[Volodja]

The Magna Mundi mod doesn't support Divine Wind and suffers from a lot of bloat. I wouldn't recommend it anymore.

I remewmber reading tha there were some problems with the newer versions of EU3.
That sucks.

[Basileus777]

I remewmber reading tha there were some problems with the newer versions of EU3. That sucks.

The mod is basically built around In Nomine. They did a quick port for HTTT and there's no DW version. It hasn't seen a significant update in years because they've been working on the game version for what seems like forever now.

[Da DreadLord]

Just started my first game ever of EU3.. a friend told me to pick France as a starter.

Before I knew it I was at war with England.. no idea why either XD

I'll get the hang of this game one day..I hope

[Arksy]

I purchased the paradox pack on steam a few months ago, but all these games are have a ludacris learning curve, and the tutorials don't seem to work. Anyone know of a good resource to help ease into these games?

[XiaNaphryz]

The mod is basically built around In Nomine. They did a quick port for HTTT and there's no DW version. It hasn't seen a significant update in years because they've been working on the game version for what seems like forever now.

Well, there's supposedly a release candidate ready, so MM's undergoing final testing at Paradox I'm assuming. So it should be out within a few months allegedly.

Also, the manual is out: http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/...anual-Released!

[Prophane33]

Just started my first game ever of EU3.. a friend told me to pick France as a starter. Before I knew it I was at war with England.. no idea why either XD I'll get the hang of this game one day..I hope

France = Easy Mode.

[bonesmccoy]

France = Easy Mode.

Even then it's easy for a novice (like me, ahem) to get steamrolled. In one attempt, I let my relations with Spain grow stale, and moved a bunch of troops away from that border to assist in my conquest of a bunch of small HRE countries. Despite having a marriage, a long truce and an almost as long alliance, the Spanish launched an invasion. I think they reached Orleans before I had enough troops to start pushing them back.

In HO3, I've always played as Germany. I've always struggled to beat Poland quickly, but France falls relatively fast when I attack through Switzerland/Italy and hold a long, creeping front along the Maginot Line and Belgium/Netherlands.

[ThoseDeafMutes]

France = Easy Mode.

For someone who hasn't come to grips with the mechanics, it can be challenging. Since France begins the game with lots of vassals (and not a whole lot of contiguous territory), it can be fragile if you lose a war early on (which can happen when you're new). I say Castile is the best for beginners.

[Prophane33]

For someone who hasn't come to grips with the mechanics, it can be challenging. Since France begins the game with lots of vassals (and not a whole lot of contiguous territory), it can be fragile if you lose a war early on (which can happen when you're new). I say Castile is the best for beginners.

Castile is a great starting point for beginners actually. You can keep Portugal strongly allied so you don't have to worry about them, plus they've got your back in a war, and you have a good long-term goal (unite Spain).

[Sickboy007]

I think the easiest way to start with EU3 is Portugal, if you manage to stay friendly with Spain/Castille you can go full-on colonization without worrying much about the european wars.

[Dascu]

I think the easiest way to start with EU3 is Portugal, if you manage to stay friendly with Spain/Castille you can go full-on colonization without worrying much about the european wars.

But colonization is boring.

[Giard]

Ooh, subscribed.
I'm not too good at EU3, I started playing Brunei on easy and formed the Malaya (sp?) Empire. Now I've conquered Thailand and Vietnam, slowly making my way towards India.

[flowsnake]

So what exactly is Magna Mundi? EU3 with more options?

[Perkel]

I say Castile is the best for beginners.

This.

After full 400years i was pro :)


2nd run was blast to play. Still remember it.
S took administrative republic between palentine and austria and from one small province with almost no manpower i created vast empire that took out of game Bohemia, Burgundy and made a lot of vassal states from HRE, Austria feared my wrath. France Spain and England as usual were fighting with each other not giving flying fuck about mid europe. Poland anexed Lithuenia and slother everyone in east (Golden Horde, Muscowy, even were fighting for india influence.) since Hungary and Bohemia weren't their problem in west anymore. Sweden tried to invade denmark and in weird way denmark anexed by royal marriage later whole Sweden making my fierce enemy in mid europe influence war. After i established my trade level to 1st position in world i moved on south to pre-italy bunch of spagetti speaking countries. Made several vassals, rest started to be peacefull since my influence gave me casus beli insant.

