People meme on Black Ice for being overcomplex but that is probably the closest we will get to the challanging singleplayer Axis scenerio. Also Germany's focus tree is just really freaking good
@@janehrahan5116 To some extent agree, they are half of normal german gameplay and the other half is story, it has is low points but occupation events are pretty freaking good.
Hearts of oak is probably the hardest single player axis I have ever played (assuming you are playing Germany). The soviets get infinite men and planes so you won’t get any free cities like this guy did in Stalingrad
@@Foxarium I think it’s more of the fact that the invasion of Denmark and Norway are seen not as important as the French invasions and the other ones for some reason
@@Mackenzie002 not really, they didn't buy into any of their schizo policies, they "respected" them only because they too had unfinished business with the soviets
@@Mackenzie002 there’s a reason Finland never formally joined the axis. They still found the Nazis vile, they just happened to have a common enemy in the soviets.
Ah... Spotted the American teen who thinks he knows the geopolitical needs of a foreign country Inna distant time again Bolshevism has always been fundamentally flawed, it is intrinsically utopian
Paratroopers are used primarily as a second wave to a naval invasion, they're further inland where you are sure there wont be any garrisons (mountains, deserts, etc) for better defensive bonuses to help support a naval invasion on a port that might be defended, take it as like the strategies used during D-Day; Which they had a line of paratroopers farther in from a naval invasion to stretch the lines and destroy any garrisons.
Also, deploying deeper allows paratroopers to pick off any fleeing enemy personnel, and set up ambushes along roads for enemy reinforcements. Both of these things would probably be pretty annoying.
And i forgot to always drop them by grapes, where one of the drops lands on a safe zone, so each division may have a fallback sector, ready to be reached by landing troops if the objectives couldn't be secured.@@itsdabees
Invading the USSR can make or break the game. I had a similar "historic" experience in the Darkest Hour mod, though I did better in Africa by taking Egypt, after a year of air combat the Battle for Britain ended in a stalemate and I went to the Soviet Union. There were many issues plaguing my army the first year, and I did not make big gains in 1941, however, once winter rolled around I encircled almost the entire Belarus and destroyed their divisions. Further two encicrlements in Ukraine. I destroyed so many Soviet divisions that I outnumbered them 1,5:1 and from that point on I just advanced. Stalin had a stroke and died. Ribbentrop signed peace. Then I finally invaded Britain. Also, love your editing.
@@YKS_Savascisi in real life he died of a stroke and following medical complications. In Darkest Hour mod, he suffers similar fate if the Germans push really far in the USSR, mirroring his death for different reasons.
invading the ussr is either blowing trough their lines and getting a 1-20 loss ratio or it's logistics hell where you have to get on scrape the barrel and can't even garrison the place not even talking about your 3 million dead troops and 400k mp needed for reinforcements
Assuming I'm reading that right, I really like that the mod has ticking stability decrease for higher conscription laws. I'd assume it has more tools available to counter that loss as well, but it always feels weird that you can be drafting most of the men in the country and everyone is cool with it.
It's easy to conscript everyone. First you make a mandatory youth movement, like the scouts, you get em all in there for "fun and games" Here you make nazi's out of them, untill the point mom and dad don't even want the kid anymore so they go to the army. Mom becomes emotionally dead and becomes a factory worker, dad leaves mom and joins the army to get himself killed. Et voila, you now have conscripted everyone!
Funny how every channel ever is prepared to instantly scream at every slightly realistic mod ever, but this one has been coming out for years and I haven't seen a video from a big channel until now
Black Ice was covered when it first came out, but because it's a niche mod it hasn't received much outside attention since. I remember it being one of the first big mods to come out for HOI4, which is perhaps another reason why people forgot about it so quickly. Soon mods like Kaiserreich were hitting the workshop, and those had much more appeal to the average player.
The game should model reality on the ground, by making the Ardennes a Demilitarized zone for the Belgians. In the game the Belgians stack 12 divisions in one forest tile, making the Ardennes cut quite improbable.
@@andrew3203the way it probably should be made is that the AI evaluates the forest terrain as defensive because of the attacker penalties, so it focuses more divisions on tiles like plains which favour attackers. But I'm not sure how compatible such decision are with the frontline system
Honestly, this video has really good editing and quality content. Not to point anyone out but alot of Paradox Interactive community could learn a thing or two from College. 👍
One thing I like more than just being "realistic" is making game features authentic and goving them depth. Oh, how I'd kill to fiddle with my Infantry batallion's structure and doctrine.
