I found your video to be very helpful, and I was particularly happy to hear your comments on the field hospital. I am planning to dedicate a lot of time to playing Hearts of Iron 4 in the next couple of weeks and I will definitely return to your video to take more notes. Thank you very much for producing this!
Good guide,, few notes though: - In single players, from my experience pushing infantry divisions should be accompanied by a full row of artillery battalions. Higher organization doesn't justify lower firepower if you're trying to break through entrenched, high defense infantry. - Garrison divisions don't need organization to preform their function, meaning you can make a division with a single light tank and when you have factory or two to spare you can mass produce the cheapest 2.3pd inter-war light tank design for it. Just make sure you lock it in the equipment tab of the division and disable getting new equipment if you're planning on making more light tank designs. The 80% hardness makes a huge difference, especially if you're a smaller nation occupying swathes of land.
line artillery betallions are really ic inefficient compared to more 12w infantry with a support artillery, the right side superior firepower doctrine is too op to give up. the extra ic you save can be used for air (cas damages strength which gives huge stat malus) and tanks (encirclement steals equipment from the enemy with maintenance) enemy debuffs are multiplicative with your buffs so are always much better 👍
from my experience pushing infantry divisions a lot of the time just don't work anyway, because of the SEVERE defense bias that this game has, it's insane. i once tried attacking a port that had about 3 standard infantry divisions and 1 marine division with a bunch of attacking infantry divisions, and i couldn't get through. it was plains terrain, too. realistically in that scenario i would have wiped the floor with them, but for some reason hoi4 has so much bias for defense. honestly tempted to just play with the mod that nerfs defense across the board because it's ridiculous.
@@cr1tikal_arc if you show me the exact scenario with the division templates, army doctrines, encirclement around the port, supply status, planning bonus and enemy entrenchment… I’ll tell you what went wrong I agree defense can be OP but only if you’re attacking in bad conditions
In single player you can make a nice piercing (High Velocity Cannon) LT (Designated as a primary light tank)to use as your armored recon and piercing carries over. If you also build a Flame support with upgraded armor on both will push you armor past 10++ and have a 30+ piercing on a 24W pure inf. Reduces AT support and armor so that you can have a pure 24W inf.
Thanks! I have been using 2 year old templates until now. I always have field hospitals when playing as any axis powers. Otherwise i always run out of manpower, and i really hate sacrificing production for it. Now i am waiting for a naval guide for a each ship and each chassis. W/ fleet compositions
Youre welcome! They come in so handy. Easy to say theyre useless but if you take some major encirclement or attrition losses and run out you will reconisder. I have a naval template guide which is still almost completely up to date. Fleet comp guide I will do sometime in the future but the important thing to remember is 4 screens for 1 capital ratio wise always, #1 priority. And at least 1 capital for every carrier, max 4 carriers in a fleet.
in my experience (and following a guide) it is just torpedo heavy destroyers with optional asw and light cruisers the ai fleets don't have enough light attack to kill your ships as fast as u can push them out
When you build a strike group never go above 4 carriers. NEVER. I always do 4 carriers, 4 battleships and 32 screening ships Battleships = Heavy Cruisers, Super Heavy Battleships, Battleships Screening ships =Destroyers (Good at tanking) or Light Cruisers (Good at light attack) and for doctrines: Strong Strike Force & Find Subs = Fleet in Being Only Subs = Trade Intradiction Naval Bombers & Small Strike Forces = Base Strike Spirits: Naval Academy = Instilled Agression Navy = Naval Refit Yards Naval Command: Night Fighting or Inclement Weather Experience (If you have many carriers)
I just dont undestand your combat widths at all. Why or how is 24 width optimal when the most common terrains are plains (70), hills (70) and forest (60). Isn't 20 just all out better on averages or at least 23 if you want to build something soly for plains and hills? 24 * 3 = 72 so wouldn't that put you with only 2 divisions fighting at a time, while if you would have 23 * 3 = 69 you would have 3? Please explain the reasoning thank you
because combat widths doesnt matter in bigger picture plus there are General traits + tactics that change combat widths everytime. Don`t bother, be happy. unit STATS and air Dominance decide if you win or lose!
Plains are easy to push through anyway, best to optimize combat width for forests or urban instead, which is why meta infantry are 15 width (not 24 like this guy says)
You get all three divisions, git minor penalties because they only excede the combat width by a small margin. Whether that's better or not than 23 * 3 = 69 (nice), that's probably up for discussion. Bottomline is, your units will fight.
This is a really good guide. I have only two objections. First 40 width aren't good in this patch don't go above 36 combat width. And second for single player you really don't need antitank at all. I am also a big fan of the hospitals, the are really good for saving manpower especially if you are a lazy battle planner like me xD.
36 would be better than 40 for sure, but if youre only pushing with a single division 40 is viable just not perfect. Anti tank generally isnt a requirement for SP but if you fight late in the game the AI WILL use tanks so be warned.
If you can afford armored cars for your garrison they have better suppression than horses and offer the hardness of tanks without sacrificing tanks you can use for real offensive units.
@@teacheraccount6469 yes, if you have No Step Back DLC, you can design the cheapest possible light tank and use that for garrisons. If you dont have the tank designer, armoured cars are better
Thank you so much my dude, I've been playing Hoi4 for about 2 months now and still can't find a video that can help me understand and describes the templates so well.
These are the best Combat Widths to use: 10, 14, 15 and 20 width for your mainline Infantry/Marines/Para (dont add Line Artillery. Just make Light or Medium Tanks with Close Support Gun and add them to the Infantry (Space Marines), they're more effective and dont cost Tungsten. 24, 25 widths for Pushing Mountain and Marsh tiles. 34, 35 width for Tanks which are good at pushing Plains, Hills and Desert tiles. 15, 25, 35 are better than 14, 24, 34 but if you dont want to add the extra AA they're good enough. Edit after watching the video: 27, 40, 32 and 26 widths are bad dont use them.
All of those widths are viable, they are simply not the most optimal. 40 Especially is not great but its designed under the expectation you have almost no offensive divisions so the width is less of an issue.
What about the 30-width division template? 9 infantry and 4 artillery? Such a division should be suitable for fighting in the forest as well as in the plains.
