Support companies technology - Hearts of Iron 4 Wiki (2024)

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Support companies technology unlocks and enhances support battalions. Trains technology unlocks trains and railway guns.

Support equipment[edit | edit source]

The 1918 available technology Support Equipment is the basis for the research of all support battalions. It enables the equipment of the same name, which is needed for all support battalions. Base time to research this technology is 100 days.

Technologies[edit | edit source]

Base time to research these 1936 techs is 200 days each. Base time to research these 1939 through 1945 techs is 150 days each. It should be noted that Motorized Equipment Designer research speed bonuses apply to Field Hospitals and Logistics Companies, as indicated by the Motorized icon and the frame.

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Note that percentage bonuses are multiplied, not added. So, a base stat of 80%, with a 20% bonus, is 96% (80 * 1.2), not 100%.

Support companies in-depth[edit | edit source]

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Anti-Air (AA)[edit | edit source]

AA will primarily help protect against tactical bombers and CAS attacking a battle that the division is participating in, allowing multiple divisions in the same battle to pool their AA fire. Towed and self-propelled Anti-Air will only fire at enemy planes attacking that division or other divisions that take part in the same battle.

They do nothing against strategic bombers (they fly too high), so adding AA to garrisons will not help protect industry.

At least as of version 1.3, the Devs have reported^[1] that attached AA can shoot down fighters, but it takes a lot of it (the example in the video showed multiple line battalions, not just a lone support company). Of course, if you have no fighters, putting AA in every division on the front line may be your only option.

Towed AA units also have half-decent anti-armor capability. For example, the tier 2 towed AA has enough piercing to negate the armor value of tier 1 medium tanks. However, self-propelled AA doesn't have anywhere near as much anti-armor capability. AA does not require tungsten to make, so it may be a budget AT option for minor countries.

Having towed or self-propelled AA in a division reduces the malus that enemy air superiority inflicts.

AA are more efficient than fighters at shooting down planes (version 1.10). AA with 1936 equipment can shoot down up to 5% attack planes per 8 hours.

Engineers (ENG)[edit | edit source]

Engineers provide a movement bonus in forest, jungle, marsh, and rivers. They provide a constant defense bonus in forest, jungle, hills, marsh, rivers, and forts. They also provide an entrenchment bonus on top of that. Upgrading engineers increases the entrenchment bonus and adds additional attack and defense bonuses in forts (II), rivers (III) and urban environments (IV). Lastly, they provide a constant attack bonus to amphibious (naval invasions), which stacks with Marines bonuses. Engineers also increase division defense and soft attack, but not as much as an infantry battalion.

Reconnaissance (REC)[edit | edit source]

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A recon company provides a speed bonus on most terrain and a reconnaissance points bonus to the commander that increases the chance to counter the tactic chosen by the enemy. They also slightly increase division defense and attack. There are different types of recon company with varying abilities and equipment: cavalry (1 reconnaissance point), motorized (1.5), armored car (2; requires La Résistance) or light tank (1).

They provide roughly a 10% speed boost on most terrain, varies depending on cavalry, motorized, armored car, or light tank. This speed bonus does not increase with upgrades. Consider the value of increasing the infantry speed from 4 km/h to 4.4 km/h, or motorized/light tanks from 12 km/h to 13.2 km/h, and consider how this may combine with vehicle variants to achieve specific speed targets to outpace or overrun the enemy. The answers will vary from player to player and likely from division to division. For example, exploitation and envelopment divisions may find the extra speed valuable while assault and breakthrough divisions may not, although they may find the combat tactics bonus valuable in intense battles. The exact speed boost can be seen in this table:

Additionally, recon companies help to counter enemy tactics. A side with a reconnaissance advantage initially receives a flat bonus equivalent to 5 leader skill points. This is added to the commander's skill level, increasing the overall chance of picking a successful tactic from the available list. Each recon upgrade increases reconnaissance points. Factors to consider in evaluating recon companies include the relative range of tactics available to each side, potential importance of tactics to an army's warfighting, and opposing commander skill levels. How exactly reconnaissance points from multiple divisions in a combat are combined is not known.

Military Police (MP)[edit | edit source]

This support company is not intended for the front lines, or any combat really. It provides a percentage increase to the division's Suppression statistic. Suppression counters partisans operating in a region, preventing them from damaging industry. Best when combined with cavalry, motorized, armored cars, and light tanks, which have better suppression than infantry battalions. While they can simply be added to a garrison division, most prefer to create a division template specifically for MPs.

Military Police can be used as an extra infantry battalion if the need arises, though they give a large hit to organization and it is better to use Support Artillery, Support Rocket Artillery or Engineers to increase division statistics.

Maintenance (MAIN)[edit | edit source]

Maintenance companies increase the Reliability statistic of all equipment in a division, thus significantly reducing the amount of equipment lost due to attrition. The reliability bonus is shown as a "Reliability Bonus" in the division view, rather than being calculated for each division and then recalculated; as a result, all calculations for this company must be done outside the game.

