Paradox Studio Thread

[Zbk3VmLfujjzjxBd43tL]

All of paradox's "Grand Strategy" games are 4X.

Only Stellaris has anything to do with 4X.

Should I go with Hearts of Iron III or Europa Universalis III?

Between those two, both of them are fun although Hearts of Iron III has insane amounts of micromanagement. I kind of like the micromanagement at times since it's like setting up dominos (how you build for WWII) and tipping them over. And lots of fun scenarios for RPing like having Stalin get assassinated early on and never start shooting generals so you can have interesting people Stalin killed like Marshal Tukhachevsky aka "Red Napoleon" lead the Red Army against Hitler and then take over Europe. There's lots of opportunity for shit like that since the tech tree is huge (like how you can build a wing of rocket-powered fighters even though they suck) and the game implements individual divisions and a roster of historic generals down to the division level so if you have WWII autism you can have all sorts of fun scenarios. There's some great mods that expand that sort of shit even further.

A lot of people swear by Darkest Hour though for Paradox WWII games (although it was technically a highly refined Hearts of Iron II mod expanded into a full game and published by Paradox) but I could never get into it compared to HOI3.

But Europa Universalis III is easier to get into. It's pretty simple although it can be pretty damn slow at times. Most nations outside of Europe aren't very fun to play either since they don't get to do much because their tech tree is nerfed and get curb-stomped by Europeans after the early game. But you do get a cool colonial game and some truly epic wars between continent-spanning alliances. I also love the economic features like the dynamic prices of goods and the centers of trade, where you can manipulate how the world economy functions. If you don't like one center of trade in a region, you just build your own damn center of trade and let the old one wither (or fail at overthrowing the old center of trade and have wasted tons of money). On it's own the game is decent but with the MEIOU mod it's fun as hell.

 

[Lackadaisy]

I am weak and will buy CK3... once some kickass conversion mods come out.

 

[BlancoMailo]

Dropping this here from A&N:

https://kiwifarms.st/threads/what-to-do-when-your-video-game-gets-co-opted-by-neo-nazis.70144/

 

[Stoneheart]

On an unrelated note, I'm wanting to get into Paradox's games and I'm thinking of starting with an older title since the DLC's will all have been released and I'd be less likely to need a dedicated gaming PC to be able to run it.

you dont need a beefy machine to run paradox games.

I'm also wanting to eventually get Crusader Kings II later on down the line.

base game is free.

Should I go with Hearts of Iron III or Europa Universalis III?

Hoi2 is much more fun than those 2 games,

I am weak and will buy CK3.

i would say F u for giving them money, but i just got me the axis amour pack, so we are both sucker...

 

[Ughubughughughughughghlug]

grand strategy is a genre separate from strategy and 4x

Indeed, real-time-with-pause with fixed starting scenarios and mechanics that are meant to mimic real life are extremely different from turn-based random starts with a more abstract representation.

 

[Zaryiu]

So in my current game as a follower of Arhiman (Zunist gave it this name) i just got the mission for creating the spawn of Arhiman but when i right-click on a female cultist Unholy Impregnation doesn't show up, anyone knows what to do?

 

[Ughubughughughughughghlug]

At the very least, they overlap heavily with the 4X crowd.



Look, I don't care whether or not Paradox's grand strategy games fit the exact definition of 4X, but I'd say a lot of their successes came from the demise of the 4X and RTS games in the late 2000's and early 2010's.

Really, Civilization is the only one of the original giants that's still around and it's mainly a legacy franchise at this point.

Paradox is the gold standard of grand strategy games and they've been drawing in a lot of the 4X crowd from before, and even if they aren't 4X, Paradox's games tend to draw in the gamers who would've been 4X fans back in the day.

Now, they are trying to revive Age of Empires, which was a favorite franchise of mine that mixed RTS and 4X but who knows how well it will fare?


On an unrelated note, I'm wanting to get into Paradox's games and I'm thinking of starting with an older title since the DLC's will all have been released and I'd be less likely to need a dedicated gaming PC to be able to run it.

Should I go with Hearts of Iron III or Europa Universalis III?

I'm also wanting to eventually get Crusader Kings II later on down the line.

You should get Europa Universalis III. Hearts of Iron III is an absolute fucking nightmare for a newcomer to play. If you want to start with a HOI game, you'd be better off getting IV by a longshot. But EU is a much better introduction; it's the most generic of the games.

You WILL NOT enjoy HOI3 as an introduction to the genre.

 

[Drain Todger]

I triggered the fuck out of an SJW on Dick-cord when I told them all the awful things you can do in Stellaris. Genocide, obviously. Slavery, of course. But what really pushed their buttons was when I told them that you can use gene modification to make a conquered species more compliant and docile, and how if you have advanced gene modification, you can basically reforge an alien race's entire identity by changing their species portrait and their name such that you've effectively erased their existence, their culture, and their history while they're still alive. They were so butthurt and freaked out, they were like "I can't handle this, sorry", and went offline.

Oh well, their loss. They'll never know the joy of reducing a hated foe to miserable, wailing cattle, or cooming hot neutron death on their worlds.

