Ah darn, and I'd just about talked myself into the USA too! That's what I was afraid of though. Seems a shame for PI to spend an entire expansion elaborating all those events and flavor, but resulting in what sounds like a fairly easy and boring experience. Any ways to make the USA more compelling? I.e. perhaps take it on some ahistorical yet still vaguely plausible tangents?
New to Victoria II, any advice or tips?
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Well, lots of stuff can still happen. The last time I played the USA I mis-managed it so badly that the civil war never happened. In 1870 there was a reactionary revolution, and I had a Presidential Dictatorship under the Southern Democrats. I then had a massive Jacobin revolt later on, a 2nd American Revolution if you will! :ninja: Was quite a trip.
Just as with any other nation, you can go on extravagant campaigns that are obviously more difficult than the standard path. For example as the US you can conquer Canada from the British by force, and do it the hard way: 1-2 provinces at a time rather than the easy way: 1st war liberate country, 2nd war release puppet than you're fighting just Canada. You can also take it further and make a Normandy-esque invasion, only instead of landing in German occupied France you'll land in mainland UK and try to conquer the home islands. A revenge for the British rule until the end of the Revolutionary War if you want to justify this path. You can also jump forward in time and destroy Germany and mimic the end of WW2's destruction of Germany and occupation of Berlin, even though it won't technically be Germany yet but either Prussia or NGF, doesn't matter. Keep in mind that any of these campaigns will set you over the infamy limit pretty fast so you'll also be fighting a lot of containment wars during your conquests and won't be able to rely on allies whatsoever.
Again, Vicky 2 is a classic sandbox game, nations are as easy or hard as you make them. Set your own goals according to the difficulty level you want and enjoy the game. Your choice of nation doesn't matter that much, it's what you do with it that will affect your game play.
Apologies in advance, but I'm hijacking this!
So, I've really only played EU3 (HttT,DW) at any length, and have forgone purchasing EU4, for now.
I've mostly played as big(ish) powers (England, Castille, Venice, Portugal, Denmark, Ottomans etc etc) and definitely am not any sort of expert when it comes to Paradox Games. I do very much enjoy the 'fluidity' of EU, and the dynamism with which you can approach the game.
However, I'm fascinated by Vicky2 and the 19th century setting. My question is, should I stick with EU and maybe get EU4 if it goes on sale any time soon, or take the plunge with Vicky2 (even though I'm pretty sure it'll take me a rather long while to learn what on Earth I'm doing!)?
So, I've really only played EU3 (HttT,DW) at any length, and have forgone purchasing EU4, for now.
I've mostly played as big(ish) powers (England, Castille, Venice, Portugal, Denmark, Ottomans etc etc) and definitely am not any sort of expert when it comes to Paradox Games. I do very much enjoy the 'fluidity' of EU, and the dynamism with which you can approach the game.
However, I'm fascinated by Vicky2 and the 19th century setting. My question is, should I stick with EU and maybe get EU4 if it goes on sale any time soon, or take the plunge with Vicky2 (even though I'm pretty sure it'll take me a rather long while to learn what on Earth I'm doing!)?
You generally can find the complete collection on sale. Can't really say about EU4, I stopped playing since 1.3 and I'm one of those people who would tell you to wait until we know what direction the devs are taking it in (multiplayer blob simulator or singleplayer nation simulator) but I know there are lots of people who do enjoy it. Go lurk on the EU4 forum and see what things are like over there before making your decision I'd say but personally I'd take Vicky II over EU4 any day.
Ta. I'm very, very tempted by Vicky II. I'm just afraid that the learning curve will be too steep initially and it'll 'gather dust' for far too long a time in my games library.
Is the tutorial at all helpful for Vicky noobs?
I personally found the tutorial to be a decent tool, coming over from EU4. I don't think coming from EU3 should be too different than coming over from EU4 so yeah, the tutorial should help you a bit. However the best tutorials are found online, mainly on YouTube, so go look at some tutorial playthroughs there, just be mindful that some playthroughs will be pre-HoD, so while most of the information will still be relevant to HoD there will be some changes too. As far as the learning curve, yes it's quite steep for Vicky 2. However the game itself is very forgiving as long as you don't try to bite more than you can chew. Yes, you will mess up at times, like not paying attention to nations' friends when declaring war, causing an unwanted war with a GP, but these are mistakes you make once and than hopefully learn from and not repeat again. Also, a lot of the game can be left on autopilot, from stockpiling(which is automated by default and even most veterans leave it at that) to industry(Interventionism/LF lets capis build the factories for you and even prevents you from building them yourself) so many things will take care of themselves even if you don't understand them yet. Still, with experience and thorough understanding you can obviously go off autopilot and manage things yourself more efficiently, but that's far from a necessity. So while the learning curve is steep, even if you are just beginning to climb it the game is very much playable and to reasonable success too. Just don't try anything too complex in your first playthroughs, wait for some more knowledge and experience before trying to pull off major feats.
