Games PC HEARTS OF IRON II User Manual

Introduction

Hearts of Iron II is the sequel to Paradox Entertainment's award-winning Hearts of Iron, a game where you will guide your nation to glorious victory (or ignominious defeat) in the World War II era. With several Grand Campaigns, numerous Battle Scenarios, multiplayer capability, and your choice of the more than 70 playable countries that spanned the globe at the time, Hearts of Iron II will give you hour upon hour of challenge and entertainment.

This is a highly complex grand strategy game, not a historical simulation or FPS. With Hol2's nearly limitless options and exceptional depth comes a comparable learning curve. It may take some time to become familiar with its richness and its multitude of controls, so don't be surprised if your first few campaigns end in disaster. There is no "right" or "wrong" way to play Hol2, and no sure way to win. You'll probably find that the lessons you learn in your early defeats will be just as valuable as any that you

later gain through victory. Use those experiences and don't be afraid to experiment or save the game and then try a variety of alternatives.

While this manual will familiarise you with most of the

ins and outs of Hearts of Iron II, the most valuable resource of all is the Paradox public forums (www.paradoxplaza.

com/forums), You can usually get the answer to any question you might have about the game in a matter of hours (if not minutes), It's also a place where tips and strategies

are exchanged, where people from around the world will

arrange multiplayer games, where you can read about oth-

ers' Hol2 experiences (or post your own), and where new

battle scenarios and user game modifications will often be

developed. This is also where you'll find Paradox's latest

post-release enhancements available for download and a

large number of FAQ's and other resources.

Installation

System Requirements

To play Hearts of Iron II you will need to meet the following

minimum requirements:

Pentium III 450MHz (800MHz or better recommended) Windows® 98/ME/2000/XP 128Mb RAM (512Mb or more is highly recommended) 900Mb free hard drive space 4Mb Video Card DirectX compatible (8Mb or more recommended) DirectX compatible sound card DirectX9.0 or higher (included on the CD).

Installation Procedure

Place the Hearts of Iron II CD in your CD-ROM drive. If you have AutoPlay enabled on this drive the installation screen will appear automatically. If the AutoPlay doesn't

start: or is disabled for this drive: then click Start> Run and then type X:\Setup.exe to launch the installation program (replace "X" with the drive designation for the CD-ROM in which you placed the Hearts of Iron II CD: usually D or E on most systems). Simply follow the on-screen prompts to install the game.

Keeping Up To Date

Paradox is deeply committed to its customers and in my experience their product support is almost unparalleled in the gaming industry. The developers read (and frequently participate in) the discussions on the public forums and will often implement some of the best player-requested features or enhancements post release. They also make minor tweaks or alterations to existing features and squish the occasional bug that had previously escaped detection. You can go directly to the downloads page at www.paradoxplaza.com/downloads.asp under the Hol2 heading or visit the thriving community at www.paradoxplaza.com under the same heading. (You probably think I get paid to promote their forums, but I don't. They're just that good!)

Getting Started

Launching the Game

Click Start> Program Files> Paradox Entertainment

Hearts of Iron 2> Hol2 to launch Hearts of Iron It's opening movie. Hol2 (and most Paradox titles for that matter) tend

to launch a little more slowly than some games because

Paradox leaves a large number of files in simple text format to make them easily modifiable by users who might want to

tweak unit values, write their own events, or even construct

new battle scenarios on their own. This gives the game immense flexibility, but it also means that those files must be compiled when the game loads.

Note: you may experience some issues if the Bink Player (a small program used to play the opening movie) does not correctly release resources on your system when it finishes playing the opening movie. If you suspect that you are experiencing this problem you can easily resolve it by going to the main folder where you installed Hol2 and renaming the avi folder to avi_old. This will disable the opening movie and take you directly to the Main Menu on launch.

For Beginning Players

If you're new to Hearts of Iron and Paradox games I would recommend that you begin by reading the next section: Key Concepts: and then work your way through the tutorial scenarios. These will introduce you to the most important parts of the interface and get you up and running fairly quickly, though they focus mostly on "how" to do something, not

"why". Once you're more comfortable and have done a bit

of your own experimentation you'll probably want to come back to the other sections where you will find detailed descriptions of all the controls and some of the underlying strategies and tips.

My best advice would be a mixture of "don't panic" and

"be patient". Hol2 can seem a bit intimidating and complex

at first, but once you've played it for a little while you'll find that most aspects of it are quite intuitive. Remember that a full grand campaign game is quite long and that if you rush headlong into battle without preparing for it, you're likely to be just about as successful as you would be if you tried to do it in real life. If you can't find the answer to a question you have in this manual, don't forget that you can probably get one almost immediately on (yep, you guessed it...) the Paradox public forums.

For Hoi Players... What's New?

If you're a Hearts of Iron vet, then you'll find that Hol2 builds upon the best aspects of the Hoi engine, adds some important new features, incorporates a few big game-play changes, and has undergone some pretty significant interface changes. You may want to simply dive in and explore, but I'd recommend that at a minimum you read the Key Concepts section (and glancing: or reading: through the entire manual really wouldn't be such a bad idea).

The complete "what's new" list is far too long to present

here, but major changes include a complete revamp of

the technology system, further abstraction of the air and

naval system, a significantly expanded set of diplomatic

options, and many military changes (there are lots of new

units; brigades are now detachable; carriers have integral aircraft; and the new "movement is attack" combat system now initiates combat when you begin to move to an enemycontrolled province). Other changes include a revised map with more provinces, greater generalisation (and realism) for resources and global trade, major changes to the supply and convoy systems, a lot of very nice revisions to the various interfaces, the introduction of battle scenarios that

use only small portions of the map and may involve only a few nations, a newly expanded MP option that allow

more than one human player to be in control of a country,

implementation of a new air and naval basing system, a change in the way that provincial assets are purchased and deployed.. .and much, much, much, much, much more!

Key Concepts

As I said in the introduction, Hearts of Iron 2 is a game of considerable complexity. It is vital to understand that virtually every aspect of the game is interconnected. It can (and will) take time to learn how each of the game elements interacts with each other, and to gain a good

degree of control over the nation you are playing. The goal of this section is to give you a broad overview of the major components of Hol2: to give you an introduction to its key concepts before moving on to the subsequent sections that detail each feature and interface in turn.

The Second World War: indeed almost every war fought throughout history: was not purely a matter of pitting man against man on the field of battle; nor is Hol2 merely a large digital battlefield. Simply fielding a larger army than your enemy will not ensure victory, and neglecting the "engine of war": your economy: can be perilous for your chances of survival. It is vital, then, to ensure that your nation has the necessary economic infrastructure and political wherewithal to stand against your enemies if attacked, or to support any aggressive moves you might wish to make.

A huge army might seem invincible at first glance, but it can easily succumb to a seemingly weaker force that is equipped with more modern weapons, is in better supply, or is superbly trained and led. Elite forces can tip the balance in a conflict, as can employing a strategy that uses terrain or weather to your advantage. Your ability to coordinate every element of your armed forces to bring them to bear against your enemy will also greatly increase your chances of winning. Armies may be held in reserve or support other actions; air forces may be used to soften up an enemy's defences, disrupt his troops' organisation, hamper his supply, or even gut his industry; and navies can actively patrol enemy waters to embargo the import of much-needed resources or even bombard and invade his shores.

Victory

The ultimate goal of Hearts of Iron II is to guide your nation

to victory. For those who play a conventional game, there are a number of provinces located around the globe that have a victory point value, and there are the three main political factions: the Axis, the Allies, and the Comintern. Each campaign game has a predetermined end date: usually December 30th, 1947: and the victor is the faction which controls the highest point total of these provinces when the scenario ends. The shorter battle scenarios may

have somewhat different victory conditions.

Although this is the only measure of victory recognised by the game, you might wish to consider alternate

"personal achievement" criteria if you choose to play a "doomed" nation, or a country that is not a member of one

of the factions and remains aloof. If you are participating

in a multiplayer game where it is likely that there will be

more than one player on the victorious side you may want to establish some "house rules" about victory too, The choice is yours'.

The Engine of War

While Hol2 is undeniably a game that focuses on war, it

is not exclusively about war. Conflict is costly: very costly:

and can involve immense expenditures in resources and

lives before a victor is declared. The engine that propels a nation through war and ultimately leads to its success or failure is its capacity for industrial production; and it is

frequently for economic or geopolitical reasons that wars

are waged: and often won and lost: in the first place.

Natural Resources

If your economy is the engine that will propel you through war, then natural resources are the fuel that powers the engine. Although there were hundreds of resources that played a key role historically, Hol2 distils them into four distinct categories: energy sources, metals, oil, and rare materials. Energy, metal and rare materials are used on a daily basis by your factories to provide you with industrial

capacity (see below), while oil is consumed by many of your armed forces (the navy, air force, and motorised parts of

the army) to remain operational.

Natural resources are drawn from provinces throughout the world that are under your nation's control, or you may acquire them via trade or direct cash purchases from other nations if you lack territories where they occur naturally.

Any excesses you have may be stockpiled, or sold or traded

to other nations who are in need. If you lack any of these, then your economy and your military will grind to a halt, most likely dooming your nation to failure.

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 to your daily

capacity: to manufacture products.

Factories require natural resources in order to operate. In Hol2, this is abstracted such that each factory withdraws energy, metal and rare materials from your stockpiles each day in order to run at full capacity and generate IC. If resources are plentiful, then your factories will generate their full potential IC. If you run short of a necessary resource, then some of your factories will begin to shut down until you can find a new supply: usually through purchase or trade... or, of course, through conquest. Running out of a resource altogether is almost certain to doom your nation unless you

can resolve the situation quite rapidly, so you may wish to consider controlling your rate of resource consumption by

artificially capping your production during plentiful periods. Shortages of fuel, however, may be alleviated by converting some of your energy stockpile into oil; but this is a very inefficient process unless you have researched advanced technologies to improve the conversion rate,

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 make the various

consumer goods needed to keep your population happy. A

country that lacks sufficient IC will soon find its forces in

disarray and its population in revolt, A country with surplus

IC can convert this into cash which you can use to fund re-

search, purchase natural resources, or to conduct certain

other types of foreign diplomacy,. .or to stockpile supplies

and prepare for war. Excess IC can also be left voluntarily

unused, which conserves natural resources that might be required in the future.

A steady flow of resources and a healthy complement of factories will be vital to your success, but, as you'd expect, this may not be quite so simple to achieve as you might like. Some resources may have to be imported from your distant territorial holdings or obtained through trade with other countries, Imports will be at risk of loss if your enemy conquers your source or actively engages in blockade and embargo activities. Further, your industry may be subjected to a bombing campaign if you lack control of the skies, resulting in the destruction of factories and a drop in available capacity.

An additional consideration when deciding how to al-

locate IC will be whether to take advantage of a possible gearing bonus. This reflects the efficiencies of scale that are achieved through the production of many Identical

items over a longer period of time, but It lacks some of the flexibility: and easy modernisation: of a more generalised

approach to manufacturing.

Infrastructure

Without the necessary infrastructure: roads and railways: it

is difficult to efficiently move men and equipment through-

out your nation. Factories may only be built in provinces

that have enough existing infrastructure to deliver the nec-

essary raw resources and then to transport the finished

goods away from them; and the construction rates for

some provincial assets are greatly accelerated by higher

levels of infrastructure. Your armed forces will require these same assets to assist their movement and efficiently bring supplies and fuel from regional depots to the forces on the front lines. If you have insufficient infrastructure: or it is reduced by enemy bombing campaigns: then your troops will slow to a crawl and run short of supplies, which will greatly reduce your combat capabilities and increase your rate of attrition (loss of troops and equipment due to illness, mechanical breakdowns, etc.).

Domestic Policies and Government While Hol2 places you in supreme command, it would be impossible for you to govern every single aspect of your country. Instead, each nation has a set of domestic policies that determine what type of government is in place, what its trade practices might be, what type of army it will field, and how large a say the government permits its population in its affairs. Democracies, in particular, have strict limitations on the diplomatic actions they may take without provocation.

Domestic policies have numerous effects in the game, the most prominent of these being that they determine who will govern your nation and who will serve on your "cabinet" to attend to the myriad of little details that need taking care of on a day-to-day basis. They are not advisors (they don't

make suggestions to you as you play) but their individual characteristics will give you bonuses: or penalties: to your actions. Some may be adept at foreign relations, others may provide a boost to your economy, still others may

champion military doctrines that will benefit your armed forces in certain ways. Domestic policies also have Individual effects that may affect your Industry, recruitment,

public sentiment and foreign interactions,

You will begin the game with a set of domestic policies

that reflects your selected nation's historical situation at

the time. During play you may periodically make minor

adjustments to your policies, which could result in some

changes to your government and the people that serve on

your cabinet, but you are generally prohibited from making

drastic or rapid policy reversals except through a few very

special circumstances.

