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.

Preparation and Support of the Military
There are many components that must fall into place for a campaign to be successful. Armed forces must have access to a continuous flow of supplies and ammunition if they are to remain in fighting form, and they will need strong and capable leaders who are able to command them effectively while maintaining an overall level of discipline and organisation. Factors such as terrain, weather, and the placement of defensive structures will greatly influence their performance, as will their previous experience in such combat situations.
Supply, Outfitting and Transport Capacity
Your ability to supply, outfit and transport your troops will be vital to your military success. Armies require ammunition and food (supplies) to fight. Motorized vehicles, aircraft and naval vessels will also need fuel (oil) if they are to remain operational. For overseas engagements, you will also need to be able to move men and equipment great distances that are too far or impossible to reach by normal means. Failure to supply your forces will not only result in a reduction of their operational capabilities but will also increase your level of public dissent You will need to heed and maintain your supply chains to avoid having your armies end up in disarray and unable to fight. Supplies are manufactured by allocating IC to their production and then are transported to your forces along your supply chains. This can involve ground supply (using your provincial infrastructure), naval supply (via convoys), air supply (via your airborne transports), or a combination of these, all of which can also be disrupted by enemy actions. If your supply chains are damaged or cut by the enemy, or if you lack sufficient
oil and supplies for your military, your chances of survival are exceedingly slim. There is also the issue of transport capacity to consider. This reflects the infrastructure such as roads, railways and such that are in place to move large volumes of materials and men in a reasonable period of time. Each province has an infrastructure level which you can increase that will limit this volume and can be damaged or otherwise diminished by enemy aerial bombardment. Sea supply demands that you devote enough convoys to the task and have an available port to offload those supplies. If those convoys are left undefended, they can quickly fall prey to enemy submarines, surface vessels and even aerial bombardment, so you will need to provide escorts or other protection for them as well. Airborne supply tends to be very tricky and not particularly efficient because the capacity of the aircraft is limited, they require fuel to operate, and unless you assign them some protection, your enemys fighters will probably shoot them out of the skies faster than you can replace them. Nevertheless, this is a method of keeping your troops alive until you can find an alternate means of getting resources to them. Dont be surprised to find an enemy actively engaged in disrupting your supply, particularly if he enjoys naval or aerial supremacy. Of course, you can employ similar tactics, disrupting his supply and encircling his troops to devastating effect.

Organisation and Entrenchment
Land forces that are constantly moving dont have much time to prepare themselves against an enemy attack and have a tendency to become somewhat stretched out or disorganised. The same is true of armies that are constantly subjected to naval barrages or aerial bombardment. HoI2 models this aspect of war using the concepts of organisation and entrenchment. Organisation is a measure of the cohesiveness of a force, which is a representation of how able it is to receive and respond to orders, how well it is supplied, how competently and thoroughly its command structure has been established, and is also an indicator of its general morale. Each of your units, be they land, naval or air, must have a sufficient level of organisation to engage in battle, and without it they will break and retreat in disarray. A force that is engaged in combat will begin to lose organisation, and the longer it continues to fight, the greater the loss will be. The addition of new recruits to replace casualties will also reduce organisation proportionally to the number of newcomers added, and if a unit finds itself without a source of supply, then organisation will plummet rapidly. While moving, a units organisation will usually remain static unless the terrain it is traveling through cannot support the size of the force, or if it is moving without supply. If it ceases its movement and avoids battle for a while, then its organisation will gradually recover. The maximum organisation is determined by its leadership and experience (see below) and can also be increased through the research of various combat doctrines and equipment advances. A land unit that is stationary for a time will also begin to entrench itself in a province by selecting the most defensible ground, preparing foxholes and snipers nests, establishing command and aid stations, organising munitions, and so on. This will give the unit a bonus in any subsequent defence of that province and can make it difficult to overcome without a concerted effort on the part of an attacker. The longer a force remains in place, the more dug in it will become. However, this entrenchment bonus is immediately lost if the unit moves, and even if it later returns to the province, it must begin the process from scratch.
Command, Leadership and Experience

