Martin Anward is the guy with the guts to rip out the multiple FTL systems in Stellaris and rework the entire economy and Pop system. He’s definitely not afraid of taking a hard look at what’s not working and tear it all down
In a perfect world/game this would all be sorted at 1.0, but to their credit they keep plugging away on improving their games.
Oh indeed, but a game this complex is never going to come anywhere near to that kind of perfection. I always laugh when people blame it on Paradox’s approach to DLC or ongoing development or whatever and bring up how back in the good old days games had to be perfect at 1.0 because patching was either a difficult manual process or impossible. But of course that’s those rose tinted glasses that completely forget how back in those days games would come out with major flaws that you would just have to live with because the cake was baked at that point.
Yeah, I agree. My favorite Paradox forum whine is “This is a slap in the face! Features XYZ should have been in the base game!”, when they’re talking about stuff being added to EU4 a decade after release. :)
I mean, EU4 was a terrific game at release. If all these expansion features “should have” been in the base game, it would be going on 12+ years of development without any return in revenue. Good luck with that!
Clearly mission trees have been a hugely successful feature in EU4, how many years was it after release before they added those? And then how many years after that was it before they made any actual good mission trees?
It’s a trick question, cause they only made good mission trees for Imperator.
I hate the Imperator mission trees. Hate is maybe a strong word but they never clicked for me.
Hey, this is a period appropriate (especially if they eventually implement some of the additional ideas at the end of the diary) way to specialize countries while also giving a boost to the importance of prestige.
That all sounds great! I might have to take this for a spin again in 1.5.
I keep thinking about checking out the France stuff but then it seems silly to start a new game before 1.5 or at least a stable beta of 1.5.
1.4 seems like it will be a decent update but since they are putting out the 1.5 beta right when 1.4 comes out it feels like a situation where I can just wait 3-4 weeks for the beta to stabilize and just jump to a version with a whole bunch of extra goodies.
And oh hey, that’s as pretty significant military rework for 1.5 too which also seems to set the table for even more military improvements in future updates. Plus the comments mentioned that they are looking to have IGs have opinions on foreign policy for the Spheres of Influence DLC. That’s one of the biggest things I’ve been waiting for.
All the changes seem logical, but devs giving up on dynamically moving frontlines sounds like… giving up. It might have had unsolvable issues, but it sure was cool.
I think to make it work they would have needed to use a system like the new formations where troops had a physical location combined with better AI. Then if a pocket formed it wouldn’t necessarily have to split a new front but the troops trapped inside would be screwed.
Who knows, maybe they’ll go far enough down the discrete formations path that they’ll just kind of solve some of that and be able to revisit it. Might just depend on how long they continue working on the game. I think the demand for interesting warfare will mean they spend more time on that component than they really wanted to.
The open beta for v1.5.0 has gone live. Changelog and all that jazz below.
They are continuing to push a lot of changes for 1.5. Haven’t played in a while, but really liking where this seems to be going:
For some reason this iteration has clicked for me where the other 2 never have. Really looking forward to 1.5 but I’ll wait until it’s out of the oven.
I’ve been waiting for 1.5 to jump back in again. Based on where update 1 of the beta is at I think I’ll still be happier holding off until either update 2 or until the actual release version of the 1.5 patch. Too much of the military stuff is either unimplemented or too in flux for me to have an enjoyable experience.
I also hate that they teased they plan to do a bunch more with Companies in the Spheres of Influence expansion that is supposed to come out early next year because they need some of the new(unannounced) features from the expansion patch. Don’t get me excited for the next update before this one is actually out! Also I bet it has to do with foreign investment. Shares in foreign companies, perhaps?
They’re targeting 1.5 for November? Dang, this is going to be one hell of an update. Looking forward to jumping back in once it’s out,I haven’t played since release (and I liked that version well enough).
I’ve really struggled to get into Victoria 3. Whenever I read about the game it sounds terrific, but playing it I don’t feel any pull. Most of the game time seems to be in building stuff, but buildings and production chains and so on is not why I play Pdox GSGs and it just makes me want to go back to map painting in EU4, wargaming in HOI4, or roleplaying in CK3.
Will try it again with 1.5 or the Sphere of Influence expansion, especially as I bought the ultimate grande moneybags edition at launch.
Yeah, it really does not sound like the game for you, then.
I never expected a primarily military or map painting game. But the connection between politics and economy could be more compelling. The building in-game necessarily has winners and losers (domestic and international) and the allies and opposition that result feel quite muted and delayed – if it happens at all.
Probably wait for Spheres of Influence if you’re getting that for free anyway. Hopefully the improved politics and diplomacy in that will start to feel like more of a hook for you too. And they’ll keep making Companies more featured which will hopefully give more personality to the economic side of things.
Right, there is so much possibility in some really awesome stuff happening by just better connecting existing systems.