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Thread: Hearts of Iron 2: Doomsday

  1. #1
    MoROmeTe's Avatar For my name is Legion
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    Default Hearts of Iron 2: Doomsday

    Well, after a short stint with Europa Universalis II back during the last summer I moved it up a notch and got myself entangled in arguably one of the best World War II strategic and tactical simulations ever made, that is Hearts of Iron 2, made by the great team at Paradox Games. So I was overjoyed by the announcement by Paradox that a sequel was in the works, titled Doomsday. And now I am the proud owner of one downloaded copy of Hearts of Iron 2: Doomsday and all the details one needs to write a review.

    Fist off, the basic setup. While Hearts of Iron 2 proper was all about the Grand Campaign starting in 1936 and leading up to war (and for me Historical Stony Road to War version 2.06 is a must, get it here: http://www.stonyroad.de/) Doomsday is really all about the 1945 Doomsday scenario, hence the name, although small improvements have been made to the game all around.

    Doomsday begins abruptly with the Soviet Union launching a few border strikes against Allied forces while the US launches two nukes at the Soviet Union. Talk about your Cold War getting hot... You can imagine that diplomacy really does not fit into the frame of this scenario (the only semi-major power that is worth influencing is Nationalist China, unless you really want Nepal in) and butt-kicking is the order of the day. The Soviets enjoy a large advantage in armor and infantry assets, while their navy is on a one way path to becoming coral reefs and the air force is kinda outdated. The Allies are really overpowered navy wise and enjoy a nice air advantage that will count, but they will be on the defensive early on as the Soviets launch wave after wave of attacks. In my first game I've lost Turkey and Italy in the first two months of combat (and Nationalist Spain retook Sicily). The Allies also enjoy a huge advantage in technology, although a good Soviet player will make it up rather quickly, courtesy of a few blueprints and a bit of spying. For the tactical player the fighting is balanced and although I managed to win in Korea and invade eastern USSR, the low infrastructure there makes it impossible to make good progress. In Western Europe one wil see a Soviet force plus satellites making good progress against the Allies...

    The small improvements area includes: the ability to designate individually upgradable and enforceable regiments and non upgradable and nonenforceable ones, an extended tech tree that tackles improvements like turbojet aircraft in all areas and nuclear subs (haven't myself launched a missile from a sub neither do I have a credible source as to one being launched but it seems that the means are in the game files), the possibility to renounce doctrines (useful for the German layer wishing to make full use of carriers), a few new units (escorts become attachments and we get to play with escort carriers) and the intelligence tab. What is this "intelligence tab" I hear you ask, ohh, veterans of Heart of Iron 1 and 2? Well, if you ever wanted to smear thou adversaries, execute all spies within your own country and pump another full of your intelligence types, fund partisans (although this one seems particularly unwieldy and bugged), sabotage tech teams and disrupt production, you are gonna love the new feature. And, the cherry on top, assassination missions... Ever fancied taking out Hitler as the USA or Stalin as Nazi Germany? Enough money and enough tries sparkled with a bit o'luck will get you there, even if the Head of State and the Head of Government are not supposed to be taken out. But most of the HoS and HoG usually also occupy another cabinet post making them a ripe target for thou paid killers... ahhhhhh, intelligence personnel.

    The game is good building up on the better aspects of Hearts of Iron 2 proper and adding a few good new ones. There is a quite distinct improvement in the A.I. all around and a few nicer sprites to go around, not to mention new interesting traits for commander (Urban and Ranger Panzer Leaders, anyone?). One clear bug that seems to exist (and that is after the 1.1 patch that is allready out) is that experience seems to be always awarded to the most senior leader, which will make the Old Guards gain experience while your Guderian's and Hobart's will stay low. Not a big deal and I am sure that Paradox in working on it. Another big drawback is that no new events are implemented (but, hey, there's at least SMEP for that). And rest assured that Paradox is improving the game as we speak.

    All in all the game is good going towards great. I have now separate installs of HoI2 with HSR 2.06 and Doomsday to offer the greatest World War II and World War III that is out there. Be sure to head to www.paradoxplaza.com for all your Hearts of Iron 2: Doomsday needs. Buy, install, enjoy...
    Last edited by MoROmeTe; November 08, 2006 at 08:53 AM.


    In the long run, we are all dead - John Maynard Keynes
    Under the patronage of Lvcivs Vorenvs
    Holding patronage upon the historical tvrcopolier and former patron of the once fallen, risen from the ashes and again fallen RvsskiSoldat

  2. #2
    Semisalis
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    Default Re: Hearts of Iron 2: Doomsday

    Yeah, I agree. Hearts of Iron 2 is sweet stuff.

