Slime Bro Helpdesk posted:

Funky Valentine posted:

I'm going to say he had an Imperial Germany or Confederate flag avatar.

Grouchio posted:

Should I first learn the ropes of Vicky 2 with the vanilla game before trying out HPM or PDM or NWO? Also what would be a good country to start as and learn the ropes with?

corn in the bible posted:

You should definitely play vanilla (with expansions, obviously). PDM is really bad; it breaks a lot of mechanics that make it much harder and less fun to be a minor power but makes it pathetically easy to conquer the world as a major with basically no effort. HPM would be OK except it hasn't been updated, so it doesn't have some of the improvements added in the 3.04 beta patch (be sure you've got 3.04 enabled).

NWO is a hell of a thing but you should not start with it, no. You will have zero idea what the hell is going on with anything in it if you try and it will be utter nonsense. And I wish he hadn't kept the crisis nerfs from PDM when he made it, because crises are cool!

ArchangeI posted:

I still don't get the OOB fetish. It was only in one out of four HoI games (I guess if you wanted to be super-specific it was only in one out of 6) and yet people pretend it is the most important part of the series. And it adds nothing! Nothing at all! No one ever agonized on whether this army should have that general or this one, no one ever wondered if the first corps should have three divisions or four. It was something you tried to engage with as little as humanly possible. ANd what little choice there was is still replicated by the system in HoI 4.

It...just...WHY?

corn in the bible posted:

You should definitely play vanilla (with expansions, obviously). PDM is really bad; it breaks a lot of mechanics that make it much harder and less fun to be a minor power but makes it pathetically easy to conquer the world as a major with basically no effort. HPM would be OK except it hasn't been updated, so it doesn't have some of the improvements added in the 3.04 beta patch (be sure you've got 3.04 enabled).

NWO is a hell of a thing but you should not start with it, no. You will have zero idea what the hell is going on with anything in it if you try and it will be utter nonsense. And I wish he hadn't kept the crisis nerfs from PDM when he made it, because crises are cool!

RabidWeasel posted:

If you're a "realism is always good even when it makes the game worse" grognard then it's essential.

ThaumPenguin posted:

HPM has gotten updated several times since the beta patch came out though

Also the articles on that page are really good.

ArchangeI posted:

I still don't get the OOB fetish. It was only in one out of four HoI games (I guess if you wanted to be super-specific it was only in one out of 6) and yet people pretend it is the most important part of the series. And it adds nothing! Nothing at all! No one ever agonized on whether this army should have that general or this one, no one ever wondered if the first corps should have three divisions or four. It was something you tried to engage with as little as humanly possible. ANd what little choice there was is still replicated by the system in HoI 4.

It...just...WHY?

Man Musk posted:

Are there any mods actually that are purely randomly generated maps? I've yet to try the GoT map, but I heard that's fun?

Grouchio posted:

What would be a good way to define Post-Napoleonic thought military-wise?

ThaumPenguin posted:

HPM has gotten updated several times since the beta patch came out though

Also the articles on that page are really good.

quote:

Wrong Focus

I mean the economy has a "wrong focus". Historically the main drive of industrialization (goods wise, not socioeconomic or poo poo like that) was heavy industry. Coal, iron, steel, metals and foundries - that made the industrial revolution and gave small countries such as Belgium an advantage. Goods in Victoria 2 are also an abstraction. Instead of having a good for gold, one for silver and one for diamonds there's a single good - precious metal - that represents all these things (as evidenced in the "Diamonds in $PROVINCE$" events). Iron too represents more than just iron, it covers other metals that were important int he industrial revolution, such as copper. I debated with the idea of renaming a few goods to represent this better but I digress.

The factors that drove these strategic goods to be so prominent during the industrial revolution are largely missing from the game. Railroads don't require any maintenance. The civil construction sector doesn't exist. Furniture is all made of wood and utensils, tools and other stuff that was commonly used and made of processed iron or steel are missing. Pickaxes, hoes, tractors and tractor parts, wrought iron for gates, balconies, windows (and the glass it use), they are missing from the game. So to represent these goods, the maintenance of buildings and the use of cheap steel and rising use of metals in everyday life these goods were introduced to pops. Poor pops try to buy small quantities of cement and steel for housing and goods (luxury needs, usually) though for everyday housing needs they just buy lumber. Farmers and Labourers will try to buy machine parts for their tractors and steam engines, pops try to buy glass for their windows and glassware.

Uses of Steel

Demand in Victoria 2 is drove through consumer goods. What poor pops consume is usually a profitable industry. While that's overall true, the game doesn't represent the growing needs for metals and other goods and consequentially heavy industry takes a backseat to industrialization. This will still change as I want to redo factories maintenance, construction goods and employee numbers but right now steel and coal are already one of the main drivers of industrialization in HPM. To do this stuff I also took a look at Victoria Revolutions needs and goods (coal, for example, increased with pop strata in Ricky while in V2 it stays largely the same).

Right now, I hope this holds true:

At that time, a country’s power was measured by its coal and steel production, so the economic and political power of the steelmakers was considerable. They produced girders for large factories and grand stores and opulent buildings such as those on the Boulevard Haussmann in Paris. Their steels were essential for the manufacture not only of cannons, ships, rails and locomotives but also of all the equipment that was transported throughout the colonial empire.

Steel was in such demand that the producers had control over how much and to whom they sold.

Fintilgin posted:

This is on the workshop. Looks fun to me, but not sure I have the patience for 'super crashy'.

Some sort of official Random World option would be cool. Pick your culture, ideas, and buy a certain amount of development push GO to see where you wind up.


EDIT: I'd totally buy a DLC that nothing but a working randomized world option plus another pile of large tiles.

Alikchi posted:

Vanilla: I believe you can form Egypt by decision as the Mamluks if you survive the Ottomans long enough. Persia's tougher, the Timurids almost always fall apart though.

Grouchio posted:

Also what's the best way to increase population in Sweden and make it a great power ASAP?

Grouchio posted:

Also what's the best way to increase population in Sweden and make it a great power ASAP?

Slime Bro Helpdesk posted:

I'm blanking on the covert actions features of Vicky2. Is there a way to flip USA to non-democratic? That might offset the US's bonuses to immigration, which would result in you getting a bigger piece of that pie.

Slime Bro Helpdesk posted:

I'm blanking on the covert actions features of Vicky2. Is there a way to flip USA to non-democratic? That might offset the US's bonuses to immigration, which would result in you getting a bigger piece of that pie.

A White Guy posted:

Get ready to constantly fight Germany/NGF over Holstein if you form Scandinavia. Your best bet is to ally with France and demolish Prussia ASAP, after which point you can do anything you want - Carve Russia into pretty states, draw a giant dick using Russian territories (I personally recommend Belarus for the testicles), colonize Africa.

A White Guy posted:

Get ready to constantly fight Germany/NGF over Holstein if you form Scandinavia. Your best bet is to ally with France and demolish Prussia ASAP, after which point you can do anything you want - Carve Russia into pretty states, draw a giant dick using Russian territories (I personally recommend Belarus for the testicles), colonize Africa.

Grouchio posted:

Wouldn't matter much according to this: http://www.victoria2wiki.com/Migration#Country_Migration_Target

I might as well just change the modifier files.

Odobenidae posted:

I don't think It's required but it starts under Denmark's control so it's yours when you annex them via the Scandinavia decision.