Paradox Studio Thread

[Jan_Hus]

Luckily pagans cant get "antichrist"events, however, they can find Odin, the ark of the covenant, Hungarians, and steppe people can become werewolves

 

[Furina]

I'm still playing EU4 and enjoying it, but I've got a question. What should I be doing with all my peace time? In the years it takes to rebuild my economy and manpower, what am I supposed to do other than setting the speed on max and hoping the dice rolling gods don't screw me?

Also, fuck separatists. Whiny bastards took so much suppression, my mil tech is now lagging behind and that worries me.
And no one wants to be my vassal because my economy is poo

 

[Jan_Hus]

I'm still playing EU4 and enjoying it, but I've got a question. What should I be doing with all my peace time? In the years it takes to rebuild my economy and manpower, what am I supposed to do other than setting the speed on max and hoping the dice rolling gods don't screw me?

Also, fuck separatists. Whiny bastards took so much suppression, my mil tech is now lagging behind and that worries me.
And no one wants to be my vassal because my economy is poo

I know this is late, but during peacetime, I usually focus on building relation with my neighbors (especially if I am playing a HRE game), building spy networks, developing my provinces and building a war chest. If separatists are a problem, I would consider vassalizing part of a state and then "feeding" it. Making them core the land and convert the provinces to your religion, where you can annex them at a later date, or create a swarm of vassals.

Also, it would depend on who you play as, if you play as the Ottoman Empire, it's best to spend a lot of time at war to get your MIL tradition up. If you play as Bohemia or Austria, your time is going to be spent acting as a babysitter protecting the smaller HRE states from France, Burgandy or the PLC. If you play as England, your peacetime is best spent focusing on trade and naval dominance. With France? you can do anything. The three Iberian nations are designed around colonization

 

[Strelok]

CK2+ makes CK2 10x better IMHO. Lots more internal issues to deal with that make vassals actually something that needs to be dealt with, Cadet branches making sure massive dynasties aren't gigantic blobs of genetic material, a few more provinces, and you can remove India because performance issues combined with India never impacting the game proper tbh, and the Ai isn't quite as braindead, and a lot of little things like a reworked tyranny system, less pushy Conclave council, and others that make it a far superior game.

Unfortunatly, my current game as duke of Flanders (and later Brettange) has hit me with one problem. Flanders is right on a major trade route, which means 3 things. 1: getting fucked by Vikings. 2: getting fucked by epidemics. 3: getting fucked by the Orthodox Christian Norse, as I started in the 1000ad bookmark, and CK2+ has pre-schism Chalcadeonian Christianity, and when the schism happened, the Norse went Orthodox. One of my rulers got cannonized though, so that's pretty rad.

 

[ICametoLurk]

The Fallout mod for Darkest Hour is one of my favorite things ever. It's pretty balanced when you take into account everything, playing as mutant Spiders from Florida can be so fun.

(this is one of those factions where you need to attack, Attack, ATTACK if you wanna live)

 

[RP 520]

I did a thing in the ASoI&F mod. I united Westeros under the Iron Throne (as Aegon) except the shit beyond the wall due to game rules that prevent invasions against holds there. I've started making inroads into Essos, taking two Merchant Kingdoms there.

There's a neat little script where if you're big and frightening enough (especially if you have dragons) smaller kingdoms will surrender to you immediately when you declare war, which is how I got into Essos. I've done some tests though and currently if I try to declare war on any other places in Essos a large coalition of kingdoms form against me so I'll probably fight that tomorrow. I'm hoping to at least get a nice chunk of Essos before Aegon dies (he's 43 right now).

 

[Techpriest]

I really like the Prussia change in Rights of Man. The Prussian Monarchy is a very nice booster mechanic that makes developing better than just blobing everywhere.

 

[Tranhuviya]

I picked up HOI3 and played Germany. I decided to go for max strategic striking power, 'cause fuck you Britain. So, I took the unconventional route and have been investing in the Kriegsmarine really heavily - mostly aircraft carriers and cruisers.

Now it all comes down to smacking neutrality down hard enough so I can get my great air fleet to strike at Britain. I'll decapitate the Royal Navy with Port Strikes and Naval Bombers, then destroy their airbases with tactical/strategic bombers.

 

[Larry Thorne]

Hoi3? Seriously? RIP.

That game is a piece of shit.

 

[Strelok]

Been playing some HPM for Vicky 2. As Austria. This was a mistake. I have liberals, nationalists, pan nationalists, sepratists, and worst of all idiot capitalists, all seeking to undermine the imperial throne. Only been 12 years (Victoria 2 spans exactly 100), but already my people are clambering for reforms and basic needs.

Surely it is their fault not mine, that our people have got such bizarre notions like suffrage, and "serfdom is really fucked up", and "farmers should be able to eat the food they grow" in their heads.

Also the Netherlands ate Belgium at some point, that's pretty awkward. Prussia and the UK are allies, as are France and Russia. So I'm very fucked.

edit: Yep I'm fucked.

 

[breadandcircuses]

I've been bogged down in the Dutch Civil War for the last 5 years in my German Reich HoI4 play through.

