As a WW2 simulator, Hearts Of Iron 4 is primarily focused on the war itself, with large-scale offensives, logistics, and naval and air battles all coming into the mix. However, the build-up to war is just as important, requiring players to build factories, train divisions, produce equipment, and manage their government.
This last aspect is crucial, with players able to appoint various political advisors to their cabinet. Each one provides unique benefits to the re-armament and war efforts, meaning the decision of who to appoint can be a consequential one. Here are the best generic political advisors to pick in Hearts Of Iron 4.
10 Fortification Engineer
Fortification Engineers are great for those opting to play a more defensive game, such as France. They speed up the construction of land forts, coastal forts, and anti-air by 20%, making it easier for players to turn their entire country into an impregnable fortress.
The bonus is only worth it if the player plans on building a ton of forts, though, so while this advisor may be worth it for some, they are simply too situational and weak compared to other options.
9 Ideological Crusader
One of the less common political advisors, Ideological Crusaders can be quite strong regardless. They increase the same ideology monthly opinion by 100%, allowing nations with the same ideology to become friends and allies much faster. This can help when building a coalition of countries and trying to attract nations to join the player’s faction.
The Ideological Crusader also boosts the bonus to stability from high popularity of the governing party by 10%, meaning the payer will benefit more from a dominant political party, which is always nice.
8 Smooth-Talking Charmer
A shrewd diplomat-type character, this political advisor is focused on boosting the player’s international relations. They reduce the cost to improve relations with other countries, which can help influence nations to accept important diplomatic requests such as military access or lend-leases. It can even dissuade a neighbor from declaring war.
On top of this, the Smooth-Talking Charmer also buffs trade deal opinion factor by 10%, allowing players to get better trade deals. Despite this, no amount of charm can reconcile countries that are at war, and trade between them will abruptly end. As a result, while this advisor may be useful for nations that start out diplomatically isolated, it will become less important later in the game.
7 Armaments Organizer
An advisor that is most often appointed at the onset of war, the Armaments Organizer reduces the cost of converting civilian to military factories by 20%. This allows players to quickly gain more military factories to produce more equipment in an emergency. This is particularly effective for the US, who can convert its massive collection of civilian factories once the war breaks out.
For other countries, however, it isn’t always necessary. Some good planning and national focuses will provide most of the equipment and divisions they require at the start of the war, lessening the need for an emergency mobilization.
6 War Industrialist
A better re-arming advisor than the Armaments Organizer, War Industrialists boost the construction speed of military factories, naval dockyards, and fuel silos by 10%. If appointed early in the game, they should net players more military factories than simply constructing civilian factories and converting them.
While 10% doesn’t seem like a big deal, it builds up throughout the game and can make a massive difference to nations like Germany or the US. That is not to mention the faster dockyard and silo construction speeds, which are also highly beneficial.
5 Captain Of Industry
An industrial advisor that focuses on civilian industry, the Captain Of Industry boosts the construction speed of civilian factories, infrastructure, railways, and synthetic refineries by 10%. They are better than their military counterpart since their bonus covers more buildings and civilian factories also take longer to build and are more useful than military factories.
Civilian factories are used to construct everything in the game, so building them faster results in a snowball effect that boosts the player’s industrial capacity as soon as possible, therefore leading to more factories being built overall.
4 Popular Figurehead
Stability is an important stat in Hearts Of Iron 4, with high stability providing a number of benefits including increased political power gain, reduced numbers of consumer goods factories, and increased factory output. Therefore, it stands to reason that any advisor that increases national stability will be a beneficial one.
The Popular Figurehead does just this, increasing stability by a significant 15%, which helps to earn those positive effects and avoid any negative effects from low stability. They are a solid choice for any nation, although often rare.
3 Ideology Advisors
A collection of advisors that help players change the ideology of their nation, players will only want to appoint them if taking their nation down an alternative history route. The three types – Communist Revolutionary, Fascist Demagogue, and Democratic Reformer – all increase their respective party’s popularity by 0.10 a day.
While this isn’t a massive boost, most countries will still be able to switch ideologies after a year or two of the bonus being active, making these advisors quite handy if starting in 1936 and opening up some entirely new gameplay possibilities for most countries.
2 Prince Of Terror
The ultimate tool for suppression, the Prince Of Terror advisor reduces damage to garrisons by 25% and lowers the efficiency of foreign subversive activities by 30%, while also boosting non-core manpower by 2%.
As many players will know, resistance to occupation can become a real headache after conquering a lot of land. Garrison troops will become a drain on the player’s equipment and manpower, and will continually come under attack by resistance fighters. The Prince Of Terror helps negate some of these negative effects, and is able to recruit 100,000s of fresh manpower should the player conquer enough territory.
1 Silent Workhorse
An advisor that entirely lives up to its name, Silent Workhorses boost political power gain by 15%. This means that they will pay for themselves after around 500 days. It may seem like a waste for players to choose a Silent Workhorse as their first advisor, due to the lack of other bonuses, but the Silent Workhorse is an investment – and a highly valuable one at that.
Over the many in-game years that a Hearts Of Iron 4 playthrough could last, this advisor keeps on boosting political power, allowing players to enact more decisions, appoint more government advisors, and fully set up their military high command before the war breaks out. Players should be sure to appoint one if they get the chance.
Hearts Of Iron 4 is available for Windows, macOS, and Linux.