History YMMV / HeartsOfIron

* UnfortunateImplications:
** Some fans have noticed that the Soviet Union's mechanics in ''No Step Back'', particularily the use of industrial sabotage in Trotsky's path, is rooted not in what the Left Opposition actually did, but what Stalin ''accused'' them of doing. Essentially, this mechanic implies that there really ''were'' perfidious "wreckers" sabotaging Soviet factories, and that Stalin's paranoia and his mass purges were [[ProperlyParanoid justified]].
--> '''Sanchous (Russian Hearts of Iron YouTuber)''': ''It is like if, when Germany is reworked [...] and given a focus tree for... [[UsefulNotes/TheHolocaust resolving]] the Jewish Question, Paradox unironically adds a mechanic of Zionist plots for destroying the great Aryan race.''

--> '''Sanchous (Russian Hearts of Iron YouTuber)''': [[spoiler:''Imagine that, when Germany is reworked [...] and given a focus tree for... [[UsefulNotes/TheHolocaust resolving]] the Jewish Question, Paradox will unironically add a mechanic of Zionist plots for destroying the great Aryan race.'']]

* GrowingTheBeard: ''IV'''s DLC focus trees at the beginning were mostly just a collection of industrial and army focuses, with ''maybe'' a couple of alt-history paths that [[ExcusePlot just turned the country communist or fascist without any actual basis in reality so the player could conquer their neighbors]]. Modern DLC focus trees typically have a much wider array of focuses to choose from, and the alt-history paths are often [[ShownTheirWork heavily researched]] and based off of real partisan groups and political situations within the country at the time.

** ''High Hopes: Liberia DLC'', a joke regarding Paradox policy of making completely ahistorical and unbalanced focus trees for minor countries, especially if they didn't even take part in any [=WW2=] military engagements. With the backdraft created by Mexico's focus tree announcement, the meme returned with double the force, despite it being originally created as a reaction toward the lack of balance in the (real) ''Death or Dishonor'' DLC released in 2017. As new [=DLCs=] started to roll out, focusing on weirder and weirder non-participants of [=WW2=], the meme kept coming back.

** The responses to news events regarding New Zealand’s tank research (the infamously terrible Bob Semple and ahistorical Big Bob tanks) for other countries. The Bob Semple Tank is met with mockery of its name (“They call this thing a WHAT?”), while the Big Bob (a super-heavy tank) is said to make the world “tremble…[[BaitAndSwitch with laughter…]]”. It seems Paradox is all too aware of New Zealand’s JokeCharacter status.

** ''High Hopes: Liberia DLC'', a joke regarding Paradox policy of making completely ahistorical and unbalanced focus trees for minor countries, especially if they didn't even take part in any [=WW2=] military engagements. With the backdraft created by Mexico's focus tree announcement, the meme returned with double the force, despite it being originally created as a reaction toward the lack of balance in the (real) ''Death or Dishonor'' DLC released in 2017.
** ''Komet Sighted'', doubles as a MythologyGag due to almost every Paradox game including "comet sighted"

* UnderusedGameMechanic: At a certain point in ''IV'''s development, each new DLC started to introduce new sets of modifiers and eventually fully-fleshed mechanics that are specific to a ''single'' country - or even just a single country ''tag''. Examples include, but aren't limited to stuff like the US Senate's support, Nationalist China's (and ''only'' that specific Chinese nation) inflation, Turkish republicanism, Stalin's paranoia or Polish and Italian factionalism (both handled as their own separate mechanics, working differently). Those gameplay elements are '''never''' used in a broader context or as actual mechanics affecting every nation, nor are they introduced retroactively to nations that could benefit from them, instead becoming nearly esoteric mini-games that players have to deal with whenever playing as an affected country. And that without mentioning the status of the majority of those as ScrappyMechanics.

* TierInducedScrappy: Ever since army doctrines were introduced in ''II'', Grand Battle Plan is consistently overshadowed by better picks, is clearly weaker than alternatives, requires some specific gimmick to shine or any combination of the three. In ''II'' and ''Darkest Hour'' it is particularly awful due to the way how research works in those. Since research is done by tech teams and they come with pre-definied specialisations, chances are if your country has a team geared for researching Grand Battle Plan doctrine, it won't have alternative doctrinal team. And researching lackluster doctrine is still better than trying to catch-up in different field without a specialist.

** In a similar vein, making sure that whatever equipment you design yourself is either below 4.5 production cost or at least a multiplication of that value. In ''IV'' each military factory provides 4.5 production. Any equipment that ends up having production costs not divisible by that value will suffer long-term production inefficiencies, especially when there is some tiny decimal left in the end - it will ''still'' require the additional production to finish that equipment, leaving you with a generally slower production rate that also requires more factories, while the carry-over decimal won't materialise into new materiel for a month.

** Italy will never get a new focus tree[[note]]Despite various changes in the game since release and new focus trees for various countries along with reworks of existing ones, Italy is still stuck in its original, release-state tree. This even including the changes made with Spanish Civil War, and all the trees being adjusted... except for Italian one.[[/note]]. Became DiscreditedMeme after the release of ''By Blood Alone'', which featured a new focus tree for Italy.

