Victoria 3

[The Minsky Moment]

Now we just need an effective Monroe-Canning Doctrine to protect South America.

[Syt]

Played a bit with Austria yesterday - I generally don't hate Power Blocs, but the Ideological Union (with its buffs to passing laws) seems silliest of all IMO. Best something for late game when you build your Communist International or something. (And Customs Union/Foreign Trade principles seem kinda no brainers at the moment. I added Bavaria/Saxony to the bloc, plus some more Italians. I don't want to form Germany (and will try to stop Italy from forming), but rather a hegemony based on "traditional values."

I was hoping to snipe something from Ottomans in their early war against Egypt, but Britains seems REALLY eager in 1.9 in general to ally the Ottomans in early game.

So I'm building my economy right now, trying to secure soft influence in Germany and cozying up with France, Russia, and USA for now while not pissing off Britain.

As usual - ethnic minorities = non-factor in first 10 years at least.

[Tamas]

I think the law-passing buff is actually OP for Austria. It means you can succeed with very low success-percentage laws and reform yourself early and fast. It is ridiculous that you are getting all these boons because you have a few teeny-tiny countries under your influence.

[Syt]

Played into the 1920s.

I kept Monarchy/Autocracy well into the 1880s or so, but finally had to switch because the Land Based Tax was not cutting it anymore. By 1920s we were a Presidential Republic with Census Suffrage. Those changes made it sometimes hard to hold onto my Power Bloc members (because you lose points if you have laws that are too different). I had to kick out some members shortly after joining because they tanked cohesion too much.

France, for a long time, was a monster, first with 1k troops (ca. half and half standing vs conscripts). A few observations: I sold out to UK twice because wars had nearly bankrupted me (one against Russia that I had joined looking to dismember it a bit, another because Prussia (plus France, plus Russia, plus Brazil, plus Mexico - both Great Powers) started a German leadership play - it was  touch and go, but my navy managed to starve the Prussians out. Though I did get the "All Quiet on the Western Front" achievement from the war (1M dead on one front). Seemed a bit gamey to have UK pay of 90M in debt (though at one point I had to give them investment rights for a few years while waiting for the treaty to time out (during which the UK bought half my GDP ... though I had as much coming in from GDP my companies/capitalists owned abroad, plus income from puppets. Speaking of - it seems a bit easy to sway some countries to become your protectorate when they enter a civil war. Even when they have the army to defeat the insurrection (like 3:1). That's how I got Turkey and Italy, actually (and some small guys).

Also, it seems the Liberate Subject wargoal seems a bit broken. I'm fairly sure it rarely (ever?) fired when the target capitulated.

Weirdest war:



That's Mexico (with Sweden) starting a play against Lübeck to make it a protectorate. Against USA and Brazil. 

I would have joined, but I was like 2 or 3 pixels from bankruptcy.

When I ended play Austria had become the Danubian Federation, gobbling up some more minors.

Europe:



The World:



(Yes, Mexico owns Alaska I helped the US defeat the Confederacy, but never got to help them assert themselves against Mexico who were often helped by France and became a superpower). British India collapsed (as it often does these days), though it clung on till the 1900s, and they still hold large chunks.

And the Power Blocs:



I guess I could take a victory lap and unite Germany (or Central Europe), but I also don't quite want to fight that mega-war (because it would involve France, which would bring in other great powers, and only GB would join me), because while late game performance is ok, during huge wars it's quite a bit slower.

Some thoughts: totally ignored colonies or getting "exotic" territories (had a brief attempt at Somalia, but eh. just focused on Europe instead). Still got enough rubber or opium through imports (with a bit of a delay), though I think the Foreign Trade focus in my Power Bloc helped, giving me more trade power.

While mostly playing in Europe, I still enjoyed this playthrough a fair bit.

[Solmyr]

Serbia be like: 

[Norgy]

I sometimes feel like this is just animated Excel sheets.

But I do like Victoria 3, despite its many flaws.

I've tried most of the major powers, except the UK. I have not tried Qing yet, but I expect it might be a lot like Russia or Japan, desperate political gambles to rid yourself of some useless laws and weaken the ruling classes.