I love it for playing Italy, having access to their unique thermo-jet technology and getting access to jets early is fun and yeah, game is fun and complex.
The most evil thing to do is to make a new player play this mod making them think it's vanilla BEFORE they try vanilla so that they'll think it's 100× harder than it really is
To be fair, the game is very complex for the casual player. Even after 24 hours (for me) I JUST understood what I am doing. And this is vanilla. We're not talking about all the other mods and what they add. Millennium dawn or black ice or anything.
The BICE navy experience is glorious. Can't remember the name of the submod but i really wish the designer was used in more overhaul mods (or if it could be a bit more compatible with other mods)
Strongly agree. The new naval ship techs really shake up the naval game and the greater designer options allow you to tailor any ship to anywhere, now I'm not sitting on 600 naval xp for 10 years.
Do you have a link? The Workshop test version says it was last updated on August 1st, and the changelog doesn't look like there was a huge change... Thanks!
this was very enjoyable to watch. editing was good. I havent watched bokoen in awhile and i clicked on this video not knowing you play in his games. I didn't even realize this until like halfway through the video. This means you've hit the algorithm and you've done a great job editing and producing this video. bravo
Love the pacing of the video, pretty important to not go "slow" in HoI4 vids lest you lose audience attention. Keep it up! Algorithm is definitely picking this one up
BICE was always among my favorite mods (only second to Old World Blues) but I do agree it is overly complex and adds nuance where it really isn't needed from a strictly gameplay standpoint. But I like spending production to upgrade infantry equipment.
I like the detail of sending planes to put franco in charge, that a very detailed history that changed the course of the spanish civil war. I will play it thanks for you, i didnt knew this mod
my buddy was on the team thatmade this mod. They put in a massive amount of work on this mod and it's insanly in depth. They have been putting it all together for a while it's very good. Check it out
dude I didn't know college had a channel, and I just opened the video based off the thumbnail. Hearing college being the main character and using a normal voice genuinely flashbanged my brain.
You forgot the Historical division spawns. You need to enable this in the game rules before starting a game. (off by default) and you get a lot of free division spawns and templates. Doing Anschluss before the historical time is not worth it and a huge waste of resources. You can get it maybe 1-2 weeks earlier at best if you are lucky. Very RNG dependent. You should also do the Afrika Korps focus that spawns you some free divisions and template suited for desert warfare in north africa.
The moment I saw realism & HOI4, as well as mod in the same sentences, my computer exploded. Ig it couldn’t handle the fact someone would do this and choose the cowards way out. Still, great video
The fact that you could hardly break France and got bogged down in Belgium yet you still make fun of Italy for losing Africa is crazy to me ( rip my home dog Italy)
This mod is great. All ot needs is an overhauled Air Designer and it would be just amazing to play. For history nerds, anyway. I also really like the way it handles mechanized, mortars, mgs, etc. allowing you to introduce new equipment to divisions only when you have the industrial capacity to support it. Edit: Paratroopers are quite good, although they don't stand up in a fight against most typical units. They're best in combo with other units - drop paratroopers on two tiles you're about to attack to encircle an enemy stack, for instance. Drop it on and around port you're naval invading, so you get full encirclement bonus + support of far superior marine units. Depending on entrenchment bonus + tech (there's a section of the tree dedicated to buffing special forces) they can also hold the line decently, too. Going without Paratroopers is definitely not a wrong move (marines are just better overall) but they can be used to some effect.
no. do you know what the total war mod is? its a mod that takes all the black ice mod files, and tries to dumb it down. darkest hour is literally just an easier less confusing black ice
I think this mod just focuses you to use paratroopers more-ish historically, primarily in full support of a naval invasion etc where they are simply used to create pockets/encirclements while the enemy is already engaged by your main forces. Can't do vanilla paratrooper sniping haha
FACT: 99% of Wehrmacht officers Quit, right before the final push.
The other 1% die in said push.
