Paradox Games Thread

[Bacon King]

I've always been a fan of these games, so I thought they deserved a thread. I love Victoria and HoI; I've actually been LANing Hearts of Iron 2 with some friends over the break and we've had some pretty fun games.

[afleitch]

I've always been a fan of these games, so I thought they deserved a thread. I love Victoria and HoI; I've actually been LANing Hearts of Iron 2 with some friends over the break and we've had some pretty fun games.

I am a big fan of Victoria and EUIII. Of course my Victoria has been modded so it's almost unrecognisable. The fact that Paradox encourage modding and feedback is one of it's strongest points as a developer. I like Victoria in particular for it's less military approach and the use of diplomacy/trade, plus it's fun to try out some 'what if' scenarios.

Of course a potential Victoria update/remake would be welcomed

[Bacon King]

What's your mod(s) for Vicky? I just use VIP, but I do love it.

[afleitch]

What's your mod(s) for Vicky? I just use VIP, but I do love it.

I have VIP too, but i've altered some data, including formation dates, adjusted flags and added about 3 potential countries/unions that are not in VIP

[ilikeverin]

I adore CK, love Vicky, rather dislike EUIII (I get CTDs every... 20 years, I'd say) and feel coldly towards the HoIs.  That's cuz CK and Vicky can get ahistorical quickly (perhaps EUIII can, too, but I have yet to be able to play any significant span of time with it )

Some parts of VIP look nice but it appears to do a good job of making the game more historical.  No more Haiti being the world's fifth most important country

[12th Doctor]

Hearts of Iron II looks interesting.  Wish I had the money.

[afleitch]

Hearts of Iron II looks interesting.  Wish I had the money.

It's very military based. I chose to play Argentina at first, just to re-arm etc. By the time the war came around, I declared war on the Axis powers and had some interesting naval battles, followed by some financial aid going both ways.

Next time around I was Estonia :/ I built up good relations with Germany prior to the war and the Soviet Union left me alone when it did the carve up in 1939. Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941 as planned and I had to grant them access. As a result they were better able to attack (and take) Leningrad and advance on Moscow....

In short it's a fun game

[Erc]

I've got the EU's, HoI 1, and Vicky.

Always liked EU2; I have EU3 but my computer's video card can't keep up with it.  From what I've seen (going at the pace of about 10 seconds / day!) it looks quite nice.

HoI & Vicky I never really got much into.  My few attempts at HoI I'd get wiped off the face of the planet within a couple years.  HoI 2 looks good, but I'm not going to buy that if I can't figure out how to be at all successful with the first game.
Vicky...I just never really figured out how to work it.  The economy system always looks really interesting at first but I can never get it to work the way I want it (I can't build anything because my workers don't have clothes?  I'm pretty sure they aren't actually running around Belgium naked this time of year).  I should really give them another try one of these days.

CK has always looked really fun, and I may pick it up one of these days.

[Lunar]

I played Hearts of Iron hardcore in highschool, especially mutliplayer that I would play with at the same time every week.  HoI is single-handedly responsible for my ability to name obscure state capitals

[The Dowager Mod]

I have all of their games, was just in the middle of a game of Vicky.

[ilikeverin]

I played Hearts of Iron hardcore in highschool, especially mutliplayer that I would play with at the same time every week.  HoI is single-handedly responsible for my ability to name obscure state capitals

I credit EU and CK with my knowledge of European geography.

[The Man From G.O.P.]

I used to play Victoria all the time and for some odd reason I often played at the Netherlands, seeing if I could expand on the continent while being smack dab between Germany France and the UK.

[k-onmmunist]

I have all of the games, but Vicky is the best.

[Matt Damon™]

victoria owns

[ilikeverin]

I still don't know why Crusader Kings is the least popular Paradox game.  (well, besides Dippy, obviously )

[Bacon King]

I just want to add that having a LAN game of HOI 2 (or I guess any paradox game, in theory) reaaaally messes up with your sleep. I stayed up until five am last night playing it.

[Reluctant Republican]

I’ve played HOI 2 the most, though I don’t believe I’ve ever really fought a war in it, thus defeating the purpose. But I don’t really play strategy games, and I never mastered the use of navy’s or airforce in the game, which prevent me from doing much. My biggest complaint with it is that outside of war there’s nothing to do, and it does get tedious after awhile. It looks like HOI3 is going to have an expanded political system though, so that should be good.

[LanceMcSteel]

I got Vicky and HOI 1 and 2.

Would have to say Vicky is superior due to the better economic engine and immigration in the game that HOI lacks. Its fun to just to play as a American nation, enact social reforms and let the immigrants flood in and become an economic super power within 30 years.

