Paradox Grand Strategy |OT| Conquering the World one DLC at a time

[littleworm]

I've had a passing interest in these games, but recently while watching a CK2 playthrough on youtube and looking for a game to sink some time into till the holidays these games have moved up on my list. Though if they were ever to release a game that took places in either a cold war or modern day setting I'd be so in for that. So my question is outside of setting what are the main differences between the games? Which one would you recommend? A quick google search seems to suggest most people would say EU4. Also I would be remiss to not say that the cost of the DLC gives me pause so any recommendations on what DLC is important and what is more superficial would be appreciated.

 

[Tim]

In CK2 you play as a single character and plot/marry/war your way to better your place in the world. When your character dies, you play as your heir and keep going. I find the game most fun when I roleplay a character as opposed to cheesing the systems, but to each their own. DLC wise the base game is fine, especially if you aren't sure you'll like it. Reaper's Due, Way of Life, and maybe Old Gods would be my first three DLC recommendations.

In EUIV you play as the country rather than a person. I personally enjoy it more than CKII as it's more of a traditional strategy game. I tend to burn out on my CKII saves early on. EUIV I find very addicting. DLC wise, I think Art of War and Common Sense are very nice to have even as a new player but really you can get by with the base game.

Not sure which is easier to learn. EUIV is probably easier to learn strategy wise, but has more to keep track of as well. I'd recommend finding YouTube tutorials either way. DLC goes on sale all the time, so don't break the bank until you know you enjoy the games.

Hope you enjoy, these games can bring hundreds of hours of enjoyment!

 

[karnage10]

I've had a passing interest in these games, but recently while watching a CK2 playthrough on youtube and looking for a game to sink some time into till the holidays these games have moved up on my list. Though if they were ever to release a game that took places in either a cold war or modern day setting I'd be so in for that. So my question is outside of setting what are the main differences between the games? Which one would you recommend? A quick google search seems to suggest most people would say EU4. Also I would be remiss to not say that the cost of the DLC gives me pause so any recommendations on what DLC is important and what is more superficial would be appreciated.

Click to shrink...

Parados development studios(PDS) currently are working on 5 games, from oldest:

• Crusader kings 2 - In this game you roleplay as a single character. As the oldest game from PDS the UI is bad and the game has a few clunky decisions. On the whole the game is incredibly satisfying because of the freedom of action your character has in the game world.
• Europa universalis IV- in this game you play a the government of the nation. Because of the asymetrical start the dificulty of this game varies a lot. From local wars, to colonialism this game allows you to lead a country through the eras that defined the world we live in. It is probably the most complex of the latest games but also reletively easy to learn because most mechanics are very intuitive.
• Hearts of iron IV - In this game you lead a country through the WWII. You can pick any country in the world however the major powers of the war have specific bonuses and national focuses (USA, UK, france, germany, japan, poland and USSR). This game shines in 2 areas - 1) production lines and stockpiling the right ammount of equipment are fun; 2) The battle UI while incredibly clunky is very easy to use after you go through the bump. In ahistorical mode the WWII can go in very unexpected ways, for example my latest campaign as yuguslavia had: the allies were UK, Russia, Japan ; the axis were germany, USA; the comitern were china, india and canada; there was also a special faction formed by italy that included spain and poland. This 4 way war while a complete mess was a lot of fun for me.
• Stellaris - This game is closer to 4X gameplay and thus is easier to learn. It also has mostly simetrical starts and as such is easier then the previous games. IT is also the only game that has a good tutorial and a good UI. The exploration in this game is very satisfying, the rest of the game(war, diplomacy, etc.) is simpler and less satisfying then the games above. Do note that if you like star trek this game captures the feeling of leading your species into the stars in a way that no other game i have played does.
• Imperator: rome - still in development

My opinion on DLC is not buying any until you are liking the base game. The DLC don't change the base game much because unlike other studios for the most part PDS releases the most game changing features as free patches. I recommend that you approach the DLC as a "la carte expansion" by this i mean that you should only buy DLC when you want to expand the base game. Thankfully most DLCs are very defined on what they do so you can pick the features you like and are worth your money while ignoring the DLC that introduce features that you don't care.

if you start to get interested in the games here are some DLC recomendations:
- always buy music DLC. These games have a soundtrack of 1:30h ; for a game you play 100s of hours the base soundtrack starts to feel repetitive very soon. By buying new music it makes, imo, the game much more enjoyable.

