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Let's Play Victoria: Damn Yanquis
Mr. Povondra
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
From the west to the east
Well bah! Bah I say to these so-called critics who would impugn the reputation of Her Majesty's computer game.
OK, to be fair on release the game was pretty damn clunky. Only after several patches, the excellent Revolutions expansion pack, and of course the incredible VIP mod (which I will be using), did it become what is IMO not only the best game Paradox has ever made but perhaps the greatest grand strategy game of all time.
There's a sequel coming out, which honestly I haven't really been following. The EUIII generation of Paradox games have been a disappointment to me. Besides, Victoria is nearly perfect; what they should have done is Crusader Kings II. Why won't Paradox listen to meeeeeeeeeeeeeee?!
Ahem. Moving on.
Ah, the rock opera. That most venerable of all art forms. If I was in charge, every album would be a rock opera. It's probably best that I'm not in charge.
The plan originally was to produce a rock opera from scratch with songs composed in response to developments in the game. Unfortunately, Pete Townshend will not return my calls. Whatever, it's his loss.
So, in lieu of creating the next Tommy I will instead be linking to songs on Youtube which I feel capture the essence of what's happening in the game. Be warned that my taste in music is relatively narrow and I will likely be leaning heavily on a few artists and even just a few albums. Feel free to contribute music of your own when appropriate.
In Which Texans are Heroically Slaughtered
Send Lawyers, Guns and Money
From Nebraska (Almost) to Nicaragua
Damn Yanquis
The Game
From Wikipedia wrote:Victoria: An Empire Under the Sun, also known as Victoria or simply as Vicky, is a real-time strategy game by Paradox Entertainment (now known as Paradox Interactive). It covers its namesake the Victorian period, specifically 1836-1920 and runs on a modified version of the Europa Universalis engine. The lead game programmer was Johan Andersson. The game was later ported to Macintosh by Virtual Programming.
Unlike previous Paradox Games, which either focused on exploration and colonization (Europa Universalis) or warfare (Hearts of Iron), Victoria focuses on internal management, covering the industrialization and social/political changes in a country. The game itself gives a lot of importance to the economy of a country, having a complex market system which is described as being one of the best economic simulators ever made. Fans of Paradox's games have noted this one for being the deepest game Paradox has yet made, making it quite popular with the Paradox fanbase. However, Victoria received largely indifferent reviews on release, averaging only 60.4% on Game Rankings. Critics cited reasons such as the game's steep learning curve and its relatively dated graphics.
Well bah! Bah I say to these so-called critics who would impugn the reputation of Her Majesty's computer game.
OK, to be fair on release the game was pretty damn clunky. Only after several patches, the excellent Revolutions expansion pack, and of course the incredible VIP mod (which I will be using), did it become what is IMO not only the best game Paradox has ever made but perhaps the greatest grand strategy game of all time.
There's a sequel coming out, which honestly I haven't really been following. The EUIII generation of Paradox games have been a disappointment to me. Besides, Victoria is nearly perfect; what they should have done is Crusader Kings II. Why won't Paradox listen to meeeeeeeeeeeeeee?!
Ahem. Moving on.
So what's all this about a rock opera then?
Also From Wikipedia wrote:A rock opera is a musical work that presents a storyline told over multiple parts, songs or sections. A rock opera differs from a conventional rock album, which usually includes songs that are not unified by a common theme or narrative. More recent developments include metal opera and rap opera (sometimes also called hip-hopera). A rock opera tells a coherent story, though details are often vague. A rock opera is similar to a concept album (of which it is a subset), though the latter may simply set a mood or maintain a theme.
Ah, the rock opera. That most venerable of all art forms. If I was in charge, every album would be a rock opera. It's probably best that I'm not in charge.
The plan originally was to produce a rock opera from scratch with songs composed in response to developments in the game. Unfortunately, Pete Townshend will not return my calls. Whatever, it's his loss.
So, in lieu of creating the next Tommy I will instead be linking to songs on Youtube which I feel capture the essence of what's happening in the game. Be warned that my taste in music is relatively narrow and I will likely be leaning heavily on a few artists and even just a few albums. Feel free to contribute music of your own when appropriate.
Updates
In Which Texans are Heroically Slaughtered
Send Lawyers, Guns and Money
From Nebraska (Almost) to Nicaragua
Damn Yanquis
Mr. Povondra on
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Posts
I really like the Paradox games, and I guess I'm lucky that I've come into them after they've all been patched and modded to be really good. I haven't played Victoria yet, so I'll be interested to see what it's like.
From memory the trouble with Mexico in Victoria is that you get crushed by scripted events right at the start of the game. I tried playing them once and got off to a good start, reconquering most of texas, and was then hit by some "losing the war crushes your economy" event and completely fell apart.
Anyway, my vote goes to the two sicilies and trying for an alternate italian unification from the south. Perhaps even take on the Ottomans / Austria later if we get ambitious and want to try for a neo-roman empire.
Or, failing that (which seems likely), Japan.
I like putzing around in South America, personally. You can conquer most of it with either Brazil or Argentina, as long as you neutralize the other first. Argentina is easier since you don't have those pesky colonies from France and the UK bordering you for when your badboy gets high.
