PDOX Games VIII: Communism Will Win

[Impaled Nazarene]

A bunch of CK3 map pictures were yoinked from a recent video.

Even with my rig I'd like the option for simple graphics like CK2 has. I don't need my map games to have massive detail, just as long as it looks good.

[Abserdia]

That sounds like the worst way to play CK2 I could possibly imagine. It's almost amazing how opposite this is to all of my desires for a CK2 campaign.

That is most likely because your objective is not to form each and every kingdom on the map and have your family members sit on those thrones in a giant elective world spanning empire.

Yeah, we have very different goals in these games it seems.

[Holy Tedalonia]

That sounds like the worst way to play CK2 I could possibly imagine. It's almost amazing how opposite this is to all of my desires for a CK2 campaign.

That is most likely because your objective is not to form each and every kingdom on the map and have your family members sit on those thrones in a giant elective world spanning empire.

I mean, I rather would do that with challenge. I want to work for it.

[Danubian Peoples]

Tell me, is EU4 decent? Been meaning to maybe try and play it. What with the big map (haven't seen a full world map in a while, CK2 does that to you), the big empires, the blobs, the fun I guess. I hear it's mechanics-heavy, and I can't repeatedly murder the Holy Roman Emperor 'till I stand to inherit the title for some reason. (Based on my knowledge of EU4, the CK2 classic of murder the king. Then murder the new king. Then murder the newer king ad infinitum would be catastrophically OP in EU4). So is EU4 any good? Any advice on how to play? What DLC should I get? What DLC should I not get? And other tips in advance.

[Serrus]

*sigh* The next EUIV expansion was looking so good. And one of the first new mechanics they introduce is EXCLUSIVELY for people who blob to absolutely unrealistic levels.

*ahem* My apologies to everyone, this post is no longer accurate. Let me amend and update my post to reflect the changes that Johan made over his lunch break, I need to appropriately change my tagline to something that more fitting for the credit Johan deserves for responding to criticism so quickly:

*sigh* The next EUIV expansion was looking so good. And one of the first new mechanics they introduce is EXCLUSIVELY for people who blob to absolutely unrealistic levels.

Hey it's a good idea, it just needs more tweaks

[Dome Artan]

That's sucky blobbing. Good blobbing is you conquering the world and handing titles out as you see fit whilst keeping your vassals small and weak. You could do that quite effectively in the old versions. Now a days you have things such as vassal limits (god I hate those), defensive pacts (I hate those even more) and just generally far more internal micromanagement for your own realm as well as an overall lack of good CB's that make conquering the world a much slower and sloggier affair. And of course you have the new meta with the idiotically massive army upkeep that ruins it as well. And I swear they did something to nerf retinues as well. Used to be I could build up quite an army of those and just bash everyone's head in. Now a days not so much.

Like my personal preferred game settings are:
- No vassal limit
- No defensive pacts
- Everything I can do to nerf factions
- Manually modded the troop upkeep down
- Infinite religious and city vassals. Because I love the lore of just having lots of clerical and merchant republic vassals running around.

And that still does not really capture the old feel. But it kind of works. It it were me I'd cut the maintenance / cost of retinues in half and give every king or higher infinite free ducal conquest CB. Emperors would get an infinite free kingdom conquest in addition to this. And that's conquest. As in kick every lord out and take all the land. Not subjugation.

That sounds like the worst way to play CK2 I could possibly imagine. It's almost amazing how opposite this is to all of my desires for a CK2 campaign.

I agree with you there, that sounds far too stable to be at all realistic which is how I prefer to play. In fact I'm trying to find some game rules that make empires harder to maintain. But to each their own of course, its why the rule options exist in the first place.

[Cisairse]

*sigh* The next EUIV expansion was looking so good. And one of the first new mechanics they introduce is EXCLUSIVELY for people who blob to absolutely unrealistic levels.

*ahem* My apologies to everyone, this post is no longer accurate. Let me amend and update my post to reflect the changes that Johan made over his lunch break, I need to appropriately change my tagline to something that more fitting for the credit Johan deserves for responding to criticism so quickly:

*sigh* The next EUIV expansion was looking so good. And one of the first new mechanics they introduce is EXCLUSIVELY for people who blob to absolutely unrealistic levels.

I actually love this idea. It's going to make ET runs really, really interesting, especially if a couple AIs can manage to form hedgemonies.

[Bralia]

Lotta fun achievements for La Resistance, I think my favorite conceptually is Tour de France.

[Alvecia]

Lotta fun achievements for La Resistance, I think my favorite conceptually is Tour de France.

Spies Trade got me. I love those kind of puns.

[The Huskar Social Union]

"Go ahead, Macau my day"

Oh my god.

Also there already is an achievement called "Nobody expects..."

[Alvecia]

"Go ahead, Macau my day"

Oh my god.

Also there already is an achievement called "Nobody expects..."

Someone pointed that out and the response was this, if you hadn't already spotted it.

oh I think the art/name got mixed up. The intent is to have two different ones. I'll find out what went wrong ;D

[The Huskar Social Union]

"Go ahead, Macau my day"

Oh my god.

Also there already is an achievement called "Nobody expects..."

