Hearts of Iron IV Patch 1.13 Dev Diary – Historical Norway

The third Arms Against Tyranny developer diary covers new features coming to Sweden’s neighbor, Norway. Unlike last week, no new changes were covered outside of historical Norway.

Norway Changes

Going the historical Norway route will focus on players developing their country, dealing with negative National Spirits, and choosing whether or not to go fascist. During World War 2, Norway adopted a pacifist approach with the goal of appearing harmless, and focused entirely on interior development as a result. Players will be able to follow this approach, upgrading any of Norway’s 11 states prior to the war. Once war starts, these civilian upgrades can be leveraged into military benefits. However, these benefits do seem underwhelming, only providing two militia divisions, improved defense, and a military factory at the maximum upgrade level.

Paradox represents a passive government, an unprepared military, and a recovering economy through three National Spirits: Complacent Cabinet, Obsolete Armed Forces, and The Hard Thirties. These will be able to be changed or removed through your decisions on the revamped focus tree.

There are two routes towards becoming fascist, either via a civil war through national focuses or by siding with the fascists when Germany invades Norway. Once fascist, players will have several routes they can take including becoming a Viking Empire and expanding your borders to Vinland and the British Isles.

Although not as exciting as last week, that is probably to be expected due to Norway’s historical position. Nevertheless, it will be significantly different to play Norway in 1.13 and I expect building a Viking Empire with the Rikstanken at your side will be a fun experience.