Provincial Assets

The area immediately below the provinces picture provides detailed information about each of its assets, such as its natural resources, industrial conditions (factories, infrastructure and partisanship), its defences, and any other provincial improvements that have been built there. These are described in detail elsewhere, so you may encounter some terms here that you are unfamiliar with, and may need to refer back to after you have read the other sections. If the province you are viewing is currently controlled by your nation, then several of the areas will be shaded grey and act as Quick Build buttons to allow you to initiate the construction of these items in the province. All province assets may be built using the right-click province menu as well. For province infrastructure, factories, land fortifications and naval fortifications, these are the only two ways to initiate their production. Other assets are built by placing a Production Order for them. This is described in detail in the Production Folder section. Manpower: This indicates the manpower that this province contributes to its controlling nations national manpower pool. Manpower is needed for recruiting and reinforcing your armed forces, although it may only be drawn from core national provinces and not from owned or occupied territories. Industrial Capacity (Factories): This is the number of factories that have been built in this province, each of which provides industrial capacity for the controlling nation. New factories may only be built in
a province that has infrastructure over 33%. Anti-Aircraft Batteries: This is a province defence that will fire upon any enemy aircraft that venture into the province and do not need to be manned to be operational. This icon will also be visible in the main map, as long as there is at least one AA battery present in the province. This is the only asset that may be built using all three ordering methods. Land Fortifications: This is a defensive structure that helps land forces repel enemy attacks that are launched from adjacent provinces. Its size determines how effective a defence it is, but the fortifications must be manned by land divisions and will not assist forces against sea invasions or paratrooper attacks. As long as at least one fort is present, this icon is also displayed on the Main Map. Coastal Fortifications: Similar to land fortifications, this is a defensive structure that helps land forces repel an invasion that is launched from the sea. It must be manned to be effective, and it will not provide assistance against attacks launched from a neighbouring province or paratrooper attacks. A matching icon will appear on the Main Map, as long as there is at least a level one fortification. Metal: The amount of metal drawn from the province on a daily basis. This amount may be increased by researching appropriate industrial technologies and will either be placed in the nearest resource depot or, if a land supply route can be traced from this province to your capital, in your national stockpile. Metal is needed by your factories to generate IC. Energy: The amount of energy drawn from the province on a daily basis. This amount may be also increased by researching the appropriate technologies and will either be placed in the nearest resource depot or, if possible, in your national stockpile. Energy is essential to keep your factories operational and may be converted into oil if necessary. Oil: This is the amount of oil drawn from the province on a daily basis. It may be increased by researching appropriate industrial technologies and will either be placed in the nearest resource depot or, if a land supply route can be traced from this province to your capital, in your national stockpile. Oil is vital, as it is consumed as fuel by many units in your military. If you run short of oil, energy may be converted into oil, though the conversion rates may be poor until you have achieve a high technological level. The amount that you may convert on a daily basis is limited to a percentage of your national industrial capacity. Rare Materials: The amount of rare materials drawn from the province on a daily basis. As with the other resources, this amount can be increased with appropriate technologies and will either be placed in the nearest resource depot or, if possible, in your national stockpile. Your factories need a modest amount of this resource to remain operational. Infrastructure: The roads, railways and other infrastructure in a province. Unless this value is 33% or higher, you will not be able to construct factories here and the more infrastructure present, the faster some provincial assets may be built. Infrastructure has a very large effect on the supply efficiency and movement rate of troops located in a province and insufficient levels achieved through poor planning or destruction by enemy bombing campaigns can have devastating results. Partisan Activity: This is the amount of partisan activity in the province. Partisans will actively seek to hamper your industry and supply in non-national territories and may even rise in revolt if the opportunity arises. You will need to assign forces to anti-partisan duties to suppress their resistance efforts; garrisons and MPs are particularly good at this. Air Base: All air units must have a base of operations. The number of individual wings that may be stationed in a province without penalty is determined by the operational size of the base, which may be

