Generals!

Open Beta Announcement
Open Beta Update I

Best to leave your feedback for this specific beta version in this thread. Bugs go in the bug report forum. You can also start a separate thread, just make sure to reference this open beta and mention something like [open beta] in the title.

I’m Zwirbaum, Game Designer for Hearts of Iron, and this time around Open Beta arrives a little bit earlier - on Thursday, instead of the usual Friday! (Good Friday in Sweden is a Bank Holiday). Because of the faster release of this update than normal, this means that it will spend less time in the oven than usual. Most of my focus right now will likely continue on tweaking the submarines, and their detection & stealth mechanics. I would gladly appreciate letting me know - how does the balance feel when using or fighting against submarines? (Of course ideally after trying out Open Beta Update II).

Responses to my question last week were definitely interesting, and gave me a lot of things to think and ponder about - on the topic of the hyperspecializations vs flavourful / more-multi role designs. Thanks for the answers and discussions you created on this topic!

I wish all of you a Happy Easter/Holiday if you do celebrate it, otherwise have a great weekend everyone! :)

Thanks for reading, and until next time, farewell!

/Zwirbaum

If you want to join the Open beta, but are unsure how to, check out the steps that are covered in the very first Open Beta announcement HERE

This beta client is Musketeer v1.17.5.2.cf14 (63d3)

Open Beta Update II Notes
(Changes from previous OB build to current OB build)

Gameplay

Submarine Detection Formula Tweaked

• SUBMARINE_REVEAL_DETECTION_MULTIPLIER reduced from 0.1 to 0.075. This reduces the passive reveal chance for submarines in combat by around 25%
• SUBMARINE_REVEAL_TORPEDO_FIRING_DETECTION_MULTIPLIER increased from 1 to 1.1. Submarines firing Torpedoes will have a higher chance to be revealed in combat by around 10%, unless they have Torpedo Reveal Chance modifier. Submarines firing torpedoes without any modifiers should be ~17.5% less likely to be detected than in previous Open Beta Update.
• SUBMARINE_HIDE_TIMEOUT reduced from 20 to 8. This means that the submarine after being revealed will stay visible for 8 hours instead of 20.
• SUBMARINE_REVEALED_TIMEOUT reduced from 16 to 12. This means that if the submarines are on the defender side (their taskforce was attacked) - they will stay revealed at the start of the combat for 12 hours instead of 16.
• SUBMARINE_REVEAL_ON_MINIMUM_POSITIONING reduced from 2 to 1. This means that on 0% positioning Submarines will get +100% Visibility instead of +200% Visibility
• Shallow Waters now increase Submarine Visibility by +33% instead of +100%.

Developer Commentary: Purpose of these changes is to reduce overall how often submarines are detected and sunk. With them spending less time revealed, they may actually have a chance to escape heavily damaged instead of being in 99.9% cases destroyed. The detection rates are also reduced a bit, while on top of that reducing the impact of 0% positioning and shallow waters on the submarines. Low Positioning Penalty and Shallow Waters was especially crippling for the early submarine types as they start with a relatively high visibility, thus +100-300% swing can mean between going from ‘25’ visibility to ‘50-100’ visibility, while later submarine types, especially equipped with better modules and/or having MIO Traits would see their visibility barely increased in the absolute numbers.

Early Submarine Hull
Sub Visibility
25 → 22
Strength
10 → 15

Basic Submarine Hull
Sub Visibility
22 → 20
Strength
20 → 22.5

Improved Submarine Hull
Sub Visibility
20 → 18

Advanced Submarine Hull
Strength
35 → 37.5

All Carriers (Carrier Conversions, Escort Carrier, Basic, Improved, Advanced, Modern and Ice Carrier Hulls)
Surface Detection
26 → 20
Sub Detection
5 → 1

Carrier Deck Space Module
Carrier Surface Detection
5 → 8
Carrier Sub Detection
2 → 4

Ice Carrier Deck Space Module
Carrier Surface Detection
6 → 10
Carrier Sub Detection
2 → 4