    I've never actually played the Doomsday campaign, because I don't really like getting thrown into the thick of the fightign. I prefer building up my troops and trying to get Motorized Infantry before the war.

    I LOVE organizing my amires and navies.

    I mostly play as the US or UK and usually with counters. Sprites, I think, are ugly.
    Member of S.I.N.

  3. #3
    MoROmeTe's Avatar For my name is Legion
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    Default Re: Hearts of Iron 2: Doomsday

    I might just add that since I wrote the review two patches have come up, the game is now at 1.2 and it is working very well. The experience now gets distributed evenly to all involved commanders. That's a nice one.

    Also Historical Stony Road is now at version 2.08 and it is the best WW II and WW III experience out there, as it now works with Doomsday 1.2. Please visit www.stonyroad.de for all useful info and downloads...


    In the long run, we are all dead - John Maynard Keynes
    Under the patronage of Lvcivs Vorenvs
    Holding patronage upon the historical tvrcopolier and former patron of the once fallen, risen from the ashes and again fallen RvsskiSoldat

  4. #4

    Default Re: Hearts of Iron 2: Doomsday

    HoI2 : Doomsday is a great game. I got bored playing it after I created Arab Federation which consist of all the Arab world and conquered most of of Europe using Germany.


    "When one person suffers from a delusion it is called insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion it is called religion." -- Robert Pirsig

    "Feminists are silent when the bills arrive." -- Aetius

    "Women have made a pact with the devil — in return for the promise of exquisite beauty, their window to this world of lavish male attention is woefully brief." -- Some Guy

  5. #5
    MoROmeTe's Avatar For my name is Legion
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    Default Re: Hearts of Iron 2: Doomsday

    Bored... never. I have been playing this at least 4 hours a week for more than an year. It is great. And, mind you, never bothered to play the Allies, only Germany, Italy and Japan.

    I am now hoping for Hearts of Iron 3 on the new EU III engine. Keeping the world war alive...


    In the long run, we are all dead - John Maynard Keynes
    Under the patronage of Lvcivs Vorenvs
    Holding patronage upon the historical tvrcopolier and former patron of the once fallen, risen from the ashes and again fallen RvsskiSoldat

  6. #6

    Default Re: Hearts of Iron 2: Doomsday

    I bought Hearts of Iron II some days ago but I can't play it. It's some kind of flicker on the screen that makes it very annoying to play.
    I don't know what's causing this, with HoI and EU3 there isn't any problem like this.

    Anyone know something about this?

    "Arrows with fire fly through the air touching houses and shields,
    The Vikings can feel victory is near as the enemy headlessly flees"

  7. #7

    Default Re: Hearts of Iron 2: Doomsday

    Quote Originally Posted by Panzerfaust View Post
    I bought Hearts of Iron II some days ago but I can't play it. It's some kind of flicker on the screen that makes it very annoying to play.
    I don't know what's causing this, with HoI and EU3 there isn't any problem like this.

    Anyone know something about this?
    I was going to type this out, but I found it online. Much easier to copy and paste.

    Screen Flicker

    If you are experiencing screen flicker at seemingly random intervals while playing the came, the following steps may be of use, as prescribed by Castellon:

    1) Rename the AVI folder to AVI_back
    2) Set the color depth to 16BIT
    3) If you're using the auto-hide feature of the task bar, disable it.
    4) If you have an Explorer window searching for a file or displaying search results, close it.
    5) Turn off everything in the background like E-mail/ICQ/Messenger, Virus protection and everything in the system tray beside the clock.
    6) Update your Windows, update your Video card drivers and audio card drivers. Then repeat steps 1-3.

    98% of flicker problems are caused by other programs running in the background.

    Also, alt+tabbing tends to increase screen flicker.
    Do these one at a time, then check to see if the problem is solved. All I had to do to get the flickering to stop was #1, which also happens to disable the intro movies (a good thing....you only need to see those once, yanno?).

    Alt-tabbing really does increase the flicker, but it doesnt tend to stick around long, at least in my experience.

    http://hoi2.nsen.ch/wiki/index.php/Technical_Issues
    (Patron of Lord Rahl)

  8. #8

    Default Re: Hearts of Iron 2: Doomsday

    Thanks, now I might finally be able to play this

    "Arrows with fire fly through the air touching houses and shields,
    The Vikings can feel victory is near as the enemy headlessly flees"

  9. #9
    Sidus Preclarum's Avatar Honnęte Homme.
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    Default Re: Hearts of Iron 2: Doomsday

    Quote Originally Posted by MadBurgerMaker View Post

    Alt-tabbing really does increase the flicker, but it doesnt tend to stick around long, at least in my experience.
    It especially flickers if you alt-tab during loadings.

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