Hearts of Iron IV – A Look at Tank Production

Not too long ago, we brought to you a quick first look at everything there was to know about Hearts of Iron IV, the grand strategy game set in the time period leading up to and during WWII being developed by Paradox Development Studio. It appears the game is nearing a point when they can start showing more and more of the gameplay from the engine. Interestingly, one of the things that the guys at Paradox have decided to showcase is how the production of tanks will go about.

All the in-game footage in the trailer below is still “alpha footage,” but its starting to look quite pretty. Sure, it won’t compare too favorably with games like Total War, but it is no longer something you can balk at with a lot of details being shown on the map such as cities, ports, forests and factories.

And while half the trailer is basically a history lesson about tanks of WWII, they have cleverly intertwined history and mentions of game mechanics together into an interesting video. While the majority of the talk is about the production of tanks, one can imagine that the principles that the game underlines for tanks won’t be too different from the rest of the military equipment you will be using in the game.

You will face many decisions such as whether you ought to merely upgrade your current model of tank, whether to create a brand new one or just pump out your, potentially obsolete, tanks in hopes of overwhelming your enemies with numbers. It is more than likely that, unless you have a very large economy and production capacity, you will be unable to do all 3 simultaneously.

The video also discusses other factors that can change how you will produce your tanks such as the limited availability of rare resources like Tungsten, which you might need to trade for, unless you are in the conquering mood. You will also have to think about how to maximize the efficiency of your tanks by taking advantage of experiences you can gain in the smaller wars such as the Spanish Civil War. It’s looking like Hearts of Iron IV might just be as deep as its predecessors.

Hearts of Iron IV is set to be released on PC sometime in early 2015.

Are you looking forward to learning more about Hearts of Iron IV? Let us know in the comments below!