PDOX Games VIII: Communism Will Win

[Danubian Peoples]

Victoria II is still the best Paradox game. I wish it had updated graphics, and that's really all that I would require to be changed, because that's all that feels dated tbh.

Well from what I've heard (never played it), Vicky II is basically the result of a developer asking:

WHAT IF WE MADE MICRO THE ENTIRE GAME??

My apologies if this is a grossly inaccurate description of the quote on quote 'best Paradox game.'

In the meantime I ought to ask, is there a God? And if so, does he have a vendetta against smart people? Reading through Paradox forum threads, Reddit posts and the like give me the impression that Genius, 6/6/6 and the like either have hidden 'u ded' maluses attached to them or somehow anger whatever alien outpost is using Aggresive Observartion ATM.

[United Muscovite Nations]

Victoria II is still the best Paradox game. I wish it had updated graphics, and that's really all that I would require to be changed, because that's all that feels dated tbh.

Well from what I've heard (never played it), Vicky II is basically the result of a developer asking:

WHAT IF WE MADE MICRO THE ENTIRE GAME??

My apologies if this is a grossly inaccurate description of the quote on quote 'best Paradox game.'

In the meantime I ought to ask, is there a God? And if so, does he have a vendetta against smart people? Reading through Paradox forum threads, Reddit posts and the like give me the impression that Genius, 6/6/6 and the like either have hidden 'u ded' maluses attached to them or somehow anger whatever alien outpost is using Aggresive Observartion ATM.

Vicky II only really requires a shitload of micro if you're doing things manually (which usually means playing as Reactionaries), but that's part of the fun.

[Purpelia]

This is going to sound odd but my chief problem with V2 is that there isn't enough micro. Or rather there isn't enough meaningful micro. Like what information you have just isn't enough to do anything. And half of the political system is deliberately designed to constrain you and make the game unfun. And you can't really micro populations or anything like that. Like, for most the game I don't have nearly as much to do as in say HOI4 or CK2.

[Danubian Peoples]

More Slavic Union. Anyone know how Alexander/Ashoka Invasion CB interacts with nomads? The CB allows you to run off with not just the kingdom of choice, but also with any occupied provinces, even outside of the kingdom's de jure lands. Asking this because I'm planning to rush the Mongols in the brief window shortly after succesion before everyone rejoins the defensive pact again. A significant portion of nomad land is rather barren, so do I need to carpet seige or something?

[United Muscovite Nations]

I've never played as Japan in Vicky II before, and holy shit is it easy. Partially Westernized to Great Power in 19 years flat. And you can just waltz over like 1 province and conquer Korea no problem, the Chinese can't stop you.

[Abserdia]

I've never played as Japan in Vicky II before, and holy shit is it easy. Partially Westernized to Great Power in 19 years flat. And you can just waltz over like 1 province and conquer Korea no problem, the Chinese can't stop you.

Japan is the perfect choice for when you just wanna steamroll, but you don’t wanna play as lame ol’ Germany.

[United Muscovite Nations]

Currently I have an army of 57 regiments (171,000) divided into 5 armies

Imperial Guard Army - 13 Regiments - 39,000 - Stationed in Tokyo
-8 Regiments of Guard
-3 Regiments of Artillery
-1 Cuirassier regiment
-1 Dragoon regiment

4 Armies each consisting of 11 Regiments - 33,000 - stationed permanently in Sendai, and temporarily in Seoul, Pyongyang, and occupied Port Arthur
-6 Regiments of Guard
-3 Regiments of Artillery
-2 Regiments dragoons

Now that I have annexed Korea, my plan is to try to build an army of ethnic Koreans with lower grade troops (infantry, and no artillery) as a colonial force, to withdraw one of my armies back to the Home Islands, and then boost each of those armies by adding 2 regiments of Guard, 1 regiment of artillery, and 1 regiment of dragoons each, bringing them to 17 regiments (51,000) for the Imperial Guard and 15 regiments (45,000) each for the 4 other armies. This would bring my total army size to 77 regiments (231,000), plus whatever lower grade regiments I can scrape from Korea. Since it's only 1880, is that a good stopping point for an army at this stage to focus on building up my naval forces? I'm a total noob at Vicky II, so I don't know how good of a strategy this is or how good my army comp is either.

