HOI IV | Open Beta SE™ Update 3.03

Generals!

Hello, I’m Zwirbaum, Game Designer for Hearts of Iron, and I want to welcome you to yet another Open Beta SE™ (Not really trademarked) Update for Hearts of Iron IV. This week I am bringing more of the experimental features and changes, which may or may not end up in the game integrated into the main branch. That’s why your feedback is important and to let me know how you feel and how it plays with the current set of changes, as well as more of those that are coming.

As usual there will be more of my ramblings in the Developer Commentaries in the Patch Notes, and I will be looking at the messages across different platforms, but that is pretty much all from me in this Update, as I have to write something that will be released upon you, very quite soon.

Thanks for reading, and until next time, Farewell!

/Zwirbaum

——
Hello,

We managed to sneak in one teeny tiny core tech update with this open beta as well: We fixed math. Well maybe not fixed it as such but we fixed computational errors for very small or large numbers when computing exponents, logarithms and power. Unmodded, this shouldn’t affect gameplay at all. Unless you ran convoy escort or raiding in 33+ regions under the same admiral while only managing to cover 1 of them. Now if you did do that, well then we fixed a bug in the efficiency computation for you as well.

If you’re a mod developer and you’re using very small or large numbers with exponents, logarithms or powers, then you might want to take a look at the open beta to check that there’s no big fallout from them now having better precision.

/Pdxen

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How to join this Open Beta:

This beta client is Operation Postern v1.19.2.0.3eb1 (85f4)

To install Open Beta client, follow the instruction below:

1. Right-click the game in your library
   
2. Select Properties from the drop-down menu
   
3. Select Game Versions & Betas
   
4. Select the beta branch called open_beta

If you are already on the Open Beta client, you should get an update automatically.

Finally, to report any issues you find, in relation to this beta, please use the bug report forum and make sure to include the version you’re using. That way our Jira won’t go nuts trying to figure out what bug report belongs to what.


Experimental Feature: Equipment can now have defined multipliers to the ‘additive stats’ from the modules, and multipliers to the ‘multiplicative stats’. This can be done on selective stats, e.g. only to Soft Attack, or done on the entirety of the stats, and with defined intensity, e.g. +5% Soft Attack bonus to all modules installed on this specific tank chassis. This is experimental change, and is not guaranteed to stay, so modders before you start going crazy over this, be aware that this change can be reverted. This change is not localized, so it will be properly displayed only in English.

• Interwar Light, Medium and Heavy Tank Chassis gets -5% Soft, Hard and Air Attack bonus for module additive values.
  
• Improved and Advanced Light, Medium and Heavy Tank Chassis get respectively +5% and +10% Soft, Hard and Air Attack bonus for module additive values. (5% for the Improved and 10% for the Advanced)
  
• Modern Tank Chassis gets +12.5% Soft, Hard, Air Attack bonus for module additive values.

Developer Commentary: With last open betas updates there was a focus on reducing the power gap on the specialized armor variants, now with this change I want to experiment and address that there is a feeling of armored units being on underpowered side - providing power boost, as well as increasing and providing incentive into researching, and fielding higher tiers of the armored equipment instead of just sticking to the most basic tank chassis. This may also due to various tiers of equipment coming ‘online’ at different timeframes, may also provide some extra incentives of considering different tank types. (e.g. Light Tanks may get its moment of glory for longer). I have seen some alternative suggestions about limiting to what modules can be installed over on which tank chassis level (e.g. no Improved Medium Cannon on Interwar Medium Tank) - it would require doing a big pass on the modules, their tech availability, where something is unlocked and then finally doing UI/UX changes to mention that this specific module can’t fit on a said chassis and why.

Experimental Feature: Equipment can now have defined stats that scale with the reliability stat of the equipment. This new effect is clamped between 0 and 1, where 0% reliability provides 0% stats defined in that new stat block, while having 100% reliability provides 100% of the stats defined in that new stat block. Following stats should not be used in it: Reliability, Reliability Factor, Carrier Deck Size and IC Cost. This is experimental change, and is not guaranteed to stay, so modders before you start going crazy over this, be aware that this change can be reverted. This change is not localized, so it will be properly displayed only in English.

• All Tank Chassis except for Land Cruisers have defined 0.5 HP scaled by reliability. For 100%+ Reliability tanks it should increase the HP of Light/Medium/Heavy/Amphibious/Super Heavy Armor to 3.5 HP from 2 HP.
  
