So Victoria 3 is out....

[IsaacCAT]

I love I:R gameplay and mechanics, but after 2 years of development the game is played by 500 players.

Vic3 has also had a difficult and polemic launch, its approval rating similar to I:R right now. However, if they retain at least 10,000 peak players, there is a stronger business case to keep developing the game.

 

[moscal]

I love I:R gameplay and mechanics, but after 2 years of development the game is played by 500 players.

Vic3 has also had a difficult and polemic launch, its approval rating similar to I:R right now. However, if they retain at least 10,000 peak players, there is a business case to keep developing the game.

Because V3 is new and IR is without updates by months.
Pdx-gamers always run to new/updated titles. First months after new game or DLC we can see big num of players.

 

[IsaacCAT]

Because V3 is new and IR is without updates by months.
Pdx-gamers always run to new/updated titles. First months after new game or DLC we can see big num of players.

This chart shows the 24h peak players evolution for I:R, CK3 and Vic3 games aligned to release date for comparison. I:R updates and DLC never got many players attention. It is a niche game that did not cut enough players for PDS to keep developing it.

 

[lukaslunt]

This chart shows the 24h peak players evolution for I:R, CK3 and Vic3 games aligned to release date for comparison. I:R updates and DLC never got many players attention. It is a niche game that did not cut enough players for PDS to keep developing it.
View attachment 905300

We must also take into account that the game was bad when it was released. If it had been released with 2.0 it would surely have worked better.

 

[lukaslunt]

This chart shows the 24h peak players evolution for I:R, CK3 and Vic3 games aligned to release date for comparison. I:R updates and DLC never got many players attention. It is a niche game that did not cut enough players for PDS to keep developing it.
View attachment 905300

Can you put EUIV and HOI IV on the chart?

 

[IsaacCAT]

Can you put EUIV and HOI IV on the chart?

 

[lukaslunt]

View attachment 905303
View attachment 905304

The finding is striking. The problem comes from the start and the fact that we didn't have any DLC that revolutionizes the game. The problem of bugs and possibilities for modding means that this game is very limited (even more than CK2 which was already old, that is to say).

Seeing this, will they try again to launch an Imperator 2 in the next few years? It's very difficult

 

[IsaacCAT]

The finding is striking. The problem comes from the start and the fact that we didn't have any DLC that revolutionizes the game. The problem of bugs and possibilities for modding means that this game is very limited (even more than CK2 which was already old, that is to say).

Seeing this, will they try again to launch an Imperator 2 in the next few years? It's very difficult

IP are recognized by players and it is less risky to iterate from a known IP than creating a new one. As I said in PDX discord "In ten years I:R will be a great game that was misunderstood by the public in 2019 and PDX will want to reuse an IP before creating a new one. They will say that this time is different and will entice players to help them develop a successful GSG in ancient times"

If you look at Vicky2 in steam, there were not so many players but they decided to make a new game, for obvious reasons.

Before we get I:R 2 they still have the option to make it free to play like CK2. Although they are already selling it very cheap from time to time.

 

[Temudhun Khan]

I just played Imperator yesterday for the first time in ages, and god I forgot how good this game was. I would even dare to say than in their current respective states, I enjoy it more than EU4. It sure need a few patches and more content, though.

 

[olivenkranz]

I just played Imperator yesterday for the first time in ages, and god I forgot how good this game was. I would even dare to say than in their current respective states, I enjoy it more than EU4. It sure need a few patches and more content, though.

Regarding simp,e content, Invictus is very good. Not many mechanical changes in comparison to vanilla.

 

[lukaslunt]

Regarding simp,e content, Invictus is very good. Not many mechanical changes in comparison to vanilla.

If at least they can solve the crash problem for us beyond a certain number of tags, we could make mods that allow revolts and avoid having countries that blob and make the endgame interesting

 

[antrachton]

I was gonna say... yes Victoria 3 is out, the paradox shop is back on, and Europa universalis 4 is... i think still being corrected and dealt with , so maybe the team will get back to this game....
I must say Victoria 3 is really good in terms of economy and population mechanics - it's what makes EU4 unattractive and these two (victoria and imperator) games are really good.... but still - Rome Imperator has really interesting interactions between characters plus province management (although i'd like them done in different geographical shapes than what the team has come up with - but that's their view on the ancient times).

