Overview
Here’s a good guide for new players to get involved in winning games and playing in any multiplayer lobby. This includes a rundown on specific nation guides and a general guide to follow. I will continue to develop this guide with the help from a group of competitive Hearts of Iron Players, so all of the information provided is constantly updated, and therefore up to date.
Introduction to HOI4
Well, if you’re reading this you’ve probably found yourself losing games quickly and badly to either the AI or other players.
This game isn’t for the faint hearted, and there is a hell of a lot of information to take in, so I’d suggest on looking for specific sections or reading this over a few hours to let the information sink in.
In this guide, we will look at Units & Templates, Navies, Aircraft, Technology, Building and specific strategies for Individual nations.
Most of the information here will not be useful for experienced players, since it outlines a lot of basics that newer players will not yet understand, and this guide can be considered as a Singleplayer guide unless using the specific nation builds tagged with “MP” (located at the bottom of the guide)
The Basics – Units
So there are many strategies that players will talk about or use in game, and the strategy you use should be dependent on countering the enemy forces. This is the most important part of the game. The best way to learn how to counter a Nation’s forces, is to learn how to play that Nation.
However, if you’re playing single player, you don’t need to worry too much about countering because the AI is stupid when it comes to divisions and managing their armies properly. They will, for the most part, use basic templates that they get given as soon as they unlock a specific unit and will barely edit them. This means Players will have a huge advantage over their enemies.
Disclaimer, these strategies are not going to make you instantly win your wars. Only the player can ensure victory, these strategies generally make it easier.
These strategies also work with most mods that do not change the basic combat or division systems.
The below are absolutely essential for ensuring you have the basics for your army that everyone else already has and will be adapting;
“One Division” Training
This is a very valuable strategy for players, since it gives you the maximum gain of XP. By disbanding all but a single unit, then having them complete exercises, you will minimize equipment loss from training, whilst getting the same XP that you would training every single unit in your army, because your entire army is a single unit.
You’ll need this valuable XP boost to build your divisions whilst you’re not at war. You can also send an “Attachee” to Spain during their civil war, which will give you even more XP.
The AI cannot do this strategy, since it is verging on an exploit. It was first used in a PDXCon head to head game, and despite initial number crunchers stated that it doesn’t work, it has since been proven that it does.
“14 / 4” Infantry divisions
Many people ask “What is a 14/4” because they’re not used to templates of troops.
A 14/4 template is usually *(but not always) 14 infantry Brigades and 4 artillery, with supporting artillery, engineers, anti-air and anti-tank, with either logistics or maintenance crews depending on the enemy.
This is a basic template for anyone outside of Europe, because the unit has 40 width, which is the maximum width for an attack from any single province. This means every brigade within that division will be fighting at the same time, whereas any more and you will not get the full effectiveness from your units.
For Naval powers like Italy and the United Kingdom, it’s highly advised you use these divisions to garrison Ports and Victory points, since they are able to block naval invasions quite easily, again because they fight at full effectiveness.
The AI may not attempt naval invasions unless certain requirements are filled, but players in Multiplayer certainly will, which is another important note.
There are many variations of 14 / 4 divisions that Multiplayer requires, such as Marines and Mountaineers, which will be mentioned later on. Just keep this in mind, as it’s useful to know.
Always have anti-tank in some capacity
Unless you’re fighting in Asia (and sometimes even including Asia) you’ll want to ensure you have anti tank support crews or a brigade in your template to ensure your units are not being slaughtered by Tanks.
You will likely find that Tanks will still beat your Infantry, but you’ll cause high amounts of damage to the enemy, costing them vital resources to repair and replace their equipment.
If you’re in Europe without an anti tank brigade, you’ll be Capitulating in no time at all. However, generally European powers should have their own Tank division templates, which is the next topic of focus.
Tanks & Tank Destroyers
If you happen to be playing as the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR/Soviet Union) or The Third Reich (Germany) you will be required to have decent tank templates.
There are 100s of variations for this, so we won’t be looking at the actual templates here. However, it’s important to use between 20 and 40 width for each template.