• Ck2 -
  • Way of life - introduces focus to your character. they are a lot of fun
  • Conclave - makes peace much mroe interesting and makes much harder to breed powerful heirs
  • Reaper's due - adds a lot of interaction between your court and desease.
  • charlemagne - it adds an early start. Nothing is better then failing leading your dynasty thought the ages
• EU IV
  • Art of war - Adds a lot of QoL improvements to war
  • Common Sense- Adds a lot of interesting and usefull features such as improving your provinces.
  • Rights of Man- gives a lot of personalities to your rulers, basically steals some ideas from CK2
• HOI IV
  • No DLC is really recommended by me. They are good if you want to play as X faction/country. They do make the world more unpredictable then the base game but not worth buying if you don't care about the countries from the DLC. The DLC don't add any very impressive mechanics.
• Stellaris
  • Leviathans - This DLC adds mini bosses to the game giving you a mid- game objective where normally you just focus on building your empire slowly
  • Synthetic Dawn - Adds (sentient) robot races to the game and a new fallen empire
  • Distant starts - adds a shiton of new exploration events making the early game very different each game. It also adds 3 new mini-bosses for mid-game

 

[Morfeo]

First time Ive seen people recommend the music dlc. I always just listen to podcasts when I play them myself.

 

[Anno]

Stellaris has one of my top maybe 3-5 OSTs ever. I think I only have two songs unchecked on the ingame radio.

 

[karnage10]

First time Ive seen people recommend the music dlc. I always just listen to podcasts when I play them myself.

Click to shrink...

that is a fair choice, you can also use your own music collection or streaming.

Personally i enjoy paradox music, i find it very thematic. One cool about about using ingame music is that the shuffle is weighted; this means that during war you have higher chance to get "combat music" while during peace you get more soothing music. If you play in asia there is a higher chance for eastern music. For me the enjoyable music + weighted shuffle is worth the price, specially the rock/metal songs are really great.
Here are a few examples:

Click to shrink...

 

[Deleted member 29682]

More info on the Stellaris planet rework.

https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...ary-123-planetary-rework-part-3-of-4.1116917/

Happiness won't directly affect productivity or unrest anymore, so you can actually have an efficient dystopic empire, provided you can keep the riff-raff repressed.

Also deliberately allowing criminal enterprises to flourish so you can later integrate them into government sounds like the strat for me.

 

[Uzzy]

The new Dharma stuff looks interesting. Think I'll take on Punjab for my next EU4 campaign.

 

[Anno]

Fourth (and final) dev diary of the upcoming planetary rework in Stellaris. Good info on how some of the weirder available empires will play differently from each other, which is something the game definitely needs more of.

Next week they start talking about the new market/trade mechanics, which I'm looking forward to very much.

 

[708]

So. can you role play in Stellaris? I think I love CK2 because of the role-playing opportunities, rather than the strategic aspect.

 

[Anno]

So. can you role play in Stellaris? I think I love CK2 because of the role-playing opportunities, rather than the strategic aspect.

Click to shrink...

I think so, it just has to be more abstract than CK2 since it isn't really a character driven game, and you probably really need to like sci-fi. You have to roleplay more as an entire species/empire and appreciate on a macro level what happens to your super religious butterfly people or whatever you design. It's definitely not as good of a roleplaying game right now as CK2, but there's plenty of space there for it if you can handle doing more of it yourself than explicitly in the game.

 

[Lord Arcadio]

Essential DLC: Conclave, Legacy of Rome, The Old Gods, The Reaper's Due, Way of Life

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https://www.strategygamer.com/articles/crusader-kings-2-dlc-buying-guide/

Essential Expansions for Everyone:

1. The Old Gods
2. Legacy of Rome (Specifically for the Retinues feature)
3. Way of Life
4. Conclave
5. The Reaper's Due

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Paradox Publisher sale right now on Steam so I'm looking to buy some CK2 DLC.