Escort Carrier Deck Space Module
Carrier Surface Detection
2 → 5
Carrier Sub Detection
5 → 7

Aggregated Patch Notes
(*Changes from Live to current OB build)

Developer Commentary: Carriers will no longer enjoy the ‘free’ extra 4 points of Sub Detection and 6 points of Surface Detection, compared to most of the other ships. Their deck space modules however have been powered up, thus providing higher bonus to the Surface and Sub Detection, granted that the Carrier has planes on them. For both Escort and ‘Regular’ Carriers, two decks with full flight compartments will be enough to offset the loss of the ‘free’ Surface Detection and Sub Detection, while any extra deck will provide increased detection stats over the previous stats. It does however make the deck modules even stronger for the time being, thus making them even more “hyper specialized”. We will see in the future if it is possible to make their alternative options more enticing.

• Naval Reform Spirit was changed from +15% Naval Experience Gain to +10% Naval Mastery Gain (This was actually done last week, but I forgot to add it to the Patch Notes)

Gameplay

• Reworked submarine detection formula, added three new defines related to the submarine detection, SUBMARINE_BASE_STEALTH_VALUE, SUBMARINE_REVEAL_DETECTION_MULTIPLIER, SUBMARINE_REVEAL_TORPEDO_FIRING_DETECTION_MULTIPLIER
• SUBMARINE_REVEAL_DETECTION_MULTIPLIER reduced from 0.1 to 0.075. This reduces the passive reveal chance for submarines in combat by around 25%
• SUBMARINE_REVEAL_TORPEDO_FIRING_DETECTION_MULTIPLIER increased from 1 to 1.1. Submarines firing Torpedoes will have a higher chance to be revealed in combat by around 10%, unless they have Torpedo Reveal Chance modifier. Submarines firing torpedoes without any modifiers should be ~17.5% less likely to be detected than in previous Open Beta Update.
• SUBMARINE_HIDE_TIMEOUT reduced from 20 to 8. This means that the submarine after being revealed will stay visible for 8 hours instead of 20.
• SUBMARINE_REVEALED_TIMEOUT reduced from 16 to 12. This means that if the submarines are on the defender side (their taskforce was attacked) - they will stay revealed at the start of the combat for 12 hours instead of 16.
• SUBMARINE_REVEAL_ON_MINIMUM_POSITIONING reduced from 2 to 1. This means that on 0% positioning Submarines will get +100% Visibility instead of +200% Visibility
• Shallow Waters now increase Submarine Visibility by +33% instead of +100%.
• Reduced minimum naval hit chance from 2% to 0.5%

Balance

• Naval Reform Spirit was changed from +15% Naval Experience Gain to +10% Naval Mastery Gain
Supply Consumption Carriers 1.2 → 0.8 Battleships 0.8 → 0.56 Battlecruisers 0.48 → 0.32 Heavy Cruisers 0.4 → 0.24 Early Destroyer Naval Range 1500km → 2000km Basic Destroyer Naval Range 1800km → 2500km Service Manpower 325 → 300 Improved Destroyer Naval Range 2000km → 3000km Service Manpower 400 → 350 Advanced Destroyer Naval Range 2500km → 3500km Service Manpower 500 → 400 Improved Cruiser Naval Range 4500km → 4000km Service Manpower 1200 → 1000 Advanced Cruiser Naval Range 4000km → 4000km Service Manpower 1400 → 1200 Torpedo Cruiser Naval Range 4000km → 3500km Service Manpower 960 → 900 Panzerschiff Service Manpower 1800 → 1200 Hull IC cost 3500 → 3000 → 2800 Surface Visibility 22 → 20 → 18 Coastal Defense Ship Naval Range 1500km → 2000km Service Manpower 1800 → 1000 Hull IC cost 3500 → 1500 Surface Visibility 20 → 18 Pre-Dreadnaught Hull Naval Range 2250km → 2500km Basic Heavy Hull Service Manpower 5200 → 4300 Improved Heavy Hull Service Manpower 6000 → 4650 Advanced Heavy Hull Service Manpower 6000 → 5000 Modern Heavy Hull Service Manpower 6000 → 5000 Hull IC Cost 4000 → 3600 Cruiser Carrier Conversion Naval Range 4000km → 3000km Battleship Carrier Conversion Naval Range 4000km → 3000km Service Manpower 5000 → 3500 Basic Carrier Naval Range 3000km → 3500km Service Manpower 4500 → 4000 Improved Carrier Naval Range 4000km → 4250km Service Manpower 5000 → 4500 Advanced Carrier Service Manpower 5500 → 5000 Modern Carrier Service Manpower 6500 → 6000 Escort Carrier Hull IC Cost 1500 → 1250 Service Manpower 2500 → 1500 Super Heavy Hull Service Manpower 9000 → 7000 Naval XP Gain for the Following Mission Types (This value is expressed as a ratio compared to Naval Training XP Gain Rates, which is currently set at '1'.) Patrol, Convoy Raiding, Convoy Escort, Mines Planting, Mines Sweeping Increased to 0.2 Strike Force Increased to 0.5 Removed Resource Cost from most of the naval modules (guns, deck armor, hangar decks) (Armor Schemes as well as Anechoic Tiles will still have resource costs associated with them)