• Line Tank Destroyers, Self-Propelled Anti-Air, Self-Propelled Artillery HP reduced from 0.6 to 0.5. For 100%+ Reliability armor variants it should increase its HP to 1.25 from previous 0.6 HP
  
• Regimental Support Tank Destroyers and Self-Propelled Anti-Air HP reduced from 0.2 to 0.1. For 100%+ Reliability armor variants it should increase its HP to 0.65 from previous 0.2 HP

Developer Commentary: This experimental change is aiming at further increasing the incentive of researching higher tiers of tanks and armored units, and also giving some benefits to Reliability. This change should make armored units a bit more efficient in the long run, and designs that are a bit less ‘skewed’ towards ignoring reliability should end up benefiting a bit more from this change. Math for how HP are calculated per unit basis are a bit less straightforward, than just being multiplicative or additive, but numbers chosen were adapted for the calculation. Anything that increases HP of subunits will have stronger effect due to it, but those picks previously were not that often used, which should increase their competitiveness

• Tank Destroyers, Self-Propelled Anti-Air, Self-Propelled Artillery - Breakthrough penalty standardized and set to -75% regardless of ‘weight’
  
• Regimental Tank Destroyers and Regimental Self-Propelled Anti-Air - Breakthrough penalty standardized and set to -90% regardless of ‘weight’
  
• Tank Destroyers and Self-Propelled Artillery - Now have a defense bonus of 25%, standardized regardless of ‘weight’
  
• Regimental Tank Destroyers - Defense penalty reduced to -33%, standardized regardless of ‘weight’

Developer Commentary: In order to provide a bit more distinct roles for Tank Destroyers, Self-Propelled Anti-Air and Self-Propelled Artillery, we have now standardized and lowered breakthrough stat they provide, so that they no longer serve as ‘Tank Replacement’, but rather as it should be, specialized variant for their specific role. Self-Propelled Artillery and Tank Destroyer units.

• Large Unit Tactics Adoption Bonus: Supply Reduction switched from All Infantry, Mot & Mech to Leg Infantry
  
• Large Unit Tactics Reward 4: Switched Bonus from applying to All Infantry, Mot & Mech to Leg Infantry

Developer Commentary: Large Unit Tactics has been unquestionable king of the Infantry Subdoctrines. With this change, the aim is to keep its benefits and rewards centered around Leg Infantry and the general theme of the ‘Infantry Mass Offensives’ while lowering some of their potential for Mechanized and Motorized infantry.

• Mobile Infantry Reward 2: Added +10% Soft Attack Bonus to All Infantry, Mot & Mech
  
• Mobile Infantry Reward 4: Soft Attack bonus removed and added +10% Breakthrough bonus to Motorized & Mechanized Infantry
  
• Mobile Warfare Armor Milestone: Now also grants +15% Breakthrough Bonus to Army
  
• Mass Assault Operations Milestone: Now grants -10% Minimum Training Level from previous -5%
  
• Mass Assault Artillery & Combat Support Milestone: Minimum Training Level -5% was replaced with Reinforce Rate +2%

• Strategic Destruction Fighter Milestone: Bonus to Interception Mission Efficiency lowered to +15%

• Proximity Fuzes bonus to Naval AA reduced to +15%:

• Rocket Launcher: Breakthrough increased from -2 to 4; Added Defense of 4; Increased Hard Attack to 4
  
• Improved Rocket Launcher: Breakthrough increased from -2 to 8; Added Defense of 8; Increased Hard Attack to 6
  
• Anti-Air 2: Air Attack reduced from 32 to 30
  
• Anti-Air 3: Air Attack reduced from 46 to 42
  
• Easy Maintenance: IC cost reduction reduced from -7.5% to -5%, and XP cost reduced from 30 to 20. Reliability Bonus reduced to 7.5%

Developer Commentary: This module has been a guaranteed pick before in most of the circumstances, especially due to the nature of stacking cost reducing modifiers being more effective the more you have. As right now Reliability has some potentially extra effect, and armored equipment should suffer lower losses, this could result in an ever increasing amount of armored equipment present at any time. We will likely look into addressing other cost reductions from other sources in the future.

• Cast Armor: Now also provides +10% HP
  
• Sloped Armor: Now also provides +5% HP
  
• Welded Armor: Now also provides +5% HP
  
• Auto-Loader: Now also provides +2% Soft Attack and +2% Air Attack
  
• Stabilizer: Now also provides +4% Hard Attack
  
• Smoke Launchers: Breakthrough increased to 2 from 1
  
• Extra Ammunition Storage: Increased Defense to 5 and Breakthrough to 3.

• Bicycle Infantry Support Equipment Requirements lowered to 5 from 10
  
• :Motorized Infantry HP increased to 27.5
  
• Mechanized Infantry Soft Attack Bonus of +10% Removed
  
• Amphibious Mechanized Infantry Soft Attack Bonus of +10% Removed
  
• Cavalry now have breakthrough bonus of +20%
  
• Artillery, Motorized Artillery, Rocket, Motorized Rocket, Truck-Drawn Rocket, Anti-Tank, Anti-Air, Motorized Anti-Tank and Motorized Anti-Air HP increased to 1.6

• Improved Infantry Equipment I and II now provides +10% Soft Attack Bonus to Motorized & Mech Infantry Category from previous +5%:

• Reverted: “Fixed Superstructures now also prevent from putting one category bigger guns on the Amphibious Tanks.”.
  
• Developer Commentary: This change was causing another issue, so for the time being it is being reverted. It may get re-added after we will get it fixed and sort some potential issues with it.
  
• Trade Interdiction Submarine Milestone Submarine Attack +0.1 got replaced with Submarine: Torpedo Attack +10%
  
• Marine Commando: Reward 5: Pioneers should now provide proper +15% Armor bonus to the Amphibious Armor
  
• Fixed an OOS (mods only), that could occur if very large numbers were used.

• Improved precision for the exp, log, and pow (power) functions.