Hearts of Iron IV: Thunder At Our Gates turns the focus to South East Asia and beyond

It’s finally the turn of Australia, alongside Siam and the Dutch East Indies as Hearts of Iron IV: Thunder At Our Gates expands on the features in the South East with the new Theater Pack, launching on June 11th.

The new expansion, which will cost $19.99/£16.75 /€19.99, doesn’t just add new features for the three regions mentioned, but is also said to expand other countries in the area. Beyond that, however, it also adds in Ship Captains, a naval twist on the divisional commander role, creating a pathway to Admiral, and the ability to deploy your generals to the field through Army Headquarters, which allows them to buff the troops that they are near. However, this also makes the generals susceptible to capture, which renders them worse than ineffective and will require you to use the new Raid option in order to liberate them and get them back into action.

It’s the content for Australia that interests me most, not just because of their historical role and relationship to empire but also because I would often play as Australia while my son messed around with the European nations in multiplayer games. Australia was always a little slow to start, but was in a great position to mess around with expansion if left ignored — the pacific union path was always quite exciting if you could put it off.

The fact that you can, apparently, now develop the resources in the country and also explore two new alternative history paths (toward nationalism or anti-war communism) only makes it a more interesting place to tinker with.

Below is the list of features for each of the three mentioned regions:

New Australian Content:

• Balance the domestic needs of a nation still reeling from the Great Depression against the demands of a British alliance still valued by much of the population.
• Influence the course of elections to deal with current priorities.
• Navigate treacherous political waters following the Canberra Air Disaster.
• Face the challenges presented by a small and scattered population while at war.
• Develop Australia’s rich natural resources.
• Follow alternate historical paths of Australia First nationalism or anti-war Communism.

New Siamese Focus Tree:

• Balance or choose between civilian and military domination of the government, pushing for constitutional safeguards or a military coup.
• Industrialize Siam, expanding national teak and rubber reserves while developing road and rail infrastructure.
• Submit to foreign domination, saving strength for a later date, or resist the imperial powers.
• Prospect for new resources to fuel your developing nation.
• Conquer your neighbors and embrace the traditional path of the old Rattanakosin Kingdom of your ancestors.

New Dutch East Indian Content:

• Develop a wartime economy based on rich and valuable rubber and oil reserves to overcome your lack of factories.
• Pursue autonomy from the Netherlands following the Soetardjo Petition or stay loyal to the Dutch crown.
• Explore special military focus trees to demonstrate co-operation between Dutch and East Indian forces.
• If Occupied, take advantage of Japanese decline and seize the initiative to pursue revolution and independence.”

Hearts of Iron IV: Thunder At Our Gates will launch on Steam on June 11th.