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[Jacob/Lee]

I have a spare $30.01 lying around in my Steam wallet and decided to expand my Paradox collection. The idea is pretty simple, just give me your favorite Paradox game (and preferably why)!

A couple of notes: my internet is absolute bullshit right now, so don't expect many if any at all videos to be viewed by me. Note #2: I already own Crusader Kings II and Hearts of Iron III (I learned that combined arms management is a LOT harder than I thought it would be). If you prefer HoI 2 or one of the older games in any of their other series, please tell me why.

[Xantalos]

PTW, and probably SOTS 1 or 2. They seem good.

[Knave]

Any favoured time periods?

[Jacob/Lee]

Any favoured time periods?

Nope.

[dennislp3]

If you have people to play with...and especially if you buff it with a mod like "The Prince and the Thane" then crusader kings is a great game

[Levi]

So far I don't think I have enjoyed any paradox games.  I keep hoping to find one I like though...

[Knave]

Hmmm,

My fav is CK 2. Lots of great mods if you haven't checked them out yet! CK2+ and Game of Thrones (If you're into the series/books) are some good ones as well as Prince and the Thane

Well EU III is their flagship title of sorts. More nation based than CK 2. Lots of expansions and probably available for a reasonable price as EU IV is coming out soon-ish.
I enjoyed Victoria II. Not everyone's cup of tea, but I liked the aspect of industrializing and expanding a nation through colonialism. There's an expansion focusing on the colonization of Africa coming up soon, so if you wait, you'll probably be able to get the base game for 75% off though.

If you're looking at just published titles:
Mount & Blade Warband is a great time sync and does third person medieval combat in a fun manner. Level up your character and hire a group of soldiers to command and fight for you. Definitely recommend.

[ukulele]

Mount and blade Warband, probably the best implementation of melee combat in a FP game, single player its ok, with a kind of sandbox setting, but multiplayer its where the true fun was for me.

Europa Universalis 3+Exp, not much to say about this one, im just starting playing HoI3 so i cant do a comparison.

[Jacob/Lee]

I forgot to mention that I already own all M&B games

[Shadowlord]

Personally, I like CKII a lot more than EUIII, and SOTS2 is kind of terrible (in that the interface is the worst ever and, playing it only AFTER the first expansion was released, I considered the interface so terrible that I just quit and have not gone back). SOTS1:Complete was fun, though, but let me ask this: why only Paradox games?

Side note: I have not tried Victoria anything, or HoI III, but did try HoI II: Armageddon, which crashes so much even with all the patches that when I do try to play it, or try to play a mod for it, it inevitably ends in failure due to unavoidable crashing.

I'm not impressed with the quality of Paradox's games. CKII and SotS:Complete are only ones I've played which were mostly bug-free and fun. From what I've read and heard, SotS 1 wasn't until it had been expansioned and patched for years, and I never find myself playing CKII for more than one day, and then I just don't play it again for weeks.

[Man of Paper]

Well if you like HoI3 and CK2 but want something of a middle ground on the diplomatic/militaristic scale, definitely go for Europa Universalis III and the expansions.

[Rakonas]

Hearts of Iron: Darkest Hour or Eu3, hard to decide.

[jocan2003]

My take would be SOTS 2, sure the UI is horrible, hell you play DF so cant really use that as a bas side, no tutorial, again DF? but if you like decent pew pew with 4x in the name its your golden choice, but be warned youll hit your head a few time before you find out where the ceiling is.

[Shadowlord]

> assuming that everyone on these forums still plays DF

[Catastrophic lolcats]

I'm assuming this is games developed by Paradox so therefore you're not looking for stuff like Mount and Blade which was just published by them. I know you've already mention you have CKII and Hearts of Iron III but I'm going to bring those up anyway in case any reader is curious.

CKII is a complete Paradox experience while being the easiest to get into and most user friendly. It's also much more pretty than anything that came before.
Victoria and Hearts of Iron are their more complex games and are pretty damn unfriendly to new players, Victoria II is possibly the most overwhelming. EUIII is rather simple compared to the other titles but the complexity mostly comes from the UI and lack of direct information feedback.

I used to love EUIII but after getting into CKII and Victoria II I don't enjoy it as much. A lot of it starts to feel shallow after playing the other titles and there isn't much to do apart from "paint the map your colour". If you still have your heart set on EUIII I remind you that EUIV comes out this year (around Q2 I believe) so if you hold off you can get a much improved version.

Most Paradox games specialise in their own field and you should get what you think would appeal to your playstyle more.
CKII: dynasty and fedual management. Good tutorial, good UI, extremely friendly.
Victoria II: Slight jack of all trades, political and economic focus. Has a learning cliff around par to Dwarf Fortress.
Hearts of Iron: Combat, combat, diplomacy, combat. If you can't wrap your mind around modern combined arms (like me) then this isn't the game for you. Many people prefer the second game to the third although a lot of the complaints about the third have been addressed in the various expansions.
EUIII: jack of all trades not really a master of any. Still a lot of fun to be had and is one of the best games to play if you just want to conquer the world.
EU:Rome: older and stranger game. A mix between the original CK and EUIII. It was heavily focused on Roman politics and while a very flawed game it is quite interesting to play. It's also very cheap now.

> assuming that everyone on these forums still plays DF

This isn't 4chan, use your words.