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 troops to begin

fighting more poorly; and it will greatly increase the likeli-

hood of your public rising in open rebellion against you. You can control dissent: reduce it or at least mitigate things somewhat: by allocating a larger share of your IC to the manufacture of consumer goods (though this will reduce your ability to meet the production and supply demands of your military). Providing excesses of consumer goods will reduce dissent, while falling short in this area will cause dissent to increase, You will need to maintain a careful bal ance between the needs of your military and the happiness of your subjects throughout the game. '

Captive populations (the people who live in foreign

provinces that you occupy) will be much less interested in working for you and far more likely to rebel than ones who feel that they naturally belong under your rule. Partisans:

nationalists who remain loyal to their former government

and oppose your occupation: will reduce a province's in-

dustrial capacity and supply efficiency and may also be-

come openly militant if you fail to maintain sufficient forces

to keep them under control. An alternative to maintaining

rigid military control is to voluntarily grant partisans their

freedom, allowing them to form a new nation and establish

a government of their own. You will lose the majority of

the economic benefits from provinces they are granted,

but they will generally be friendly towards you if you al-

low them their sovereignty; while if they achieve freedom

on their own, you will lose all economic benefits and the

fledging nation will actively side with your enemies and

seek to destroy you.

Diplomacy and Trade

International diplomacy will also be a significant compo-

nent of your success. There are many diplomatic options

available to you, Including negotiating one-time exchanges

of goods, arranging an open-ended trade agreement,

forming alliances or declaring war, and your ability to do

any of these will depend on the type of relationship you

have with the nation involved. Hol2 keeps track of evolv-

ing international relationships and bases many of its ac-

tions: or its willingness to agree to diplomatic proposals:

on these, Fortunately, you have some diplomatic options

available to you to improve your relationship with other countries, although any hostile actions you make will tend

to undermine these efforts. There are other diplomatic

alternatives that will change your relationship: non-aggres-

sion pacts, guarantees of independence, or more hostile

actions such as engineering a coup of a nation or issuing

an outright demand for some of its territory that you feel

is rightfully yours.

It's rare that a nation can stand alone against the world, so you will probably wish to be part of an alliance. Although limited alliances are possible between almost any two or more nations, Hol2 considers the three main historical

factions to be of paramount importance: the Axis (led by Germany), the Allies (led by the United Kingdom) and the Comintern (led by the Soviet Union). Depending on the actual historical situation, some nations will begin the campaign or scenario already as a member of an alliance, while others will be neutral. As the game progresses, the factions may attempt to influence other nations to join their alliance, or neutral countries may even petition to join an alliance, if they have a good relationship with its members. Alliances may freely move forces and trace supply through the territories of their member nations. They will frequently supply friendly forces and can lend divisions or even entire

armies to an ally when the situation warrants that they be under their control. Neutral territories must be respected at all times (movement and the tracing of supply is prohibited), unless you can negotiate military access for your troops

with that nation's government.

The other major diplomatic activity you will conduct is trade. You will probably establish a number of openended trade agreements where you and other countries will exchange resources, cash or goods on a daily basis to meet your respective industrial needs. You can also negotiate one-time deals of this nature, or more complex trades that involve the exchange (or purchase) of land or even technological blueprints. You are also able to Simply donate resources, land or blueprints to another nation if you wish.

The success or failure of your diplomatic attempts will depend on the domestic policies, cabinets, political leanings and size of the two nations involved. It will also vary with the attractiveness of a proposal and the relationship that exists between them. Not surprisingly, the more har-

monious two nations are, the more likely it is that an offer will be accepted and the more balanced a deal they may be willing to negotiate. Successful diplomacy can even be its own reward, since each successful effort will usually further improve your relationship.

Technology

Another key domestic activity you will engage in is the research of new technologies. Some of these will improve your industrial capabilities, but the majority of advances are designed to enhance various elements of your armed forces. You may discover superior military doctrines, better arms and armaments, larger tanks and naval vessels,

advanced aircraft with greater range, or more subtle advances such as systems that allow better observation of enemy movements or detection of their forces. You may

even decide to pursue and deploy atomic weaponry. Need-

less to say, falling behind in the arms race is not likely to be a good idea, unless you can meet your enemy with overwhelming force (and even then, victory is not assured).

Research is conducted by funding teams of scientists to work on research projects. The number of projects you can conduct simultaneously will depend on your overall IC (a large nation can have as many as five projects ongoing at a time), and the nation that you select will determine the variety and calibre of your available teams. You will need to assign teams to your projects with some care, since each team will usually have a skill level and also certain areas of expertise associated with it. One that excels at avionics, for instance, can be expected to produce positive results in a new aircraft design far more rapidly than it would if you asked it to work on finding a better hull for your submarines. The length of time it will take to research a project depends on your teams' abilities, their overall skill level, the project's

complexity, and your ability to maintain a steady flow of

funding to the team.

Once you have achieved a new level of technology, you

will need to implement it. In most cases, existing equipment can be improved by allocating IC to its upgrade. Major breakthroughs for technologies that haven't previously existed (as well as significant naval model upgrades) must be manufactured from scratch. You have the option to keep as much obsolescent equipment in the field as you like, upgrade it, or scrap it to recoup some of its manpower.

Preparation and Support of the Military

There are many components that must fall into place for

a campaign to be successful. Armed forces must have access to a continual flow of supplies and ammunition if they are to remain in fighting form, and they will need strong and capable leaders who are able to command them effectively, maintaining an overall level of discipline and organisation. Factors such as terrain, weather, and the placement of defensive structures will greatly influence their performance: as will their previous experience in such combat situations.

Supply, Outfitting and Transport Capacity

Your ability to supply, outfit and transport your troops

will be vital to your military success, Armies require am-

munition and food (supplies) to fight, Motorized vehicles, aircraft and naval vessels will also need fuel (oil) if they are to remain operational. For overseas engagements, you will also need to be able to move men and equipment great distances that are too far (or impossible) to reach

by normal means.

You will need to pay attention to (and maintain) your supply chains to avoid having your armies end up in disarray and unable to fight. Supplies are manufactured by allocat-

ing IC to their production and then are transported to your

forces along your supply chains. This can involve ground supply (using your provincial infrastructure), naval supply (via convoys), air supply (via your airborne transports), or a combination of these: all of which can also be disrupted by enemy actions. If your supply chains are damaged or cut by the enemy, or if you lack sufficient oil and supplies for your military, your chances of survival are exceedingly slim.

There is also the issue of transport capacity to consider. This reflects the infrastructure (roads, railways, etc.) that are in place to move large volumes of materials and men in a reasonable period of time. Each province has an infrastructure level (which you can increase) that will limit this volume and can be damaged or otherwise diminished by enemy aerial bombardment. Sea supply demands that you devote enough convoys to the task and have an available port to offload those supplies. If those convoys are

left undefended, they can quickly fall prey to enemy sub-

marines, surface vessels and even aerial bombardment, so you will need to provide escorts or other protection for them as well. Airborne supply tends to be very tricky and not particularly efficient, because the capacity of the

aircraft is limited, they require fuel to operate, and unless you assign them some protection your enemy's fighters will

probably shoot them out of the skies faster than you can

replace them. Nevertheless, this is a method of keeping your troops alive until you can find an alternate means of

getting resources to them. Don't be surprised to find an en-

emy actively engaged in disrupting your supply: particularly

if he enjoys naval or aerial supremacy. Of course you can

employ similar tactics in return, disrupting his supply and

encircling his troops to achieve devastating effects.

Organisation and Entrenchment

Land forces that are constantly moving 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 con-

stantly subjected to naval barrages or aerial bombardment.

Hol2 models this aspect of war using the concepts of or-

ganisation and entrenchment.

Organisation is a measure of the cohesiveness of a force: how able it is to receive and respond to orders, how well it is supplied, how competently and thoroughly its command structure has been established, and is also an indicator of its general morale. Each of your units: land, naval and air: must have a sufficient level of organisation to engage in battle, and without it they will break and retreat in disarray. A force that is engaged in combat will begin to lose organisation, and the longer it continues to fight the greater the loss will be. The addition of new recruits to replace casualties will also reduce organisation proportionally to the number of newcomers added, and if a unit finds itself

without a source of supply, then organisation will plummet rapidly.

While moving, a unit's organisation will usually remain static unless the terrain it is traveling through cannot support the size of the force (or if it is moving without supply). If it ceases its movement and avoids battle for a while, then its organisation will gradually recover. The maximum organisation is determined by its leadership and experience (see below) and can also be increased through the research of various combat doctrines and some equipment advances.

A land unit that is stationary for a time will also begin to entrench itself in a province by selecting the most defensible ground, preparing foxholes and snipers' nests, estab-

lishing command and aid stations, organising munitions, and so on. This will give that unit a bonus in any subsequent defence of that province and can make it difficult to over-

come without a concerted effort on the part of an attacker. The longer a force remains in place, the more "dug in" it will

become; but this entrenchment bonus is immediately lost if

it begins to move and even if it later returns to a province

it must begin the process from scratch.

Command, Leadership and Experience

The effectiveness of a force relies heavily on its previous

combat experience and on the officers that you assign to your front-line commands. Each time a unit engages in

battle, it will gain some valuable combat experience and

over time: and repeated conflict: it will begin performing

noticeably better. The resulting veteran units may become

the backbone of your armed forces, but as they suffer cas-

ualties their losses will be replenished with green recruits

which, not surprisingly, dilute their effectiveness.

Individual units may be instructed to act independently, but most often you will wish to group them into larger forces: often using a mixture of unit types to achieve the desired overall balance and combat effectiveness. Commanding larger numbers of units requires special leadership skills that are possessed by only a handful of people, so you will need to draw from a pool of your officers, assigning someone to lead each of your forces. Various officers will have different skills or areas of expertise, so selecting the right man for the job can be extremely beneficial. Each officer also has his own level of combat experience which will increase as you continue to employ him. You may find that at some point you may wish to promote him to an even higher rank in your military, increasing the number of individual units he can command without incurring a penalty.

Junior ranked officers tend to accumulate experience more

rapidly than senior ones, however, so this will often prove to be something of a balancing act.

Very large-scale operations bring an added level of complexity to the overall command. It is one thing to issue orders to a collection of divisions all occupying the same general location, but another thing entirely to manage mul-

tiple army groups, whole armies, or even multiple armies

assembled along a front. In such instances, you will likely need to establish special headquarters divisions: a unit unsuited for direct combat, but one that improves the overall supply efficiency of large numbers of forces and gives them a greater likelihood of achieving positive results. When you are considering massive offensives or the defence of an entire front, this special division can have a dramatic effect on the overall success of your operations.

In a larger sense, however, you will always be in ultimate control of your military and it will be up to you to plan your attacks and arrange for suitable defence of your territories. Hol2 includes some handy features that make it as easy as possible to coordinate your forces and use them to maximum effect, and to assign long-term missions that your officers will then proceed to carry out unless you instruct them to do otherwise. Leadership and experience simply help to determine how effective they will be in fulfilling your orders.

Defences and Fortifications

While armed forces are required to protect your territories from the enemy's advances, there are up to three different defence Installations that you may be able to construct to

help improve your chances of defeating an assault. You can also build radar sites: if you have the required technology: to improve the effectiveness of your aerial defences.

The construction of defences requires a commitment of 1C until their production is complete. They can be damaged by enemy attacks: requiring further allocation of resources

to repair them: and they can be captured and used against you if they fall into enemy hands. Each of these installations

can be added to by further IC investment, increasing their size, quality and effectiveness. This is a worthwhile investment and can become the difference between successfully

warding off an enemy's assault rather than succumbing to his advance.

Land fortifications are a network of bunkers, gun emplacements and minefields that you can construct in a province to help your army repel enemy land forces. They are particularly effective in protecting your infantry from

tanks, mechanized units and artillery forces where they

might otherwise be overrun or destroyed. They also offer some shelter from aerial bombardment although they are not designed to actively counter such attacks. A land forti-

fication offers no resistance by itself and must be manned to have any effect.

Entrenchment bonuses are combined with the land for-

tification bonuses, resulting in an almost insurmountable defence if a force remains stationary for long enough in a province that has been heavily fortified. A good example of this would be the French Maginot line at the onset of the war (an obstacle that the German high command wisely chose not to attempt with a frontal assault). The only methods of dealing with forces that man such a defence are to bombard them over a long period of time, cut off their supply and hope to starve them into submission, or to take your chances (which aren't good) with a series of massive successive assaults on their position. Paratroopers: if they are available to you: will by-pass defensive fortifications and

may be an effective component in an assault, although they incur other penalties and are usually fairly lightly armed. Needless to say, your best bet is to use a combination of all of these strategies whenever possible.

Coastal fortifications are a similar series of trenches, gun emplacements and other devices constructed along the shoreline of a province and must also be manned by your

troops if they are to have any effect. They will present a

major obstacle to enemy troops attempting to land in the area. Even an elite marine unit will find it hard to break

through to establish a beachhead. Anti-aircraft guns offer a third possible means of defence.

Unlike land and coastal fortifications, anti-aircraft guns do not need to be manned by your forces in order to operate (their construction includes a manpower component). Their function is to provide added defence against air missions flown against targets in the province and to disrupt any enemy aircraft that pass overhead. They will not in any way help to defend you against the assault of a ground force or naval invasion. Enemy aerial attacks against factories, infrastructure, bases, other fortifications, or any forces stationed in that province will be subjected to withering return fire from your anti-aircraft batteries. This will not only hamper the inbound flight's organization: thus reducing the impact and extent of the damage from the attack: but it will also most likely inflict a number of casualties as well. Enemy squadrons whose missions cause them to fly overhead will also be subjected to fire, although the effect will be somewhat less.

If you have researched the necessary technologies,

you will also be able to build radar sites in your territories,

These stations will greatly improve any aerial defence that

you mount in that province against enemy bombers and fighters, and may also allow you to detect approaching enemy naval vessels and aircraft in an adjacent sea zone. Radar sites do not need to be manned by your troops to be operational.

