Victoria 3 - Dev Diary #94 - Dawn of Wonder

[Butter For Less]

The content of this pack feels a lot more Sims esque than anything relevant to the Victorian period; wow, clothing and buildings related to sun/moon/light, since we added the day/night cycle, get it! I would've preferred content diversifying cultures with more common and usual clothing options which still feel Victorian instead of Sims-holiday pack outfits that will look out of place every time I see them.

 

[Hanako Seishin]

Do you mean it reacting to individual ticks, so it'd go through a full cycle in a day?? Honestly, I think you could probably get an effect like that or close enough by fiddling with the time slider, but I've never tried because I imagine I'd have a seizure

Go through a full cycle in an adjustable period of in-game time, such as in one week or month. So that it's actually useful to get a feeling for the passing of in-game time. As I understand right now the sun keeps moving even if the game is paused, and doesn't change speed when the game speed is changed. The point of it is then escapes me. It would only confuse the player, making them feel like the game isn't properly paused or isn't properly accelerated.

Usually when things in game are linked to real world time like this it's to induce FOMO and incentivise spontaneous microtransactions. But I don't see a battle pass accompanying this sun movement feature. Saving it for patch notes? Just joking. But wanting sun synched with game time instead of real time is not a joke. I logged in for the first time in forever just to say this.

 

[lachek]

The theme selector is a pleasant surprise. Any plans to open this up to modders?

I... think it might just work out of the box? All of the options are defined in scriptable databases. But it's possible we'd have to do some tweaks to make it work outside the context of a "DLC". I'll look into it!

 

[Cizm7]

Setting the sun inclination by latitude on a world map is a bit silly if you think about it for a moment.

Absolutely feasable. And I would have enjoy it.

 

[lachek]

I appreciate the new cultural clothes, but I won't lie, I'd prefer more _basic_ clothing for more cultures rather than those highly-specific which we won't notice 99% of the time.

I want to see more variety in cultural clothing too! For this pack we wanted to focus on the Day & Night theme though, rather than throwing in assorted clothing sets. There'll be more opportunities for that in packs focusing more on specific regions.

 

[lachek]

Allright, thanks for the answer.

I think pvp can be good on this system too, but it definitely needs things added for that even after 1.5 in my opinion.

Some exemples I don’t know if you considered:

-maybe multiple strategic goal orders for generals?

-more order variety for generals (focus on trading bodies for losing less territory… focus on kiting the enemy, cede land but don’t lose too many soldiers, let them attrition… maybe some encirclement tactics generals can roll for encirclements if the shape between states looks like it on the map)

-A supply system that makes cutting off states and encircle armies on a larger scale possible….. (like if i cut germany in half, i want to wipe the troops that are on the other half that i encircled, and not have them teleport away.

-actually, the concept of stackwiping troops (rn, unsuccessful invasion, or what looks like an encirclemement on the map just teleports away)

-shore bombardement mechanics from ships?

-being able use a quantity/quality build more properly, which i think would require revisiting how combat width works maybe

-terrains rolled by generals… terrain modifiers…

Can these work on the current system?
Could u consider these? Or maybe you have already?

We're looking into many of these for the Open Beta actually! But most of all we want to be attentive to what players actually start asking for when they get their hands on it, rather than just implementing what we think sounds cool, so I can't make any promises here quite yet. But if you want to see these things, please agitate (heh) for them in the Discord when we launch the beta!

 

[cosmeIII]

We've seen very little on the front of UX improvements. The UI is lacking in so many places in Vic3, not using empty space, data lost in tooltips within tooltips, data on one topic spread around various tabs and sections, right click menus often not adapting too well, or providing options that will never be used, etc.

IMO one of the biggest focuses for the Vic3 team should be on improving UX and bringing it up to speed, otherwise the lackluster design will pile up, and new additions to the game will follow the same path of bad UX and UI design.

 

[Loco_HUN]

We're looking into many of these for the Open Beta actually! But most of all we want to be attentive to what players actually start asking for when they get their hands on it, rather than just implementing what we think sounds cool, so I can't make any promises here quite yet. But if you want to see these things, please agitate (heh) for them in the Discord when we launch the beta!

In what discord? I think I was banned from the official vic 3 discord for expressing dissatisfaction in a passionate manor, idk if that can be reversed I can always agitate here though (I was banned here too i think before, or maybe not)

 

[starchitect]

Absolutely feasable. And I would have enjoy it.

…not really. A latitude setting makes sense in a city builder where the entire map is at a specific location. But on a world map you can have quite a few latitudes visible simultaneously depending on your zoom level. If light is projected in a single direction, then shadows are going to be the same everywhere, because the in game world is not actually a sphere, so setting your latitude to Prague would set it there for both Prague and Buenos Aires in game. Its not a setting that makes real sense.

 

[Cizm7]

…not really. A latitude setting makes sense in a city builder where the entire map is at a specific location. But on a world map you can have quite a few latitudes visible simultaneously depending on your zoom level. If light is projected in a single direction, then shadows are going to be the same everywhere, because the in game world is not actually a sphere, so setting your latitude to Prague would set it there for both Prague and Buenos Aires in game. Its not a setting that makes real sense.

Yes it does. Since a day/night cycle is projected from out of the game world on a table, it isn't a lack of consistency to spread a variation of Light on the Map. No need to Zoom. Nowhere is the Light Source position specified, so I speculated it would be possible to choose wich Light Intensity to set instead of having a Spectrum. As it is, Sun Light is already the same everywhere, like it would be if you could set Praha Sun Light everywhere. Btw It could also have a seasonal setting. etc That's why I wanted to know if it was possible to handle a Time/Location in order to have some of the Light Flavour but not all for gameplay reasons.

