HoI4 Career Profile: Medals and Ribbons Guide

This is a comprehensive guide to unlock all of the medals and ribbons on your HoI4 Career Profile page.

Unlocked all achievements? Still need to get that dopamine for accomplishing something that nobody else will ever see? Well, look no further! Scroll on down and take a dive into a few more achievement-like tasks that won't age you quite as much as trying to form Austria-Hungary.

Getting Started

First things first, unlike Steam achievements you don't need to play in Ironman in order to unlock medals and ribbons. Save yourself a headache and just don't do that.

Second, this guide assumes you have at least an intermediate understanding of the game. I'm not going to discuss things like division templates or tank designs unless the achievement specifically requires it.

Third, this guide also assume you have all of the DLCs and a therefore access to all alt-history focus trees and content in the game.

Lastly, I'm not going to discuss any general gameplay strategies. I assume you know how to stomp the Soviets as Germany and restore the glory of Byzantium as Greece.

If you have any questions feel free to ask them in the comments, but I want to keep the guide as straightforward and bloat-free as possible.

⌞ Medals - Across Multiple Games

The five medals listed here will count your statistics across multiple games. Just keep playing and you'll get them eventually. Don't worry about accomplishing them all at once.

Brains and Brute Force

Decipher a certain number of ciphers. (30 for gold)

You can get a number of ciphers as UK or USA in a game with full decryption upgrades for your agency. Will still take multiple games though.

Combat Efficiency

Destroy a certain number of divisions that suffer from the "Encircled" combat modifier. (200 for gold)

Cargo Embargo

Embargo a certain number of Nations (8 for gold)

You can get a few embargoes as the USA or another country that stays out of the war until late. Alternatively, you can start up a bunch of new games as a country in the League of Nations and hope that Ethiopia does its "Request Embargo" focus before capitulating to Italy which will also count towards this.

Production is Power

Build a certain number of new Civilian or Military Factories (500 for gold)

Stalwart Defender

Successfully defend against a certain number of enemy attacks. (2,000 for gold)

⌞ Medals - Part 1

A Modern Verdun

Have a battle continue without interruption for a certain number of days. (302 days for gold)

Play historical Nationalist Spain for this one. Set up prior to the war as normal. When the war starts, do not accept any volunteers and use your Army of Africa divisions to counter the Soviet volunteers and any other pushes. Only use the Planned Offensive decisions in the northern two provinces that are cut off at the beginning of the war.

I got this by attacking one of the mountain tiles west of Madrid. This spot has the benefit of not having any other adjacent provinces from where you can be pinned. Constantly attack with one of the militia units and cycle them out preemptively when they get low on organization. Don't attack with mountaineers or your Army of Africa units as they will lower the enemies organization too much. The medal will trigger once the battle is over.

Castles in the Air

Design a plane with a certain Air Defense value and deploy at least a full air-wing of them (100 planes). (100 defense for gold)

You'll need at least an Advanced Large Airframe. Add Armor Plates or x2 Cannon Turrets and Self-Sealing Fuel Tanks.

Engineering Behemoth

Design a tank with a certain Armor Rating value and deploy at least 1000 of them in the field. (200 armor rating for gold)

Most reliable way will be to research Super Heavy tanks and design one with 200 armor. Super Heavies can only be added as a support company which consists of 20 tanks so you'll need to deploy 50 divisions. I did this at the end of a world conquest which made it quick.

Finesse is Faster

While decrypting one cipher, have a "Capture Cipher" operation result in more than a certain amount of days removed from its decryption. (200 days for gold)

Play as UK or Soviets and start by getting an Intelligence Agency & researching Mechanical Computing. Then get the Commando Training upgrade, Form Department upgrade, and 3 other upgrades for it that DO NOT boost decryption speed. Lastly, hire an Illusive Gentleman and pay the 50pp to become Spy Master. This will net you 3 or 4 Spies which you can then place in Germany to build up your spy network. Make sure at least one of your spies has the commando trait. Keep hiring and then immediately dismissing spies until you get 1 or 2 with commando.



This boosts the effectiveness of the capture cipher operation and lowers its risk. By the time the mechanical computing research has finished you should have close to 100% network in Germany and can immediately start the Capture Cipher operation.

Grand Encirclement

Surround a certain number of enemy divisions on one province. (30 for gold)

You should get this while playing normally, but easiest as either Germany or Soviets. Germany can get it during the early days of Barbarossa and the Soviets can get a large encirclement in the Balkans when you go through the Czechs to capitulate Hungary. Just make sure you don't leave the enemy with a port they can sneak out of.

