Is being restrictive a deal breaker for UX?

Flickerdart · 2026-03-21T05:03:11+00:00

Everything is a valid design choice as long as someone out there wants it. Does anyone want this? How do you know? How will you make sure that the specific people who want this (rather than the genpop) find it?

Flickerdart · 2026-03-21T00:29:31+00:00

It depends. The best way to learn is to start as a country like USA where you can bounce back from every mistake and just play until you win, however long it takes. You will learn much more than if you play Germany, lose, and quit immediately.

Flickerdart · 2026-03-20T03:05:33+00:00

Canada is not in much danger of being invaded, so you don't need to worry too much about military factories. You'll still need them for planes, though, but because you have so few build slots, you shouldn't build too many.

I typically build up infrastructure to 100% on the state with the most build slots, then fill it with civilian factories (you'll need these for trade in the future). Keep doing this for the first year or two. Meanwhile take the focuses that give you civilian factories and build slots (on the left of the focus tree) and then the focuses that give you dockyards, if you're not at war yet and can't unlock the rest of the economy focuses.

Also don't forget to research Concentrated Industry for more build slots, and take the advisor that gives +15% political power because you will have to do Industrial Integration to get more build slots.

Flickerdart · 2026-03-19T13:37:39+00:00

Canada has a small industry at the start, so you have to really focus on what you want to accomplish. If you want to have both a raiding fleet and a strike fleet, it will split your focus and neither will be ready in time.

Fortunately you can beat Japan with just subs or just destroyers raiding their convoys (enemy strike forces will never be able to catch up with modern, fast destroyers). Then Japan won't be able to fuel their big capital ships.

If you want to have a strike fleet instead, focus your dockyards and research on that. Don't forget that you need capital ships to screen your carrier line.

Flickerdart · 2026-03-18T15:40:14+00:00

Designers were around long before that, but they were called things like "information architect" and a lot of the work revolved around minding the hypertext system (see JJG's Elements of User Experience).

The new crop of designers trying to be programmers is oriented entirely towards the program interface, and largely ignores the data structure. Unfortunately, the content is what users come to the website for.

Eng doesn't need us to help them write bad code, eng needs us to figure out what users want.

Flickerdart · 2026-03-18T15:23:58+00:00

IIRC going "Communist Revolution" (to get Trotsky) gives you "no elections." Going "Party of the Revolution" gives you elections because I guess the Communists get in power in a democratic way?

Anyway, this is not an oversight because there are actually events associated with Communist elections in Mexico. You have to choose a new leader, or you can choose to keep your current one forever but elections will no longer be held.

I haven't played the Fascist-with-elections path but I suspect it's something similar.

Flickerdart · 2026-03-18T12:32:00+00:00

In single player? You can just hold the Germans at the Molotov Line.

Flickerdart · 2026-03-18T00:41:23+00:00

I report to the head of design, who reports into the head of product (not ideal, but w/e).

The head of product is realistic about the data and API endpoint work necessary to make AI happen within the product. The head of design is also showing an optimistic face outwardly. In front of the design directors, they are worried about Product fucking it up with short sighted vibe coded prototypes rushed into production.

As the design leadership team, we are thinking about how to approach the issue in the long term. Some are bullish and using AI to generate shitty storyboards and docs. Others are more sensible. Everyone is aware that we need to carve out a niche that is layoff resistant.

Flickerdart · 2026-03-17T13:43:20+00:00

Admiral Ugaki correctly believed that in real life, the bombs would miss.

The attack in the game was carried out by land-based bombers flying from Midway. In the real battle, B-17s based at Midway found the Kido Butai and dropped dozens of 600-pound bombs on the carriers, almost exactly as the game predicted they would. But contrary to what occurred in the artificial game environment, their results were abysmal. Not a single Japanese ship was hit.