The Dutch Rijk won elections. civil war happened. Then the Dutch East Indies joined the allies and proceeded to drag france and the UK into a world war OVER FUCKING HOLLAND!

All the while, the Soviet Union gains more and more power and there's nothing I can do about it because as soon as I take my eye off the UK, they've landed troops in Norgevesldt. Or Svea Rike. Or Vichy France. Fucking hell! I just want to steam roll the commies with my fellow Axis bros (which is about all of europe at this point except the UK and Portugal), but nooooooo! They democratic powers would rather get bogged down in a war that seems to have no real end in sight OVER GOD FUCKING DAMNED HOLLAND!

 

[Emperor Julian]

Currently playing reformed norse in ck2 noticed a slightly off pattern of my dungeon to be filled with women and girls due to the ease of their capture and ai reluctance to pay for them. This has resulted in a me having harems full of other people's wives, Brown Vikings and several of my commanders being little girls who've gone native.

 

[Doc Cassidy]

I recently built a PC and I'm looking to get into these. I played Europa Universalis 2 and a bit of the first Crusader Kings but my computer couldn't really handle the latter.

Which would be the best to get into, Europa Universalis 4 or Crusader Kings 2? Also what's Victoria 2 like, is it worth playing?

 

[Poop A Loop]

Crusader Kings 2 was my first GS game and it wasn't too hard to get into but the dynasty and laws mechanics can get a bit confusing so it depends on whether or not you prefer playing as a dynasty that just happens to rule a duchy/kingdom or if you would prefer to play as a nation itself.

Both EU4 and CK2 are equally entertaining in my opinion so you can't go wrong with either of them. Just be prepared to google some stuff because Paradox tutorials honestly kinda suck.

 

[Strelok]

I recently built a PC and I'm looking to get into these. I played Europa Universalis 2 and a bit of the first Crusader Kings but my computer couldn't really handle the latter.

Which would be the best to get into, Europa Universalis 4 or Crusader Kings 2? Also what's Victoria 2 like, is it worth playing?

Crusader Kings and Vic2 are the ones I'd recommend, as they have plenty of fun things to do outside of wartime, which is something to this day EU4 lacks IMHO. That said, V2 is from the oldschool days of video gaming, where patches and expansions were one in the same, so unlike Ck2 you can't get away with just owning the base game. If you get V2, you NEED to buy both expansions (Heart of Darkness and A House Divided) with it. Ck2 meanwhile only needs the DLCs if you want certain features.

Victoria 2 is much more focuses on managing your nation and global empire economically and diplomatically than through war. War is often a last resort in that game, as a bad war can fucking cripple you for decades, which while true in the other games as well, is more of an issue as the timeframe is only 100 years. You also have to deal with the political decisions of your individual citizens.

For Ck2, the DLCs recommended above all others tend to be Sons of Abraham and Legacy of Rome, as they heavily improve the Christian factions, which are what the game originally shipped with. Sword of Islam unlocks Muslims who are fun but play fairly differently. The Republic unlocks merchant republics like Venice who have a 5 families deal going on where you basically are a medieval mafia capo in a large 'family' so to speak. I myself also recommend Conclave and Reapers Due, many players hate it because they add more wrenches in your plan by making things more deadly and your vassals more obstanant, but I'm here to play Crusader Kings, not namby pamby simulator. Of course, eventually you'll wind up buying most of them because addiction.

I'd avoid Rajas of India at all costs, as while India is interesting, most overhaul mods excise it for performance reasons, so once you make the jump to mods, it will be wasted money. And unlike some of the other DLCs that include general improvements (Old Gods includes a rebel overhaul for instance), Rajas of Indias features (not including the features included in the patch it came with for free) focus ENTIRELY on India itself.

 

[Doc Cassidy]

Crusader Kings 2 was my first GS game and it wasn't too hard to get into but the dynasty and laws mechanics can get a bit confusing so it depends on whether or not you prefer playing as a dynasty that just happens to rule a duchy/kingdom or if you would prefer to play as a nation itself.

Both EU4 and CK2 are equally entertaining in my opinion so you can't go wrong with either of them. Just be prepared to google some stuff because Paradox tutorials honestly kinda suck.

Crusader Kings and Vic2 are the ones I'd recommend, as they have plenty of fun things to do outside of wartime, which is something to this day EU4 lacks IMHO. That said, V2 is from the oldschool days of video gaming, where patches and expansions were one in the same, so unlike Ck2 you can't get away with just owning the base game. If you get V2, you NEED to buy both expansions (Heart of Darkness and A House Divided) with it. Ck2 meanwhile only needs the DLCs if you want certain features.

Victoria 2 is much more focuses on managing your nation and global empire economically and diplomatically than through war. War is often a last resort in that game, as a bad war can fucking cripple you for decades, which while true in the other games as well, is more of an issue as the timeframe is only 100 years. You also have to deal with the political decisions of your individual citizens.

