Thinking about buying....

[unmerged(235935)]

Hi Everyone,

I have been reviewing EU3 Chronicles but I have a few questions before I decide to purchase.

I am looking for a deep strategy game that is also very challenging from an AI perspective. There are lots of strategy games that I have played that half way through the game becomes easy.

Is EU3 DW a challenging game or do you just over power your enemy and win each game?

Thank you.

 

[Ashantai]

Well, it all depends really. You can choose any country at any time between October 1399 and December 1820.

How challenging the AI is depends on your choice. If you choose France in 1650 you will be less challenged than if you chose them in 1399.

It's safe to say though that by the time most people reach 1650 the player is almost always the top dog, and the last 170 years is usually where people stop or push on for their own challenges.

So yes, the AI can be challenging...with a disclaimer that it comes down to who you choose to play and when. The AI has many features a player can exploit, but for this type of game the AI is pretty good. It's better than most.

 

[Hjgffe]

I am looking for a deep strategy game

EU3 is not deep, it's the simplest paradox game I've played, for that reason I get quite bored.

 

[RabidAnubis]

How much improved is the game by the last 2 expansion packs? Could You not imagine playing without them, or are they just a little different.

Would they be worth 22$ in difference?

 

[Serzis]

How much improved is the game by the last 2 expansion packs? Could You not imagine playing without them, or are they just a little different.

Would they be worth 22$ in difference?

I would say that "Heir to the Throne" is absolutely essential as it revamped the terms on which wars are waged, restructured the economic module and created a lot of nice diplomatic options for the Holy Roman Empire and dynasties. I picked up EU3 when it was in it's In Nomine phase and I must admit that version feels close to broken compared to Divine Wind.

Divine Wind is less essential and people have mixed feelings about certain aspects, especially the Horde system (the successor state's to the Mongol Empire are driven by other mechanics than their European counterparts). Still, it constitutes the finished product and is not merely an add-on like say, 'Napoleon: Total war' was to 'Empires.' I would recommend that you buy chronicles and play the game as most people do. You can always move on to different mods as well.

Moreover, you may very well be preoccupied with Single Player indefinitely, but if you want to try your hands on Multiplayer, you must have Divine Wind. Of course, you can find 'In Nomine'-cliques, but that's an odd bunch.

Also, the price difference isn't normally 22 dollars. Steam has, for example a sale right now in which Complete (i.e EU3 classic and In Nomine) costs 9 euro, and Chronicles (i.e EU3, incl. all expansions) costs 18 euro. Thus, it really only costs you 9 euro/11 dollars more for the complete game. I might add that the games may be found through cheaper sources than Steam sometimes.

 

[Theoden]

Also, the price difference isn't normally 22 dollars. Steam has, for example a sale right now in which Complete (i.e EU3 classic and In Nomine) costs 9 euro, and Chronicles (i.e EU3, incl. all expansions) costs 18 euro. Thus, it really only costs you 9 euro/11 dollars more for the complete game. I might add that the games may be found through cheaper sources than Steam sometimes.

It was 7.49 euro few days ago for Chronicles, so Complete + HttT + DW. That's a real bargain.

 

[Dauth]

Amazon UK had Chronicles for £8 recently too.

 

[Serzis]

It was 7.49 euro few days ago for Chronicles, so Complete + HttT + DW. That's a real bargain.

Oh, yes. Sometimes I feel that Paradox game pricing is completely random, varying from "90 % discount" to "physical retail price." It's not so much 'sales' as it is a wonderful round of roulette.

 

[RabidAnubis]

The problem is that I play on a mac. Steam offers chronicles at a cheap price, but not for mac. Meanwhile Gamersgate offers (chronicles) for mac, but it cost 30$. But steam does offer the EUIII complete at a cheaper price.

And I'm not sure If I buy it off of Gamers Gate if it will transfer to PC when I get one.

 

[T.j. Arnold]

I recommend not buying Chronicles since there is, still (close to a year after I reported it and started a massive thread about it), a bug where Chronicles doesn't display Achievements in game since the server does not recognize owning Chronicles as owning Divine Wind.

Either buy the game and the expansions separately (allowing you to have the freedom to use older mods), or buy Chronicles and Divine Wind (which fixes the issue once you register it).

 

[RabidAnubis]

I recommend not buying Chronicles since there is, still (close to a year after I reported it and started a massive thread about it), a bug where Chronicles doesn't display Achievements in game since the server does not recognize owning Chronicles as owning Divine Wind.

