Paradox Interactive

[CarnivalBizarre]

All paradox games uses normal text files as save game files, so all is editable pretty easy. Changing a country to another however might take some editing, and I'm not sure Prussia is in HOI2 at all, maybe some of the mods add it.

Paradox games somehow forces you to learn editing files if you want your games to be playable to the end always... or if you are a cheating bastard.

 

[sheek]

By the way, how do you change the flag/nation name in the editor in HoI2? I'm rather ticked off that my Prussia would become Germany without asking me first.

Look in the Db folder. All the basic game info is in txt files in there and it's very simple to understand.

Country names I think might be under Scenarios.

Some files in there are called .eug or .inc but you can open them in notepad. Those files contain the initial playable countries and their setup - eg, provinces, resources, starting units, techs, diplomatic relations, how many AA, naval bases, forts you have and in which provinces etc.

Google "paradoxian" or "Hoi2wiki" for more information.

Revolts.txt which is in the main Db folder I believe has the starting provinces per country, and all what your national provinces (ie, claimable provinces) will be. Provinces.txt is a gigantic file which lists resource, population, starting factories, whether there is a port, etc for every province in the game. The easiest way to change it would be to import the file as a .csv into Excel (so info is separated/sortable into columns).

Techs and tech teams are under Db/tech. Units costs/attributes are under Db/tech/units/brigades...

Events are under Db/events, and are pretty self-explanatory, you just need to be able to follow through threads (trigger event ids and choice consequence event ids) so you should have a paper and pen handy.

I can say one thing for Paradox Interactive, they made the game extremely moddable.

For pictures, look under something like Graphics/interface/pics, and find the picture the game is using. Open it in an image editor, paste in the image you want (without resizing) and save/overwrite, is the easiest way.

 

[GarfunkeL]

HoI3 should be fun until I get bored of having an ahistorically overpowered Germany and a logistics system which doesn't particularly hinder you until you get somewhere close to Beijing with your fully motorised army.

Personally, I prefer CK and Victoria, and dream of a CK2 and Vicky2 although both are equally unlikely to ever be made.

1) The new logistics system where province infra directly limits the amount of supplies going through that province should really help out there. In HoI it didn't matter at all, in HoI2 it only effected the ESE which didn't hinder you that much. If Paradox gets it right this time, it'll be very realistic - ie, most of Europe is fine for big armies but when you start Barbarossa, your supply is going to go critical.

2) Each and every country in the game will be overpowered when played by a human, since you have 20/20 hindsight and you min/max your country.

3) CK2 is quite improbable but Johan has changed his mind about Vicky2. Previously, he had said that PI will never do Vicky2 since Vicky was such an headache but in one of the HoI3 interviews he slipped the idea that Vicky2 is not totally impossible. So, fingers crossed that we'll get all the classics on the new Clausewitz-engine.

 

[Mefi]

1) The new logistics system where province infra directly limits the amount of supplies going through that province should really help out there. In HoI it didn't matter at all, in HoI2 it only effected the ESE which didn't hinder you that much. If Paradox gets it right this time, it'll be very realistic - ie, most of Europe is fine for big armies but when you start Barbarossa, your supply is going to go critical.

Maybe. The supply system has always been weak in Paradox games but I'm more thinking about how the simplified economic model overpowers Germany grossly and allows you to build a globa empire by conquest.

2) Each and every country in the game will be overpowered when played by a human, since you have 20/20 hindsight and you min/max your country.

Would agree, but Germany is generally overpowered at scenario start with just historical options chosen. Primarily this is a result of deterministic historical events such as 'Vichy' and the difficulty in getting 'historical' results within the game.

3) CK2 is quite improbable but Johan has changed his mind about Vicky2. Previously, he had said that PI will never do Vicky2 since Vicky was such an headache but in one of the HoI3 interviews he slipped the idea that Vicky2 is not totally impossible. So, fingers crossed that we'll get all the classics on the new Clausewitz-engine.

That's good news

 

[Panthera]

3) CK2 is quite improbable but Johan has changed his mind about Vicky2. Previously, he had said that PI will never do Vicky2 since Vicky was such an headache but in one of the HoI3 interviews he slipped the idea that Vicky2 is not totally impossible. So, fingers crossed that we'll get all the classics on the new Clausewitz-engine.

