In Hearts of Iron 4, manpower is key to getting a wartime advantage against your enemies. Each state can supply a certain number of troops to your cause, determined by size and development. Every country gets more manpower passively as citizens come of age and get conscripted into the army. However, a few ways exist to improve this passive gain beyond just waiting around.
This article will focus on increasing manpower in Hearts of Iron IV.
Increasing Manpower in Hearts of Iron IV
One of the primary ways to increase your country’s manpower output is by changing its conscription laws. The laws can be found in your country’s leader screen (by clicking on the flag) and take up the first icon on the bottom table.
There are seven possible levels, each with increasingly demanding requirements. Some of these can only be effectively used in emergencies. Here’s a list of conscription laws and their basic requirements:
- Disarmed Nation: 1% of the population is recruited into manpower.
- Volunteer Only: 1.5% of the population becomes manpower. The country may not have Isolation economy laws (applies to the United States in 1936 or 1939 starts). This is the default setting for most countries.
- Limited Conscription: 2.5% of the population turns into manpower. This policy requires at least 10% War Support.
- Extensive Conscription: 5% of the population is available manpower. You must have 20% War Support for this policy. Additionally, you must be in a war, a Fascist or Communist country. If you’re at war, the estimated enemy power must be at least 50% of yours.
- Service by Requirement: Turns 10% of the population into manpower. This policy has more stringent requirements than the previous one, requiring 60% War Support or any surrender progress.
- All Adults Serve: Up to 20% of your population is converted to usable manpower. This policy can only be passed during a war if the opponent has at least 70% of your power. Also, you need to have either 70% War Support or any surrender progress.
- Scraping the Barrel: As the most controversial policy, this one turns 25% of your citizens into manpower. It requires an enemy at least your equal and your country having 85% War Support or 25% surrender progress.
Generally, consider switching to a more demanding policy during wartime to make full use of improved manpower.
You can see a current breakdown of your available manpower by reviewing the Manpower icon in the top bar. Seeing manpower availability can help you determine when your next batch of units arrives and what is hampering your manpower growth.
Another way to improve manpower passively is to choose national ideas that benefit them. Countries without specialist national ideas get access to conscription-related ideas in the Political Effort tree, with the left side of that tree most affecting manpower generation.
If you have any subject nations, you can directly request manpower from them by initiating dialogue and selecting the “Request Garrison Support” option. Typically, you’ll receive very few units this way compared to your power, but small additions can make a difference.
If you’re at war or nearing one, use the “War Propaganda” decisions in the Decision menu (the first button on the top left after the flag). These decisions are typically reserved for Fascist or Communist countries, so more democratic ones need to find a different method.
One of the most straightforward ways to get more manpower is by controlling more states, usually through war efforts. However, this may be a double-edged sword in the short term since wars mean you lose manpower from casualties. You can only start recuperating your manpower from new conquests after they’ve been assimilated into your country.
To get some manpower immediately, you can also disband obsolete or unneeded troops to recover some of their manpower costs. It also allows you to reallocate them into different units.
Get More From Hearts of Iron 4
While manpower is important in the game, improving your battle strategy and army utilization will allow you to have a more effective army. Developing a proper strategy and army utilization can mean that a country with smaller manpower can compete against a slightly larger opponent with better chances for victory.
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