Win Every Battle with this HOI4 Combat Guide for Beginners 2023

[@LeorDado2]

Have 1300 hours on hoi4, clicked this video because the only thing i still have to learn is like combat width's, but for beginners this is like the best tutorial i've ever seen, good job.

[@TerribleStrategist]

You have a little bit hours more than I do on Hoi4, I tried to keep things simple and not go too much into the details of statistics. I personally think my videos aren't that great but I'm working on improving them!

[@lynarisevershadeshadowfall1684]

"Optimal" is 24 width (mountains seems to be 30). There are 2 variables to consider to actually make the most optimal combat width division. Terrain and the ever changing Frontlines opening up or closing more sides attacking. And these 2 variables are most of the time constantly changing so its not worth bothering with combat width unless you're going over 40 which you should never do so.

[@zjdh3647]

I use normally 21 cw for fillin the front and 42/43 cw for my damage dealers, works pretty good

[@noahcook297]

i have over 4k hours and let me tell you, 20-30 width is what you should be going for, ether for inf or tanks what you should focus on tho is making divisions for specific roles, like defense, line divisions, and attack divisions 30 width inf is decent line infantry, but add some arty to the mix and you get a decent line breaking unit. this is just from my experience tho

[@somedude44]

​@@noahcook297 hey quick question I always hear that I should have divisions for specific roles but where do I get so much army xp from?

[@rodrigocoxa45]

I see these massive gameplays and try to recreate them, but they mostly take those parts of game strategy as granted for who is watching. As a newbie, I appreciate the effort, it's helpful!

[@jmgonzales7701]

I want a HOI4 mod that makes it also an rts like ur typical rts where u can fight and control like total war.

[@ViktorEnns]

Good video. Main takeaway: open the bubbles and look at the stats to understand why the battle isn't going the way I thought. I don't do that enough.

[@Erik_Ice_Fang]

For those who struggle with rivers, there are a few more useful tips. Engineers or marines help, but I have found the best thing is to use fast units (motorized, mechanized, light tanks) to push as quickly as possible to create a bridgehead. If you can get just two tiles across, you have made 70% of the effort already.

[@thehuntermanx7137]

While I do agree with the video, I would also add that planning bonus is definitely something every player should be aware of for offensive units, as it multiplies your offensive stats, similar to how entrenchment multiplies defensive stats. Also putting spies in enemies can reduce both planning and entrenchment bonuses the enemies get.

[@jajordan2106]

Is it enough to build an Intel network in the region or do I also need to Infiltrate the army?

[@joshualamberth8966]

putting spies in enemies lol

[@waeldra1548]

@@jajordan2106Intel network as far as I understand just permits you to do everything else If it’s at 100% the infiltration will be easier but there is a minimum network % before you can do said infiltration

[@DarkWolper]

This is really a great guide, I never really understood why I am loosing battles I thought I had clearly the upper Hand and 3 times amount of troops

[@Bmike5117]

Its probably the templates. the beginning ones suck although germanys are a little better than most. Put in more arty. The other thing is having a lot of troops can actually hurt you if the combat width is too little so make sure to attack from multiple angles. And air superiority is king! protects you from opposing CAS and allows you to send in your own and get extra damage.

[@misterxxxxxxxxx1]

Well but good luck when the allies have 30k planes ​@@Bmike5117

[@unapersonacompletamenteran8714]

I have tried everything with Germany..Tried a lot of combat width but I can’t push forward because,suddently, I lose all battles,besides attacking from multiple directions and having air superiorty. What am I doing wrong?

[@waeldra1548]

@@unapersonacompletamenteran8714 ​​⁠ Supply , Template and terrain basically Also if a unit is too tough I suggest backing down and letting them take the tile then surround and let attrition and combat width do the rest Also make sure to have enough trucks and fuel

[@qwertyasdd]

Cheers for the guide, just snatched the game on summer sales and played it the first time, I feel like I need a tutorial for the tutorial to make sense of all the mechanics and buttons lol, this video helped

[@gravegamersstudios7845]

Thanks for the video! As someone who is a casual 1000+ hour hoi4 player, ive been needing some tips and tricks on combat. Thanks for that

[@MixerElixer]

This video was amazing, I've got 450 hours on HOI4, but hadn't really learnt about combat stats and all that because I was just playing mods ig, but I thought now would be a good time to learn. I've watched 2 other videos about this, and yours was the best, really helped me !

