Please note that I purposefully excluded infantry divisions with a tank battalion (commonly called "Space Marines"), because they are a bit too "cheesy" for my taste. I made 3 additional videos, which perfectly integrate this guide: - Best Combat Widths (previously members only): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ZZQncfAcamU.html - Best Tank Designs (previously members only): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Yds2mEuVmAE.html - Best Plane Designs: (previously members only) ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-esZLuKSGDmU.html Becoming a member is mainly a way to show your support to the channel and to help keeping it alive and active. If you are interested, or if you wish to help the channel, you can become a member and get access to all perks through this link: ru-vid.com/show-UC1c01Sz-D_aNEUEbUBxwUJQjoin For even more exclusive content, make sure to join our: Discord server: discord.gg/e5WQFf5qDr Instagram: instagram.com/machiavellianstrategist USEFUL LINKS --------------------------------------------------- My latest templates & designs: ru-vid.com/group/PLY4d0TUsYg8KCFGQl9nYPjFnXN0N5ERze All of my country guides: ru-vid.com/group/PLY4d0TUsYg8LQ6kW3_94GhRJaHn3ZlalP
Using tank battalions to help out infantry battalions was a real life tactic tried out in late WW1. In Hearts of Iron 4, if you want to have good enough Breakthrough for forcing a river crossing with such a division design, you need about 10 predominantly medium tanks for each 1 kilometer of Combat Width. For a division with 25 Combat Width, that's 5 medium tank battalions in order to have the 250 tanks needed. Of course, they don't all have to be medium tanks, but some emphasis on medium tanks gives good stats for the amount of industrial effort put into them. Countries with poor factory count or poor access to oil can't afford a lot of tanks. I see nothing cheesy about having 1 light tank battalion or 1 medium tank battalion for the Breakthrough - especially if that's all a country can afford. The cheesy part happens with putting anti-air guns on tank chassis for the sake of unfairly high division Armor rating. Also, anti-air 2 in Hearts of Iron 4 doesn't have enough Soft Attack compared to what the real life WW2 equivalents had. The developers need to re-think stats of the anti-air equipment that are beyond the 1936 era tech, and perhaps need to re-think division stats calculations when based off of anti-air equipment. One option might be to count only 75% of the Armor when determining if an anti-air battalion has the highest Armor of any battalion, but count the full Armor value when determining the division average.
@@wendydelisse9778 I agree that there is nothing wrong with the concept of adding tanks to infantry divisions with the intent of boosting the breakthrough or soft/hard attack. However, the idea behind "space marines" is to add heavily armored tanks, so that your infantry divisions become basically unpierceable. It is a controversial aspect of the game, so much that such divisions are often banned in multiplayer. Re-thinking those mechanics would definitely be a welcome development!
With Armor, too much credit is given in Hearts of Iron 4 for the sub-regimental unit that has the most Armor in a division design, but not enough credit is given for Armor in a division that has larger numbers of heavily armored vehicles per Combat Width. The result is bloating of division designs, in order to artificially inflate how much Combat Width one can get with some Armor stat number such as 32 for a low Industrial Cost. A way that the developers can get around that problem, without heavily increasing computation time and slowing down the game too much, is to use the concept of a 90th percentile. The short answer for such a fix is to sum up within a division... 25% of the Armor of the battalion or support company with the highest Armor stat. 25% of the 90th percentile Armor stat 50% of the division average Armor stat Example: Suppose I add to a United Kingdom game start 9-battalion infantry division a tank battalion that has a battalion Armor rating of 80. Counting the engineer support company (or any other support company) as 3/5 of a battalion, the battalion count is 10 3/5, with 9 3/5 from the game start design, plus 1 from adding the tank battalion. The 90th Percentile Armor rating is therefore approximately zero, since more than 90% of the division has much less than an 80 Armor rating. 25% of 80 is 20. 25% of 0 is 0. 50% of the division average Armor of around 8 is 4. Total is 24 for division Armor in this example. In case a tie is created by removing the engineer support company, the 90 percentile Armor rating is the average of 80 from the 1 tank battalion and 0 from the 9 infantry battalions. 90% of the division battalion count has no more than 40 Armor, and 10% of the division has no less than 40 Armor, verifying this tiebreaker procedure. If one infantry battalion is then removed, the 90 percentile Armor rating is 80, since more 10% of the division has an Armor rating of 80 or more, and since 90% has an Armor rating of 80 or less. The incentive to have bloated divisions then goes away. If you want a bigger division, and you want to still have a good Armor rating, you then have to add one or more battalions or support companies with a high Armor rating, in order to have a high enough 90 percentile number for your division design's Armor. This system makes sense. A penalty applies in cases of low tank count per Combat Width that is so low that a "they can't be everywhere" situation applies. Designs higher in Armor for medium and light tanks are more rewarded than before, since in larger divisions such light or medium tank designs are more likely to define the 90 percentile Armor rating in divisions that have only 1 "space marine" battalion. In addition, high tank count per Combat Width is more rewarded than in the past. A similar problem exists with Piercing that exists with Armor, and can be solved in a similar way.