@@damiang6644 they're only good in Forrest and Jungle just use one of widths i said for infantry and use the extra IC to build more CAS and/or Tanks. (Line Artillery is overrated th-cam.com/video/Ns7gwL7JXVA/w-d-xo.html) These are the conclusion i came to from watching Pydgins video on the combat width meta and personal experience (4k hours). (th-cam.com/video/lzJyHIXf2Ig/w-d-xo.html)
12w also fit into combat widths (pydgin), don't need aa or line arty to hit the width, and allow you to abuse superior firepower support arty buff to its fullest
I'm pretty new to hoi4 and always got stuck with germany when it came to conquer france but i've finally managed to beat them and i'm currently tryimg to kill the royal navy so thx for the guide it rlly helped
When playing singleplayer you only need like 2x24 of spacemarines (2:00) to go thru Benelux and then spearhead into Paris and 1x24 of normal divisions to hold the maginot
I remember a video a while back (before medical battalions got reworked) that said that they were basically useless because they were useless for majors because they often didn't need manpower and for minors because they were often too expensive
The people telling you that are min maxers 99% of the time. If you know the game well enough you don’t need them for the most part unless you’re a medium-small power. The problem with most hoi4 and paradox guides are they’re written for the 3k hour players more often than not. Trickle back is a really useful stat and if you plan to fight in areas with high attrition ir generally big and long wars. Dont be afraid to use them.
you can always get more ic mid war you can't always get more manpower mid war. they are basically mandatory on the Scandinavian nations. but on the other hand tanks lose very little manpower and are far more ic efficient than support equipment, so if you have aluminium go hospitals (like hungary) then chromium/steel/oil go tanks (like the nordics or British colonies)
i think it's a question of compromise. We have only a few slots. Should we sacrifice certain offensive stats for manpower perks ? I guess it depends on the situation, however I prefer to maximums organisation and offensive/defensive capabilities. For manpower I will rely on my vassal states.
@@Hammurabaethey’re great for battleplanners. Other than that they’re pretty eh. The trickle back is not that noticeable for most nations tbh. You have to be a nation with lots of factories but no manpower to really utilize them well. Sure they work fine but you only get 5 sup company slots. With so many other options that are much better
Finally someone who appreciates field hospitals. I play minors a lot and they are very strong if you have decent industry and low manpower, which admittedly was rarer back in the earlier days of the game, but now with so many minors that get strong industry focuses, they are great.
They are so good for minors and even medium powers. If you go pure armor its less of an issue but for a lot of playthroughs they remove a ton of late game issues.
(From Brazil/PT): Obrigado pelo tutorial camarada! Já não sei quantas vezes li nos fóruns e posts dentro da steam sobre o assunto e não consegui montar templates descentes! Obrigado!
24W inf with support arty and AA if you have enough ic to produce add other beneficial Support. These can hold as the Soviets, French in the beginning against Germans and Italians until you get your ic up to produce tanks and push them back.
They reworked the whole number of sides and combat width VS penalties in combat (depending on terrain)... Now generally speaking all widths suck except 10, 15 and 35.
one small correction. the games base targeting, even without coordination or initiative is 35%. so 35% of all combined attacks hit one target, and the rest gets spread evenly. its aminor technical thing tbh.
Like how AA is important (doing damn better job at it than fighters), I'd also recommend logistic company. especially if you're planning to invade something as big as soviet union, those lack of supply will really attrition you to death. Logistic company will mitigate how much your units will consume supply which can improve your situation. you're still in a pickle if your supply hub/rail isn't up to snuff or advanced to fast.
mp, hospitals and scouts can be used for their batalion modifiers being recovery rate, hp, and extra arti damage this makes them extramely good on tanks hold infantry and push infantry
Lmao why would you use military police or hospitals on tanks 😂 even recon doesnt make much sense, it only buffs line artillery which is never used in tanks In a tank division you want support anti-air, engineers, flame tanks, logistics, maybe maintenance or signals, maybe even support artillery (although usually there are better choices)
@@bighillraft on tanks yah but on inf hospitals give hp mp gives recov rate recon and more specifically the mountain version gives +15% arti dmg so yah its worth it
@@izul4223 ehh I still don't think mp is worth it on anything other than garrisons and maybe port guards, it does give recovery rate which is nice if you are getting relentlessly attacked and it also has enough stats to basically be another infantry battalion that doesnt take a combat width (also needs the support equipment and subtracts a bit of org though). however as there are only five support company slots, imo something like engineers, support anti-air, or support artillery (keep in mind soft attack still matters for defending troops, it determines how much damage the enemy takes when they are attacking you) will give you much better effects as for field hospitals, they are good I guess but I would only use them as a country with very large industry but very small manpower, which isn't very common. the problem with them imo is that they cost way too much (they are the most expensive support company, even needing trucks) for the benefit of saving a bit of manpower, which I never have problems with except, as I said, on a low pop country like Canada or Finland or something to each their own though, and I agree motorized recon and armoured recon are quite good in a lot of scenarios
I like how Feedbackgaming always complained about pioneers are bad for Mainfrontline Infantry divisions that want to push, ignoring the fact that without pioneers you just gets Counterattacked as hell and get huge Gaps in line
For Singleplayer, I've personally never used Anti-Tank as AI fails to make natural tank divisions; if playing a major going with space marines personally, I have found only success with using Heavy Tanks since you require less per division and the armor stat is so high it usually lasts me the entire game(For Reference, You only need 20 Heavy Tanks per division). 35w is the new meta for min-maxing your divisions for all terrains. FeedBackGaming goes super in-depth on what I've just said; most of his videos are about single-player meta's/"exploits."
spAA mediums are cheaper for the unit and can get good enough armour, heavy tanks mostly get hardness and anti tank which you won't be able to get enough of in space marines (armour is part average part heighest while hardness is only average) fbg is an okay content creator but he never stays up to date with the meta (his air and naval are usually terrible and he still uses suboptimal combat widths that are years old)
@@YakubMyBeloved@ samotter9509 The game has completely changed this year, and they're still updating every aspect of the game every couple of weeks, so it's hard to follow it. I just personally don't research AA enough to care; the plane meta is the most OP thing in the game, rn I built double engine double cannon 1 with armor fighters and legit only had 40 dead fighters to me, killing 800 enemy fighters going against all the allies. SPAA would be suitable for minors who don't have enough economy. If you're playing a major, you can play however you want. If you play Germany, you should make Tigers and dominate the field.
For my attacking inf I like 30 width it seems to work for a majority of my games. 10 inf bats 3 arty and an AA/AT bat brings me to 30 width and the aa/at is enough hard attack for tanks lmk what y’all think
wish every country could keep the industry demands of these templates xD especially early game or you re a minor. or you following a strat for an achievement. tho thanks for this guide, learnt somethings i didnt know.
Your tabs sometimes say 24 width when the template is actually 34 also one says 34 when the template is 32. So this is a bit confusing. Also have to echo sentiments below anti tank vs AI unless very late game is not worth it. Anti Air allows you to pierce the Germans most of the time so has dual purpose.
One other thing is tanks should always try to have mech. Especially in mp. And I'd suggest making sure to have your tanks at 35 width. So adding a motorized aa battalion would do the trick and you don't need it as a support company then, along with that tanks should have, repair, shovels, signal, light tank recon, and flame support companies
@@zanderray9823signal isn't worth it at all, you want enemy divisions to be fighting with low org and all collapse at the same time so you take the tile, it prevents new divisions from joining and replacing the beat up ones. far better off throwing an arty or rocket arty support. light tank recon is similarly debatable, its pretty rare to struggle with hard attack if you are using medium cannon 2s or howitzers and no TDs and another arty support just gives you easier breakthroughs remember, specialised anti tank tank brigades will always beat generalised tank brigades every time, so not as worth to bring light recon in generalist ones
As for the marine template: are you not using the pioneers you get from their doctrine? Or do you not take the doctrine path that buffs them? iirc there is one that buffs the pioneers and one that buffs the actual marines in different climates etc. I guess regular engineers are better on land while pioneers are only better for the actual landing? Also, what do you think about flame tanks or rocket artillery in marine divisions? Rocket artillery would replace the line artillery battalions and the flame tank... maybe the AA once I have air superiority? Or the engineers since flame tanks also provide terrain bonuses and I could give them that entrenchment module. Basically in my France playthrough I am doing a lot of early war around the Mediterranean where marines are very useful. I am just a bit worried that they'll be less useful (and expensive) later on when I already control most of the coastline I want. I plan on invading Russia eventually, so at least they'll be good in those marches :D
Hey. I have a small issue recreating your 40w Tanks 40' template. Specifically the last row, which seems to have both a tank destroyer and an anti-air unit in it. How do I do that? I seem to only be able to put units from the same unit group into a row :/
You need to have one designed already. When you design a tank at the top left there is a type button. Make sure to make tank destroyers and anti air tanks which use the right designation. Once you have one saved with that type you will be able to add it in division design, not before.
I believe a 10w infantry division with optional support artillery,aa and engineers will be most ic efficient. Although a 15w unit will be perfect for it.
Why should you NEVER use the rocket art 38 in singleplayer against armor? Because they do have decent piercing add perhaps 1 more AA but they are very strong.
God, been losing my mind with the late game (post 43) part. Been playing as England and haven't been able to break into Europe. US seems totally braindead and don't do anything. Glad I found your guide as it's recent as of the latest DLCs so thanks! However, still not working, can't melt the Axis forces, What do I do?
I just started and people confuse me, half of division guides say to aim for 40 org but like 3/4 ones u show are 30 some even in 20s i get it depends on terrain, but the maj still super small
Org essentially defines how long a unit stays in combat before being "deorged" and forced to retreat. With few units and low org you will be pushed easier, but low org and lots of divisions on your front it will matter less. Some people like high org because it gives them more safety I guess to be able to hold and push longer, but they sacrafice raw stats and pwoer. A 30-35 org unit will be strong but not last as long which in my eyes is more useful given war and this game is all about important moments, micro, and pushing power. Its up to you, and important to understand and decide what you prefer yourself. Anybody who says one way is better is biased and it comes down to style and preference, though org below 30 is bad always.
Could you maybe explain combat width, why are 20 widths not good anymore? Why 34 width for tanks, do you guys just test that? Does depend on the terrain? How can a normie like be figure out which width is meta right now?
The space marine used to be an exploit, now it slowly become the standard. I seeing HOI4 World Championship Tournament used it all the time, I mean it make sense in real war. Your country is poor, can't afford a whole Panzer like German or Russian, use put some tank in your infantry, opponent don't have anything to counter them, then you win.
HOI4 tournament players understand the mechanics and can deal with it, less experienced players struggle which is why its usually banned. The issue is not that using some armor with your infantry isnt realistic and viable, its the problem it abuses the way the game mechanics themselves are coded.
I like that you are trying to help people but this is putting less experienced player in a trap of spamming support companies and line artillery when that decreases org and in case of the artillery add too much combat width. Theres one of your space marine divisions that had 33 org which is not ideal for tank, infantry or space marine divisions. Edit: the key to getting good at hoi4 is understandin the mechanics and building your army around them, if I were to say somehing about these templates id say there are some that are pretty good but there are also some that are really bad. My advice is to think of whqt you need and build your divisions because the pretty good divisions might not work for your situation and the bad ones might actually be ok with the right conditions
armoured cars cost more than an inter war light tank with an lmg. and also have a Lower hardness and suppression meaning they take higher losses and you need more per resistance respectively also military police with one unit is terrible because you have to pay the support equipment for every unit. if you take mobile warfare and the free designs spirit you can make a huge light tank division only for garrisons (org doesn't matter) and you will pay far far less support equipment
fair enough that seems like the smarter way to go, tho ive never had problems with producing enough acs, but light tanks seem superior but all you have to do to remedy the second problem is increase the unit size to 5, and you start getting a refund on support equipment 40width just seems like a waste
Medium Tank Destroyers make no fking sense at all. Heavy tanks (destroyers) usually have more stat focusses companies and have higher base values in armor. They are also not really more expensive as the ht td use 40 but the light and med ones 50 tanks. That offsets their individual price increase usually
@@xDriger Most of the basic infantry ones: He puts too much not-infantry in them, making them expensive and low org. The second one (the 24 width one with all infantry) goes a bit too far in the other direction, but is still decent. The 10-width shouldn't have Engineers; they give percentage bonus which doesn't add up to much on such a small division, and adding them makes the division not cheap. Most of his 24-width ones have 2+ artillery and other special guns; that's too many support battalions for that size division and hurts org too much. It's not 2017 anymore, heavy artillery divisions aren't that good. The mechanized one is good, though. The ~40 org is acceptable, and it has the combat stats and speed to justify that it isn't 60. The big light tank division; 31 org and it costs 4700-7200 production. Yikes. The first medium tank division has a decent balance of battalions, but for some reasons his stats are bad. 18 armor on a mechanized? And 5.9 movement speed? He might as well use horse cavalry division, but this is probably due to having bad equipment in this case, not bad template. Or maybe we're looking at one that's out of fuel. He takes a detour to show signal companies, and I agree they're OK, but not because of the coordination mechanic which is what he highlights. The mountaineers; again, far too much artillery. Adding them significantly reduces the division's mointain terrrain modifier, which you need to be high in order to counter the default mountain penalty. You will actually do *less* soft attack in mountains with than without them, and as line artillery already makes the division worse at everything else than soft attack. Having 1 art in it to hit the 25-width (ideal for mountains) might be ok, but pure mountaineers at 12-width or 26-width is good anyway so why bother? The marines' artillery; same story. If you want to maximize soft attack on a landing, use smaller marine divisions so you maximize the number of support artillery companies - they add it without taking combat width or reducing the marines bonus. Finally, the garrison: The small one suffers the same problem as the very first division he showed; percentage modifier (MP) on a small division. This one gives less suppression per production cost than pure cav, you need ~8 cav battalions just to make even. The last one doesn't work as is; garrison template applies to all garrisons and when would you ever have *that* many tanks lying around that you can equip them all like that? If you do have some old ones, sure put them on garrison, just beware the numbers needed can scale up real fast.