Naval and Air Basing

Military vessels and aircraft usually have special require-

ments that necessitate the construction of dedicated port facilities and air fields to fully meet their needs. Hearts of Iron II simulates this using a system called basing.

Each squadron must be assigned to an air base that is located in a province that you control or that is friendly to your forces, and all operations that it conducts must be launched from that base and then return to it after the mission has been flown. If you assign too many air wings to too small a base, then you may find that the ground staff will have trouble maintaining and servicing all of those aircraft in a reasonable period of time. You can either enlarge the base to increase its capacity (although the maximum size is limited) or reassign some of the squadrons to a different base that has sufficient space for them. If there isn't a suitable location then you can also construct a new base to house them: although this will take some time to prepare.

Similarly, naval bases are needed to act as home ports for your fleets. Ships are assigned to them and must return periodically to conduct minor: or not so minor: repairs. Any number of ships may use the same naval base, however a base's size determines how rapidly it can repair those vessels and its location will affect what seas your navies will be able to patrol. Existing naval bases can be enlarged and new ones can be built, again with certain restrictions. There are also many provincial ports that your fleets may

use as temporary moorings; however those harbours lack

the facilities to carry out any repairs to your vessels or

offer them supply.

Bases are susceptible to bombardment or can fall Into enemy hands. Enemy aircraft can be given missions to strike at your ports or crater your runways, reducing their basing capacity and forcing you to spend time and resources to repair them. If you lose control of a province that contains a base, then any forces that used it as "home" will find themselves out of supply and forced to rebase.. .and your foe will be able to use the captured facility as a new base for his forces, once he has effected repairs to the inevitable damage it sustains during its capture. You should pay close attention to the locations of your enemy's bases and either render them inoperative or consider attempting their capture, and you should also take precautions to prevent the enemy from doing the same to yours.

Weather, Terrain and Time of Day Weather and terrain played significant roles in the historical outcomes of military operations. It was the onset of winter that did much to halt the initial German advance into Russia in 1941, and it was Burma's inhospitable terrain that added a heavy toll to the loss of life in that region. Most military actions also had to be conducted during daylight hours, since target recognition was very poor in an era when human eyesight was (more or less) the only available

instrument. All three conditions are taken into consideration in Hearts of Iron II.

Weather is synthesized by the game according to a complex random model and will play a prominent role in your games. Both rain and snow will have a negative effect on your military operations, reducing units' combat effectiveness: in some cases, quite significantly, Combat resolution also includes a "visibility" component which adverse conditions will reduce, unless specialised equipment has been discovered by your scientists and supplied to your forces.

Certain types of terrain will reduce movement speeds, hamper supply, and impose penalties to combat as well. The effect will vary depending on the unit type (generally impacting more severely on motorised units than on foot soldiers), and in most cases the terrain will give a defender an advantage, reflecting his ability to make strategic defensive use of the landscape.

Hearts of Iron II is played on a global stage over a period of years and includes accurate modelling for both local time of day and for seasonal variations in the length of a region's daylight hours. Most units perform very poorly in the hours between dusk and dawn when visibility is poor, so you will

need to take this into consideration when planning your attacks. Certain technological advances may mitigate this somewhat, but you will probably have better success if

you plan your large-scale operations to begin shortly after

dawn during seasons when the daylight hours are long.

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 and numeric feedback as each combat ensues.

Movement is Attack for Land Battles

A significant change in actual battle mechanics has been

introduced in Hearts of Iron II. In previous Paradox games: and in many other strategy games, for that matter: a land force would be ordered to engage an enemy in a neighbouring province, move there, and then upon its arrival a combat would ensue. The loser would then retreat from the province and the victor would remain. This is not the case in Hol2. Instead, the game employs the concept of

"movement is attack" in all land-based battles.

Combat is Initiated as soon as a land force begins to

move towards an enemy province that is being defended.

The battle will rage on until one of the sides has gained the

upper hand, at which point either the aggressor's movement is discontinued (if it loses) or the defending force begins to withdraw and the victorious attacker conducts its movement into the province and assumes control. This system alleviates a number of common issues (such as being unable to tell where an enemy unit is moving until it is

too late) and also offers a number of new operational pos-

sibilities for both the attacker and the defender. Forces in adjacent provinces may support the armies involved in the battle, and behind-the-lines reserves may be positioned to make a last-ditch effort to shore up the defences. Air and naval battles, however, do not use this combat method and will contest an air or sea zone while jointly occupying it.

Orders

Particularly if you play a larger nation, you will find that the sheer number and geographic separation of the forces you field can make them a daunting task to manage. To reduce the micromanagement requirements and allow you to focus on the zones of greatest activity, Hol2 allows you to give standing orders to most units. When you are initiating a

large-scale assault involving large numbers of units or a combination of land, naval and air forces, you will also need to carefully coordinate these attacks to achieve maximum

effect. The game's order interface makes this surprisingly

easy to achieve.

Each unit has a useful set of orders that may be given

to it beyond the basic "move here" or "attack right now"

commands, An available option: which depends on the unit type: is selected on the order interface and then the force

will carry out these orders exactly as you have instructed.

The specific options are detailed later in the manual, but

the concept that you should understand is that the order

interface includes the ability to set a date and time that you would like a force to begin an action, allowing you to

coordinate the orders of multiple units. In many cases, you will also be able to set a date and time (or operational con-

dition) for it to discontinue operations or even give a unit a

set of standing orders to repeat the same mission multiple times, allowing you to focus your attention elsewhere while

it goes about its business.

Air and Naval Combat

Air and naval operations do exist, of course, but are ab-

stracted to a greater degree in Hearts of Iron II; otherwise the added level of complexity would be overwhelming to

most players. You will usually assign general orders to

each air wing or flotilla: giving specific time period and other parameters that you would like it to follow: and you

may then pretty much leave it to its own devices to carry

out these operations until it receives new ones or the or-

ders expire.

This is not to say that combat won't occur between these

forces: it will, and quite frequently at times. When this oc-

curs, there are special rules that govern the engagements which take the types of units involved into consideration, as well as the time of day and weather conditions. Aerial combat is further limited by the range of the aircraft involved, as they will eventually need to break off and return to base

to avoid running out of fuel and ammunition.

It is vital to understand that neither sea zones nor the air space above provinces are subject to control in the way that the provinces themselves are. There is no "ownership" of them, and neither aircraft nor naval vessels are capable of capturing a province. Most often you will use them in support of your armies, seeking to soften up an enemy's resistance through bombardment or to hamper: or even cut off: his lines of supply. Combat between them will therefore most likely be a contest to determine whether you are able to carry out these goals.

The Fog of War

This doesn't refer to a weather condition, but rather to dark-

ened regions of the map where the game will hide things from you: particularly the dispositions of armed force: that you aren't in a position to know. It is assumed that you will have sufficient reconnaissance and intelligence sources to determine some basic information about provinces: even in your enemy's territory: but you will be unaware of the location of any forces that don't belong to you and

are outside your territory or beyond the sighting range of

your units. You will be aware of enemy units occupying

provinces adjacent to your troops, but you will usually have

only a very vague idea of their complement and size until such time as you engage them. You may also wish to fly several long-range missions deep into enemy territory prior to an attack to gain additional information about possible

reinforcements and reserves that the fog of war will otherwise obscure. Keep in mind that some units: particularly submarines: are able to hide their presence, but there are technologies you can research to assist you in detecting and identifying them. Fortunately, your allies will share all of their knowledge of enemy positions (and also their own force dispositions) with you as well.

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 field may be temporarily withdrawn from active service and strategically redeployed elsewhere without the need to manage their exact movements. As long as they don't have to cross water (which require the use of naval transports and thus active management), they will arrive at their new posting after a period of time. This redeployment method is not possible for naval or air forces, which must be rebased via conventional means.

The Main Menu

To begin playing Hearts of Iron II click Start > Programs > Paradox Entertainment > Hearts of Iron 2 > Hol2 and

after a moment or two the opening movie will play. You will then see a status screen displaying the progress as the

main game engine is loaded and, once this has finished, you will be presented with the Launch Menu. This gives you the options of starting a single player game, starting a

multiplayer game, playing the tutorials, viewing the game

credits, or exiting the game.

Single Player Games

Most often you will probably be playing a single player

game, pitting your skills against the computer. Click "Single

Player" on the Launch Menu and the main menu screen

will appear.

Selecting a Scenario or Save Game

When starting a new game you will select from a list of

available grand campaign games or battle scenarios (area

1). Grand campaigns games use the entire globe and allow you to play any available nation in the world, starting with each nation's historical position at a significant date in WWII and then progressing until the end date in December 1947.

Battle scenarios are usually more limited in scope, focussing on short, specific engagements and often restricting the nations that may be selected and even the part of the globe that is being used. Many of these scenarios disable some of the game's more complex interfaces, providing the player with only scripted forces, replacements, and resources to accomplish their goals with, and usually

having special victory conditions. The battle scenarios are great for playing fairly short "what if" games around major offensives, or for one-time multiplayer games of strategy. For the purposes of this manual, though, I will assume

that you have selected a grand campaign game and that

all interfaces are available to you.

Difficulty: there are 5 levels of difficulty that will apply

Game Options

global modifiers to most aspects of the game (industry, resources, combat, movement, and more). At easy and very easy levels, the Al nations will be handicapped and the player will be given artificial bonuses. At hard and very hard levels, the reverse is true. (You can see and even change the precise modifiers used by looking at the difficulty.csv file in the db folder). A.I. Aggressiveness: this adjusts how the A.I. reacts to the player's actions during the game, ranging from

"coward" to "furious". At furious level, the Al will tend to declare war at the slightest provocation and will be considerably more actively militaristic; while at coward

level the Al will tend to be more conservative and gener-

ally defensive.

Game Speed: this can be set prior to starting a game or from within the game itself using the "ctrl" and "+" or"-" keys. In a multiplayer game, only the host may change the game speed.

Share Countries: Change this to "ON" for a multiplayer

game where you wish to allow more than one player to be

able to select the same country. This option is disabled

in single player games. Autosave: this allows you to set how often the game will

automatically be saved and may also be changed from within the game via the options menu. In multiplayer

mode, only the host computer will save the game.

Use Counters: by default Hol2 uses animated sprites to

toggle this to "ON" to have units displayed as traditional

NATO counter pieces instead.

Once you have begun play you can save your game at any time. To load a saved game, simply scroll through the list of file names (area 2) and select the one you wish to resume.

Selecting a Nation

After you have selected a grand campaign, battle scenario or saved game the nation selection portion of the main

menu (area 3) will display up to ten national flags. Click on one of these to select that nation and display a brief overview of its historical situation during that era. If you don't see the flag of the nation you wish to play, right-click on any of the flags to display a list of additional nations and select the one you want. If you still can't find the desired nation, then either it doesn't exist (it has been eliminated from the game due to conquest) or you have selected a battle scenario where that country is not available for play.

Changing the Game Options At the bottom of the screen (area 5) you will see three buttons. Click the Options button to change the settings to suit your preference (see side bar). If you make a change this will be displayed in the log area of the main menu (area 4). If you don't change anything then the game will use the same settings as the last time you played or will

use the default settings if this is your first game. If you made a mistake and intended to play a multiplayer game

or tutorial, you can click the Back button to return to the

start menu.

Launching the Game

Once you have selected a country and changed any options, click the Start button to begin the game. This button will remain greyed out until you have selected a country.

Multiplayer Games

Multiplayer games are started in much the same way that a single player game is launched; however, there will be at

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". Valkyrienet: This is a service provided at no charge by Paradox as both a meeting place for players and a con-

nection handler to make it easier to host or join games.

Hol2 also allows the host to set a password that guests

must enter to be able to join private games.

Internet: You will need to enter the IP address of the

host computer in order to join an internet game. This can change each time the host connects to the internet

if it is not a permanent connection. If you are hosting a game you can determine your IP address by establishing an internet connection and then chose Run from your computer's Start menu.

If you are using Win98 or WinME type winipcfg and then click OK and make a note of the IP Address and then communicate it to your guests (via email, IRC or

If you are using Win2000 or WinXP type cmd and then click OK. In the new window that appears type ipconfig.

Make a note of the IP address displayed and then com-

municate it to your guests.

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 details. You will also need to have a network client installed in Windows networking. If you're having trouble, ask for help in the Hol2 Multiplayer subforum on Paradox's website.

least two additional steps to perform before you may begin play. One player will act as the "host" of the game and the other players will join as "guests". Up to nine additional players may join (Hol2 supports a maximum often players) and I would recommend that the player with the fastest and most stable connection be chosen for internet games, since this has a greater impact on performance than the host's computer specifications, If connection speeds are equal, then the host should be the player who has computer with the best performance. Only the host may select the scenario or saved game to be played and only the host may change the game options.

When you click the Multiplayer button on the initial menu you will be asked to specify the type of connection you wish to use (see sidebar) and to enter your name. Type your name in the space provided and then click the button that corresponds to the connection type you wish to use. Unless you are using Valkyrienet (vNet) you will then be asked whether you wish to host a game or join a game as a guest. Note that all players must be using the same version of the game (this is checked automatically when the connection is first established to ensure that there are no file discrepancies). I also recommend that you disable any non-essential software that might be running in the background on your computer as this will often affect stability.

The vNet connection will take you to a free service where players frequently meet to start new games. Since vNet supports all of Paradox's games, you will need to select the Hol2 channel from the channel listing which will take you to a chat location where you can arrange a new game.