Correction: What I was describing is actually the 10th percentile Armor rating, not the 90th percentile Armor rating. The concept is that you have to have a double digit percentage of battalions with high Armor in order to not suffer a problem that if you have too few high Armor tanks, then they can't be everywhere you need them, and the enemy will tend to damage you wherever your tanks are temporarily absent.
@@wendydelisse9778 I agree, the whole system could really use a rework! They must be aware of the issue, since "Space Marines" are usually banned in multiplayer, not sure if they will do something about it however...
@@fillipe4700 By the way guys, I think this is a pretty easy guide to follow if you would like to attempt an actual run, even for newer players: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-v51y2X5Fz-k.html If you give it a try let me know, and if you have any questions feel free to ask!
Strongly disagree with motorized over light armor recon - load the recon light tank with fuel drums and you vastly improve your combat potential vs just motorized
It is a fair point, but what I usually do is putting the fuel drums on my flame tanks instead. I like the extra speed from motorized, but light tanks can indeed be good as well. The fact that you need a separate design and production line for them is a big minus for me though.
I tried to play HOI for many times, but the best I could achieve was to stop the Germany by USSR by building a lot of fortifications and using a lot of infantry or concurring Mexico or Poland by USA or Germany respectively. Hope with this division templates I would be able to achieve more. At least I learnt that I should not create fully packed divisions. Thanks for the guide!
@@MachiavellianStrategist watched your 31min guide for soviets. I wasn’t defeated by Germans right away!!! (even conquered some provinces) Thanks, mate. I think I’ll watch others to understand game rules.
I normally found invading the soviets as germany to be really, really hard after watching this I easily beaten the soviet union (not using the space marines or tank templates) so this video helped alot! :D
Thank you! How I build my armies heavily depends on the country, so it would be difficult to make a general guide for all countries. Luckily, in single player, as long as you use some good templates and designs (like the ones I shared) almost anything will work well! That being said, I now have several country guides available on the channel, in which I cover in detail everything I do with my armies! Let me know if you had any specific country in mind!
finally someone that uses motorized to cover for tanks. I would definitely swap the engineers for support arty there. In fact, engineers are overkill in most of the templates shown here
You can add support artillery too, but I mostly use them defensively, to cover for tanks, as you said. And engineers are better for defensive purposes. They give insanely good buffs with the later technologies, and I like the extra defense early on! But again, these templates are flexible, you can definitely make some adjustments depending on your playstyle!
@@MachiavellianStrategist yeah uh engineers don't do whay they say they do. your unit doesn't actually know that its' behind a river or getting amphibiously attacked. There's also no fort terrain bonus coded. The engineers say they give you an bonus there but when you check the attacks the modifier isn't there. And entrenchment kinda sucks in sp because if you can hold infantry in place to get the max entrenchment bonus for weeks, you probably don't need any extra bonuses to hold anyways, since the ai only attacks in mass waves. I only do engineers if I have to defend a jungle/forest/marsh line and my division isn't a cheap 12 width. And do 14, not 12, 12 runs into overstacking pen on plains
@@lautaromonsalvo8808 I am not entirely sure that is accurate, did you test it recently? I just ran a very simple test attacking a fortified area, the engineers company definitely reduces the fort penalty, increasing the overall soft attack. I also really like the extra movement bonuses! 14 is slightly better than 12, but the purpose of my defensive infantry is to be as cheap as possible (in terms of manpower too), so I prefer 12. You can use what I called "Standard Infantry" divisions instead, if you can afford them and if you want some more optimized widths!
@@MachiavellianStrategist the bonus on attack works. The bonus on amphibious river and fort defense don't. Your unit doesn't understand that it's behind a fort/river etc
light tanks are a viable alternative for military police. EX as germany after conquering poland: Cav will use ~8k infantry equipment and 67K manpower while the tanks use ~3k tanks and 27K manpower. You can design a tank that costs 2.25 IC, but they will still be more expensive. Assuming infantry equipment 1 the cav costs ~4k IC and tanks will cost ~6.8K IC, upfront. However, the cav will take more losses over time and use 2.5x as much manpower.
@@1Flyffer1 yes, light tanks can be great with suppression and garrisons. The most basic reason I don't particularly like them is that I would need to produce some for that specific reason, while infantry equipment I need in any case.
The main reason I don't like 35 width tanks is that one of them fills combat width in mountains and swamps, so you have to manually have them attack whenever the one in combat loses organization. Also right now Paratroopers are absolutely broken with the combat insertion perk, if you're going to use them you should take that and airborne light armor and probably add a few more paratroopers to the division (I usually just do 18w). You can drop them on any tile with forced offensive and they'll almost immediately deorg the troops there and take it, great for taking ports without having to bother with navy. You can also drop them on the enemy front line and immediately attack with the rest of your army, every enemy in that state will get their organization dropped to something like 30%. If you do that even if the attack fails they are allowed to retreat since you own a tile next to the one they are in.
I didn't know that about paratroopers, thank you for the suggestion! I'll be honest, I basically never make them, but maybe I'll try once just for fun, and to test that strategy!
All of these templates are so helpful! This is exactly the guide I needed. Are the combat widths and other stats still good in this video after the release of Trials of Allegiance?
