Hearts of Iron IV

Hearts of Iron IV

493 ratings
Useful Hotkeys for Hearts of Iron 4
By CEO of The Internet
A guide about useful hotkeys that are unknown to many players
12
3
13
4
4
2
   
Award
Favorite
Favorited
Unfavorite
Introduction
I've decided to make a guide on hotkeys because I often see people who don't use them at all, even in multiplayer, where speed of your micro management is very important. I will also show some other hotkeys that not many people know about, even though they are useful.
Infantry management
  • S - Split selected divisions
    One of the most useful features in infantry management is 'split'. It lets you quickly assign orders to a group of divisions, and using a hotkey for this saves you a lot of time.


  • Shift+K - Exercise until trained
    It's one of those features that not many people know about. It lets you exercise divisions which experience level is lower than 3, without exercising and spending equipment of divisions that are already at third experience level.

    as you can see, only untrained divisions are attritioning

  • Ctrl+B - Toggle Strategic Redeployment
    Makes selected divisions railroad to their destination point. Works even if they are already on their way.


  • Ctrl+1-9 to assign, 1-9 to select - Creates a shortcut for selected divisions
    Another unknown to many players hotkey. It lets you quickly select assigned divisions or jump to their location (if you click two times). I use it for tanks or other strong divisions.


  • Ctrl+Right click on an attack bubble - Support Attack
    Divisions that are supporting an attack dont move away from their position after they managed to make the enemy retreat. Especially useful when divisions are defending from the other sides and you don't want them to leave their tile after the attack is over.


  • Shift + Right click - Creates a waypoint for selected divisions
    A very convenient and commonly used feature that allows you to navigate a path for your divisions.
Battleplan
Quick army management is important as well. It's easy to find shortcuts for battleplan management so I will show only the most important ones.

  • Z - Create a front line
  • Ctrl+Left Click - Assign divisions to a front line
  • X - Create an offensive line
  • Alt - Edit Mode
    This one is useful to edit your offensive lines without losing battleplan bonus after your army almost reached the end of it
Map controls
  • Backspace - Return to capital
    Useful when you hear a naval invasion sound and you have to quickly return to your country to defend from the invasion


  • Ctrl + 1-9 - Creates a shortcut for a province
    Select a province and then press Ctrl + number. Lets you quickly move between the fronts.
Other stuff
  • Ctrl+F9 - Toggles the Interface on/off for screenshots



  • Ctrl + F10 - Creates a political map of current session
    This one is cool, I never knew about it before doing my little research on HOI4 shortcuts. Screenshots are located in the game's folder in documents.

    Path to it is: C:\Users\YourUsename\Documents\Paradox Interactive\Hearts of Iron IV\Screenshots
Bonus
Decided to share a tip about navy, because why not.

There is an easy way to merge all your fleets into one. Useful for Japan and the UK.

Select a fleet and then Shift+Right click on other fleets


Assign selected fleets to a reserve fleet


Then press 'G'


That's it
Don't forget to like this guide and add it to favorites if it was helpful for you.
31 Comments
ClaudeJ 28 Nov, 2024 @ 4:05am 
Yeah, Curated Hearts of Iron 4 Hotkeys. And I like your take on it.
CEO of The Internet  [author] 28 Nov, 2024 @ 3:33am 
but this guide has cool gifs and pictures and only the most useful shortcuts!!
CEO of The Internet  [author] 28 Nov, 2024 @ 3:31am 
based
ClaudeJ 27 Nov, 2024 @ 11:02pm 
Just read the Wiki, people.
https://hoi4.paradoxwikis.com/Hotkeys
Foxwood3 26 Nov, 2024 @ 12:41pm 
based
Chiana 11 Oct, 2024 @ 6:35am 
Wonderful!! Thank you so much
greenraven1 31 Dec, 2023 @ 9:47am 
Thanks so very much!
Nost 5 Apr, 2023 @ 7:20am 
With over 2,700 hours in this game, I never knew you can use hotkey to send divisions in Support Attack mode until now. Thank you for this guide!
CEO of The Internet  [author] 20 Jan, 2023 @ 1:52am 
you mean generals? You can select the entire army and create a shortcut for it the same way you make shortcuts for divisions
Twylon Dark 20 Jan, 2023 @ 12:19am 
how to select commanders with shortcuts