That’s “En Svensk Tiger,” which is less cool than it sounds. That’s “Neutral Foreign Policy,” which prevents you from doing anything exciting until World Tension (more on that later) is at its max.

Below that is a space called “National Spirit.” Spirits modify the way your country behaves in all fields, and are important to stay on top of. We won’t do anything here yet, but we will familiarize ourselves with it.Īt the top, tere is a large button that should read “Select National Focus.” That’s important, but we’ll come back to it. This is divided into horizontal sections. This should open a tab on the left side of the screen with a picture of your leader and a whole bunch of other stuff. You reach it by clicking on the picture of your country’s flag in the top left of the screen. There will be a lot of notifications at the top telling you what to do, but we’ll go through them in a certain order so you can set yourself up for success. This shows the map, with the various buttons at the corners. You should now be looking at what I call the standard screen. After that, select “Start Game.” After some loading, you will be taken to the main screen of the game. Make sure the box for “Historical AI Focuses” is checked. Click on the country, then select your difficulty (if you’re really new, I’d suggest civilian). To its north is Sweden, which we’ll use for this guide. This will bring up a map of the world, centered on Germany. Instead, click on the “Other Countries” portrait. I’m here for concepts, not controls) Of the seven countries you can pick, you already tried Italy, which sucks. (At this point, I’m assuming you played the tutorial. You will have the option to choose one of seven countries to play as. When you start a new game, choose the 1936 starting date. Welcome to Hearts of Iron IV! This game is confusing, so let’s keep things simple.

Hearts of iron iv beginners guide