Paradox Achievements - almost everything you ever wanted to know

[Shams]

What is "Paradox Achievements"?

"Unfortunately, nobody can be told what "Paradox Achievements" is, you have to see it for yourself."

I can tell you this right now - We're super excited about "Paradox Achievements" and we think you'll be too.

F.A.Q.
Q: What are Paradox Achievements?
A: Paradox Achievements are small rewards (in the form of a little icon and a bunch of points) you will get for completing certain goals in games that support Paradox Points. You accumulate points on your profile and you'll be able to track how many paradox points you have gathered while playing our games.


Q: Are "Paradox Achievements" related to Paradox Connect?
A: Yes, in fact, it's one of the first things we're doing with Paradox Connect. Paradox Achievements is essentially a new feature for our upcoming games for those players who chose to use it.

Q: Is this a DRM?! Are you destroying the games I love? Have you turned evil?
A: No, No and No!

Q: Do I have to use this achievement / Paradox connect thingy? I want to play like i've always done.
A: Paradox believes in giving the player choices, so you can decide yourself if you want to have fun with achievements or not.

Q: When are you launching the first achievements?
A: As soon as possible. But we want to find a good launch title for the achievements. We're tentatively launching them Q1 2011.


Q: I only play paradox games with mods, can I still unlock achievements if I play with Mods?
A: Hard to answer. It really depends on the game. Since we don't want people to cheat at acquiring achievements you currently have to chose to forgo achievements if you want to play with certain mods. We'll get into the details once we've launched the achievements.

Q: I have a great idea for an achievement. Will we get to design some of them?
A: The game designers will be the ones' that design them. But that won't stop you from having lively discussions about them on the forums. Who know's we might run a "design an achievement" contest in the future.

/s

[Shams]

thread open!

Ask away!

/s

[Alexspeed]

Its open

ok first question...

Will it be like the Steam Achievements?

[SAS]

Will this Paradox Achievements have to do with how many games we own?

EDIT: Supreme Ruler 2020 cold war! sweet

[OrangeYoshi]

Third question: Will we register for it through our current ParadoxPlaza accounts, or some other way?

Also, your FAQ has an error of omission in it. While you haven't turned evil, you didn't have to; you guys have been evil since the very beginning!

[Velko]

Well, where is it? How... when? Why? What if... ? Eh, what is it exactly?

[Shams]

Its open

ok first question...

Will it be like the Steam Achievements?

That's a pretty broad question. Be more precise and I'll give you a more precise answer.

Yes and no.

Generally speaking the PA's are designed to incorporate the best aspects from all the existing achievement systems out there (Xbox, PS3, Steam, Battle.net etc etc) and improve upon them and add a Paradoxian quality to them.

So they'll have points and will pop up while you are playing. You'll be able to showcase your score on your forum profile, otherwise they are fairly similar to Steam achievements.

/s

[SAS]

Will it be an overall score or broken down?

[OrangeYoshi]

That's a pretty broad question. Be more precise and I'll give you a more precise answer.

Yes and no.

Generally speaking the PA's are designed to incorporate the best aspects from all the existing achievement systems out there (Xbox, PS3, Steam, Battle.net etc etc) and improve upon them and add a Paradoxian quality to them.

So they'll have points and will pop up while you are playing. You'll be able to showcase your score on your forum profile, otherwise they are fairly similar to Steam achievements.

/s

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AWESOME!

You guys really know the proper way to fight piracy.

How will the data from your games be transferred to your online profile?

[SAS]

And can you explain Paradox Connect more now?

[Velko]

OK, so if you do a Ryukyu WC in EU3 you will get some sort of an icon in your profile for that, eh? Fine, fine.

...

What if I cheat? (not that I would ever do that )
Or what about modded games?

[Shams]

Will this Paradox Achievements have to do with how many games we own?

EDIT: Supreme Ruler 2020 cold war! sweet

The more games you have registered the more achievements you have available to unlock.

Third question: Will we register for it through our current ParadoxPlaza accounts, or some other way?

Games that support achievements will have you log into a (local) ingame profile when you start the game. You will then have the option to link that profile to your forum account. As you unlock the achievements your new point total will appear in your paradox forum profile.

Will it be an overall score or broken down?

both. We hope to have numerous ladderboards and lists where you can compare achievements.

So there will be a master list where you'll see who has the most points and there will be lists for each game. Who has all the CK2 achievements for instance.

/s

[SAS]

So Paradox Connect is the service used for the achievements?

[Hellvink]

When and where?

[OrangeYoshi]

Games that support achievements will have you log into a (local) ingame profile when you start the game. You will then have the option to link that profile to your forum account. As you unlock the achievements your new point total will appear in your paradox forum profile.

Wonderful. Good to hear we can get achievements without going near Ubisoft-esque or Steam-esque "must be online to play" models.


Will the achievements be released with the game and expansion packs only, or will you let players submit ideas for achievements to be included in patches or another form of DLC?

Also, will we be able to make up achievements for mods?

[Shams]

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AWESOME!

You guys really know the proper way to fight piracy.

How will the data from your games be transferred to your online profile?

You're right, but this has never been about fighting piracy - it's about rewarding the gamers, fighting piracy is just an added benefit.

The game simply syncs up with our server and tells it you've unlocked the achievement.

OK, so if you do a Ryukyu WC in EU3 you will get some sort of an icon in your profile for that, eh? Fine, fine.

Something along those lines. We might not show every achievement but you might be able to showcase 3 or so of your choice. But thats down the line, the primary thing displayed will be your paradoxscore.

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What if I cheat? (not that I would ever do that )
Or what about modded games?

Great question. We had a long hard think about this and considered all the different pro's and con's of this.

We support modding and we want to support achievements as well. But we don't want people cheating by modding. So we can't do both at the same time.

Thats why you have to use profiles. Use one to unlock achievements and bragging rights and use another to play around with mods.

We really wish we could get both but it's just not technically possible.

/s

[Alexspeed]

I thought a broad question would be best because it lets you explain a bit and i see you did, thank you

Overall that sounds really promising,
but what about manipulation of this points?

If those files are stored locally,
there wouldnt be any way to prevent cheating on them or not?

If there are rankings, pepole would allways use any unfair means to get to the top without doing anything for it if they can, that would make rankings usless then.

[SAS]

I just read the Paradox annoucement on the home page about Paradox Connect, very nice!

It will be interesting to see how you impliment the duel profiles.

[Hellvink]

I just read the Paradox annoucement on the home page about Paradox Connect, very nice!

It will be interesting to see how you impliment the duel profiles.

Indeed, it looks most excellent.

[Nikolai]

Will old games already released get this, or only new releases from now on?