14 DAY TRIAL // The team at Paradox Development Studios might be about six months away from the launch of Hearts of Iron IV, but they are ready to reveal the major changes that are being introduced to the air combat system of the grand strategy experience.
The biggest modification is that the studio is no longer working with wings of airplanes but with individual pieces of equipment, and the player will be able to simply order one of his airbases to send a specific number of them to one strategic region in order to perform a clear mission.
The team says that the new areas of the map are pretty large, with France divided in just two, and based on how the player allocates his resources, a new Air Superiority value is calculated, which can influence the performance of ground forces.
The actual missions are launched twice every day, and once it is in the air, the enemy has a chance to detect it and then intercept it, and only the remaining aircraft after the battle is over will actually execute the final mission.
The development team explains on the official forums that they already had plenty of ideas about the new mechanics, based on the changes that they wanted to introduce in the For the Motherland and Their Finest Hour expansions for the third title in the series.
The idea is to eliminate as much micro-management as possible in order to give players more strategic choices.
Hearts of Iron IV does not have any stacking limits for planes, but fights happen either 1 versus 1 or 2 versus 2, to better reflect the situation in the actual second World War.
The core categories now include fast and agile fighters, powerfully armed heavy fighters and bombers, each with a new agility stat for all included hardware.
The teams adds, “Speed now affects targeting order in combat. Faster planes get to pick their targets first. Because of this, speed and firepower will be the most important attributes for planes you intend to intercept bombers.”
Paradox is also introducing Aces to Hearts of Iron IV, which can appear after big fights and will then improve the efficiency of the air wings they work with.
The studio wants air combat to be more focused on planning and production, which will better reflect the historical reality while introducing interesting choices for the player.
Hearts of iron IV will be out on the PC in the first few months of 2015.