Just play it without DLC. If you enjoy it, get Common Sense and Art of War and go from there.
If you try to play ck2 as an empire conquest thing, you will fail and burn out quick, think of it more as, I want the strongest family tree , hunt down mates with the best trait, create a race of super nobles, win on self-appreciation
Weird how people who like something label those that don’t like it as not understanding it, guess that’s a thing too.
EU IV and CK 2 are essentially tied for me.
EU IV has a lot easier concept and more obvious goals and the DLC just improve it.
CK2 is pretty complicate, nothing else out there has you wait 12 years for some one year old to marry your son all in the hope that 60 years or so later their son might inherit something if only you can figure out how to remove that one person who is an obstacle… that’s strategy.
My time on Steam doesn’t reflect my real time at all. I had it through non-Steam, and then they switched everyone over.
I actually want this to be real! Rome was a pretty good lite strategy game, I’d happily play Rome 2!
However if the choice is between Victoria 3 or Rome 2 then I’d have them work on Victoria 3!
Are they working on any “secret projects” at this point?
EUIV has to be it. It’s my most played video game of all time (EU III would be in the top 5 as well I am sure), and is so relentlessly addictive and fun that it can consumes whole days if I let it.
CK2 is fantastic and unique as well, I have had alot of fun from that one. Victoria 2 would be my favourite if it had the extra UI, flavour, and mechanical hooks that their later games had. This is why I really hope they are working on a Victoria 3!
Hearts of Iron IV is great fun, but the narrow focus unfortunately means it will never eclipse the grander games in my mind. Stellaris I also like but it needs some improvements before I sink alot more time into it.
EU 2 was my first hardcore strategy game, and I really loved it too even though I was too young to really know what I was doing. Playing that after Civilization 1 and 2 felt like I was graduating to a more adult game, even though Civ 1 and 2 were also brilliant.
I was never able to get into Rome or Sengoku or March of the Eagles.
I am rambling now so I will stop. Paradox are my favourite developers and I can’t wait to see what they have in store next.
I think there are three project names at the moment - Titus, Tiberius and Caligula. Although they are not necessarily all different games.
It was widely expected (at least among the fans) for one of these to announced last year but it never happened. I think chances are high that there’ll be an announcement this year sometime, and after they announced HoI IV years before it was eventually released they mentioned they are only going to announce shortly before something is released (similar to what they did with Stellaris), so maybe even a new game in 2018 too.
CK2 and HOI3 (haven’t dipped into HOI4 much yet.)
EU4 sould have been a game I loved but man, so hard for me to keep at it. It was a really, really well done game, but dare I say, boring?
CK2 for me as well. It has so much character. EU4 was definitely boring and too “mechanical” for me.
You’ve hit on one of the things I love about EU4 - yes, it can be boring! But it’s a good type of boring. In fact I only ever play it on speed 1, even when there are no wars or anything going on. It’s kind of like a Scandinavian slow TV show of someone knitting - things are ticking along but nothing is happening very fast and you can spend time clicking through all the various subsystems and planning on what to do with the various different types of points that are slowly creeping up. I find it very relaxing - although it takes me dozens of hours to even get to 1600 so my games rarely go beyond that.
This thread needs more Victoria 2.
-Tom
CK2, followed by Victoria 2 and then HOI4.
I love EU4, but I find it I like playing it less than the aforementioned games. EU4 feels weirdly like a generic conquest game when compared to the specifity of their other designs (I know it’s not generic at all, but Paradox has spoiled me with their less mainstream offers).
Never played Rome, but I’m big into Roman history these days (getting hold of Cambridge Ancient History second hand volumes is hard, though) and I would LOVE a Rome 2 if Paradox is listening.
Well considering my favorite game of all time is Europa Universalis IV, how could I answer otherwise?
And @Juan_Raigada, don’t pay attention to the shirt. Shams has been trolling fans with that for years. It’s kinda a hobby/ in joke. I sincerely doubt that they are working on it.
Or at least that they were. He seems to do it less the last year. Perhaps it’s no longer the joke?
Have you done a Victoria 2 stream? Even if you have, I’d love to be there live for you doing a new one.
I’ve tried to play that game for years, it seems like the best one out of the bunch, but I get overwhelmed everytime. Yes I’d watch a Victoria 2 stream.
Not a stream but I found this.
I played a lot of CK2 and was considering EU4 but @tomchick put his thumb on the scale. At this point, when it comes to having to learn a complex game, I can do so at a rate of once a year. Lately I’ve been jonesing for a color the map game and I do lean more towards games where pieces on the board have some autonomy so Victoria 2 may be my next purchase.
Do the standalone Hearts of Iron 2 mods/rereleases count? Arsenal of Democracy and Darkest Hour are high on my list–they both do a much better job at wartime grand strategy than other HoI games pre-IV (haven’t played IV to say how it compares).
Otherwise, Victoria 2. Turning a Japan or Brazil into a world power is a blast.
Hmm, that’s fairly exciting. Well, I guess exciting in terms of potentially having more grand strategy games that I don’t have time to play. Victoria 3 could be awesome.