@@Ben-fk9ey its a joke about gambling
@@youtubeuser8951😮that's rad
Now play total war mod russia
Bro just one more push bro we'll be home by Christmas bro please just one more push
People meme on Black Ice for being overcomplex but that is probably the closest we will get to the challanging singleplayer Axis scenerio. Also Germany's focus tree is just really freaking good
I love blackIce, especially the naval builder, but I think world ablaze does a pretty good job at being challenging as well.
I mean. Other than changelings in equestria at war. But that's ponies. XD
@@janehrahan5116 To some extent agree, they are half of normal german gameplay and the other half is story, it has is low points but occupation events are pretty freaking good.
Hearts of oak is probably the hardest single player axis I have ever played (assuming you are playing Germany). The soviets get infinite men and planes so you won’t get any free cities like this guy did in Stalingrad
@Tovalokodonc
Could you elaborate on what it does poorly?
I played Black Ice Germany and I focused so much on Infantry that I didn't have enough air to even breakthrough Belgium lmao
wwi lore
@juanrinchd4260 "wake up babe, new WW1 season dropped"
@@itriedtochangemynamebutitd5019 Did you atleast equip it with artiellry ?
@@juanrinchd4260*Floods the river
Skill issue
"I guess nobody cares about the lore here except for me" - Says the man who invaded France before taking Denmark and Norway
the mandela effect is real bruh i thought that irl germany attacked the benelux before invading denmark and norway
@@Frutigergel "Mandela Effect"
O K.
you just got history wrong.
@@Foxarium I think it’s more of the fact that the invasion of Denmark and Norway are seen not as important as the French invasions and the other ones for some reason
@@bnall
You're such a genius. Anyways, he got history wrong.
@@Foxarium yea he still got it wrong he can’t just blame it on the Mandela effect that’s not even the Mandela effect 💀
The whole thing about Finland acting like they don’t know you is actually pretty accurate
IRL Finland respected the Germans
@@Mackenzie002 not really, they didn't buy into any of their schizo policies, they "respected" them only because they too had unfinished business with the soviets
@@Mackenzie002 there’s a reason Finland never formally joined the axis. They still found the Nazis vile, they just happened to have a common enemy in the soviets.
Operation silver fox.
Ah... Spotted the American teen who thinks he knows the geopolitical needs of a foreign country Inna distant time again
Bolshevism has always been fundamentally flawed, it is intrinsically utopian
Paratroopers are used primarily as a second wave to a naval invasion, they're further inland where you are sure there wont be any garrisons (mountains, deserts, etc) for better defensive bonuses to help support a naval invasion on a port that might be defended, take it as like the strategies used during D-Day; Which they had a line of paratroopers farther in from a naval invasion to stretch the lines and destroy any garrisons.
I agree. I only launch them once the marines touch the shores.
Also, deploying deeper allows paratroopers to pick off any fleeing enemy personnel, and set up ambushes along roads for enemy reinforcements. Both of these things would probably be pretty annoying.
And i forgot to always drop them by grapes, where one of the drops lands on a safe zone, so each division may have a fallback sector, ready to be reached by landing troops if the objectives couldn't be secured.@@itsdabees
I feel like if you do that enough the players will learn to just have 2w inf on literally every tile to prevent this.
@@kaigao4842 that'd be pretty expensive lol
Invading the USSR can make or break the game.
I had a similar "historic" experience in the Darkest Hour mod, though I did better in Africa by taking Egypt, after a year of air combat the Battle for Britain ended in a stalemate and I went to the Soviet Union. There were many issues plaguing my army the first year, and I did not make big gains in 1941, however, once winter rolled around I encircled almost the entire Belarus and destroyed their divisions. Further two encicrlements in Ukraine. I destroyed so many Soviet divisions that I outnumbered them 1,5:1 and from that point on I just advanced. Stalin had a stroke and died. Ribbentrop signed peace.
Then I finally invaded Britain.
Also, love your editing.
stalin is too shocked that he get a stroke 💀
he got a stroke?
@@YKS_Savascisi in real life he died of a stroke and following medical complications.
In Darkest Hour mod, he suffers similar fate if the Germans push really far in the USSR, mirroring his death for different reasons.
@@BobbyWanKenobi damn thats interesting
invading the ussr is either blowing trough their lines and getting a 1-20 loss ratio or it's logistics hell where you have to get on scrape the barrel and can't even garrison the place not even talking about your 3 million dead troops and 400k mp needed for reinforcements
But College, Black Ice is micro heavy, and we all know....
