Grand Strategy General

[AndyM03]

So after a quick glance i've seen a fair few people have gotten into EUIV.
Have you guys branched out into the other Paradox games? My personal favourites are Victoria 2 and Hearts of Iron III. And in case the fandom overlaps we could discuss Total War here too. Which I do enjoy.
Except for Rome 2. Fuck Rome 2. It looks like Hearts of Iron IV is going the same way, but at least it has the kindness to look as awful as it probably will be.

Here's the endscreens of my favourite Victoria 2 game. I was playing the game as Denmark-Norway, limiting all other conquests to be colonial and the peak of Continental Europe. Near the end of the game I got pumped by Communist rebels while I was in a war, the British navy stopping me from getting the rebels in the capital. Instead of save-scumming, like I normally would 'cause i'm filthy, I kept rolling with it, determined to fuck the entire world and installed Communist dictatorships in pretty much every other world power.

It was a lot of fun!

 

[Tirin]

I love me some EUIV, and I'm also pretty fuckin' good at it. I'm interested in Hearts of Iron IV (and I'd give VIctoria III a look if it comes out in the future); while I've played CK2, I don't enjoy it to nearly the same game as EUIV.

 

[AndyM03]

Do you have any posts of your best games? I'm not the biggest fan of EUIV but I've played enough of it and EUIII

 

[Chickenspleen]

CK2 is one of my favorite games of all time. I like to roleplay as my different rulers and make decisions based on what they would do.

Case in point, I started one game as the Count of Galloway. I played this guy as a cunning schemer. Over the course of his life he used political maneuvering to become one of the most powerful lords in Scotland. By the end of his life he had set it up so that his heir(his grandson) would have a claim to the Scottish throne. When he died the grandson took over and I played him as an "actions speak louder than words" sort of ruler. He accomplished most of his goals by military might and attempted to hold onto the throne that way. He was super arrogant, thinking he was invincible. He ended up dying in an ill-conceived war with Norway. His son was pretty much a pacifist, and his thing was solving all his problems via diplomacy. Long story short, Scotland ended up taking over all the British Isles and most of Scandinavia.

 

[Tirin]

Do you have any posts of your best games? I'm not the biggest fan of EUIV but I've played enough of it and EUIII

I had a game early on where I started as Austria and ended up owning all of Europe, the vast majority of Asia, and almost everywhere in the Americas. It was pretty baller.

 

[AndyM03]

CK2 is one of my favorite games of all time. I like to roleplay as my different rulers and make decisions based on what they would do.

It's definitely the most fun for the role playing aspect, I've had a lot of fun there. It's nice being able to completely change direction or playstyle based on your character. The start screen of this game is the most daunting to me, (Besides HoI III) just because there's so many options.

I had a game early on where I started as Austria and ended up owning all of Europe, the vast majority of Asia, and almost everywhere in the Americas. It was pretty baller.

I don't think i've ever gotten to that point, that's impressive. I feel like once you get too large the game becomes boring. But the first play through of dominating everything is very fun. I had one in EUIV as Japan, creating a feudal East Asian Co-Prosperity sphere, very fun, and in Victoria 2 the easiest Steam roller is rushing a unified German Empire as Prussia, the modifiers and industrial potential are insane. These days when I play I choose a goal and try to achieve it rather than going to the end date.

I must say i'm really not happy with Paradox's DLC scheme at the moment. Feel like the content isn't worth the price, but the collective amount of content they've created locked in the DLC is worth having.

 

[Ibix]

So after a quick glance i've seen a fair few people have gotten into EUIV.
Have you guys branched out into the other Paradox games? My personal favourites are Victoria 2 and Hearts of Iron III. And in case the fandom overlaps we could discuss Total War here too. Which I do enjoy.
Except for Rome 2. Fuck Rome 2. It looks like Hearts of Iron IV is going the same way, but at least it has the kindness to look as awful as it probably will be.

Gone through a lot of games with EU3/4 and Victoria 2. Some CK2. Hearts of Iron III was interested, but having to fight the eastern front against Russia, even as the OP bullshit Germany is, drained my will to play the game much further than that campaign. I did manage to take all of Europe and Russia, but I decided I was good on that save when it came to invading the United States.

I've played several hours of Medieval II: Total War, it's certainly pretty fun, I kinda wished the auto-resolve was usable more often. Granted It is probably in there just so you don't have to play 10:1 battles where there really is no danger and coming from Paradox games the fighting is obviously supposed to be WAY more involved gameplay wise.

Here's the endscreens of my favourite Victoria 2 game.

That last screenshot in your Danish game reminded me of when the Historical Project Mod had America fall into chaos more often than not. This was still one of the saddest events I've receive in a strategy game even though it never directly effected me that much during gameplay.

 

[AndyM03]

HPM is a damn great mod. Definitely has brought me back into V2 plenty a time. Sometimes it's fun to just play as the UK and World Police it to kill time, stomp down some plebians.
The Dream is Over reminds me of the Darkest Hour Mod, KaiserReich, an alternate timeline where Germany was the victor in World War I. America can fall to communists (Well Syndicalists, pretty similar but) and a similar event occurs.

 

[Easy]

I'll most likely pick up HOI4, but EUIV and CKII are what I've played. Got bored with CKII when I completed a Norse WC in some 300 years or so, and then used a software glitch to make people think I'm better than Tirin at EUIV. Of course, people still don't fall for it, no matter how hard I try.

 

[Tirin]

and then used a software glitch to make people think I'm better than Tirin at EUIV. Of course, people still don't fall for it, no matter how hard I try.

I'm glad that you were a big enough person to admit when you were wrong. I'm also glad that I'm so much better at EUIV than you are.

 

[Easy]

You're just mad cause you can't get WC, and probably never will.

 

[AndyM03]

I've never been a fan of World Conquest, though I understand the appeal of doing one for the sake of it. I've just never been bothered to try 'cause I have way more fun limiting myself and setting certain goals, crushing specific enemies while trying to make specific allies do well.

You're just mad cause you can't get WC, and probably never will.

Tirin, you can always conquer my heart if needed x0x0

 

[Easy]

Tirin, you can always conquer my heart if needed x0x0

As achievements go, that one would rank somewhere between "Until death do us apart" and "That is mine."

 

[Ibix]

So Hearts of Iron 4 been pretty good so far. I'd say I'm having more fun than the previous one, if nothing else for not having to assign an entire military staff structure for a massive national border for a good 30-45 minutes.

 

[Firedemon]

I've been addicted to Stellaris recently. Huzzah for Paradox grand strategy games.

Also Civ 6 is coming later this year. Looks like this will be a good year for the grand strategy genre with Stellaris, Hearts of Iron 4, and Civ 6.

 

[Whitetiger]

I'm really hoping Civ 6 isn't anything like Civ Beyond Earth. I'm pretty hyped for it though. The art style reminds me of Civ Revolution which I started with on the Xbox 360 but it will probably be a lot like Civ 5 which was very good after 2 expansion packs.

 

[Easy]

more like civ sux.

 

[Ibix]

more like civ sux.

HEY-Ooo

Looks like this will be a good year for the grand strategy genre with Stellaris, Hearts of Iron 4, and Civ 6.

I hope Civ 6 will feel more complete than Civ 5 on release, how do you make a game inspired by history without a religion mechanic? Also If Paradox announced Victoria 3 this year I'd give them my first born.

 

[Whitetiger]

I think I'd probably move on from Civ to other grand strategy games (hell I own a few I haven't really touched yet) if it weren't for the fact that Civ multiplayer (Nowadays) is pretty great with friends.

 

[Zircom]

Civ is 4x, not grand strategy.