Hi JCan, as a fellow newb I can concur that Vicky 2 is pretty forgiving far as achieving baseline stability and the freedom to experiment a little and learn the ropes (probably only applying the certain nations though). I read the manuals (main game and expansions), did all the in-game tutorials, and have been referring to the (apparently somewhat outdated) wiki here: http://www.victoria2wiki.com/Reference_guides plus some of the very good advice given here. Playing as the USA I was pretty quickly able to understand how some of the economics interact and was able to easily get a surplus budget with freedom to develop as much as the political situation allowed. Granted, there seems to be a hardcoded crisis in the North vs South dynamic brewing, but just as far as the day-to-day running of the country and the stability of your regime aside from the hardcoded plotlines, it kinda takes care of itself.
Compared to other PI games, for example contrasting V2 with CK2 - in the latter, from the outset you're dealing with rebellious dukes, Viking raids, disease and all manner of early death, mentally retarded or psychotic heirs, assassination plots, Moorish Jihads, the list goes on. For a new player there just keeping your head above water and maintaining the borders of your realm and prolonging your dynasty is all you can ask, actual expansion requires some experience and an understanding of how the nuts & bolts work. Vicky 2 seems way more "optimistic", more of a "The World Is Your Oyster" style where the nuts & bolts take care of themselves if you'd like. That's my impression anyhow. Actually it has the easiest *initial* learning curve of any Paradox game I've played (with HOI3 being the longest). YMMV as always.
V2 is actually not half as hard as it looks. Its just a ton of information to take in, and for some it might be too much for their enjoyment.
Vicky 2 plays very differently according to the nation you play, while in EU(3 or 4) after the initial stage it feels the same, the good point is that you can take a forgiving nation to learn in Victoria 2 (USA, Sweden) where it's tough to fail and then switch to nation with more initial problems.
Vanilla isn't too hard- at least AHD isn't. In my second game I just united the Byzantine Empire with little Greece, kicked the Ottomans out of Europe, and am doing pretty well in the great power race (I refuse to rush out dreadnoughts for their ridiculous military score, otherwise I'd be first second or third).
Tips: Manage your own economy but let your capitalists invest, educations, education, education, try to colonize like crazy (at least in AHD its very easy- I heard HoD changed it, which is for the best. Hope it is harder for little Greece to conquer 1/3-1/4 of Africa now), and you should almost always be at war if you have the spare infamy for it. When your infamy gets too high use that time as a breathing period where your population can become less exhausted and you can build up your internal territories.
Tips: Manage your own economy but let your capitalists invest, educations, education, education, try to colonize like crazy (at least in AHD its very easy- I heard HoD changed it, which is for the best. Hope it is harder for little Greece to conquer 1/3-1/4 of Africa now), and you should almost always be at war if you have the spare infamy for it. When your infamy gets too high use that time as a breathing period where your population can become less exhausted and you can build up your internal territories.
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Yup Ivashanko - from what I can tell the layer of colonization strategy that HoD brings to the table makes things quite a bit more intricate and strategic in that department. You have to really make some hard decisions about where to invest your colonial infrastructure, and other nations can thwart your plans (and vice versa), with plenty of opportunity for tense colonial standoffs that bring in the Great Powers and can erupt into actual war. It's pretty neat actually. If you don't mind my asking, why didn't you just pick up that expansion if you just bought the game? I always find with Paradox games the expansions are kind of essential balance improvements - while they're labeled as optional they actually represent the most current feedback from players and the best overall gameplay experience according to the developers' vision, rather than just being about some extra content.
Now another follow-up question for everyone, I posted in the V2 Q&A thread but never got a response: one of my favorite things about PI games is following all the narratives happening around the world. This involves getting the right balance of message settings of course, and I set these up according to my prefs in V2.
However no matter what I seem to set, I'm not getting any messages about battle or province occupation results, nor about wars ending and their results. The most I can get is announcement of a peace treaty though no info about who won. I have plenty of "When we occupy a province" or "When a land battle is over" type messages selected as popups, a whole range of nations selected as "Interesting Nations"..... but still nothing. Is this a glitch? Am I missing some setting here? Have no trouble getting messages about alliances or who is granting who military access, but nothing that actually lets you follow the ebb & flow of those wars. It's odd.