The effect is initially rather weak, as it only provides a 5% bonus. This means that (land) equipment with 80% reliability will get boosted to 84% (80 × 1.05). However, this bonus increases by an additional 5% per level (for 10%, 15%, and 20%, respectively). This allows reliability improvements to equipment that normally cannot be upgraded. Mechanized are the most significant, but also motorized, all of the towed weapons, and support equipment. It benefits infantry equipment too, but infantry equipment is easy to produce and starts at 90% reliability, rather than the usual 80%. Waiting until Maintenance Company II before considering using it isn't a bad idea.

For equipment that can be upgraded, such as aircraft, it means putting upgrade points into reliability is less necessary, unless it drops below 80% (or let it drop lower and focus on maintaining 80% reliability after the bonus). That can potentially save a lot of XP. With No Step Back, vehicle designs with low reliability, such as using petrol-electric engines, become more feasible. Of course, that would require all divisions using tanks of that design to have a maintenance company.

As of 1.5, Maintenance companies can also capture equipment from enemy divisions (equal to their reliability boost) that would otherwise be destroyed.

Field Hospital (HOS)[edit | edit source]

These provide two bonuses. First, with the 1936 hospital, 20% of the losses in combat get returned to the manpower pool rather than being lost forever. Second, 10% less XP is lost from combat losses. Upgrading field hospitals increases both of these bonuses. The more combat a division sees over time, the greater the overall benefit from a field hospital. Conversely, they are a waste in a division unlikely to see sustained combat or likely to be eliminated if engaged in combat, such as some security, garrison, or coastal defense divisions.

From the manpower perspective, bigger is better. Each field hospital, being percentage-based, will simply save more lives in a large division than in a small one.

From an XP perspective, however, each soldier is worth more XP in a smaller division. So, it can be worth adding them to a small number of elite divisions. These could be things like marine or paratroop divisions, etc. Another possibility might be a regular infantry division that has already gained a high experience level on its own. By creating a duplicate template, a field hospital can be added to some divisions but not to otherwise identical ones, to help those high XP divisions keep their XP. The higher a division's XP gets, the more the average will be reduced by casualties (since replacements are always green). Deploying new divisions that have a field hospital while they are still green is a complete waste from the XP perspective. Therefore, you have more incentive to train new divisions up to regular before deployment when using field hospitals.

Logistics (LOG)[edit | edit source]

These provide a flat 10% reduction in supply consumption and a 5% reduction in fuel usage, which improves with upgrades. Since it's percentage based, they will provide the most benefit in the most supply-hungry divisions. Since artillery uses a lot of supplies, divisions with multiple artillery of any type (line/support/self-propelled) are the first place to look. Just open the division designer and compare the Supply Use stat before and after adding the company, then decide if it's worth it. Most large divisions are potential candidates. For infantry, keep in mind that when fighting in places with high infrastructure, where months of fighting can go by without units running low on supply, a logistics company provides no benefit. Creating a separate infantry division template specifically for low-supply areas is an option. Other divisions can use that support slot for more combat-related purposes.

Signal (SIG)[edit | edit source]

Signal companies provide the Initiative stat, which speeds up joining combat in progress from reserves, as well as planning speed. In general these are most useful for troops in frequent front-line combat, or for reserves in critical positions where rapid reinforcement is needed. Used in the right place, these can be great.

One example is if a division in top of the reserves has a Signal Company, the division will be more likely to fill the hole in the front line faster. Without a Signal Company, the base chance to reinforce a battle (assuming that there is available width in the battlefield) is 2% every hour. This means there is a 50% chance that a division will have reinforced the battle within 35 hours. If the Radio technology has been researched, this increases to 7% chance to reinforce every hour, and there is then a 50% chance that the division will have reinforced the battle within 10 hours. The 1936 Signal Company increase Initiative by 20%, and every following upgrade adds 12% Initiative. However, the game modifies the Initiative by 0.25, meaning that 20% Initiative adds 5% to the reinforcement chance - thus, there is a 12% chance for the division to reinforce every hour. So a division with a 1936 Signal Company will have a 50% chance to reinforce a battle within 6 hours.

Signal Companies add the full Initiative value to increase planning speed. Given that the base planning speed is 2% per day, a 1936 Signal Company will add 20% to the 2% daily planning, and thus save 4 days to reach the standard 50% bonus (II:5 days; III: 7 days; IV: 8 days). Whether this bonus expedites preparation of invasions or paradrops is unconfirmed.

Trains technology[edit | edit source]

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Trains are used to move supplies to supply nodes via railways. The base time to research train techs is 150 days. Train tech standard availability is as follows:

• 1910 - Civilian Train allows production of civilian trains

• 1936 - Armored Train allows production of armored trains

• 1936 - Railway Gun allows production of railway guns

• 1939 - War Austerity Train allows production of war austerity trains

The Armored Train and Railway Gun techs are only available with the No Step Back DLC.

References[edit | edit source]