Overview
This guide will introduce the black ice mod to new players who are inexperienced with the mod.I did not create this mod in any way or form, I only hope to promote it to others.
Introduction
Black Ice is a must play mod for me, not only does it change the game completly, it adds an entirely new sensatinal feeling as a commander in Hearts of Iron. The mods adds units, technologies, and many new events [mainly Germany, US, and the UK]. This is a very stable mod that has been running for little over a year so many bugs are fixed and the game runs pretty smooth, there are only a couple times when i crash[when i do i want to cry].
IC
IC is now a lot bigger with the black ice mod. Starting off as Germany you get close to 220 IC i believe. Aircraft are also incredibly cheaper, like 5 IC for a fighter so you can only imagine how scary the RAF and Luftwaffe are. IC has been greatly buffed, so more IC means more units right??? Absofrickenlutely, many of my armies consist of close to 4 million troops in 1944, just plain massive armies. You thought D-Day was bad, guess agian. In reality the AEF landed close to 160,000 men. My experiences say other wise in HOI3. With the ic increased to a realistic level it allows more units, and more massive scaled battles. By the way i lost that battle in case anyone was wondering. 🙁
Divisions
Divisions are a lot more complex now, there is no such thing as 3x inf and 1xarty, Now its close to 1x Infantry, 1x Artillary, 1x AT, 1x Div HQ, 1x Light Vehicle Transport. You can now have 6 Regiments in a division instead of 4. This can be increaased to 7 throught the technology tree. Not only can you improve the size of the division, you can increase the size of men now in a regiment. For example there are 3 levels of Infantry Strength upgrades, 1/3 of 3,000 men, 2/3 is 6,000 men, 3/3 is 9,000 men. Most of my divisions consist of 12,000 men in a single division. Not only is setting up the divsision key, but its important to understand the combination of Combined Arms. You must use a collection of flexible forces to eliminate other enemy units, im sorry theres no more just stacking 3x infantry, you must think OUTSIDE OF ZE BOX. With technology upgrades you can increase the size of your combined bonus. Ex- my 1943 divisions have close to a 40 or 50 percent bonus in the field now.
Technology
Technology is a new ball game in Hearts of Iron now, there are close to some 120 technologies now instead of 40. The new technologies add a twist to the game, its ultimately up to you on what the strong suits of your country are such as armor, infantry, navy, or your aviation. The choice is yours but its always good to have a strong infantry.
Installing
Here comes the hardest part people, just kidding its pretty easy. There are basically 3 things you need to
1. Install the podcast, YES IT IS REQUIRED! [link]
– Put the podcast into your hoi3 directory and overwrite the old launcher
2. Installed the mod itself [link]
– The exe MUST be placed into the hoi3 directory and run the installer once placed inside of your hearts of iron 3 folder, the executable should be hearts of iron 3
3. launch the game, i know its quite difficult, but basically when you launch the game, a launcher should appear, inside of the launcher on the bottom left corner should be the black ice mod, select it, then launch ze game
4. Conquer the world