Now another follow-up question for everyone, I posted in the V2 Q&A thread but never got a response: one of my favorite things about PI games is following all the narratives happening around the world. This involves getting the right balance of message settings of course, and I set these up according to my prefs in V2.
However no matter what I seem to set, I'm not getting any messages about battle or province occupation results, nor about wars ending and their results. The most I can get is announcement of a peace treaty though no info about who won. I have plenty of "When we occupy a province" or "When a land battle is over" type messages selected as popups, a whole range of nations selected as "Interesting Nations"..... but still nothing. Is this a glitch? Am I missing some setting here? Have no trouble getting messages about alliances or who is granting who military access, but nothing that actually lets you follow the ebb & flow of those wars. It's odd.
The way it is in HoD its possible to colonize a nice little chunk of Africa if you work at it, but if you mis-time it you will find yourself with little to choose from. As a major power like France or the UK, its very easy to colonize most or all of Africa through the course of the game, the vast majority of it in the decade following 1870. Which is neat, because that's kind of how it worked historically, but its easy to abuse if you plan right.
Thanks for all the advice and tips everyone. Hopefully will grab V2 & its expansions in the near future.
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Hate to hijack this thread but its only for one question: how do I get the game's launcher to select a mod that I created? Do I need to make a .mod file? And, if so, how?
I don't know about the problem with message settings, it works fine for me. Are you talking about your own battles or battles between two other countries ? I guess if there's some fog of war it makes sense you can't see the battle result (if you can't see the battle).
Could you eventually post a picture of your message settings ?
Could you eventually post a picture of your message settings ?
I don't know if you can see the results of other nation's battles but I'm sure that there should be a message for when someone makes peace and the result of it. it may not be working fully though since once I set it to popup and pause when I won an occupation (great wars on many fronts is difficult to control) but it didn't seem to work. I don't mess with the message settings often so I can't really help you there.
You're probably better off asking in the mod forum to be honest
Yeah, I've posted a couple screenshots below. You'll see that most war/battle/peace messages I've got set to either display as popups or popup-and-pause. Yet again, all I get are "So and so has accepted a peace offer" and similar. Never anything about who won a war and the wargoals imposed, etc. No messages when someone's occupied a province. Nothing about battle outcomes - and this includes battles happening within sight of my borders where fog of war doesn't reach.
I'd even think in the Victorian Era most major battles outside your direct observation would have been reported in newspapers and by rumor. As it stands a Sedan or Verdun or Marne could happen - massive battle and empire-changing event - and I'd be none the wiser. The lack of feedback about all this stuff strikes me as odd, especially considering I took the time to set all those messages to where they should be reporting this stuff - I'm hoping it's just a setting I've missed rather than a glitch and/or developer oversight.
Any ideas?
EDIT: Hmm, is there any way to post the fullsize images? For anyone needing higher resolution, click here to the non-resized files:
http://i.imgur.com/ifJDRJA.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/KtJb9bP.jpg
I don't think you can have a pop-up for other nations' battles. I understand your argument on Sedan or Verdun, but up to a point you see that on the changes in warscore, having a pop-up with all the details is a bit too much information, even in the timeframe, and most battles are small battles. Still we're just trying to rationnalize over something that can't happen. Also if you're allied you can see the battles as they go on and have an idea of the flow, but it's much less comfortable than what you suggest.
Concerning peace treaties, according to your screenshot it seems you did not select "pop-up" or "pop-up and pause" for "when a nation accepts an other nation's peace offer", you only selected "display on map".
I've tried it and it works in my game.
Concerning peace treaties, according to your screenshot it seems you did not select "pop-up" or "pop-up and pause" for "when a nation accepts an other nation's peace offer", you only selected "display on map".
I've tried it and it works in my game.
Hmm - for Interesting nations I actually had it set to be an message icon, but still was only getting the fact that a peace treaty had been established, not its terms. However with more trial & error I was able to get it as desired. Thanks for the input.
Far as the battles go - if it's not possible, why are there message options like "When a land battle is over" or "When one of our land units attacks the enemy" or "When control over a province has been achieved", etc? I mean, I hear your reasoning why it might be cumbersome but the options are there, they just don't seem to work. Seems odd.
