GAME MANUAL - Steam

HEARTS OF IRON DARKEST HOURCOMBAT – TheArt of WarOverviewThis section of the manual willfamiliarise you with the variouscombat interfaces in the gameand introduce you to somebasic strategies so you can besuccessful when playingDarkest Hour. Combat is oneof the most complex systemsof the game. A successfulplayer must consider not onlythe operational capabilities ofthe various forces, butvariables such as terrain,weather, supply and leadership.This shouldn’t come as asurprise since this is a grandstrategy game, but it willprobably take some time foryou to gain a full understandingof combat’s intricacies…and quite a bit more tobecome a master of the art ofwar.Details of the various units canbe found in 3 places: in theProduction Orders interface; inthe Statistics folders and, themost detailed information isshown in the Unit Detailsinterface.As in real life, Darkest Hourimplements a Chain ofCommand structure to helpyou control your forces. Anational Chief of Staff andthree subordinates: the Chiefof the Army, Air Force andNavy. Your role as a player isto wear the multiple hats of thecombined Joint Chiefs of Staffand issue orders to your army,navy and air force. Each ofthese branches of the armedforces uses a slightly differentset of rules. Your eventualsuccess will probably dependon using a combination of atleast two - and occasionally allthree - branches when you areplanning your attacks.We’ll begin by looking at yourland forces, since they are theunits over which you have thegreatest degree of control andthey are the only units that arecapable of conquering aprovince. Once we’vethoroughly explored theirvarious interfaces andcontrols, we’ll move on to thedifferences and similarities ofthe interfaces that you willencounter and use to controlyour air forces and navies.The LandForcesOverview of Force Structureand Field CommandsIn Darkest Hour combatsrepresent large-scale offensiveand defensive actions, a scalewhere the struggles involvelarge numbers of men andequipment, and where theprize is the control of an entireprovince. Your job is to planahead, prepare and positionsuitable forces, ensure theirsupply, and then issue thenecessary orders to your fieldcommanders and entrust themto carry them out to youradvantage.While the precise structureand size of armies in the 20thcentury varied somewhat fromnation to nation, Darkest Hourabstracts and generalises thisto avoid confusion andmaintain ease of play. Thesmallest land unit that can bedirectly controlled in the gameis the Division, a unit thatrepresents many thousands ofmen and military vehicles. Asmaller Brigade unit isavailable, but these arespecialised units that cannotoperate alone and must be“attached” to Divisions toprovide a bonus in performance.Divisions may operate inisolation, or be groupedtogether to form a “corps” or“army”. These terms simplydefine smaller and largergroupings of Divisions.FieldCommandThe term “field command” or“command” refers to any forceon the map that is commandedby an officer and that youcan issue an order to,regardless of whether it is asingle division, a corps or anarmy. Each nation begins thegame with a specific set ofmilitary officers that historicallyserved in that nation’s armedforces. These officers mayeither be in the officer poolawaiting assignment, or bepre-assigned to units presentwhen the game first starts. Asyou create new forces eitherby building new ones or bycombining or subdividingexisting ones, officers must beassigned to lead them. Youmay automate officer assignmentif you wish. Officers haveseveral attributes that willaffect the performance of thetroops they command: rank,skill experience and expertise.Rank is the most important asthis determines the maximumnumber of divisions he cancontrol before his fieldcommand will begin to incur acombat penalty.You can create new forces inthe Production screen andwhen completed, they willappear in your force pool toawait deployment. Divisionsthat engage in battle willgradually gain valuablecombat experience which willimprove their capabilities overtime. Casualties will need tobe replenished with reinforcementsby allocating IC toreinforcements in theProduction Screen. Rawrecruits will fill those vacantpositions but will also dilute adivision’s experience. Officersalso gain combat experienceand “traits” which can lead toimprovements in their skilllevels and might prompt you topromote them in rank.Manually promoting an officercosts an experience point,reducing combat efficiency.But, automatically promotingan officer does not. Now thatyou have a rough overview ofthe forces, let’s look at them ingreater detail.96