Shit started to get ugly when my new neigbour france united with most provinces and started slothering england since Spain was doing Quest for new World and didn't give a fuck anymore about england and france. Meanwhile Hungary since my hard beating revived and started to anexing more provinces making it a big threat.

When i declared a full scale war with France just few months later Hungary started war with me. With France i could go without problem but Hungary tactic of take unnocupied provinces was super efective and quickly killed my support since i couldn't take france without my full force. Then denmark joined party. And that was the end of mighty empire. In few years i lost half of might and my agressors gain even more power.

Later i focused in establishing good relations with them, made ally pact with Empire of Poland and i focused mainly on spies and relations. It was more effective now since whole europe was clausterfuck with relgion diffrences.

So i took what i've got, drown Hungary in rebelions and downsized their man-power. Involved them in war with poland and only ashes ramained from my former enemy.

With no problems from south and east started a proxy war with denmark fighting defensivly on my provinces meanwhile poland send troops by east side and smacked them hard in Sweeden.

After they were cut off from Sweeden manpower support they were nothing.

And that was the end of my game i was in middle between Even bigger empire of poland and france with their stacks of doom.

So good.

[XiaNaphryz]

Yeah, the EU3 starter guide I linked to above uses Castille for its main example. Then follows it with a HRE example to show how those mechanics work.

[XPE]

Got HOI3 when it came out and the difficulty jump over 2 is mind blowing!!!

There is such a thing as 2 much control.

[Kabouter]

Got HOI3 when it came out and the difficulty jump over 2 is mind blowing!!! There is such a thing as 2 much control.

Nothing in the game is forcing you to control everything. Personally, I like that it allows me to take a step back from micro-managing armies. I usually just let the AI handle it at the HQ level, and then keep a small elite armoured force for myself to force breakthroughs when and where I want them.

[Rapstah]

Nothing in the game is forcing you to control everything. Personally, I like that it allows me to take a step back from micro-managing armies. I usually just let the AI handle it at the HQ level, and then keep a small elite armoured force for myself to force breakthroughs when and where I want them.

I could never get into HoI3 from HoI2 because it felt like you either controlled everything or nothing. I still love HoI2 though, nothing more fun than screwing up the world by going Social Democrat Germany in 1938.

I also need to get into EU3 any day now, the goal is taking over half the world as the Byzantine empire.

[alstein]

So what exactly is Magna Mundi? EU3 with more options?

Magna Mundi= EU3 if Paradox's logo was a trollface. The commercial mod seems to have a lot of new mechanics that look interesting.

Best description I can give.

[zoku88]

Well, presumably French (and even British) forces were holding you up. As a newer player, I'd advise you to let the AI handle the military part from one of the top levels (HQ level would probably be best), and focus on getting production and research right.

Yup, that's basically what happened. Both the French and English combined forces were holding me back on the Belgian/French border, pretty much.

I think in my game, the AI was handling everything except for military, which was what I was trying to learn at the time so I handled that manually.

I'll try your suggestion sometime.

[speedpop]

But colonization is boring.

I'm of this mind too. I thoroughly enjoyed forming Scandinavia and colonizing both Americas, but ideally I would have had much more fun by striking east and south of the Nordic lands in the hopes of taking over Russia and Europe. I had already begun hassling the northern Holy Roman Empire members south of Denmark but never bothered beyond a few diplomatic ties and such.

I still firmly believe that the most fun I ever had with EU3 was forming Germany simply because the intricacies of dealing with the HRE and the Catholic Church having a hissy fit with the Reformation era, let alone the volatile arena of Europe in itself, made the game much more enjoyable instead of creating a fleet and becoming the blob. My only disappointment, much like my Scandinavia playthrough, was not having the arrogance to take over Europe proper. The power and might was certainly there but I suppose the capitulation of playing it safe had taken over.

