When you are not going WC, do you ''pause'' to consolidate ?

[BaronNoir]

''Pause'' as in ''stopping all expansions to consolidate (core, buildings). The question is disingenuous-I know that good players don't pause and conquer non stop, but I struggle to do so. For instance, to get an institution to pass in the early centuries, to save gold for early buildings...

 

[Northernwwater]

Do what allows you to enjoy the game. I don't care what good players do.

 

[bbqftw]

There are situations where all readily available expansion routes are unproductive e.g. Wrong religion, no way to utilize trade, bad states, etc. In such a case it is more resource efficient not to expand, you're only hurting yourself.

Classic example is early game taking land you don't intend to state and doesn't strengthen your trade position. Generally you should avoid such wars unless you need to for coalition control.

Also doing banking wars can be super viable and even better than taking land even in WC style runs.

But this highlights the importance of expanding in a way that maximizes your opportunities.

 

[Octavius Antony]

Also, fighting wars while in a bad state can just lead to more slow down. If you are low manpower and about to spawn a bunch of rebels, probably not the best time to head off to France.

 

[TenshiN]

I am far from a most effective player, i play on speed 5 all the time. Besides that, i am overly cautious and always pause my war efforts after difficult conflicts at least to deal with the upcoming rebels/finish coring/regen manpower, dislike having multi-front wars in general and still and up with over a million troops and 5-6-7k dev empire when the 1821 arrives more often than not. I also often do experimental ideaagroup buildups to play from different strengths that the ideagroups can provide - but it is crazy how far a few really simple rules can lead you even if you cannot be bothered to microcontrol.
So basically, do whatever you want to get your portion of enjoyment from the game - otherwise it is pointless.

P.S: Just don't fear the inflation numbers and take all your opponent's gold in peacedeals, even if it mean you will take 1 province less to do so. Now that the AI is richer than ever, there's no real need to save your income for buildings.

 

[Piotrzeci]

I am pretty bad at all this "conquest" stuff. I enjoy taking a break from any wars. I sometimes even force myself to go to any war. That is just the way I like to play.

 

[Northernwwater]

I also often do experimental ideaagroup buildups to play from different strengths that the ideagroups can provide

I do the same thing because I find it fun to try out different groups.

I have tried speed 5 and I make to many mistakes that way.

 

[TenshiN]

I do the same thing because I find it fun to try out different groups.

I have tried speed 5 and I make to many mistakes that way.

I do use the pause button way too often though

Not maxing out your effectiveness also makes for much more genuinely enjoyable moments. Sure, i know what i gotta do to avoid this coalition, but where's the fun in that? I did it the last round, so now i'll take you on!

 

[TheMeInTeam]

In addition to bbqftw's examples, there is often at least a few months between wars (troop movement, giving uncored land to subjects, etc).

 

[pedrito_elcabra]

It depends... stopping wars to save money for institutions can be a bad strategy if you have rich neighbors waiting to pay your war reps.

 

[holyvigil]

I usually stop to at least finish coring and maybe deal with rebels.

 

[misiceman]

Also even for WC if your not pushing to do it as fast as possible you can (especially in the earlier game - before critical mass and absolutism) really focus on securing your position so that when you finally do pull the trigger you cant be stopped.

The real question i would ask is what are your goals in your run. That will dictate more than anything else. I once did a Byz Basilius run into Roman Empire borders (this was in 1.8 so pre desicion) but I didn't want to take outside those borders to much. I had some consolidation for sure in that run, and was fun playing puppet master to the rest of Europe.

 

[Zohtun]

Regularly. Rampaging through the world is cool and all but when you have 0 manpower in the pool and your strongest stack is 5k (with 30k waiting recruitment) you kinda need to take a breather.

I'm not sure how the crazy speedrunner people DO it...

 

[Badesumofu]

The entire first two ages of my standard WC run could be described as consolidation, in a way. I'll spend a decade at peace sometimes, just building things up. A war here, a war there. Conquer India at some point, establish about 3 super-powered CNs for tariff income. Fish for PUs. Prepare for 1610 and the mass autonomy lowering to get quick absolutism.

Once the final sweep begins though, it's pretty much constant war outside of a month or two here or there as TMIT mentioned. There are a handful of important things that you can only do at peace.

 

[SGL3000]

I usually play at speed 3 and pause before very action, but in the only wc that i've done i played at speed 2 and still paused before every action.
Only when i get immersed in a war i forget about other stuff and enjoy it without pausing, but if a lot of things outside accumulate then i stop and do everything, and after that I come back to the war.

 

[Urgat]

Pause is my best friend

 

[DS_McWerp]

My country can be ready for another war, but I might personally need a break. Sometimes it’s nice to let that inflation tick down, that manpower tick up, those loans get paid off, and just take a breath.

Now, I also very rarely attempt WC. Doing anything else should be possible with far less than optimal play. Take as many breathers as you want.

 

[Slayen]

All the time. Last thing I want to do is launch a major offensive when I'm on the verge of open revolt due to overextension/war-exaustion/low-religous-unity/etc.

Then again, I've never made any sort of serious WC attempt. They just seem like too much stress.

 

[holyvigil]

All the time. Last thing I want to do is launch a major offensive when I'm on the verge of open revolt due to overextension/war-exaustion/low-religous-unity/etc.

Then again, I've never made any sort of serious WC attempt. They just seem like too much stress.

My attempts haven't really been stressful. They are just tedious/boring and make me angry. Anger when I realize I can't do it or I push one button the wrong way on accident and the whole run is ruined. Like raise autonomy mindleesly and then realize i lowered absolutism to 0 or war decing the wrong way or thinking a coalition won't form but hidden things like emperor demanding territory changes things or losing a fight due to modifiers that don't work the way I understand they should. Never stressful though that's only early game or achievement running.

 

[braunschweig1]

I do, because I think blobbing and world conquest are disgusting. I actually think WC should be nearly impossible in these games (how are you supposed to send communications and logistics to the middle of Africa when your capitol is in Siberia, for example?) but Paradox can't make it more difficult without alienating a large swathe of the player base, who play these games like arcade games instead of simulators.