Perfect to hear and thank you! I’m getting back into the game after a few months and hear that the best combat widths change sometimes. You got a new subscriber too as I look at your other guides haha. Thank you!
Im sure im missing something obvious but ive copied your first defensive template 6 inf shovel, anti air and support art but only comes up as def 164.6 not 339 like yours. All the other stats seem to be roughly the same! Any idea what im doing wrong?
Hi, I think you probably did everything right! Stats are affected by several other things (such as doctrines, technologies, the country). I believe these templates were taken from a fairly late game save with Japan, so it makes sense that they are higher than the ones you would get earlier in the game.
Overall I like this video and there is only 1 thing egregiously wrong (no TDs, see below). TLDR: Add 1 div of high quality TDs to the tank divisons instead of the SPART, and it should be noted that bad infantry with planes is superior to even high quality tanks without planes. There are two things that aren't in the video: the importance of air, and tank destroyers. The following are my opinions and only partially based on fact, there is a lot of feelcraft in here too. These things are quite subjective and depend HEAVILY on your manpower, industry, the terrain you're fighting on and who you're fighting. Firstly, TDs in a tank division are VERY important: Most division stats are either additive of all the companies in the div (like HP or soft attack) while others are average (like org). However armour and piercing are a weird hybrid where they take 40% from the BEST company and the rest is averaged. TDs have good piercing. Instead of the SPART or nothing in that last battalion it should always be a single TD division. It should be super expensive with the best piercing possible (heavy cannon/squeeze-bore) and stack the shit out of its armour (sloped armour, cast, spend points etc) - remember to match the speed to your real tanks. Your 50 TDs will end up costing 18-20 IC or something and make up 40% of the stats vs the 400 medium tanks (with no focus on piercing or armour) that will cost 10 or less. Secondly, air: I am of the opinion that overall industry priority is something like this: 1. Fill out enough terrible 10W inf with only support arty and possibly support AA to cover the front 2. Fighters 3. CAS 4. Upgrade to 18-20 and engineers 5. More CAS 6. Even more CAS 7. Tanks Or to put it more bluntly, a line of dogshit infantry with full air superiority and CAS will defeat a fully stacked army of high width, high quality tanks with no air. The debuffs you get for fighting under red air are insane and CAS damage is very strong (it eats tanks too even if your divisons can't pierce!) Based on this philosophy, I think that line arty is never worth it. You either don't have enough industry and should still be investing in planes, or you have enough that you can just get tanks for your offensive work. There isn't really a middle ground IMO. Counterfactual Gaming has a video about it and while his videos are very longwinded there is some decent testing and data in them. An example: A full army group (120 divs) of the most basic 10W with support arty and AA costs 44,640 IC in '36 equipment, or 59,040 if you add engis too. A full group of the offensive 30W in this video is 163,920. Incredibly basic '36 CAS is about 25 IC and LMG fighters are probably about the same. So you could have terrible inf and almost FIVE THOUSAND planes instead. A more fair comparison for the line arty would be if the shit inf are also full 30W (I would not recommend this) which is 104,640 (or 119,640 with engis). That is still a difference of about 2400 planes. I can almost guarantee a line of 15/0s and 2400 CAS will beat 9/4s with 0 CAS. This is simple to test. Try holding as historical France. Have a nice balanced 7/2 army with support companies etc and no air and you will lose in days. Use the most basic bitch infantry and invest in CAS and fighters and your infantry can sit in the plains in Calais for years with no issues.
Thank you for your detailed feedback! All interesting suggestions! I agree about the importance of planes and air dominance above other things. Naturally, it largely depends on the country you are playing and the strength of your industry, so it would be difficult to cover that topic in such a short guide. As for tank destroyers, they are definitely worth it in multiplayer, and might be worth it on higher difficulties or with a modded version of the game. However, on regular difficulty, in single player, they are not very useful (sadly). The ai does not make proper armored divisions, so you really do not need the extra piercing/hard attack. As an example (with a country famous for their tanks) I suggest you check the default German tank divisions. Their hardness and armor is very low, and they only have few armored divisions. Thus, in my experience, even when you play against countries with tanks, piercing and hard attack are hardly worth the investment.
Why not use a light armored recon in tank templates since they give your tanks buffs and slightly more hardness instead of the slightly more move speed from motorized recon
First of all let me say that, naturally, you can if you prefer! The thing is that armored recon gives stats which are not very useful in single player (hard attack). Since my SP tanks are soft attack oriented, they won't benefit from an extra 10% hard attack. I do not believe they affect the harness (light tanks have very low hardness, but especially the support company only adds a very small number of them). Moreover, you would need to design and produce light tanks exclusively for this purpose, which might be inconvenient. Finally, in my opinion, the extra speed from motorized recon is really amazing (we are talking about +20% in deserts, +15% in plains and +10% in most other terrains). It allows you to overrun enemy divisions more easily and to get encirclements faster!
Hey i love your guide on this Divison Designing and all of that. It is for me a Big Problem so it helped me out a TON. But there is still a question i have. Which Doctrins are you using for the Divisons? I always have used the Artilerry one (becouse i played almost every game with only infantery) but i heard from many that the Mobile is better becouse of tanks later?
