.

[Danieri]

In my opinion you should not play a major nation. Play as a medium or minor nation and join the axis on their conquest. Let them do the heavylifting and focus on what they are lacking (just IGNORE navy except for convoys/submarines). That will allow you to understand how war works while not getting destroyed. You can even declare your own wars while germany is busy elsewhere (example: spain and turkey are good objectives to fight once germany capitulates france and starts to move to the balkans/ussr).

Eventually you WILL lose, because not capitulating UK before 1942 ends up in USA joining the allies and you are not going to make them capitulate easily. So I would just consider it a victory if you manage to capitulate the USSR or even invade britain.

[Codo]

If you are having trouble, don't refrain from starting out on easier difficulty and giving yourself a buff just to get a grasp of things withotu worrying to much on fuel, supply etc.

[✚ Mariel ✚]

I've been playing as the Soviet Union so far. First time I went into southern thrust and took Iran and Iraq, but when I went for Afghanistan the Allies joined against me. I didn't think it would matter because they're on the other side of Europe but they appeared almost immediately in Israel and started cleaving through my lands. I ended up stopping them in these passes but then they appeared on beaches near my main lands and rolled me up fast.

Lesson I learned was check what allies people have, leave forces behind to watch my borders, and don't take lands that will just end up extending my borders and giving my opponents more places to launch naval invasions

So the second try I waited for Germany to invade me. I made civvie factories til 1939 then swapped to mil factories til 1941. During that time I had 5 armies with 12 divisions at the north sea, the place near the scandinavia sea, 2 at the black sea, and two at the manchuko border. I then began to build up a 3 stack army near the border of germany. I worked out also how to equip and train multiple divisions at once.

I did end up reinforcing the armies at Manchuko because the Japanese were kicking off and I had made too much infantry. Tanks and mobile were taking forever to roll out. And I disbanded the mountain and cav forces because they seemed like a waste of resources. I also figured out how to patrol with ships and set them to guard my seas with subs and destroyers.

Also I somehow made the paranoia thing stay at 0%. I just kept picking things that lowered paranoia (and started purges) and it eventually froze at 0% for some reason around the time I killed Trotsky.

Anyway the Germans attacked and despite me having 20 width infantry with good equipment, light tanks and mobile attachments and completely outnumbered them (I had 4 divisions there by now) they completely rolled me back super fast. They had air superiority so I guess I didnt make enough plains, but at one point I upped the number of divisions to 6/5 divisions of 24 and I was still being rolled back

Anyway right after they took Moscow I started playing around with clicking on individual units and noticed the enemy were getting like a 3x bonus to defense and that my 'organisation' was low. I did a bit of googling and now I only use balanced and I only click execute orders when the green tick is there and I press the red square when it turns into 3 yellow dots. I think this means that when it is green my organisation is high and we can push through the enemy with tanks and mobile stuff, and when it is yellow the organisation is getting too bad and I need to rest for a bit which gives me a 3x defense bonus, is that correct?

Anyway I tried to do a communist coup on the germans and it seems to be working, its 1943 and the line isnt moving anymore so I think I might have a chance, but if not then next time I'll get more air support and I'll only press execute orders when the tick is green XD

Whats a good army composition btw? I've been doing 18 infantry, 3 tanks and 3 mobile. The infantry have the middle artillery and field hospital, the mobile have only trucks, mechanics and mobile recon, and the tanks have light and medium tanks, trucks, mechanics and mobile recon. Everyone is width 20. The vehicles take the near side of forever to roll out >.<

Also how many planes do I need and what composition? In terms of my navy I've been getting enough convoys to make logistics % stay at 100%, then 4 subs for every destroyer, is that fine? I only want to stop naval invasions with them after all and the germans didnt naval invade me even once

[✚ Mariel ✚]

Also do offensive lines really matter? It seems like if I set a front line and then press the green tick they advance and take land all on their own, even well past the offensive line.

[Codo]

Originally posted by Kiri:

Also do offensive lines really matter? It seems like if I set a front line and then press the green tick they advance and take land all on their own, even well past the offensive line.

They normally go to the line you made, but if they arrive there, get attacked and win that battle they will automatically advance

You can remove that by selecting the small arrow symbol and selecting "careful" so your troops will avoid extending the frontline

[Squashbuckler]

Sounds like you are learning well! I always maintain air superiority, and prefer to use weapons over losing lives. I use 20 width, Mainly artillery battalions and infantry, but that was only because of my doctrine, playstyle, and country I randomed to play as (Estonia). Also depends on the terrain. Lots of options to consider. Personally, I max out support and keep them updated in tech tree along with weapons. You can check your units vs their during battles to see who will have the upper hand.. If they have better divisions, I tend to lay back more or overwhelm with more forces. I always attack with full planning and air support, etc. It may be hard to answer some of these questions, as many variables exist..
Sounds like you are enjoying yourself! good stuff!