Tutorial, overwhelm, regret

[yukonhoo]

What did I just buy? The tutorial leaves so much unsaid. The beginner's guide doesn't load. I won't be able to play this game. This is the first time ever that I've said to myself, ugh there's too much reading to do, where is a video that explains things.

Anyway, asking you all: What are some of the best tutorials available? I don't have patience to wade through a ton of maybe ok maybe not video content.

[uncleflagzz]

I just learnt the bare bones basics by watching a video on YouTube and then kind of figured stuff out on my own with time when I needed to, I didn't learn how Air works until after like 3 months of playing this game, and I still don't know how Navy works(don't worry you won't need it).
I recommend playing a minor nation at first after you get through a very basic tutorial on YouTube, try and experiment with division templates or just search on google a good template for infantry and tanks. But I have to warn you, you'll have to be prepared to stay for hours on end watching a map change over time, it may get boring and very VERY stale after a while, but the amount of content the mods bring to this game it basically has infinite replayability, so if that's worth it to you, then stick to this game and try your best to learn it(it gets easier after you do) and you will not(maybe) regret it.

[lakupupu]

the same can be said of.. any new skill
you dont learn without first going through it and failing

[Aluvard]

Most actual of all of them:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRqKwIB8OJc

[XGUNNARX]

HOLY CRAP 3 HR VIDEO... not sure if ive ever seen a longer video on how to play

[AdmiralPiett]

The tutorial sucks

[Immortalis]

Originally posted by XGUNNARX:

HOLY CRAP 3 HR VIDEO... not sure if ive ever seen a longer video on how to play

It’s a complex game, with a lot of moving parts and a lot of variations of what can be made to work.
Older games in the series were even more complex, which incidentally is the reason why the 4th is by far the most popular.

But yeah, picking up say dnd as a completely new user requires a lot of reading as well

[AdmiralPiett]

The only PDX tutorial worth anything right now is the CK3 tutorial which i must say is really good because it puts you in a spot on the map where it's easy to learn.

I have no idea why they chose italy for the HOI4 tutorial it can be one of the more tricky nations to do well with

[mk11]

Originally posted by AdmiralPiett:

The only PDX tutorial worth anything right now is the CK3 tutorial which i must say is really good because it puts you in a spot on the map where it's easy to learn.

I have no idea why they chose italy for the HOI4 tutorial it can be one of the more tricky nations to do well with

Because it is the only significant nation that starts at war. I think the objective of your first game should be to learn systems, not to do well.

[AdmiralPiett]

Originally posted by mk11:

Originally posted by AdmiralPiett:

The only PDX tutorial worth anything right now is the CK3 tutorial which i must say is really good because it puts you in a spot on the map where it's easy to learn.

I have no idea why they chose italy for the HOI4 tutorial it can be one of the more tricky nations to do well with

Because it is the only significant nation that starts at war. I think the objective of your first game should be to learn systems, not to do well.

But italy starts in such a weird position. Yes they have the early war but so does Japan in about a year

[HappySack]

Originally posted by XGUNNARX:

HOLY CRAP 3 HR VIDEO... not sure if ive ever seen a longer video on how to play

You know that isn't the only one right? there are others to match your attention span like these:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EB8TLvkZAM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xl76NrDw27s

[Landorin]

Sounds just like normal. The reason why I got interested in HOI4 in the first place many years ago was because of its amazing complexity. So that was exactly for me. You have to ask yourself whether you actually enjoy such complexity as well. If so, then you should be used to the idea of having to look up guides, read wikis or whatever or in short, invest some research time.

What helped me tons to cut short on this was an amazing guide how to play as Germany. I even took the guy's text and kept updating it when new DLCs came out (just never formatted it to re-release an updated guide). This helped me the most to get started, understand a lot of stuff and have fun.

This guide does not include the last few DLCs but should get you started or at least an idea how much you need of what and why because the author did an excellent job at also explaining why he did certain things:
https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/threads/constructing-a-hoi4-germany-guide.943354/

And once you understood how this works you can adapt it to other nations as well with a few differences, depending on the nation's situation.

[XGUNNARX]

I bought it years ago and it was too complex at the time and shelved it. Finally giving it a shot and I admit it's pretty overwhelming but I'm finally learning things. I picked an insignificant country to learn the game systems and not worry about getting blitzed. Italy ain't bad to learn how combat works since it's right off the bat but the stock tutorial is shockingly bad.

[hannibal_pjv]

Here is one another Italy tutorial that is actually good and also explain ship combat!
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLT7S0pMdzhiS93QUr8cVdIoHdjurZSJW-&si=q5tbvJUoMIaAyWmQ

But you need also this to understand the supply…
https://youtu.be/2Z30LV7UbFg?si=OdbqoqtAvBqSPfOo

Most likely the best supply video out there.

And yeah. This is a complex game
And because ship battles are great! Try this also after those two…
https://youtu.be/OLGeVlMQOfo?si=HzPdCAmKBRza3rxG

There are few people who explain the sea batlle system properly. Most just spam u-boots or something else without any idea… the one above really explain why you should do this and that!

And I agree. The starting tutorial is really bad! Newer did finish it properly for so e bug or not understanding what should be done…
Now… many hundred hours of happy gaming with Hoi4! And mainly because youtube tutorials. The biggest problem with most tutorial is that they automatically skip some parts that have become automatic to the gamers itself! That is why 90% of tutorial play throughs in you tube are useless because they don`t explain every single thing! And don`t explain why! Luckily there are few that does those things…

[dogwalker1]

OMG I thought it was me or the game or both - but after watching just the first youtube in that series I see just how inadequate the game's tutorial is...

[AdmiralPiett]

Originally posted by dogwalker1:

OMG I thought it was me or the game or both - but after watching just the first youtube in that series I see just how inadequate the game's tutorial is...

Spot-on. The game's tutorial doesn't do the game justice