I finally managed to start to understand how to play Victoria 2. Now the experience of playing it is really good. I started with Brazil and took Uruguay. I thought i could get bolivia, but all the big nations got me to disarm. I was eyeing up small islands such as easter island and south georgia, lol.

I wonder if this game could be done online against human players?

Regardless, i wanted to make this thread because i have written this game off before as being too hard and dull. But if you are someone who likes the boardgame Risk, you'd definitely like a game such as this.

For those who have played it before, what nation did you pick first, and how did it go?

Brazil is a decent starter country. This is what I picked in Vic 1.

In Vic 2 I started with Belgium, as I consider it one of the most fun to play with. Sweden is also a got starter country.

With "a house divided" I think the US is pretty good at learning the basics of the game fairly safe. You can't really lose all that much, even if you make mistakes. And there is always something to do with the inner turmoil brewing.

You have to remember that if you want to play this game online via Metaserver, you always have to own the newest expansion. Sadly, it's how Paradox rolls. (tthe only exception being Crusader Kings 2, I think)

But if I played Pdox games online, I always played them via IPX or LAN with friends, because it's the most fun way to play them :D

Well, Vicky 2 is a Paradox grand-strategy, and a very complex one. No "extract-build-send one massive unit wave-victory" style. Paradox games take hours to learn and months to master, but they're such enormous fun.

For myself, Japan was enormous fun :)

If you like Vicky2, I recommend other PDS top games: Europa Universalis 3, Crusader Kings 2, Hearts of Iron 3 :)

Well, there is Darkest Hour where you can play during WW1 (and 2)

Hearts of Iron games are mostly WW2 games + early aftermath.

There is also HOI-like Cold War game coming up this year.Crusader kings is a fine game, but Crusader Kings 2 is just superb. If you have any spare money and you'll find it on sale, buy it.

It's the best strategy experience you could have. It also has amazing Game of Thrones mod.

Maybe it's best for you to save for the sequel, East vs West: A Hearts of Iron Game or the upcoming Europa Universalis IV.

East vs. West is cold war game ;-) And I don't think there is a huge need of saving for Pdox games. They get cheap pretty fast, and as soon as the first expansion or bigger DLC comes up, it goes on a discount.

I didn't even realise that my crusader kings is the complete version which includes Deus Vault. Not sure what it includes, but it's cool it's there.

You still mean Crusader Kings 1. Deus Vult is very important, it brings huge changes and tweaks in game, so be sure to install it. You should probably install the newest beta patch as well (you can find it here )

It's 2.1b patch, so if it's already included in GG version, you don't have to install it.

Thanks for that. If it's not on the game already, i'll be sure to add that patch. Even though it's only Crusader Kings 1, it's more than i thought i had, lol. It's like finding that there is some extra cash at the back of the sofa :D

Crusader Kings 1 is agreat game too ;-) It doesn't have that easy to use interface like Crusader Kings 2. But still, seeing how your wife betrays you joining in a war against you, even after you gave her a fine piece of land is priceless :D Especially if your character gets pneumonia shortly after and you can barely rule your kingdom :D

One more tip:

there is a settings text file where you can put in your resolution. Normally, the game runs in 1024x768 tops, but if you put your own resolution in that txt file, the game will resize just fine (well, the intros and the main menu will look a bit odd, but the game will run in high res)

Were you the one that posted about Victoria II a few months ago? Someone said he/she had trouble overcoming the learning curve or something and the response from the forum was "keep at it because the rewards are great". So yeah, was that you? Glad you're enjoying it anyway :)

I made a comment that "you should avoid it because it was hard, just like all of the paradox games". (or something like that)

But now i have learned a little about how to move my armies into islands and i think i will be able to colonise them better the next time i play it. There are all sorts of things to keep an eye on, not to mention enemy armies.

Also, i just tried using Hawaii for a laugh. The game ended a lot sooner than i expected because i was "annexed" by the U.K. I guess i should go back to a bigger country again!

I own Victoria 2, but haven't really played besides picking it up once or twice. Quite intimidating game, especially the economy in it.