I had spent most of my time in HoI4’s comprehensive tech tree on improving my industry and my elite infantry, several thousand of the latter I had already stationed in mainland France for this very eventuality. War was declared and our armies were mobilized. At last, when the Germans made one demand too many (on the heels of the aforementioned skirmish in Finland, which had served to raise Tension high enough to begin polarizing the world powers), I advised my French comrades to draw a line in the sand. As the US does not begin as a member of the allies, he would have to wait for a higher level of Tension before committing troops to the effort, but neutral countries can still gift equipment through a lend-lease option before all-out war engulfs the planet. Johan, across the pond in America, informed me that he had a full run of B-17 bombers ready to rain down obliteration on Germany’s production line. Martin’s Frenchmen were contentedly building up the Maginot Line with max-level fortifications from Alsace to the sea. Time wore on into the late 1930s, well past the point that Hitler’s posturing had historically raised hackles, and Rob’s Germans hadn’t even done as much as annex Austria. Any reasonable person would react to a statement like “Rob’s playing Germany” with an unjustified, day one declaration of pre-emptive war… but Hearts of Iron 4 doesn’t make it that simple.Īnd, strangely, the Axis seemed to be doing the same. At the head of the Axis was none other than fellow strategy fanatic Rob Zacny, looming behind the bustling factories of Germany.
Bolstered though I was in my Allied cause by the likes of Paradox EVP of Game Development Johan Andersson as the United States and YouTuber Martin “Quill18” Glaude as France, I couldn't help but recognize that our opponents were equally fearsome. I was variously opposed or supported by some 20-odd players as we plunged into the upcoming grand strategy affair’s multiplayer mode, which seeks to model the turbulent years leading up to and culminating in the Second World War. Such were my sentiments, echoing those of Bismarck himself preceding the First World War, as I sat down to take the helm of the United Kingdom in Hearts of Iron IV. “If there is to be another world war, it will be set off by some damn foolish thing in Finland.”
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