Well, we all know how the quote ends lol
Haven't you heard? The barn has been Micro'd"
Stalingrad being retaken while being hyper-focused on Moscow is a Classic College Move, he can't micro the side of a barn.
i love he was playing ultra historical germany, even giving up in paratroopers like they did.
Luckily Crete wasn't that much of an important target, as well.
Defending terrain with those troops, instead, is another more successful story.
Great video again! Perhaps one day you can also micro a side of a barn !
Ah yes a fellow snake of Denmark enjoyer. 🇩🇰🇩🇰🇩🇰
лмао
What's a Denmark??? I've not heard of this term???? Does it even exist??@@peoplesoft2784
john Marston:
Assuming I'm reading that right, I really like that the mod has ticking stability decrease for higher conscription laws. I'd assume it has more tools available to counter that loss as well, but it always feels weird that you can be drafting most of the men in the country and everyone is cool with it.
yeah you getting ticking stability and war support loss for those more intensive laws, but it's pretty easy to keep it up with decisions
It's easy to conscript everyone.
First you make a mandatory youth movement, like the scouts, you get em all in there for "fun and games"
Here you make nazi's out of them, untill the point mom and dad don't even want the kid anymore so they go to the army.
Mom becomes emotionally dead and becomes a factory worker, dad leaves mom and joins the army to get himself killed.
Et voila, you now have conscripted everyone!
Ah yes deploying units out of thin air, truly an authentic soviet experience
"THE ONE WITH THE RIFLE -"
Maybe territories, more than manpower
Funny how every channel ever is prepared to instantly scream at every slightly realistic mod ever, but this one has been coming out for years and I haven't seen a video from a big channel until now
I saw some back in like 2017 but really none until now
Black Ice was covered when it first came out, but because it's a niche mod it hasn't received much outside attention since. I remember it being one of the first big mods to come out for HOI4, which is perhaps another reason why people forgot about it so quickly. Soon mods like Kaiserreich were hitting the workshop, and those had much more appeal to the average player.
to be fair this mod looks like actual cock and ball torture with its complexity
6:16 so this is pretty accurate, the germans only got through the ardenes by luck and the france not listening to there recon pilots
Honestly everything in this video past this is pretty accurate lol
The game should model reality on the ground, by making the Ardennes a Demilitarized zone for the Belgians. In the game the Belgians stack 12 divisions in one forest tile, making the Ardennes cut quite improbable.
@@andrew3203the way it probably should be made is that the AI evaluates the forest terrain as defensive because of the attacker penalties, so it focuses more divisions on tiles like plains which favour attackers. But I'm not sure how compatible such decision are with the frontline system
"The enemy of my enemy is my enemy's enemy. No more. No less." - Finland
Honestly, this video has really good editing and quality content. Not to point anyone out but alot of Paradox Interactive community could learn a thing or two from College. 👍
Spent 200 hours to "fully" understand HOI4 but with this mod it might take an extra 300h.
Wait you UNDERSTAND hoi4 after only 200 hours? I barely understand it after 1,300.
@@stingspring3168do you have the iq of a chimp?
@stingspring3168 1200 hours and I still don’t know how navy works
@@sherwingonsalves88213500 here, dunno why I can’t get naval supremacy with 20 capitals and 200 destroyers against the allies 50 ships
@@sherwingonsalves8821put snorkel torpedo sub boom boom, put torpedo on destroyer boomy boom.Or just use naval bombers lmao
I was expecting to see "Panzer division suffers transmission breakdowns" alerts all throughout 1943
One thing I like more than just being "realistic" is making game features authentic and goving them depth. Oh, how I'd kill to fiddle with my Infantry batallion's structure and doctrine.
I love it for playing Italy, having access to their unique thermo-jet technology and getting access to jets early is fun and yeah, game is fun and complex.
The most evil thing to do is to make a new player play this mod making them think it's vanilla BEFORE they try vanilla so that they'll think it's 100× harder than it really is
To be fair, the game is very complex for the casual player. Even after 24 hours (for me) I JUST understood what I am doing. And this is vanilla. We're not talking about all the other mods and what they add. Millennium dawn or black ice or anything.