[Abserdia]

Currently I have an army of 57 regiments (171,000) divided into 5 armies

Imperial Guard Army - 13 Regiments - 39,000 - Stationed in Tokyo
-8 Regiments of Guard
-3 Regiments of Artillery
-1 Cuirassier regiment
-1 Dragoon regiment

4 Armies each consisting of 11 Regiments - 33,000 - stationed permanently in Sendai, and temporarily in Seoul, Pyongyang, and occupied Port Arthur
-6 Regiments of Guard
-3 Regiments of Artillery
-2 Regiments dragoons

Now that I have annexed Korea, my plan is to try to build an army of ethnic Koreans with lower grade troops (infantry, and no artillery) as a colonial force, to withdraw one of my armies back to the Home Islands, and then boost each of those armies by adding 2 regiments of Guard, 1 regiment of artillery, and 1 regiment of dragoons each, bringing them to 17 regiments (51,000) for the Imperial Guard and 15 regiments (45,000) each for the 4 other armies. This would bring my total army size to 77 regiments (231,000), plus whatever lower grade regiments I can scrape from Korea. Since it's only 1880, is that a good stopping point for an army at this stage to focus on building up my naval forces? I'm a total noob at Vicky II, so I don't know how good of a strategy this is or how good my army comp is either.

Assuming you have the DLC.

At this point, it depends a lot on what your targets are.
If you wanna challenge any major powers (Russia and the U.S. are both good targets, but you might get more long-term value out of the Pacific Coast), then you might want to get a navy that can take you across the sea. For Russia it might not be necessary to build your navy up that much.
My preferred strategy for invading the U.S., however, is to Mexico ASAP when they’re hostile to the U.S., take Sonora, and transfer the bulk of your army there to capture California. This makes a good navy useful but not necessary.

Your army comp is fine but I might trade an inf or two for art and use hussars far more often than the other cavs. That’s just me, though.

[Auze]

Currently I have an army of 57 regiments (171,000) divided into 5 armies

Imperial Guard Army - 13 Regiments - 39,000 - Stationed in Tokyo
-8 Regiments of Guard
-3 Regiments of Artillery
-1 Cuirassier regiment
-1 Dragoon regiment

4 Armies each consisting of 11 Regiments - 33,000 - stationed permanently in Sendai, and temporarily in Seoul, Pyongyang, and occupied Port Arthur
-6 Regiments of Guard
-3 Regiments of Artillery
-2 Regiments dragoons

Now that I have annexed Korea, my plan is to try to build an army of ethnic Koreans with lower grade troops (infantry, and no artillery) as a colonial force, to withdraw one of my armies back to the Home Islands, and then boost each of those armies by adding 2 regiments of Guard, 1 regiment of artillery, and 1 regiment of dragoons each, bringing them to 17 regiments (51,000) for the Imperial Guard and 15 regiments (45,000) each for the 4 other armies. This would bring my total army size to 77 regiments (231,000), plus whatever lower grade regiments I can scrape from Korea. Since it's only 1880, is that a good stopping point for an army at this stage to focus on building up my naval forces? I'm a total noob at Vicky II, so I don't know how good of a strategy this is or how good my army comp is either.

You generally want an Engineer in your army. I find a reliable Vicky army comp is about (particularly in early-mid game):
7 Inf, 1 Eng, 1 Hus, 5 Art: Decently cheap, and will mop the floor with most AI Army comps of comparable size, add in a Dragoon if you wish. I recommend adding in airplanes and tanks in later, and keeping Infantry amount equal to that of all other units. Guards will generally get replaced by tanks at the late game. Artillery start out kinda mediocre as a unit (though still powerful), but by late game tech they are extremely powerful to the point of blasting away unsupported infantry units.
It should go without saying that once you have machine gun armament, you can basically massacre the armies of any country that doesn't (*cough* China *cough*).

As for what to do as Japan, I recommend beating up China. Fun and easy (with machine gun armament) in vanilla, and even more so in HPM.

