Europa Universalis III (and other paradox goodness)

[Yoru]

Where the fuck is the thread for this game? I picked it up on a lark Saturday morning and, before I knew it, the rising sun was raping my windows in a manner altogether akin to the way my England was raping the endless sugar and cotton of North Clintonia.

(Okay, America. But it would be awesome if you could rename the continents as well as the provinces.)

One thing I'm curious about - how the hell do you stay at parity with the AI in terms of tech? I had a decently balanced budget and was investing strongly in land/naval, and I still fell 2-3 tech levels behind everyone else. I'm back up to 1-2 behind thanks to getting lucky and finding 3 & 4 star land tech advisors and a 6-star naval tech advisor, but they won't last forever.

Also, I seem to be trapped in Personal Union (as the lesser state) with Scotland. I can't declare war on them without breaking the alliance, and I can't break the alliance due to the Union. I want to conquer the sheepfuckers. Help?

[Rasix]

Where the fuck is the thread for this game?

http://forums.f13.net/index.php?topic=9153.0

I liked EU2 despite its crashiness (random CTDs when you haven't saved in decades are REALLY FUN), but I really have not liked anything Paradox has done since, which made me wary of this title. 

[Yoru]

That thread pretty much terminates after the demo release, though.

[Yegolev]

Have not made it through the tutorials.

[Montague]

Where the fuck is the thread for this game? I picked it up on a lark Saturday morning and, before I knew it, the rising sun was raping my windows in a manner altogether akin to the way my England was raping the endless sugar and cotton of North Clintonia.

(Okay, America. But it would be awesome if you could rename the continents as well as the provinces.)

One thing I'm curious about - how the hell do you stay at parity with the AI in terms of tech? I had a decently balanced budget and was investing strongly in land/naval, and I still fell 2-3 tech levels behind everyone else. I'm back up to 1-2 behind thanks to getting lucky and finding 3 & 4 star land tech advisors and a 6-star naval tech advisor, but they won't last forever.

Also, I seem to be trapped in Personal Union (as the lesser state) with Scotland. I can't declare war on them without breaking the alliance, and I can't break the alliance due to the Union. I want to conquer the sheepfuckers. Help?

Tech level:

The larger (more provinces) your nation has the more tech "points" are required in order to level up. It is much, much easier to stay teched up as a smaller nation than as one of the larger powers. The easiest way to tech up is through trade. As a big power in order to trade effectively that means getting trading ideas - National Trade Policy and Shrewd Commerce Practices come to mind.

Personal Union:

Personal Unions are the downside risk of royal marriages. Basically, you are stuck in a holding pattern until the monarch of Scotland dies. Once that happens the Union is over and then you can backstab them. Be aware though that breaking an alliance and declaring war on them causes a lot of Badboy points.   

[Yoru]

Re: Tech, that would explain it. I have enormous but underdeveloped holdings in the New World. Guess I'll have to stop the colonial sprawl and start beefing those up once I finish sealing off a perimeter.

Edit: Also, does controlling Centres of Trade help? I spent the 500 gold to split Manhattan off as its own trading center, as it was one of my more central and developed colonies, and that seemed to significantly improve its base taxes, but that's about it. In fact, Manhattan became so rich overnight that I could split off a second Centre of Trade pretty easily.

Re: Personal Union; I doubt it would be harder to break the alliance first, wait for the repercussions to cool off, claim throne (casus belli), wait for the cooloff, and then go to war than try to force them in by offering vassalization a bunch of times and then demanding annexation a bunch of times. Unless there's some surefire way of getting that to work - I've had Munster as a single-province ally forever, and whenever I demand annexation they refuse. I've tried probably about 5 times over the course of about 10 years and that shit gets expensive.

[WayAbvPar]

I put about 20 hours into it before the tedium and minutiae did me in. I felt like I was waiting around for ANYTHING interesting to happen far more often than not.

[Montague]

Re: Tech, that would explain it. I have enormous but underdeveloped holdings in the New World. Guess I'll have to stop the colonial sprawl and start beefing those up once I finish sealing off a perimeter.

Edit: Also, does controlling Centres of Trade help? I spent the 500 gold to split Manhattan off as its own trading center, as it was one of my more central and developed colonies, and that seemed to significantly improve its base taxes, but that's about it. In fact, Manhattan became so rich overnight that I could split off a second Centre of Trade pretty easily.

Re: Personal Union; I doubt it would be harder to break the alliance first, wait for the repercussions to cool off, claim throne (casus belli), wait for the cooloff, and then go to war than try to force them in by offering vassalization a bunch of times and then demanding annexation a bunch of times. Unless there's some surefire way of getting that to work - I've had Munster as a single-province ally forever, and whenever I demand annexation they refuse. I've tried probably about 5 times over the course of about 10 years and that shit gets expensive.

