So, you want to know about Hearts of Iron 4 supply? The grand strategy game’s recent expansion, No Step Back, along with the free 1.11 patch brought about some significant changes to how supply and logistics work. Not all of these changes have been explained clearly either, leaving many players a bit confused.

We’re here to help clear things up and provide you with a basic primer on the new supply mechanics and how they interact with the game’s combat mechanics. It’s worth noting that there was some very clear design intent behind these changes, as game director Peter Nicholson recently intimated – just because things are going wrong, doesn’t mean the system isn’t working as intended.

We’ve drawn from a few sources to help put together this guide. FeedBackGaming’s rather ad hoc tutorial video explains things quite well, but it’s worth revisiting the relevant developer diaries as well, although it’s worth noting that many previously discussed features have changed across the supply system’s development.

It’s important to note that, essentially, supply fundamentally works the same. Most of your nation’s supply originates from the capital city, just like it did pre-No Step Back. The way that supply radiates out to your armies, however, has changed significantly.

The amount of supply a supply hub is able to process depends on the level of the railway network between the capital and that hub – including any other hubs the supply passes through along the way. The lowest value railway will cap the level of supply a hub can send on, or hold to give out to local divisions, both of which use the same value.

Once supply has reached the hub or hubs closest to the frontline, it then needs to be able to get to the fighting divisions so that they can maintain their combat effectiveness. Several factors can influence how supply gets to the divisions, including:

The motorisation level is something that’s easily missed. Supply can be sent out from hubs either using basic methods, represented by a horse symbol on the interface, or various levels of motorisation using trucks.

A province can only ever have one supply hub, and supply hubs only have one level of existence, unlike railways, forts, or ports.