HOI4 How to Make Tank Division Templates (Hearts of Iron 4 Guide Tutorial)

today's hoi4 tutorial im going over how to make tank divisions templates, im covering everything you need to know in this hearts of iron 4 tutorial or hoi4 guide to make the best tank division template based on your hoi4 strategy. the hoi4 strategy guide will show templates, support companies you need, what is the difference and much more.
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[@conflictsexplained9276]

9:33 epic rhyme

[@auline8531]

eminem has been real quiet since this...

[@ajx9747]

Fun fact : German medium tanks like panther were considered actually heavy tanks by allied forces

[@klobiforpresident2254]

Because they were, well, heavy. Germans didn't care. They designated by use. Similarly they designated the MG 34 (and equally the 42) both as LMG and HMG, depending on whether or not a tripod was equipped.

[@warshipfoxy9683]

Klobi for President the Germans classified their tanks by the caliber of the gun (not including varients )

[@grev7794]

Because they are actually heavier than the IS-2

[@partizan5876]

Lol

[@fristnamelastname5549]

Talk about the irony.

[@Imperator_Gr]

3:33 ahh the glorious chromemium the building material of meme tanks

[@liamnugent5886]

Don't forget the mechagnised units!

[@luftwaffle4327]

If you take over yugoslavia it helps with chromium supply

[@WilliamSmith-jt4vj]

Thats what makes this game so damn fun! Its so in depth.....so much to learn.....so many different ways to play.

[@soultosq]

If you can take over South Africa your troubles will b over

[@user-ri4zr3be9y]

Okay, new drinking game: everyone take a shot whenever he says "controversial".

[@dustinl796]

5, GET OUTA THE TRASH YOU BIRDS SPEAKING ENGLISH!!! 😂

[@blackdragon3699]

@Jim Mac its Base game

[@charles2241]

Yes, the most controversial thing, was that he said so much was controversial.

[@dubiousmethods]

'actually'

[@doktertjiftjaf5186]

And "as a rule of thumb" 😂

[@Trifler500]

The nice thing about the light tanks having 14 speed compared to the 12 speed of motorized units is that you can upgrade your light tanks until the speed drops to 12 before you need to worry about upgrading the engine.

[@Leg1on88]

So i though i knew how to play this game, but now i realise i still have so much to learn

[@MisterNiceGuy830]

and after you think you learned alot, they switch things up after an update

[@kaparg]

X2

[@acester86]

I thought I had kinda figured it out until I got into combat and got spanked....I'm on the easiest setting 😳

[@giuseppegagliano4704]

I use 40 tank in the template

[@thomascoolidge2161]

Upgrade your maintenance and tank reliability and watch how much less you need to produce. Seriously.. its crazy how much you lose to reliability issues (stuff breaking down..) Adding maintenance and upgrading reliability can be the difference of several factories per day in your supply usage.

[@dustinl796]

Interesting points

[@lorddrazharofprussia4693]

But this is not the german way.

[@dustinl796]

Nine

[@henrik6977]

Thomas Coolidge maintenece is not worth when thinking about what Else u could put at support

[@liasonlee1248]

I'd rather use maintenance companies on infantry divisions, using them like that could cover more of the front line and maximize capture rate of enemy equipment (you can continue training new units even when you are assaulting enemy positions), making mass assault tactics literally unstoppable.

[@samotten9874]

Strongly disagree with some of the points raised. Reliability is important, I would say that the first thing you upgrade when making tank variants is always reliability because they're so expensive and you only want to be losing tanks in combat rather than to attrition. Secondly using a lot of support companies will reduce your division's armour and hardness, arguably the two most important stats for a tank since they massively reduce incoming damage meaning you can afford more tanks/SPGs rather than motorised because you don't need as much organisation. Tanks don't need logistics companies; even if a large tank division uses 3 points of supply or so, you're better off putting logistics companies on the infantry who are going to be using up most of your supply anyway and having better tank divisions to make your breakthroughs. 30 organisation is a lot for an armoured division because if you've got high hardness and breakthrough and your armour isn't being pierced you're not going to be taking much organisation damage. You would be better off with less organisation and higher soft attack (remember that each point of soft attack higher than the enemies defence is 4x more damaging) to get the enemy de-orged and out of the way so you can rush in and make your encirclements before the enemy can reinforce.

[@dustinl796]

You know reliability is broken right?

[@acsimark]

Montain fight is 40% more attrition and low supply , mud can generate some pretty nasty losses.. usually upgrades can get rid of it by having 100% rel.

[@dustinl796]

Yea i guess, mantinance companies have always been broken when i try them. Even did a test a while back and no diffrence was made with 40% or 120%, except for kamikazis that sometimes come back somehow 😂

[@victorsavenije8897]

@@dustinl796 Some google searches will give you information that will help you give advice in videos. There is attrition per equipment type, acting as a soft cap. How this plays out in practice between light med and heavy is actually important when designing tank division.

[@dustinl796]

So basicly what i said when towards the end i say "mantinance companies arent worth it for lower end tanks and should only be used if fighting in a low infustructure and you have expensive units like med or heavy tanks'

[@sviatoslavs.1305]

"BUT, TEACHER, DO THESE DIVISIONS PENETRATE THE MAGINOT LINE?!" By the way, logistics boys are very useful while at war with Venezuela too. 3:34 "Chrominium"... I think it's better to stop spoiling about Man The Guns DLC content. 9:15 "Mechagnised". Oh, come on, just stop.

