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Alchenar
Apr 9, 2008

Darkrenown posted:

I disagree that HoI3 forces you to let the AI fight for you, it really doesn't :(

The major land campaign of WW2, Germany vs Russia (ie. the fun bit most people buy the game for), requires you to have the AI fight for you.

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Alchenar
Apr 9, 2008

Fintilgin posted:

I hate it when it's obvious the EUIII AI has hit some code thing that makes it refuse to make peace under any circumstances. Like you hold one French core and they attack, and you make a peace offer that gives them the core, a dozen other provinces, releases all your vassals, makes every nation internal to you independent, and hands them 10,000 ducats, worth hundreds and hundreds of war score and they still refuse. Then you beat the poo poo out of their army and they're begging for white peace six months later. Way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, AI.

On the other hand the CK2 AI appears to have a much better idea of whether a war is winnable or not.

Alchenar
Apr 9, 2008

Fintilgin posted:

They should hire that guy to do all their promotional trailers.

Yeah no poo poo that is unironically better than any Paradox trailer. Whatever he made that was actually commercially useful would be way better.

Alchenar
Apr 9, 2008

gradenko_2000 posted:

If you thought AOD had too many units and too many provinces, I don't think HOI3 is ever going to be worth playing.

Well you don't have to play the game. You can watch the AI play it.

Alchenar
Apr 9, 2008

I've actually had long conversations with Darkrenown on HOI3 where he managed to change my mind from 'HOI3 is terrible' to 'HOI3 suffers from a number of design decisions which I would not have made and which negatively impact the experience, but is overall a somewhat interesting game right up until you try to launch Barbarossa, at which point all fun suffers from death by micromanagment'.

Key problems with that are:

1) The game should sell itself, it shouldn't need a Dev to sell it.

2) For a WW2 game the signature land campaign shouldn't be the lowest point of the user experience.

3) Automation is supposed to be a tool to allow the player to focus on the fun bits of the game, not replace the fun bits of the game.

Alchenar
Apr 9, 2008

Patter Song posted:

A certain site is back online.

"Pay Gold. Shed Blood. Instill Fear. Promise Hope."


There is no :ironicat: big enough

Alchenar fucked around with this message at 00:30 on Jan 16, 2013

Alchenar
Apr 9, 2008

The real problem with Alliance cascading in wars is that the concept of 'leadership' is really a stopgap to make do for the lack of a mechanism for real peace negotiations both between and within alliances. An Alliance leader doesn't really suffer for screwing over his partners' war aims. There isn't really a reason for the UK to do the historical thing and trade back overseas conquests to preserve map lines in Europe. There's no way for the lesser Coalition partners (who might collectively be powerful enough to win) to say 'hey we want to keep fighting'. There's no way for someone getting screwed over by the deal to say 'I'll keep fighting alone then'.

Alchenar
Apr 9, 2008

Dr. Video Games 0031 posted:

The problem with badboy wasn't that conquering made you less popular, it was that it was too binary. There was a limit, and the penalties for staying under the limit were minimal, and the penalties for going above the limit were severe. It was also a number and effect that existed independent of other systems. By adapting the modifiers into a more linear scale that ties directly into the overall relations system, it is both more intuitive and allows you to mitigate the effects of conquest through diplomatic means.

It also allows for the system to account for your Allies/Client states who simply don't care that you're gobbling up all your neighbours because you are best mates.

Alchenar
Apr 9, 2008

NihilCredo posted:

It would be cool if it did, but in the dev diary screenshot you see a vassal and ally that's pissed at you because of Aggressive Expansion, which is a different penalty from Conquered Our Province.

That does look like Aggressive Expansion works like the old badboy in terms of hurting relationships with all countries (though not necessarily anything else). Darkrenown, am I guessing wrong?

Yeah but the bonuses averaged out so despite taking one of 'their' provinces being a longstanding ally who's in the past intervened in a war on their behalf means that on balance it's a satisfied little vassal.

What EU4 really needs is a national level version of plots: "I'm pulling together a coalition to cut France down to size, who's in?"

('Coalitions' are also a concept I'd like. There are many reasons why you'd want to fight a war with someone but not fall into a long-term alliance with them, an alliance 'for the duration of this war' would also be a starting structure for sorting out the mess of end-of-war peace settlements.

Alchenar
Apr 9, 2008

If you are signed up to the Paradox newsletter then you just got a Steam key for EU3:Chronicles. Which is pretty cool given that the replacement it's raising awareness for is still on the far end of this year.

Alchenar
Apr 9, 2008

Urdnot Fire posted:

They also opened their own shop that offers Steam codes and is having a store-wide 55% off sale until February 17th. Which is also pretty cool of them.

Well Paradox has had it's own shop before but even HOI3 couldn't stop it from being so successful they had to spin it off into a separate business.

Now other online stores offer Steam codes but I think this is the first time a developer/publisher has sold Steam keys direct, which is a really interesting development because even a slight wedge between Steam the online store and Steam the content delivery system is a good thing.

