Everyone on this forum has been a noob in PDS Grand Strategies (even DDRJake), and everyone has started from specific title until reaching a point where the game itself stops being a serious challenge even on hardest settings in Ironman. Some of that players continue their experience with another PDS titles, some wait for updates, patches and DLC, some move on. But most PDS strategies I've played have a very solid immersion level, (for example when I finish one of my Grand Campaigns, I have a feeling similar to a finished good solid book: some kind of satisfaction and remorse that this particular campaign is over).
Another awesome feature about PDS strategies is their level of detailization: lots of events, complex and quite realistic mechanics, good balance and reasonable AI, mixed with huge sandox capabilities. No other game series can match PDS titles in scrupulousness of simulating given eras (only EU4 lacks some degree of immersion, IMHO). No Civilization game, no Total Wars or Galactic Civilizations can stand even close in terms of strategical simulation (which doesn't make them bad by any means).
There is also a small drawback: despite detailed and informative tutorial, all games have a quite high entry level (even in CK2 warfare is much more complex than in Civ series), which matches the games' detailization, therefore the most recommended modern PDS games playorder would be CK2 => EU4 => Victoria 2 => HoI3, matching the era those game depict.
So, what is the initial idea?
- Create fully-functional savegame converters or unify savegame files logical structure to the degree when a player that starts playing one title could convert\import save to another title without any problems and drawbacks.
Reasons behind this proposals are simple: a player that started his campaign in middle ages (CK series) may want to play his state in Renaissance and Reformation era (Europa Universalis). After accomplishing his goals he might want to see how his empire survives the Age of Industrialization and Rise of Nationalism (Victoria series) and test if his empire (or small but strong state) will deal with World Wars onslaughts (HoI series), meanwhile spending his money on your games
- A simple WYSIWYG editor would be highly appreciated: the process of editing empires and creation of new setups can be fun itself, while it's much easier to deal with GUI than walls of text.
A simple WYSIWYG save editor could help people avoid situations where (for example) your imported (from CK2) Roman Empire covers all Europe and North Africa in EU4, meaning no single state can even remotely match you: you could release some nations to add more challenge or merge some Asian powers to make a huge World War in XV century.
I mentioned before, PDS strategies afford unseen level of simulation, meaning that not any single game ever can be more detailed than PDS grand strategies line. Providing compatibility between saves would mean that your nation can try to survive through countless centuries, carving it's path from a small county to modern Great Power. And if PDS has plans on releasing Rome
- Add Ironman mode and some achievements exclusively to exported saves (just fun achievements at least) while disabling generic achievements to prevent abuse.
more achievements = more time spent, which leads to a more loyal and friendly community.
All this steps will rise interest to all PDS grand strategies titles and will encourage players to spend money on other titles. If you are really going to publish Rome2 and modern days Grand strategy, just imagine what advertising campaign (with irresistible proposals) to try yourself with experiencing a two millenia history with unmatched detailization level you could launch.
There is a malfunctioning (tried 1.5 months ago) CK series => EU series converter, but none official from EU to Victoria or from Victoria to HoI. There are some community utilities that convert saves, and I can say that they are quite popular and have a stable demand. For example I converted my Theodoro EU4 savegeame into Victoria2 and currently enjoy my Thedoro campaign, preparing to WWI. I have recently bought HoI3 only to watch how my Empire survives WW2 =)
Unfortunately, community utilities, converters and addons have their problems, while PDS-developed converters could make experience much smoother.
Another awesome feature about PDS strategies is their level of detailization: lots of events, complex and quite realistic mechanics, good balance and reasonable AI, mixed with huge sandox capabilities. No other game series can match PDS titles in scrupulousness of simulating given eras (only EU4 lacks some degree of immersion, IMHO). No Civilization game, no Total Wars or Galactic Civilizations can stand even close in terms of strategical simulation (which doesn't make them bad by any means).
There is also a small drawback: despite detailed and informative tutorial, all games have a quite high entry level (even in CK2 warfare is much more complex than in Civ series), which matches the games' detailization, therefore the most recommended modern PDS games playorder would be CK2 => EU4 => Victoria 2 => HoI3, matching the era those game depict.
So, what is the initial idea?
- Create fully-functional savegame converters or unify savegame files logical structure to the degree when a player that starts playing one title could convert\import save to another title without any problems and drawbacks.
Reasons behind this proposals are simple: a player that started his campaign in middle ages (CK series) may want to play his state in Renaissance and Reformation era (Europa Universalis). After accomplishing his goals he might want to see how his empire survives the Age of Industrialization and Rise of Nationalism (Victoria series) and test if his empire (or small but strong state) will deal with World Wars onslaughts (HoI series), meanwhile spending his money on your games
- A simple WYSIWYG editor would be highly appreciated: the process of editing empires and creation of new setups can be fun itself, while it's much easier to deal with GUI than walls of text.
A simple WYSIWYG save editor could help people avoid situations where (for example) your imported (from CK2) Roman Empire covers all Europe and North Africa in EU4, meaning no single state can even remotely match you: you could release some nations to add more challenge or merge some Asian powers to make a huge World War in XV century.
I mentioned before, PDS strategies afford unseen level of simulation, meaning that not any single game ever can be more detailed than PDS grand strategies line. Providing compatibility between saves would mean that your nation can try to survive through countless centuries, carving it's path from a small county to modern Great Power. And if PDS has plans on releasing Rome
- Add Ironman mode and some achievements exclusively to exported saves (just fun achievements at least) while disabling generic achievements to prevent abuse.
more achievements = more time spent, which leads to a more loyal and friendly community.
All this steps will rise interest to all PDS grand strategies titles and will encourage players to spend money on other titles. If you are really going to publish Rome2 and modern days Grand strategy, just imagine what advertising campaign (with irresistible proposals) to try yourself with experiencing a two millenia history with unmatched detailization level you could launch.
There is a malfunctioning (tried 1.5 months ago) CK series => EU series converter, but none official from EU to Victoria or from Victoria to HoI. There are some community utilities that convert saves, and I can say that they are quite popular and have a stable demand. For example I converted my Theodoro EU4 savegeame into Victoria2 and currently enjoy my Thedoro campaign, preparing to WWI. I have recently bought HoI3 only to watch how my Empire survives WW2 =)
Unfortunately, community utilities, converters and addons have their problems, while PDS-developed converters could make experience much smoother.