[@MercuryTheVexilliologyNerd]

same dude, I never could figure out battles so I usually just messed around with mods like Millennium Dawn were I just focused on the economy and political stuff instead of actually fighting

[@jmgonzales7701]

​@@MercuryTheVexilliologyNerdI want a HOI4 mod that makes it also an rts like ur typical rts where u can fight and control like total war.

[@Buzter68]

210 hours in hoi4 and still cant defend myself as ussr from germany i hope this tutorial will help 🙏🙏

[@zjdh3647]

10:10 you dont mention that the tank is low on fuel and the massive debuff it. Cuz it lowers the armor of this devision to 10% of the original value. Therefore having good supply is even more important for tanks if you dont want to suffer high ic losses

[@charmyzard]

Supply is only half the problem if your country is out of fuel, then.

[@Sidewinder11771]

5:23 I really like that you include this explanation as not many people know about this or keep it in mind for combat, and even less people that know about it bother explaining it.

[@justal8582]

Bought the game to play with some friends and even with their help I’ve had trouble, this tutorial has been amazing you’ve done a great job. Thank you.

[@oblastxd]

Woah this tutorial was actually good. All the other tutorials were pretty complex but this was simple and to the point. Even showed a usable tank template.

[@realcanadiensneverdie]

I have 1,250 hours on this game and had no idea how combat worked.

[@henryjoyce-kj8tu]

5k and i jus went with building more than then my opponents and having green air 😂

[@pelvismen5510]

​@@henryjoyce-kj8tubro thats over half a year.

[@lDANY07]

Its part of experience

[@goji2029]

@@henryjoyce-kj8tuyou fr spent 208 days playing this game?

[@Kaiser941]

I have like 600 hours in the game and just with this video I just finished understanding this mechanic, thank you :D

[@W1llbam]

As a beginner to HOI4 this video was so much better than all the other beginner videos I have watched. Amazing.

[@Eldem_kz]

Thank you so much ! Your video is really helpfull to understand the basics concepts of battles. I just reached 200 hours and I still feel like a total noob. This game has an amazing curve of learning. You explain in a clear a simple manner some crucial things I hadn't understood yet !

[@Ronannnnn]

For beginners it makes sense not to include it but I would have loved templates, what to do with low supply, how to defend better against tanks and offensive divisions and also maybe the tank designer?

[@ynwa6ucls]

Division designs are really tricky to do because you design them around where youre going to be attacking and what type of tiles there are. There are a ton of division guides on youtube tho. As for defending against tanks anti tank, and engineers do wonders along with having air supremacy.

[@catfacecat.]

​@@ynwa6ucls ....or the cat strat: close air tanks: using tanks that can fly to defend against tanks. 2 things: some consider this planes. i do not. i consider this tank. why? because my pfp is a cat, and i could think of no better name for using tanks to fight tanks.

[@madwye6169]

Only 50 cas planes can change the entire battle, this is incredible

[@BigBossXCV]

Yeah if you have air superiority just 2-4 cas air wings can annihilate the enemy If you have the right buff for them and a good design (if you don't have by blood alone just create a variant and increase damage, reliability and if needed range. Speed is useless because it increases agility, plane defence, but since you have air superiority you don't need that.

[@LHelios1805]

I bought the game yesterdat and i found this really easy to digest, clear examples and pretty nice explanation!

[@MoolsDogTwoOfficial]

I was playing as Germany, got lots of planes, improved medium tanks with 14/4 infantry and motorised. However, when I started to break into Belgium it went horribly wrong and they had like 700 defense from air :( And worse thing is that planes take forever to produce so I can't even spam any CAS.

[@rapfaelezio6282]

i produce plane fighters instead of cas in until battle of france, and just let the the starting numbers bombers and cas do the damage, it works, i only produce cas when attempting to conquer russia. but operation barbarossa is another ordeal to deal with, USSR has like over 3000 planes

[@superduperbob]

yeah the game is shit they make it too hard to do anything

[@JetAgeOfJR]

@@superduperbobI was the same way bro just keep playing . Take a 6 month break like I did n come back if you gotta.

