PDOX Games VIII: Communism Will Win

[Great Confederacy of Commonwealth States]

Do you own a Mongol province? If so, there is a possibility to become Mongol...

I do, actually XD moving the capital, I assume.

Move the capital, take on the local customs, become Great Khan. Quick'n'easy.

[Valrifell]

I do, actually XD moving the capital, I assume.

Move the capital, take on the local customs, become Great Khan. Quick'n'easy.

I thought Genghis Khan was better translated as something like "Universal Khan"

[The Rich Port]

Move the capital, take on the local customs, become Great Khan. Quick'n'easy.

I thought Genghis Khan was better translated as something like "Universal Khan"

The etymology isn't really understood even to this day. It's apparently a pun.

It's pronounced Dschingis, right? Ching is the Mongolian word for "strength", so it could mean "The Strongest Khan". However, Tingis is the Mongolian word for "ocean" or "great blue expanse", which could be a reference to the sky, which the Mongols revered as Tengri. So, it could also mean "The Khan Who Rules Everything Under The Blue Sky", or "The Khan Who Rules The Blue". Some have even called him "The Blue Khan". It could also be a reference to the Chinese word "zheng" which means "just" or "true", so it could be he's "The Righteous Khan".

Nobody really knows, sadly.

[Purpelia]

But even a bad portrayal can lead to development. A bad portrayal of a character can lead us to discuss what can be improved in the future, how representation can be done. There are many different opinions about that, for sure, but the best way to have the discussion is just to have AAA try and fail, or try and succeed. Whatever happens, we can then take the conversation forward, and better than if it wasn't tried at all.

To quote a great man: Your thoughts are wrong.

All that matters is that the game is a good game. A bad game can newer achieve any of what you say because people won't play it and it won't remain memorable. Only good games achieve lasting cultural effects.

At the moment, in a lot if circles, the idea exists that main characters should be white, straight and male by default, and that colour, sexuality and gender should be earned. We need to get away from that idea. When we see a bad character, we need to identify what makes the character bad, beyond just claiming 'forced diversity' and moving on. So I think it is better to start making mistakes than it is to prevent inclusion.

I am not sure what you mean by earned. I've certainly newer seen a game where I have to unlock achievements or pay for DLC or something in order to unlock gender or race options. Although I imagine such a game might exist.

This all being said as a white heterosexual man I have to say that I just do not understand why people consider their race and sexuality so absolutely positively vital to their identity. I have newer in my life (outside of courting rituals and sexual encounters) been driven in my decisions by my sexuality. And I have newer, not once made a decision on anything based on my race. Not once. Gender and race are such an extremely minor part of me that I don't even care to give them a thought. And that is how I expect my game characters to be as well. Because unless they do there are being sexist and racist and thus bad characters.

Thus unless there is a good plot reason for me to find out the sexuality of a character (such as in plot relationships) there is simply no reason for that aspect of the character to ever be defined.

[Serrus]

I thought Genghis Khan was better translated as something like "Universal Khan"

The etymology isn't really understood even to this day. It's apparently a pun.

It's pronounced Dschingis, right? Ching is the Mongolian word for "strength", so it could mean "The Strongest Khan". However, Tingis is the Mongolian word for "ocean" or "great blue expanse", which could be a reference to the sky, which the Mongols revered as Tengri. So, it could also mean "The Khan Who Rules Everything Under The Blue Sky", or "The Khan Who Rules The Blue". Some have even called him "The Blue Khan". It could also be a reference to the Chinese word "zheng" which means "just" or "true", so it could be he's "The Righteous Khan".

Nobody really knows, sadly.

The Khaniest Khan. I'm going with that.

[Platypus Bureaucracy]

But even a bad portrayal can lead to development. A bad portrayal of a character can lead us to discuss what can be improved in the future, how representation can be done. There are many different opinions about that, for sure, but the best way to have the discussion is just to have AAA try and fail, or try and succeed. Whatever happens, we can then take the conversation forward, and better than if it wasn't tried at all.

To quote a great man: Your thoughts are wrong.