[Platypus]

HoI is crap, CK is OK, but the stars of the show are the EU series. I'll always love them, along with Civ 2 and SimCity 4

[DanielX]

I have EUII, and its great, albeit old (and cheap - like $10 to download, no intrusive DRM, Paradox is a much nicer company than EA). Once my financial situation is a touch better, I'm going to sweep in and get EUIII and Victoria.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

I got Vicky and HOI 1 and 2.

Would have to say Vicky is superior due to the better economic engine and immigration in the game that HOI lacks. Its fun to just to play as a American nation, enact social reforms and let the immigrants flood in and become an economic super power within 30 years.

I have Vicky and Vicky Revolutions. I can't get anybody to to come to the US. The only immigration is to CA which consists of Russians(proabably cause Russia collapses everytime I play for some reason) and Chinese. There is no immigration anywhere else especially in NY, PA, the midwest and New England where I need it the most to run my factories, while CA is severly overpopulated with like 150 pop to NY's 70. I have tried everything from radical Socialism to Extreme Lassiez Faire and nothing effects it. Another problem is that when I play starting in 1881(my prefered start year cause things are stable) I can't get the US economy to grow while Germany is racing up to 3000 by 1885 and to 5200 by 1890 and I am still stuck at 1500 down from about 1800 which is the Game starting point.

That said I love the economic engine and the election simulation. I wish it included the Gov't simulation(Secretaries/Ministers) of HoI 1 and 2 as well.

I am also working on a game of HoI 2 Doomsday playing as the US. Last Summer I got really into military strategy especially Naval Tactics. I loved building Carrier Groups(1 Carrier, 2 Cruisers, 3 Destroyers was my prefered setup). My land skills were horrible so the game turned me off.

[ilikeverin]

In Vicky, pops only migrate to your most recently "de-colonized" region.  In order to get them to move themselves around your country you need to make sure there's a shortage of jobs in the region you want to evict them from and a lot of jobs elsewhere in the country.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

In Vicky, pops only migrate to your most recently "de-colonized" region.  In order to get them to move themselves around your country you need to make sure there's a shortage of jobs in the region you want to evict them from and a lot of jobs elsewhere in the country.

The problem is Vicky Revolutions doesn't allow for flexibility like the original did. The problem isn't internal migration but immigration from say Ireland to Massachusetts and Italy to NY and both are like 99% Protestant and 95% Yankee and its 1900. Revolutions doesn't allow for you to build factories unless the ruling party is state capitalist or planned economy. In 1881 both the GOP and the Dems are Lassiez Faire(Of course I change these from time to time to add more fun to the mix, but only btw Lassiez Faire and Interventionist). Immigration is usually dead in Revolutions for some reason with the exception of California, Alaska and Siberia(For some reason the Chinese flock to these three regions and the last 2 make no sense at all)

Plus why is my economy always stagnated. Is it my fear of debt. I always slide the Education slider to 100% to gain a tech edge. Crime, Military and Social spending(none existent in 1881 except 12 hour workday which I usually lower to 10 or 8 after I discover an off setting technology like "Shift work") usually take a hit to keep my budget balanced with usally a 100 surplus or more. I am the king of unfunded mandates. Tariffs I usually place at 25% or more(A requirement to get those pesky capitalist to invest) and I try to eliminate the income taxes or make them as low as possible(Don't have a choice cause the only way to build factories is via Capitalists thanks to game restrictions, mentioned above) and if the rich rate is higher then 25% nothing is built. I have tried more socialist policies with the sliders for taxes being at 75% for rich, 50% for Middle Class, and 25% for the poor; Tarriffs at 100% and -25%; plus spending jacked up and the result was not stagnation but shrinking.

I am seriously considering uninstalling Vicotoria Revolutions and returning to the original version An Empire Under the Sun.

[ilikeverin]

Yes.  Like I said, pops move to the most recently de-colonized region, and only to that region; the only way to try to reshuffle your pops is by following the strategies I provided.

If you're looking for factories to spring up, promote pops to capitalists posthaste.  With the tiny countries I'm wont to play, I usually attempt to convert a ~20,000 member strong pop at first, but America can support much bigger capitalist populations, I'm sure.  Remember that capitalists only build factories in their home regions, though they build railroads anywhere they can.

[12th Doctor]

I am interested in buying either Hearts of Iron II or III now, but I am a bit confused about something.  I have heard that one, or the other, or both allow you to play not only any country that exists, but any country that could possibly (CSA, Burgundy, Soviet Europe, etc) have existed... but I can't find confirmation of this anywhere.