Welcome, Hearts of Iron IV player.

You may have come to this page full of curiosity and questions. What is PIHC? How is it different from vanilla HoI4? How can I make my mark in such a brand-new world?

Here we will answer your questions one by one, and help you get into this world — one as charming as the original, yet far more changeable and far more dangerous.

Questions and Answers

1. How do I install it?

PIHC is installed no differently from any other mod: go to PIHC's Workshop page and click Subscribe to install and play PIHC.

2. Do I need DLC? Which ones?

Generally speaking PIHC should be playable without DLC, but the experience will be incomplete. For a reasonably complete experience you need:

Enable La Résistance, No Step Back, By Blood Alone, Götterdämmerung

Disable Trial of Allegiance

3. How difficult is the mod?

PIHC contains many countries, and each country's difficulty differs according to its environment, starting position and story role. Overall, PIHC is not very difficult at present. A player who knows Hearts of Iron IV reasonably well can pick it up quickly and enjoy it. Of course, we may add some challenging situations in future for players who want a real test.

4. How is PIHC different from vanilla?

First, PIHC has a unique technology tree: we have completely redone every technology page except industry to fit the pony setting. The branches are differentiated, mainly in a steampunk style, with eight evolutionary branches alongside the traditional one — steam, oil, electric, magic, witchcraft, biological and information. For support troops we imitated the virus-abilities interface of Plague Inc., so developing technology no longer feels conventional. To match the new “Götterdämmerung” DLC we also turned technology branches into different disciplines and designed many new and varied special projects. Note that, because there are so many tech items, research in PIHC suffers enormous “inflation”: do not be surprised when you see research speed bonuses of 100% or more.

Second, PIHC has also reworked unit types and divisions, adding a large number of differentiated units. The army is divided into: traditional infantry, heavy infantry (high defence, low speed), magic infantry (high attack, low defence), automated combat systems (line-fillers: cheap, low manpower, low quality), motorised infantry (high speed), special forces (unlike vanilla special forces, all PIHC special forces have abilities — for example biochemical units can apply a plague debuff to the Empire, field bands can raise friendly morale, and there are also ice archers, mine-laying units and more), light artillery, medium artillery, heavy artillery, light tanks, medium tanks, heavy tanks and Titans (super-heavy tanks whose scale, cost and strength far exceed vanilla). The air force is divided into six development lines: hot-air balloons, sky pirate ships, airships, aircraft, UFOs and skyward cruisers (aerial Titans). The navy is still in design, and currently includes riptides (fast boats), floating courts (ships), cardinals (carriers), submarines and leviathans (sea Titans).

We also have new doctrines that fit the setting, with clearer differences and distinct branch characteristics. The army, for example, has five doctrines: Steel Torrent (armour and offence), United Iron Wall (defence), Pouring Wrath (artillery and high-damage magic), Unyielding Rose (cost, manpower, productivity) and Wind of Death (speed, intelligence).

Beyond that, PIHC has a unique mechanic called the “inventory”: during play the player can collect items through the story, and each item can have its description and picture read, or even be used, giving a more distinctive narrative and interactive experience. Experience a brand-new HoI4 in the manner of an RPG.

There are more features — we invite you to experience them in-game~

5. Which country or playstyle do you recommend?

For v0.2.2 we recommend the “Kirin Community”: this country has the most complete mechanics and the fullest story line in the current version.

6. I haven't watched My Little Pony — will that affect my playthrough?

Not as such, but your immersion will suffer badly. You may not recognise most of the characters and may find some mechanics and premises confusing. You will also easily drift, through mistakes, into a path you did not want.

We recommend that you have watched at least seasons 1, 3, 5, 6, 8 and 9 of My Little Pony, and Equestria Girls. You need not go deep — a basic understanding of the characters and story direction is enough.

7. How does PIHC relate to EAW, FIL and other mods?

First of all, PIHC is an independent mod. It does not depend on EAW or FIL.

EAW (Equestria at War) is a masterpiece, with enormous content and a rich background story. But it has an obvious flaw: a great deal of it goes far beyond the original show, which makes the original My Little Pony story look almost irrelevant in EAW. After all, players spend most of their time in Griffonia, in a free-for-all between a crowd of creatures who look like reskinned characters from real history. Even a player who has never watched My Little Pony feels little estrangement. In some ways this is undoubtedly a strength, but for those who love the original pony story the experience is only so-so. FIL (Friendship Is a Lie) shows another possible direction the original show could have taken, and it too has ambitious writing and rich content still being completed. Compared with EAW, both its characters and its script hew closer to the original show.

The difference between PIHC and the other two mods is that in PIHC the characters who have a major effect on the story all come from the original My Little Pony show and its official spin-offs (yes, all of them), and the plot is kept as consistent as possible with Hasbro's original work. This means that not having watched the original My Little Pony seriously harms the experience. And to fit the characters and background, we often have to research matters from several angles when writing, to make sure we match the original's premises and spirit. This undoubtedly makes development harder. On the other hand, PIHC lets the characters we love show their full charm instead of being buried among a crowd of colourful original characters, and it avoids the confusion caused by a great mass of newly added continents.

We have received a great deal of help and support from other mod developers. For example: Help from other mods

Equestria At War — authorised (pony models, code materials, icons, etc.)

My New Pony: Friendship Is a Lie (Demo) — authorised (map, code guidance, etc.)

The New Order: Last Days of Europe — (code materials, fonts, etc.)

...

For more thanks to individuals, teams and other mods, see the PDF documentation on the Steam page, or go straight to the full Chinese document.

8. I want to know more.

For the mod's details, see the PDF documentation on the Steam page, or go straight to the full Chinese document.

Of course, we would rather you simply played it. If for whatever reason you cannot buy or play PIHC, you can:

Follow Talirain's Bilibili space, where PIHC news is posted continuously.

Follow 青杨桦钙's Bilibili space; we will be releasing a PIHC interactive video series in future.

Join our QQ group: 934449651 — take part in our discussions and download the old Age of Civilizations II version.

Join our Discord: https://discord.gg/VzUUMF9af5