Hi,


I am Thomas, the Design Manager and Design Lead on the Hearts of Iron Expansion Team. Today I am here together with Manuel, also known as Mano de Zombi to introduce one of the new features of the upcoming Götterdämmerung expansion: Special Projects.

As always, please note that everything here might change before release… The UI in particular is receiving final touches at the moment, so it can most certainly look different on release day, but also any values, texts, etc you see in screenshots might change. But you know this already, right?

In Götterdämmerung, we have added a new way of acquiring super weapons and other experimental technological advancements that can give you an edge over your opponent. You can now construct secret experimental facilities, assign lead scientists and start up Special Projects there - trying to beat your enemy to getting those long range rockets, the atomic bomb, or the land cruiser mega tank.

With this new feature, Special Projects, you invest time and resources into specific fields, in order to produce those new super weapons, or similar things that can hopefully affect the outcome of the war, or at least will look cool and impress neighbouring countries :)


Okay, so how does one start one of these Special Projects? Well, the first thing you will need is an Experimental Facility. This is a new type of building that you can only have one of in a state (of any kind).

There are four types of Facilities, and all Special Projects are grouped into one of four specializations that match the types of Facilities.

The four Experimental Facilities are:

• Advanced Physics Facility (mainly nuclear related projects)
  
• Naval Engineering Facility (Naval, both Surface and Submarine projects)
  
• Aerodynamics and Avionics Facility (Air and Rocket projects)
  
• Land Warfare Facility (mainly Tank and Artillery related projects)

New Mexico seems like a safe place to construct an Advanced Physics Facility

Once constructed, you can see your Facilities on the map, and can click them in order to assign a scientist (more on them later) and start a Project from the map - or if you prefer from the top menu.

And here we have our new Experimental Facility, ready to change the world as we know it

The old research button found on the top bar has been given a “Facelift”. If you click it as before, you open the research menu as before, but there is now a second tab that you can click to access the Special Projects. Or if you prefer you can right click on the research top menu item and go directly here. The third option, as I mentioned earlier, is to click on the Facility on the map.

I wonder who would be the perfect candidate to assign to our new facility in New Mexico?

So you need an Experimental Facility to start a Special Project. However, you can’t start a project just because you have built a facility. In order to start a project you must first have at least one Scientific Breakthrough in the current field/specialization.

Breakthroughs are earned in two ways. The fastest and most efficient is by researching related technologies. This will generate progress towards a breakthrough in the field. For example, researching regular aircraft technologies will generate progress towards a breakthrough in the Aerodynamics and Avionics specialization.

Once you have gotten a Breakthrough, you can use it to start a Special Project from among those that you have available. So basically, regular technology research will give you the chance to start specific Special Projects. If you focus your research on Air technologies, you will more quickly generate Breakthroughs in Aerodynamics and Avionics.

Some projects are more advanced and require you to have more than one breakthrough in order to start working on them.

The other, and slightly slower way (at least with a less experienced scientist) to generate Breakthroughs is to have a scientist attached to an Experimental Facility with no active project in it. The Scientist will then do Basic Research in the field, and this will generate progress towards the next breakthrough.

Researching Air techs generates the majority of the Breakthrough progress here, but Heinrich Focke helps as well.

Of course, not all projects are available from game start. Some will be, but some require you to have a basic technology researched in order to become available. For example, Submarine Special Projects are only available once you have researched Submarines.

Additionally, some projects require other projects to be completed before they show up. That could be in the same Specialization, or in another, or even both. For example, in order to start the ICBM Project, you need to have completed a few other Rocket Projects, but also the Nuclear Warheads Project.

Projects take a long time to complete, and they are done in a number of prototype iterations. At the end of each iteration, progress is generated to the project.

Sometimes other things can happen as well. Work with the project can for example give a research bonus in a related technology, or army xp, or similar things, depending on the outcome of the iteration phase. If you are unlucky, some powerful-yet-dangerous projects could make the facility suffer damage due to an onsite explosion…


Iterations generate project progress, but sometimes you get other interesting things

Simple Rewards
Some iteration outcomes will lead to a choice that can affect the final project output as well. Do we want our rockets to be range focused, or is explosive power the main thing? This gives the project a bit more life of its own, and makes not all end results be the same. But in general, each prototype iteration brings the project closer to completion.

Researching a Special Project is, as mentioned in the beginning, a bit of an investment. First you need to have, or build, the experimental facility of the appropriate specialization. The project also takes time, during which you cannot do anything else in the facility. In addition, the Facility needs to be hooked onto the supply network (you can only build them on or next to a supply depot or naval base) - and lastly, some Special Projects consume resources while you run them.


Firepower is what we go for here

When project completion reaches 100%, the project finishes, and you get whatever it is you get :) from completing it.

This could be a new piece of equipment that you can produce, a new building you can build, or something else. Usually you also get something more tangible as well. Couple of examples:
The Nuclear Reactor Special Project will not only unlock the Nuclear Reactor Building type for you, but you will also get a Reactor for free in the same state as the Experimental Facility - assuming there is space for it that is.
The Super-Heavy Railway Gun Project will not only unlock the Super-Heavy Railway Gun equipment to be produced, but it will also spawn one on completion.

Some projects also unlock new technologies in the basic tech tree that are not available, or even visible if you haven’t completed the Special Project in question. For example, when you complete the V1 Project you get access to tech that you can research to improve your rockets, but also to rocket powered bombs, that can improve your strategic bombers.

Some projects, like the Bouncing Bomb Project only unlocks a new module for your airplanes. But that module in itself unlocks special Dam Busting Air Raids that allow you to try to destroy enemy dams, disrupting their industry and strategic movement in the affected state.

Oh, and yes, dams are a thing. I’ll talk more about dams in a future Dev Diary…

If you manage to capture an enemy Facility with an ongoing project, you will not only get to keep that Facility, but also earn some progress in that project - if you have it unlocked and it is not already completed. Additionally you will gain some breakthrough progress in the field related to the specialization.

An Experimental Facility needs a scientist leading the work. All major powers and some minor countries start with historical scientists and all countries can recruit more if needed.

Scientists have a skill level related to the field in which they work - some may have more than one. The skill level affects how long prototype iterations take, and thus how long the projects take to complete.

Skill level also affects the previously mentioned Basic Research. When involved in Basic Research, the scientist will generate progress towards a new breakthrough as described above, and the amount generated depends on the skill level of the scientist. Additionally, by doing Basic Research, the scientist will speed up regular research in related technologies.

Aside from skill levels they can come with traits, for example making them better at a subset of projects, or giving them other bonuses/penalties.

Worth mentioning that scientist is a new character role, and as such all the old Nuclear/Rocket Theorists, along with a few other relevant scientists/engineers previously represented as advisors, have now become scientists instead.


Any scientist with level 1+ on a specialization can work on those projects. However, traits can boost specific projects making a scientist faster than the others at researching certain projects.

The expansion comes with a decent number of Special Projects. There are, of course, projects allowing you to do your own Manhattan Project, and to take it even further… There are various Rocket Projects, you can develop the V1 Flying Bomb or the V2 Ballistic Missiles as was done historically.

We have included some (slightly) fantastic Special Projects that were perceived/started during the era, like Project Habakkuk (the British Ice Carrier Project), or the Ratte Project (The German Mega Tank) as well, but we’ve tried to stay on the feasible side of things, so some of these might not be very efficient on their early stages, but might become more powerful and viable if you research further technologies unlocked by their Special Projects.

In general, most projects will unlock a piece of equipment (Super-Heavy Howitzers, Parasites-Mothership Aircraft), a unit (Land Cruiser, Early Helicopter, Habakkuk), a module (Flamethrower Tank, Earthshaker Bomb, Anechoic Tiles) or a building (Nuclear Reactor, V3).
Some projects can also boost existing equipment and projects that unlock very big things might also create a unit or a production line with progress in it.

A few projects have more unique effects, such as the Naval Project, Underway Replenishment, which unlocks a new feature that Naval Task Forces can use.

Here are some examples of projects:


We have a few Naval Projects to choose from, and there are more hiding






There has been some rework to the tech tree: We have added some new technologies, most of them invisible at game start and unlocked by Special Projects. Some previously-existing technologies are now hidden at game start and unlocked via Special Projects.

Besides the aforementioned V2 and the Manhattan Projects (rockets and nukes), other equipment has been moved into the Special Project feature, For example:
Flamethrower tanks are no longer unlocked by Engineers II technology, but they have their own early Special Project, with an additional technology mid-game that will boost the flamethrower.
Cruiser and Midget Submarines, previously equipment only available to very specific countries, will now have their own Special Projects making them accessible to any country.

With the addition of the Super-Heavy Railway Gun Special Project, we can now differentiate between “normal” Railway Guns, and insane much bigger ones, like Schwerer Gustav and Dora. This means that Germany gets a new model and icon for the regular Railway Gun researchable in the tech tree, and Dora becomes the Super-Heavy Railway Gun unlocked by a project.



In the old systems, there was one type of rocket. Now there are several. The V1s are classed as Flying Bombs. These work similarly to before, but the rocket bases themselves have changed somewhat. The V2s however, are now classed as ballistic missiles. Ballistic missiles use another type of air mission, and are not affected by anti air. No one during the WW2 era had the capability to knock these rockets out, so that is something for later.

Different types of rockets to choose from

Oh, yes. You do have to actually produce rockets now, they are no longer constructed by rocket sites.

We have made some quality of life improvement to the Rocket interface as well, making it easier to select target and mission. You decide which type of rocket you want there, from the ones you have available, and then you can just right click on their target, as they each have only one mission available - so you do not need to pick mission type first.

Sending some rockets to the low countries


That’s all for now. Next Dev Diary will be about something completely different… A country that we decided to do a rework on in this expansion, namely Hungary.

Make sure to check out the Expansion Pass Here:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3152810/Hearts_of_Iron_IV_Expansion_Pass_1

Guten Tag!


Nattmaran here to kick off the Dev Diaries for Götterdämmerung! This will be the first Dev Diary I write, and you can bet that I am excited to finally show you what I have been working on!
We are going to start out with a country that many of you have been requesting, Austria! Let’s get right into it with a little bit of context shall we?


The country select screen for Austria, a TL:DR for the historical context


A zoomed out overview of the Austrian Focus Tree

I won’t go into what happened during the Great War, but it was a bad time to be Austrian. Unfortunately for the Austrians, this did not let up much during the interwar years, it simply took another form. With next to no army due to the Treaty of Saint-Germain-En-Laye, half of the country unemployed, an economy in shambles, not being allowed to gang up with their old buddies in Hungary or Germany and violence between political paramilitary groups, it is safe to say that the country was in a really bad state.


The National Spirits at startup for Austria

Just after the Great War Austria operated as a republic, with decently functional elections and a parliamentary system. However, paramilitary groups still clashed frequently and these clashes led to numerous conflicts. Perhaps the most notable was the July Revolt of 1927 when the Ministry of Justice was burned to the ground by the Social Democratic paramilitary group Republikanischer Schutzbund. Conservative sentiments grew much stronger following this uprising.

The Austria you will come to know was formed in 1932 as Engelbert Dollfuss was elected chancellor. Dolfuss had great plans, and they started with removing the parliament. Said and done, via the so-called Self-Elimination of the Parliament, Democracy was abolished in one fell swoop. Under the ideology of Austrofascism, a combined right-wing party Vaterländische Front was formed from various conservative parties and agrarian leagues. All other parties were banned, making Dolfuss more of a dictator than a chancellor. Ideologically Austrofascism was more like the Fascism found in Italy, than the German counterpart. Ironic as it sounds, the rather Fascist VF banned the Austrian wing of Hitler’s NSDAP, DNSAP, from operating in the country. The bans were largely ineffective, and in 1934 Engelbert Dollfuss was assassinated in a coup attempt by DNSAP.

But, let’s get into the actual content of the game! In 1934 Kurt Schuschnigg took over as chancellor, and in -36 he also assumed leadership of Austria, which was now in an almost even more precarious situation. Still no army, the economy only slowly recovering, unemployment rates still high, political violence still rampant and now the Germans seem to be on the prowl as well. What a great time to come to power!

TL:DR; The interwar period was a very bad time to be Austrian!


This is how things will look as you load up the game. As you can see, VF is listed as Non-aligned, this is to attribute their past, and the fact that they are a hodgepodge of different political groups

This needs a rather obvious disclaimer. We all know what happens with Austria in the Second World War, they get Anschluss’ed and die early on. As a player you will have to stave off this threat, and I have faith that you will, but it will mean that should you survive, a historical playthrough of Austria won’t be that… well historical. Not only regarding Austria, but regarding the rest of the world, and war, as well. Almost all of the focuses you find in the “Historical” branch have been drawn from some of the actual actions taken to attempt to stave off Anschluss, and later on in the tree was based on what was deemed a likely Austrian ambition depending on their political stance.

Oh! And as always, everything shown below is subject to change or fixes before release.


The path that Historical Austria will follow has them attempt to secure the guarantees they were promised to survive the German threat, and then, try to regain what they lost

Let’s ignore the Anschluss system for now, there will be a separate section for it further down. As we learned earlier, Austria is already rather authoritarian, but not ruled by a single Fascist party. We start out Non-aligned, but Schuschnigg and his cabinet will soon overturn this making the country properly Fascist. DNSAP was historically already banned by this time but by further clamping down on the party it can be fully dissolved. Unfortunately for us, much like in history, this doesn’t fully get rid of them but instead makes them Non-Aligned and us Fascist. Worse yet, this angers the German Reich. In response to this obvious slander, the Germans might demand concessions, or even, as was historically done, influence in the Austrian cabinet.


Arthur Seyss-Inquart, who indeed looks comically like a stereotypical fascist, just so happens to lead both DNSAP and Grossdeutsche Volkspartei. Anywhere you ban, or disband, DNSAP, no matter the branch, the Germans might “kindly” insist that you have him in your cabinet. Concerning.

This means that the threat has become very real for Austria and fast. At this point most of your effort will likely be spent on finding ways of delaying the inevitable. The Treaty of Saint-Germain-En-Laye stops Austria from building troops, but it also stipulated that certain countries would help protect Austria, if need be. Now, historically, the guarantors just decided to not help Austria, but maybe you can sway them?


Help plz? Anyone?

After making use of the good part of the Treaty, it has to go, you need those troops! You can of course ask permission from the other parties of the Treaty, but there is no guarantee that they will oblige, or you could just rip those useless papers and be done with it! Easy! It might annoy the other parties though, and anyone who guaranteed you might even retract that guarantee if you do.


There are different ways of going about getting rid of the Treaty of Saint-Germain-En-Laye, appeasement may be safer, but success cannot be guaranteed. If no agreement can be reached the consequences will be similar to outright disregard

No matter which way is chosen, rearmament will be necessary. Unless Germany has decided against their usual plans there will be a race against the clock to prepare as best as possible. The Heimwehr militia can be enlisted to help your regular army, and eventually, they can be integrated into the army proper. Below “Poised To Strike” we find an assortment of focuses to help develop Austria into the Austrofascist Corporate State that Schuschnigg had envisioned and on the left, we find a part that is actually shared with the Monarchists.


Austria post-rearmament has quite a few options for both building up the state, but also for expanding and reclaiming their old lands. Eventually, they can get cores, and proclaim the Austrian Empire

So here is one of those cases where I have had to extrapolate from what little history gave us and create some fun for you folks! Austria, had it been left to live, would likely have had a bit of a revanchist sentiment, at least on the Fascist and the Monarchist paths. Since I know you like map painting just as much as us devs, it is time to conquer! Starting with the obvious target, Hungary, Austria will slowly claw back their former territories, and can even try to get the old Central Powers gang together! There is also an option to join the existing fascist faction, but if the current faction leader is a historical Germany, they might not be keen on letting the Austrians in considering that they would probably like that land for themselves.Towards the end of these branches, you might see a familiar colour combo of yellow and black, and you’d be correct. You will be able to form a Fascist Austrian Empire and be a force to be reckoned with, being cause for concern for Germans, Soviets and just about anyone else. Finally Austria can live up to that one article that described Schuschnigg as wanting to “Out-Hitler” Hitler and create a “Better German State”!

