Guides
HOI4 Air Meta Guide 2026
Build efficient fighters, CAS, naval bombers, and carrier-based naval bombers with the current small-airframe priorities. This is for players who want to win air wars with fewer losses and less strain on rubber and aluminium.
HOI4 Multiplayer Division Templates 2026
This guide breaks down multiplayer division templates for major roles like tank destroyers, heavy tanks, amphibious landings, infantry, mountaineers, marines, and mechanized breakthroughs. It is for players who want to copy competitive layouts and understand why each template is built that way.
HOI4 Intelligence Agency Guide
How the intelligence agency works in Hearts of Iron IV: what operatives are, what the five upgrade branches buy, how cryptology and the Spy Master fit in, and why an agency started late never pays for itself.
HOI4 Production Efficiency Guide
Why two countries with the same factories produce different amounts of equipment in Hearts of Iron IV: how production efficiency builds on a running line, what retention keeps when you switch, when conversion beats replacement, and the habit that quietly costs the most output.
HOI4 Country Tags
Every Hearts of Iron IV country tag, the three-letter code console commands use instead of a country's name, with the ideology each nation starts under. Includes how tag, annex and puppet take them, and why a run that uses them earns no achievements.
HOI4 Sweden Guide
What Sweden starts with in Hearts of Iron IV, what its national spirits cost it, where the focus tree leads, and the openings the wiki's own editors recommend. Written for a nation with almost no video coverage, from the game's reference wiki.
HOI4 Turkey Guide
What Turkey starts with in Hearts of Iron IV, what its national spirits cost it, where the focus tree leads, and the openings the wiki's own editors recommend. Written for a nation with almost no video coverage, from the game's reference wiki.
HOI4 Poland Guide
What Poland starts with in Hearts of Iron IV, what its national spirits cost it, where the focus tree leads, and the openings the wiki's own editors recommend. Written for a nation with almost no video coverage, from the game's reference wiki.
HOI4 China Guide
What China starts with in Hearts of Iron IV, what its national spirits cost it, where the focus tree leads, and the openings the wiki's own editors recommend. Written for a nation with almost no video coverage, from the game's reference wiki.
HOI4 Romania Guide
What Romania starts with in Hearts of Iron IV, what its national spirits cost it, where the focus tree leads, and the openings the wiki's own editors recommend. Written for a nation with almost no video coverage, from the game's reference wiki.
HOI4 Canada Guide
What Canada starts with in Hearts of Iron IV, what its national spirits cost it, where the focus tree leads, and the openings the wiki's own editors recommend. Written for a nation with almost no video coverage, from the game's reference wiki.
HOI4 Resistance and Compliance Guide
How occupied territory actually works in Hearts of Iron IV: what resistance costs you, what compliance gives back, how occupation laws set both at once, and what garrisons draw from your stockpile. Includes the values the game uses at capture and the trade a harsher law makes.
HOI4 DLC Guide
Every Hearts of Iron IV expansion, country pack and theater pack, with what each one adds and when it was released. Explains the difference that decides a purchase — expansions rework systems for every country, packs add focus trees for specific nations — and which DLCs are already part of the base game.
HOI4 Achievements
Every Hearts of Iron IV achievement, grouped by the expansion that added it, with what each one asks for and the country that makes it manageable. Covers the three rules that decide whether an achievement can unlock at all — ironman, console commands and mods — and six worth clearing first.
HOI4 Console Commands
Every Hearts of Iron IV console command worth knowing, grouped by what you are trying to do: resources, instant construction and research, switching countries, special projects, spies, and the debug tools. Includes how to open the console on different keyboard layouts, and why a console run earns no achievements.
HOI4 Imperial Federation Guide
This plan covers how to rush the Imperial Federation as the United Kingdom, including the fast fascist route and a more normal autonomy-lowering route. It is for players who want the earliest workable formation date and the tradeoffs that come with it.
HOI4 Peace Conference Guide
This guide explains how peace conference demands work in Hearts of Iron IV, including war score, turn order, and the way factions split defeated territory. It is for players who want to understand why some countries get the biggest slice and how to spend points effectively.
HOI4 Sea Lion Guide 2026
This plan covers several ways to invade the UK in Hearts of Iron IV, from straightforward naval invasions to air-superiority drops and more abusive setup tricks. It is for players who want a reliable path to Britain with majors or weaker nations.
HOI4 MIO Guide 2026
This plan covers how to choose Military Industrial Organization perks by equipment type, with priorities for production, combat stats, and policies. It is aimed at players who want a practical way to pick strong perks without memorizing every tree.