⌞ Medals - Part 2

I am Inevitable

Gain at least one province every week for a certain number of weeks. (36 weeks for gold)

See the below strategy for "Land Acquisition."

Land Acquisition

Through land battles, gain (and hold) a certain number of additional provinces within a 48-hour window. (15 for gold)

Play as Germany and beat the Soviets normally without capitulating the Allies. In the peacedeal full annex them, immediately release them NOT as a puppet, justify a wargoal (this will be super fast since you're still at war with the Allies) and declare on them before they are able to rebuild an army. You can then walk in unopposed.

Lord of the Seas

Establish at least 75% Naval Supremacy in a certain number of contested sea regions. (12 for gold)

Historical USA and go full on Navy. Build a bunch of dockyards, focus the majority of your research on navy, and be sure to at least get some heavy fighters and flying boats to boost supremacy. You can also tie this in with the Nevermine Me ribbon since minelaying destroyers are very cheap and can help show where the enemy fleets are. Build the meta light crusiers (see a navy template guide for the latest build) to have something that can easily wreck the AI navies.

Put the bulk of your navy on Japan. You don't want to destroy them, but do want to weaken them a bit so that it's easier to get supremacy. You'll also want to take a few islands like Iwo Jima in order to increase the bases available to you and build out more radars and airports. Don't take all of Japans islands though since then they won't have a reason to spread out their own navy.

Join the Allies and send a smaller fleet over to the UK to leech off of their supremacy against Germany and Italy. I just sent some subs and a few CLs to help weaken the Germany fleet. This will take luck, some patience, and shifting your fleets around, but you'll get there eventually. In the end I got 9 regions from Japan and 3 off Germany. Remember don't leave your navies out if you don't quite have supremacy. The AI is more likely to put their fleet out if you don't have yours out.

Military Mastery

Fght a battle with a certain number of positive modifiers affecting the battle. (6 for gold)

This refers to the battle-wide modifiers, not unit-specific modifiers. It also counts modifiers that are negative for the enemy as positive for you. The easiest 6 modifiers to get are:

• Air Support (You have CAS in the battle. This takes a couple hours to show up after a battle starts)
  
• Attacking from multiple directions (You are attacking the province from 2 or more provinces)
  
• Intel Advantage (You have a spy network that covers the province you are attacking)
  
• Shore Bombardment (You have surface ships next to the province)
  
• Railway Gun Bombardment (You have a railway gun within range of the battle)
  
• Enemy Air Superiority (You have green air)

Easy to set up as historical Germany against Poland. See the image below. The modifiers in question are highlighted in red.

Military Planner

Have a division reach a certain planning percentage bonus. (80% for gold)

Easiest as historical France. They get the national spirit "Protected by the Maginot" which grants +25% max planning. Do Grand Battleplan which gives you up to +30% max planning. I also recommend taking Meticulous Preparation for Spirit of the Academy which boosts the chance your generals will gain an additional point in planning on leveling up. Lastly, once you're at war make sure you set up general (not field marshal) frontlines with battleplan orders. This will allow your field marshal to gain experience towards the Organizer trait which once earned will let you get the Thorough Planner trait for an additional +10% max planning.

⌞ Medals - Part 3

Naval Invasion

Within 96 hours, execute naval invasion plans using a certain number of divisions. Minimum division size: 5 battalions. (60 divisions for gold)

The description is a little confusing here. You actually need to have at least 60 divisions land their naval invasions simultaneously. Find a spot where you can launch all divisions from the same port, enter a single naval tile, and land on the enemy provinces from that same naval tile.

Nevermine Me

Gain over 50% naval supremacy from mines in a certain number of sea zones. (6 sea regions for gold)

As the USA on historical build some cheap minelayer destroyers and once the war starts with Japan just mine as much as you can in the eastern Pacific. I had 150 or so ready for the war. Mines give a % boost to your naval supremacy, so you still need to have an actual fleet in the region to get a baseline. It will take a while to get the mines out, but eventually you should get there.

Example of a cheap and basic minelayer:

Paradrop

Execute a paradrop battleplan using a certain number of paratrooper divisions. Minimum division size: 5 battalions. (12 divisions for gold)

Same as the strategy for the "They Came From Above" ribbon. Make sure it's one plan with 12 divisions, not 12 different plans with one division each. This will require a lot of transport planes.

Quality Over Quantity

Have an advantageous casualty-ratio after having inflicted at least 1 million enemy causalties (5:1 ratio for gold)

Best as historical Soviets. Do a simple strong defensive infantry build with some fighters and you will be good. Something like 20 width infantry with support Artillery, Anti-Air, Engineers, and rocket artillery. Also get all the entrenchment and defensive bonuses from the focus tree and leader traits.

