HOI4 (Hearts of Iron IV): Peace Conference Guide

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Hearts of Iron IV (HOI4) stands as an expansive grand strategy video game, thrusting players into the pivotal role of a nation’s leader with the power to sculpt its destiny. Spanning the prelude to the Second World War, the game captivates enthusiasts by delving into the intricacies of the era. While the throes of conflict are enthralling, every war inevitably culminates in a consequential peace conference, where the terms of surrender are forged, and the global map is redrawn. In the forthcoming article, we shall navigate the labyrinthine pathways of orchestrating a peace conference, illuminating the enigmatic art of point calculation and the nuanced cadence of turn dynamics in HOI4.

How to Start a Peace Conference in HOI4

A peace conference in HOI4 only starts when a nation loses enough victory points that it is forced to capitulate and surrenders. If said nation is allied with a major power, all major powers must capitulate before a peace conference can fire.

It is not required to capitulate a minor power to start a peace conference with an alliance though it will likely aid in your contribution score.

Do note that peace conferences only happen during unconditional surrender and will not pop up when limited wars (caused by events or focuses) end such as the German Civil War or the Soviet Civil War.

Determining the Participants

To determine which powers will be entering the peace conference in HOI4 from the victorious side, these are the conditions to be met:

Any nation that is at war with the surrendering nation and not at war with the nation with the highest war participation

Not 50% occupied by a non-allied war winner like Poland not taking part in a peace conference due to the Soviet Union holding its territory after taking it from Germany.

For the losing side, the following conditions have to be met:

Have capitulated (if a major power). If minor, this is not required.

Is at war with all the winners

Have at least some war participation dealt against them

A losing nation can avoid being dragged into a peace conference if they stay out of the war (not dealing or receiving any damage). For example, if Japan surrenders but Manchukuo is part of the war but has no casualties or war participation score, they will not be a part of the peace treaty.

Participation Score

The War Participation Score is determined by the amount of contribution and losses by a country against the opposing alliance. The exact contributions are:

Occupation
Land Combat Damage
Destroyed Enemy Planes
Strategic Bombing
Convoy Raiding
Sunk Enemy Ships
Casualties
Lend Lease Sent

There is a final contribution (Lend Lease Receive) but this lowers your war participation score instead.

How a Peace Conference Works in HOI4

When a peace conference starts in HOI4, all winning nations get an initial score based on their war participation score. An additional score can be added should the war contain numerous nations on either side. The full score will only be totaled by turn 5, after which, no additional score may be received.

Possible Demands

The demands a nation can make to a losing nation are:

Take State (Annex Territory)
Liberation Nation
Puppet Nation
Change Government Type
Take Navy
Add Demilitarized Zone
Add Resource Rights
Add War Reparation
Add Dismantle Military Industry

The last four demands can only work if the Puppet Nation or Change Government Type demand was selected for a losing nation.

Other options include annexing territories for your allied nation (by clicking on them as the benefactor though this comes at the expense of your own points), passing on your turn (and gaining more points), or ending your participation in the peace conference and allowing the other nations to carve out the cake for themselves

Mechanics

The nation with the highest score will go first and so on and so forth. However, the top nation cannot have fewer points than the next contributing nation and this logic applies to lower positioned nations as well.

When two nations have demands on a single territory, both enter into a game mechanic called contested demands. Here, all nations vying for a single territory may either forfeit their demands (and get some points back as compensation) or continue pressing their demands, increasing the number of points needed to annex that territory.

This procedure goes on and repeats (especially with the increasing points the more nations continue to vie for it) until only a single nation remains to claim possession of that territory.

When a contested demand ends, the value of the territory tends to go up skyfold to prevent any other nations from starting another round of contested demands. Sometimes, the player may start a second round of the contest.

Still, the points value will be significantly higher, making it unlikely for either the player or the AI to have enough points left to make any demands, thereby leaving the possibility of an opposing nation to still be intact (due to some national focuses requiring a nation to be fully annexed or puppeted, this would setback campaigns by a couple of months or years and another war will likely be needed to complete the conquest finally).

Once all demands are made and the peace conference is ended, the winner automatically stops being at war with the loser, and ownership changes accordingly. While world tension can decrease by some demands, usually, it is offset by demands that cause tension (such as annexation).

What the AI Will Demand Based on Ideology

AI generally has a preferred set of demands to present, depending on their ideology.

Democratic Nations: Prefer liberating nations and changing the government type to fit their own. Can sometimes take territory but will never puppet as they cannot puppet nations via peace deals, only by releasing them.