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

Supplies

Supplies arent a natural resource that you will find lying around in a province. Instead, these are manufactured by allocating IC to the production of basic allotments of food and ammunition that your military forces will need to survive. Each unit has different requirements, which can be seen by referring to the unit details supply consumption rate, and failure to meet these needs will result in very poor organisation values, plummeting morale, and a high rate of attrition. Also, your domestic population will become upset if you are failing to supply your forces, resulting in an increase in dissent. Although the details are presented later in the manual, Ill remind you here that simply having supplies does not ensure that they will reach your troops. You will need to establish supply chains for that purpose and have sufficient transport capacity and infrastructure to ship goods along them. Unlike fuel, supplies are always consumed at their full daily rate.
This is cold hard cashand it doesnt grow on trees. Fortunately, there are several ways of increasing your cash reserves. Any IC allocated to the manufacture of consumer goods will generate some amount of money, and excess allocations are treated as a surplus and converted directly into cash. You may also receive money as part of a diplomatic transaction when you negotiate either a one-time exchange or a trade agreement.
Moneys three most crucial functions in your nation are to finance projects for your research teams, to hire spies and pay for their missions, and for the multitude of diplomatic actions that have a cash cost associated with them. Money may also be used during negotiations with other nations to purchase raw materials or supplies. If you have no national cash reserve, your technological progress will grind to a halt and there will be many common intelligence operations and diplomatic options that you wont be able to initiate.

Manpower

Manpower is a resource that is treated somewhat differently than the others. Reviewing the main map while using the economic mapmode filter will display a variety of provinces that have a large enough population to contribute manpower to your national pool on a daily basis. They will continue to do so until the maximum size of the pool has been reached, with the pool also being based on the total manpower values of your provinces. At that point, your national pool will remain constant until you draw from it either for the production of new armed forces units or for reinforcements to replenish casualties due to combat or attrition.

IC SLIDER LOCK

You can lock an IC allocation slider to prevent it from moving when you adjust other sliders. Right-click or double-click on a slider to lock it, and do so again to unlock it

Consumer Goods

You will need to allocate some of your industrial capacity to the manufacture of consumer goods - the various basic commodities that your population consumes on a daily basis - and you should expect your public to become quite upset if you fail to provide for their needs. While their demands will vary depending on your domestic policies, your cabinet ministers, and whether youre at war or not, failing to allocate sufficient IC to this area will cause national dissent to rise. Dissent will reduce the performance of your military and at higher levels it makes your nation more susceptible to foreign coup attempts and may even lead to open rebellion in your provinces. If you allocate excess IC to consumer goods, your national dissent will gradually diminish. Allocations to this slider also generate cash revenue. You will need that money to fund your research projects and for many of your diplomatic and intelligence activities, so some excess allocation may be needed unless you are selling resources to another nation and earning enough money that way.

Production

The production slider is used to allocate IC towards the manufacture of the orders in your Production Queue. Allocation shortfalls will result in low priority orders being placed on hold until new IC becomes available and could result in the loss of the gearing bonus for an order. Excess allocation of IC to production is ignored and is displayed in the summary as unused IC. Remember: unused IC does not consume resources, so this is an excellent means of conserving those valuable resources until you need them and for guarding against unexpected fluctuations that may result from enemy bombing campaigns against your industrial base.
As mentioned earlier, it is vital to ensure that you are supplying your military with a daily allotment of food and ammunition. This is withdrawn from your national stockpile of supplies and sent out to them along your supply chains. You can trade for supplies with other nations, but it is usually far more efficient to allocate IC to their manufacture. Whatever quantities you manufacture will be added to your national stockpile at a rate

If you arent part of an alliance and wish to become a member of one, then you may petition the alliance leader to allow you to join by selecting the join alliance option. This is a relatively inexpensive option and the leaders response is determined by the same set of preferences as has already been mentioned. If you arent sure who the alliance leader is, you can select any member of the alliance and then hover your mouse over the join alliance option. If the selected member isnt the leader, you will see a tooltip that indicates that you cant ask this nation and identifies the alliance leader. Alliances are very tight international bonds. Allies will share all of their territorial and armed forces information with one another, removing the fog of war over those provinces for all member nations. They also share all of the intelligence data gathered by their respective spies. If a member of an alliance declares war or is the recipient of a declaration of war, then the entire alliance immediately becomes involved in the conflict. Alliance members grant unconditional military access to one another. They will also provide supply for each others forces as required and will allow navies and squadrons to make free use of their bases. Once an alliance is involved in a war, no member may leave that alliance until it has concluded a peace treaty with the enemy and is no longer involved in the war. Be cautious when joining an alliance or adding new members to it after it has been created. Only the alliance leader can ban a member nation from an alliance and may only do so when the alliance is at peace. A particularly aggressive alliance can also be a threat to you since all member nations are penalised equally with the belligerence cost of declaring war. An alliance leader may decide to leave the alliance if he wishes (see below), at which point a new leader is chosen from among the remaining alliance members. Similarly, if an alliance leader is annexed, a new leader will be appointed from the survivors. Alliance leaders always conduct peace treaties on behalf of the entire alliance, except for their own annexation, and all terms agreed to by an alliance leader are binding on all other alliance members. Separate peace treaties may be negotiated by non-alliance-leaders, but these are only binding on the two nations involved in the negotiations. If an alliance leader negotiates a peace treaty with a non-alliance-leader, the terms agreed to by the alliance leader are binding on his entire alliance, but the terms agreed to by the non-alliance-leader will only affect his nation separately and the remaining members of that alliance will still remain at war.