[@Gabriel-br4qe]

@@superduperbob yeah I understand your frustration lol I'm still learning the ropes

[@numbum9394]

I make some heavy fighters instead of normal fighters, give them 4 light MGs or heavy MGs, depending what I have researched. 2 engines with max upgrades and armor plates. Then I train wings to regular and after that put them on intercept mission into enemy territory. They eat up enemy fighters with minimal losses. Usually Britain alone has 4+k planes and with that tactic I destroy their airforce. After they lose majority of fighters, the air battle is easy and then I move my land units forward. During the first phase I just leave defensive units there to hold the line and let enemy trash their heads on my army and waste their manpower. I usually end up with 1:10+ kill ratio in first phase.

[@coleaccardi7195]

Core territory modifiers are also effecting the equivalent show of force.

[@evolve117]

A good infantry template is a 9 inf and 3 arty. Has high hp and org and deals a lot of soft attack. This unit can be produced by minor nations like Siam. You can ditch one arty for support arty for a cheaper variant or lower combat width. Not 100% sure its that optimal

[@TheVoodooMaker]

27 CW is extremely bad. You want 10, 15, 42 and 44

[@101magj]

When you say this you mean the average 9 infantry split between 3 of the lines and 3 in one line? I don’t know why but I’ve still not seen a guide on that. Or if I get told it’s as though I can visualize it when I can’t cause I’m pretty dumb lol

[@wilma_balls]

​@@101magjthe way you arrange the regiments doesn't matter, only that they're in the division

[@malizegamer8228]

@@101magj 3x3 Inf Batt and under each column of 3 add 1 artillery (is what @evolve117 is saying roughly) -- while arrangement doesn't particularly matter, having it arranged a certain way will help in swapping out different battalion types if need be (usually not a concern with your base inf div unit) -- I'll usually run 3x3 + 1 artillery support to start with and then adjust according to needs as the game progresses (swap out art support for art batt, add in AT or AA support -- sometimes if your air war isn't going well you may want a full batt of AA. Its conceivable you could have 3x3 inf + 1 batt each of AA art and AT... or just 3x3 inf -- that's a perfectly fine base inf div for general purposes and one that almost all the countries on the map can make. If you are a country that must invest in coastal defense (Germ/Italy/Japan) then having a 1x3 Inf plus an art and support at and aa will get the job done...for your garrison type just make a low priority 1x3 cav and add an MP when you get it -- this can be used for your occupation garrison template and to build for rear area. DO NOT pass up on Field hospitals, esp. if you are planning on burning through bodies -- maybe not a big deal for USSR but can be a game saver for Germ/It/Japan/UK who dont have huge pop to draw on. etc. etc....

[@bigr5333]

you need to try 12 inf and 8 arty

[@flameguy3416]

I spent 2 hours on the tutorial, the Italian-Ethiopian War finished in 1937. Unbelievably complicated.

[@ronci9916]

I think i finally know why im so bad. Thanks

[@CrilTump]

I have 384 hours and i usually just quit due to lack of confidence to win wars and battles in general so this helps a lot thabk you

[@MercuryTheVexilliologyNerd]

I never quit like you, but I refrained from doing battles, so I played on mods like Millennium Dawn and just focused on politics and economy rather than actual wars, I never understood wars 🙃🙃

[@charmyzard]

2k+ hours and I'm still clueless on division design other than basic 7-2s or expanded default templates. Godsend of a video.

[@Camilo_Z]

This guide literally felt like opening my third eye, holy shit i wasn't understanding anything about combat until now.

[@comona]

Good video. The game has so many modifiers that it would’ve taken so long to cover them all but I think for the new players this is the core information they need to know and this isn’t even getting into cas, force attack, buffs from the commanders and such

[@ReubenBowie]

I love how my 370 hours on any other game would mean I would scroll past this but with HOI4 this video seems helpful

[@codybirk4829]

Great Tutorial. The thing I like most is how you demonstrate each factor and you do so independent of each other. Very easy to follow.

[@datredhat]

This is something I’ve been thinking about doing but have not done yet. On any border, you have 2 commanders, an offensive one with a lot of breakthrough, and the defensive divisions. The offensive commanders attack first, and the defense units follow the offensive troops.in my opinion it’s better than grouping offensive and defensive divisions in one army.

[@davevd9944]

Obviously a lotta armor is ideal to push through lines as it was back then. But how about the early game ? I still often have to resort to infantry with arties for most of my battles.

