Artillery technology

Hearts of Iron IV

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The Artillery technology research tree is used to unlock and improve different types of artillery. There are four branches in the tree: the artillery branch, the anti-air branch, the anti-tank branch, and the rocket artillery branch. Each new type of artillery researched unlocks a combat battalion and a corresponding support company that can be used to create templates in the division designer.

Artillery research tree

Artillery

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Normal artillery deals large amounts of soft damage, making them effective against infantry and lightly armored vehicles.

Icon (generic)	Technology	Year	Base cost	Prerequisites	Description	Statistics
	Towed Artillery	1934	127 days		Artillery refers to large-caliber weapons, such as cannons and howitzers that are operated by crews, which can project munitions far beyond the effective range of personal weapons.	1 2 Defense: 10.0 Breakthrough 6.0 Soft attack: 25.0 Hard attack: 2.0 Piercing: 5.0 Reliability: 80.0% Production Cost: 3.50 Ship-based AA I Anti-air: 1.5 Anti-air: +10% Max Speed: -1% Production Cost: 90.00 Production Cost: +2%
	Interwar Artillery	1936	127 days	Artillery	Lessons learned in the development of different types of artillery can be cross-applied to the design of other pieces.	Upgrades Soft attack: +10%
	Improved Artillery	1939	85 days	Interwar Artillery	New howitzer designs, taking advantage of new hydraulic recoil devices and longer barrels.	1 2 Defense: 15.0 Breakthrough 7.0 Soft attack: 30.0 Hard attack: 2.0 Piercing: 5.0 Reliability: 80.0% Production Cost: 4.00
	Improved Artillery Upgrade I	1940	85 days	Improved Artillery	Upgrading old pieces can only get us so far. New howitzer designs will be needed, taking advantage of new hydraulic recoil devices and longer barrels.	Upgrades Soft attack: +10%
	Improved Artillery Upgrade II	1941	85 days	Improved Artillery Upgrade I	To enable heavier guns on lighter carriages, muzzle brakes can be included in howitzer designs.	Upgrades Soft attack: +10%
	Advanced Artillery	1942	170 days	Improved Artillery Upgrade II	Light-weight artillery capable of being broken down for transport, making it possible to bring artillery support to areas previously difficult to reach.	1 3 Defense: 18.0 Breakthrough 8.0 Soft attack: 34.0 Hard attack: 2.0 Piercing: 5.0 Reliability: 80.0% Production Cost: 4.50
	Advanced Artillery Upgrade	1943	85 days	Advanced Artillery	Artillery designs with lower silhouettes will be more difficult for the enemy to target.	Upgrades Soft attack: +10%

Anti-Air

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Anti-air artillery has a very powerful air attack, allowing it to shoot down enemy aircraft. Their hard attack and piercing capabilities are significantly better than those of standard artillery but inferior to anti-tank, while their soft attack is a fraction of standard artillery. This makes them better than standard artillery at attacking lightly armored vehicles, like motorized and mechanized infantry, but relatively poor against infantry (though they will still do a serviceable job). Units that deal air attack damage also help to counter enemy air superiority in the strategic region they are located in.

Icon (generic)	Technology	Year	Base cost	Prerequisites	Description	Statistics
	Towed Anti-Air	1936	127 days	Artillery	Anti-air artillery is primarily designed to shoot down hostile planes, although the rapid fire cannons can also be effective against ground targets.	Unlocks 2 Defense: 4.0 Breakthrough 1.0 Soft attack: 3.0 Hard attack: 7.0 Air attack: 19.0 Piercing: 25.0 Reliability: 80.0% Production Cost: 4.00 Ship-based AA II Anti-air: 2.0 Anti-air: +10% Max Speed: -1% Production Cost: 120.00 Production Cost: +2%
	Anti-Air Upgrade	1939	85 days	Towed Anti-Air	With faster reloading mechanisms, anti-air guns carrying large rounds can still maintain necessary firing rates.	Factory Bomb Vulnerability (global stat; not a unit stat): -8% Upgrades Air attack: +10%
	Improved Anti-Air	1940	85 days	Anti-Air Upgrade	Anti-air guns with longer cartridges and barrels, able to target high-flying aircraft.	Unlocks 2 Defense: 4.0 Breakthrough 1.0 Soft attack: 3.5 Hard attack: 11.0 Air attack: 25.0 Piercing: 60.0 Reliability: 80.0% Production Cost: 5.00 Ship-based AA III Anti-air: 3.0 Anti-air: +12% Max Speed: -1% Production Cost: 150.00 Production Cost: +2% Global stats Static Anti Air damage factor: +10%
	Improved Anti-Air Upgrade I	1941	85 days	Improved Anti-Air	As radar systems improve, employing radar direction of anti-aircraft guns becomes more viable. Keeping up with this technology will allow us to make some of the most accurate anti-air systems available.	Factory Bomb Vulnerability (global stat; not a unit stat): -8% Upgrades Air attack: +10%
	Improved Anti-Air Upgrade II	1942	85 days	Improved Anti-Air Upgrade I	Combining modern systems of radar, computerization and autoloaders will be necessary to react quickly against faster aircraft.	Factory Bomb Vulnerability (global stat; not a unit stat): -8% Upgrades Air attack: +10%
	Advanced Anti-Air	1943	85 days	Improved Anti-Air Upgrade II	An advanced mobile flak gun with greater reach and firing capacity, to combat even the fastest and highest-flying enemy aircraft.	Unlocks 3 Defense: 4.0 Breakthrough 1.0 Soft attack: 4.0 Hard attack: 15.0 Air attack: 32.0 Piercing: 88.0 Reliability: 80.0% Production Cost: 6.00 Ship-based AA IV Anti-air: 4.0 Anti-air: +15% Max Speed: -1% Production Cost: 190.00 Production Cost: +2% Global stats Static Anti Air damage factor: +10%

