Developer Diary | Joint Focus Tree

Joint Focus Tree Dev Diary

Hej hei folks! Carlo here, and I’m super excited to present this new feature, probably the first to be made with multiplayer in mind. Just remember that this is all work in progress so you’ll definitely see stuff that will change for release.

Let me start with a hypothetical scenario:

You and your friends decide to play a co-op campaign of Hearts of Iron. You get your healthy snacks and drinks, jump into a voice chat and load the game, hoping to play as Monarchist Poland. There’s one problem though, one of your friends wants to play as monarchist Lithuania, and hopes to annex Poland and the other Baltic nations. If this has happened to you, then you’ll love the Joint Focus Tree. Actually I’m sure you’ll love it even if it hasn’t.

As nations that start the game disadvantaged against the big majors, a lot of minors rely on absorbing the countries around them to be able to compete. This happens with the Baltics, China, South America and importantly for us, the Nordic countries. We’re hoping the Joint Focus Tree will solve this by giving you and your friends the opportunity to collaborate with your neighbors and make your faction be more powerful than the sum of its parts, so you can take the fight to the Majors and win, TOGETHER!

But what is it? Well it’s a shared focus tree that Nordics will have in addition to the country’s normal focus tree, but when you start it you create a special faction where anyone can complete focuses in it, and they will complete in every relevant country, giving effects to all Nordic members of the faction.

Let’s take “Joint Military Exercises" as a very basic example. If Norway completes it, it’ll get 80 Army Experience and 2 75% Land Doctrine bonuses, but because it’s a Joint Focus, it will give 60 Army Experience and 2 50% Land Doctrine bonuses to every other Nordic in the faction.

The best part is that then another country, say, Denmark, can complete any focus that requires it while Norway does another focus, Joint or otherwise. You’re all working together and strengthening each other.

Other focuses give the Originator (The player that completed the focus) a special National Spirit that makes it the leader in that certain area, and because the requirements are pretty high, you will have to coordinate with your friends so each country specializes in one area to continue spreading the benefits around.

Now that I’ve explained the basic concept, let me describe how Arms Against Tyranny’s Joint Focus Tree will work:

If you’re playing as any of the Nordic countries and you’re not a puppet, you’ll eventually have the option of forming one of the three factions planned for this:

The Nordic Council: The Nordic democracies have joined forces to defend their political systems and to eradicate autocracy and oppression abroad (There’s currently an actual Nordic Council in real life, though with a different aim). They will use their resources and expertise to focus on quality over quantity, and manufacturing technologically advanced equipment, while still providing for their people.

The Northern People’s Union: The peoples of the North united against fascism and capitalism in Europe and beyond. Every worker that’s not making the tools of communism at home must take up arms and fight abroad. Expect superior numbers in both personnel and materiel

And finally, the Kalmar League: A mirror of the historical Kalmar Union, the