• 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 #55 - Achievements

16_9.jpg

Hello and welcome to yet another Victoria 3 development diary. Today we’re going to be talking about Achievements, and since I think absolutely everyone reading this already knows what an Achievement is, I’m not going to do the usual what-is-this-feature preface. But before I get to listing all the achievements that Victoria 3 will be releasing with, we do have something to announce in regards to achievements which will differ in Victoria 3 compared to earlier Paradox Grand Strategy Games, namely that Ironman and an unmodified checksum will no longer be required to unlock achievements.

That is to say, no matter what mods you have installed and whether you’re playing ironman or not, all of these achievements will be unlockable. There are a few game rules that disallow achievements, but since you could simply mod away that requirement if you wanted, not even this is a particularly hard rule. The reason for this change is simply that after quite a bit of discussion among the designers, we’ve decided that for Victoria 3 we want to emphasize access to achievements for everyone, even if that may end ‘devaluing’ the achievements in the eyes of some players.

Now then, with that out of the way and without further ado, I will get to listing, in no particular order, the 50 achievements that will be available in the release version of Victoria 3!

Peccavi: Starting as the British India Company, fully own the states of Sindh and Punjab.
DD55_1.jpg


Perkeletankki: Starting as Finland, produce at least 100 units of tanks every week.
DD55_2.jpg


Luxurious Luxemburg: Starting as Luxembourg, be the leading producer of Luxury Clothes, Luxury Furniture, and Porcelain.
DD55_3.jpg


Anarchy in the UK: Starting as Great Britain, have an Anarchist form of government.
DD55_4.jpg


Mohammed Ali’s Ambition: Starting as Egypt, form Arabia and own Thrace.
DD55_5.jpg


An Empire Under the Pun: Starting as the Sikh Empire, subjugate Great Britain.
DD55_6.jpg


I didn’t vote for Pedro: Starting as Brazil, change government to Republic and implement Universal Suffrage.
DD55_7.jpg


Go West, Young Man: Starting as the USA, own California, Oregon and Washington with 250k or more population in each.
DD55_8.jpg


The Western Protectorate: Starting as Great Qing, have a treaty port in France, Germany, the British Isles, Iberia and Italy.
DD55_9.jpg


The Paris Commune: Starting as France, become a Council Republic and have a Command Economy.
DD55_10.jpg


Barbary’s Back: Starting as Algeria, retake Algiers and become a Major Power.
DD55_11.jpg


Miners and Minors: Starting as Lanfang, incorporate all states in Borneo and have the 'Compulsory Primary School' law.
DD55_12.jpg


Healthy Man of Europe: Starting as the Ottomans, be the Greatest Power while having max level Public Health Insurance.
DD55_13.jpg


Habsburg Resurgence: Starting as Austria, own Silesia and Prussia must be Minor Power or lower rank.
DD55_14.jpg


The Great Game: Starting as Russia, own the entire Central Asia region.
DD55_15.jpg


Bourbon for Everyone: Starting as Spain, have an average standard of living of at least 20 while remaining a monarchy.
DD55_16.jpg


Manifest Mexico: Starting as Mexico, own the Pacific Coast & Great Plains, and have a higher Power Rank than the USA.
DD55_17.jpg


American Territory: Starting as the Indian Territory, have the USA as a subject with no more than three states.
DD55_18.jpg


Broken Promises: As Italy, join a diplomatic play against 2 or more of your allies.
DD55_19.jpg


The Berlin Conference: Starting as Prussia, form Germany and fully own at least 10 states in Africa.
DD55_20.jpg


Star-Swarmed Banner: As the United States, have 100 incorporated states represented on your flag.
DD55_21.jpg


Belle Époque: Starting as France, have the highest GDP per capita and Innovation generation in the world.
DD55_22.jpg


Deeds, Not Words: Pass the Women's Suffrage law.
DD55_23.jpg


First Flight: Be the first nation in the world to fly aeroplanes.
DD55_24.jpg


Victorian Century: Play a full campaign from 1836 to 1936.
DD55_25.jpg


Poor, Huddled Masses: Have a cultural migration target in one of your states.
DD55_26.jpg


Billionaire: Have a national GDP of at least £1 billion.
DD55_27.jpg


Serf’s Up: Starting as a nation with Serfdom, enact Worker’s Protections Labour Rights Law.
DD55_28.jpg


Risorgimento: Form the nation of Italy.
DD55_29.jpg


Three Hurrahs: Form the nation of Germany.
DD55_30.jpg


Solomon’s Quest: Form the nation of Ethiopia.
DD55_31.jpg


I am a Scandinavian: Form the nation of Scandinavia.
DD55_32.jpg


Enlightened Despot: Have electrical street lights in all states while being an Autocracy.
DD55_33.jpg


Mightier than the Sword: Have the other side back down in a diplomatic play.
DD55_34.jpg


