Energy
The energy resource represents a number of different materials that are used to generate the power that your factories require to operate. Historically this came predominantly from coal fire generation, as well as hydro-electric facilities, wood-burning plants, and several other sources. While this resource is well distributed throughout the globe, the greatest concentrations may be found in Germany, England, and parts of North America. Energy may also be converted into oil if your stockpile of...
Combat
Hearts of Iron 2 does not seek to model combat on a highly detailed, microscopic level. You do not control individual soldiers, squads, platoons, companies or even battalions. In Hol2 you will issue orders to divisions or whole armies and your battles will represent a contest for the control of much larger regions of land provinces rather than individual beachheads or buildings. The actual hand-to-hand fighting occurs behind the scenes in your CPU and your progress is displayed using graphic...
Special Orders AntiPartisan Duty
You may order any type of division to engage specifically in anti-partisan duty. Doing so will double their suppression value and thus greatly reduce the effects and likelihood of partisan activities in any occupied provinces. This order is given just as each of the other special orders is done, using the Ctrl and right-click Orders Interface or by selecting it from the drop-down list when you click the orders box. You will almost certainly wish to assign your garrison divisions to...
IC Production
Though mentioned In several places in the manual, the formula tor base IC production Is 1 IC 2 energy 1 metal J5 Rare Materials The actual value available will be this hase IC amount as modified hy current technologies is often very little point in heavily fortifying a province that is many miles away from any likely front. Deploying a new provincial asset is quite simple. Click on the View Map folder tab and then click on the Force Pool hot button. This will display a list of any assets and...
Supply Chains
New that we've looked at transport capacity and supply efficiency we can address the overriding issue supplying your forces. In real life the logistics involved in supply chain management are very complex and time consuming, but it's not one of the more interesting or entertaining roles for a player to assume so Hearts of Iron II abstracts this using the previously described transport capacity and supply efficiency systems. What remains and what you must pay close attention to is the issue of...
Carrier Airbase Strike
This is also an order that may only be given to a fleet that has a CAG attached to a carrier. This order is the same as the Air Mission Runway Cratering explained in the Air Combat section below and is an attack against a province's air base in an attempt to reduce its operational strength. Again, keep an eye on the weather, and on any enemy AA and fighters in the vicinity. A sea transport mission is used to transport land forces to a friendly port once they have been loaded on board the...
Government
The position of the first two domestic policy sliders will determine the type of government that is in power in a nation, as well as the ministers who be available to help rule it. Each government type imposes certain restrictions on the possible ranges of some of the other sliders. There are ten distinct forms of government used in Hearts of Iron II Cabinet and Ministers These are the highest-ranking officials in a nation's government. Unlike the various field officers who directly command a...
Field Officer Traits
Afield officer may have specific traits that will characterise his style of command or identify areas where he possesses exceptional abilities. If he has such a trait, it will be identified in the tooltip that appears when you hover your mouse over his portrait and will benefit any divisions under his direct command. Warning This bonus is lost if the officer is overstacked. Logistics Wizard This officer is able to achieve impressive economies of both supply and fuel efficiency. Divisions under...
Strategic Redeployment and the Force Pool
Any new military units you produce will enter your force pool and can then be deployed at your discretion to any valid location. Naval forces and air forces have an additional deployment prerequisite they must be assigned to specialised bases that are constructed to house and support them. These bases are limited with respect to the numbers units they can effectively handle, and this number can be temporarily reduced as a result of damage from enemy attacks. Land units that are already in the...
Domestic Policy Overview
Our detailed look at the Diplomacy Folder begins with the Domestic Policy area, displayed as seven distinct policy sliders. Don't be fooled by the small size of this part of the screen it's a deceptively important one Each slider has a label at either end, representing two opposing views. The slider position determines which view the nation tends to favour, and how strongly it does so. We'll take a closer look at the meaning of each in a moment. Domestic policies have far-reaching implications...
Convoys
Convoys are the essential vessels used to ferry natural resources from any provinces that you control overseas back to your national stockpiles, and to send supplies and fuel to your troops abroad. Without convoys, you will be unable to Import resources from your own colonial possessions if any or to keep your supply chains open and operational. Hol2's convoy system is somewhat abstracted, relieving you of the need to micromanage their specific actions. Rather than giving orders to individual...
