I've been playing Victoria II for years, from the days when it came out first. I was fascinated with it, annoyed with it, and have all the good sweet-n-sour memories playing this great game.
A few months ago, this idea struck my mind - if you can follow a nation in EU4 and a character in CK2 after marking it as 'interesting', why not also have such a great feature in a Victoria game?
I tried to follow my POPs in Victoria II first. Since it is neigh impossible to do this in heavily populated states, I began the game as Liberia. I modded and edited saves to give a unique POP to follow as well, and removed assimilation and citizenship system (as much as I could with my extremely limited modding knowledge) to prevent the POP from getting lost. It was very interesting to watch, if somewhat hard because I am doing all this grinding observation slowly and manually. I also noted down as much as I could:
So in the end, it was fun to follow them. The Italian soldiers who became farmers due to poverty, and then worked their arses off in the factory, managed to earn enough money and became literate enough to join the government civil service, but soon again facing poverty and splitting into two with many of them becoming farmers. And in the end some of them became successful and joined the parliament of Liberia, and lived their rest of the days mostly like that until I quit the game in 1906.
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The idea is simple. You pick a community (POP) of your choice living somewhere in your nation, and then you assign it as 'interesting'. You are presented with a dialogue box asking you to name a 'character', something like how you rename battle plans. You'll also give him an age.
This 'character' will be one of those few men in the chosen POP, chosen randomly among them. If there are for example, 15,000 farmers living in Ireland and about 500 of them migrate to USA, there is a chance that character will be among them and also migrate. If they get another job, there is chance for the character being among them as well. If mobilized, he can be drafted if he is one of the POPs. If he gets in a battle (whether as mobilized peasants or as profesional soldiers), he will fight there (and have a chance to die depending upon the outcome of battle).
When he votes, there will be precisely one party that he votes for, not just '30% socialist 50% Conservative 20% liberal'. If he is an aristocrat, he might even be a member of parliament/senate (just literally and graphically). He can join the protest movements (like sufferage movements), and even rebel organizations. And if he rebels, he'd still be present unless he joins a nationalist rebels and they manage to form another nation. He will age in time, receive money using pensions (if reform is present) when old by joining that 'old' percentage in every POP, and eventually die.
What they produce as an artisan, farmer, labourer or craftsmen would also be noted. Also, if they are capitalists, it would be noted what project they put their money in.
All this huge data would be recorded in something like a CK2's chronicle. It would be the developers' choice whether to keep it short and simple like the 'ruler history' in EU3, or extensive as in what I have seen of CK2 chronicles in screenshots and videos.
They can also represent it as a 'family' instead of a character, without having any age, so that it can last for the rest of the game instead of dying out of old age. It could still be wiped out by some drastic battle where all the POPs attached to it would be killed, but it is still almost impossible since POPs most likely turn into something else and migrate somewhere to continue their lives.
It makes a REALLY big innovation which will be extremely fun, and can heavily help AAR writers who choose who narrate as a character, or people like me who just like to read stories or practice writing novels on 19th century. A magic boon to roleplay.
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If you want an example of how AAR roleplay stories with this feature can be, please read this example story-
Sorry for my poor writing skills.
And this is just one of the innumerable stories that can come out in a Victoria game if POPs have ability to be followed and recorded. As you can see it creates fun roleplay and options for an AAR. It allows some kind of roleplaying character even though it is not CK2. And following autonomous characters in any game, at least for me, is huge fun. Go read Oliver Twist or some other literary marvels of the era, and you'll see what I am talking about.
So yeah, please you great Paradox devs, take this into consideration. Such a simple feature, but allows so much roleplay and creativity if the player is up to the job. And I just find reading character stories extremely fun.
Also, this is just an idea and a suggestion.
A few months ago, this idea struck my mind - if you can follow a nation in EU4 and a character in CK2 after marking it as 'interesting', why not also have such a great feature in a Victoria game?