It’s also absolutely vital that you’re not using Light Tanks. They’re useless unless you’re playing as Japan/China, because they will be destroyed quickly by Anti Tank and Tank Destroyer units.
Heavy tanks is usually a good strategy for the USSR, since they offer good HP and decent attack stats. They also can hold off and push back Japan quickly, since Anti-Tank is less effective against them.
In contrast, Medium tanks are the best brigades for Germany, since they offer more flexibility for fighting multiple enemies, despite being slightly weaker against Anti-Tank. A 40 width Medium Tank template can easily be among the strongest units in the game, with the right setup.
All of your tank templates should have at least 1 Tank Destroyer brigade, especially on the German-Soviet Front, since both sides will be fielding large amounts of armoured vehicles. This will give you an edge in a majority of fights.
I would also suggest some Self Propelled Gun (SPG) brigades, which is our next topic of focus.
Self Propelled/ Motorized Artillery
Self Propelled Artillery (SPG) as they’re known in Hearts of Iron are a high mobile variant of standard Artillery, which can be researched using the “Explosion” icon on Tank technologies. They provided extreme amounts of Firepower against un-armored units, meaning any Infantry they encounter will be wrecked.
Mot. Artillery are mainly used as a supporting unit of a 14/4 Mechanized division, being the 4 brigades. However, they’re also viable for Tank divisions who end up against a nation focusing on Infantry.
The team and I usually use this sort of division for Russia against nations like Japan, who are unlikely to have counters against Tanks, and as a result we cause hundreds of thousands of casualties quickly.
Mechanized and Motorized
As you should know, since you’re playing a war game, Infantry is the backbone of every single army.
Well, this game isn’t much different in that respect. Most AI will field more than 60% Infantry in all theatres of war, so it’s important you have a counter to more than half of their army.
Before I continue, there are a few exceptions to this. As mentioned above, the USSR and Germany may field more Tanks than Infantry, as well as the USA. However, almost every other country can be countered using this strategy.
Mechanized and Motorized units, as well as Self Propelled Guns, are an absolute counter to Infantry in almost every aspect. You can cause thousands of casualties in a very short time if the units are used properly.
We will start of looking at Motorized first since they’re the first out of the counters you’ll be able to research.
Motorized units are faster, stronger and generally better supplied than generic infantry. A basic template with 7 motorized infantry and 2 Self Propelled Guns are enough to hold against a majority infantry army whilst you prepare a breakthrough unit.
With their high speed, it is worth using these units for defence, especially with an extra buff from engineers.
Now mechanized are slightly different, since they’re preferred in an attacking role. You’ll need Motorized researched before you’ll have access to Mechanized, so in any case the above information will help you.
Mechanized units are a useful tool from second line warfare. When I say second line, I mean putting a fall back line behind your main force to be used for flexibility.
They can punch quick holes in Infantry lines to allow you an encirclement opportunity, and with high soft attack, they’re a formidable force with anti armour brigades or support crews.
All of this information should allow you to be on par with a large majority of players in Multiplayer, but experience is still more valuable than a simple guide. Get into a Singleplayer game and test these units out, so you can figure out what best suits your play style.
The Basics – Navy and Aircraft
So now we get even more complex. Your navy and airforce are important tools to aid your war effort. They can cripple an enemy or turn a loss into a victory.
Navy
Navies are divided into many segments. You have Submarines, Destroyers, Cruisers, Battleships and Carriers. However, for this guide, we’ll focus on Submarines and Battleships, since they’re the core of Navies in Multiplayer, and they’re also the most effective Naval Warfare types.
Submarines are a great help for many reasons. They can raid enemy convoys, causing irreversible damage to enemy factory output and therefore stopping their units from being supplied. They can also sink enemy Cruisers and Battleships without taking any casualties, making them a good support backbone for your main fleet.
I personally only use a handful of submarines on my coast for this purpose, and vary rarely delve deeper. Of course, there’s much more you can use submarines for, like supporting Naval Invasions.
Though be warned, destroyers will tear up submarines just like they do in real life; they deploy depth charges and mines that will cause heavy casualties to Submarines in quick succession.
