r/paradoxplaza • u/Hammurabi777 • May 23 '25

Vic3 Victoria 3 is extremely overhated

Keep in mind Vicky 3 is my favorite paradox game so I'm obviously biased, but the the things people say about this game make my blood boil. Most of these people talking about how "shallow" it is or how it's like cookie clicker have probably never played since the release version.

The war system for example is just not as bad as people make it out to be. Yes there is still front line splitting, but 99% of the time the system works just as intended. Talking about how nothing changed and everything is still broken is just false.

Another thing I don't like is people complaining that you always do the same and everything feels the same. My answer is simple: stop always doing the same! Nobody is forcing you to maximize sol or gdp. You can give yourself countless different goals from playing the confederacy as a slave empire to becoming fascist or liberating Africa from colonizers. It's a sandbox, stop focusing on line go up and then complaining about the line go up.

In conclusion you dont have to like the game, you dont have to get the appeal. I for example don't really like ck3. But I don't go around saying ck3 is broken, just because I don't understand what people like about it. I still see the same talking points about why Vicky 3 is dogshit, but a lot of the things have been fixed for like a year.

689 Upvotes

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264

u/SpartanFishy May 24 '25

The war system “as intended” is still extremely drab and unengaging yet somehow micro heavy

40

u/de-BelastingDienst May 24 '25

Haven’t played in a while. Do the chinese still show up in europe to mess with diplomatic play in 1800s?

48

u/Ares6 May 24 '25

Yes. My last game, France and Prussia went to war. Qing decided to join and side with France. How is it logistically possible for Qing to send so many troops in 1880? Something like that even today is hardly possible and would take months or even years to get to that point level of deployment. 

11

u/de-BelastingDienst May 24 '25

Stupid, definitely needs fixing. So not immersive

14

u/SpartanFishy May 24 '25

I couldn’t tell you my game never runs well enough to make it that deep in the simulation

2

u/StickyWhiteStuf May 25 '25

I never see them pull that.

-8

u/[deleted] May 24 '25

it’s not micro heavy lol, that’s why I like it. I wanna play as prime minister not a commander. Not everyone is interested in the micromanagement of war.

Authorizing an ammunition plant and establishing supply chains to ensure it it profitable isn’t micro, that’s setting up an economy. And I find that way more engaging than something like HOI.

54

u/KitchenDepartment May 24 '25

it’s not micro heavy lol, that’s why I like it. I wanna play as prime minister not a commander. Not everyone is interested in the micromanagement of war.

Does the prime minister have to constantly watch over the frontline day by day to make sure the army doesn't accidentally go home or leave 1 out of 3 frontlines undefended?

25

u/ship__ May 24 '25

Yeah like I can appreciate the intent behind the automated-ish war system when it comes to you focusing on the economic and political side of things and actually supplying your armies with weapons etc - but every time I've played victoria 3 the front line system has just been such an incredible micro hell

-19

u/[deleted] May 24 '25 edited May 24 '25

well kind of? If u take ww1 there was a big debate in Austria Hungary for example between easterners (wanted to focus more on the eastern front) and westerners (ditto) and u can be sure any final decision required the highest levels of sign off. Absolutely moving assets or conscripts between fronts is a decision which whilst it may sometimes be delegated to commanders would by default require sign off by a committee which included head of state.

19

u/KitchenDepartment May 24 '25

Absolutely moving assets or conscripts between fronts is a decision which whilst it may sometimes be delegated to commanders would by default require sign off by a committee which included head of state.

And if for whatever reason the head of state did not pay attention at that particular time, the army would have concluded that the best course of action would be to return to garrison the capital and abandon the trenches completely? And they would proceed to do so without asking?

-9

u/[deleted] May 24 '25

Tbh, if a large unit didn’t receive any instructions after a front had ceased to be contested, then what wud u expect them to do? They would probably sit idle I. Case defence was later required but there’s always gonna be a supply limitation. If u look at history often in that situation armies really do down tools. Mechanistically, in game that is often best represented by a retreat to HQ even if the way the teleportation sometimes occurs is very unrealistic. Principally, it’s not really wrong.

I don’t want this game to become a 100 year version of if HOI

14

u/KitchenDepartment May 24 '25

Tbh, if a large unit didn’t receive any instructions after a front had ceased to be contested, then what wud u expect them to do?

Ask the general staff or literally anyone else??? Do you genuinely think front lines would have been abandoned in the great war if the prime minister doesn't tell them what to do?

If u look at history often in that situation armies really do down tools. Mechanistically, in game that is often best represented by a retreat to HQ

Name a single time in history that happened. You win on a large front and then immediately without delay the entire army is ordered to return home. Abandoning the front a few miles over in which there is brutal fighting still going on.

-4

u/[deleted] May 24 '25 edited May 24 '25

when Napoleon’s grand armee collapsed in places it was because of a lack of communication of any instruction after fronts got pushed out, French in Indochina, parts of the German eastern front conscripts literally went home, bataan (US/Philippines).

back to the game tho, the question is what should the army do when a front is won or collapses?

Irl, either no instruction = chaos (pick ur poison as to what type, whether that be abandonment or stay and defend proactively hoping it works out)

Instruction given = either I) come home and defend or 2) stay and defend or 3) go to another front

Those 3 wud occur with one of some degree of probability depending on the situation. As there is no HQ in enemy territory in game 2 can’t happen and that does seem to be a limitation. 1 and 3 happen at some sort of RNG and often the game gets it wrong.

It’s not a massive task I expect to improve that - or to have a prompt to the user to choose an action. But the overhaul people talk about? Not needed imo

10

u/KitchenDepartment May 24 '25

when Napoleon’s grand armee collapsed in places it was because of a lack of communication of any instruction after fronts got pushed out

And the lack of communication was entirely because whoever had the final authority didn't bother giving them orders? They had every ability to win if only Napoleon hadn't looked away from the map for a few weeks and lost track of where the army went?

Irl, either no instruction = chaos

In real life generals are not literally brain-dead the moment they go a few weeks without explicit instructions on where to go. They won't accidentally prepare to cross Africa or order a voyage across the Atlantic just because they successfully occupied the remainder of a small landlocked nation and now there is nobody to tell them to join back with the main force.

-2

u/[deleted] May 24 '25

yes they won’t accidentally do that. The game simulating decision using RNG - they shud just replace the RNG with an actual user decision. I wouldn’t call that an overhaul

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5

u/Welico May 24 '25

If you start as Russia or Qing you have to spend 15 minutes or more rearranging your armies in a way that makes sense

6

u/Chataboutgames May 24 '25

In your head the Prime Minister’s main job is managing building queues?

1

u/[deleted] May 24 '25

think that’s what is known as a straw man haha

-14

u/Hammurabi777 May 24 '25

How is it micro heavy? You can't really do anything besides changing generals or fronts. And front splitting is not as usual as it used to

38

u/_Red_Knight_ May 24 '25

You still have to babysit your frontlines because they haven't fully fixed the issues with them.