Quoting: ColomboLets play the game "spot bullshit".

I can only say one thing : everyone is entitled to their opinion. I am somewhat in between the "Paradox DLC policy sucks" and "I so love Paradox". More towards the second than the first. That doesn't make what this user said, or what I think, bullshit. Thanks.

Quoting: Colombo1. Without Paradox's DLC policy, Crusader Kings 2's development would have stopped years ago.
Which generally means that there would be no retarded DLCs. Nothing else. This argument thus doesn't even make any sense.

I think it does make much sense. Take Age of Wonders III that I like too. It had a classic two DLC's and now development is stopped, waiting for AOW 4 probably (hopefully). Meanwhile Crusader Kings II has been out for more than 5 years and is still in development. If there were no DLC's we wouldn't have had some very good free changes to the base game.
It's a matter of choice. I personnally prefer that they continue working on the same game, improving and refining it. And yes, I bought almost all DLC's but I'm always like two or three DLC's behind current release. Because this way you can get them for 2,5 to 5 € which doesn't seem so much to me.

Quoting: Colombo2. "No, DLCs don't make the game unplayable"
EXCEPT when they remove mechanics and return them as paid ones. EXCEPT when they stop fixing bugs, usually caused by previous DLCs, and release bugfixing as part of "free content". Thus something that was standard and even mandatory for Paradox to do (because of horrible bug-ridden state the games were and still are released), nowadays is promoted as "something on top and only thanks to DLC policy".

When did they remove mechanics and return them as paid ones? I mean, which mechanics are you referring too? I'm much more of an expert in EU4, so I really don't know which one(s) you are talking about.
And concerning the bugs.. I can't really speak for CK2, but it has been a long time since I have seen any serious bug at all in it. Yes, possibly the DLC releases are buggy if you buy the DLC the same day and play it immediately. That's why I don't do it also, I wait for the two or three hotfixes that they usually do. For me it's no big deal.

Quoting: Colombo3. "you can choose which version to run... run vanilla if you like and pretend DLC's never came out."
EXCEPT that DLCs are connected with bugfixes, because Paradox basically stopped bugfixing game outside of DLCs launch, in which case they often introduce new bugs. That is, if you want to play with known bugs that were solved, because Paradox QA is shit as well (look at stellaris, even after several patches, they weren't able to fix the first quest line with ancestor civilization and there were bugs that you literally could find in first half hour).

I don't understand your point. It's true that they release DLC and patches at the same time, but the patch is free so you don't need the DLC. And again, I don't see the games so buggy. I have played recently a complete playthrough of EU4 and antoher one in Stellaris without encountering any bug.

Quoting: ColomboParadox DLC policy seemed good. However, it was good if Paradox didn't changed how they patch games and treat customers. Additionally, even when Paradox DLC policy was first announced, people could already see some specific problems, like problem with feature design to make features worthwhile for paid customers, but not too influential to be essential (which Paradox was not able to do), that features from one DLC shouldn't be dependent on features from another DLC (again, Paradox failed at this) and that sooner or later there will be design trap when paradox can't remove piece of game, rework it so it works better and return it (as Paradox used to with stuff like Trade in EU3), but must somehow add some paid features on top of it.

Even nowadays more reasonable Paradox fans question Paradox choices, especially regarding how DLCs features are packed and how some DLCs became essentials (I have more exp. with EU4) and how some DLC offer less and less content for their price.

To that I agree partly. I believe that some paid features in EU4 should have been free and that they should have been very more careful to what was paid and what was free.

Quoting: ColomboBut not single one of your arguments was even able to question this critique and instead is repeating something that people repeat against this critique (like "its optional" and "you don't need to buy that" and "so just play vanilla"... and "development would have stopped years ago")

I can't say what EU4 looks like without DLC's. But I can very much play it without owning the two last DLC's as I did last time and I don't feel cheated. I don't know what the state of vanilla is but I can't see it as so bad.
I understand that people don't like this DLC policy. However, even if you consider it a dumb argument, I like the fact that their games are still in development and that they didn't switch to EU5 or CK3.

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Paradox, Paradox, Paradox...
I love you, I love you, I love you..

Sorry... ^_^

This seems to be one of the most interestings DLC to date for CKII.

Unfortunately I would have to wait for it to be on sale. Can't wait !

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Quoting: KimmoKMThey're very restrictive (for example, it's outright impossible to have a technologically advanced nation as ahead penalty will quickly cause mana cost to go above maximum mana), they devalue other resources (you could be banking thousands of gold without realistically being able to use them because you want to purchase techs or cores instead of buildings) and completely abstract (you could disband all your armies for a century and not fight a single battle and suddenly find yourself with the most advanced armies in the world BECAUSE you didn't spend mana for anything else military-related, which is the exact opposite of how technological advancement really works).

