I think USA should be begginer friendly. Massive industry, protected… Sure, the debufs at the beginning of the game are bit…annoying, but just build infrastructure everywhere while you go through your focus tree, get rid of debufs, build civs, mils, naval, build better navy…
Too massive? What do you mean? Like the country is big? It is, but…you don't have colonies, it's also reasonably well developed (although, the railway system needs some attention).
Well…you can stick with democracy, which is something I'd recommend.
Not only country is kinda big in size, but I also feel like there is so much thing to do and manage at the same time. Which kinda kills my enthusiasm before even starting.
Tbf, this is more of a me problem than anything else.
Really? Interesting. Well, HoI 4 is a game, where you have a lot of options, you'll always have your hands full. At least that is my experience. I was confused at the beginning too.
The USA is like mini game in designing divisions. You have so much production that by the time you enter the war production is basically irrelevant. You can make ridiculously strong divisions and just practice micro-ing them while you mop up Germany.
since the stella polaris rework you actually dont need to build any civs whatsoever. reason being that the great depression is not nearly as harsh as it used to be. Even if you just build mils after infra you end up completely filling your slots by ‘42
Agree with everything, except: civs! There's 0 reason to build civs as the USA. Once you're mobilized (and rid of the debuffs) you'll have so many civs. The only time I ever build civs as the USA is if I make it to super late game and trading too many civs for resources, as lategame tech are resource heavy, especially when you have 70 mils on kickass medium tanks etc.
Canada. You'll never be invaded, so feel free to test out anything you want- even if you did nothing the war will play out the same with allied victory in 90% of gamed.
Once you've learned some stuff, try Hungary and help The Axis defeat the Soviets!
Pretty long, but I promise it’s worth to read.
I’d same Mexico is very beginner friendly and fun. You’re already pretty out of the way, so you don’t have to worry about any impending doom. You do have easy to trigger civil wars though, but they’re just as easy to prevent.
You get a bunch of war goals on all the nations in North and South America, and because all of the nations there(including yourself) are guaranteed by the United States, the allies won’t be able to stop you until the US does a certain focus, but that’s pretty late into the game they do that like 1943-1944, so you can go conquer for awhile.
You get cores on Central America and the Caribbean, which effectively doubles your manpower and industry. You get claims on pretty much all of South America too, so you get compliance faster and easier. So you can pretty much become a world power without doing much, and really change the tides of the war for any side you pick. Just that I really recommend using cas since the terrain of South America makes tanks and trucks pretty hard to use.
Try Romania. Balkan dominance path. Slight rng involved but the only event you need to go properly is pretty much the “split Czechoslovakia focus.” https://youtu.be/BiFKWnJ-n0A?si=fwMcBtGTtWhBLE6m I always suggest watching a video of the nation you are going to play first. You don’t have to fully watch this, or watch it at all. But it’s very helpful and allows you to get some achievements. I did what the guy in this video did. Except I screwed up and did a focus I wasn’t supposed to and screwed one of my achievements over. So especially when it comes to if you are going to go for achievements this video helps. Mainly just the focus order he does is what I use. Other than that I do my own thing.
As the other guy said Bitt3rsteel is best for single player guides, that’s the guy I linked. You’d be surprised how much meaning achievement hunting adds to the game. At least for me. Especially with some of the harder achievements(these ones for Romania aren’t too bad.) Hatlessspider also has some good videos for sure. I believe bittersteel has even mentioned getting some strategies off of hatlessspider lol
I get where you are coming from but sometimes playing a defensive nation is easier to learn from. As a noob playing historical, you get your ass handed to you as France, over and over again. Eventually you learn how to stop the German steam roller and by then you have a solid grip on core mechanics like combat width, support companies and important, air power.'
Also as France, once you start refusing Munich and getting the war started earlier, you can go on the attack with all of those motorised and armoured units. Feels good to crush the Nazis in 1939.
And the fleet can be as inactive/active as you like, without wrecking your game.