I appreciate how they do it in CK2, where in each war data screen there's a scroll-able listing of all the battles that took place along with how significant they were. Despite the handful of smaller battles, you can see at a glance which ones were the big boys that had a decisive impact on the war as a whole. It's kind of funny that this data is provided by a game set in a time period when communications and travel were minimal, yet here in the 19th and 20th century with telegraphs/telephones/newspapers/ocean travel we have to mainly track wars by inference on the map. Ah well.
That being said, I'm having a good time with my first USA playthrough, including royally screwing up. Development was coming along swimmingly, though the Mexican-American War drug on far too long due to Spain jumping in at some point - hard to wrap things up in the west when they're landing tens of thousands of troops in New England. Still, eventually got some MX territory. That's when the hammer came down...
I noticed rising militancy in the south and assumed this was the Civil War brewing, thought "Bring it on!". But then I noticed it was a huge Anarcho-Liberal faction, who eventually revolted in what appeared to be hundreds of thousands. It appeared to be a slave revolt, backed strangely by also contingents of disaffected Dixie farmers and even some middle/upper class folks. Very odd. While my army was trying to deal with them - there were a lot - the government unexpectedly fell.... was this because they took my capital? Or is there a threshold of province control? Without a typical Warscore screen I had no idea they were close to victory.
So now I've got an Anarcho-Liberal government, my nice North & South American sphere disintegrated, economy entering a tailspin which I unfortunately now have less control over, etc. Disaster of sorts, but a fun learning experience. The thing is, I find the Anarcho-Liberal experience kind of boring because I have zero direct control over industry, and had been "trying" to move towards State Capitalism. The lack of elections makes gradual political change impossible. Is there a way to boot these guys out of power? Or should I just roll with it and do they have some benefits after all? After the overthrow, the unrest simmered down although Dixie is starting to grumble again. Strangely the victorious slaves did not actually outlaw slavery.
And why did this happen in the first place? I made sure in all the hundreds of pop-up events to *always* side with abolitionists and anti-slavery policies, trying to provoke Dixie to rise, and yet it was the very slaves I was trying to help who formed a 960k faction and began burning down the East Coast! Obviously I've got a bit of learning to do, but the process is interesting for sure...
Far as the battles go - if it's not possible, why are there message options like "When a land battle is over" or "When one of our land units attacks the enemy" or "When control over a province has been achieved", etc? I mean, I hear your reasoning why it might be cumbersome but the options are there, they just don't seem to work. Seems odd.
I appreciate how they do it in CK2, where in each war data screen there's a scroll-able listing of all the battles that took place along with how significant they were. Despite the handful of smaller battles, you can see at a glance which ones were the big boys that had a decisive impact on the war as a whole. It's kind of funny that this data is provided by a game set in a time period when communications and travel were minimal, yet here in the 19th and 20th century with telegraphs/telephones/newspapers/ocean travel we have to mainly track wars by inference on the map. Ah well.
That being said, I'm having a good time with my first USA playthrough, including royally screwing up. Development was coming along swimmingly, though the Mexican-American War drug on far too long due to Spain jumping in at some point - hard to wrap things up in the west when they're landing tens of thousands of troops in New England. Still, eventually got some MX territory. That's when the hammer came down...
I noticed rising militancy in the south and assumed this was the Civil War brewing, thought "Bring it on!". But then I noticed it was a huge Anarcho-Liberal faction, who eventually revolted in what appeared to be hundreds of thousands. It appeared to be a slave revolt, backed strangely by also contingents of disaffected Dixie farmers and even some middle/upper class folks. Very odd. While my army was trying to deal with them - there were a lot - the government unexpectedly fell.... was this because they took my capital? Or is there a threshold of province control? Without a typical Warscore screen I had no idea they were close to victory.
So now I've got an Anarcho-Liberal government, my nice North & South American sphere disintegrated, economy entering a tailspin which I unfortunately now have less control over, etc. Disaster of sorts, but a fun learning experience. The thing is, I find the Anarcho-Liberal experience kind of boring because I have zero direct control over industry, and had been "trying" to move towards State Capitalism. The lack of elections makes gradual political change impossible. Is there a way to boot these guys out of power? Or should I just roll with it and do they have some benefits after all? After the overthrow, the unrest simmered down although Dixie is starting to grumble again. Strangely the victorious slaves did not actually outlaw slavery.
And why did this happen in the first place? I made sure in all the hundreds of pop-up events to *always* side with abolitionists and anti-slavery policies, trying to provoke Dixie to rise, and yet it was the very slaves I was trying to help who formed a 960k faction and began burning down the East Coast! Obviously I've got a bit of learning to do, but the process is interesting for sure...