Below is an image just 6 months into the war with the above strategy. Counter-attack with tanks and you can widen the casualty ratio easily.

Raining Debris

Shoot down a certain number of planes within a 48-hour window. (800 for gold)

Do this at the end of a world conquest while you're playing the brown ideology. Build up 30,000+ Jet Fighters and 30,000+ of the crappiest Interwar Fighter imaginable. Build up Airports in Italy. Once the airports are built release Italy NOT as a puppet and then immediately invite them into your faction. They should be brown ideology as well, but if they aren't you'll need to reload, release as a puppet, and lend lease them until you can annex them. Then when you go to release not as a puppet they will be the same ideology as you. Build up airports, static AA, and radar in the Alps and other states north of Italy.

Once everything is built and you have an independent Italy in your faction, release another country far away (I did Sri Lanka) and start justifying. Declare war, invite in Italy, and then lend lease them those 30,000 crappy fighters. Once they have all the fighters, finish the war, kick Italy from the faction, and then justify on them. Set up all your Jet fighters in the new airports you built and make sure to have 1,000-2,000 strategic bombers as well.

Declare war and use your strategic bombers on the Alpine Region to get Italy to put up their fighters. When they have their fighters up, pause and put up all of your fighters on the same region and click More Ground Crews to boost efficiency. Unpause and you should shred them.

⌞ Medals - Part 4

Sky Supplies

Have transport planes provide a certain amount supply to a region. (5 for gold)

You're going to need 1,500-2,000 transport planes for this. You don't need to be at war. Stack several armies in the same province to cause them to be in low supply status. Place your transports in a different air zone than the one the armies are in and then do the Air Supply mission. This requires 5 command power per air wing. Also use More Ground Crews to boost your efficiency slightly if needed.



You can select your Field Marshal and hover over the supply icon towards the top to see exactly how much supply your transports are delivering. In this case I have 2,000 transports delivering 7.51 supply.

The Shield

Have a division reach a certain defensive bonus total. (350% for gold)

View the section for "The Way is Shut" ribbon further down the guide.

Turning the Tide

While at war, deploy a certain number of military divisions within a 48-hour window. Minimum division size: 5 battalions. (40 for gold)

Train up 40 divisions at once and don't select a province for them to deploy. Wait until they are all ready to be fully equipped and trained and then select a province to ensure they are all deployed at once.

Veterancy

Have an army consist of a certain number of veteran divisions. (24 for gold)

I did this as Ethiopia on historical and got it by January 1939. Take the Emperor Stays path and focus on defending along the lines in the image below. Once a division reaches veterancy then remove them from the frontline. You'll need to train 2-3 more divisions to reach 24, but just keep cycling and you should get it before WWII kicks off. You will also need to move all the divisions under a single general at the end to get the medal.

⌞ Ribbons - Part 1

Aces High

Have 20 aces use the same airport as their home base.

Wait until late game when you have tons of aces as UK, Soviets, or Germany. Then place your planes in a max level airport and assign aces as needed.

Behind Enemy Lines

Take control of the enemy capital using a paradrop order.

Most commonly done as Germany against France. Just make sure you build enough fighters to get air superiority. Alternatively, you can always release a nation, then immediately justify and declare on them before they can build up any airforce or army.

Blitz This...

Choose elastic defense as preferred strategy on a general, field marshal, or country.

On the leader details screen you can choose a preferred tactic in the bottom left corner. You can unlock the Elastic Defense tactic with the third technology in the Superior Firepower doctrine.

Coordinated Invasion

Execute 4 simultaneous naval invasions for 4 different landing zones.

See the section for the "Naval Invasion" medal.

Going Through Not Around

Successfully attack and control an area with a Level 10 fort in it.

Only option is as Germany against France. Build some tanks, either medium or heavies (heavy tanks get a bonus against forts). Assign them to von Manstein. He starts with the Engineer trait and can unlock the Fortress Buster trait at the start of the game. The Fortress Buster trait comes with a command power ability that further boosts attack damage against forts.

With fighters, some CAS, and a railway gun this was more than enough to push France out of one tile. You could also build some Tactical bombers to bomb the fort prior to attacking.

Learning on the Job

Have a commander (excluding division commanders) increase their skill four times.

Self-explanatory.

Mare Nostrum

Gain Naval Supremacy in the six main sea-regions of the Mediterranean Sea, of which at least one is contested.

As Italy rush war with either Greece or Turkey. You'll need two navies: one for the Aegean and one for all the other sea zones. Your starting navy is large enough to get full supremacy everywhere.

Not So Fast

Overrun an enemy division.

