• We have updated our Community Code of Conduct. Please read through the new rules for the forum that are an integral part of Paradox Interactive’s User Agreement.

Victoria 3 - Dev Diary #35 - Decisions & Expeditions

16_9.jpg

Good evening and welcome back to another Victoria 3 development diary! This time written by our Content Designer Veronica. Today we will talk about two topics that are intrinsically connected: Expeditions and Decisions.

The Victorian age was also the age of exploration. Campaigns were sent to explore the farther territories of the world and discover their hidden mysteries. Scholars turned their attention to uncharted territories and promises of glory and fortune; numerous papers and conferences were produced on behalf of science and this era set the foundations for modern studies.

But these expeditions were not without peril - many failed, and not all of them returned. This, we also wanted to represent.

In Victoria 3, you will be able to take a Decision to go on an Expedition if you fulfill the requisites for it: namely having an interest in the region and, sometimes, a special technology. For instance, exploring the African rivers without protection against malaria may not be the greatest idea. Apart from that, any country can decide to embark on this adventurous enterprise.

Dr. Livingstone, I presume?
image01.png

But what is a Decision? A Decision is a specific option that you can take when you meet the requirements, thus triggering an important or special event. They don't require any completion conditions because you'll only be able to take them when you already meet those. Some Decisions will allow you to go on an Expedition, like in this case, but many others trigger historical events, like the Grand Exhibition or the Decision to build the Canals that we saw last week.

Some, but not all, Decisions will also add a Journal Entry so you can track how the event is going, like the surveillance of the canals. Others just fire an immediate event because it's not an ongoing circumstance, so you get to see the immediate results.

The decision to trigger the Grand Exhibition will give you a Journal Entry and a countdown to make it as great as you can. You can do so by special exhibition events, going on expeditions to retrieve important artifacts or by researching new technologies that you can showcase to the world. Of course, we also take into consideration everything you've achieved up to that point, so you can still trigger the exhibition after having completed all expeditions and your findings will be taken into account and displayed.
image03.png

Once you take an Expedition Decision, a starting event will trigger setting up the preparations for the journey. If you decide to go on with it, you'll be asked to choose a leader and a budget, then a Journal Entry will be added to your game with a progress bar that indicates, well, the progress of the expedition. Also, bear in mind that the leader's skills and traits may also play a part in the success of the group and how they face the events they encounter. A drunkard leader may delay your expedition while entering a nervous breakdown because they miss their addiction - or they could even lose their vice.

The expedition Journal Entry will keep track of your advances with a progress bar, and will trigger different ending events depending on your results. A high progress means a successful expedition, while getting a high peril before reaching the end means a more grim completion event, regardless of your progress.
1ee3e8113a8a18e9d24408708474876760e66b17.png

image05.png


Expeditions use two main variables: progress and peril. When you reach a high enough progress the expedition will complete successfully; however, a high peril will mean that the expedition may be lost or even die. You'll be able to control how these variables progress through your decisions during the expedition events: every month you'll receive an update on how your expedition is doing where you'll act as their leader and choose how they should proceed. Sometimes, however, the expedition will go on peacefully and you'll receive a progress event instead that increases both your progress and peril by one point. You'll also get an updated map location on where your expedition is at the moment, so you can see them advance (or not).
If an expedition fails you can repeat it as many times as needed, and you may even encounter a lost leader or find out about the fate of the last group. However, once you complete one, you cannot go on the same expedition again.

Will you choose the safer option and risk staying behind or will you venture into the white fog and accept its perils?
image06.png

Some expeditions have special mechanics. For example, in the Antarctica Expedition you'll want to reach the Pole before your competitors, so you may feel inclined to take riskier options to ensure that you get there soon. You may also find traces of previous lost expeditions, and you can always take advantage of the resources left behind.
There's also the possibility of finding a previous expedition that you had already sent and that failed to come back - not only in Antarctica. However, the state in which you find them may vary.
There's a limited amount of available expeditions that we have added to the game, all of them inspired by the most famous campaigns of the Victorian age: the African rivers, the North American Trails and Antarctica.

Surviving always has a high price, especially in the most dangerous latitudes.
image07.png

And here we have an example of a special event that gives you something for your exhibition, at the cost of delaying your expedition, since the first option gives you no progress:

During your travels, you may find animals you've never seen before and, with the adequate technology, you'll be able to photograph or even film them.
image08.png

Of course, completing a successful expedition will give your nation a prestigious reputation, and will definitely help its leader's popularity - but, as you can see here, there are many other benefits of going around and exploring the world, like getting brand new material for your exhibitions.