I better understand your points, but i respectfully disagree.
In my opinion :
- You can have a technologically advanced nation, just by keeping up-to-date with the techs : not all nations manage to do that. If you want to continuously buy new techs ahead of time, well, having lots of ideas in one category reduces costs for techs in this category, and some ideas reduce costs for all techs. Although, if you ask me, within the same tech group differences should not ne too big in tech. And remember, not everyone manages to keep pace and buy techs and the proper moment.
- I much prefer the system of monarch points to the EU3 system, in which you "invested" some of your money in technology. That always did sound very irrealistic to me. The more money you had, the faster you could research, but you had to pay attention to you country size, tax base per province.. because tech costs scaled with empire size. Well, I'm not explaining myself very good, but my main problem with the EU3 tech system is that it was directly linked to the money you were making.
- I can agree with the third, and a system where army and navy tradition could be bonuses for diplo and land tech, that would be great, if properly done. As for the actual system, where can you spend your land points ? Forts and barracks. Does building forts and barracks learn you how to have better soldiers or tactics ? I don't think so.

My final point would be this : you should try to see monarch points in another way. They represent time and investments in change. When you spen 600 diplo points in your new technology, it simulates all the efforts done during the past years/months to achieve a breakthrough.

Still, I hope you enjoy Common Sense ! :)
Viva Paradox !
Vivan los Paradoxianos !

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Quoting: KimmoKMWell, the changes seem to make sense so that's good. Previously I considered EU4 far inferior to EU3 (especially with mods like Magna Mundi), now they seem to have addressed some of the most ridiculous issues like ruler mana (I'd rather see it go away entirely, it's a horribly game-y, restrictive and annoying system, but stuff like the new building system probably make it a lot more tolerable). I guess I'll give it another chance.

I really don't understand this. Why are monarch points ridiculous in your opinion ? I played EU3 for many hours (though I never played it with the Magna Mundi mod) and since the first time I played EU4 I thought it was better than EU3 in almost every way.

As far as the DLC is concerned I'm buying it. I think it's probably one of the most interesting updates for EU4.

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It seems to have been changed and/or removed.
The link in the article is dead, and when searching manually, only Windows PC and XBox One appear as platforms here [External Link]

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Quoting: liamdaweI said it recently that Paradox make sure their titles are well supported, and supported we are!

As far as I do agree with you for games developped by Paradox, it's not the case for all games published by them.
Warlock 2 for example is as far as I'm concerned a disater on Linux. On Windows I can play it flawlessly, and it loads very quickly(about 30 seconds-1 min), even in my aging computer (Core2 Duo 1,6 GHz!!!) On Linux loading the game lasts 5-10 minutes. And there are some very important elements in game missing : names over the cities, etc.
And talking about well supported, the last patch was back in november, four months ago. So, sadly, what you said is not always true.

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[quote=Segata Sanshiro]

Any of you going to play HOI4 when it comes out? I'm not too certain on it, it's probably my least favorite franchise of theirs (too much emphasis on warfare) but might give it another chance (Victoria is my favorite, the day Victoria III comes out will be the best day ever!).

I've played all the games in the Europa Universalis and Crusader Kings series so far, but haven't still tried Victoria or Hearts of Iron. What kept me away form HoI is the same reason as you : too much emphasis on warfare. So I probably won't play HoI4 when it comes out. Maybe I'll wait till I can get it with a heavy discount.. but not sure either.
As for Victoria.. I don't know. I would probably like it if I tried. But for some strange reasons I haven't tried it yet. So come on, give me reasons why you think Victoria is better than EU and CK, and I'll buy VicIII on first day :)

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Quoting: oldrocker99Paradox is a totally Linux-friendly developer since Crusader Kings 2, their first Linux game. Their offering a free DLC, adding significant content to the amazing EU, is one reason that I think as highly about them as I do.

Yeah Paradox are really great. When I heard that CK2 was coming to Linux I couldn't believe it. And then, a same day release with EU4... that was just awesome.
These two (Crusader Kings 2 and Europa Universalis 4) where the first AAA native games in my Steam library.

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Quoting: Segata SanshiroI started a game where I tried to take all of South America as the Inca (and succeeded btw :D) but this patch came out after I started the game so haven't got to play it yet.

Yay you !
I was finishing an English-Great Britain game with random new world, and I finally got one event : a woman (which name I can't remember, sorry..) who I could choose to hire as a +2 advisor or get a +10% Production income. Something to do with indigo plantations in... south-eastern United States ? Not sure.

Quoting: Segata SanshiroGives me more reason to start a new campaign soon I guess. Just don't know what that should be. I keep thinking I should play as either China or Japan, but my last two games have been with quite isolated countries and want to get back to where all the action is! (ie. in Europe or bordering it). If anyone has any suggestions, let me know.

Well, as I don't play so often, I tend to stick to major powers mainly. And now with the El Dorado expansion, Portugal and Castille should get event better, so I'll probably try one of these, to see the new exploration mechanics, and the quest for the seven cities.

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Ok, I got it, thanks to a message from one of the devs.
It's a 64-bit release only, and I'm still on my 32-bit Kubuntu. Will try it on my laptop.

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