Hi and thank you! First of all, here you go hehe: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-UvXuKe0zNu0.htmlsi=8tt5wgh5rwBJfJSs I'm personally a big fan of superior firepower. Soft attack is always great and the first right branch buffs to support companies are just crazy. The second right branch is very good too, but the left one has some good buffs for tanks. So you can totally go superior firepower even if you are using tanks. I have been consistently doing it with Italy, Japan, the USSR and the USA. However, I recently worked on a series of videos focused on mobile warfare Germany (the perfect country for it after all). And I had the most astonishing results yet (like 1k casualties vs 2M when invading the USA). Grand battleplan has its hardcore fans too, and it can be great if you consistently take advantage of planning. Ultimately, you have plenty of choices to experiment!
I'm new to the game. Why isn't anti-tank used for offensive infantry for penetration? The same goes for mountaineers and marines. Although it's not ideal to use tanks in mountains, what about amphibious tanks? How could I break through the front if I don't have penetration against their armored units? Also, if they penetrate 100% of my armor, what should I do in those cases? I haven't tested it yet to see if it can happen, but I'd like to know in case it does in the future.
@@abrahamcanto8039 hi and welcome to the game! Hoi4 is a lot of fun! First of all let me say something very important: things can be very different depending on whether you play single player, multiplayer, or with mods. On single player, regular difficulty, without mods, the AI does not really make proper armored divisions. For example, if you check the German armored divisions at the beginning of WW2, you will notice that it is mostly motorized with a few light tanks, with very little armor and hardness. Moreover, they only have few of such divisions. What this means is that 90% of the time, in hoi4, you will be fighting low armor - low hardness divisions. Consequently, the most important stat for offensive purposes is soft attack, while hard attack and piercing are hardly worth the investment. Since anti-air actually provides some piercing, that's more than enough to deal with the few armored divisions the AI deploys, without any need to invest in anti-tank. For what concerns armor, it's effect on casualties is negligible, because good soft attack oriented tanks win the fight so quickly that they do not take casualties in any case. Thus, the only point in investing in armor is actually to increase breakthrough. But it is secondary compared to most other stats. Let me know if you have any more questions! I'm always happy to help newer players!
@@MachiavellianStrategist Thanks for responding. I was quite anxious to play, and I think that in this case you have cleared up my doubts. Firstly, I was referring to the late game, as my plan is world conquest. I thought that in the late game, I might encounter divisions that could destroy my units, but I see that this is secondary with the AI, and that piercing is not as important since it doesn’t give much advantage. Lastly, your templates were very helpful because I think I can now invade Brazil since I was stuck in their jungle. Another mistake I made was invading Canada in the winter-I was moving at 1 km/h, haha. But I think it’s more of a mistake of attacking at the wrong time than worrying about the weather. By the way, I play as Fascist USA because my playstyle is slow-paced, not as frantic as Germany or other countries. P.S. Watching another older video you made about templates, as you mentioned in your comment, the famous space marines, adding the tank changes the combat width from 21 to 23. It would no longer be 21 width, but that doesn’t matter, right?, I have a trauma with width because my enemy is always stacking divisions and I can't pass because all my units can't attack/defend, and the rage that gives me I also stack units but I run out of supplies, how many divisions should I have per province?. Sorry for the inconvenience.
@@abrahamcanto8039 Hi! I am glad it was helpful, by the way make sure to check out my fascist USA guide if you haven't yet (ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-WY8jFAWWL_4.html) I believe it is one of my best guides and it is a lot of fun! To answer your questions: - Do not worry too much about combat widths, as long as you stay within the balanced range (say 10 to 40) anything can work well. - Supplies are a much more complex and relevant topic. Without supplies, even the best templates will fail to achieve meaningful gains. Supplies make the whole difference. However, there is no precise answer as to how many divisions you should assign to each province, as it entirely depends on the province. I would recommend this guide I made a while ago: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Im5Ke5gJrpg.html If you see you are lacking supplies, try removing some divisions, upgrading the hubs and the railways and checking the motorization priority. In general I would recommend against fighting in low supplies areas when possible. Try to rush the victory points and larger cities instead. And remember that you only need to take down the major opponents in a war to capitulate all of them. (For example, if Brazil is in the Allies and you take down the UK, the war will be over and Brazil will be part of the peace conference).
@@MachiavellianStrategist Thank you for the guides. I think I have no doubts now, at least for the moment. Do you have any videos where you talk about the navy? Your guides are the best, and I just want to have fun, although I don't see it as necessary right now, since I haven't played much so far and haven't faced Japan or the UK. However, I will definitely watch your complete run for world conquest with the United States, and that will clear up all my doubts, including the skills and buffs of field marshals and generals. My first world conquest will be thanks to your guides, lol.
@@abrahamcanto8039 I'm very glad to hear that! I have not made much content for the navies yet, except for a naval invasions guide. Mostly because it is not my favorite aspect of the game, and I tend to keep it to a minimum. But I will work more on it in future!
can you make a specific video about division template for germany? also with its tank and design pls, im pretty confused at how to design the waffen ss
It will be covered in detail in one of my upcoming videos (a step by step guide for Germany)! To give you a quick answer, however: - I use the default German infantry for defensive purposes (it is exactly like the "Standard" listed in this video). I also make some additional 12w defensive divisions sometimes. - I use the default German motorized to cover the front while tank divisions are pushing. - I use my 35w tank template for all offensive purposes. As for tank designs, the video will be released next weak! In the meantime, you could also check out this guide I made for Germany a while ago: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-GHo115ptB6Y.html I made some improvements since then, but the core strategy and designs remain very similar!
