A Forumite's Preview of Victoria 2

[HannibalBarca]

South Carolina has been forcibly incorporated into Georgia.

Huzzah, Anschluss at last!

 

[Justinian7]

I can see the sense in amalgamating the New England states, but incorporating South Carolina into Georgia is a very strange decision.

 

[byzantium43]

Are those 999 troop sizes the truth?

 

[HannibalBarca]

I can see the sense in amalgamating the New England states, but incorporating South Carolina into Georgia is a very strange decision.

Next we'll seize Florida, then Tennessee, then Alabama, then...

 

[RedRalphWiggum]

•Pops like to think of their country as one of the greatest in the world. If a great power slips into second rate status, then its Pops will grow increasingly militant. You will be warned when you are about to fall from Great Power status and will have a chance to rectify the situation. Austria might launch a risky war in hopes of retaining its status, but if that fails then minorities like the Czechs and Hungarians will try to strike off on their own.

I cannot wait to see how this affects gameplay...

• Pops will now loan money to governments. There are still some shadowy international financiers, but your biggest creditors will now be Pops. Nobody likes to lose money, so Pops are going to get quite militant if you go bankrupt. They can also loan money to foreign governments and will expect you to step in if the debtors default. This could affect your foreign policies. For instance, France will have ample reason to try to prop up a Russian government that is heavily indebted to French investors. She would also have good reason to intervene against a revolutionary Russian government that repudiated the old regime’s debts.

This just sounds like ridiculously deep gameplay. If PI can pull this off, V2 will be a whole step up in terms of complexity for strategy games. Amazing stuff.

• There are no longer colonial buildings or colonial wars. Instead you will stake a claim on a colony, and once your claim is strong enough, you will gain control of the territory. One way to speed up this process is to station an army in the province. Armies may clash in contested colonies without a declaration of war.

Something similar to national focus to help along claim strengths?

• It is possible that autocratic states will intervene against liberal revolutions in other countries. You may also keep your people so backward that they will totally clueless about 1848 style revolutions in foreign lands.

This strongly implies that POP issues and ideologies spread across national borders. That was pretty much my no.1 wish for Vicky2.

•The immigration model is looking much better than Victoria's model, where the USA was an immigrant magnet regardless of its policies or the policies of other countries. Now a mixture of policies (and possibly your national value) will determine how attractive your country is to immigrants. Those aren't the only factors involved, of course. Immigration is now tied to consciousness, so enlightened liberal Pops may move to the USA, while backward peasants won't consider moving to the next province over. Additionally, Pops prefer to move to areas where members of their nationality are gainfully employed, so Boston will look mighty inviting to destitute Irish in Dublin. It will also be possible to entice Pops to migrate to specific provinces, similar to how free land was offered to encourage settlement in Oklahoma.

Sounds cool. TBH, I rarely played a war-free game in Vicky1, this sounds like it would now be a real viable option.

Overall, I’m excited by what I saw of Victoria 2. It looks like Victoria 2 will improve upon the great internal politics of the original while cutting out micromanaging busywork and deterministic events that had nothing to do with your actions in game. Victoria 2 is also shaping up to be Paradox’s best looking 3D title thus far. My only fears are that the final project won’t live up to Chris King’s ambitions. Will the AI attempt to address the concerns of its Pops? For example, will it use military force to insure that its capitalists get a return on their foreign investments? Will the Pops respond favorably to wars aimed at liberating their ethnic kinsmen or preserving their country’s great power status? If Paradox can make the line between domestic and foreign policy as blurry as it can be in real life, then Victoria 2 may well be the best geopolitical game yet.

Yeah, that concerns me too. Its just sounds too good to be true. But if an athiest has anything, it's faith , so I'm going to wait and see if they can pull it off.

 

[Eärendil]

Are those 999 troop sizes the truth?

I think one of the devs said in another thread that they were just placeholders.

 

[unmerged(68110)]

Okay, I can't look at my VIP filesave anymore.

I uninstalled Victoria I. I am officially owned by hype now, aaaaaaaargh.

This is looking really, really, really good.

 

[Emperor Walter]

If Paradox can have the AI use the new features correctly, this will be the deepest game they have ever made. Of course, it could also turn into another HOI3 with all the new features they added.

 

[Garak]

This all sounds very cool. I especially like the sound of countries intervening in others' affairs (autocratic states cracking down on foreign liberal revolutions and so forth). Sounds like it will add a whole new level to the game.

 

[Orinsul]

given that the civil war should hopefully offer each state [in real world terms] the opportunity to join the new nation then the states [in game terms], especially the slave states ought to be more or less historical, the one province amalgamated provinces is good, although maybe together rather than onto something else as once again, New England is a seperate entity, not just a state but a potential nation-state.
Personally i cant wait for the DD to address internal politics, much less the game to arrive especially to hear a ringing commendation of its improvements.

 

[unmerged(56465)]

Personally i cant wait for the DD to address internal politics, much less the game to arrive especially to hear a ringing commendation of its improvements.

Was that sarcasm? Because you know there's going to be consternation over something.

 

[Orinsul]

does that change anything? If the event is good does it matter how the commentators respond? Yes there will be a bunfight but then there always is, even without a DD, but oh the glory of a clear and wondrous explanation of the political mechanics, yes it wont be what i dream of as well computers will never be able to do that, but even if its terrible, to know and to see it will make it magnificent.

 

[Colon]

If Paradox can have the AI use the new features correctly, this will be the deepest game they have ever made. Of course, it could also turn into another HOI3 with all the new features they added.