Once you've found a few people to join, you must designate

a host. Since vNet can be busy at times and some people have expressed a desire to be able to create "private" games, Hol2 now allows the host to set a password that must be entered to join a game. Once you're ready, the person who is hosting will click the Host button and type in a password. The other players will soon see the game listed and should select it and click Join and then type in

the password when prompted. Establishing the connection

will be handled by vNet for you automatically. (Note: once you start the game the connection is handed off to the host and the game will disappear from the vNet list.)

Once you've established a connection, the main menu screen will appear, however you will notice a few differences. Saved games will now be found at the end of the scrollable list in the game selection are (area 1) and a listing of all players will now appear in the area at the bottom left of the screen (area 2). I hope that you never need to use it, but the host also has the ability to ban a guest from the game by highlighting the player's name and clicking the Ban button. On a more positive note, you are also able to chat with other players while viewing this screen by typing in the space below the narrow line in the log area of the screen (area 4).

The host may now select the scenario or saved game to be played. If a saved game is chosen, then there will be a brief pause as the game is compressed and then the trans-

fer process will begin to send the save game file to the other

players. You will see a status indicator beside each player's name, indicating whether the transfer is still in progress

or whether it is complete. I strongly advise players to wait

until everyone has completed this transfer before selecting countries, since this is a common source of subsequent problems. Most players who frequent vNet follow a protocol whereby all players wait until the host has confirmed that everyone has completed the save game download. The host will then select a nation which signals that it is safe

for the guests to do so as well. I would also advise against

using the Windows operating system's Alt+Tab facility during download as this will almost always cause the transfer

to freeze or become corrupt. With a decent connection

speed, this process shouldn't take very long and you can safely chat with one another while waiting.

You will notice that the game options submenu now al-

lows you to change the Share Countries setting to "yes".

This allows more than one player to select the same nation,

•

which is otherwise prohibited. If two or more players play the same nation (up to the maximum of ten may do so), then each of these players will be able to use any interface or control for that country. There are no limitations to this, so I would recommend you agree on areas of responsibility ahead of time to prevent disagreements during play,

Once all players have selected their nations, the Start button will become active for the host. When the host clicks this, the scenario (or saved game) will be launched on each system and when all players have finished this

process (slower systems will take longer to complete the launch) the game will begin. Another vNet custom that I recommend for any multiplayer game is for each player to use the chat feature to type "in" or "here" once the game has launched.

You may also chat with one another during the game by

pressing the tab key, typing a message, and pressing the enter key. You have the ability to make your chats "private" by selecting the player (or players) you wish to have receive your communications. For your convenience, there are several preset chat filters that allow you to quickly address messages to the people you wish. After you press the enter key, the chat message will display on the recipient's main game screen and be recorded in his history log.

There are a few other important differences between

single player and multiplayer games. The game speed setting may be adjusted during play using the "Ctrl" and

"+" or"-" keys, but this may only be done by the host. Any

player may pause the game at any time but other players may un-pause it after a delay of 30 seconds. Any message boxes or events that would normally cause the game to

pause automatically (depending on your message settings) will display normally but will no longer pause the game. Some of these will expire if you don't respond to them and

disappear after a period of time. Others will disappear if

they are no longer valid.

Tutorials

If you select the tutorial button in the Launch Menu you can

play the Hol2 tutorials. For more details, see the Tutorial

section near the end of the manual.

Credits / Exit

Click on the Credits button in the Launch Menu to see a list

of the many people involved in the design, development,

production and betatesting of Hearts of Iron II. The Exit

button will quit the game and return you to Windows.

The General

Interface

There are very few parts of the Hol2 interface that are

visible at all times. The majority of your screen will contain a display of context-sensitive information that will change depending on the type of action you are taking. There is one area: at the top of the screen: that never changes. This provides a quick reference to some of the most critical pieces of game information and also gives you access to all of the principle interfaces. There are also a few other things that aren't directly part of any other interface but

have global impact on the game. Taken together, these are best described as "the General Interface".

The Top Bar

This is the area at the very top of the screen that will be

visible at all times and displays a quick overview of the state of your nation. It also gives you access to each of the main: and vitally important: interface screens.

Status Overview

The upper portion of the bar shows a series of icons and

values which you will refer to frequently. This allows you to quickly review your reserves of energy, metal, rare materials, oil, supplies and cash. It also displays your manpower pool, national dissent level, and your transport and industrial capacities. Hovering your mouse over any of these will

reveal an expanding tooltip that gives you a more detailed summary of that item: particularly your daily income and expenditures. If the daily change is a detrimental one, then the value will be displayed in red. Each is described in detail

in the relevant section of the manual.

The Folder Tabs

Immediately below the status overview is a set of click-

able folder tabs that give you access to the five main Hol2

interface screens which we'll later look at one by one in the

manual. Everything displayed below the top bar depends

on which of these folders you've selected. View Map: Clicking this folder tab displays the interface that you'll use most often: the Main Map Folder. This is

used to view the map of the world where you'll find details

of your provinces, examine and issue orders to your units,

deploy new units, and perform most other common in-

game actions. Technology: This is the Technology Folder, where you will

assign specialized teams to begin working on research

projects, and where you may review the technologies that you already have available to you and their effects. Production: This tab displays the Production Folder where you control your national budget, initiate the construction of new units and industrial and defensive structures for your provinces, and see a summary of such important things as your current trade agreements, convoys and resource depots. Diplomacy: This tab takes you to the Diplomacy Folder, where you may set your domestic policies, conduct diplomacy with other nations, and view diplomatic and political information about the other nations in the world. Statistics: This brings up the Statistics Folder: a set of detailed charts that allow you to view summaries of almost all of the important information about your nation, armed forces, and the rest of the world. There are some very handy "redundant" interfaces on these pages that allow you to make a number of similar adjustments very rapidly, and many items are hot- linked to allow you to quickly jump to a province or unit on the Main Map without having to search for it or use one of the other methods of locating items.

The Date/Pause Button The current date and time are displayed in a button at the bottom right of the top bar. The time shown always reflects Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) and, depending on what portion of the map is presently displayed, could be significantly different from the local time. If you click on this button, the game will pause for as long as you wish. Clicking on it again will resume play. You can also press the pause button on your keyboard to pause and resume.

The Game Management Menu Button

Immediately to the right of the date/pause button is a button labelled "Menu". Clicking this will bring up the Game Management menu where you may select from several options: Save: Allows you to save your game in its current state. The default file name will be your country, date and time,

but you may change this to whatever you like by simply typing in a new name. Once the save is complete you will

be returned to the game. Options: This brings up the in-game options submenu (similar to the new game options) where you may change the game speed, toggle between sprite icons and counters, change your autosave settings, and adjust your sound effects and music volumes. There is also a box at the bottom of this submenu allowing you to change your message settings.

Hints: This turns on the hint boxes that are displayed when the game first launches..

Message Settings

Hol2 allows you to customise the way that messages are displayed. For each type of message you may select it and then set it to display in one of the following ways:

Do Not Display: use this setting to suppress this message from displaying at all.

Display in Log Only: these messages will only display

in the history log

Message Notifier: these messages display a small icon on the right side of the screen. Clicking on it opens the

message box. (This option is not available for all mes-

sage types.)

Message Box: this setting is for more important information and will cause messages to appear in a large mes-

sage box as well as being recorded to the history log.

Message Box with Pause: this setting will bring up a

message box and pause the game until you click "okay"

on the box. Note that in multiplayer games the auto-

pause function is disabled and this message will simply

bring up a message box.

Surrender: This ends your current game session (we all have to sleep sometime). Your current game data is lost when you exit so make sure you've saved first. Return: Returns to the game.

Message Boxes

You will receive many messages informing you of things that are happening during play. These may be notifications of foreign diplomatic offers; they could be reports from your armed forces advising you that they have engaged

in battle or arrived at a destination; they might be reports

from your scientists announcing a new technology; or they

could simply be an intelligence report about international affairs that may not seem to directly affect you.

Messages can be displayed in several ways, and when you first install Hol2 these will initially be set to certain defaults which you can later change to suit your preference. The most important ones will cause a message box to ap-

pear on the screen and will pause the game until you have acknowledged it. Ones that are somewhat less important will be displayed in a message box but will not pause the

game. Others will display a small message notification symbol at the right edge of the screen, waiting for you to open and respond to it. Many of these have a time limitation and will blink for a short while before disappearing.

Messages that are probably of only minor importance will simply be written to your history log. Those that are likely to be irrelevant to you: notice of a trade agreement being

signed between two nations with whom you have no ties: will not be displayed at all.

You can change most of your game's message settings

by clicking on the top bar's menu button, then clicking the

options button and then selecting the message settings

button. This will display a scrollable list of message types that you can set to any one of the display options. You may also change the notification setting for a particular type of message in-game (without entering the submenu) by

right clicking on the message when it appears (even in the history log) and then selecting the new display mode

from the options box.

Events

Hearts of Iron II also incorporates a special event system. These are usually historical events of great significance

that have been programmed to occur during the course

of your game and that can't easily be modelled using the

regular game engine. In some cases, there are prerequisite

conditions that must be met in order for an event to trigger,

and many of them have a degree of randomisation to make the exact date of their occurrence somewhat unpredict-

able. There are also a variety of recurring random events

that may have very beneficial: or possibly detrimental:

effects.

At first glance, an event box may look somewhat similar

to message box, but there are a couple important distinc-

tions. An event will always display in a box (this cannot be changed via the message settings) and will cause a single player game: but not a multiplayer game: to pause until you have responded to it. Most events include explanatory text to give you some details about their historical context. Many events will offer you more than one possible

response and the effects of most events are often quite significant: although in a few cases the exact implications of a choice will be hidden. Events may also cause an additional event to trigger, possibly for you or potentially for

another nation. It is also possible that an event will result

in changes that couldn't be achieved otherwise during the

normal course of a game (huge shifts of domestic policy

or dramatic changes in public opinion). An event may also

cause certain officers or cabinet members to become

available: or be removed from the game.

Read the text carefully and hover your mouse pointer over the available response options to see an expanding tooltip that describes the event effects. Once you have made your decision and clicked the appropriate response, the message box will disappear and the game will resume.

Tool Tips

Hearts of Iron II has an extensive set of expanding tooltips that should greatly reduce your need to refer to this

manual and that will often provide pre-

cise numerical details that: for a variety of

reasons: I have intentionally omitted from this text. Most tooltips are two-tiered, If you hover your mouse pointer briefly over

an object, a context-sensitive tooltip will

appear. If you leave the pointer there for about three seconds, it is quite probable that the tooltip will further expand to give you even more detailed information.

All numerical values displayed in tooltips will use current

in-game data, almost always including any applicable modifiers, Exceptions to this rule are typically due to "hidden"

information of which you may not be aware. For instance,

a tooltip that comes up when hovering over an enemy force

will only provide as much information as your current intel-

ligence and technology permits you to know and could be

misleading if you have not detected the entire force.

Right Click Menus

Many items in the game: particularly those on the Main

Map Interface Screen: have context-sensitive quick menus that may be accessed by right clicking on the province,

sprite or item. Some also require that you hold down the

control (Ctrl) key as you do so. These act as shortcuts to

commonly used controls or interfaces to make it easier for you to manage various aspects of the game. In particular, you will use the right-click and ctrl+ right-click unit orders

menus on a regular basis to set and coordinate your military activities. I have tried to include an indication in this

manual of every instance where these menus are available,

but if in doubt it isn't a bad idea to try it (doing so will never cause the game to crash or malfunction).

The Main Map Folder

Overview

This is the default starting screen and the folder that you will use most often. It is here that you will view the map of the world, see your troops (and your enemy's troops), de-

ploy your units, issue orders to your armed forces, monitor

ongoing battles, survey provincial defences and resources,

and much, much more.

You can access the main map view by clicking on the VIEW MAP folder tab on the Top Bar. The main map interface screen is divided into several important sections:

1. The Main Map: The largest area of the screen, this is where you will see a portion of the world map and be able to view and select your provinces and units.

2. The Hot Buttons: This is a set of six buttons that give you quick and convenient access to your provinces, troops and deployment queue.

3. The Information Panel: The information displayed in this area will change, depending on what you are doing. Most actions in the Main Map interface involve viewing and often changing something in this panel.

4. The Mini Map: This is a small clickable map that displays the entire globe and gives an approximate graphical rep-

resentation of the current local time of day. It can also be useful for locating your forces around the world.

5. The Mapmode Buttons: This is a set of ten small but-

tons that you will click to change the information displayed

on the main map. Some will cause a fairly drastic change of the map display, while others act more as filters.

6. The History Log: This is a scrollable running log of game messages and events.

Since the main map and accompanying context-sensitive information panel places just about everything you'll need at your fingertips during the course of basic play, it is important to know how to navigate it, and how to interpret

the information you see there.

Navigating The Main Map

The world is divided into more than 2500 individual prov-

inces and sea zones. This is far too many to be displayed on the main map while still giving you any useful graphical information, so the main map area displays just one small part of the globe at a time.

Sometimes, you will want to view the main map at a very high level of magnification, where only a handful of provinces will be visible, but where it's easy to see and select

your military units. At other times you may wish to get a

less detailed "big picture" of what's going on: where you can quickly survey several hundred provinces or look at the general location of troops along a front or in a theatre. You can zoom in and out between Hol2's four different levels of map resolution by clicking on the small"+" and"-" buttons located on the right edge of the Mini Map. You can also use the "+" and "-" keys on your keyboard (both the regular keys and the number pad keys will work).