So remember to choose carefully your expedition and its leader, and keep an eye out for peril while trying to not get left behind!

And that was all for today! We'll see you again next week with another Development Diary, this time on Construction, by our GD Martin Anward :)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
  • 220Like
  • 39Love
  • 14
  • 12
  • 5
Reactions:
This comment is reserved by the Community Team for gathering Dev Responses in, for ease of reading.

The Goldfinch said:
Is national unification a decision, journal entry, or both?

Neither! More on that another time.

Al-Khalidi said:
Are there flavour decisions for countries, or is it replaced by journal entries?
What sort of decisioms can we expect? Is it eu4 style?

There are a few country-specific decisions. One I wrote the other day allows Japan to change its state religion to Shinto if the Emperor has been restored to power. Overall though we try to keep the focus of content on Journal Entries.

magriboy0750 said:
Good evening,perfect and a very good dd.However,i have a few questions:
Will expeditions are fully moddable,i.e can i create new,can i add new mechanics such as the ones you mentioned for Antartica.
How will decisions be moddable.Can they be used for something other than expeditions,to trigger event like in other PDS games such as CK,HOI or EU for example?
Thanks for any replies about this.

Expeditions are extremely moddable. The progress and peril mechanics are, behind the scenes, just ordinary variables which shows you just how much can be done with the fundamental tools of the scripting languagee.

You can absolutely use decisions to trigger events. We use decisions to trigger events, add journal entries, set variables, apply modifiers, and just about anything else you could think to do with our scripting language. The Alaska Purchase decision, for instance, immediately fires an event.

fernando gm said:
Does the game have some form of terra incognita like eu4? It would add a lot of flavour plus it would be a nice tool for mods.

No terra incognita. The shape of the world and its political players are largely a known quantity by 1836. We didn't feel it would be an especially relevant mechanic for Victoria 3.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
  • 24Like
  • 1Love
Reactions:
Good evening and welcome back to another Victoria 3 development diary! Today we will talk about two topics that are intrinsically connected: Expeditions and Decisions.

The Victorian age was also the age of exploration. Campaigns were sent to explore the farther territories of the world and discover their hidden mysteries. Scholars turned their attention to uncharted territories and promises of glory and fortune; numerous papers and conferences were produced on behalf of science and this era set the foundations for modern studies.

But these expeditions were not without peril - many failed, and not all of them returned. This, we also wanted to represent.

In Victoria 3, you will be able to take a Decision to go on an Expedition if you fulfill the requisites for it: namely having an interest in the region and, sometimes, a special technology. For instance, exploring the African rivers without protection against malaria may not be the greatest idea. Apart from that, any country can decide to embark on this adventurous enterprise.

Dr. Livingstone, I presume?
View attachment 810922
But what is a Decision? A Decision is a specific option that you can take when you meet the requirements, thus triggering an important or special event. They don't require any completion conditions because you'll only be able to take them when you already meet those. Some Decisions will allow you to go on an Expedition, like in this case, but many others trigger historical events, like the Grand Exhibition or the Decision to build the Canals that we saw last week.

Some, but not all, Decisions will also add a Journal Entry so you can track how the event is going, like the surveillance of the canals. Others just fire an immediate event because it's not an ongoing circumstance, so you get to see the immediate results.

The decision to trigger the Grand Exhibition will give you a Journal Entry and a countdown to make it as great as you can. You can do so by special exhibition events, going on expeditions to retrieve important artifacts or by researching new technologies that you can showcase to the world. Of course, we also take into consideration everything you've achieved up to that point, so you can still trigger the exhibition after having completed all expeditions and your findings will be taken into account and displayed.
View attachment 810924
Once you take an Expedition Decision, a starting event will trigger setting up the preparations for the journey. If you decide to go on with it, you'll be asked to choose a leader and a budget, then a Journal Entry will be added to your game with a progress bar that indicates, well, the progress of the expedition. Also, bear in mind that the leader's skills and traits may also play a part in the success of the group and how they face the events they encounter. A drunkard leader may delay your expedition while entering a nervous breakdown because they miss their addiction - or they could even lose their vice.

