There are some really exciting stuff happening with Hearts of Iron IV at the moment which I will be announcing, but first as promised; it’s time to talk about the generic focus tree.
The generic focus tree is what all nations who don’t have specific trees (the major 8) will get. The design goal of the generic focus tree is flexibility and freedom, allowing a player to take the nation in any direction they chose. It also contains a lot of focuses giving extra factory slots and industry, something that is a huge boost for small nations percentage wise compared to a larger nation allowing players more freedom in taking a minor somewhere worthwhile. So, let’s look at each branch in detail:
Army, Aviation and Naval Effort
Gives technology bonuses in chosen fields. We have tried to give lots of choices here so you can tailor your path depending on your nation. Naval effort for example allows a choice between trying to build up a larger fleet or focusing on submarines, convoy interdiction and smaller ships while Army Effort focuses on things like infantry and support equipment primarily which will be important for a minor nation, but does also include some bonuses to armor and mechanization if your nation’s industry can sustain such choices.
Industrial Effort
Focuses on building up your nation’s industry. As I mentioned earlier it’s very powerful for a small nation and should make lots of smaller nations more viable for fun play compared to HOI3.
Political Effort
This tree lets you more easily alter your nation’s political makeup, or further develop your current one. The initial choice is between collectivism or liberty. The Liberty track is good for neutrals or democratic nations and splits off immediately in a choice between taking a neutral stance or interventionism as your foreign policy. Result wise it basically is a choice between better defense and being able to send more volunteers to indirectly involve yourself in conflicts.
The collectivist track is split between fascism and communism where the fascist track give you access to more manpower and faster training times, while the communist track gives you more power to meddle in other nations and helping existing forces fight better with political commissars. The final step of collectivism is Ideological Fanaticism which let you set up your own faction and unlocks things like kamikaze strikes for your air force.
The generic tree is really fun and flexible and hopefully it will make you dream of stuff you can do with the country of your choice.
Now to the important announcement: Hearts of Iron will be delayed until Q1 next year. This is because after getting lots of valuable design input from DDRJake we have realized that Hearts of Iron IV as it is now is missing a crucial physical connection with its players, and it would be unfair of us to release it until this is done.
Worry not however, we have a great solution for this proposed by Jake himself – Dance Dance Revolution Mat integration! No longer are you simply a passive observer, you can instead march in real time (soundtrack will be replaced with 100% marching band music) with your soldiers towards Moscow! Not enough for you? We have also developed a revolutionary Bucket DLC System(tm) that lets you slosh through authentic pripyat swamp water*, mud and scorching hot sand (requires oven (not included)).
We believe this will revolutionize grand strategy gaming like nothing else and are super excited to take you with us on this journey!
![[IMG]](https://i0.wp.com/i.imgur.com/x5yfdV3.jpg?w=656&ssl=1)
See you next friday when we will cover exciting head to head multiplayer dance-offs used to decide conflicts in peace negotiations!
* Paradox Interactive takes no responsibility for customers suffering from trench feet or sustaining other injuries while enjoying the DDR mat experience.
