Hearts of Iron 2 Doomsday Armageddon By Nathaniel Goddard
Hearts of Iron 2 Doomsday Armageddon is a difficult game to easily criticize. Not only is its concept that of grand strategy it lacks characters, story lines, or really any form of complex gaming systems. However, that being said, graphics would be the thing to improve the most. Second would be sound effects, and third better handling of the diplomacy and intelligence tabs. Paradox Interactive, the developers of HoI2DDA concentrated first and foremost on the concept of a grand strategy game. Everything else was secondary to this notion, including graphics and sound. As a result everything is 2D, units, maps, everything save for the sliders and buttons on the interface. Game play wise I guess that this doesnt matter that much except that it really, really, really looks bad. I cant illiterate this enough, Ive seen computer board games (like Risk!) do better. So the ships turn slightly and the planes fly in little circles over a particular zone, maybe an explosion or two but nothing impressive or even mediocre. If the game wasnt so brilliantly designed into such a unique strategy game I likely would be unable to get over the graphics. That becomes an even more impressive thought due to the fact I abhor not playing games simply because of graphics. If the graphics are bad, the sound is abysmal. Im not entirely sure whom or what was in charge of doing it but it completely doesnt fit. On the opening and loading screens you are given some dramatic classical-jazz fusion. As strange as this sounds it carries and fits well for the moment. What becomes irritating is when you realize that the music doesnt stop, nor does it really change either. Since this is a grand strategy game (and remember no eye candy!) your basically left alone with your plan for world domination and this insanely repetitive and highly agitating music for hours. I understand the need to be dramatic and to add some finesse and variety into the game; in fact, Im totally for it. However using what amounts to be one song, the same song, for all eternity just makes me run into the sound preferences and disable the music. Which doesnt leave me with much of anything else considering there really isnt any other sound besides it. Given the scope of the game and how well everything runs this is more of a mild complaint rather than outright I HATE YOU! However, during the game it is not uncommon to get bombarded with trade deals, at times a dozen or more. Not only is it extremely time consuming to have to click on each one and either accept or deny it, it becomes annoying. This becomes even more so if playing multiplayer where pausing the game is a big no no, and every unnecessary click means less time managing forces and units that really need to be looked after. The intelligence and diplomacy tabs have a slightly different problem although it is along the same lines. The issue here is that to send spies, and influence nations, by far the two most common commands (at least that I use) you have to go in and enter them every single time, and select each country specifically. It gets even more tedious when, after you do it, there is a cool down period, without any sort of automation it gets frustrating, especially when you lose track of the dates/game time. It may not seem like much when several (game) days pass but when
multiplied dozens if not more times, it quickly adds up to months or years of lost game time in spying, sabotage and assassination. The good news is that all of these problems would only require moderate amounts of work to correct. Improving the graphics even slightly would make a substantial difference. Im not asking for incredibly rendered highly detailed work here, or even Command and Conquer Generals. Im talking like, Star craft detail. It goes without saying that if this were to occur the world map itself would have to be altered as well. Im not asking or even expecting miracles here either, just simple terrain mapping that may show major elevation changes or significant terrain changes, such as beaches or cliffs. Units wouldnt even need to fight one another in the dueling action seen in games such as Starcraft, or Command and Conquer, they could keep the same system of movement via arrows. The objective here is not to go overkill (both on the game and the computer processor, remember its a world battleground with over 60 countries!) its to simply add the 3rd dimension into an otherwise 2D world. This doesnt mean the game engine or combat system needs to be retooled as well, this is simply about looks and nothing else. Along with the graphics would be to completely redo the music soundtracks and to add in actual sound effects. The current introduction music works well however the trend cannot continue forever like a monotonous record like it does. It is here where I would mix in rock, electronica, and trance and have them playing in the background. Regardless of the possible style of music all of them would be specifically tailored to be more about constant energy and ambiance rather then outright blast, power, and dynamic, in your face, it must be more subtle then that. Lastly I would add in options on both the diplomacy and intelligent tabs that would allow you to select the country, and then for instance check a box saying allow all trade or ask. For spies it could work something like automatically send spies and automatically influence country and if they were checked you would be charged the amount of money, the cool down period would occur, and then it would repeat the action until you ceased it or something else prevented it (such as running out of money.) The changes to Hearts of Iron 2 Doomsday Armageddon that I propose are intended to keep the fundamental concepts and interfaces the unchanged. The one aspect, which makes this software unique, is how it is structured entirely to be a grand strategy game; any fact that would take away from this is not needed. The annoyance with the diplomacy and intelligence sliders is not a criticism of the designers and developers but a discovery made by playing the game, and making observations. If this minor correction was implemented it not only would reduce the micromanagement the player needed to do but would make multiplayer games considerably less frustrating or nothing more then mouse clicking wars. The changes to the graphics, sound and music are not so radical as to harm the integrity or purpose of the game but serve as an update that would further engage the player. The