[@NatLapp96]

It's making me so sad

[@rtwiceorb770]

Logistics are for me must have for tank divisions in Russia or Africa/you can take out Europe without it but remember it is all affected by how far is your capital to your front lines. Aka its much easier for equipment to reach Paris the Moscow for example. Also it helps you out in all situations. I actually got 1 time good and far with Germany vs Russia. I didnt win beacuse I lost to D day. But I am bad Germany player. I cant create a lot of tank divisions and I always feel my infrantry is not doing anything. I also think that might be beacuse of my improvment status. I rarelly improve divisions to best posiblle guns/ tanks. I will almost always produce all type of tanks/guns/artillery. Which is not really great for example unless you are forcing improvments forward to your batlle lines

[@CheefCoach]

Now when I got time to watch entire video, I can comment on what I saw in it. Just to to be clear, I always play against AI, and I have no experience with playing with other humans. 1. It doesn't matter so much does armored division have more or less of 30 organization. It won't lose much of it anyways. But it is important, for every division, ratio of HP and organization. How the mathematical models go, about 30% of damage goes to HP, and 70% to organization, and division is defeated when it is out of any of those two. Than losses in HP are translated into loss of manpower and equipment. 2. The second important staff, and it is staff that armored divisions are made of, is hardness. Important is in two way, damage model, and battle tactics. If division have 0% of hardness, the enemy division that is attacking it will use 100 % of soft attack. If it have 50%, enemy will use 50% of soft, and 50% of hard attack. Infantry divisions have overwhelming soft attack over hard attack. We will talk about it later. Second thing is battle tactics. You don't really care about them if you are only HoI4 player, but if you play Crusaders Kings, you start to notice them. If you have over 50% of hardness, you are always eligible for breakthrough tactic, no matter any other condition, and it is also mandatory condition for Blitz tactic (which have other requirements as well). Those are two most powerful attacking tactics in the game. 3. So last two points comes into consideration would you use Motorized or Mechanized infantry. Mech also give higher HP per organization (and that reduce losses), and increases hardens of division by big margin. Also it gives twice the defensive points. By the way, the defensive points, when they cancel attack point gives enemy chance of successful attack of 10 %, instead of un-countered 40%. They also have really nice piercing when you reach year of 1944. 4. Stats aren't necessarily averaged. Things like soft attack, or HP, are added. Organization is averaged. Speed is the speed of the slowest battalion. But armor and piercing are pondered average. I believe that 40% of piercing and 30% of armor comes from subunit with the highest value, and rest comes from average of every subunit. So AT company can drastically increase piercing of the division, or single medium tank or even tank destroyer can increase armor of division. 5. First thing you need to upgrade with every new tank design is reliability. It isn't 100% proof solution, but helps a little. Armor is second if you play off line, against AI that uses infantry divisions with AT companies. If you are attacking armored divisions, gun upgrade could be better choice. 6. Also when you compare it, don't do it with 1936. technology. That 15 more attack in 1936 is much higher in 1943. Artillery company is something that is the closest to must have. So is logistical companies in most continents. Engineers are good, but you can also argue against them. In any case, more companies you added to armored division, less organization and armor it will have, so less is better. 7. Also what is important to mention in this video, and you failed to do so, is importance of armor. As long is armor of your division a little bit higher of enemy division piercing (even by 0.1), your division is effectively 3 times stronger. That and hardness is what makes armored divisions so great against infantry. 8. Maintenance companies are great for infantry and mechanized equipment. You are filling the difference. Rest of staff, not so much. Also there is one more very important staff: 9. Due rounding and other mathematical model deficiency, gear that you have less than 100, (and more less, bigger the problem is), you are having much higher lost gear due to attrition. So if you are in doubt should you put in one or two tanks battalions, put in two for this reason alone. The biggest reason why AI is losing the war is because it will run out of gear due to attrition or constant infantry attacks. When that happens, it doesn't matter what is your template, as long your net gear is positive and divisions are on full strength. So how somebody stupid division work, that is how. Also almost any armored division template will punch true almost any infantry division template. It doesn't need to be optimal, it will stile be good enough. So when we are talking about width, 20 is sort of how game is designed to be played, and it is the best. But what widths I consider good enough are: 14,16,20-21,24-25 and 38-42. They are having more than average 94% efficiency for 80 and 120 width battles. I multiplied width of the front (and it can go over or under 100%) with negative battle multiplier (and they multiply all other bonuses). 26 and 28 have 93,9% efficiency. The smaller division are stronger in the battle, but having higher combat losses (point 1), and the big 40 width divisions are weaker with less losses.

[@ciggiesmalls6728]

@Aleksandar Petrović Dodaj me na discordu CGunOG #9437 ako si voljan malo da mi pojasnis neke stvari, obzirom da si doktorirao igricu :D

[@lunaperson403]

Im just gonna not read that

[@CheefCoach]

There are few guidelines here: 1. Try to get hardness at least 51% because of Blitz and Breakthrough tactics, 2. Try to have armor of your armored division above penetration of enemy infantry divisions, 3. After you achieve this, try to have as many mechanized infantry battalions as you can until you fill 16 or 20 width division, 4. You should always have artillery company; self-propelled guns are better than motorized artillery and mechanized infantry is far better than motorized one. If enemy uses anti-tank guns, good templates are: 4 medium armor, and 4 mechanized battalion, or 5 medium armor, and 5 mechanized battalion, or even 6 medium armor, and 4 mechanized battalion. If enemy infantry doesn't have anti-tank guns good template is: 2 medium armor, 2 medium self-propelled guns and 5 mechanized battalion. Also I strongly suggest to have logistical companies, specially if you need to fight outside of west Europe.