The expedition Journal Entry will keep track of your advances with a progress bar, and will trigger different ending events depending on your results. A high progress means a successful expedition, while getting a high peril before reaching the end means a more grim completion event, regardless of your progress. View attachment 810925
View attachment 810926
Expeditions use two main variables: progress and peril. When you reach a high enough progress the expedition will complete successfully; however, a high peril will mean that the expedition may be lost or even die. You'll be able to control how these variables progress through your decisions during the expedition events: every month you'll receive an update on how your expedition is doing where you'll act as their leader and choose how they should proceed. Sometimes, however, the expedition will go on peacefully and you'll receive a progress event instead that increases both your progress and peril by one point. You'll also get an updated map location on where your expedition is at the moment, so you can see them advance (or not).
If an expedition fails you can repeat it as many times as needed, and you may even encounter a lost leader or find out about the fate of the last group. However, once you complete one, you cannot go on the same expedition again.

Will you choose the safer option and risk staying behind or will you venture into the white fog and accept its perils?
View attachment 810927

Some expeditions have special mechanics. For example, in the Antarctica Expedition you'll want to reach the Pole before your competitors, so you may feel inclined to take riskier options to ensure that you get there soon. You may also find traces of previous lost expeditions, and you can always take advantage of the resources left behind.
There's also the possibility of finding a previous expedition that you had already sent and that failed to come back - not only in Antarctica. However, the state in which you find them may vary.
There's a limited amount of available expeditions that we have added to the game, all of them inspired by the most famous campaigns of the Victorian age: the African rivers, the North American Trails and Antarctica.

Surviving always has a high price, especially in the most dangerous latitudes.
View attachment 810928
And here we have an example of a special event that gives you something for your exhibition, at the cost of delaying your expedition, since the first option gives you no progress:

During your travels, you may find animals you've never seen before and, with the adequate technology, you'll be able to photograph or even film them.
View attachment 810929
Of course, completing a successful expedition will give your nation a prestigious reputation, and will definitely help its leader's popularity - but, as you can see here, there are many other benefits of going around and exploring the world, like getting brand new material for your exhibitions.

So remember to choose carefully your expedition and its leader, and keep an eye out for peril while trying to not get left behind!

And that was all for today! We'll see you again next week with another Development Diary, this time on Construction, by our GD Martin Anward :)
Is national unification a decision, journal entry, or both?
 
  • 6Like
  • 2
Reactions:
Good evening and welcome back to another Victoria 3 development diary! Today we will talk about two topics that are intrinsically connected: Expeditions and Decisions.

The Victorian age was also the age of exploration. Campaigns were sent to explore the farther territories of the world and discover their hidden mysteries. Scholars turned their attention to uncharted territories and promises of glory and fortune; numerous papers and conferences were produced on behalf of science and this era set the foundations for modern studies.

But these expeditions were not without peril - many failed, and not all of them returned. This, we also wanted to represent.

In Victoria 3, you will be able to take a Decision to go on an Expedition if you fulfill the requisites for it: namely having an interest in the region and, sometimes, a special technology. For instance, exploring the African rivers without protection against malaria may not be the greatest idea. Apart from that, any country can decide to embark on this adventurous enterprise.

Dr. Livingstone, I presume?
View attachment 810922
But what is a Decision? A Decision is a specific option that you can take when you meet the requirements, thus triggering an important or special event. They don't require any completion conditions because you'll only be able to take them when you already meet those. Some Decisions will allow you to go on an Expedition, like in this case, but many others trigger historical events, like the Grand Exhibition or the Decision to build the Canals that we saw last week.

Some, but not all, Decisions will also add a Journal Entry so you can track how the event is going, like the surveillance of the canals. Others just fire an immediate event because it's not an ongoing circumstance, so you get to see the immediate results.

The decision to trigger the Grand Exhibition will give you a Journal Entry and a countdown to make it as great as you can. You can do so by special exhibition events, going on expeditions to retrieve important artifacts or by researching new technologies that you can showcase to the world. Of course, we also take into consideration everything you've achieved up to that point, so you can still trigger the exhibition after having completed all expeditions and your findings will be taken into account and displayed.
View attachment 810924
Once you take an Expedition Decision, a starting event will trigger setting up the preparations for the journey. If you decide to go on with it, you'll be asked to choose a leader and a budget, then a Journal Entry will be added to your game with a progress bar that indicates, well, the progress of the expedition. Also, bear in mind that the leader's skills and traits may also play a part in the success of the group and how they face the events they encounter. A drunkard leader may delay your expedition while entering a nervous breakdown because they miss their addiction - or they could even lose their vice.

