Gaming Paradox Interactive grand strategy games (Europa Universalis, Crusader Kings etc.)

[Solius]

If you ever tried getting into one again I'd recommend CK III, it's very beginner friendly compared to the others and feels more like a game for the masses rather than for the grand strategy market. EU4 is very much a game for players who are into grand strategy games, I wouldn't recommend to people playing it if they haven't played a paradox game before. But I suppose that's my experience of it.

Second what SW is saying. If you're going to get used to one of their games it'll probably be this one.

It's part of the charm of these things - just like the new Victoria. If you play it with some basic knowledge it's okay, but once you get to grips with all of the mechanics they become so much better and everything just starts to make sense.

So I downloaded the 3 hour free trial on PS5 last night and once I started to get into the hang of it the trial ended.

I did the tutorial and then started with my own character but struggled with a few things. It is quite confusing how there are so many different levels of an area. It kept telling me to make a false claim to a place but I couldn't find how to do that. I also had an awful steward but there didn't seem to be an obvious option on how to get another one. Had no idea what a courtier was and why there were so many of them. Then I had random people on my council also selected as Knights? Also sieged a place for about two years before realising I needed a stronger army to do it faster. I saw the guy who ruled the sieged area was then dead and his son took over, but I couldn't find a way to see how he died and if it was my armies that killed him.

I wasn't really sure what to do for most of it I was crippled by the fear that I should be doing lots of early game stuff to make money or something. I arranged a marriage for myself, had a daughter and then my plan was to have a son and eventually marry him off to someone in the King's family and use the plots to do a false rumour or even just kill someone so my son could rise up. No idea if that's a good strategy or not but the trial ended just when I was in the middle of that.

 

[Mr Pigeon]

So I downloaded the 3 hour free trial on PS5 last night and once I started to get into the hang of it the trial ended.

I did the tutorial and then started with my own character but struggled with a few things. It is quite confusing how there are so many different levels of an area. It kept telling me to make a false claim to a place but I couldn't find how to do that. I also had an awful steward but there didn't seem to be an obvious option on how to get another one. Had no idea what a courtier was and why there were so many of them. Then I had random people on my council also selected as Knights? Also sieged a place for about two years before realising I needed a stronger army to do it faster. I saw the guy who ruled the sieged area was then dead and his son took over, but I couldn't find a way to see how he died and if it was my armies that killed him.

I wasn't really sure what to do for most of it I was crippled by the fear that I should be doing lots of early game stuff to make money or something. I arranged a marriage for myself, had a daughter and then my plan was to have a son and eventually marry him off to someone in the King's family and use the plots to do a false rumour or even just kill someone so my son could rise up. No idea if that's a good strategy or not but the trial ended just when I was in the middle of that.

Your first mistake was failing to watch 100 hours of tutorials online to see what all of the menus mean

 

[SilentWitness]

Hmm. I thought the PC tutorial explained most of that stuff. Haven’t played the PS5 version so not sure how it scales in comparison. The beauty of the games is that failing is just as fun as succeeding. Sometimes even more so. It’s not really a game you play to win, just a game to experience.

 

[nimic]

So I downloaded the 3 hour free trial on PS5 last night and once I started to get into the hang of it the trial ended.

I did the tutorial and then started with my own character but struggled with a few things. It is quite confusing how there are so many different levels of an area. It kept telling me to make a false claim to a place but I couldn't find how to do that. I also had an awful steward but there didn't seem to be an obvious option on how to get another one. Had no idea what a courtier was and why there were so many of them. Then I had random people on my council also selected as Knights? Also sieged a place for about two years before realising I needed a stronger army to do it faster. I saw the guy who ruled the sieged area was then dead and his son took over, but I couldn't find a way to see how he died and if it was my armies that killed him.

I wasn't really sure what to do for most of it I was crippled by the fear that I should be doing lots of early game stuff to make money or something. I arranged a marriage for myself, had a daughter and then my plan was to have a son and eventually marry him off to someone in the King's family and use the plots to do a false rumour or even just kill someone so my son could rise up. No idea if that's a good strategy or not but the trial ended just when I was in the middle of that.