[@BigBossXCV]

Early game build for offensive army could be some light tank division to push, some motorized inf to fill the gap quickly and easy encircle and the rest a basic leg inf 9-0/9-1 to old the line. For instance: 5 light tanks divisions, 5 motorized and 14 inf (total 24). If you have more production you can make also 7 tanks, 7 mot and 10 inf. With this army I was able to win in Poland in 1 month and in France (via Belgium) I won in 2 weeks. This is only the offensive army, you should also need another army just to old the front line (24 basic leg infantry)

[@toeffe3343]

Paradox needs to hire this man for torturials things make so much sense now

[@Mdfan3071]

Im new and this was very helpful. Thanks

[@zegmakker5869]

also one thing to note is war support. when war support is below 50, in the code, you get an attack penalty. all the way to -50% on non-core territory iirc

[@Penguin12489]

I understood most of hoi4 from this video you deserve subs but One question what does piercing mean?

[@GaryRollus]

Piercing means how much your divisions can pierce enemy armor

[@Penguin12489]

@@GaryRollus oh like the bullet go through the armor?

[@GaryRollus]

@@Penguin12489 Yes. Infantry can’t pierce tanks but having AT In Your Division may/may not pierce them depending on how much piercing is in their division

[@Penguin12489]

@@GaryRollus which tank has the most piercing heavy medium or light?

[@blue-shell3102]

@@Penguin12489 talking about cost effectiveness that would be medium tanks, but it depends on the armement on the tank

[@dichebach]

Been a few years. Time to brush up the skills!

[@Mongelt]

My problem now is when an enemy stacks the frontline with 5-6 divs on each tile, I try to cut through the line with tanks but I need so many tanks that they eat up all of the supply, and eventually I end up 2-3 tiles into the enemy's territory with enormous losses and get stuck having even less supply. What do I do wrong?

[@theflossydog1825]

Press F4 to open supply map mode, look for the closest enemy supply hubs behind their line and prioritise taking that. Be aware that after you take an enemy supply hub (and connect it with railways to your own network) it still takes about 8 days or so to convert the railway track to your type of track, so the supply hub doesn't come online immediately after seizing it. (You can actually see this by looking for the small picture of the clock shown on the railway track close to the hub you just took - hover your cursor over the clock icon.)

[@dylanram4653]

i usually do tanks with motorized divs so i can have enough speed to overrun and encircle a front, it works wonders if you have a sustained push with oil drums on tanks

[@jenell73]

For a newbie like me, this is amazing. Subbed immediately

[@lucasboffin8071]

watched the fulll video. i haven't done a new game since but i think this will help me alot

[@oooshafiqooo]

Soo Good Organisation, Soft attack, breakthrough and air support. Got it

[@tpg7650]

I always kinda suck at HOI4 battles, so I think I'll practice HOI4 battles with this gudie so that way I can get better at HOI4 battles.

[@democraticrepublicofvaloria]

I am playing as the US and I was rapidly becoming the most technologically advanced nation and I was watching Europe and Poland and Germany allied and then Poland and Estonia invaded Russia 😂 keeping historical AI focuses is so fun 😂😂

[@kerkonig5102]