The Anschluss system is one that is shared between all branches. Each branch might have a few unique ways of trying to stave off the threat, like the Fascist branch seeking guarantees, but this system stays the same. An important thing to note is that historically, a large portion of the Austrian people welcomed Anschluss, but the politicians most certainly did not. It is rather telling that Schuschnigg, who was very authoritarian, was trying to stage an election, to prove that the people did not want Anschluss, in the hopes that that would make the Democratic powers finally help them. These efforts failed, of course, but you might not!


The Anti-Anschluss Measures decision system is where you will find decisions to strengthen your country to prepare if this diplomatic conflict turns hostile

As you can see there is a risk level displayed. The amount of decisions available depends on the risk level, starting things like civilian factory construction and extra garrisons, ranging to emergency conscription, fortification construction and extended work shifts. The risk is an indication of how close Germany is to being able to complete the focus for Anschluss. The requirements for the focus has been revamped slightly to use a ratio of equipped manpower instead of a flat number of manpower in the field for Germany. But, I’ll let Paradox_Danne and ManoDeZombi explain that instead as it is more closely related to Germany than it is Austria.

Historical in all its glory, but sometimes we want something different. With both the Austrian Empire, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire being somewhat recent to our time period, what needed to be done was obvious. We need Habsburgs.


The Monarchist path in all its glory

By ripping up the old May Constitution Austria can start down a new path, and with the Monarchist path, this starts with reinstating the Herrenhaus. Replacing the parliament with a bunch of nobles allows for alternative ways of electing a leader, such as by name. How does Habsburg sound to you? Unless the pesky Hungarians have already installed Otto von Habsburg on their throne, you can place him on the throne of Austria. Should the Hungarians have unjustly stolen him, the Prince of House Starhemberg, Ernst Rüdiger Starhemberg, will happily step up to take the crown. (google that man, he had an interesting life)


The two candidates for becoming ruler of a monarchist Austria

Of course, both of these men can later also go from Prince to King, and that will give you a new snazzy flag! Though you will still “only” be called a Kingdom…


Back in business with their old flag and a Habsburg on the throne, like it should be!

If you want to become an Empire once more, you will have to rebuild. As soon as you have gotten rid of the Treaty with the “Rebellious Rearmament” focus the branch splits into two, one more focused on building yourself internally and one more expansionist. Expansion can be done in two ways, much like the fascists, you can go down the route to annex your old lands, if you wish to reform the Austrian Empire, but there is also another option. Led by Otto von Habsburg, Austria can strive to form a new Austria-Hungary by attempting to puppet their old lands instead.


Time to rebuild your Empire, starting with Hungary and moving on to all of your old lands, targeting both countries that currently exist, and breakout states in the event that they exist

By going through this branch, you also unlock a Joint Focus Tree with your puppets! I won’t show it here today, but rest assured, someone, potentially named D3vil, will show this to you soon.

“But Nattmaran, we wanted map painting!” I hear you call, and do not fret, I also enjoy map painting, so of course, you can paint the maps. You get a specific type of autonomy for your puppets by puppeting them through this system for this reason! It should be noted that the annex system uses the same decisions leading up to annexing or subjugating the country. This will allow you to decide if you want to spend time on trying for a diplomatic annexation or subjugation, or if you’d rather take your chances and if needs must, take what is rightfully yours by force.


The system for subjugating those formerly within the Empire. If diplomacy fails and your formerly loyal subjects have turned defiant, you can always puppet them by force. Your puppets also have an appropriate colour for what they are, Austro-Hungarian Vassals

As you can see, once some of the countries have been subjugated we can do what a Habsburg does best; spread, everywhere! This might not have the biggest effects, but I thought it was a fun little touch!


How does Joseph-August von Habsburg of Hungary and Karl Albrecht von Habsburg of Czechoslovakia sound? Or maybe you can catch some more elusive ones, like Joseph-Franz or Robert von Habsburg that can crop up elsewhere. And no Habsburg run is complete without controlling the true homelands.

Depending on your ambitions, you may also join a faction, or create your own, before you take on the Germans, the Soviets… or both! The world really is your oyster if you make it to this point!

You might have noticed the lack of mention of branch-specific anti-Anschluss mechanics for the Monarchists. See, that’s the caveat. Austria as a Monarchy would be a very proud and independent country, not wanting to rely upon anyone else after the troubles they have been put through. It is unlikely that a Monarchist Austria would have gotten, or asked for, any help. Going down the Monarchist path for Austria will mean an uphill fight to stave off the Anschluss.

Say you decide to adhere to the Treaty a bit more, and wish to reinstate Democracy again. After all, the Self-Elimination of the Parliament wasn’t too long ago so the nation could still be yearning for Democracy. Much like the Monarchist branch we must first tear up the old constitution, and then before an election can be held, political opposition must be allowed once more.


The Austrian Democratic Branch


The election will be close, it will fall to you as the player to decide the course the nation takes. From the three candidates we have a Social Democrat, Karl Renner who had previously held power in the parliament, Vinzenz Schumy of the Landbund, and… wait… is that Kurt? Again?! Yes, Again! Kurt Schuschnigg starts out as the Non-aligned leader of a combined party Vaterländische Front, and can then swing both ways, going Fascist with VF, or Democratic with his old Christlichsoziale Partei, depending on which path is taken. Surprisingly enough, Kurt isn’t even the most right-leaning candidate, as Vinzenz Schumy and the Landbund were by far more right-leaning.


All three Democratic candidates have their strengths, and they all lean different ways politically. Renner will have access to one extra Communist focus, but otherwise there will not be much of a difference, apart from their trait bonuses

With a Democratic system in place, surely you should be safe from the threat of Anschluss? Unfortunately, no, you still have no army and can’t train troops, yet. Much like the fascists, you will be requesting help on the basis of the Treaty. Leveraging the fact that you are now a Democratic country, Austria will be slightly more likely to actually be allowed to rearm by the guarantors in this branch. Otherwise, you could always bribe them, and if they end up rejecting, it means that they are not following the treaty. And if they aren’t, why should you?


The focus ”The Right to Rearm” opens up the small but potent military branch for Democratic Austria, but it also has an effect for Non-Aligned countries, reasons to be explained soon

As with most Democratic branches, you will be able to join the Allies, but you can also create your own faction called the Alpine Federation. Either way your goal will be similar, end Fascism in Europe.

Did you notice that chunk in the middle that neither Monarchist nor Democratic touched upon, and that “The Right to Rearm” has an effect for the Non-Aligned, despite being in the Democratic branch?

Democratic branches can feel a bit samey, and I wanted to avoid this, or at least spice it up a bit. The perfect opportunity for this presented itself via… Habsburgs of course! Hear me out; Otto von Habsburg was a long standing member of the EU parliament after its formation, and it would not have been too far fetched that he would have lobbied for something similar to be initiated if he came to power. And surely if Otto had that idea, someone in a Democratic party might have had similar ideas, right?


The Danubian Federation is a branch available to both Democratic and Monarchist branches in place of their more “traditional” routes

The Danubian federation starts out as a faction, but it also unlocks the Joint Focus tree for Austria-Hungary. Meaning, even if you are Democratic you can now access some Austro-Hungarian content! It will be a different way of playing, depending more on inviting a plethora of countries and building a strong faction. By ensnaring your faction members more closely to you, you will be able to subjugate them, and, in the Joint Focus Tree you might be able to take things even further.

Last out of the political branches is the Communist branch. Though not the most likely, Austria still had some Communist movements. The branch starts out with Austromarxism, which was a real ideology, situated somewhere in between Social Democracy and “proper” Communism. Considering this, there is an overlap between Communism and Democratic in Austria


The Communist Focus Branch


Apart from the “Gain Schutzbund Support” all of these are available to both Communists and Democrats. “Gain Schutzbund Support”, granting bonuses to your militias, is available only to Communists and Social Democrats, led by Karl Renner.

As I’m sure you’ve figured out, Austria has a long way to go to become a Communist state and for most, this road will involve a civil war. To have a fighting chance, the Treaty has to go. Austria preparing for civil war simply does not care about what anyone thinks and will be allowed to just shred the Treaty and enact Emergency Measures to rebuild more rapidly.


Once you feel ready, or once you feel that you cannot delay any longer, the Civil war can be started from the focus “Reclaiming Red Vienna”.