Self-explanatory.

⌞ Ribbons - Part 2

Offense is the Best Defense

Over the course of 2 years, engage in twice as many offensive battles as defensive battles, with a minimum of 100 battles.

Should come naturally as historical Germany. Just don't delay Barbarossa too long after winning in France.

Orchestra of Boom

Deploy a division containing at least one battalion of "Anti-Air", "Artillery", "Rocket Artillery" and "Anti-Tank", supported by a signal company.

Self-explanatory.

Rockets Reign

Build more than 10 rocket sites.

*Broke on the current patch. Disable Götterdämmerung and revert to patch 1.14 Bolivar in order to unlock this*

Rubber Baron

Control at least 1000 units of Rubber and have a Closed Economy.

Easiest as historical Japan since you get wargoals for most of the rubber producing areas. Democracies and Non-Aligned countries cannot go Closed Economy so just remember to pursue one of the other two ideologies.

Ruled by Furniture!

Have no single or set of people depicted to be in charge of your nation.

Only possible as the UK or Poland. As Poland do the focus Assemble a Regency council. As UK do A Change in Course and then don't have the King abdicate.

Scorched Earth

Detonate railways using the "Scorched Earth" Feature to slow down enemy advances.

Click on a state that you own and in the bottom left there will be a button that allows you to destroy railways for a pp cost.

Steel at High Speed

Deploy over 4000 tanks with a Max Speed over 12km/h.

You'll need either Light Tank 3 or Modern Tanks. Research engine upgrades and apply the Christie Suspension and Gas Engine / Turbine to get comfortably over 12km/h

Synthetic Security

Gain over 30 units of rubber from artificial sources (synthetic refineries).

Easiest as the USA as you will usually have to build refineries anyway for rubber. Just remember to do the research to boost the amount of rubber you get from each refinery.

⌞ Ribbons - Part 3

Tanks, No Thanks

Overrun an enemy tank division.

Self-explanatory.

The Guns of August

Have at least 15 concurrent battles supported by a railway gun bombardment.

You can use multiple railway guns to do this. As Germany or the Soviets build 5 or so railway guns and spread them out across the frontline prior to Barbarossa.

The Thousand Year Bond

Deploy one hundred cavalry or camelry battalions.

Self-explanatory. Remember this is battalions, not divisions. You can do 100 2-width cavalry or 50 4-width cavalry, etc.

The Truck Will Always Get Through

Have over 5000 supply trucks deliver supply to armies

Two ways to do this one. Select a general or field marshal and motorize them there. Or Select the supply hubs themselves on the supply map and click the right button to motorize that supply hub individually.

The Way is Shut

Reach a defensive bonus of 400%

Ethiopia, France, and Finland are good options here. You want to stack entrenchment, terrain, unit experience, and leader bonuses.

As Ethiopia you have lots of mountains and face years in a stagnant war where Italy constantly attacks you. This will help you get unit veterancy to its maximum. Then, focus on getting land doctrine, general / field marshal traits, and national focuses that boost defense and entrenchment.

They Came from Above

Execute a paradrop plan using 15 paratrooper division.

Needs to be 15 paratroopers on the same plan. Not 15 different plans with 1 paratrooper division each. Will require a lot of transport planes.

Thousand Splendid Suns

Detonate 3 atomic bombs within a 12-hour window between detonations.

Don't need to be dropped on enemy divisions. Pause the game, launch all three on different provinces, then unpause.

We Will Fight in the Shade

Deploy over 5000 aircrafts into one airspace region.

Self-explanatory.

⌞ Götterdämmerung

Experimental Science Mastery

Before the end of 1945, finish the following number of special projects. (10 for gold)

Easiest as Germany or the US. Build 2-3 Experimental Facilities of each type and assign scientists as early as possible. A few of the projects have other basic research as a prerequisite so be aware of that. You can also go for focuses that give additional research breakthrough to speed this up.

Race for the Bomb

Conduct a successful Nuclear Raid before (End of 1943 for gold)

Best as historical USA and can easily be accomplished with a year or more to spare.

• Build 2 nuclear facilities at the start and assign Oppenheimer to one.
  
• Work your way towards Improved Large Airframe research. You need to produce 100 of these strategic bombers to launch the nuke. You will also need some Fighters to get air superiority.
  
• You want to start researching "Atomic Research" in early 1939 so make sure you have finished the focus "Manhattan Project" before then since it gives a 50% research boost.
  
• Do the decisions to accept German and Italian scientists for extra research speed.
  
• Once atomic research is finished start up the Pile-1 project at your nuclear facility with Oppenheimer. For the random events make sure to always pick the ones that boost the progress of the project.
  
