Paradox Development Studio has released Hearts of Iron IV patch 1.19.2, the final balance update before the studio enters its summer period. The patch targets the most egregious outliers from the Thunder at Our Gates DLC rather than attempting a comprehensive balance pass, with a summer Open Beta confirmed to handle the broader issues the team could not address before breaking.
The headline fix is the Spirit of St. Bernard, the Swiss national spirit that in combination with other bonuses was pushing casualty trickle-back to 105%, meaning Switzerland was recovering more soldiers than it was losing. The resulting unkillable Swiss army has been a persistent talking point in the community since Thunder at Our Gates launched. The patch reduces the spirit’s bonuses without removing it entirely, which is the correct approach for a balance change of this kind.
Australia has taken the most significant adjustments. The Australian Military Forces national spirit loses roughly half its Non-Core Attack and Defence values. The Citizen Army non-core combat penalty is reduced from 25% to 15%, but this comes alongside a rebalanced Air Branch and lower mission efficiency across the board, meaning the net effect is a genuine reduction in power rather than a masked buff. The Expeditionary Leader trait, which has been quietly overperforming in Thunder at Our Gates’ foreign forces gameplay, drops its Non-Core Attack and Defence bonus from 15% to 10%.
Siam receives meaningful improvements. Starting stability rises from 19% to 29%, a change that significantly alters the early game experience for that nation by providing room for political and economic decisions rather than forcing immediate crisis management. The Unconventional Tank Designs focus has been reworked, removing its reliability penalty and replacing it with a smaller soft attack penalty to make Siam’s creative playstyle less punishing to pursue.
Players wishing to continue saves from patch 1.19.1 can roll back via Steam’s Properties menu under Game Versions and Betas. The team has confirmed the summer Open Beta will carry forward the balance conversations that 1.19.2 could not fully resolve, keeping the competitive community active during the studio’s quieter months.
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