The Main Map can be scrolled by moving your mouse pointer to any of the edges of your screen. Doing so will cause the map to begin scrolling in that direction (left, right, up or down) until you. remove the pointer from the map edge. You can also use the Mini Map to quickly jump to a different area of the world by clicking on the part of the world that you want to view. Another method is to use the Province Hot Button to jump to one of your nation's

provinces. Simply click on the button (the first of the six buttons...it has a small graphic of a map) and a scrollable list of your provinces will appear in the information panel. Click on one of these to center the map on that province. The next four hot buttons (see below) can also be used to jump to the location of a specific land, air or naval force, or to a combat currently being fought.

Message boxes that appear during play will often include a "goto" button that you can click to take you quickly to the relevant area of the map. If you know the name of the province you would like to go to, you can also press the"?" button on your keyboard and type the name of the province (spelling is important!) into the box that appears on your screen. Many of the pages in the Statistics Folder include a "hyperlink" that will take you directly to

a province when you double-click on its name. That's quite a few methods.. .and I'm undoubtedly forgetting some!

Provinces

Each province: and most importantly, who controls it: is the basic unit of measure for victory in Hol2. There is a distinc-

tion 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 of the public. National provinces will be the heart of your economy and provide you with the bulk of your military recruits. Owned provinces do not share this sense of nationality, but have been under a nation's dominion long enough that only very small pockets of resistance remain to fight for independence. They tend to generate only a modest economic benefit to your nation and are usually not inclined to join your armed forces. An occupied province is one that has only recently come under the control of a nation: almost invariably as a result of a hostile action: and where the public not only resents its new rulers, but will usually try to actively oppose them. These provinces tend to contribute very little to your economy and are not suitable for recruiting purposes.

Not only can provinces contribute vital natural resources or industrial capacity to your nation, but they can also provide additional defences or strategic assets for your

military. Even a quick glance at a province on the main map will reveal important information about it, particularly

in conjunction with several of the different map viewing modes. Clicking anywhere within a province's borders will change the display in the information panel on the left side of the screen to provide all the essential details about the province, This is the Province Information Panel.

Province Name Each province's name appears on the Main Map and in the top left corner of the Province Information panel. Hovering your mouse over the province will also display a tooltip with its name, terrain, any special weather conditions, as well as the name of the nation that owns it and controls it (if different). In some mapmodes, the tooltip will also identify the area and

region to which the province belongs (this can be important when issuing certain

orders for your military).

Province Ownership and Control The flag of the nation that owns the province appears just

below its name in the information panel. You can click on the flag to open the Diplomacy Folder with this nation pre-selected. If this province is currently occupied by another nation, then the flag of the controlling nation will be partially superimposed over the owning nation's flag. It is the controlling nation that receives any assets from a province.

Victory Point Value The victory point value of the province (if any) is displayed

as a number inside the star on the information panel. National capitals are also identified by a red circle on the main map, and non-capital provinces of particular strategic importance: a "key province": will have a red star on it when viewed using the victory point mapmode (it will not be displayed in other mapmodes). If you have captured most of an enemy nation's key points, then it will be far more likely to accept your terms for its surrender. If you control all of a nation's key points, then you may impose extremely harsh terms if you wish: including its annexation and removal from play.

Terrain

A province's terrain is displayed in the picture on the information panel, and is also colour-coded on the main map when using the terrain mapmode. Terrain plays an important role in combat, affecting movement rates and

supply as well as the outcome of battles. The following are the various terrain types:

Plains: Depicted on the map in light beige, this type of terrain is ideal for the movement of all types of units and has no modifying effect on combat. Forest; Depicted in green, forest slows down the movement of all units. Defenders gain bonuses in combat, and attacking units with wheels or tracks will have additional penalties reflecting the extra difficulty of manoeuvring. Hills: Hilly terrain is displayed in tan and slows down the movement of all units. Defenders gain a small bonus, while attackers: particularly units with wheels or tracks, incur a

penalty. One specialised infantry unit: the mountaineers:

ignore these penalties. Mountain: Mountainous regions are displayed in grey and cause a drastic reduction to movement speed. Defenders enjoy modest bonuses in this terrain, while attacking units (particularly wheeled or tracked ones) are heavily penalised. Only the special mountaineer units are exempt from penalties (and defending mountaineers have very large bonuses). Desert: Yellow regions indicate desert terrain. This terrain is simply not very pleasant to fight in. The performance of both sides will be noticeably (and fairly equally) reduced: particularly in the case of cavalry units. Marsh: Marshes and swampland are depicted in pale green and, as you'd expect, can have a large impact on the movement rates of wheeled or tracked units. Attackers suffer penalties (particularly motorised units) while defenders enjoy a modest bonus. Special marine infantry divisions tend to operate better in these conditions. Jungles: Displayed in dark green, jungle is very inhospita-

ble terrain for movement and ideal for defence. Any attacking units that are not on foot will be nearly useless. Urban: Urban areas (large cities) are depicted in a yellowish-brown colour. Defenders usually enjoy a modest advantage, since it Is assumed that they have had the opportunity to select the optimum defensive positions. Because of winding streets and a multitude of physical obstacles, infantry generally perform better than other unit

types in an urban area.

Water: Lakes and sea zones are displayed in blue on the map, Clicking on them will display only limited information, since they cannot be owned and no structures can be built in them. Note that for the purposes of Hol2, the seaway between the Great Lakes and the Gulf of St. Lawrence is considered impassable to naval and supply vessels, even though this wasn't strictly the case historically. There are also several narrow bodies of water that may only be used by your ships if you control the adjacent provinces (see Naval Combat section). Rivers: Rivers are displayed on the main map as blue lines between provinces and will present a challenge for military forces that attack across them. If possible, you should try

to avoid launching such an assault if there is an alternative avenue of approach, although having engineer brigades will mitigate this penalty to a degree. Beaches: While many provinces have a coastline, not all of them are suitable sites for the landing of an invasion force on the scale of Hol2. Invasions (landing forces from a naval transport) are restricted to provinces that have an additional beach icon: a beige-coloured, crescent-shaped symbol placed on the coastline. These operations are very tricky to accomplish and are quite risky, if there is much opposition to the attack.

Weather

Not only does terrain play a role in movement and combat, but weather and weather-related conditions can also hamper your efforts. You can check the weather conditions using the Weather mapmode and the prevailing conditions are also indicated in the Province Details. Most of the effects will favour the defender over the attacker: although both forces are usually penalized: and the degree of the effect is determined by the severity of the conditions. Rain: This is shown on the weather map as a rain cloud. Land forces are only slightly affected by this weather condition. Naval units will suffer somewhat greater penalties and have difficulty locating their targets; and air units will lose almost all of their effectiveness. Storm: A storm is a severe form of rain and is shown as a rain cloud with occasional flashes of lightning. Naval vessels are severely hindered in storms and land units will generally have a fairly tough time of it as well. Air units cannot fly missions if their base is experiencing a storm and shouldn't bother taking off if these conditions exist over their target, since their drastically reduced performance will make the mission little more than a waste of fuel. Muddy: This terrain condition is common in certain global regions and is shown in the weather mapmode in brown (unaffected provinces are shown in beige). This will only affect the performance of land units: particularly any that rely on wheels or are extremely heavy: and unlike most other weather conditions will very strongly favour the defenders in battle.

Snow: Snowfall tends to affect attacking ground units slightly more than defenders, and will have a very negative impact on any air missions. Naval vessels will perform

poorly as well. Blizzard: This is extremely heavy snowfall that will make

your aerial units effectively useless (and they are grounded

if there is a blizzard over their air base) and will also have a significant impact on all land and naval battles and movement. Blizzards are displayed as very dense clouds with

thick heavy snow falling from them.

Frozen: Regions will become frozen at certain times of

year, reflecting extremely icy and hazardous conditions

that will affect movement but only slightly reduce combat capabilities. Defenders have only a slight advantage on frozen ground.

Provincial Borders and Crossing Points

Regardless of the mapmode view you use, provincial borders are shown as a black-dashed line on the Main Map, while national boundaries are traced with red lines, Rivers are depicted using blue lines along provincial boundaries (there are some modest geographic liberties taken with

river placement for game design reasons, and only rivers of some significance are taken into consideration). Each provincial boundary is also listed on the right side of the

information panel when a province is selected (the label space is limited to the first six characters of the adjacent

province's name) along with an indication of the type of connection it has with it neighbour. A green dash indicates

a border that is not impeded. A blue river icon means that there is a river that must be crossed to move across this

border and, if contested by an enemy force, an attacker

will incur a river-crossing penalty (for more details, see the

Combat section). If there is a unit engaged in battle in an

adjacent province, a small red "under fire" symbol will be

displayed on the provincial boundary as well. If the bound-

ary is considered impassable, a red line will be displayed.

Clicking on one of the border names or icons will change

the display to show the Province Details in the information

panel for that province instead.

Some very narrow bodies of water may be traversed without the need for naval vessels and are shown using a blue water icon in the boundary listing. Since these crossing points are not displayed on the Main Map, you should pay careful attention to the province boundary listing whenever you are in a province that might have one.

If a hostile fleet occupies the sea area, it will prevent you

from using or attacking across that narrow strait, If the

province you are moving to contains enemy forces, then the combat will be treated as an invasion and is subject to the same penalties as a normal amphibious invasion (see the Combat section for details).

Provincial Assets

The area immediately below the province's picture provides

detailed information about each of its assets: its natural

resources, industrial conditions (factories, infrastructure

and partisanship), its defences, and any other provincial

improvements that have been built there. These are de-

scribed in detail elsewhere, so you may encounter some

terms here that you are unfamiliar with, and may need to

refer back to after you have read the other sections.

If the province you are viewing is currently controlled by

Quick Build Buttons

If the province you are viewing is one that is currently under your control, some of the provincial asset values will be displayed in grey and will also act as Quick Build buttons that allow you to quickly issue a production order for more of that item to be built in this province. For infrastructure, factories, land fortifications and naval fortifications, this is one of only two ways to issue a production order. I will detail this in the Production Folder section of the manual and give only brief instructions here. Click on one of the Quick Build buttons to place a production order for this item to be built in this province. You will see the production order appear

in your national Production Queue (which is displayed in

the Production Folder) and this will also be displayed in the

lower portion of the information panel for this province. You may click on the Quick Build button a number of times to order the serial production of multiple identical units

Right-Click, Province Menu

Right-clicking in the main map area of a province you own will display a menu of all possible province improvements that may be built, allowing you to quickly initiate construction of these in exactly the same way as using the above hot buttons mentioned above, but also allowing you to build some of the other improvements that aren't included as own-province hot buttons. Right-clicking on another nation's province will display several context-sensitive options that you may select to quickly initiate a diplomatic action with that nation. Each of these is described in detail in the relevant portions of the manual (Production and Diplomacy).

The Hot Buttons

The six Main Map hot buttons provide a quick means of

gaining an overview of (and locating) your provinces and armed forces. While details about combat and armed forces will be given in the Combat section, an overview of each is given here.

The Province Hot Button

Clicking on the province hot button displays a list of all of your currently controlled provinces in the

information panel. This allows you to conduct a very fast survey of your nation's resources and any recent enemy activity. To the right of each province's name is its current industrial capacity, an indication of the type of resources (if any) that have been drawn from it, as well as its

manpower value. If a battle is currently being fought there, or if it has very recently been attacked by enemy bomb-

ers or naval bombardment, then a red "battle" icon will

appear adjacent to its name. To the left of each province

is a small symbol that will be green if the province is one

of your owned provinces, or red if the province is normally owned by another country but is currently under your occupation. Clicking on any of the small "header" icons at

the top will sort the list in descending order. You can click

the Provinces header to return to an alphabetical sorting. Clicking on the province name will center the main map on that province and display the Province Details in the information panel.

The Land Forces Hot Button

Clicking on this button will display a list of all provinces that currently contain your land forces

in the information panel, as well as basic information about the forces stationed there: the number of divisions and their overall strength and organization and the portrait of their commanding officer. If an army is presently

...carrying out orders that you have given it then a summary of the orders will be displayed here, and if it is involved

in an attack the combat icon will appear adjacent to its current strength. You may jump quickly to the province by clicking on the province's name in the information panel, or you may bring up details about any army by clicking on its name in the listing (the main map will also jump directly to that province).

The Air Forces Hot Button

Click this hot button to display summary informa-

tion about your air forces. Each of your provinces

that contain an air base will be listed here. To the right of the base's name are two values: the overall size of the base and its current operational size. If an air base has been attacked by enemy bombers, then the operational size may be less than the base size. As long as you devote IC to reinforcements, then the base will gradually be repaired and will become fully operational once more.

There is no restriction to the number of air wings that may

be stationed at a base, however if this number exceeds the base's current operational size, you will experience decreases in the rate that units regain organisation, are repaired, or are upgraded. It is possible to base your air wings in an ally's air base: although you are subject to the same size restrictions: at which point the ally's province will also appear in this listing.

Your air units will be listed immediately below their current base assignment, You will see a unit's current mission and location (which may be different than its base if it is flying at the time that you review the information) as well as its leader, strength and organisation. This panel can also

be used to quickly issue new orders to your air forces by

clicking the order box in the lower right corner of the unit's

listing and issuing new orders. Click on a squadron's name

to jump to its location on the map and to review detailed

information about its composition.