Someone pointed that out and the response was this, if you hadn't already spotted it.

oh I think the art/name got mixed up. The intent is to have two different ones. I'll find out what went wrong ;D

Ah i see.

[Bralia]

Someone pointed that out and the response was this, if you hadn't already spotted it.

Ah i see.

There you go.

[The Huskar Social Union]

Ah i see.

There you go.

Much better.

I shall not burn down Paradox Studios today.

[Valrifell]

There you go.

Much better.

I shall not burn down Paradox Studios today.

Suprise and a fanatical devotion to the Pope

[Impaled Nazarene]

Much better.

I shall not burn down Paradox Studios today.

Suprise and a fanatical devotion to the Pope

Papal States confirmed to be getting focus tree before Italy and Soviet reworks

[Lunas Legion]

I'm sorry but OOB Simulator 1936 > EUIII. Maybe it just appeals to my inner military nerd.

[Bralia]

Reading these Stellaris Question Diaries makes me want to be purified. There are SO MANY questions.

[Lunas Legion]

Reading these Stellaris Question Diaries makes me want to be purified. There are SO MANY questions.

But so many answers too.

[The Huskar Social Union]

Security Flaw in Hearts of Iron IV

All,

It has recently been discovered that a security flaw exists in the current version of Hearts of Iron IV, Europa Universalis IV, Crusader Kings II and Victoria II. The flaw allows mods to run arbitrary code on your machine, allowing the mod to do almost anything: including, but not limited to, installing a proper virus on your machine.

Whilst this flaw has been confirmed in Hearts of Iron IV, Europa Universalis IV, Crusader Kings II, and Victoria II, it is possible it may be present in any/all other Paradox games.

The flaw requires malicious intent on behalf of mod uploaders, so I highly recommend you do not run any Paradox game with any mod you do not absolutely trust. The flaw can be exploited either through a new workshop upload, or an update to existing mods.

Paradox have been made aware of the flaw, and are looking into this. A patch will presumably be rolled out as soon as possible. I've deliberately not given the specifics of the flaw in this post to prevent any spread, and so I would encourage you to do the same in the comments.

EDIT: I can confirm the issue is also present in Europa Universalis IV, Crusader Kings II and Victoria II

Comment below from one of the mods:

Update from u/konbendith (Head of Communications for Paradox):

Hey, we've been made aware of this issue earlier today by the community. Thanks for flagging it! As Podcat quickly mentioned in this thread earlier, the studio is working on a fix of the issue right now. It is, of course, top priority and will be sorted as soon as possible. To the best of our knowledge, the flaw has been spotted, but not exploited. To be safe though, we recommend not updating or adding new mods until we've deployed a fix.

You can find their comment here.

So be a bit careful folks when playing with mods.

[The Huskar Social Union]

Also im getting to that point now in Stellaris where the late game lag and shit performance is beginning to push me away from the campaign a bit. Man i hope it gets fixed in the next update, if Creative Assembly can do it with Warhammer Total War II so can paradox.

[The New California Republic]

Security Flaw in Hearts of Iron IV

All,

It has recently been discovered that a security flaw exists in the current version of Hearts of Iron IV, Europa Universalis IV, Crusader Kings II and Victoria II. The flaw allows mods to run arbitrary code on your machine, allowing the mod to do almost anything: including, but not limited to, installing a proper virus on your machine.

Whilst this flaw has been confirmed in Hearts of Iron IV, Europa Universalis IV, Crusader Kings II, and Victoria II, it is possible it may be present in any/all other Paradox games.

The flaw requires malicious intent on behalf of mod uploaders, so I highly recommend you do not run any Paradox game with any mod you do not absolutely trust. The flaw can be exploited either through a new workshop upload, or an update to existing mods.

Paradox have been made aware of the flaw, and are looking into this. A patch will presumably be rolled out as soon as possible. I've deliberately not given the specifics of the flaw in this post to prevent any spread, and so I would encourage you to do the same in the comments.

Unless I am playing a multiplayer game then I block net connections to and from the exe in the firewall. I do that for all games I play, not just Paradox games. Not sure if it'd be effective against a malicious mod though (the antivirus might detect it though), but the firewall would certainly flag it up as a new program trying to connect to the net (since most viruses tend to "phone home" for one reason or another).

[The New California Republic]

Also im getting to that point now in Stellaris where the late game lag and shit performance is beginning to push me away from the campaign a bit. Man i hope it gets fixed in the next update, if Creative Assembly can do it with Warhammer Total War II so can paradox.

I had late-game performance issues in previous versions, but the last few versions have been much better for me.

[Purpelia]

Late game performance is something Paradox really can't fix. Not unless they move away from their current engine. The issue is simply that there is too much stuff in the game by that point and that slows the game down.

[The Huskar Social Union]

Also im getting to that point now in Stellaris where the late game lag and shit performance is beginning to push me away from the campaign a bit. Man i hope it gets fixed in the next update, if Creative Assembly can do it with Warhammer Total War II so can paradox.

I had late-game performance issues in previous versions, but the last few versions have been much better for me.

Its not as bad as it used to be for me when i stopped playing months ago, but still makes everything feel tedious. But im still going to powerthrough on this campaign tho as im really enjoying it overall and have had a lot of fun getting these achievements. I think i might do a hivemind run next.