Tips and resources for a HoI2 beginner?

Ok so it arrived yesterday and I've installed and patched everything. Played through the tutorials and felt I understood how to control everything, broadly. Then I started a game (armageddon 1936) and realised I didn't know what my priorities were! I suppose the most important thing I should do is build factories to increase my IC?

Also, when the game starts it says whoever has the most points by 1964 wins. There are no 'victory conditions' for me or the AI that could end the game before this?

I liked the map that came in the box ; can't wait to win the Spanish civil war for the republicans, and see what would happen if Germany did this and that differently, and, and ...

 

Depends on what country you play and if you plan to play historically. If i play as Germany i like to use as much IC as possible to build two run of factories. Don't start uppgrading and organizing your forces until 1939. If you are the Soviet Union you could disband your entire army and buildfactories like crazy until about 1940.

 

Start off by pausing the game, there is alot of things you need to do first. As Germany I cancel all builds except the Heavy Cruiser (it will finish in 6 days). I then build 12X2 factories (12 factories in a series of 2). I then combine all infantry and HQ into armies of 9. Then change the leader to 'Logistics Wizard'... this will decrease the supply usage by 10% (so you can use the saved IC for other stuff.

Next set your sliders so consumer goods are at a spot just before they turn red. Upgrades and reinforcements locked at 0. Supplies I set to 4 -5 points befor going into the red.

In the government folder I click 1 step towards central planning (gives an IC boost). Trade out the ministers to give +10% IC and - 10% supply use... I forget which they are. This will give you +2 dissent; but moving troops to Cologne to re-occupy the Rhineland will get rid of this.

Next to research. I usually go with the following:

1. Machine Tools technologies - always research these as fast as you can. Each one gives you a 5% IC boost.

2.Agrichemistry - Again +5% to manpower growth. As Germany you will need it.

3.Basic Computing Machine - gives an increase in researh speed.

4. Interceptors and Tac. Bombers - keep up on these. The French and Brits. will attack you constantly when war breaks out.

5. Long Range Sub. - The deaded type IX

Never research more than 2 years ahead of historical dates. It is a waste of time and locks up a valuable research slot. Focus on Air and Air doctines, Naval Doc., Armor and Ratillery and industrial. Go for rocketry and flying bombs later if historical.

Spies. Every 7 days send a spy to Germant until you have 10... then kill foreign spies.

Let the game run for as day or two to get all the settings top change and pause again. Reset sliders again and put any excess into supplies. let the % of supplies build up as high as you can and use them to trade for Oil (Venesuala and Romania, USA and Russia is OK) and rares (Neatherlands and Soviet Union).

The rest is up to you. I research '39 infantry in '38 and set a parallel of 3 with series of 99 Bigaded with Arty. when done.

 

-Whatever number the estimated amount of troops your spies gather through intelligence. The real number is at least 15% higher.
-The Americans build nothing useful in their time of peace, don't count on them
-Never land troops in Sicily until you have enough troops to storm South Italy. If you do, the AI will bring all its troops to the boot.
-When fighting the Japanese in Vietnam, do not let them get hold up in the Northern Mountains. They will stick there like glue.
-Proper interdiction from airplanes are the perfect tool to success.

 

Thats not always true. In my games its often the other way round with them actually having much less.

 

Make sure if you're playing as the Italians / Germans and you're kicking a$$, to take out Malta EARLY!!

I can't stress that enough. I actually forgot about the island (sorry to all natives) and was busy taking over Africa and the British Isles. By that time America had joined the war and now there are about 10 odd units on there and no matter how hard I try, I just can't take the island

I'm pretty sure it's Britain's last Victory location as well

 

Good tips guys. Pausing the game at the start being probably the most important thing to do. These 'rules of thumb' are useful to know so they can be applied in different contexts.

I appreciate the effort and I know I don't speak for everyone who is just starting out but there are a few things IMO that are a bit too much info / context-specific, like

I don't know, there are some mistakes I want to make and things I just like to discover for myself

I haven't really had a chance to get my teeth into the game yet - I did play most of January '36 and made a few trade deals so that my economy was 'green' in all aspects. Also, the UK influenced my government one point towards open society, changing it to '7'. Why would they do this and why might I choose to do this to someone else's government?