[zoku88]

Just started my first game ever of EU3.. a friend told me to pick France as a starter. Before I knew it I was at war with England.. no idea why either XD I'll get the hang of this game one day..I hope

No idea why?

It was probably related to the Hundred Years' War.

[Sir Fragula]

I still firmly believe that the most fun I ever had with EU3 was forming Germany simply because the intricacies of dealing with the HRE and the Catholic Church having a hissy fit with the Reformation era, let alone the volatile arena of Europe in itself, made the game much more enjoyable instead of creating a fleet and becoming the blob. My only disappointment, much like my Scandinavia playthrough, was not having the arrogance to take over Europe proper. The power and might was certainly there but I suppose the capitulation of playing it safe had taken over.

True - it's nice to see random minors colonising the Americas, but I much prefer to take over the HRE or spread Hinduism throughout Iberia.

[zoku88]

Huh, usually in my games, I don't see the Reconquista totally fail.

I think the failure this time was due to France taking a large part of Iberia and then succumbing to internal strife. I guess that let me break free as the Duke of Burgundy/Aragon/Barcelona, etc and then become King of Aragon and invade France.

[Volodja]

In my game, while Navarra and Aragona are relegated in a corner, Leon managed to conquer a lot of the peninsula by 1275.

Still, quite a good chunk is in the hand of different muslim countries and a few counties have been taken from them by the HRE.

[Sir Fragula]

Looking forward to see how they deal with Muslim, Pagan and Horde states through DLC.

[Volodja]

Looking forward to see how they deal with Muslim, Pagan and Horde states through DLC.

Yeah, being able to control those countries would be nice.
In general, I'm really excited for any CK2 additional content.

Well, outside of sprite packs and the likes that I don't really care for.

[Mr. Luchador]

If you generally enjoy the concept these games offer, and enjoy the challenge of learning how to play them - is CK2 worth getting now or best to wait till the Easter Sale?

[Son1x]

Here is something I started today. This was the first time I tried an OPM.



I like the little variety in this game. This is the first time I've seen Florence so big. They have been slowly expanding the whole game. Bavaria was once a 10 province major but eventually collapsed. Cologne went on an annex spree after Bavaria and ended up annexing Trier, Palatinate, Alsace and Lorraine. They lost everything in one long war though. They were left with the 2 provinces they have now. Quite an enjoyable game so far. Thought its gonna be more of a waiting game.

[ZZMitch]

Who owns Constantinople in your game?

[Dascu]

Has anyone ever seen Aragon beat Castille?

[Rapstah]

That looks so much better than my EU3, is it Magna Mundi or Crusader Kings 2?

EDIT: Also what the hell at Poland. That's a really odd shape for a functional country.

[Kabouter]

Has anyone ever seen Aragon beat Castille?

Yup, but it's rare. Think I've only seen it once or twice.

That looks so much better than my EU3, is it Magna Mundi or Crusader Kings 2? EDIT: Also what the hell at Poland. That's a really odd shape for a functional country.

That's EU3 with the (rather unbalanced) Death & Taxes mod.

[Son1x]

Who owns Constantinople in your game?

Papal States. Didn't see that when I was posting. It was when I tried to send the merchants there that I noticed they own it.

[Lactose_Intolerant]

Playing on the Iberian peninsula is easy in CK2. Just be one of the 3 kings that are all brothers and assassinate your brothers. You inherit basically everything but Barcelona. Capture Toledo and make it your capital. The tech from Toledo will give all your other counties like 200% tech growth.

[flowsnake]

That looks so much better than my EU3, is it Magna Mundi or Crusader Kings 2? EDIT: Also what the hell at Poland. That's a really odd shape for a functional country.

Even though it's a mod, it looks almost exactly like Divine Wind does to me.

[zoku88]

Playing on the Iberian peninsula is easy in CK2. Just be one of the 3 kings that are all brothers and assassinate your brothers. You inherit basically everything but Barcelona. Capture Toledo and make it your capital. The tech from Toledo will give all your other counties like 200% tech growth.