Unless the OP and the writer of that article are the same person, is it a common opinion that those 5 DLC are the essential ones?

I have Legacy of Rome and Way of Life, but was not even thinking of the other three until now.

 

[Uzzy]

https://www.strategygamer.com/articles/crusader-kings-2-dlc-buying-guide/


Paradox Publisher sale right now on Steam so I'm looking to buy some CK2 DLC.

Unless the OP and the writer of that article are the same person, is it a common opinion that those 5 DLC are the essential ones?

I have Legacy of Rome and Way of Life, but was not even thinking of the other three until now.

Click to shrink...

Well I obviously think they're the essential DLC, and as far as I'm aware, from seeing the consensus on other forums/subreddits, those are the generally accepted essential DLCs for CKS2.

 

[Deleted member 29682]

https://www.strategygamer.com/articles/crusader-kings-2-dlc-buying-guide/


Paradox Publisher sale right now on Steam so I'm looking to buy some CK2 DLC.

Unless the OP and the writer of that article are the same person, is it a common opinion that those 5 DLC are the essential ones?

I have Legacy of Rome and Way of Life, but was not even thinking of the other three until now.

Click to shrink...

Old Gods is the only way you can play non-nomadic Pagans (including Norse) and Zoroastrians, and also gives you an earlier start date.

Reaper's Due overhauls health and medicine, also includes epidemics which can be devastating to the ill-prepared.

Conclave overhauls councils, making it more interesting to play as a vassal and a fair bit trickier to play a ruler. Also includes the Favour system, which is effectively a way to guarantee another character do something for you rather than just bribing and hoping for the best.

 

[Deleted member 29682]

Fourth (and final) dev diary of the upcoming planetary rework in Stellaris. Good info on how some of the weirder available empires will play differently from each other, which is something the game definitely needs more of.

Next week they start talking about the new market/trade mechanics, which I'm looking forward to very much.

Click to shrink...

They also did a design corner stream, with a few more new details not yet mentioned in the dev diaries. I've shamelessly nabbed a list from Reddit:

• Building upgrades are very powerful but not always optimal. They can require rare/special resources to build AND upkeep. The example was alloy foundaries which cost motes and had an upkeep of motes for each level past the first. However these buildings were much more powerful than their base counterparts (+1 job plus another 1 per 40 infrastructure compared to +3 jobs plus another 1 per 15 infrastructure).
  
  
• The galactic market is supposed to be the fall back safety blanket for the new economy system as you are able to purchase almost all resources through it, for a price. The market however also opens up economic warfare where, if you know an empire is dependent on a certain import (i.e. they import motes to run their alloy foundaries) you can artificially inflate the market price by buying it all up and tanking their economy.
  
  
• Tech tier 4 components and higher will require specialized materials.
  
  
• Core systems "are no longer a thing", we have empire size now. Sectors are being reworked. More on that later.
  
  
• It is viable to fill a planet with fortress buildings to increase your naval capacity through solider jobs.
  
  
• The game runs much better than now as most of the CPU load was from the AI trying to pick the best tiles to work.
  
  
• Edicts and Campaigns are being reworked. They can now cost specialized materials and have various different effects. The base campaigns will now also have scaling energy costs to match empire size.
  
  
• Primitives have their own buildings and jobs based on their tech level.
  
  
• Fallen Empires will have Hedonists jobs. Pops that produce unity but require a massive amount of amenities.

• There is a Planet build queue!! Works like the Starbase build queue. The Armies tab is unfinished, being reworked to better display things like ground battles (not much change mechanically).
  
  
• Should only need a couple of city districts to support a mining/agricultural/generator world. Minerals are used for districts, buildings, mining and research stations, etc. Alloys used for "most things in space" like starbases and ships.
  