** Italy will never get a new focus tree[[note]]Despite various changes in the game since release and new focus trees for various countries along with reworks of existing ones, Italy is still stuck in its original, release-state tree. This even including the changes made with Spanish Civil War, and all the trees being adjusted... except for Italian one.[[/note]]. Likely on its way to DiscreditedMeme after the announcement of ''By Blood Alone'', which featured a new focus tree for Italy.

* AluminumChristmasTrees: Upon release of the related DLC, the concept of a focus tree giving Estonia oil as a resource was scoffed off as absurd and gamey. In real life, Estonia has huge deposits of shale oil, which it started to use industrially [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_shale_in_Estonia#Developments_in_interwar_Estonia during the interwar period]] - just not for fuel production.

* StockParodyJokes: ArgentinaIsNaziland-themed jokes abound, thanks to the "Señor Hilter" events chain (Hitler in a PaperThinDisguise as a fascist leader in Argentina after a Nazi defeat in a German civil war).

* SugarWiki/FunnyMoments: The responses to news events regarding New Zealand’s tank research (the infamously terrible Bob Semple and ahistorical Big Bob tanks) for other countries. The Bob Semple Tank is met with mockery of its name (“They call this thing a WHAT?”), while the Big Bob (a super-heavy tank) is said to make the world “tremble…[[BaitAndSwitch with laughter…]]”. It seems Paradox is all too aware of New Zealand’s JokeCharacter status.

** One patch for ''Darkest Hour'' had instances where after the Soviet Union lost a war against the axis and accepting the bitter peace event, [[UsefulNotes/VladimirLenin Lenin]] would take over as Head of State of the Soviet Union, cue jokes about Zombie Lenin coming back to SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong.

* DiscreditedMeme: Italy will never get a focus tree, which originally popped up due to how long it took for Italy to get a new focus tree. Obviously discredited by the fact that, well, Italy did receive a rather large one in ''By Blood Alone''.

* GrowingTheBeard: ''IV'''s DLC focus trees at the beginning were mostly just a collection of industrial and army focuses, with ''maybe'' a couple of alt-history paths that [[ExcusePlot just turned the country communist or fascist without any actual basis in reality so the player could conquer their neighbors]]. Modern DLC focus trees typically have a much wider array of focuses to choose from, and the alt-history paths are often [[ShownTheirWork heavily researched]] and based off of real partisan groups within the country at the time.

* FunnyMoments: The responses to news events regarding New Zealand’s tank research (the infamously terrible Bob Semple and ahistorical Big Bob tanks) for other countries. The Bob Semple Tank is met with mockery of its name (“They call this thing a WHAT?”), while the Big Bob (a super-heavy tank) is said to make the world “tremble…[[BaitAndSwitch with laughter…]]”. It seems Paradox is all too aware of New Zealand’s JokeCharacter status.

** The Stalin Paranoia mechanic being introduced really bought to a head complaints & arguments in the fanbase about Paradox stuffing the game full of what the community call "mini-games" where you have to manage esoteric country specific mechanics that do away with the regular way of managing your country. These include certain civil wars having you build support per province, border conflicts, the US congressional politics mechanic that no-one else in the game uses, Turkish, Dutch & Greek investment decisions, the Chinese warlords and the Bulgaria focus tree.

** Not only can [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wojtek_(bear) Wojtek the Bear]][[note]]a Syrian brown bear who was adopted in 1942 by Polish soldiers while they were stationed in Iran, and was officially enlisted as a soldier in an artillery supply company. He notably took part in the Battle of Monte Cassino[[/note]] be promoted as a commander for Poland, but the ''No Step Back'' DLC adds him as ''one of the claimants for the throne of Poland''!

*** ''IV'' specific: 40 width infantry units, in 14:4 infantry:artillery ratio and engineers, recon and AA battalion support. As far as single player goes, this is all you really need to win against even the strongest Major Powers, and you don't need the navy or air force in majority of conflicts, while your infantry will simply gun down the planes by sheer presence. The basic production required for success in almost all land wars are only Infantry Equipment, Support Equipment, Artillery and small handful of AA guns.Even after division composition mechanics have been reworked, the near identical unit with 41 width (13:5 infantry:artillery) is equally efficient.

** Also in ''IV'', it is almost automatic for a player's initial steps in the research tab to select electronic mechanical engineering for the base bonus to research speed, and whatever is available under the industry menu for boosts to production efficiency, factory and dockyard output, and construction speed, all of which pay immediate dividends that continue for the whole game. In any game where full scale war can be held off for at least a couple years, almost every technology or equipment research can be delayed until all industry items are brought up to date.

* GrowingTheBeard: ''IV'''s DLC focus trees at the beginning were mostly just a collection of industrial and army focuses, with ''maybe'' a couple of alt-history paths that [[ExcusePlot just turned the country communist or fascist without any actual basis in reality so the player could conquer their neighbors]]. Modern DLC focus trees typically have a much wider array of focuses to choose from, and the alt-history paths are often [[ShownTheirWork heavily researched]] and based off of real partisan groups within the country at the time.

* GrowingTheBeard: ''IV'''s DLC focus trees at the beginning were mostly just a collection of industrial and army focuses, with ''maybe'' a couple of alt-history paths that [[ExcusePlot just turned the country communist or fascist without any actual basis in reality so the player could conquer their neighbors]]. Modern DLC focus trees typical have a much wider array of focuses to choose from, and the alt-history paths are often [[ShownTheirWork heavily researched]] and based off of real partisan groups within the country at the time.