Naval Interdiction
This is a naval order that instructs your fleet to patrol the sea zones within a particular area. It will randomly mcve through those zones and will initiate an attack against any enemy surface fleets it encounters. The chances of it spotting a fleet are slightly less than the chances of it doing so when stationary in a single sea zone, hovveverthis allows you use a single fleet to cover a somewhat larger area of water but you are less likely to spot any submarines . Naval Combat Patrol This...
Industrial Capacity
To continue our analogy, industrial capacity abbreviated throughout as IC is the engine that drives your nation's economy. This represents your overall ability to manufacture goods and is determined by the number of factories that you have operating in your nation. The more factories you have, the greater your potential industrial capacity. Your IC should be thought of as an ability and not as a thing. You can't store ICs in the way that can stockpile natural resources. You can only use them up...
Oil
Oil is available only in a limited number of locations throughout the world predominantly the south-centraI USA, Colombia, Caucasus and parts of the Middle East in the form of natural petroleum reserves. Historically it was also extracted or synthesised albeit inefficiently from other resources coal, oil shale, etc. , which is represented in Hol2 by the ability to convert energy resources into oil. This will be done automatically for your stockpile of oil is low, but the amount that may be...
Provinces
Each province and most Importantly, who controls it Is the basic unit of measure forvlctory In Hol2. There Is a distinction between national provinces, owned provinces and occupied provinces. National provinces are ones that have historically belonged to a nation for a long period of time and where the population Is generally content with being part of that nation. The only time they will become upset with their government Is when it takes actions that are not popular In the view ofthe public....
Reinforcements
This slider allocates industrial capacity to reinforcements and repairs. It is used to train replacements and repair equipment for units whose strength has been reduced as a result of combat or attrition. Military forces have a human component as well, so as you are reinforcing them you will also need to have sufficient manpewer available in your national manpower pool to be withdrawn to meet those requirements. The amount needed depends on the original manpewer cost of the unit and on the...
Selecting Research Teams
The left side area 1 of the Technology Folder will display up to five teams of scientists, each of whom may be assigned a project to work on. When you first start playing this area will be empty, waiting for you to assign research teams to each slot and then give them each a project to pursue. Depending on the nation you are playing, you may have as many as five slots, or as few as one, The number of available slots is based on your nation's current industrial capacity. Click on a blank team...
Air Combat Modifiers
Air combats are resolved In much the same way that land combats are resolved and the combat details screen Is virtually Identical hcwever there Is a time limit of five hours placed on the combat, due to the range limitations of the aircraft. Once they have exhausted their limit they will return to their base to recuperate for the next sortie. Remember that a squadron cannot capture a province and can only soften up the defences to assist advancing land forces. Just as naval vessels can be...
Resource Depots
The lower right portion of the Production Folder is a scrollable listing of all the resource depots that you currently have throughout the world. Depots will exist for one of three reasons either it is your nation's capital or you have natural resources being extracted from provinces in that region but there is no direct land link to your capital so they are being stockpiled locally to await convoy transport to your capital or a depot has been established to act as a supply dump of oil and...
Organisation and Entrenchment
Land forces that are constantly mcving don't have much time to prepare themselves against an enemy attack and have a tendency to become somewhat stretched out' or disorganised. The same is true of armies that are constantly subjected to naval barrages or aerial bombardment. Hol2 models this aspect of war using the concepts of organisation and entrenchment. Organisation is a measure of the cohesiveness of a force hew able it is to receive and respond to orders, how well it is supplied, hew...
Envelopment and MultipleFront Attacks
One of the most effective tactics that can be employed by an attacking force is to launch their attack from several different provinces against the same target. This is for two very important reasons the defender will suffer an attack and defence effectiveness envelopment modifier and the attacking leaders may stack their division limits to bring a much larger number of divisions to bear against the enemy. When a province is attacked across more than one border, the defending forces will...
Ic Slider Lock
Vou can lock an IC allocation slider to prevent It from moving when you adjust other sliders. Right-click or douhle-click on a slider to lock It, and do so again to unlock il.once more. the exception of the supplies stockpile updated hourly and the manpower pool updated as soon as manpower is used to order a new unit and also drawn from daily for any necessary reinforcements . It is also important to note that the values reflect only your national stockpile levels and do not include any...
Routers and Firewalls
It is common for computers to be behind routers or be protected by firewalls. Firewalls vNet and internet multiplayer games use ports 2300-2400, 28800-29000 and 47400-47700 for communication. You will need to make these available to host or join a game. Note that this will result in limited exposure to malicious internet users and that you do so at your own risk. Routers since there are many different routers on the market, each with unique software controls, please consult your user manual for...