[United Muscovite Nations]

So, this basically gives a summary of my position right now in 1896: https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ ... 7BD4D640E/

Army comp is now for my Imperial Guard 10 Guard regiments, 4 artillery, 2 dragoons, and 1 cuirassier. For the other armies, it is 8 Guard regiments, 4 artillery, and 3 dragoons. The Korean gendarmes are 5 infantry, 2 cavalry. My navy consists of two fleets stationed in Nagasaki and Port Arthur which are both 3 Pre-dreadnought battleships, and 9 cruisers.

My planned next step is to attack China and seize Liaodong and Taiwan. I did a bit of a test run to see if I could take Manchuria, but I had difficulty being able to occupy everything with so few troops in-theater while also preventing some reactionary rebels from rising up, so I think I will do a limited war instead.

As for tech, I already have machine guns, so my armies cut through the Chinese.

[United Muscovite Nations]

I had my splendid little war, and even expanded my military a little afterwards: https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ ... DC5DA068B/

Unfortunately, Russia piggybacked on my war and took a warm water port as well.

[Bralia]

Merry Christmas, Jesus, I formed the nation that killed you last night. I went into the game with the singular goal of forming Rome and I god-damn did it. This is quite possibly my greatest achievement in all Paradox games, I've never had my mind set on SO MUCH conquest before. I straight-up needed to rest after finishing off this accomplishment, I suffered so much pain because the Commonwealth is the biggest cunt of a nation I've EVER played against, they were getting in my way CONSTANTLY.

[North German Realm]

I've never played as Japan in Vicky II before, and holy shit is it easy. Partially Westernized to Great Power in 19 years flat. And you can just waltz over like 1 province and conquer Korea no problem, the Chinese can't stop you.

The only thing that's even easier than VicII Japan is HFM Japan tbh.

[United Muscovite Nations]

I've never played as Japan in Vicky II before, and holy shit is it easy. Partially Westernized to Great Power in 19 years flat. And you can just waltz over like 1 province and conquer Korea no problem, the Chinese can't stop you.

The only thing that's even easier than VicII Japan is HFM Japan tbh.

Yeah, it's great if you're a noob like me who just sort of haphazardly does things without fully understanding how the game works.

[North German Realm]

The only thing that's even easier than VicII Japan is HFM Japan tbh.

Yeah, it's great if you're a noob like me who just sort of haphazardly does things without fully understanding how the game works.

Vic II Japan at least gives you the option to do badly on occasion. HFM Japan is basically railroaded as fuck, so you will objectively win the Civil War and form the Empire, become ridiculously overpowered, take over Korea and humiliate Russia just around the time Germany gets to be formed, only thinking "how the fuck did I even get here?"

[Auze]

Yeah, it's great if you're a noob like me who just sort of haphazardly does things without fully understanding how the game works.

Vic II Japan at least gives you the option to do badly on occasion. HFM Japan is basically railroaded as fuck, so you will objectively win the Civil War and form the Empire, become ridiculously overpowered, take over Korea and humiliate Russia just around the time Germany gets to be formed, only thinking "how the fuck did I even get here?"

I’ve seen the ai Shogunate win occasionally, that was an odd game.

The main challenge of vanilla Japan is dealing with reactionaries everywhere.

[United Muscovite Nations]

It's not 1914. I finally managed to acquire Manchuria, not because I beat up China again, but because the Soviet Union briefly fell out of the Great Powers, and as a result I was able to sphere Manchuria (which was theirs), so now I have that. I have increased my army size, I now have 321,000 troops in 7 main armies, and 69,000 of lower grade Colonial troops. My navy has been slowly growing, it now consists of the 1st Fleet in Nagasaki, with 2 Dreadnoughts, 3 Pre-Dreadnoughts, and 12 Cruisers, plus the 2nd Fleet at Port Arthur (3 Pre-Dreadnoughts, 12 Cruisers). I don't think I'm going to try to fight the US, and instead just use my navy and army to dominate the region. Unfortunately, China has now Westernized. Fortunately, they no longer control their substates for some reason. They're still part of the "Chinese Empire", but China no longer has any real power over them.

