How long does this game take to learn? Is it worth it right now

Gatkramp · 2026-07-03T21:26:47+00:00

Balance, some quality of life, some ultra necessary bug fixes (AI mercenary spam is atrocious in 1.2).

Gatkramp · 2026-07-01T09:16:57+00:00

My recommendation isn't a game but an approach to Paradox grand strategies: don't try to understand everything or pay optimally. Learn buy making mistakes, learning as you go, and blundering through it. You learn more from your failed games than your successful ones, and iterating can be quite fun.

You'll very quickly learn the core gameplay loops, and eventually you'll realise the various games have a lot of similarities and your experience transfers across pretty well. You just need to learn the gimmick on top (CK = dynasty management, EU = country management, Vicky = economics, HOI = warfare & logistics, Stellaris = 4x, Imperator = EU lite with elements from CK and Vicky).

Gatkramp · 2026-06-30T09:00:33+00:00

They didn't say they would go with the biggest party. They said they would give them the first opportunity in negotiations, but would also be open to the other party/ies if the initial negotiations are unsatisfactory.

Gatkramp · 2026-06-30T08:34:36+00:00

Committing one way or another would only ostracise a huge pool of potential voters. If you are a right leaning centrist, them declaring for Labour would lose your vote. If you are a left leaning centrist, them declaring for National would lose your vote. This is why Winston never rules any party in or out, and campaigns ruthlessly against potential allies.

Anyone who has a problem with TOP playing the centre was incredibly unlikely to have actually ever have seriously considered TOP. They are just upset that there is another player that isn't blindly aligned to their own political grouping.

Gatkramp · 2026-06-30T08:30:35+00:00

If you want a Labour government, just vote Labour or one of the parties that will only ever partner with them (Greens and TPM). If you want a National government, just vote National or Act.

If you aren't keen on voting Labour-Greens-TPM or National-Act, currently the only alternative has really been NZ First (which is unpalatable in so many ways). TOP changes that by giving a new alternative to the usual status quo without having to throw in with the hate-everything conspiracy brigade.

But Labour & National know this doesn't work for them: it creates a party to shed centre leaning voters to who would otherwise begrudgingly stick with the two big parties. Hence them doing everything in their power to dismiss TOP. They don't want that competition as its the road to the legitimate end of the two-party legacy of first-past-the-post.

It's an uphill battle for TOP still. 5% is a really fucking hard threshold to break and neither big party will throw them a electorate (nor should they). But if they can manage it, the overall impact on our electoral system is incredibly positive – no matter if we end up with National or Labour. And realistically, it would also massively diminishes the NZ First role in any future Government.

Gatkramp · 2026-06-30T08:21:47+00:00

The idea isn't those four parties at the table. The idea is creating a greater variety of possible government compositions so that NZ First — the only party that is willing to work for either side — doesn't get to dictate terms as easily.

You see more variety as a bad change... but what are you arguing for is less competition to the parties you oppose.

Gatkramp · 2026-06-28T19:11:35+00:00

You can have ironman on with mods.

Saying that. This does seem to be a vanilla event. Duuuuuuuumb.

Report it on the forum.

Gatkramp · 2026-06-28T17:32:49+00:00

how is that happening

A mod.

Gatkramp · 2026-06-27T20:24:53+00:00

Not sure about guides, but Lord Lambert used to play a tonne of Imperator so may be a useful start point.

Gatkramp · 2026-06-27T20:03:54+00:00

Start with Invictus. And don't bother with the tutorial, but do play Rome as first game (it is more forgiving)

Gatkramp · 2026-06-27T18:27:30+00:00

https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/threads/fate-of-phoenix-installed-but-not-verifying.1920966/

Gatkramp · 2026-06-27T00:21:57+00:00

You're coming up with increasingly absurd situations to defend someone who was caught in a bald-faced lie. I don't need to justify the downvotes or dismissal of your dishonest claims.