All that matters is that the game is a good game. A bad game can newer achieve any of what you say because people won't play it and it won't remain memorable. Only good games achieve lasting cultural effects.

At the moment, in a lot if circles, the idea exists that main characters should be white, straight and male by default, and that colour, sexuality and gender should be earned. We need to get away from that idea. When we see a bad character, we need to identify what makes the character bad, beyond just claiming 'forced diversity' and moving on. So I think it is better to start making mistakes than it is to prevent inclusion.

I am not sure what you mean by earned. I've certainly newer seen a game where I have to unlock achievements or pay for DLC or something in order to unlock gender or race options. Although I imagine such a game might exist.

This all being said as a white heterosexual man I have to say that I just do not understand why people consider their race and sexuality so absolutely positively vital to their identity. I have newer in my life (outside of courting rituals and sexual encounters) been driven in my decisions by my sexuality. And I have newer, not once made a decision on anything based on my race. Not once. Gender and race are such an extremely minor part of me that I don't even care to give them a thought. And that is how I expect my game characters to be as well. Because unless they do there are being sexist and racist and thus bad characters.

Thus unless there is a good plot reason for me to find out the sexuality of a character (such as in plot relationships) there is simply no reason for that aspect of the character to ever be defined.

If anyone has ever wondered what self-awareness looks like, take this comment, and then imagine something completely different.

[Great Confederacy of Commonwealth States]

I thought Genghis Khan was better translated as something like "Universal Khan"

The etymology isn't really understood even to this day. It's apparently a pun.

It's pronounced Dschingis, right? Ching is the Mongolian word for "strength", so it could mean "The Strongest Khan". However, Tingis is the Mongolian word for "ocean" or "great blue expanse", which could be a reference to the sky, which the Mongols revered as Tengri. So, it could also mean "The Khan Who Rules Everything Under The Blue Sky", or "The Khan Who Rules The Blue". Some have even called him "The Blue Khan". It could also be a reference to the Chinese word "zheng" which means "just" or "true", so it could be he's "The Righteous Khan".

Nobody really knows, sadly.

When I lived at Timujin’s court we would call him Chungus Khan, because he was getting a bit chubby, but only behind his back. He really couldn’t take a joke, and he was happy to take our heads instead.

[North German Realm]

Working on Restoring France to its """""natural""""" borders on a new Vic2 run (also, my first ever France run on any Paradox game)

I've reclaimed Catalonia, Haiti, Wallonia, and took Quebec via treaty with Britain (since I had a 200 relations with them). It is 1853, and I await Prussia forming the North German Federation and declaring war on me so I can reclaim the Rhineland. Once that's over, I will concentrate on taking back Savoy, participating in the Scramble and reclaiming Louisiana. Vive l'Empire Français

(Here's hoping I don't get pwned in the inevitable Franco-Prussian war tbh)

[Serrus]

Working on Restoring France to its """""natural""""" borders on a new Vic2 run (also, my first ever France run on any Paradox game)

I've reclaimed Catalonia, Haiti, Wallonia, and took Quebec via treaty with Britain (since I had a 200 relations with them). It is 1853, and I await Prussia forming the North German Federation and declaring war on me so I can reclaim the Rhineland. Once that's over, I will concentrate on taking back Savoy, participating in the Scramble and reclaiming Louisiana. Vive l'Empire Français

(Here's hoping I don't get pwned in the inevitable Franco-Prussian war tbh)

>Not making a Walloon puppet state
Make a Walloon puppet state!

[Grenartia]

Working on Restoring France to its """""natural""""" borders on a new Vic2 run (also, my first ever France run on any Paradox game)

I've reclaimed Catalonia, Haiti, Wallonia, and took Quebec via treaty with Britain (since I had a 200 relations with them). It is 1853, and I await Prussia forming the North German Federation and declaring war on me so I can reclaim the Rhineland. Once that's over, I will concentrate on taking back Savoy, participating in the Scramble and reclaiming Louisiana. Vive l'Empire Français

(Here's hoping I don't get pwned in the inevitable Franco-Prussian war tbh)

>Not making a Walloon puppet state
Make a Walloon puppet state!

I can only imagine a Walloon is a Waluigi Balloon.