@@jensdanbolt6953 Thank you for spending the type to write that, I really appreciate it, I've recently had my very win in Hoi4 (Civillian, and as Italy, but hey gotta start somewhere!)
Jezus, I've been resisting this all day. Guys I absolutely hate myself for it, and gentlemen, if it sounds like I'm being cruel, tell me. And if it sounds like I'm quaking in my boots, shivering me timbers, and going full-Shepard in my spacesuit, then I hope you'll understand why I might hate seeing a division template video on TH-cam for this stupid grbleing video game during the 2024th year of our lord. I'm sure the kid who picked "hammer-grble-me" as his name on TH-cam gave it a lot of thought first, and he was probably a dumb kid when he did it. And I'm sure he knows there are 276,568 videos about "templates" or whatever that garbage means. Kid, the world gets better when you move on.
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Note for myself:
0:29 infant infantry
1:00 line infantry
1:25 push infantry
2:00 space marines (light tank)
2:24 anti-tanks
2:49 hard infantry
3:19 mech (38+)
3:44 katyushas (-40)
4:00 katyushas (40+)
4:06 Light Tanks
4:43 Medium Tanks ❤ (-40)
5:22 Medium Tanks + (-40)
5:36 Medium Tanks (40+)
6:41 Maus
7:13 Mountaineers
7:42 Mountaineer + (medium tank)
7:51 Marines
8:26 Marines + (amphibious drive)
8:35 Snakes in the plane
8:53 Moar horses
9:06 Balkan upkeep
(Where is the port guard template at)
Port guard is the first 10w with only engineer Sup batallion
Note for me
balkan upkeep :D ( I think ı can be poland )
keep
"You may have heard others say Field Hospitals are awful, this is not true"
THANK YOU
Wow, even after 3,000 hours I still learn new things. I never knew about coordination, thanks!
I saw a TONS of template guides but none with this much depth and justification about choice you make. Congrats.
thank you for making actual good videos and breaking up the 1 hour long videos of straight-up waffling that plague the search algorithm
omg a template guide, finally 🫡🫡🫡
I found your video to be very helpful, and I was particularly happy to hear your comments on the field hospital. I am planning to dedicate a lot of time to playing Hearts of Iron 4 in the next couple of weeks and I will definitely return to your video to take more notes. Thank you very much for producing this!
Good guide,, few notes though:
- In single players, from my experience pushing infantry divisions should be accompanied by a full row of artillery battalions.
Higher organization doesn't justify lower firepower if you're trying to break through entrenched, high defense infantry.
- Garrison divisions don't need organization to preform their function, meaning you can make a division with a single light tank and when you have factory or two to spare you can mass produce the cheapest 2.3pd inter-war light tank design for it. Just make sure you lock it in the equipment tab of the division and disable getting new equipment if you're planning on making more light tank designs. The 80% hardness makes a huge difference, especially if you're a smaller nation occupying swathes of land.
line artillery betallions are really ic inefficient compared to more 12w infantry with a support artillery, the right side superior firepower doctrine is too op to give up. the extra ic you save can be used for air (cas damages strength which gives huge stat malus) and tanks (encirclement steals equipment from the enemy with maintenance)
enemy debuffs are multiplicative with your buffs so are always much better 👍
from my experience pushing infantry divisions a lot of the time just don't work anyway, because of the SEVERE defense bias that this game has, it's insane. i once tried attacking a port that had about 3 standard infantry divisions and 1 marine division with a bunch of attacking infantry divisions, and i couldn't get through. it was plains terrain, too. realistically in that scenario i would have wiped the floor with them, but for some reason hoi4 has so much bias for defense. honestly tempted to just play with the mod that nerfs defense across the board because it's ridiculous.
@@cr1tikal_arc if you show me the exact scenario with the division templates, army doctrines, encirclement around the port, supply status, planning bonus and enemy entrenchment… I’ll tell you what went wrong
I agree defense can be OP but only if you’re attacking in bad conditions
@@PayThePiperSP i mean i wasn't attacking in bad conditions, i can say that lmao
This is the best guide i have seen ever since i starded playing this game years ago. A very nice job!
Thank you! I've been playing like it's still 7 patches ago
ikr? Why do they change all the time? Very irritating for the casual player.
As a complete beginner, thank you for giving me somewhere to start while I learn the mechanics!
In single player you can make a nice piercing (High Velocity Cannon) LT (Designated as a primary light tank)to use as your armored recon and piercing carries over. If you also build a Flame support with upgraded armor on both will push you armor past 10++ and have a 30+ piercing on a 24W pure inf. Reduces AT support and armor so that you can have a pure 24W inf.
thats the video that ive been looking for 6 year
Thanks! I have been using 2 year old templates until now. I always have field hospitals when playing as any axis powers. Otherwise i always run out of manpower, and i really hate sacrificing production for it.
