Hearts of Iron II review (award for excellence)

[WSUCougar]

A glowing review...
Wargamer review

[sachmo71]

I shoulda paid more attention to the beta.

Can't wait for it to go gold. Might even buy it in initial release.

[Galaril]

I am alittle leery after getting burned with EU 2. A great game just I couldn't find it too many opups and overly complicated I thought .I guess I was just to stupid for it.

[Calis]

Didn't this ship yesterday?

I haven't even read the review yet, but I'm sure that when I do it'll force me to buy the game..I was doing so well also.

If it wasn't so crappy out, I'd run and try to grab it today. I expect some FOFC thoughts soon! Might have to try it multi also, as I had fun when we tried that with the first even though it didn't last long.

[Franklinnoble]

GoGamer says it's out. But I think I might wait for a few positive reviews first...

[sachmo71]

Originally Posted by Franklinnoble

GoGamer says it's out. But I think I might wait for a few positive reviews first...

Here's another

http://pc.gamezone.com/gzreviews/r24923.htm

[sachmo71]

And another:

http://www.gamerankings.com/itemrank...eviewid=459832

[WSUCougar]

I will await the GoGamer 48-hour madness price drop...and then pounce, cougar-like, upon this game.

[Galaril]

I am gonna wait to see how gary grigsby's world at war is in three weeks.It is very similar area of gaming and sounds very good.

[WSUCougar]

Yeah, that one too. And Silent Hunter III...gah!

[MrBug708]

In HOI, i wonder if you can promote or demote your cabinet members

[CHEMICAL SOLDIER]

Looks like it's worth checking out.

[sachmo71]

Originally Posted by MrBug708

In HOI, i wonder if you can promote or demote your cabinet members

What do you mean? You can replace them, if that's what you are asking.

[Bubba Wheels]

I would really like to see some of the opinions of the women from the other thread on this subject. That might be worth some entertainment.

[MrBigglesworth]

MP was great on the original, once they got the bugs worked out. Had a great clan going.

[Peregrine]

Damn this looks like it's going to be great. Of course since I'm hooked on WoW, I doubt I'll get much playing in right now, but it still looks to be a blast.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Looks good, but as far as I can tell, it's a RTS ... and I friggin hate RTS, never played one I liked even a little bit.

Is there anything good, on the scale (basically campaign the entire war from dozens of perspectives with non-historical possibilities), that's turn-based?

[SirFozzie]

Jon: Not quite RTS, you can pause and set orders at anytime, so it's more of a psuedo-turn based setup, fast-forward past the boring parts, and get going with the blowing stuff up (kidding, but you get the point)

[SirFozzie]

Originally Posted by Galaril

I am alittle leery after getting burned with EU 2. A great game just I couldn't find it too many opups and overly complicated I thought .I guess I was just to stupid for it.

You DID know that you can turn most popups off, right?

[Bubba Wheels]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Looks good, but as far as I can tell, it's a RTS ... and I friggin hate RTS, never played one I liked even a little bit.

Is there anything good, on the scale (basically campaign the entire war from dozens of perspectives with non-historical possibilities), that's turn-based?

Might give Strategic Command a look. Its strictly European Theater, but turn-based and pretty good. Has research, different enter times for countries, ect. Alot like the old board wargames.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

Jon: Not quite RTS, you can pause and set orders at anytime, so it's more of a psuedo-turn based setup, fast-forward past the boring parts, and get going with the blowing stuff up (kidding, but you get the point)

I think it's something that I have a mental block with or something like that.

I think I'm a pretty good turn-based gamer, been playing since ... gosh, I don't know, Panzer Leader or Squad Leader on the tabletop were my first wargaming experiences I guess.