[@otacon87]

usually i make a 40 width tank with 1/3 motorized, when i have medium i slowly swap as i produce them, and convert the old light to spaa and add a single battalion to infantrie division, a frontline of spaa supported infantrie will MELT the enemy air force like nothing else. the main reason to have heavy/superheavy/mechanized is about hardness

[@kontraxt]

They cost 1 more steel, but that is not really that big of a deal. BECOME A POET

[@wolfenstien13]

Maintenance companies are pretty good. The bonus applies to everything including the rifles. Get some 40 width stacks of infantry, tossing a logistic, maintence, a general with scavenger- and you’ll probably be making a net positive in rifles.

[@algoreythm5227]

Is it worth it for infantry divisions though? I would agree that maintenance is good for tanks but it seems like the support equipment cost is too high for how little inf equipment costs and how much you would actually net.

[@aztekenen1]

@@algoreythm5227 its worth it if you will go for small high quality infantry armies. like the UK and America tend to do for instance. it won't burden your recruitment supplies much, and it will allow you to literally just keep on going until you hit something you really can't pierce. as you lose less, and even trickle some stuff from the enemy.

[@algoreythm5227]

@@aztekenen1 that's a fair point. I suppose if you don't lose the equipment in the first place, you won't have to reinforce later.

[@klobiforpresident2254]

How yo use scavenger: Play China. Infantry only. At some points I had several divisions using exclusively foreign equipment, including a Japanese tank division.

[@MRKnowitallaboutRFOM]

I don't think that's a mod giving you images for the German tank variants, those are in the base game, believe it or not.

[@user-jm2ds9ct2n]

It's one of the cosmetic dlcs if i'm not mistaken.

[@sneedchuck4291]

@@user-jm2ds9ct2n I do not think so i am pretty sure it is in the very base game cause i was them before i got any of the DLC's

[@SuperAzoz99]

Justin Franks you was them? Wow

[@mrfisher1072]

It's the hoi4 colonel edition that gives you a German tank skin pack.

[@sneedchuck4291]

@@SuperAzoz99 it was there

[@henrik6977]

Good video but disagre with upgrading armor because its a real gamble because if the soviet player upgrades GUN he can still peirce you AND i also think that signal company is important to that the infantry dosent reinforce the Battle before you

[@georgehone8687]

Dustin here's a tip when comparing the spgs and spaas you should compare the stats at the same combat width and not just that but you should mention their production cost as you need less of them per brigade than regular tanks

[@dustinl796]

Not a bad idea

[@derkaylon1740]

This is really helpful! Thank you for making this! :)

[@dustinl796]

Glad to be of service 😁

[@shawnp6653]

Really enjoy you instructional videos Dustin.

[@dustinl796]

Aww shucks thanks 🤗

[@mikealpha2611]

I have been trying to min/max as turkey for a middle east empire and early game I have been doing well with light tanks and cav mix rather then the normal motorized (not enough factories and steel)

[@arankoka]

most important knowledge is that "breakthrough" sinks damage done to you in the attack extremely. So, having lots of normal tanks in the offensive is a must have when facing strong enemies.

[@nodustechnologies3989]

chrominium? is that from the same table as aluminum? Edit: I thought it stopped there. But behold the "Mechagnised Divisions"...

[@dustinl796]

Da 😁

[@tshepp89]

Don't forget self-propelled tanks!

[@cr90captain89]

a thing missed on the signal company, is it affects the tactics your generals use in battle, and it lets your general use a second tactic to counter the enemy general. so its not useless, especially when paired with recon detachments. both are op when attached to tank divisions, because the light tanks can speed into openings, mediums keep the battle going, while heavies obliterate the opposition.

[@militarian9759]

im in a game right now against a really good Germany, i see this.. im saved

[@iv-kingroy-iv2225]

This was super helpful man. Thanks

[@dustinl796]

Glad you enjoyed it 😁

[@gooeyisawesome]

Helpful vid. Would have been a bit more useful though if you had given some template examples for scenarios, for instance, a 20 width to fight infantry, a 20 width to fight tanks or a 40 width with a balanced approach. Still helpful though! Another important thing you missed which is VERY important is the hardness stat. By swapping out all motorised companies with mechanized (or adding more tanks instead of mobile inf) your division hardness shoots up, which is super useful if the enemy has good piercing/soft attack in their divs, but overall low hard attack. Tanks also have slightly differing hardness values. If you know enemy piercing values, it's super important to keep your tanks division's armour above enemy piercing, that way you take 50% less damage from ALL attacks. It would also be great if you could discuss this in a vid: What's better with a tank division, high hardness/armour or high organisation?? Obviously with org you fight longer, but with good armour/hardness you take less damage, so you fight longer. It's hard to tell which is more useful in what scenarios, so it would be good if you could do a video on that. Can you also address if it's ever worth building heavy tanks, unless to specifically counter enemy armour? Also, what's the best way to build a heavy tank template?

