Hearts of Iron IV - (PC) Steam GERMANY Digital Key
Includes Poland: United and Ready DLC, Forum Avatar and Wallpapers
Hearts of Iron IV for PC is the fourth in the series of the grand strategy war
game. Play through World War Two as often as you like, tweaking weightings and
scenarios to see the different potential outcomes, or reworking history to see
it play out in front of your eyes. The game offers two start dates: 1936 or
1939, and you can proceed well beyond the end of the war, but anything after
1950 is more or less unplayable.
You can play this game alone, or as part of a multiplayer game, choosing almost
any historical character you like. However, do note that this is not an open
world game, nor is it sandbox-style. There are scenarios that must be worked
through – but they are massive scenarios with multiple outcomes to play through,
so it can feel quite open and unrestricted unless you are wanting to create an
alternative history that the developers haven’t thought of.
WHAT’S THE STORY?
In this intensely detailed but broad-ranging game you must arrange the world to
suit your own preferred story. While much of the play occurs at the national
level, it is possible to zoom in on the minutiae too, if that is your
preference. So you can micromanage the doings in a small Russian town,
population a few hundred, or you can zoom out massively, and send a sweeping
attack across the whole of West Africa.
You can choose to operate from any one of the impressive 11,000 regions that are
detailed on the game map – and detailed is exactly the right word! You can check
the weather, what time sunrise and sunsets occur, the terrain and what supply
lines are in place, before committing your time and attention to the area.
And it does not have to be an area that was involved directly with WWII – you
can play an alternative history in which it was, thanks to the detailed world
mapping and immense control offered by the game. The work that has gone into all
these alt-histories is incredible, and there for your enjoyment!
THE NITTY GRITTY
The game relies only to a certain extent on AI, and often, if planning complex
combat missions, you will have to actively guide your troops, if, for example,
you have two rally points. The troops will not divide themselves and one rally
point will become overused, while the other is almost ignored. Either of these
are problematic: your crowded point will not be able to feed and house so many
soldiers, while the other is easy prey for alert enemy combatants!
If you love this sort of intense armchair strategizing, this game is perfect for
you. You can rework WWII over and over, seeing how even quite small changes make
the outcomes change. You do have to pay attention though: neglecting your allies
can have them leave you hanging, just as you are marching on the enemy,
confidently expecting their backup when suddenly, whoops, you are all along and
the Nazis are coming!
It can be hard in the heat of global battle to keep track of all the small
stuff: heroic companies going above and beyond, excellent performance by
revamped weapons proving the wisdom of early investment, etc, but it is a
necessary skill to play the game fully, especially when you are managing
multiple armies.
WHO’S ON MY SIDE?
Any nation can have armed forces, which are supported by the civilians in the
country. Civilian factories build equipment and many military items that allow
for military factories to be built: the armed forces would be in a poor position
if they were to alienate the civilian population of the country!
There are three types of armed forces to be trained, deployed and used to
further the interests of the nation:
Navy – Naval forces are obviously sea-based, ideal for carrying long, heavy
loads. Battleships and warships are built in dockyards, while other naval
equipment is made in civilian and munitions factories
Air Force – taking combat aerial means that you can quickly attack distant
places, and rapidly move small amounts of men, equipment and, of course, planes
themselves
Infantry – Basically regular army, the ground force comprises infantry troops,
tanks and the usual jeeps and perhaps horses
