Hearts of Iron IV | Patch 1.19.3

Commanders,

As the summer fades and cooler weather sets in, we are excited to present our final “Summer” update. This patch serves as the concluding installment specifically tailored for Thunder at our Gates, delivering a fresh batch of content for the nations introduced alongside it.

Additionally, this update incorporates a comprehensive series of balance adjustments originally tested in the Open Beta Summer Edition™. We decided to deploy these changes ahead of schedule rather than delaying them further, ensuring that persistent balancing concerns identified before the summer break are finally resolved.

We want to extend our sincere gratitude to everyone who provided valuable feedback on these features and participated in the Open Beta. Broad community playtesting is vital for helping us dial in the right tweaks.

As always, take care and enjoy your campaigns!

/Batya

• Implemented combat participation tracking to properly award HQ captures to the most heavily involved nation.
• Halved the supply consumption for light, medium, and heavy armored HQs.
• Added supply consumption requirements to motorized army HQ battalions.
• SIA: Removed the Production Efficiency Cap from the Agrarian Economic Policy.
• SIA: Removed Research Speed and Factory Output modifiers from The Army of Siam.
• AST: Reduced completion time to 35 days for Stretch the Fleet, Battle of the Ocean, Workers Educational Association, and Equal Pay.
• AST: Red Fred Paterson now grants +0.20 Daily Political Power through his Voice of Workers trait.
• AST: Communists can now prospect the 2nd and 3rd Iron Mines (Iron Monarch and Iron Prince).
• AST: Reduced the political power cost of “Infiltrate Trade Unions” from 75pp to 50pp.
• AST: Reduced the political power cost of “Instigate Revolution” from 150pp to 100pp.
• SIA: Slightly nerfed the long war bonus while buffing the intermediate war bonus.
• SIA: Lowered the Recruitable Population Factor granted by the ‘Agrarian Economic Policy’ from 15% to 10%.
• Reduced the base construction cost for Land, Air, and Naval facilities from 12,000 to 10,000, while increasing their cost scaling from 5,000 to 6,000.
• Land, Air, Naval, and Nuclear facility construction speeds are now influenced by local infrastructure.
• Infantry Guns no longer benefit from Infantry Support Weapons research, shifting their technological bonuses to the Artillery tree instead.
• Reduced the scaling effects of technology on Infantry Guns and Rocket Batteries (+5% Soft Attack per Artillery technology for Infantry Guns, +10% Soft Attack from Rocket Artillery technologies for Rocket Batteries, and +5% Soft Attack from Improved Guidance). Infantry Guns no longer receive defensive boosts from technologies.
• Removed the +10% Piercing and +10% Hard Attack bonuses for motorized units from the 1940 Anti-Tank Technology.
• Adjusted the 1939 Anti-Tank Artillery Technology bonus, reducing the Piercing bonus for Tank Destroyers to +5%.
• Reduced technology bonuses for Self-Propelled Anti-Air and Tank Destroyer Regimental Support units compared to their line counterparts, including Swedish Bofors technology.
• Engineer III – Flame Tank urban terrain attack bonus decreased from +10% to +5%.
• Engineer IV – Flame Tank urban terrain attack bonus decreased from +10% to +5%.
• Engineer IV – Assault Engineers urban terrain attack bonus decreased from +15% to +10%.
• Increased the supply reduction provided by Helicopter Logistics Company technology to -15% per tier.
• Adjusted Artillery Equipment I stats: Soft Attack increased to 26 (from 25), Defense increased to 11 (from 10), and Breakthrough increased to 10 (from 6).
• Adjusted Artillery Equipment II stats: Breakthrough increased to 13 (from 7), Hard Attack increased to 3 (from 2), and Piercing increased to 7 (from 5).
• Adjusted Artillery Equipment III stats: Breakthrough increased to 16 (from 8), Defense increased to 19 (from 18), Hard Attack increased to 4 (from 2), and Piercing increased to 9 (from 5).
• Adjusted Rocket Artillery Equipment I stats: Defense increased to 13 (from 12), Breakthrough increased to 17 (from 9), and Soft Attack increased to 32 (from 30).
• Adjusted Rocket Artillery Equipment II stats: Defense increased to 16 (from 15), Breakthrough increased to 20 (from 12), and Soft Attack increased to 40 (from 38).
• Adjusted Motorized Rocket Artillery Equipment stats: Defense increased to 16 (from 15) and Breakthrough increased to 20 (from 12).
• Reduced the Breakthrough penalty on Heavy Howitzers, Rocket Launchers, and Improved Rocket Launchers from -4 to -2.
• Reduced Armored Car Equipment IC costs from 3.5 / 5.5 / 7.5 / 8.5 to 3 / 4.5 / 6 / 7.5.
• Support Artillery penalties to Soft Attack, Hard Attack, Defense, and Breakthrough increased from -40% to -50%.
• Support Rocket Artillery penalties to Soft Attack, Hard Attack, Defense, and Breakthrough increased from -40% to -50%.
• Increased Support Anti-Air equipment requirements from 20 to 24.
• Motorized Anti-Air now officially belongs to the Anti-Air Unit Category.
• Increased organization for Heavy Weapons Companies and Motorized Heavy Weapons Companies from 20 to 30.
• Increased maximum strength for Heavy Weapons Companies and Motorized Heavy Weapons Companies from 0.4 to 0.6.
• Increased equipment requirements for Infantry Guns and Rocket Batteries from 4 to 6.
• Normalized Infantry Gun and Rocket Battery stat penalties to a flat -75% across Defense, Breakthrough, Soft Attack, and Hard Attack (previously varying between -60% and -80%).
• Increased Anti-Air Battery equipment requirements from 12 to 16, and manpower requirements from 120 to 180.
• Reduced Anti-Air Battery penalties to Breakthrough, Soft Attack, and Hard Attack from -80% to -60%.
• Increased manpower requirements for Anti-Tank Batteries from 120 to 180.
• Reduced the Soft Attack penalty for Anti-Tank Batteries from -80% to -60%.
• Light, Medium, Heavy, and Modern Tank Destroyer Regimental Support units are temporarily excluded from the main ‘Tank Destroyer’ category while retaining benefits from the Tank Destroyer Regimental Support category.
• Tank Destroyer Regimental Support units now require 15 Tank Destroyers instead of 10 (referred to hereafter as TD-RS).
• Light, Medium, Heavy, and Modern Self-Propelled Anti-Air Regimental Support units are temporarily excluded from the ‘Self-Propelled Anti-Air Artillery’ category while retaining benefits from their dedicated support category (referred to as SPAA-RS).
• SPAA-RS units now require 15 Self-Propelled Anti-Air vehicles instead of 10.
• Fuel consumption for TD-RS and SPAA-RS units increased from 33% of base equipment to 40%.
• Armor values for TD-RS and SPAA-RS reduced from -33% to -66%.
• Defense for TD-RS and SPAA-RS reduced from -25% to -50%.
• Soft Attack for TD-RS and SPAA-RS reduced from -33% to -66%.
• SPAA-RS Air Attack reduced from -15% to -25%, and Hard Attack reduced from -33% to -66%.
• TD-RS Hard Attack reduced from -33% to -50%.
• Added Essential Equipment Blocks to the following units: Heavy Weapons Company, Motorized Heavy Weapons Company, Light/Medium/Heavy Flame Tanks, Headquarters Staff, Engineer Staff, Reconnaissance Staff, Military Police Staff, Maintenance Planning Staff, Hospital Group Staff, Logistics & Service Staff, Signal & Intelligence Staff, Naval Liaison Staff, Forward Air Controller, and Special Operations Coordination.
• Adjusted Essential Equipment Blocks for Helicopter Med-Evac and Helicopter Transports.
• Helicopter Brigades and Helicopter Logistics units now consume proper fuel amounts instead of suffering a -100% penalty.
• Helicopter Logistics Company base supply reduction increased to -15%.
• Military Police training time reduced from 180 to 120 days.
• Motorized Military Police training time reduced from 200 to 120 days.
• Mobile Infantry 1 Reward: Cavalry Recon now receives a +10% bonus to Defense and Breakthrough.
• Mobile Infantry 3 Reward: Reduced Soft Attack bonus to Infantry Guns and Rocket Batteries from +15% to +10%, while adding a +5% bonus to Defense and Breakthrough.
• Mobile Infantry 5 Reward: Motorized Heavy Weapons Company organization bonus increased from +5 to +10.
• Defensive Postures 1 Reward: Heavy Weapons Company now grants +0.2 Entrenchment.
• Defensive Postures 4 Reward: Soft Attack bonus to Infantry Guns and Rocket Batteries reduced to 10%.
• Assault Infantry Adoption Bonus: Support Artillery attack bonus increased from +10% to +20%.
• Assault Infantry 1 Reward: Removed the bonus applied to Infantry Guns.
• Assault Infantry 2 Reward: Reduced Hard Attack, Piercing, and Air Attack bonuses for Anti-Tank and Anti-Air Batteries from +10% to +5%.
• Mounted Infantry 4 Reward: Replaced the +0.05 HP battalion modifier for the Mounted Infantry category with a flat +5 HP bonus to Cavalry Recon.
• Mounted Infantry 4 Reward: Reduced the speed bonus for Cavalry and Cavalry Recon to +40% (capping speed at 8 kph down from 8.4 kph).
• Mounted Infantry 5 Reward: Increased the speed bonus for Artillery, Anti-Air, Anti-Tank, and Rocket Artillery to +100% (totaling 8 kph).
• People’s Militia 2 Reward: Reduced Infantry Guns Soft Attack bonus from 15% to 10% and added a +10% Breakthrough bonus.
• People’s Militia 3 Reward: Now requires 50 Mastery, aligning with other doctrine rewards.
• Great War Infantry 3 Reward: Support Artillery Breakthrough bonus for Leg Infantry increased from +5% to +10%.
• Great War Infantry 3 Reward: Infantry Guns and Rocket Battery Soft Attack bonus reduced from +20% to +10%.
• Great War Infantry 5 Reward: Added a +5 Max Entrenchment bonus.
• Fire Concentration Adoption Bonus: Replaced the +5% Defense bonus for Line Artillery with a +10% Breakthrough bonus.
• Fire Concentration 1 Reward: Replaced the +5% Defense bonus for Line Artillery with a +10% Breakthrough bonus.
• Fire Concentration 3 Reward: Replaced the +10% Breakthrough bonus for Line and Support Artillery with a +10% Defense bonus and increased Soft Attack from +5% to +10%. Removed the Infantry Gun and Rocket Battery bonus.
• Fire Concentration 5 Reward: Removed Artillery and Rocket Artillery bonuses; Infantry Guns and Rocket Batteries now grant +10% Defense and +10% Breakthrough.
• Anti-Tank Frontline 1 Reward: Aligned Anti-Tank Battery bonuses with Line Anti-Tank, applying the same benefits to Support Anti-Tank.
• Flying Batteries 1 Reward: Removed the Motorized Heavy Weapons Company bonus (+10% Soft Attack, +10 Organization).
• Flying Batteries 3 Reward: Armored Signal Company strength bonus to Line Artillery increased from 0.8 to 1 (+0.2 Strength).
• Air Cavalry 2 Reward: Replaced the 0.03 HP bonus with a Maintenance Company battalion adjuster for Helicopter Support Companies, granting +0.5 HP each.
• Mobile Recon and Support 5 Reward: Replaced Breakthrough bonuses for TD-RS and SPAA-RS with +5% Hard Attack and +5% Air Attack respectively.
• Self-Propelled Support Adoption Bonus: Reduced Soft Attack and Air-Attack bonuses to +5%.
• Self-Propelled Support Reward 2: Reduced the Soft Attack bonus provided by reconnaissance units to +5%.
• Self-Propelled Support Reward 3: Reduced the speed bonus from +30% to +10%.
• Self-Propelled Support Reward 4: TD-RS and SPAA-RS now receive +5% Hard Attack, +5% Air Attack, and +5 Organization.
• Siege Artillery 2 Reward: Replaced the Plains Movement bonus for Super Heavy Artillery and Self-Propelled Super Heavy Artillery with a 0.1 Recovery Rate.
• Siege Artillery 4 Reward: Urban attack bonus reduced from +20% to +10% (added a +10% Urban Defense bonus). Soft Attack bonus for Infantry Guns and Rocket Batteries reduced from +10% to +5%.
• Armored Spearhead 3 Reward: Reduced the SPAA-RS organization bonus from +10 to +5.
• Armored Infantry Support 2 Reward: Removed the Piercing bonus for Tank Destroyer Regimental Support.
• Armored Infantry Support 5 Reward: Reduced Air Attack from +10% to +5% and removed the +5 Organization bonus.
• Mobile Defense 3 Reward: Removed the +5% Air Attack bonus for SPAA Regimental Support.
• Mobile Defense 4 Reward: Increased the TD-RS organization bonus to +10 while removing other secondary TD-RS benefits.
• Tank Destroyer Force 5 Reward: Removed the +10% Hard Attack and Piercing bonuses for TD-RS.
• Mission Type Tactics Adoption Bonus: Daily Command Power gain increased from +0.02 to +0.2.
• Infiltration Tactics Adoption Bonus: Planning bonus increased from +5% to +10%.
• Infiltration Tactics 3 Reward: Daily Command Power bonus increased from +0.01 to +0.1.
• Desperate Defense can now be adopted if a country has at least 10% Surrender Progress AND at least 50% War Support, providing alternative paths to unlock this sub-doctrine. Further requirement tweaks may follow.
• Flying Batteries 1 Reward: Now grants an additional +5% Soft Attack and +10% Breakthrough to previously affected units.
• Flying Batteries 5 Reward: Now grants an additional +5% Soft Attack and +5% Defense to previously affected units.
• Anti-Aircraft Cruiser Adoption Bonus: Reduced Naval AA bonus from +20% to +10% and added a +10% Armor bonus to Heavy Cruisers.
• Anti-Aircraft Cruiser 4 Reward: Reduced Destroyer Anti-Air bonus from +20% to +10% and Light Attack bonus from +20% to +5%.
• Patrol Boats 2 Reward: Reduced Torpedo Attack bonus from +20% to +10%.
• Torpedo Primacy 1 Reward: Reduced Torpedo Attack bonus from +20% to +10%.
• Torpedo Primacy 3 Reward: Reduced Destroyer Depth Charge bonus from +20% to +10%.
• Torpedo Primacy 4 Reward: Reduced Destroyer Sub Detection bonus from +20% to 15%.
• Torpedo Primacy 5 Reward: Reduced Heavy Cruiser Sub Detection bonus from +20% to 10%.
• Hunter Killer Groups 1 Reward: Increased Sub Detection bonus from +15% to 20%.
• Hunter Killer Groups 3 Reward: Increased Depth Charge bonus from +10% to 20%.
• Light Task Forces 3 Reward: Reduced Destroyer Light Attack and Light Piercing bonuses from +20% to +5%.