This is how things currently stand: https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ ... 7F7178981/

[The Huskar Social Union]

It's not 1914. I finally managed to acquire Manchuria, not because I beat up China again, but because the Soviet Union briefly fell out of the Great Powers, and as a result I was able to sphere Manchuria (which was theirs), so now I have that. I have increased my army size, I now have 321,000 troops in 7 main armies, and 69,000 of lower grade Colonial troops. My navy has been slowly growing, it now consists of the 1st Fleet in Nagasaki, with 2 Dreadnoughts, 3 Pre-Dreadnoughts, and 12 Cruisers, plus the 2nd Fleet at Port Arthur (3 Pre-Dreadnoughts, 12 Cruisers). I don't think I'm going to try to fight the US, and instead just use my navy and army to dominate the region. Unfortunately, China has now Westernized. Fortunately, they no longer control their substates for some reason. They're still part of the "Chinese Empire", but China no longer has any real power over them.

This is how things currently stand: https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ ... 7F7178981/

Good work, well done. How did the USSR come along? Just a regular revolution or did Russia get smashed?

[United Muscovite Nations]

It's not 1914. I finally managed to acquire Manchuria, not because I beat up China again, but because the Soviet Union briefly fell out of the Great Powers, and as a result I was able to sphere Manchuria (which was theirs), so now I have that. I have increased my army size, I now have 321,000 troops in 7 main armies, and 69,000 of lower grade Colonial troops. My navy has been slowly growing, it now consists of the 1st Fleet in Nagasaki, with 2 Dreadnoughts, 3 Pre-Dreadnoughts, and 12 Cruisers, plus the 2nd Fleet at Port Arthur (3 Pre-Dreadnoughts, 12 Cruisers). I don't think I'm going to try to fight the US, and instead just use my navy and army to dominate the region. Unfortunately, China has now Westernized. Fortunately, they no longer control their substates for some reason. They're still part of the "Chinese Empire", but China no longer has any real power over them.

This is how things currently stand: https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ ... 7F7178981/

Good work, well done. How did the USSR come along? Just a regular revolution or did Russia get smashed?

Russia had a series of humiliating defeats at the hands of Germany, was weakened enough by that to surrender land to Turkey (which is now communist) and Poland in crises after being threatened by the UK. After a second German invasion which seized Lithuania and Latvia, the Russian Revolution happened in 1905 and established the Soviet Union, which briefly fell out of the Great Powers to Switzerland. France is still somehow a great power despite having suffered humiliating defeats too, and were also briefly a proletarian state before they were invaded by Germany and had a Bonapartist revolution.

You can see the absolutely cursed state of the world as a whole here: https://i.imgur.com/mW540rd.png
Great Powers here: https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ ... A04B0DCFD/

[The Huskar Social Union]

Good work, well done. How did the USSR come along? Just a regular revolution or did Russia get smashed?

Russia had a series of humiliating defeats at the hands of Germany, was weakened enough by that to surrender land to Turkey (which is now communist) and Poland in crises after being threatened by the UK. After a second German invasion which seized Lithuania and Latvia, the Russian Revolution happened in 1905 and established the Soviet Union, which briefly fell out of the Great Powers to Switzerland. France is still somehow a great power despite having suffered humiliating defeats too, and were also briefly a proletarian state before they were invaded by Germany and had a Bonapartist revolution.

You can see the absolutely cursed state of the world as a whole here: https://i.imgur.com/mW540rd.png
Great Powers here: https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ ... A04B0DCFD/

France you have failed me.

[Valrifell]

Good work, well done. How did the USSR come along? Just a regular revolution or did Russia get smashed?

Russia had a series of humiliating defeats at the hands of Germany, was weakened enough by that to surrender land to Turkey (which is now communist) and Poland in crises after being threatened by the UK. After a second German invasion which seized Lithuania and Latvia, the Russian Revolution happened in 1905 and established the Soviet Union, which briefly fell out of the Great Powers to Switzerland. France is still somehow a great power despite having suffered humiliating defeats too, and were also briefly a proletarian state before they were invaded by Germany and had a Bonapartist revolution.

You can see the absolutely cursed state of the world as a whole here: https://i.imgur.com/mW540rd.png
Great Powers here: https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ ... A04B0DCFD/

The darkest timeline

[Lunas Legion]

Good work, well done. How did the USSR come along? Just a regular revolution or did Russia get smashed?