The Land Forces

Overview of Force Structure and Field Commands
Hearts of Iron II doesnt allow you to control individual soldiers, nor will you see any house-to-house or even town-to-town fighting as you play the game. Combats represent large-scale offensive and defensive
actions, a scale where the struggles involve large numbers of men and equipment, and where the prize is the control of an entire province. Your job is to plan ahead, prepare and position suitable forces, ensure their supply, and then issue the necessary orders to your field commanders and entrust them to carry them out to your advantage. While the precise structure and size of armies in the WWII era varied somewhat from nation to nation, HoI2 abstracts and generalises this to avoid confusion and maintain ease of play. The smallest land unit that can be directly controlled in the game is the division, a unit that represents many thousands of men or a large assembly of military vehicles (i.e. tanks, trucks or half-tracks). There is, however, a smaller unit size available in HoI2: the brigade. These are specialised units that cannot operate alone and must be attached to divisions to provide a bonus to some aspect of the divisions performance. Due to their cost, it is unlikely that you will attach a brigade to every division, but you are able to reassign one by detaching it from its current division and then attaching it to another. This is a somewhat disruptive process, though, and will take some time to accomplish. Individual divisions may operate in isolation, but more often will be grouped together to form a corps or army. You have complete control over the way that divisions are grouped and may arrange them in more or less any combination or number that you like. The terms army and corps are simply a semantic distinction that the game uses when automatically assigning names to forces, in that a smaller grouping is usually called a corps and a larger grouping is called an army, but there is no functional difference between them beyond their sheer size. This size, however, introduces one specific issue that is of vital importance: leadership. When you issue orders you will select a force of whatever size and composition and then tell its commanding officer what you would like the force to do. He will then arrange for that force to carry out your orders to the best of their ability; however, their performance will depend on a large number of factors (the individual division types, their level of technology, the terrain, the weather, and more) and most importantly on the rank and skills of that commanding officer.

Basic Land Combat

Now that weve looked at the details of your forces, deployment, basic movement and supply, we can finally begin to discuss combat. To avoid throwing too many options and variations at you all at once, well start by
looking at what happens when one of your land forces engages an enemys land force - a simple one-on-one engagement between two opposing field commands. This will introduce the basic rules that make up the core of Hearts of Iron IIs combat system. In subsequent sections, well look at more complex situations where multiple forces are participating, and where air forces and navies get involved. In Hearts of Iron II, combat represents the struggle for control of large provincial areas and should be thought of as a series of engagements, rather than a single battle between two large forces. Battles can often last for many hours, days, or even weeks, depending on the size of the forces involved and how well-prepared the enemy is to defend the province. It will continue in a series of combat rounds until one side is either victorious or is ordered to disengage. If the defender is victorious or the aggressor breaks off the attack, things will remain status quo. If the defender chooses to flee or has been forced into full retreat, the attacker will begin to move into the province to clean up the last pockets of resistance and begin the occupation of the newlyconquered province.
Entrenchment - Digging In
Before we look at initiating combat and how its resolved, we need to quickly touch on two subjects: entrenchment and provincial defences. Entrenchment is an indication of how well-prepared the defending force is to repel an attack; it will be available after you have researched the appropriate technology to enable it. You can check the status of your land forces by selecting the field command and looking for a small shovel icon in the status area. A shovel indicates that your force is entrenched or dug in to at least some degree. If you hover your mouse over the shovel, a tooltip will appear to show your dug-in status. The higher the number, the better prepared they are and the greater their defensive bonus will be. A force that remains stationary in a province for a while will become increasingly dug-in, raising their bonus until it reaches its maximum possible value. The bonus is immediately lost if it begins to move. While there is no way to check an enemys entrenched status, you could make an educated guess if you know roughly how long they have been there. A well-entrenched enemy will be considerably harder to defeat. Attackers do not receive a dug-in bonus, obviously, since they are moving.

