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Hearts of Iron IV >  Workshop > Kondi's Workshop > Expert AI 5.0 > Discussions
Expert AI 5.0
Description Discussions130 Comments4973 Change Notes
 This topic has been pinned, so it's probably important
Kondi  [developer] Sep 26, 2017 @ 4:47am
Recommended Settings
Depends a lot on the player so it is very hard to give recommendations. Generally the idea is for you to start without any AI boosts and then apply whatever bonuses sound good to you in your next campaign.

Some things to keep in mind:

-The mod startup popup that gives difficulty options from "easy" to "impossible" is only for those who don't want to bother with the advanced configuration. You can make it much harder with the advanced configuration and by giving bonuses to specific AI countries or you can disable the bonuses that you don't like. It's simply better to use the advanced configuration.

-Dynamic settings generally mean the mod tries to give the bonuses to countries are fighting you. It adapts to how the game progresses and it's somewhat more realistic and more convenient. Of course it is not nearly as helpful to the AI as you giving that a specific boost to it so that it benefits from it even when at peace and not fighting with you.

Settings that I recommend right now:

-Puppet Egypt. Pretty much necessary to make the AI work in Africa.

-Free convoys (more is better through the custom bonus). AI has serious issues with losing too many convoys, especially Japan.

-Reduced lack of resource penalty. AI has severe resource prioritization issues that often shuts down its entire naval production for example. -50%+ recommended.

-Dockyard production bonus. AI has issues cancelling expensive capital ships mid-production and it also tends to lose a lot of ships in silly ways.

-At least 50% attrition reduction for the AI.

-I always have dynamic Desperate Defense when playing any major.

-If I'm planning on playing a historical game, I usually put a country specific boost on the enemy majors I'll be fighting. Be careful though, this setting can make things really difficult. USSR army with medium/high country bonus will look a lot different.

Military focuses:

-Challenging mode is the mode to use unless you really have something against what the AI does with it.

-Random focuses, historical focuses: significantly less optimized than the other modes.
Last edited by Kondi; Mar 18, 2019 @ 10:09am
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Showing 1-15 of 29 comments
dan_siegel30 Sep 29, 2017 @ 7:04pm 
For my SOV experience, if you can't pen their tanks with you are INF, you are dead. First game I didn't and was crushed, 2nd game I could and crushed them with 40:1 KDR, 2998/3000 battles won (many other lessons learned from first game). Now trying very hard GER, but I'm chicken to switch GER to HT focus, as I don't want to lose my pen ability. ;)
#1
dan_siegel30 Sep 29, 2017 @ 7:05pm 
Oh, BTW, this means not using HOI4 Vanilla sliders, just modify EAI difficulty settings??
#2
Eddy Bravo Oct 15, 2017 @ 8:19pm 
How do I change EAI difficulty settings?
#3
Kondi  [developer] Oct 16, 2017 @ 7:28am 
Originally posted by dan_siegel30:
Oh, BTW, this means not using HOI4 Vanilla sliders, just modify EAI difficulty settings??
Yeah.

Originally posted by Eddy Bravo:
How do I change EAI difficulty settings?
Through the advanced settings event after you start a game or later by typing 'event EAI_M.1000' into the console.
Last edited by Kondi; Oct 16, 2017 @ 7:28am
#4
BlazinNub Oct 24, 2017 @ 3:12pm 
Any good settings for a US or UK gameplay?
#5
Kondi  [developer] Oct 25, 2017 @ 1:01am 
Originally posted by BlazinNub:
Any good settings for a US or UK gameplay?
Playing USA or UK is no fun if Germany doesn't at least take over France. If you're very experienced, I'd say Very Hard Germany and Very Hard Japan. If you're USA, even Insane Japan might be advisable if you really want a tough Pacific campaign. Also, I would count volunteer spam as USA as an exploit and avoid using it for more than a couple divisions.
Last edited by Kondi; Oct 25, 2017 @ 1:02am
#6
Eskimo Jan 29, 2018 @ 11:55am 
Wouldn't "Desperate Defense" be better for Soviets to be more historical in Germany campaign?
#7
Kondi  [developer] Jan 29, 2018 @ 3:07pm 
Originally posted by Dr. Goebbels:
Wouldn't "Desperate Defense" be better for Soviets to be more historical in Germany campaign?
Yep. It should have had desperate defense for sure, might have deleted it accidentally or just forgot to put it in the list.
Last edited by Kondi; Jan 29, 2018 @ 3:11pm
#8
tall grass and open skies Jan 29, 2018 @ 8:50pm 
What's your recommendation for Japan?
#9
tall grass and open skies Jan 29, 2018 @ 8:50pm 
Also, I wish there was some sort of option to turn off allied military access to invaded provinces. Invading france as the US on Insane/VH Germany is nearly impossible because ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ new zealand sends 70 useless divisions to eat all of the supply, and you can't build forts on french territory.
#10
Eskimo Feb 2, 2018 @ 12:34pm 
Time to test Historical Germany settings :)
#11
Eskimo Feb 5, 2018 @ 3:44am 
Originally posted by More historical Germany game::
-Historical focuses on.
-EAI mode: historical.
-EAI general difficulty: Hard
-When the war with USSR begins, give USSR the Insane bonus.
-Hard / Very Hard USA.
-Desperate Defense enabled for USSR.
-50% AI attrition reduction.
-(optional) USSR army config: medium or heavy armor focus with superior firepower or mobile warfare. Mass assault doesn't take full advantage of the industry bonuses.