Given how much they're going balls-out for HoI3, I can totally see this.

I think it's about time for a new IP, though. Granted, they've covered most eras of human history already, but there must be something they could focus on and do better. Going modern would probably be a bad idea. I'd love to see them implement a real tactical combat system, but that'll probably never happen.

 

[Destroid]

Make a series of games covering from Master of Magic up to Master of Orion, with appropriate scenario converters.

 

[Panthera]

Oh, man. They should do a EU-style Lord of the Rings game, with all the same obsessive detail in the historical events. It would so work.

 

[Destroid]

Speaking of, did anyone ever play the Fallout mod for HoI?

 

[Mefi]

Oh, man. They should do a EU-style Lord of the Rings game, with all the same obsessive detail in the historical events. It would so work.

:D

Fantasy or SF would be the only real alternatives if Paradox decide to look away from 'history'. I can't think of any other genres that the EU3 engine could be used for. It's too abstract for smaller stuff and so empire building would have to feature heavily.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

All Paradox things 50% off on Gamersgate and Steam this week. Time to look at King's Bounty.

 

[GarfunkeL]

Middle-Earth game would actually be sort of feasible, since Tolkien did write quite an comprehensible histories for the various nations. But the license is locked tight with... EA? I dunno, can't remember.

They could make a smaller, easier game focusing on ancient civilizations, like Two Thrones was basically EU2-lite with sprinklings of CK as flavour. It bombed, though

But otherwise they've covered pretty much everything except Cold War/Modern era and if Vicky was a headache, just imagine how big of an headache modern era game would for them unless it's a pure WW3-sandbox. But that can be covered with HoI3 and an expansion, like they did with HoI2, so...

Oh and Mefi, atleast in MP, Germany is always screwed unless people agree to play with house rules. It only requires that USA and USSR refuse to trade with Germany and USA gobbles up all the rares and oil available on world market, then trades allies what they need. Boom, German industry crashes way before 1939. And if you don't want to do that, it's enough if France and Britain DOW Germany at Jan1 1936 and they can pretty much steamroll over Hitler at that point. But yeah, Germany tends to be (slightly) op against AI's... but it's a very difficult balancing issue. If you weaken Germany, then German AI is unable to reproduce historic results and most players expect to see those historic results, atleast to a degree. But if Germany is strong enough for the AI to succeed three out of four games, then it's overpowered for human player.

 

[poocolator]

Build some income structures if you can... and pick the buildings that give a bonus to the technology you're interested in. Also... do whatever you can (government sliders, buildings) to add to your trade tech and merchant gain rate because merchants are vital for extra income. You can take a tiny nation and turn it into a considerable power if you wisely manage your trade tech and merchants. I think when playing as Aceh, my income near the end of the game was about 40% from trade. It's also a really good idea to get your hands on a trade center, if you can snatch it away from an opponent without digging yourself into a deeper hole. Try to weasel your way into the good graces of a nation with an excellent trade center because they won't be as likely to embargo you when you flood them with your merchants.

Each level of trade tech adds 1% to your trade efficiency, just like each level of production tech adds 1% to your infrastructure. Near the end of the game, all of those 1%'s will be worth it.

Sorry for the rant, I don't know how experienced you are I'm not an expert myself but I try to be cunning in getting what I want when playing as a disadvantaged nation.

 

[GarfunkeL]

I've playing EU2 with France, and I'm wondering if there's any way for me to advance my technoogy faster. I have a good income and almost all of France except a one-province Auvergne under my boot.

It's been years since I last played EU2 and as far as I can remember, there's not much you can do except the tax rate/budget thing and the buildings which give a small bonus to one of the fields.

Yup: http://www.paradoxian.org/eu2wiki/index.php/Manufactories

Buildings it is!

 

[oscar]

Can someone give me some EUII pointers on merchants? I just turned on autosend as the game dosen't explain at all on sending them.

Should I be sending them to centres of trade in (preferrably) friendly nation's (or my own..) centres of trades.

 

[kris]

Can someone give me some EUII pointers on merchants? I just turned on autosend as the game dosen't explain at all on sending them.

Should I be sending them to centres of trade in (preferrably) friendly nation's (or my own..) centres of trades.