@@MachiavellianStrategist thanks! by the way do you have a discord server? i would like to ask if my division template is good, just started playing on this game!
I haven't tested them with that mod yet, sorry. These are overall solid templates, but they are designed to fight mostly infantry. Whenever you are facing armored divisions you will need to add tools to increase piercing and hard attack.
Do you generally use 12 Divisions of armor? Would you consider using like 6 for smaller nations or just use the offensive infantry exclusively instead? Thanks.
Yes, I like having armies of 12 armored divisions. For smaller nations I would go for offensive infantry for the first expansions, later in the game you can start making tanks too. 6 armored divisions would work too, but, depending on the country, it might still be hard to produce them in time without sacrificing the airforce and so on. Moreover, smaller countries benefit more frome early expansion, while tanks are better suited for big countries which are mostly passive until WW2 (Germany, USSR, USA).
16:50 Why would I want to put artillery on mountaineers? Wouldn't''t that nerf their attack bonus in mountains since artillery gets an attack penalty in that region?
@@alexanderramirez3136 the artillery will perform slightly worse in the mountains compared to some other terrains, but that does not mean that your mountaineers are less effective. In fact, the stats they get from the artillery battalions will significantly increase their offensive potential. See it this way, it is not the artillery nerfing your mountaineers, rather, your mountaineers are offsetting the penalties that artillery normally has in the mountains.
At the beginning of the game does it make sense to invest in the Alpine troops or is it always better to invest first in the infantry doctrines and then in that of the Alpine troops?
Personally, I always invest in regular doctrines first and special forces only later. For the simple reason that regular doctrines buff all (or almost all) of your units, while special forces are only aimed at some elite divisions. Marines are an exception, since I usually don't particularly care about navy experience. I would consider investing in special forces only if I were going for a small, highly specialized army. Say you are playing a minor in an area full of mountains, you might prefer having a dedicated elite mountaineers army rather than a bigger regular one. All in all, though, I find them to be quite situational.
Meanwhile MP meta: 16 width mass mob with support AA which cycles and last stands tiles for months 36 width medium TDs with one heavy TD for "armor meme" (to make the tank not piercable by support AT unless its support AT 3) and of course 36 width 4000 soft and hard attack USA amphibs which permanently force attack every tile very enjoyable!
Multilayer has completely different rules and designs compared to single player, but, if you ask me, I think that's a very good thing. I like how many different setups and designs are viable in single player compared to multiplayer. It encourages people to try new things, and rewards logical choices!
Well, I think it's time for my first world conquest as Germany and that's why I wonder if I can use light tanks instead of medium to focus heavilly on air or I should use off. infantry and not produce tanks entirely?
Germany is very powerful, so I think you can succeed with all 3 strategies! Personally, I would still go for medium tanks like I did in my dedicated guide: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-GHo115ptB6Y.htmlsi=-qBPKtFldZGKofp9 I was recently working on a step by step version of this guide, and I defeated all major powers by 1941. I believe you could achieve a full world conquest in 1942! I would only go light tanks if you are planning a more aggressive strategy, with early expansions. If you are not, you can easily produce more than enough medium tanks and planes at the same time!
@@Ixyfirez hi, it is difficult to tell what could have gone wrong, maybe supplies? I can share with yoi my step by step guide for Germany in which I used that same tank design: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-M6FxsrgrIvc.htmlsi=YOhaVrhYnL1N6SHp The video is fully unedited so you can see exactly how I managed the push against Poland!
35 is very good indeed! Especially in planes, deserts and hills, in which it perfectly matches the terrain width. I would avoid 34, however, as it has much higher avarage penalties than 35. (by the way, we are still talking about minor penalties, so 34 will definitely perform well too!) For my infantry I prefer 30, and I usually go 35/36 with tanks. But it largely depends on the situation! I will be talking about this more in detail in the next video, scheduled to be released on Saturday!
can i ask wt version of hoi4 r u playing? coz i found out that i have a different tech tree without Range Improvements (Yokosuka) and i can't even start an intelligence agency at the beginning
I am playing on the latest version of the game "Stella Polaris 1.13.7" with all DLCs. The DLC which unlocks the intelligence agency is called "La Resistance", the one that unlocks plane designs is called "By Blood Alone". Personally, I find "By Blood Alone" and "No Step Back" to be the most important DLCs to own!
@@M6I7K9E7 I am not 100% sure about this one, but I believe it is part of the "man the gun" DLC. However, even if you do not have the DLC, you should be able to get docking rights by simply asking for military access (this needs to be tested though).