[The Imperial Reach]

Okay, I've decided to buy Victoria II and all it's DLC.

But first I need to know: which country is the easiest to play for a noob? I want to get used to the feel of the game before I try a serious run with it. I made the mistake of not doing this with CKII so I don't want to make the same mistake again.

[North German Realm]

Okay, I've decided to buy Victoria II and all it's DLC.

But first I need to know: which country is the easiest to play for a noob? I want to get used to the feel of the game before I try a serious run with it. I made the mistake of not doing this with CKII so I don't want to make the same mistake again.

If you're playing vanilla (non-modded), Prussia if you wanna learn how to work a Sphere of Influence+Aggressive war, US if you want a snadbox to do whatever you want in, one continent away from everyone important, and the UK if you wanna learn how puppeting works. If you're playing modded (and have HFM), Japan is also interesting, because of how it steamrolls you from an uncivilized nation to one of the most powerful Empires in the game.

[The Imperial Reach]

Okay, I've decided to buy Victoria II and all it's DLC.

But first I need to know: which country is the easiest to play for a noob? I want to get used to the feel of the game before I try a serious run with it. I made the mistake of not doing this with CKII so I don't want to make the same mistake again.

If you're playing vanilla (non-modded), Prussia if you wanna learn how to work a Sphere of Influence+Aggressive war, US if you want a snadbox to do whatever you want in, one continent away from everyone important, and the UK if you wanna learn how puppeting works. If you're playing modded (and have HFM), Japan is also interesting, because of how it steamrolls you from an uncivilized nation to one of the most powerful Empires in the game.

Sandbox sounds like the ideal.

Guess I'm playing patriotically tonight.

[Impaled Nazarene]

Move the capital, take on the local customs, become Great Khan. Quick'n'easy.

I thought Genghis Khan was better translated as something like "Universal Khan"

The title has only increased in prestige over the centuries and that makes it harder to appropriately translate.

Great Khan is more typically applicable to Khagans or Khan-of-Khans much like Shahanshah (King of Kings). Genghis Khan is way above any other title in history in importance.

[Abserdia]

Judging from my 5 or so hours with Darkest Hour so far, I think it's just a less mindflooding version of HOI3 but with even more sliders.
So if you like not being mindflooded, games set in World War 1 or 2, and sliders, this is the game for you!

[Ostroeuropa]

Saxonia game in Imperator going well, i'm the undisputed largest Germanic power at 55 cities, with all others being below 20. Can't expand much more because i've hit overextension problems from trying to assimilate the Suebians, who outnumber the Saxons slightly. Just had a civil war with them, but once they are assimilated, i'll be able to roll up the rest of the germanics. My centralization is going fast enough that the clan chiefs pose no threat.

I'll start fabricating on the British isles after that while pushing for colonization in the home frontier, but largely it'll mean a period of peace. (I don't think the British will be able to mount a significant defense.).

I'm hoping to get the frontier to hit Gaul around the same time Britannia is subjugated, so then it's pushing into Gaul militarily while colonizing eastward.

Why Germanic Migration when you can Germanic civilization+colonization a few hundred years early

Definitely think it's good that cash can be converted to power. Was initially skeptical, but since they've decoupled tech from power, it makes it much more viable. Large empires need more power to move pops around and so on.

[The Huskar Social Union]

Working on Restoring France to its """""natural""""" borders on a new Vic2 run (also, my first ever France run on any Paradox game)

I've reclaimed Catalonia, Haiti, Wallonia, and took Quebec via treaty with Britain (since I had a 200 relations with them). It is 1853, and I await Prussia forming the North German Federation and declaring war on me so I can reclaim the Rhineland. Once that's over, I will concentrate on taking back Savoy, participating in the Scramble and reclaiming Louisiana. Vive l'Empire Français

(Here's hoping I don't get pwned in the inevitable Franco-Prussian war tbh)

These are your first steps

[The Grene Knyght]

Playing CK2 as a relatively peaceful muslim ruler of Sicily, focusing on building universities and writing scientific papers. Pope calls a crusade against me and demolishes me, I'm only left with some holdings I inherited in Spain. Now I'm turning my formidable learning skill of 42 towards taking my revenge, and I've just constructed an actual handgun.

