Hearts of Iron IV plunges you into the tense world of World War II strategy, where conquering land is only half the battle—holding it is the real challenge. Establishing control over occupied territories by increasing compliance is crucial for turning your victories into sustainable dominions. Managing compliance well can tip the scales, reducing resistance and bolstering your war effort with increased manpower and stability.
How Compliance Works in HOI4
An example of the occupation management for Italy following their victory over Ethiopia
Occupation Management The occupation management screen is your central hub for securing conquered territories. Here, you’ll decide the occupation law, assign garrison troops, and monitor compliance levels. For instance, in occupied Ethiopia under Italian control, average compliance might start very low—around 1%. The occupation law might be set to "Military Governor," and your garrison is made up of a cavalry template, balancing suppression without wasting manpower.
Above is an example of the occupation management tab for Italy in HOI4 once they have conquered Ethiopia. You’ll be making nearly all of your occupation decisions (aside from the editing of garrison templates) here. As seen, the average compliance for all states here is 1%, as signified by the white flag icon. Likewise, our current occupation law is set to Military Governor, while for the garrison, we are using their standard cavalry template.
Resistance Target This value represents the ideal resistance strength that the population strives toward. Resistance strength gravitates toward this target over time, so your goal is to keep the resistance target as low as possible to prevent rebellions.
The resistance target shows the possible value of the resistance strength. Gradually, the resistance strength will move closer and closer to the resistance target, so it would be best to keep it low.
Ways to keep the resistance target low include:
- Controlling the state with a valid national claim
- Maintaining peace rather than ongoing wars
- Ensuring your nation’s stability is high
- Raising compliance within the state
- Applying strict occupation laws
- Completing resistance suppression national focus
- Using agents to root out resistance
- The controlling nation has a claim to the state.
- The controlling nation is at peace.
- The controlling nation has high stability.
- High compliance in the state
- A strict occupation law
- Taking the resistance suppression focus
- Assigning agents to root out resistance in the area
Conversely, factors that increase resistance target are:
- The original owner of the territory has capitulated or is in exile
- High number of victory points within the state
- Resistance spillover from neighboring states
- Enemy espionage activities in the region
- If the original owner has capitulated
- If the original owner is in exile
- The number of victory points in the state (the more, the higher)
- Resistance from neighboring states
- Enemy agent operations in the area
Resistance Strength This indicates how strongly the population resists your occupation, trending toward the resistance target. Higher resistance strength inflicts penalties that hinder your control and military operations.
Resistance strength reflects the population’s resistance to the controlling nation. As mentioned above, the resistance strength will slowly drift to the value of the resistance target. Should this go up, you will experience these debuffs:
| Resistance Level | Resistance Strength Threshold | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Organized Resistance | 25% | Garrison penetration chance increased by 50% |
| Emboldened Resistance | 50% | Garrisons take 100% more damage |
| Uprising | 75% | Divisions move 50% slower, strategic redeployment disabled, local supplies halved, and divisions suffer 30% higher attrition |
| Rebellion | 90% | The state declares independence, spawning rebel units and returning control to the original owner or restarting the nation |
Garrison
Garrison
A reliable and adequately sized garrison is essential for maintaining occupation stability. Their suppression stat directly counters rising resistance strength, making them your frontline defense against insurgencies.
You’ll want to stick mostly to cavalry or armored car battalions for garrison duty, as they require less manpower and equipment than regular infantry. Adding a military police support company can boost suppression at a modest cost, which is particularly helpful in destabilized areas.
Keep in mind, if your garrison forces are weakened or understrength, the effectiveness of your occupation law is reduced. This leads to downgraded laws automatically, so resupplying them is vital for consistent compliance gains.
How to Increase Compliance in HOI4
Method 1: Adjust the Occupation Laws Occupation laws in HOI4 strike a balance between compliance growth and resistance risk: looser laws raise compliance faster but stir unrest. Setting the occupation law to Civilian Oversight often offers the best middle ground for compliance gains while managing resistance.
HOI4 follows a simple principle when it comes to occupation laws: the more lax your laws are, the quicker compliance is to increase, though it will likely backfire on you in terms of resistance.
Pair civilian oversight with a capable garrison, then stay out of war for a few months. You'll start seeing compliance tick up, making your hold on the territory stronger and more sustainable over time.
Method 2: Waiting
Method 2: Waiting
Compliance rises naturally when the region is peaceful—no fighting ongoing and your nation maintains a claim over the territory. This slow but steady increase can be a strategic choice to avoid the dangers of high resistance during ongoing conflict.
Method 3: National Focuses or Leader Traits
Method 3: National Focuses or Leader Traits
Some countries have built-in advantages for boosting compliance. For example, the Soviet Union, Poland, Turkey, and Bulgaria feature national focuses or leaders whose traits accelerate compliance gains. Utilizing these can speed up control of conquered lands significantly.
Method 4: Lower Resistance
Method 4: Lower Resistance
Occupation laws increasing compliance require a full-strength garrison to be effective. A well-suppressed state slows resistance strength growth, allowing compliance to climb faster.
Having a garrison that has a large suppression value means you’ll be able to reduce the resistance target in a state, which will in turn allow for a quicker compliance gain as the people of the state are no longer fighting back against your regime.
Choose cavalry units mostly for your garrison since they consume only infantry equipment, making them resource efficient. Increasing suppression value with a military police support company further reduces resistance growth.
Assigning intelligence agents to "root out resistance" missions in high-resistance states also pays dividends. This covert pressure helps prevent resistance levels from spiraling out of control.
Additionally, repeatedly focusing your national efforts on reducing resistance strength via specific national focuses can make coordination simpler.
Method 5: Forming a Collaboration Government The Prepare Collaboration Government Operation Guide
Collaboration governments may only be established during peacetime and in territories not already fully controlled. Forming one instantly raises a state's compliance to its collaboration level, making this a powerful tool for rapid compliance improvement.
For example, if you have 70% collaboration in a region, initiating a collaboration government will yield approximately 70% compliance immediately. This greatly stabilizes large occupied territories.
This technique is especially valuable in sprawling countries like the Soviet Union or China, where manually managing compliance can be a tedious process. Once average compliance across states is around 80%, you can even install puppet regimes for streamlined administration.
Mastering these compliance strategies allows you to secure your conquests efficiently and maintain order. The balance of military strength, political decisions, and patience wins the day in managing occupied states.
- HOI4 (Hearts of Iron IV): Division Template Guide (Best Options)
