The base speed of infantry units in Hearts of Iron 4 (HoI4) is 4.0 km/h. This statistic represents the fundamental movement rate for foot soldiers before any modifiers are applied.
Understanding Infantry Speed in HoI4
While 4.0 km/h is the base speed of an infantry battalion, the actual movement speed of a division in HoI4 is dynamic and influenced by numerous factors. It's crucial to understand that a division's overall speed is always limited by the slowest unit within its template. This means if you add a tank (which is faster) to an infantry division, its speed will still be capped by the infantry's base speed, unless the infantry itself is motorized or mechanized.
Base Combat Stats of Infantry
Infantry technology provides the foundational stats for your foot soldiers. Here are some key base statistics for standard infantry, as derived from their core technology:
| Statistic | Value |
|---|---|
| Max Speed | 4.0 km/h |
| Piercing | 1.0 |
| Reliability | 90.0% |
| Production Cost | 0.43 |
| Manpower | 1000 |
| Training Time | 90 days |
These figures represent the initial capabilities of a basic infantry battalion. For more detailed information on infantry technologies and their upgrades, you can refer to the Infantry technology page on the HoI4 Wiki.
Factors Influencing Division Speed
The effective speed of a division containing infantry can be significantly altered by a variety of in-game elements:
- Terrain: Different terrain types (e.g., mountains, forests, swamps) impose speed penalties, slowing down even the fastest divisions. Roads generally offer speed bonuses.
- Supply: Divisions operating in undersupplied areas will suffer severe speed penalties, making movement slow and arduous.
- Technology: Researching specific technologies, such as motorized or mechanized infantry, drastically increases the speed of infantry battalions themselves. Support equipment upgrades can also indirectly improve speed by reducing maluses.
- Doctrine: Certain military doctrines, particularly the Mobile Warfare tree, offer bonuses to unit speed and organization recovery.
- Logistics Companies: Adding a Logistics Company to a division can reduce supply consumption, indirectly aiding speed in low-supply areas by mitigating penalties.
- Engineer Companies: These support companies provide bonuses to movement speed in difficult terrain, such as forests, hills, and mountains.
- Commander Traits: Generals and field marshals can acquire traits that boost the movement speed of units under their command.
- Night Penalties: Units often move slower during nighttime hours unless specific technologies or doctrines mitigate this.
Practical Implications for Gameplay
Understanding the base speed of infantry and the factors that influence it is crucial for effective division design and strategic planning in HoI4:
- Division Template Design: When creating division templates, be mindful that including slow units like standard infantry will limit the overall speed of the division. If you desire faster movement, you'll need to upgrade infantry battalions to motorized or mechanized variants, or build entirely separate faster divisions (e.g., tank or cavalry divisions).
- Offensive Operations: Pure infantry divisions are best suited for defensive lines, holding ground, or slow pushes through difficult terrain. For rapid encirclements or breakthroughs, faster units are essential.
- Supply Lines: Given infantry's relatively slow speed, careful planning of supply routes is vital to prevent units from getting bogged down due to lack of supplies.
By considering these factors, players can effectively utilize infantry's strengths (high defense, low cost, manpower efficiency) while mitigating their primary weakness: limited mobility.