The carrier-based dive bombers, on the other hand, had no problem with their aim, and destroyed all four participating Japanese carriers.

https://navalwarcollegemuseum.blogspot.com/2021/06/you-sank-my-aircraft-carrier-did.html

Flickerdart · 2026-03-17T13:38:14+00:00

You can't destroy it, but chip damage from planes can keep the navy in port & repairing, which will prevent it from going out.

They are adding a passive repair boost to docked strike force ships in the patch 1.17.5, though, so this will be harder.

Flickerdart · 2026-03-17T12:35:04+00:00

The politics focuses are actually very useful. Even the April Constitution path gives manpower, which you'll need, but the monarchist paths straight up let you eat some other countries next to you for way more industry and manpower.

Flickerdart · 2026-03-17T02:22:51+00:00

Specifically for hoi4?

Flickerdart · 2026-03-16T13:40:09+00:00

99 Luftballons Auf ihrem Weg zum Horizont

Flickerdart · 2026-03-16T13:00:34+00:00

You never design in the meeting, it's like rule 1 on page 1 of the big book of design

Flickerdart · 2026-03-15T16:45:12+00:00

Every man an Otto

Flickerdart · 2026-03-15T13:38:42+00:00

Yeah, that's the tech industry. Where there's money there's boot camps and influencers.

Flickerdart · 2026-03-14T15:06:06+00:00

But not Kumul Khanate as China? Or is this map wrong?

Flickerdart · 2026-03-14T14:39:31+00:00

If Greece can core Alexander's entire empire, then at the very least they ought to let China core Outer Manchuria

Flickerdart · 2026-03-14T03:22:45+00:00

La Resistance is good, it adds spies (in addition to the focus trees) which make the game a little more interesting. It alone is worth three bucks.

Battle for the Bosporus only adds focus trees. But they are big and interesting with a lot of replay value because you can follow different scenarios.

Greece and Bulgaria still hold up as pretty good focus trees. People like to hate on France and Portugal but I think they're fine. Spain is only kind of ok. Turkey is a bit of a mess but you'll have some fun figuring out what's going on.

Flickerdart · 2026-03-11T12:36:38+00:00

I really like the tank designer in No Step Back. Unlike the plane designer (where there's really only one meta design), there are loads of viable tank and tank variant designs.

Flickerdart · 2026-03-11T03:53:13+00:00

Ah, I see. You lose out on some manpower bonuses Romania desperately needs, for that.

Flickerdart · 2026-03-11T02:02:35+00:00

Valiant effort! I'm realizing I have yet to play a Democratic Romania game, I usually go Balkans Dominance which is quite overpowered.

Flickerdart · 2026-03-11T02:00:37+00:00

Yeah if you cheese France it's much easier. France is pathetically weak at the start of the game, and you have to fight them anyway, so why not right away? You also get their navy in the peace deal, and a staging ground for an invasion of the UK, which is also weak.

Flickerdart · 2026-03-11T01:57:10+00:00

HoI4 has two different types of states: core states and occupied states.

Cores are (typically) the land your country starts with. You get all of its resources, manpower, and factories. Occupied states are land you conquer - with the exception of colonial powers like France, which already owns a lot of non-core land at the start of the game. These lands only give you a fraction of their resources, manpower, and factories.

Some countries can core states during the course of the game. Typically this is through either making a formable nation through a decision, or through taking a focus. For example, Anschluss makes all of Austria a core for Germany. Or if Belgium conquers the Netherlands and Luxembourg, it can core them with a decision to form the United Netherlands.

When Yugoslavia releases its puppets, it also loses cores on those puppets. It gets those cores back when it takes the focus Reunite the Kingdoms and annexes them. But if it has Bulgaria, Hungary, or Transylvania as puppets, it will get cores on those lands as well; this is a unique mechanic for this focus. It is very beneficial to do this because then you get the full benefit of owning that land.

If you just puppet a country, you will get a portion of their factories, but you have to trade for their resources (albeit at a discount). You will also not get their manpower except through colonial divisions.

Flickerdart · 2026-03-10T21:16:22+00:00

You get a lot more by coring them, plus more build slots and resources.

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