The Naval Forces Hot Button

The Naval Forces hot button is very similar to the Air Forces hot button. Clicking it will

bring up a complete listing of your naval bases

and the various units that have been assigned to each. The base size and current operational status are shown

beside the name of the port (naval bases are subject to aerial attack). Naval units are listed below their base,

along with a summary of their current location, orders,

commanding officer, strength and organisation. Clicking on a unit will center it on the map and the information panel will display more detailed information about its components. Just as with the Air Forces hot button, you may quickly issue new orders to your naval units from

this panel.

The Active Combats Hot Button

When you engage in large-scale operations, it can be easy to lose track of all of the various

combat activities that are currently underway: even though you will receive a message when each one commences, The Active Combats hot button becomes an invaluable tool for quickly locating and evaluating the status of any battle.

When you click this hot button, you will see a complete scrollable listing of all active military engagements. Each will feature a summary of the size and nationality of the forces involved, the portraits of the two opposing commanders, and a graphic representation that shows each force's current strength and organisation. The attacker is always listed on the left and the defender on the right. Below them is a battle status bar that gives an approximate idea of who is currently prevailing. If you click on any of the active combats listed in the panel, then you will jump to the location in the main map and the Combat Details (a detailed battle analysis) will be displayed in the information panel.

In very large wars, you may have a huge number of battles in progress, so you can also filter which active combats are shown when you click the hot button. You may choose to see a list of only the land, air, naval, or bombing engagements by clicking on the appropriate icon at the top of the listing. Click the "all" icon to return to a complete listing of all active combats.

The Force Pool Hot Button

The sixth hot but-

ton is used to view

and deploy new units from your force pool. will give you details of how to use this interface later in the

manual so it will suffice to indicate here that if you click

on the Force Pool hot button you will be given a list of all

of the available units in your force pool. These are the new units that you have built or recruited using the production interface and that are now ready for active duty and are simply waiting for you to issue them an assignment. If

you have given orders for the strategic redeployment of

a land unit then it: and its intended new location: will appear in this list as well. You can only review: not change: a strategic redeployment order and the force is listed here only for your reference and convenience. Important note: each item awaiting deployment in the force pool will tie up national transport capacity as well as consuming a daily allotment of supplies. This may hurt your ability to efficiently supply your forces that are already on the front lines. Items in the force pool will also have very poor organisation when first deployed and will not be upgraded with the most recent technological advances until they have been placed in the field.

The Mini Map and Mapmode

Buttons

The Mini Map has three primary uses: If you left click any-

where on the Mini Map then the main map will move to be centered on that location, making this a quick way to jump between theatres. The Mini Map also has a graphic representation of the approximate local time of day for any portion of the globe. A dark band will sweep across the Mini Map, indicating that it is night time in that region. The third function of the map is accessed by right clicking on the Mini

Map and selecting the type of force you would like to view. Small red dots will then appear on the Mini Map, showing you the locations of all forces of that type.

On the right edge of the Mini Map are small"+" and"-" buttons. Clicking on these will change the magnification of the main map. You can also use the"+" and"-" buttons

on your keyboard to do the same thing. Hol2 permits four

different levels of main map magnification. Along the base of the information panel, below the Mini Map, is a series of ten Mapmode buttons that allow you to quickly change

the main map view to provide you with important: often essential: information at a glance,

Terrain Mapmode

This is the standard display mode, with provinces shown

colour-coded by terrain type (see the Provinces section above for a description of each terrain type). Province improvement symbols are shown, but the portions of the map that are not within

visual range of your alliance's provinces or military units will be covered by the fog of war.

Political Mapmode

While the unit and province improvement display remains the same as the terrain mapmode, in this view all provinces are colour-coded to show the controlling nation instead of the terrain.

Weather Mapmode

Click this button to view the prevailing weather trends around the world. Provinces will be coloured beige unless the conditions are muddy (brown) or frozen (white).

Animated Icons will show the current weather trends in

provinces and sea zones, indicating frequent rain, storms, snow or blizzards. If you're planning a major offensive, check this map before you launch it.

Economic Mapmode

This mapmode provides a quick means of checking re-

source locations and industrial capacity. Provinces belonging to your nation are colour-coded in light green if they contain at least one factory; or in dark green if they belong to you but do not contribute at all to your nation's

industrial capacity. Any province that has some type of natural resource or manpower value will contain the ap-

propriate icon to indicate its presence. You can also use

the Territorial Information summary in the Statistics folder

or the World Atlas information that is in the pdf file included with the game.

Supply Mapmode

This mapmode displays military units and is therefore subject to the fog of war. Each province will be colour-coded

to indicate whether it is currently within allied supply. If it is currently within supply then it will be shaded in green, and if it lies outside of an allied supply chain then it will be red. The shading of each province indicates its approximate infrastructure level. Darker shadings indicate lower infrastructure levels and lighter shadings indicate excellent infrastructure. Note that enemy and neutral provinces that are adjacent to allied provinces will also usually be displayed in green, since a unit that moves there would remain in supply. Sea zones through which either supply convoys or resource convoys will run are also indicated on the map as a clear blue colour, rather than the standard greenish-blue tint. This only indicates that the convoy path has been created, but does not indicate that a sufficient

number of vessels have been assigned to actually carry out

that duty. Supply (and convoys) will be discussed in detail

in the Production and Combat sections.

Partisan Mapmode

This mapmode will give you a quick indication of the risk of

partisan activity in your provinces. Light green indicates a national province which has no risk of rebellion. Dark green indicates an occupied province where any risk of partisan activities is being suppressed by your forces. Various shades of red indicate provinces where partisans are active (the darker the shading the more active they are) so these should be carefully monitored. A tooltip details all current

partisan-related conditions. Partisans are discussed in

•detail in the Diplomacy Section. Region and Area Mapmode

The next two buttons will display a colour-coded map of ei-

ther regions (large province groupings) or areas (somewhat

smaller subdivisions of the regions, usually about 3 or 4

provinces in size). Areas and regions are used for many of the orders that you will give to your air force or navy and do not indicate ownership or control, so you may find these

modes convenient when issuing such orders. Diplomatic Mapmode

It is easy to lose track of who is at war with whom, and who is allied with whom, so this mapmode allows you to

determine this at a glance. The map display is colour-coded

and context-sensitive. Click on a province to view the world from its controlling nation's perspective. A medium-green

province is currently controlled by that nation. A light green

province belongs to one of its allies and a dark green

province is one that the nation considers to be its natural

property but is currently owned by another nation (whether friend or foe). A red province is currently controlled by

another nation with which the nation is at war.

Victory Points Mapmode

This mapmode can be used to quickly locate provinces that have an assigned victory point value. Green shading indicates that a member of your alliance occupies the province; orange shading indicates that a neutral country occupies it; and red shading means that it is currently controlled by an enemy. Provinces with very high victory point values (often national capitals) will be darker in colour than those with lower point values. Key provinces of particular strategic importance for peace negotiations are marked with a red star in this mapmode.

The History Log

The history log is a scrollable sequential list of the messag-

es and events you have had during the game. In multiplayer mode, it will also record any chat messages you send or receive. You can scroll back up through recent messages (those received during your current session of play) and this log is also saved for future reference. A full log may be read

using the History Log screen in the Statistics folder. If you wish, you may hide the message log by clicking the small button at the top left corner of the log and later restore it by clicking on the button again.

The Technology Folder

Overview

Technology is an integral component of Hearts of Iron II and your degree of overall achievement will have a significant

impact on many things. Your domestic affairs will benefit from new efficiencies in extraction, conversion and production rates, and your military will deploy new technologies to gain a crucial edge over your enemies. You may even

begin nuclear experimentation that can lead to powerful

new energy sources.. .and the atomic bomb.

Unlike most things in Hol2, this does not require a direct allocation of IC. New technological advances are gained by hiring a team of scientists, assigning them a research project to work on, and then after a period of time, the team will announce that it has achieved this new technology. The length of time will depend on the nature of the project and on the skills and expertise of your team. You are also limited in the number of projects you may work on simultaneously. The maximum number of projects and the specific teams that are available to you will depend on which nation you are playing, and on your nation's economic strength,

Research speeds may be further improved (or hindered) somewhat by several of your cabinet ministers. Your rocketry research will be greatly aided if you have built rocket test facilities in at least one province; and your nuclear research will benefit similarly from a nuclear reactor site.

The only other way to accelerate your research is to ac-

quire blueprints from another nation. Gaining an edge over your enemy: or at very least maintaining an approximate technological parity: will almost certainly be vital to your overall success.

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 slot to display a list of the teams

in your nation's pool, Some of these may be headed by individuals, while others will be identified as companies but there are no benefits or penalties to selecting one over the other. Each team will have a skill level and will have at least one area of expertise. The skill level is an indication of the team's overall proficiency and will affect both the daily cost of funding the team and the overall rate at which it will be able to research a new project. The higher the skill level, the less time the team will need to complete a project, but the higher the daily cost of financing them will be. The small colour-coded icons indicate the team's areas of expertise (fields of research at which the team excels).

The number of available teams: and their skill and areas

of expertise: will depend on the country you select and will only rarely change during play.

Whenever possible, try to find a team that has expertise in the fields that relate directly to the components of the project that you intend to assign them, even if they might be less skilled overall than another team that lacks this expertise. Each area of expertise that matches a com-

ponent's field requirement will give the team a research bonus when working on a project, so the more fields that match the better. A lower skill level will also result in a reduction the daily cost of financing the team during the course of the project.

Once you have chosen a team (by clicking on it) a portrait

or logo will appear in the project slot of the technology

folder and you'll see the team's name and its areas of

expertise. Since you haven't yet assigned a project for it to work on you, will also see a comment that it is idle and that it does not currently require funding. Idle teams may be replaced by clicking the Replace button and selecting a new team. The new team will be placed in that project slot and the old team will be returned to the team pool.

Research Projects

Selecting and Assigning a

Project

Across the top of the screen (area 2) are a set of buttons listing the various general categories of technology in Hol2. Each category has many individual projects, each of which has its own set of component advances. When you click on one of the category buttons, the main section of the folder (area 3) will display a colour-coded flowchart of all of the projects that are part of that category. A dark green entry indicates that you have already completed this project; light green indicates that you have all the prerequisite advances necessary to begin researching the project; yellow indicates that a team has already begun work on the project; and red indicates that you lack some of the prerequisite accomplishments to begin research. The arrows in the flow

chart indicate the prerequisites for each project, making it easy to see what steps must be taken if you are looking far forward into your research future. All of the secret weapons have prerequisites in other categories that must first be completed before you may begin to research them.

Clicking on any one of the projects will display the Project Details (area 4) and its component advances. Each component will have a difficulty rating and a specified field that is the primary discipline that relates to the component. The overall project completion time will be reduced for each of the assigned team's areas of expertise that correspond to one of the components' primary fields; but the higher the difficulty rating, the longer it will take to research that component. You will also see a list of the benefits you may expect upon completion of the project. The effects will vary significantly from project to project. Some improve an aspect of your economy; others will increase the abilities of your military; and others will make new or improved

units available to you that a less advanced nation will not be able to use.

Each project has one other factor that can play a role in determining how long it will take to research: the historical year that it appeared. This reflects the need for other sub-components that aren't directly included in the technology tree's multitude of components but played a role historically in it being possible to make scientific advances in this area. If you begin researching a project before its historical time period, then it will take longer to complete since your team will need to spend additional time inventing those (hypothetical) subcomponents. Highly complex or advanced projects may be very difficult and time consuming to complete, and it is very unlikely that a nation will be able to complete research on all of them during the course of a single game (for many nations it will be nearly impossible to research everything).

Progressions in advanced levels of rocketry research will be nearly impossible without appropriate test facilities being constructed to assist your scientists. If you intend to pursue this field, then you should build at least one rocket test site as soon as you are able to and then increase its size whenever possible. This province improvement will drastically reduce your research times of further rocketry advances. The same is also true of nuclear research projects, which will progress very slowly unless you have built a nuclear reactor in at least one of your provinces.

As mentioned earlier, all research projects will take much

less time if you begin with a set of blueprints for the project.

It is highly unlikely that a nation will simply give blueprints to you; however you may be able to negotiate a one-time trade if you make an attractive enough offer during your

negotiations.. .and of course, an enemy's blueprints may occasionally come your way as a result of espionage activi-

ties (this is a game event). If you are lucky enough to steal

blueprints for an advanced technology, they will not grant

you knowledge of any prerequisite advances, nor give you

any bonuses to researching them. The blueprints will not be of use to you until you have reached a point where you would be able to begin work on that project.

Once you have decided on a project that your team is

able to research, click the Start Project button to assign the

team to this project. The main area of the screen will then

change to display the project details with an indication of

the overall progress being made on the project. Money will

be withdrawn from your national cash reserves to finance the project and, as time passes, you will be able to see the team gradually researching each of the component

advances. You will also see an indicator showing the overall

progress being made on the project. If you lack sufficient funds to continue financing the team's work on the project, then research progress will slow dramatically, the team's

skill level will be set (temporarily) to zero, and a large red

dollar sign will be displayed as a warning. This penalty will

be removed once the team's financing has been restored.

After all of the components have been researched, the

project will be complete and you will be notified that the team has finished its task. Whatever effects the technology gives will be immediately available, however in many cases this will require some degree of implementation.