idea of being able to see the invasion point with its beaches and hills is so much more thrilling then a simple line on a colored map. The thought of 3D units rather then 2D images will aid in liberating the player from an otherwise mundane world. Together these two evolutions would powerfully shape and influence the game. In the most ideal and perfect sense what would occur is a 3D world where 3D units move in accordance with your commands, and when circumstances warrant battle it out. Combined with a new musical score and powerful sound effects strategies would literally come alive or shatter into bitter defeat before your eyes. Radical thinking? Perhaps, but then again Honda is a radical game that has set the standard for strategy games. At the time of its conception computers were considerably less robust then they are now. With the advent of mighty processors, graphics cards, ram, it would be easy for computers to handle such an evolution and upgrade.

Tutorials

If you select the Tutorial button in the Launch Menu, you can play the HoI2 tutorials. For more details, see the Tutorial section near the end of the manual.

Credits / Exit

Click on the Credits button in the Launch Menu to see a list of the many people involved in the design,
development, production and beta-testing of Hearts of Iron II - Doomsday. The Exit button will quit the game and return you to your Windows desktop.

The General Interface

There are very few parts of the HoI2 interface that are visible at all times. The majority of your screen will contain a display of context-sensitive information that will change depending on the type of action you are taking. There is one area that never changes, located at the top of the screen. This provides a quick reference to some of the most critical pieces of game information and also gives you access to all of the principal interfaces. There are also a few other things that arent directly part of any other interface but have a global impact on the game. Taken together, these are best described as the General Interface.

The Top Bar

This is the area at the very top of the screen that is visible at all times and displays a quick overview of the state of your nation. It also gives you access to each of the main, vitally important, interface screens.

Status Overview

The upper portion of the bar shows a series of icons and values to which you will frequently refer. This allows you to quickly review your reserves of energy, metal, rare materials, oil, supplies and cash. It also displays your manpower pool, national dissent level, and your transport and industrial capacities. Hovering your mouse over any of these will reveal an expanding tooltip that gives you a more detailed summary of that item, particularly your daily income and expenditures. If the daily change is a negative one, then the value will be displayed in red. Each item is described in detail in the relevant section of the manual.

The Folder Tabs

Immediately below the status overview is a set of clickable folder tabs that give you access to the six main HoI2 interface screens, which well later discuss one by one in the manual. Everything displayed below the top bar depends on which of these folders youve selected. View Map: Clicking this folder tab displays the interface that youll use most often: the Main Map Folder. This is used to view the map of the world where youll find details of your provinces, examine and issue orders to your units, deploy new units, and perform most other common in-game actions. Intelligence: This is the Intelligence Folder, where you will recruit new spies, manage their activities, and review whatever intelligence has been collected about other nations armed forces and capabilities. Technology: This is the Technology Folder, where you will assign specialized teams to begin working on research projects, and where you may review already available technologies and their effects. Production: This tab displays the Production Folder, where you control your national budget, initiate the construction of new units and industrial and defensive structures for your provinces, and see a summary of such important things as your current trade agreements, convoys and resource depots. Diplomacy: This tab takes you to the Diplomacy Folder, where you may set your domestic policies, conduct diplomacy with other nations, and view diplomatic and political information about the other nations in the world. Statistics: This folder provides a set of detailed charts and pie charts, allowing you to view summaries of

almost all of the important information about your nation, armed forces, and the rest of the world. There are some very handy redundant interfaces on these pages that allow you to make a number of similar adjustments very rapidly, and many items are hot-linked to allow you to quickly jump to a province or unit on the Main Map without having to search for it or use one of the other methods of locating items.

