Hearts of Iron IV Diplomacy

In Hearts of Iron, your ability to perform diplomatic maneuvers will play a big role in how your campaigns go. Whether you are justifying a war or pushing for a neutral country to join your side, you will utilize diplomacy at some point.

Throughout the game, there are two ways that diplomacy is performed. Some actions are performed faction-wide, but most diplomacy is bilateral and takes place between two countries.

Factions

A faction in Hearts of Iron IV is a coalition of nations who agree to protect each member and fight by their side. In addition, all members of a faction have military access through each other’s land, and share accurate intelligence. Factions are not permanent agreements, as members can leave, though this is a rare occurrence and the AI will avoid it.

At the beginning of the game there are three factions, the Allies, the Axis, and the Comintern. Other factions can appear through national focus trees, such as the Chinese United Front or Novus Imperium Romanum. Alternatively, players can form their own faction with no preset name once they unlock the ability through their country’s national focus tree. It’s usually not beneficial to do this, as pre-made factions have more focuses to get members easily.

Bilateral Diplomacy

With the exception of actions that are faction-wide, all diplomatic actions are one to one. You can only request and offer things to one country at a time, such as non-aggression pacts or starting a lend-lease.

Diplomacy is not symmetric in Hearts of Iron, meaning that factors impacting relations affect each side of diplomacy separately. For example, improving relations with a country will only improve their opinion of you, not the other way around.

Summary

Diplomacy is a powerful tool to add to your arsenal in Hearts of Iron IV. A strong understanding of diplomacy will let you influence affairs far from home, without ever needing to draw a battle plan or deploy a division.