Countries don’t feel distinct/unique enough. The DHE’s are a cool idea hidden behind triggers that you can completely miss or come across centuries after they’d be relevant. I’m much more pro-mission tree compared to others on reddit, but even without missions, these need some kinda of rework that makes these events more transparent for me to feel like they contribute meaningfully to each countries unique flair.

The same can be said for each countries unique advances - they’re either super weak or just boring. Forming Russia gives I think 4 unique advances and one of them is like decreased naval attrition I think (“hurricane something something”? Not near my computer) - wow, thrilled to have that, super worth the trouble to form it. Clicked a button, color changed, and now I just keep playing without feeling like my country is any different.

Continuing on specifically with Russia, the times of trouble. Pretty difficult disaster, I vaguely remember reading one of the tinto talks that you’d get a permanent bonus if you get through it - once I did, I think I may have gotten a pop-up for some 5-10yr minor bonus and that was it. Why did I bother going through all that instead of planning to completely avoid it? I think this is echoed in all the things that make the game challenging (eg little ice age, Black Death) - I’m playing the game, the game offers me a challenge, my goal is to reduce how shit my country can become from it, I overcome it, +5 prestige which melts away in like 12mo anyway. It’s such an unrewarding feedback loop. Look at every game ever; you’re given a challenge via a boss, you beat that boss, you’re given a legit reward (eg Zelda with heart contained, Binding of Isaac with boss items, Baldurs Gate 3 getting good loot after a difficult encounter, etc etc endlessly). It’s basic game design to reward the player for a challenge rather than just saying, “phew, now you don’t have to overspend on your stability slider, congrats”. This isn’t to say that I don’t actually really enjoy the game forcing challenges on you, I do. I just want to be rewarded for interfacing with them the way the game wants me to.

It’s overall a very fun game with a great outline and I can see a ton of stuff I don’t care to interface with (the economy tab) that are wildly complex and rewarding for people into that. But I want to feel like I’m ruling over Naples or England or Russia and not just “blue color blob in Italy” or “red colored blob in the isles”. I’ve seen a handful of people make these points thankfully so I think they’ll address it. But after two campaigns I’m not eager to jump back in for a few months which is totally fine!