Japan is actually not all that interesting in my mind.
I vote for a challenge and the UPCA, or failing that, Mexico!
EDIT: If you're even vaguely interested in Paradox games, check out Wiz' massive 120 chapter, four part Crusader Kings -> Hearts of Iron 2 LP of the House Hohenzollern. It's the best thing.
You can get it on Gamersgate with the Revolutions expansion for $20. You might be better off waiting for Victoria 2, which is due out in August.
Incidentally, for those interested it seems a modder has actually made a tutorial for this game in the form of a custom scenario with scripted events guiding you through the interface, which let me actually play this game properly for the first time last night (after owning it for years and just being confused by it). Available at http://www.europa-universalis.com/forum/showthread.php?t=386083
That'd probably work better as just Victoria:Revolutions followed by Hearts of Iron 2 (maybe Povondra would be willing to hand off his might [x] empire (or decrepit [x] city state) once he reaches that far).
Otherwise I suppose I'd have to vote for the randomness of mucking with Europe from Austria. Or, if that's deemed infeasible, from Japan.
Anyway, since the Two Sicilies seem unpopular, I'll move my vote to Mexico
Barring that, take one of the Italian states (Papal, Two Sicilies - I'm easy) and turn it into a major European power. Because Mussolini.
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
I'll give it another day or two and then we'll start.
(Russia)
And as noted, WW2 won't just start by default; you'd likely need to initiate it in some way as the player and hope the AI picks up the slack. Unless you're playing a heavily modded game (which will make the conversion a crapshoot in the first place), your country will likely be a huge powerhouse.
In your example at least Lithuania exists...even if it is 3-5 provinces...with about 3 events involving ceding territory or sovereignty to Germany and the USSR. I believe Milan and Burgundy are also potential puppet states, so the game would at least not crash right away.
It's not SUPER hard to mod these games and I've done a little bit of it, but I've never been committed enough to thinking up alt history/study enough European history for my alt history events to make some kind of sense.
Simple.
FOR CORRUPTION!
PSN - sumowot
Für das deutsche Vaterland!
Bavaria is the best choice.
While I do not know much about Victoria, wouldn't this be easily fixed by just make the first update be a summary of what happened up to the civilizing event and start the lets play proper there? Still, the vote is far from over yet.
Mexico! I choose you!
The sad fact is that most of Paradox's grand recreation games are heavily driven by scripted events, particularly Victoria and HoI. You can download the official conversion utility and it will (reasonably often) work, but without events causing wars between nations/changes of government/etc the game will end up pretty much locked in stasis except for what the player does.
For most of the multi-game LPs, what happened is the LPer designed his own alternate history and scripted events (with some decisions and randomness built in so it wasn't deterministic) in to make it happen.
My vote is for Japan. I liked playing them in Vicky, and I seem to recall that VIP even makes it possible to civilize without the Meiji restoration. You know what that means, right? Samurai armies conquering the world!
Edit: As a note, Hearts of Iron 3 uses a more dynamic model instead of scripted events, which I really like, but a lot of fans didn't. A lot of Paradox's fans are big into historical recreation and seem to have a problem when Switzerland and Brazil join the Axis.
And then the community made Magna Mundi to ramrod things back in the right direction. It's so weird to me.
I can see why pre-expansion EU3 might have needed modding, as it was pretty bland. With the three expansions though, I really don't see the need for scripted events via mods. I got enough of a real history feel via the missions given, which provide incentives to follow history without railroading you.
Yeah, I like the general goals and then go nuts. Though I like Wiz' world more. And the succession game currently going on over at Something Awful is hilarious.
It's the dichotomy of "I want to conquer the world" versus "What other scenarios are possible with that historical situation" (or alternatively "in realistic setting, how mighty/rich/etc. could that duchy/kingdom/country/etc. really become). I enjoy EU3 modded and unmodded as two separate games; just like how CS:S is not the same as Half-Life, even though you're just shooting at things.
HOI2 is a bit different from CK, EU and Vicky; the mechanics are so very specific that I prefer it be much more event driven (preferably with an abundance of alternate history events for divergences). It's also the only one of the 4 with modern combined arms and a timescale by the hour instead of by the day. CK, EU and Vicky are essentially world simulators; but HOI2 is limited to 1936-1945 (despite later preponderances towards the Cold War or Armageddon scenarios).
Despite the fact you can (potentially) bring a save through all 4, they all play pretty differently - Vicky being the most 'odd man out'. Vicky has a lot more depth to its economics and domestic politics. It's basically the only one of the bunch where you can spend your time developing your country without going to war (and still have interesting things to do...I mean, it's not like playing Costa Rica in HOI2).
I'll end the vote sometime tomorrow (this) afternoon. In the meantime, I just realized that no matter which nation is chosen we will face an important choice very early on, whether to emphasize morale or organization, so we might as well decide on that now. If you've ever played Hearts of Iron, their meanings are reversed in Victoria. Morale is what keeps your troops from retreating, organization is what determines how quickly morale regenerates.
What this all means is that in the early game when battles are quick and decisive morale is more important. In the late game as trench warfare becomes prevalent, organization is more important. So go ahead and vote on whether we should emphasize Morale or Organization.