[@wd-type9643]

Would be useful to your beginner players out there to have a “Worst case scenario” Russian campaign (Ex: Molotov Ribbentrop pact, low air superiority and supplies) Basically the best way to reorganize and attack.

[@pepela8214]

I usually just put 1-2 factories on artillery, remove all artillery from my infantry and use motorised artillery in my tank divisions along with medium tanks. its a little bit of a simplification since SPGs would probably be better but its just my way of doing it lol

[@williammiller7799]

I usually mix mine. Light and medium tanks in the same division. Maintenance, logistics, signal and motorized recon support companies. Heavy tanks are in divisions of their own, same support companies.

[@scipio7994]

I'll break this down for you, so you have light tanks which are good for infantry and are cheap. mainly used to spaghetti. Medium spgs are bad, they can't fight other tanks very well. As Germany or soviet you are going to be fighting other tanks. The only nation where I can see them is Japan or maybe Bulgaria. You never use superheavies, the production cost is so absurd and for every super heavy tank division there is like 3 medium tank divisions. It's a meme unit. Can only be used on plains Heavys are ok, if you have adaptable then they are really good. Production cost and terrain is why nobody used them minus South Africa. Mediums are best: Cheap, Fast, does its job in most terrains. SPAA: you only need support AA to drop potential CAS damage from 10 to 4, adding SPAA doesn't change anything except for the fact that with SPAA you can rape enemy CAS. Tank Destroyers: Good for USA to fight Germany if USA had to make tanks, since he can realistically only get medium 2's by 41.

[@scipio7994]

Also planning bonus is important, always want signal. Logisitics is good, Engineer is good, if going superior firepower right left add support Rocket arty and normal arty for free soft attack. Recon is good, field hospitals are useless, literally just don't get into losing combat when you can. Maintainence is good because you lose less tanks and you can capture enemy tanks.

[@dustinl796]

I just don't see planning bonus working very often in multiplayer, since if you ever tell unit to attack something else when it's got a planning bonus it instantly the next day removes the entire bonus all together

[@dustinl796]

Just the way Hearts of Iron 4 is, mediums are kind of a jack of all trade but pro at nothing

[@scipio7994]

Dustinl796 Videos what do you mean, it's one of the most important stats. you need planning to take El Alamein, to break the river line, to push into France, Its used as the soviets when D-day occurs, he builds up planning bonus to break the germans while his tanks are away. It's used all the time. The front is never liquid until after major offensives.

[@scipio7994]

Dustinl796 Videos attrition. So you travel In the desert with heavies, you lose 50 tanks, you travel with mediums, you lose 50 mediums, which one is more cost effective? Heavies have major terrain penalties and can really only be effectively used on plains and hills thanks to their debuffs.

[@NightsGamingHD01]

keep up the good work dustin

[@dustinl796]

Thx

[@NightsGamingHD01]

@@dustinl796 welcome

[@GenghisVern]

I enjoy these analysis videos. It's oddly relaxing. Trying out a new tactic for Germany-- produce cavalry brigades, 4 per army group, save 25+ XP and upgrade them in early '39 when you get Tigers. Instant heavy tank brigade that doesn't move too slowly, and they'll actually be ready for Polish campaign :). Also keeps production costs down during interwar period.

[@eliasziad7864]

I got a question? Can you make an entire division made out of motorized or mechanized, or do I use all of my motorized/mechanized stockpile in tank divisions only?

[@GenghisVern]

@@eliasziad7864 by the time you research halftracks, you can swap out the cav with mech, maybe increase their size to full divisions? the new barbarossa patch is going to change things up, for the better I think. a little less min-max, more about intuitive or even historical TOE

[@GenghisVern]

trucks are great by themselves or with light armor, or "light divisions". I use the armored cav NATO symbol and just bypass the medium armor tree

[@gamefan1019]

This game gives me a headache, but I just love it so much

[@axelmaze9961]

The 1 aa per 10 with its a good to know xD

[@forgi5646]

Loved it! Only if I had an PC it would help me so much as I am a noob.

[@Le-eu4bf]

Do you have a laptop hoi4 can run minimally using a laptop

[@milo20060]

When you added that heavy tank to that light tank division it also makes everyone the heavy tank's speed so there is always a backslash on everything. Same goes on adding heavy tank to a infantry division. Ofc if the division is already slow then it won't matter. I don't know I just fear people might not have noticed this :p

[@dustinl796]

My God I really hope they did LOL

[@emirhazarbozkurt5487]

I Think You Need Defense Plan Your Division Like 5 infantry 1 Heavy and maintence and Engineer if you need a breakthrought Use Light Tanks And Signal Company And support art

[@Gamingetic]

I usually put Heavy tanks on the Maginot line and then use a bunch of light and heavy tanks to go around the Maginot.

[@tshepp89]

What year are you attacking France?

[@randomthoughts6625]

I have a question you know I like to make infantry divisions of mechanized infantry with 1 mechanized infantry unit and 2 support companies artillery and rocket artillery with superior fire power doctrine. You can also lower the production cost of mechs. Basically they hold everything and are good at attack too. What’s your experience

[@frysebox1]

I tend to go 16/4 tank/mot with mobile warfare, 15/5 with superior firepower. No self propelled artillery, the armor is too low (at least for mediums) and I find the stream lined production of only 1 type of tank more practical. These divisions get monstrous breakthrough and great armor+hardness, at the cost of org and soft attack.

