Sitting on the fence is a political strategy in Hearts of Iron IV for those nations not wanting to get sucked into any of the three major ideologies, explains Paradox Development Studios.
It’s not so easy though as these neutrals can be swayed by external pressures. Meanwhile the ‘big three’ have to be ever mindful of World Tension, particularly fascist regimes wanting to keep their new acquisitions.
Nations that prefer to remain out of the fight have ”some limitations and special rules” to play by, such as not being able to promote their own way of life to others. They’ll act on a spectrum between democracy and fascism. They’re also rich pickings for the larger ideologies.
”When we last talked about parties and ideologies there were only 3 ideological leanings for countries: Democratic, Fascist and Communist. After some playing we felt this was too constraining, so we have added a 4th group we call Neutral. It functions as a sort of catch-all ideology for nations who don’t really fit into the big three.”
”Nations like Poland, Greece, or Yugoslavia fit here, for example, instead of lumping them into the ideology we expect them to join. Neutral nations, for the most part just want to be left alone to get on with life, but their lack of a solid stance means that members of the main ideologies have an easier time influencing them.”
World Tension is the other major new system in Hearts of Iron IV. Simply put, more aggressive acts around the world means more ‘tension’ builds and that makes neutrals very nervous.
”This is a new concept in HOI4 and is designed to replace the threat and neutrality system from HOI3. World tension is a global value in the game and is raised whenever aggressive actions are performed. How much is affected by the nature of the action and the size of the nations involved. Say a diplomatic annexation of the sudetenland will generate a lot less tension than an unjustified declaration of war and a war settled with minor border changes rather than total occupation and annexation will likewise generate less tension.”
Wars must also have justification before they can be started. ”Even if it’s just justifying the war to the local population and nobody else is really buying your arguments. War justifications can either be given through special National Focuses or be generated through normal gameplay. The time and tension impact to generate these depends on the country’s ideology, and if they have some kind of legit reason, like foreign controlled core territory or claims.”
Read the latest Developer Diary 16 - World Tension to learn more.
Hearts of Iron IV has slipped a Q2 release and will land later in 2015.
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