there is two ways to attack succesfully. Deplete your enemys orga, making them lose the combat and retreat, this barely even works beocuse most people figured out how to spamm "small" infantry divisions mening that in a plains tile there usualy are up to 10 divisons roughly 16 width. meaning that in plaines at least 5 divisions (probably even 6 divisions) in there at all times. making it neccesary to deplet 250 orga (300 if its 6 divisions) bevore your enemy can reinforce. That is basicly impossible with divisions alone, especialy with signal companies giving additional reinforce rate. However it is possible with exesive air support, asuming oyur enemy lacks in air defense. Additionaly attack divisons need a LOT of supply, menanig that even in europe they often fight with a supply disadvantage. lets take oyur example. with a inf diviosn with 122 soft attack and 43 orga you will never do enough damage to push an enemy out, before you yourselfe runn out of orga. so this is objektively a bad attack diviosn and only works agianst very minor nations at the start of the game, or agianst players who have no idea what tehy do. Comparing one divison againts one divison is not only unrealistic but also unfairt to your own test method. your arty inf is considerably more expenisve then your enemy pure inf defense. so he would never fight you one on one, and more like two on one, making this test invalide. So the other way to winn is by destroying your enemy resources, all ww1 style. Each attack of yours needs to destroy more of the enemys soldiers and equipment then you lose in the attack. This is achivable with high planing bonus and lots of artillery. However this too is imperfekt becouse wehn your enemy counters wiht certain unit types like tanks or artilery of his own you likely start to lose more then you destroy. Let's take you inf agian as example with 122 soft attack and 40 ish orga this division is perfekt to defeate atacking enemy arty heavy divisions. With tnaks this porblem is even more visible. the only reason why tanks "winW agains infantry/artillery is becouse they have the armor bonus. EManing they only take 50% of all attacks and make a d6 instead of a d4 damage to org (org only) so rougly in the mean value 50% more damage against enemy org. That only counts if oyu have armor bonus. if oyu lack supply (supply not fuel) yor armor gets reduced (as stupid as that is) and if oyur enemy has somewhat decnet piercing oyu lose not only the damage reduction, but alos the increased orga dmage. Making tanks only realy usefull against bad enemy tanks or infantry. If your enemy has as much as one or two tanks destroyers with halfway decent pirecing he will always pierce you, setting oyu back t osquare one. Honestly i have yet to figure out a decent way to properly attack in this game that is not reliant on your enemy lacking a certain resource or weapon in his army. aka that doesn't rely on my enemy beeing stupid.

[@luthfihar3211]

this is a very nice explanation for the basics of HOI4 land combat, for any beginners this much game sense could already win most encounter against the AI in single player HOI4 isn't actually that hard of a game at the basics, the real fun of the game is making your own challenge by doing alternative history and also optimizing the little things you manage like units and economies while escalating the scope of the game to make increasingly harder scenarios

[@Morgoth052]

Great video. Thanks!

[@takh8552]

My man youre underrated

[@snekksuperior]

Thanks for the video, zaddy TerribleStrategist

[@moontworks2232]

12:39 what dod you expect? CAS is king!

[@Mark-xf9xv]

best tutorial i have had for hoi4

[@TheSlig]

To last longer i gota add artillery, got it😜 jokes aside a great tutorial for new players

[@TerribleStrategist]

We all know artillery isn't good for organization lol. It's good for attacking against soft targets though.

[@alesiswhite9010]

@@TerribleStrategist true hoi4 gamer ^

[@somedude44]

can't wait to try my new artillery only division

[@stoonley4]

So one of the most important things is supply, cool, how do you get supply…😮

[@manueliovescu-udvardy7175]

Supply hubs, railways

[@Rubeh7]

thank for this tutorial. I just started with hoi4 , and the thing I have been struggeling with the most is war. I tried diffrent tutorials, but they dind't help that mutch. This has helped me understand a bit more about how attacking works. So good job👍

[@English_mapper.]

Im new to hoi4 and i coild not defeat poland but now i can thank you

[@zurtus3215]

ive played for 700h and i finally know how combat works lol

[@somedude44]

Lol I kept losing till 300 hours when I decided I'll just watch a tutorial wasn't this one but it was pretty similair and now I can hold my own against ai on regular For anyone who is still clueless please just watch like a 20 minute video about ground combat it covers about 80% of the game

[@why-ue1tu]

Idk why but when you say hard attack the automatic subtitles show heart attack and it’s funny asf

[@Jcococola]

300k views and 1k subs. It’s a cruel world.

[@justsomeeggsinapot1784]

Seriously, youtube's system really doesn't care for quality over quantity

[@Zeldaplayer838]

@@justsomeeggsinapot1784fr

[@matthewjones39]

The whole point of subscribing is if you want to see a youtuber’s new content. You aren’t obligated to watch everything they make because you found one video helpful.

[@NebKrahe]

Well, that was informative

[@nicolasrodriguez3552]

You tutorial is simply nice, but what is the thingy of the templates that is like u can’t add more things of infantry, anti air…?

[@avitus5770]

I have several hundred hours in this game and I never clicked these bubbles before. Which means I also didn't realize how big the supply/terrain debuffs are. Sheesh.

