GAME MANUAL - Steam

HEARTS OF IRON DARKEST HOURyou may need to remove ahistorical leader from onecommand, thus returning himto the pool and replacing himwith a “generic” officer, andthen assign him to a newcommand that is in moreurgent need of his abilities.When a division is firstdeployed from the force pool,it will also be commanded by ageneric officer unless it isdeployed directly into anexisting command. Don’tforget to assign a “real” officerto any division that is likely tosee combat action as soon aspossible.Field OfficerTraitsA field officer may havespecific traits that willcharacterise his style ofcommand or identify areaswhere he possesses exceptionalabilities. If he has such atrait, it will be identified in thetooltip that appears when youhover your mouse over hisportrait and will benefit anydivisions under his directcommand. Warning! Thisbonus is lost if the officeris overstacked. In DarkestHour, it is now possible to filterthe list of officers by Rank andTrait, using the 4 boxes next to“Available Replacements”.Logistics Wizard: This officeris able to achieve impressiveeconomies of both supply andfuel efficiency. Divisions underhis command will consumeboth at a reduced rate.Defensive Doctrine: Thisofficer is very good atpreparing his troops to defendagainst enemy attacks andcounter-attacks, improvingtheir defensiveness andtoughness values.Offensive Doctrine: Thisofficer is very good at manoeuvringhis forces to gainmaximum tactical advantage,giving them bonuses to allattack values.Winter Specialist: This officerexcels at winter warfare,guiding his forces with suchskill that they incur nopenalties to movement orcombat in those conditions.Trickster: An expert atcamouflage and deception,divisions under this officer’scommand will always gain theadvantage of surprise, arevery difficult for enemy aircraftto target, and are usuallycompletely invisible to enemyintelligence activities.Engineer: Divisions under thecommand of an engineer areable to cross rivers withoutincurring the normalmovement or attack penaltiesthat other units will suffer.Fortress Buster: This officeris particularly good atassaulting enemyfortifications.Panzer Leader: A panzerleader is able to increase themovement speed of his forces,and if he commandspredominantly armoureddivisions, he is able to improvetheir attack abilities and mayeven achieve sudden anddevastating victories byblitzing through enemy lines.Commando: This officer isbest suited to leadmountaineers, marines orparatroopers, who receivelarge bonuses to boththeir attack and defensivevalues when under hiscommand.Old Guard: This officer isof the old school and notparticularly imaginative.Neither he nor thedivisions under hiscommand will learn asmuch during combat, thusreducing the rate at whichthey will gain experience.Desert Fox: This officergains special bonuses tocombats occurring in thedesert.Jungle Rat: This officergains special bonuses tocombats occurring in thejungle.Urban Warfare: Thisofficer gains specialbonuses to combatsoccurring in urbanprovinces.Ranger: This officer gainsspecial bonuses tocombats occurring in theforest.Mountaineer: This officergains special bonuses tocombats occurring in themountains.Counter-Attacker: This officeris highly adept at absorbing anattack and then making a104