Generations later, my great-grandchild retook Sicily and sacked Rome, stealing Christ's foreskin in the process.

[Ostroeuropa]

Having a ruler reign in peace for a while in Imperator is... pretty boring. Necessary though. I think they need more events or at least ways to do stuff.

The cultural assimilation mechanic is a little slow tbh. They're not growing, and it's making my majority culture have a population boom, but they're not exactly being purged.

They're sticking at around 140 pops. Their pop growth is transfered over to my major, essentially, unless I actively spend power on purging them.

It's meaning they slowly shift into a minority culture and thus cause less province unloyalty issues, but they're not going away unless I actively make an effort to.

I have strong suspicions that this means a religious/cultural assimilation is basically impossible, unless the mechanics get buffed by technology or something, since you can only have one governing policy per province. Maybe if you actively purge the religion, then switch over, but that's a lot of hassle and it's only going to get worse as the global population grows.

It'd be nicer if with Migratory civs like the ones i'm conquering, they just up and fucked off when you conquered them. Then my conquest of Germania would be forcing the German tribes to spread out into Gaul and so on.

[United Muscovite Nations]

So now that I have a mod that got rid of the stupid barbarians, I am doing well as Egypt, except for one thing that was both and accident, and completely in-character for Ptolemy.

I accidentally married my son (who is my heir) to my daughter.

I didn't know, it doesn't tell you that they're related, all I knew was that they both had insanely high stats!

[The Huskar Social Union]

So now that I have a mod that got rid of the stupid barbarians, I am doing well as Egypt, except for one thing that was both and accident, and completely in-character for Ptolemy.

I accidentally married my son (who is my heir) to my daughter.

I didn't know, it doesn't tell you that they're related, all I knew was that they both had insanely high stats!

ACCIDENTALLY

[United Muscovite Nations]

So now that I have a mod that got rid of the stupid barbarians, I am doing well as Egypt, except for one thing that was both and accident, and completely in-character for Ptolemy.

I accidentally married my son (who is my heir) to my daughter.

I didn't know, it doesn't tell you that they're related, all I knew was that they both had insanely high stats!

ACCIDENTALLY

I'm also now pretty sure that after they got married, they plotted to kill the original heir to the throne. But now it's too late to stop them because the husband inherited the throne and is now Basileus. Interestingly, the wife is still a pretender.
https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ ... 14188C731/

Fourth in line to succession is his wife/sister

[Platypus Bureaucracy]

So now that I have a mod that got rid of the stupid barbarians, I am doing well as Egypt, except for one thing that was both and accident, and completely in-character for Ptolemy.

I accidentally married my son (who is my heir) to my daughter.

I didn't know, it doesn't tell you that they're related, all I knew was that they both had insanely high stats!

Well, that's just good roleplaying.

[Hanafuridake]

So now that I have a mod that got rid of the stupid barbarians, I am doing well as Egypt, except for one thing that was both and accident, and completely in-character for Ptolemy.

I accidentally married my son (who is my heir) to my daughter.

I didn't know, it doesn't tell you that they're related, all I knew was that they both had insanely high stats!

“Accidentally.”

[Alvecia]

Rule Pritannia!

Well, for a little while at least. Hail Albion, the new republic.

That was a good session. After I'd taken most of the south, I was able to steamroll the remaining tribes.
The barbarians weren't quite an issue, as once I'd taken the Scottish cost I was able to spam Civilisation and neutralise them.
Took a little while to colonise the Emerald Isle. It takes some crazy stupid amounts of Civil and Oratory power, and a fair bit of micro moving pops around. No achievement for this as you need to do it in 50 years (God knows how you;d manage that) but I picked up a couple of basic ones related to tribes and civilisation, so that's something.

My goal for this run is basically done now, but I might stick around for a while, either consolidate, converting all the tribesmen, or maybe look to take land in the mainland.

The tribal chief's armies get crazy stupid big later on. It's a damn good job I don't have to pay for them (either in gold or manpower) cause those things would bankrupt me sharpish.