As you can see from the tooltip, you can avoid the civil war entirely by building enough Communist support. Otherwise, the civil war will trigger, and if the focus “Gain Schutzbund Support” has been completed, three new militia units will spawn on your side along with an amount of units comparable to your communist support. If you have 50% support, you get 50% of the troops and so on. Dealing with this civil war is difficult on your own, so there is a choice to be made, you can ask the Soviets for help, or you can invest more heavily in your militias to try and gain the upper hand. Once the civil war is over these two sub-branches will eventually lead to either joining the Comintern, or establishing a new Faction called the Danubian Bloc.

The final parts of the Communist branch will allow for spreading Communism in the Danubian countries, and countries that historically had an interest in the Danube. The decision system for this will be unlocked by completing “Encourage Communist Sentiments” and then expanded upon in “Demanding the Liberation of Workers”, and will allow you to sway your targets towards Communism, and then start a civil war, in case they disregard the needs and wishes of the proletariat. Finally there is a possibility to retake some land in Galicia, or tell the Soviets who’s the better communist state in a rather violent way. As long as you are not in the Comintern that is!

As mentioned previously, Austria was in a terrible state economically, industrially and militarily, so now let’s have a quick look at what we can do to make it less bad, to start with, and great, later on.


The Austrian Industrial Branch is split in four distinct paths to make it easy to navigate where you need to go when your industrial problems become too pressing.

The Industrial branch is rather straightforward, there are four main branches focusing on four things. From left to right we have the resources branch for boosting your domestic resources, the infrastructure branch for connecting the country, the economic branch to save your crashing economy and the industrial branch to build and improve construction of factories. All branches have interesting points but they are the most potent together.”Economic Resuscitation” can salvage the most broken of economies and lessen a Consumer Goods malus from 40% to 20%. By going down the Industrial branch several problems can be solved with one focus as “Start Apprentice Programs” will alleviate issues with stability, political power and consumer goods all at once. And “Expand the St. Pöltner Steelworks” gives both heaps of steel and a factory Austria has tried the 2877% inflation rate before and this branch ensures that she is not going back there.


Not the largest air branch, but enough to build up a functional air force if there is need for one

While Austria was technically allowed to have an air force, it was not prioritized. As such, you will pretty much have to start from scratch. There will be two main paths, focusing on domestic production, or focusing on establishing foreign partnership and importing your fleet. They both have their ups and downs, both requiring significant investment, one in the form of getting the funds to purchase aircraft, the other… Well, you need factories and research to build them, right? Towards the end we can improve the infrastructure around our air force with anti air, radar stations and air base construction bonuses. “Wiener Flaktürme” were a real thing, they were however built by the Germans after the Anschluss. No matter, they will likely be useful in the air war. Though an air force might not be your initial concern, this branch will be here once you need it.


Though primarily locked behind getting rid of the Treaty of Saint-Germain-En-Laye, Austria boasts a rather sizable army branch.

The army branch is the largest of the Military branches, as this is what Austria mainly focused on historically. In this branch you will find that there is one major choice to be had between Franz Böhme and Alfred Jansa, both of whom are, ironically, historical.


Jansa’s defense might come in handy in holding off the Germans, but so might Böhme’s more aggressive tactics

Alfred Jansa was from an early point worried about Germany’s plans for expansion and had a plan laid out to counter this. Naturally, the Austrian cabinet, who were equally worried about this, appointed him as a chief of army. Just as naturally, the Germans protested this, not wanting a man with a defensive focus in power. Böhme was much more favorable towards Germany, so demanding that Austria replace Jansa with him was a win-win, and historically the Austrians did comply. That doesn’t mean that you have to though…


The Navy branch is unlocked only when you actually gain control over at least one coastal state. Considering Austria’s geographical location, this might not be the most prominent branch…

As Austria doesn’t have a coastline this branch starts out locked. But in the event that you acquire a coast line, this branch is for you. This branch has some rather hefty bonuses to bring you up to speed, but you’ll have to pick. Focus on larger ships like battleships and heavy cruisers with “Rebuild the Armada”, or gear yourselves towards submarines and destroyers with “Defending the Coast”. There’s even a few somewhat historical admirals for you to recruit. We even have MIOs (Or Designers if you have yet to pick up Arms Against Tyranny) to help build Austria into a great Naval nation!

Okay that might be stretching it, but you get the point!

There we have it, thank you for staying a while and reading through this Dev Diary! Austria is a country with many challenges before her, but with some cunning plans and strategies, ripping up some treaties and a staunch refusal of German advances this little country can become quite the powerhouse.

Just as a funny little note to end on, the work presented here was initially planned for both me and D3vil to do together. However, when we were told to do Austria-Hungary and just mildly touch up Hungary we instead decided to split the work and give you both Austria, and a full revamp of Hungary! You’ll get to see what has been improved and expanded for Hungary in a week, but first, on Wednesday, you’ll get to see some really special projects!

Auf Wiedersehen!

A peek of the brave units that will help protect your country


Make sure to check out the Expansion Pass Here:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3152810/Hearts_of_Iron_IV_Expansion_Pass_1

Greetings all!



https://store.steampowered.com/app/3152780/Expansion__Hearts_of_Iron_IV_Gtterdmmerung/

Aaand there we have it, with the release of this video there can be no more subterfuge: our expansion Götterdämmerung drops November 14th.

Of course, we’ve kept this one under wraps for a bit longer despite some … subtle hints, so now is our opportunity to explain a little about what Götterdämmerung heralds, and what else is coming for Hearts of Iron in the near future.

With the above said, I’d like to draw attention to the fact that Dev Diaries and related events will be arriving with high frequency over the next six weeks - two or three items per week up until launch. This means today we won’t be diving into extreme detail on each of the headline items, but you won’t have long to wait to see more.


Note: The original schedule was changed to swap the Raids and the Small Features DD's to give the Devs more time with the Raids DD​

A German themed expansion is something many of you have been clamouring for for many years, and as we’ve been quite clear about in previous roadmaps, we’ve also wanted to work on a super-weapons feature since the release of HoI4. Naturally, these two things made sense to tackle together.

War drives all sorts of technological innovation in an attempt to out-do opponents and although many projects ultimately never saw the battlefield, Götterdämmerung aims to tie together existing research systems with a new experimental research mechanic that allows for both historical and less historical but plausible super-projects to be pursued. The research process will become an important part of gameplay, with scientists, map-located experimental facilities, and supporting infrastructure all combining to produce a wide variety of outcomes that can augment your forces or change the very nature of the war you are fighting.

Of course, the story of experimental project development during the war was one fraught with strategic implications. From the secrecy around the Manhattan project, to the dambusters raids or targeted strikes on important facilities such as Peenemunde, there are numerous examples of targeted military strikes that had a severe impact on the nature of the conflict.

The military raids feature aims to add more narrative to your conflict while remaining an inherently strategic tool in your arsenal. Target experimental facilities, important military installations and more with high-risk, high-reward planned operations across multiple disciplines. We’ve aimed to have as much integration as possible here with special projects: raids will be one of your main counterplays to an opponent scheming to develop their own [redacted].

Germany will be receiving a totally revised historical national focus tree and a host of new alternate historical paths. We’ll go into further detail about exactly what is coming here, but we’ve put a high premium on retaining the core feeling that Germany’s old tree gave the player: a sense that they are the protagonist in the events leading up to the war; that the conflict revolves around their actions.

Resist the oncoming storm, cast off the shackles of enforced military impotence and retool your nation around your chosen identity. Forge a new history for Austria free of German control, standing as a beacon of resistance or reclaiming your fractured empire.

A completely overhauled Hungarian focus tree, with a detailed historical revision and a completely unique perspective on reforging the Austro-Hungarian Empire, independent of Austrian content.

Resist or welcome German supremacy. Draw on the natural wealth of the Congo and build potential for an African government-in-exile. Alternatively, play as the Belgian Congo, and either support the war effort, or throw off your old masters.


And of course that’s not all. With any release there’s a host of other items that will appear, some small, some bigger, and notably some pretty nice improvements to the way the AI will play on a tactical and planning level.