HOI4 Supply and Logistics Guide 2026
This guide explains how supply, logistics, and air support decide frontline strength in Hearts of Iron IV. It is for players who want to hold long fronts, push through bad terrain, and build armies that do not collapse from attrition.
HOI4 Infantry Templates 2026
This guide covers how to build offensive and defensive infantry templates in Hearts of Iron IV, including doctrine choices, support companies, and when infantry is worth using at all. It is aimed at players who want practical division setups that perform in multiplayer and single-player alike.
HOI4 Tank Designs and Templates 2026
This plan covers tank technology priorities, practical tank variants, and the division templates they fit into. It is for players who want a clear path from research and design choices to usable armored divisions.
HOI4 Doctrines Guide 2026
This guide helps players choose doctrine paths in Hearts of Iron IV by role, with separate recommendations for grand, infantry, artillery/support, armor, and operations doctrines. It is aimed at players who want a fast tiered overview of which doctrine fits tanks, infantry, defense, or niche builds.
HOI4 Meta Division Templates and Tank Designs
The division templates that competitive Hearts of Iron IV play settles on under the regimental support system, with exact battalion counts, regimental and support company slots for line-holder infantry, infantry bricks, shield infantry, marines, SPGs and heavy tank destroyers. It also covers the tank module layouts those divisions rely on, for players who can already open the division designer and want the compositions rather than an explanation of it.
HOI4 Thunder at Our Gates: What's in the DLC and What's Free
A breakdown of everything Thunder at Our Gates adds, split into what the paid expansion unlocks and what arrives free for every player in the accompanying update. Written for existing Hearts of Iron IV players deciding whether the expansion is worth buying and what they need to relearn either way.
HOI4 Siam Focus Tree: Every Path in Thunder At Our Gates
Siam in Thunder At Our Gates is built around managing two rival factions of the ruling People's Party while carving territory back out of Southeast Asia with time-limited wars. This guide walks through every branch of the national focus tree — fascist, monarchist and democratic — plus the two industrial paths, the resist-or-submit decision and the naval choice, for players deciding which route to commit to.
HOI4 Dutch East Indies Independence and Conquest Run
An optimised Dutch East Indies path in Thunder At Our Gates that raises autonomy fast, forms the Netherlands Indonesia Union in September 1938, and ends with the United Kingdom capitulated in 1941. It is aimed at players comfortable with focus ordering, template design and naval invasions who want a repeatable route rather than a sandbox.
HOI4 Navy Meta: What to Build After the Naval Changes
The naval rework changed which fleets win and how naval dominance is earned, and the short answer is that cheap hulls in large numbers beat a small quality fleet. This covers the ship types worth producing, the destroyer-to-cruiser ratio that tested best, what submarines can still do, and why naval invasions of the UK are now far harder for minor nations.
HOI4 Special Forces Doctrines: Every Branch Ranked
The Thunder At Our Gates patch replaced the special forces doctrine system with one grand doctrine choice and a pair of sub-doctrines for each special forces type, and the branches are nowhere near equal. This guide ranks every option, gives the numbers behind each pick, and sets out the path to take for a standard special forces army.
HOI4 HQ Support Companies: The Best Army HQ Setup
Army headquarters give a general's whole army a set of commander bonuses, and only four support slots decide which ones. This guide ranks every HQ support company, names the three that belong in almost every HQ, and shows the proximity setting that keeps a general from being captured.
HOI4 Regimental Support Companies, HQs and Special Forces Doctrine
A new update puts a regimental support company slot into division templates, adds deployable army headquarters with their own support staff, and collapses the special forces doctrine branches into single paths. Covers which support company to slot for each air situation, how to build and position an HQ, and which doctrines and XP upgrades are worth taking, for players who already design their own divisions.
HOI4 Division Templates After the Thunder Rework
Concrete division templates and tank designs for the reworked division designer: how wide to build, which support companies to fit and in what order, and what to put in a tank, a garrison and an army HQ. Written for players who already know the division designer and want current numbers rather than an explanation of the interface.
HOI4 Army HQ System Explained
Learn how Army HQs work in Hearts of Iron IV after Thunder at Our Gates. This covers HQ design, useful support options, proximity effects, and how captured commanders are handled.
HOI4 Tank Designer Guide: Modules, Costs and Best Designs
Every chassis and module stat pulled straight from the 1.19.2.0 game files, not adjectives: exact armor, attack, reliability and IC numbers for an infantry-support tank, a main medium, a heavy, a tank destroyer and a cheap light tank, each backed by a screenshot from a real Tank Designer session and checked against three creators who don't fully agree.
