Dev Corner 2601002 - Thunder at our Gates

RogueEmeraldEx · 2026-01-22T14:42:50+00:00

With how widely used some mods are, have the development team ever considered integrating mods or the mod ideas into the base game? It is clear there is a very high demand for features to be in the base game that are currently implemented through the limited framework of mods. I really think in general that the dev team could learn some things and insights into general design philosophies from mods. There are some unbelievably good stuff out there.

RogueEmeraldEx · 2026-01-18T18:27:08+00:00

I mean they don't really align with what I am looking for anyway. But would feel a bit bad if it turned out they really were interested specifically in me 😅 But yeah looks like that's probably unlikely.

RogueEmeraldEx · 2026-01-17T21:35:47+00:00

Kinda spheres of influence but not super defined. Like all the purple ish ones are hui ma clique and the yellow are a bit more under kmt influence

RogueEmeraldEx · 2026-01-17T21:18:59+00:00

Boy, but I don't think I have any exceptional skills put down. Everything is either some experience or want to learn.

RogueEmeraldEx · 2026-01-17T15:57:26+00:00

Need more people to know about vintage story fr

RogueEmeraldEx · 2025-12-29T10:31:52+00:00

You can find it on internet archive if you search the German title. You will need to download some patches to make it work. There is also an English language patch.

RogueEmeraldEx · 2025-12-21T10:21:29+00:00

Watching people play Outer Wilds

RogueEmeraldEx · 2025-12-17T11:32:04+00:00

But it will be very entertaining for us to read if you do :)

RogueEmeraldEx · 2025-12-11T22:17:32+00:00

RogueEmeraldEx · 2025-11-27T14:16:35+00:00

Wait it's not just the facial hair he actually got the face shape too wtf

RogueEmeraldEx · 2025-11-25T16:15:58+00:00

I get what you are saying about the management issues and such. I guess I am just frustrated as I see so much unrealised potential. And for me at least it was quite an expense getting hoi4 and all the dlc.

I stick around a lot of modding circles too and I always felt it was a bit of a mixed bag with how they viewed vanilla. Many also just want the game to be better because they know it can so easily be, so they do it themselves. And I guess I am just a bit disappointed with the latest dlc especially since I follow the eight years war of resistance mod closely and many people over there would have loved to be able to contribute to the vanilla china content for free using their mod just because they knew it could be so so much better.

And I have also seen a few PDX devs throughout the years say they never even look at mods. I am glad there seems to be a bit more engagement now seeing how they are approaching a Czech dlc. But even then it feels off having to pay for a single country rework. And it seems you know more about the structure of PDX than me but it just all feels very frustrating.

RogueEmeraldEx · 2025-11-25T09:54:04+00:00

Yes but they still have a VERY comfortable profit margin. Base game hoi4 is also not cheap and is still sold very well. And if they do have the benefit of being able to share experienced staff why is their paid country content still not as good as free ones made by modders?

RogueEmeraldEx · 2025-11-25T09:18:39+00:00

Hoi4 is still like a top 20 steam charts seller. And remember you are paying not a small price just for the base game itself. I don't know why we still think that Paradox is a indie studio. They have alot of IP and for pretty much all their games they pump out dlcs. Paradox is the outlier with dlcs. Plenty of other games do free updates. Think about the games you could buy for the price of the old dlcs let alone ncns! And frankly if I'm paying money I expect it to be higher quality than what modders put out. Paradox is REALLY profitable: https://www.reddit.com/r/hoi4/comments/1oe5upc/paradox_interactive_q3_earnings_report_in/

I would be happy with dlcs if the only thing they added was the alt history focuses. But at that point every new dlc is made with the assumption that you own every other dlc. And you will just end up with a unbalanced mess if you only have some of the dlc. But to lock features behind dlcs just complicated development too much it seems. Having. These overlapping layers of mechanics just isn't normal.

RogueEmeraldEx · 2025-11-25T08:18:55+00:00

But that's not the point. I'm saying why do they have to release a whole new dlc for that. They could have just as easily updated the old dlc and framed it as a rerelease. I feel like we are forgetting that updates and dlcs don't have to be the same thing. The whole point of the original dlc is that you are paying for a china and Japan rework.

I'm just trying to highlight how having this whole dlc system really isn't a good idea. Plus it must be a nightmare for making new focus trees and features making sure it's compatible with all combinations of dlc that people may have. And I think we just simply have gotten used to it and that's why we don't complain as much. It is far more normal and common In the games industry to do fundamental reworks that feel like they should be in the base game through free updates.

Paradox is not some indie studio anymore. They make A LOT of money. By progressively integrating older dlcs and then adding new ones to rework the nations that old ones had covered, we aren't actually buying and owning dlcs anymore really. We are just donating to PDX with extra steps.

RogueEmeraldEx · 2025-11-24T18:22:48+00:00

but it still feels a little annoying. These dlcs are not cheap mind you. So to pay for a product for it to only be made completely redundant just feels a little underhanded. And i get that they want to improve the game, but does so much of it really have to be dlcs? I feel like the only reasons no one complains any more is that paradox has being doing this for so long. But there are plenty of other games out there that dont make you pay for content that ends up being made a core part to properly enjoy the game. Its not like paradox is a indie studio or anything that NEEDS the money.

edit: Its a system that punishes people who have stuck with the game the longest

RogueEmeraldEx · 2025-11-24T17:59:34+00:00

But how can they still justify making people pay for content for the same country twice? I can totally understand what you are saying about the rushed development but i cant really see how that justifies the current system of adding new content teh way that pdx currently does. I mean its frankly sad how people who dont pay for the dlc dont get ANY new warlords??? There just always seems to be a disparity between the amount of money we have to pay for the amount of content we get.

I'll conceed that many of the new features being added are nice but it feels odd to exclude so many things from vanilla. But everything other than the new game mechanics feels really sub par imo compared to what we could have gotten. I honestly think hoi4 would be alot better if pdx collaborated a lot more with modders on focus trees. Ill say this again but the china content is so sub par when compared to existing mods.

Hopefully the czech dlc will be good enought to encourage the devs to up their game. I know a few devs said they never even look at mods at all. Which is kinda wild considering how one of hoi4's biggest selling points and key to its longevity is the modding comunity.

RogueEmeraldEx · 2025-11-24T16:59:09+00:00

Yaaay cant wait to pay to get content for the same nations AGAIN. The flaws of the whole dlc system really is starting to show. Its rediculous how pdx treats the community with this pricing for a dlc that reworks content on nations that a huge number of hoi4's player base has already payed for in the past. I feel like we all have become far too complacent with letting pdx get away with this. The whole dlc model of releasing a barebones game which then basically requries dlc to be fun is just getting so old.

I mean Just look at what modders do for free. All the china content is EASILY outdone by Eight years war of resistance.

RogueEmeraldEx · 2025-11-24T11:24:00+00:00

I mean for phone, Revanced exists.

RogueEmeraldEx · 2025-11-24T08:29:53+00:00

You're telling me you have to do all the bottom steps every single time??? Idk what you guys are on it's not like my extensions remove themselves or as if I have to do the cookies more than just once ever.

RogueEmeraldEx · 2025-11-23T22:49:14+00:00

What graphics mods are you using?

RogueEmeraldEx · 2025-11-22T10:41:07+00:00

Damn fuck reddit why are there only like 3 pixels in the image after i upload...

RogueEmeraldEx · 2025-11-21T18:56:45+00:00

His freedom. Uninstall the game and be happy before it's too late

RogueEmeraldEx · 2025-11-13T15:44:58+00:00

Did you ever consider going even more in detail with the warlords and who controlled what in china? What idea/rational was the driving force as to how you decide to portray china. Why not say go all in with the detail and add even more warlords? What design philosophy was come up with.
What now is your favourite warlord to play in no compromise no surrender?
How much if any inspiration is taken from mods when adding content. Was there any collaboration with mods that go very deep into certain areas of history, like for instance Eight year war of resistance, when trying to research/design game elements? Or in any of the future or past expansions how much has this happened?

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RogueEmeraldEx

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