Petitioning Johan on Victoria 1.04

[TK421__]

signed

 

[Oli le Belge]

Signed

Signed too !

A Flemish and a Walloon together ! Who can imagine that !
Please Johan, don't miss this opportunities to establish peace between peoples !

 

[unmerged(25735)]

Je signe !

 

[asaura]

signed

 

[OHgamer]

An Open Letter To Paradox From The VIP Development Team

This letter has been sent directly to Johan. The VIP development team has also decided to post the letter publicly on this forum.

12 April 2005

To the developers at Paradox Interactive from the developers of the Victoria Improvement Project mod for Victoria :

As the lead developers of the Victoria Improvement Project (VIP) mod for Victoria we are becoming increasingly concerned regarding the status of patch 1.04 for this Paradox title. Since the release of the 1.03C patch in Autumn 2003 there have been intimations from the developers at Paradox that a 1.04 patch was under development. However, since the beginning of 2005 the lack of either guidance from the Paradox team regarding the status of the 1.04 patch or even a public recognition of some of the serious problems with the internal engine for Victoria note by players on Paradox’ web forum for the title has led to a great deal of speculation among the game’s fans that, in fact, the 1.04 patch has been abandoned and 1.03C will be the final version for Victoria in an unmodded form.

The development team for the VIP mod are, arguably, among the most loyal and dedicated fans of Victoria that exist. We spend countless hours scripting and testing with the goal of transforming what is, arguably, one of the best strategy games ever created into a game that combines even greater historical accuracy faithful to the period in time the game is set with a thoroughly challenging gaming experience. As a result of our endless testing, the developers of VIP have discovered many problems with the internal gaming engine for Victoria that, should they be resolved, would allow the developers to take the development of the VIP mod to a much higher level of historical accuracy and challenging game play. Some of these problems have also been noted on the public Victoria forum that Paradox hosts, most notably the severe overemphasis given to the United States as a destination for emigrants. Other problems have come to light through VIP’s own internal testing and have been relayed to the Paradox developers, including what we consider the most pressing problem with the game engine : an overemphasis on factory construction at the expense of RGO production that causes a collapse in the production of raw materials as the game develops, thereby rendering the global economic model completely imbalanced. In addition, the continued refinement which the VIP mod has undertaken to depict the political and cultural realities of the nineteenth century has led to a complete exhaustion of free nation, religion and culture tags which, if not remedied with additional user-defined tags in all three categories, will limit the further developmental potential of the VIP mod. Between the postings of noted problems on the Paradox web forum and the problems we at VIP have discovered, there is clearly a need for the creation of a 1.04 patch to resolve these major gameplay issues.

Many of the developers within the VIP mod have served (and still serve) as Beta testers for Paradox, so we are all well aware of the immense amount of time and energy required for both the development of new titles for the Paradox catalog and the upkeep of older titles via patches. We congratulate Paradox on the massive success of Hearts Of Iron II and recognize the great amount of work that has gone into the patches that have been produced since the title’s public release. We at VIP also look forward to the release in Autumn 2005 of Diplomacy and the potentials for modding that it may offer. At the same time for many of us, both within VIP and among the gamers as a whole, Victoria hold a special place in our hearts. It is a seductive enchantress of a game quite unlike just about any other major title in the genre of historical strategy games. In a field crowded by game of war and conquest, Victoria’s focus on political, economic and ideological factors in the development of human societies was truly a radical departure and one that, for many, makes the game such a pleasing challenge to undertake. For the modder whose historical interests lay outside the realm of military conflict, Victoria offers a tantalizing alternative focus for developing a strategy gaming experience that views society as something more than just cannon-fodder for aspiring armchair generals. The constant stream of traffic on the Victoria forum, the number of new players asking questions on gameplay, the number of AARs created based on Victoria all indicate that the game retains a solid following and, far from losing interest eighteen months after its public release, remains a game that is constantly gaining new players. This sustained public interest in Victoria can clearly be seen in the rapid growth of the latest petition for a 1.04 Patch posted on the Paradox Interactive website, with over four dozen signatories within the first twenty-four hours. (The link for this petition is http://www.europa-universalis.com/forum/showthread.php?t=194980 ).

The VIP mod is currently in the planning stages for version 0.5. The overall positive reviews most players have given our 0.4 version have truly humbled those of us in lead positions of the mod’s development and compel us to want to continue to expand and improve on the scope of the mod for its next release. At the same time, the question of whether or not there will be a 1.04 patch from Paradox for Victoria hangs over us like a Sword of Damocles, and whether the sword falls or is removed from view will have a significant impact on the future direction of the VIP mod. We developers have many great ideas on where to take the VIP mod going forward, but many of those ideas require that the problems with the internal game engine that have come to light through either the postings of players on the Paradox forum or through our testing be addressed. While a decision by Paradox to not release a 1.04 patch would not kill the VIP mod, it would force the developers to seriously rethink the direction in which the mod will develop, and force us to accept that certain issues are beyond our control to remedy, regardless of the imbalance or ahistorical direction of the evolution of the game as a whole they would continue to cause. There are still many areas where we can improve the game even without a 1.04 patch. With a patch that addresses the key problems of the internal game engine, we will be able to achieve much, much more.

We the undersign developers for the VIP mod therefore respectfully request that the Paradox Interactive developers please clarify their stand on a public release for a 1.04 patch for Victoria.

OHGamer
Tyrel68
Generalisimo
Crazyhorse
Dagfinn
Scythe

 

[unmerged(22834)]

ahh 1.04. so very very illusive. maybe paradox should just release the source code let us do it ourselves

 

[tyrel68]

---[[[Tallied up till this point]]]---

 

[unmerged(36636)]

I am for Patch 1.4 too!!! It has been a lot of time we have waited for this and if Johan keeps his words he should give us the patch now. It would also be highly appreciated if Johan himself posts a few lines here informing us something about about the patch we all are so eagerly awaiting.

 

[unmerged(22834)]

signed.

 

[unmerged(32924)]

These things seriously need a rebalance. Not so long ago I tried to
join a Victoria MP game as UK.

It's economy was a house of cards: overexpanded factories without workers, destroyed raw material and agricultural production, gigantic navy and army, poor taxes on 100%..

In this moment, the AI isn't really an AI. It is just a rope-dancer, who can fall in every moment.

 

[Disturbman]

This letter remember something posted before the released of the 1.03c.

I hope there will be some more patching, besides the game really don't need lots of thing to attracts or re-attracts new players.

 

[Estilpón]

signed

 

[Stingray]

I'll sign..

 

[Strategist]

I hope for moddir support and more Uxx tags That would suit for both the VIP and the 1919 mod

 

[Lotus Lo]

Since the release of the 1.03C patch in Autumn 2003

2004

 

[Magis]

Signed.

 

[Captain Frakas]

Signed.

 

[tyrel68]

---[[[Tallied up till this point]]]---

 

[iBaLkiD]

It would be nice...

 

[bonela]

Signed. My militancy is begining to raise dangerously (currently at 9(+0.4)).