Now i am waiting for a naval guide for a each ship and each chassis. W/ fleet compositions
Youre welcome! They come in so handy. Easy to say theyre useless but if you take some major encirclement or attrition losses and run out you will reconisder.
I have a naval template guide which is still almost completely up to date. Fleet comp guide I will do sometime in the future but the important thing to remember is 4 screens for 1 capital ratio wise always, #1 priority. And at least 1 capital for every carrier, max 4 carriers in a fleet.
in my experience (and following a guide) it is just torpedo heavy destroyers with optional asw and light cruisers the ai fleets don't have enough light attack to kill your ships as fast as u can push them out
And in my oppinion that works like a charm. Also and most importantly set ur fleets to automatic splittoff
When you build a strike group never go above 4 carriers. NEVER.
I always do 4 carriers, 4 battleships and 32 screening ships
Battleships = Heavy Cruisers, Super Heavy Battleships, Battleships
Screening ships =Destroyers (Good at tanking) or Light Cruisers (Good at light attack)
and for doctrines:
Strong Strike Force & Find Subs = Fleet in Being
Only Subs = Trade Intradiction
Naval Bombers & Small Strike Forces = Base Strike
Spirits:
Naval Academy = Instilled Agression
Navy = Naval Refit Yards
Naval Command: Night Fighting or Inclement Weather Experience (If you have many carriers)
Field hospitals ARE bad though
respect to the battlefield theme in the background
Hey there, fantastic guide ! I'll make sure to include it in Better Mechanics : AI divisions for maximum pleasure against competent ai divisions
Ive downloaded all your mods for my playthroughs with a dedicated steam collection for them. You make the game so much better kudos to you
I just dont undestand your combat widths at all. Why or how is 24 width optimal when the most common terrains are plains (70), hills (70) and forest (60). Isn't 20 just all out better on averages or at least 23 if you want to build something soly for plains and hills? 24 * 3 = 72 so wouldn't that put you with only 2 divisions fighting at a time, while if you would have 23 * 3 = 69 you would have 3? Please explain the reasoning thank you
because combat widths doesnt matter in bigger picture plus there are General traits + tactics that change combat widths everytime.
Don`t bother, be happy.
unit STATS and air Dominance decide if you win or lose!
Plains are easy to push through anyway, best to optimize combat width for forests or urban instead, which is why meta infantry are 15 width (not 24 like this guy says)
You get all three divisions, git minor penalties because they only excede the combat width by a small margin. Whether that's better or not than 23 * 3 = 69 (nice), that's probably up for discussion. Bottomline is, your units will fight.
This is a really good guide. I have only two objections. First 40 width aren't good in this patch don't go above 36 combat width. And second for single player you really don't need antitank at all. I am also a big fan of the hospitals, the are really good for saving manpower especially if you are a lazy battle planner like me xD.
36 would be better than 40 for sure, but if youre only pushing with a single division 40 is viable just not perfect. Anti tank generally isnt a requirement for SP but if you fight late in the game the AI WILL use tanks so be warned.
It's about time somebody makes this good job
If you can afford armored cars for your garrison they have better suppression than horses and offer the hardness of tanks without sacrificing tanks you can use for real offensive units.
Light tanks have same suppression with armores cars and light tanks are cheaper! So is it better to use light tank instead of armored cars?
@@teacheraccount6469 yes, if you have No Step Back DLC, you can design the cheapest possible light tank and use that for garrisons. If you dont have the tank designer, armoured cars are better
Thank you so much my dude, I've been playing Hoi4 for about 2 months now and still can't find a video that can help me understand and describes the templates so well.
don't use this video there are many flaws, there are two really in depth guides on steam I would recfomend searching up templates on the community hub
These are the best Combat Widths to use:
10, 14, 15 and 20 width for your mainline Infantry/Marines/Para (dont add Line Artillery. Just make Light or Medium Tanks with Close Support Gun and add them to the Infantry (Space Marines), they're more effective and dont cost Tungsten.
24, 25 widths for Pushing Mountain and Marsh tiles.
34, 35 width for Tanks which are good at pushing Plains, Hills and Desert tiles.
15, 25, 35 are better than 14, 24, 34 but if you dont want to add the extra AA they're good enough.
Edit after watching the video: 27, 40, 32 and 26 widths are bad dont use them.
All of those widths are viable, they are simply not the most optimal. 40 Especially is not great but its designed under the expectation you have almost no offensive divisions so the width is less of an issue.
@@Hammurabae I'll agree with that, but you're better off making 10 widths and using the extra production to make CAS.
What about the 30-width division template? 9 infantry and 4 artillery? Such a division should be suitable for fighting in the forest as well as in the plains.
@@damiang6644 they're only good in Forrest and Jungle just use one of widths i said for infantry and use the extra IC to build more CAS and/or Tanks. (Line Artillery is overrated th-cam.com/video/Ns7gwL7JXVA/w-d-xo.html)
These are the conclusion i came to from watching Pydgins video on the combat width meta and personal experience (4k hours). (th-cam.com/video/lzJyHIXf2Ig/w-d-xo.html)
12w also fit into combat widths (pydgin), don't need aa or line arty to hit the width, and allow you to abuse superior firepower support arty buff to its fullest
I'm pretty new to hoi4 and always got stuck with germany when it came to conquer france but i've finally managed to beat them and i'm currently tryimg to kill the royal navy so thx for the guide it rlly helped
When playing singleplayer you only need like 2x24 of spacemarines (2:00) to go thru Benelux and then spearhead into Paris and 1x24 of normal divisions to hold the maginot
I remember a video a while back (before medical battalions got reworked) that said that they were basically useless because they were useless for majors because they often didn't need manpower and for minors because they were often too expensive
The people telling you that are min maxers 99% of the time. If you know the game well enough you don’t need them for the most part unless you’re a medium-small power. The problem with most hoi4 and paradox guides are they’re written for the 3k hour players more often than not.
Trickle back is a really useful stat and if you plan to fight in areas with high attrition ir generally big and long wars. Dont be afraid to use them.
you can always get more ic mid war you can't always get more manpower mid war. they are basically mandatory on the Scandinavian nations.
but on the other hand tanks lose very little manpower and are far more ic efficient than support equipment, so if you have aluminium go hospitals (like hungary) then chromium/steel/oil go tanks (like the nordics or British colonies)
i think it's a question of compromise. We have only a few slots. Should we sacrifice certain offensive stats for manpower perks ? I guess it depends on the situation, however I prefer to maximums organisation and offensive/defensive capabilities. For manpower I will rely on my vassal states.