But when I put in an RTS, even these pseudo RTS ones, I'm lost within minutes & never come close to recovering my wits or any clue WTH I'm doing. I've tried several, most recently War: Age of Imperialism and it's always the exact same muck for me. I think it's the lack of structure or order to doing things that throws me -- in a TBS, there's a flow of things to do (create, move, combat, etc.), I can make my decisions, do those things, and enjoy myself. With RTS, even with pause-RTS, I never find any comfort factor to an "order of events", there's a lack of structure seemingly inherent to RTS, that leaves me cold, frustrated, and having anything but fun; just a feeling of utter chaos.

And that "feeling of utter chaos" is one of the things I game to escape from, I get plenty of that from real life.

Thanks for trying to help though, I appreciate it. I just figured a better explanation of my incompatability might cause someone to think of something someday that might be more in my niche.

[WSUCougar]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Is there anything good, on the scale (basically campaign the entire war from dozens of perspectives with non-historical possibilities), that's turn-based?

Jon, this one is on the horizon and you might take a look:

Gary Grigsby's World at War

[Galaril]

I may have to get this one after all . I just saw that they released patch 1 and it is a monster patch I got this from Octopus Overlords board:

HOI2 is now patched to version 1.1, on the day that most US gamers will be receiving their copies. Johan is nothing if not supportive of his game.

There are comparatively few actual "bugfixes" in the patch (and to be honest, I hadn't noticed any of these) but a list of enhancements, adjustmens to AI, and other tweaks a mile long. Here's the readme:

*************************************************************

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
---- Changes for 1.1 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


*****************************************
******* Interface Enhancements **********
*****************************************

- The maximum organisation can now always be seen. In the detail screen, in tooltips, and as small graphical markers.
- Added an indicator to show the current speed of a corps in the interface.
- Improved several tooltips with even further information and/or clarifications.
- Added information in colorcoding to the convoy interface.
- Added a small indicator to the combatlist interface to show which have a combat event.
- Added the option to switch between sprites/counters when rightclicking on the pause-button.
- Added an option to set a synchronized arrival time for landunit stacks when moving/attacking.
- Due to popular demand, detect numbers are now shown instead of "fieldmarshal" names on counters.
- Improved the shown "detected sizes" for stacks. Seperate values for air/surface stacks.
- Colorcoded unitsizes on screens to be red if over command-limit.
- Added support for national names for armies, fleets and airfleets.
- "goto" on a combat-started popupbox now actually selects that combat, instead of just centering on that province.
- Added the "mission finished" message after a sea transport mission is done.
- Added a message for "Leader has died".
- There is now information in the cancelled trade agreement message, about which was cancelled.