I would also like to have the same option as in HoI4 to have "historical AI focuses", even without a focus tree. The free for all conquests and absolutely no real penalty for being both over-stretched geographically and having conquered all and sundry at bayonet point are not great.

The Excel sheets need to become a bit more than just a lesson in how to make your economy sustainable.
Me establishing colonies in the Pacific as Italy just because I have an interest there makes no sense as long as I don't have a proper fleet (two guys sharing a plank in the Med) nor really any military presence outside of Sicily.

"Colonial range" from EUIV could be useful.

Also. Power blocs. The concept needs some refining. At the very least.

[Syt]

Well, I decided to finish off the last few years.

Formed Germany (though didn't get Prussia for some reason), then Central Europe. I made a point of removing Russian access to the Black Sea. I conquered Prussia, but ate a lot of infamy.







A significant amount of my budget was coming from my puppets. 

[Norgy]

Mind sending me a list of mods on Messenger, Syt? 

[Syt]

Actually not even using that many mods.

For gameplay I'm only using:
- Unofficial Hotfix Mod: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3274932837
- Kuromi's AI (a lighter touch than other AI overhauls that IMHO railroad AI too much at times): https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3227982912
(And my Austria game was even without those.)

- I used to use "Know when to Hold Em": https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2886364566
But I feel the AI doesn't quit wars too soon or stay in too long, so I have that switched off.

For quality of life I use:
- Dense UI (which rolls a number of QoL mods into one): https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3378734097
- Better War Info: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3522882173
- Investment Queue (a little widget with some extra building queue tobar info): https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3529774644

For immersion, there's
- Headlines (adds messages for major/minor events, when a new tech is firs researched somewhere etc.). It's customizable: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3142463417
- Community Outfit Mod: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3147725402
- Better Civil War Flag: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2945028897

For graphics I use:
- Clear Sky (removes clouds): https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2926002119
- No Fog of War (removes dark shade over foreign countries): https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2882802850
- Smaller Cities (to reduce urban sprawl late game): https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2885459992
- Submod for Smaller Cities if you have DLC: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3372789356
(If you like those, check Miniature World)
- These map mods: https://steamcommunity.com/workshop/filedetails/?id=3426721289
- No Red Smoke (removes the ugly red smoke indicating turmoil from map): https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2886032403
- Do Not Scream (removes the screaming amuptation sound effect from some events): https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3517698132


I'm a bit ambivalent on Morgenroete: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2889925770
It's amazing what it adds (a lot of cultural/scientific content, like researching the solar systems or archaeology, or diseases or dinosaurs, hiring architects .... ), but a lot of it seems to add mostly busywork or is fairly linear. It's great on flavor, but the decision making seems a bit lackluster.

[Tamas]

Ohh few nice ones there for graphics I wasn't aware of, thanks Syt

[Syt]

You're welcome. Unfortunately, there's not all that many graphics mods (I wish for more paper maps ... I was using https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3082524396 for a while which was also gorgeous, but between this and the ones I linked it's slim pickings.). Some flag mods etc., but not really much else. Then again, the zoomed in map does already look quite gorgeous.

Was giving the Miniature World mods another try yesterday, but something seems busted with the mods, because I had trees all over my cities. Tried disabling the submods one by one to see what caused it, but no luck, and also too lazy to really figure it out.

[Norgy]

I am going to try the Great Revision mod.

Since it is focused on Europe mostly, I think Sardinia-Piedmonte is screaming that I should save them from, well, themselves.
I know that country has tier 2 tech and all, but those laws.
And Mazzini is about as helpful as a kick in the groin.

[Syt]

Let me know how it goes. I'm usually concerned that gameplay/flavor mods are either too unbalanced, too OP (like making infamy less important or making transportation/electricity non-local goods) or too railroady (e.g. every nation follows the same "optimal" research/expansion plan).

[Tamas]

BTW I have found Kuromi's AI mod largely unnecessary at this stage.

[Norgy]

Let me know how it goes. I'm usually concerned that gameplay/flavor mods are either too unbalanced, too OP (like making infamy less important or making transportation/electricity non-local goods) or too railroady (e.g. every nation follows the same "optimal" research/expansion plan).

Hmm. Lots of new laws possible.
Like anti-pollution. In 1836. That does not bode well.