You are referring to the armored divisions right? (my offensive infantry has anti-air). My reasoning was that if you have the industry to make those armored divisions you probably also have a good airforce. If you are really struggling with air superiority, you can definitely switch one of the support companies to anti-air (probably motorized recon). In my experience, the casualties with those armored divisions were not just low, they were insanely low (just some numbers from recent runs: WW2 VS The Allies: 15k casualties vs 2.1M. Barbarossa Vs The USSR: 25k casualties vs 4.13M. Invasion of the USA: 1k casualties Vs 2.32M.) All videos which will be released in the upcoming weeks!
Nice video and very solid explanation. I have a question if I play a nation that don’t have enough industry, make those offensive divisions is hard because of the high cost in terms of artillery, so in terms of cost-effectiveness make a kind of space marines division with SPG is not better ?? Edit: I read that you don’t include space marines because basically you don’t like it 😂 but I hope you can answer me, thanks
Hi and thank you! If you don't have the industry to make my offensive division you have a few options: - You could start with a smaller version and gradually add artillery battalions as you are able to produce them. - use the alternative version, with more infantry battalions and less artillery (the difference is not that relevant) - stick to a smaller template (15 or 18 are both very solid choices) - go for space marines, in which case I would suggest making a slow (4km/h) heavily armored tank rather than an SPG.
@@MachiavellianStrategist yeah that’s what I thought but I think it’s nearly to impossible make a tank battalion with those characteristics and with a production cost lower or iqual to a line artillery battalion. Maybe you could make a video analyzing those cases, anyway thanks for your time.
@@Carlos-tx8jx I plan to play more minor countries in future! So that will be the perfect chance to run some tests! For now, I would probably still ignore space marines and go for a smaller, more infantry oriented, template!
An offensive division, as well as a capital state defense division, should have at the very least some sort of tank battalion or tank support company for extra Breakthrough, if you can at all afford it. Breakthrough is very important when attacking. If an enemy division is attacking your capital city for example, and you are attacking that enemy from another direction, your counterattack division will often have much less casualties if you have the extra Breakthrough stat from having a tank battalion (or in some cases a tank support company). Your tank battalion or support company will also increase your division's Hardness, which is shown in the division designer as a sideways bar graph rather than as a number. In the 1930s, a high division Hardness is almost always very good. Medium tanks give good division Hardness for the amount of Industrial Cost. A division's Armor rating is also increased by having tanks. Your first 2 tank battalions in a division can each substantially increase division Armor, but each additional tank battalion beyond the 2nd tank battalion tends to not make much difference in Armor, unless using a design with a higher Armor rating. As such, no matter how poor your economy, attempt to have 1 or 2 tanks battalions in at least a few of your army divisions. Also, if you have a tank design screen in which you can add fuel drum racks, light tank designs should have 2 fuel drum racks, while medium and heavy tank designs should probably have just 1 fuel drum rack. With a light tank design, you are not giving up much by occupying 2 upper equipment slots with fuel drum racks. Tanks with 1 or more fuel drum racks fight longer before running out of fuel and suffering various combat penalties.
One other tip is that heavy tanks are very expensive to manufacture. They provide great stats for the amount of fuel that they spend, but many countries simply don't have the industrial might to be able to manufacture enough of them to be worthwhile.
Very informative video, thanks! Personally I found the music skipping periodically a bit distracting. So might be worth recording first and then adding the music over the top later so it's consistent. But the chapters, labeling and timestamps are excellent. So that gets a Subscribe from me 👍
Thank you! Good suggestion about the music, for longer runs it might be a bit annoying to edit it in later, but for shorter videos like this one, about templates and designs, it is definitely doable!
I haven't had the chance to test them much in the late game, so I'm really glad to hear that! Those armored divisions are really amazing. Which tank design did you use? I found the howitzer to perform better than the medium cannon, even late into the game.
@MachiavellianStrategist I tested the anti-Tank III design, the howitzer, and anti-air. By then the soft attack from the howitzer wasn't that much. I ended up going with the anti-air. Every tank i made had 185 armor with the mios was hard to pierce. So you could pick whatever you needed or have variants to do all the roles. I was playing as dem 🇺🇸
@MachiavellianStrategist first time I have ever used mechanized in large numbers. I've been achievement hunting. Your templates have been helpful. At over 1800 hours in hoi4, I am reaching levels of autism not thought possible.
domanda, le divisioni di tank come le usi di solito?per fare gli accerchiarmenti (o sacche di divisioni) o in un altro modo? ho le mie ore di gioco, ma io scelgo sempre di usare solo fanteria (che sia di difesa o di attacco)poichè gioco poco con le major essendo che le trovo abbastanza facili da usare. fammi sapere, sono curioso, così magari provo anche io
Ciao! Anche io uso prevalentemente fanteria quando non gioco un major! In realtà uso I tank in WW2 praticamente solo con Germania e USSR. Come li uso dipende all'avversario: Con la Germania in WW2 vado di normali push senza encirclements (perché sono più veloci). In Barbarossa invece creo grosse sacche di divisioni Sovietiche e poi le distruggo tutte. Puoi vederli in diversi miei video, tipo "Mussolini's Barbarossa" o nella guida per l'USSR contro la Germania! ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-7vGULTS1FS8.htmlsi=7-iT8gSc42o7imt0 ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-yBJALaaiueA.htmlsi=ZAbMcQK0pam0Dw0W
Hi! The difference in average penalties between 35 and 36 is very very minor, so the extra stats from the additional tank battalions abundantly make up for it! You can check this video for more details on this matter: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ZZQncfAcamU.htmlsi=fZUk4lKUpMrFJZYt
Hi! One reason is that you need additional technologies/investments to unlock them. For what concerns rangers in particular, without the advanced perks, they are actually worse than regular recon, since they provide a buff to line artillery but not to support artillery. Pioneers also require several upgrades to outperform engineers, although it is a less costly investment since it concerns navy experience and not army experience. Overall, I think the new support companies perform really well when used as intended (rangers with mountaineers and pioneers with marines) but do not automatically replace/outperform the default ones.
