Tutorial | Naval Warfare | Hearts of Iron IV: Man the Guns

In this tutorial, we discuss everything naval in Hearts of Iron IV. Man the Guns brought some significant changes to how fleets play, so let's discuss those and find out how to the get the best out of our navies.
In the tutorial, we cover;
Ship Roles
Fleet Missions and Compositions
Admirals
Naval Doctrines
Please like and subscribe to this channel if you enjoyed this tutorial for Hearts of Iron IV. It really helps out! Likewise, if you have any tips, critiques or advice please do comment as I'd be pleased to read them.
Man the Guns DLC was given to me by Paradox at no charge.
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[@Hazzelnot94]

I've got more than 500h on Hoi4 and I've never properly even worried about navy because it has always been so confusing. You changed that. Many thanks!

[@MordredViking]

Glad to have been of service :)

[@JoaoPedro-xg7bv]

yeah, me too, i once lost all of my navy as italy lol

[@teaser6089]

@@MordredViking How do you add more Naval Groups to a theater? I dont want to create 20 different theaters?

[@alexhobbs2352]

My navy experience before this: 1. set subs to convoy raiding 2. have all of them get sunk within a month because I don't know what I'm doing 3. welp guess I'll just hold them for the rest of the game

[@mav8535]

When you unironically take notes for a video game.

[@clouddoge5560]

Marv 1236 same

[@vikingshark2634]

When you unironically get a ClickUp account in order to make dashboards to make notes and keep track of all the moving parts in a video game....

[@zachhansen6971]

Holy shit I thought I was the only one, Im taking notes as we speak lol

[@jaymack7510]

really glad I wasn't the only one to do so

[@chrisdiso4861]

I really do that anyway

[@GuentherShadow]

Still one of the best HoI4 Tutorials out there. Just wanted to *UPDATE* that the screen ratio atm is at 3:1 since Husky Patch. So you'll need 3 screens for a capital ship.

[@raj_ie8954]

Great guide! The only guide on youtube that has an actual in-depth overview of man the guns navy!

[@MordredViking]

Glad it was useful :)

[@kierano8390]

its actually rather useless, some advice to everyone out there, always death stack, its still the most effective way to win the naval war! I do it as germany and Italy, fuel is not an issue!

[@harveymarvey3348]

@@kierano8390 I followed this guy's guide and made some great success as Germany against USA after taking the Royal Navy for my own.

[@comradekat6394]

Mordred Viking Hey guys, I have a question, I booted up hoi4 and I have only two dlc bought. So I boot up game and I have all dlc downloaded without me purchasing or even going to find. What has happened?

[@mine9120]

@@comradekat6394 maybe a friend gifted you the DLCs?

[@bradleymoore2797]

This guide is the best naval guide for this game I've ever seen. Thank you very much, sir. I've learned a lot.

[@MordredViking]

Glad to hear :)

[@RichardGadsden]

This is really good. Couple of small corrections / extra info I spotted: 1. 1944 Submarine hulls have an extra slot and can have both radar and snorkels. This is the big advantage they have over 1940 subs (the only other stat difference is that the 1944 sub has slightly more range). Unless you want to use both slots, then you're better off sticking to the 1940 hull with 1944 equipment. The combination is mostly useful if you're wanting to operate far from home where you can't use any of your air, or you're trying to still do some damage against very strong enemy escort fleets (ie the historical situation for Germany in 1944, or the post-war Soviet situation in the Atlantic; if you're continuing to a WWIII, then this is a good design for the Soviets). 2. Guns: Heavy guns will first target the enemy capital ships. I'm not sure what they have to do to be able to target the carriers - I think the carriers can be screened by the capitals. Heavy guns can shoot at enemy screens if there is nothing else to shoot at, but they have a massive penalty to hitting screens. Light guns can only shoot at screens - the light guns on your capital ships have to be able to do this or there would be no point to having them. Armour and Piercing work the same way that they do for tanks, so a huge damage penalty (90%, I think) if the guns can't pierce the armour. Because light guns have much lower piercing, this means that light cruisers (screens) with armour can take very little damage (heavy guns struggle to hit screens, light guns will struggle to get through the armour). However, they're too expensive to make up for the fact you can build several destroyers for the same price. If you are building a light cruiser with radar and floatplanes as the command-ship of your spotting fleets, then this is a much closer decision. Just watch out for how much speed it costs.