Controlling CoT's allows you to trade more competitively, which indirectly helps your tech. Also yeah, the CoT province gets a big boost in income. In version 1.1 there was a hefty penalty for your merchants competitiveness for controlling a CoT whose nationality wasnt accepted in your nation. Knowing Paradox there's probably been several patches since then so that may or may not have been changed. The option to split off a CoT wasn't there back when I was playing (least I dont think so), so I can't tell you if that helps or not.

There's no surefire way to get a minor to accept annexation, it's not a superior choice, just an option. In my games I played as Mecklenburg (minor with a CoT = money money money) and I had the surplus funds to play the vassalize-annex game. One of the plus points though to peaceful annexation is that a vassal adds to your income, and a peaceful annexation causes much less badboy. That can be useful if while you're trying to annex another opportunity presents itself, because then you can go in guns blazing, get provinces, force vassalize or annex or whatever, then work on the other minor later. Otherwise you'd either have to risk a badboy war or pass up the opportunity entirely.

[Montague]

I put about 20 hours into it before the tedium and minutiae did me in. I felt like I was waiting around for ANYTHING interesting to happen far more often than not.

It's definitely a niche game and not for everyone. The attraction for me was that I felt like I was actually employing a strategy and leading a nation, and not just 4xing everything under my heel. It does require patience and it's much more subtle gameplay than other nation-builder games though.

[Yoru]

I put about 20 hours into it before the tedium and minutiae did me in. I felt like I was waiting around for ANYTHING interesting to happen far more often than not.

It's definitely a niche game and not for everyone. The attraction for me was that I felt like I was actually employing a strategy and leading a nation, and not just 4xing everything under my heel. It does require patience and it's much more subtle gameplay than other nation-builder games though.

This. I actually hated the demo when I first tried it on my old box. Same thing with Eve way back in the day. However, like Eve, something about it stuck in the back of my mind and nagged me, so I started reading more about the game. This Saturday I finally got off my ass and bought it. The learning curve is insane, but I suppose that suits me just fine. I have Hellgate and TF2 when I want mindless shooty. EU3 is perfect for when I want to sit up in my chair overseeing a vast electronic empire, mug of tea in hand, and muttering "England prevails!" in a bad accent.

So yeah, not for everyone. I like the patience and subtlety though. My empire is large enough for there to be just enough to manage and oversee frequently enough that it doesn't feel like I'm fast-forwarding through the game, especially when I realize I played for 14 hours over the weekend and I'm at 1510. 60 years in. Less than 1/6th of the way through a single play-through. However, I definitely have fast-forwarded through a year or two to get enough tax income for big purchases.

I looked at their site. The upcoming Rome game gets me hard.

[Teleku]

I was a huge fan of EU2, and I love HOI2, but this one scared me off initially with reports that they took out the historical events, which I kind of felt was one of the best parts of the game (and the point, really).  Playing history.  Never really got around to trying it for what ever reason, though I hear with latest expansion they added historical events back in?  Guess I need to remember to give it a shot again.

[Quinton]

Picked this up on steam for $5...

Is there a mod to make the fonts at all readable on a 1920x1080 24" display?   The default stuff is just painful to look at.

[Sky]

Gah, I forgot about that. I also grabbed it, I liked EU2 but never got too far into it. Also I was just discussing it with my supervisor Wednesday, so it was on my mind.

But the fonts, they are going to be difficult on my tv from the sofa. Anno 1404 is also a pita with this.

My eyes, they're 40, dagnabbit.

[Ruvaldt]

I think I spent 200+ hours playing EU2, but could never get into EU3.  It seemed kind of bland to me for some reason; probably the lack of historical events.  I also loved HoI 1&2, but can't stand the sight of 3.  In fact, I haven't liked anything they've made in the 3d engine.  Even for the low Steam sale price I couldn't bite on either.

My favorite Paradox developed game is Crusader Kings, and I am cautiously awaiting its sequel now.

[Rendakor]

I read through half of this thread before realizing it was from December, 2007; 

[Yegolev]

Still haven't gotten through the tutorial.

[Sky]

the lack of historical events.  

I knew I should've done some research. Goddammit.

Btw NWN2 also teeny texty. Damn these eagle-eyed developers. Double-damn them because NWN2 looks good in 3d but the text makes it unplayable in 3d (just like Anno1404 and I'd guess EU3).

[Ingmar]

For The Glory is graphically updated bugfixed EU2, I prefer it to EU3 personally.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/42810/