With Götterdämmerung we’ll be trying something a bit new. The release will be part of an expansion pass. Expansion passes are our way of both giving you a Roadmap for the content that’ll be arriving over the next few releases, and for letting you sign up to get that content when it arrives with a discount of 20%.

The expansion pass will include:

• Instant unlock of three new 3d tank models and a music track
  
• The Götterdämmerung expansion (Nov 14th 2024) - $24.99/£21.99/€24.99
  
• The Graveyard of Empires country pack (Q1 2025) - $14.99/£12.79/€14.99
  
• Prototype Vehicles unit pack (Q3 2025) - $6.99/£5.89/€6.99

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3152810/Hearts_of_Iron_IV_Expansion_Pass_1

Now to get ahead of the game here: we understand that this method won’t appeal to everyone. All items listed above except for the first bullet-point will be available for purchase individually as usual, or in the DLC subscription.

Generals!

The latest War Effort update is here and with it arrives more bugfixes and balance changes, with a few changes to France, the Warlords in the east and some changes to certain spirits!

Check out all the changes below and let us know what you think, and what other changes you'd like to see~

################################################################
######## Patch 1.14.8 "Bolivar" #########
################################################################

##################################
# Balance
##################################

- Brazil: focus "Potenji River Conference" changed so that instead of having Brazil declare war on American major enemies, they now instead join the American war, thus not applying the Defensive War bonus on the Axis and Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere in the late-game.
- Brazil: now even more extra hyper-unlikely to reject unification with Portugal if their ideologies match
- Czechoslovakia: focus "United Population" now grants 10% stability and war support as well as 150 political power if the "Divided Nation" national spirit has already been removed by the focus "Czech Socialism".
- France: Fixed an issue where SOMUA S35 was previously called SOUMUA S35.
- France: focus ""Begin Rearmament"" will no longer be cancelled if you drop below the required war support.
- France: wargoals for the French focus ""Secure the Crown"" target all Spains.
- France: the Orleanist focuses Slum Clearing and Counter-Action are both now 35 days focuses, and added an extra building slot to the Slum Clearing focus.
- France: focus ""Diplomatic Freedom"" now takes 35 days and give 50 political power.
- France: fixed an issue with offsets in the tree when taking the focus ""Revive the National Bloc"".
- France: focus ""Defensive Focus"" now gives 30 command power.
- France: focuses ""Invite Yugoslavia"" and ""Invite Romania"" now are 35 day focuses.
- France: Trimmed down the decision tooltips in the focus "Reorganize Aviation Industry" and added 2 Military factories as an instant completion reward in the focus.
- United Kingdom: Fixed an issue with a duplicated available trigger in the British focus “Commonwealth Ties”. Also changed the focus to include British Malaya in its targets, as well as give the targeted nations 50 political power each. Also made it into a 35 day focus.
- Warlords: focus Industrial Investments now gives 2 civilian factories instead of one.
- Warlords: now start with the national spirit “Warlord State” which can be upgraded through 3 different new focuses, and which is removed upon becoming any other type of state.
- Warlords: national spirit “Long Term Economic Planning” now also gives a 10% construction bonus to Supply Hubs.
- China: national spirit “Public Works” now also gives a 5% construction bonus to Railways.
- Warlords: focus “Personal Leadership” now takes 35 days and additionally grants 30 command power.
- China: national spirit “Rapid Mobilization” now also gives a 10% bonus to mobilization speed.
- Warlords: focus “Opposition” now also grants 5% war support.
- Warlords: focus “Cooperation with the Nationalists” now also grants 5% stability.
- Warlords: focus “Cooperation with the Communists” now also grants 50 political power.
- Warlords: focus “Cult of Personality” now also grants 5% war support.
- Warlords: focus Local Arms Production now gives 2 military factories instead of one.
- Spirits: Professional Officer Corps now grants 15% division experience gain and 30 max command power in place of 5% land XP, -5% doctrine cost and 0.20 daily command power
- Spirits: Elevated Engineering Corps no longer grants a 25% engineer trait xp gain factor. Railway gun bombardment bonus is now 25%, from 20%
- Spirits: Proper Heritage no longer grants 5% cavalry attack, and instead grants 10% Leader Experience Gain
- Spirits: State Serves the Military now grants 10% offensive war stability, from 10% political power gain
- Spirits: Logistical Focus spirit now grants -10% fuel consumption instead of -5%
- Cavalry Recon now gains a 15% speed bonus from the Mass Assault doctrine "Pocket Defence".
- Horseback Infantry now have several early benefits in military doctrines. We would still like to see them phased out in favor of motorized infantry, but for countries with no real options in the early game they should lose their shine a little later then currently.
- The Dutch MIOs Fokker and DAF are now both available from game start, and instead of being unlocked, are granted 2 extra levels when taking each MIOs respective focus.
- Increased the spirit of the naval acadamy spirits chance to gain +skills on level up from 40% to 50% to be in line with the army spirits
- the AI will be significantly less likely to leave countries alive on tiny islands during peace conferences


##################################
# Gameplay
##################################

- Added decisions for Wales and Y Wladfa to core each-others states if they control them.
- The Free French focus “Refus Absurde” can now also be completed if at peace to remove the Defeatism spirit, and the focus “Form the Provisional Government” now also removes the spirit in case it hasn’t been removed earlier.
- Finland no longer cedes Petsamo to the Soviets when losing the Winter War.

##################################
# UI
##################################

- Added simple allow_branch and offset effects to the Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian focus trees.

##################################
# Modding
##################################

- Can no longer unlock a severely broken form of intelligence agency without LaR; this will error appropriately to help you track down the issue.

##################################
# Bugfix
##################################

- Bulgaria: Players with BftB should no longer encounter Fatherland Front when going to war with the Soviet Union while wrong ideology
- The Request Expeditionaries feature works with size 0 armies once again
- corrected railways around lille and dunkirk
- All single category MIOs (naval, air, land) should now use the correct XP type
- Fixed a bug when if you had a spirit of the army (leftmost army spirits) would cause any spirit from spirit of the naval academy (leftmost navy spirit) to not work properly
- Fixed a wrong tooltip where the % chance to gain +attack/defense/manouver+coordination in the spirit of the naval academy would say you a way lower % chance to get the benefit that what it really was (it said 20% but it was in fact 40%)
- Fixed a number of Soviet CCP icons that were not appearing correctly when the pack is enabled.
- Fixed an issue where Argentina could core only Guatemala and no other central-american nations using their South-American unity decisions, as well as making them able to core Easter Island.
- Fixed an issue where the 30 day cooldown for the damage dealt by Paratroopers after taking the "Combat Insertion"doctrine wasn't working and could be done an infinite number of times in the same state.
- Fixed an issue where a Warlord state that had inherited Nationalist China's focus tree couldn't remove their version of the Ineffective Bureaucracy spirit through the Examination Yuan focus.
- Fixed an error where the British Plan R-4 couldn't be successfully completed.
- Land Doctrine: People's Army now correctly applies cavalry suppression buff to Military Police; buff reduced to 0.35 Suppression Per Honse from 0.5
- Unit supply consumption now correctly uses 2 decimal places in tooltips and UI (functionality remains unchanged)
- Fixed an issue where the "Blockade Venezuela" decision would still be visible when Venezuela didn't exist.
- Fixed an issue where the leader trait “Unbreakable” wasn’t properly granting attack and defense modifiers.
- Fixed an issue where the Spanish national spirit “The Anti-Fascist Crusade” wasn’t properly granting the attack it said it was.
- Fixed an issue where the Nordic national spirit “The Nordic March” wasn’t properly granting the attack it said it was.
- Fixed an issue where the Nordic national spirit “To Arms Against Tyranny” wasn’t properly granting the defense it said it was.
- Fixed an issue where the Latvian national spirit “Dievturība” wasn’t properly granting attack and defense modifiers.
- Fixed an issue where the various Italian Papal national spirits weren't properly granting attack and defense modifiers.
- Fixed an issue where the Spanish national spirit “Embrace the Spanish Destiny” wasn’t properly granting the attack it said it was.
- Fixed an issue where the Spanish “Crusade Against Democracy” national spirits weren’t properly granting the attack and they said they were.
- Gdynia is now also included among the states that Poland can return to a democratic Germany if they are close to capitulation.
- Fixed various issues with the requirements and effects of the Norwegian decisions to convert convoys into destroyers.
- Fixed an issue where Chile couldn't bypass the focus "Demand the Guyanas" when already controlling all three target states.
- Fixed an issue where the Portuguese focus "Portuguese Artillery" didn't grant funds to the correct MIO.
- Fixed an issue where the Brazilian focus "Bribe the Military" wouldn't grant a dockyard due to incorrect checks in the focus.
- Fixed various issues where the Japanese Zaibatsu national spirits could join the wrong side of a civil war.
- Fixed an issue where the Latvian focus "Renew the Constitution of Latvia" wouldn't correctly swap the trait of the political advisor Alberts Kvesis as it said it did.
- Fixed an issue where the French focus and decisions for "Arms Purchases in the US" could be completed despite the requirements not being properly fulfilled.
- Entrenchment Chief no longer refuses to follow naming consistency rules (Thanks Reddit, we hated it too)

Hello there! Your Community Manager, Katten, here.