• When Pile-1 completes immediately follow it with The Manhattan Project
  
• Build 10-20 nuclear reactors after finishing Pile-1 so you can start producing nukes immediately after completing The Manhattan Project
  
• If all goes well you should finish The Manhattan Project by late 1942 and have plenty of reactors and strategic bombers to try multiple times if your first nuke attempt fails.

Knowledge is Power

Have at least the following number of skilled scientists (1 level 5 scientist for gold)

Scientists gain exp slowly over time if assigned to a facility and also gain larger amounts of exp when researching projects. Have one of your starting scientists constantly researching over the course of the game until they reach level 5. Probably easiest as Germany since they start with level 3 scientists and get many boosts to research speed.

Task Failed Successfully

Fail a raid while having 80% success chance or higher

Set up 3+ raids simultaneously and wait for them to prepare. Once they are ready make a save that you can reload in case none of them fail. Toggle risk to medium if needed to get between 80-99% success chance. Best done when you already have air superiority.

Punch it!

Successfully raid a nuclear facility, while controlling at least one state neighboring the facility.

Needs to be a regular raid, not a nuclear "raid." The US seems to be the only AI that will consistently build a nuclear facility. Germany can get one, but they are usually at war with multiple countries which will make this more difficult.

Start as Germany and quickly capitulate the Allies before the US is able to join. Be sure to take Canada in the peace so you have a staging area to attack the US eventually. Then sit and wait until you see that the US has built a nuclear facility before going to war with them. Don't call any allies into the war as they can push too far and ruin your chance.

I did this with historical focuses turned off and together with the "Woman in a High Castle" achievement which ultimately made it take longer than would be needed if you played historically. Also, despite it being 1947, the US only has 1 nuclear facility.

Sweetener Hexadecagon

Research 16 technologies unlocked by special projects.

Fixed as of the most recent patch. Good special projects to go for are helicopters, radar, and land cruisers as they both unlock several researches each.

Plan L

Starting as a landlocked country, complete 2 naval special projects, build 10 destroyers, 5 cruisers, 2 battleships, and 1 carrier.

It's been reported that this can be unlocked as Afghanistan (or other landlocked countries) by building a single aircraft carrier and deploying it in a controlled, not owned, province

Thank You

Thanks for checking out the guide!
Don't hesitate to leave a comment or any ask question you may have.

Otherwise I'll catch ya on the next dopamine filled adventure! Have a great day!

[Daimyo Vader]

Any honestly. But because of the nature of the medal, just save-scum or save right before launching the raid since it won't give the same result and it'd be a pain to do all that prep for nothing. I recall doing it as Germany and building it in the Rhineland, letting Belgium take over the facility and launching a raid on it.

[Marcin]

Which country would be the best for "Task Failed Successfully"?
PS. 1 carrier method work with other landlocked countries, I did it moment ago as Hungary, as the predecessor writes, in controled province, not owned and you can even have owned province but you cannot lauched carrier in them

[bouzoulll]

I can confirm 1 carrier method. Just make sure that the carrier will be launched in a CONTROLED province and not owned.

[The Milkman]

Cool, i'll update the guide to reflect that it's unlockable, but still somewhat bugged

[Daimyo Vader]

I did confirm the 1 carrier method a while ago that the Afghan method is the path (and likely the only one do so) that works since the others can conquer their neighbors quickly. It seems to only work with controlled territory so far and not owned.

[Bobo2037]

I can also confirm the Afghanistan method. I united with Pakistan (and therefore owned the land); after creating one single aircraft carrier, the ribbon unlocked.

[MR.Perfect]

can confirm the plan L ribbon worked for me during my play through as Afghanistan. I also only built one aircraft carrier and a couple of heavy cruisers for it to pop.

[The Milkman]

Ah cool that it seems to somewhat work. Would be nice if some more people can confirm it's unlocking now

[Reinhard]

Finally got "Plan L" ribbon. But maybe it was a bug. Played as Afganistan, took India and built only one aircraft carrier. Probably you shouldn't have any owned state with access to the sea, only control them.

[Missouri]

Thank you for the guide! It's very useful!

Who has troubles completing "Naval Invasion", I just did it this way.
Took my 3x24 marine divisions (9/0 support companies art, eng, rec. I don't use this template, just for the medal) to the small Balearic Island south of Spain. From there set them to invade the province to the right of Valencia's port. All of them from this single port to this single province without splitting. You can easily take the port after invasion anyway.
The time starts as soon as you click the launch button. So, make sure all your divisions are fully prepared, pause the game, launch the invasions and then unpause.
Hope this helps!