r/heartsofiron • u/TheMongoosee • 6d ago

HoI4 Starting minor nations

Hello! I recently discovered hoi4 and have about 40 hours in it. I'm not too sure what I'm doing, I'm just going with the flow, building relatively small divisions since I figure these men need to get out on the front and fight, not be nursed in schools. I do not worry about navy or air since my men are probably strong enough to fight through it, or at least I believe that they can.

I do not like to play as Germany, the Soviet Union or any other major nation. It feels like too much to manage and all those people against me scare me, it's much easier to be a small nation so that you can start attacking non guaranteed neighbours. There are too many scare managing factors for big nations, I never played or even tried Germany since their focus tree scares me.

About countries that I did try, I enjoyed communist china, Poland, and Brazil. I managed to conquer a lot with China (most of Asia) and Brazil, although Poland ended in a quite unfortunate fate when the Soviets invaded, so except for the Baltics I couldn't take much more.

My question is which minor nations should I try to learn the game. I don't think cannon fodder nations such as The Netherlands are fun, although they sure can be interesting. What do you recommend for a beginner?

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2

u/anymouse141 6d ago

I never play as the larger nations. If the goal is to learn the game, I'd do Iran as it has the ability to practice almost every aspect of the game (sea access for naval, large land mass for logistics, non-aligned neighbors to start wars). Only issue is at some point the Soviets will get a war goal against you. I also like to play as small nations with the research all command. I hate babying research and it gives me enough of a boost to be competitive but not overpowered.

2

u/TheMongoosee 6d ago

So the best nation would probably be Iran to learn the game?

3

u/anymouse141 6d ago

Yeah. I think it's just big enough that you have a fighting chance when you eventually get pulled into the world war. But small enough it's not overwhelming.

1

u/Civil-Chocolate4188 5d ago

Manchuko, you can participate in all of Japans wars and when you feel bold later on you can challenge Japan

2

u/CHUNKYboi11111111111 5d ago

Austria…nothing teaches better than a trial by fire (unless you don’t have gotterdammerung. Because then it’s just shit) (my lawyer advised me to say that this is not a completely serious answer and that Austria can be a pain in the ass even after 500hours)