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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcD3n6pRFVY

So apparently this is happening now, a 'talk show' for paradox to talk about paradox games.

Usefully, the video bar is cut up by topics (CK3, Empire of Sin, Prison Architect, Surviving the Aftermath, a bit on the 4 year anniversary of HOI 4, and Vampire 2.


Anyway, details probably of interest:

CK3 is releasing September 1st.
Some actual gameplay (4:02 to 7:15), focused on 1066 Iberia.

The map is... ugly and bland. Its less bad as they zoom in.
The format really detracts from showing off the game- they keep cutting back to the talking to heads to show them blathering.
Not totally sold on the interface, but it looks a little less clunky than CK2.


don't really care about the other games, so skipping.
----

Vampire 2 goes on for a bit about the collector's edition, has a trailer that starts with creepy puppet-corpses and becomes... generic action game set to Danke Schoen.
And shock reveal: they brought in a character from Vampire 1. Yay.

And the talk show format actually gets worse for this segment, with a touch of super-edgelord 'roleplaying...' read from a script.

No discussion of Stellaris? A little disappointed, but we did get Federations released recently so probably not surprising.

 Melissia wrote:
No discussion of Stellaris? A little disappointed, but we did get Federations released recently so probably not surprising.

I haven't watched it. But most of the games on Voss's list are still in pre-release. One of the two that is out - Prison Architect - just got purchased by Paradox. It makes sense that they'd focus on those games.

Hearts of Iron appears to be mentioned due to its anniversary.

Still no Victoria 3?

Its funny because the comments on the video itself are various iterations of
'Why no Stellaris?'
and especially
'Vicky 3 when?'

Voss wrote:
Its funny because the comments on the video itself are various iterations of
'Why no Stellaris?'
and especially
'Vicky 3 when?'

Makes sense. Paradox's big strategy game franchises are CK, EU, Victoria, Stellaris, and HOI. CK's in the video. EU *just* got a new DLC drop (the "everything in the EU franchise except the new DLC is on sale" sale was just this past weekend). HOI gets a mention. That leaves Victoria and Stellaris.

There's also the Cities franchise. But I suspect that the fans of that franchise tend to not be quite as rabid and competitive as those of the other franchises that I listed.

Other people enjoy CK, EU, and HoI, and more power to them for doing so. Doesn't mean I'm obligated to, though, so naturally I was curious about the games Paradox releases that I actually enjoy, not the ones I don't.

No Stellaris news makes sense, having just dropped a DLC and update its now going to be a lull before we get any news on further developments. Surprised that as it was their own show they didn't do any plugs for recent content like that, even if it was only a quick mention; but with several upcoming games they clearly want to focus on them rather than on DLC for an existing product that has had good marketing behind it (ergo most of those watching the stream are likely already well aware of stellaris and its updates if they are customers of the game).


Sadly this also meant that there wasn't much to catch my eye in this one. CK3 though might be interesting. The second game I've tried to like, but I can never find a happy spot where the game feels right - it always feels like the game speed is either too fast or way too slow.

CK3 might be more approachable, esp if they've learned things from stellaris

 Melissia wrote:
Other people enjoy CK, EU, and HoI, and more power to them for doing so. Doesn't mean I'm obligated to, though, so naturally I was curious about the games Paradox releases that I actually enjoy, not the ones I don't.

EU didn't get mentioned, either.


Assuming these videos get released regularly, I suspect that we'll see the exact same games in the next video, save for HOI.

 Overread wrote:
No Stellaris news makes sense, having just dropped a DLC and update its now going to be a lull before we get any news on further developments.

Stellaris Federations was actually 3 months ago (March 17). They teased some future content in the form of icons about a month ago, but haven't followed up.

Its EUIV that just got a DLC (which seems weird not to even have a quick 'Buy Now' bit).

Sadly this also meant that there wasn't much to catch my eye in this one. CK3 though might be interesting. The second game I've tried to like, but I can never find a happy spot where the game feels right - it always feels like the game speed is either too fast or way too slow.

CK3 might be more approachable, esp if they've learned things from stellaris

Eh. Stellaris development has been a perpetual mess and major overhauls (as was Imperator). I hope they've got a more straightforward and coherent development model in mind, and don't release an empty shell of a game that they slowly flesh out in response to forum rage or a game lead that overestimates his 'grand idea' for the game.

I'm with you on CK2, though. Partly it was UI related, partly (at various stages, some of which changed by DLC) lack of player agency and ability to make decisions. There were times you just had to wait for the RNG to provide you the ability to go to war, only to find that when you finally can, you're outnumbered significantly and have no chance of victory (and no ability to get more troops, except incrementally). That was very unfun.

I wouldn't compare it to Imperator, that was a mess. But yes, Stellaris has gotten... two major overhauls? Or was it three?

Stellaris has had good overhauls in general, however the introduction of hyperlanes as the default movement for early to mid game (with free movement being only late game); and the shift toward every empire operating the same, saw a lot of pushback.

Thing is for all the complaints the approach works far better now than in the past. In the past combat was a pain because it was "chase the fleet". If you didn't want to fight you just ran wherever you wanted, which meant you could spend ages chasing the enemy. Another issue was that instead of having to fight your way through an empire you could identity a key world or the homeworld and just gun right for it. Space stations and such had no real purpose - you couldn't have a defended boarder system or choke points or anything. Plus because some races were using different modes of transport some were weaker than others. A race forced to use hyperlanes was weaker without a doubt.

Lots of people hated the "lack of freedom"; but it honestly improved the games combat elements. Shifts toward securing systems by being forced to attack the main space station have further helped this concept of having to fight for systems. Heck the stellaris combat is copying Sins of a Solar Empire's very successful style in general.




The other big shift was how worlds were managed which felt clunky at first, but honestly has worked out rather well mechanically. The downside is that the AI has problems with deploying workers on worlds in real time to their jobs. It seems to like swapping positions of workers a LOT and that is resulting in mid to late game lag spikes because the AI is moving workers ALL the time and its eating up resources. It's a problem that I don't think they've yet fully resolved