Paradox Interactive Games Thread

[dead0man]

whoa, thanks man!

I ended up getting a "pack" of DLC, but I don't exactly remember what was included. (and I'm at work where they don't let me log into Steam for some reason...JERKS!) I know it has The Old Gods, Legacy of Rome and Way of Life.  I got the one that lets you modify your dude too.

I do have the GoT mod, I think I've played that more than Vanilla at this point.  Sacking King's Landing is fun, but cutting Jof's head off is even more fun.

[Wikipedia delenda est]

This isn't exactly Paradox related, but has anyone here ever played any games made by the company AGEod? Their Wars of Succession, English Civil War, and Thirty Years' War games seem quite interesting, but I was wondering if anyone here could comment on how good those games (or any others made by AGEod) are before I buy them.

[Wikipedia delenda est]

Just bought Wars of Succession by AGEod, and so far it is an overwhelming disappointment. The game has appalling levels of lag and barely runs at all on my Windows 10 computer, probably because the AGEod system hasn't been updated since 2005 apparently. Even when the game isn't lagging along, the mechanics and gameplay are confusing and hard to figure out. I already deeply regret wasting money on this game. Hopefully I'll be able to get a Steam refund. I strongly caution against anyone in this thread buying any of AGEod's games.

[dead0man]

whoa, thanks man!

I ended up getting a "pack" of DLC, but I don't exactly remember what was included. (and I'm at work where they don't let me log into Steam for some reason...JERKS!) I know it has The Old Gods, Legacy of Rome and Way of Life.  I got the one that lets you modify your dude too.

I do have the GoT mod, I think I've played that more than Vanilla at this point.  Sacking King's Landing is fun, but cutting Jof's head off is even more fun.

k, I'm home and remembered this thread (thanks Mr Wallace), I have the three I mentioned and The Sword of Islam.

I'm putting Conclave, Reaper's Due and Monks and Mystics on "the list" though.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

I agree with Bacon King about 769, but I also think it's because the date was created just for the Charlemagne scenario. It's worth it to play as Charlemagne, but not for playing as anyone else.

[DPKdebator]

This is from July, but it's my first full 1444-1821 EU4 campaign. I played as France and watched some really strange things happen- the Ottomans were killed within 20 years, Aragon formed Spain, and Scotland formed Britain.

[Obama-Biden Democrat]

brahhh I love playing America in Vic2. I just did a game where, after China westernized, I declared war on them and blockaded them for the better part of a decade and had them at 100% war exhaustion, literally like half their people immigrated to America and then I was able to get like 400 brigades from it.

I loved immigration in Vicky 1 and 2. In Vicky 1, I would load up as the UK and release Canada. Since Canada only had around 2-3 million people in 1836, I needed immigration fast. I cheated to allow full social and political reforms to help encourage new immigrants in. I also enacted universal healthcare to boost the growth rate. I was getting flooded by immigrants. I had 120 million people by 1920, and was the world's superpower. There was a weird bug where only Newfoundland and Alberta were getting immigrants. Newfoundland and Alberta each had around 40 million people or so.

It is tough playing a country in the America's, as the US gets a big bonus to immigration even with zero reforms and slavery.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

So question, now that I've established the Empire of Brittania as a Germanic pagan (reformed, it was reformed by the King of Denmark), is it easy to convert to Islam? I think that would be a fun twist to the game, especially as the British Isles are now basically half Catholic/half Germanic. Just expanding the Germanic Church is kind of boring, as would be just switching to Catholic, but converting to Islam and carrying out a Jihad in Northern Europe would be fun!

[Bacon King]

So question, now that I've established the Empire of Brittania as a Germanic pagan (reformed, it was reformed by the King of Denmark), is it easy to convert to Islam? I think that would be a fun twist to the game, especially as the British Isles are now basically half Catholic/half Germanic. Just expanding the Germanic Church is kind of boring, as would be just switching to Catholic, but converting to Islam and carrying out a Jihad in Northern Europe would be fun!

Yes! Muslim Vikings are a personal favorite of mine. I don't know if this requires any DLC but if you get a Muslim concubine you should see the option to convert to her religion (as a possible interaction with her)

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

So basically go raid southern Spain and north Africa?