[@dustinl796]

I see those templates all the time LOL

[@gibuswagen7729]

Mix tanks if you want more armour, almost always put motorized in the template, 10 width in africa, 20-40 in europe depending on what and where you are attacking. Lights for speed, medium for jack of all trades, heavy for armour and super heavy for forts. TD if there are heavies (or use support AT if you can), SPA for infantry and AA for air if it is a big problem.

[@dustinl796]

Good points

[@fkjl4717]

You dont need to go on all techs. Just mix lights with heavy, you ll got bonuses and cheaper divisions.

[@gibuswagen7729]

@@fkjl4717 i never said that you should research all tanks, but you should not mix lights with heavies all the time because you will lose the speed bonuses that lights give you. Instead mix heavies with mediums if youcan afford it

[@fkjl4717]

@@gibuswagen7729 Instead mix heavies with mediums thats too expensive for most countries...

[@gibuswagen7729]

@@fkjl4717 that is why i said you should do it if you can afford it

[@Xindet]

10 motorised/mechanised with 5 Medium and 2 sp at and 2 sp arty

[@MrMegaz1914]

Well I sure needed this

[@dustinl796]

Well hopefully you enjoyed it

[@kentjohnson2884]

Your videos are great! You've really helped this noob get better at playing my new favorite game. Is it possible you could do a video describing what divisions you put into your armies? Do you use homogeneous armies or do you mix divisions within an army? For instance, will your tank armies be only tank divisions or do you mix some mob/mech Infantry divisions?

[@dustinl796]

Either all mech or all moto with tanks

[@kentjohnson2884]

@@dustinl796 I know that the mix should be all motorized or Mech with tanks. I'm more curious about ratios and specialists. Do you go 2mech/mot to 1 tank? I watched you video showing division templates and I really like the Arty division. Do you mix that with Infantry and how much? Also when making a grand army under a Field Marshal what is the makeup of you armies? I have typically been using 2 Infantry 2 armored and 1 extra of choice or need.

[@dustinl796]

I go by org, add enough so your org is atleast 30

[@kentjohnson2884]

@@dustinl796 I think you misunderstood me. I'm not curious about templates, I have enough of that info. I want to know about the mix of divisions within a 24 division army. This is a topic I can't find anywhere.

[@dustinl796]

Oh, to be honest most players put tank divisions in their own Army and then make a separate Army of motorized and place them both under a field Marshal, this way you can make a front line with the motorized an overlap a part of it with the tanks and use them to break through so the motorized can keep up

[@eliasziad7864]

I got a question, do I add my motorized divisions only to my tank divisions or do I make an entire division made out of motorized?

[@VarenvelDarakus]

usually i find upgrading reliability first , makes you lose almost nothing when training/artition especialy if you get it close to 100% or 100%+ , that small armor buff you add wont matter in long run at all

[@SaintPlayGames]

The Maus as an SPG.... What a dirty beast!

[@allpear]

if you add that heavy tank for piercing and armor for light tank division.. you will get a huge speed(14 km/h to 6km/h) penalty. so whats the point? why do i use light tank with that speed?

[@oscars4608]

Light tanks are more useful in R56; you can upgrade the reliability and speed of motorised. I’ve had 14.5kmh tank divisions and, with improv expert, it is dominant at encircling whole infantry armies.

[@acester86]

K thought I could just fly by the seat of my pants and figure this game out.....France is beating my ass rn....

[@oliverrdeull5719]

hey man what mod are you using for the models

[@Izznogood76]

So Mech Inf+Heavy Tanks (slow) and Motor Inf+ Light/Medium tanks? (faster than slow)

[@1Maklak]

When it comes to upgrading equipment, I strive to keep reliability at 96+ percent to lower losses from attrition. Same with airplanes. For the most part, normal tanks offer a good balance of soft and hard attack and I tend to just not bother with tank variants. With variants you have to split production, which usually leads to having too much of one type and not enough of another. It is less of a headache to just use all the Chromium to make medium and then modern tanks. You didn't mention Motorized Rocket Artillery. It is rarely used, but you get almost as much soft attack as an SPG for cheaper and you only build it once and upgrade it's soft attack through research. Using MRA in a Tank division will lower Hardness and Armour though. Heck, I even use a template of 7 Motorized +2 MRA to support my tanks and it's bad at attacking, but had enough soft attack and defence to fill any gaps until infantry get there. As for MtG equipment, amphibious tanks are crap and you're probably better off just using normal ones and eating the penalty. Amtracks (amphibious APCs) are actually good and an upgrade to normal Marines for countries who do naval invasions. Having a template of Amtracks, 1 Medium or Modern Tank and maybe 2 Motorized Artillery seems to be a good Special Forces division for amphibious assaults. I tend to use Engineer, Recon, Supply, Hospital in All my armies, including infantry and fill the last support slot with Art ot AT or whatever. I agree about signal company not being worth it; just research radio for +5% and get +2% from doctrine and you're fine. Maintenance companies help more with Mechanized than Tanks, at least when I keep Tank reliability at 96% or up. Getting a trickle of random crap in a war of attrition is kinda funny, but it is somewhat annoying to set up production lines to upgrade all that stuff. I don't use Maint. Comp. much.

