Paradox Games

Imperator Rome given release date, April 25th.

More unrealistic AI behavior from EU 4: some Asian nations (even tribal ones) will eventually explore the ocean... right up to the international date line. Beyond that is clearly verboten unless you have that exploration tech.

Are you sure? In my current game the Mamelucks have colonized a significant part of South America?

Though I suppose this might be true for the East Asian countries, but this might also be down to balancing issues. Usually if a player play in Asia, he'll end up colonizing he New World decades before the Europeans arrive, and the same might count for the KI if there were no restrictions. Just think of the lack of naval attrition... .

However I must say, it is more important that the player can derail history, then some KI states. Some of my most entertaining games involved me playing a relatively minor power, that inadvertedly shook the continent to its' core.

And that is also something I am very much looking forward to in IR. Perhaps my little Armenia will end up as kingmaker in the Wars of the Diadochi. Or my little land grab in Italy as BOI will cause the first Punic War.

I suspect that there will be little chance of IR playing out exactly as history did (at least if the KI plays Rome). No doubt Rome will be usually very succesful, but unless the Diadochi completely tear each other apart, it is unlikely that it can become the predominant power of the game. The difference in size is just to big (Rome had according to a stream a starting population of 400-500 pops, Egypt has e.g. 2000). So at least people will hopefully not complain too much about how "unrealistic" the game is.

I wonder how good Rome will do in the game, since there are so many factors that could change. The AI will probably cheat mercilessly to give Rome an advantage.

Man the Guns is set for a Feb.28th release: https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/hearts-of-iron-iv-man-the-guns-will-be-available-on-february-28th-2019.1150590/

There's no reason for Rome's ai to cheat when Rome is alread the strongest power in Italy by a wide margin. It won't always keep its dominant position but that's a good thing.

From what we have seen in Streams and Let's plays, Rome is in a good position to conquer South Italy, which will give them a significant boost to its' already good starting position. Whether or not Etruscia (which is set as a rival at the start) will be able to oppose them will probably decide if they can conquer the rest of Rome. After that it will most likely depend on how the AI can handle expansion, and how good it is in keeping a large Empire together.

x3 I finally have a release date for Civil War 2: Electric Boogaloo and it's after I start my internship? Boo D:

New Stellaris beta buffs machine and synthetic empires significantly. More starting pops when colonizing, immediate access to the second fabricator job, 50% higher energy drone output, and some more stuff.

ooo, any proper notes or anything?

There you go.

Yes, excellent. -Laughs in Synthetic-

In my current playthrough, I just terraformed Mars and colonized it. I'm in the process of turning it into an ecumenopolis, focusing on entirely foundry arcologies and alloy foundries. It will be the greatest forge world ever.

One of my friends had a Machine Empire that had an economy rivaling that of a Fallen Empire, within a century. Those buffs are...substantial.

More AI shenanigans in EU 4: Colonial Australia decides for some reason to put it's capital in New Zealand. Then it goes independent and forms Australia proper. Giving the main continent the priceless name of "Australian Australia".

New Zealand has the richest provinces in the colonial region, which is probably why that one happened.

@theLibrarian: You mean aside from the time they attacked Constantinople?

The Vikings got around. The main reason they didn't range past Iberia very often was because the Med really isn't a good sea for sailing ships, particularly when there's galleys afloat that will absolutely murder the comparatively small and light Viking craft.

The Vikings generally preferred to raid close, and trade far. Easier to get away when home is close by.

Constantinople could be reached by using the Dnieper river, and the Rus vikings had already established control over the riverbanks of North Eastern Europe by the time they went for the great city.

Indeed, and CKII simulates this now by making several large European rivers navigable to Viking raiders.

Which would also be an interesting addition to EU 4, by the way. Rivers played a major role in warfare and troop movement, and EU 4 does a poor job of simulating that.

Edited by Redmess on Feb 10th 2019 at 1:43:03 PM

Also because Andalusia paid lots of gold for their phat loot.

This discussion reminds how important it is that historians wake up and discover the importance of video games as a conveyer of history. Or that the government realizes how influential video games can be in shaping the public conscious, and start subsidizing them as they would a documentary. I mean there are few factors that have helped to e.g. spread Sweden's history around the world then Paradox games (of course certain bands also count).

Yeah, like how back when the History Channel was good, they used Rome Total War's engine to showcase the battles.

Can't wait for all the trolls and nutters to go "keep the politics out of gaming!" if that ever happens.

I think historians have realized this, it's just that video games are shit at portraying history for the same reason television is - time constraints and the need to make it engaging for the audience means you need to make concessions to the historical reality. Sometimes it works, like when Invicta did a series on the myth of Spartan military supremacy (where he consulted with a historian), and most of the time (like Extra Credits' history spinoff) you just get regurtitated pop culture nonsense.