Europa Universalis, Hearts of Iron, Victoria, Crusader Kings...all good stuff from Paradox Interactive.

Oh, I've wanted to try out Hearts of Iron, is it good? That's WW2 remake right?

And, I'll also take this time to ask anyone who does play how to control inflation. I'm at like 21% hahaha. I have a Master of Mint, but he's not quite cutting it. 6 colonies at the same time not the best idea?

I played it, it was ok. I liked Victoria 2 and HOI2 and 3 better.

Granted I haven't played any of the expansion pacts (which I here add a lot to the game)...

Yeah, I'm playing Divine Wind right now, and from looking back in the Paradox forums, a lot has changed. I believe in the first few versions, other countries didn't build 25,000 man armies and attack you haha. I mean, I'm Portugal and Castille has something like a 55,000 man army sitting next to my 10,000 man army haha

I've been thinking of getting EU3, now that I see your comments, I'm going to!

Hearts of Iron 2 is the best strategy game ever made in my opinion godfinger.

@Goldfinger, there is a National Idea which decreases it by 0.1%/yr. However, if you're minting like crazy, inflation will be the smallest of your problems, the big one will be that you'll be way behind on technology compared to, like, anyone else.

just started playing EU3 also. Brought Navarre/spain to the pinnacle of powernow im trying a member of the HRE (cleves) challenge being I can't go to the old trusty colonize like hell strategy or hie behind the water and the AI's inability to convoy properly

it seems like you have the expansions, I might look into them

Anything by PI is awesome. EU3 is my favorite as well. Inflation isn't too hard to control, just don't get greedy... later on in the game you can build buildings that reduce it easily, but try to keep it under 10% or so until then....

"And, I'll also take this time to ask anyone who does play how to control inflation. I'm at like 21% hahaha. I have a Master of Mint, but he's not quite cutting it. 6 colonies at the same time not the best idea?"

At least in the vanilla game just don't mint money until you have inflation control institutions (National Bank, Tax Assessor) live off of stupid small wars that give you war taxes and might get you 50 ducats every once and a while. Also, watch the goldmines. Be sure to diversify your ecoomy so that mining gold is only a small part of your overall income.

I never did get EU2 but I still play the original EU on occasion. What mind-blowing changes should I expect in EU3?

I have a friend that constantly tries to talk me into EU3, I might bite the bullet soon.

Agnes Obel is pretty good. Thanks for that.

Eurg.... wrong thread. Sorry.

Hahaha, like THAT has never happened before, LOL.

Try arsenal of democracy pretty much hearts of iron 2 but little added extras and a bit better balanced

@Dejan - I've wanted to try HOI2, but I want to get my money's worth out of EU3 first.

@Hydro - Yeah, I'm starting to realize I'm 2 tech levels behind most other European nations. I did Bureaucracy and Quest for the New World as my first two ideas, but now I'm going to go for National Bank.

@SC - I have complete, which is all 4 of the expansions for EU3. I want to play want of the daiymos of Japan eventually, but it takes so long to get through one game haha. It was on sale a little while ago for $15.

I think I'm just getting greedy. I have 3 gold mines, so I'll watch for that, but I'm going to sit back for 25 years or so, let things core and convert to Catholicism, and then expand again. I just don't want to lose my colonizing advantage I have over everyone (Save Castille) at the moment. Does it matter tax-wise if my capital is in Europe but all my territories are in Africa and South America? Also, trade league or no trade league? I see my colonies are trading through Liguria rather than Lisboa, but I have trade stations everywhere.

@FirstApple - I haven't seen the first EU, but I'd imagine the AI is much smarter, better at tactics, there are some changes regarding inheriting thrones, lucky nations, personal unions, and overall I believe the game has been streamlined. I highly suggest you upgrade.

@SD - Its a good bullet to bite

Don't know EU3, but i had great times wit the original one :)

"Does it matter tax-wise if my capital is in Europe but all my territories are in Africa and South America? Also, trade league or no trade league? I see my colonies are trading through Liguria rather than Lisboa, but I have trade stations everywhere."

Basically you should focus on snatching up as many non combatative sugar producing territories as you can (Cuba, Coast of Brazil, Hispanola). If you are behind, catching up is easy if you drop an army in the new world as the AI (realistically) doesn't do a good job of defending colonies. Then when you have a huge base of sugar colonies then go after the gold mines in far off areas (I had a bit of an advantage here as a history geek, I had a pretty good idea where to find the gold. )

i didn't touch trade till I had alot of money from colonies because it was frusterating, but the smart thing to do with trade is to explore the far east while you explore the new world and take over the trade markets there, the game is unsurprisingly euro-centric and asian traders go running at the sight of a european merchant.

I'm wondering if this is all common sense to people who havn't spent time studying colonial history. I kicked ass the first game I played because I knew exactly where to look for the most lucrative territories. I felt like I was cheating.

Vanilla EU3 is a pretty bland game if you are already into Paradox games (of course it's great for newcomers), the mods are what make it so special. Especially Magna Mundi, which was so popular that its developers will be releasing a stand-alone game next year on the same engine as EU3 and it is going to be THE grand strategy game.