Yea, it seemed like it was to me, judging from the LP videos of the Leon playthrough.

Right now, I'm in a bit of trouble in my game. Mostly because the HRE is Cathar, so they have Holy War causus belli against me.

They tried to take Brabant from me whilst allied with the Byzantine Empire. Even though my warscore was at 96%, I had to sue for white peace since one of their armies was about to take one of the counties in Brabant, and my forces weren't really enough to fight them long term.

[Mr. Luchador]

Did anyone make a Modern Era total conversion for the Heart of Iron games? So from 45-Present Day+

[Hari Seldon]

The best Hearts of Iron game is Darkest Hour, which is $10 with both a WWI and WWII campaign that goes up to the 60s I think, and with all of the shit in all of the HoI2 expansions + more like a totally new map. I have put more time in that than any other Paradox game, although CK2 might end up topping that total haha.

[ctrayne]

.

[FrontalMonk]

Yup, but it's rare. Think I've only seen it once or twice.

My first game of EU3 I started last night as Castille...I was definitely on the losing side of a battle with Aragon when I stopped playing :(

I was only a couple years into the game so I'm heading back to the drawing board today to rework how I'm going to stage my invasion. For starters, I'll actually try putting a general in charge of an army or two, and build up my forces a little closer to my cap. I got so excited about taking down Granada that I don't think I built up my army enough, just declared pretty much straight away and went to town. Also should've tried sueing for a white peace with Granada's allies...yeah. There's a lot to this game, although I'm trying to figure out if I'm supposed to be making decisions all the time, or if I should be making some decisions then waiting for things to play out. I feel like when I'm just training up units I should be doing something else. Not sure what though. Following along with the LP that was posted here to take some baby steps into it.

[Colkate]

Is anyone familiar with how the achievements work in EUIII? Or just the scripting in general I guess.
I'm playing a game as The Teutonic Order and decided to expand west and try to form Germany, mainly just because I've never seen Germany formed in EUIII before, and was wondering if I will get the achievement for forming Germany as TO if I have reformed into Prussia first. I found a post somewhere saying that it only matters what country you started as in regards to the achievement, so it may well work, but I'd like to know for sure.
Ultimately I'm not all that bothered about the achievement, but I doubt I'm going to form Germany again, let alone from starting as the TO, so if I can get it on the way it would be nice.

For reference here's the code from the achievements file:

#'An early Reich' -  (PRU 1399 start, form germany before 1800)
AN_EARLY_REICH = 
{
	possible = {
		start_date = 1399.10.14
		tag = TEU
	}

	happened = {
		tag = GER
		NOT = { year = 1800 }
	}
}

[Lonewolf_92]

I think the easiest way to start with EU3 is Portugal, if you manage to stay friendly with Spain/Castille you can go full-on colonization without worrying much about the european wars.

Personally, I'd suggest one of the Sub-Sahara African Tribal at the earliest time period for someone who is a total newb to come to grips with EU3. Few neighbors, combat involves choosing between "Guys with Clubs" vs. "Guys with Spears", hard to "mess up" research or government slider settings, frequently supplied "Tribal Warfare" CB to use to go to war, easy goals. Only becomes a challenge when Europe starts to colonize, and by then the player should be ready to play a more challenging country.

[Colkate]

I started a game as The Teutonic Order recently, with the goal of forming Germany and it's been an awesome ride, but at 1575 I'm almost done. Unfortunately I always seem to accomplish my goals well before the 18th century so I have yet to actually reach 1821.
The Teutonic Order are, I think one of the hardest non one-province nations to start with in Europe, you've got Poland and Lithuania constantly on your doorstep, Denmark/Sweden always declaring war when you're busy fighting someone else because of their starting core on the island of Gotland, and the HRE to the west. It doesn't help that quite a few of the provinces the TO start with have really low manpower, you really have to take as much land, mostly from Poland/Lithuania as possible from the outset.