Either buy the game and the expansions separately (allowing you to have the freedom to use older mods), or buy Chronicles and Divine Wind (which fixes the issue once you register it).

Thanks. I'll just buy the normal game. It's only 9 bucks anyways- can't go wrong with that.

Oh yes, if I buy the game on steam can I get the expansions off steam?

 

[n0thin]

Strongly not recommend that. The achievements are a minor trophy thing, not something of central importance for the game. If you buy just the EU 3 Vanilla, you will have to buy every other expansion one by one (or by some chronicles in which case you have wasted the money for the Vanilla). And since the Vanilla, the game has massively increased for sure.
Regarding the AI: Well, the game is really long. You play for over 400 years and if you are just a little bit experienced with the game, you will eventually overcome the AI. But since it's such on open-end-game, you can always stop when you get bored and try another country. And there are some real hard ones for sure, it takes some skill to get The Aztecs or Kongo into the leading world power position. Also, there are completely different aspects of the game, it really makes a difference gameplaywise, if you are playing some strong land power like Austria, a excellent trader with huge colonization potential like Holland/Netherlands or some country outside of Europe which comes along with a totally different game experience, at least before lategame.
I have never regret buying it for sure.

 

[RabidAnubis]

Strongly not recommend that. The achievements are a minor trophy thing, not something of central importance for the game. If you buy just the EU 3 Vanilla, you will have to buy every other expansion one by one (or by some chronicles in which case you have wasted the money for the Vanilla). And since the Vanilla, the game has massively increased for sure.
Regarding the AI: Well, the game is really long. You play for over 400 years and if you are just a little bit experienced with the game, you will eventually overcome the AI. But since it's such on open-end-game, you can always stop when you get bored and try another country. And there are some real hard ones for sure, it takes some skill to get The Aztecs or Kongo into the leading world power position. Also, there are completely different aspects of the game, it really makes a difference gameplaywise, if you are playing some strong land power like Austria, a excellent trader with huge colonization potential like Holland/Netherlands or some country outside of Europe which comes along with a totally different game experience, at least before lategame.
I have never regret buying it for sure.

I've just sent a ticket to GG asking if i buy the mac version if I can get the PC version also. And thanks

 

[AndrewT]

I've just sent a ticket to GG asking if i buy the mac version if I can get the PC version also. And thanks

\
No, you don't. The Mac version is written by Virtual Programming, not Paradox, and they are sold separately.

 

[jdrou]

I recommend not buying Chronicles since there is, still (close to a year after I reported it and started a massive thread about it), a bug where Chronicles doesn't display Achievements in game since the server does not recognize owning Chronicles as owning Divine Wind.

May not be relevant much longer since it sounds like achievements may be gone when 5.2 is released.
And some people never use achievements anyway.

 

[unmerged(235935)]

Thanks everyone for your input. It sounds like there are mixed thoughts regarding the AI.

Does the AI conspire against you and attack you from multiple fronts when you start becoming powerful or it just a matter of keeping your people happy and build big armies to take over the world?

Also, does each country play differently or does it country have access to some special technology or armies, etc..?

Still on the fence on this game.

 

[Ashantai]

The AI does take advantage of situations, but sometimes it interprets them poorly.

So for instance I was playing as a big Byzantine Empire, and I was at war with a large-ish Bohemia and Austria. I was winning the war quite handily. But the AI saw that I was at war, and that I didn't have maxed force limits (I had 250k soldiers from a potential of 550k) so Adal decided to attack me. Adal, a Sub-Saharan country with 10,000 troops, no ships and no chance attacked me.

Countries to not have unique techs or units like in something like Age of Empires, but they play differently because they have different positions, locations and initial set up.

 

[AndrewT]

Does the AI conspire against you and attack you from multiple fronts when you start becoming powerful or it just a matter of keeping your people happy and build big armies to take over the world?

The more aggressive you are the more Infamy you gather, and other countries will start to fear you and several may attack. There are ways of deceasing your Infamy while at peace. Managing your Infamy so that this doesn't happen (until you want it to) is part of the game.

 

[Ashantai]

But then you get absurd situations where Swahilli declares war on me with 15000 tech 6 troops against my 400,000 tech 36 troops.

The AI does absurd, stupid things.

But it's still a good game, and my favourite ever (if we judge it on time spent playing!).

 

[marat271]

EU3 is not deep, it's the simplest paradox game I've played, for that reason I get quite bored.

Well, It'd be impossible to make the game any deeper just because of the scope of the game.