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I pre-ordered ~:)
Paradox is already shipping pre-orders so hopefully it won't take too long to get here. It's not officially released here for another couple of weeks and EB Games have never even heard of it, which is not a good sign. Pre-ordering helps me to avoid Aussie sales tax too ~:)
Paradoxx have done it again. WHAT A FREAKING AWESOME GAME !
It's available for download via gamersgate:
http://www.gamersgate.com/index.php?...mart&Itemid=14
ENJOY !!!
You can play Turks and Timurids in this game too..... BUAHHAHAHHAAHA !!!
EDIT:
HEY ! What is everyone's favorite nation in the demo ? I like the French, all the others somehow wreaked of hopelessness.
Also the 10:1 surrender thing is very wasteful in early game. There is hardly any province that can support 12-15K armies (which is essentially what is ideal) in early game. It makes mroe sense to use small 5-7K armies, suffer less attrition and keep marching.
Alright, I have decided to give it a try. I'm downloading the demo...
I have a natural inclination towards Portugal and Castile. I like exploration and colonization. Austria is an interesting choice as well.
I want to play Japan as well, form a huge empire before the european powers show up.
Edit:
I just discovered that Paradox have, on release day already released the first 1.1 patch. Something other developers might learn from. Also their commitment to the forum is amazing.
The French are a much easier faction to play, but I did quite well as the Scots in my last demo campaign, capturing all of England and eventually annexing half of it to my kingdom.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sinan
For some reason I'm quite keen on the Scots, I have no idea why. I guess because I like playing the underdog, and because like England they have the advantage of being surrounded by sea.
I'd also like to play one of the Irish kingdoms at some stage, but since they are all single province kingdoms I imagine they'd be pretty tough.
You don't really need the 10x thing to wipe out armies, all you need to do is keep pursuing the beaten army until you whittle it down to nothing. It also works better if you keep the provinces surrounding a province you attack occupied by a regiment, that way a retreating enemy army just bounces around from one occupied province to another, losing troops every time.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sinan
Yeah, now that you mention it, I'd like to try Portugal too. About the same strength as Scotland (maybe a bit stronger) and well situated for colonial ventures.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sjakihata
Outside Europe, I'd also like to play one of the native American tribes, looks like they are adjacent to heaps of empty provinces just waiting for colonization, so that would probably be an entirely different flavour of game.
In fact now it's occurred to me, I'll think I'll try one of them in my next demo campaign :beam:
...bummer, just found out the demo only lets you play one of the Euro powers. I guess the Sioux will have to wait!
I just bought it from gamersgate. A direct download to you PC. So far Im loving it. Im playing Saxony starting in 1452. Im allied with Austria and Im trying to build a great Hansestadt republic. Focusing on land might and scientific development.
I downloaded the demo, and although I didnt play it for long I would have if the graphics were any better!
Lucky you ~:)Quote:
Originally Posted by Sjakihata
I was hoping to directly DL the game from Paradox, but there didn't seem to be an option for that, so I had to order a hard copy. Now I have to hang out a week or so for delivery :/
Paradox is about gameplay not graphics. As opposed to some other game companies I could mention.Quote:
Originally Posted by diablodelmar
The continuous time system also takes some getting used to, especially when it comes to fighting battles, but once you get used to it it works fine.
I tried Munster and it was rather challanging.Quote:
I'd also like to play one of the Irish kingdoms at some stage, but since they are all single province kingdoms I imagine they'd be pretty tough.
Has anybody got one of the nation events to happen?
What do you mean, nation events?
The game generates its own nation events from time to time. Like different countries uniting under one crown and so on. Is that the sort of thing you mean?
Quote:
Originally Posted by screwtype
Although the game is so easy to mod that five minute's effort and you have a beautiful-looking game. I guess it's like having a car that runs beautifully but that comes with a fairly nondescript paint job- you can go and get it painted yourself, if you so wish, but it's really pretty unimportant. As opposed to a game that's like the most beautiful looking car you ever did see, but when you open up the hood all thats inside is a kid's crayon drawing of an engine*
*Thanks, Family Guy!
You mean you can mod the graphics as well?Quote:
Originally Posted by D Wilson
Quite frankly the graphics are fine by me. I think they look very similar in quality to the RTW campaign map so I'm not sure what people mean when they talk about dud graphics. If they want dud graphics, they should try playing one of the earlier Paradox games, EU3 is a big step forward if you ask me ~:)
Quote:
Originally Posted by screwtype
Yup, (in the demo, iI don't have the full game yet but from what I've hear there's very few differences in that respect) in the gfx folders for the unit models and the like and in the map folder for the map, although the unit textures are so small it's quite hard to change them much. I'm trying to get them as photo-realistic as I can, purely to go with the map textures. I started off replacing them all the map/terrain textures with the ones from M2TW which had a dramatic and enjoyable effect but now I'm experimenting with using actual satellite photography.