Battleships, on the other hand, are the main focus for ship to ship warfare. You’ll want a good stockpile of these to ensure you can control the seas without any issues. Once you’ve got a good amount in a fleet with some supporting ships, you can set them to hunt enemy ships, where they will prevent any enemies from Invading you by sea, and prevent your loss of convoys to non-submersible ships.
They offer a stupid amount of firepower in battle, and will sink multiple Destroyers and Cruisers on their own, and you can make variants of these ships to effectively make floating Fortresses.
I usually put these ships on the enemy coast to stop them sending any ships out of their ports. This isn’t an essential tactic, but I use this so I don’t have to worry about enemy fleets later in the game.
Aircraft
Now for the more important part. Your airforce will determine the course of the war.
Fighters win the war in the air, but Bombers and Close Air Support (CAS) will win it on the ground. With a good amount of planes in your airforce, you can stomp any equally powered nation into the floor without thinking. Yes, really.
It is vital you maintain a high percentage of Air Superiority in home regions to stop bombing from enemy planes. This is known in multiplayer as “Green Air”. Now usually in Multiplayer, you’ll have a team specific air controller to do this work for you.
However in singleplayer, you don’t have anyone holding your hand for this, and if you end up with “Yellow” or “Red” air, expect to grind to a halt on the ground, either due to loss of infrastructure and factories to bombing, or because your infantry are getting shredded to pieces by CAS.
If you can’t spare the factories, just focus on Fighters, since that will stop the enemy using CAS and bombers against you, otherwise they’ll ruin your Infantry, factories and infrastructure, just like I mentioned above.
The Basics – Research and Building
In this section we will focus on Building and Research, another group of important factors in determining if you win or lose.
Building
There are two common mistakes every new player makes, mostly in Multiplayer when playing as Minors any nation. However, these mistakes can also be costly in Singleplayer.
Firstly, you do not need to build hundreds of Civilian Factories. Yes, they increase your building speed, but they also consume more time building than any other building. The only nations that need to spam Civilian Factories are the 6 Majors, and each one is dependent on their specific build. As an example, Germany should have between 150 and 200 Civilian Factories for late game. Russia needs a similar amount. The USA doesn’t really need nor get benefits from any due to certain national modifiers. The UK needs about 50 to 80 just to allow developing of colonial infrastructure. Japan really doesn’t need many, but could use 10 right at the start of the game to speed up development.
Most of these nations will eventually convert the Civilian Factories into Military Factories when the war breaks out, leaving just enough to cover repairs caused by bombing.
The other common mistake is building in areas with a lower infrastructure. Always build in the best infrastructure areas that are not immediately on your border with a member of the enemy faction.
You can very easily build a total of 40 military factories in three or four provinces by 1939 as a minor nation if you use areas with higher infrastructure. Even one additional infrastructure point increases building speed by 10%, which is enormous if you’re a Minor Nation.
The only nations that need to build Civilian Factories are ones that already have a highly developed Military industry, but need to outproduce other Great Powers. This is usually the strategy for the USA.
Technology
With technology, you should always, I repeat, ALWAYS be researching Small Electronics first. This increases your Research speed by a fairly significant amount early on in only 70 days.
Minor nations will have a bit of variation on their focus depending on what is required. Generally, the Commonwealth nations except Raj will rush Fighter IIs and/or Destroyer IIs depending on the British build.
However a general rule of thumb after this is to focus on Infantry and a single other type of Military unit. For those using 14/4 Infantry, this would be Artillery.
Canada and Hungary usually focuses on their Airforce (aircontrollers), Australia and New Zealand rush Marine 14/4s, Raj gets standard 14/4s (Whoever is using Marines as Raj for MP games, please stop. There are already enough from the other nations).
The only time you should not be researching at least one military technology is when you’re working on your Doctrines, which offer various bonuses.
14/4 nations will naturally use Superior Firepower, which offer buffs to Artillery and Infantry. Superior Firepower is by far the best and most flexible Doctrine out of the pick. Canada and Hungary would usually go for an air doctrine, as again, they’re natural air controllers.