The BICE navy experience is glorious. Can't remember the name of the submod but i really wish the designer was used in more overhaul mods (or if it could be a bit more compatible with other mods)
Strongly agree. The new naval ship techs really shake up the naval game and the greater designer options allow you to tailor any ship to anywhere, now I'm not sitting on 600 naval xp for 10 years.
World Ablaze and ULTRA Historical also have similar versions of that naval designer.
The mod just got a massive industry rework in the test version
Do you have a link? The Workshop test version says it was last updated on August 1st, and the changelog doesn't look like there was a huge change... Thanks!
@@19Anonymous33It will come out next week :) There are some teasers on the discord
this was very enjoyable to watch. editing was good. I havent watched bokoen in awhile and i clicked on this video not knowing you play in his games. I didn't even realize this until like halfway through the video. This means you've hit the algorithm and you've done a great job editing and producing this video. bravo
3:13 A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one
You’re quickly my newest favorite hoi youtuber
when the mod so difficult that around the maginot turns into all quiet on the western front
Love the pacing of the video, pretty important to not go "slow" in HoI4 vids lest you lose audience attention.
Keep it up! Algorithm is definitely picking this one up
0:53 Everything? Are you sure?
💀
Wasn't expecting that atun shei reference goddamn bro is cultured
BICE was always among my favorite mods (only second to Old World Blues) but I do agree it is overly complex and adds nuance where it really isn't needed from a strictly gameplay standpoint. But I like spending production to upgrade infantry equipment.
I like the detail of sending planes to put franco in charge, that a very detailed history that changed the course of the spanish civil war. I will play it thanks for you, i didnt knew this mod
Don’t let this video distract you from the fact that college has yet to deliver on his promise to host a hoi 3 black ice community game.
15:01 That my friends is the power of FULLY ARYANIZED Meth.
This video is actually pretty good.
I played Black Ice mod in HOI3 and I love seeing how it works in HOI4
Glad you're making this sort of content!
You’re quickly my newest favorite hoi youtuber. I was so certain that its TFB. Most realistic navy atleast.
13:02 bro just hit the 1942 vibes💀💀💀
Bro your editing is top tier
Man I just have to say your videos are more entertaining than any other hoi youtuber
I was so certain that its TFB. Most realistic navy atleast
3:20
I would not expect atun shei references here
Nice video, hope you make another on the mod again soon!
''Quantity has it's own quality''
He turned Hitler into Stalin.
Live reaction to Norway declaring war: "Bro thats fail rp"
Love the vids, Collage. I'm waiting for more Rimworld content.
I will have another Medieval Rimworld video
the most unrealistic thing about this mod is that germany can win
14:22 This game actually shows major building like the Kremlin, this is insane I want this mod
Just like in TNO where it shows Eiffel Tower, Hagia Sophia and even Volkshalle.
@@KarlMacmillann IT DOES?1?1?1?!/1KDJI0WVOKEDJFKODJFERJIFHHUFREIBJBFIREF
Played BICE for years, got 3k hours into the hoi4 mod and at this point I can't play the game without it, just feels naked.
You getting mad at the italians because they are losing is historycally accurate
Cool. Most realistic representation of operation Barbarossa I have seen so far, in hoi4 game.
Thing is that reality is just Black Ice but you can't have saves and if you lose once, you gone forever
BlaceICE 24h MP game in 1 speed only.
That's where the real game begins
my buddy was on the team thatmade this mod. They put in a massive amount of work on this mod and it's insanly in depth. They have been putting it all together for a while it's very good. Check it out
I’m willing to bet this is what Hoi5 would look like when it’s realeased
Thanks for the content College!
The Royal Navy sent the house to intercept that convoy 💀
My tanks don't do well in the forest : oh so you didn't send an army of lumberjack first to clear every forest in Belgium and France for a quick push?
I don't even know why College's channel never got recommended to me now after like 5-6 years of watching Bokoen1. Good to see it's doing pretty well.
dude I didn't know college had a channel, and I just opened the video based off the thumbnail. Hearing college being the main character and using a normal voice genuinely flashbanged my brain.
College is the type of guy to not be able to micro the side of a barn...
You forgot the Historical division spawns. You need to enable this in the game rules before starting a game. (off by default) and you get a lot of free division spawns and templates.
Doing Anschluss before the historical time is not worth it and a huge waste of resources. You can get it maybe 1-2 weeks earlier at best if you are lucky. Very RNG dependent.
