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Every Paradox grand strategy game tries to capture the essence of an era: the rivalries and discoveries that defined it, the way they reshaped the world. In Hearts of Iron 4, all roads lead to global destruction as players use all the tools of progress to win a spectacular international deathmatch.
Controls are very simple and you can limit yourself to using only the mouse with optionally pressing spacebar during decisive moments. Despite that, it is a good idea to learn the basic keyboard shortcuts which will make playing more efficient.
Controls
Left-Click
- Unit selection
- Interface buttons
Right-Click
- Moving selected unit
- On any territory – diplomacy window with the owner of the area
Mouse-Wheel
- Up – zooming in the world map view
- Down – zooming out the world map view
Mouse Move
- Moving through the world map (similarly as by using arrows)
Hotkeys
Hotkeys, alternatively known as keyboard shortcuts, allow quick access to specific game functions without using the mouse. There is no way of changing the hotkeys.
- Q – Government window
- W – Research window
- E – Diplomacy window
- R – Trade window
- T – Infrastructure window
- Y – Production window
- U – Recruitment window
- I – Logistics window
- O – Army panel
- P – Navy panel
- L – Logistics panel
- F – Search tool
- ESC – Game menu
- Space – Active pause – on / off
Map filters
The buttons in the bottom right of the map. Each map mode emphasizes one type of information on the map and often changes the tooltips to that end.
- F1 – Default map
- F2 – Navy map
- F3 – Aircraft map
- F4 – Supply map
- F5 – Regions map
- F6 – Resistance map
- F7 – Resources map
- F8 – Diplomacy map
- F9 – Faction map
- N – Activating/deactivating the day/night circle on the map
- M – Toggles display of all unit counters or just the player’s unit counters on the map
- , – Toggles the color of allied counters to be country colors or Friendly/Neutral/Enemy colors
- . – Toggles the display of allied battleplans on and off
Battleplan hotkeys
These hotkeys are specifically for use when commanding your land units. These keys are only active when you have units from a single army selected and the battleplan interface (see image to the right) is visible. The first 4 keys in this table represent the orders highlighted by the white box in the image to the right.
Z – Front Line
After going into this mode, left click a border with another country to place a front for the selected units along the entire border with that country. Alternatively, you can right click and drag to customize the size of the front line. Note: It is not currently possible (1.0.1) to right click and drag a front line across borders with multiple nations unless you are at war.
X – Offensive Line
Can only be used with an army that has at least one Front Line already created. After activating, right click and drag to form the line you want your troops to advance to. While holding down right click, hit Tab ⇆Tab to cycle through the possible “starting points” for the arrow. This allows you to create intricate multi-step battleplans.
C – Fallback Line
Can be used to right click and drag a defensive line anywhere (not just on a border). This allows you to station divisions in specific provinces or along a specific set of terrain (like a river).
V – Garrison
In this mode you select states for the army to be stationed in. When you are done assigning, hit V V again to exit this mode. The selected divisions will spread out among the states and occupy cities, airbases, and naval bases. This is generally best used for occupying territory with garrisons to keep resistance low.
Note! that unlike other orders, if a Garrison order is assigned to any part of an army, the rest of the army cannot be assigned any other order without first removing the garrison order. It is an exclusive order. Therefore, an army with a garrison order should only include units that will be assigned to that order. Adding any new units to the army automatically has them join the garrison order.
CTRL – Assignment Mode
While holding control ^Ctrl, left click on a battle plan to assign the currently selected units to that plan. Alternatively, you can right click on any battleplan while holding control to select all units currently assigned to that plan.
ALT – Edit Mode
While holding Alt alt, you can edit existing battleplans. Alt + right click and drag alters the length and shape of front lines, offensive lines, and fallback lines. Alt alt + Left Click alters offensive arrows to bend or change their origin point (can even change the origin point to the end of another offensive line).
Del – Remove Plan
This tool allows you to selectively delete individual battleplans assigned to the current army.