Let me get this out of the way first, as is our mantra with all things HOI4:


However, we want to WIN! After over 10,000 hours of gameplay, here are my sure-fire tips for helping you get the upper hand in your fights with the AI.

To you, Mr.Multiplayer, I have no advice but this: grip your balls, tuck in, and build more tanks than he can.

Let's start!

What we know is...

• Defense wins championships – New Jersey Devils; I’m looking at you.
  
  
• Poor supply in the USSR killed the German advance.
  
  
• And Bart defeated Nelson because he had well-supplied soldiers using weapons that could be manufactured rapidly and cheaply.

This is true for HOI4.

You want to:

• Hold your position when attacked. Then counter-attack the weakened enemy.
  
• Keep units at full supply, always.
  
• Create upgraded equipment faster than the enemy.

I will have templates you can look at near the end if you wonder why they are not scattered throughout.

There is an easy trap to fall into once the great war starts.

You want to win, so you advance.

You click the Green button and send your units into the fray and so they fight! And fight…. And fight…. And ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ fight more! And what was supposed to be an easy war with Turkey is now on its 4th year, 2 millionth casualty, and hours of fruitless play later.
What went wrong?

They had a defense, “defenders’ advantage,” if you will.

Others, they’ll know it as the “high ground.”



Making a line of basic troops to stand in formation and keep the baddies out is one of the most effective ways of having a successful offense. two key points are worth mentioning here:

1 – After a failed enemy attack, they become low on organization – the green bar drains. This means his supply won't be at 100% either. There is a minimum of equipment used in offensive combat and defenders can keep 100% of theirs, but attackers NEVER do. This is the moment you should launch your counter-strike offensive.

If your strong enough to keep advancing do it. when your armies are at 80% strength you really should weigh the stop sign option.

2 – When you know that your defense is strong enough (after his failed attack) and that he cannot move you from the tile without support or a change in tactics this is when you can start adding new elements to your supply chain.

Once you have these criteria, it's time to roll your troops! Because your position is strong, complement a tank division to cut through the enemy frontline like scissors through Christmas wrap.
*so satisfying*
Make encirclements, trap them, and destroy them.

Then move on. Do this slowly, but steadily and you can easily wipe an enemy out in few clippings. Here it is in practice against Italy. I was using Germany and Mobile Warfare Doctrine here.



Use a 20w infantry to start, especially if you’re new. It will never steer you wrong. This is the bread you build your sandwich on. It's good in nearly every situation, and to this day, I use these in almost every theater. Modified in some ways, but not much, or very often.

You may ask: Are they any good at pushing an advance into your enemy position also?
Enggrrrhhh…… they can be.

Are there better options for an advance?
Absofreakinlootly.



The 14/4 (14 Infantry / 4 Artillery) is especially good at moving enemies of all types out of the way! Be forewarned; it's expensive but worth it and is (in my opinion) the most effective infantry line mid to late game.

Russian Defense Strategy: “Maximum Yuri!” A 40w Defensive Infantry line could be very effective in some parts of the world and shouldn’t be ruled out as an option – or the crazier 40w (Mass Assault) line – just… insane. But so effective.

But these larger templates can create a real problem. One where you mistakenly defeat yourself!

Supply Zones (F4) are not really under your command, but you can influence them. You can’t pick which direction the supply line moves over land, but you can upgrade the areas it does move through. See how it's rather goofy?

With large armies, they need large amounts of supplies, not just produced but moved to the frontline. Both take time. Having large quantities of large divisions will quickly consume a zone’s supply capacity choking ALL units in that area of their own fighting strength. It is a slow, expensive erosion.

Your enemy will fight a weaker version of you because you ‘went too big.’

Deploying units or fighting with units that have a low supply or bad supply penalty is like a swift kick in the ♥♥♥♥.

Can you keep fighting? Sure.

Do you want to? No, you want to stop and cry a bit, maybe take a breath and learn to walk again.



This is the case with HOI4. #trend

A great way to make sure you always have enough supply is the "rule of MILs."

A 20w infantry requires 1000 equipment.

A single MIL at 50% efficiency (starting values) can create 4.56 units per day.

The mathometer says that’s 220 days to put one army together.

Another way to look at it is:
If you start a fight in May and stop in July-ish, it will take the remainder of the 3 seasons to refit your 1 army to fighting condition next year.

When you add more MILs, you shrink that timer. Again, there is a delay in getting the factory created items TO your units in the field, wherever they may be on earth. And yes, the farther they are from home, the harder it is to supply.



Using our 14 example starting MILs it will take ONLY 15 days to refill our one 20w division. Annnnnd we are also using 36 of them... So, every couple of weeks, we could send them to fight at full strength, but this is a protracted way to wage war and gives a lot of advantage to your enemies.

This means: we're gonna need a few more MILs to keep up with the demand, or our armies have to stop fighting and wait for supplies. A lot.

Remember that this goes for every item in your equipment kit list.
Support companies? Anti-air? Rockets? Tanks? rocket tanks…? Whatever!

Each one will have a cost, and most are hard to maintain without large amounts of production. Support companies and artillery can quickly be overwhelmed. And as you also know, behind that production line, there is the cost of materials: aluminum steel, chrome, etc.

