New to Strategy game genre

[runzwithsizorz]

Never played a strategy game. Bought Crusader Kings 2 on Steam sale for around $10.00. Wow...this is fun! Usually play RPG's and FPS as well as a few adventure games. A steep learning curve and some controls (user interface) could be more intuitive (downloaded unofficial manual for help).
I did not think I could relate to my character, but I find with portraits, traits, etc. I do.

One question...I assume the player can "change history" to some degree if character is successful at conquering Scotland and becoming king (as an example). Not sure how much history can be altered, though?:\

Anyway, just a comment and the one question.

The Wife

 

[norseamd]

You can do whatever you want to do in that game, well at least what the level of complexity and mechanics in that game will allow for.

 

[Bryf50]

Yea, with enough knowledge of the mechanics you can take over the world while starting as pretty much any random Count. World conquest becomes a chore very quickly in CK2 so I wouldn't recommend it. It's good to set specific goals for yourself like reforming the Roman Empire or some other achievement run.

 

[BxgJ]

Paradox games can be a bit of a time sink if you really get into them, so beware . I'm not sure I could count all the hours I've spent on EU2/3, HOI 2/3, Vicky 2, etc. Most of that was before I got their games on steam. There are two things you will want to know about Paradox games though.

1. While they have gotten much better recently, their games have a tradition of releasing in a bit of an unfinished state. Newer ones have few bugs (unless you count game killing ai bugs, looking at you HOI 4 :\ ), but seem to be lacking some features that would really flesh out the game experience. This is made up for with point 2....

2. Dlc. Many many dlc's. To make up for point 1 they usually release a number of dlc's for each game. They're usually worth it if you like the game in question, though given how many there are I would personally recomment waiting for a steam sale if you can. Especially if you come into a game later, and to 'catch up' would take 4 or 5 big dlc's.

In any case, hope you have fun!

 

[JeffNY35]

Wow, surprised you were able to get into CK2.

I have played a ton of strategy games and, I had trouble scratching the surface. But maybe that is exactly my problem is I have played too many light-strategy games? CK2 looked like it would take big investment to figure out. Same with Distant worlds.

fired them up once or twice...for like 10 minutes.

 

[runzwithsizorz]

Wow, surprised you were able to get into CK2.

So was I. What got me interested was watching a series of tutorial videos on YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMzAXqOqV5k&list=PL158344868202D6B3
Also, I like Medieval history. Not that I'm going to mod it, but there is a Game of Thrones mod that converts game into a GOT.

The Wife

 

[clamum]

Ah, wtf? The game sounds interesting and for $10 I was gonna pick it up but I see it's at $40 now. Even a Bing search still shows "Save 75%" for the page title. Damnit.

 

[xantub]

I definitely recommend watching a tutorial series in youtube for Paradox games. Honestly, you may think "what? spend 4-5 hours watching videos?" but believe me, it's well worth it. These are games that once you get past the initial learning step, you will play for 500 hours each or more, so 5 hours is like spending 15 minutes to learn a game you'll play for 40 hours.

As for how much you can alter history, these games are not history lessons. They do start in a map that is more or less historically accurate, but after that, it's mostly random (with some light pushes here and there in the form of historical events). So while EU4's map starts like our world was in 1444, soon you'll see things like Scotland conquering England or Ottomans conquering Hungary. This also means the games are totally asymmetrical. When you play Civilization, any civilization you pick is more or less balanced against any other. Not in these games, if you play EU4, France is MUCH easier than, say, Novgorod.

Also, these games don't have victory conditions, you play however you want and finish whenever you want. The game won't show you a screen saying "you won!". The closest to this would be Steam achievements, if you care about these things. Mostly, you set yourself a goal when you pick any country. For example, you can play as Portugal and your goal may be to conquer Spain, or to colonize Africa, or to conquer Japan, etc. Once you manage your personal goal, you stop, grab a cup of wine (or beer, or scotch, or water) and silently congratulate yourself. You won't be seeing fireworks on the screen, but you will have a warm and fuzzy feeling inside.

Ah, wtf? The game sounds interesting and for $10 I was gonna pick it up but I see it's at $40 now. Even a Bing search still shows "Save 75%" for the page title. Damnit.

Don't worry, these games are always on sale somewhere or other. My advice is to set an alarm in isthereanydeal.com for when they're $10 or lower, you'll probably get an email within a week.

 

[clamum]

Don't worry, these games are always on sale somewhere or other. My advice is to set an alarm in isthereanydeal.com for when they're $10 or lower, you'll probably get an email within a week.

Dude that is a sweet site! Thanks for the link.