I won't linger on this matter, but I reckon I had too much Time, Season, Location expectation when aknowledging the forthcoming Content.

 

[Ekyman]

I'm trying to balance my disappointment. 1.4 and 1.5 look great, but if I had bought the season pass and this is one of the DLCs I'd get, I would be very angry.

We knew from the moment the season pass was announced that one of the DLCs in it was an art pack. So I don’t get this view.

I more get the criticism of the timing, since the game still has a lot of problems and given that it feels a little weird to be releasing paid cosmetic packs. But it’s still just something to maybe criticize a bit, not get “very angry” about.

 

[guiskj]

We knew from the moment the season pass was announced that one of the DLCs in it was an art pack. So I don’t get this view.

I more get the criticism of the timing, since the game still has a lot of problems and given that it feels a little weird to be releasing paid cosmetic packs. But it’s still just something to maybe criticize a bit, not get “very angry” about.

Not complaining about the fact of it being an Art Pack, nor even a complaint about the art that is in the pack (both the map and UI theme actually look quite pretty).

But the amount of content here is just very lackluster. We get a handful of very niche clothes, day-night cycle which as a Civ6 player is kind of a joke to me as main feature in a DLC, a couple buildings that don't even have a gameplay impact and some table art that most don't even zoom out enough to look at...

Now, if this Art Pack ALSO was all about fleshing out the rather terrible looking characters and adding some much asked-for military garb. Or (gasp) an alternative 2D portrait mode, or more event art so that people playing in Asia don't have event art that looks like from Brittain or South American agitators wearing sombreros... I mean, come on!

Vic3 is still going, overall, in the right direction, but I think the team has squandered prime DLC slots with some very side-show content.

 

[Chief of Staff]

This is something I would love to see!

Making hallmark events for introduction of the first Ironclads, first Dreadnought, first aircraft carriers, etc. would really go far in creating the feel of the naval arms races that did dominate the late 19th/early 20th centuries.

You could even also have an event triggered by the first battle between ironclads in addition to the event triggered by construction of a first ironclad. The famous Battle of Hampton Roads in the American Civil War was of an enormous significance in that it convinced all the world's great powers, some of them already engaged in an ironclad arms race, to cease further construction of wooden-hulled ships for their navies and exclusively concentrate on building iron-hulled ships instead.

I am unsure if this event should lead to AI ceasing construction of Man-o-Wars in favor of Ironclads (if they have not done so yet) or whether that decision should be independent of an event, but this event could instead simply provide a significant modifier for AI decision-making in favor of transitioning to a completely iron-hulled navy for any countries that have not done so yet.

 

[Nnorm]

We knew from the moment the season pass was announced that one of the DLCs in it was an art pack. So I don’t get this view.

I more get the criticism of the timing, since the game still has a lot of problems and given that it feels a little weird to be releasing paid cosmetic packs. But it’s still just something to maybe criticize a bit, not get “very angry” about.

Because all these fantastic features that this expansion introduces are just underwhelming: the day-night cycle that no one asked for and no one needs, additional graphical elements on the map, when 95% of the time you play zoomed out anyway, because zooming in too much makes the game barely run. And the icing on the cake – fancy clothes for some cultures that appear only during festivals or celebrations. When in terms of regular attire and their changes throughout the game, Victoria 3 is dramatically lacking, and it only has a handful of cultures with distinctive clothing.

This DLC is simply uninteresting and is another disappointment from the studio, following in the footsteps of VoTP.

EDIT: I expect mixed reviews on steam at best.

 

[lachek]

In what discord? I think I was banned from the official vic 3 discord for expressing dissatisfaction in a passionate manor, idk if that can be reversed I can always agitate here though (I was banned here too i think before, or maybe not)

Oh jeez, I don't know if I can think of any good alt-ernatives for you there my friend.

 

[Poliut]

you can also set the cycle to match your computer clock to further immerse yourself!​

So the speed of the game on that setting will be super-dee-dooper-dee slow then? 24 hours to move from 1/1/36 (1.1.36) to 1/2/36 (2.1.36)?

 

[Lunyicon]

STOP MAKING USELESS GFX IMPROVEMENTS! It serves no purpose beside lagging the game.
Can't believe pds chose wasting money making art that little to nobody would even turn on in game, over fixing things like the shitty storage system in this game.

 

[iamBlue]

The addition of the theme selector is something I've been hyped for as a modder ever since I saw the skin_editor in the command palate. Now that UI will be more moddable, what plans do you have to open up SFX modding? Would you consider providing a blank "master" bank so we can build our own FMOD projects?

 

[Ekyman]

some table art that most don't even zoom out enough to look at

additional graphical elements on the map, when 95% of the time you play zoomed out anyway

I do find it quite funny seeing these complaints back to back.

This DLC is simply uninteresting and is another disappointment from the studio, following in the footsteps of VoTP.

EDIT: I expect mixed reviews on steam at best.

I expect terrible Steam reviews, particularly because of the timing and the general state of the game.

My stance is that I'm not disappointed that this is the art pack they're making - I'm just disappointed that they're making a paid art pack period right now. There's clearly a lot of art time spent on making this and that's a little frustrating when at least some of that could have been spent on the existing core game (for example, improving the base character models).

 

[DominusNovus]

Just here to register my disinterest in such a DLC. The game already has entirely too many superfluous graphical doodads.

Spend that budget on making a simple map mode.