Russia had a series of humiliating defeats at the hands of Germany, was weakened enough by that to surrender land to Turkey (which is now communist) and Poland in crises after being threatened by the UK. After a second German invasion which seized Lithuania and Latvia, the Russian Revolution happened in 1905 and established the Soviet Union, which briefly fell out of the Great Powers to Switzerland. France is still somehow a great power despite having suffered humiliating defeats too, and were also briefly a proletarian state before they were invaded by Germany and had a Bonapartist revolution.

You can see the absolutely cursed state of the world as a whole here: https://i.imgur.com/mW540rd.png
Great Powers here: https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ ... A04B0DCFD/

What the fuck is Switzerland doing as a GP? Like what the actual fuck is this? It's disgusting. Objectively. Disgusting.

[Renoa]

Russia had a series of humiliating defeats at the hands of Germany, was weakened enough by that to surrender land to Turkey (which is now communist) and Poland in crises after being threatened by the UK. After a second German invasion which seized Lithuania and Latvia, the Russian Revolution happened in 1905 and established the Soviet Union, which briefly fell out of the Great Powers to Switzerland. France is still somehow a great power despite having suffered humiliating defeats too, and were also briefly a proletarian state before they were invaded by Germany and had a Bonapartist revolution.

You can see the absolutely cursed state of the world as a whole here: https://i.imgur.com/mW540rd.png
Great Powers here: https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ ... A04B0DCFD/

What the fuck is Switzerland doing as a GP? Like what the actual fuck is this? It's disgusting. Objectively. Disgusting.

I saw Communist Denmark at #5 once in a game where Germany didn't feel like uniting so the NGF, Bavaria, and Austria took turns kicking each other's shit in so none of them could achieve greatness.

[United Muscovite Nations]

Russia had a series of humiliating defeats at the hands of Germany, was weakened enough by that to surrender land to Turkey (which is now communist) and Poland in crises after being threatened by the UK. After a second German invasion which seized Lithuania and Latvia, the Russian Revolution happened in 1905 and established the Soviet Union, which briefly fell out of the Great Powers to Switzerland. France is still somehow a great power despite having suffered humiliating defeats too, and were also briefly a proletarian state before they were invaded by Germany and had a Bonapartist revolution.

You can see the absolutely cursed state of the world as a whole here: https://i.imgur.com/mW540rd.png
Great Powers here: https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ ... A04B0DCFD/

What the fuck is Switzerland doing as a GP? Like what the actual fuck is this? It's disgusting. Objectively. Disgusting.

They're not anymore if it makes you feel better. Now it's
1. Germany
2. UK
3. US
4. Italy
5. Japan
6. France
7. Soviet Union
8. Sweden

Speaking of which, I now basically control all of China-proper. I have sphered Manchuria and the Chinese Empire, then Yunnan and Guanxi allied with me voluntarily.

[Danubian Peoples]

The Slavic Union game is chugging just fine.. and by chugging I mean its trying to chug through the most henious of lag. Like come on, is this Stellaris? Anyway I have an oddly specific 'thing to do next' in CK2..

Ibadi Berber Merchant Republic.

IDK why I had this brilliant idea, but a couple searches over at the [url=reddit.com/r/crusaderkings]Crusader Kings subreddit[/url] reveals that some other folks had the same idea somehow. Most of them were only the case because of that Norse Muslim acheivement whose name I can't recall, wherein one would Hæsteinn themselves onto North Africa and take up the local Islam while also culture-converting your new lands to norse. A commenter pointed out on one of these posts that Berber is superior to Norse due to the better cultural building and retinue. Short of using the god-viking himself Hæsteinn as a means of cheesing the game (actually I tried this, but the game axed him via pneumonia a few months into the game, which canceled the prepared invasion, took it as an omen to back off), are there any ways to succeed in this? I'd need a tribal Ibadi character, and one who can realistically suromunt whatever Abbasid fodder is currently Sultan of Ifriqya, and then the Abbasids. So far most strats revolve on that southern Ibadi tribe in the middle North Africa-Rest of Africa corridor, as they can raid unlike their northern counterparts, who are vassals of non-raiding Bedouins. One goes around and pillages/conquers the Africans to your south before turning to the north and smashing Ifriqya. then you take some coastal counties and become a merchant republic, and you proceed to roll in saracen amounts of gold as your merchant republic+raiding powers allows one to make the absurd profits needed to stockpile gold like that. So any tips? Haven't started a campaign yet.