I know there are a few fellow Hearts of Iron fans on this board, but figured it would be appropriate to do a heads-up for other people, as the seemingly much-improved Hearts of Iron II is about to be released.

The game is a huge simulation of World War II at the strategic-operational level, including land, sea and air combat, as well as diplomacy, research, and whatnot.

More info can be found at the developers site.

Oh, and they have also released a number of different gift certificates for Christmas, suitable for various loved ones, he he he...



Edit: Linked the huge certificate, and put in the title screen.

[ 18. January 2005, 08:32 AM: Message edited by: Heartland ]

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"Nervous wait for the whistle to blow
Rush of blood and over we go..."
- Iron Maiden, "Paschendale"

NICE, this is great news for HOI fans,

cant wait to get it

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I've only had it for 12 hours and I'm already addicted. HOI 2 is definitely the best grand strategic WW2 game ever. Maybe the best WW2 game period.

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"If your gonna buy the angel s**t, you might as well go for the zombie package as well."
-George Carlin

Yes, the reviews and comments makes it sound that way, and certainly much improved from the original HOI, which while fun certainly could be polished quite a bit.

Obscenly enough for a game developed in Sweden, it is only released in here today (the 14th!), so I'm probably going to get it after the weekend...

Meanwhile I have rediscovered the previous Paradox game - Crusader Kings, which I didn't play much when it came out. Recently I have read a couple of books on medieval times and the crusades, and suddenly the game is complete blast! Love the focus on a dynasty, as opposed to country, for a change. Currently my (not so) brave Count of Salerno is hunkered down in his single province. Not very competent or rich, I must try to secure a wife and offspring for the aging Count, before the dynasty ends with a whimper...and at the same time the obnoxious church is chastising me for not launching my puny forces against Muslim holdings...the sheer nerve of it!

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"Nervous wait for the whistle to blow
Rush of blood and over we go..."
- Iron Maiden, "Paschendale"

By the way, one of my favourite gaming sites, The Wargamer now has a Hearts of Iron 2 review up.

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"Nervous wait for the whistle to blow
Rush of blood and over we go..."
- Iron Maiden, "Paschendale"

I guess us Yanks just take priority! [img]tongue.gif[/img]

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"If your gonna buy the angel s**t, you might as well go for the zombie package as well."
-George Carlin

I just got the game yesterday. One thing i noticed right off the bat is that there is finally an Intro Movie to the game! lol. HOI didnt have one as far as i can recall. Havent had much of a chance to play it yet - did do the tutorials to see what was new and liked the interface a lot. Started an Italian campaign and conquered Ethiopia easily. Still have to work out the supplies/resources etc since they are all Red right now instead of Green. I like the Research Team aspect of things too

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Curses! I'm going to make a special point of crushing your puny nation in the game! [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Seriously though, I only picked it up yesterday, but so far the changes look great. The more streamlined research and generally cleaned-up interface certainly has done wonders. Poked around a bit in the game, did a few tutorials and checked out the 1936 campaign as the Soviet Union. Slightly miffed that the SU is already locked into the "Human Wave" ( at the name as well) land doctrine, but what the heck.

Oh, and Mussolini, I believe there was an intro for HOI1 as well, although possibly very short. Ended with a bomb dropping out of an airplane, the HOI logo appeared in the wake of a silly overdone explosion, and the narrator cheezily going "Where diplomacy ends...WAR begins!" Something along those lines.

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"Nervous wait for the whistle to blow
Rush of blood and over we go..."
- Iron Maiden, "Paschendale"

lol - right. I remember that now, pretty crappy. The new one isnt anything spectacular either, but better then nothing at all. I've decided to start off as the US for now...somewhere around 1947/48...Germany has annexed Austria, Nationalist Spain won the Spanish Civil War, Japan is owning Nationalist China...i've developed what look like V-1s...and my fleet is around 130+ ships with 4 or 5 Air Craft Carriers, though my plane and tank technology sucks (Infantry are at '39). Too many choices to choose from for research!

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is this game worth getting?

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Initial impressions only so far, so take this with a grain of salt, but I would answer that with an unqualified YES!

The annoying stuff from HOI has been cut to a minimum, while retaining the good parts. There are a few things I disagree with, but so far I like HOI2 a lot better than HOI.

Best parts so far:
- Convoys can be set to automanage, no need to mircomanage a zillion convoys as the British Empire.
- Commanders can be assigned automatically.
- Land combat improved with new system.
- Air and sea combat much nicer with the new area/province patrol system, instead of telling each and every unit what to do all the time. For example, you can set ships and aircraft to patrol multi-province areas until a certain time or losses have been sustained. Ie fighters sweeping northern France, destroyers patrolling the South China sea for subs, support aircraft hitting troops, etc.
- Ability to assign, remove and upggrade attachments to land units, such as AT, AA, Artillery brigades, engineers and whatnot.
- The research system is much easier to manage, and makes a lot more sense.
- Same goes for reinforcements and upgades to existing units.
- Few bugs and a pretty good manual(!).

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"Nervous wait for the whistle to blow
Rush of blood and over we go..."
- Iron Maiden, "Paschendale"

So as the US, i was thinking that i would not become involved in a war. Germany took Danzig through Diplomacy and Slovakia and Romania are the only Axis members with Germany. Italy, of course, took Ethiopia and Albania but thats its. Only Japan/China is there any action, and the Nationalist Chinese are now kicking Japans butt. The Chinese regained all lost territory by the time the Pearl Harbour event happened. So then i began kicking Japanese butt in the Pacific, with help from the Allies (who i allied with) to the extent that the Chinese took the Japanese lands to the North of China, the UK annexed Manchuria, and Japan gave me all but maybe 2 - 4 Pacific Islands that it controlled in order to Sue for Peace. I took this as a good break - having lost the majority of my Transports (i mistakenly had them in their own group with no ships, and they got attacked by a Maraduing Japanese ship ) I also mass produced Marine Divisions (for the eventual invasion of Japan so that i have about 20 of them (insane, i know) but there doesnt look like there will be war in Europe. Also have developed Rocket Technology and am starting on Nuclear Research (drum roll).

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