Advice: Not Getting Into This One

[Anthropoid]

Victoria Revolutions, patched up to 2.1 beta patch no mods.

I've only been playing Paradox games for a few months. Absolutely loved EU3, got HTT loved it more. Got Rome Gold, loved it even more. Got CKDV loved it even more. Got Victoria Revolutions and . . . well, I'm just finding it a little hard to get into this one.

I've only played as France so far, and have restarted several times playing through a year or so to see how the engine works. My most recent game I had played up to about 1841 without making any changes in govt, social reforms, etc. and without DoWing or doing anything drastic. I used the splitter utility to split all my POPS.

I initially closed some of my factories to build up some stockpiles, and since I stayed Laissez Faire, the only real actions I've taken is to upgrade some of my smaller farmer & labourer pops to Clergy with the goal of having one clergy in all provinces. I've sort of figured out the trade so that I can make a little money, and with the exception of never seeming to have enough lumber, I have managed to maintain enough stuff. I recruited several Gens and assigned them, put both my fleets together in Marseille and have managed to keep my maintenance levels high, but have only replenished one or two of my Divs to full strength. I'm waiting till an African neighbors prestige plumments below -100 before I do any warring, and seem on track to slowly get all my Divs up to full strength and keep my economy strong enough to be able to keep them at full strength, though the manpower thing is tricky to keep out of the red.

My prestige has steadily climbed (180 or so relative to closest rival at about half that) my treasury has hovered in the 9K to 15K. I supported Neth in the London Treaty, and have been improving my relations with Spain and Lombardi.

Gr Brit is way ahead in number of troops, industrial size, is a much more reformed society, and have already built experimental railroads in most of their England provinces (as has Belgium and Switzerland). Meanwhile, as I remain Laissez Faire, I'm still stuck in the Middle Ages. My Capitalists seemed to have reserves of about 680 when I last looked.

So I have in effect figured out the game enough to actually keep myself from going bankrupt, to start building diplomatic relations and prepare for some colonial wars. Only problems is: this game is so realistic, I'm sort of finding it really boring.

Waiting for capitalists to industralize my nation? Yes, that is beautifully realistic but, also rather boring from a gameplay perspective.

Now don't take that personally; I'm not here to dis your beloved Vicky Indeed, I can see it is a brilliant game, and in the time remaining till Vicky2 comes out I'd like to come to love Vicky as well. But I'm just not finding the same degree of inherent draw that I did for the other games, and I'm wondering if I'm approaching it from the wrong mindset?

Maybe what I should do is play Great Britain first? Or play a scenario first?

What are some more short-term and long-term goals I should be striving for that might add interest for me? Maybe I really should go ahead and mod up to one of the better mods?

This is a great game, and a true strategy-gamers game, so I appreciate any suggestions on maximizing my enjoyment of it.

 

[Legosim]

Honestly I would suggest losing the French (who seem to have a relatively annoying slower industrialization something built into the FRA tag, at least in my experience), and picking up either Sweden or Prussia. I don't recomend GB as a starter (others do), becaue IMO it's just too big to handle at the beginning. I learned the game with Sweden and Prussia, (both of them have some of the best and fun event strings). Also, imo, don't be afraid to cheat a little bit in your first run, just to get the hang of it.

I never found VIP really necisary, I enjoy Ricky for what it is. However that is up to you. If you want to stick to France your main goals should be propping up Spain, possibly setting up a fovoriable Italian sattellite nation. You might also be interested in eventually absorbing the Lowlands and their colonial empires. Also, watch out for Prussia! Be prepared to knock them out in 1871, which will lead to the nifty event making the North German Fed (if it exists) your satellite.

Your goals really should depend on your nation. For your first Grand Camp, I suggest just staying alive, possibly a little expansion, mostly through colonization. Chose where you want t ofocus your efforts and go for it.

ALSO, use VickyWiki. Unfortunatly it was offline at least yesterday, idk about now. Anywho, it is an amazing resource with strategy (albeit slightly outdated), FAQs, etc. Great place.

Hope that nice wall of text helped. Good luck.

 

[Anthropoid]

Very helpful! Thanks Legosim!

A "wall!?" Ha! Compared to mine that was a mere partition

Sorry I can be a bit prolix.

BTW: is "Ricky" a mod or is that short for Vicky Revolutions?

France your main goals should be propping up Spain, possibly setting up a fovoriable Italian sattellite nation . . . I suggest just staying alive, possibly a little expansion, mostly through colonization.

That says it all. Unlike say Civ or even EU3 HTTT, this engine seems to be a more constraining simulation in which more goals that are more in-line with actual history (stay alive as a nation!) seem to be appropriate. That is exactly the kind of comment I needed from a vet to help me see the right mindset to get the most out of the game.

 

[makotech222]

I've been playing as america everytime i play a game, at least 30 games, and im still having a blast. Gotta be ready for the mexican war, then a following civil war hehe but its easy when you get use to it. Industrialization is fast too.

 

[Slyguy3129]

I learned playing Prussia in VIP (Mod) and after a few games struggling to make a dime at a steady pace I remembered, "Oh Shit this is the era of imperialism! I should be taking small countries in Africa or else where that have nice little rare resources!" I had been playing way to conservative (I'm a HOI and EU3 MMP2 gamer) and forgot the main part of the game.

I think an even better suggest for you is to take a look at a few AARs. That will help you get a general idea of what to do when you want to take your country from medium to top.

 

[Legosim]

Very helpful! Thanks Legosim!

A "wall!?" Ha! Compared to mine that was a mere partition

Sorry I can be a bit prolix.

BTW: is "Ricky" a mod or is that short for Vicky Revolutions?