[Bacon King]

Hello friends! The Holy Fury DLC is about to be released and by all accounts it looks amazing.

Furthermore here's a dank discount code for everyone to use, it allows a 75% discount on the base game as well as a 50% discount for any DLC you purchase alongside it (not counting Holy Fury)



If you don't want to buy stuff through the Paradox store for whatever reason, Steam will probably have a comparable sale as well (they always do when a new DLC drops)

[Bacon King]

also if you already own ck2 you still get 50% off any DLC you buy when you use that code

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Wow this DLC allows you to create a matriarchal female supremacist religion!

I can't wait to do that and exterminate Catholicism. And have it be a Bloodthirsty Gods religion too so I can sacrifice tons of patriarchal bishops and the Pope to the Goddess.

[7,052,770]

Well, Holy Fury is awesome. I may have to play as all the different Pagans and reforming to see how it goes.

I was taken aback by the extra counties in the British Isles and Iceland.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Well, Holy Fury is awesome. I may have to play as all the different Pagans and reforming to see how it goes.

I was taken aback by the extra counties in the British Isles and Iceland.

Are you going to create a feminist religion?

[7,052,770]

Well, Holy Fury is awesome. I may have to play as all the different Pagans and reforming to see how it goes.

I was taken aback by the extra counties in the British Isles and Iceland.

Are you going to create a feminist religion?

I'll probably go through all of the options eventually. The super-matriarchal would probably make sense for West Africa, where I've never actually done a playthrough.

Oh, and speaking of West Africa, it now connects to Ethiopia south of the Sahara!

[Wikipedia delenda est]

Maybe I'm just bad at the game, but does anyone have any advice for dealing with revolts? There are so, so many pretender risings and it's very annoying. Imprisoning the claimants and executing them just seems to cause more revolts, as my vassals then hate me for being a "tyrant". Having my spymaster scheme sometimes stops the growth of factions, but only temporarily.

[dead0man]

Maybe I'm just bad at the game, but does anyone have any advice for dealing with revolts? There are so, so many pretender risings and it's very annoying. Imprisoning the claimants and executing them just seems to cause more revolts, as my vassals then hate me for being a "tyrant". Having my spymaster scheme sometimes stops the growth of factions, but only temporarily.

Stop executing them, just let them rot in prison and be nice to their heir in the mean time.

[7,052,770]

Maybe I'm just bad at the game, but does anyone have any advice for dealing with revolts? There are so, so many pretender risings and it's very annoying. Imprisoning the claimants and executing them just seems to cause more revolts, as my vassals then hate me for being a "tyrant". Having my spymaster scheme sometimes stops the growth of factions, but only temporarily.

Try not to do anything that causes a tyrant penalty - only in the most dire of situations. You can usually revoke titles after you beat a rebellion without the penalty, so just do that and then let them go (which depending on the circumstances can cause people's opinion of you to go up for being "merciful")

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Executing rebels is never a good idea. Unless you're a pagan sacrificing them to the gods.

The best thing to do is throw them in the Oubliette, in which case they probably die soon anyway but you aren't blamed, or just banishing them.

[Bacon King]

bumping this thread to point out that as of this moment, Victoria 2 will be 75% percent off for the next 23.5 hours on Steam: a mere five dollars!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/42960/Victoria_II/

Victoria 2 is a great game that I very highly recommend. The oldest of Paradox's "current" lineup of games, it's not quite as polished as you might expect if you've only played the newest generation of Paradox titles (CK2/EU4/HOI4/Stellaris) -- but it's definitely still better than any title from the previous generation, kinda partially between the current and previous generations

Victoria II has a steep learning curve at first but once you get the hang of it, it is incredibly rewarding. (I can definitely post a mini-tutorial with screenshots too, if anyone is interested). The timespan of the game runs from 1836 to 1921, an era of tremendous change: you manage your nation and its people through the industrial revolution, dramatic shifts in the global political/diplomatic landscape, the rise of nationalism and imperialism. The game's primary focuses are economic, political, and demographic. Your nation is made of POPs: groups of people who share a profession, ethnicity, and religion. In this manner, the entire population of your nation (and the whole world) is simulated.

