A question about other mods, and general musings on one of the finest games to ever grace the PC…
For those of you not in the know, Hearts of Iron is, IMHO, the finest strategic-scale WWII game ever made. And it will remain so until Strategic Command II or Hearts of Iron 2 comes out. (This fall?)
I am currently using the C.O.R.E. mod, version .81. Have any of you played the Stoney Road mod, or one of the others? How do they compare to the CORE mods? I love the CORE mod, but if they add something to the game, I would try any of the other mods.
Combined with the latest 1.06 patch, this mod rather significantly changes the game:
-Defensive values are higher, and the resulting battles are much bloodier. No more 3 month blitzs of Russia when playing as Germany.
-AI is much better. They will make repeated and strong efforts to take back France, rather than the traditional ‘drop off a division to die’ tactics of days gone by. Now, I actually have to garrison France properly.
-Strategic bombing effects seem to last longer. Before, I would generally just ignore Allied bombing, as I would be finishing up in Russia* in time to turn on Britain. Now, the bombing campaign begins early and is more effective, so I need to deploy interceptor squadron. ME-163s are nice for this…
-AI is more intelligent at sea. Still not brilliant, but fleets of cheap subs no longer seem to do the trick. They will have more destroyers, and seem to have more naval airpower.
-Manpower is lower. As Germany, I was running out of people by late '42, making rebuilding battered armies impossible. Add the effects on supplies by strategic bombing, and soon I was in a ‘authentic’ situation: Lots of understrength divisions trying to hold the line against the Red Army in the east and the massive American army that landed in France.
-Some tech takes longer to research. Whereas before I could rely on getting nukes fairly early (and didn’t really use them before, except for a spot of fun), this time around I didn’t get my first bomb (a ‘waste bomb’ at that) until it was too late, mid-1947. By that time, what was left of my armies was holed up in the Alps, my production too low to make a bomber or missle unit to deliver the damned thing.
*: Generally, if I play a ‘great power’, it will be Germany. I tend to play the smaller countries, though. Jugoslavia is a obvious favorite of mine, as are Australia and Argentina. But of the major combatants, Germany is my favorite. I generally attack early into Austria, Hungary, and Jugoslavia, just for the resources. The Allies won’t declare war for those countries. Then, I go into France (by 1938 or so). Poland next, followed by a buildup, then Russia. In Russia, I take everything up to the Urals, fortify the line, and then push south through into the middle east. A new army would be built up for taking Britain (eliminating the bomber threat), and that is pretty much game, set, and match. Once the Brits fell, I would build tons of paratroopers to quickly take Africa and Siberia, then resume my push from the Urals to the Pacific.
Not anymore. I only played one 1.06/CORE campaign, but I was lucky to run the clock out. I held Moscow for a mere few weeks, the farthest point of my eastern attack.
You have to love this game…