Revolutionary: Switch sides to the revolutionaries in a civil war and win the ensuing conflict.
DD55_35.jpg


Reading Campaign: Starting as a nation with less than 20% literacy, get to 100% literacy.
DD55_36.jpg


We Are Not Amused: Starting as Great Britain, Expel Diplomats of a Great Power with Cordial or better relations.
DD55_37.jpg


Institutional: Have an institution at maximum investment level.
DD55_38.jpg


Poppydock: Have at least a level 8 port and export at least 2500 units of Opium to foreign markets.
DD55_39.jpg


Grander Colombia: Form Grand Colombia and own all land in the Gran Colombia, Andes, and La Plata strategic regions.
DD55_40.jpg


Inventive: Research all technologies across all three categories.
DD55_41.jpg


Educated: Complete the 'Learn the Game' objective.
DD55_42.jpg


Tycoon: Complete the 'Economic Dominance' objective.
DD55_43.jpg


Hegemon: Complete the 'Hegemon' objective.
DD55_44.jpg


Caretaker: Complete the 'Egalitarian Society' objective.
DD55_45.jpg


That’s all of them, and that’s all for today! Join us again next week as Alex goes into more depth about Cultures and Religions!
 
  • 174Like
  • 104Love
  • 69
  • 15
  • 11
  • 6Haha
Reactions:
If my argument is bad faith, then so is this "every other game doesn't do this" non-argument I've seen bandied about. Most other games I've played don't have easily accessible debug tools that allow me to instantly win if I feel like it. You may well be right in that I'm overestimating how many people would cheat if it was easier, but doesn't inexplicably void my concerns or observations. I'm being disliked into oblivion on this thread when all I've really argued for is to continue letting achievement hunters hunt achievements in their own way and let everyone else who already didn't care continue to not care, and made justifications for that when prompted.
See my post here. Its a non-issue.
 
  • 3
Reactions:
Can we get the British India Company renamed to include East in its name please
Sadly no, and not for the reason you suspect. I think we hit a text limit with Microsoft or that :D

Wait for a couple of expansions and they'll add that stuff in
I am going to work to ensure they become unhinged in a tasteful way, not a painful way :D

Well. I'm not a fan of this, but I sincerely hope you've added a game rule that is simply "disables achievements". I don't want to have achievements unlocked by accident when I'm messing around with the console or playing mods.

Depending on how this actually works out, this could be either a decent decision or one of the worst.
Not a bad idea for a game rule if we don't already have it. Thank you for that.

As if the Prussian-Saxon border wasn't enough to not make me get this game.
You are more than welcome to turn on ironman to limit yourself to get your achievements, I am not sure how others having the freedom to play the game the way they please is such a reason for you to get upset.

If you're okay with people modding/console commanding their way to an achievement in a matter of minutes, why not just abolish them entirely and let players set their own challenges?
That's totally possible with modding your own objectives but achievements themselves not entirely sure since that requires involvement with steam setup and the such, if that's what you mean. If you are asking why do achievements at all, because they are good fun - we enjoy making coming up and making them, the players should find them as a fun recommendation to play if they need a few suggestions.

Do you guys come up with the pun first then fit the achievement around it or vice versa?
...yes 8/10 are the pun first.
 
  • 41Like
  • 8
  • 8
  • 5Haha
  • 4Love
  • 2
Reactions:
I'm no hardliner on achievements having to mean I'm some kind of hardcore gamer or whatever, but doesn't allowing mods present the problem of there being a mod that just unlocks every achievement easily.
 
  • 3
Reactions:
I'm no hardliner on achievements having to mean I'm some kind of hardcore gamer or whatever, but doesn't allowing mods present the problem of there being a mod that just unlocks every achievement easily.
If you want to cheat, you will find a way to cheat.
Why impose a no mod restriction for those who use UI mods, accessibility mods, etc.
 
  • 85
  • 8Like
  • 7
  • 4
Reactions:
if 20 people use console commands specifically to, for example, get the achievement for treaty ports in Europe as the Qing (originally wrote Sikh, oops), does it really affect your enjoyment of the game significantly?
Not particularly, but if it had something close to 100% completion I'd probably ignore it and assume it happens naturally if I ever pick Qing, and possibly never bother playing as Qing unless there's another achievement for them - because, as someone who disagreed with me said earlier, achievements are mostly just a way to direct gameplay and I want to be directed toward something I think will take blood, sweat and tears. When I play EUIV, I usually start a game with a specific achievement (or two) in mind. I play without ironman when I want to test a theory/idea to implement in multiplayer or ironman without investing a lot of time only to out it's not mechanically possible.

On top of that, it's nice to look at a rare achievement I've got and think "wow, I may be trash at multiplayer and world conquest but at least I managed to get this challenge done, which I know was difficult because so few people have it". I admit that it's not the best mindset to assign myself worth through comparison of others' accomplishments, but PDX isn't my therapist.

Edit: I should clarify that I'm aware a lot of people don't use non-ironman the way I do, and I'm fine with it, those people don't care about getting achievements and thus they don't play to get achievements. That's not a problem.
 
Last edited:
  • 5Like
  • 1
Reactions:
I like most of the achivements the yhave good art too, though I think there should be more so if you take some suggestions here are some I hope they inspire:

An Indian company: As any Indian nation, expel teh british and unite all of india.

the sun has risen: As Japan become the greatest Power while holding all islands in the pacific ocean

The dragons council: As China become a Democracy, have universal sufferage and own all chinese cores

A European Union: As Any European country, own all of mainland Europe, while beeing a democracy and accepting all cultures and religions on the continent

The greatest once again: As Spain own all of the former spanish empire

The good emporer: As Brazil abolish slavery and own all of portugal before 1860
 
  • 2
  • 1Like
  • 1
Reactions:
I know no one agrees with me because I already got massively downvoted for stating this before but I liked that you could only get achievements in ironman mode and I don't really see why it was changed. I know it could sometimes get annoying with rng etc. but overall it added to the challenge of needing to get it right. Let the red x -ing commence.
Nothing has ruined my experience of playing CK 3 than having to turn off something almost completely cosmetic, and certainly not overpowered or cheat-y, as the community flavor pack and ethnicities & portraits expanded. In the absence of an intricate system that can separate cosmetic elements and flavor from cheating, it is better this way as far as I'm concerned. Just adding my own 2 cents.
 
  • 11
  • 1Like
  • 1
Reactions:
You are more than welcome to turn on ironman to limit yourself to get your achievements, I am not sure how others having the freedom to play the game the way they please is such a reason for you to get upset.
You don't understand how validating it feels to see a developer finally say this. I have a really good track record of controversial positions or requests that the developers will eventually adopt but only after making me wait 6-12 years. Might I suggest you all save time in the future by always just doing whatever I ask immediately.
 
  • 14Haha
  • 11Like
  • 2
Reactions:
If you're okay with people modding/console commanding their way to an achievement in a matter of minutes, why not just abolish them entirely and let players set their own challenges
This means if you really want an achievement , you don't need to use the steam achievement unlocker nor spend 5 minutes in cheat engine to reactivate either ironman or your ability to recieve achievements.

Removing arbitrary walls ia nice.
 
  • 5Like
  • 4
Reactions:
You don't understand how validating it feels to see a developer finally say this. I have a really good track record of controversial positions or requests that the developers will eventually adopt but only after making me wait 6-12 years. Might I suggest you all save time in the future by always just doing whatever I ask immediately.
Only if you DM me the list. :D
 
  • 46Haha
  • 5Like
  • 2Love
  • 2
  • 1
Reactions:
I like most of the achivements the yhave good art too, though I think there should be more so if you take some suggestions here are some I hope they inspire:

An Indian company: As any Indian nation, expel teh british and unite all of india.

the sun has risen: As Japan become the greatest Power while holding all islands in the pacific ocean

The dragons council: As China become a Democracy, have universal sufferage and own all chinese cores

A European Union: As Any European country, own all of mainland Europe, while beeing a democracy and accepting all cultures and religions on the continent

The greatest once again: As Spain own all of the former spanish empire

The good emporer: As Brazil abolish slavery and own all of portugal before 1860
Achievements are locked for release, at some point in the future we will likely ask the community for their ideas, so keep these ready.
 
  • 22
  • 12Like
  • 2Love
  • 2
Reactions:
On top of that, it's nice to look at a rare achievement I've got and think "wow, I may be trash at multiplayer and world conquest but at least I managed to get this challenge done, which I know was difficult because so few people have it".
Honest question - how does opening up achievements to non-Iron Man players devalue what you've done? Seriously, go look the Civ6 achievements. The completion rates for the hard achievements are still low. Again, only 40% of people who bought the game even finished a game on the basic settings. Opening up achievements to more players doesn't devalue them because the harder to get achievements are still hard to get.
 
  • 15
  • 1Like
  • 1
Reactions:
I understand that, but I don't think it's unreasonable to bring up other games when no one but you legally has access to the code base and you were arguing using a dichotomy that other games have already solved.
Are you asking the devs to redo code in already made game just to allow cosmetic mods to not break checksum when they just decided that checksum won't matter anyway?
 
  • 6
  • 1
Reactions:
Are you asking the devs to redo code in already made game just to allow cosmetic mods to not break checksum when they just decided that checksum won't matter anyway?
You seem very desperate to contort my words. As I said. There is no way to legally access the codebase. How was I supposed to know before mentioning it what is and isn't possible?
 
  • 3
  • 1
Reactions:
I, for one, don't like the idea of console commands unlocking achievements. I prefer Hoi4's take, where UI/graphics mod don't change checksum and so still allow achievements. But I'm in the minority, apparently.
 
  • 7
  • 5
Reactions: