Paradox Games legacy

THREAD MUSIC
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxR-XdJo2cA[/youtube]

So you know that whole ordeal with Warband all the way back when which failed because Wobbler and Zanza are lazy butts?

That was fun while it lasted. So I was thinking.


I don't know if any of you have heard of Paradox Development Studios, but they make the greatest historical strategy games ever. They're a bit like Total War but without the cinematic tactical battles, instead focusing on indepth management of your nation throughout the ages. All of the different series focus on different gameplay elements too, but more about that later.

I've become absolutely enamoured with their main line of games through the past year. And I was thinking we could play them in turns. Because that'd be cool.

Without further ado, here are the games!

Crusader Kings II

Spoiler

Historical era: The middle ages
Gameplay focus: Character-driven, RPG-like strategy game

Crusader Kings II is chronologically the first game in the bunch, and arguably one of the more indepth of them.
It takes place in the high to late middle ages, and lets you play not as a sovereign nation, but rather the actual person ruling the realm. You also have the option to play as a vassal to any of the kings and emperors of the period, which easily makes for more interesting gameplay. There are four basic title levels in the game one can assume, and they are as follow:

• Count
  Duke
  King
  Emperor

These titles come with regional varieties, of course, with an English count called an Earl and the Holy Roman Emperor going by Kaiser.
The game world is populated by characters, historical and randomly generated to fill the blind spots of history, that fill the various positions as rulers throughout Europe.

The main goal of the game is to keep your dynasty alive through marriage and making your nation grow, filling it with titles and vassals.

Read more:
Wikipedia
CKII Wiki

Where do I get it?
Steam

Europa Universalis III

Spoiler

Historical era: Various
Gameplay focus: Multitude, depends on the selected nation and era, but primarily:
Colonization, exploration, conquest

Babby's first grand strategy game, the best game to start with. Easily the least complicated game in the series, but arguably the most enjoyable. This time around you aren't restricted to a European nation, instead being able to pick any in the world. It is also the game that spans the longest period of time, starting in the early renaissance, making its way to the age of Exploration, then the age of Sail, onto the age of Colonization, and rounding off in the Napoleonic era. (Yes, you can play as Napoleon)

Read more:
Wikipedia
EU III Wiki

Where do I get it?
Steam (This is the Complete version, it doesn't come with all the expansion packs, sadly. However, Chronicles, the one that does, [strike]isn't on Steam[/strike] can be purchased from this same page also I am an inattentive person.)

Victoria II

Spoiler

Historical era: Victorian era to the Great War to the Great Depression
Gameplay focus: Industry, colonization, politics

The most complex Paradox game in the field of economy and diplomacy takes us to the greatest era of them all, the Victorian one!
Play as Britannia and smite the uncouth savages of the Zulu nation? Or battle backwardness as the Ottoman Empire and come to terms with your eventual downfall.. or overcome it?

Of course your options aren't limited to these two nations. As usual, you can play as anyone on the map.

Read more:
Wikipedia
Vicky II wiki

Where do I get it?
Steam (Once more, doesn't contain the expansion pack.)

Hearts of Iron III

Spoiler

Historical era: Second World War
Gameplay focus: Warfare

By far the most difficult out of all of them, this time around we find ourselves in the middle of World War II. And yes, you can play as Hitler.

The most involved warfare-wise, this one requires the bulk of your entire strategic mind to play well, because it is hard. There is no better way to describe it. With a large variety of units used to counter one another, and limited resources to manufacture them, you'll be stumped pretty much instantly, and there are a lot of dangerous beginner traps.

Preliminary info: I have no idea how to play this game.

Read more:
Wikipedia
Hearts of Iron III wiki

Where do I get it?
Steam


And the final (not so) hidden option
With the proper save game converters, a bit of ingenuity and tons of luck, you can actually play all these games chronologically as the same nation. Doing this is known to the community as a "Mega campaign", and with all right.
Since a lot of nations don't exist in all the games, it can be a bit tricky to edit and requires a bit of technical expertise. Fortunately, it is not difficult to acquire. With the right know-how, you can turn your nation into anything you want, with a custom name and flag and everything cool like that.

Oh yeah, and after this thread is concluded, a new one will be created in which we select which nation to play as.

 

I RESENT! I actually declared myself done after a week and were ready to sent my saving further!

Also, looks good, will not join.

 

Doesn't matter, you still signed up and didn't do it.

 

What you mean didnt do it? I recieved the save, played it for a few days then passed it on. How is this "not doing it"?

 

No Muro option. Very disappointed.

 

I'm still playing the very first Shogun: Total War game, so it will be a while before I get to these.

Though if you're looking for people to sign up and then not do it, I could certainly oblige.

 

I have the first Shogun total war game as well Smuel. we have so much in common.

 

I actually have the Warlord Edition, but I've only played the original campaigns. Playing as the Mori at the moment - it's a bit of a challenge because I never normally build warrior monks, but they're the clan's bonus unit. And I'm currently wrestling for control of a rebel province that gives monks a +1 honour bonus too, so I'll probably try them out when I get that.

Which is your favourite clan? So far I like the Uesugi, because I am heavily reliant on archers during battles, but the Takeda have cheap cavalry archers, which in some ways are even better, especially after getting production going in Shinano province. So I'm still not sure which I prefer.

 

I can gladly fail to this if i am required to.

 

I like the Shimazu mainly because green is my favourite colour and I prefer clans/nations in most games where you can easily defend due to their being mountain ranges or oceans behind me. Their No-Dachi tear through infantry as well. Useugi are good too because of their easily defensible starting location and archers, not to mention the rich soil in their provinces. As much as I love ninjas and playing diplomatically the game still requires you to beat down everybody so the Imagawa sort of loses out in the beginning unless you manage to build up enough alliances and focus on building a citadel and eventually geisha. Assassinate all of the leaders and the ronin are easy enough to finish off.

I don't have the warlord edition I just have the original from when it first came out. I believe there are a few mods out there that change the game up a little too, one in particular I always looked at was unlocking the ronin as a playable faction. It would definitely be an interesting faction to play as.

 

I haven't played as the Shimazu yet - maybe I'll try them next. It does look like they start off with a great position, so I imagine the initial stages of the game would be quite straightforward. When I played as the Takeda their territory is split in half and borders so many hostile clans that I basically had to abandon half my provinces on the first turn. That was hard to swallow.

One thing I was wondering - is it possible to make peace with the ronin/rebels? Initially they start off neutral, and then I attack them and the status changes to "at war" and I always assumed that since they have no Daimyo I would never be able to make peace. But in my most recent game, after a while I went to invade another rebel province and got that "They are currently neutral, are you sure?" message. So does peace set in automatically if you don't fight with them for a certain number of turns? I've been looking online for the answer and not had any luck. Mainly because nearly every search I do turns up results for Shogun 2 instead, which doesn't help.

 

Do you fucking people realize the OP took me like an hour to write

 

The rebels & ronin faction don't have any leaders so diplomacy is impossible with them. As for the neutral status I think that is a case of the territories they control not linking and therefore being separate rebels. Just because they are neutral though doesn't mean you should leave your provinces undefended as hey like to spread anarchy.

 

Re:

Yes. It's one of the reasons I'm contemplating buying these games.

 

I'd personally be more inclined to try crusader kings.

 

Crusader Kings II is the best of the three in my opinion. I picked up FTL: Faster Than Light yesterday and I have been pumping several hours into it. I haven't beaten the game yet but like most roguelikes the RNG is deadly.

 

I liked FTL a lot, but i prefer Dwarf fortress.
I'm totally open to a DF legacy.

 

Re:

I'm pretty sure that in Shogun: Total War, the rebels do form a distinct faction, with whom you can be at peace or at war. I base this on the fact that they are represented as a faction in the "who you are at war with" screen, and also from observation. In my latest game, I was at peace with the rebels, and didn't intend to provoke them because I had my hands full with other wars. I invaded an enemy clan province and during the battle I killed the enemy Daimyo. His forces all turned into rebels, including in the territory I had invaded, and since his remaining troops there had retreated to a castle, suddenly I was besieging it and this meant I was automatically set to "at war" against the rebel provinces all across the map, who immediately started invading me. I'm not sure if this counts as a bug, since it's hard to know what else the game engine could do in that situation, but it didn't seem very fair at the time.

 

Spoiler