Victoria 3

[Syt]

The 1.12 free patch video on YouTube had an interesting tidbit I missed - the Carlist Wars are going to be special: a limited kind of "guerilla" war, with no fronts (?, IIRC) and battles generating slower. They say it's only the Carlist War, but they consider it a test case for the future.

And for an "immersion pack" they're shoving in a lot of stuff - reworked coups, colonial administrations rework, law amendments, election meddling and voter confidence, ....

[Zanza]

Playing this with the latest DLC again. I suck at the game.  It's fun nevertheless. Trying my hand at Spain and failed against the Carlists.

[Syt]

Seen in an observer game:



Two things:
1. Independent Mordvin country in Russia.
2. Landlocked Mordvins are obsessed with ... Clippers.

[Syt]

Also, interesting mod:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3647628156

Victoria 3 is a solid base to represent the major shifts in the workforce organization during the era.
Though, some issues appears in both historical approach and gameplay simulation.

The most glaring one being the very fast "depeasanting", leading to a late game where workforce is scarce compared to the available economic capital. So private sectors tend to build enormous numbers of empty buildings.

On top of being an annoying gameplay effect, it is also historicaly innacurate since workforce was never truely a limiting factor of economic growth. On contrary, there was even phases of massive unemployment, that nearly never happens in the game.

An other one is how "labour saving production methods" (representing progresses in automation) are handled.

In game, when you pick more modern PMs, you usualy needs more pops of advanced qualifications (engineers etc) and the less you need simple laborers, and "labour saving PMs" sometime even remove completely the needs for those non-qualified workers.

It leads to a end-game society with an absurd number of engineers and nearly no labourers left.

Of course, it is hugely innacurate compared to History : In reality, the modernisation and automation leads to the need of less qualified workforce compared to the traditional society where production was handled by artisans (often highly qualified) guilds.

Automation, even if it needs some engineers and machinists (qualified laborers), leads to a general "proletarianization" of the workforce in general. It is due to various factors such as decompositing the industrial works in simple tasks.

But in general, the more the production is automated, the less qualified workforce is needed. The opposite of what the game is doing right now.

Last but not least, the "depeasanting" process happens in the game in a weird way since peasant somehow accept to be turned in laborers whenever a new industry building is completed. It is due to the base wages being a bit too high compared to subsistence revenues.

The present mod attempts to solve those shortcomings with the fewer and less intrusive changes as possible and should be very compatible with any mod (except for those attempting to do the same things)

Changes

• Increased the Working Adult Ratio from 25% to 30%
• Replaced the Working Adult Ratio modifiers from Trade Unions traits to avoid fluctuations due to politics
• Massively reduced employment needs from nearly all Production Methods, save for Plantations.
• Changed employment ratios and composition of nearly all Production Methods. There should be nearly about 50% laborers in any late PMs.
• Made Labour Saving Production Methods way more impactfull and consume less goods. Employment can be reduced to 500 workers per building lvl with Assembly Lines.
• Increased employment potential in subsistence farms
• Reduced starting base wages, including subsistence farming

In detail, the massive reduction of employment needs will at least double the time needed to "depeasant" your economy, and that's without accounting for other changes!

Also, the sector where the mechanization of the economy will be the most felt is agriculture. First thing being going from subsistence farming to "organized farming" will reduce employment requirement by one third, then, the process of agriculture's mechanization will reduce employment in this sector by 8 from era 1 PMs to era 5 PMs!

This alone will push literal hordes of underqualified people into unemployement and poverty, being then available for ruthless industrials, offering just enough wages to barely survive...

Yes, at least in the earliers parts of the game, this mod will turn the industrialization process into the hell it was for the working classes in the Victorian era!

A world where independant peasant and artisans are pushed out of their traditional jobs by the agricultural revolution and the automations progresses, then have the choice of starving in massive unemployment or accept miserable wages in the industrial sector and very little perspectives to ever access to the small "middle class"...

With that said, in terms of gameplay perspectives, this mod will add more challenges to the game since unemployment and poverty are now realy threatening for your society. If unchecked, political consequences can be devastating.

[Syt]

Me minding my own business in South America. Get a notice that Great Powers have gone to war in 1854.

Prussia and Britain (plus colonies) vs. Austria, Russia and Italy. 500 vs 600 units.

The stakes?

[Crazy_Ivan80]

Should've been Greenland...

[Zanza]

I played games with Spain, Brazil, and Prussia recently.

With Spain I could conquer the Spanish colonial empire with little opposition. Had to fight the US once over Mexico, but that was it.

With Brazil I also took over most of South America. And with Prussia, I accidentally created Super-Germany and then the Holy Roman Empire.

In all games, I reached a point after some decades where there was little to build as my private sector created such gigantic investment pools.

I guess I should try a mod like the above to see if it reduces the snowball effect.

[Tamas]

Yes, thanks Syt. I also need to check what's been included in the Corporations DLC as consensus seem to have been that they are very OP and further help an already unrealistically strong economic growth.