 

[Stoneheart]

i heared from a source that the devs from 3 days war are pretty salty about their humilating defeat.

 

[Fuck Y'all]

i heared from a source that the devs from 3 days war are pretty salty about their humilating defeat.

that one?

 

[Stoneheart]

that one?

yes...

 

[Jarolleon]

I triggered the fuck out of an SJW on Dick-cord when I told them all the awful things you can do in Stellaris. Genocide, obviously. Slavery, of course. But what really pushed their buttons was when I told them that you can use gene modification to make a conquered species more compliant and docile, and how if you have advanced gene modification, you can basically reforge an alien race's entire identity by changing their species portrait and their name such that you've effectively erased their existence, their culture, and their history while they're still alive. They were so butthurt and freaked out, they were like "I can't handle this, sorry", and went offline.

Oh well, their loss. They'll never know the joy of reducing a hated foe to miserable, wailing cattle, or cooming hot neutron death on their worlds.

The best part is the way the game mechanics are set up the Swedish devs are obviously trying to say that xenophobia is just plain stupid. Integrating literal aliens that just months ago were part of a genocidal empire? No problem, they can take specialist jobs the day they arrive without issue if you set them the correct rights! No tensions between species within an empire, nothing (except factions from ethics differences, but who cares about that?). Meanwhile all the power of xenophobes comes from mechanics that are borderline exploits (e.g. Unlocking building slots with livestock pops, forced labour stacking, indentured servitude &c.), it's like you're trolling the devs by playing them.

 

[Slap47]

At the very least, they overlap heavily with the 4X crowd.



Look, I don't care whether or not Paradox's grand strategy games fit the exact definition of 4X, but I'd say a lot of their successes came from the demise of the 4X and RTS games in the late 2000's and early 2010's.

Really, Civilization is the only one of the original giants that's still around and it's mainly a legacy franchise at this point.

Paradox is the gold standard of grand strategy games and they've been drawing in a lot of the 4X crowd from before, and even if they aren't 4X, Paradox's games tend to draw in the gamers who would've been 4X fans back in the day.

Now, they are trying to revive Age of Empires, which was a favorite franchise of mine that mixed RTS and 4X but who knows how well it will fare?


On an unrelated note, I'm wanting to get into Paradox's games and I'm thinking of starting with an older title since the DLC's will all have been released and I'd be less likely to need a dedicated gaming PC to be able to run it.

Should I go with Hearts of Iron III or Europa Universalis III?

I'm also wanting to eventually get Crusader Kings II later on down the line.

Hearts of Iron 2: Darkest Hour is the best.

Intensive micro that feels good. Eu3 is also good. I'd say the Divine Wind DLC makes it worse but that is an unpopular opinion.

 

[Takayuki Yagami]

Anyone else think Empire of Sin actually looks kind of cool?

 

[Slap47]

Darkest Hour has very kosher mods.

 

[Stoneheart]

SO the last patch made every Ai country in Eu4 like greece.... they go into massive debt.

 

[Zbk3VmLfujjzjxBd43tL]

SO the last patch made every Ai country in Eu4 like greece.... they go into massive debt.

Again? I remember one patch where the AI would go into death spirals because they'd lose a war or two, take out endless loans, go bankrupt, lose more wars, and get rekt by rebels until someone put them out of their misery.

 

[Stoneheart]

Again? I remember one patch where the AI would go into death spirals because they'd lose a war or two, take out endless loans, go bankrupt, lose more wars, and get rekt by rebels until someone put them out of their misery.

Now they hire mercs, slowly delete their own army and go into debt till they break.

had an Spain last game that was 100% over force limit and all of it was mercs, they took on a new loan about every 3 months...

 

[No. 7 cat]

Now they hire mercs, slowly delete their own army and go into debt till they break.

had an Spain last game that was 100% over force limit and all of it was mercs, they took on a new loan about every 3 months...

The Spanish Hapsburgs going bankrupt is obviously historical, but sometimes the ai is very un cunning indeed.

 

[RA-5C Vigilante]

Paradox games frustrate the hell out of me.

I love the historical stuff. I love the ideas and things like Kaiserreich and everything. But everytime I try to boot up Vic 2 or HOI 3, I remember that I hate using Excel during the workday, so why would I waste doing it on my own time? Then the DLC which turns the sprites you used Excel for into purdy sprites comes in packs and slices that make Train Simulator's DLC policy look sane. And the community is just-ew.

I want to enjoy their products, but god is it just the worst. For RTS i'll just stick to Blitzkrieg and Codename Panzers, and for Turn Based, CIV3 made me into the history nut I am today and it's still great. I understand these are more indepth compared to most games, but I want to play something where I can turn it on, and understand it pretty quickly. If i'm an hour or two in and I'm trying to figure out why Galicia isn't producing enough metal for my artillery factories and I can't recruit an artillery piece and needed to look through thirteen spreadsheets while Prussia is about to make the North German Confederation because my influence in Saxony is decreasing and thirty pop up notifications hit me, I'm going to turn it off and refund because fuck that.

As I said, I want to like these games, and they seem really neat to me, but I spend enough time doing inventory and bureaucracy on MS Office at the warehouse, I'm not doing it on my off time.