I tried to follow my POPs in Victoria II first. Since it is neigh impossible to do this in heavily populated states, I began the game as Liberia. I modded and edited saves to give a unique POP to follow as well, and removed assimilation and citizenship system (as much as I could with my extremely limited modding knowledge) to prevent the POP from getting lost. It was very interesting to watch, if somewhat hard because I am doing all this grinding observation slowly and manually. I also noted down as much as I could:
So I watched the 20 soldiers, whom I had made almost illiterate Italian Catholics (the original soldier POP still existed, this one was just added to watch separately). I had heavy taxes on lower class while cutting military budget, since Liberia is tight on money. The soldiers slowly became poorer until they were unable to earn enough money, so they turned to farming. The Italian farmers made some cash, growing by this time to 34. They stayed like this for the next 5 years, when I built a regular clothes factory. They then joined up as workers, earning their pay through subsidies in the factory since it was unprofitable.
The POP soon earned enough money, and joined the bureaucrats. They slowly became literate enough, while earning enough money. By this time they were making enough money, but their consciousness was turning high and they soon joined the basic education rights movement. At this point it was 1870s, and their POP had grown to around 500.
As European empires began increasing in size, the earning of all POPs began falling for some reason. The fast-growing and large Italian bureaucrat community now split into two, one part demoting back to farmers out of poverty, and another continuing to earn what they could as bureaucrats. Once the economy became stable again, the Italian farmers again turned into soldiers. These soldiers earned enough to make a living for themselves. Some joined the bureaucrats again too. All this time they kept voting mostly for conservatives.
Once I had a decent industry going on in my little state, they became richer and some of them became aristocrats, gaining access to the (appointed reform) upper house.
The POP soon earned enough money, and joined the bureaucrats. They slowly became literate enough, while earning enough money. By this time they were making enough money, but their consciousness was turning high and they soon joined the basic education rights movement. At this point it was 1870s, and their POP had grown to around 500.
As European empires began increasing in size, the earning of all POPs began falling for some reason. The fast-growing and large Italian bureaucrat community now split into two, one part demoting back to farmers out of poverty, and another continuing to earn what they could as bureaucrats. Once the economy became stable again, the Italian farmers again turned into soldiers. These soldiers earned enough to make a living for themselves. Some joined the bureaucrats again too. All this time they kept voting mostly for conservatives.
Once I had a decent industry going on in my little state, they became richer and some of them became aristocrats, gaining access to the (appointed reform) upper house.
So in the end, it was fun to follow them. The Italian soldiers who became farmers due to poverty, and then worked their arses off in the factory, managed to earn enough money and became literate enough to join the government civil service, but soon again facing poverty and splitting into two with many of them becoming farmers. And in the end some of them became successful and joined the parliament of Liberia, and lived their rest of the days mostly like that until I quit the game in 1906.
____________________________________________________________________
The idea is simple. You pick a community (POP) of your choice living somewhere in your nation, and then you assign it as 'interesting'. You are presented with a dialogue box asking you to name a 'character', something like how you rename battle plans. You'll also give him an age.
This 'character' will be one of those few men in the chosen POP, chosen randomly among them. If there are for example, 15,000 farmers living in Ireland and about 500 of them migrate to USA, there is a chance that character will be among them and also migrate. If they get another job, there is chance for the character being among them as well. If mobilized, he can be drafted if he is one of the POPs. If he gets in a battle (whether as mobilized peasants or as profesional soldiers), he will fight there (and have a chance to die depending upon the outcome of battle).
When he votes, there will be precisely one party that he votes for, not just '30% socialist 50% Conservative 20% liberal'. If he is an aristocrat, he might even be a member of parliament/senate (just literally and graphically). He can join the protest movements (like sufferage movements), and even rebel organizations. And if he rebels, he'd still be present unless he joins a nationalist rebels and they manage to form another nation. He will age in time, receive money using pensions (if reform is present) when old by joining that 'old' percentage in every POP, and eventually die.
What they produce as an artisan, farmer, labourer or craftsmen would also be noted. Also, if they are capitalists, it would be noted what project they put their money in.
All this huge data would be recorded in something like a CK2's chronicle. It would be the developers' choice whether to keep it short and simple like the 'ruler history' in EU3, or extensive as in what I have seen of CK2 chronicles in screenshots and videos.