• AST: The “Plead Britain” and “Inevitable Independence” focuses are now accessible under a national unity government even if the current leader differs.
• AST: Added the “Battle of Brisbane” flavor event (AST_political_events.10).
• AST: Added a flag-change event for an independent Democratic Australia.
• SIA: Elephantry technology is now unlocked at game start.
• Elephantry has been converted into a support company instead of a standard battalion, granting attack and logistical bonuses in specific terrain types.
• Added Armored Car HQs for players who own “La Résistance.”
• Added new events for Japan and the USA that trigger following a naval engagement at Midway.
• AST: Added a 6th Research Slot to the Communist branch as a mutually exclusive alternative to merging factions with the Comintern.
• SIA: Added the Pan-Thai Empire as a formable nation expanding on the Greater Thai Empire.
• Added decisions for Indonesia to form Nusantara and Maphilindo.
• Forming Nusantara as Indonesia no longer requires direct control over Padang and Singapore, and follow-up decisions have been added to integrate them if occupied.
• SIA: The Asian Democratic Compact now provides a flat +0.1 daily political power gain.
• AST: Added a New Guard focus path.
• AST: Now begins the game with 1933 aircraft technologies researched.
• NZL: Australasia is now formable by New Zealand.
• Simplified the formation of ‘Maphilindo’ by requiring only control of Indian states rather than full ownership.
• Battalion modifiers now scale properly based on sub-unit equipment and manpower. For instance, Super Heavy Artillery utilizing the Siege Artillery sub-doctrine will no longer grant an army-wide Soft Attack bonus purely through sheer willpower.