The Date/Pause Button

The current date and time are displayed in a button at the bottom right of the top bar. The time shown always reflects Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) and, depending on what portion of the map is presently displayed, could be significantly different from the local time. If you click on this button, the game will pause for as long as you wish. Clicking on it again will resume play. You can also press the pause button on your keyboard to pause and resume. Right-clicking on the button will display a menu that allows you to quickly select a new game speed, or to toggle between sprites and counters being displayed in the Main Map folder.
The Game Management Menu Button
Immediately to the right of the date/pause button is a button labelled Menu. Clicking this will bring up the Game Management menu where you may select from several options: Save: Allows you to save your game in its current state. The default file name will be your country, date and time, but you may change this to whatever you like by simply typing in a new name. Once the save is complete, you will be returned to the game. Options: This brings up the in-game options submenu, which is similar to the new game options. Here, you may change the game speed, toggle between sprite icons and counters, change your autosave settings, and adjust your sound effects and music volumes. There is also a box at the bottom of this submenu which allows you to change your message settings. Hints: This turns on the hint boxes that are displayed when the game first launches. Surrender: This ends your current game session (we all have to sleep sometime). Your current game data is lost when you exit, so make sure youve saved first. Return: Returns to the game.

The Land Forces Hot Button
Clicking on this button will display a list of all provinces that currently contain your land forces in the information panel, as well as basic information about the forces stationed there, including the number of divisions, their overall strength and organization, and the portrait of their commanding officer. If an army is presently carrying out orders that you have given it, a summary of the orders will be displayed here, and if it is involved in an attack, the combat icon will appear adjacent to its current strength. You may jump quickly to the province by clicking on the provinces name in the information panel, or you may bring up details about any army by clicking on its name in the listing, also causing the main map to jump directly to that province.
The Air Forces Hot Button
Click this hot button to display summary information about your air forces. Each of your provinces containing an air base will be listed here. To the right of the bases name are two values: the overall size of the base and its current operational size. If an air base has been attacked by enemy bombers, the operational size may be less than the base size. As long as you devote IC to reinforcements, the base will gradually be repaired and will become fully operational once more. There is no restriction to the number of air
wings that may be stationed at a base, but if this number exceeds the bases current operational size, the rate that units regain organisation, are repaired, or are upgraded will decrease. It is possible to base your air wings in an allys air base, although you are subject to the same size restrictions, at which point the allys province will also appear in this listing. Your air units will be listed immediately below their current base assignment. You will see a units current mission and location (which may be different than its base if it is flying at the time that you review the information) as well as its leader, strength and organisation. This panel can also be used to quickly issue new orders to your air forces by clicking the order box in the lower right corner of the units listing and issuing new orders. Click on a squadrons name to jump to its location on the map and to review detailed information about its composition.
The Naval Forces Hot Button
The Naval Forces hot button is very similar to the Air Forces hot button. Clicking it will bring up a complete listing of your naval bases and the various units that have been assigned to each. The base size and current operational status are shown beside the name of the port; note that naval bases are subject to aerial attack. Naval units are listed below their base, along with a summary of their current location, orders, commanding officer, strength and organisation. Clicking on a unit will center it on the map, and the information panel will display more detailed information about its components. Just as with the Air Forces hot button, you may quickly issue new orders to your naval units from this panel.

Research Projects

Selecting and Assigning a Project
Across the top of the screen (area 2) are a set of buttons listing the various general categories of technology in HoI2. Each category has many individual projects, each of which has its own set of component advances. When you click on one of the category buttons, the main section of the folder (area 3) will display a colourcoded flowchart of all of the projects that are part of that category. A dark green entry indicates that you have already completed this project; light green indicates that you have all the prerequisite advances necessary to begin researching the project; yellow indicates that a team has already begun work on the project; and red indicates that you lack some of the prerequisite accomplishments to begin research. The arrows in the flow chart indicate the prerequisites for each project, making it easy to see what steps must be taken if you are looking far into your research future. The various secret weapons fields are a special case. There are prerequisites in other categories that must first be completed, and at some time shortly thereafter a special event will fire that will unlock one or more secret weapon projects. Until the event has triggered, you will not be able to begin research on that project even if you satisfy the technological requirements. Clicking on any one of the projects will display the Project Details (area 4) and its component advances. Each component will have a difficulty rating and a specified field that is the primary discipline that relates to the component. The overall project completion time will be reduced for each of the assigned teams areas of expertise that correspond to one of the components primary fields, but a higher difficulty rating makes for a longer research schedule for that component. You will also see a list of the benefits you may expect upon completion of the project. The effects will vary significantly from project to project. Some improve an aspect of your economy; others will increase the abilities of your military; and others will make new or improved units available to you that a less advanced nation will not be able to use. Each project has one other factor that can play a role in determining how long it will take to research: the historical year that it appeared. This reflects the need for other sub-components that arent directly included in the technology trees multitude of components but nevertheless played a historical role in making scientific advances in this area possible. If you begin researching a project before its historical time period, it will take longer to complete since your team will need to spend additional time inventing those hypothetical subcomponents. Highly complex or advanced projects may be very difficult and time-consuming to complete, and it is