Alchenar
Apr 9, 2008

Can anyone write/point me to a quick primer on how positioning fleet composition in EU3 works now?

Alchenar
Apr 9, 2008

AnoMouse posted:

We got a new Dev Diary! It's all about our favorite colonizer Spain England Portugal!

It also includes how colonizing works: rather than sending a flood of colonists, you send the colonist envoy somewhere to establish a colony (establishment always succeeds), and he provides the familiar %chance to increase the pop while he's there, growth being slow without him. This envoy system is seriously gonna rock.

Something else also mentioned, military leaders take one military power point each, per month in maintenance. Which means I hope you have a high Mil ruler!

Honestly, reinstalling EU3 with Chronicles and playing about with it for a bit just reminded me how empty the game feels. There isn't really anything to do except spread your colour over the map. Everything you do between wars is really just twiddling your thumbs and building an army for the next war. The contrast with CK2 where there's always something interesting going on is vast.

I'm liking the comeback of dynamic narrative forming in EU.

Alchenar
Apr 9, 2008

In fairness there was a massive shitstorm when Paradox dropped historical deterministic events for EU3 and in the end everyone (well, everyone who wasn't exiled from the thread) agreed it was an improvement. I wouldn't consider it a criticism at all to note that it's just taken Paradox some time to get to grips with getting dynamic events down.

Alchenar
Apr 9, 2008

Pooned posted:

My dream has come true! Paradox hinting to something in the works for Victoria 2 again. Please pretty please by a big expansion!

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151655543149816.610612.284210044815&type=1&l=5fd335e15d

http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?660800-Secret-Document-Clue-one.

Texture packs ;D

Alchenar
Apr 9, 2008

Zip posted:

that's a shame.. it seems like a good theme for a strategy game.. managing ports and ships, trading across, deciding who your first mate is and ultimately who'll take over for you. I dunno

Tropico 2.

Less fun version: Port Royale 1/2/3.

Alchenar
Apr 9, 2008

Darkrenown posted:

PITY WE FORCE YOU TO BUY IT SO YOU HAVE NO CHOICE ABOUT IT! OH poo poo, NOW WE CAN'T DO ANY MORE HISTORICAL STUFF DUE TO THE PRECEDENT! :downswords:


Reposting to the Paradox forums right now! jk

Alchenar
Apr 9, 2008

pdxjohan posted:

No worries. I canned it this morning so you could be put on the Austrian Painting School game..

HOI4 is going to be released as a DLC campaign for CK2, the first decision in the game is picking an education for Hitler.

Alchenar
Apr 9, 2008


I did not realise this was a thing but I am so glad it is.

Alchenar
Apr 9, 2008

Jakse posted:

gently caress excommunication. Is there any way to quickly get rid of it? I had a Brandenburg game go to poo poo in the 1600s when I had no fewer than 5 assholes go to war with me over excommunication.

Start giving the Papancy lots of money.

Alchenar
Apr 9, 2008

You either focus your game on internal politics or external politics (to the extent that the game is about politics).

CK2 and Vicky have an internal politics focus.

EU and HOI have an external politics focus.

If you try to do both systems in detail then you end up with something that's either too complicated for players to grapple with or creates ridiculous results(versions of HOI3 where other nations have more influence over your internal politics than you do).

Alchenar
Apr 9, 2008

Brillo_Pad posted:

Holy poo poo. Paradox could not take my money fast enough for a "Great War" expansion. WWI is my favorite history topic and the fact that it seemed to be overlooked in V2 was seriously disappointing.

I've always seen WW1 as a natural expansion for HOI rather than Vicky, for all the obvious reasons.

Alchenar
Apr 9, 2008

Gort posted:

There is a worthwhile use for exactly one division of paratroopers. To attack an area where every beach province is guarded, do a paradrop on a non-beach empty coastal province. The province will become yours and you will have a short window to land a billion divisions before the paratroopers are destroyed.

This makes defeating the UK trivial, but I suppose it could be used to attack occupied Europe or Japan as well.

Yeah this is on the checklist of small situational things that I'd like HOI4 to deal with when it comes around - the fact that it's so easy to game a fake Sealion means that a German player never has to deal with fighting a two-front war, which takes something away from the experience (at least, invading the UK should mean a major and risky commitment that requires significant pre-war investment).

Obviously this only applies to single player, but that's where 90% of the customer base is.

Alchenar
Apr 9, 2008

Gort posted:

Are there any indications they're even doing Hearts of Iron 4? If 3 is as profitable as they say, I don't see why they wouldn't...

Well the super-secret project is either something new or something old. If it's something new then it obviously could be anything (dinosaurs). If it's something old then the rotation of IPs would make HOI4 an obvious option.

Of course EU:Rome is a game that's halfway between EU and CK in terms of themes, so having just made a CK and an EU game would put Paradox in a good position to rebuild that game based on the experience of the two preceding. Also releasing a game called Rome 2 at the same time that CA are means being able to ride on a crest of games media interest.

