Hearts of Iron fans, listen up! Patch 1.16.9, called War Effort, just hit, and it’s packed with a bunch of tweaks, bug fixes, and some fresh content—especially for Afghanistan. If you thought things were smooth before, this update might shake things up a bit.
Right off the bat, the Socialist Coup focus in Afghanistan can now be bypassed if the country is already communist, and the coup itself can happen peacefully if communist support is over 60%. That’s a neat little change for players who want to avoid conflict drama. Countries are more likely to join your Confederation with Pakistan if they’re already in your faction. The Reform the Quami focus also got a buff, granting an extra 10% recruitable population factor.
A bug affecting Germany’s Blitzkrieg operational planning modifier has been fixed on the general gameplay side—no more half-working hostile armor speed factors messing with your strategies. Afghanistan’s military tree got some love too: Mohammed Daoud Khan becomes a general if you take the Nufus branch, and there are new focuses for cheaper rifles and even camel units (yes, camels!). There’s also a cool capstone focus called “Prussians of the Orient” referencing the Royal Afghan Army’s historical title. That gave me a bit of a chuckle, imagining camel cavalry charging with Prussian discipline.
Other countries also received attention. France’s “Fatherland” focus description became clearer, and India now has news events for the East India Company’s formation, the Royal Indian Navy Mutiny if it turns communist, and the “Death Knell of the Raj.” The AI developed a few new expansionist strategy plans, so expect surprises.
The UI got handy upgrades too: you can now disable map corner scrolling but keep keyboard navigation active, and there’s a new hotkey (Shift + Left Click) to quickly accept diplomatic requests—finally, a shortcut that saves some clicks! Multiplayer save file transfers are also faster, which should help when trying to get back into a game with friends.
Patch 1.16.9 Changelog
- Afghanistan: Socialist Coup can be bypassed; peaceful coup possible with 60% communist support; new focuses for military, industry, and national identity; Mohammed Daoud Khan becomes a general; camels added to army branch; Prussians of the Orient capstone focus; 4 new political advisors; Traditionalist Paths added.
- General gameplay: Fixed German Blitzkrieg bug; overlords capitulating now grant half progress to next autonomy level; new AI expansionist plans.
- France: Improved “Fatherland” focus description.
- India: Added news events for East India Company, Royal Indian navy mutiny, and Death Knell of the Raj.
- UI: Fixed army composition summary tooltip; option to disable map corner scrolling; hotkey (Shift + Left Click) for diplomatic requests.
- Performance: Faster multiplayer save file transfers.
- Modding: Added “after” effect scope for events.
- Bugfixes: Numerous fixes including core state issues for Afghanistan, India’s princely states, Turkish focus bugs, USA fascism flip, sound effects, tooltip errors, naval combat displays, diplomacy window highlights, MIO archetype adjustments, and more. Also fixed a multiplayer CTD related to railway building during hotjoin.