Resource Cost Changes

Cruiser Armor Scheme Steel: 0/1/1/2 → 0/0/1/1 Chromium: 0/0/1/1 → 0/0/0/1 Battleship Armor Scheme Steel: 1/1/2 → 1/1/1 Chromium: unchanged Submarine Carrier Hull 3 Steel → 4 Steel Advanced Destroyer Hull 4 Steel → 3 Steel Early Cruiser Hull 1 Steel → 2 Steel Basic Cruiser Hull 2 Steel → 3 Steel → 2 Steel Improved Cruiser Hull 2 Steel → 3 Steel + 1 Chromium → 3 Steel + 0 Chromium Advanced Cruiser Hull 3 Steel → 4 Steel + 1 Chromium → 3 Steel + 1 Chromium Torpedo Cruiser Hull 2 Steel → 3 Steel Panzerschiff Hull 2 Steel → 3 Steel + 1 Chromium Coastal Defense Ship Hull 3 Steel → 2 Steel Pre-Dreadnought Ship Hull 1 Steel + 1 Chromium → 2 Steel Early Heavy Ship Hull 1 Steel + 1 Chromium → 3 Steel + 1 Chromium Basic Heavy Ship Hull 1 Steel + 1 Chromium → 4 Steel + 1 Chromium → 3 Steel + 1 Chromium Improved Heavy Ship Hull 1 Steel + 1 Chromium → 4 Steel + 1 Chromium Advanced Heavy Ship Hull 1 Steel + 1 Chromium → 5 Steel + 1 Chromium → 4 Steel + 1 Chromium Modern Heavy Ship Hull 6 Steel + 3 Chromium + 2 Tungsten → 6 Steel + 4 Chromium + 2 Tungsten → 5 Steel + 2 Chromium + 2 Tungsten Super Heavy Ship Hull 1 Steel + 1 Chromium → 5 Steel + 3 Chromium → 5 Steel + 2 Chromium Basic Carrier Ship Hull 3 Steel + 1 Chromium → 5 Steel + 1 Chromium → 4 Steel + 1 Chromium Improved Carrier Ship Hull 4 Steel + 1 Chromium → 6 Steel + 2 Chromium → 5 Steel + 2 Chromium Advanced Carrier Ship Hull 4 Steel + 2 Chromium → 7 Steel + 2 Chromium → 6 Steel + 2 Chromium Modern Carrier Ship Hull 5 Steel + 3 Chromium → 8 Steel + 3 Chromium → 6 Steel + 3 Chromium Ice Carrier Ship Hull 5 Steel + 2 Chromium → 10 Steel + 2 Chromium → 8 Steel + 2 Chromium Escort Carrier Ship Hull 2 Steel + 1 Chromium → 3 Steel

UI

• Tooltip updated to indicate that the control ratio required for having dominance in a sea zone is 60% (was 66%)