''Arsenal of Democracy: A Hearts of Iron Game'' is a 2010 grand strategy

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

developed by BL-Logic and published by Paradox Interactive for

Microsoft Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

. It is based on '' Hearts of Iron II - Armageddon'' and developed on Paradox's in-house Europa Engine. It is developed by BL-Logic, a development studio made up by fans of the ''Hearts of Iron'' series and active members of the modding community.Arsenal of Democracy: A Hearts of Iron Game
IGN. ''Arsenal of Democracy'' was announced on 8 September 2009Arsenal of Democracy Announcement
Paradox Plaza. and released on 23 February 2010. As in other games in the grand strategy ''Hearts of Iron'' series, ''Arsenal of Democracy'' allows for the player take control of and manage nearly any

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and early

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

era nation-state including its

political Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with decision-making, making decisions in social group, groups, or other forms of power (social and political), power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of Social sta ...

, diplomatic,

espionage Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering, as a subfield of the intelligence field, is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information ( intelligence). A person who commits espionage on a mission-specific contract is called an ...

economic An economy is an area of the Production (economics), production, Distribution (economics), distribution and trade, as well as Consumption (economics), consumption of Goods (economics), goods and Service (economics), services. In general, it is ...

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...

, and technological aspects.

Gameplay

The player can build land

divisions Division may refer to: Mathematics *Division (mathematics), the inverse of multiplication * Division algorithm, a method for computing the result of mathematical division Military *Division (military), a formation typically consisting of 10,000 t ...

, aircraft wings, and naval ships/ fleets, and combine these into

corps Corps (; plural ''corps'' ; from French , from the Latin "body") is a term used for several different kinds of organization. A military innovation by Napoleon I, the formation was formally introduced March 1, 1800, when Napoleon ordered Gener ...

and

armies An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

. The player also has the ability to control the appointment of commanders of forces under their nation's flag or that of controlled nations as well as to control the appointment of individual government ministers and military commanders in key

General Staff A military staff or general staff (also referred to as army staff, navy staff, or air staff within the individual services) is a group of officers, Enlisted rank, enlisted, and civilian staff who serve the commanding officer, commander of a ...

positions. The player also has a broader ability to control the

heads of state A head of state is the public persona of a sovereign state.#Foakes, Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representative of its international persona." The name given to the office of head of sta ...

and

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

; however, this option is only available to democracies and only then through elections, in which the player chooses the winner. The player can stage coups,

declare war A declaration of war is a formal act by which one state announces existing or impending war activity against another. The declaration is a performative speech act (or the public signing of a document) by an authorized party of a national gover ...

annex Annex or annexe may refer to: Places * The Annex, a neighbourhood in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. * The Annex (New Haven), a neighborhood of New Haven, Connecticut, United States. * Annex, Oregon, a census-designated place in the United ...

territories and make

alliance An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or sovereign state, states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not an explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an a ...

s. The player can also alter the

social Social organisms, including human(s), live collectively in interacting populations. This interaction is considered social whether they are aware of it or not, and whether the exchange is voluntary or not. Etymology The word "social" derives fro ...

and

policies of their nation using sliders, such as democratic versus

authoritarian Authoritarianism is a political system characterized by the rejection of political plurality, the use of strong central power to preserve the political ''status quo'', and reductions in democracy, separation of powers, civil liberties, and ...

free market In economics, a free market is an economic market (economics), system in which the prices of goods and services are determined by supply and demand expressed by sellers and buyers. Such markets, as modeled, operate without the intervention of ...

versus

central planning A planned economy is a type of economic system where investment, production and the allocation of capital goods takes place according to economy-wide economic plans and production plans. A planned economy may use centralized, decentralized, ...

and so on. Moving the sliders will result in different bonuses and penalties, allowing for a range of choices and strategies. Technological research is controlled by the player. All this is on a global scale, with the player simultaneously dealing and interacting with nations across the world. The game can be paused at any point.

Changes from ''Hearts of Iron II - Armageddon''

''Arsenal of Democracy'' maintains the general look and feel of the original game, but features a number of changes and improvements over its ''Armageddon'' 1.2 starting point. The purpose and result of these changes was to make the game less management intensive, more user friendly, and, through improving the AI, more challenging. The changes were focused around the game's economy, production, combat and historical accuracy. There was an overhaul of the graphics and user interfaces. This impacted many systems including espionage, trade, and notifications. There are increased screen resolutions and a freely selectable window mode. Numerous mechanics were adjusted. The production and economic now give user significantly more control and had the result of making the AI more competitive when compared to the original ''Hearts of Iron II: Armageddon''. The combat mechanics, including attrition algorithms, were completely reworked to better reflect realistic unit behavior and losses.Arsenal of Democracy: Development Diary 2
IGN. The AI was modified to present more of a challenge to players and to adapt it to the new features in ''Arsenal of Democracy''. These new features include a completely new supply system,

logistics Logistics is the part of supply chain management that deals with the efficient forward and reverse flow of goods, services, and related information from the point of origin to the Consumption (economics), point of consumption according to the ...

, national ideas (similar to the ones in the ''

Europa Universalis ''Europa Universalis'' is a Grand strategy game, grand strategy video game developed by Paradox Development Studio and published in 2000 by Strategy First. Development The game was originally based on a French board game of the Europa Universali ...

'' series), an expanded technology system and four new battle scenarios. There were numerous smaller changes as well, and as with other Paradox Interactive games it is very

modification Modification may refer to: * Modifications of school work for students with special educational needs * Modifications (genetics), changes in appearance arising from changes in the environment * Posttranslational modifications, changes to prote ...

friendly.

Development

''Arsenal of Democracy'' was announced on 8 September 2009, on the Paradox forums. The game became possible due to Paradox Interactive licensing the Europa Engine to independent developers. It was developed by and for hardcore strategy gamers.

Expansion pack

The ''Iron Cross'' expansion for '' Hearts of Iron II'' and '' Darkest Hour: A Hearts of Iron Game'' is also compatible with ''Arsenal of Democracy''.

References

External links

* (no longer active)
Paradox Plaza Game Page
{{Paradox development studio games 2010 video games Computer wargames World War II grand strategy video games Government simulation video games Paradox Interactive games Real-time strategy video games Video game sequels Windows games Windows-only games Cold War video games Multiplayer and single-player video games Hearts of Iron