The answer is: do whatever you want. It's by far the most open of the Paradox games. It's also the one where failure isn't necessarily bad. Unless you die without an heir and get a game over, or have your last territory conquered. But I definitely see how 3 hours is not a lot of time to get into it. I've barely played it (on release, haven't since but I'm planning on soon), and even then that means I have nearly 50 hours in it. Not in one run, of course.

 

[nimic]

Btw, if anyone didn't see, they dropped patch 1.2 for Victoria 3 just now, and it's very good. I thought it was a pretty good game on release, but Paradox games usually need a few patches (and sometimes a few DLCs) to really get into it.

Also, the latest (paid) story pack + (free) patch dropped for Stellaris. Some cool stuff in it.

 

[shamans]

Wish I had the time to play any of this now. Despite being terrible at paradox games I can lost hours upon hours in them. Recently started bannerlord if anyone knows that game and it's great but can't match the depth of paradox

 

[Solius]

Had another go at CKIII last night and failed miserably but I guess that’s part of the learning curve. I don’t really understand the battling/war system as I could see troops just walking into my land and then stuff was happening that I wasn’t even really able to click on to check. I also had no fecking money but maybe that’s because I started as a new character instead of one already in the game.

 

[DutchSerb]

Sat down to play Europa for the first time properly. Gave up after an hour or two last time. Help.

Was my first PDX game and learning about most of the game cost me about 200 hours it's worth sticking with it IMO since it's the most fun for me out of all their games but I can't blame you for saying "feck this, I'm out".

A bit late but if you ever need help or answers I'm always willing to help, although Reddit has a thread for possibly every question imaginable!

 

[DutchSerb]

I have about a 1000 hours in EU4 and just now started my first Teutonics > Prussia > Germany game. Never knew they were this fun to play as. I usually went Serbia or the Dutch (username checks out) or Byzantines, but I think I have found a new favorite. Also got really lucky that Hungary didn't get PU'd right at the start so was able to absolutely decimate Poland with Hungary, Muscovy and Austria as my allies.

Anyone that has more experience playing as Prussia that can share their favorite ideas and government reforms for them?

 

[SmashedHombre]

Had another go at CKIII last night and failed miserably but I guess that’s part of the learning curve. I don’t really understand the battling/war system as I could see troops just walking into my land and then stuff was happening that I wasn’t even really able to click on to check. I also had no fecking money but maybe that’s because I started as a new character instead of one already in the game.

Those armies might have been your vassals just having wars among themselves. You can't attack those forces unless you actively become engaged in the wars. You can ask your vassals to cut it out, though. If someone declares war on you you'll know about it, and you'll get a shield icon in the bottom of your screen which you can click on to show you how the war is going.

Money can be hard to get. I think the stewardship lifestyle is best for money. Or whichever one allows you to get the 'payment for hooks' and 'extort subjects' perks. Also, you can raid nearby lands for quick cash.

 

[Solius]

Those armies might have been your vassals just having wars among themselves. You can't attack those forces unless you actively become engaged in the wars. You can ask your vassals to cut it out, though. If someone declares war on you you'll know about it, and you'll get a shield icon in the bottom of your screen which you can click on to show you how the war is going.

Money can be hard to get. I think the stewardship lifestyle is best for money. Or whichever one allows you to get the 'payment for hooks' and 'extort subjects' perks. Also, you can raid nearby lands for quick cash.

Cheers. I’ve been watching lots of videos to learn more and re-done the Tutorial to familiarise myself again. Diving back in later.

 

[Flying high]

I really enjoyed ck2 when I finally worked out how to play it. But in the end I got quite fed up with the whole inheritance thing. Does EU have the same mechanic? I'm not sure whether to try ck3 or eu4 next.

 

[Solius]

Cheers. I’ve been watching lots of videos to learn more and re-done the Tutorial to familiarise myself again. Diving back in later.

