Victoria 3

[Syt]

SoI makes me drool with anticipation, but yeah ... Q1 '24

I hope the art pack will come with some reworks, though.

But I guess they've learned from previous releases, esp. CK3 where players were long left to wonder what/if DLC was coming or when.

[Tamas]

Yeah but now playing tomorrow will feel like I am paying some dumbed-down version compared to the 2024 one.

[garbon]

There is no pleasing some people...

[Tamas]

I didn't realise the update was coming out today, neat.

[Syt]

Started a game as France. Got the pop up for who I generally want to support - d'Orleans, d'Orleans but shittier, Bonaparte, or go for Republic. Republic it is.

Generally started getting my bearings in the new menus. Enacted Free Trade. Got a movement to enact Theocracy, led by an agitator. No thanks, exile for you!

Then the Landowners who are in government, demanded Laissez-Faire (their leader is Orleanist who are Free Trade/Laissez-Faire). Sure thing - but the Rural flk don't like that and will be radicalized. But it should be fine, right? I can't have the landowners blow up the government and tank my legitimacy.

Afterwards, the Rural Folk started a very strong movement to enact Freedom of Assembly. To appease them I start the progress - but success chance is 22%. Hey, the agitator Giuseppe Mazzini would join them if I invite him in. Let's go!

So the law success chance bumps up to 60% ... but now the Catholic Church and their Legitimist leader are pissed and left government. Funnily, that made my government more legitimate (since it's only Orleanists now ... ).

Still, the Church and Petite Bourgeoisie are preparing a revolution. And it's only 1840.



In other news, Britain had its own Religious revolutionaries who took over government after a brief civil war (unsure what laws they changed ... ). Egypt tried to puppet Mascara, but I joined Mascara to fight them off. Then I puppeted them myself. I went on to puppet Constantine, but Egypt joined their side, as did Ottomans. I rivaled and embargoed Ottomans, then noticed I could have swayed them by promising them Adana (which they of course now rejected ...), so I asked Spain to join. Took Constantine, and had Ottomans transfer Tripolitania to me. I may have to cozy up to Egypt now to have a counterweight to Ottomans for the near future.

[Syt]

Well, I got some events about the revolution, mostly with an option to choose whether to advance/lower the revolution counter along with other modifiers (strengthening/weakening interest groups, increasing radicals of various sorts etc.).

Anyways, as soon as Freedom of Assembly was in effect, the movement disbanded.

[Tamas]

I was kinda' hoping the Agitators would be used to help a more dangerous Springtime of Peoples to happen but in my current run (Austria as usual, to compare against previous patch), things are super-peaceful and it's 1855, apart from a peasant revolt in Saxony, no upheaval in Europe, unless you consider Prussia caving and handing over the Rhineland to France without a fight one.

[Tamas]

Further, I don't like how I managed to create a super-calm political environment by the mid 1860-s in Austria. Sure there are over 4 million radicals in the country due to discrimination, and the living standard average is deplorable (9-something) but there is no turmoil in any single province, and ALL IGs are in positive territory, most of the significantly, thanks mostly to laws that Austria has by default. It is the smoothest sailing I have ever had with Austria in this game, not a good first look for this patch.

[Tamas]

So I was continuing my most boring Austria playthrough I have ever played in this game, enjoying the massive opinion bonuses nearly all my IGs received thanks to their leaders liking me enacting a colonisation law.

Prussia and allies fight France to a white peace over the part of Rhineland not yet in French ownership.

Next thing I know Prussia's strategy switched to Unify Germany and they declare war on me to take... Tyrol.

We eventually white peace out. Months later, Prussia starts a new play of me to Unite Germany. Fine, like in previous games I just give in so I can go do my own thing. Except the next screen I see is game over, you have been annexed. What?!

[The Brain]

Just because the circle is bigger doesn't mean you have to vote Yes.

[Syt]

I was in that situation once, but admittedly I was playing Holstein at the time.

FWIW, OPB's mod is already updated, but I think I'll wait for next week's larger patch before adding OPB's mod again to the mix.

I've added some of the interface/gfx mods that have been updated already back into my France game. Extra Topbar info is a must IMO, adding army size, legitimacy, diplo reputation, prestige and free convoys - https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2888391145


I thought some gfx mods would be harmless to switch back on, but turns out the one giving the European countries in the Mediterranean different architecture (mostly Carribean, I think?) currently results in ... this:

For some reason it completely garbles up the states in an amazing fashion.


@Tamas, re: Springtime of Peoples - it's been mentioned in a discussion somewhere that you can very easily "win" the SoP if you exile the agitator in question - did you happen to do that?

[Tamas]

Springtime: no, I have never even had it started.

I am very much under the impression that most of Paradox testing focused on getting France and the France content right. Hard to imagine how else they missed this snorefest they turned the game into.

[Syt]

I kinda, sorta kept playing my France game yesterday, up till 1850s. No Springtime.

I mostly focused on expanding my colonies. Agitators ... didn't do much? I had a few pop ups saying an agitator (presumably just spawned?) retired because the laws they want were already in place. I had only one government party request a law (Military asking to re-instate Censorship). Otherwise not really anything happening domestically.

I had an almost diastrous war, but it turned out fine. I wanted to annex my subject Oman. Britain sided with them. I had Oman beat, but the Brits had overrun France. The peace the AI proposed was:
- Oman is independent, Britain opens the market of my subject Merina Kingdom
- I get war reparations from Britain
Guess I'll take it because I force-capitulate (getting my main body of troops back home took too long - AI seems a lot more willing to land in enemy nations than before?).

I'm going through the events for Algeria which is kinda neat. Elsewhere in the world, Britain is an autocratic monarchy, and Oregon is now a Russian dominion. Germany formed (minus Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg, Oldenburg).

The events and extra content for France are great, but other countries will feel a lot more generic after this (think non-Norse rulers after the CK3 first expansion "Northern Lords"). There are some mods on the Steam forums that promise to add flavor, but often only for a specific area. I usually avoid them, because often they're countries I'm highly unlikely to play, and I'd prefer flavor applied across the board - otherwise the extra content in one geographic region might unbalance things for the rest of the map by offering more opportunities, boosts, etc.?

Also, I really miss playing with OPB's mod. Colonization is just a lot better (and a lot less squiggly line borders ... ) by limiting the number of actively growing colonies to the investment in your colonial institution and giving you claims when your progress has progressed far enough - making it easier to keep other countries out, or use the Return State play to clean up the borders. Also, he made Springtime a lot more likely to fire, plus adding radicalism for ethnic minorities (Hungarians, Lithuanians, Poles ... ).

[Syt]

I will say I'm happy they added "field promotions". Can't say how often I used to wage a war that went well, then a commanding general died and his troops went home without me noticing until I lost a bunch of progress. Yesterday, my admiral leading a naval invasion died but was fortunately immediately replaced (and by a better commander ).

So far I'm mostly a bit disappointed with the impact of the changes on internal politics so far. Sure, it started a bit exciting as per my initial post. But after it fizzled out, it's mostly been smooth sailing. There seem to be more events (France only?) around elections and agitators, but it's not really shifting the balance much. I could invite agitators, but none of them advance any agenda I want (theocracy, autocracy, non-colonization, protectionism ... ). I also seem to get fewer radicals than I'm used to? I will finish my France game, but I hope the promised patch next week will spice things up a bit, and hopefully OPB keeps pace.

[Syt]

OPB is not a fan of patch/DLC. To put it mildly.