@@Hammurabaethey’re great for battleplanners. Other than that they’re pretty eh. The trickle back is not that noticeable for most nations tbh. You have to be a nation with lots of factories but no manpower to really utilize them well. Sure they work fine but you only get 5 sup company slots. With so many other options that are much better
Very well detailed awesome!
Finally someone who appreciates field hospitals. I play minors a lot and they are very strong if you have decent industry and low manpower, which admittedly was rarer back in the earlier days of the game, but now with so many minors that get strong industry focuses, they are great.
They are so good for minors and even medium powers. If you go pure armor its less of an issue but for a lot of playthroughs they remove a ton of late game issues.
(From Brazil/PT): Obrigado pelo tutorial camarada! Já não sei quantas vezes li nos fóruns e posts dentro da steam sobre o assunto e não consegui montar templates descentes! Obrigado!
24W inf with support arty and AA if you have enough ic to produce add other beneficial Support. These can hold as the Soviets, French in the beginning against Germans and Italians until you get your ic up to produce tanks and push them back.
I love the bf v music in the background
Thank you, I like this
They reworked the whole number of sides and combat width VS penalties in combat (depending on terrain)... Now generally speaking all widths suck except 10, 15 and 35.
30 width is good too for tanks
one small correction. the games base targeting, even without coordination or initiative is 35%. so 35% of all combined attacks hit one target, and the rest gets spread evenly. its aminor technical thing tbh.
Oh man,you're a lifesaver
Cordination, so op (Bad English xd)
True that (Bad english too)
@@Hammurabae xd
The rocket arty template has low org 4: 4:01
Genuine question : Why would you go for a 40 width division at 3:00 when there is no tile (in europe) that has 40 width. Why not 30-35 ?
Yeah, thats what I thought too, as only cities have 40 combat width. I recommend 10, 15, 30 and 35 combat width divisions.
@@boohowaer6243 i does make me question how much this build is good or not
@@hugo7946It is decent, but not optimal.
very huge production
Like how AA is important (doing damn better job at it than fighters), I'd also recommend logistic company. especially if you're planning to invade something as big as soviet union, those lack of supply will really attrition you to death. Logistic company will mitigate how much your units will consume supply which can improve your situation. you're still in a pickle if your supply hub/rail isn't up to snuff or advanced to fast.
mp, hospitals and scouts can be used for their batalion modifiers being recovery rate, hp, and extra arti damage
this makes them extramely good on tanks hold infantry and push infantry
Lmao why would you use military police or hospitals on tanks 😂
even recon doesnt make much sense, it only buffs line artillery which is never used in tanks
In a tank division you want support anti-air, engineers, flame tanks, logistics, maybe maintenance or signals, maybe even support artillery (although usually there are better choices)
@@bighillraft on tanks yah
but on inf
hospitals give hp
mp gives recov rate
recon and more specifically the mountain version gives +15% arti dmg so yah its worth it
@@izul4223 ehh I still don't think mp is worth it on anything other than garrisons and maybe port guards, it does give recovery rate which is nice if you are getting relentlessly attacked and it also has enough stats to basically be another infantry battalion that doesnt take a combat width (also needs the support equipment and subtracts a bit of org though). however as there are only five support company slots, imo something like engineers, support anti-air, or support artillery (keep in mind soft attack still matters for defending troops, it determines how much damage the enemy takes when they are attacking you) will give you much better effects
as for field hospitals, they are good I guess but I would only use them as a country with very large industry but very small manpower, which isn't very common. the problem with them imo is that they cost way too much (they are the most expensive support company, even needing trucks) for the benefit of saving a bit of manpower, which I never have problems with except, as I said, on a low pop country like Canada or Finland or something
to each their own though, and I agree motorized recon and armoured recon are quite good in a lot of scenarios
I like how Feedbackgaming always complained about pioneers are bad for Mainfrontline Infantry divisions that want to push, ignoring the fact that without pioneers you just gets Counterattacked as hell and get huge Gaps in line
Why do most of his divisions have that one-off unit on a line when there were spaces to go deeper on the previous ones?
Really good video but how does combat work tho?
How does one get motorized artillery? Is it a research based template?
What would be a good template for 1946 and up. I always seem to have trouble after those years.
For Singleplayer, I've personally never used Anti-Tank as AI fails to make natural tank divisions; if playing a major going with space marines personally, I have found only success with using Heavy Tanks since you require less per division and the armor stat is so high it usually lasts me the entire game(For Reference, You only need 20 Heavy Tanks per division). 35w is the new meta for min-maxing your divisions for all terrains. FeedBackGaming goes super in-depth on what I've just said; most of his videos are about single-player meta's/"exploits."
spAA mediums are cheaper for the unit and can get good enough armour, heavy tanks mostly get hardness and anti tank which you won't be able to get enough of in space marines (armour is part average part heighest while hardness is only average)
fbg is an okay content creator but he never stays up to date with the meta (his air and naval are usually terrible and he still uses suboptimal combat widths that are years old)
@@YakubMyBeloved@ samotter9509 The game has completely changed this year, and they're still updating every aspect of the game every couple of weeks, so it's hard to follow it. I just personally don't research AA enough to care; the plane meta is the most OP thing in the game, rn I built double engine double cannon 1 with armor fighters and legit only had 40 dead fighters to me, killing 800 enemy fighters going against all the allies. SPAA would be suitable for minors who don't have enough economy. If you're playing a major, you can play however you want. If you play Germany, you should make Tigers and dominate the field.
there are soo many dlc's.. I thought I had all the useful ones. What one gives you the the tank options at 5:18 ?
No step back. Certain tank modules require reserarch, gun types in particular come from artillery, anti tank, and anti air researches
Could you make a tank design guide
Coming Friday
I have a question why is the offensiv infantry 27 width would it be more optimal to have it 30 width for the forest and same withe other designs
For my attacking inf I like 30 width it seems to work for a majority of my games. 10 inf bats 3 arty and an AA/AT bat brings me to 30 width and the aa/at is enough hard attack for tanks lmk what y’all think
4:49 so the division name says 40 with, the template says 32 with and the notification says 34 with ... So which one is it xD
Always check the stats of the division itself
wish every country could keep the industry demands of these templates xD especially early game or you re a minor. or you following a strat for an achievement.
tho thanks for this guide, learnt somethings i didnt know.
maybe it goes beyond the game like the team manager/coach or an IGL?