Anti-Tank

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Anti-tank artillery deals a lot of hard damage and has high piercing, making them excel in taking out vehicles on the ground. However, their low soft attack means they are not very effective against softer targets, such as infantry.

Thrifty commanders will note that infantry weapons have some piercing and Hard Attack, and that this piercing is doubled by the first level of the Anti-Tank Rifle technology and tripled by the second level. Each level also adds +25% to the infantry Hard Attack. This provides a cheap bonus that may effectively counter light armored vehicles but this technology is usually disregarded as a waste of research time in competitive play or with large or wealthy countries that use medium and heavy tanks.

Icon (generic)	Technology	Year	Base cost	Prerequisites	Description	Statistics
	Towed Anti-Tank	1936	127 days	Artillery	Artillery specialized in defeating armored targets like Tanks, it generally fires armor piercing shells.	2 2 Defense: 4.0 Soft attack: 4.0 Hard attack: 15.0 Piercing: 75.0 Reliability: 80.0% Production Cost: 4.00
	Anti-Tank Upgrade	1939	85 days	Towed Anti-Tank	The importance of effective anti-tank weapons was established in the Great War. Introducing a new generation of these weapons will be necessary to combat modern tank designs.	Upgrades Hard attack: +10% Piercing: +20%
	Improved Anti-Tank	1940	85 days	Anti-Tank Upgrade	Larger caliber guns to combat heavier tanks with sloped armor.	2 2 Defense: 4.0 Soft attack: 4.0 Hard attack: 22.0 Piercing: 88.0 Reliability: 80.0% Production Cost: 5.00
	Improved Anti-Tank Upgrade I	1941	85 days	Improved Anti-Tank	HEAT (high-explosive anti-tank) rounds can be used in anti-tank artillery to make up for limited muzzle velocity.	Upgrades Hard attack: +10% Piercing: +10%
	Improved Anti-Tank Upgrade II	1942	85 days	Improved Anti-Tank Upgrade I	New versatile anti-tank guns employing armored-piercing discarding sabot shots can penetrate the armor of nearly any tank.	Upgrades Hard attack: +10% Piercing: +10%
	Advanced Anti-Tank	1943	85 days	Improved Anti-Tank Upgrade II	Combining different kinds of new ammunition technology with guns with higher muzzle velocities, these anti-tank guns are prepared for whatever new armor our enemies may develop.	2 3 Defense: 4.0 Soft attack: 4.0 Hard attack: 30.0 Piercing: 108.0 Reliability: 80.0% Production Cost: 6.00

Rocket Artillery

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Although slightly more expensive, rocket artillery deals more soft damage and has a much greater breakthrough than normal artillery, but are even less effective against armored vehicles.

Icon (generic)	Technology	Year	Base cost	Prerequisites	Description	Statistics
	Towed Rocket Artillery	1940	170 days	Improved Artillery Upgrade I	Rocket artillery is less accurate and has a much lower sustained rate of fire than batteries of traditional artillery guns. However, they have the capability of simultaneously hitting a target with multiple rockets with devastating effect.	2 1 Defense: 12.0 Breakthrough: 9.0 Soft attack: 30.0 Hard attack: 1.0 Piercing: 2.0 Reliability: 80.0% Production Cost: 4.00
	Rocket Artillery Upgrade I	1941	85 days	Towed Rocket Artillery	Self-propelled artillery utilizing multiple rockets will be able to cause large-scale destruction rapidly, while maintaining mobility to avoid counter-fire.	Upgrades Soft attack: +15%
	Rocket Artillery Upgrade II	1942	85 days	Rocket Artillery Upgrade I	Sacrificing range for impact, we can mount heavier rockets on larger vehicles. Operating in teams, these artillery batteries can cooperate to reload and relocate quickly.	Upgrades Soft attack: +15%
	Advanced Rocket Artillery	1943	85 days	Rocket Artillery Upgrade II	Spin-stabilized rockets, increasing the range of lighter artillery batteries.	2 1 Defense: 15.0 Breakthrough: 12.0 Soft attack: 38.0 Hard attack: 1.0 Piercing: 2.0 Reliability: 80.0% Production Cost: 5.00 Upgrades Soft Attack: +30%

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