Most effective way is to check the ledger for trade centers that are not full (20 traders max) and send one there. Because if it is full, then you need to compete away someone else before sending another to take a spot. Also, having friendly relations with other nations helps since they won't compete your merchants away as much.

I've playing EU2 with France, and I'm wondering if there's any way for me to advance my technoogy faster. I have a good income and almost all of France except a one-province Auvergne under my boot.

- Have a small inflation.
- Have a high income per province. Having many provinces doesn't help unless you come past a certain threshold. It is the average income per province that counts.
- A high trade income will bring a lot to the table.
- Build manufactories. Both increase average income and brings directly into tech progress.

 

[poocolator]

Competing a lot of merchants away from the same nation gets them to hate you more, IIRC, so be careful.

 

[Mefi]

Oh and Mefi, atleast in MP, Germany is always screwed unless people agree to play with house rules. It only requires that USA and USSR refuse to trade with Germany and USA gobbles up all the rares and oil available on world market, then trades allies what they need. Boom, German industry crashes way before 1939. And if you don't want to do that, it's enough if France and Britain DOW Germany at Jan1 1936 and they can pretty much steamroll over Hitler at that point. But yeah, Germany tends to be (slightly) op against AI's... but it's a very difficult balancing issue. If you weaken Germany, then German AI is unable to reproduce historic results and most players expect to see those historic results, atleast to a degree. But if Germany is strong enough for the AI to succeed three out of four games, then it's overpowered for human player.

Yeah, in MP players will rape Germany if they behave sensibly. It is a hard balancing act because players want 'historical' results from the AI and ahistorical results when they play the nation. Germany in WW2 basically did way better than could have been reasonably expected prior to war, and so to get those results as 'historical' then it needs to be overpowered which snowballs in effect when a human player is in control.

-----

I'm currently playing Ricky: VIP. Not sure I'm in the mood for it. Much as I admire VIP and enjoy the historical events, the railroading is really bugging me and I'm struggling to find a country which I enjoy playing. Japan has the uncivilised problem which rules them out for me after a very tedious 'learning the game again' grand campaign. Belgium is just too small and boring and screwed over financially. Brazil is now just a clusterfuck of revolts which I can't enjoy squashing as my armies dwindle away due to attrition fighting in crap areas. France might be a challenge so guess I'll give them a whirl this time.

 

[GarfunkeL]

Since I hate the frogs I gotta admit I've never played as France in any strat/wargame but they should be interesting in Victoria - what with the reasonably strong nationstate (when compared to your continental competition) and ability to compete with Britain in the world stage. Dunno about VIP, never played any mods on Vicky.

 

[poocolator]

Well what's your tech level at?

 

[Panthera]

Also, trade centers are not made equal.

 

[Krash]

For those who are interested in HoI3, a beta AAR

http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/sho ... p?t=412229

The AI seems much improved from HoI2 as far as I can tell.

 

[Serious_Business]

I've playing EU2 with France

You already won the game.

Trading is quite obviously for pussies that hide behind their boats and gold for fear of righteous french cavalry, so you shouldn't bother with it.

 

[kris]

For those who are interested in HoI3, a beta AAR

http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/sho ... p?t=412229

The AI seems much improved from HoI2 as far as I can tell.

The AI is good at holding a front. The real proof of how good it is will be seen when we can see how the naval part works and naval invasions work. and how well the AI holds several fronts and distribute their troops.

In that beta he played the AI will concentrate 100% of their forces to one front. The AI will also not produce any new divisions.

 

[kris]

I had land tech level 4 while they were 2, my army had good sliders and morale, so I thought that would be easy. WRONG. Motherfuckers had forts everywhere, a immense army, supply advantage and nearby reinforcements while I had to bring my troops by boat from Provence.

Wish I had a explorer so I could explore the African coast and try taking over Mali. I think that would fix my supply problems. Goddamned Portuguese, don't be gay, gimme map secrets.

Secret to winning early battles is using cavalry on open ground. You can utterly annihilate armies with cavalry in the early game.

Land tech 2 and 4 is pretty much the same. You will come long before songhai a bit later. It is at land 14 that you really will be able to outgun them.

 

[poocolator]

Yeah attrition is a very, very big bitch.