How the FUCK do you play this game? I've played Hearts 2 years ago in high school and it didn't feel as absolutely daunting as this one. I'm playing as Spain during the revolution (which just might be a hard campaign) and everything ends up as a stalemate with the fascists until I run out of supplies.
Setting up AI attacks seems goofy and difficult. Is there a better way to organize/run armies? Do I have to babysit certain battalions/armies to sit and wait until they're organized and the pincer enemy positions? Like I said, Hearts 2 seemed really straightforward and I never really had issues defeating like, the fucking Nazi's in Stalingrad or killing Argentina as Brazil.
If you're just starting out, I would absolutely not start with Republican Spain. They start at a disadvantage and, at least in my experience, require you to micro your divisions in order to actually get anywhere. Also, a lot depends on how much support both sides are getting from the major powers. The major powers will be much more beginner friendly. The Soviet Union is pretty good because you'll have about 5 years of prep time before you get into a meaningful war, and by then you'll probably have done the winter war which will give you some practice in using front lines and battle orders.
If you want to micro your units, this is pretty much how you do it. It's a lot easier if you have tanks or motorized to do it
I would highly recommend you look up videos on parts you're confused about as you go, there's a ton to learn about this game. I have 1,500+ hours and I still feel like I'm missing a lot. I'll put some basic tips here so that combat is less frustrating. Division templates are very important, they're what dictate the stats of your divisions. For various reasons that I still don't quite understand, divisions should have a width of either 20 or 40. A generally good infantry division would look like 7 infantry battalions and 2 artillery battallions, or 14 inf/4 arty. Add support companies if you can afford them, I typically go with Signal, Engineers, Recon, AT, Support Artillery. For armored divisions you want something like 5 motorized or mechanized infantry and 5 tanks (medium is good all around, light is fast, I don't know much about heavy). You can up this to 40 width by just going 10/10. For armored support companies I would probably do Engineers, Recon, Signal, Maintenance, and Support Artillery. I generally don't deviate from these but you definitely can, these are just some decent divisions with good stats that make sure you're hitting 20 or 40 width. The best land doctrine right now is Superior Firepower, and when you come to the decisions go Integrated Support and Shock and Awe. Last thing, the air war is SO important if you can afford an airforce. Air superiority over a zone grants something like +25% combat bonus, or something like that.
I hope this helps somewhat. HoI4 is very fun once you get a handle on it, especially with the plethora of mods available, but there's a very steep learning curve.
Combat width (which determines how many divisions you can have actively doing damage in a fight) is always a multiple of 20, so 20-width divisions ensure none of it is wasted and you can always bring maximum firepower to bear.
Cool, thanks! One thing I've heard is that 20w performs better at defense than 40w, is that because they can recover while others are fighting? For example in a 40w battle, 1 20w is defending while the other recovers?