HOI2 and Victoria - shed some light?

[Emperor Leo]

So, I enjoy Paradox games. I have only been playing them for less than a year, but I can see that they are of a good quality. My favourite is Rome, but I also own Crusader Kings and EUIII. CK is okay and I'm still getting my head around EUIII (haven't put enough time in!). I'd like to try out Victoria and Hearts of Iron 2 as I see a lot of talk about them. The problem is that I don't have a very good knowledge of "modern" history (shameful, I know) and I've heard that they are quite complicated. Are they worth getting if I'm not a fan of the respective eras? What should I expect?

Also, I heard that HOI2 - Doomsday was a standalone game and not an expansion, so what are the differences between the two games (HOI2 & Doomsday)?

[Valentin the II]

Your favorite is Rome!?
What kind of mutant creature are you?

[Carach]

victoria is by far the more complicated of the 2 u want to know about leo. I had to cheat countless times until i really got my head around wtf to do. Not to mention reading all the tutorials and help threads i could find on it aswell.
After u get the hang of it tho it is a very engrossing and fun game to play and becomes second nature like any other game.
Its set between 1830 (i think) and 19...27? cant remember, 1930 or something so it spans a lot of inventions and historical events.

HoI2 is set in the run up to ww2 and during the war, along with a bit after (doomsday extends it to like the 70s or something i think so it covers much of the cold war too) and is less complicated to play (more simple resource management - focusing on only several types - oil, logistics, energy and money? rather than like 50 different things which all have functions towards building something tht is required to build something else and so on like in victoria). A little play with the scenarios available will get u used to the basics of it, the only thing that really requires learning are the different types of attacks troops can use and how to put nukes and troops on planes

[Emperor Leo]

Your favorite is Rome!?
What kind of mutant creature are you?

One who enjoys Rome. Obviously.

Thanks for the info, Carach. Does Victoria focus on combat at all or is it simply building up prestige and economy? Do both games play in a similar way to the EU series?

[Carach]

economy is a major factor otherwise u dont get the armed forces in order to fight other countries.

Diplomacy comes into things a lot more with regards to warfare than the others i find, u cant really just go about declaring war willy nilly. (this reflects the time being played i guess)

The military side of things however is pretty indepth. U have half a dozen support unit things that u attach to infantry/cavalry divisions (like artillery, guard units, engineers, command, tanks and aircraft eventually etc etc and they all have different bonuses they give to the division they attach to), u have to reinforce the divisions manually after theyve been in a fight, and can be annihilated (more painful in victoria than the others really due to the materials that go into making the division in the first place). and u get prestige thru winning wars and the treaties u sign with the enemy (the more harsh they are the more prestige i believe - the enemy loses more prestige the harsher it is), among some other ways.

but yea, economy is a major part of it. U need a decent economy to wage war.

[Valentin the II]

One who enjoys Rome. Obviously.

But Rome is by far the most broken Paradox game to date.
Both Viky and HOI surpas it by a longshot.
Btw, the economy in Victoria is preatty complex, your population is devided into different social tipes (clurgy, nobles, peasents, etc....) and you need different resources to support them.
Its really anoying when you see your Capitalists disapier becaws you dont have enough phones in stock, but once you get the hang of it Victoria is a very deep and enjoyeble game, more than HOI imo.

[Emperor Leo]

I've just seen the Hearts of Iron Anthology Box Set for £14.99. It contains:

• Hearts of Iron
• Hearts of Iron II
• HOI2 - Doomsday
• HOI2 - Armageddon

What do Doomsday and Armageddon add to the game? Is this pack worth getting or maybe just get HOI2? Also, what does Vic - Revolutions add? Just wondered if I should wait until the Victoria Complete Pack gets released (release date keep being put back).

Sorry about all the questions and I'm aware that I could simply buy the games and see for myself, but then I don't want money down the drain.

[John I Tzimisces]

victoria is by far the more complicated of the 2 u want to know about leo. I had to cheat countless times until i really got my head around wtf to do. Not to mention reading all the tutorials and help threads i could find on it aswell.
After u get the hang of it tho it is a very engrossing and fun game to play and becomes second nature like any other game.
Its set between 1830 (i think) and 19...27? cant remember, 1930 or something so it spans a lot of inventions and historical events.

1836-1936, if you have the Revolutions expansion. Revolutions really fleshes out the game, on top of extending the game length by 15 years or so, though it is essentially a glorified patch.

I've just seen the Hearts of Iron Anthology Box Set for £14.99. It contains:

• Hearts of Iron
• Hearts of Iron II
• HOI2 - Doomsday
• HOI2 - Armageddon

What do Doomsday and Armageddon add to the game? Is this pack worth getting or maybe just get HOI2? Also, what does Vic - Revolutions add? Just wondered if I should wait until the Victoria Complete Pack gets released (release date keep being put back).

Sorry about all the questions and I'm aware that I could simply buy the games and see for myself, but then I don't want money down the drain.

The only two of those I think are anywhere close to worth it are Doomsday and maybe armageddon. Doomsday has everything and MORE that HOI2 has, and armageddon, despite being not worth 5 dollars(also another glorified patch). The supposedly awesome new fantasy scenarios it adds are so cheaply done I was kinda disgusted.

[Carach]

1836-1936, if you have the Revolutions expansion. Revolutions really fleshes out the game, on top of extending the game length by 15 years or so, though it is essentially a glorified patch.

cheers for correction, havent played hoi2 or vicky in a pretty long time so my memory was hazy

[Emperor Leo]

I may give Hearts of Iron a miss. I downloaded the demo yesterday and didn't understand any aspect of it. I suppose it didn't help by not having a tutorial or manual, but the tiny text, horrible graphics, lack of objective or understanding turned me straight off. I'm sure if I gave it enough time, it'd be pretty good, but I'm quite lazy when it comes to learning curves. More fool me, I suppose, as I'm probablt missing out on a gaming gem.

[Tankfriend]

I'd say go on with it - HoI is really worth the (imo not so large) effort of learning the game mechanics because it will provide you with an almost infinite number of possible games ranging from "too easy" to "impossible". There surely will be something in it that fits your tastes well.
I've thought the same way you do now when I first played the demo of HoI 2 but when I got into it alright, the game really started to be fun as you're free to do whatever you want.

[Blacknight_1990]

If you want to try HOI 2 you should download the Doomsday demo. It's the entire game that you can play for 3 hours.

[Tankfriend]

I've got the full version of Doomsday already...
And sure thing I don't regret having bought it, it's absolutely worth the money.
Anyway, I'd also recommend buying Doomsday instead of HoI 2 because it includes some interesting new features (e.g. espionage) on top of what HoI 2 has got already.

[Emperor Leo]

Hmm, it is fairly cheap, I suppose. It won't be too painful if I never actually get into it. I'll go with the masses on this one and buy it next time I get a chance. If I don't enjoy it, I'll track down everyone in this topic, take you all for a fancy dinner and then pretend that I've forgotten my wallet when the bill turns up at the end. Then you'll be sorry!