HOI4 Soviet Union Guide: Purges, Industry and Encirclements
A historical, Iron Man Soviet Union playthrough covering the Political Paranoia purge mechanic, a purge-avoidance focus order, division and tank/plane designer builds, and the mass encirclement tactics that break the Wehrmacht once Barbarossa starts. No ship designer appears in the source video.
HOI4 France Guide: Napoleon Path and Munich Conference
A single continuous France campaign that rushes the Bonapartist 'Third Empire' monarchist-restoration branch for free war goals on the Low Countries and the UK, fixes the Disjointed Government national spirit first, then uses the Munich Conference decision to fight Germany on France's own timing. Covers the focus order, the only equipment design shown (aircraft — the source has no division templates or tank and ship designs), and the war through Spain, the UK, Italy and the USSR.
HOI4 UK Guide 2026: Focus Tree, Navy and Division Templates
A political route for the United Kingdom that engineers a war with France to trigger an early George VI accession, then runs the King's Party and Empire focus branches in parallel to core the United States through Canada and the Imperial Federation focus. Covers the France-war trick, the Create Pan-North-American State decision, one fully-specified late-game infantry template, and the eventual succession to Elizabeth II.
HOI4 Italy Guide 2026: Every Focus Path (By Blood Alone)
A tour of Italy's 314-focus By Blood Alone tree across twelve distinct playthroughs, from the historical Axis collapse and a competent-Mussolini Axis Victory through diplomatic, republican, papal, socialist, communist and novelty endings. Explains what triggers each path, what it becomes, and the two mechanics — a fast Ethiopian war and the Italian Civil War reset — that gate most of them.
HOI4 Japan Guide 2026: Focus Order, Doctrines and Strike South
A full Japan build for the No Compromise, No Surrender DLC: the creator's posted focus order and political-power spend order, the new doctrine-mastery and naval-dominance mechanics, a captured division template and ship/aircraft designer, and the pivot from the China war into a Strike South world conquest. Screen-only numbers and comment disagreements are called out separately from what the video actually says.
HOI4 USA Guide 2026: All Five Focus Tree Paths Compared
Every branch of the stock American focus tree explained side by side: staying neutral and banking industry, an earlier interventionist war, a democratic-socialist revolution, a MacArthur-led fascist coup, and a Confederate-revivalist civil war. Covers the shared opening, each path's key focuses and decisions with timestamps, and the only production and division-deployment numbers the source video shows on screen.
HOI4 Germany Guide 2026: Focus Order, Templates and MIOs
A historical-focus, Iron Man Germany playthrough covering the full focus order, the MIO (Ministry of Industrial Organization) equipment picks for tanks, planes and ships, and the division templates used from the Anschluss cavalry rush through Barbarossa. Includes the exact stats and IC costs pulled from Division, Tank, Ship and Plane Designer screenshots, plus what the top comments dispute.
HOI4 Modifiers Explained: Stacking and the Red Bubble
HOI4 multiplies combat modifiers instead of adding them, so eight ordinary bonuses compound into +848%. The same two divisions go from 1,064 soft attack to over 9,000 without changing a single battalion — here is every source, in the order to fix them.
HOI4 Navy Guide 2026: Fleet Composition and Ship Design
One destroyer template currently wins naval combat on its own. Here is that template, plus the systems underneath it — screening ratios, missions, doctrines, MIOs — so you can build the next meta template yourself when this one gets patched.
HOI4 Kaiserin Victoria: How to Get Her, and the Holy Roman Empire
The non-aligned monarchist Germany, not the fascist one: honest civil war, Kaiserin Victoria on the throne, the European Union and the Holy Roman Empire formed by mid-1939, and the USA annexed by December 1940 on 1,338 factories. Every gate, deadline and political-power threshold in order.
HOI4 Best Defensive Infantry Templates (2026)
The best defensive division is also the cheapest. Line artillery drags organisation into the mud, and a weaker-looking pure infantry brick holds a tile far longer than a lethal one — six variants built off that idea, from a 30-width baseline to a supply-starved emergency build.
HOI4 Soviet Union Guide 2026: Focus Order and Research Order
The reusable half of VijoPlays' Soviet run, in text: all 44 national focuses in order, the research order slot by slot, and every tank and plane design broken down to components — plus where the singleplayer and multiplayer paths diverge.