The "Starfire" Modification
(aka Recommendations for Paradox for improving Hearts of Iron)

Goal: To allow a player to play any nation in as realistic / historical situation as possible for the World War II era (starting in 1936 with an emphasis on multiplayer games).

Assumptions/Conclusions:

Raw materials in HoI can not be taken literally.

• Coal - this must represent more or less non-petroleum fuel sources (including wood).
• Steel - this is a generalization of metallic resources, including rare metals (such as bauxite).
• Oil - this is the only one that is fairly accurate to portray petroleum products (one point of oil is 0.1 million metric tons of oil)
• Rubber - primarily I am now using this to represent the agricultural production of a nation; also it still represents natural rubber and some rare/valuable materials and internal wealth of a nation (such as partially representing the banking of Switzerland).

Paratroop divisions should not represent an actual division. (i.e. multi-division strong paradrops are not reasonable)

Aims/Desires:

• No country's economy should "meltdown". (i.e. initial raw materials should closely supply the initial IC production of the country.)
• Minor countries should be more fun to play. This means the player should have more decisions they can reasonably make. This does not mean that minor countries are more powerful.
• Crash Free - as much as possible eliminate any potential crash issues.
• Hearts of Iron should be educational (names, skills, traits, economic factors should be accurate)

What has changed:

Everything! The economic model, AI files, units, tech tree, costs, and even events. About the only thing that hasn't changed are the graphics.

• Economic model - IC values for every nation have been adjusted to reflect historical GDP values. Resource values have been adjusted for historical production (relative to each nation's historical usage and production)
• AI files - numerous AI files have been added; combat parameters, build ratios, garrison values, R&D priorities all have been tweaked (mostly for the most involved nations, but minor nations, specifically European minors have not been overlooked)
• Units - ground combat has been dramatically enhanced by the critical adjustment of GD values to eliminate the "threshold/dogpile" flaw. Combat values have been tuned for all units to better reflect and balance their traits and values.
• Tech Tree - times and costs have been adjusted to prevent tech rushing, to allow minor nations to develop more interestingly and overall development is much more historical.
• Costs - the cost to produce supplies has been dramatically altered (roughly three times as expensive); this is a critical and major change to HoI as it makes rebuilding damaged divisions expensive and difficult.
• Events - economic events have been added in to reflect historical trading. Other key events have been added or adjusted to better reflect the historical situation.

Download

Player's Guide

v1.05 Suggestions

v1.04 Suggestions

Overall Important Issues

• Documentation! HoI is far more enjoyable if you understand how it works. And modification is a frustrating experience unless you understand how it works. Paradox, please release more documentation and information!
• Stabilize Multi-player play - crashes seriously detract from the overall enjoyment.
• Diplomacy - this needs work, rampant tech sharing with zero cost ministers needs to be eliminated (either via a cost for tech sharing or a longer diplomat wait time). Trade agreements would be a huge improvement.