Here's my current Empire(republic really) as of 1575:

I've got control + cores on all the provinces needed to form Germany, but I'm waiting until Land Tech 30 for Prussian Military Reforms first. Hungry was being a real pain recently, always attacking me when fighting with the HRE so I took some provinces from them to split their land in two.
And that's Granada over in Iberia, not Castile/Spain.

*snip*

Also I ended up finding this out first hand, I did still get the achievement after forming Prussia, so all that matters for this kind of thing is your starting nation.

[Scipius]

You will still get the achievement if you form Prussia in between the TO and Germany; I've done this myself as well. It's the smart thing to do in any case; the Prussian events are quite nice.

[zoku88]

My first game of EU3 I started last night as Castille...I was definitely on the losing side of a battle with Aragon when I stopped playing :( I was only a couple years into the game so I'm heading back to the drawing board today to rework how I'm going to stage my invasion. For starters, I'll actually try putting a general in charge of an army or two, and build up my forces a little closer to my cap. I got so excited about taking down Granada that I don't think I built up my army enough, just declared pretty much straight away and went to town. Also should've tried sueing for a white peace with Granada's allies...yeah. There's a lot to this game, although I'm trying to figure out if I'm supposed to be making decisions all the time, or if I should be making some decisions then waiting for things to play out. I feel like when I'm just training up units I should be doing something else. Not sure what though. Following along with the LP that was posted here to take some baby steps into it.

You should probably be saving up money in order to build buildings to create more monies.

In the ledger, you can actually see the size of every countries armies. And you can look at the land tech to guess how powerful they are.

[Llyranor]

The best part about these games is the co-op. Co-op strategy gaming is the best (though Shogun 2 Total War is my favorite one on that front)

-------------

I remember HoI3 being one of my most anticipated games when it was released. I day1'ed it. Played co-op with a buddy, him as UK and me as France. Started in 1936, IIRC.First 4 years were cool. We were building up our forces for what we expected to be a hopeless battle. Pretty cool tension, I would say. Eventually, when Germany finally attacked, the incompetent brain-dead AI pretty much stumbled into the Lower Countries, where it just fizzled and lost the offensive. Completely anti-climatic. Turned me off the game for years.

I picked up the xpacs recently for a couple of bucks in a Steam sale. How's the AI nowadays? Can it actually utilize the game's combat mechanics properly now? Is it (haha) competent, or is artificially pumping up its stats the only way to get a (unfun) challenge?

Anyway, never day1 a Paradox-developed game ever again.

Crusader Kings 2 seems pretty cool, but definitely waiting for a Steam sale or a complete edition Steam sale.

France = Easy Mode.

Play as Burgundy! Loads of fun.

Played co-op with two buddies. Them as Portugal/Aragon. Being stuck in the middle, I was constantly at war with France and its vassals, the various Italian states, or little bits and pieces of the Holy Roman Empire.

I was a bit aggressive at the beginning with annexing stuff, so my infamy was pretty bad. As such, I was despised all around the world. Pretty much all my neighbors had casus belli on me. Fending off one coalition after another (and then annexing them to make my situation worse), at some point I had to deal with constant rebellions. My infrastructure probably would have broken at some point. I opted to released a bunch of provinces as my vassals; so, this decreased my infamy, gave me less territory to have to manage, and provided me with buffers btw my neighbors and me.

Eventually, I destroyed France, and had the option of forming a new France nation under Burgundian rule. Awesome! By then, we mostly stopped playing, because no European nation could challenge us anymore.

[Colkate]

One of my friends who is currently learning how to play HOI3 just linked me some really decent tutorial videos, there isn't many at the moment as the guy is still making them, but it seems like he put quite a bit of time into them.

[ZZMitch]

Here is my Papal States game, gunna get into it again after taking a long break and playing through Kingdoms of Amalur. First time playing with Death and Taxes, I like it a lot.



Also own some Caribbean islands.

Borders don't look too bad right? They will come around when I have my Holy Mediterranean Empire!

[Colkate]

Cool to see so many big nations there, it seems like every game I play the whole world just gets fractured into tiny pieces constantly.