Carrier Air Group

While land forces have a wide variety of possible brigade attachments, there is only one unit that serves such a purpose in naval combat: the Carrier Air Group (or CAG). The production of CAGs is ordered from the Air Wing section of the Production Orders interface and then may be deployed from the force pool to any available aircraft carrier, using the same method you use to attach a brigade to a division. However, a CAG may only be attached to a carrier, and a carrier may only have one CAG attached to it at a time. The CAG represents a standard complement of aircraft that can operate from this moving nautical platform
and are able to perform a variety of functions. These roles include spotting, direct attacks against enemy vessels, providing air cover for the fleet, and also shore assignments that are normally conducted by tactical bombers, although they lack the sheer impact of their land-based cousins. In effect, a CAG is a multi-purpose air wing and, without one, a carrier is just a very large and costly piece of flotsam.

Flotilla Details

You can access the Flotilla Details information panel by selecting any fleet and clicking on one of the flotillas. I will not provide a detailed description of any data listed here that is the aquatic equivalent of a land divisions statistics. lotilla Name: This is assigned automatically, but you can change it F if you wish. lotilla Type: You will see a representative picture of this class of vessel F and a description of its type and specific model. AG Attachment: If the flotilla is an aircraft carrier that has an attached C CAG, the type and model name of the airplanes will appear immediately below the carriers name. There will also be an inset picture of the aircraft in the lower right of the picture. ommander: The commanding officer of this fleet. You can click anyC where on this bar to return to the fleet details. leet Strength and Organisation: A graphic display of the percentage F strength (orange bar) and the percentage organization (green bar) of the entire fleet. The exact values are displayed in the accompanying tooltip. leet Name, Size, and Command Box: The name and the number F flotillas in the fleet. If the fleet is currently executing orders, an order summary will be shown in the command box. You may issue new orders directly from here, but keep in mind that it will be issued to all flotillas in this fleet. ocation Details: The current location of this fleet. L trength: The flotillas current percentage combat strength. S rganisation: The flotillas current combat organisation. O Morale: The flotillas current morale. Sea Attack: This flotillas attack value against enemy naval vessels except submarines. Shore Bombardment: The attack value used by this flotilla when targeting shore defences. Air Attack: Attack value that will be used against any enemy aircraft that attack you. S ea Defence: The flotillas defence value against other naval attacks. Air Defence: The flotillas defence value against aerial attacks. Maximum Speed: The flotillas maximum speed. Supply Consumption: The daily supplies required by this flotilla. Fuel Consumption: This flotillas daily oil consumption rate when moving. It will use half of this amount if it is sitting idle at sea, and consumes only 1% when in base or at a port. Range: The flotillas effective mission range is the maximum distance it can travel from its assigned naval base during naval operations. When combining flotillas into fleets, the flotilla with the shortest range will be used to impose the fleets range restriction.

End of Naval Combat

Once the fleets have disengaged from combat, the vanquished fleet must retreat from the sea zone. This will be to a randomly selected adjacent zone that is usually (but not always) in the general direction of its base. If there is a friendly port or naval base adjacent to the sea zone, it will retreat there instead. The victor of the combat may elect to stay in the sea zone or continue whatever mission it was undertaking before being interrupted by the combat. Unlike land combat, sea zones are not assigned control, so no territory changes hands.
Enemy Occupation of a Port or Base
If an enemy land force manages to gain control of a naval base or port that contains a fleet, that fleet will be scuttled. Any fleets that are assigned to a naval base that is captured will be un-based and will rapidly lose supply and organisation until they have been given a new, valid base assignment. Your personnel will sabotage the naval base before fleeing, so it will take a little while before the enemy will be able to make effective use of that facility.

