HoI3 vs HoI4

[henrywiddas]

I've not played either and appreciate HoI4 is embryonic in comparison to its predecessor but a lot of views on this subject already. The slight majority I've gathered from forums seems to be HoI4 is edging it even with the AI needing work...

I'm not too fussed about graphics, and I'm looking to play offline against the computer AI, so was looking to play the version with the most challenging AI without having the artificial difficulty of just having your research and output slowed down, or the computer player's research/output boosted.

Learning curves don't worry me too much as I find the struggle with learning part of the fun...

Any recommendations about which I should go for welcome :)

[ha]

HOI3 AI is not better, and in HOI 3 you have to work much harder if you do not want to rely on AI for your army. It is not more complex. Just more messy.
HOI4 is simply easier to manage.
In summory - if you want harder work managing all the stuff and fighting against enigmatic supply rules - go with HOI3. Want simple life ,easier AI and much more interesting production/equipment - HOI4.
Granted,HOI3 after all the expansions and with ,say,Black Ice mod is more complex than HOI4 overall.

[henrywiddas]

I'm definitely leaning towards Ho!4, thanks for the advice!

[ded]

HoI4 micro management is harder than HoI3. Ai just keeps messing with your troops and creates fronts on its own.

[ha]

Originally posted by Finrod Felagund:

HoI4 micro management is harder than HoI3. Ai just keeps messing with your troops and creates fronts on its own.

Oh really? There are no HQs in HOI4,to remind you. Just to try and keep those in range was a horror. And AI is moving its troops that you moved in HOI4 only if you did not issue another order for some time yourself. As for new fronts - lol ,no. It is assigned to the border you defined. If that border breaks ,say allies took some territory right in middle of your line,AI separates its forces accordingly since its still same line,only now broken in the mid.

[GIJoe597]

I would suggest, getting HOI III now, as it is a complete game, with years of testing and pages of possible issues/fixes. It also has many mods.

If you want to try HOI IV, I would wait for a few months at least, till PDX can work out some issues. Just look around these forums or the PDX forums to see some of the complaints.

Also, this game, IV, was made with DLC in mind, indicating they planned on leaving things out, so it could be sold at a later date. Waiting for a while, will only see IV getting better.

[henrywiddas]

Thanks for all the advice, I'm leaning towards HoI3 now lol i think i may get both so i have the complete experience.

i also need to give stellaris and EUIV another crack of the whip, so many games, so little time...

[Barry Wheeler]

HOI 3 sucks. It's HOI 2 variants, namely Darkest Hour, that can still give HOI 4 a run for its money.

[henrywiddas]

i don't mind dated graphics so maybe giving HoI2 is worth a go for me then, especially as i bet it's dirt cheap after all this time

as l get to scratch my axis & allies itch it's all good :)

[Mountain Man]

Originally posted by GIJoe597:

Also, this game, IV, was made with DLC in mind, indicating they planned on leaving things out, so it could be sold at a later date.

False. Paradox does not deliberately "leave things out" to sell as DLC. What they offer is a complete and polished game (at least as polished as any game is these days) that has all the necessary content to play a full campaign from beginning to end. If they add something at a later date then it is exactly that, an addition and not something that was "left out".

Developers have limited resources, especially a smaller developer like Paradox, and at some point, they simply have to stop adding content and features to a game and finish with what they have. This isn't a nefarious scheme to milk their customers but a brute fact of game development. As someone once said, it's easy to make the perfect game; all you need is infinite time and infinite resources. However, since no developer has that luxury, every game will be imperfect to one extent or another.

But to call Hearts of Iron IV "incomplete" is absurd. Is there room for improvement? Of course there is, but you could say the same thing about its predecessor even after years of patching and expansions. That doesn't make it an incomplete game. If you think HoI3 sounds like the better game then go for it, but you shouldn't go that route based on flawed notions that HoI4 is somehow incomplete.

[henrywiddas]

@Mountain Man cheers for that. i agree, paradox aren't insidiously lopping bits off the game to sell as DLC at a later date like some companies have. they may have some ideas about what they'd like to add to the game in the future but that work won't have been done yet because of those constraints you mentioned.

Stellaris is similar, somewhat bare-boned in the mid-game but they want to fix that with free updates in the future plus there will be paid DLC of course.

i'm still undecided about what game to get but i like the idea of playing HoI 2 and 3 and 4, it will be like a Paradoxian odyssey... just need to find a few spare hundred hours.

i could just say, hey i'm time poor, i'll just get HoI 4 but i'm a bit OCD gaming-wise and want to experience everything :)

for example i have the witcher 3 in my steam library but can't quite bring myself to play it until i've finished the first two in the series

[Tactix]

Well said mountain man, I tried to get into HOI 3 but it truly is a terrible mess of a game. I'm by no means a casual player who refuses to learn systems, I've probably gamed longer than some of these forum members have been alive. Of all of the paradox grand strategy games I only made my step into it with EU IV with nearly 1200 hours (even though I own some older titles), the new interface is awesome I think EU IV was the perfect blend of UI ease and depth and I personally think that's continued with HOI IV.

Edit: Also Paradox is about the only company I know of that gives you critical parts of game dlc without making you pay for it, they're hardly cash grabbing their fans.

[GIJoe597]

Thank you for your opinion, Mountain Man. Have a nice day.

[henrywiddas]

my purchase swing-ometer is swinging back toward HoI4 now, thanks for all the advice

[Kurf]

The people telling you that HOI3 is better are the people who grinded for 200 hours to actually learn that circus. It's an absolute mess during war time. Too much micro on too big of a front. Not to mention Peace time is just clicking on 4 different sliders for 3 years until War breaks out, longer if you're not in Europe. HOI4 is definitely more innovative and superior in almost every way, the only downside is the AI but HOI3 had the worst AI of any Paradox game on release. They had to bring over some EU4 devs to fix it.
I say buy HOI4 and never look at any number under. It's not worth the frustration.

[henrywiddas]

@O U T O F V I A L S a very persuasive argument, thanks!

i'm now 95% sure i'll go HoI4 now and I'm sure the game will improve over time so should be a game worth coming back to throughout the year, giving me the bang for buck, even without the DLCs