This is why it is important to keep your templates to a minimum of craziness. That is unless you can manage the production and resource load required. Then haveatter! But also, it would behoove you to keep your tech streamlined and focused and …

Tech and Doctrine is the short answer to the long question: How can I make my armies fight better and win?

Increasing soft attack, defense, and organization is the keys to holding your turf.

Hard Attack, Piercing, and Armor are the secondary supports that keep you in place or move you forward.

By adding a single heavy tank to our 20w infantry (exchange one infantry for a heavy tank) and you'll toughen up a division quite handily. But you'll increase the production time of each division too! So, perhaps not EVERY division needs to use this template, right? Maybe just, one in 4 or 1:5 will be this kind. That keeps your costs in material down and you can increase your unit's effectiveness on the defensive line of the battlefield. importantly didn't impact your production in a large or stressful way that would keep you waiting for a long time before you can be effective in battle.

You really want to stay on one or two key fighting elements, especially as a small country, and up to 4 to 6 as a larger nation. Submarines, Carriers, Infantry, Support companies, and Tanks could be America, as an example.

If you're playing a smaller country, say... Australia; you start with a few factories, but not LOTS. You will want to choose what to research and build, AND WHEN because you can't start with everything at once. There aren't factories enough to go around.
So, you can’t build heavy tank divisions, and mech units and a carrier wing-like America can. Plus, it's likely none of them will be fully equipped by the time the world war starts, and you'll be left more or less defenseless.

You could build just Infantry Equipment, and Fighters, say, so if an enemy comes by sea for Australia, the airplanes can keep your coasts defended, and the infantry can swarm the landing zone, or cavalry, as it uses the same basic component - Infantry Equipment.

TIP: A Support Artillery company is probably one of the most effective options you could add, and it's cheap.



You can use a pure infantry division for a time to great success, but eventually, it will no longer benefit you without some changes or upgrades.

The technological advance of others can outpace you. Stay focused, keep your MAIN one or two items as up to date as possible, but plan for down the road. Include in your plan WHEN to start that research also. Back at Rule 1, when your infantry line no longer is in peril of being rapidly overtaken, this is usually when I crank up the extra research items.

TIP: I use the commonwealth bonus early for the ship techs and then later send spies to capture plans and build my aircraft by using stolen tech. Sometimes you luck out with a T2 or T3 airplane!



Always, always, always! Keep your infantry equipment up to date, and whenever you can – get it in advance.

It can not be overstated: the importance of using division templates you can sustain.

If you're using a Heavy Tank division with mechanized units and repair companies and rocket artillery, but you can't produce chrome, rubber, aluminum, and steel in large amounts because you’re playing as Ireland - you will find yourself drying up quickly for resources.

Here's Italy's starting factory setup. We've got: Infantry Equipment, Support Equipment, Tanks, Trucks, and CAS. earlier in Rule 2 we trimmed this line down. The thinking kind of works like this: the tanks will be upgraded to medium tanks, so lights won't be needed - scrap the line.
Carriers are what I'll need, so ill use a CAS variant of airplanes after getting them - scrap that one also.



The exception to the rules: - Motorized and Support Equipment; if you have either of these already built at the start of the game, it is probably worth keeping. Even just one factory. The production line is at maximum capacity to start, and any factories you add to it will increase its value without reducing its overall capacity.

This trimmer build will help kickstart your war machine.

Quickly on Doctrine: THIS doctrine tree should help you figure out what you'll need from your army but I have found that Superior Firepower (especially if you're 14/4'ing) is overall a great tree. Grand Battle plan can also be very strong for a defensive game like the one I've described above.

Things like Airplanes and ships are something extra to consider normally. But if you’ve done the above right, they almost don’t matter. Almost.
But if you’re still struggling, this is where you tap in your aces.

Fighters with Interception and paired in a region with Radar are the cats' ass.



They keep enemy bombers and CAS off your ground units and the same bombers and NAV away from your ships (if you have any).

Adding an air presence will increase the chances of your success. If you need help with Air war, try THIS doctrine tree I created. It should help you find the type of doctrine to use, and also aircraft (it is implied, not explicit) you’ll need for your war.

Aircraft and the Airwar have been painfully ignored so far by Paradox, so the mechanics are really, really basic. Fighters intercept until there is nothing left to intercept. Then Superiority!
Use CAS and BOMBERS to reduce enemy Organization (this really helps your advance, especially with Infantry heavy armies).

The same is true with Navies.
You can't reasonably build a gargantuan fleet as Bulgaria without some means of outside help. Use THIS flowchart and this GUIDE to help you manage your navies and air wings.

I hope this has given you some starting direction on what to do, how to build, and, most importantly, when to fight! I would love to see your winning templates in the comments *again, so many to use*.

-OWC.

Stack these on the border with most countries and they'll crap themselves silly. This is the bread and butter division. Modify the support companies as you see fit, but this basic build will serve you well for a long time.

TIP: change out one INF for a Mountaineer or Marine for a small land combat bonus!

Garrisons on the Map


Garrisons for your Occupation Zones


The most effective Combat Infantry line


Motorized Tank Line - great with Superior Firepower doctrine.


Standard6


*For the tanks and motorized in either template, you can replace trucks with mechanized and light tanks with Medium or Heavy. You could also replace the Mot. Artillery with SPArt or Rocket Trucks.

I have found that removing the support companies completely can (at times) help boost the organization just enough to stay in the fight and crush a larger enemy.