Hearts of Iron 4 is getting thematic radio stations By Ian Boudreau

There’s a new Hearts of Iron IV dev diary out today, and in it, Paradox goes into some detail on features coming to the game with the 1.7 “Hydra” update. There’s some nifty new stuff on its way to the game, which is just about to turn three years old - more on that later.

While it doesn’t impact the mechanics of gameplay at all, one of the neatest new features coming to Hearts of Iron IV is a radio. No, it won’t help call in artillery strikes any more effectively, but it will let you pick out music you want to listen to, and it’s coming with 35 new tracks. The “Radio Pack” is going to add an in-game music player and several “stations” to choose from, so you’ll be able to select Allied, Communist, or Fascist-themed stations to listen to as you play. Paradox is also including 35 “best of” tracks from Hearts of Iron II and III.

As in the Winamp days of yesteryear, you’ll have a distinctive skin for the player to match the music. Axis Radio has a blood-red faceplate designed after popular German radios, while Radio Comintern features a lacquered wood face emblazoned with a red Soviet star.

An Axis Armor pack is also on the way, and that’s going to add more than 60 3D vehicle models to the game, including eight German tanks that were previously only available with the Colonel edition of Hearts of Iron IV. The renders look quite nice.

The update also details some balance changes coming to mechanics for convoy raiding, naval battles, and land commanders, who are getting their wings clipped significantly in order to re-emphasize ground combat tech research.

Paradox will also be celebrating the three-year anniversary of Hearts of Iron IV’s launch next week by running a “3-day war” live on Twitch, along with some of the biggest Hearts of Iron IV streamers and YouTubers. It’ll kick off June 2 at 18:45 CEST.