EU3 announced - future of this project

[MattyG]

All,

Given that Johan has anncounced next February/March as the release date for EU3 (there are event some art pictures publically available) it does call into question the future of this mod.

Details are scant at present, but the following are true: EU3 will commence in 1453; there are over 1700 provinces; and it will have an 'easy access' version for beginners, presumably with greater detail for advanced use. The graphics, interface and AI will all be improved.

It is likely, given the history of the game and the company, that it will be very very moddable, surely with more options and commands than EU2.

What is not clear is whether it will be in all ways better than EU2.

Of course, we could all continue this project in EU3. Which then means, how deep do we want to get into changing EU2, if we then have to upgrade the entire thing to the EU3 framework.

More will become available in the near future, but we need to start chewing it over.

My intial reaction is that we ought to aim for a release of the official 1.0 of this mod, but continue writing the content/ideas for the next stage. Then, once EU3 is aailable, we can start converting to that format, and writing up the new material rather than having to transform it.

Thoughts?

 

[unmerged(16159)]

All,

Given that Johan has anncounced next February/March as the release date for EU3 (there are event some art pictures publically available) it does call into question the future of this mod.

Details are scant at present, but the following are true: EU3 will commence in 1453; there are over 1700 provinces; and it will have an 'easy access' version for beginners, presumably with greater detail for advanced use. The graphics, interface and AI will all be improved.

It is likely, given the history of the game and the company, that it will be very very moddable, surely with more options and commands than EU2.

What is not clear is whether it will be in all ways better than EU2.

Of course, we could all continue this project in EU3. Which then means, how deep do we want to get into changing EU2, if we then have to upgrade the entire thing to the EU3 framework.

More will become available in the near future, but we need to start chewing it over.

My intial reaction is that we ought to aim for a release of the official 1.0 of this mod, but continue writing the content/ideas for the next stage. Then, once EU3 is aailable, we can start converting to that format, and writing up the new material rather than having to transform it.

Thoughts?

This moment was inevitable, I guess.

I agree, we should finish this to a point. Set ourselves some goals (say Mediterranean through to Finland by November...?), release it and have a few drinks down the pub to celebrate.

Then continue the ideas, while we wait for EU3, keeping in mind that a release date of Feb/Mar 07, might well be Dec 07....

 

[MattyG]

Paradox has been on-time with most recent releases.

I was thinking that we aim well before November ...

Depending on how much we learn about Eu3 we might even be able to start planning well before then. It all depends on whther any of us make it into the Beta testing.

We'll want to include Il-Khanate and Zanj in that list.

Matty

 

[Incompetent]

Long-term, EU3 is great news for Interregnum's (?) future, as it will bring new life to the Europa community. While it's true we've done a lot of work that will have to be discarded or massively rewritten (eg the colonial events), all the work we've put into concepts and intricate sets of choices will likely be just as valid, and EU3 will probably give us more freedom to make them event-based reality. While the events might end up quite different (eg if we end up moving POPs around rather than changing province population etc), the experience several of us have gained in event-writing will likely let us get down to business quite quickly, as Paradox is unlikely to introduce a radically different code.

However, we shouldn't go crazy yet. EU3 is still a year away, which is almost as long as the Abe II project has been around to date. Also, we shouldn't assume that all our potential users will switch to EU3 the moment it comes out. Some people's comupters won't be up to spec, some people (inc. me) will likely wait months for the Mac version, and EU3 1.00 is likely to have various niggles to annoy players.

Still, I don't think having a release orientation is a bad thing. We should probably split tasks into 'core' (ie, things which need to be done before release) and 'additional' (things which don't). This should in no way restrict conversations on additional areas though, as the conceptual work will be fully transferrable to the new project. If people supply me with details, I can update 'State of the 'rration' to give more detail on progress.

At the moment, based on where most of the work has been happening, I think the 'core' region is Europe, the Arab world and North/Central America, and specifically the recognised majors and their 'mainstream' stories (new/variant majors and minors can largely wait). West Africa and the Khanates will also be important, but for now we should probably focus on how they interact with the core zone For example, Zanj is not very important to anyone in the core, so instead of writing things for it I should probably work on rounding out the Scottish event file (eg the Parliament events peter out abruptly at the moment, but I planned to do more with them, especially with the mediocre Scott dynasty).

The areas that need particular attention IMO are Egypt, Finland, Ukraine, Hungary and the Italian powers; if no-one has a big plan for these places, we should focus on making sure there aren't any serious gameplay problems. In fact, in some areas it might be better to just rip out dodgy event sequences, like the Hussite crusade, than to 'reform' them, given we might well come up with a radically different storyline for some of these places.

 

[unmerged(33577)]

I agree with the point of view that we don't need to be aware of EU3 for the moment.
I like comparaisons : Lot of people still playing CIV2

I also think that it's maybe the good time to fix some goals for 1.0 release.

I apply for the betatest of EU3 and hope to be choose.

 

[MattyG]

Typically, Incompetant said what I was thinking, only he said it better. Or rather, he had the time, while I was looking after an infant and need to write quickly while he had a nap.

I agree with the priority list, in general. I am going to post about what I am working on so everyone knows.

 

[yourworstnightm]

I think the best way regarding EUIII is see what happen when it appear and if anyone is interresting in making this a EUIII project. If not it'll still be a great mod, but for EUII, if it goes over to EUIII, I guess a lot of work is needed, but hopefully it will be worth it.