HALP! HoI 3 vs AoD

[Shakermaker]

I am in the mood for WWII grand strategy. Thing is, I have hardly ever played the genre. Since most Paradox games are on sale this weekend I am in the market for either Hearts of Iron 3 or Arsenal of Democracy. Both games probably lack a proper tutorial (right?), so I know I will probably need to invest some time in learning stuff, but which game is the easier one to get into? I know I am gonna get hammered with stat screens, so how intuitive are the menus of either game? Also, I'd like to concentrate on military strategy, so how easy is it to automate political and industrial gameplay elements? And how does combat work anyway, is it possible to work out attack plans or do you simply push divisions across the map? I know you don't get down to the tactical level, but it would be nice f.e. to plan a Barbarossa that is successful.

 

[15357]

Er, HOI3 is quite confusing to me, and isn't optimized that well, the last time I checked, anyway. HOI3 does have a tutorial, but er, it's actually not that helpful, because there are so many things to get used to. HOI2 was much simpler, and well, more fun to play, imo.

AOD, from what I hear, is awesome.

HOI3 lets you automate everything, but I would never try to manual control every military brigade in HOI3. First of all, its annoying and difficult. Secondly, you have the option to let "fronts" and army groups handle themselves while you focus on the harder bits.

AOD has no military automation, as far as I know.


Combat is like this: You push divisions (or brigades, in the case of HOI3) through regions (again, HOI3 has WAY more regions) while simultaneously planning things such as air support, etc. etc. HOI3's many regions would let you work out attack plans in the Operational Strategy field, and yes, you could have multiple brigades push through enemy lines to surround and destroy enemy units. HOI2 and AOD has less regions, and therefore less operational maneuverability, but you can still plan blitzkrieg attacks.

 

[Shakermaker]

Great answer, thanks Numbers!

 

[Gargantou]

I don't own AoD, but have friends who do, and they all say pretty much the same thing, AoD is a more worthwhile purchase than HoI3 at the moment.

 

[Shakermaker]

Just bough Arsenal of Democracy and there seem to be loads of scenarios for the big operations during, but also after the war (the Suez crisis amongst others ). There actually are loads of tutorials so that is a good thing. The interface looks daunting though and I might have to download the manual. :O

 

[Gargantou]

My biggest gripes are always managing the larger nations like the Soviet Union who have so many military units, that's the only thing I like more about HoI3, the versatile delegation system for military units, you can choose exactly how much or how little to manage.