Ohhh interesting. I appreciate the response. Currently i'm trying to play as the Mapuche State and am at a loss because Im at constant 0 man power, unable to win the civil war or get to brazil before 1941 when they join allies, and guides on youtube are frankly- less- than- helpful. They're more highlight montages then guides. @@MachiavellianStrategist
@@GrimmvaleVT that sounds like a very interesting run! I always upload the unedited version for all of my guides, so that people can see exactly what I'm doing, step by step! I recently made a guide for Brazil, it might be interesting for you!
21 used to be a very good width, but it is no longer as good in arms against tyranny. In single player it will still perform well, but for multiplayer you might want to look for some more meta optimized templates and widths!
Ahh yes the Bitt3rSteel Division. They're good, but only in Singleplayer. Anywhere else you will get pushed, it doesn't fill out combat width, the Pushing Power is weak and outdated from late 1939 onwards and the Org isn't enough to hold out against something that is somewhat capable of Pushing/ Tanks. Mass Mob will Orgroll weak Divisions. No Piercing also means that if you run this as a Major facing a human playing a Tank Country, you already lost. What I personally use is very expensive. 30w Inf with Engineers, AT, Logistics, maybe even AA (No Arty, these are Holding Inf/ Org sticks) If all is lost I personally use 28w Inf with Engineers and maybe even Maintenance Company. (The China tactic)
@@niku4154 AT and AA are very useful in multiplayer I believe. But I would still use artillery instead of logistics. The most effective widths are the same, but the stats to prioritize change indeed whether you are playing single player or multiplayer!
Hi! Good point, it is something I plan to test more in future. I usually go directly for medium tanks with countries with a strong economy, and infantry oriented armies with weaker economies. But some countries could definitely benefit from making light tanks!
@@MachiavellianStrategist i'm playing germany i like to use light tanks to conquest france fast in 1939. Then i start producing medium tanks, is that bad? Should i rush medium tanks before invading france? if that is so, what do i do with the few light tanks you get as default when you start germany in 1936? by the way i learned a lot in this video thank you for this information!
@@nuskio hi! I would recommend watching this guide I made specifically for Germany: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-M6FxsrgrIvc.htmlsi=440NDko86RRD7zuk In this run and in the upcoming episodes vs the USSR and the USA I obtained my best ever results, with incredibly low casualties. And this was mostly thanks to very well designed medium tanks! You can easily get enough medium tanks by mid-late 1939, and they are so good that you can easily keep them for the rest of the game if you want. That being said, making light tanks is not bad at all, some people even prefer them to medium tanks (thanks to the extra speed and the ability to make them earlier). Ultimately both will work well, it's mostly a matter of preferences. Let me know if you have any more questions!
Hi! I'm sorry your comment was deleted, I can guarantee I did not delete it. I'm not sure why but sometimes RU-vid stops comments, it often happens to my own comments on my own channel too... I checked the "held for review" section but your comment was not there either...
@@MachiavellianStrategist Thank you for your answer! I asked few questions because I´m already confused after 1k ingame. I follow a guide in steam with "Best templates" and I found on reddit a list with all widths and their attack directions (1,2,3) There´re all a little bit different. And I still don´t know which are really better. Do you have a guide on steam for templates? So I´ll try it in my next round.
This game constantly demands evolutions from its player base atleast from the multiplayer perspective if you want to be good you have to keep on with the current trends and strategies otherwise you get left behind in the dust and get called shit at the game
Yeah, to be honest I find the community to be a little toxic when it comes to these things. I can totally understand how that is vital for competitive multiplayer, but that's such a small part of the hoi4 community. The truth is that most people play single player, or play multiplayer with their friends. And in those scenarios most decent templates will work perfectly fine. People shouldn't be told that their template is garbage just because now there is a different meta.
@@MachiavellianStrategist yeah I go to school and only have access to a computer in the summer whenever I come back there some big change and people get so toxic when you don’t know the ins and outs of the new dlc. Especially the new combat width
@@Theobserver6897 my next video will be exactly about combat widths! I will cover this topic more in detail, and explain why people shouldn't be that obsessed with combat widths!
Personally, I don't like space marines much, as they feel a bit cheesy in terms of game mechanics. Nothing wrong with using them of course (at least in single player)! But I do not usually include them in my runs and guides.
That’s fair but it’s a much more efficient template for a mid sized industry nation to punch above their weight. I think it’s definitely worth a mention or a call out.