[@headdergott954]

I love these videos... I improve my gaming skills and can relax a bit .. It's actually quite odd

[@danilobarcelos7307]

1:19 "You're *gnot* have a great time" Unless you're a gnome, and gnot a gnoblin

[@dustinl796]

;)

[@harz632]

You should view the speed of lighttanks as a army experience modifier, normally you need to upgrade engines on your tanks or they become to slow, you can skip thato n light tanks saving reliability and army xp, a medium tank needs to be 3,3,3,3 a light tank can skip engines and go 4,4,4 and in the end still be faster then a medium tank whilst also having increased reliabilty. This isn't important for larger nations but is a game changer for minors due to the cheap production cost, makes them very cost effective for their role, since as a minor you should rarely be the one in MP to counter german heavies, its more your job to support advances, exploit weak points or win in areas where supply is limited.

[@fkjl4717]

That doesnt matter - difference is too much. Only if you mix Lights with mechanized and 1-2 tank destroyers(or ATgun support) than it can beat Mediums.

[@harz632]

@@fkjl4717 I don't understand what the point of your comment is in relation to what I wrote?

[@fkjl4717]

@@harz632 lighttanks speed(extra exp) not enough to compete with mediums.

[@harz632]

@@fkjl4717 I explicitly stated that they shouldn't, again light tanks should never be the front line instead they should be used to support other tanks, use the speed to exploit weakspots and encricle units, holding long enough until the actual frontline arrives, but due to their cheap costs a upgraded light tank can effectively be used by minor nations.

[@matthewbonner5006]

Hey so at 4:49 you're about to add a super heavy tank regiment to the template but it's not their. Then it appears on the template. Do you just click regular heavy tank and it fills out or am I missing something?

[@dustinl796]

Now you're right

[@joemama-pz9sr]

Great Video!

[@joemama-pz9sr]

Even tho it was meant for pretty new players, I still enjoy it.

[@dustinl796]

Thx 😁

[@jacques367]

What mods are you using while making this video? Thanks for the videos. Helping alot!

[@dustinl796]

vanilla

[@doktertjiftjaf5186]

Whats that mods name for your SP stuff?

[@alexisrabago9558]

I need a piece of advice. Im challenging myself to survive ww2 as france and i want to ask if i should go anti tank guns or create light anti tanks against germany tanks. I did the level 7 fort thing on both the benelux and Italian front but the italians attack nonstop eventually breaking through so im going level 10 on the italians.

[@chadthundercock4806]

Alexis Rabago Put quite a few units on the Italian border, eventually they will exhaust themselves allowing you to put troops at the Belgian.

[@dustinl796]

If I were you I would get antitank guns, they're easy to put in with your Infantry in case you need them

[@alexisrabago9558]

@@dustinl796 thanks

[@alexisrabago9558]

@@chadthundercock4806 thanks

[@chadthundercock4806]

Alexis Rabago I’m not sure if it’s better to add at as support or battalions. I added it as support for lower cost because really as France you need to pump out divisions and not make really good ones, at least when you are on the defensive.

[@XXLPIakat]

>Mod Paradox added the new pictures in the WTT update. Almost all of Germany's tanks got new Icons now. Only Modern and the AA of the Maus I think don't have one.

[@dustinl796]

Oooooo cant wait 😁

[@XXLPIakat]

@@dustinl796 Waking the Tiger, not Man the Guns. Waking the Tiger added them already. :V

[@dustinl796]

Oof -_-

[@apetrading1528]

Me: any good template for hoi4? This dude: alright we need to start from the beginning for this. I mean from the big bang.

[@playergasman37]

So for my second ever Germany play through, I went down the Mobile Warfare doctrine and made what seems to be a relatively standard tank division. 6 medium tanks and 4 mechanized (with support divisions) I steamrolled a 1943 Soviet Union. I don’t know if it was because of normal difficulty or not. Thoughts anyone?

[@kerotomas1]

Mecagnized units lol great vid btw :)

[@dustinl796]

Lol

[@kennethlamb2852]

This reeeeeeallllyyyy helps

[@dustinl796]

Glad to hear it 😁

[@theworldssmallestmapper4588]

What is the template for the divisions in the beginning of the video?

[@thecha4570]

I need some help on making an ideal division, for all purposes, how does this sound? Tanks: (20 width, so they are easier to produce, and can spread strong line breakers along the front) 2 Heavies, 4 mediums, 2 Mechanised Support: Engineer, Cav recon, AA, Logistics Infantry: (40 width, to try something new) 4 Artillery, 14 infantry Support: Cav Recon, Engineer, Support Artillery, Field Hospitals, Support Anti Tank Doctrine: Grand Battleplan Country: German Reich

[@drsm7947]

For US, Germany, USSR Mine is Jack of All trade Doctorine: Superior fire power / dispersed support / shock & awe Support: Engineer, Field hospital, Maintenance Signal, Light armored recon Battalion: 11 infanry, 5 artillary, 1 anti-tank and 1 medium tank

[@uppal123g]

hi there, i have zee question, when i have a battle after its over, i click on the my tank icon... then there is the green bar and red... no matter what my tanks don't "heal" and become full stacks again.. why is that? ... i have all the equipment for the tank and lots of it... however it just my division doesn't regain more troops... however i am producing more troops of other regiments im so confused any help plz.