Chinese nations should use Mass Mobilization, since they have lots of manpower but little tech or industry, so this will give them flexibility against Japan.
The UK would focus on both Infantry based and Naval doctrines, but they have many more research slots than Minor Nations.
This information should ensure you get off on the right track with your technology trees.
UK (Multiplayer) – Allies Strategy
In Multiplayer (MP), your main goal as the UK as to hold the British Isles in Europe whilst simultaneously holding all of your directly controlled lands abroad, and directing your Dominions to defend areas you cannot reach.
Many of these places are heavily strategic locations that allow you and the allies to consolidate their armies for the late game.
The following locations are top priority, and should have at least one, and preferably two, Allied 14/4 garrison at all times. For strategic benefit, I have including a list of your Dominions that should also have troops in each location (UK, BR – India, SA – South Africa, A – Australia, NZ – New Zealand. Canada is not listed as they are the standard Air Controller for the Allies)
Africa
El Alamein. This is a choke point in Western Egypt, can be used to stop Italy advancing in Tunis. History fans will know this is the place that the Allies started to push the Axis out of Africa in 1942. – UK, SA, BR
All ports facing the Mediterranean, since they give the Axis an easy invasion point to bypass El Alamein. This includes those owned by France in Syria. – UK, BR
Asia
All remote Islands in the East Indian Sea, such as Christmas Island. This will allow your Air controller to aid in the war against Japan. – BR, NZ
Malaysia, which is open to attack from Siam, can easily be destroyed unless properly fortified and garrisoned. Usually you should have Australia and New Zealand be prepared here with 14/4 divisions, so they can hold against Japan. – A, NZ
Europe
Gibraltar, which offers Naval control of the Straights, can be used to stop Italy accessing the Atlantic Ocean. – UK, NZ
Malta, which is a superb naval base for a late Invasion of Italy. – UK
Ireland, although an obscure defensive target, is a prime area for Axis Invasions since they can then ferry troops into Wales via the Irish Sea. – UK
There are many other areas you will want to defend, but these are the highest priority due to their strategic benefit. Losing even a few of these areas will result in an almost certain Axis Victory.
As a precaution, I wouldn’t play as the UK in MP unless you have at least 500 hours, because at that point you’ll know what you’re doing. However in a game with friends, or in Co-op, using this information should get you started on your campaign against the Axis of Europe.
India (Multiplayer) – Allies Strategy
As the British Raj, you’re in a bit of a nasty spot to begin with.
For starters, you should use the one division training strategy to get army XP for your Templates.
Whilst waiting for the XP to rack up, you should focus on building infrastructure in one or two provinces, which will act as your main military factory hubs. I would choose Dehli and Bengal for this, since they’re large cities with a lot of building slots.
It is viable, but dependent on what Axis nations are player led, to rush your extra technology slot via a focus. A majority of players will however instead wait until they have their industry focuses partially completed first, since they will lack the factories to produce their first 10 units.
You’ll need to have 14/4 infantry units ready to invade Ethiopia at the start of the war, especially if they’re puppets of Italy, and you’ll need a minimum of 15 Military Factories to produce weapons effectively.
After you’ve dealt with Ethiopia, you need to move units up to support the UK and South Africa in Egypt by putting a single unit in every allied port in the Mediterranean to stop any Axis invasions.
Once these are secure, leave two Infantry behind El Alamein as an extra defensive line, and the remaining forces need to be brought back to India in preparation for holding the line against Japanese forces.
Have 6 units in the North Western passage bordering Tibet, in case Sinkiang falls to Japan, since that will open another front. Everyone else should be guarding the long river that splits Bengal and Burma, and you will want to built forts along that whole line up to the point where there is only two provinces between the river and the sea.
You won’t want to guard any further south than this point, since the enemy could potentially encircle forces due to lack of the river protection. There should be two provinces that can be attacked from your side of the river, which you will add a few extra fort levels on. That will be enough to hold off the entire Japanese army until the rest of the Allies are able to push them back.
This is the general strategy for India, but anything more you can do to aid the allies is a bonus, provided you do not fail on any of the areas above.