Hearts of Iron IV Divisions Guide

Hearts of Iron IV is often described as a 'spreadsheet simulator,' and honestly, that's not far off. The game really tends to be overly complicated with its numbers. And this guide will help you understand what those numbers mean, at least when it comes to divisions.

Battalions

First, all divisions are made of battalions. These are the building blocks that set up the core of the army. While the game has a really high number of battalions, with niche ones like bicycle and camelry battalions, the main ones are listed below. These also happen to be the most used and most common ones.

Infantry: The most common, basic battalion type. They're cheap and have high HP. They're great at halting the enemy and defending. Their soft attack is low, but it's decent for the cost. Additionally, they're cheap to supply. Infantry have poor Breakthroughs, making them bad for attacking alone. If they do, it'll usually be by brute-forcing it.

Artillery: Infantry and Artillery go like bread and butter because Artillery makes up for all of the infantry's faults. They have a high soft attack but pretty much slow stats all across the board.  Their soft attack makes them good when paired with infantry.

Cavalry: Faster mounted units that use support equipment. Due to their high suppression, they are really good as garrison units. This is really the only role they excel in. Sometimes, they work as filler units, too.

Motorized Infantry: They're basically as if the horses were cars and trucks. They cost fuel and are around 2.7x more expensive. They also have a high breakthrough, making them good at attacking. They're also incredibly fast at 12 km/h, making them excellent at pushes in open terrain. 

Motor. Artillery: The same as regular Artillery, but moving at 12 km/h. They're meant to be paired with Motor or Mech Inf.

Tanks: Light Tanks are just that, fast, armored vehicles. Technically, they'll be split into either Light Tanks, Heavy Tanks, or Medium Tanks. They'll also get variants such as Tank Destroyers or SPGs. Regardless, the main theme remains the same. They have incredible breakthroughs, they eat fuel, and they have armor.

Paratroopers: Paratroopers are niche Special Forces units that are rare and can only be had so many of them. However, they're great at what they do, which is paradrops. They can use transport planes to drop into important tiles and contest them.

Support Companies

You can only have five support companies. These augment your division in many ways and are great for making it strong and efficient without using too many resources. Again, the most useful and common ones are listed.

Support Artillery: This is a cheap way to boost soft attacks and is great for all situations.

Engineer Company: Basically, the best support company in the game. They give you a litany of bonuses, from increased entrenchment to attack and defense bonuses on different terrain types. 

Anti-Air Company: Similar to Artillery, this is a cheap way to boost anti-air attacks. It's really good if you're dealing with enemies with lots of planes.

Anti-Tank Company:  This is similar to Artillery, adding piercing and hard attack, so it is great for dealing with armored divisions without having to invest too much into anti-tank production.

Flame Tanks: Great way to add breakthrough and attack. Great with slower divisions or for ones that are meant for attacking.

Anti-air company. A single Anti-air company can reduce incoming CAS damage by up to 75%! Very strong when the air area you're fighting in is contested or hostile. Quite cheap.

Medium Flame tank company. It increases your soft attack and breakthrough when attacking in various types of terrain while being quite cheap. Always add them to your offensive divisions.

Support Anti-tank. Adds enough piercing to your division to counter an enemy armored division.

Recon Company: These come in a few forms: cavalry, motor, or armored car recon, and light tank recon. They all sound really good, but they have very few uses. They're good to grab if you have an empty slot and wish to get a nice speed boost.

Logistics Company: If you're a non–major and plan on using tanks, this, along with the Maintenance Company, is essential. They reduce supply and fuel consumption.

Maintenance Company: As the name suggests, maintenance companies deal with reliability and equipment loss. They're good for units in areas of high attrition or precious units like heavy tanks.

Field hospital: This saves a few of the men you lose, but ultimately, the manpower saved is inefficient compared to its costs. It is very expensive and requires trucks, so it turns your foot infantry into fuel consumers.

Military Police: Cheap support company that's essential for the cavalry divisions. They increase suppression.

Division Sizes

With the new update, division sizes don't matter all that much. Smaller divisions are more organized, so they can actually survive for a while due to not being de-org'd. However, you can't really make effective use of them if you don't have a lot of generals. Furthermore, they also have reduced XP gain due to game mechanics.

Meanwhile, larger divisions take fewer losses and have low organization compared with their individual combat width. A middle ground is the best option, going for divisions with sizes ranging from 20 to 30 width. Right now, 30-width is the most optimal.

Tips & Tricks

• You should usually exercise infantry units to let them reach their maximum levels attainable via exercise. This is usually the 'regulars. ' Units normally come as being 'trained.'
• This applies to planes and ships as well, but it's particularly important for planes. It lets fighters survive for much, much longer.
• Having a single anti-air battalion already immensely decreases damage from Close-Air Support. Having more than one will only increase the enemy's losses.
• If you lack Artillery and tanks, using close air support is a good way to fight offensively with infantry.
• Air can also be used to effectively win by taking out the enemy logistics. This includes their supply hubs, infrastructure, railways, and more. With the game's new mechanics, you can even target resource production centers and places like dams.
• Using 150 or sometimes 75 Political Power to get yourself vehicle designers will let you add more stats to them and improve your research rate.
• Losing Divisions is the worst thing that can happen, so try to save them at all costs. It takes too long to retrain them.
• However, when in trouble, you can quickly deploy units still in training as long as they're 20% trained. They'll have terrible stats, but it's good to fill up gaps.
• For smaller nations, infantry with Artillery is the best way to play. For larger ones, tanks are the way to go. There are exceptions, and it more so pertains to your industry. Tanks require a lot of industry to sustain them. This includes good and, if possible, uninterrupted access to oil.
• A very vague way to see this is also as Infantry > Planes > Tanks. This means that once you have enough, you should focus on infantry. You should make sure you have a lot of planes—fighters to protect your skies and bombers or CAS to disrupt the enemy. Then, and only then, should you look towards getting tanks.
• A great way to fight tanks is by utilizing anti-tank. Remember that you can also use terrain to your advantage. Rivers, mountains, and jungles all incur penalties for tanks. So, use these terrain features to your advantage.

Read our review of review of the newest Hearts of Iron IV DLC:

• Hearts of Iron IV: Götterdämmerung Review