After „Wasting” 10,000 Hours in HOI4, Team of Players Decided to Publish AI Mod That Totally Changes Experience

Source: Paradox.

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The strategy game Hearts of Iron IV is very popular among modders. Some people even create modifications to shift the action to different settings, while others aim to improve the gameplay. The second category includes a fan known as Barbara Archon, who, claiming to have spent – or even “wasted” – in HoI4 10,000 hours, finally grew tired of the game's poor artificial intelligence and decided to take action.

Barbara Archon gathered a group of like-minded players and together they are working on a mod titled Hearts of Iron IV Discord's Specially Designed AI, which you can download from Steam Workshop. To strengthen AI, the project introduces a series of changes. Below we present the most important ones.

1. Modified behavior templates for AI have been implemented, considering that what the player should do is often not optimal for the AI.
2. With the mod, artificial intelligence develops its nations better by trading resources and handles supplies more efficiently (although the authors still have a lot of work to do in this latter element).
3. New templates better suited to AI needs (often very different from player actions) and equipment projects.
4. Trait priorities for Industrial-Military Organizations have been reworked. In the basic game, some of them are completely broken, which was fixed in the mod.
5. The balance of many elements has been adjusted, such as the capabilities of Industrial-Military Organizations in various countries, the costs and disadvantages of forts, or the pace of equipment production and infantry experience accumulation.
6. With the mod, the player can request technology licenses from allies well in advance. AI can also do the same between the nations it controls. AI factions also generally coordinate their actions better.
7. Many historical elements have also been improved. For instance, with the mode, Great Britain and its allies will defend the British Isles much more fiercely. Italy has ceased to be useless (their fleet is still very weak, but the land forces are more effective), and the AI less frequently refuses to sign the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact. Moreover, the countries of Central and South America received new events.

Overall, the mod should ensure that veterans no longer need to deliberately weaken their country in order for the gameplay against AI to be challenging in any way.

The authors warn that the mod is still at an early stage of development and many elements still need to be improved. They are currently relying on a large group of players to provide feedback and suggestions to improve gameplay balance.

Hearts of Iron IV was released in June 2016. The game is available exclusively on PC. Paradox Studio is still developing this strategy, both through updates and paid expansions. The latest DLC in the form of Trial of Allegiance was released in March this year.

1. Hearts of Iron IV Discord's Specially Designed AI in Steam Workshop
2. Hearts of Iron IV Review – The Art of War