[Solmyr]

Me minding my own business in South America. Get a notice that Great Powers have gone to war in 1854.

Prussia and Britain (plus colonies) vs. Austria, Russia and Italy. 500 vs 600 units.

The stakes?

Sounds realistic, WW1 was essentially a series of humiliate CBs.

[Zanza]

Me minding my own business in South America. Get a notice that Great Powers have gone to war in 1854.

Prussia and Britain (plus colonies) vs. Austria, Russia and Italy. 500 vs 600 units.

The stakes?

Whoever is humiliated likely falls to major power, which means the winning side is the only contender for German unification and might form super Germany with the loser. Smart move by AI as the huge debuff only triggers when you explicitly fight for leadership.

[Syt]

If true that would be great. But not sure how intentional it was, honestly. Germany later formed, with Bohemia included (which had become independent after uprisings in A-H(.


First patch of the year. It's a bit more than was in the beta update (which mainly fixed the infamy bug).

Happy New Year Victorians!

Welcome to 2026! We have a hotfix fresh out of the developer forge today, featuring the contents of 1.12.3's Opt in Beta and a variety of other fixes, improvements and other balance changes.

Also, as we said in the last dev diary of 2025, we will have our first dev diary of 2026 at the end of this month, written by Martin - the subject will be revealed with the diary itself.

This is our final planned hotfix for 1.12 as we shift over to future content, which we will share with you in Q1 of this year.

Check out the full patchnotes below. Checksum is `8825`.

As always, please report any bugs on our bug reporting forums! We have also updated the Known Issues post for 1.12 with any fixed issues!

The following changes have been made to the game compared to 1.12.2:

Improvements�

• Upon researching Corporatism, the stances of the Carlist and Miguelist ideologies will change to support Agrarianism and Interventionism, and less intensely disapprove of non-Autocracy distribution of power laws
• The Two Spains Journal Entry may now be retained after forming Iberia as Spain
• Carlist, Miguelist, Legitimist, Catholic Fundamentalist, and Catholic Rights movements will now experienced increased Activism if their owner country has poor relations with the Papal States
• Reinstating the Basque Fueros as the Carlists will now add a Basque primary culture to Spain. Revoking this amendment will remove the primary culture.
• The "Ausgleich" event for Austria will no longer annex a player Transylvania without warning; rather, it will make Transylvania into a Hungarian subject
• The Spanish State Religion law at game start now has the State Anti-Clericalism amendment

AI�

• Fixed an issue where the AI would sometimes not deploy garrisons to fronts in adjacent HQs, even if failing to do so threatens the overall theater they are stationed in
• AI Liberal Spain will be now be much less willing to pursue the Reconquista

Balance�

• The Claim Greater Khorasan button for Persia will now add claims on Turkmenia and Merz
• When Interest Groups want to leave a party, they will no longer do so instantly but rather at the start of the next election, except in cases where their membership is no longer valid (for instance due to law restrictions)
• The traits of Interest Groups whose clout would make them marginalized will now only have half the effect if they remain Influential for non-clout reasons (such as being in a party)
• Interest Groups that are supported by less than 2% of the population and whose clout would make them marginal will now leave any party they are part of (and thus become properly marginal)
• The "The Good Mother" event for Portugal now typically fires in November of 1853, rather than January
• Moved the point at which Carlists and Miguelists become willing to participate in electoral politics from Political Agitation to Corporatism
• Removed negative tax revenue modifier from the Individual Redemption Payments amendment
• Pursuing the Reconquista of the New World as liberal Spain will now cost more infamy

Content�

• Added a new event and wargoal for Portugal to restore the Union with Brazil in the case of a Republican coup
• After completion of the Carlist War Journal Entry, we now also move the market capital to Madrid
• Added Antônio Carlos Ribeiro de Andrada as a starting Intelligentsia leader for Brazil

Interface�

• Goods expenses for construction is now split into private and government construction
• Fixed issue where UI was lying that goods from modifier (like the Carlist small arms) were available in market even though market access of state was zero
• Fixed issue where UI would list buy orders as sell orders in interface for goods from modifiers
• Building options in the production lens are now always fully alphabetically sorted
• Confirmation tooltips for actions that could cause a coup will now longer go off screen

Bugfixes�

• Fixed the infamy reduction for transfer money article enforcement that could result in 0 infamy against big nations (Thanks to player Gaspote)
• Fixed a bug when battles could be unable to start
• Fixed an issue where infamy values for Regime Change were calculated incorrectly, resulting in too low values
• Fixed an issue that caused several war goals to default to their infamy minimum value
• Fixed the Unstable Raj timer not updating upon Presidency Stability declining below 225
• Characters will no longer launch coups against law enactments that they support
• Fixed an issue where a coupist general could create a government with no Interest Groups
• Fixed a bug where the Revoke All Claims wargoal would be instantly invalidated, resulting in the wrong wargoal being used for secessions
• Fixed a bug where requirements for repealing amendments had disappeared.
• Emperor Pedro of Brazil now only starts the game as immortal if Colossus of the South is active
• Fixed a bug where agricultural buildings such as farms and ranches would not get cash reserves
• Fixed a bug where it was not possible to nationalize without compensation unless you had the money for compensation on hand
• Added trigger localization to the amendment_geheime_staatskonferenz amendment that was missing
• Fixed an issue that would cause the Modernisation Movement to pre-emptively switch ideologies, possibly locking AI countries into Peasant Levies
• Fixed an issue that led to the Yankee and Dixie cultures losing their Small Arms obsession upon the monthly tick
• Fixed a bug where adding a Liberate Country wargoal made the Conquer State wargoal unavailable even when not targeting conflicting states
• Fixed an issue where the ruling party would continually reform and disband under Single Party State
• Fixed a bug where Financial Districts and Manor Houses under Cooperative Ownership would pointlessly invest into foreign buildings that would then get collectivized
• Meiji Restoration events for Japan will no longer select Japan as the relevant foreign country
• Fixed a bug where buildings would sometimes try to pointlessly privatize themselves under conditions where they are able to self invest (such as Guild System)
• The "The Emperor's Regency" event for Brazil will now properly fire at game start
• Fixed a bug where unraised conscripts in a formation counted towards maximum manpower
• Fixed a possible NULL_OBJ in the Abdication and Resignation tooltip
• Fixed a crash during the disbanding of a company with a colonization charter
• Fixed a random crash when calculating a political strength of a pop
• Fixed a misplaced variable that could erroneously grant the Regeneration achievement if the Economic Regeneration journal entry timed out without making use of any creative accounting
• The Carlist Movement for Spain will no longer launch a second Carlist War whilst the first is still ongoing
• Fixed an issue where the african beard gene could get duplicated causing error spam and fps drop
• Fixed a bug where Treaty Port status would not get cleared correctly when a Treaty Port is annexed, leaving a state with 0% market access behind
• Fixed the abandon_revolution effect so that it properly removes targeted IG from a growing revolution
• Fixed a bug where sometimes the independence war goal wouldn't save in the game
• Timing out the "Bilaad al-Siba" Journal Entry for Morocco now removes the State of Anarchy state modifiers
• Fixed a bug where the cut down to size diplomatic demand was not possible to start through the interface
• Fixed a bug in the Carlist/Legitimist succession script which could spawn multiple clones of the same claimant, rather than a single claimant capable of inheriting both thrones
• Fix a bug where Trade Potential could sometimes incorrectly show up as a negative value when constructing Trade Centers
• Fixed a bug where the wrong alliances would be broken when declaring neutrality
• Fixed a bug where the election fraud event would not fire on the first election
• Added STATE_ENTRE_DOURO_E_MINHO, STATE_OLD_CASTILE and STATE_MURCIA to iberian_treaty_ports, requirements missing for The Western Protectorate achievement
• Fixed several events that couldn't fire due to incorrect trigger scopes
• Prevented the "Independence Day" event from briefly popping up as Cuba if the Carlists win the Carlist War
• Fixed a bug where oncreate effects for create_character could sometimes run twice
• Fixed an issue that caused Jose Rizal to be unable to spawn (Iberian Twilight)
• Fixed an issue where Pedro of Portugal could erroneously die if made the heir to Brazil in 1853
• Fixed an issue that caused stacking of multiple iterations of the "Setting Up Election System" modifier upon switching between Distribution of Power laws
• Fixed a bug where it was not possible to sign a renegotiated treaty if the can_ratify check failed for old, unamended articles, making it look like the AI was declining the renegotiation
• Fixed a misplaced adjacency line between Zulia and the Dutch Caribbean
• Fixed an issue in "The Status of the Vernacular", which incorrectly radicalised French pops for Spain
• Fixed a bug where having enacted/not having enacted NULL_OBJ could show up in law enactment tooltips due to checking against law groups that are not valid for the country (such as caste system)
• Fixed a bug where localization was missing in the map tooltip for diplomatic actions involving making subjects
• Fixed a bug where place holder text was shown to the player in the market panel
• Secessionist Interest Groups can no longer launch a coup
• Fixed a possible repeating error in military formation script

Couldn't try it yet as we had an all day workshop yesterday and went for dinner afterwards (at a lovely Portuguese place). I was getting bored with my Venezuela playthrough (I was trying to be a conservative oligarchy relying on slave plantations/resource extraction for economy. It was working reasonably well, esp. after joining the American market, though balancing the budget was tricky at times. But by 1900 it was also quite boring.

So time to try a new game tonight, maybe.

[Syt]

Btw, an excellent music mod:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3533972926

Has 100+ tracks of classical music. Each track can play only from the year it was released IRL, and will stay in rotation for 10 years before being phased out. Has two playlists - one instrumental, one with vocals.



Though it seems with it enabled it doesn't play any of the "normal" music in game.

Together with the mod that disables all musical stingers/sounds when events pop up (which would usually interrupt the soundtrack) this is currently a must have for me.