Alchenar
Apr 9, 2008

Darkrenown posted:

Just gonna leave these here:

CK2: The Old Gods.

Until I clicked on the link I genuinely believed it was a Cthulu expansion.

e: incidentally I note that they're both being called 'expansions', which is interesting because CK2's obviously been on a product path of smaller but feature focused and lower priced DLC and HoD looks like a more traditional broader and higher priced expansion. Is Paradox still on the fence on what model to go for or is this just old product pipelines playing themselves out?



PS. Someone might need to look at the Facebook API you have on paradoxplaza.com. It's defaulting to Swedish rather than the viewer's language.

Alchenar fucked around with this message at 14:37 on Jan 31, 2013

Alchenar
Apr 9, 2008

The International Crisis model is what I think I'm really interested in (despite not playing Vicky 2). Every Paradox game could benefit from a system to handle multiple-party negotiations.

Alchenar
Apr 9, 2008

Darkrenown posted:

I can tell our web person, but where do you mean exactly? If I hit the FB button on the right it seems to show in English ok.

Might just be me in Chrome?

Alchenar
Apr 9, 2008

Darkrenown posted:

That was Thomas, EUIV lead. And the books are wallpaper :)

Seriously, you need to either need to start throwing in gags (ie. someone tries to pick up a book in the background and fails) or just get rid of that wallpaper. It looks terrible.

ps. Paradox feature:

Alchenar
Apr 9, 2008

Darkrenown posted:

Or, I dunno, people could not get worked up about our wallpaper? It's kinda weird.

It's because when you are selling a product that's been fashioned entirely out of the creative vision and taste of the developers it makes everyone a bit nervous that said taste includes something so very tacky.

Alchenar
Apr 9, 2008

I go away for the weekend and come back to this. Well played.

Alchenar
Apr 9, 2008

pdxjohan posted:

100% true. Turnbased should not be present in modern computer games.

Quick! Go tell Sid Meier before it's too late!

Alchenar
Apr 9, 2008

A constant criticism the Three Moves Ahead guys have of Paradox games is that they are effectively turn-based games which are designed to make you miss the moment at which the important part of your turn starts.

Alchenar
Apr 9, 2008

V for Vegas posted:

Shafer has an interview with Tom Chick on Qt3 this week and he talks about all the barbarian tribes being different - some like the Huns can't even own non-movable possessions like farms - and the Romans are unplayable. But they slowly decline through battles between the Eastern and Western emperors, or having child emperors etc, and you have to pick your time when to attack them. Although that means you don't get any more tech off them either. Sounds really cool.

Yeah it sounds like he's trying to do something novel in terms of fundamental design rather than USP, so it'll be an interesting project to watch.

Alchenar
Apr 9, 2008

Stalingrad posted:

I enjoy that England is "British" but Scotland and Wales have distinct national identities.

Assuming equivalence with culture in other games, that seems a reasonable way of setting up the UK so that it can be broken up and reconquered.

Alchenar
Apr 9, 2008

Friend Commuter posted:

Yes, but that would work just as well if they called the English English.

No because it wouldn't follow that the English would have any claims on the rest of the Ireland. This is a point in history at which 'Britishness' is by no means the primary way in which someone would self-define but which would certainly be used to forcibly restore the Union.

Basically the English would feel to have a claim on the others that isn't reciprocated - it's sensible to reflect that.

Alchenar
Apr 9, 2008

Starting at 1805 my impression is that internal strife in France is basically over. There's no more revolution/counter-revolution, Napoleon is firmly in charge, nobody seriously tries to rock the boat.

Alchenar
Apr 9, 2008

Patter Song posted:

I'm glad V2's getting a new expansion, because AHD has some quirks:


Paradox Grand Strategy: No country for old men, NO_TEXT_FOR_KEYSTATE

Alchenar
Apr 9, 2008


Well that's a love letter if ever I saw one.

Alchenar
Apr 9, 2008

Alchenar posted:

Honestly, reinstalling EU3 with Chronicles and playing about with it for a bit just reminded me how empty the game feels. There isn't really anything to do except spread your colour over the map. Everything you do between wars is really just twiddling your thumbs and building an army for the next war. The contrast with CK2 where there's always something interesting going on is vast.

I'm liking the comeback of dynamic narrative forming in EU.

Update on this old post - marketing scheme worked; I've noticed since sighing and uninstalling EU3 again that I've been paying a lot more attention to the EU4 dev diaries and previews than I did before. CK2 made me break my 'never buy a new game at full price' rule (which ironically started with HOI3), I recon EU4 will probably get me to break it again.

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Alchenar
Apr 9, 2008

Fintilgin posted:

DEAR. GOD.

How could any human being be so stupid? :stare:

EDIT: Podcat admits the truth!

Did anyone else find it amusing that when the Paradox Devs post on their own forum it just looks like a goon forum invasion now?

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