So I started as my own guy again, just as a simple Earl. Before I got the chance to build up much money a neighbouring Petty King attacked me and I had no choice but to surrender and become his vassal. Did that and started working on a plan. Married off my daughter to the King of Czechia and used the help from his alliance to take over smaller counties around. Then the guy who made me his vassal died and his son took over, and we began a bit of a feud. I eventually had enough levies that I forced him out of his position and he retreated into a smaller county. His daughter took over so I wiped her out pretty easily, and then I went for him.

I'm now the new Petty King and my enemy is unlanded and wandering apparently. I have thought about extending a hand and seeing if he could be valuable. Oh also my son and daughter were caught shagging and I've had to cover that up. Also I checked the time after playing at it was 2am.

 

[Mr Pigeon]

The Game of Thrones full conversion mod just came out for CK3. Still in version 0.1 (plus a couple of patches) and no Essos yet but there's lots to do and I'm going to exit life for a few weeks now. Tell the wife that the kids need fed or something while I'm locked in this room.

 

[Sviken]

I really enjoyed ck2 when I finally worked out how to play it. But in the end I got quite fed up with the whole inheritance thing. Does EU have the same mechanic? I'm not sure whether to try ck3 or eu4 next.

I'm late to the party. You just go for primogeniture on CK2 ASAP. It's pretty easy once you get the hang of it. You can do it in one, maximum two reigns. Of course, murder and removing your children from succession works in the mean time. EU doesn't have the same mechanic, the focus there is very different.

 

[KirkDuyt]

The Game of Thrones full conversion mod just came out for CK3. Still in version 0.1 (plus a couple of patches) and no Essos yet but there's lots to do and I'm going to exit life for a few weeks now. Tell the wife that the kids need fed or something while I'm locked in this room.

Oooooh, I need to get in on this.

 

[nimic]

The Game of Thrones full conversion mod just came out for CK3. Still in version 0.1 (plus a couple of patches) and no Essos yet but there's lots to do and I'm going to exit life for a few weeks now. Tell the wife that the kids need fed or something while I'm locked in this room.

Also no dragons and no white walkers, I believe? Those things are definitely coming though. I remember when the CK2 mod was at this stage, and it became a monster.

 

[nimic]

I really enjoyed ck2 when I finally worked out how to play it. But in the end I got quite fed up with the whole inheritance thing. Does EU have the same mechanic? I'm not sure whether to try ck3 or eu4 next.

In EU4 you play the country, not the dynasty. There are characters, but not in any way like the CK games. There is no inheritance, beyond the possibility of a Personal Union with another country.

 

[Flying high]

I'm late to the party. You just go for primogeniture on CK2 ASAP. It's pretty easy once you get the hang of it. You can do it in one, maximum two reigns. Of course, murder and removing your children from succession works in the mean time. EU doesn't have the same mechanic, the focus there is very different.

In EU4 you play the country, not the dynasty. There are characters, but not in any way like the CK games. There is no inheritance, beyond the possibility of a Personal Union with another country.

Thanks both. I tried another run on ck2 after I posted and primogeniture has been working for me. The kingdom of wales currently stretches across most of western europe to jerusalem.

But EU4 does sound like it's worth a try.

 

[justsomebloke]

Been playing the Paradox games (Europa Universalis and Hearts of Iron) for 20 years now, and always found them an ambivalent experience. On the one hand, nothing else on the market really gives you the overall historical simulation at a comparable level, which I guess is why I haven't stopped playing them. On the other hand, they just seem to get more and more annoying. HOI in its more recent version has basically become unplayable due to the AI just going nuts - impossible things happen. For instance, playing USA I got subjected to a massive nazi seaborne invasion in 1939 - at a point in time where they hadn't even conquered Poland, let alone France and Britain. On another ocasion, playing Germany I suffered a massive Greek seaborne invasion from the Baltic whilst engaged in defeating Poland. And what's the point with a historical strategy game that easily allows you to do things that were utterly impossible? The EU series I enjoy on the whole, but they have a little bit of a problem in that you tend to run out of useful things to do for long periods of time.