• Optimized scope traversal performance when evaluating countries in ScopedVariables (this, prev, from, and root).
• Resolved a potential Out-Of-Sync (OOS) issue that could occur when playing in different languages.
• Fixed a bug where reloading a save file could cause massive slowdowns within the supply system (Special thanks to Ender156 for the detailed report).

• Enemy HQ map counter icons now require proper intelligence before displaying deployment information.
• The withdrawal tooltip for HQ map counters now clearly states when a retreat path is blocked.
• Various confirmation pop-ups now warn players if an HQ is unable to complete its withdrawal.
• Fixed visual bugs within the equipment window resource filter.
• Added citation counter badges to roster buttons alongside an eligible-first default sorting rule.
• Bypasses the medal award confirmation prompt when political power reserves are abundant.

• Indonesian AI is now significantly more likely to succeed in its revolution.

• Added on_actions for admirals when naval battles are won or lost.
• Added a new trigger: `is_fighting_in_strategic_region` can now be utilized with combatant scopes.
• Fixed a Crash-To-Desktop (CTD) caused by undersized text buffers in modded content.
• `set_autonomy` now includes a flag allowing nations to retain their existing subjects.
• Added `is_core_of = ScopedVariable` and `is_not_core_of = ScopedVariable` collection operators for improved performance over standard triggers.
• Added the `IsDeployed` trigger for Army HQs alongside `state_deployed` and `province_deployed` variables for unit leaders.