Even still, it's really just to pass the time more than anything becauseI find the game itself is immersive enough for the graphics to become negligible.
Sounds interesting. Maybe you could eventually post your changes as a graphics mod at Paradox?
Quote:
Originally Posted by screwtype
I could, but I haven't looked into it, and I'm sure the idea is so simple that it must have been done tonnes of times before?
It's certainly been done for other games, I don't know about Paradox, but if the graphics for EU3 are as easy to mod as you say, I guess it's only a matter of time before people start doing graphics mods for that game too.
Maybe yours will be one of the first!
Quote:
Originally Posted by screwtype
Haha it'd be nice! I'll have to wait until te game arrives and see what I can do with it then, it's a shame it's a week or so after the rest of the world here.
Yeah, Paradox's customer support is great.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sjakihata
Some nice changes in the patch, I particularly noticed these two:
If all possible locations that an army may retreat each contain an enemy army that exceeds it in size, the army will be disbanded. Note that every army in every province must be larger, otherwise the defeated army will retreat towards a province that has an enemy army that is smaller than it is.
The Outliner now has a separate section to show provinces that are colonies (but not yet full-fledged colonial cities). This makes it very easy to quickly select a province that you wish to further develop through sending a colonist.
The outliner is a very nice feature, and being able to select a colony directly from there is going to save quite a bit of messing around.
The changes to the retreat rules are welcome too. It does get pretty annoying when an army of less than 1000 troops takes half a dozen combats to eliminate, the new rule should make it much easier to get rid of them.
If you look in C:\Program Files\Paradox Interactive\Eu3 - DEMO\eventsQuote:
What do you mean, nation events?
there are some text files called, BritishNation, EnglishNation, FrenchNation, GermanNation, IrishNation, ItalianNation, MughalNation, NetherlandsNation, PersianNation, RussianNation and SpanishNation.
After reading these files, I believe that if you are playing as a certain country and control certain provinces you will have to option to create and play as one of these new nations.
Example:
In the Irish Nation file it says:
Quote:
country_event = {
id = 1010
trigger = {
NOT = { exists = IRE }
NOT = { has_country_flag = irish_nation_declined }
primary_culture = irish
owns = 372 # Ulster
owns = 373 # Meath
owns = 374 # München
owns = 375 # Leinster
owns = 376 # Connaught
war = no
}
mean_time_to_happen = {
months = 216
modifier = {
factor = 0.9
NOT = { centralization_decentralization = -1 }
}
modifier = {
factor = 0.9
NOT = { centralization_decentralization = -2 }
}
modifier = {
factor = 0.9
NOT = { centralization_decentralization = -3 }
}
modifier = {
factor = 1.1
centralization_decentralization = 2
}
modifier = {
factor = 1.1
centralization_decentralization = 3
}
modifier = {
factor = 1.1
centralization_decentralization = 4
}
modifier = {
factor = 0.8
idea = bureaucracy
}
}
title = "EVTNAME1010"
desc = "EVTDESC1010"
option = {
name = "EVTOPTA1010"
ai_chance = { factor = 75 }
change_tag = IRE
centralization_decentralization = -2
merchants = 1
random_owned = {
base_tax = 1
}
prestige = 0.15
}
option = {
name = "EVTOPTB1010"
ai_chance = { factor = 25 }
set_country_flag = irish_nation_declined
centralization_decentralization = 2
random_owned = {
base_tax = -1
}
}
}
Some observations:
Focusing on trade and exploration can pay off big time. In my first game, as Portugal, I was getting over 1000 ducats per year from trade around, IIRC, 1525. To get this kind of income from trade, you need to focus on trade tech, explore to find far-off centers of trade, and colonize provinces with valuable trade goods. Good slider settings - naval, plutocracy - help. You need to focus on this to succeed, but it will make you one of the wealthiest and most advanced countries.
