Which version should I get?
Is it a nothingburger like CK2, Vic2 or something actually happens?
Should I try HoI3 first? In what is different?
Is it better 4 than 3, 2, DH? What are the differences, improvements between 3, 2 and DH?

>>2066550 (OP)
They all suck ass and the AI is not even meant to know how to play the game or whatever the latest DLC UI window with buttons has been implemented.

>>2066555
Really? The little I know about the game is from watching campaign and mods, they look really fun to play.

Bump.

>>2066550 (OP)
the one that makes the Reich big and strong. VGH if only we could have mass produced P-1000 Ratte...

Goddamn, the new afghan focuses look crazy

https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/developer-diary/dev-corner-hydrodynamics.1779310/
tldr
>naval supremacy rebranded and reworked a little bit
>islands nerfed with caps on airfield and naval base levels
>naval range/supply is now only calculated from the base the fleet is operating from instead of all your bases, presumably to make strategic bases like Pearl Harbor more important
>sea zones you have supremacy over now get colored in

>>2070214
Generally good ideas there, navy stuff has been shit and most mods have already added stuff like the limited airbases on islands for this specific reason

>>2066550 (OP)
Hoi 4 is the most beginner friendly and the easiest to pick up, but quite unrealistic and the national focus system is quite railroady. Mods can fix that, but I'd suggest playing vanilla, on normal difficulty, as an axis or allied minor (eg, Romania, Canada, Australia) to learn the ropes without being overwhelmed. HoI 3 is much more limited but more or less historical, although it has a lot more complexity and you'll probably need guides to learn.

>>2069060
Neat trick I found; In the Bukharan path, you get to core all the other -stans minus Kazakhstan.
HOWEVER, the focus that cores Central Asia works by adding your cores over those of Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, etc., meaning that if you can get a single puppet to form Turkestan, you get to core Kazakhstan, Altai, Tuva and SInkiang as well.

In terms of raw cores, the Faqir route is better since you can core literally the entire Muslim world but I just wanted to do a coop run with the Saadabad members.

>>2071086
I thouht puppets couldn't make formables? In any case that's one sick trick. Pretty cool ngl.
I wonder about the Mughal path, is it better than India's?

>>2071227
I recall a time where most formables required the former to be independent along with historical mode being turned off. It seems like they eased up on it at some point, you can get AI subjects to make most formables now, but several of the older ones are still blocked for the AI by historical.

Here's my Norway achievement run where I also went out of my way to collect formables.
>United Guyana
>Central America
>Caribbean
>Maghreb
>Latin Africa
>East Africa
>Mutapa
>Nusantara

>I wonder about the Mughal path, is it better than India's?
In terms of raw manpower/industry, probably not, but both of the non-aligned Afghanistan routes let you stack cavalry attack and defense to +50% for the memes.

Also, as any of the Afghan routes you can core Pakistan by stealing a state from the Raj via the Cross-Border Ties focus (scumming might be necessary) and then releasing Pakistan as an independent country, which unlocks the Afghan-Pakistan Cold War focus. Just make absolutely sure you don't join or make a faction beforehand.

>>2071683
Neat collection. Glad to see they eased up in the formables, hopefully with a future war patch or the japanese DLC they'll remove that requirement for good.

I see, pretty meme-y by the looks of things but at least you won't have to worry about the british trying to intervene like it usually happens in the Indian Mughal path.

Speaking of which I tried to "steal" Pakistan via the Confederacy focus but India denied it, then again I set it as India United so maybe that's why I failed. Will try again to see if it's any worth it.

>>2071931
I just found out that both Durrani and Mughal paths let you spend PP to core whatever provinces you get claims on - so both empires can core Pakistan, Iran, Central Asia (with the Turkestan trick), but only the Mughals can core India.

>>2072879
Neat. Personally I would pick the Mughals given how rich in resources and manpower you can get.
Honestly Aghanistan and India currently feel like the best out of the GoE bunch thanks to the war efforts fixes, sure some paths still feel like dogshit (communist and the EIC) but everything else now feels more solid now. Hope Iran and Iraq get some more fixes now because as of now Iran feels just bland and the only fun paths in Iraq are the Caliphate and Kurdistan.

TIL that if India goes communist you can become ridiculously huge as Afghanistan by puppeting and later annexing the released large Pakistan.

Huh, they're adding coal into the game

Just played this game again for the first time in years
>play japan
>focus on air and naval
>get hung up in china until 41
>attack Philippines 42
>get raped by Americans on the sea
>half my carriers sunk within a year
>didn't sink anything of value on the us side
I could keep going but it's probably gonna be a slow death until well after 45. I need to get used to this game again.

>>2079006
"focusing on navy" is generally a trap in hoi, there's very little in terms of actively investment you can do to make your navy significantly stronger, easier to make sure you got good air and do the best with the resources you get for free (starting stuff + focuses)

>>2082496
Yeah I think I'll try again later. I've tried 2 germany games now. First one I didn't pick the focus to reduce the consumer goods modifier and as a result didn't build up enough industry to build an army. Got hung up in Belgium and quit. Second run I did better, but the game slowed down to a crawl because my CPU started thermal throttling. Waiting for a new cooler to arrive before finishing off the soviets.

these greedy bastards not making gotterdammerung on sale

>>2082496
making up-to-date light ships can be good, but realistically you will be doing 36 tech until the start of the war
the real trap was focusing on air and naval, japan should focus on land (and some CAS since china doesn't have air) at the start to clear up china ASAP to then pivot into full navy and air

>>2066550 (OP)
>Which version should I get?
Final patch to NSB, so that would be 1.11.4
Not a single patch or DLC after than one is worth wasting your time on, and if you were a paypig, you would be paying money to make your game worse. Way, way worse
>Is it a nothingburger like CK2, Vic2 or something actually happens?
WW2 happens 19 out of 20 times, so go figure
>Should I try HoI3 first? In what is different?
4 is 3 for mentally challenged.
If you never played ANY HoI prior, you should start with vanilla 2, either as Germany or Japan. If you learn your ropes with that, advance to either 3 or DH, see how they play for you and stick to the game you find the best of the two. 4 is effectively 3 dumbed down to extreme, with a bunch of neat mechanics that are utterly wasted due to rest of the game being shit.

I would play 3 a lot more if it didn't ctd every 5 minutes.

>>2088245
64bit patch is your friend

>>2066550 (OP)
>2
Baseline learning tool.
While technically there is HoI1, it's a crudely reworked EU2 with a WW2 outer shell grafted to it and it's very clunky to play (don't get me wrong, it's a fine game with few unique features that I still miss, but I would never recommend it as someone's first HoI). So your best bet is vanilla 2 to even get into this game and see how it works
>DH
2.5: Electric Boogaloo.
Originally an extensive improvement mod, eventually a stand-alone thing. You DON'T want to start with it, because you will be lost due to the amount of optons added to baseline 2 (especially research), even if it has also a fuckload of QoL stuff that vanilla 2 sadly misses.
Once you learn how 2 plays, this is a strict improvement to it on all fields, but you MUST start with 2 to both grasp the game easily and also learn to appreciate what DH does with it (since not all features are straight-up upgrades, they merely change how the game operates)
>3
There are two camps to it: people who like its logistic, research and division construction systems - and everyone else. This is a love it or hate it game, and the game outright assumes you came to it as a veteran 2 player that understands all the pre-existing game concepts and mechanics. You will get filtered HARD if you come to it as your first HoI - not due to the game being difficult per se, but due to the amount of the moving blocks in it.
There are two important mods to it:
- HPP, which solves a fuckload of baseline game issues and making it sort of HoI3: HoI2 edition (it makes sense in the context) while also solving bunch of problems 3 had on its own. As far as I'm concerned, it's better to play HPP as your first contact with 3 if you came from 2, than jumping to vanilla 3.
- BlackICE, which is pure, undiluted 3 autism on crack. If you enjoy 3 in vanilla, you will love it. Otherwise, you will get severe lead and mercury poisoning. The only game (mod) where naval combat works, is worthwhile and AI can into it, too

>>2066550 (OP)
>>2088379
>4
If 3 is "love it or hate it", this is "play the most outlandish mods or send pipe bombs to PDX headquarters", especially if you aren't a zoomie who started with 4. This game is such an unique clusterfuck of both brilliant and utterly retarded ideas. It dumbs the shit out of combat, espionage is a DLC-only feature (which you buy to make your game worse), naval combat has a rework every 2 years, research is a joke that makes vanilla 2 research system look ultra-complex by comparison and AI will trip over its own legs almost non-stop. Yet it has a fantastic production system (balanced by the fact logistics didn't even exist in this game for the first 5 years), the ability to fine-tune your divisions is unprecedented and there is a handful of ideas (with poor implementation) for war-time economy that would be really neat in a better game.
It's worth to know this game just to see the amazing clusterfuck and especially the late life DLC mess (this is the stuff for game design textbooks, under "Common and Easily Avoidable Dev Mistakes" chapter), but starting with it is terrible decision and patches from 1.12 onward are effectively the classic "Let's see what we can fuck up next", with no end in sight.

>>2088379
Also, HPP has the best research system of any major mods and vanilla HoI games due to the way how the base currency for your research is handled.
If 2/DH tech-teams could evolve/improve/change at all (in any other way than scripted, pre-defined new tech teams replacing the old ones), it would be a better system, but they can't, so HPP and its expandable leadership pool combined with theoretical and practical of 3 (and their fine-tuning from HPP) is the best resulting option.

>>2066550 (OP)
Just get hoi4. Hoi3 has a better UI but that's it. The AI is worse than it is in 4.
>MTG
Basically mandatory, makes navy playable
>NSB
Very mandatory, otherwise the supply system doesn't work.
>BBA
Semi mandatory. Makes italy fun, plane designer is also fun.
>Gotterdamerung
Special projects are fun but it's mostly flavor stuff. New Germany tree is fun.
>La resistance
Mandatory, collab governments and espionage are very good.

Optional
>AAT
Makes special forces and Finland overpowered.
>South America
Makes the game worse
>Graveyard of empires
Makes the game worse.

>>2094870
>Hoi3
>The AI is worse than it is in 4.

Also
>MTG
>Mandatory for any other reason than fuel
>BBA
>At all and ever
>LR
>Pirating/paying for DLC that makes your game worse in every possible way
Every single fucking DLC that isn't WtT and NSB (and maybe TfV if you play MP as teams, rather than against each other) is making the game worse. Every single one of them. And LR is some of the most underwhelming shit imaginable.

>>2082496
play like CurtWhoGames did

>>2094870
You had me until you suggested using La Resistance as mandatory.
Solid 7/10 bait

>>2088379
>HPP, which solves a fuckload of baseline game issues and making it sort of HoI3: HoI2 edition
Interesting, i greatly enjoyed DH but 3 always bored me, with all the autism and shit, going to reinstall and give it a try. I doubt it could be duller than modern hoi4, with the focus and minigame bloat anyway