Kaije

About a week ago I fired up HoI2 to get back into my Italy game... Unfortunately, the few minor flaws that the game has quickly killed the mood. So next I looked into Iron Cross just to see what all it offered, changed, etc., but it appears to have been released a bit buggy and poorly translated...
 
And that's when I decided to give AoD a look. It doesn't add much in terms of content, so basically it's just appears to be HoI2 with tweaked or enhanced game mechanics and AI. I don't like the idea of spending another $20 for a game that I more or less already own, but what the hell, maybe it'll fix some of the flaws that've nagged at me. I haven't had much time to play around with this yet, so let's hope it was a worthy investment...
 
The new content of AoD is in the form of over a dozen new technologies (most are in the industrial tree), new tech teams galore, and some new brigades and attachments (naval units get much needed love here).
 
 
Republican Spain, 1936. Normal AI Difficulty and Aggression.
https://i784.photobucket.com/albums/yy123/Kaije3/AoD/SPR001.png
 
First thing I notice is that my starting IC is a little different than it was in HoI2, the same applies for most of the other nations. This is due to a game mechanic change, base IC and resource production are now modified by partisan activity, infrastructure, and terrain. Less than spectacular infrastructure combined with 30% dissent makes for an inefficient Spain. Swell. Oh well, at least I'm not playing as Nat. China because they're screwed.
 
 
Diplomacy Tab
https://i784.photobucket.com/albums/yy123/Kaije3/AoD/SPR002.png
 
Time to sort out my ministers and political sliders. Oh, and to check out my National Identity, Social Policy, and Culture. These provide various bonuses and penalities similar to ministers, can be changed, but I have very limited options to choose from - based on my political ideology. Here I switched my culture from Conformist to Individual Enterprise which gives small bonuses to Industrial Research and IC, but requires an extra 10% belligerence for me to DoW. And of course changing this gave me an additional 6% dissent, while the new bonuses don't go into effect for 120 days (May 1). Pfft, what's another 6% though!
 
 
Production Tab
https://i784.photobucket.com/albums/yy123/Kaije3/AoD/SPR003.png
 
Lots of new things here. A new IC slider under 'Upgrades' called 'Repair Provinces', which is for rebuilding a province after it gets blown to bits. Super. So now after I conquer a territory, I have to invest IC to get it back up and running... The Spanish Civil War is going to suck bad.
 
Conversions slider box allows you to control how much of a resource is to be converted (energy-to-oil or oil-to-rares). Not only do I have to research the required tech, but I now have to build the necessary plant in a province to begin converting. The amount of resources that can be produced is dependent on how many plants are built.
 
Expenses slider box is basically a break down of what makes up my 'Consumer Goods' need. Allocating IC above my needs just generates cash now, daily dissent change per day is now controlled with the 'Civil Expenses' slider.
 
The way that production runs are done now has changed quite a bit too, more than I want to detail here because I'm not adding anything new at this time.
 
 
Intelligence Tab
https://i784.photobucket.com/albums/yy123/Kaije3/AoD/SPR004.png
 
I don't know much about AoD intelligence, will play around with it later. As Spain I have much higher priorities to deal with
 
 
Trades Tab
https://i784.photobucket.com/albums/yy123/Kaije3/AoD/SPR005.png
 
A simple and more convient way to initiate trades. Something worth noting here though is that now sea trade utilises convoys and escorts which will make convoy raiding far more worthwhile. Island nations beware!
 
 
More to come...
 
This isn't meant to be a serious AAR, I'm just going to touch on some of the subtle differences between AoD and standard HoI2 for anyone that may be interested.