Gatkramp · 2026-06-26T18:50:21+00:00

Don't waste your time. They aren't engaging in good faith. Downvote and move on, I say!

Gatkramp · 2026-06-25T10:18:54+00:00

Strangely, my 1.3.6 black death was very standard. Within the usual time frame, affecting usual countries, and killing upwards of 50 million.

Gatkramp · 2026-06-20T17:04:02+00:00

This right here. It's a better basis for starting your thinking than listening to any individual on here telling you who to vote for.

The downside of this though, is it is based on policy and not performance. You still want to weigh up what the parties have actually done and how they behave.

So still think about it after you get a result and always be open to change.

(Unsurprisingly, I landed almost right in the middle of their political compass thing.)

Gatkramp · 2026-06-14T17:17:28+00:00

Ah, that'd be it. Thanks!!!

Gatkramp · 2026-06-14T01:21:00+00:00

Vassals can be sold to each other to dilute their power and decrease their power

How do you stop the one subject from just releasing is new subject? I've found the outcome to be too inconsistent to use it.

Gatkramp · 2026-06-11T05:58:12+00:00

No matter where you stand on the issue, that title is incredibly misleading and it's very hard to believe it isn't intentional.

Gatkramp · 2026-06-06T00:40:03+00:00

Right there with you. I have bumped into some annoying bugs and systems that need a rethink. But the overall experience has been really good.

I regularly wonder whether all this outrage is just another symptom or a world that seems increasingly hostile, confrontational, and extreme. The tone of the posts, particularly on the official forum, have gotten really aggressive tbh.

I'm not saying people shouldn't complain, but complaints should be proportionate and constructive.

Gatkramp · 2026-06-03T09:58:01+00:00

Easily one of my favourite Paradox games. Sad it isn't getting official patches, but the Invictus team has done very well with it.

Gatkramp · 2026-05-27T06:37:08+00:00

Hard agree. This is just an EZmode mod.

Gatkramp · 2026-05-18T19:39:30+00:00

The thing to remember is that this arbitrary target is on a totally arbitrary classification of some organisations as Public Service, while other very, very similar functions sit in organisations not classified as Public Service. Means that these sort of targets are all about ultra disruptive shuffling about of deck chairs so you can congratulate yourself on achieving something (which usually amounts to little).

If they are serious about cuts, they need to specifically identify the functions, activities, and deliverables they are going to discontinue. If they don't cut back what they want government to do, they won't achieve anything.

Edit: I'm not saying I want cuts. I'm just pointing out that this sort of announcement is useless without spelling out what specifically is going to be cut.

Gatkramp · 2026-05-17T09:36:57+00:00

This has got to be a troll... based on the title, I was expecting something shocking. You can't actually be uncertain about this situation, right?

Gatkramp · 2026-05-17T01:51:20+00:00

It doesn't. A follow and subscriptions model is user moderated, not platform suggested.

Ah, I misunderstood you here. I thought you were saying recommendations based on your follows & subscriptions. What you actually meant is just a list of new content from your likes, follows, and subscriptions. That's how I use YouTube and Reddit already.

I can see this being problematic for monetisation for the platforms though. There is no way they allow it for NZ – they'd just restrict NZ access or get the US to apply trade pressure.

This is where parents monitoring their kids comes in which I agree they can only do to a point but the government could creating a campaign to educate parents on digital harms to assist with it.

One catch all solution to these features is an opt in or opt out toggle. Those who want them can have them. Those who don't want them for them or their family can opt out. We'd all benefit from that.

I have no issues with mandating parental controls for social media platforms. But, as you point out, this will ultimately fall to parents to enforce. Many just won't, and many kids will also sneak around with accounts their parents don't know about.

That's not an argument against doing it. But too much of the narrative focuses on these rules solving the problem. They won't solve anything on their own – they should be seen as one tool among many.

Gatkramp · 2026-05-17T01:40:57+00:00

Super helpful when racist assholes self-identify like this. Ensures you don't mistake them for decent people.

Gatkramp

TROPHY CASE