Want to get into the Paradox games

[seaniam81]

HoI3 is always a good choice. You should really look into Crusader Kings 2. By far the best of Paradox.

[Oberon]

Crusader Kings II definitely. I, personally, struggled to get into HOI3 but there's little doubting its pedigree.

It really depends on your playstyle, everybody has a Paradox game that "Clicks" with them while others they may not get on with, probably one of the better features of Paradox games, they all compliment each other and each has a different time period and playstyle to go with it.

CK2 is nice if you want to play a character more then a country and interested in Feudal Politics and dealing with family members and both internal and external politics.

Eu3 puts you in control of a country as the world starts to move away from Feudalism, the formation of Empires, colonization, centralization, etc. Not really my favorite as its quite hard to start from nothing, unlike Ck2.

Victoria 2 is about industrialization, economics, politics, new ideologies and new types of warfare, (Including trench warfare) Building factories and what not.

Hearts of Iron 3 is armed forces management, little politics, little economy, just very detailed management of armed forces on a grand scale, Where to send your tanks, what units to build, what brigades to form your divisions out of. Its kinda overwhelming for me since not only do you have to manage an entire army of units but you have to manage their headquarters, and try to keep units in a certain group together and it just gets annoying. (Although the situations that can develop can be entertaining as hell, like the biggest front in the war being a vicious back and forth over India which is eventually stopped by Germany invading America. )

[Narko]

Darkest Hour: A Hearts of Iron Game
Less micromanagement, better optimization than HoI 3 (less demanding on system).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darkest...s_of_Iron_Game

[CCIP]

Originally Posted by Narko

Darkest Hour: A Hearts of Iron Game
Less micromanagement, better optimization than HoI 3 (less demanding on system).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darkest...s_of_Iron_Game

That's a very good suggestion actually, especially given its price! It's sort of like "what HoI 2 should've been from the start". I think it is an excellent entry point into Paradox games.

[HunterICX]

I really should get Darkest Hour one of these days

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But as far as Paradox goes you can't go wrong with titles like Victoria 2 (including the expansion A House Divided which adds a lot of features to the main game and balances things out)

CKII is just well I can just echo what's been said about it already here and in the CKII thread we have around that the game is just too much fun have it pass by. Great about it you can start as a greedy king who wants MOAR!! or as a meaningless Count on his way to greatness or when you think you have a chance to get the crown just to fail miserably and tossed into the dungeon by that brat of a king that you've hated from the day he was born.

HunterICX

[Hottentot]

CK 2 is not exactly a great strategy game though, traditionally speaking. If your main goal in the game is to conquer as much territory as possible, then there are better titles for that with deeper strategic possibilities, resources and so on. Despite of the recent additions to the combat system, the war side of the game still leaves a lot to be desired for. The most common and fool proof strategy still is the good old "get a huge mob, beat the enemy's huge mob with it and then go win the war."

Also, as far as strategy goes, Crusader Kings is highly random. There are frequently whole threads on the official forums about "the game screwing the player over" because someone's carefully planned strategy was ruined by a simple random event. And contrary to what people claim, the AI is actually pretty smart. If it sees it's going to lose its kingdom to you through bad inheritance, you can be sure it does everything it can to prevent it. And often succeeds too, if you are not careful enough.

I'd say the game is wonderful, but its charm comes from something completely different than what it looks like on the first glance. I take it more as an RPG and a political game than an old fashioned grand strategy. Whenever I start playing it like a latter, it becomes stupidly dull.