In HOI 3, your country’s economic potential is represented in terms of Industrial Capacity (normally referred to as IC), which in rough terms is a measure of the number of “factories” you have in all of your provinces. Each “factory” represents hundreds of factories, and this total is modified by technological advancements, ministers, the level of your industrial mobilization for war (this is determined by “laws” – see Politics), the level of public dissatisfaction (dissent) and other factors to become your “available” IC.



IC is produced on a daily basis, and while it’s tempting to think of it as a daily income, it doesn’t build up like money. It goes away if you don’t use it, so it’s more accurate to think of it as your daily “bandwidth” (to use a computer term): it’s what you can tell your industry to work on for that day. While there’s not a lot that can be accomplished on major projects in just one day, persistent work on the same project will get it completed.

As head of state over your economy and commander-in-chief of your armies, you must decide what you want to produce by allocating IC toward Consumer Goods, Supplies, Upgrades, Reinforcements, and Production.

Industrial capacity must be “fed” by resources to work. Your actual full production potential is only visible if you have sufficient resource stockpiles and can adequately protect your industry and your stockpiles (not to mention the shipping that brings resources to you) from destruction.

Resources can only be bought with money, which you can acquire through selling things or producing consumer goods. International trade requires shipping to carry the goods back and forth unless you can ship the goods overland, which means the resources you trade for can be attacked by enemy submarines and raiders during wartime.