Monopolies seem impossible to maintain, in the above-mentioned game I kept getting my monopoly in Lisboa broken by the Iriquois. :dizzy2:
Apparently, for some reason, owning centers of trade that are not of your primary culture will increase the chance that other nations' merchants will kick yours out dramatically. This can be modded trivially in the 'static_modifiers.txt' file, but until you do that, or a patch changes this, avoid owning multiple centers of trade like a plague if you rely on trade to any extent... :no:
Leaders are extremely important (as Screwtype has already experienced). A leader with a good shock or fire score can alter the outcome of a battle dramatically, a good maneuver score can allow you to choose the time and place of battle, and a good siege score will cause sieges to go much quicker. This is why you should only use mercanaries when it is vital to the success of your strategy - only your regular troops will contribute to your military tradition when they fight, and military tradition determines the quality of the leaders you recruit.
I was playing it for hours yesterday, really burns the time away. I enjoyed Crusader Kings but only played EUII once or twice, so the system is still basically new to me, but I really enjoyed it.
My attempt to create a Norwegian colonial empire started well but collapsed after a while, sadly. I tried an Irish game with Tyrone (the poorest province actually) starting in 1515 or so and it went surprisingly well - rock hard to start off (you absolutely need a loan, and to take a massive diplomatic hit warring against your neighbours) but once you have 3 regiments or so they go down easily. The big problem is with England, you can take Dublin pretty easily but getting them to cede it to you properly is hard, you'll never get a high-enough warscore in Ireland alone so I had to invade Wales to prove the point. Once you have all the territories necessary for a nation event it still takes a long time, modified by things like centralization etc. The Kingdom of Ireland took about 20 years to come to fruition.
Anyway, fun. Can't wait to buy it myself. Too bad I forgot to get my saves from my friends' computer. :book:
Antagonist
Well you all made EU3 sound good and I enjoyed HoI2/Victoria so I was going to buy this. Then I found out that EU3 a 2d strategy game REQUIRES 2.0 pixel shaders to run it all. Apparently Paradox is now in the business of either laziness or simply not caring if their old customers can run the game. Its really sad when my video card can run MTW2 but not EU3. If this is going to be the usual from Paradox from now on I won't bother with their games. I don't feel like having to upgrade every time they adopt some new standard from the bloated video card industry without need.
Ouch. You can try and send them a (nice) letter explaining the predicament of old fans. May be they'll listen, who knows? Unlike most people in the business, they actually listen to their customers...Quote:
Originally Posted by ChaosLord
You might have a small chance of getting that up in the next patch or something.
And this thing only sounds better and better! Jeez people, I'm trying to stop the temptation here!
From what I've read, the reason EU3 requires a decent graphics card is not so much the graphic requirements of the game, but because unlike most games they can't offload some of the graphics demands onto the CPU because all the power of the CPU is needed to run the game at a decent clip. In other words, a reasonable graphics card is needed to keep the CPU free of video demands.Quote:
Originally Posted by ChaosLord
Even on my PC, which is not too shabby at all in the hardware department, the game runs a bit slow - about 3 days per second, or a couple of minutes a year. That may not sound slow but in a campaign encompasing 350 years it adds up to a lot of time.
And anyway, Pixelshader 2.0 is pretty old by now. You can get a card with P2 very cheaply these days.
Is that at top speed? I get about 3-5 days p/s at top speed but I'm going off it a bit because I'm starting to miss things.Quote:
Originally Posted by screwtype
I've got an Athlon64 3000+ with a gig of RAM. Yes, I've heard that folks with faster CPU's are getting better performance, but 3 days/sec isn't too bad. Some people are apparently getting much worse performance.Quote:
Originally Posted by D Wilson
Bah! Those dirty backstabbing sassanachs sprung a suprise war on me, even though we had a royal marriage and +100 relations. And then I discovered a wonderful new game mechanic. If you have your armies on low maintenance, when a province fort is attacked it surrenders right away. My garrisons in Lothian and the neighbouring province surrendered after exactly three days. And to think that I spent literally years battering down English forts in my previous campaign...
Anyhow, that'll teach me not to honour my alliance with France in its silly little wars. I will have to do that next time, even if it does cost me a stack of stability points, because it looks like without a major alliance, Scotland is just too tempting a target for the English.
And to think I just scored a wonderful administrative monarch who gave me an incredible 40% increased chance to score successful colonizations! Not to mention the gold province I had just colonized...
Oh well, I guess the French didn't dub the English "perfidious Albion" for nothing :/
Try being the English on VH and getting wrapped up in a war of succession on top of the existing war with France and Brittany, only to have the opportunistic Scots and their allies Norway and Denmark attempt repeated invasions from the north.Quote:
Originally Posted by screwtype
First chance I get, Scots are going to cease to be.
It's my first game as a major power and its proving tougher than conguering all of Europe with any of the 2-3 province states.
Loved my games of Bavarian and Granada Conquests. :charge: