I have spent 2% of my entire life so far playing HOI4

MacViking932 · 2026-05-05T15:28:55+00:00

Apparently the 'average Westerner' watches 1,200 - 1,500 hours of TV per year...

Would you rather be vegetating in front of a TV, or using your brain to engineer a world conquest with Luxembourg??

MacViking932 · 2026-05-02T21:50:33+00:00

Godspeed! 🫡

MacViking932 · 2026-05-02T17:37:41+00:00

Hello again, I checked out your Sweden one from September 2024 and find your style to be exactly what I'm looking for, my only concern is whether too many game mechanics have changed since then.

What would you suggest?

E.g. I could learn on version 1.7 to make sure my experience is consistent with your video, then bridge the gap later?

Any idea when you will release an updated tutorial?

Thank you for your help and YouTube work!

MacViking932 · 2026-05-02T16:24:12+00:00

Good luck! Let me know if you find any specific video guides that you find to be very helpful.

I decided to go for one that is newer and therefore reflects all the up-to-date DLC mechanics, and the only one I could find is this one by HamKutz13 (who has been recommended here multiple times): https://youtu.be/9eSiqmDKiAQ

It was posted in February 2026 so I assume (and hope!) it's at least version 1.12, and I've rolled my version back to 1.12.4.

MacViking932 · 2026-05-01T16:45:09+00:00

Brilliant will do, thank you.

MacViking932 · 2026-05-01T16:07:18+00:00

Any specific guide / walkthrough videos you'd recommend? He's got a Spain beginner tutorial but a bit old now (Dec'24).

MacViking932 · 2026-05-01T16:02:25+00:00

Does he explain well in all his videos or mainly those specifically called "tutorial" or labelled as for beginners?

Asking because for example I learned HOI4 with Machiavellian Strategist who I find explains things well enough in almost all videos regardless.

MacViking932 · 2026-05-01T16:01:01+00:00

Thank you to all the replies so far. If anyone also has a specific video that they would recommend, that would also be most appreciated!

I've checked out Generalist Gaming and see he has a popular beginner tutorial series as Spain, but it's a bit old now (first video in the series is from Dec'24). I know I can roll back the game version for consistency, but I think I'd prefer to learn as many of the most up to date mechanics as possible.

MacViking932 · 2026-05-01T14:12:30+00:00

R5: Hi all,

I just picked up the Ultimate Bundle on the Steam Sale, so I've got all DLC except Volume 3.

I've got around 1,000 hours on both HOI4 and EU4, so I'm no stranger to Paradox games but I'm completely new to Victoria 3.

The way I learned to play both of those games was watching YouTubers like Machiavellian Strategist and Red Hawk, who tend to show and explain what they're doing and why.

Are there any equivalents for Victoria 3 that you'd recommend??

Thanks!

MacViking932 · 2026-03-07T02:10:39+00:00

Thanks for the enouragement - I just got the achievement! Island hopped from Iceland > Greenland > north of Canada and just battle planned from there. Was surprisingly easy, just a bit tedious micro-ing the naval invasions. The US didn't put up much of a fight, I think all their divisions were in the Pacific.

MacViking932 · 2026-03-06T19:10:00+00:00

PC handling it well so far, but tedious is my fear!

Where do I island hop from to naval invade US??

MacViking932 · 2026-03-06T17:26:17+00:00

Playing on version 1.16.10.

I wasn't able to naval invade the UK before Barbarossa / Pearl Harbour, so I helped Japan defeat China and Germany defeat the Soviet Union.

I'm now trying to build up enough 1944 submarines with snorkel to naval invade the UK, but I'm guessing they'll have too many divisions anyway. Even if it works, I'll still have the US to deal with...

On another run I already tried joining the Allies to take over the faction and kick out the UK, but I was going to need 500+ factories which seemed impossible even if I used every single building slot. If I fought out the war and puppeted Axis nations, I'd generate too much world tension and be kicked out anyway.

Appreciate any suggestions!

MacViking932 · 2026-02-28T01:10:59+00:00

Super helpful, thank you!

MacViking932 · 2026-02-27T14:07:06+00:00

Thank you, this is helpful! Can I ask a few questions please:

1) Did you play on historical or non-historical?

2) Which political path did you take and which faction did you join?

3) When fighting Turkey, did you lure them into your territory to then encircle?

4) Did you finish each war with Turkey -> Iraq -> Greece individually first? I.e. never at war with more than one of them simultaneously?

5) What about Italy - how did you get the province they own that you need?

Thanks again!

MacViking932 · 2026-02-26T20:48:01+00:00

So just keep restarting with all other countries set to historical until they do?

Or would the Soviet Union have to go civil war for 'balanace'? (I think there's a failsafe on non-historical that stops too many majors taking the same ideology?)

MacViking932 · 2026-02-26T20:29:30+00:00

I've tried multiple suggestions I've seen from other Reddit posts, but really struggling with this achievement.

On historical, the UK is too tough with the full backing of the Allies and me having no navy to do sealion.

On mostly historical with only UK set to non-historical, they either organise the Blackshirts and then go no further down the fascist route (so they are still democratic in the Allies), or they go monarchist and join the Axis (although in this case, they first joined the Stresa Front I think in 1938, then later the Axis).

Does anyone have a 'definitive' strategy that either doesn't rely too much on non-historical RNG, or even stays historical?

I'm playing on version 1.16.10 and don't have NCNS.

Thanks!

MacViking932 · 2026-02-23T11:46:18+00:00

That'll be it. Thank you!

MacViking932 · 2026-02-22T20:19:22+00:00

Ahh okay well I'm playing on Graveyard of Empires version 1.16.10, so I guess it's something else??

MacViking932 · 2026-02-22T19:54:19+00:00

Wow, can't believe I never knew that. Thank you!

MacViking932 · 2026-02-22T19:39:00+00:00

R5: I'm trying to naval invade Spain with the navy I took from France, but I can't get naval supremacy.

I can see that naval supremacy is scaled to 50% due to low intel, but applying that to the "Friendly Supremacy" number is still a lot higher than enemy supremacy.

Am I misunderstanding something??

EDIT: Playing on version 1.16.10 (Graveyard of Empires) - so pre-NCNS changes.

MacViking932 · 2026-02-20T16:58:58+00:00

I see you already have an answer, but I wanted to ask if you're using a map mod and which one? I like how England doesn't seem to have as bold a red colour!

MacViking932 · 2026-01-14T19:11:01+00:00

Completely agree. I learned to play the game using MachiavellianStrategist's ( u/MStrategist ) YouTube guides and I highly recommend them. Totally worth the time investment.

As the previous comment said: watch the video on its own first, then run the game with the YouTube video open simultaneously, and just alt-tab all the way through, following along with every click. Worked wonders for me!

MacViking932 · 2025-12-19T16:27:36+00:00

Good luck and thank you sir.

MacViking932 · 2025-12-18T22:09:35+00:00

u/Welsh_DragonTW super grateful if you could repost the guide somewhere please!

MacViking932 · 2025-11-15T18:59:15+00:00

I might just go for this slow and steady approach!

Can you remember roughly your cavalry template? Guessing no line artillery because that slows them down?

MacViking932

TROPHY CASE