My experience (100h Germany player)
I played historical settings without any mistake (I set USSR Diff to Insane when I declared war) At 1941 June I eventually had 350 divisions on east front, 72 of them were armored. But Russians had only 150 divisions after i destroyed some of them in a few pockets... They couldn't overproduce me and they kept losing rapidly even when winter came(I took Moscow easily at November 1941). In history USSR overproduced Germany so bad, but here they don't even have half of my army.

Soon I will try the semi-historical settings.

Also, USSR produced 10k aircrafts pointlessly (they could make some weapons for their soldiers instead :P) ........
Last edited by Eskimo; Feb 5, 2018 @ 3:55am
#12
Kondi  [developer] Feb 5, 2018 @ 7:30am 
Originally posted by Panzergrenadier:
Originally posted by More historical Germany game::
-Historical focuses on.
-EAI mode: historical.
-EAI general difficulty: Hard
-When the war with USSR begins, give USSR the Insane bonus.
-Hard / Very Hard USA.
-Desperate Defense enabled for USSR.
-50% AI attrition reduction.
-(optional) USSR army config: medium or heavy armor focus with superior firepower or mobile warfare. Mass assault doesn't take full advantage of the industry bonuses.


My experience (100h Germany player)
I played historical settings without any mistake (I set USSR Diff to Insane when I declared war) At 1941 June I eventually had 350 divisions on east front, 72 of them were armored. But Russians had only 150 divisions after i destroyed some of them in a few pockets... They couldn't overproduce me and they kept losing rapidly even when winter came(I took Moscow easily at November 1941). In history USSR overproduced Germany so bad, but here they don't even have half of my army.

Soon I will try the semi-historical settings.

Also, USSR produced 10k aircrafts pointlessly (they could make some weapons for their soldiers instead :P) ........
Yeah the historical settings aren't that hard if you play it right. USSR probably needs 4x or more industry buffs and massive recruitment time reduction from the start of the war in order to put up a fight. I'm working on the difficulty settings... you should be able to buff them enough in the next update.

Lots of aircraft is inevitable when you buff the AI, and they are important (except the AI doesn't always use them well... depends on how you play). There isn't really a good way to tell the AI to stop aircraft production and build other stuff when it needs them.
Last edited by Kondi; Feb 5, 2018 @ 7:43am
#13
William Blake Feb 5, 2018 @ 12:15pm 
I have many hundreds of hours but in vanilla and every mod it's a Yes or No with the USSR, either they get steamrolled from day 1 and never recover, or it's a hard grind for Germany from the start. Either way it's not like history at all, but idk maybe some less experienced players have had a more historical Germany games. The Soviets need to get crushed in the first year and bounce back in the 2nd/3rd. I hate to recommend arbitrary events but maybe the Soviets need an artificially boost their strength after Barbarossa. If done right it would not be cheesy.
Last edited by William Blake; Feb 5, 2018 @ 12:17pm
#14
Eskimo Feb 10, 2018 @ 8:26am 
Veteran Difficulty + +%25 USSR bonus + Historical Germany Settings =
https://www.upload.ee/image/8016741/20180210191705_1.jpg (I got 100 divisions of Russia into Pockets in a few places, the rest of their army is another 100 divisions. But with 100 divisions left in their hands, they are weak as hell)

I realized that my problem is that I make too many pockets and %60-70 of Russian Army gets destroyed in early Barbarossa... They can't hold with the rest of their forces ofc. In HoI3 it wasn't that easy to make many pockets, because enemy AI rapidly withdraws if its losing ground fast and not even organized to defend it. They would fall back and take better positions. It was very realistic then. But in HoI4 it's different; they don't give a sh.t while i push deeper into SU.
Last edited by Eskimo; Feb 11, 2018 @ 10:14am
#15
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