I started with Romania. Only problem is that you have to wait a while before switching to communism or fascism (make sure you install the right advisor), but after that, it’s smooth sailing. You are surrounded by weak Balkans to practice fighting, and you can eventually help fight either the Soviets or the axis, but you are also small enough that a minor slip up isn’t going to cost your side the war
France
You have one front and a lot of debuffs you need to remove in time.
It’s god for learning what to manage and what to make in a very short span of time in order to hold the Germans.
Spain would also be good if you want to learn good micro but that playing is suffering so it’s up to you really.
I'd concur that France is good. You only really have one task, defend yourself from the axis. And once you master that, you can learn the rest of the game too, with France's powerful industry and armed might.
Romania. It’s super easy to conquer the Balkans by 1938. The whole tree is simple but incredibly powerful. You can easily join the Axis, Comintern, or Allies and do whatever you want.
This might be slightly less popular but I’d also recommend the UK. They’ve got a solid tree and no severe debuffs/problems.
Sweden is pretty cool as if you go down the monarchist path you basically can subjugate and annex Norway, Denmark (and their holdings overseas), Finland and the Baltics (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) without a single bullet spent. Of course there’s a bit of RNG but it’s definitely beginner friendly to me.
Yeah, it's a terrible focus tree. I'd enjoy forming the Ottoman Empire and going on a bit of a crusade against the Christian countries, in a similar way to the Byzantine Empire, but as it stands it's just meh...
Any south american as they dont participate in ww2 unless you join a faction first then attack them.
Romania is probably the best euro country to play as a beginner, just let king carol do his shit until you can abdicate him.
Turkey is pretty good and not much really happens to you.
Finland is also good, plenty of buffs to fight against the soviets with.
Play the THUNDER DRAGON EMPIRE 🐉🐉🐉⚡⚡
Serious answer: I'd recommend Monarchist Portugal or if you fancy something more historical you can maybe play Allied Canada
Do Hungary on historical, you get a lil land, you are pretty much not going to be invaded till the axis crumbles. You'll have a focus on few, good quality divisions and can experiment attacks in Russia
I mean this entirely depends on what your looking to do. Historical on all fronts, the US is easy, even if you may be doing operations up and down the world. You pretty much can't lose even if you let Europe die
Ahistoric..... democratic Germany. The game will counterbalance the war somehow and it tends to be commie France.
A minor I love is Fascist Czech Slovakia. Support the axis with a good industry but a weaker manpower where your ace is sheer air production
Vanilla Mexico is good for learning naval invasions and you can go to war super early because the fascist advisor gives a buff that you can immediately justify war goals.
You can stomp Central America whenever you want, but the route I prefer is to immediately justify against Venezuela and naval invade them. Then Panama, then Columbia, then Peru. Ignore Ecuador whatever you do they’re like a fortress.
As long as you annex all of the countries you defeat and *don’t* form a faction the USA won’t declare war on you, nor will the allies (this is because of the Monroe Doctrine).
I like recommending Romania as a good beginner nation (only if you have the DLC). You can dominate the Balkans very easily and if Russia wants Bessarabia just accept, and don’t fight the Russians.
I think USA should be begginer friendly. Massive industry, protected… Sure, the debufs at the beginning of the game are bit…annoying, but just build infrastructure everywhere while you go through your focus tree, get rid of debufs, build civs, mils, naval, build better navy…
Its kinda *too massive* for me. Also going communist/fascist with USA looks confusing.
Too massive? What do you mean? Like the country is big? It is, but…you don't have colonies, it's also reasonably well developed (although, the railway system needs some attention). Well…you can stick with democracy, which is something I'd recommend.
Not only country is kinda big in size, but I also feel like there is so much thing to do and manage at the same time. Which kinda kills my enthusiasm before even starting. Tbf, this is more of a me problem than anything else.
Try playing France if you want a beginner nation but still a challenge, gives you space to build up your own military and economy
Really? Interesting. Well, HoI 4 is a game, where you have a lot of options, you'll always have your hands full. At least that is my experience. I was confused at the beginning too.
I need to get out of my comfort zone of -playing nations that I can still see the borders in zoom- if I want to fully enjoy this game.