[@MordredViking]

I did not realise that about the Tier 4 subs, good to know! Good info on the guns too :D

[@elraito]

almost correct. Armor vs piercing in naval is scaling unlike land. Its different from land. 10 armor vs 0 pierce equals 90% reduction. 10 armor vs 10 poerce equals 0% reduction. 10 armor vs 5 pierce equals 45% reduction. Its scales by difference percentage. So 50 armor battleship mitigates 72% of attack hits from light cruiser with 10 piercing. Meaning if light cruiser has attack of 20 then 5,6 (rounded to 5 because paradox rounds down) hits will do damage if they hit (targeting vs evasion) damage and 14,4 attacks (rounded to 14) have 10% to do damage (targeting vs evasion). Thus just adding armor through refit to ships that jave none is very valuable but upgrading armor that is already there is too expensive for what it gives.

[@1Maklak]

@@elraito According to this: forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/threads/ship-armor-test.1404082/ naval armour is useless when pierced, but provides scaling damage reduction when not pierced. As for subs, personally I think that snorkel is expensive for 10-20% visibility reduction and radar isn't really needed with 20 base surface detection, so I prefer to just leave those slots empty and produce more subs. The ones that make the biggest difference are subs 3, because they have 3 Torpedo slots and can one-shot convoys.

[@Paehrin]

Are you sure about the subs ? Might it depend on the faction ? I'm currently playing as Argentina (generic faction), and my '44 subs can only equip snorkel OR radar. Is there something I'm missing ? Did they changed it ?

[@RichardGadsden]

@@Paehrin They did indeed change it.

[@koz9840]

Looks like I'm going to use my navy ;)

[@L4r5man]

Great tutorial. Commented for the algorithm.

[@MordredViking]

Thank you!

[@tbogtenjoyer9836]

Before this tutorial I lost to the royal navy, after this tutorial the royal navy became history

[@MordredViking]

Nicely done! :)

[@shdwbnndbyyt]

Very interesting, although I knew most of this by watching YOUR vids and streams. No one else's.... I also finally watched the PDXCon HoI4 stream.... EVERY commentator kept being shocked by 1) your actions in patrolling each sea zone around Africa with subs, 2) how many transports (and thus regiments you were sinking) and finally 3) how much your subs were choking off supply for your opponents.... But then they went right back to utterly ignoring your contributions to your side as if armies were the ONLY thing that matters in HoI4.... So if there is a bias against the value of naval action... it comes straight from most of the Paradox devs....

[@MordredViking]

They did at least see it and recognise it. I get it though, watching tanks smash through fortified lines is more engaging than watching numbers of dead transports. We didn’t have any massive naval battles to compete.

[@junglelands9119]

Finally I found someone who actually knows how to explain naval warfare for beginners like me, who has NEVER played hoi4. Thank you Mordred, now I can try playing as the British. Thanks again mate.

[@kryndude]

Very useful, I come back to watch this whenever I'm confused, thanks.

[@MordredViking]

Glad to hear :)

[@sparkicy]

I’ve been playing for about a week now as Germany and I’ve taken over all of Western Europe. (Without my navy). I’ve been 100 percent ignoring the navy other than the trade. Now I can finally attack the British. Great guide thanks 👍

[@MordredViking]

Best of luck! :D

[@lnt.helmuth]

According to the Paradox Wiki, light guns can only target the closest group that is not empty (which means they will primarily target the screening group but, if there is no screens, they can in fact target the capital ships and even the third group if capital ships AND screens are absent). On the other hand, heavy guns can target the closest and the second closest group (primarily screens and capital ships but, if screens or capital ships are absent they can target carriers and convoys). Basicly in all combat where all groups are present, light guns (this includes guns on capital ships) can only target screens and heavy guns can target screens and capital ships. It is important to note that what group a ship belongs to have no influence on what ships they can target but only their armaments. Futhermore, the targeting for each gun is independent and is decided randomly even though some targets are mor likely to be chosen than others depending on the type of gun. Discredit: I am not a genius but I do read the paradox wiki so all the information about targeting during naval battles can be found at the following URL: hoi4.paradoxwikis.com/Naval_battle#Target_selection

[@MordredViking]

Thanks for the overview, Ship Visibility plays a role in target acquisition too, with more visible being hit more. Especially applies to air attacks.

[@lnt.helmuth]

I didn't know that. I allways ignore visibility for my strike fleets because they are to pick a fight anyway. Thank you!

[@neyoriquans7782]

Phenomenal review, thank you for the great walkthrough!