At 4:43 you talk about 34W medium tanks template but the combat width shows to be 32. Which should I go with?
30w
@@felipesilva5180 lol so neither of his in the video are correct? So confusing.
@@ronlackey2689 Nah, all of this template can beat the bot... But its better to use 30w for tanks in single and multiplayer
Then how my recruit Germany enemy has 1300 defense and 600 soft sttack with attrittion and no supply?
Why wouldn't you make the anti tank infantry into a 30width?
In my 3.5k hours of hoi4 I have very rarely used Anti-Tank when playing versus AI.
You dont have to, they help a lot though
Your tabs sometimes say 24 width when the template is actually 34 also one says 34 when the template is 32. So this is a bit confusing. Also have to echo sentiments below anti tank vs AI unless very late game is not worth it. Anti Air allows you to pierce the Germans most of the time so has dual purpose.
When will your armor guide release? I love this, also are you gonna update your air designs since they got changed with AAT
Next Friday!. AIr designs I plan to update but its lower on the list, I have a ton of vids planned but not enough time to get them done.
Hey do you think the newly added rangers could be used for some useful templates? Nice guide.
Theyre great with anything tbh. Recon sup divisions but better really
Yes, absolutely
I think the new general rule of thumb in mp is 35w tanks, and 18w inf for all rounders
One other thing is tanks should always try to have mech. Especially in mp. And I'd suggest making sure to have your tanks at 35 width. So adding a motorized aa battalion would do the trick and you don't need it as a support company then, along with that tanks should have, repair, shovels, signal, light tank recon, and flame support companies
@@zanderray9823signal isn't worth it at all, you want enemy divisions to be fighting with low org and all collapse at the same time so you take the tile, it prevents new divisions from joining and replacing the beat up ones. far better off throwing an arty or rocket arty support. light tank recon is similarly debatable, its pretty rare to struggle with hard attack if you are using medium cannon 2s or howitzers and no TDs and another arty support just gives you easier breakthroughs
remember, specialised anti tank tank brigades will always beat generalised tank brigades every time, so not as worth to bring light recon in generalist ones
@@zanderray9823 recon and signal if not 44 will make your divisions worse. Theres a big ass reddit post going through why that is.
As for the marine template: are you not using the pioneers you get from their doctrine? Or do you not take the doctrine path that buffs them? iirc there is one that buffs the pioneers and one that buffs the actual marines in different climates etc. I guess regular engineers are better on land while pioneers are only better for the actual landing?
Also, what do you think about flame tanks or rocket artillery in marine divisions? Rocket artillery would replace the line artillery battalions and the flame tank... maybe the AA once I have air superiority? Or the engineers since flame tanks also provide terrain bonuses and I could give them that entrenchment module.
Basically in my France playthrough I am doing a lot of early war around the Mediterranean where marines are very useful. I am just a bit worried that they'll be less useful (and expensive) later on when I already control most of the coastline I want. I plan on invading Russia eventually, so at least they'll be good in those marches :D
I assume a tank designer guide is coming next?
Next weekend
Hey. I have a small issue recreating your 40w Tanks 40' template. Specifically the last row, which seems to have both a tank destroyer and an anti-air unit in it. How do I do that? I seem to only be able to put units from the same unit group into a row :/
You need to have one designed already. When you design a tank at the top left there is a type button. Make sure to make tank destroyers and anti air tanks which use the right designation. Once you have one saved with that type you will be able to add it in division design, not before.
I dont think that the 1st template could hold a frontline.. but ok, i can try it
Theyre designed to be put out en masse and hold fronts.
A division template for a coast guard unit? What would be a good option?
I believe a 10w infantry division with optional support artillery,aa and engineers will be most ic efficient.
Although a 15w unit will be perfect for it.
Hello, you did not mention what template to use for defending ports
10w infantry with engineer support company
Why should you NEVER use the rocket art 38 in singleplayer against armor? Because they do have decent piercing add perhaps 1 more AA but they are very strong.
God, been losing my mind with the late game (post 43) part. Been playing as England and haven't been able to break into Europe. US seems totally braindead and don't do anything. Glad I found your guide as it's recent as of the latest DLCs so thanks!
However, still not working, can't melt the Axis forces, What do I do?
Are these templates usefull for Black Ice mod too ?
No, Black Ice changes completely the divisions
I just started and people confuse me, half of division guides say to aim for 40 org but like 3/4 ones u show are 30 some even in 20s i get it depends on terrain, but the maj still super small
Org essentially defines how long a unit stays in combat before being "deorged" and forced to retreat. With few units and low org you will be pushed easier, but low org and lots of divisions on your front it will matter less. Some people like high org because it gives them more safety I guess to be able to hold and push longer, but they sacrafice raw stats and pwoer. A 30-35 org unit will be strong but not last as long which in my eyes is more useful given war and this game is all about important moments, micro, and pushing power. Its up to you, and important to understand and decide what you prefer yourself. Anybody who says one way is better is biased and it comes down to style and preference, though org below 30 is bad always.
Please do a best tank design video please
I saw somewhere that people always say 20 width max? is there any truth to that?
Not one bit
the 20w 40w no longer viable since the new update i remember, right now it very flexible, everything between 20 and 44 will be fine.
I tried the 40w push template and don't make the same mistake I did. It absolutely blows
These are oldd
You need to build supplies.
do space marines really still work? sometimes i use them and dominate. sometimes i use them and utterly fail.
Yes, definitely. As with any division terrain, supply, and air/navy will still be huge deciding factors.
Could you maybe explain combat width, why are 20 widths not good anymore?
Why 34 width for tanks, do you guys just test that?
Does depend on the terrain?
How can a normie like be figure out which width is meta right now?
Goat
I NEED YOUR HELP PLS.
I can't find beta 1.10. To play the Millennium Dawn mod, can you help me ?
Go to steam, right click hoi4, properties, betas, and from there switch it to the version you want
@@Hammurabae Thank You
The space marine used to be an exploit, now it slowly become the standard. I seeing HOI4 World Championship Tournament used it all the time, I mean it make sense in real war. Your country is poor, can't afford a whole Panzer like German or Russian, use put some tank in your infantry, opponent don't have anything to counter them, then you win.