Automating Convoy Management
If all of this sounds just a little bit too complex and overwhelming, youll be very happy to know that you can delegate almost all aspects of convoy management using the three buttons that appear at the bottom of both the Convoy Management and Convoy Details interfaces. You may elect to have your unseen assistants establish and remove resource convoys automatically for you as required. You may also have them do the same for your supply convoys, and you may ask them to maintain the routes by assigning new transports and escorts as they become available. If you automate convoy management you will still be responsible for ensuring that there are a sufficient number of convoy and escort vessels for the assistants to work with, and for assigning priorities to each of the routes.

Resource Depots

The lower right portion of the Production Folder is a scrollable listing of all the resource depots that you currently have throughout the world. Depots will exist for one of three reasons: either it is your nations capital; you have natural resources being extracted from provinces in that region but there is no direct land link to your capital, so they are being stockpiled locally to await convoy transport to your capital; or a depot has been established to act as a supply dump of oil and supplies for your troops in that region. I mentioned above that you can use air transports to supply your armed forces, although this is very costly and inefficient so it should only be done in case of emergency. This is an air mission (described in detail in the Air Combat section) and does not appear in the convoy listing, but the depot of supplies and oil that you establish by doing this will appear in the depot listing. The first depot in the list will always be your national capital and will reflect the same resource stockpiles that are reported in the Top Bar and National Resources summary. All natural resources listed as being located at one of your other depots are not included in the National and Top Bar values and will not be available to your factories for use until they are shipped via convoy to your capital. Generally, you will wish to move all natural resources from your depots to your capital as soon as possible to avoid risking their capture and to make them available to industry or international trade. In the case of a depot that is also supplying your armed forces, you will probably want to leave some oil behind and ship some supplies to it.

The Chief of the Navy

The Chief of the Navy directs the overall activities of a nations maritime forces. He, too, will tend to prefer a specific doctrine that may have decisive benefits and may favour one type of vessel over all others.
The Chief of the Air Force
Like his army and navy counterparts, the Chief of the Air Force will subscribe to a doctrine that may give some of your aerial units advantages in certain types of missions.
Other Nations Domestic Policies and Ministers
There is a tendency among newer players to pay very little attention to the policies and cabinets of other countries. While it is arguably not particularly vital to review the domestic situation of smaller, more remote nations with whom you will rarely come into contact, it can be a serious oversight to ignore the capabilities of an enemy. You should evaluate a foes strengths and weaknesses, seeking to take advantage where you can and perhaps even to tailor your own domestic affairs to either counter or exploit them.
Dissent is a global effect in your nation and can be thought of as a barometer of overall public satisfaction. It affects all provinces equally, be they national, owned or occupied, and it is displayed in the Top Bar at all times. There are two direct and important effects of allowing your nations dissent levels to rise: you will suffer decreased performance from your armed forces, and you will increase the likelihood of civil disobedience. As far as your public is concerned, the most unsettling action you can take is to plunge your nation into war without cause or provocation. In some cases, your type of government and your domestic policies will prevent you from going to war at all, but in those instances where you are permitted to make a declaration and choose to do so, some portion of your public will object to this action, causing a sudden rise in dissent. The amount of this increase will depend entirely on your reasons for going to war and are also modified by your domestic policies. If you are declaring war simply to satisfy your territorial ambitions or for the sheer fun of waging war, your public will take a very dim view of it. If you declare war as a result of a casus belli - a just cause - then your public will be far more understanding. A casus belli may result from another nation having control of one of your national provinces as displayed on the diplomacy mapmode. If you guarantee the independence of a nation and then declare war on a third party that attacks it, your public will be quite supportive and you will receive no increase in dissent. Dissent will also fail to rise if you find yourself at war as a result of one of your allies declaring war, or due to a nation declaring war on you or a member of an alliance to which you belong. Increases in dissent can also occur when you cancel a non-aggression treaty with another nation, when you

be sent to that nation. When you receive a diplomatic message that requires a response, usually a trade offer, you will have a limited period of time to respond before it becomes invalid and disappears from your screen. The following are the various diplomatic options that may be available to you:

