Teaching Paradox: Hearts of Iron IV, Part II: Divisions, Designers and Doctrines

This is the second part (I) of our long-delayed series looking at Hearts of Iron IV, Paradox Interactive’s World War II grand strategy game and also one of the most popular strategy games currently on the market. Last week, we looked at how HoI4 simulates combat, particularly its focus on operations (rather than tactics or, as we’ll see in later weeks, strategy). Much of Hearts of Iron‘s success is due to its effectiveness as an operational simulator and its operational model is by far the most developed part of the game. This week we’re turning to the question of how Hearts of Iron IV handles what is going on below the operational level that the player operates at. Because the player does not themselves handle – or even really see – how their armies function below that division-level operational simulator, the granularity here comes from how Hearts of Iron IV understands ‘doctrine,’ which is to say the practices, guidelines and expectations that militaries use to guide their function…