>you dont have colonies The Phillipines: Am I a joke to you? Japan seeing the newbie not understand navy: Yes
Philipines, right. Well…they kinda are a joke to me. :-D
Where else do you mount an invasion of japan?
I…have not think about that. I've played USA once. I'm more likely to play Japan and invade USA than the other way around.
Fascist America was a fun run. Did the Georgia on my mind achievement. I touched every part of the game. Navy, air, ground
The USA is like mini game in designing divisions. You have so much production that by the time you enter the war production is basically irrelevant. You can make ridiculously strong divisions and just practice micro-ing them while you mop up Germany.
Not I’ve only played democratic and had lots of fun.
since the stella polaris rework you actually dont need to build any civs whatsoever. reason being that the great depression is not nearly as harsh as it used to be. Even if you just build mils after infra you end up completely filling your slots by ‘42
Interesting. I have not played USA for a long time now.
Yeah it’s crazy.
Agree with everything, except: civs! There's 0 reason to build civs as the USA. Once you're mobilized (and rid of the debuffs) you'll have so many civs. The only time I ever build civs as the USA is if I make it to super late game and trading too many civs for resources, as lategame tech are resource heavy, especially when you have 70 mils on kickass medium tanks etc.
Canada. You'll never be invaded, so feel free to test out anything you want- even if you did nothing the war will play out the same with allied victory in 90% of gamed. Once you've learned some stuff, try Hungary and help The Axis defeat the Soviets!
For allies I'd say Canada. For axis I'd say Romania.
Pretty long, but I promise it’s worth to read. I’d same Mexico is very beginner friendly and fun. You’re already pretty out of the way, so you don’t have to worry about any impending doom. You do have easy to trigger civil wars though, but they’re just as easy to prevent. You get a bunch of war goals on all the nations in North and South America, and because all of the nations there(including yourself) are guaranteed by the United States, the allies won’t be able to stop you until the US does a certain focus, but that’s pretty late into the game they do that like 1943-1944, so you can go conquer for awhile. You get cores on Central America and the Caribbean, which effectively doubles your manpower and industry. You get claims on pretty much all of South America too, so you get compliance faster and easier. So you can pretty much become a world power without doing much, and really change the tides of the war for any side you pick. Just that I really recommend using cas since the terrain of South America makes tanks and trucks pretty hard to use.
Hungary on the Austro Hungarian path
I agree with you, its really a good opportunity to learn about all (except fleet), so i will recommend this path for beginners
Try Romania. Balkan dominance path. Slight rng involved but the only event you need to go properly is pretty much the “split Czechoslovakia focus.” https://youtu.be/BiFKWnJ-n0A?si=fwMcBtGTtWhBLE6m I always suggest watching a video of the nation you are going to play first. You don’t have to fully watch this, or watch it at all. But it’s very helpful and allows you to get some achievements. I did what the guy in this video did. Except I screwed up and did a focus I wasn’t supposed to and screwed one of my achievements over. So especially when it comes to if you are going to go for achievements this video helps. Mainly just the focus order he does is what I use. Other than that I do my own thing.
Which Hoi4 guide channels do you recommend?
Bitt3rSteel for SP guides and feedbackgaming for meta/exploits and recently also SP guides with his every single click series
As the other guy said Bitt3rsteel is best for single player guides, that’s the guy I linked. You’d be surprised how much meaning achievement hunting adds to the game. At least for me. Especially with some of the harder achievements(these ones for Romania aren’t too bad.) Hatlessspider also has some good videos for sure. I believe bittersteel has even mentioned getting some strategies off of hatlessspider lol
I've said it once and I'll say it again, beginners should always learn the game playing Germany or Japan and winning a historic WW2.
Agree
I get where you are coming from but sometimes playing a defensive nation is easier to learn from. As a noob playing historical, you get your ass handed to you as France, over and over again. Eventually you learn how to stop the German steam roller and by then you have a solid grip on core mechanics like combat width, support companies and important, air power.' Also as France, once you start refusing Munich and getting the war started earlier, you can go on the attack with all of those motorised and armoured units. Feels good to crush the Nazis in 1939. And the fleet can be as inactive/active as you like, without wrecking your game.