  
• The founder of the galactic market gets advantages (more in next Dev Diary). They shared an anecdote of an internal tester who neglected food, ended up with a huge population due to city districts, and was forced to turn to the market to sell resources for food ("Martin, you've turned my country into a failed state!") while reworking the economy to produce more food.
  
  
• A new measurement, Empire Size, will be used for technology and tradition costs and other items. Core Systems will also be reworked, more in a later Dev Diary. Martin thinks that the one planet strategy will be less viable, but this will depend on how balancing works out.
  
  
• Factions will change slightly. More in a later Dev Diary.
  
  
• Reworking a lot of Traditions, rethinking their focuses. e.g: Prosperity more for urban planets (specialists, luxury goods, etc), Domination more for exploitation (crime, stability, worker efficiency, etc) instead of vassals, Supremacy for military power.
  
  
• Soldiers do not affect Crime but could stabilize planet when Martial Law is declared.
  
  
• May look into better differentiating different planet types. Thinking about (not promising) combining Ring sections into a single Ringworld but a lot of work and problems involved.
  
  
• New Civics but no major changes to empire creation screen. No major changes for warfare and diplomacy, except items affected by the new economic system.

Click to shrink...

 

[karnage10]

So. can you role play in Stellaris? I think I love CK2 because of the role-playing opportunities, rather than the strategic aspect.

Click to shrink...

IMO right now you kinda need to roleplay in stellaris for the game to be challenging because, usually, the AI can't keep up with the player. For the game to be challenging you need to roleplay and not "min-max" your empire.
But the type of roleplay in stellaris is very different from CK2. In stellaris you control an empire. The empire you create has at least 2 of the following ethos:
- spiritualist or materialist
- pacifist or militarist
- egalitarian or authoritarian
There is also a special DLC ethos:
- gestalt consciousness/hive mind.

Each of the ethos can be normal or fanatic. Each ethos gives different bonuses, for example militarist gives increased fire rate. If you have a certain DLC some ethos also have special "storylines", for example spiritualist can become psionic while materialist can abandon their bodies and upload their minds to perfect synthetic bodies.
You can also customize the type of government (democracy, empire,etc.) and the traits of your species.

If you combine all of this you can create, to my knowledge, almost any sci-fi empire from most media. The federation from star trek? that is possible; the empire from warhammer 40k? that is also possible you can create your own "space marines" by genetically modifying your population. The empire from star wars? mostly possible but you would require some DLC to be able to build a death star type of ship.

Where does the game fail below expectations, you might ask?
- diplomacy is currently very barebones so it is hard to get attached to your friends with so few interactions
- the AI has a hard time handling every mechanic so it normally ends behind the player If the player doesn't make major mistakes

Where does the game shine?
- Lots of cool little events that make you feel you are exploring an "uncharted" galaxy. For example, you might find energy beings that live in gas giants, pre space faring civilizations, a server with the brain maps of an extinct civilizations, a shielded planet, space whales, a perfect planet (these are called gaia) for you to colonize, etc. There are even very advanced, very old, very powerful empires that have stagnated and stopped their development, focusing on their borders and making sure the "baby" races on their outskirts don't make the same mistakes they once did... but who knows maybe they just need the right motivation to turn their focus from their borders to the rest of the galaxy! That said, perhaps the true challenge to your existence may not come from our very own reality, could we even face such a threat?

IMO stellaris is my favorite paradox game because it gives wings to my imagination but it is not for everyone.

https://www.strategygamer.com/articles/crusader-kings-2-dlc-buying-guide/


Paradox Publisher sale right now on Steam so I'm looking to buy some CK2 DLC.

Unless the OP and the writer of that article are the same person, is it a common opinion that those 5 DLC are the essential ones?

I have Legacy of Rome and Way of Life, but was not even thinking of the other three until now.

Click to shrink...