For Ck2, the DLCs recommended above all others tend to be Sons of Abraham and Legacy of Rome, as they heavily improve the Christian factions, which are what the game originally shipped with. Sword of Islam unlocks Muslims who are fun but play fairly differently. The Republic unlocks merchant republics like Venice who have a 5 families deal going on where you basically are a medieval mafia capo in a large 'family' so to speak. I myself also recommend Conclave and Reapers Due, many players hate it because they add more wrenches in your plan by making things more deadly and your vassals more obstanant, but I'm here to play Crusader Kings, not namby pamby simulator. Of course, eventually you'll wind up buying most of them because addiction.

I'd avoid Rajas of India at all costs, as while India is interesting, most overhaul mods excise it for performance reasons, so once you make the jump to mods, it will be wasted money. And unlike some of the other DLCs that include general improvements (Old Gods includes a rebel overhaul for instance), Rajas of Indias features (not including the features included in the patch it came with for free) focus ENTIRELY on India itself.

Thanks, I appreciate it! I'll give Crusader Kings 2 a play first and see how I like it.

 

[Doctor Druid]

Just keep in mind it can be a bit complex at first, but it is really rewarding once you figure everything out

 

[Doc Cassidy]

I have a little bit of experience with the genre so I at least have a basic understanding of how it all works.

 

[Strelok]

One more thing, register your game on the paradox website as most good mods are too big for steam workshop. Paradox's anti piracy method is pretty naff, dont use invasive DRM, just make it so pirates cant get any of the show stealing mods.

For vanilla gameplay I recommend CK2+, which adds a lot of little touches that make things a bit more challenging and prevent blobbing, like Cadet Dynasties forming on distant branches. For fantasy, the ASOIAF mod is considered top notch, as is the Warhammer Fantasy one.

The fact that the WHFB one has had a dedicated subforum for years now means there must have been some behind the scenes politicking, because normally GW is really anal about that stuff.

 

[Null]

I can't decide if I like Stellaris or not. Someone told me that you can re-enact the holocaust on alien life and basically be space Hitler so I instantly bought the game, but it's really bare. I have a really nauseous sensation telling me that Paradox is becoming the new EA and is just going to pump out $20 expansion packs for the next 2 years turning it into a full featured game like EU4 is.

My problems are this:

It's so fucking slow, though this is a complaint I have with EU4 as well. I've never played a 1444-1820 game in EU4 because I just can't fucking stomach it. That shit lasts like 12 hours and I've already accomplished, or failed to accomplish, what weird gimmick I set out to do well before then. In Stellaris, I've made it up to Cruisers once, and that was on the brink of war with 3 much smaller empires in a defensive war. This was like 8 hours into the game. My cruisers were instantly fucking crushed against a less well equipped military because apparently corvettes are the counters to cruisers, which I don't understand. Why bother with building fewer large ships when I should have fleeted out 120 corvettes and done way better for less? I start up another game because I don't want to savescum again or deal with losing and I get so bored of that new pacifist game I wrote this post instead.

So on that note, the wars are garbage. Like absolute fucking garbage. Part of the fun in EU4, CK2, HOI4 is that it takes place on Planet Earth. There are very real physical barriers that you can use to your advantage. Some of my best maneuvers in EU4 was in a game forming Malaysia, where I used the bridge between Singapore and Sumatra to build forts and sortie the fort while also flanking -- allowing me a significant bonus against attacking nations. So with no terrain like that, I have nothing to play off of. There's the option to generate the map with 4 spirals, which I did in the aforementioned game as the Islamic Empire of Sol, but the spirals didn't particularly influence gameplay and enemies were able to cross the arms just fine and make the front omnidirectional as opposed to the fun fronts in HOI4.

What's interesting is that there's a lot of attention to armies, planetary defenses, and military stations that seem completely fucking pointless. Why would I ever want to hire a General? Why would I build and maintain a military station that has some benefits, but is so weak a 5k fleet blaps it instantly? What they should have done is set a front. Like, if I declare war on an empire because I want to seize a few planets, the immediate area around those planets should become the front. There should be long, drawn out battles on the planets. The systems surrounding a contested planet between two major nations should be a fucking graveyard of ships, the planet should be torn to fucking shreds, a constant king of the hill tug of war. Instead it's like, you've got a backdoor in every direction, people can warp in wherever they want with wormholes, and planetary fights are 100% lopsided and ground forces are as expensive as real ships for some reason.

Also, EU4 has over a hundred nations and many more fantasy or hidden nations. Stellaris has, at most, like 30 empires. Stellaris's empires also lack a certain charm to them that is similar to what EU4's random map feature had. There's something about knowing exactly where each country is and what their general strategy is. The big players like Ottomans and France are given personalities and caricatures / polandballs. When you do a randomly generated map with a handful of avatars that are basically mix and match with no identity, there's no way to do that. The games are essentially "the purple assholes and the green assholes are in a defensive pact with the grey assholes so I have to deal with them all at once", instead of "France is allied with Portugal and Venice so going to war with them is suicide".

There's a lot of ideas in Stellaris that are magical and appealing. This post is basically fanfiction because of those ideas. The problem is that it's remarkably plain and comes across as the bastard child of EU4 and Starcraft 2. It plays like a very straight forward RTS but is needlessly complicated with a few obtuse features and is stretched out over 12 hours instead of 30 minutes.