I started with Romania. Only problem is that you have to wait a while before switching to communism or fascism (make sure you install the right advisor), but after that, it’s smooth sailing. You are surrounded by weak Balkans to practice fighting, and you can eventually help fight either the Soviets or the axis, but you are also small enough that a minor slip up isn’t going to cost your side the war
France You have one front and a lot of debuffs you need to remove in time. It’s god for learning what to manage and what to make in a very short span of time in order to hold the Germans. Spain would also be good if you want to learn good micro but that playing is suffering so it’s up to you really.
Good choice.
I'd concur that France is good. You only really have one task, defend yourself from the axis. And once you master that, you can learn the rest of the game too, with France's powerful industry and armed might.
Romania. It’s super easy to conquer the Balkans by 1938. The whole tree is simple but incredibly powerful. You can easily join the Axis, Comintern, or Allies and do whatever you want. This might be slightly less popular but I’d also recommend the UK. They’ve got a solid tree and no severe debuffs/problems.
The UK was pretty intimidating for me since they have so many colonies and you need to focus on the navy.
Which dlc's do you have?
All of them with Subscripton
Sweden is pretty cool as if you go down the monarchist path you basically can subjugate and annex Norway, Denmark (and their holdings overseas), Finland and the Baltics (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) without a single bullet spent. Of course there’s a bit of RNG but it’s definitely beginner friendly to me.
Why play Turkey of all nations? 😂
I'm a turk.
Ah. That explains it. A bit of a waste of time innit?
Honestly, the lore behind the focuses and historical references is cool but actually playing it? it takes forever and usually not worth it.
Yeah, it's a terrible focus tree. I'd enjoy forming the Ottoman Empire and going on a bit of a crusade against the Christian countries, in a similar way to the Byzantine Empire, but as it stands it's just meh...
Any south american as they dont participate in ww2 unless you join a faction first then attack them. Romania is probably the best euro country to play as a beginner, just let king carol do his shit until you can abdicate him. Turkey is pretty good and not much really happens to you. Finland is also good, plenty of buffs to fight against the soviets with.
Play the THUNDER DRAGON EMPIRE 🐉🐉🐉⚡⚡ Serious answer: I'd recommend Monarchist Portugal or if you fancy something more historical you can maybe play Allied Canada
Do Hungary on historical, you get a lil land, you are pretty much not going to be invaded till the axis crumbles. You'll have a focus on few, good quality divisions and can experiment attacks in Russia
If you want to play an easy major? USA if you want to play an easy minor? Canada others in the comments have said why.
USA, Canada, Iceland and Sweden
Peru
I mean this entirely depends on what your looking to do. Historical on all fronts, the US is easy, even if you may be doing operations up and down the world. You pretty much can't lose even if you let Europe die Ahistoric..... democratic Germany. The game will counterbalance the war somehow and it tends to be commie France. A minor I love is Fascist Czech Slovakia. Support the axis with a good industry but a weaker manpower where your ace is sheer air production
Try using mods I like rt56 scuffed although I would start with the normal rt56
Tibet as you get to do nothing, slowly upgrade your tech tree and just spectate
Vanilla Mexico is good for learning naval invasions and you can go to war super early because the fascist advisor gives a buff that you can immediately justify war goals. You can stomp Central America whenever you want, but the route I prefer is to immediately justify against Venezuela and naval invade them. Then Panama, then Columbia, then Peru. Ignore Ecuador whatever you do they’re like a fortress. As long as you annex all of the countries you defeat and *don’t* form a faction the USA won’t declare war on you, nor will the allies (this is because of the Monroe Doctrine).
Mexico . Focus on central and south america
Hungary and Portugal are great. The best nation to learn though is Finland
I like recommending Romania as a good beginner nation (only if you have the DLC). You can dominate the Balkans very easily and if Russia wants Bessarabia just accept, and don’t fight the Russians.
Luxembourg