Developer Diary | Special Projects

Hi,

I am Thomas, the Design Manager and Design Lead on the Hearts of Iron Expansion Team. Today I am here together with Manuel, also known as Mano de Zombi to introduce one of the new features of the upcoming Götterdämmerung expansion: Special Projects.

As always, please note that everything here might change before release… The UI in particular is receiving final touches at the moment, so it can most certainly look different on release day, but also any values, texts, etc you see in screenshots might change. But you know this already, right?

In Götterdämmerung, we have added a new way of acquiring super weapons and other experimental technological advancements that can give you an edge over your opponent. You can now construct secret experimental facilities, assign lead scientists and start up Special Projects there - trying to beat your enemy to getting those long range rockets, the atomic bomb, or the land cruiser mega tank.

With this new feature, Special Projects, you invest time and resources into specific fields, in order to produce those new super weapons, or similar things that can hopefully affect the outcome of the war, or at least will look cool and impress neighbouring countries :)

Experimental Facilities and Specializations

Okay, so how does one start one of these Special Projects? Well, the first thing you will need is an Experimental Facility. This is a new type of building that you can only have one of in a state (of any kind).

There are four types of Facilities, and all Special Projects are grouped into one of four specializations that match the types of Facilities.

The four Experimental Facilities are:

• Advanced Physics Facility (mainly nuclear related projects)

• Naval Engineering Facility (Naval, both Surface and Submarine projects)

• Aerodynamics and Avionics Facility (Air and Rocket projects)

• Land Warfare Facility (mainly Tank and Artillery related projects)

New Mexico seems like a safe place to construct an Advanced Physics Facility

Once constructed, you can see your Facilities on the map, and can click them in order to assign a scientist (more on them later) and start a Project from the map - or if you prefer from the top menu. And here we have our new Experimental Facility, ready to change the world as we know it

The old research button found on the top bar has been given a “Facelift”. If you click it as before, you open the research menu as before, but there is now a second tab that you can click to access the Special Projects. Or if you prefer you can right click on the research top menu item and go directly here. The third option, as I mentioned earlier, is to click on the Facility on the map. I wonder who would be the perfect candidate to assign to our new facility in New Mexico?

Unlocking and Breakthroughs

So you need an Experimental Facility to start a Special Project. However, you can’t start a project just because you have built a facility. In order to start a project you must first have at least one Scientific Breakthrough in the current field/specialization.

Breakthroughs are earned in two ways. The fastest and most efficient is by researching related technologies. This will generate progress towards a breakthrough in the field. For example, researching regular aircraft technologies will generate progress towards a breakthrough in the Aerodynamics and Avionics specialization.

Once you have gotten a