[@sourestcake]

Thank you! I was overwhelmed by the naval mechanics, and felt like i was never going to be good at the game. x3

[@sjlbean]

Thanks a lot. I had bought man the guns a few days ago and all the naval stuff was super overwhelming, but now it’s pretty easy. Great guide

[@DiviAugusti]

A thorough MTG naval guide was sorely needed on YT.

[@t-dog5301]

Great video! The only guide I could find that really hit all the points. Also, no ads! 👍

[@killerdrohne18]

I can't explain how helpful this was, good video!

[@Wanthor26]

14:49 Admiral Hamlet :) Great Guide, thank you!

[@MordredViking]

Glad to hear :)

[@ammaryasser8659]

Great guide!Heard many new info I didn’t knew before.keep it up👍🏼

[@vectorialforce3173]

The best guide ive ever seen, i dont care if you dont know in depth the mechanics, you explain very good the basics of naval warfare

[@tpyntavyk5552]

I bought the game recently and was trying to figure out how the navy works and this was very helpful!

[@zombieslayer4951]

Awesome video man! Thank you for making this! 😁👍

[@rv4614]

This is the best tutorial on how to use naval units. Simply amazing !

[@Conor-uu5mu]

Thank you very much for this tutorial/overview! Was able to manage the army and airforce really well but didn’t have a clue where to even begin with the navy, definitely improved the game for me and added a whole new dimension to the game that I now understand. Hope this video gets more views as it’s a great tutorial and will definitely subscribe! Commenting for the algorithm.

[@MordredViking]

Thank you! Glad you're getting even more out of the game now :D

[@geof-9958]

Thanks!! a very helpful guide, keep up the good work!!!!

[@zeppelinreconops]

Hey bud! I know it's a bit late but especially after man the guns, naval combat is VERY confusing and not covered anywhere (in detail). I really appreciate this video, I have over 1500 hours in the game but naval combat is a mystery to me. Definitely earned a sub from me

[@makinbacon415]

This is the best naval explanation video on YT

[@TheWarSimmer]

One of the best constructed and thought out guides I have ever seen. Thank you.

[@MordredViking]

Appreciate the kind words, thank you :)

[@natskivna]

One of the most thorough and well explained HOI4 tutorials I've ever seen. This is a game changer for my playstyle regarding Naval Play. Thank you!

[@MordredViking]

Very pleased to hear, thank you!

[@Taiyama2]

I got back into HOI4 after a long hiatus that started before Man the Guns. Needless to say, I bounced right off the navy system. Thanks for your tutorial here. It's been exactly what I needed, explained in a very clear manner.

[@MordredViking]

A pleasure, thank you :)

[@chrisvanegmond3157]

Fantastic tutorial thank you, naval was a mystery to me but this has helped a ton. I've actually jotted down keypoints from this video in an Evernote doc for reference, lol.

[@MordredViking]

Glad to hear! :)

[@nono-gz9hu]

Thanks a lot man, really helped demystify the navy in this game.

[@MordredViking]

Glad to hear :)

[@eblaine1507]

Great video, even with almost a thousand hours in the game setting up navies is still one of the most daunting and confusing tasks (yet one of the most fun), look forward to seeing more videos of yours in the future!

[@MordredViking]

Awesome :)

[@janvankessel624]

Best naval guide video I have found! Thank you very much, I have learned a lot. Just came from Taureor's version of the game vs the dev's and was interested in your take on a naval guide. Hats of to you mr First Lord of the Admiralty!

[@MordredViking]

Thank you! Appreciate it :)

[@iRIDS]

Just recently got back into HOI IV after a long while and I thought I would get back into it with man the guns and la resistance DLC. Turns out, I've forgotten everything lol and was just sitting at my screen like WTF. This was an excellent guide and was much appreciated. Many thanks.

[@TheGreystroke]

great video and really helps with this aspect of the game that is under used by most players very happy to see it up Mordred great work

[@MordredViking]

Glad to hear it :)

[@holpert79]

By a mile the best guide for the navy! Thanks a lot!!! Restarting my Japan game now

[@MordredViking]

Glad to hear, good luck with Japan! :)

[@dwrdaveuk]

Well spoken, concise and very useful. One of the Best HoI videos I've seen. Thanks.

[@MordredViking]

Thank you! Appreciate the kind words :)

[@andreasback4728]

Thank you! This is by far the best naval guide I've seen for HOI4.

[@MordredViking]

Glad it helped :)

[@highvoltage379]

Thank you so much for that, really interesting and well explained.

[@MordredViking]

Happy to hear :)

[@burakayan3360]

One of the best guide in youtube. İ will watch it again take notes

[@alexandrem4679]

Great explanation on the naval mechanics!

[@MordredViking]

Glad to hear :)

[@petrgrebenicek1067]

I have watched a lot of other videos about navy. Compared to your guide, those videos before were just a waste of time. Perfect in depth, while simple and clean 11/10. You should try to slap this video in wiki (with subtitle edits on things people added in comments. Great job

[@freddyragaert4326]

Amazing video for beginners and very well explained. Thank you for putting your time into this. Shame there are not more likes since this tutoreal is more then worth it

[@MordredViking]

Glad to be of service :)

[@mdw-br5yz]

An outstanding guide with a lot of detail! After conquering the USSR, Poland, Spain and Italy by 1940 as Germany, I was thinking about my fleet compositions. Really a great help.

[@MordredViking]

Glad to hear, have fun! :)

[@Jansay34]

Finally a good naval tutorial. Thanks!

[@clausbohm9807]

Great Tutorial, just what I needed!

[@rhysrphoto]

Fantastic guide. I learnt a lot, thanks!

[@magicaces13]

Wow now I know why my navy gets destroyed within a year no matter who I'm playing as! Great guide, best I've seen on the navy and gives a much better understanding of the different roles and how best to set them up. Cheers Mordred.

[@lesclaypaul]

Best tutorial out there man. Keep it up.

[@Malos_]

Extremely helpful, thanks!

[@alextelford306]

10/10 This tutorial is excellent, you made an aspect of the game i always found confusing and daunting incredibly simple. Definitely gonna pimp out my navy in all future games.

[@MordredViking]

Pleased to hear it’s been of service :)

[@timothy7729]

My man! Thanks for the awesome tutorial! This vid was super helpful!

[@MordredViking]

Glad it helped!

[@zedrian9291]

Navy is so confusing in game and so little clear information. This video is a life saver. Thank you!

[@benefielb]

Great video and great info...one of the best tutorials I've come across!

[@MordredViking]

Thank you! :D

[@khaledalbetar2264]

Finally the first useful Naval guide thank you so much amazing job.

[@MordredViking]

Glad it helped!

[@ssntf7]

This is the most in-depth Naval tutorial about out there. I finally understand the navy! No more death stacks for this guy (: Thank you!!!

[@MordredViking]

Pleased to hear! Enjoy :)

[@dwrdaveuk]

Still one of the best navy videos out there, 11 months on. Well done.

[@MordredViking]

Thank you :)

[@DarkRaven40011]

Thank you! I have no clue what to do when I finally came back to HOIV until I was pointed to this guide. THANK YOU!

[@MordredViking]

You’re welcome :)

[@bernaldo6051]

Great job. The best naval guide for HOI IV.

[@MordredViking]

Thank you! :)

[@jackbain2404]

Really informative video, thanks!

[@conordavies8404]

I had no idea what I was doing with the navy until I watched this guide. As iron man Britain I set up the spotting fleets, strike forces and added the naval bombers and I wiped almost the entire German navy within a few weeks of the war starting, it was probably the most fun I've ever had on HOI 4. Fantastic guide thanks alot man.

[@Albiorix]

Very well explained, I found out about you by the recent community event. You've helped me SO MUCH with just this video. All naval understanding I had on HOI4 was from playing a completely different game, World of Warships, because Hearts of Iron 4 is just that bad at explaining to you how the navy works. This comes in perfect timing, too. As I'm challenging myself to do a mid to late game invasion of the USA as the UK for the Crush the Dream achievement without it being a cheesy early war on America, and understanding navies will help me big time in understanding how to counter their fleets and even set up naval invasions more confidently.

[@MordredViking]

Welcome! Very pleased to hear this has helped, and good luck in your invasion of the US :)

[@cedrikp2354]

By far the best and only usefull Navy guide for MTG. All the others just say what you CAN do but not what is BEST to do. Thanks, I can finaly play US, UK and Japan without losing all my Ships in the first 2 month. Also gonna share that Vid with all my fellow Admirals.

[@MordredViking]

Glad it has been of service :D

[@MrJdm222]

The best hoi4 navy tutorial on youtube!

[@gokalptekir2690]

DUDE THANK YOU FINALLY I LEARNED NAVY

[@michael83479]

427 hours in the game and this 51 min has helped me the most with naval, much love man thx so much

[@MordredViking]

Glad it helped :)

[@dichebach]

Best I've found. Clarified some of the subtleties that a lot of folks who don't really know about naval warfare just do not know. Amazing how much they have improved the naval game.

[@VampiroGaming]

This guide is an incredible help. Well explained! Thanks a lot.

[@MordredViking]

Glad it helped :)

[@thomass863]

Best naval guide on KZbin. Thanks mate :)

[@MordredViking]

Excellent, glad to hear :)

[@voDkabmb]

Best navy tutorial. Navy doesnt do much in the war but since man the guns came out the navy has a purpose now. I had to piece togheter so many tutorials but this one is by far the best. Its kinda sad a lot of people ignore the navy beacause its difficult to learn

[@MordredViking]

I agree, naval is now really interesting so it’s a shame people have refrained from learning it

[@reichtanglevictor1694]

Thanks for the great guide!

[@commissarkordoshky219]

As a minor power I usually love converting cruisers into carriers to have cheaper carriers and use them to recon. The Recon plane technology branch also gives carriers a passive surface detection bonus per researched tech.

[@jalousimon]

A wonderful tutorial! Thanks for helping me finally understand naval warfare! :))

[@MordredViking]

Glad it helped :D

[@robertegloff7770]

Really good tutorial, thanks! Even occurred to me that trade interdiction might be a good one for a poorer country who doesn't want deep involvement in the Navy, but still gives an opportunity to create some havoc for the larger navies.

[@MordredViking]

Absolutely true :)

[@zizzla8896]

Thanks for the guide.

[@heirofrohan7865]

As taureor said, Mordred is the most detailed and experienced HOI4 naval player on KZbin

[@user-wr6el6gr4x]

wow,I can not wait for this.

[@thomasvertommen9526]

You my good sir, are an officer and a gentleman to explain it so well and in depth. My thanks.

[@MordredViking]

Thank you :)

[@ac4694]

Honestly I watch this video like 10th time, because from time to time I need to learn about specific aspect of the navy. Great job!

[@MordredViking]

Thank you!

[@redandinata4568]

Cant believe i watch all that. Very engaging and very informative. Thanks

[@MordredViking]

Haha, it seems like a lot but glad it was helpful!

[@mathewwright5699]

Great video. Long but super helpful

[@thierrybangun8339]

Literally spent 5 hours to learn this video and took 4 pages of notes in my Google Docs. Thanks mate

[@Awesomejosh12345]

Can you send that google doc, that would be pretty useful to go back to

[@g4340]

Just as I subscribed and Tapped that Bell, at that EXACT moment when I tapped the bell, I heard THIS...5:34...lol! Talk about perfect timing! Great video! I know you're passed HOI4 but if you make any more vids, let us know so I can submit some questions.

[@MordredViking]

Been playing some over on Twitch recently, and always happy to take questions regardless.

[@vanheden294]

This is exceptional!!!

[@frags7792]

Great video, definitely worth the one hour length.

[@louishemmer]

Awesome naval guide!

[@arsevi12]

I learned navy after trying to learn it for 4 months, thanks for the guide it is very helpful!

[@MordredViking]

Glad to hear :)

[@someguy-cv9jd]

this is so useful, thanks mate, this gonna carry me through my play through as the UK

[@MordredViking]

Hope it helps! Good luck :)

[@dariusd1090]

I finally understand the Navy! Thank you!

[@MordredViking]

Huzzah :D

[@serb1anarcher306]

All other guides are like: " this are the orders and this is what they mean"... Yes sir we freaking know how to read in game explanation of the order, but this, this is proper tutorial. Thank you very much, you helped me a bunch, i was so confused about hoi navy

[@MordredViking]

Glad this has helped :)

[@AZ12105]

Loved it! Commented for the algorithm

[@Vaalbaara]

Absolutely fantastic content here, just subscribed 👍

[@MordredViking]

Welcome :)

[@jintoniroth9185]

It would be nice if paradox actually gave a tutorial on navy basics. Thanks for the tutorial, I now know why I always lose naval battles against my friends.

[@alroy43]

I am new to HOI4 I have learned so much from you thank you.

[@nivjankelowitz5607]

Finally a good guide, loved it!

[@MordredViking]

Thank you :)

[@Sigismund74]

Thanks! Exactly what I needed.

[@MordredViking]

Glad to be of service :)