HOI4 Hints, Tips, and Tricks - Battleplans [Hearts of Iron IV]

This episode looks into the Battleplan system and how you can use it, or not use it, to your advantage.
Newbie Guide Playlsit:
• Hearts of Iron IV Begi...
Hints and Tips Playlist:
• Hearts of Iron IV Hint...

[@gmbtempe]

Bridger....the best at explaining this game!

[@olafschmidt6512]

Honestly by far the best video on battleplans I've seen and only 15mins long. Just perfect. Great job

[@W11ndy2]

Best vids by far. 100 hours played and i didn't know 40% of this

[@CrabQueen]

Quality attack plan across the Maginot Line.

[@Bridger15]

Don't do as I do! Do as I say!

[@mushroom3390]

Bridger why not?

[@pltkaiser9258]

random Gaming that would be suicidal

[@StarWindEnergin]

Another great video Bridger, that was very helpful. Especially the use of tabbing to setup multi stage orders and shift clicking the individual orders for which ones you want to activate.

[@jonbarnes4795]

I really appreciate all the content Bridger! You've made my hoi4 experiences much more enjoyable than when I tried to figure everything out myself (like during hoi2/3 haha)

[@machtharry]

Well, years later I as a HOI3 Veteran was wondering about those topics because i finally want to give HOI4 a try and your video explains every question i had in mind at once. Thanks a lot!

[@GuilhermeFurst]

Awesome tutorials and tips, things we don't learn so quickly from other places. Hope for more stuff

[@maxsteiner1964]

love your tips man. Keep em comming.

[@davidromano1348]

thank you. Learned couple new things. Tab key functionality will be nice to know from now on.

[@Oshidashi]

10:46 using tab to link spearheads or offensives was what I was looking for. 6 years old but still a great video!

[@raymondlongabaugh4700]

Really good explanation on how to use battle plans and the UI for battle planning, thanks.

[@weirdmary]

Wonderful tutorial Bridger! I love your work!

[@kikque]

Hi Bridger, thanks for posting these videos on HOI4 they are so helpful (It's the first HOI game I've tried and I'm loving it). I'll checkout your 2 hour walkthrough when I have time, there's a lot to take in for a newbie but I guess the beauty of this game is that you can get creative. You sound a bit like a young Tom Hanks in your narration btw (to me anyway lol). Thanks again, subbed.

[@Bridger15]

Thanks for the kind words Kikque. It's great to know that these are helping people enjoy this great game :)

[@PanzerRanger]

Super awsome, Ive been waiting for this. Thanks!

[@44toudy44]

Great video manual ;) clear instructions, very good comments in video. I appreciate your effort, great job man.

[@mythtripify]

Bridger, superb, you are a genius with this stuff. Will take me three views of the video to understand all the quirks of the controls. But at least I have the video, this stuff not explained anywhere else. You are the best!

[@mjr7991]

Nice vids man, very professional. If Paradox doesnt pay you they should. Quick question, in the vid the map mode you are in looks different than what I have. It almost looks like a terrain map. What map mode were you in?

[@jaymesrod4209]

that was pretty easy to follow and understand. You got a subscriber today!

[@Oliver9402]

A recent game with Germany just completed (vet level iron man) I found it very useful that my allies such as Italy, vichy france, romania and japan even just wanted to send my huge armies all the time most of which I accepted. Italy would send me 100 divisions, romania maybe 80 divisons after I attack ussr. I went from about 120 divisons on the eastern front underpowered to 300 divisions because of this. So tip is don't invade everywhere because it will save you the occupation cost and they will give you tons of divisions .i.e bulgaria, slovakia, romania, spain etc.

[@andyalford7487]

Very well done, thank you, made things alot clearer.

[@chantanaranbo8129]

very nice tips ,many i didn't know thanks bridger

[@Poland1168]

Dude, this is awesome, thank you for taking the time to explain it all - I had no idea all of this was possible!!! Could you additionally explain how the new careful/balanced/rush commands work? I've played around with each, but I'm not entirely sure what is happening under the hood.

[@Bridger15]

I believe the main difference is how long the AI waits for planning bonuses and organization to rebuild before attempting to move forward. Players were frustrated when the AI would take so long against clearly inferior enemies (like germany into poland, or japan into china).

[@HoboTango]

So usefull ! Thanks. I always believed battle plans were awful but its obvious I just didnt know how to handle it ;)

[@anglosaxon5874]

Still awful though when you have a few armies together and you miss click....lol

[@NapFloridian]

Anglo Saxon, yes I agree, its messy

[@Dickstick]

me too, I used the attack lines wrong, I thought you select through which territory they go and was confused why the arrow was always weird. I still win in singleplayer, battleplan or not, but this is very useful in multiplayer.