That says it all. Unlike say Civ or even EU3 HTTT, this engine seems to be a more constraining simulation in which more goals that are more in-line with actual history (stay alive as a nation!) seem to be appropriate. That is exactly the kind of comment I needed from a vet to help me see the right mindset to get the most out of the game.

You are correct, Ricky = Vicky Revolutions.

I suggest, looking at OHGamer's excelent Prussia AAR; Power By Production. I think it's slightly outdated, but still allows for a great learning experience. For your fist few games, just lay low. Prussia or Sweden are good because their excelent event chains can lead to greatness without much effort, and both countries start with a good starting industry, ways to expand, and are easy to keep within the top eight.

One of the great ways to make money in the game that I found (although it is exploitation), is to DoW every uncivilized nation that has lower than -100 prestige, annex everything but their capital (therefor gaining no BB), and then selling off the provinces to your closest ally or w/e, for tons of cash and techs. Again, it is exploiting, but that shouldn't bother you for the first few games (at least it didn't for me).

Also remember, when expanding against uncivilized, remember to two-step annex. First time, take as much provinces as you can, and humiliate. Five years later, come back for only a -1 prestige hit, and take the last province (capital). Feasibly you can take out giant uncivilized nations (Persia? Sokoto?), for only a 2BB point hit.

 

[Brandenburg III]

Now don't take that personally; I'm not here to dis your beloved Vicky

You better not. You said you liked Rome, that’s more than enough ammunition

Maybe what I should do is play Great Britain first? Or play a scenario first?

The only time I’ve ever played a Great Power at the start of the game was when I fixed strict rules on myself. I’ve found that the best way for learning a new game - for me - is to play the smaller nations. This will have you pay more attention to the details of what you need to do to succeed. The + .04 gain is much more revealing than a leap between 34.00 - 33.00 gain or loss. Also, in this case, your POPs aren’t spread over a huge empire, you generally know where all your land is from the start and you’re not having to go state-by-state looking for people to promote or factories to build. Beginning as a regional power also shortens your field of vision so you don't have to worry about the whole world.

What are some more short-term and long-term goals I should be striving for that might add interest for me? Maybe I really should go ahead and mod up to one of the better mods?

Depends on your country and what you hope to achieve. Victoria is a more history-driven game than EU3 HTTT so that’s going to play a part in it. Knowing your history, or playing the game one or two times will inform you when you need to be prepared for certain wars or events.

Generic short term goals are to always make money and have enough soldiers so you’re not knocked around right away. Long term goals could be anything. Steal as much of Africa as you can? Be the most industrialized nation? Whatever you like.

I don’t think mods are a necessary either. While I exclusively play the VIP mod, before VIP I was perfectly happy with the vanilla version. VIP will provide you with a very historical game but will allow enough leeway if you want to try something different. What I like most about it is its control over Africa and colonization, which the vanilla game is lacking. There are also some nice events in there that make things more exciting. But I would learn the basic vanilla game before trying something a little tougher.

ALSO, use VickyWiki.

I tried using the EU3 version of that before I became an active poster on these forums and found some of the advice terrible. Maybe it was different for EU3 because at the time it was a new game and the strategies didn't seem to be thought out.

Back to Anthropoid: Where I always go to for gameplay advice are AARs. It has the interaction from readers who may say something the writer doesn’t and the writer usually goes into more detail than a simple guide. I don’t usually do this but I wrote an AAR a few months ago as Russia with a goal to maintain the monarchy in the latest - and still current - VIP update. Maybe it’ll give you some insight on how to run a large country.

 

[Anthropoid]

Thanks guys! I suspect I'll actually get a LOT of mileage out of this one since I think it will take me some time to get into and fully explore! Your advice and suggestions are excellent for orienting me in that respect

What I love about Paradox games in general (even Rome with its oversimplified abstractions) is that they actually compel me to read up on some history.

 

[Orm]

...the only real actions I've taken is to upgrade some of my smaller farmer & labourer pops to Clergy with the goal of having one clergy in all provinces.

For what possible reason?

 

[Legosim]

For what possible reason?

Keeping pop's subservient? It's a good idea on paper but totally useless in practice imo.

 

[Orm]

Keeping pop's subservient?

Yeah, but one in every province?

 

[Anthropoid]

Don't they contribute to research? And also don't they make the low-class types more 'agreeable' or something?

I got this one-clergy per province idea from some guy in a thread somewhere on here.

 

[Legosim]

Don't they contribute to research? And also don't they make the low-class types more 'agreeable' or something?

I got this one-clergy per province idea from some guy in a thread somewhere on here.

Good idea, but by far a waste of money. If you go directly to full political reforms and become a Con. Mon. (as you should, at least for now), clergymen do not matter at all. They are counter-productive in democracies, iirc. Clergymen only increase research up until around 1865-1870 (Darwin) if I remember my event dates correctly. Well, you have to chose the correct option but still. Even before then clerks and capis are far better. Don't overdo on capi pops either, or you will find yourself in a rut by 1880.

 

[Orm]

Don't they contribute to research?

Yes they do, but it's generally better to promote clerks, since you're going to need clerks later on anyway. At least this is the case if your intention is to become an industrialized nation. Clergy belong to the feudal era. As Legosim pointed out they lose some of their research value when Darwin comes along, while clerks gain research from the same event.

And also don't they make the low-class types more 'agreeable' or something?

Yes, but they do that on the state level, you don't need one in every province.

 

[Anthropoid]

So I deleted all my old France files, and restarted as USA!

Ah yes. Now that is more like it! Rampant capitalists building stuff all over the place!

 

[Legosim]

So I deleted all my old France files, and restarted as USA!

Ah yes. Now that is more like it! Rampant capitalists building stuff all over the place!

Don't get hit unprepared by the Mexican War or any of the many British War events.

 

[Anthropoid]

Okay, I think I've pretty much got the hang of this one now