Cancelling and Reassigning a Project

Only one team may be assigned to a project at any one time. At any time that you wish you may cancel the project and then assign it to a different team (or abandon it and start work on something else instead) by clicking the Cancel

Project button on the project details screen. You will lose all of your progress towards this project: including any components that have been completed and all cash invested: so this should only be done under dire circumstances.

Implementing New Technology

The effects and implementation of a new technology will

vary depending on the type of project and are far too numerous to list here. Some effects are instantaneous and require no direct action or IC allocation: they will be implemented immediately and automatically: while other projects may have few (or no) immediate effects and act more as stepping-stones along the road to a major new

technological breakthrough. Many military advances will

be improvements to existing technology and any units you have in the field will need to be upgraded to take advan-

tage of the new benefits. There are many unit types and

some province improvements that will not be available until

you have researched the prerequisite technologies. This

includes specialised infantry units (mountaineers, marines, paratroopers, etc.), radar sites, nuclear weapons, and

many of the heavier, larger or more advanced tank, aircraft and ship designs. You can check all of this by consulting the details of the advances in the technology folder.

Upgrades to existing units are accomplished by allo-

cating IC to the Upgrades slider in the Production folder.

Naval advances that result in a new model type cannot be

upgraded, though, and in such instances you will have to

manufacture a new vessel to implement the advance. You will also have to decide whether to mothball the obsolescent vessel to recoup its manpower, or whether to keep it in active service and benefit from the crew's experience.

Technology Summary

Clicking the Overview button (at the extreme upper right

of the category buttons) will display a summary of the effects of all the technologies you currently possess. This is where you can gain a rapid overview of the most advanced unit types that are available, the benefits enjoyed by your

nation's industry, as well as all of the mission types that you are able to order and how effectively your forces will

be able to carry them out. Remember that some units

and mission types will not become available until you have

researched the necessary technologies and/or doctrines.

If you see a mission listed as "no" or a unit type with-

out a model listing, then you lack one of the prerequisite

technologies. For such an innocuous little button this sure

packs a wallop from a human player's point of view. I can

only urge you to review it frequently!

The Production Polder

Overview

The Production Folder is the interface you will probably

use most frequently (other than the Main Map Folder). It is

used for two main purposes: issuing new requisition orders

and managing your economy, It is here that you will recruit

new divisions, construct new aircraft and naval vessels,

and build some of your provincial assets. You will then be

able to adjust the priority that each order is given by mak-

ing changes to this in the production queue. It is also the

folder you will use to manage your nation's IC allocation to

meet various domestic and military needs and will manage the disposition of your network of convoys. Failing to pay attention to your economy will have devastating effects that can cripple your nation, by promoting civic unrest or leaving your armed forces without the fuel or supplies they need to operate.

The screen is divided into two sections. The left side displays the Production Orders interface and the Production Queue; while the right side shows the vitally important Industrial Capacity Allocation sliders, a summary of your national resources, trade agreements and convoy activity, and the location and size of your resource depots. Well look at each of these in turn.

Production Orders and the Production Queue

The Production Orders interface (area 1) and Production Queue (area 2) are displayed on the left side of your screen

in the Production Folder. Every time you wish to recruit new forces or construct one of several province assets, you will initiate a new production order, confirm the type and quantity desired, and then issue the order. It will then be added to the bottom of the scrollable Production Queue listing, where you may subsequently review, manage or cancel it. It is also possible (and in some cases mandatory) to place orders for some province assets directly from the

Province Details information panel, but the priority of those orders is managed from the Production Queue. Let's look at all of these controls.

Placing a Production Order

Production Orders are easy to place in Hearts of Iron II. Begin by clicking one of the dozen or so production category buttons on the Production Orders interface to indicate the type of item you wish to build. If an item has prerequisite technological advances that you currently lack then the button will be greyed out on the interface until your scientists have researched them. The Division, Air Wing, Flotilla and Brigade Attachment categories will display a slightly different Order Details interface than the others, since there are a number of possible items that you may

select from each one. The remaining categories require no further selection and will display a "simple" Order Details interface.

Orders for "simple" items are always manufactured using the most current technology, so there is only one type you may build. Click on the name of the item you wish to build to display the Order Details interface. If you wish to build only one unit, then you can click the Start Production button and the order will be placed immediately. The Order Details interface will disappear and you will see that an order for one unit has been added to the bottom of your Production Queue (you may need to scroll down the list to see it). If you want to order more than one unit, you may do so by adjusting the Serial Runs or Parallel Runs

values. We'll come back to the meaning of (and distinction

between) those options in a few moments.

Placing orders for divisions, brigade attachments, air

wings, and flotillas is slightly different since you will usu-

ally have a variety of available unit types and must choose

which one to manufacture. Begin by clicking on one of these four buttons in the Production Orders interface to display the more "complex" version of the Order Details

interface. Scroll through the list of available unit types (area

3) to locate the type of unit that you would like to build.

The length of the list and the types of units available will

depend on your current technology level. Since you aren't expected to be able to remember all of the various unit types and then apply all of the additional modifiers that your current technology might give, detailed unit information is displayed (in area 4) when you select a name from the unit type list. The meaning of each of these is described in detail in the Combat section of the manual, so the only note I will add here is that the organisation and morale values shown are not the maximum values, but rather the initial deployment values of those items.

You will also want to refer to the cost of the unit and its

required production time (area 6). All military units not

only require a daily allocation of IC during their production but also require an initial amount of manpower to be withdrawn from your national manpower pool. If you lack the manpower then you may still place the order and it will

be withdrawn as soon as it becomes available, however

production of the item will not begin until the manpower

becomes available.

Once you have decided which unit to build, you may click

the Start Production button to place an order for one unit.

If you wish to order multiple units, then you may adjust the

serial or parallel production run values (area 5: which we'll discuss in a moment). Once you've confirmed your order, the Production Queue will be updated to reflect this.

For all order types there is a daily IC requirement that must be maintained for production to proceed at full speed. If you fail to allocate sufficient IC to production then the manufacture of items at the bottom of the Production

Queue will not begin until you either increase your IC al-

location, or until items with a higher priority (higher up the

queue) have been completed and the IC that they were

using becomes available.

Production Runs

The Order Details interface for both simple and complex or-

ders will provide you with an option to increase the number of units produced in a production run (serial runs) as well as to place multiple identical production orders at a time (parallel runs). This is designed to make the production interface as convenient as possible for you to use when you want to manufacture large numbers of the same Item or have ongoing, continuous production of it.

If you increase the "serial runs" value of the Order De-

tails this will issue an order for multiple, identical items to be manufactured sequentially. When you click the Start Production button a single order entry will be added to the Production Queue and your factories will begin to manufacture the first unit. When production is complete the unit will be added to your Force Pool and your factories will then begin manufacturing the second unit. This process will continue: with the units becoming available one by one: until your order has been filled. If you look at the order in

the Production Queue (after it has been placed) you will

see the total number of units ordered as well as which of

those units is currently being manufactured.

Increasing the "parallel runs" value will issue a series

of identical orders and each of the units will be manufactured at the same time. This is a quick way of placing

multiple identical orders without being forced to go through

the order procedure multiple times. When you click the Start Production button the number of orders added to the Production Queue will be the same as the number of parallel runs you have specified in the Order Details. If you allocate sufficient IC to production then all of the units will

be manufactured simultaneously and become available on the same date, If you use both of these controls then you will be issuing multiple serial production run orders, each

calling for the same number of units per run..

There are obvious advantages and disadvantages to both approaches of issuing an order for multiple units, and a hidden one as well. Serial orders take much longer to fill but spread out the drain on manpower which: if required: will only be subtracted as each new unit is begun. They also require only a small allocation of IC, since only one unit is being made at a time. Parallel orders will rapidly deplete your manpower (if needed) and demand much larger IC commitments, but multiple units will be available far sooner. Serial orders for military units are not updated as new technological advances are discovered: even for units whose production begins after the advance has been gained: so you may find yourself being forced to upgrade or even consider disbanding them immediately after they are deployed. Although the same is true for parallel orders, it is far less likely to happen during the shorter time period

involved. There is one huge advantage, though, that ap-

plies only to serial orders: the gearing bonus.

The Gearing Bonus

In the "real world" there are significant manufacturing

benefits to be gained from dedicated production lines and other efficiencies of scale. I won't go into the underlying economic principles: there are volumes on the subject,

many of them dating from the WWII era. The heart of the

idea is that if a factory (or series of factories) sets up a

dedicated production line and can purchase its raw materi-

als based on a high volume of consumption, then the overall

cost of production and length of time it takes to make each

unit will decrease. In Hearts of Iron II this is represented

by something called the "gearing bonus." To avoid making the gearing bonus unduly complex (or excessively open to

player exploitation) Hol2 takes a few small liberties in the

way it is implemented and awarded. Let's get straight to

the bottom line (and please pardon the pun).

If you place a serial run Production Order: one that calls

for multiple units to be manufactured in a single production

run: then you will be eligible to receive a gearing bonus

where each successive unit that is produced will require

slightly less time to manufacture. The first unit will take the

usual length of time and require the full allocation of IC. The

next unit will require slightly less time to produce (and thus

a lower total IC consumption) and the subsequent unit will

require even less time. Until the order has been cancelled or completed, each unit that you manufacture will receive a gearing bonus that increases as each is produced. There is a maximum bonus level, though, beyond which there will be no further reductions in time.

Note, however, that if at any time during the production run there is insufficient manpower in the national pool or insufficient allocation of IC to a serial run order this will not only cause the order to be put on hold but will also reset the gearing bonus to treat the current item a though it was the first one being produced. You should consider giving serial run orders a very high priority in your queue to avoid having this happen. Note also that provincial assets: no matter which method of ordering them you use: do not benefit from serial run gearing bonuses.

Building Provincial Assets and Using the "Quick Orders" Buttons

Provincial assets are the wide variety of structures that can be built to make your provinces more economically productive, more defensible, or provide an additional

boost to your research in the fields of rocketry or nuclear

science. Depending on the item involved, there are three

possible ways that it may be ordered: although in most cases only two of those options will be available to you. The exception to that rule is the AA battery, which may

use all three methods.

Infrastructure, factories, land fortifications and coastal fortifications must have a province location specified at the time that the initial order is placed for their construction. You may do this either by selecting the desired province

and then using the appropriate Quick Build button in the Province Details display, or by right-clicking on the province on the main map and selecting the asset you wish to build. Using either method will initiate a new production order for that item, adding it to the listing at the bottom of the Province Details information panel, as well as to the Production Queue. If you subsequently order additional items (via either method) they will be added to your original order. All orders for these items are serial orders. The level of infrastructure in a province will greatly affect the length of time each of these assets takes to produce: and when each asset is completed it will be automatically deployed to the province.

All other assets may be ordered using the right-click method or by placing a simple Production Order for it as described earlier in this section. The order will then be listed in the Production Queue while it is being manufactured. If you use the right-click method then the asset will automatically deploy to the province upon completion (which I find very convenient!). If you use the Production Order method then the asset will be "sent" to your Force Pool to

await deployment instead (see below). It will then force you to spend a bit of extra time placing them later, but it does give you an added degree of flexibility in their

location and construction.

The Production Queue

The Production Queue allows you to

quickly review and manage your current production orders. Each time you place a new order, an entry will be added to the queue's scrollable list. On the right

side of the entry you will see some basic

details about the unit being produced: an

icon that shows its type and a listing of

its name and basic attack and defence values. If you used the quick order method to requisition a provincial asset, then the

auto-deployment location will be identified as well.

On the left side of each line's entry is the estimated date and time that the unit will be ready for deployment. Below this is the "production percentage" value, indicating whether production of this item is proceeding at full speed (I'll come back to that in a moment). Towards the middle of the line you will see the daily IC requirement of the project. If you have placed an order for a production run (a serial order) then you will also see two numbers below this. The first is the number of units from this order that have already been completed, and the second is the total number of units ordered in the production run. Each entry also has a set of four buttons that allow you to adjust the order's priority, and Cancel Development button (an "X").

Manufacturing new items requires an allocation of IC to their production and for many items will also involve a one-time "consumption" of manpower from your national pool. While you can still place an order for an item that you can't afford, its manufacture will not begin until such time as sufficient manpower and resources become available. Both are allocated on a priority basis in the queue: which is always sorted in order of priority: so the orders at the top of the list will always be allocated to and manufactured first.

You can review an order's status by looking at its production percentage. If this value is 100%, then production is proceeding normally and you can expect it to be ready on its reported ETA date (unless something like a drop in available IC happens to affect it in the interim). If it is less than this, then production is being delayed by either a lack of necessary IC or by insufficient manpower. Any order that isn't at 100% production will be colour-coded in yellow or orange to make it easy to spot when scanning the Production Queue. Yellow means that production is only

proceeding at a partial rate, while orange indicates that production has halted.

Manpower is not only consumed by production orders, but is also withdrawn from your national pool when units that have sustained casualties are being reinforced. If you lack the manpower for a new production order, then you have four alternatives. You can simply wait until you have enough manpower in your pool: at which point the available manpower will be withdrawn automatically and production will begin. Increasing its priority in the queue will ensure that it will receive the manpower sooner. A second option is to cancel the order by clicking the "X" button and then place the order again, once you have enough manpower in the national pool. Since manpower is withdrawn when

an order is first placed (if available) you may have other orders that are higher in the queue for which you've already paid the required manpower cost. Cancelling one of these will return the full manpower value of the order to your pool which will then be automatically applied to the next order in the queue that is waiting for manpower. Your final option is to disband some of the units you have in the field. This places their manpower back into the pool, but they will lose any combat experience that they have.

