Military | National focus Hearts of Iron IV Guide
Last update: 01 February 2017
With the military tree you will be able to reduce the time needed to research new technologies associated with specific land units. A small influence on the experience of the army will also be beneficial, but it doesn't have a decisive influence on the selection of the national focuses given the small bonuses that those provide. Among the cost-reducing benefits there are some that will also reduce the penalties for premature work. National focuses related to the army should be selected especially during intense research and picked in accordance to your current needs and the direction you want your army to follow.
Below you can find a detailed commentary about the focuses associated with the development of the army. Similarly to the industrial tree, all of the focuses can be fulfilled without interfering with one another. For the purposes of this guide those focuses were grouped, but typically they are consistent with the shape of the tree.
Strengthening the army
In this case there's nothing to discuss. If you want to develop the land forces of your army, this focus is a mandatory one. As it was mentioned earlier, the experience bonus you gain from it won't make a significant difference, but you should still use it, especially given the fact that sooner or later you will develop it. If you decide for the 1939 scenario, your first steps should be to complete this focus.
Icon | Name | Benefits |
 | Army Effort | Army Experience +5 Land Doctrine 1x 50% |
Commentary: a small injection of experience for the army, which will allow you to add an additional infantry division to the existing template. In the case of this focus the bonus reduction to the research time of the Land Doctrine is the most important one. Remember that your nation can only use a single doctrine - think carefully before deciding to choose one of them.
Equipment
There are two interesting solutions in this case. You can develop the focuses and technologies associated with them until you reach a point in which you gain a complete reduction to the penalties for premature work. Then you can develop a technology based on general modifiers. You can, however, lead to a situation in which you reach the "barrier" associated with the timeline and you develop all of the focuses without completing technologies that came with them. In this case not only you completely reduce the penalties for premature work, but also gain a significant (50%) reduction to the research times. Note that each of the focuses will give you a reduction to two technologies associated with infantry weapons and support artillery. The quicker you complete the technologies associated with the army, the sooner you will create the second scenario presented above. If you neglect this technology, the above described national focuses will help you get back into the game.
Icon | Name | Benefits |
 | Equipment Effort | Infantry Weapons and Support Artillery 50% |
 | Equipment Effort II | Infantry Weapons and Support Artillery 50% |
 | Equipment Effort III | Reduced early research penalty for: Infantry Weapons and Support Artillery 10% |
Commentary: without revolutionary changes, aside from the fact that the last focus of this tree allows you to develop a technology as if it was consistent with the timeline. All this adds up for a huge advantage over the enemies when it comes to land battles, and the quick access to technologically advanced equipment will have a significant impact on the outcome of the war.
Mechanization of the army
If you want to focus your army on the land troops, sooner or later you will be forced to spend some time researching the above focuses. Note that in the case of mechanized units the benefits aren't very broad, but the percentage values are rather high. National focuses in the above table have been placed in the order they appear in the game. If you want to have access to powerful mechanized units and a large amount of tanks, try to develop those focuses as quickly as possible. Like with the case with other army-related focuses, this one has its influence on the politics, but this topic will be discussed in a separate chapter.
Icon | Name | Benefits |
 | Motorization Effort | Motorized 1x 75% |
 | Mechanization Effort | Reduced early research penalty for: Motorized 1x 50% |
 | Armor Effort | Armor technology 2x 50% |
Commentary: similarly to the previous case, development of this tree won't give you a gigantic benefit, but it still provides a number of useful bonuses to technologies that will reduce the time needed to research them. Mechanized army is divided into three aspects from which the reduction to the early research penalty and the 75% reduction to the research times are the most important.
Military doctrines
If you have decided on one of the courses related to the doctrines, you can safely complete the focuses. Completing them allows you to further develop the land army technology tree. Bonus experience can be used to deploy a second commander of your army, allowing you to recruit units and acquire experience needed to compose division templates.
Icon | Name | Benefits |
 | Doctrine Effort | Army Experience +5 Land Doctrine 1x 50% |
 | Doctrine Effort II | Army Experience +5 Land Doctrine 1x 50% |
Commentary: small bonuses, but a constant reduction to the research time of the doctrines. Especially useful when the world tension is high and the threat of armed assault is becoming real. Proper war doctrines increase the effectiveness and the range of activities, which is why you must not neglect them.
Special Forces
Everything depends on whether you actually have the possibility to utilize the mentioned units. If there aren't any mountainous areas in your neighborhood and you won't be able to use those units, you should postpone the development of this technology until it will really be required.
Icon | Name | Benefits |
 | Special Forces | Paratroopers, Paratroopers II 1x 50% Marines, Marines II 1x 50% Mountain Infantry, Mountain Infantry II 1x 50% |
Commentary: completing the work on the development of land army allows you to gain additional bonuses in the form of reduction of research times. The usefulness of each one of them depends solely on your playing style, but you should research those technologies nonetheless. Note that developing this focus will give you a reduction to six technologies, which is a large bonus, especially in comparison to other national focuses available.