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Hearts of Iron IV
Hearts of Iron IV
Mar 20, 2026
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HOI IV - Open Beta

4/5 Significant

Major naval overhaul reduces manpower requirements for most ships and shifts resource costs from modules to hulls.

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Key Changes

  • 1Naval resource costs removed from most modules and consolidated into hulls
  • 2Massive manpower requirement reductions across almost all ship types
  • 3Sea zone dominance requirement reduced from 66% to 60%
  • 4Significant increase to Naval XP gain from active missions like Patrol and Convoy Raiding
  • 5Coastal Defense Ships and Panzerschiffs received major IC and manpower buffs
  • 6Supply consumption reduced for Carriers, Battleships, and Cruisers
  • 7Destroyer naval range increased across all tech tiers
  • 8Super Heavy Hull manpower requirement slashed from 9000 to 7000
  • 9Cruiser and Battleship armor schemes now cost significantly less Steel and Chromium
  • 10Escort Carrier manpower requirement reduced by 40%

All Changes

⚓Naval Balance(28)

  • buffCarriers: Carrier supply consumption reduced from 1.2 to 0.8
  • buffBattleships: Battleship supply consumption reduced from 0.8 to 0.56
  • buffBattlecruisers: Battlecruiser supply consumption reduced from 0.48 to 0.32
  • buffHeavy Cruisers: Heavy Cruiser supply consumption reduced from 0.4 to 0.24
  • buffEarly Destroyer: Early Destroyer naval range increased from 1500 km to 2000 km
  • buffBasic Destroyer: Basic Destroyer naval range increased from 1800 km to 2500 km and manpower reduced from 325 to 300
  • buffImproved Destroyer: Improved Destroyer naval range increased from 2000 km to 3000 km and manpower reduced from 400 to 350
  • buffAdvanced Destroyer: Advanced Destroyer naval range increased from 2500 km to 3500 km and manpower reduced from 500 to 400
  • changeImproved Cruiser: Improved Cruiser naval range reduced from 4000 km to 3500 km but manpower reduced from 1200 to 1000
  • changeAdvanced Cruiser: Advanced Cruiser naval range reduced from 4500 km to 4000 km but manpower reduced from 1400 to 1200
  • changeTorpedo Cruiser: Torpedo Cruiser naval range reduced from 4000 km to 3500 km and manpower reduced from 960 to 900
  • buffPanzerschiff: Panzerschiff manpower reduced (1800 to 1200), IC cost reduced (3500 to 3000), and visibility reduced (22 to 20)
  • buffCoastal Defense Ship: Coastal Defense Ship range increased (1500 to 2000), manpower reduced (1800 to 1000), IC cost reduced (3500 to 1500), and visibility reduced (20 to 18)
  • buffPre-Dreadnaught Hull: Pre-Dreadnaught Hull naval range increased from 2250 km to 2500 km
  • buffBasic Heavy Hull: Basic Heavy Hull manpower reduced from 5200 to 4300
  • buffImproved Heavy Hull: Improved Heavy Hull manpower reduced from 6000 to 4650
  • buffAdvanced Heavy Hull: Advanced Heavy Hull manpower reduced from 6000 to 5000
  • buffModern Heavy Hull: Modern Heavy Hull manpower reduced (6000 to 5000) and IC cost reduced (4000 to 3600)
  • nerfCruiser Carrier Conversion: Cruiser Carrier Conversion naval range reduced from 4000 km to 3000 km
  • changeBattleship Carrier Conversion: Battleship Carrier Conversion range reduced (4000 to 3000) but manpower reduced (5000 to 3500)
  • buffBasic Carrier: Basic Carrier range increased (3000 to 3500) and manpower reduced (4500 to 4000)
  • buffImproved Carrier: Improved Carrier range increased (4000 to 4250) and manpower reduced (5000 to 4500)
  • buffAdvanced Carrier: Advanced Carrier manpower reduced from 5500 to 5000
  • buffModern Carrier: Modern Carrier manpower reduced from 6500 to 6000
  • buffEscort Carrier: Escort Carrier IC cost reduced (1500 to 1250) and manpower reduced (2500 to 1500)
  • buffSuper Heavy Hull: Super Heavy Hull manpower reduced from 9000 to 7000
  • buffNaval XP: Naval XP gain for Patrol, Convoy Raiding, Convoy Escort, and Mine missions increased to 0.2 ratio
  • buffNaval XP: Naval XP gain for Strike Force missions increased to 0.05 ratio