Offer Trade Agreement

There are two different types of trades that can be arranged between two nations: a trade agreement and a trade negotiation. Trade negotiations are one-time transactions that may involve a very wide range of items, while trade agreements are open-ended deals that involve an ongoing daily exchange of resources. There is a small cost required to propose a trade agreement. When you click on the offer trade agreement option, a secondary interface appears. Each of the resources, including supplies and cash, will be represented by a slider on the interface. There will be maximum end points set for each slider, limiting what you may request or offer. These endpoints are based on the daily rate of change of each of the resources displayed on the right side for your nation and on the left side for the nation with which you are negotiating. If you have no daily increase of a resource, then you will not be able to offer that item regardless of your stockpiles, and if the target nation has no daily increase of an item, you will not be able to request it. The exception to this is that you may offer more than your own daily rate of change of money or supplies if you currently have stockpiles of those items, but you cannot request them regardless of that nations stockpiles. You can check the resources that a nation might be interested in bartering before you open the interface by looking at the small resource icons adjacent to the countrys name in the diplomatic list. An icon will indicate a daily surplus of a resource and means that you might be able to barter for it (reminder: these icons are updated at midnight each day and will not appear until the first game day has elapsed). To set the terms of the proposed trade agreement, simply adjust the sliders to indicate the resources you would like to exchange. You can do this by dragging the bar with your mouse, or by using the + and - buttons at either end of the slider. Clicking on a button while holding down the Shift or Ctrl keys will adjust the values in greater increments; and right-clicking the slider will reset it to zero. Shifting a slider to the left of the mid-point indicates that you are offering that resource, while shifting it to the right means that you are asking for that resource in return. Once you are satisfied with the deal, click the OK button to send the offer. There is a numeric display near the bottom of the interface that indicates the chance that the nation will accept your proposal, but the accuracy of this value will depend somewhat on your minister of intelligences reports and on your foreign ministers persuasiveness. It is also affected by your belligerence value and by the relationship between your two nations, and is further modified by both nations domestic policies. Dont be too shocked if a nation declines a trade in spite of a 100% acceptance probability, and its similarly possible that a nation might agree to an offer even though the chance seems slim. If a trade agreement is accepted, the exchange of goods will begin the next day and will continue until one of the two nations decides to cancel the deal or is no longer able to supply that resource. However, there is a trade efficiency factor that will modify the actual amounts that each nation receives. The efficiency reflects the small losses in goods that may occur naturally if they must travel great distances, representing possible

Combat - The Art Of War

We now (finally!) come to the part of the manual that deals with combat, a section that is designed to familiarise you with the various combat interfaces and to introduce you to some basic strategies that are likely to be successful in your games. Beyond the odd one-on-one struggle that may occasionally occur, combat is one of the most complex systems of the game and can have the most far-reaching effects. If you approach it from the Oh, theres an enemy forceIll attack it! standpoint without taking any other factors into consideration, you are very likely to lose not only the battle but also the entire war. Instead, you must consider variables such as terrain, weather, supply, leadership and the operational capabilities of your forces if you are to achieve any lasting success. This shouldnt come as a surprise since this is a grand strategy game, but it will probably take some time for you to gain a full understanding of combats intricaciesand quite a bit more to become a master of the art of war. I will assume for this entire section that you are familiar with the contents of the previous sections of the manual, thus allowing me to avoid redundant descriptions or being forced to go off on tangents. You will notice that I avoid giving detailed unit descriptions in this section. This is due in part to space limitations but is largely because the characteristics of each unit will change many times during the game to reflect the modifiers that new technological advances will give you. An overview of the basic details can be found in the military subfolders of the Statistics Folder, and a more thorough description is included in the unit specifications in the Production Orders interface. For individual units, though, the most detailed information is shown in the Unit Details interface. The big advantage of using in-game information is that it reflects the actual statistics of your units, including any modifiers. The effectiveness of most armed forces relies on the real-life principle of a chain of command, and since you cant be expected to issue orders to every single NCO in your army in every single theatre of war, HoI2 implements a command structure to help you. As weve already seen in the Diplomacy section of the manual, you will have a national Chief of Staff and three subordinates: the Chief of the Army, the Chief of the Air Force, and the Chief of the Navy. For human-controlled nations, these individuals will sit quietly behind the scenes and allow you to issue your own orders, their primary function being limited to giving you a few select bonuses to certain military areas, although you could think of them as being the ones who relay your orders to the troops and see to their supply. Your role as a player is to wear the multiple hats of the combined Joint Chiefs of Staff and issue orders to your army, navy and air force. Each of these branches of the armed forces uses a slightly different set of rules, and so to avoid introducing too much confusion we will examine each one in somewhat isolated detail before we combine them again. As you read, it is worth keeping in the back of your mind that your eventual success will probably depend on using a combination of at least two - and occasionally all three - branches when you are planning your attacks. Well begin by looking at your land forces, since they are the units over which you have the greatest degree of control and they are the only units that are capable of conquering a province. Once weve thoroughly explored their various interfaces and controls, well move on to the differences and similarities of the interfaces that you will encounter and use to control your air forces and navies.