What do you mean by another HOI3? I haven't played the game so far.

 

[linkthewindow]

What do you mean by another HOI3? I haven't played the game so far.

On release, HOI3 was pretty unstable and had a lot of bugs. That said, it's perfectly playable now (1.3,) although it's obviously got it's problems (which should hopefully become very rare by 1.4 and dead by the first expansion.)

I've heard that Paradox has hired a external testing firm so the same doesn't happen to Victoria 2 (according to the forums .)

 

[King]

On release, HOI3 was pretty unstable and had a lot of bugs. That said, it's perfectly playable now (1.3,) although it's obviously got it's problems (which should hopefully become very rare by 1.4 and dead by the first expansion.)

I've heard that Paradox has hired a external testing firm so the same doesn't happen to Victoria 2 (according to the forums .)

We are going to give external testing a try to see how it works for us.

 

[linkthewindow]

We are going to give external testing a try to see how it works for us.

Thanks for the confirmation. I usually buy these things on release, as you always fix them if they're broken (unlike other developers - Infinity Ward and the Creative Assembly,) and these games need to be paid for or they won't be made

 

[CaptRobau]

We are going to give external testing a try to see how it works for us.

Good news!

 

[Colon]

On release, HOI3 was pretty unstable and had a lot of bugs. That said, it's perfectly playable now (1.3,) although it's obviously got it's problems (which should hopefully become very rare by 1.4 and dead by the first expansion.)

Thanks, but I think he was talking about the AI's ability to handle new features, rather than bugs.

 

[Capt. Kiwi]

• Pops like to think of their country as one of the greatest in the world. If a great power slips into second rate status, then its Pops will grow increasingly militant. You will be warned when you are about to fall from Great Power status and will have a chance to rectify the situation. Austria might launch a risky war in hopes of retaining its status, but if that fails then minorities like the Czechs and Hungarians will try to strike off on their own.

The first part we'd been told about, but the second part where you get to try and hold on to your position is an interesting feature. It could be very good, or very bad depending how well balanced out it is.

• Pops will now loan money to governments. There are still some shadowy international financiers, but your biggest creditors will now be Pops. Nobody likes to lose money, so Pops are going to get quite militant if you go bankrupt. They can also loan money to foreign governments and will expect you to step in if the debtors default. This could affect your foreign policies. For instance, France will have ample reason to try to prop up a Russian government that is heavily indebted to French investors. She would also have good reason to intervene against a revolutionary Russian government that repudiated the old regime’s debts.

In line with their stated philosophy of no magic money sources/sinks, and a welcome change (especially foreign loans, but internal dynamics should be interesting too).

• There are no longer colonial buildings or colonial wars. Instead you will stake a claim on a colony, and once your claim is strong enough, you will gain control of the territory. One way to speed up this process is to station an army in the province. Armies may clash in contested colonies without a declaration of war.

Again, could be very good or very bad, depending how well it's implemented.

• Victoria 2 will not include the EU3 system for gaining cores on a territory over time. Nor will you gain a core on a province merely because your accepted culture is now the majority in the province. It will, however, use Eu3's “rebels with a cause” system. So prepare to suppress all manner of political and nationalist revolts.

I'm another one hoping to see an improved system where open, pick-up-the pitchfork-and-torch rebellion is more the grand finale of discontent, rather than a percentage chance. Still time for that to happen though.

• It is possible that autocratic states will intervene against liberal revolutions in other countries. You may also keep your people so backward that they will totally clueless about 1848 style revolutions in foreign lands.

Very nice

• The immigration model is looking much better than Victoria's model, where the USA was an immigrant magnet regardless of its policies or the policies of other countries. Now a mixture of policies (and possibly your national value) will determine how attractive your country is to immigrants. Those aren't the only factors involved, of course. Immigration is now tied to consciousness, so enlightened liberal Pops may move to the USA, while backward peasants won't consider moving to the next province over. Additionally, Pops prefer to move to areas where members of their nationality are gainfully employed, so Boston will look mighty inviting to destitute Irish in Dublin. It will also be possible to entice Pops to migrate to specific provinces, similar to how free land was offered to encourage settlement in Oklahoma.

Expected, and needed.

• Provinces are still grouped into states, but there are no longer any single province states. Thus, some US states are amalgamated into others. For example, Connecticut and Rhode Island are separate provinces, but are considered part of the same “New England” state. Likewise, South Carolina has been forcibly incorporated into Georgia. Time will tell if Americans are as particular as Balkan nationalists about these sorts of things.

I suppose if it's necessary for gameplay...

Overall, I’m excited by what I saw of Victoria 2. It looks like Victoria 2 will improve upon the great internal politics of the original while cutting out micromanaging busywork and deterministic events that had nothing to do with your actions in game. Victoria 2 is also shaping up to be Paradox’s best looking 3D title thus far. My only fears are that the final project won’t live up to Chris King’s ambitions. Will the AI attempt to address the concerns of its Pops? For example, will it use military force to insure that its capitalists get a return on their foreign investments? Will the Pops respond favorably to wars aimed at liberating their ethnic kinsmen or preserving their country’s great power status? If Paradox can make the line between domestic and foreign policy as blurry as it can be in real life, then Victoria 2 may well be the best geopolitical game yet.

Ultimately my impression is this, plus a little bit of drooling.

 

[TheLand]

We are going to give external testing a try to see how it works for us.

Does that mean you're not planning a volunteer-based closed beta at all?