[@boisseauxavier]

thank you very much. you make the best videos for hoi4, paradox should hire you for making tutorials

[@ManuelSchulte007]

Nice one I learned a lot 👍

[@GalloRojos]

Thanks God. The best tutorial for battle plans. Thx a lot

[@thebathman5441]

Thank you Bridger, you're enlighten me alot =]]]]]]]

[@juhah2877]

Brilliant, thanks. I have been playing 20h, winning, but completely wrong way :)

[@NapFloridian]

Very nice explanation...

[@531wizard]

Quick noob question, what do the colored lines represent when you highlight an army during combat.

[@finalchapter24k]

I hope Paradox paid you for this. This clears up A LOT. Thank you!

[@Bridger15]

They did not. It was a labor of love.

[@Virka57]

Awesome, thanks very much!

[@AndresSilvaVazquez]

Good vid. Never heard of the "tab" before for editing plans. Quick question: do you really need to detach your fast units for micromanaging them? You can give them orders anyway individually and when the order is finished they return to the plan. I've never tried that myself, anyway.

[@Bridger15]

You can give them orders individually, but sometimes the AI will do stupid things with them, or if you try to give them an order the AI will throw them into battle, so you pull them out of battle but the AI sends them right back before you can give another order.

[@amrg211]

Hey Bridger great videos. One thing i never figured out was what is the number on the battle icon? At first I thought it was combat width but when i actually open the combat panel the battle width is something different. Thanks and keep up the vids.

[@Bridger15]

The number which is in either green, yellow or red on the map showing a battle? That number represents how close you are to winning or losing a battle. When it reaches 100 you win the battle. When it reaches 0, you lose the battle. The color indicates the current trend (green means it's going towards 100, yellow means it's stalled and static, red means it's progressing towards 0).

[@amrg211]

Wow could never figure that out until now. Thank you!!

[@WarmouC]

The point 15:25 feels like HoI1 and HoI2 :D Still like to play them. There were the feeling u are doing the work hands in the mud.

[@MrSvarun77]

Awesome...now how do I auto-assign divisions to start training as soon as they are deployed?

[@PeninsulaPeninsula]

thank you for this brilliant

[@Bridger15]

Welcome!

[@akoserdosi5053]

Useful. Thanks!

[@Sunygamer05]

What mods you use?

[@andreareho]

Best explaining

[@Widgey69]

Nice set of videos thanks! one question I planned a amphibious assault with some marines but they never actually did it even though it was all prepared it said 0/1 convoys reserved. do you need air superiority for it to work? completely new to the game but I'm getting there. our as a side note I had lots of convoys spare

[@Bridger15]

Hmm, if you definitely had enough convoys available and you had waited the appropriate planning time (hover over the arrow to see current/total needed planning days), the only thing stopping you should be either naval superiority (you need it in every sea zone they pass through) or too many naval invasions currently planned (you can only plan/execute a max of 10 divisions at a time until you increase your landing craft research at the bottom of the naval tech tab).

[@Widgey69]

+Bridger thanks for the reply I did another one today and it worked fine the only difference was the air superiority although I may have over looked something let's face it there's plenty to overlook especially when your new

[@Bridger15]

Having air superiority certainly helps, no question, but I do not believe it is a requirement.

[@bosunbill9059]

how to you get the army strength back so quick but level them up so fast?

[@shawnp6653]

@15:01 -- how did you split the army? Thanks for the vids Bridger, still refer back to them (obviously) :)

[@Bridger15]

"s" is the split key I believe. The button is the right below the "Select All" button on the left panel above all the units. It looks like a yellow square being cut in half by a green line.

[@shawnp6653]

@@Bridger15 D'oh... Thanks Bridger - should have thought to check the hotkeys...

[@elvampir0]

It would be so good to be able to specify how wide you want the attack to be in the battleplan! Yes you can start from a narrower front to a narrower attack line, but they end up trying to get other provinces either way. Ibe read Paradox is planning a "blitz" feature to sort of do this, too bad they are so greedy they want to charge for it as a DLC. When it CLEARLY should have been part of original battleplans.

[@TheBcorley]

Great tips! So economy tips, building order, etc. next?

[@Bridger15]

ahhhh damnit, that's another one added to the list. It's now like 8 videos long >_

[@PanzerRanger]

Im fairly new to HoI series. Could you do a video about supplies? I have´nt been able to figure out how to use it

[@Bridger15]

That is absolutely on the list. I'm working as fast as I can :(

[@kwhitsitt1]

Wow, the H key is great. I keep accidentally moving troops and Now I just select them all and hit H to stop them from moving.

[@Draqshorul]

Does spearhead work as you micromanaged?

[@MrNicoJac]

Could you also do a vid on best mods? :D I like your unit selection and terrain, but I'm also interested in upping the exp limit, and new music mods.

[@lolkanaal2680]

just look in the steam workshop

[@MrNicoJac]

I did. That's how I know there are music mods, which I did not expect. The problem is there's already thousands of them but most lack review stars, and I don't want to try a couple hundred of 'em.