HOI4 tournament players understand the mechanics and can deal with it, less experienced players struggle which is why its usually banned. The issue is not that using some armor with your infantry isnt realistic and viable, its the problem it abuses the way the game mechanics themselves are coded.
cheap flame tanks are still usefull?
Very, the attack bonus is fantastic
Organization should be over 40 for every template if possible. Dont think this Div can combat much long as you need.
Org over 40 lasts longer and is safer* Depends on playstyle
Yes you need medical campany if your template is so dump to lost lest manpower.
thanks i lost the game with these templates❤
Yeah, some of these aren't good. Either way templates aren't the only thing that matter in HOI4
@@baribari1000 everything was ok but i lost anyway idk where is the problem
I like that you are trying to help people but this is putting less experienced player in a trap of spamming support companies and line artillery when that decreases org and in case of the artillery add too much combat width. Theres one of your space marine divisions that had 33 org which is not ideal for tank, infantry or space marine divisions. Edit: the key to getting good at hoi4 is understandin the mechanics and building your army around them, if I were to say somehing about these templates id say there are some that are pretty good but there are also some that are really bad. My advice is to think of whqt you need and build your divisions because the pretty good divisions might not work for your situation and the bad ones might actually be ok with the right conditions
The Meta gaming involved with the division builder makes this game the most unrealistic in the series
nah just a single armored car unit with MP support for garrisons works great
armoured cars cost more than an inter war light tank with an lmg. and also have a Lower hardness and suppression meaning they take higher losses and you need more per resistance respectively
also military police with one unit is terrible because you have to pay the support equipment for every unit. if you take mobile warfare and the free designs spirit you can make a huge light tank division only for garrisons (org doesn't matter) and you will pay far far less support equipment
fair enough that seems like the smarter way to go, tho ive never had problems with producing enough acs, but light tanks seem superior
but all you have to do to remedy the second problem is increase the unit size to 5, and you start getting a refund on support equipment
40width just seems like a waste
disagree with attacking infantry. Without any armor you need field hospitals
Medium Tank Destroyers make no fking sense at all. Heavy tanks (destroyers) usually have more stat focusses companies and have higher base values in armor. They are also not really more expensive as the ht td use 40 but the light and med ones 50 tanks. That offsets their individual price increase usually
Many of these templates are not good.
Which?
Yeah I’m coming back after a long time not playing- does combat width just not matter?
@@xDriger Most of the basic infantry ones: He puts too much not-infantry in them, making them expensive and low org. The second one (the 24 width one with all infantry) goes a bit too far in the other direction, but is still decent. The 10-width shouldn't have Engineers; they give percentage bonus which doesn't add up to much on such a small division, and adding them makes the division not cheap. Most of his 24-width ones have 2+ artillery and other special guns; that's too many support battalions for that size division and hurts org too much. It's not 2017 anymore, heavy artillery divisions aren't that good. The mechanized one is good, though. The ~40 org is acceptable, and it has the combat stats and speed to justify that it isn't 60.
The big light tank division; 31 org and it costs 4700-7200 production. Yikes.
The first medium tank division has a decent balance of battalions, but for some reasons his stats are bad. 18 armor on a mechanized? And 5.9 movement speed? He might as well use horse cavalry division, but this is probably due to having bad equipment in this case, not bad template. Or maybe we're looking at one that's out of fuel.
He takes a detour to show signal companies, and I agree they're OK, but not because of the coordination mechanic which is what he highlights.
The mountaineers; again, far too much artillery. Adding them significantly reduces the division's mointain terrrain modifier, which you need to be high in order to counter the default mountain penalty. You will actually do *less* soft attack in mountains with than without them, and as line artillery already makes the division worse at everything else than soft attack. Having 1 art in it to hit the 25-width (ideal for mountains) might be ok, but pure mountaineers at 12-width or 26-width is good anyway so why bother? The marines' artillery; same story. If you want to maximize soft attack on a landing, use smaller marine divisions so you maximize the number of support artillery companies - they add it without taking combat width or reducing the marines bonus.
Finally, the garrison: The small one suffers the same problem as the very first division he showed; percentage modifier (MP) on a small division. This one gives less suppression per production cost than pure cav, you need ~8 cav battalions just to make even. The last one doesn't work as is; garrison template applies to all garrisons and when would you ever have *that* many tanks lying around that you can equip them all like that? If you do have some old ones, sure put them on garrison, just beware the numbers needed can scale up real fast.
@@jensdanbolt6953thanks for that explanation, I'm trying to get back into hoi4
@@jensdanbolt6953 Thank you for spending the type to write that, I really appreciate it, I've recently had my very win in Hoi4 (Civillian, and as Italy, but hey gotta start somewhere!)
Field hospitals and 40w inf, space marines. This a troll video?
More HOI4 Guides To Learn: th-cam.com/play/PL36TqZI0G590EIwg3aPFMT54uB_Y2I6tB.html&si=t5mQde_bG3Tcywh2
If u use a mod like better government u can get like -90% exp solider loss so u barley lose men by barley I mean u lose like 1/10
The game changed a whole lot so these are outdated
Will be putting out an updated version soon ish
@@Hammurabae thanks
40width is bad go 36
do these templates also work in kaiserredux
Jezus, I've been resisting this all day. Guys I absolutely hate myself for it, and gentlemen, if it sounds like I'm being cruel, tell me. And if it sounds like I'm quaking in my boots, shivering me timbers, and going full-Shepard in my spacesuit, then I hope you'll understand why I might hate seeing a division template video on TH-cam for this stupid grbleing video game during the 2024th year of our lord. I'm sure the kid who picked "hammer-grble-me" as his name on TH-cam gave it a lot of thought first, and he was probably a dumb kid when he did it. And I'm sure he knows there are 276,568 videos about "templates" or whatever that garbage means. Kid, the world gets better when you move on.
Dont use the space marines one it sucks
Useless for 1.13 AAT
Why?
@@punitchoudhary652because 35/36 combat width is meta. 30w is good too. 34w is garbage now after the terrain changes.
are you from iraq ?
Yes , he is
God i so confused,i watched tons of this videos,and its not helping
you lost me at combat width