The new Hearts of Iron Patch is out. The readme file is too long to post, but lots of fixes/tweaks. The UK AI remains a problem, but this is one impressive game.
It’s becoming too much of a history book for my liking. See: Anschluss, Sudetenland.
Before 1.02, I could coup the Netherlands and bring them into the Axis. Now? Ha! Heck, it was actually possible to annex Austria earlier before the set event.
Then the things that do happen out of the norm are those that could never have happened historically - like Neville Chamberlain declaring war on Germany which is sitting quietly, just researching away.
Personally I’ve never had any luck diplo-annexing Austria prior to the event in the two years available, and I’ve tried it four games in a row with the 1.01 patch.
That’s probably a criticism (the history book) that is game engine specific. EU wasn’t exactly a completely open ended game. But I do see your point.
Not really, in EU and EU2 you could see some weird but believable stuff - like Poland conquering Russia, Prussia taking over Spain, a Scottish England, Brandenburg re-establishing Charlemagne’s kingdom (I shit you not, I saw this while I was Russia meddling in the East and trying to hold off Poland/Turkey.)
HOI is just a textbook. Yes it’s more limited in scope, but a German coup in Holland could occur, Germany could get Austria or Czechoslovakia sooner, and an alliance with Poland was VERY likely. Jozef Beck, the Polish foreign minister, repeatedly made attempts to align Poland with Nazi Germany. That was the whole non-aggression pact they signed.