MY opinion on the 5 DLC

1. The Old Gods - unless you want to play as a pagan, I prefer the Charlemagne start date.
2. Legacy of Rome (Specifically for the Retinues feature) - This is cool for the byzantine empire but, for me, the retinues are not "essential" to the game.
3. Way of Life - One of my top 5 DLC, it makes the game much more imersive
4. Conclave - This is also one of my favorite DLC for 2 reasons. It makes peace much more challenging since you need to "control" half the council to get it to do what you want, this means that during peace time you will try to collect favors and leverage on your council so that you can pass the reforms you need/want. The other reason is the children overall, this DLC makes children harder to "guide", this way you can't create a powerful leader each generation.
5. The Reaper's Due - This is also a top 5 DLC. It makes diseases very interesting and thus makes the game more immersive.

For me the top 5 DLC are:

1. Way of Life
   
2. The Reaper's Due
   
3. Charlemagne - I enjoy the new starting date as well as the story/events for charlemagne
   
4. Conclave
   
5. Monks and Mystics - I enjoy the society system + the new artifacts. IMO this makes the game much more role-playable

Honorable mentions: jade dragon and horse lords- these add the nomadic tribes, the silk road and china. IMO these 3 mechanics make the eastern part of the map more unpredictable and fun. If you play in eastern europe, india and the steppes these DLC will make those zones much more roleplayable.

 

[708]

I think so, it just has to be more abstract than CK2 since it isn't really a character driven game, and you probably really need to like sci-fi. You have to roleplay more as an entire species/empire and appreciate on a macro level what happens to your super religious butterfly people or whatever you design. It's definitely not as good of a roleplaying game right now as CK2, but there's plenty of space there for it if you can handle doing more of it yourself than explicitly in the game.

Click to shrink...

IMO right now you kinda need to roleplay in stellaris for the game to be challenging because, usually, the AI can't keep up with the player. For the game to be challenging you need to roleplay and not "min-max" your empire.
But the type of roleplay in stellaris is very different from CK2. In stellaris you control an empire. The empire you create has at least 2 of the following ethos:
- spiritualist or materialist
- pacifist or militarist
- egalitarian or authoritarian
There is also a special DLC ethos:
- gestalt consciousness/hive mind.

Each of the ethos can be normal or fanatic. Each ethos gives different bonuses, for example militarist gives increased fire rate. If you have a certain DLC some ethos also have special "storylines", for example spiritualist can become psionic while materialist can abandon their bodies and upload their minds to perfect synthetic bodies.
You can also customize the type of government (democracy, empire,etc.) and the traits of your species.

If you combine all of this you can create, to my knowledge, almost any sci-fi empire from most media. The federation from star trek? that is possible; the empire from warhammer 40k? that is also possible you can create your own "space marines" by genetically modifying your population. The empire from star wars? mostly possible but you would require some DLC to be able to build a death star type of ship.

Where does the game fail below expectations, you might ask?
- diplomacy is currently very barebones so it is hard to get attached to your friends with so few interactions
- the AI has a hard time handling every mechanic so it normally ends behind the player If the player doesn't make major mistakes

Where does the game shine?
- Lots of cool little events that make you feel you are exploring an "uncharted" galaxy. For example, you might find energy beings that live in gas giants, pre space faring civilizations, a server with the brain maps of an extinct civilizations, a shielded planet, space whales, a perfect planet (these are called gaia) for you to colonize, etc. There are even very advanced, very old, very powerful empires that have stagnated and stopped their development, focusing on their borders and making sure the "baby" races on their outskirts don't make the same mistakes they once did... but who knows maybe they just need the right motivation to turn their focus from their borders to the rest of the galaxy! That said, perhaps the true challenge to your existence may not come from our very own reality, could we even face such a threat?

IMO stellaris is my favorite paradox game because it gives wings to my imagination but it is not for everyone.

Click to shrink...

Thanks for the explanation! I suppose I should give the game a try.

 

[Xando]

Any impressions on Dharma?

 

[Deleted member 25600]

I've finally, finally managed to create a Norse Merchant Republic. Had to take Venice, make it capital, then convert to local religion, form merchant republic, then convert back to Norse.