Naval Orders

When a fleet isnt in port, it is fairly rare that you wont want it to be doing something, anything, rather
than just sitting around in a sea zone. Submarine packs will probably be used to disrupt enemy convoys and transport movement, surface fleets will want to continually patrol certain portions of the ocean, though for a player with a large number of fleets, this would quickly become a nightmare of repetitive mouse-clicking. Heart of Iron II allows you to do this if you really want to, but it also includes a number of extremely useful naval missions in the Naval Orders interface that allow you to automate such routine chores. There are also some specialised naval orders that usually require an element of either timing or special targeting. For instance, a carrier may send its planes to attack a provinces naval port facilities or its air bases, leaving you to identify which of these is your intended target. The Naval Orders interface allows you to do this as well. In most cases, you will issue standing orders to carry out a mission for a specified period of time, under certain conditions, and in a particular part of the worlds oceans or possibly against a target provinces assets or forces. Once youve issued the orders, you can largely leave those fleets to their own devices, even if they run into an enemy force, which goes a long way toward eliminating the micromanagement and complexity that would otherwise plague a naval nation. An additional reduction to potential micromanagement is the assumption of additional support vessels that will resupply and refuel fleets that are on an assigned patrol. Rather than forcing you to keep track of the distance each fleet has travelled and then returning it to base, naval missions are restricted to targets that are within the mission range of the fleet and they will only need to return to base for repairs, upgrades or a faster rate of organisation recovery. All naval orders may be accessed by selecting the fleet and then either holding down the Ctrl key and rightclicking on the target or by clicking in the naval orders box in the information panel. The second of those methods will display every naval mission that is available, though some may not be due to fleet composition or insufficiently advanced technology levels. It will usually require you to specify a target zone, area or region from a list of valid potential targets. After selecting the target, the Naval Orders interface will appear. If you use the Ctrl and right-click method to issue an order, only context-sensitive missions will be displayed and the Naval Orders interface will appear as soon as you have chosen the mission, since you have already identified the target by clicking on it.

The Air Forces

Air Combat in Hearts of Iron II is a blend of the land combat and naval combat systems. Air forces are assigned missions to patrol the skies for enemy aircraft, or to conduct extended bombing campaigns against enemy ground forces, installations and infrastructure. Though normally used by your paratroopers, air transports can also be used for temporary air supply of encircled forces if absolutely necessary. These missions are assigned through an order interface that is virtually identical to the one used for naval orders. Combat between aircraft is handled much more like land combat, but with a limited number of combat rounds being possible due to limitations in fuel. Never underestimate the devastation that will occur if you lose control of the skies. Like navies, air forces must be assigned a base from which to operate and may only land in provinces that have such a base. Like naval bases, air bases have limited available space to handle a flow of aircraft, so exceeding this limitation will greatly reduce the flow of supplies and fuel and will significantly increase the length of time required to complete repairs and technological upgrades.

Air Force Types

Air forces are made up of individual air wings, each of which represents a number of similar-type airplanes that have an area of expertise. The Air Combat equivalent of a division is called an Air Wing (or wing). Groupings of wings are usually called squadrons or sometimes air groups or air forces; a maximum of four wings
may be combined into any single squadron. The precise wording will vary somewhat from nation to nation, but their function is identical. For the purposes of this section, I will use the term squadron when referring to any combat group of air wings. The Doomsday expansion has introduced a significant change to one type of unit: the escort fighter. This unit is now treated like brigade and can be attached to a bomber wing. Escorts are no longer built as wings, and are accessed via the brigade production button (below the land divisions). More on this shortly. Air wing types can be categorised by their size, range and general function. Strategic bombers are the largest of these and are relatively slow-moving aircraft that can carry very large bomb loads over fairly great distances. Their missions are usually flown against large fixed emplacements such as infrastructure, factories, fortifications and other such targets that require the impact of larger payloads and have no ability to avoid being hit. Tactical bombers are somewhat smaller and more manoeuvrable, specialising in precise targeting that is much more effective against moving land force targets. Close air support craft are inexpensive, very short-range dive-bombers that can inflict very high casualty levels on ground forces but are unable to defend themselves particularly well against ground defences or other aircraft. Naval torpedo attack planes are land-based aircraft that are specially outfitted with munitions suited to attacks against naval vessels and convoys. All of these bombers are very susceptible to attack by enemy fighters, so you should strongly consider attaching a group of escort fighters to help defend them. This will reduce their operational range, but will stop your bombers from being easily shot out of the sky. The smallest, fastest and most manoeuvrable aircraft available fall under three different general types: fighters, interceptors and escorts. Escorts are handled as a brigade-type attachment for bombers. These long-range aircraft will attempt to tie up enemy fighters and distract ground defences, allowing the bombers they escort to succeed with their missions. Interceptors are the bomber pilots worst nightmare. This type of airplane has excellent weaponry and speed for bringing down the larger aircraft, but is limited by its range and manoeuvrability. The fighter is something of a multi-role aircraft. It has slightly greater range and slightly better attack capabilities than an interceptor but is much more likely to be shot down itself. It can also participate in limited attacks against ground and naval targets, but is unable to stand much in the way of return fire. There is one last class of wings that can be ordered from the Air Wing menu of the production folder. These are the flying bombs and flying rockets that historically began with the German V1 and V2 and would lead to ICBMs in the post-war years. All of these are included in HoI2s technology tree and are handled through the Air Combat interface.

