A major component to a successful battle plan in Hearts of Iron IV is the composition of your divisions. The division designer gives the player the power to customize every division to their exact specifications. While it is a powerful tool, it can be complex and confusing if you are not an experienced player.
Overview of the Division Designer
The division designer consists of two interactive sections, support units, and combat units. Furthermore, there is a third section that cannot be interacted with that describes the stats and modifiers of the template you’ve created. To cover the army experience costs, be sure to train your units and engage in combat when possible, such as the Spanish Civil War. By the time most template creation occurs during the war, you should have an excess amount of experience and thus the costs won’t matter too much.
The division designer can be accessed from the recruitment panel, above the template options.
Support Units
Each division can support five different support companies. These companies will provide different bonuses to the division as a whole and will not participate in direct combat. Eleven unique companies exist in-game, including ones such as support artillery or engineering units.
The Support Companies available to Germany at the beginning of the game.
You can only utilize one type of company in each division, and they do increase the equipment requirements of the division. It is important to note that the speed of the division will not be slowed down by adding support companies but may be sped up by recon or engineering companies.
Combat Units
The combat units section is where you modify the frontline components of your division. These battalions are organized into five columns, each of which can support five battalions. How you organize the battalions within a division makes no difference on the combat, so organize it according to personal preference. However, each column can include only infantry, mobile, or armored battalions.
Infantry Battalions
Infantry are the basis of most armies. They include your basic soldiers, as well as horse-drawn artillery and anti-air cannons. In addition to those, any special forces you have access to will be under this section.
Mobile Battalions
Motorized forces will be found under this section. Some examples of these include armored cars, mechanized infantry, and motorized artillery.
Armored Battalions
Armored battalions include all tank variations, including light, medium, and heavy tanks. Specialty tanks, like tank destroyers and self-propelled artillery, will also be found here.
Statistics
This section of the division designer tells you the nitty gritty of what your division is capable of. Here you can find stats like the speed of the unit, its supply usage, and how much it will cost to produce. At the bottom, each of the buffs or debuffs for the division from different terrain types can be seen.
Summary
Once you understand it, the division designer can be a powerful tool to utilize in your conquests. Be sure to check out our division template guide, which walks you through the optimal divisions you should be using in your game.
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Lucky Boop
Strategy game enthusiast, especially Paradox titles and the Civilization series. Whenever he's not writing he spends his time watching sports, enjoying coffee, or studying history.