 

You can influence nations which will improve your relations. There is then also a chance that whilst influencing the other nation that you will change their government's thinking to be more similar to your own. The chance is much bigger for small industrial countries being influenced by larger ones so if you are playing as Poland the UK and France will likely influence you and move your sliders. This can be a good or bad thing depending on which slider is moved.

 

I have to say this game has the highest learning curve of any game I have ever played. I have been playing off and on for 5 years now and am still learning things. One is that when war breaks out, your Consumer goods needs drops by 50 %. This can be 30 - 45 IC... Not to be over looked!

 

I got my copy with the expansions. Just crawled through the tutorials and got a bit intimidated by all the stuff the game threw at me. Might have been a mistake getting it through Steam though, since now I have no manual...

Speaking of learning curves, I tackled this, so I think I can take HOI2 too.

 

If it makes you feel any better, the boxed copy has no manual either, at least not a hard copy. Just a pdf version on the CD.

With some patience, though, you should be able to figure out most of the basics, at least, with just the in-game information, especially with the tips in this thread.

 

The best way to learn HoI2 is to pick a medium-sized country far from the major hostilities. I suggest Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Sweden, Switzerland, Portugal or Turkey. You can then learn the basics at your own pace, and start any aggressions at your own convenience. It will also not be as overwhelming as a major, since there is fewer military units to manage.

 

Pff, best place to learn is Germany

 

Ah, good one!

Haha, I love a good difference of opinion

 

I took my first stab at this as the SU, started at '36. It's currently about mid of 37, I'm a bit worried about the Japanese invasion in the far east and I have a vague idea of what I'm doing. Currently building up my industry and infrastructure.

 

If your worried about a Japanese invasion of the far east SU, that always never happens. Also as the SU you dont want high infastructure everywhere. Make the Germans move slower and zap down that org!

 

I suppose I really need to attack the baltic countries since my officers need all experience they can get. It's 39 now and majority of my infantry seems to be up to date.

 

Don't worry about experience - your commanders will get enough of that when Barbarossa starts.

As for the Baltic countries, it's better to wait for the Molotov-Ribbentrop event to fire in August '39, then simply demand territory from the Baltic states - you'll have the entire region without firing a shot.

 

CAS are good.

Forcing the enemy to retreat is good but killing their units is better. The ways to do so are to surround them in pockets, to completely overun them and have their survivors bounce between your armies or the ground attact them on the move esp retreating with no org. So the opening day of Barbarossa (or for that matter any grand offensive) CAS and Tac on interdiction to help your ground units break the entire line then day two/ three CAS / Tac even fighters (if safe to do so) on ground attack to make the retreat a massacre. Think the retreat from kuwait. And keep survivors moving if you can. While doing so they dont regain org and remain sitting ducks for the air force.

Air power is also good because it uses no oil when not in use. Huge tank armies use vast oil and TC the whole time. Air power can give you overwelming firepower when you need it and use little resorces when they are no longer required. They can shift the areas they support very fast. They need enough airbase levels to support them and fighter/ int cover.

And the other thing is to not use more tanks than you need. To not use tanks where mech or mot would do, to not use mot where inf would do etc. It's easy to get blinded while constructing your perfect Army of Doooooommmm to the fact that it becomes an excessive concentration of force. Such a concentration of force is lible to weaken you everywhere else. Know what the objectives for the force you are creating are and construct it so that it is ready to break down into smaller elements once through the front and into the soft underbelly. Someone mentioned deviding larger forces into to three unit stacks. At the very least for the mobile troops do this. A general commanding three units, fighting as a force with two Lt Gens commanding three units each fills his nine command limit but has the flexibility to split where a gen with nine tanks does not. The nine stack will prob win every fight it faces, but it can only be in one place at one time.

CV's and BB's. Ideally not in the same fleet.

 

Also, if you're a nation that's big on manpower and/or short on IC, don't be affraid to spam Militia. As long as you have at least one HQ and high ranking officers you'll easily be able to toss enough mans to make up for the low firepower density. Just back them with normal troops at something like a 2:1 or 3:1 ratio. They're also nice for padding out defence forces in natural strong points or taking ground in obscure underdeveloped places where you don't want to tie down your regulars.