You should also do the Afrika Korps focus that spawns you some free divisions and template suited for desert warfare in north africa.
The Total War Mod is also another mod I absolutely love for its historical focus while not being overly complex.
>"With everything the germans did during the war"
EVERYTHING, huh?
World Ablaze is quite a bit harder then Black ICE imo, but it's still very hard
yeah that mod is brutally realistic, if you stall out on barb it's over for you
The moment I saw realism & HOI4, as well as mod in the same sentences, my computer exploded. Ig it couldn’t handle the fact someone would do this and choose the cowards way out.
Still, great video
I like how you call my country the „main antagonist“ LOL
In order to maintain the functional and structural security of my mental functions, I've only ever played the United States when I play Black Ice.
The breaking bad meme sent me.
That Frozen 50s Man clip got me dead💀
bro sounds like the lockpicking lawyer
No matter how realistic a mod is in HoI, the AI will always be shit
The fact that you could hardly break France and got bogged down in Belgium yet you still make fun of Italy for losing Africa is crazy to me ( rip my home dog Italy)
"You can focus into everything Germany did in the time period!"
Uh oh...
British troops looking at Liverpool & Swansea & just giving up is a mood honestly.
The pronunciation wasnt the best thing, but he at least recognizes the Daugava river that splits Riga, bro has my respect and follow
This mod is great. All ot needs is an overhauled Air Designer and it would be just amazing to play. For history nerds, anyway.
I also really like the way it handles mechanized, mortars, mgs, etc. allowing you to introduce new equipment to divisions only when you have the industrial capacity to support it.
Edit: Paratroopers are quite good, although they don't stand up in a fight against most typical units. They're best in combo with other units - drop paratroopers on two tiles you're about to attack to encircle an enemy stack, for instance. Drop it on and around port you're naval invading, so you get full encirclement bonus + support of far superior marine units.
Depending on entrenchment bonus + tech (there's a section of the tree dedicated to buffing special forces) they can also hold the line decently, too.
Going without Paratroopers is definitely not a wrong move (marines are just better overall) but they can be used to some effect.
6:19 the Luftwaffe needs ME-262 to make that offensive
BICE, making a comeback is amazing to me. That intro perfectly describes how I felt when I saw this mod in the description.
Today I learned that College & Golden are polar opposites.
Most of the time.
I knew reading the title that it would be black ice. Really fun once you get past the hours of learning everything new
God-damn, you did a Crete in Norway
You should try the Total War mod. There's also more micro than standard, but also Ai gets huge bonuses against you.
no. do you know what the total war mod is? its a mod that takes all the black ice mod files, and tries to dumb it down. darkest hour is literally just an easier less confusing black ice
yo i didn’t realize you were college till you said at the end of the video it was such a plot twist lol. great video throughly enjoyed it.
I think this mod just focuses you to use paratroopers more-ish historically, primarily in full support of a naval invasion etc where they are simply used to create pockets/encirclements while the enemy is already engaged by your main forces. Can't do vanilla paratrooper sniping haha
If I remember correctly you can paradrop mountain artillery, unless they changed that
This video felt like a ww2 documentary without my history teacher.
Invades USSR spring 1942 running out of fuel pushes south. yeah matches with our timeline
"So the vibes were telling me to attack where there is oil."
*America has entered the chat.
"africa"
"send support"
my guy, you're doing it wrong: you're supposed to IGNORE that front!
Bro I learned the navy in base HOI4 and didnt even try to learn it in this mod
I felt the convoy raiding pain so much
In this time line lend lease forgot about the Comintern 💀
5:58 why are the plane models so big??
Another similarly good mod that kind of does this almost better is the "Darkest Hour" mod
"wow guys loock at this mood!!!" don't give the link, classic.
happy college is getting recognition for his quality content
I'm an avid Aurora 4X C# player, and even I'm struggling to wrap my realism-obsessed brain around this mod
Great video loved it! what if you did black Ice and Expert AI that would be pain and chaos
College: Mod aims to be historical
The Mod: *Doesn’t give Germany the Swastika flag*
If it did, wouldn't be a game people can play. It is literally illegal in about 20% of the world.
@@fortusvictus8297 Not really, it's even legal in US. Why would a number of nations be offended by an actual historical game?