Victoria 3

[Syt]

Btw, I love that appointing generals is tied into the IG influence. More than once I hired/promoted a general primarily based on what group he represented and whether I wanted that group to be stronger or not. For much of my game I kept e.g. trade unions out of the military to keep them down. When I wanted to enact liberal reforms I started promoting generals who were part of the intelligentsia and workers and retired/didn't replace leaders who were part of more conservative factions.

EDIT: And I think it's a bit hilarious that CK3 has a map mode for government types, but V3 doesn't

[Solmyr]

I've liberalized as Sweden, becoming a constitutional monarchy and embracing both colonization and multiculturalism. Now I have a lots of Africans immigrating into Sweden.

[Tamas]

Amazing on Dixie farmers in Moldavia.

The government of revolutionary factions is a weird one, seems almost random to me - I have seen them having a trade union government and council republic / democracy, as well as a conservative setup with an emperor.

[Syt]

Just for a laugh I started a new Austria game and immediately released all possible territories, which leaves you landlocked, and with some key industries (clothing, paper, etc.) now outside your borders. Seems like a pretty challenging setup - maybe for another day.

[HVC]

Once Germany is formed you're kind of unstoppable. Attacked France who were joined by Austria and Russia. Trounced them all. Having a one level advantage on infantry might be a bit over powered. I was holding off Austria at 4-1 odds very easily. They threw themselves at me until manpower and money losses took them out of the war. Don't even have to invade. Russia and France crumbled easily.

Tried Portugal. Way to daunting at my level of experience. Maybe I'll try Austria. 

[Tamas]

Diplomacy is for sure the weakest part of the game.

In my Austria run, Britain managed to build up a lot of infamy, and it was the target of several "cut down to size" war declarations from Russia, France, Italy... except at separate intervals done individually, with the result that Britain ended up with a lot of war reparations paid to them over the year.

[Syt]

I'm giving Argentina a go. It's a fair bit harder - almost no money, almost no economy. It's the 1860s, and I've built my third railroad. I might build a second construction in ten or so years, because I cant afford more. Heck, my 10 divisions, even on line infantry levels is a struggle to finance.

I have several states where I have no peasants left, so I can't really build new stuff there.

Things would be even worse if Britain didn't "ask" me to join their market (and be their protectorate ... ).

[Tamas]

Second try at Piedmont on high AI aggression, this time without the economy mod as comments on it seem to indicate while it much improves some areas, it scews up others (notably army buildup of AI).

Aborted the game late-1860s, as my Ottoman and British allies could not stop Two Sicilies and Austria from defeating me.

Very first time I have seen Prussia from the NGF though. Also Russia was active in Asia conquering stuff so did France in North Africa, and the UK in different parts of Africa as well.

So, while definitely makes the game harder, I am leaning toward high aggression being better for the game.

[Syt]

Germany formed NGF in my last game. In this one they're also hoovering up the North Germans.

The US has been in a protracted war against Mexico/UK. The war has gone on for over five years, there's two million dead, with fighting in Africa (US is too eager to pick up colonies over there ...) and the US-Mexican border. The claims, once the dust will settle? US getting Baja California, or Mexico taking back California proper. As with being able to join wars under certain conditions there should be the possibilities to add more war goals as a conflict drags on (again, at a high cost).

[The Minsky Moment]

I stopped the US game after hitting 1 billion GDP.  It's a good learning country but by the 1880s it can mostly run on autopilot.

The US also has a huge advantage once the oil dependent techs open as it gets much of the world's oil for decades.

Started up a new game as the Sokoto Caliphate, similar to the US in having a huge slave population and in no other respect.  Awful starting laws including traditional economy, isolationism, no schools etc.  However, I stumbled upon a useful exploit.  Following some warmongering for a few provinces, the UK targeted me and another African minor.  After an initial panic, I checked the play demands

The UK wargoal was that I give up slavery.
I immediately capitulated.   

[FunkMonk]

Is there a specific process for getting a somewhat historical American Civil War? Nothing I've read or seen tells me that that is even possible.

[Tamas]

Is there a specific process for getting a somewhat historical American Civil War? Nothing I've read or seen tells me that that is even possible.

It's supposed to get patched soon.

[The Minsky Moment]

Is there a specific process for getting a somewhat historical American Civil War? Nothing I've read or seen tells me that that is even possible.

Not exactly.  But when the GPs pile willy-nilly into the Mexican war, the US ends up with the same level of war dead and devastation.  So there's that.

[Syt]

Is there a specific process for getting a somewhat historical American Civil War? Nothing I've read or seen tells me that that is even possible.

Not exactly.  But when the GPs pile willy-nilly into the Mexican war, the US ends up with the same level of war dead and devastation.  So there's that.

The Mexican-American War ended after almost two decades in my Argentina game. Well over 4 million Mexicans, Americans and British died till 1878. Looking at the map, California, Nevada, Wyoming, Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and New Mexico seem scorched (clicking through them, they all have over 50% devastation). Looks perfect for playing some Fallout. US GDP dropped 50% during the war (judging by the graph), their population dropped from 20 to 16 million. Mexico (where hardly any fighting happened) had a stable GDP and population. Britain's GDP even grew during this time, though they had 1.5 million dead themselves (though it caused them not much of a dent in total).

[Tamas]

I think I have been getting less insanely long wars with my peace desire tweaks.

I am thinking of drastically decreasing the impact of gold reserves on peace considerations because I often see that being the chief reason why a heavily battered country stays in a war which feels a bit silly.