GAME MANUAL - Steam

HEARTS OF IRON DARKEST HOURassets from an enemy’s longrange bomber attacks.Flying Bombs and RocketBombsFlying bombs and rocketbombs are treated as singleuseair wings. These unmannedarsenals can delivera large amount of damage toany strategic target in aprovince. They are notimmune to interception or AAbatteries, but it is rare that onemay be utterly destroyedbefore it is able to deliver atleast a partial blow to atarget. When you are ready touse one, simply select the unitand target it exactly the sameway that you would target anyother air mission. Since theyonly have a strategic attackvalue, you will see anabbreviated list of relevantmissions. Select the missionyou want and click OK toconfirm the order. The unit willthen fly to its target andconduct its attack; note thatyou are not able to change theorders once the mission hasbegun. After the attack, thebomb will be removed fromyour arsenal and the map, soif these weapons are part ofyour intended ongoingstrategy, you will need to ordera steady stream of production.The other distinction of thistype of unit is that once it hasbeen deployed on the map,you must use the strategicredeployment order to move itto a different location, ratherthan the rebase order.The BombThe last subject we’ll look at inthis section (and in themanual) is the one that finallybrought an end to six years ofbloody global conflict and hashaunted international politicsever since. Atomic weaponrymay be developed by persistentlyconducting research inthe Nuclear technology path ofthe industry category. This willeventually allow you to build anuclear reactor which willoperate as a test and researchfacility to speed futureresearch and, later, for manufacturingthe essential, deadlycomponents of your nucleararsenal.Once you have completed theNuclear Power advance,switch to the Secret Weaponscategory and begin work on anuclear waste bomb project.Once that is complete, youwill be able to place aproduction order to increasethe size of your reactor tolevel 6, the minimum levelrequired to manufacture abomb. As soon as thisenlargement is complete, thereactor will begin to build anatomic bomb which, whenready, will be placed in yournational nuclear arsenal,which is shown on the top bar.Each reactor that you buildthat is at least this size willcontribute to your arsenal.A nuclear bomb may beprepared for delivery byattaching it to a strategicbomber or a sufficientlyadvanced flying rocket suchas a ballistic missile or ICBM.Once the technology is available,you may select one ofthese wings and look at thedetails in the informationpanel, which will display a“nuclear” button at the bottom,beside the disband button.Clicking this will remove onebomb from your nationalarsenal and deploy it on thatwing. If you wish, you maylater unload the bomb if youhave not yet used it.If you decide to unleash thebomb’s fearsome power,select a squadron on whichthe bomb is loaded and thenright-click on your intendedtarget. Select the nuclearattack mission from the ordersoptions and then confirm thatthis is really what you intend todo. As long as the wing thatcarries the bomb surviveswhatever defences the enemyis able to muster, it willdetonate. Not surprisingly, theeffects are devastating, butthey also have one additionalside effect: the victory pointvalue of the targeted provincewill drop, most likely to zero,though in a few instances itmay still retain a value of 1.Enemy forces located in aprovince that is attacked inthis way will be severelydamaged, but only rarelydestroyed. Further, a nationthat is subjected to a nuclearattack will suffer an increase indissent that is proportionalto the manpower and IC of theprovince attacked. Thisdissent will remain in forceuntil a counter-strike isinitiated against the nation thatpreviously delivered theattack, at which point thetables are turned…until theinevitable retaliation. As aresult, a prolonged or largescalenuclear war can behorribly disruptive.151