 

[brokenswiftie]

Hey ppl,
I got some of the paradox strategy games in the Steam sale recently, namely, Stellaris, CK 2, EU IV and HOI IV also got all the Stellaris DLCs
would love to learn and play with u guys
is there a discord or steam group? my steam name is the same as here

 

[Lord Arcadio]

Just purchased Sword of Islam and The Old Gods. I will get Conclave and Reapers Due next time.

 

[Uzzy]

Any impressions on Dharma?

Click to shrink...

So I really like the government reforms mechanic, there's a lot of flexibility there in defining your nation and how it runs. Republics are competitive again now that they have a chance at getting absolutism! The changes to estates make the internal management of your nation potentially more interesting, as you can do a little more with them without having to worry about them taking over. I've not really played with the new trade stuff, as I've been playing in India, so can't speak on that. That said, I am excited to play as the Venetian Republic and start buying up chunks of India.

I think there's a clear direction of travel with this DLC, and it's towards making the game less of a map painter and more about nations interacting internally and externally in ways other than just war. Which could be very interesting, but it's not quite there yet.

Hey ppl,
I got some of the paradox strategy games in the Steam sale recently, namely, Stellaris, CK 2, EU IV and HOI IV also got all the Stellaris DLCs
would love to learn and play with u guys
is there a discord or steam group? my steam name is the same as here

Click to shrink...

No discord that I'm aware of. I've been intending to start one up sometime along with some multiplayer sessions, but I feel like if I suggested them I'd be compelled to host them, and my current internet connection is garbage for that.

 

[SaberVS7]

And so begins the Franco-Britannian Republic.



Next stop. Rome.

Ok, Aragon first. Then I backstab either Morrocco or Burgundy. Once I have a decent encirclement of the HRE it'll probably be a good time to Remove Germans.

Only two centers of Protestantism, and a single Reformed center that got nuked quickly, and fucking Leagues never fired and all my attempts at flipping an Elector Protestant without drawing the fury of the entire HRE failed. So yeah they need to die for denying me Emperorship.

Spoiler

Reorganizing all of France's Microarmies and Micronavies is gonna be a bitch...

 

[Teddy]

And so begins the Franco-Britannian Republic.



Next stop. Rome.

Ok, Aragon first. Then I backstab either Morrocco or Burgundy. Once I have a decent encirclement of the HRE it'll probably be a good time to Remove Germans.

Only two centers of Protestantism, and a single Reformed center that got nuked quickly, and fucking Leagues never fired and all my attempts at flipping an Elector Protestant without drawing the fury of the entire HRE failed. So yeah they need to die for denying me Emperorship.

Spoiler

Reorganizing all of France's Microarmies and Micronavies is gonna be a bitch...

Click to shrink...

What happened in Iberia and Anatolia?

 

[SaberVS7]

What happened in Iberia and Anatolia?

Click to shrink...

Iberian Wedding never fired and Poland pulled off an Eastern Reconquista as for some reason the Ottomans had gone lame this campaign.

Then the Mamluks came.

 

[Teddy]

Iberian Wedding never fired and Poland pulled off an Eastern Reconquista as for some reason the Ottomans had gone lame this campaign.

Then the Mamluks came.

Click to shrink...

Wow, with you eating France you've got a bit of a power vacuum in Europe then. Perfect to exploit.

 

[SaberVS7]

Wow, with you eating France you've got a bit of a power vacuum in Europe then. Perfect to exploit.

Click to shrink...

Now this happened.

 

[Teddy]

Now this happened.

Click to shrink...

Wow, RIP Byzantium though those war enemies.

 

[SaberVS7]

Wow, RIP Byzantium though those war enemies.

Click to shrink...

If I noticed them sooner I would have guaranteed them, but Greece was outside of my current Coring Distance and I was occupied in Burgundy at the time.

Either way they'd be dead though. This is a Roman Empire run.

 

[BringBackSonics]

I've had a passing interest in these games, but recently while watching a CK2 playthrough on youtube and looking for a game to sink some time into till the holidays these games have moved up on my list. Though if they were ever to release a game that took places in either a cold war or modern day setting I'd be so in for that. So my question is outside of setting what are the main differences between the games? Which one would you recommend? A quick google search seems to suggest most people would say EU4. Also I would be remiss to not say that the cost of the DLC gives me pause so any recommendations on what DLC is important and what is more superficial would be appreciated.