replenish to 100% as long as you allocate some of your IC to reinforcements. If the strength ever drops to 0%, the division will be destroyed. As a divisions strength is reduced, the amount of damage it will inflict on an enemy is also reduced by a corresponding amount. Regardless of how fantastic its other combat values might be, a unit that is near destruction will contribute very little to a battle. Organisation: This is the divisions level of organisation, reflecting its internal command structure, intrinsic cohesiveness, and readiness to fight. There are two numbers displayed: the current organisation and the maximum organisation of the unit. Although expressed as a percentage value, it might be more appropriate to think of it as a capped index value instead. Early in the game, the maximum achievable organisation level of a division will rarely exceed much more than 40% or 50%, but you will be able to reach much higher levels as your technology advances. Domestic policies and your Chief of Staff and Chief of the Army may further increase a divisions cap, even allowing it to exceed the 100% mark. Organisation may be lost as a result of bombardment, prolonged movement (particularly in poor terrain), and during combat. It will also plummet if your troops are out of supply and will be fairly low when divisions are first deployed and when they are strategically redeployed over great distances. If organisation drops below 5%, the division will lose its ability to fight and will try to withdraw. Organisation is regained when a division is in supply and remains stationary and out of combat for a period of time. The infrastructure of a province, which affects the efficiency of supply, and the morale of a division will also have an effect on the rate of regain or loss. Morale: Each division has a morale value that represents its willingness to persevere in the face of adversity and is similar in almost all respects to organisation. It, too, will rarely approach or even exceed 100% until very late in the game, when a divisions experience and your nations technology will boost the maximum level that a division may attain. As long as a division is in supply, high morale will allow it to perform better in combat, reduces the rate at which it loses organisation during combat, and increases the rate at which organisation is regained. Morale is slowly lost during combats and will drop rapidly if a division is out of supply. Once it approaches or drops below 30%, it will actually cause the rate of organisation loss to accelerate. Should morale reach 0%, your division will break and run in utter disarray. Softness: Each division has a hard and soft component to its strength. The hard portion is its armour (tanks, trucks, machinery, etc.) while the soft component is its personnel. The softness value indicates the percentage of a divisions makeup that is considered as a soft target. This has a significant effect on the types and degree of damage that different types of enemy units will inflict during combat. An infantry division will usually have a softness value of nearly 100%, while a tank division has a far lower value, probably around 30%. Hard Attack: Ill describe the specific meaning of attack and defence values in detail when we look at the actual mechanics of combat, but roughly speaking, this value indicates the attack power of the division when engaging an enemy division that has a fairly large hard component (i.e. a low softness value). The higher the attack number, the more likely it is that it will inflict some damage to a hard target such as a tank division. Soft Attack: This value indicates the general attack power of the division when engaging soft targets. A high number here indicates that it probably do well against divisions that have a high softness component, such as infantry divisions. Air Attack: When a division is attacked by aerial units, it may have the ability to fight back and inflict some damage. The air attack value indicates how well it is able to do this and will be fairly good if the division has an anti-air brigade attached. D efensiveness: The divisions defensive capabilities are divided into two components: defensiveness and toughness. The defensiveness value is used when a division is defending a province against an attack initiated by an enemy. Roughly speaking, the higher the value, the better the division will be at withstanding