Shortfalls in IC allocation can be dealt with in a variety of ways. The simple one is to allocate more IC to production: but this will take that IC away from something else, so this may not necessarily be a viable solution. Building more factories in your provinces will increase the total potential IC (if you are suffering from a lack of capacity and have lots of resource reserves), or finding additional sources of natural resources will increase the actual IC if you have enough factories, but they aren't operating at full capacity due to a lack of resources. Technological advances may enhance your factories' IC or improve your resource extraction and conversion rates so you might want to look at this as an alternative, Your remaining option is to change the priority of your orders to ensure that the ones you need most are produced first, and that lower priority orders are put on the back burner until you have an excess of IC.

The IC that you've allocated to production is assigned to orders based on their priority: their position in the queue. Orders at the top of the production queue have the highest priority and will get any new IC that becomes available. If you cancel one or more of the orders that are currently running at a 100% production rate, then you will lose any IC (and hence the resources) that has already been used by the order but the IC will become available to the next

order in the queue. You should avoid doing this too often since it wastes valuable resources: and you could lose any gearing bonuses on that order. Fortunately, there is another solution: changing the priority of an order.

Click on an order's small "prioritise" buttons to assign it a new priority in the queue. Moving it to the top will ensure that it receives any available IC and begins production immediately; however this will also cause your other orders to be bumped downwards in priority and will result in at least one of your other orders now stopping (or slowing) in production. Any degree of progress that this bumped order has received to date will be saved and included once production resumes, but any gearing bonus that an order is receiving will be forfeited. You may also send an order to the bottom of the queue if it isn't particularly urgent, or you may shuffle its position by making smaller adjustments to move it up or down one position relative to the other orders.

Once the production of an order is complete, the order will be removed from the Production Queue and the newly built item will appear in the Deployment Queue. If you used the quick order method for a province improvement, it will

be deployed automatically to the province instead of to the Deployment Queue, The IC that the order was using will be applied to the next order in the queue that is currently

running at less than 100% capacity. Note that if you al-

locate more IC to production than is currently required to fill your orders, the excess capacity will not be used and no resources will be consumed.

Two final notes about the Production Queue: At the beginning of some games, you may discover that there are some items already in the queue and that they require no IC allocation. This is completely normal and is because they have been "prepaid" for you as a special bonus in the scenario's design. The other important note is that the IC allocation in the Production Queue (and in all other information displays in the Production Folder) is only updated at midnight each day. If you are placing sizeable orders, be sure to check back once a new day has begun.

Deploying Unassigned Provincial Assets

If you placed an order for certain province assets using the simple Production Orders method, you will need to deploy them from the force pool once production is complete. All other province asset orders will be deployed automatically to whatever province you have already chosen to build them in. In all cases, choose the location carefully because provincial improvements can't be moved after they've been deployed and are vulnerable to bombardment and capture. Building up industry that is within easy striking range of enemy bombers will likely be a waste of assets, and there

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 military units) that have not yet been deployed. Scroll through the list until you see the provincial asset that you wish to deploy, then click on it. The provinces on the main map change to a colour-coding as soon as you do this, with green indicating that the asset can be placed in this province. Click anywhere in one of the valid provinces and the asset will be deployed there. Invalid locations will be ones that don't belong to you, are already at maximum capacity, or that are completely cut off from your capital.

Deploying Military Forces and

Rockets

The deployment of new military forces and rockets is similar to the method used for province improvements, but there are some additional options and restrictions. Please see the Combat section of the manual for instructions on how to do this, Military forces will tie up some of your transport capacity until you deploy them so you should usually try to do so as soon as you possibly can.

National Resources

We now turn our attention to the right half of the Production Folder and will begin with the information displayed in the upper left portion of that side of the screen: a summary of your national resources. The data that you see displayed in the national resources area of the production screen reflects your current stockpile or pool of each resource type and the daily change to this value (in brackets). This is the same information that you can view on the top bar but saves you the trouble of using the expanding tooltips to see the daily rate of change for each. The information displayed is updated on a daily basis (at midnight), with

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 resources that might be located at your depots. The daily change values indicate the rate of change to the

national stockpile, so the figure you see displayed reflects any transfers that you are making to and from your depots, and any trade agreements that you might have in place. If this is being

impeded or otherwise affected by enemy convoy raiding or a shortage of transports, then the values may not reflect your potential rates of change: or any changes to your

depot levels. This can be a fairly important consideration

that many new players overlook.

Oil

Oil is available only in a limited number of locations

throughout the world: predominantly the south-central

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 repre-

sented 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 converted is

based on your national IC level and your technology. Only

a small amount of energy (determined as a percentage of

your national IC value) may be transformed into oil on a

daily basis, and the conversion rate you achieve will vary

depending on the advances you have researched. At the

beginning of the game this will be very poor, but will Im-

prove steadily as your scientists discover new methods of

synthetic oil refining.

Oil is the fuel that powers your naval vessels, aircraft, and any other military units that are motorised (tanks, mechanised infantry, etc.). If you lack the oil to supply them then these units will grind almost to a halt (incur large reductions to their movement rates) and will suffer large operational penalties in combat (a reduced organisation value). You can see a unit's daily oil requirements by view-

ing the unit details and looking at the "fuel consumption"

value. Land units consume only half this amount if they are

stationary and aren't involved in combat.

Metal

This resource represents a variety of common metals, with iron ore being the predominant one considered. The largest global reserves are found in the mid-west and south-west USA, Sweden, China, England, Japan and Ukraine: although additional sources are scattered throughout the world. Certain technological advances can

improve your extraction rates.

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 the latter is low: although the rate of this conversion will be poor unless your scientists have discovered improved methods of synthesis.

Your factories will demand a healthy supply of power, each one consuming two units of energy for every unit of IC that it produces daily. As with metal, a lack of energy will reduce production to the level of your daily intake.

Rare Materials

This might be thought of as Hol2's "catch-all" for materials

that were consumed on a daily basis but don't belong to the metal or power categories. These are natural resources (or materials derived or synthesised from natural reserves) that are relatively rare or were consumed in only limited quantities. Examples might include rubber, sulphates, gold,

potash, and other such resources and may be found scat-

tered here and there around the globe.

Rare materials were used for various components in a

large number of manufacturing processes during this era

and a reasonable supply will be vital to keep your factories

running. Each factory will consume one unit of rare materials for every two units of IC it produces.

Supplies

Supplies aren't a natural resource that you will find lying

around in a province. Instead, these are manufactured by allocating IC to the production of basic allotments of

food and ammunition that your military forces will need to

survive. Each unit has different requirements (which can be seen by referring to the unit details' supply consump-

tion rate) and failure to meet its needs will result in very

poor organisation values, plummeting morale, and a high rate of attrition. I'll remind you here (although the details are presented later in the manual) that simply having supplies does not ensure that they will reach your troops. You

will need to establish supply chains for that purpose and

have sufficient transport capacity and infrastructure to ship goods along them, Unlike fuel, supplies are always consumed at their full daily rate.

This is cold hard cash.. .and it doesn't grow on trees. For-

tunately, there are several ways of increasing your cash reserves. Any IC allocated to the manufacture of consumer goods will generate some amount of money, and excess allocations are treated as a surplus and converted directly into cash. You may also receive money as part of a diplomatic transaction when you negotiate either a one-time exchange or a trade agreement.

Money's two most crucial functions in your nation are to finance projects for your research teams and for the multitude of diplomatic actions that have a cash cost associated with them. Money may also be used during negotiations with other nations to purchase raw materials or supplies. If you have no national cash reserve, then your technological progress will grind to a halt and there will be many common diplomatic options that you won't be able to initiate.

Manpower

Manpower is a resource that is treated somewhat differently than the others. A review of the main map using the economic mapmode filter will display a variety of provinces that have a large enough population to contribute manpower to your national pool on a daily basis. They will continue to do so until the maximum size of the pool (which is also based on the total manpower values of your provinces) has been reached. At that point your national pool will remain constant until you draw from it: either for the production of new armed forces units or for reinforcements to replenish casualties due to combat or attrition.

Partisan and Occupation Effects on Resources and Industrial Capacity

Captive populations are reluctant workers at best, so even if you are able to prevent outright rebellion you should not expect the workers in owned or occupied provinces to be as productive as those who are full-fledged citizens of your

nation. Owned and occupied provinces are both subject to heavy penalties to the extraction of oil, metal, energy and rare materials from their soil (occupied province more so than owned provinces), and these same penalties are applied to their industrial capacity. This may be modified

by your domestic policies and cabinet, and will also be affected by the efforts of partisans who will further reduce provincial IC by the degree of their activities, unless your

forces are able to suppress them. The populations of non-

national provinces do not serve in your armed forces except under very unusual circumstances and thus any manpower values in those territories will not be added to your manpower pool. An occupied province also reduces your transport capacity (we'll discuss that subject shortly).

Industrial Capacity (IC)

and IC Allocation

To the right of the National Resources summary is one of

the most Important interfaces in the game: the Industrial Capacity Allocation sliders. These are used to allocate your available industrial capacity to the five main areas of production, effectively controlling your economy.

At the top of this area are three values: your current unused IC, your available IC, and your base IC. The base amount is simple sum of all the factories that are in your

nation. During wartime this amount may be reduced

if your enemy conducts a bombing campaign against your factories. Remember, too, that occupied provinces contribute less than their full IC to your economy. The

available IC reflects the actual daily IC production which

is the base amount, modified by your ministers, domestic

policies and any technological bonuses you might have.

If you lack sufficient natural resources then the available

IC will plummet. Partisans also have a direct effect on

available IC, with every percentage point of partisanship

reducing a province's industrial output by that amount. The

unused IC value indicates that you are allocating more IC than necessary to at least one area of production. Having

some amount of unused IC isn't such a bad idea, because this excess IC allocation is "ignored" for the purposes of

consuming resources and provides a buffer against small

fluctuations of your nation's total IC production. This can

be particularly important in multiplayer games where you

may have only limited time to fine-tune your allocation

levels and can benefit from having this "slush fund" of IC

to temporarily offset losses until you have time to attend to them. It also allows you to conserve resources, saving

them for occasions when you really need them.

Each slider displays your current daily IC allocation to this area at its right end. Immediately above the slider is the amount of IC that you need to allocate in order to meet your current needs. The sliders can be adjusted by either clicking on the"+" or"-" buttons at either end (usually used for small changes) or by dragging the indicator tab (for larger changes). The sliders are always zero-sum, so adjusting one in one direction will cause all others to ad-

just slightly in the opposite direction to | Convoys:

compensate. You can lock a slider in place to prevent it from moving when

you adjust other sliders (which is very

handy for ensuring that you don't accidentally under-allocate to a slider) but

you should note that if you have locked

all but one slider you will not be able

to adjust it without unlocking at least

one more. Consumer Goods

You will need to allocate some of your

industrial capacity to the manufacture of consumer goods: the various basic commodities that your population consumes on a daily basis: and you should expect your public to become quite upset if you fail to provide for their needs. While their demands will vary depending on your domestic policies, your cabinet ministers, and whether you're at war or not, if you fail to allocate sufficient IC to this area then national dissent will rise. Dissent will reduce the performance of your military and at higher levels it makes your nation more susceptible to foreign coup attempts and may even

lead to open rebellion in your provinces. If you allocate excess IC to consumer goods then your national dissent will gradually recede.

Allocations to this slider also generate cash revenue. You will need that money to fund your research projects and for many of your diplomatic activities, so some excess al-

location may be needed unless you are selling resources

to another nation and earning enough

money that way.

Production

The production slider is used to al-

locate IC towards the manufacture of the orders in your Production Queue. Allocation shortfalls will result in low priority orders being placed on hold

until new IC becomes available and could result in the loss of the gearing bonus for an order. Excess allocation of IC to production is ignored and is displayed in the summary as "unused

IC". Remember: unused IC does not consume resources so this is an excellent means of conserving those valuable resources until you need them and for guarding against unexpected fluctuations that may result from enemy bombing campaigns against your industrial base.

Supplies

As mentioned earlier, it is vital to en-

sure that you are supplying your military with a daily allotment of food and ammunition. This is withdrawn from your national stockpile of supplies and sent out to them along your supply chains. You can trade for supplies with other nations, but it is usually far more efficient to allocate IC to their manufacture. Whatever quantities you manufacture will be added to your national stockpile at a rate of three units

of supplies for every unit of IC that you allocate. A warning though: having supplies in your national stockpile doesn't mean that your armed forces will receive

those supplies. The delivery of supplies depends entirely on

whether your supply chains are intact and unimpeded, and on the effective supply efficiency in the provinces where

your forces are located. This slider's sole function is to

manufacture and stockpile the necessary materials.

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 manpower available in your national manpower pool to be withdrawn to meet those requirements. The amount needed depends on the

original manpower cost of the unit and on the percentage of strength that it has lost. This slider is also used to rebuild and repair any provincial assets (infrastructure, factories, bases, etc.) that have been damaged as a result of enemy bombardment. Failing to al-

locate sufficient IC to the reinforcement

slider will reduce the rate at which all of these replenishments occur, while any excess allocations will be ignored and included in your unused IC total (thus also conserving natural resources).

Upgrades

As you gain new military technologies you will be able to upgrade the abilities of your existing land and air units, and the air groups attached to your carriers. Naval vessels cannot be upgraded. This is done by allocating IC to the upgrades slider and will require a prolonged in-

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