Click to shrink...

I'd say stellaris has the easiest learning curve and best tutorial, so that might be the best place to start. They are adding some new mechanics to the planetary system with pops that is generating a ton of excitement

 

[BringBackSonics]

So. can you role play in Stellaris? I think I love CK2 because of the role-playing opportunities, rather than the strategic aspect.

Click to shrink...

I role ply all the time, but I create my own opportunities in my head. I saw someone creating a log book of their space empire, looked fun

 

[eonden]

So that new Stellaris Update, looking juicy
https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...is-dev-diary-125-the-galactic-market.1119230/

Spoiler

 

[Deleted member 29682]

So that new Stellaris Update, looking juicy
https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...is-dev-diary-125-the-galactic-market.1119230/

Spoiler

Click to shrink...

Can't wait to "process" some aliens and feed it back into the galactic food supply.

 

[Matttimeo]

Looks like a positive inclusion. The game felt like it was lacking resource diversity and more complex trading mechanics since it was released. I hope they are looking into perhaps exploring the trade market systems in either this update or a future one. You could go real crazy with trade wars, tariffs, subsidies, private markets, outlawed goods, black markets or blockading mechanics that implemented on a galactic scale could be real hilarious.

 

[KingSnake]

Paradox comes on Switch with City Skylines.

 

[karnage10]

So that new Stellaris Update, looking juicy
https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...is-dev-diary-125-the-galactic-market.1119230/

Spoiler

Click to shrink...

I dislike how the galatic market is formed. just know 50% of the galaxy? drab choice of a condition.
The rest is awesome.

 

[SaberVS7]

Ah yes, the infamous Catholic-majority Ottoman Republic.

 

[cognizant]

I made a LTTP thread about Sengoku yesterday but nobody replied. Feels bad man. :(

Anyway, it's a good introduction to Paradox grand strategy, and will entertain me for a while before I move on to EU4 and Ck2. I'm going to wait till Holy Fury before CK2 as it seems it will add quite a lot to the game. Thanks to recent sales I've got almost all DLC for both games by now, only missing the following:

CK2:
Horse Lords
Charlemagne
The Republic
Rajas of India
Sunset Invasion (not sure I'm going to get this one to be honest)

EU4:
Res Publica
Rule Britannia
Third Rome
Mandate of Heaven (will get when I decide to play an Asian country)
El Dorado
Dharma

 

[Hella]

I can't actually think of anything to add to that Sengoku LTTP thread (and I missed it initially, anyways), but I'm glad you made it. I've only ever looked at store screens, never played it myself, so it was interesting to read.

But cognizant are you telling me you bought the CK2 ebooks?! That is the one type of CK2 DLC I absolutely will not touch. I even go hog wild over the cosmetic DLCs, as they add a lot of nice variety to games; but ebooks seem like altogether too much.

 

[cognizant]

I can't actually think of anything to add to that Sengoku LTTP thread (and I missed it initially, anyways), but I'm glad you made it. I've only ever looked at store screens, never played it myself, so it was interesting to read.

But cognizant are you telling me you bought the CK2 ebooks?! That is the one type of CK2 DLC I absolutely will not touch. I even go hog wild over the cosmetic DLCs, as they add a lot of nice variety to games; but ebooks seem like altogether too much.

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haha, no I actually haven't got any ebooks or any of the music DLCs yet, I did add them to my Steam wishlist though. I figured I'd play the games for a while first before trying out new music. Somewhat annoyingly, I did actually get the CK2 ultimate portrait and dynasty shield packs though. I can't imagine playing Muslim nations with European-looking advisors. The packs were on sale, but I still felt dirty getting them. Damn Paradox...

Thanks for reading my thread!

 

[SaberVS7]

Is this a World War yet, or do I need more nations involved?

I mean, I've got at least one nation from every single continent involved, but it might be cheating since I alone am on every single continent.