Hi! The final stats depend on several factors, including the doctrines, the researches and the country you are playing. This was taken from a fairly late game save as Japan I believe (or maybe the tanks were from my German run). In either case, the stats were likely boosted by fully unlocked doctrines and researches. Of course the tank designs are very important for those stats, but you already checked my tank designs guide right?
@@MachiavellianStrategist yea, your videos are great! I tried again and now it worked, i was misclicking something in the equipment screen, thanks for fast response :D
I copied the template and still lost..My equipment was full..100% division’s strength..The only penalty I’m getting is lack of supplies but it is impossible to get them Because I’m naval invading so..I don’t know what the problem is. When I use the command research all my soft attack’s divisions magically grow,so I don’t know what I have to research for it. Any help?
The lack of supplies can cripple even the best templates unfortunately. I would need some additional context to be able to help. What country are you playing? What are you invading? Did you have full supplies when you started the invasion? Did you take at least one harbor?
@@MachiavellianStrategist ho visto che sei italiano comunque! Quindi..Ho invaso l’Italia con la Romania e in fase preparatoria avevo l’equipaggiamento al 100% (la forza era al 100%) e nel momento in cui la mia divisione è arrivata a destinazione ho preso la penalità dei rifornimenti…Ho usato il porto in Puglia (quindi al sud)
If you're naval invading you need to take a port or you will not get supply. If invading with 10 divisions, try putting 4 on a port, and 3 on each tile to the side of the port. As each lands have them support the attack on the port and/or push inland to surround the port to stop them reinforcing the port defence.
Yes they were buffed in one of the recent patches, although I can't remember exactly which one. I still do not use them very often, but they provide good value for some infantry templates, both to preserve manpower and to boost the xp.
Yes! Since I use my motorized divisions to cover the front defensively, as my armored divisions push, I really like the defensive bonuses the engineers provide! Later in the game they also become great offensively. Overall, they are one of my favorite support companies! Naturally, if they don't fit your playstyle, feel free to replace them with something else!
@@MachiavellianStrategist Why not use normal Infantry? They are more cost-effective when it comes to defense. Motorized Infantry has the highest speed which usually makes them suitable for offensive operations.
@@GregorClegane402 because normal infantry cannot keep up with tanks in terms of speed. So when you push with your tanks, unless you micromanage them very carefully, some gaps form in the front while the infantry is catching up. This either slows down the push or messes up the front, endangering your tanks. It is not something absolutely necessary, but I find it pretty convenient to have some motorized divisions following my tanks. Naturally, it also depends on the country, as if you have a limited economy you might want to invest in something else. At the same time, if you can afford armored divisions, you can usually also afford my cheap motorized template.
@@MachiavellianStrategist God. I did not mean to put them into the same division. You do not make tank divisions for defense anyways. I also add motorized infantry for my tank divisions for several reasons. What I mean is, it does not make sense to add engineers to those offensive dvisions. Engineer is pretty expensive (compared to other supply units) and usually just pays off for moving bonusses in difficult terrains or defensive divisions (where u dont want to have tanks nor motorized inf.).
@@GregorClegane402 hi, I think I did not explain it properly in my previous comment. I do not mean infantry in your armored divisions. Armored divisions, naturally, use motorized/mechanized. But you still need infantry divisions behind armored divisions when you are pushing, to protect your front from enemy counter attacks. Since those infantry divisions are slower than you armored divisions, it will take time for them to catch up with your armored divisions. Which either forces you to stop your pushes and wait for them to get to the new frontline or putting your armored divisions at risk of counter-encirclements. Defensive motorized divisions are amazing at making sure that no gap forms between your armored divisions and your infantry divisions during a prolonged breakthrough push. I hope it is more clear this time 😉
It's sad you don't give love to maintanace companies they are seriously useful and boost you like crazy if your a smaller nation. I rarely leave home without them, the captured equipment and reliability bonuses are great helps small nations tackle bigger ones. Plus with the new International market you can sell Excess which Includes Planes and tanks
I actually like maintenance companies, but I find them to be a bit more situational! As you said, they help a lot for smaller nations, but they are less relevant for majors. In any case, as I mentioned at the beginning of the video, these templates are flexible, you can easily swap out one of the support companies in favor of the maintenance one if you prefer. It is also about everyone's personal playstyle! (whether you have the dlcs, or if you enjoy interacting with the International Market and so on...)
Absolutely sure, these templates perform amazingly! I would suggest trying them in one of your runs, you can let me know how it goes! I would also recommend my dedicated video on combat widths: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ZZQncfAcamU.htmlsi=W9TLblKoN9r7i_2B
Unfortunately English is not my first language, so I sometimes take a while to think about the next word. I'm happy to hear that the video is helpful though!
Which template are you referring to? I also really like the support engineer company, I use it in basically all templates I believe! Support artillery is very very good too though, especially if you go superior firepower!
@@tarum641 ah! I like maintanece too, especially if you like to capture enemy equipment or you want to increase reliability! The easy maintenance module is also pretty nice to have! I wish we could get an extra slot for support companies hehe tank divisions would really benefit from several of them!
These are single player oriented templates (as I said in the intro). For multiplayer you will need to make some adjustments, such as the ones you suggested.