Let's get right into it; we haven't talked about our upcoming expansion since all the way back in June. Let's change that and dive right in!

The Hearts of Iron Development team has been hard at work since the end of last year on this upcoming expansion. But I’m here to give you a rundown of what we have planned and when to expect it!

We begin releasing Developer Diaries October 3rd, so mark the date! But don’t worry—we’ll give you plenty of reminders as it approaches. This time around, we’re trying something different. Compared to last year, our upcoming campaign will be shorter, but we've planned it to be highly intense, with something happening almost every single day. We currently plan to have two developer diaries per week, a weekly feature video, a biweekly stream and Q&A, and, of course, plenty of YouTube Shorts and other fun social media content related to the expansion.



Before I go, I want to thank you for being so patient with us. On Friday, we’ll be sharing details about the upcoming Open Beta for the next War Effort update!

Until later!
Katten

Generals!

The end of Summer is fast approaching, and with it arrives additional sales! The Quartermasters have come around for another batch of Discounts to make sure that you all can grab what you need for your collection, a friend or whatever else you need~

Check out the Discounts below, and have a great week!

Hearts of Iron IV - 70% off
Hearts of Iron IV: Starter Edition - 60% off

Hearts of Iron IV: Arms Against Tyranny 20% off
Hearts of Iron IV: By Blood Alone 30% off
Hearts of Iron IV: No Step Back 30% off
Hearts of Iron IV: La Résistance 50% off
Hearts of Iron IV: Man the Guns 50% off

Hearts of Iron IV: Battle for the Bosporus 50% off
Hearts of Iron IV: Trial of Allegiance 20% off

Hearts of Iron IV: Songs of the Eastern Front 50% off
Hearts of Iron IV: Eastern Front Planes 50% off
Hearts of Iron IV: Allied Speeches Pack 50% off
Hearts of Iron IV: Radio Pack 50% off
Hearts of Iron IV: Sabaton Soundtrack 50% off
Hearts of Iron IV: Sabaton Soundtrack Vol. 2 50% off
Hearts of Iron IV: Allied Armor 50% off
Hearts of Iron IV: Axis Armor 50% off

Generals!

The Quartermasters from Hooded Horse and Firesquid have added another supply route to our frontlines, with the TACTICON sale! Alongside some other amazing games, we've brought out the discounts with them!

Check them out below~

Hearts of Iron IV - 70% off
Hearts of Iron IV: Starter Edition - 60% off

Hearts of Iron IV: Arms Against Tyranny 20% off
Hearts of Iron IV: By Blood Alone 30% off
Hearts of Iron IV: No Step Back 30% off
Hearts of Iron IV: La Résistance 50% off
Hearts of Iron IV: Man the Guns 50% off

Hearts of Iron IV: Battle for the Bosporus 50% off
Hearts of Iron IV: Trial of Allegiance 20% off

Hearts of Iron IV: Songs of the Eastern Front 50% off
Hearts of Iron IV: Eastern Front Planes 50% off
Hearts of Iron IV: Allied Speeches Pack 50% off
Hearts of Iron IV: Radio Pack 50% off
Hearts of Iron IV: Sabaton Soundtrack 50% off
Hearts of Iron IV: Sabaton Soundtrack Vol. 2 50% off
Hearts of Iron IV: Allied Armor 50% off
Hearts of Iron IV: Axis Armor 50% off

Generals!

It is time yet again for Steam's Summer sale, with deals up to 70% off, this is the perfect time to finish up your collection, or even branch into new titles with our Wealth and War Bundle to grab a great deal on Victoria 3 while you're at it!

Check below for all of the deals;

You've been winning the fight on the frontlines, but perhaps it's time to hit them where it hurts most: their economy! Grab this bundle to get even more savings on our other title Victoria 3

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/42554/Wealth_and_War_Bundle/


Hearts of Iron IV - 70% off
Hearts of Iron IV: Starter Edition - 60% off

Hearts of Iron IV: Arms Against Tyranny 20% off
Hearts of Iron IV: By Blood Alone 30% off
Hearts of Iron IV: No Step Back 30% off
Hearts of Iron IV: La Résistance 50% off
Hearts of Iron IV: Man the Guns 50% off

Hearts of Iron IV: Battle for the Bosporus 50% off
Hearts of Iron IV: Trial of Allegiance 20% off

Hearts of Iron IV: Songs of the Eastern Front 50% off
Hearts of Iron IV: Eastern Front Planes 50% off
Hearts of Iron IV: Allied Speeches Pack 50% off
Hearts of Iron IV: Radio Pack 50% off
Hearts of Iron IV: Sabaton Soundtrack 50% off
Hearts of Iron IV: Sabaton Soundtrack Vol. 2 50% off
Hearts of Iron IV: Allied Armor 50% off
Hearts of Iron IV: Axis Armor 50% off

Generals!

We're rolling out a quick hotfix to address a few minor issues cropping up with some scripts and implementation of the Content Creator Pack.

##################################
# Bugfix
##################################
- Fixed ship creation script from autoincluding version numbering inconsistently, leading to a few instances of invalid script
- Non-Designer equipment will no longer show version naming by default*
- A few CCP icons were being shown in unintended locations, this is no longer the case

Hello there! Katten here. Today marks the final day of our Anniversary Week. It's been one thrilling ride, kicking off with our teaser for the upcoming expansion, followed by a giveaway that saw over 10,000 participants! Then came our secondary announcement: our first Content Creator Pack - Soviet Union 2D Art. Sunday brought the sweat with our broadcast of the grande finale for this year's Community Cup, where the Red Baron team claimed first place!

And now, today, we're excited to release the War Effort Update 1.14.6: Operation Badger, alongside the Content Creator Pack.

This post below will contain two key sections. First, we'll delve into the details of our War Effort update, followed by our second and final Dev Diary for the Content Creator Pack. But without further ado, I'll hand over the mic to Game Director, Arheo.

Wait, I almost forgot! Before that, we are also running a sale on the PDX Store with up to 70% off! Check it out HERE.


Hey folks,

Arheo here with the change log for Operation Badger, the War Effort update which we've been brewing for some time now. We've spent a little more time than usual on making sure that there's some good QoL or small-feature items in here as a part of the anniversary update, so I hope these keep you going for a while!

Of course, this update goes live alongside the Content Creator Pack that the World Ablaze team have been working on, so I'll hand over to them for a deeper dive into what's coming there.

################################################################
######## Hotfix 1.14.6 "Bolivar" #########
################################################################

##################################
# Balance
##################################

- Updated the French focus "Avenge Waterloo" to include Luxembourg in it's targets.
- Increased warscore from sinking ships by 4-5x (this will continue to be iterated upon). Increased warscore from sinking convoys, and decreased convoy build decay rate to warscore.
- Canada: Changed around the starting navy to be more historically accurate. Also fixed various issues regarding Quebec and their victory points, as well as a typo in their fascist party name.
- Canada: Updated Canadian Air Chiefs
- Norway: focuses “Invite Cadillac to Norway” and “Invite Soviet Designers” now grant extra levels to the MIOs unlocked, and the Cadillac focus now only takes 35 days to complete.
- Norway: Now only Germany can trigger civil war by attacking
- Norway: focus "Approach the Fatherland League" now gives -5% democratic support instead of -10% fascist support.
- Iceland: mineral prospecting focus no longer runs a random list to decide which resource you get. You will always get 10 iron and 6 aluminium. Fishing industry spirit now grants -10% convoy cost at both levels.
- Chile: Reduced research speed bonus from French Academia to 3% from 10% (this is not a subtle comment against French academics)
- Chile: Reduced the amount of political power and war support available across several branches.
- Chile: Rayen Quitral now grants 10% stability from 20%
- Chile: Manuel Manquilef now grants 5% factory output, from 8, and no longer grants ideology drift defense
- Chile: Antonio Neculman now grants 6% research speed, from 15%
- Chile: Manuel Panguilef no longer reduces research speed, however provides 5% war support and stability, from 10%
- Chile: Reduced most sources of attack & core division attack to be in line with similar nations
- Chile: Adjusted most sources of national manpower factor to be more consistent with other nations
- Chile: Reduced bonuses substantially
- Chile: Grand Armada focus no longer grants dockyard output, but has increased dockyard construction speed; rewarding future plans rather than flat improvements. Positioning bonus removed.
- Chile: Patagonian Giants focus no longer grants division attack and defense, but increases breakthrough by 10% from 8%
- Chile: Development Inwards focus no longer reduces military factory construction speed by 25%
- Chile: via trans radio chilena bonuses halved
- South America Shared: hot and cold acclimitization factor reduced to 15% per focus, from 25%
- South America Shared: Reduced potential for most direct combat stats from decisions and focuses (attack, defense & org)
- Brazil: Reduced speed for research bonuses granted by Promote Resource Extraction focus to 50%x2 from 75%x2
- Brazil: Increases research speed from bonuses granted by Stimulate Civilian Economy to 50%x2 from 40%x2
- Brazil: Reduced research speed from bonuses granted by Italian Car Industry to 50%x2 from 75%x2
- Brazil: Increased research speed granted by bonuses in Desenvolituddimeot.... that one; to 50%x2 from 40%x2
- Argentina: Increase research speed bonus for synth rubber granted by Reinforce the Education System to 100%x1 from 50%x1
- Australia: Australian Army Catering Corps now grants 3x100% research speed bonuses to logistics company, from 1x300%
- Australia: Airborne defence focus now grants 1x100% research speed bonus for paratroopers, from 1x300%. It also now grants 2x50% cost reductions for special forces doctrine
- Australia: CAC Woomera focus now grants 3x100% research bonuses for specific hulls, from 1x300%
- Australia: Uranium Mining now grants 2x50% research bonuses from whatever it was before, and now grants 2x100% research bonuses for excavation tech
- Australia: Dominate the Skies now grants 4 air bases from 2, and 2 doctrine cost bonuses from 1
- Australia: Rebalanced several focuses in the Australian military branch letting them unlock an additional special forces branch specialism (AAT) quite early and without being a major, and granting a significant number of doctrine cost reductions for the above.
- Baltic Shared: Original designs focus now grants 50% speed bonuses, from 75%
- Bulgaria: Uranium Prospecting focus now grants 2x 100% bonuses, from 2x200%
- Bulgaria: Normalized several tech bonuses, overall slightly reducing the efficacy of research benefits
- Canada: Normalized several tech bonuses. Canadian Parachute Battalion now grants 2x50% special forces doctrine cost reduction, but reduces paratroopers research bonus to 100% from 300%
- Finland: Normalized research speed bonuses
- France: France can now unlock a special forces branch specialism from their military branch. Military branch has been slightly rearranged.
- Special Forces Doctrine: special forces cap factor bonuses significantly reduced
- Ethiopia: Normalized -some- of the research bonuses
- Generic Focus Tree: increased army experience gains and normalized army research bonuses
- Generic Focus Tree: Add Truck
- Generic Focus Tree: Fascist branch now provides a total of 3% recruitable population, from 7%, but now also provides 25% mobilization speed and 15% reduced supply penalties on core territory
- Generic Focus Tree: Communist branch now grants 400 weekly manpower (yes this will stack with the military spirit)
- Greece: Normalized research bonuses
- Italy: Normalized research bonuses (while a few went up or had charges added, these mostly came down)
- Japan: Tweaked some research bonuses (no big changes)
- Reduced Nuclear research bonuses across all focus trees
- Norway: Normalized research bonuses
- Poland: Normalized research bonuses
- Portugal: Normalized research bonuses. Focus 'POR_tropas_paraquedistas' now grants 2 50% special forces doctrine cost reductions
- Romania: Focus 'ROM_expand_the_marine_regiment' now grants 2 50% doctrine cost reductions for special forces doctrine
- South Africa: Focus 'SAF_south_african_special_forces' now grants 2x50% cost reductions for special forces doctrine
- Sweden: Normalized research bonuses
- Soviet Union: Normalized Research bonuses (mostly unchanged, Jet research won't be as fast)

##################################
# Gameplay
##################################

- Mini-Feature: Variant version is now separated from name, resulting in an improved dynamic equipment versioning system. (Modding: unique version strings can be provided for ship, armor, and plane equipment on a per-country level.)
- Mini-Feature: Civilian Factories can now be assigned to prioritize repairing damaged constructions
- Mini-Feature: Captured ships can now be refit through the individual ship design screen. Once redesigned, you will gain a regular design variant to be used as normal. Redesigning this way will no longer cost the original creator the experience price.
- Added Rio de Oro (The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic) and Khuzestan as new cores gained when taking the 'Unite Arabia' decision.
- Updated the British Blackshirt March decisions to include Cumbria and the Isle of Man.
- Norway: no longer starts a civil war with historical focuses enabled
- Norway: Added unique leader traits to the Norwegian country leaders who did not yet have traits, and added Edvard Christian Danielsen as a new Admiral for the country.
- Changed the mutual exclusivity of the Nordic formable nations so that the "Kalmar Union" focus can be taken alongside one of the others, and only the "North Sea Empire" and "Nordic Union" are now mutually exclusive.
- Norway: Added an event for the Kingdom of Norway to choose their Stance regarding foreign policy, allowing for different playstyles.
- Norwegian fascist civil war can now be started when either Germany has declared war or when support for the fascist coup is significant enough. Other fascist powers can no longer be invited to invade.
- Made the first news event regarding the Italian annexation of Aussa fire only for Ethiopia.
- Equipment Variants are now a lot more 'sticky' with their names when you refit them, leading to much fewer instances of '1936 Destroyer Hull Class'.

##################################
# UI
##################################

- Many info popups now appear at the bottom-right of the screen and do not require manual interaction to clear. This change should drastically decrease the effects of 'popup spam'.