They can also represent it as a 'family' instead of a character, without having any age, so that it can last for the rest of the game instead of dying out of old age. It could still be wiped out by some drastic battle where all the POPs attached to it would be killed, but it is still almost impossible since POPs most likely turn into something else and migrate somewhere to continue their lives.
It makes a REALLY big innovation which will be extremely fun, and can heavily help AAR writers who choose who narrate as a character, or people like me who just like to read stories or practice writing novels on 19th century. A magic boon to roleplay.
_____________________________________________________________________
If you want an example of how AAR roleplay stories with this feature can be, please read this example story-
Supposedly I create a character named 'Tom Wilkins' in Britain, chosen from a small grain farming community of 1,500 farmers in North Western England. He is 20 years old, and earns his living by selling grain from his farm. For three years he goes on to sell grain and earns a decent amount of money. But in 1839, British Empire expands in northern India and takes over a heavily populated grain-producing are along the river Ganges. This basically adds a lot of grain to the world supply, and prices of grain fall as the Indian farmers in the colonies begin dominating the British grain production.
Soon grains turn so cheap that Tom's farm becomes unprofitable. He becomes increasingly poor, using all his cash to buy enough food for one meal a day. But in his poverty, although he is angry at the government, he seeks another way to earn money and joins the British army, in the 3rd Yorkshire Infantry. His new jobs goes on smoothly for an year and he manages to earn a living, when Britain goes to war against Egypt to add them to their imperial sphere. Tom's regiment stays in England for a few months, but is then shipped off to Egypt and lands at Suez, as a part of 13th Army. He sees little action in the scorching heat of the desert, only death of his comrades under the dry sun. But soon his army marches against an Egyptian army on the Nile, and he fights in the battle that turns out to be an easy victory.
It is not long before he has some money at his disposal. He leaves the army and joins to work in a textile factory in Yorkshire. Now that he has enough education qualification he attempts to join the British Imperial Civil Service with his fellows...but fails in the examinations. He works in the factory for a few years until by 1847, the textile business too has become unprofitable and the factory goes out of business. Tom is unemployed, but instead of staying there and scrambling for food or joining the army again, he takes all the money he has with him and manages to get himself on a ship headed to America.
Tom arrives in the United States of America, and then straight away takes a coach to the state of Texas. There he becomes a farmer after getting some land in the mostly open area, and earns money by selling his produce. But soon, there is a news of a mine of gold and precious metals being discovered, and he joins the rush and migrates to the site. There he works as a labourer in the mines. While this is usually not a rich business, the gold mines are different. There Tom earns a big amount of money, and for the first time in his life manages to buy good clothing and drinks for himself.
After all these years living with these people, Tom has slowly been integrated into the American society and now speaks the American English dialect, which the people of his homeland arrogantly called 'Yankee culture'. He now joins the American Federal Civil Service as a Bureaucrat, and moves to California in 1856. He works there as a tax collector, and becomes a supporter of the Democratic party, voting for them and hoping to get them in power. He also joins the Healthcare Movement, which calls for a state-run and better public healthcare for all. There was a Civil War in the east and south on the issue of slavery, but he continued being a civil servant for the Union.
By 1863, Tom is slowly aging up. He has earned enough money, and manages to buy a villa and a carriage for himself. He turns into an aristocrat, and a respected member of the society. If the United States ever had a parliament, he would've even become a member of the parliament, but he preferred earning money from his farming estates more than getting into bloody business that is politics. He was also a Senator for California for a time, but left his position soon. Nonetheless he never stopped being a staunch supporter of the Democrats.
Tom has now turned old. Thankfully, the socialists had only a few years ago staged various movements across the nation and had friends in the Congress, and a bill was passed, which allowed a small amount of money to be paid to the elderly as pensions. Tom had enough of an income from his farms to live a good life, but more money is always welcome.
At the age of 72 in 1886, Citizen Tom Wilkins died in his villa in peace. His family members arranged a small funeral and had him buried in small cemetary at the outskirts San Francisco. His son, a small industrialist, used his inheritance from his father to join a number of other capitalists to build a steel mill, as well as a railroad through his state.
He will always be remembered as a man of success, starting out as a poor farmer in a village near Yorkshire, and then a soldier in the British army as a veteran of Egypt campaign, who became a textile worker after being discharged and then migrating to USA, becoming a farmer again, and then a gold miner who used his wealth to join civil service and eventually living out his last years as a successful rich aristocrat and once a senator for California State.