Air Combat and Air Missions
Air orders and combat are integral to one another, since the type of mission will determine the overall type of combat. The general mechanism of combat is the same as the one used in land combat, although each air mission has a specific type of target for its attack. I will describe each mission in turn, indicating the purpose of the attack type and the type of damage it inflicts. Orders are issued by right-clicking on a province to bring up a context-sensitive list of possible missions, or by selecting a squadron and then clicking on its order box in the information panel to issue a new order. If you use the latter method, you will usually be asked to specify a location (province or area) as the target for your mission. The list of locations will be filtered and colour-coded by the range of the selected squadron. You may select the target area or target province from the list, or you may click on the map to assign it.
Air missions are flown in a series of sorties. Each sortie may attack any target that is within the range of the squadron, but all combats are limited to a five-hour duration, after which the air unit will begin to run low on fuel and be forced to break off the attack. Be careful when assigning a mission to a squadron since an order will be available for that squadron as long at least one wing in the squadron has a value greater than zero in the primary attack type prerequisite. For instance, many fighters have at least a small tactical attack capability but are generally very ineffective at conducting ground attacks against even the most vulnerable targets. Make sure you select an appropriate type of mission to assign to a squadron. Beware of enemy AA batteries. Any time that a squadron enters the air zone above a province with AA batteries, they will be subjected to a burst of fire as the wings pass, even if the wings are merely flying to or returning from a more distant target. This will usually result in a limited amount of strength loss and somewhat more organisation loss. If you are attacking targets in a province that contains AA, the batteries will continue to fire during each and every round of the combat, which can add up to quite a lot of damage over time. Fortunately, air missions use the same mission parameters interface as can be seen in naval missions, so you can specify a minimum strength level below which the next sortie will be delayed until the wing has been suitably reinforced.

Air Combat

Three different types of aerial combat are likely to occur during your game: air-to-air, air-to-ground, and airto-ship. All three use the standard combat mechanism that weve seen before, with the appropriate attack and defence values being determined by the type of target selected. Example: If a squadron spots and attacks a fleet, the squadrons wings will use their naval attack and surface defence values (which is used when both naval and land forces return fire), while the flotillas will use their air attack and air defence values. Air combats are limited to a maximum of five hours, after which the wings must return to base. When air squadrons attack ground forces, there is one very important issue relating to the ground forces ability to return fire. Unlike land battles, land forces do not gain the additive leadership ratings and HQ bonuses for stacking, and the overstacking penalties are calculated somewhat differently. The rating of the highest-ranking officer determines the maximum number of divisions that can defend against an air attack without penalty, though this is exclusive of any HQ modifier. If the total number of divisions exceeds this amount, the air attack and air defence values of every division in the battle will be penalised by 2% for each overstacked division. Example: A field marshal with 20 divisions including an HQ would not be overstacked in a land combat; however, if he is attacked from the air then he is only able to command 12 divisions. This would result in his being overstacked by 8 divisions, and thus all 20 divisions would suffer a 16% penalty to their air attack and air defence values during combat.