Changes from Vanilla HOI4
Extended Technology Tree
Equestria at War incorporates a fork of Road to 56 by Greatexperiment (used with permission), that has been edited and streamlined to fit our design goals better. This allows for a longer game with more technologies to research.
See the Technology page for more in depth information.
In addition to simply expanding the tree with higher tier units, it includes the following:
- Nuclear submarines, cruisers, carriers, and battleships;
- Jet fighters have carrier variants;
- Jet CAS+NAV ("Jet Strike Craft") have been added to represent the advances in attack aircraft;
- Primitive helicopters are available as support companies for land units.
New Equipment and Resources
EaW introduces Magical Equipment and a new resource - 
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Pre-Industrial Infantry Equipment and Artillery have been added, to represent the weapons used by nations that have not yet industrialized.
Equipment Conversion
Everything can be converted to better models. Infantry Equipment I to Infantry Equipment II, Light Tank I to Light Tank II and so on.
New Commander traits
For a list of new commander traits see Commander Traits
Racial System
Furthermore, EaW introduced the Races system. There are 26 races in total, and eight of those - 
Changeling, 
Deer, 
Diamond Dog, 
Griffon, 
Hippogriff, 
Horse, 
Pony, 
Zebra - has their unique racial tech tree folder. The 
Other races use a shared generic racial tech tree. While they don't have thier own racial tech trees, the 
Minotaur and the 
Dragon has special division types available to them from the start. Races cannot be changed during the game.
Racial Special Forces
Knights are heavily equipped Griffon special forces that can shrug off even gunfire their magically augmented armour and break through lines with heavy weaponry. They combine the staying power of infantry with the combat effectiveness of a light tank.
Jaegers are light Changeling special forces that move quickly (6 km/h) and have decent breakthrough. They excel at fighting in cities, forests and jungles but cost a lot of support equipment to produce.
Pegasi are flying Pony special forces that can move quickly (6 km/h) and ignore the effects of most terrain penalties.
Chargers are Zebra special forces.
Ironpaws are heavily armored Diamond Dog special forces that are specialised in utilising rough terrain of hills and mountains to their advantage.
Racial Support Companies
Magical Support Companies are Pony and Horse support units of unicorn spellcasters that provide a variety of buffs to units through their use in communication, healing, shielding, and offensive spells.
Infiltrator Companies are recon Changeling support units that provide small bonuses to the effectiveness of troops, especially in recon.
Development System
In order to better represent the differences in industrial/societal and research development of nations in Equestria at War, Development and Scientific Development idea categories have been implemented. Development represents the general state of industrialization and advancement of economy and society. Low levels of Development impose Industry, Research and Political maluses. Development can be improved by National Focuses or Decisions, depending on the country.
Scientific Development represents the level of education and research capabilities of the nation. Low levels of Scientific Development impose Research maluses but grant some extra daily political power. Scientific Development can be improved by National Focuses or Decisions, depending on the country. For griffon countries, owning major centres of learning in Griffonia can be used to improve Scientific Development as well.
Nuclear Changes
The potential of nuclear warfare and the horror of unleashing such terrible weapons is not quite seen in Vanilla. In order to rectify this, EaW introduces the following changes:
- Nuclear attacks will now reduce the population of a hit state, using believable casualty numbers depending on state population and development (using multiple nuclear bombs on a state in short succession will not reduce population as drastically).
- A state hit by a nuclear attack will receive the Fallout state modifier, reducing state factories, supplies, division organization and increasing division attrition. The modifier will last for a year. Subsequent nuclear attacks will not stack the modifier, but will reset the one-year timer.
- Production of nuclear bombs requires a supply of 12 Crystals. If none are available, no new nuclear bombs will be produced. Each Nuclear Reactor consumes 12 Crystals.
No Cavalry / No Bikes
Ironically for a game entirely about small horses, EaW has no cavalry. You'll have to slog it by slow foot, motorise your divisions, or bring in fast special forces to get the speed you need.
Suppression Changes
Without cavalry, an alternative for suppressing resistance was needed. Base infantry suppression was increased to compensate, with magical infantry even higher.
Tech Capture
After a country has been defeated in a war, and a peace conference has ended, the victors will have a chance to receive one-time 200% research speed bonuses to technologies that the loser had researched, and the victor has not.
The chance to receive the bonus is random, and calculated per technology. The more of loser's Industry that has been taken over by the victor (either by puppeting or annexation), the higher the chance to receive a bonus, which means that not every victor will have an equal chance. The level of Development of the victor is also a factor - the worse the Development, the smaller the chance.
AI Tweaks
An effort was made to improve the AI. While it is by no means perfect, and most of the real improvements can only be implemented by Paradox, the devs have done their best to tweak AI's behaviors, and improve AI's handling of Division Templates. AI will use all of the added units and technologies. AI will intelligently choose Doctrines based on the bonuses they receive in their Focus Tree. AI will use dynamic strategies to respond to events and changes on the world stage. Peace Conference AI has been improved, though it is not perfect.
Minor Changes
- Jet aircraft can be mixed with their non-jet counterparts in air wings.
- Maintenance and balance of non-NSB tanks and non-MTG ships.