The expedition Journal Entry will keep track of your advances with a progress bar, and will trigger different ending events depending on your results. A high progress means a successful expedition, while getting a high peril before reaching the end means a more grim completion event, regardless of your progress. View attachment 810925
View attachment 810926
Expeditions use two main variables: progress and peril. When you reach a high enough progress the expedition will complete successfully; however, a high peril will mean that the expedition may be lost or even die. You'll be able to control how these variables progress through your decisions during the expedition events: every month you'll receive an update on how your expedition is doing where you'll act as their leader and choose how they should proceed. Sometimes, however, the expedition will go on peacefully and you'll receive a progress event instead that increases both your progress and peril by one point. You'll also get an updated map location on where your expedition is at the moment, so you can see them advance (or not).
If an expedition fails you can repeat it as many times as needed, and you may even encounter a lost leader or find out about the fate of the last group. However, once you complete one, you cannot go on the same expedition again.

Will you choose the safer option and risk staying behind or will you venture into the white fog and accept its perils?
View attachment 810927

Some expeditions have special mechanics. For example, in the Antarctica Expedition you'll want to reach the Pole before your competitors, so you may feel inclined to take riskier options to ensure that you get there soon. You may also find traces of previous lost expeditions, and you can always take advantage of the resources left behind.
There's also the possibility of finding a previous expedition that you had already sent and that failed to come back - not only in Antarctica. However, the state in which you find them may vary.
There's a limited amount of available expeditions that we have added to the game, all of them inspired by the most famous campaigns of the Victorian age: the African rivers, the North American Trails and Antarctica.

Surviving always has a high price, especially in the most dangerous latitudes.
View attachment 810928
And here we have an example of a special event that gives you something for your exhibition, at the cost of delaying your expedition, since the first option gives you no progress:

During your travels, you may find animals you've never seen before and, with the adequate technology, you'll be able to photograph or even film them.
View attachment 810929
Of course, completing a successful expedition will give your nation a prestigious reputation, and will definitely help its leader's popularity - but, as you can see here, there are many other benefits of going around and exploring the world, like getting brand new material for your exhibitions.

So remember to choose carefully your expedition and its leader, and keep an eye out for peril while trying to not get left behind!

And that was all for today! We'll see you again next week with another Development Diary, this time on Construction, by our GD Martin Anward :)
Are there flavour decisions for countries, or is it replaced by journal entries?
What sort of decisioms can we expect? Is it eu4 style?
 
  • 3Like
  • 3
Reactions:
Wow there is so much potential story telling with this. I could see this being really cool
 
  • 15
  • 2Like
Reactions:
Good evening,perfect and a very good dd.However,i have a few questions:
Will expeditions are fully moddable,i.e can i create new,can i add new mechanics such as the ones you mentioned for Antartica.
How will decisions be moddable.Can they be used for something other than expeditions,to trigger event like in other PDS games such as CK,HOI or EU for example?
Thanks for any replies about this.
 
  • 4Like
Reactions:
Will we be able to rename Lake Victoria (once the source of the Nile is found)?
 
  • 16
  • 5Like
Reactions:
This feels like there's a really good, flexible scripting toolset here, and expeditions are merely one thing they've built with them.

This is going to be so cool to mod with.
 
  • 15Like
  • 1
Reactions:
Very, very nice.
I wonder how many expeditions will be in the game?

The major rivers in Africa, the poles.

Maybe some expeditions in the alps to climb to the top of the mountains there
 
  • 8
  • 2Like
Reactions:
Two suggestions:
1) Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition event/reference. Please. I want based "no-man-left-behind" Shackleton.
2) Around the World in Eighty Days expedition and/or event. Pretty please. The PBS series is good, do recommend.
 
Last edited:
  • 9
  • 3Like
  • 1
Reactions:
So basically decisions are whats they used to be in Vic2?

Decisions aren't just fire-and-forget though, they're ongoing, and can be the trigger for things to happen during that period. (At least that's what I understood from the dev diary.)

For example, you can have a decision that says "Plan a coup against the democratically-elected government of Spain". When you press it, it counts down to completion, and during that period the Spanish player (or others) can take their own decisions that affect it. (That's an example of what can be done with it, I don't know whether they will.)
 
  • 2Like
  • 2
  • 2
  • 1
Reactions:
So European exploratiry missions in Africa were a ket part of how they took over areas and/or justified their exploitation.

Expeditions like Stanley's outright conquered some tribes, or tricked them into signing documents of protectorship they did not understand. They also served to map out the territories and identify things the Europeans were interested in.


This expedition system seems to have no connection to colonization. Not only is this a missed gameplay opportunity, but it is also an incredible whitewashing of what European explorers were.
 
Last edited:
  • 15
  • 10
  • 6
  • 2Like
Reactions: