Victoria 3

[Zanza]

Is it already worth trying this? Otherwise I will wait another two weeks.

[Syt]

Anyone have any recommendations for good tutorials? I bought Vic3 ages ago, no DLC, and never played much, but now I have a computer that can play it so I'm gonna give it a go.

No idea, tbh.

@Zanza, from what I've seen, the bug situation is better, but the AI is still struggling a lot. I'd say if you want to play a session, revert back to 1.12, tbh. Another hotfix with some AI improvements is supposed to come next week. Also, they said they'll focus on bringing the AI up to speed in general ahead of the next DLC release.

[The Minsky Moment]

Anyone have any recommendations for good tutorials? I bought Vic3 ages ago, no DLC, and never played much, but now I have a computer that can play it so I'm gonna give it a go.

"HamKutz" has a bunch of mini-tutorials on various game concepts.
"Generalist Gamer" has more detailed videos especially on the economy side, with spreadsheets, etc.

Vic3 has a teleology and it has a strong whiggish scent to it.  The game pushes you to wipe out the peasant and independent yeoman farmers ASAP and push them into market sectors - so a lot of the guides are about how to maximize "depeasanting".  The trick is that the optimal path can change from patch to patch as Pdx tweeks production methods ("PMs") and econ balance.  Also important to learn how to get legislation passed and what the laws do as some laws are definitely better than others, though the degree varies with context.

[Syt]

Tried a new observer game with today's hotfix. It's notably better than the previous ones. By 1890s Austria-Hungary was still around instead of completely fractured. UK got over 100M GDP and had a fleet of 200+ ships.

Unfortunately, everyone else followed with a bit of a margin, and all other navies were 50-ish at most.

And it seems Britain is still struggling with any overseas endeavors (not taking Hong Kong in Opium War, nobody opening up Japan), and I've yet to see the US take over Mexico's territories in this patch.

[Syt]

Hotfix patch notes:

Features�

• Added Ship Crew Experience. Ships will now gain experience while out on a mission, while participating in battles and when sinking ships. Experience will decay over time if a fleet is sitting idle in port. By accruing enough experience ships will increase their Veterancy Rank, which provides a positive modifier to accuracy, critical hit chance and readiness gain, with higher ranks providing larger advantages. The baseline accuracy bonus and critical hit chance for all ship types has been adjusted downward to compensate.
• The "Jeune Ecole" and "Capital Fleet" Navy Model Laws now also provide a starting experience bonus to ships
• Improvements�
• The supply ship allocation percentage is now a hard cap on how much ship construction is allowed to be allocated to supply ships
• Certain treaties now allow joining diplomatic plays again regardless of interest tier: alliance and support independence as well as guarantee independence and defensive pact when trying to join on the defense
• Added 'station in state' to right-click menu for military formations, also supports overseas stationing

AI�

• The AI is now less gung-ho on supply ships and will not drive their economies to ruin endlessly building them
• Made a substantial pass on AI ship construction logic to make them more proactive about replacing obsolete ships gradually, instead of all at once
• Added better logic for AI navy composition, governed in the AI strategies database files
• Fixed a bug where the AI would select far too small fleets to transport their armies, resulting in the army being split into a myriad tiny stacks
• Fixed an issue where the AI was unable to ever pass Jeune Ecole
• Made the AI less willing to select event options that would increase Movement Activism if it is threatened by a revolution
• Made the AI more inclined to expel agitators with traits that increase Movement Activism
• Fixed a bug where the AI could get stuck on very low authority while unable to reduce authority spending

Balance�

• Halved base literacy growth further, from 0.1% to 0.05%
• Abolishing the Edo Status System now requires Japan to abolish Subjecthood
• Public Schools now grant literacy growth per level of institution
• Philosophical Pragmatism, Central Planning and Analytical Philosophy technologies now grant literacy growth rate
• The Political Concessions amendment will now cost Authority proportional to its strength, and will not be available during negotiations if the country has insufficient Authority
• Bakufu is now required to enact Shinsengumi
• Made Iron-reinforced Hull consume some Iron instead of purely Hardwood
• Reduced the movement attraction impact caused by several pulse events - "The Flight of the Battleship [name]", "Antiquated Words", "Confusion and Delay", "Political Imprisonment", and "Cause Without a Rebel"
• Increased the Movement Activism effect of Political Concessions
• Ending Sakoku via the button in "The Locked Country" will now increase the Activism of the Sonnō Jōi movement equivalently to if the law was enacted normally
• Changed Itō Hirobumi's ideology from Market Liberal to Modernizer leader and interest group from Rural Folk to Intelligentsia
• Added a sufficient amount of Naval Administrations to Russia
• Reduced the immediate approval decrease from selecting the option to reconsider Sakoku in The Morrison Incident event

