GAME MANUAL - Steam

HEARTS OF IRON DARKEST HOURThe layout and generalinterface actions of the folderare similar to the ones used inthe Diplomacy folder.Your Nation and1 Government: The topleft corner of the folderwill always display yournation’s flag and name, as wellas your form of governmentand current belligerencevalue. If you click on the flag,details of your nation will bedisplayed in the rest of theinterface.World Nations: This is2 a scrollable list of allnations in the worldthat is almost identical to theone in the Diplomacy folder.Beside each nation’s name,you will see a circle thatindicates the effectiveness ofyour espionage network in thatcountry. A tooltip on the circlewill display importantinformation regarding thatcountry (relations, IC, dailychange of resources). Theinformation displayed in therest of the diplomacy folderwill change depending onwhich nation you haveselected from the list.Selected Nation’s3 Diplomatic Details:This area is identical tothe corresponding area in theDiplomacy folder and will givea general diplomatic overviewof the selected nation.Selected Nation’s4 Industrial and MilitaryIntel. Summary: Thisarea will display any industrialand military intelligence thatyou know about the selectednation. If the nation is part ofyour alliance then theinformation will usually bequite detailed, but if thecountry is neutral or an enemy,the information will be lesscertain and could easily beinaccurate, out of date, orcompletely non-existent. If youselect your own nation, youwill see a summary ofeffectiveness of yourespionage network againstother countries (ForeignIntelligence) and in your owncountry (Counter Espionage),the level of your espionagenetwork (which ranges from 0to 20) and the daily cost formaintaining your network.Selected Nation’s5 Technology Intel.Summary: This areawill display any informationyou know about the researchprojects currently underway inthe selected nation. As withindustrial and militaryintelligence, this data will beaccurate if the selected nationis your ally. If the nation isneutral or an enemy, theinformation could easily beunreliable.Intelligence6 Missions: if you selectyour own nation, fromthis area you'll be able toincrease or decrease yourintelligence founding (i.e. thelevel of your espionagenetwork) and enable ordisable auto-espionage, aswell as setting its parameters(see below the AutomatedEspionage System). If youselect another nation, thisarea contains a scrollable listof possible intelligencemissions that you may enact,together with their cost andprobability of success.Mission Success andDetectionThe list of possible intelligencemissions that you may enactagainst another country has acolumn to indicate thelikelihood of the mission’ssuccess. This can depend ona large number of differentfactors that include the level ofyour espionage network, thelevel of the espionage networkof the target country, theseverity of the mission’seffects, the domestic policiesof the target nation, theintelligence-related technologylevel of your respectivenations, the distance betweenyour country and the targetcountry, the difficulty setting ofthe game, and so on. If amission succeeds, the targetnation will immediately sufferits effects.Each mission (either launchedmanually or by the automaticespionage system for you)also has a chance of being“detected”. This governswhether or not the target willbe able to determine whichnation attempted the action,and is checked regardless ofwhether the mission failed orsucceeded. It is thereforepossible that you could becompletely unaware that amission has been attemptedagainst you or who wasbehind the assassination ofone of your ministers.Successful detection will resultin a significant drop in therelationship value between thetwo nations.Gathering IntelligenceUnless you have a veryadvanced network level, youwill have extremely limitedinformation available to youabout other countries unlessyou are part of the samealliance. The higher your level,the more reliable and timelythe data will be. The reliabilityis also affected by the distancebetween the two countries, byvarious technologies, and bythe domestic policy (open orclosed society) of the targetnation.Intelligence gathering is not amission. It’s a “passive”activity that your espionage88