Initiating Basic Land Combat
All land battles in HoI2 involve two sides - an attacker and a defender. Combat is initiated whenever a field command is ordered to move into an adjacent province that contains an enemy field command. The defender is always the force that occupies the province and is attempting to hold it; the attacker is always the force that is attempting to capture the province. When you order a field command to move into an undefended enemycontrolled province, there will be no combat and a movement arrow will appear. The arrow will be red to indicate that the command is moving to occupy an enemy province. Whenever the target province is defended, right-clicking on a it will automatically display the Orders interface, so there is no need to hold down the Ctrl key as you do so, though it isnt a bad habit to use the Ctrl key anyway just to get into the habit for other situations where it may be necessary. The Orders interface will list all context-sensitive orders that the field command is able to perform, and the attack option will be pre-selected. The interface will also indicate the date and time that the attack is to begin, and will typically indicate the current date and time. This wont always be the case because the game tracks your recent orders, and if it seems appropriate, the default time will be set to coincide with the others. It might take a little getting used to but this feature is an incredible timesaver, and the default attack time can easily be overridden by adjusting the values using the + and - buttons. To simply go ahead and launch the attack, click the OK button. The Orders interface will close and the field commands orders panel will be updated to reflect its new mission. If the attack is to begin immediately, the red movement arrow will also appear on the map if the unit is still selected. If you have set a delay on the timing, the arrow will not appear until the attack actually begins. As soon as the combat begins, a variety of game interfaces will also be updated to reflect the fact that a battle is taking place. In any interface where the field command is listed (i.e. if you click on the Land Forces Hot Button), you will see a small red battle symbol at the right edge of the display. If you click the Province Hot Button, you will see the same symbol beside the province name. This same symbol also appears in the border type display of the Province Details information panel. Depending on your current message settings, you may get a pop-up message box to inform you that battle has been joined. The easiest way to view battle locations is to click on the Active Combats Hot Button which will display the combat quick view (see below) for any battle or provincial occupation that is currently underway.

Timing Your Attack

other province and thus, for the purposes of the attack and defence effectiveness values in the attack, he is overstacked and one of the divisions will receive a 75% penalty. However, since each individual commander is within his command limit, any traits and skill bonuses that they have will be applied to the divisions that they command directly. If they are defending against an attack, their ratings are combined and they would not be overstacked. If we take a similar situation but suppose that, in this instance, the lieutenant general has 2 divisions and the major general also has 2 divisions, things get messy. If they are attacking, the lieutenant general commands the entire force and will be overstacked, and one division will receive a -75% penalty. Further, neither of the major generals divisions would receive his skill or trait modifiers because he is personally overstacked,. The lieutenant general is not personally overstacked, however, so his two divisions would benefit from his traits and skill. If they are defending, their ratings are combined and the 75% overstacking penalty would be removed since they can jointly command 4 divisions. However, since the major general is personally overstacked, neither of his two divisions would benefit from either his skill or is traits. In that instance, the one division that is being handled by the lieutenant general (for overstacking purposes) would not benefit from the lieutenant generals skill or traits either. As you can see, the best rule of thumb is to never overstack an officer!
Envelopment and Multiple-Front Attacks
One of the most effective tactics that can be employed by an attacking force is to launch their attack from several different provinces against the same target. This is for two very important reasons: the defender will suffer an attack and defence effectiveness envelopment modifier, and the attacking leaders may stack their division limits to bring a much larger number of divisions to bear against the enemy. When a province is attacked across more than two borders, the defending forces will receive a 10% envelopment penalty for each extra angle of attack. For example, if you can attack a single enemy province from four different adjacent provinces, that enemy will receive a 20% envelopment penalty to his attack effectiveness and his defence effectiveness. If you have paratrooper divisions, you may also use them for vertical envelopment, meaning that this airborne invasion is treated as a separate angle of attack for the purposes of determining an envelopment penalty. Also keep in mind that while paratroopers are not nearly as effective in combat as some forces, they are also not subject to any penalties from defensive fortifications. A naval invasion force also counts as an angle of attack, although they are subject to penalties if the province contains coastal fortifications. The other benefit is that each provinces attacking force is handled separately for the purposes of determining overstacking. If two generals were to attack from the same province, they would be able to use only one of those generals command ratings and could only attack with nine divisions before incurring an overstacking penalty. If those same two generals attacked from two different provinces, they are not considered to be combined so each of them could command nine divisions in the attack, enabling a total force of 18 divisions to participate without penalty. Be careful, though. This doesnt let them stack their ratings to eliminate a penalty. For example: If a general with five divisions and major general with two divisions attack from the same province, there would be no overstacking penalty applied to the major generals extra division because the rating of the overall commander of the attack is used for determining that penalty, although neither of the major generals divisions would receive his skill bonus or trait bonuses. If those same two officers attacked from different provinces, the general is no longer able to take command of the major generals extra division. As a result, the major generals two divisions would forfeit his skill and trait bonuses and one of them would also receive the 75% penalty for overstacking. It is fairly easy to overlook such an error because the leadership summary at the top of the Combat Details will display the sum of those two commanders ratings. In the above example, having the general and major

Interdiction Mission

This order is very similar to the ground attack, although its primary objective is to disrupt the enemys organisation rather than to inflict casualties. This is also an area-based attack that is suited to squadrons that contain a large number of tactical and close air support wings.