• Pop-ups resulting from joint focus trees for Chinese Warlords now properly respect allowed branch paths.
• AST: The “Done Meddling” and “The Ultimate Overseas Duty” focuses have been modified to avoid accidentally releasing current subjects.
• AST: Fixed tooltip text references in Vichy “Out of Africa” events (AST_diplomatic_events.58 and AST_diplomatic_events.55) to point toward the “Undeniably Ours” focus instead of “Done Meddling.”
• Fixed an issue where the Dutch/Indonesian focus “Fund the ML-KNIL” failed to grant the promised air experience.
• AST: Players can now successfully leave their alliance if they gain independence as the fascist state of Stephensen.
• AST: Resolved an issue causing players to receive “Sufficient Funds” twice from the Australia First Movement decisions, alongside general code cleanup.
• SIA: Resolved an issue where participating in a limited war allowed a third party to capture a target state without breaking the war objective (e.g., Japan capturing Tonkin during a limited war with France).
• AST: The “Singapore Strategy” national idea no longer triggers on_remove effects if lost simply due to no longer owning Singapore.
• AST: Tooltips for the “Singapore Strategy” requirements now correctly read ‘Australia: Controls Singapore’ instead of just ‘Controls Singapore.’
• AST: Minor refinement replacing Daily PP Cost with Daily PP Gain for clearer mechanics without changing overall balance.
• INS: Indonesian General Gatot Soebroto’s Military High Command (MHC) role is now visible when unavailable, provided he is active as a General.
• INS: The Indonesian focus ‘Oerip’s Army’ now displays a proper tooltip for the MHC unlocked by the focus.
• SIA: Fixed a bug that occasionally caused Siamese national spirits to leak over to other countries.
• SIA: Fixed a bug where short war buffs failed to apply correctly upon declaring war, and updated the corresponding tooltip.
• INS: Indonesia will now properly unlock Henri Winkelman’s army chief role after completing the “Transfer of Henri Winkelman” focus.
• SIA: Added an override preventing Vichy France from joining factions after becoming the target of a limited war.
• SIA: Fixed a broken research bonus tooltip within “Reduction of Agricultural Yield Taxes.”
• SIA: Fixed response events erroneously triggering when demanding the release of Laos, Cambodia, or Vietnam.
• Updated various Australian state names.
• Exile Generals will now correctly start at level 1 with level 1 stats rather than level 1 with level 3 stats.
• Fixed a CTD occurring in certain mods when excessive rocket strikes were executed within a single air zone.
• INS: The focus “Prioritize the Sugar Economy” will now exclusively target states that are either cored or owned at the start of the game.
• AST: Fixed a misspelling of “Kembla” in the “Develop Port Kembla” focus tooltip.
• Fixed a bug where forming the Netherlands-Indonesia union permanently locked players out of removing “De Crisisjaren.”
• AST: Whyalla Steelworks now retains its custom logo when upgraded.
• AST: John Brown and Company’s Wartime Surge Capacity modifier changed from Production Efficiency to Production Output.
• ABDACOM: Nations not belonging to the ABDACOM faction can no longer complete their associated focuses.
• INS: The East Indies Navy branch can now be completed by Indonesia after the union is formed.
• AST: Chief of Airforce Charles Burnett’s trait has been converted into a proper Coat of Arms modifier for the base game.
• GER: States assigned to Reichskommissariat Australasien have been adjusted to include newly added territories.
• AST: Corrected the spelling of Melanesia for the Australasian formable nation.
• Resolved an Out-Of-Sync error occurring during technology level comparisons.
• HQ ability restrictions caused by wounded or sick commanders no longer falsely report the HQ as undeployed.
• Fixed availability conditions for the Second Treaty of Berlin regarding fascist or non-aligned Soviets.
• Fixed tooltips for already unlocked doctrines incorrectly displaying an “Insufficient XP” warning.
• Fixed army HQ deployment times failing to scale properly with HQ division sizes.
• Occupied provinces are now valid staging grounds for raids, allowing the Soviets to launch “Rescue-Captured-Commander” operations from occupied eastern Latvia into western Latvia.
• Resolved an OOS issue related to improper character sorting.
• Fixed a peace conference OOS bug.
• Properly accounts for equipment and manpower when modifying HQ templates mid-deployment.
• The Light Tank Destroyer Regimental Support unit now correctly applies the same Soft Attack penalties as the rest of the TD Regimental Support units.
• Armored Engineers now provide a sensible breakthrough bonus (+5% for armored units instead of a negligible 0.05 value).
• Trade Interdiction Submarine Milestone: Replaced the +0.1 Submarine Attack bonus with a +10% Submarine Torpedo Attack bonus.
• Marine Commando Reward 5: Pioneers now correctly grant a +15% armor bonus to Amphibious Armor.

Expansion Pass 2 Last Chance Bundle is still available!

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