These support multiplayer, right? We should get a big paradox multiplayer game going. Pick a game, and try to get a human in every country. That's my dream game.
There is a quickstart guide and strategy guide on the paradox forums as well as the full 80 page or so manual, which I'm going to start reading tonight I think. Maybe once I've read all three of these I'll be able to make some sense of it.
I think a lot of it comes down to which period/type of history interests you. If you're in it just to fight wars, HoI3 is the way to go. If you're more into the nation building / diplomacy side of things, EU3 or Victoria would be a better option, though Victoria is arguably even harder to get into that HoI. I found EU was the easiest to understand personally, but that might just be because I had the most interest in that time period so was willing to make more of an effort. I tend to think of EU as the "base" game, with the others adding extra features on top.
The first one I did was Rome, which seems like the most simplistic mechanically. I liked it, but it seems like the hardcore fans didn't like it so much. I started playing EU3 after that, which is a lot tougher. I managed to unite Ireland, but after that it seemed like every other country could kick my ass, and I had no idea how to build a peaceful trading empire.
Rome does have the benefit of starting you off with a smaller map, which makes your options a bit more obvious. The only additional complication is the management of your politicians / family members.
It's funny this thread popped back up again, as I was considering make a thread for this game just recently. I finally got around to play Hearts of Iron III, which I got a while back on sale. I tried Europa Universalis III, but that game completely defeats me. I attempted to play it for a while, but I could never figure out what I was doing. So now I'm trying Hearts of Iron III. I've only finished the tutorials, but from reading the comments here apparently that doesn't mean a whole lot.
I wonder if I'll ever figure out these grand strategy games. Am I suppose to ignore lots of the small details in these or something?
It seems like it might be a backwards method for learning how to play the game, but if you check out the official forums there's a lot of After-Action Reports (AARs) posted by hardcore players. These are basically Let's Plays for different game setups.
If you find one that's written very thoroughly (where the author walks you screen-by-screen through a lot of decisions and planning, I mean) you can get a pretty good idea of how to manage all the different fronts of the game. I don't consider myself a HoI pro or anything, but back when I was hooked on HoI2 this is the method that gave me the most understanding of all the facets of the game.
Well, its halfway through 1938 and so far this game China is still standing.
My strategy is basically this: Hundreds of thousands of infantry on the border and hope the Japs don't attack.
In the west, the Japanese have taken some territories but are being held at bay so far. The main difficulty being that I will lose any fight that does not involve 3:1 odds.
Have they fixed this game yet? I followed it through a number of patches, but the AI still does extremely dumb stuff. Like when I was playing as Japan, the Soviets declared war on me. They promptly removed every division from the Manchuko border and redeployed them across the country. Also the AI still does not know how to use navies, let alone invade islands. What really gets me is that instead of fixing their game, they are coming out with an expansion pack this weekend. I guess they want more money before they fix anything.
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I wonder if I'll ever figure out these grand strategy games. Am I suppose to ignore lots of the small details in these or something?
If you find one that's written very thoroughly (where the author walks you screen-by-screen through a lot of decisions and planning, I mean) you can get a pretty good idea of how to manage all the different fronts of the game. I don't consider myself a HoI pro or anything, but back when I was hooked on HoI2 this is the method that gave me the most understanding of all the facets of the game.
My strategy is basically this: Hundreds of thousands of infantry on the border and hope the Japs don't attack.
In the west, the Japanese have taken some territories but are being held at bay so far. The main difficulty being that I will lose any fight that does not involve 3:1 odds.
Eventually, the goal is to not lose.