********************************
******* Gameplay Changes *******
********************************

- Changed logics of when its possible to attach brigades, to reduce some exploits.
- Rewrote combat algoritms to not always give guaranteed hits when dogpiling.
- Weather and Night affects in landcombat now only affects attacking efficiency for both sides.
- Envelopment in landcombat now requires 3 provinces rather than 2.
- Fortressbuster trait now only reduces fort penalty by 25%.
- Org regain is now significantly higher when low. (<25% of max x3, < 50% x2, > 75% /2 )
- Convoy paths will now attempt to avoid seazones with subs on convoy raiding missions.
- Convoy paths now get reevaluated everytime they get attacked.
- Airplanes should now attempt to move immediately after a combat.
- Added some terrain penalties to bomb-missions for planes.
- Province buildings now only increases max-capacity when they are deployed, and slowly grow to the new one.
- Modified HQ unit speeds and fuelconsumptions, and removed cap on engineers attached.
- The "repair/construct" speed from infrastructure is now never lower than 10%.
- A carrier now always have at least 1 in subattack to avoid endless battles.
- Halved the belligerence impact from annexing countries.
- Improved the efficiency at night for submarines.
- Its now possible to rebase ships with troops on them, if within sea-transport range.
- There is now a hard-cap on how big an airforce taskforce can be. Maximum 4 airwings in it.
- Tweaked air command limits to be 2, 4, 8, 16 to fit the new stack rules.
- Increased penalties for attacking in bad weather and through mud.
- Puppets can no longer invite someone to an alliance.
- Tweaked transport planes to be cheaper and better at later techs to simulate the need of lesser amount of planes.
- Severly decreased the techeffects on airbase building speed.
- Based and other undeployed provincial developments now cause a severe drain on TC.
- Halved the speed of landcombat & air v land bombs.
- Average speed of fleets now modify closing speed in naval combats.
- Tweaked weathercode for battlescenarios to make sure weather patterns are started in the active map.
- Winters are now longer.
- Anyone with a guarantee will get +1 on interventionism whenever anyone else declares war on it, if on the same continent.
- Creating a puppet nolonger gives it a large part of your manpower.
- Isolationists that can not ally with anyone can neither guarantee another nations independence.
- Dissent now affects IC.
- Tweaked effects from strategic bombing missions.
- Increased strategic attack of SBs, TACs, Flying bombs and rockets significantly.
- Decreased cost of rockets and bombs siginifcantly.
- Decreased visibility of submarines.
- Tweaked up effect of submarines versus convoys.
- Moved 5 org from Elastic Defence & Spearhead and added them to Fire Brigade & Spearhead HQs
- Autoconvoy creation now takes blocked seazones into account if possible.
- Experience is now applied in bombruns as well.
- Infra is now damaged when a province is taken over.
- Increase the range of transports to 3000.
- A unit out of supply can no longer strat-redeploy.
- Units loaded on ships will now clear their orders properly whenever the ship moves.
- Airunits now fight with lesser effectivity if they lack supplies.
- No missions are valid except for rebase for an airunit without oil.
- You can only trade provinces between allies now.
- 0 infra provinces surrounded by only enemy territory with any infra now automatically change control to the enemies.
- Carriers doing port-strike are now slightly less lethal.
- Tactical bombers are now slightly more lethal.
- Reduced IC from non-national even further.
- It is no longer a linear return on bombing infrastructure. The less there is left the less can be damaged now.
- Rebasing now works with multiple airunits selected.
- Newly built units can now only be deployed in owned provinces (on the same continent as the capital).
- Conquering territory out from a puppets territory will now give the occupation to the puppetmaster if the puppetmaster is conquering.
- Puppetstatus now override ai-prefs for ignores in tech/resource trades.
- Provinceimprovements in progress are now cancelled when a province becomes occupied.
- Units now only go to pool when owners change if they are enemies with the new owners.
- Techteams are now properly removed at the end of a project if they are no longer active.
- Rockets can no longer rebase, but instead they can be strategically redeployed.
- Units retreating to something that is cut-off should no longer automatically be deleted if they got at least 50% of their maximum org.
- Neutrals can no longer spot other neutral ships automatically at sea.
- Its no longer possible to attack, then break off the attack after 1 hour and attack again.
- There is now a 5% dissent hit for cancelling a non-agression pact.
- Units in enemy territory when peace is signed is now strat-redeployed back to the capital (using civilian ships if needed.)
- Relations no longer drop if an alliance partner or puppet/master cancels an agreement between them.


*******************************
******* AI Improvements *******
*******************************

- Worked alot on the front AI to teach it to evaluate attack and defend odds better, also improved its
- Improved the AI's evaluation of when to break off attacks.
- Improved the AI's understanding of establishing reserves.
- AI now tries to group motorized infantry with mechs and armor if possible.
- The AI now synchronizes attacks smarter.
- Now the front AI reacts quicker to the players and other nations actions.
- Air AI taskforce composition has been improved.
- Air AI is now better att evaluating when to evacuate bases.
- Wolfpack AI now spreads out attacks more.
- Convoy AI now adapts better to hostilities, and also attempts to bring home stockpiles more efficiently.
- Improved the cooperation between AIR and Naval AI.
- The AI is now a lot smarter about using its serial runs.
- Improved the AI for researching technologies.
- Pathfing AI is now much smarter and tries to avoid danger if possible.
- The AI for accpeting nations asking to join their alliance was rewritten.
- Diplomatic AI now cancels non-agression pacts in attempts to honor guarantees, and is also more likely to honor guarantees they have given.
- Loads and loads more of AI code and scripts written for various cases of when circumstances change.