Art�

• Added traditional Japanese female clothing (haori) with additional patterns and color variations to the game
• Japanese characters with modernising ideologies will now adopt Western clothing prior to the Restoration
• Japanese characters without modernising ideologies will no longer adopt Western clothing if the Restoration concludes with a Bakufu victory

Content�

• Added Ansei Great Earthquakes event for Japan.
• Added events for the Taikyo Proclamation and finishing Shinbutsu Bunri and Elevate Buddhism
• Added a decision for Japan to found a modern secret police force based on the Shinsengumi
• Added a decision for Japan to abolish the Edo status system upon either concluding the Meiji Restoration or researching Human Rights
• Extended effects of and added custom tooltips for some Shinto conversion effects
• Added game concept tooltips for Japanese Religious concepts
• Made the Abolitionist ideology available to the Armed Forces
• Made the Devout ideology available to the Devout
• The Legitimist ideology is no longer available to the Petit-Bourgeoisie, and is now available to the Armed Forces
• Made the Social Democrat ideology available to the Petit-Bourgeoisie
• Added Sinosphere tradition to Ryukyuan culture
• Changed Jairam Shivji's ideology from Royalist to Moderate
• Changed Tomás Cipriano de Mosquera's ideology from Republican to Modernizer
• Changed Lúcio Mansilla's ideology from Radical to Republican
• Changed Hasan al-Alawi's ideology from Land Reformer to Moderniser
• Changed numerous Landowners character ideologies from Royalist to Moderate
• Changed Manuel Ignacio de Vivanco's ideology from Royalist to Authoritarian
• Changed José Relvas's ideology from Republican to Radical
• Changed Manuel Isidoro Belzú's interest group from Armed Forces to Rural Folk
• Changed Euclides da Cunha's ideology from Republican to Positivist, and interest group from Rural Folk to Intelligentsia
• Changed Custódio de Melo's ideology from Radical to Royalist
• Changed James Longstreet's ideology from Radical to Liberal
• Changed Arturo Fernández Vial's ideology from Social Democrat to Reformer
• Changed Flavio Alfaro's ideology from Radical to Liberal
• Changed Francisco Linares Alcántara's ideology from Radical to Liberal
• Changed Victor Bonaparte's interest group from Landowners to Petty Bourgeoisie
• Changed Gustave Cluseret's ideology from Radical to Republican
• Changed Otto von Bismarck's ideology from Royalist to Authoritarian
• Changed John French's ideology from Market Liberal to Moderate
• Changed numerous Armed Forces character ideologies from Jingoist to Moderate
• Changed Peregrine Maitland's ideology from Jingoist to Ethno-Nationalist
• Changed Teofil Lapinski's ideology from Radical to Republican
• Changed Santos Acosta's ideology from Radical to Liberal
• Changed Ricardo Gaitan's ideology from Jingoist to Liberal
• Changed Thomas Bugeaud's ideology from Orleanist to Authoritarian and his interest group from Rural Folk to Armed Forces
• Changed Felipe Salaverry's interest group from Armed Forces to Landowners
• Changed Rafaël Franco's ideology from Social Democrat to Corporatist
• Changed Jefferson Davis's interest group from Armed Forces to Landowners
• Changed Victor Hugo's ideology from Republican to Abolitionist
• Upon reforming the Daimyō into the Kazoku as Japan, new Daimyō will no longer be generated
• Changed Dayananda Saraswati's ideology from Feminist to Reformer
• Changed Heinrich Clam-Martinic's ideology from Royalist to Reformer
• French Legitimist, Bonapartist, and Orleanist revolutions will now have white, dark blue, and blue map colours respectively
• The Heavenly Kingdom will now change names if it's State Atheist or no longer a Kingdom
• Renamed "Restoration: End Sakoku" to "Restoration: Achieve Recognition", requiring Japan to become a Recognised Country

Interface�

• The Company panel has received an update, with added filters and an overall improved layout
• Moved the Previous Investments tooltip to be more visible under a label in the Construction panel
• Added a list of characters to the population tab of the state information panel containing the characters who call that state their home
• Matched the Army upkeep tooltip layout to the new Fleet upkeep tooltip
• Added subtabs to the Population tab on the State panel to reduce how much you have to scroll to see the Characters and Pops lists
• Added a proper Promote Commander tooltip to the promote button in the Character panel
• Grouped "Insufficient Ship Crew" alerts into one
• Added map notifications i.e. floating text messages when when ships are constructed/repaired/retrofit
• Updated flagship button tooltip to show reason why a ship cannot be designated
• Improved the tooltips of the Purveyor of Progress Journal Entry (Pivot of Empire)
• Added missing text for when an agitator would not start or join a political movement if invited
• Adjusted the tooltip of the "Everyone Disliked That" achievement to match its requirements

Performance�

• Optimized supply computation
• AI countries will recruit Commanders on-demand instead of keeping a pool of them around
• Optimized UpdatePartySupport ticktask
• Cached modifier names for re-use
• Country sea node range distance now updated in parallel
• Precomputed Ideology Law Stances
• Cached AI's willingness to prepare for war
• Cached some expensive Diplomatic Play variables for the AI
• Improved performance for AI evaluating Diplomatic Actions

Modding�

• Added new scopes to can_join_side_in_diplomatic_play and can_start_diplomatic_plays_against

Bugfixes�

• Fixed formations not receiving supply penalties from production shortages
• Fixed an issue where armies could get stuck in exile
• Fixed Market Access Price Impact (MAPI) not updating when incorporating a state, researching technology or switching from Traditionalism
• Fixed Carlist Spain missing supply centers for their armies
• Fixed a bug where the wrong character could get retired by the career end system, resulting in issues such as Metternich retiring before his JE is concluded and interest group leaders retiring shortly after assuming their new job
• Fixed an issue that prevented Chartered Company-type subjects from ever being able to be annexed or have their autonomy reduced
• Fixed armies getting stuck in some island states, including after invading certain island states
• Fixed fleets getting stuck at sea when their transport target becomes invalid
• Fixed a bug that could lead to the Iwakura Mission instantly unseating the Emperor by enacting Republic
• Fixed a bug where armies were unable to merge outside of its home countries borders
• Fixed a bug where, after the end of the war, the country could no longer track formation spam
• Fixed an issue causing the game to not tell the player why they or another country can't join a diplomatic play as a result of insufficient interest in the region
• Fixed a bug where the Japanese Daimyō could duplicate without limit upon a secession or revolution
• Fixed an issue where a coup could remain if the commander executing it ceased to exist
• Fixed a bug where Strait wargoals would invalidate when the strait province is occupied
• Fixed a bug where we allowed you to decommission ships when a revolution is brewing
• Fixed an issue where colonial countries could occasionally get the wrong primary cultures
• Fixed an issue where ship crews could still be assigned from a state after its owner had changed
• Fixed the Retire from Office interaction possibly resulting in the same character promptly being set as the new leader
• Fixed a bug where locality calculations could go over 100%
• Fixed a bug where a fleet sometimes could not deliver units to Circassia
• Fleets from Gibraltar now properly travels through Mediterranean sea, instead of phasing through land
• Fixed multiple instances of broken tooltips in the Iberian Union Journal Entry (Iberian Twilight)
• Restoring King Miguel now causes the Reign of the Devourers Journal Entry for Portugal to invalidate (Iberian Twilight)
• Federating Australia now properly includes New Zealand
• Fixed an issue where Miguelist Portugal would have a default name, and French Legitimist revolutions would purport to be Miguelist
• Fixed several issues in coups that could lead to visible null scopes
• Fixed supply routes sometimes not following spline network correctly
• Corrected the name order of several Japanese characters
• The tooltip of The Imperial Sanction will no longer possibly mislead the player as to its outcome
• Fixed an unlocalised string in the triggers for whether a country is a Crown Land or not
• Finally captured and eliminated Henry Ford's mischievous clone
• Fixed an issue where "The Voice of the Nation" could have a null scope in its flavour text