##################################
# Modding
##################################

- Equipment property is_frame should now auto-obsolete

##################################
# Bugfix
##################################

- Fixed an issue where the Chilean decision to Demand a Snap Election to become Communist was unavailable if playing with localization using a non-latin alphabet.
- Fixed an issue where the Icelandic Admiral from the event "A Danish King once More" and a Swiss Admiral from the focus "Train Navy Staff" would have General skills instead of Admiral ones.
- Fixed a minor typo in the event "War in South America".
- Fixed an issue where AI Turkey would not always select Adnan Menderes as president when made to go the Ottoman path, thus locking themselves out of the branch.
- Fixed an issue where in some fringe cases, completing the Spanish focus 'Caudillo of Spain' would accidentally kill Francisco Franco.
- Fixed various issues with the American event "A New General for China" triggered by a Chinese focus, where Joseph Stillwell would always become unavailable to the US no matter who they chose to send, as well as the advisor position of the character sent not being available to China.
- Fixed an issue where the full names for the Chilean political parties chosen in the 1938 election event wouldn't properly appear.
- Fixed an issue where the non-MTG tree for the UK could start overlapping when going down the Home Defense path.
- Fix OS inconsistency in how scripted bool values (yes/no) are parsed, leading to fixing a few script parsing errors on Linux/Mac
- Fixed an exploit that allowed you to bypass the Mapuche civil war as Chile by using war support to instigate a small-scale communist uprising, and also added is_subject = no triggers to various Chilean focuses regarding ideology, factions and wars.
- It is no longer possible to avoid air accidents by stacking air wings in bases. Air accident calculation has been adjusted as well, and the tooltip improved a little.
- State mapmode stops trying to display modifiers without icon
- Fixed two typos in the Soviet focus "Return Democracy to the Party".
- Fixed various issues and inconsistencies with the name of the Arabian formable nation.
- Moved provinces 13234 and 13235 in the state Northern Epirus from being erroneously counted as North America to being in Europe.
- Changed the name 'Attu' from being applied to a province in Shanxi to actually being applied to Attu Island.
- Fix focus 'Scramble for the Baltic' for Sweden where after one war the other war goals would disappear
- Fixed an issue where Greenland would not start with control of their capital state when released in the Nordics Fragmented game rule.
- Fixed an issue where you would be unable to construct Super-Heavy Battleships when running the game without MTG.
- Fixed a few instances where MIOs did not provide the reliability they claimed to be.
- NOR: Changed Extensive Recruitment and Expanded Conscription Drive to give a timed weekly manpower modifier rather than conscription factor.
- NOR: Changed Build Supplies Network to provide construction boost to Naval Base as well as Supply Hub.
- NOR: Notraskip and other focuses that used to require in exile government, now require capitulation instead for Man the Guns compatibility.
- Fixed an issue where the name from the research bonus received when doing the Norwegian focus "Military Police" had the wrong name.
- Fixed an issue where Chile could demand control of Guyanese territory from themselves if controlling any of the territory when taking their focus to do so.
- Fixed an issue where the Norwegian focus "Forsvarets Intelligence Service" would show up when not having La Resistance active.
- Fixed an issue where Genoa and Hinterpommern had incorrect names when playing with Russian localization.
- Fixed two issues where the small portraits for King Haakon and Prince Olav of Norway weren't showing up as intended.
- Fixed an issue where the Russian focus "Intervention in the Americas" was bugged and didn't have an effect.
- Fixed an issue where South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands wouldn't get cored when handed over to them by Japan as part of their scripted peace deal decisions/events.
- NOR: re-balanced preparation system.
- Fixed an issue where the North Sea Empire formable nation wouldn't get a core of Finnmark.
- Do not trigger the event creating Free France and Vichy France if Paris is not owned by France (Avoids possible crash in Peace Conference)
- Made the Brazilian focuses 'Join the Comintern', 'The Latin American Socialist', 'Reach Out to Our Neighbors', 'Establish Berlin Accords', 'Establish Rome Accords', and 'Form Mercosul'; the Uruguayan focuses 'Join the Allies' and 'The Fuhrmann Plan'; the Argentinian focuses 'Forge Our Own Future', 'Bastion of Peace', 'Argentina First', and 'Join the Axis'; the Paraguayan focuses 'Join the Axis', 'Join the Allies', and 'Join the Comintern'; and the Ethiopian focus 'Towards African Unity' require independence to be undertaken.
- Super heavy armor now works for both Man the Guns and non Man the Guns superheavy battleships
- Fixed an issue where Germany wouldn't get a core on Danzig when gaining it through the focus "Danzig for Slovakia".
- Fixed an issue where Brazil would be locked out of taking their "propose integration" decisions from the "United States of South America" focus if a member of their faction left it when the decision was still ongoing.
- Fix a bug where focuses (with modded icons) could get wrong icon in popups in MP
- Spain: Fixed an issue where the POUM couldn’t release nations, an effect which was only intended for the Anarchists.
- Spain: Fixed a minor issue in the Carlist Ai-strategy plan for Spain.
- Spain: Fixed an issue where the state modifier Autonomous State wasn’t removed from the relevant states if Galicia, the Basque Country or Catalonia owned them.
- Spain: Fixed a multitude of issues with Manuel Anazña not being an actual “character”, thus not being able to take certain focuses that required him as country leader if using non-Latin localization and more.
- Spain: The Spanish Republican AI should no longer be blocked from taking the focus Enlist the Carabineros.
- Spain: Made the falangist focus “Primo de Rivera Prisoner Exchange” take 35 days and also grant 5% war support.
- Spain: Added a new late-game focus for Falangist Spain to core all Hispanic lands, provided they control them all first.
- Spain: The Spanish focus in the Falangist path, “Unite Iberia” now also gives claims on Portugal.
- Spain: The Spanish focus in the Falangist path, “Absorb the Portuguese Empire” now has a different description, and alongside the previous wargoals on their former colonies, also grants cores on any Portuguese core states controlled by Spain at the time of Completion.
- Norway: Made the communist militias gained during the civil war disband at the end of it, returning any equipment and manpower they possessed to the player.
- Norway: Rebalanced the Norwegian Communist Preparations system.
- Norway: Fixed various issues with the Norwegian focus "Join the Comintern".
- Norway: Added is_subject = no triggers to various Norwegian focuses.
- Norway: Fixed an issue where the claims from the "Norwegian Royal Family Arrives" event weren't working.




Hi everyone! Coinciding with the release of the Soviet Union 2D Art Content Creator Pack ($3.99), Paradox has asked me to go over some of the creative process that has gone into this pack. Before we begin, I shall first introduce myself. My name is Aqeel Mughal, also known as Uncharted, and I am the founder and one of the head developers of World Ablaze. I have a degree in Illustration and Visual Communication and have spent the past 6 years working on artwork for Hearts of Iron IV. It became my most played game very quickly as I am a huge fan of grand strategy games starting all the way back from playing the board game Risk when I was a teen. Suffice to say, working on this CCP was an absolute treat, and I look forward to sharing the next moments with you all.

The creative process involved in this CCP falls under 2 main sections: the National Focuses/Spirits and the Technology tree icons. For the focuses, the first step when creating the focus icons was to ensure as many icons in the focus tree conveyed a unique concept that represented the description and effect it was giving, and that meant for the vast majority drawing a tailor-made centrepiece.

For the industry, this meant having factories or industrial machinery being shown, for example. For some of the political icons, I took inspiration from historical soviet propaganda posters/statues. I was very keen on each one being something 3D to help the focus pop out.

After the centrepiece was drawn, an appropriate frame was chosen that allowed the centrepiece to be shown without too much negative space, and either a bespoke or regular background was used depending on the importance of the focus. Laurels and colours were picked by which one fitted the theme of the respective tree and the focus itself (you will see a lot of red in the politics section, for example).

For national spirits, most of the icons created were either a smaller representation of the focus it came from or historical iconography. The rest convey the description of the spirit, such as the Trotsky Plot showcasing the intense rivalry of Trotsky and Stalin which led to the 1936 purges.

When it came to the style I chose, I very much wanted to inject more colour saturation and a higher contrast in what I drew to make the icons pop out a lot more and give them energy which would harmonise well with the dynamic scenes depicted.


A selection of focus icons taken from different trees illustrating the diversity of what you will find.


A showcase of some of the national spirits that are part of the CCP.



A comparison of vanilla art with CCP art.

When it came to the tech tree icons, there were a multitude of issues to try and address, a lot of generic and dated art was being used and I set out the goal to completely overhaul all of it to ensure consistency and higher quality for the CCP. After deciding what to draw I would seek blueprints or historical images where possible to act as my foundation. Each tech art starts with creating every shape and detail present in said blueprints/images before applying texture, shading, colour, and blending effects. The goal here was to create icons that fit in the game but pop out more, are somewhat proportional to each other (for example, light cruiser icons are smaller than battleship ones) and are consistent in their look.

For any designs that are entirely fiction, they were based on the closest historical counterpart to ground them as proper “what-if” designs.


Infantry and support icons created to be unique and high quality.


New and improved tank icons with a colour scheme appropriate to the Soviet Union.


A highlight of air pieces with historical camouflage schemes used.


A completely new spin on ship icons for HOI4 prioritizing scale and using new shading.


Unique artillery icons drawn that match the equipment name in the localisation.



An example of a historical correction



An example of a quality improvement



With an overhaul of all soviet tech art, consistency is achieved with variant icons.

Well everybody, thank you for reading and I hope you now have a good understanding as to the intentions and process of creating the artwork for this CCP. What I have shown is just a small snippet of what is in the CCP and with hundreds of icons included, I hope that all your future soviet games will be much more immersive and aesthetically pleasing.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2981720/Hearts_of_Iron_IV_Content_Creator_Pack__Soviet_Union_2D_Art/