Hearts of Iron 2 interview
found at
http://pc.boomtown.net/en_uk/articles/a ... hp?id=5022
Paradox Entertainment are renowned for making first class hardcore strategy games. We questioned them about Hearts of Iron 2, which they announced yesterday.
2002’s Hearts of Iron was one of the most advanced World War II strategy games ever seen, when it comes to strategic and global decisions combined with thousands of options for micro-management. Even though its complex nature will have intimidated quite a few casual gamers, the game was a big hit amongst the strategy veterans and Paradox Entertainment’s fan base (built up around games like Europa Universalis). Thus the game sold over 150,000 units – a quite impressive achievement for a hardcore product.
Yesterday, Paradox Entertainment announced Hearts of Iron 2, introducing quite a few cool features and new ideas that will surely ensure fans wait for the sequel even more impatiently. In fact many central areas of the game will undergo big changes. We’ve had the chance to talk to Paradox Entertainment’s Fredrik W. Lindgren, head of sales and marketing, about Hearts of Iron 2.
Like its predecessor Hearts of Iron 2 simulates the whole of World War II. The release is set to be somewhere between November 2004 and March 2005, and there are lots of new features and changes to the game in order to please both veterans and newcomers alike.
”We want to provide the ultimate World War II experience and strategic perspective, a game that both masters of strategy and ‘casual gamers’ will appreciate for its depth and attention to detail and for it’s approachability at the same time,” Fredrik W. Lindgren says.
One of the most interesting changes is the new combat system. It will enhance the strategic feeling of the game and make the game as a whole easier to comprehend. This is not least due to the radical change that sees units now attacking right away, when moved to another province – they don’t have to move to the middle of the province and then start attacking. A unit will now attack at the same moment as the troops are commanded to move into a province occupied by hostile forces. Once the attacking or the defending player receives 100% control of the province, the other part retreats from the territory.
“We call the new system ‘movement is attack’. This also means that the old trick that lets you predict an enemy attack just by watching his units move can no longer be used and the game’s outcome will therefore be based much more on your strategic abilities than your ability to foresee what the AI is doing,” he explains.
For those gamers that hate micro management, there’ll be an option for the player to control every little detail of the combat system or just focus on the battle aspect of the game.
Many changes originate from fan input and wishes, and one particular area to receive attention is the air and naval system. The old air system in particular used to be a bit tiresome, as you had to order an air unit to attack again and again.
”We have included quite a few wishes from our fans, amongst others a mission based air/naval system. We’ll also add a series of shorter battle scenarios lasting one evening’s playtime. Furthermore we also added a co-operative multiplayer that has been requested by a majority of the fans,” he reveals.
In Hearts of Iron 2 aircrafts will be assigned to a base and from there they can be assigned missions like air superiority, strategic bombing or logistical strike, as well as a target area to attack. The units will automatically perform their missions until the province is occupied or the units have been eliminated.
”Air and naval systems are going to be mission based, meaning that you give orders to, for example, a bomber to accomplish a mission. The bomber will then continue doing that until it’s destroyed or the attacked province is conquered,” Fredrik W. Lindgren says.
This sounds like a great improvement, making aircraft much more fun to use. Technology now also means a lot more in terms of unit power and each new generation of unit will be significantly stronger than older ones, ensuring that the game will be more historically accurate (although one may argue that “advances” like the Me210 were more of a step backwards than forwards - ed.).
One thing many missed dearly in Hearts of Iron was the political options you had in Europa Universalis 2 (and later in Victoria). While you could choose a basic left/right policy, you could not shape your policy in any detail. This is going to change in Hearts of Iron 2, though, and you’ll have much more precise control. You’ll be given seven policy bars that you can regulate, covering everything from “professional army - draft system” to “freedom - oppression”. Naturally the question is whether a player can radically change a country and for example turn the Soviet Union into a fascist state or Spain into a democracy.
“Policy bars can be changed with a time interval. To change Italy into a communist state will take a lot longer time than it will take to change one of the democracies into a communist or a fascist state. In either case the gamer can change his country politically and economically exactly like he wants to during the game,” Fredrik W. Lindgren explains.
Research will also take place in a new way. Every nation has a number of technology teams (one to five) working with research. The teams will have a specific location, specialty and skill level, and this will affect what technologies and how well the tech teams will produce results for your nation.
”Research is going to be a lot easier to understand and handle, for instance research is going to focus on what you want – not the components needed to get there. The teams will develop these components automatically and you’ll be given a graphical presentation of all research, giving you a good overview. Each team will have a specialist that will speed up development of certain technologies and units much faster, too,” he says.
Lessons learnt
After Hearts of Iron, Paradox Entertainment released Victoria, which probably is the best game so far based on the Europa Universalis engine. Thus it’s only natural to implement some of Victoria’s mechanics in Hearts of Iron 2:
“We learnt a great deal during the development of Victoria and for example the policy system will benefit from the experiences we got from that game. In reality the policy system will be the best from Europa Universalis 2 and Victoria, which you can also say about war waging and diplomacy,” Fredrik W. Lindgren explains.
It seems that Hearts of Iron 2 is not merely a minor update, but it might even be a big advance like Europa Universalis 2, compared to the first Europa Universalis game. We'll know for sure in six to ten months.