Fleet Details
The Fleet Details information panel is almost identical to the one used for field commands, with only two major differences that should be pointed out here Base and Range Just below the orders box you will see the usual supply icon a small circle but below this you will now see the current naval base assignment and effective mission range of the fleet. A fleet may never be further away from its assigned naval base than its mission range value, thus limiting the overall distances it may travel...
Deploying Divisions from the Force Pool
When a production order has been completed, the newly created division will be placed in the force pool to await deployment. Begin by clicking on the Force Pool Hot Button to display a list of all forces that await deployment and then select the unit you wish to deploy. The main map will change to display all valid deployment locations in green and the information panel will new display a list of any field commands that the unit can be added to. If you click on a province on the map, then the...
Attaching Brigades
Attaching a brigade can be done in almost the same manner as adding a new division to an existing field command. There is one additional step, hewever, since you must identify which division in that command is to receive the brigade. A second method of attaching a brigade and the one that I would recommend for ease of deployment is to locate the division that you wish to attach it to first, then click the attach brigade button to display any brigades that are currently available in the force...
Transporting Troops on Ships
To mcwe land forces across water you must transport them using your naval transport vessels. Each naval transport has sufficient carrying capacity to handle one full division and, if necessary, an attached brigade. To be able to transport EPjjfffi lfil a field command you must either have a sufficient number of transports or you must reorganise your force until it is the appropriate size. Once you have done this, there are two ways to load a field command onto a transport vessel. If the force...
Naval Supply
Hearts of Iron II assumes that there are support vessels that are able to re-provision a navy while they are conducting their missions even if they are in the middle of the ocean but the base must have access to supplies and fuel in order to do so. Simply assigning a fleet to a base does not guarantee the fleet's supply. A base acts as the last link in a supply chain that must stretch unbroken from a depot that contains the necessary supplies and oil. If you play the USA you will find that this...
Transport Capacity and Supply Efficiency
New that we've looked at the internal details of divisions and commands and how to deploy new ones, let's look at the next important component of a successful military venture supply. To do this, we mustfirst lookatthe subject of your nation's transport capacity and supply efficiency. As you may recall from the Production section, transport capacity TC is an abstraction that Hearts of Iron II uses to represent a nation's overall ability to mcve goods and materials, It is the product of your...
International Trade Summary
The method of establishing new international trade agreements is discussed in detail in the Diplomacy section however the Production folder also includes a summary of all active trade agreements since they will impact on your flow of resources. Each line item identifies the trading nation, the type of goods being exchanged, and the current trade efficiency. Hovering your mouse over any item in this scrollable list allows you to view the precise details of the agreement. International trade does...
Connection Types
You will need either a fast Internet connection DSL Cable with TCP IP protocol installed or a connection to a Local Area Network LAN to play Hol2 in multiplayer mode. LAN This connection is established automatically by searching for any hosted games on your LAN. Either click host' or select a detected game and click join. Valkyrie net This is a service provided at no charge by Paradox as both a meeting place for players and a connection handler to make it easier to host or join games. Hol2 also...
Envelopment Encirclement and Supply
Another all-too-common error made by new players is to forget the nasty effects of envelopment. There will be times when it would be more prudent to withdraw from a situation than to allow your enemy to assault you from multiple angles of attack. If you're very lucky you might even be able to turn a well-considered retreat into a situation where you may turn the tables and envelope your enemy's ever-eager advance. Troops can't fight if their stomachs are empty and they have no more rounds of...
IC Allocation Production and Gearing Bonuses
Resources are consumed by factories to generate the IC you require to manufacture the various things that you will need in the game. You will often lack sufficient capacity to do everything you want to, so you must decide how to carefully allocate whatever amount you have. IC is used by the assembly lines that manufacture your tanks, warships and airplanes. It produces the ammunition and supplies needed to equip and maintain your troops. It is also used to upgrade your existing armies and to...
Dissent and Partisans
Depending on your domestic policies, your population may also play a prominent role In determining what actions you may take even to the point of making it impossible to declare war on a nation unless public opinion is on your side. Policy settings will also influence the public's demand for consumer goods, and falling to meet these demands will have negative consequences by causing dissent their overall level of happiness to become worse. Dissent has two significant impacts it will cause your...