As compared to EU2, 3 is much less streamlined and event-driven, which means less historical outcomes but also no silly stuff like conquering whole Europe as Hungary only to find out that in year 1526 IRL, your dynasty died out and so you lose the game as well. The borders are also rounder (an aspect my friend loves so much he can't move to EU3). There's also a mod AGCEEP that takes the design philosophy a step further and even a spin-off, unofficial expansion game For The Glory.

Other main series from Paradox are Hearts of Iron (focused on warmongering in 20th century, current version is 3 but there are spin-offs of HOI2 as Arsenal of Democracy, Darkest Hour and Iron Cross, similar idea as For The Glory for EU2), Victoria (economic and societal focus from 1836 to WWI, current version is 2, much more user friendly than the first one) and Crusader Kings (focus on dynasties, set in medieval Europe and surrounding areas, 2 is currently under development with such features as 3 portraits and genetics). There are also other minor titles like Majesty or Mount and Blade and my current favorite, Hearts of Iron: The Card Game, currently in open beta.

The blandness of vanilla EU3 mostly resides in the fact that there are no checks and balances, you can conquer the whole world as any country after careful practising. The game is simply too easy.

and to answer your question I missed, No it doesnt matter, I had one territory in navarre for the vast majority of the game I played but made money hand over first with the colonies without many problems. This is where the historical acuracy of the game gets sketchy. Forming and Holding onto a colonial empire should not be as easy for navarre as it should be for spain. Be sure you chose Viscounts as a National Idea if you go full out colonial.

should say this is on area where it gets sketchy

PI games are great, though generally you have to wait for patches or expansion packs for the game to work well (a lot like the TW series). For EU3, I've only In Nomine, Divine Wind is supposed to be really good though.

Just got it. I like it, am curious to try Vicki 2 but heard it is more complex.

I never played the 3rd EU due to a crap laptop but have been wanting to try it out. I am kinda of bummed by the sheer number of expansions, honestly these couldn't have been combined? 3+ expansions for one game seems like a money ploy to me. But hey PI makes great games I am one of the proud few that can legitimately claim playing the entirety of the EU 2 engine games with one dynasty/nation. Started in crusader kings as the lowly count of Savoy, ended as an italian empire that also included the adriatic side of the bulkans (I assumed the HRE title supplanting the Germans and returning the Imperial Title back to its proper home in Rome), continued in EU 2 where my burgeoning empire absorbed most of africa as one giant colony, which became a logistical nightmare in the Victoria and also a lesson in economic inequality (poor africa, rich italy!), and then proceeded to conquer the rest of Europe as a Fascist Monarchical regime in Hearts of Iron II, have to love how you can keep moving from game to game.

I never tried the game converters for CK->EU2->Vicky->HOI2 but your game sounds fun, diplomancer.

All 4 expansions to EU3 + original game are sold in one pack (EU3 Chronicles) for 30 € on Steam. And Steam is the worst place to buy EU3 since it basically bans usage of mods so you can probably get it cheaper and better - you can try awesome mods like MEIOU. Alternatively, you can buy only first 3 expansions, save one third of the price, and try the Magna Mundi mod that doesn't run with Divine Wind (the last expansion) anyway. Really, Paradox has one of the best bonds with the modding community, modding is easy and encouraged, plus the results outshine the vanilla games.

And expansions are not the real money drains today, DLC is what is rotten in the gaming industry. They bring less than an expansion, they are used as paid patches... and when you hear that a DLC is planned for a game that wasn't released yet, you should just stay clear of it.

Agreed on the DLC stuff. And yes it was a lot of fun but also took a good year of my life lol.

Have you posted it somewhere on the Pdox forums, maybe even a tasty AAR? ;)

Oh, an AAR of that would be great. I've never heard of someone going from crusader kings to EU though.

What actually got be hooked on the game is when I read an AAR of Serbia who took over the Ottomans and became absolutely massive.

and thanks SC, I'm aiming at the sugar producing areas in the new world, and the ivory producing ones in Africa. But it hit 1500 and all of a sudden pirates appear on the dot EVERYWHERE every 4 months or so.

Very interesting, this. I have deliberately not bought those games because I know I'd be hooked. Say goodbye life, say hello computer screen 3 o'clock in the morning. I watch the "Let's Play..." videos on Youtube instead, usually while I eat, if the familiy's not home :-)
Agnes Obel IS good, btw

I've played almost every Paradox Game ever. They're good stuff.

Regarding EU3, definitely get the expansions. I'm not sure about Divine Wind, but the rest are definitely worth it. EU3 wasn't good at all until In Nomine came out.

Magna Mundi is also a great mod, if occasionally annoying.

Generally though, Paradox games are never ... perfect on release. They improve substantially with patches, expansions and player made mods. You could say that Paradox has the bad habit of using their customers as unpaid testers... However we are a devoted fanbase, and understand that as a small company money is always tight for them... And we just love their games too much!

Another problem with Paradox is that the games are real system hogs, particularly the current generation, you need a decent CPU to play at any kind of tolerable speed. Luckily, they've been getting better about it.

"To be brutally honest, Paradox games are not "released". They ESCAPE!" - unknown poster from the Paradox Plaza.

Just was yesterday. But honestly eu3 annoys me a little with its borders. They are imperfect and kind of random.

Mods improve it a bit.