*******************************
******* Modding Support *******
*******************************
- A lot more factors have been exported to the db\misc.txt file, so that modders can tweak.
- Enchanced the scripting capabilites for the AI, see the docs/ai_file_doc.txt for details.
- Fixed a few problems with eventcommands that manipulate the weather.



************************************
******* Multiplayer Specific *******
************************************
- Added a little indicator to show who has not yet pressed "startgame" in the chat listing.
- Added support for up to 20 different countries in the lobby now.
- Fixed a problem with people timing out in the lobby.


************************
******* Bugfixes *******
************************
- Ships are now properly flagged as retreating when they are given the order even while moving.
- Oil status is now properly reset for ships in port.
- Ships will no longer target subs if they lack subattack.
- Bases constructed from events now always arrive, even if target country lacks the tech.
- Ships will no longer have the target indicator in the interface if too disorganised to shoot.
- Fixed a problem with asking to join alliance led by a player.
- Fixed a miscalculation to determine valid distance in a navalcombat.
- Fixed so terrain names are properly localised as well.
- Fixed the inversed gearing bonus. Its now capped at 35% bonus.
- Fixed a major problem with the weather system which left loads of "static weather blocks" all over the map.
- Weather is now cleared properly when a scenario is restarted.
- Fixed a problem which caused airplanes to hover indefinitely retreating.
- Fixed a major problem with allied area for supply checking not working if there are oilpools around.
- Time should now be cleared entirely between scenarios.
- Fixed a bug where oil was not shipped home from areas if auto convoy options where not on.
- Fixed a problem with the Warsaw Uprising and the Soviet support option not working.
- Fixed the "dissappearing plane" bug.
- Fixed a problem with being out supply when a supplydepot lacked oil.
- Fixed the case where developments from aborted serial runs did not get a name shown.
- Fixed a problem with convoys not being displayed properly if blocked.



**********************
******* Events *******
**********************
- New Eventseries:
* "Soviet-Romanian War" (over Bessarabia with a limited peace offer)
* "Lin Sen" (death event)
* "Alternative US Elections" (if US is Paternal Authocratic)
* "Democracy Defended" (Republican boost if Franco get no foreign help)
* "Great War Demonstration" (might happen if GER doesn't occupy Rhineland)
* "Independent Croatia" (Croatia become German puppet)
* "Germany Surrender" (if the Soviets can take a bath in the Eng Channel)

- Modified triggers for the following events:
* "The Undeclared War"
* "US Lend-Lease Events"
* "Oil Embargo against Japan"
* "Vichy France"
* "Marco Polo Bridge"
* "Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact"
* "Bitter Peace"
* "Destroyers for bases"
* "Denmark folds"
* "US Elections"
* "Jose Antonio"
* "Victory events for Coral Sea"
* "Victory events for Desert Fox"
* "Vichy leader defection"
* "Hess' flight to Scotland"
* "US Gearing Up events"

- Modified effects in the following events:
* "Destroyers for bases" (USA get access to UK)
* "Lean on Siam"/"Pressure on Siam" (many effects in all events in the serie)
* "ROM/HUN switches side" (will ally the USSR)
* "Bitter Peace-2nd Version" (seccedes Romanian provinces)
* "Spanish Civil War" (supply costs decreased)
* "Wilkie"
* "US Lendlease to USSR"
* "Creation of Vichy"
* "Treaty of Munich/End of Czech"
* "Warsaw Uprising"

- New event commands:
* new trigger "attack" which lets the event check if the country is attacked by another given country.
* command reformulated to allow partisan-controlled provinces to secede.