[@dustinl796]

Go to the template and click equipment, make sure everything in there is checked

[@redcoatlegion1183]

And as I said before, all is left is the navy (I know you already did one, but maybe and updated one after the Man the Guns DLC is released.

[@dustinl796]

Im planning on it 😁

[@Vagabond820]

Another question: I as a player typically play just to relax and enjoy a good game. I don’t play Mp. And when I play, i have neither the experience or the attention span most games to micro manage the combats. In fact, i enjoy hoi4 because of my ability to set battle lines and let the ai handle the fighting. As such, how does you advice in this video change when not micro managing? On an aside: would you be interested in doing a series of videos for people such as myself who play mostly Sp and prefer to use the battle lines to fight?

[@dustinl796]

Uhh, wut? And maybe

[@Vagabond820]

Dustinl796 Videos let me rephrase, does the advice of this video change in any significant way if you let your ai generals control the fighting with almost no manual commands given?

[@dustinl796]

Not really, the guide is more how to design tank templates

[@Vagabond820]

Dustinl796 Videos ok, thank you. The reason that i asked this was some of the advice such as signal companies was stated from the position of micro managing the fights. I just wanted to know as a player who doesn’t do Mp games and lets the ai generals control my fights in most situations if any of the advice would be very different. Thank you.

[@alexmannen1991]

so adding 1 mechanized to the top and then 4 rows of motor gives a bonus too?

[@dustinl796]

Doesnt matter how its added to the template as long as its there 😁

[@thunderkilll1037]

what mod are you using , and to disable it , in the main menu of the game before you start it you can disable the mod

[@dustinl796]

Nice...

[@ESG1]

Are those SP artillery divisions in the background gameplay?

[@dustinl796]

That they are

[@jackozbloke5079]

*Super heavies can be OP as all hell when used correctly* .seriously try some in Multiplayer if you can try rush em as the USSR they are fucking impossible to beat down as 40widths. You'll only have 3-5 by 1942 but they are insane.

[@mattmcclellan7373]

Thanks man

[@dustinl796]

Thanks for watching 😁

[@a_human8489]

I was playing multiplayer and I needed super heavy and super heavy tds to d-day. That was an Atlantic wall

[@omarenriqueguzmanlopez3522]

What mod did you use for the icons in the production tab ?

[@dustinl796]

Its a private one someone sent me, i dropped it into my hoi4 directory and now cant remove it unless i wana reinstall the whole game 😑

[@ludobazuyn6251]

Have I missed the template for the division of tanks he used to smash through Poland in the beginning of the video?

[@dustinl796]

Nah, was a simple 6xSPARTY and 11xMotorized

[@T0750]

What about the reliability when upgrading thanks? I always upgrade that first to the top since all other upgrades reduce the reliability. How important it is in the actual game?

[@dustinl796]

it really only matters if the unit suffers attrition

[@T0750]

@@dustinl796 man, you have no idea how much i appreciate your responses to my comments. This is a real learning experience. All the best from Panama City, Panama ( not FL ) consider me your loyal subscriber.

[@prpr8904]

Can you make a video about factorie converting a Japan i just cant seem to get my industrie that high

[@dustinl796]

I already did 😄

[@quedtion_marks_kirby_modding]

I made a division with only ligth tank and sp ligth tank, it was 40 with, i was playing as portugal and i use the same quantity of ligth tank and sp ligth tank. Is the division any good?

[@dustinl796]

Check the stats, for tank divs you want over 30 org and high soft attack/and high breakthrough

[@quedtion_marks_kirby_modding]

@@dustinl796 ok

[@gcgrabodan]

What's the difference between artiellery support and artillery brigades? Same goes for AA. Seems weird. (Just started playing today)

[@dustinl796]

Pretty much they're actually the same stats, it's just if you add them into a support company they take no combat width so you get a free unit

[@gcgrabodan]

@@dustinl796 Ok. Mh I feel like they should never count towards combat width and support should be left to non-combat such as engineer or field hospital, but ok. Thanks! Without your videos I wouldnt play cause the ingame tutorial taught me nothing.

[@aclock2]

I havent even clicked the unpause button and I already gone through 10 guide videos on this game

[@BeegaBeega]

He said now this is going to be the most controversial point of the video for about a million things

[@dustinl796]

And that's the comment show the whole video was incredibly controversial 😂

[@perezfranco2410]

Great video man! sadly there isn't much of multiplayer games in the base game with no dlcs :"

[@dustinl796]

Sadly????

[@perezfranco2410]

@@dustinl796 well yeah, i really want to play multiplayer to know how it works, but i can't pay for the dlcs, i know that the base game is kinda trash for multiplayer but i just wanna get the experience

[@perezfranco2410]

@@liamlowery5485 really?