 

[cognizant]

Randomly browsing a EU4 wiki achievements page and stumble on the fact that there's a DLC called Star and Crescent that I've never heard of and is not on the list of DLC on Steam. Then I realise it's hidden in the Extreme Edition Upgrade Pack.

Someone get me an image of Shatner screaming "Khan" and replace with "PARADOX!!!"

*sigh. takes out wallet*

 

[Deleted member 29682]

New Stellaris dev diary: https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...iary-126-sectors-and-factions-in-2-2.1120288/

Sector automation is now optional and sectors are pre-generated on map creation ('de jure' sectors, if you will), no more leader cap (cost maintenance instead), factions always give at least some influence and pop happiness seemingly less affected by faction approval except at certain thresholds (from what I can gather).

 

[Anno]

Sectors being defined, in-game concepts is a really good change, IMO. I doubt anything happens with this expansion, but it sets things up nicely for them to have a lot more systems working off of them in future updates.

 

[Deleted member 29682]

Sectors being defined, in-game concepts is a really good change, IMO. I doubt anything happens with this expansion, but it sets things up nicely for them to have a lot more systems working off of them in future updates.

Click to shrink...

It could probably lead into warring over sectors rather than just systems/planets. If you got some sort of bonus through controlling an entire sector then it would make border disputes a little bit more interesting. Potentially having sector-wide buffs/debuffs (trade, piracy etc.) is also something they could implement.

 

[Anno]

It could probably lead into warring over sectors rather than just systems/planets. If you got some sort of bonus through controlling an entire sector then it would make border disputes a little bit more interesting. Potentially having sector-wide buffs/debuffs (trade, piracy etc.) is also something they could implement.

Click to shrink...

I think they could do a lot with unrest/unhappiness and other internal conflict, too. Losing a planet to rebellion isn't a huge deal, but a whole sector might be. Far-flung sectors deviating from your core ethics more, ramping up unhappy factions etc.

Also it'd be cool if eventually the Feudal civic was less about managing vassals and more about having independent sectors.

 

[Deleted member 29682]

Also it'd be cool if eventually the Feudal civic was less about managing vassals and more about having independent sectors.

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Wiz has said a couple of things about sector autonomy:

Q: Would we see a return of sector independence movements now that clusters are more defined geo-politically? (Stellar-politically?)

A: It would be a possibility again now, though there are no concrete plans for it in this version. Properly autonomous sector governors until Feudal Realm etc is also something that's possible with the new system.

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Q: "It's also possible that governors might get a small budget each month based on economic strength of sector even if you don't send them resources." It will be kind of weird if sector governors get their budget from nowhere

A: It wouldn't be 'from nowhere', more like local taxes. Your empire stockpile does not represent all economic activity in your empire, as next dev diary should make clear.

For example, one idea I have for the Feudal Realm civic (but I'm not promising there will be time for) is to have governors be way more autonomous, but have a fairly large income of their own.

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Looks like "maybe not right now but almost certainly later" is your current answer.

 

[Anno]

Yeah that's what I figured. Maybe in the inevitable diplomacy overhaul that'll probably be the next major expansion.

 

[Deleted member 29682]

So the major components of Le Guin we've heard about so far are the planetary rework and trade. Since we've seen all there is to see about the former and the latter is being discussed next week, that Wiz keeps stressing the update is still a long way off suggests to me that we'll hear about the next expansion very soon, if only so that they'll have something to talk about before then. I reckon the stuff they're talking about at the moment will be the free update that launches alongside the expansion, which will fully take advantage of the new systems.

There's generally been a 3-6 month gap between expansions, and the last one (Distant Stars) was almost 4 months ago. I don't imagine their workflow has been greatly changed so I'll make a tentative prediction that Le Guin and it's accompanying expansion will be released in November.

 

[Anno]

My guess is that the Slave Market will be a part of the DLC, but yeah I don't think we know anything else that's even a possibility. I'm hoping it's a ton of planet defining stuff, like Guilli's planet mod taken a few steps further.