User interface
This is where we can list all the small things that a new player will not know.
The Information Bar
The Information Bar runs across the top of your screen. On the far left, your country’s flag will be displayed, as well as the name of the country. Right above this is the Date on which you’re starting. You can click on the Date to Pause and Unpause the game. Immediately to the right of the date are two red marks that represent a “Pause” indicator, or if you are not Paused it will show a stack of “up arrows” or “chevrons” which indicates your Speed setting. The “+” and “-” buttons allow you to increase or decrease the Game Speed. Hearts of Iron III runs on “turns” of one hour each, and can be played very slowly, at a rate of about one game-hour every few seconds, or all the way up to a breathtaking 24 hours in the same amount of time. There is another Pause indicator on the other side of the Game Speed buttons. Across the very top of the Game Screen, the rest of the Information Bar displays your Resource Stockpiles first (from left to right: Energy, Metal, Rare Materials, and Crude Oil), indicating how many units of each Resource are currently in stock. Green numbers indicate you are adding to the country’s surplus every day, while red numbers indicate you have a deficit in that Resource and may someday run out of it.
If you hover your mouse cursor over the numbers, a Tooltip will explain more about what that Resource is, and at what rate you are increasing or depleting your stockpile. It will also indicate where those Resources are going, and the source of incoming Resources.
Next, to the right, you will see three subdivided numbers, which represent your Industrial Capacity (otherwise knownas “IC”). The first number is what’s called Wasted IC – it is IC that you could be using but you’re not (and, of course, you’ll want to fix that). The next number, on the other side of the first slash, is the Base IC – how many “factories” (factory points, really) your country has, which make up the bulk of what becomes the Available IC. The last number, to the right of the slash, is the Available IC – how much Industrial Capacity you actually can use.
To the right of your IC are more Stockpiles – for Supplies, Fuel, and Money. Again, red numbers are bad and represent a loss while green is good and represents a gain. Further to the right, you will see figures for other important values – Manpower, Diplomatic Points, Espionage Points, Leadership Points, Dissent, and National Unity.
Transports
To load on a transport without a port Control right click. If you assign a transport to a "Transport" mission after completion the transport will return to is base but will still be on the "Transport" mission, any units loaded onto the transport will then be moved to the same location.
Province Control
When attacking from an allied territory, contol of the conquered province goes to the ally. In order to control a territory attack from a province that you own or from a puppets.
Strategic Redeployment
Can not SR through another country. One must SR to your border, then move into the country's province, then SR in that country to the border, then move out of the country into the next province.
To perform a strategic redeployment first select the unit you wish to redeploy then hold CTRL and right-click on the province where you want to redeploy to. A popup window will appear, select strategic redeployment.
Command Structure
To select all units subordinate to a HQ, select the HQ then click on the green bar directly above the subordinate unit list, this will show a list of all units subordinate to that HQ so that you can issue orders to them all together.
Research
When viewing the tool tips, it shows you the next level of benefit. If each level of increase is 2.5%, then when the tool tip for a tech shows 12.5% improvement, this means you are at 10% and the next level will be 12.5%.
How to get a screen shot
You hit F11 to take screenshots. These will be saved to Documents\Paradox Interactive\Hearts of Iron III\Screenshots.