[@frogchip6484]

Things I fundamentally disagree with: 1. *Main gun is more important than armour for mediums.* In most competitive mp games, enemy tanks will have enough piercing to the point you’re going to get your mediums pierced no matter the armour upgrade. Therefore, increasing the hard attack by upgrading the gun can give you the edge in combat. 2. *Signal companies are more important than you think.* The combat of hoi4 is quite weird but one of the most important things you should know is that *tanks are better when attacking.* Most countries that make tanks tend to use them offensively. However, your allies can sometimes take up the combat width, disallowing you to defeat the enemy tanks that are in the battle while you simply aren’t. Signal companies ensure that your tank will enter the battle if both your allies and your tank attack at the same time, and even if it doesn’t, the reinforcement rate is so high that you’ll (usually) enter the battle in time to fight the enemy tanks when a division drops out of the combat width. This is why I use signal company for only my best units.

[@dustinl796]

interesting points tbh

[@Vagabond820]

Is reliability really that unimportant? I tend to use my xp to improve my main units to 100+% reliability so that its not breaking down in the field as often. Is it really that big of a waste as was implied in this video? Its implied that you should level 5 the prime stat regardless of its effect on reliability. Is their a point where you have dropped the reliability to much? Does the same apply to aircraft?

[@dustinl796]

Well in my experiance, unless its in asia logistics companies do the same thing sense it lowers attrition by alot

[@Vagabond820]

Dustinl796 Videos true, and log company has the added benefit of reducing attrition on motor/mech/inf. How low are you willing to reduce reliability on aircraft? 70%? 60%?

[@thejuiceman1849]

So I tested out this pure light tank division template and I managed to get 20+ km/h division speed on them with Blitzkrieg doctrine and German officers. They’re so fast that they can encircle quite a few enemy divisions in leas than a day when I fought against Russia. Against Russia’s infantry, they seem to do well on battles cuz the combat thing was always green on 1v1 battles. Do you think this template is viable?

[@fkjl4717]

I did the same, played France. I can say that sucks, divisions are fight pretty well but only until it Org falls down, then it gets like 25-50% losses and backs down... despite coolness of tanks you still have to mix it with motorized or cavalry(early game), even 1 motorized for 2 tanks gives much better stats than pure tanks.

[@burakayan3360]

awesome video.

[@dustinl796]

thanks :)

[@ambientlightofdarknesss4245]

I have a question. What is actually the difference between maintenance comps. And logistic comps. ? Don't they both just reduce attrition? Like for example I'm fighting in Africa with like 1 infrastructure. Is it better to have maintenance or logistic?

[@drsm7947]

Maintenance increase reliability of equipment by 5% min up to 20% max and equipment capture ratio by 5% min up to 20% max Logistic decrease supply usage by -10% min up to -40% max and fuel supply fuel usage by -5% min up to -20% max

[@drsm7947]

If your fighting africa its better to use both and better to just use just 20 width divisions like 1 anti-tank, 3 artillery, 4 infantry and 1 medium tank for armor if not pierce enemy divisions hard and soft attack will be half and most enemy division don't have anti tank

[@andrewtibbetts2695]

So in regards to divisions, how to you use the templates for your divisions? Do you produce new divisions, or switch your existing divisions to the new template?

[@Cmoehlman12]

You can click on the divisions that you already have and then find the name of the division in the top left, then go to recruit and deploy and find that same division then you can change it and then it will change all of the divisions under that name

[@Cmoehlman12]

Also if you are looking for tutorial look into more recent videos from a few months ago

[@pierpaologiacomoni6846]

How much width fore tank division do you suggest?

[@drsm7947]

40 width

[@mrmelkor8262]

What mod are you using that gives all these new tank portraits?

[@dustinl796]

lamps eqpt icons and the armor pack dlc's from paradox

[@gw2042]

‘This is probably the most controversial part of the video’

[@dustinl796]

it was.... i thought

[@keinohrhasi79]

Damn you didn´t show the SPG-Squad you used in that vid xD

[@redacted3557]

I suck at using tanks. I always go with 13 Heavy tanks/7 motorized along with some support artillery, recon, engineers, and maintenance. I make sure that the fellas have fuel and supply, but... Usually what ends up happening is the tanks break through the first line of troops pretty decently, but then get bogged down by ceaseless counterattacks or reinforcements. This usually costs my adversary shit loads of casualties, but the USSR has an endless supply of manpower. (Even on favorable terrain.) I've tried using light tanks in attempt to blitz through when I break through, but no go. Anybody have any tips? I'm I using too much Heavies?

[@dustinl796]

In my experience medium tanks are what you should use 99% of the time. In single player the AI spams tons of Divisions on aggressive and will usually put anti-tank weapons for air support nearby and is normally able to counter light tanks after 1938. Heavy tanks in my experience should not really be what you use since they go so slow, it's nice to have them with some tank divisions to help the initial breakthrough but I usually go a 4 to 1 ratio if I'm going to have medium and heavy tank divisions. For every 4 medium tank divisions I will usually have one heavy tank division. Sometimes I won't even do that and just have heavy tanks get put in with basic line Infantry and use them for defense

[@jarl8815]

Still no man the guns realese date, your opinion?

[@dustinl796]

It better be good 😁

[@Gary91511]

Releases like feb 28th

[@chillaxo9863]

@@dustinl796 is it good in hindsight?

[@user-dd8vo7or2d]

So does that mean if I focus on building tank divisions it can counter everything?

[@Le-eu4bf]

No tanks can't hold positions that well an you will lose a lot of tanks

[@motohd2274]

The das thing is I’m on 700 hours and never used a single tank but only infantry XD