🏗️Resource Costs(25)

  • buffNaval Modules: Removed resource costs from most naval modules including guns, deck armor, and hangar decks
  • buffCruiser Armor Scheme: Cruiser Armor Scheme Steel cost reduced (0/1/1/2 to 0/0/1/1) and Chromium cost reduced (0/0/1/1 to 0/0/0/1)
  • buffBattleship Armor Scheme: Battleship Armor Scheme Steel cost reduced from 1/1/2 to 1/1/1
  • nerfSubmarine Carrier Hull: Submarine Carrier Hull Steel cost increased from 3 to 4
  • buffAdvanced Destroyer Hull: Advanced Destroyer Hull Steel cost reduced from 4 to 3
  • nerfEarly Cruiser Hull: Early Cruiser Hull Steel cost increased from 1 to 2
  • nerfBasic Cruiser Hull: Basic Cruiser Hull Steel cost increased from 2 to 3
  • nerfImproved Cruiser Hull: Improved Cruiser Hull Steel cost increased to 3 and added 1 Chromium cost
  • nerfAdvanced Cruiser Hull: Advanced Cruiser Hull Steel cost increased to 4 and added 1 Chromium cost
  • nerfTorpedo Cruiser Hull: Torpedo Cruiser Hull Steel cost increased from 2 to 3
  • nerfPanzerschiff Hull: Panzerschiff Hull Steel cost increased to 3 and added 1 Chromium cost
  • buffCoastal Defense Ship Hull: Coastal Defense Ship Hull Steel cost reduced from 3 to 2
  • changePre-Dreadnought Ship Hull: Pre-Dreadnought Ship Hull Steel cost increased to 2 and Chromium cost removed
  • nerfEarly Heavy Ship Hull: Early Heavy Ship Hull Steel cost increased from 1 to 3
  • nerfBasic Heavy Ship Hull: Basic Heavy Ship Hull Steel cost increased from 1 to 4
  • nerfImproved Heavy Ship Hull: Improved Heavy Ship Hull Steel cost increased from 1 to 4
  • nerfAdvanced Heavy Ship Hull: Advanced Heavy Ship Hull Steel cost increased from 1 to 5
  • nerfModern Heavy Ship Hull: Modern Heavy Ship Hull Chromium cost increased from 3 to 4
  • nerfSuper Heavy Ship Hull: Super Heavy Ship Hull Steel cost increased to 5 and Chromium cost increased to 3
  • nerfBasic Carrier Ship Hull: Basic Carrier Ship Hull Steel cost increased from 3 to 5
  • nerfImproved Carrier Ship Hull: Improved Carrier Ship Hull Steel cost increased to 6 and Chromium cost increased to 2
  • nerfAdvanced Carrier Ship Hull: Advanced Carrier Ship Hull Steel cost increased from 4 to 7
  • nerfModern Carrier Ship Hull: Modern Carrier Ship Hull Steel cost increased from 5 to 8
  • nerfIce Carrier Ship Hull: Ice Carrier Ship Hull Steel cost increased from 5 to 10
  • changeEscort Carrier Ship Hull: Escort Carrier Ship Hull Steel cost increased to 3 and Chromium cost removed

🖥️UI/UX(1)

  • buffSea Zone Dominance: Updated sea zone dominance tooltip to reflect new 60% control requirement (down from 66%)

Summary

Naval Balance Overhaul

This Open Beta update focuses on a comprehensive restructuring of naval gameplay. The primary goal is to lower the 'threshold of entry' for nations with limited manpower by significantly reducing the service requirements for almost all ship types. Additionally, the resource cost system has been redesigned: most naval modules (guns, armor, hangars) no longer cost resources, with those costs instead being consolidated into the ship hulls themselves.

Gameplay & Progression

Naval XP gain from active missions like patrolling and convoy raiding has been buffed to encourage active fleet usage over passive training. Sea dominance requirements have also been eased, making it easier to achieve naval supremacy for invasions or mission efficiency.

← OlderWarships of the Pacific - Hotfix, 1.17.5.1Mar 19, 2026

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