HEARTS OF IRON DARKEST HOURCountersInfantryINFArmourArmMotorised InfantryMOTParatrooperPARAMarinesMARGarrisonGARLight / MountainInfantry MNTMechanised InfantryMECHMilitiaMILCavalryCAVHeadquartersHQBasic LandCombatOverviewNow that we’ve looked at thedetails of your forces, deployment,basic movement andsupply, we can finally begin todiscuss combat. We’ll start bylooking at what happens whenone of your land forcesengages an enemy’s landforce - a simple one-on-oneengagement between twoopposing field commands.This will introduce the basicrules that make up the core ofDarkest Hour's combatsystem. In subsequentsections, we’ll look at morecomplex situations wheremultiple forces are participating,and where air forcesand navies get involved.In Darkest Hour, combatrepresents the struggle forcontrol of large provincialareas and should be thoughtof as a series of engagements,rather than a singlebattle between two largeforces. Battles can often lastfor many hours, days, or evenweeks in game-time,depending on the size of the112
HEARTS OF IRON DARKEST HOURforces involved and how wellpreparedthe enemy is todefend the province. It willcontinue in a series of combatrounds until one side is eithervictorious or is ordered todisengage. If the defender isvictorious or the aggressorbreaks off the attack, thingswill remain status quo. If thedefender chooses to flee orhas been forced into fullretreat, the attacker will beginto move into the province toclean up the last pockets ofresistance and begin theoccupation of the newlyconqueredprovince.Entrenchment -Digging InBefore we look at initiatingcombat and how it is resolved,we need to discuss entrenchmentand provincial defences.Entrenchment is an indicationof how well-prepared thedefending force is to repel anattack. It is enabled after theappropriate technology hasbeen researched and onlywhen the country is at war.Check the status by selectingthe field command and lookingfor a small shovel icon in thestatus area. A shovel indicatesthat your force is entrenchedor “dug in”. Mouse-over theshovel and a tooltip willdisplay the dug-in status. Thehigher the number, the betterprepared the defences are.Being dug-in increases by 1point per day, to a maximum of20 points. The bonus isimmediately lost if it begins tomove.While there is no way to checkan enemy’s entrenched status,you could make an educatedguess if you know roughly howlong they have been there. Awell-entrenched enemy will beconsiderably harder to defeat.Attackers do not receive adug-in bonus, since they aremoving.ProvinceDefensiveStructuresWhile entrenchment can helpa defender repel an attack, itis a poor substitute for a fixeddefensive network ofstructures that are designedspecifically for this purpose. Aforce that is in a provincecontaining land fortificationswill gain an edge in combatthat is proportional to the sizeof the fortification (level 1-10),in addition to any entrenchmentbonus they receive. Adivision that is entrenched, insupply, at full strength, andwell-organised can be analmost unbeatable opponentso it is best to find a way ofreducing at least a few ofthose factors before launchingan assault against them.Land fortifications onlywork when fully mannedand only against an attackfrom another land province.They do not work whenattacked from the sea.On the other hand, Coastalfortifications are useful towithstand sea invasions (whenfully manned) and have noeffect on attacks from otherland provinces. Neither workwhen attacked by paratroopers,althoughparatroopers are subject to aseparate combat penalty. Antiaircraftand radar installationsdo not need to be manned,but have no effect whatsoeveron advancing land forces,although they will helpyou against any supportingenemy aircraft.Initiating BasicLand CombatAll land battles in DarkestHour involve two sides - anattacker and a defender.Combat is initiated whenevera field command is ordered tomove into an adjacentprovince that contains anenemy field command. Thedefender is always the forcethat occupies the provinceand is attempting to hold it;the attacker is always theforce that is attempting tocapture the province. Whenyou order a field command tomove into an undefendedprovince, there will be nocombat and a movementarrow will appear. The arrowwill be red to indicate that thecommand is moving to occupyan enemy province.Whenever the target provinceis defended, right-clicking on ait will automatically display theOrders interface. The Ordersinterface will list all contextsensitiveorders that the fieldcommand is able to perform,and the attack option will bepre-selected. The interface willalso indicate the date and timethat the attack is to begin, andwill typically indicate thecurrent date and time.This won’t always be the casebecause the game tracks yourrecent orders, and if it seemsappropriate, the default timewill be set to coincide with theothers. It might take a littlegetting used to but this featureis an incredible time-saver,and the default attack time caneasily be overridden by113
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