Soon grains turn so cheap that Tom's farm becomes unprofitable. He becomes increasingly poor, using all his cash to buy enough food for one meal a day. But in his poverty, although he is angry at the government, he seeks another way to earn money and joins the British army, in the 3rd Yorkshire Infantry. His new jobs goes on smoothly for an year and he manages to earn a living, when Britain goes to war against Egypt to add them to their imperial sphere. Tom's regiment stays in England for a few months, but is then shipped off to Egypt and lands at Suez, as a part of 13th Army. He sees little action in the scorching heat of the desert, only death of his comrades under the dry sun. But soon his army marches against an Egyptian army on the Nile, and he fights in the battle that turns out to be an easy victory.
It is not long before he has some money at his disposal. He leaves the army and joins to work in a textile factory in Yorkshire. Now that he has enough education qualification he attempts to join the British Imperial Civil Service with his fellows...but fails in the examinations. He works in the factory for a few years until by 1847, the textile business too has become unprofitable and the factory goes out of business. Tom is unemployed, but instead of staying there and scrambling for food or joining the army again, he takes all the money he has with him and manages to get himself on a ship headed to America.
Tom arrives in the United States of America, and then straight away takes a coach to the state of Texas. There he becomes a farmer after getting some land in the mostly open area, and earns money by selling his produce. But soon, there is a news of a mine of gold and precious metals being discovered, and he joins the rush and migrates to the site. There he works as a labourer in the mines. While this is usually not a rich business, the gold mines are different. There Tom earns a big amount of money, and for the first time in his life manages to buy good clothing and drinks for himself.
After all these years living with these people, Tom has slowly been integrated into the American society and now speaks the American English dialect, which the people of his homeland arrogantly called 'Yankee culture'. He now joins the American Federal Civil Service as a Bureaucrat, and moves to California in 1856. He works there as a tax collector, and becomes a supporter of the Democratic party, voting for them and hoping to get them in power. He also joins the Healthcare Movement, which calls for a state-run and better public healthcare for all. There was a Civil War in the east and south on the issue of slavery, but he continued being a civil servant for the Union.
By 1863, Tom is slowly aging up. He has earned enough money, and manages to buy a villa and a carriage for himself. He turns into an aristocrat, and a respected member of the society. If the United States ever had a parliament, he would've even become a member of the parliament, but he preferred earning money from his farming estates more than getting into bloody business that is politics. He was also a Senator for California for a time, but left his position soon. Nonetheless he never stopped being a staunch supporter of the Democrats.
Tom has now turned old. Thankfully, the socialists had only a few years ago staged various movements across the nation and had friends in the Congress, and a bill was passed, which allowed a small amount of money to be paid to the elderly as pensions. Tom had enough of an income from his farms to live a good life, but more money is always welcome.
At the age of 72 in 1886, Citizen Tom Wilkins died in his villa in peace. His family members arranged a small funeral and had him buried in small cemetary at the outskirts San Francisco. His son, a small industrialist, used his inheritance from his father to join a number of other capitalists to build a steel mill, as well as a railroad through his state.
He will always be remembered as a man of success, starting out as a poor farmer in a village near Yorkshire, and then a soldier in the British army as a veteran of Egypt campaign, who became a textile worker after being discharged and then migrating to USA, becoming a farmer again, and then a gold miner who used his wealth to join civil service and eventually living out his last years as a successful rich aristocrat and once a senator for California State.
Sorry for my poor writing skills.
And this is just one of the innumerable stories that can come out in a Victoria game if POPs have ability to be followed and recorded. As you can see it creates fun roleplay and options for an AAR. It allows some kind of roleplaying character even though it is not CK2. And following autonomous characters in any game, at least for me, is huge fun. Go read Oliver Twist or some other literary marvels of the era, and you'll see what I am talking about.
So yeah, please you great Paradox devs, take this into consideration. Such a simple feature, but allows so much roleplay and creativity if the player is up to the job. And I just find reading character stories extremely fun.
Also, this is just an idea and a suggestion.
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