Naval Strike Mission

This order instructs your squadron to patrol an area of water and to attack any enemy vessels it can spot. As you would expect, it is the wings naval attack values that are used for this type of mission, so torpedo planes are the optimum group to handle this assignment.

Port Strike Mission

This is an order that can be given to any wing that has either a naval attack value or a strategic attack value, who will then strike a port or naval base that you specify. Torpedo planes or any other wing with a naval attack value will attempt to sink any vessels that are currently in that harbour, thus using the naval attack value of the wings. Units with strategic attack values - usually the larger bombers - will target a naval bases facilities if the port contains a naval base but will not attack the naval vessels. If a wing has both a naval attack and a strategic attack value, the type of target will be determined randomly for each shot.

Bomb Convoys Mission

This is an aerial version of the naval convoy raiding order. Your naval bombers will patrol an area of the ocean and attack any enemy convoys that are traversing the area, therefore using naval attack values. While these will not be visible as battles on the screen, the convoys will be persistently targeted, thereby reducing the enemys supply efficiency and trade efficiency. Your torpedo planes will gradually sustain some damage if the convoys are supported by escorts, so you may need to periodically reinforce a squadron that is conducting these raids over an extended period of time.
Strategic Bombardment Mission
As its name suggests, this mission is usually assigned to strategic bombers. Your bombers will be given the assignment of trying to damage enemy infrastructure and factories within the targeted area, although enemy AA batteries may take their toll on your planes, and enemy fighters may be on the lookout for you. Any wing in the squadron that has no strategic attack value will not participate in the attack and will instead act as escorts against enemy fighters.
Logistical Strike Mission
This is a second type of strategic bombing sortie. The goal of this mission is to directly affect the supply efficiency of any enemy troops stationed in the area that is targeted. The specific provinces that are attacked are based on a priority selection system similar to the one used by your tactical bombers. As was the case with strategic bombardment, any wing without a strategic attack value will perform the function of escort for your bombers.

Runway Cratering Mission

The Air Force Used Indirectly
Just because aerial attacks on convoys dont result in exciting battle screens does not mean that you should overlook their potential role in disrupting enemy supply and trade efficiency. A large-scale campaign can nearly halt the flow of vital natural resources or make it very difficult to get fresh food and fuel to remote forces. This indirect approach to inflicting damage can reap great rewards if it is maintained relentlessly over extended periods of time. Although air supply is horribly expensive and inefficient, it may be able to make the difference between a force being able to hold out long enough for land forces to break through in relief, and watching entire divisions being obliterated before your eyes. Dont rely on this technique, but dont overlook it either.

The Air Force on Defence

Given the above points, it should be obvious that losing control of the skies can have a devastating effect. It will reduce your ability to soften up the enemy, thus making all of your land battles much longer and more costly affairs, but will also expose you to a wide range of potentially crippling blows to your industry and supply. There is a temptation to deploy all of your fighters near the front lines, but you should consider saving some for the less glorious role of protecting your provincial assets from an enemys long range bomber attacks.
Flying Bombs and Rocket Bombs
Flying bombs and rocket bombs are treated as single-use air wings. These unmanned arsenals can deliver a large amount of damage to any strategic target in a province. They are not immune to interception or AA batteries, but it is rare that one may be utterly destroyed before it is able to deliver at least a partial blow to a target. When you are ready to use one, simply select the unit and target it exactly the same way that you would target any other air mission. Since they only have a strategic attack value, you will see an abbreviated list of relevant missions. Select the mission you want and click OK to confirm the order. The unit will then fly to its target and conduct its attack; note that you are not able to change the orders once the mission has begun. After the attack, the bomb will be removed from your arsenal and the map, so if these weapons are part of your intended ongoing strategy, you will need to order a steady stream of production. The other distinction of this type of unit is that once it has been deployed on the map, you must use the strategic redeployment order to move it to a different location, rather than the rebase order.