[@Bridger15]

It's on the list >_

[@MrNicoJac]

Cool! Good enough for me ^^ Don't do so much it's no longer fun; fun is the most important part!

[@blackanimals6337]

very nice video

[@jaroslavgrafskiy5458]

I try to unassign division by holding Ctrl+H but it ist work. Patch 1.1.0

[@steves1584]

Ok, I drew my battle lines and attacked the maginot line head on like you said. Rubbish! :D Great vid, thank you.

[@ImranIlmam]

thanks!

[@christopher6147]

summary of video: Crtl left click, Crtl right click done.

[@rcrhinehart66]

I just had my first migraine headache.

[@despair7887]

what happened with the best naval composition video you said you were going to make?

[@natskivna]

GIve him a chance. He's a very busy guy.

[@Bridger15]

working on the land warfare / division design videos right now, i put this one out quick because it was quick and easy. I do not yet know what the best naval composition is. I need to do some research on that soon.

[@chapmacpherson2626]

What mods are you using?

[@natskivna]

Bridger, I have a question. It involves an army that has been given a battle plan and executed it. My question is, "How can I add new divisions that have recently deployed (i.e. just built) into an army so that they execute the battle plan that army is using? I know how to add new divisions to armies...but the new armies always have the red exclamation mark that states no orders given. Help!

[@Esty6]

CTRL-click on the battle plan you want them to join

[@natskivna]

THANK YOU!!!

[@Bridger15]

You can also go into the deployment screen, find the units you want to join, and look for a grey circle to the left of the "deploy to this region" button. Click the cirlce, then click a battle plan. The circle should change color. Now when any units from that deployment line appear on the map, they will auto-join that general and automatically move to become part of that front line/battleplan. Note if you delete the plan before they deploy I believe they just wind up joining the army and waiting to be assigned to a plane.

[@GrayLensman51]

Are you going to update this video for the changes in v1.5.3?

[@Bridger15]

I thought 1.5.3 was a hotfix patch? What changes were made in it?

[@Bruhhansel]

Is he using a grafical mod? or is that already in game?

[@kaliathius537]

is it me or the map looks lot more detailed about terrain and weather???

[@jonahmordhaim2705]

Jack Clinton yeah... is thia a mod?

[@Cazline]

How did I not know about tab... Thanks

[@jonahmordhaim2705]

what mod is this?? that makes the terrain more visible? or is it a mod?

[@Bridger15]

No Fog of War + Better Terrain View + Better Political Map

[@eugenlovin6788]

Bridger does it work with Black Ice?

[@zegikniet9999]

You think the batte plan reward is a bug withotu the battleplan?

[@Bridger15]

No, it was heavily debated before the game released. The devs are well aware of how it works and don't have a problem with it.

[@capimparel]

list your mods... plans have stronger colors... forests and the selected units has a different bar.

[@Bridger15]

That one is coming soon! But they are: Better terrain map mode, no fog of war, and Strategic View Adjustments (there are two versions; the main one changes the checksum and thus cannot be used in mp or for achievements)

[@jadelortie4241]

what is all the mods he use

[@Bridger15]

Better Terrain View, Better Political Map Mode - Default Map Height, No fog of War, HOI4 UI overhaul. Video on those and more coming soon (eventually).

[@ArchBuck1]

Nice! It looks very nice. I was trying to figure this out!

[@nutluck]

+Bridger I look forward to you covering some mods. Showing some of the better ones, how to install, how to make simple mods etc. While I know some of it, a video would have helped and might help with things I missed.

[@Bridger15]

Now that I just finished the big video about land warfare, so the next one will be a quick video about mods.

[@sinamehrabi3508]

Wtf after 2000H time play i don't know any of them

[@nish389]

How to delete ! ---->. That ! Thingy it making my soldier weak

[@Bridger15]

A Red exclamation point (!) means that your soldiers are assigned to an army, but not assigned to a battleplan. A yellow exclamation point indicates that they are assigned to a battleplan, but for some reason they cannot move to their assigned position (usually it's because it will cause a supply problem if they continue moving where they are supposed to be). Is that what you're asking about?

[@nish389]

+Bridger i think that below the battle plan it show exclamation mark when you make a plan that annoying af

[@Bridger15]

Oh, on the button to "start" the battleplan? I think that means the AI has determined that this plan is risky based on it's assessment of the enemy strength vs. the current strength of the army assigned to the plan. So you need to assign stronger/more units to the plan to get the green checkmark instead.

[@nish389]

+Bridger THANK YOU

[@nish389]

Can you tell me about supply

[@pinolacleo2940]

Why do you have so many division wtf? How?

[@Bridger15]

I don't understand the question. I just started at the 1939 bookmark for demonstration purposes.. Those divisions all exist in that bookmark at the start.

[@jakovnovak8440]

First

[@Ivane_Maskhulia]

Get fast and strong tank divisions. Incircle the enemy and destroy them. Use battleline only for defending the line. UI is stupid and will lost your manpower.