******************************
******* Scenario Setup *******
******************************
- Modifications to the 1936 campaign
* Switched Manchurian for Korean provinces as nationals for Japan.
* Added missing static anti-air guns in Southern Part of Maginot line for France.
* Decreased Manchurian supply at start from 10000 to 100.
* Added Southern Sakhalin as nationalprovinces for Japan.
* US force at Philippines is now locked in position.
* Added some Australian bases.
* Modifications to Communist and Nationalist unit setups.
* Added Home defense units to the UK and removed all the extra IC.
* Lowered Italian belligerence to 0.

- Modifications to the 1939 campaign
* Switched Manchurian for Korean provinces as nationals for Japan.
* Removed Italian navalbase from inland Turin.
* Added missing static anti-air guns in Southern Part of Maginot line for France.
* Communist China is now allied with Nationalist China.
* US force at Philippines is now locked in position.
* Added some Australian bases.
* Added an airbase for Nationalist China.
* Switched a province from Siam to France.

- Modifications to the 1941 campaign
* Switched Manchurian for Korean provinces as nationals for Japan.
* Communist China is now allied with Nationalist China.
* Switched ownership of a few provinces between Japan and Nationalist China.
* Added Southern Sakhalin as nationalprovinces for Japan.
* Added some Australian bases.
* Modifications to German unit names.
* Moved a Turkish unit from Tblisi to Turkish territory.

- Modifications to the 1944 campaign
* Switched Manchurian for Korean provinces as nationals for Japan.
* Switched ownership of a few provinces between Japan and Nationalist China.
* Modifications to German unit names.
* Moved some German V-rockets from Ghent to Lille, and gave Lille an airbase for them.
* Three provinces added as nationalprovinces for Siam.

- Modifications to Ardennes:
* Modifications to event triggers, dates and effects.
* Tweaked down the offmap supplies/oil to make the supply events more useful.
* Removed static weather, snowstorms will now come and go in the scenario.
* Modifications to German unit names.
* Added a supplypool in Dunkirk and added a German technology.
* Added offensives to many German units.
* Reduced allied oil/supply pool significantly and doubled effect of oil/supply events.
* Changed many artillery brigades to self-propelled artillery.

- Modifications to D-Day:
* Two GER divs will be activated properly in D-Day.
* Panzer Reserve is unlocked if Allies launches Operation Dragoon.

- Terrain Modifications:
* Rearranged some areas in Far East Russia.
* Added two Chinese beaches.
* Modifications to climate for seazones, lakes and provinces.
* Modifications to terrain for provinces.
* Åmål no longer has a port nor a beach.

- Added river connections
* Lille - Mons
* Amsterdam - Leeuwarden

- Modifications to setup technologies
* Added Adv Machine Tools to British setup in GC41.
* Added Air Superiority Doctrine to Nationalist Chinese setup in GC36, GC39 and GC41.
* Added Mobility Focus doctrine to Nationalist Chinese setup in GC39.
* Communist China can now dig-in in GC36.
* Removed the two oil refinery techs from, and added Basic Naval Bomber to the USA in GC36.
* Added air superiority doctrine to Yugoslavia in GC36 and GC39, and to Bulgaria in GC39.
* Modified Finnish land techs in GC39,GC41 and GC44.

- Modifications to Ministers and Leaders.
* RSI now defaults to Fascist state ideology.
* Sweden starts with a Socialdemocratic government in GC36.
* Added Dutch, New Zeelander and Australian leaders to Southern Conquest scenario.
* Modified traits for a number of leaders.
* California,Texas, and Scotland will be fascist if the are released.
* Added US Ministers.
* British land leader "Bourne of Atherstone" should now be Commando + Logistics Wizard.
* Changed death date for a German leader/tech team used by Germany and Nationalist China.
__________________

[Galaril]

Here is what the guys at HOI 2 site are syaingabout thios patch in a more simplified manner than the above readme:

Anyone who has taken the trouble to read through the enormous “readme” that comes with this update may well come away wondering what it’s all about. As one player’s contribution to highlighting the more significant changes among this thicket, here is a user’s guide to the most significant changes you can expect to see in-game from it.

Land Combat
A great deal of attention has been paid to slowing land combat down and making it more difficult. “Fortress buster” generals are now less powerful, which translates into making fortresses more effective. Attacking in poor weather will now prove more harmful for the attacker, and both sides will find attacking (or counterattacking) at night more difficult. The bonus awarded to dug-in defenders now has a maximum of 20%, doubling the old bonus of 10%. A number of factors affecting land combat have been exported to the misc.txt file, where they can be modified according to your priorities. In particular, the effect of experience on combat have been halved in this patch and exported to misc.txt, where it can be adjusted further. Note too that the delay for units to recover from combat has been extended to 24 hours and also exported for further tweaking. A lot of comment in the general forum has already focused on the centrality of this factor in gameplay, so its availability for adjustment is particularly noteworthy. Another change, which Johan signaled would be forthcoming after discussion about it in the general forum, was to make it possible to arrange for units from more than one province to arrive at their destination simultaneously. So now, when you give the order to a unit to attack, you will see a button on the pop-up allowing you to designate simultaneous arrival. Note, however, that ordering the units to arrive simultaneously doesn't actually make them all pop into place at the same moment. But it will get them there closer together.

Convoys and submarines
If I had to pick the most significant group of changes in the entire update, these would be my choice. The intent of these changes has been three-fold: 1) To make submarine attacks on convoys less lethal, both by reducing the number of attacks the subs can make and by increasing the convoys’ protection by escorts. 2) To make convoying less susceptible to sub attacks by directing the convoy a.i. to choose sea zones that are not currently being attacked by submarines. Of course, this places a greater burden on a nation’s convoy pool, but the advantage for convoy survivability should be noticeable. 3) To make submarines less vulnerable to detection and destruction by aircraft carriers or sub-hunting surface ships. The overall effect, therefore, should be to keep submarines at sea for longer periods without being destroyed and to reduce their effect on convoys. You should note that the presence of the submarines will also have an effect on the efficiency of your trade agreements. More subs at sea translates into lower trade efficiency, which is handled separately from convoys.

Air combat
In an attempt to avoid the creation of huge stacks of air units locked in seemingly eternal combat, a limit of 4 units has been placed on the size of any one single air stack. The command limits of commanders have been defined as 2 units for a major general, 4 for a lt. general, 8 for an air general and 16 for an air marshal. In principle, this means an air marshal still could assemble and command a 16-unit “stack” (4 x 4-unit stacks) for a major “Battle of Britain,” but given the randomness built into the air mission routine this should not be too frequent. Noteworthy too here is the attempt to better coordinate the air and naval portions of the game. The a.i. will provide better air cover for naval units and the effectiveness of naval bombers has been raised slightly.

Diplomacy and political considerations
One of the most important changes in this part of the game has been made with respect to guarantees of independence. When countries are a.i.-controlled, those guarantees should now be honored more often, making it more difficult for would-be world conquerors to go rampaging around without consequences. Some effort has been paid to keeping an a.i.-controlled US from entering the game too early. Isolationist countries (read “USA&#8221 will no longer provide guarantees of independence or form alliances. The effects of breaking non-aggression pacts are now more severe in terms of a country’s belligerence rating, which again should slow down WC (World Conquest). One of the most important changes is a small one: dissent now affects your IC total, just as it did in HOI. Dissent had lost much of its meaning in this game – this change makes it something you once again have to pay attention to. It now should be easier to create puppets from your conquered territories, a must for countries hoping to reduce their belligerence levels. And on the subject of puppets, veterans of HOI will want to know that now you can attack from a puppet's territory, and, when a province is taken, the province falls to the puppet master, not the puppet.

Production and research
A number of miscellaneous changes have been made in the production of particular units. Air transports are now less expensive, as are rockets and atomic bombs. When you deploy province installations such as radar sites or air bases, what you are “deploying” is only an increased capacity for those installations. Only over time will they grow to be the size specified. The effects of tech advances on the rate of airbase construction has been reduced, which should slow a player’s ability to continually hop forward with new bases (again, slowing WC). One of the more interesting and easily overlooked changes has been the placement of an upgrade and reinforcement cap (a limit on the sliders, actually) on a.i.-controlled countries. The aim here has been to get the a.i. to produce a more varied military force. These caps have been exported to misc.txt for further tweaking. A considerable number of tech blocks (i.e., instructions not to research given techs) have been inserted for a.i.-controlled countries
_________________
"Roll out and make your mark. Pull on your boots and march.
Then roll on and meet me where you'll find me doing my own part.
Roll out your dented car. Maybe it won't roll far.
But if you do everything you can, well babe, that's more than a start." --Ted Leo

[Galaril]

Here is what the guys at HOI 2 site are sayng about this patch in a more simplified manner than the above readme:

Anyone who has taken the trouble to read through the enormous “readme” that comes with this update may well come away wondering what it’s all about. As one player’s contribution to highlighting the more significant changes among this thicket, here is a user’s guide to the most significant changes you can expect to see in-game from it.

Land Combat
A great deal of attention has been paid to slowing land combat down and making it more difficult. “Fortress buster” generals are now less powerful, which translates into making fortresses more effective. Attacking in poor weather will now prove more harmful for the attacker, and both sides will find attacking (or counterattacking) at night more difficult. The bonus awarded to dug-in defenders now has a maximum of 20%, doubling the old bonus of 10%. A number of factors affecting land combat have been exported to the misc.txt file, where they can be modified according to your priorities. In particular, the effect of experience on combat have been halved in this patch and exported to misc.txt, where it can be adjusted further. Note too that the delay for units to recover from combat has been extended to 24 hours and also exported for further tweaking. A lot of comment in the general forum has already focused on the centrality of this factor in gameplay, so its availability for adjustment is particularly noteworthy. Another change, which Johan signaled would be forthcoming after discussion about it in the general forum, was to make it possible to arrange for units from more than one province to arrive at their destination simultaneously. So now, when you give the order to a unit to attack, you will see a button on the pop-up allowing you to designate simultaneous arrival. Note, however, that ordering the units to arrive simultaneously doesn't actually make them all pop into place at the same moment. But it will get them there closer together.

Convoys and submarines
If I had to pick the most significant group of changes in the entire update, these would be my choice. The intent of these changes has been three-fold: 1) To make submarine attacks on convoys less lethal, both by reducing the number of attacks the subs can make and by increasing the convoys’ protection by escorts. 2) To make convoying less susceptible to sub attacks by directing the convoy a.i. to choose sea zones that are not currently being attacked by submarines. Of course, this places a greater burden on a nation’s convoy pool, but the advantage for convoy survivability should be noticeable. 3) To make submarines less vulnerable to detection and destruction by aircraft carriers or sub-hunting surface ships. The overall effect, therefore, should be to keep submarines at sea for longer periods without being destroyed and to reduce their effect on convoys. You should note that the presence of the submarines will also have an effect on the efficiency of your trade agreements. More subs at sea translates into lower trade efficiency, which is handled separately from convoys.

Air combat
In an attempt to avoid the creation of huge stacks of air units locked in seemingly eternal combat, a limit of 4 units has been placed on the size of any one single air stack. The command limits of commanders have been defined as 2 units for a major general, 4 for a lt. general, 8 for an air general and 16 for an air marshal. In principle, this means an air marshal still could assemble and command a 16-unit “stack” (4 x 4-unit stacks) for a major “Battle of Britain,” but given the randomness built into the air mission routine this should not be too frequent. Noteworthy too here is the attempt to better coordinate the air and naval portions of the game. The a.i. will provide better air cover for naval units and the effectiveness of naval bombers has been raised slightly.

Diplomacy and political considerations
One of the most important changes in this part of the game has been made with respect to guarantees of independence. When countries are a.i.-controlled, those guarantees should now be honored more often, making it more difficult for would-be world conquerors to go rampaging around without consequences. Some effort has been paid to keeping an a.i.-controlled US from entering the game too early. Isolationist countries (read “USA&#8221 will no longer provide guarantees of independence or form alliances. The effects of breaking non-aggression pacts are now more severe in terms of a country’s belligerence rating, which again should slow down WC (World Conquest). One of the most important changes is a small one: dissent now affects your IC total, just as it did in HOI. Dissent had lost much of its meaning in this game – this change makes it something you once again have to pay attention to. It now should be easier to create puppets from your conquered territories, a must for countries hoping to reduce their belligerence levels. And on the subject of puppets, veterans of HOI will want to know that now you can attack from a puppet's territory, and, when a province is taken, the province falls to the puppet master, not the puppet.

Production and research
A number of miscellaneous changes have been made in the production of particular units. Air transports are now less expensive, as are rockets and atomic bombs. When you deploy province installations such as radar sites or air bases, what you are “deploying” is only an increased capacity for those installations. Only over time will they grow to be the size specified. The effects of tech advances on the rate of airbase construction has been reduced, which should slow a player’s ability to continually hop forward with new bases (again, slowing WC). One of the more interesting and easily overlooked changes has been the placement of an upgrade and reinforcement cap (a limit on the sliders, actually) on a.i.-controlled countries. The aim here has been to get the a.i. to produce a more varied military force. These caps have been exported to misc.txt for further tweaking. A considerable number of tech blocks (i.e., instructions not to research given techs) have been inserted for a.i.-controlled countries
_________________
"Roll out and make your mark. Pull on your boots and march.
Then roll on and meet me where you'll find me doing my own part.
Roll out your dented car. Maybe it won't roll far.
But if you do everything you can, well babe, that's more than a start." --Ted Leo

[JeffR]

Originally Posted by WSUCougar

A glowing review...
Wargamer review

Keep in mind that the Wargamer gave a cheerleading review for the original HOI, too, and version 1.0 of that game was a huge trainwreck. But it's promising to see that other reviewers are agreeing with them this time.

[sachmo71]

Originally Posted by Galaril

I may have to get this one after all . I just saw that they released patch 1 and it is a monster patch I got this from Octopus Overlords board:

HOI2 is now patched to version 1.1, on the day that most US gamers will be receiving their copies. Johan is nothing if not supportive of his game.

There are comparatively few actual "bugfixes" in the patch (and to be honest, I hadn't noticed any of these) but a list of enhancements, adjustmens to AI, and other tweaks a mile long. Here's the readme:

All of this stuff was changes made after the gold copy was laid down. It's been ready for a while.

[Galaril]

interesting in depth AAR of the game.

link work safe

[sachmo71]

All of the reviews so far (according to Paradox)
score: 8.8 out of 10
http://www.strategyinformer.com/rev...tsofiron2.shtml


score: 8.7 out of 10
http://pc.gamezone.com/gzreviews/r24923.htm

Award for excellence
http://www.wargamer.com/reviews/hea...on2/Default.asp


score: 8.7 out of 10
http://pc.ign.com/articles/577/577912p1.html


score: 9 out of 10
http://gamer.no/art.php?artikkelid=12829&side=1

score: 9 out of 10
http://pc.boomtown.net/en_uk/articl...iew.php?id=7090
__________________

[Fritz]

damn my busy schedule

[DaddyTorgo]

all of these glowing reviews are inching me closer and closer to buying the game. Maybe in the middle of next week when I have 2 days off in a row (unless Rome: Total Realism 5.0 is out by then!!)