The Victoria II players here on the Atlas forums consider it to be the most "atlas" game that's ever existed, due to its focus on literally the very issues we talk about all the time. Here's a taste of what I mean, from a few screenshots!


Election results, ideology, and demographics
These screenshots are for the United States as a whole in 1836 but you can also get this information by state, the 'provinces' that states are divided into, and at any level it can be broken down by specific employment categories. Note that the early date means many ideologies haven't been introduced yet: as the game progresses you'll see socialism, communism, fascism, etc. The possibilities are endless. Want to win the US Civil War as the Confederacy and then provoke a widespread rebellion among the slave population, who topple the government and install a communist dictatorship? You can do that!












Social and Political policies/reforms

Want to establish a welfare state, or perhaps revoke civil liberties? With the right support or the right people (which people determined by government type) you can! You can ensure the survival of an absolutist monarchy by placating the masses with exclusively social reforms. You can fuel the growth of your republican democracy's industrialization by enticing immigrants seeking a land of liberty that also offers a good education for their children. You can create a utopia for the bourgeoisie, banning unions and eliminating business regulations while restricting the vote to the wealthy to ensure it stays that way. The possibilities are limitless!









Budget Management

You have total control! Be careful about long-term deficits though because bankruptcy ruins your economy and makes you a diplomatic pariah.

Balance your priorities however you'd like (though you'll obviously have to deal with the consequences). Perhaps you want to fund a welfare state and universal education with a progressive tax against the rich. Totally an option, but then your capitalists won't have enough funds to invest in railroads and factories, That kind of cost/benefit consideration is a deep and interesting part of the game.

Maybe you want to tax the hell out of the working class and put that tax money into the military budget - which would give you the added benefit of skyrocketing enlistment, because paying your soldiers good wages while forcing your nation's laborers and farmers into extreme poverty means an army career is literally their only option for putting food on the table! But then your nation's food production will plummet without those farmers in the fields, forcing your population to buy expensive imported food; lots of people will emigrate abroad to somewhere more prosperous; and your shiny new infantry divisions will probably end up occupied anyway, suppressing the armed uprisings of all those starving peasants. just an example both of the depth of the simulation and the kinds of cost/benefit decisions you'll be making!

[dead0man]

What's an "easy" country to learn the game with?  (I'm still thinking about getting it, but leaning towards it)

[Bacon King]

What's an "easy" country to learn the game with?  (I'm still thinking about getting it, but leaning towards it)

Brazil is often considered a good first nation to play as. Here's a really good "beginner's guide" that uses a game as Brazil to explain the basics of the game step by step while brushing aside the complex parts that don't necessarily matter for most countries. You can read along as you play, or trek out on your own and skim through the guide for specific concepts you're confused about:

https://lparchive.org/Victoria-II/

The USA is another nation I'd consider good for new players because it has a lot of resources and a neverending flow of immigrant arrivals (that quickly assimilate) and is isolated enough that you can futz around without ruining the playthrough no matter how much you mess up. The USA also is particularly event-driven especially in the early/mid game (in particular the Mexican-American War and the Civil War) to give you a bit of guidance. And it's not overwhelming, the pace is managed well and slowly expands over time. You start in 1836 when the country was still fairly small and it slowly grows to include a broader and broader scope as your nation becomes stronger, until it inevitably becomes an industrial powerhouse by ~1900 when you can even join in European wars and diplomatic crises if you want

[dead0man]

Cool, just got it.

[The Mikado]

A. Both the expansions (A House Divided and Heart of Darkness) are basically mandatory. Other DLC is cosmetic and safely ignored.

B. Sweden is also great tutorial country. Super-high literacy, great resources, and an easy path to forming Scandinavia. If you do, the Prussians will come knocking for Schleswig and you probably can't beat them as a newbie, but if you give it up they'll be chill neighbors and not push any further in.

You can even wait for Russia to stumble and jump on them for Finland, or use Denmark's port in Ghana to colonize Africa.