[@emortalelitegaming2667]

When I can afford inf, with a few arty and about 4 mechanized usually works, and then a tank divisions about 10med tanks with 2 rows of mech and maybe some arty

[@Tripintrios]

Question I have around 60 hours in this game so far and I’m wondering how to build supply in a war state? I usually try to rush supply ports but they are usually well defended especially when I’m attacking France

[@jonathanowen9917]

Useful guide. I ran the tutorial but it wasn’t too helpful. Now I am going to play my first multiplayer game. Hopefully it goes better with these tips 😬😅

[@nosferatustg7675]

Honestly i wish i could watch a video like this when i first picked up the game lmao Good stuff

[@SublimeSoundwaves]

man im struggle as a minor when them majors decide to push on you esp the Briish it's usually a game over no matter how strong my division is I can't compete with all those resources, factories combined

[@bulldog6545]

Bought it yesterday, decided to play as Afghanistan, attacked Iran with 12 infantry and 1 royal guard and I immediately got flatlined 😅

[@hitwdsyukag8339]

subscribed

[@alesiswhite9010]

Needed this

[@SirPeacemaker]

You didnt mention what changes you made at 6:35 when suddenly you are winning.

[@F1nn12h]

Whats a good number for armour, soft attack and hard attack?

[@rwagingsloth9528]

im a bit late here, bt just wanted to point out that your audio is a bit low. my laptop speakers are pretty mediocre and at full volume i still struggled to hear you clearly. its usually better to upload the videos with audio a bit louder as it's easier to adjust the volume down. great ivdeo otherwise, im just getting back into Hoi4 after a few months break and needed a refresher like this!

[@connor7272]

Nothing gets me off more than a big green bubble with the number 99 in it

[@piggeneral1275]

This video should *straight up* be in the tutorial of the game.

[@wimvhaastere7504]

If you make an explanatorial video, it would be helpful if u would show us why u won that battle with inf. And not just say: I changed something but I would tell u what, only that I added soft attack an breakthrough. SHOW the stuff u are explaining. Takes us into the why and how. Would have made this video much better.

[@huguesdepayens807]

I have over 1,700 hours in hoi4 and I only just learnt what piercing was.

[@Resonable_Force]

Got 1.6k hours the only reason i´m watching this is because i started to play kaiserreich and my god i hate that mod.

[@silascomputer]

Hopefully i Can finally get good at the game now!

[@kingnevermore25]

Pretty useful tutorial. I am playing as the Soviet Union and i am destroying Germany even though i have 0 air superiority lol

[@Bloodknight7567]

The real Chads make divisions so powerful you can defend and attack with

[@valentinoriva5566]

Fantastic video

[@DeutscheDemokratischeRepublik]

In my first hour of HOI 4 rn, there's just so much information on my screen, its hard to keep track.

[@christianmaccaro1088]

I Ve player for less than 100 hours but the thing i didnt really understand was how combat works plus how to move infantry in the Sea or in the air

[@Mafcagile]

im comin back to hoi4 because as i get older and more uh wiser or some shit i realise what i did before in the game and I was like: damn, im really fucking stupid. so this tutorial will be cool ig, so im finna watch it gang.

[@dh599]

I used to be decent at HoI4, but it feels like so much has changed, when I last played there was no Tank designer, no Spy agencies, Navel was easier to figure out.

[@sergentsnugglemuffin1543]

You guys don’t spam divisions and ram them into plains?

[@kingloser4198]

Wonder what the template of the infantry attack that worker looked like... 😀

[@Sidewinder11771]

4:45 never use inf to attack if you don’t have to. Only special forces or tanks unless the nations is really weak like Japan fighting china or majors fighting other minor nations.

[@BigBossXCV]

Nice video but i should suggest not to put leg infantry with tanks (aka space marines) because they will only go 4km/h and if you need to push it's not worth. Tank designs should only have motorized or mechanized (if you are low on production you can use cavalry)

[@catnaut9035]

is attacking on bridge provinces like bremen better?

[@gamergamer7515]

Just for interest, were you using a mod? If yes which.

[@Lykosdefra]

How did you manage to do this kind of simulation? Is this a mod?

[@brocksamson3282]

how do you have a high supply?

[@GyattBoyCool]

Where does motorised and mechanised divisions play into all this?

[@Gray_ninja]

Instructions unclear, my Norway was capitulated by Finland

[@A_curious_chicken]

nice video

[@Electronzap]

Nice.