If only Victoria 3 had those 2 missing ingredients. or if only imperator had at least those economic mechanics (pops are fine but could be better) then both games would be brilliant.

yes Victoria 3 has got different military management system now - they could have done a mix of both but that's RAM costly i believe... or memory.

Now that Vic is flopping, maybe they can drop it and come back to this game. They can say, "we are so sorry, it was never you, it was us. Please forgive?"

flopping? a best seller or something?

 

[antrachton]

The most commonly used KPI to track a games overall health is MAU. That's not just for Paradox but pretty much any game being played. How long you play doesn't really matter, as long as you come back frequently.

CK3 & Vicky 3 both use the same Clausewitz engine, just one slightly newer than the other. The fact that they use the same engine means that engine improvements made for one title can be used by another. EU4, HOI4, Stellaris etc. were all branches of the engine meaning that there was very little space for improvements to carry over.

Paradox or PDX, which includes PDS (Paradox Development Studios) and PDI (Paradox Interactive), currently has 15 unannounced projects that are being worked on.

How new Clausewitz engine is for Imperator Rome?

 

[moscal]

Primary mistake of I:R was extremal stupid mana system. This made, that many players rapid abandon Imperator... 4ever...

But this was remaked. Too late... So hopes about return are weak. But still are!

 

[antrachton]

I just played Imperator yesterday for the first time in ages, and god I forgot how good this game was. I would even dare to say than in their current respective states, I enjoy it more than EU4. It sure need a few patches and more content, though.

Definitely it's better than EU4 and that's without much of the DLCs comparing EU4.

 

[RELee]

Now that Vic is flopping, maybe they can drop it and come back to this game. They can say, "we are so sorry, it was never you, it was us. Please forgive?"

 

[zorkman]

Definitely it's better than EU4 and that's without much of the DLCs comparing EU4.

Yes, but much of the DLC for EU4 over the last few years has been to the detriment of the game, not the positive.

 

[antrachton]

I personally would love to finally see the game with mechanics of Imperator Rome, Victoria 3 and maybe some other game - but definitely not any iteration of EU - and thrown together, mixed and improved and stop focusing on some as boring period as 19th century is (for some reason i just can't stand that period at all) - just going through most of the ages - from ancient time till now - would be a lot more fun.
Modding Imperator Rome or Victoria 3 just to have that fun is a bit... exhausting, especially when half way through the game developer drops a DLC.

 

[Brynjar]

Primary mistake of I:R was extremal stupid mana system. This made, that many players rapid abandon Imperator... 4ever...

But this was remaked. Too late... So hopes about return are weak. But still are!

The biggest mana related mistake in Imperator was to make it the first mechanic to rework. 90%+ of the tags in the game may as well be removed from the game with how dull they are to play. Mana is irrelevant compared to that.

 

[moscal]

The biggest mana related mistake in Imperator was to make it the first mechanic to rework. 90%+ of the tags in the game may as well be removed from the game with how dull they are to play. Mana is irrelevant compared to that.

There have.
In many first games players play as majors. known big powers. We can see this in every GSG of PDX - in EU main nations for players are like a Poland, France, Spain, England; not OPM in HRE or India; in HoI main nations for players are nations like a Germany, Soviet, UK; not Nepal, Uruguay or Tannu Tuva.
Often in later tries start play as minors or OPM. If they see, that the most important mechanism is dumb - they will not want play in next game. Returns were low. This next lead to situation, that devs hadnt focus on upgrade gameplay as OPM or minors - they works were focused on other aspects like a reworks.

HoI serie is very good example - if gameplay as majors is good, players will be still play. If one of the most important mechanism eg. fronts, would be stupid or usefless or something other, what normal game wouldn't be fun - players would not play in this game. Ergo - you are wrong.

Even if in starting versions OPM were more playable - with extremal stupid mana-system still were be low level of returns, ergo low players and low focus of PDX on developed this game.