#HEARTS OF IRON IV POLAND UPGRADE#
#HEARTS OF IRON IV POLAND TRIAL#

1, 1939 - the date of the upcoming German invasion.

Too bad Poland suffered so I could learn the game.ĭuring my first game, I concentrated on getting ready for Sept.

#HEARTS OF IRON IV POLAND TRIAL#

Slowly, after lots of trial and error, more than a few failures and constant trips to the Internet for clarification, the game began to click. If I research improved infantry weapons, will the factories automatically start producing them? How do I improve my manpower numbers? How do I enforce conscription? What’s the point of improving relations with a country if I can’t get them to agree to an alliance? The game has so many moving pieces it’s hard to figure out how everything fits together. I had to worry about manpower, national unity, political capital, trade, production lines, infrastructure, ideologies and on and on and on. Boxes, numbers and text filled the screen. I read Paradox Interactive’s beginner’s guide and played through the tutorial, but neither did a good job preparing me for the game. Right from the get go, the game was more daunting and impenetrable than I first imagined. I selected Poland and was dumped right into the action. Reasoning I’d stand a better chance of survival given a few years to prepare, I picked 1936. Hearts of Iron IV has two different starting points, 19. I succeeded at one by failing miserably at the other. My goals for Hearts of Iron IV were these - learn the game and keep Poland free.

#HEARTS OF IRON IV POLAND UPGRADE#

Paradox paid special attention to Poland during the development and made it the focus of a free content upgrade that gave the Polish faction its own military units and national tech tree. With that in mind, I decided to learn the game by playing as Poland. Or you could support a domestic fascist political party and become an Axis power. If you play as the United States, for example, you can pursue historically similar goals, pull the country out of the Great Depression and aid free Europe against tyranny. One of the great things about Hearts of Iron is that you can set your own goals. With that in mind, I leaped into Hearts of Iron IV. In Total War games I’ll often auto-resolve conflicts because I want to get back to the business of managing my empire. I once had a roommate who loved Europa Universalis and I’d stare over his shoulder at all the maps, colors and hexes in frightened awe.īut I love strategy games, especially those such as Civilization that focus on the macro level. It’s hard, rewarding and a ton of fun.įull disclosure - I had never played a Paradox game until now. The game asks players to take charge of a country during the 1930s and ’40s and steer it to success during the bloodiest era in world history. Hearts of Iron IV is a big, crazy World War II simulator. Digital storefront Steam calls it a strategy game. Hearts of Iron IV is the newest installment in Paradox Interactive’s long-running wargame series. This is Hearts of Iron IV and, not for the first time, I’m wondering if playing as Poland my first time through was a bad idea. In the south, Albania, Hungary and Czechoslovakia decide to appease the fascists. The Baltic States to the north look on, ignoring my desperate appeals for support. The Red Army masses to the east while the Wehrmacht prepares to smash my defenses in the west. It’s 1939 and I’m in charge of the Republic of Poland. I knew the history, lay of the land and thought I understood the game. I had organized my economy, military and political system - and was confident the republic would survive fascist aggression. Paradox Interactive capture Germany beat me badly, but I still had a lot of funĮverything was going so well.

Hearts of iron iv poland