Best Paradox game for a new guy?

[.Achilles.]

Hey guys, I've been on the website a couple of times for mods and such, but I never realised you have such a good community here. ^_^ I've been browsing for a few hours and seems its a pretty cool place.

Just a quick question, I've always been tempted to buy a Grand Strategy game from Paradox, but having never played any of their games, I've no idea which one.

The period of history i'm most interested in is probably Roman Era, but I've bad things about Rome EU and very good things and Crusader Kings and EU III.

Just wondering if you can recommend the most complete Grand strategy experience for someone new to the genre =)

Thanks a lot, have a nice day =)

Helikaon.

[Dr. Croccer]

HOI2 is probably the easiest. After that I would try EUIII and then maybe Victoria.

[Tankfriend]

I think I would start with EU III or Crusader Kings instead - EUIII has a lot of features, but most of them are pretty shallow and relatively easy to learn. CK, on the other hand, is largely lacking a feature variety and the only excessively complex feature it has is that of the lines of inheritance (conveniently its key feature anyway). But I agree in so far as that Victoria should probably be the last game to play, because it is the most complex of the series.

[motiv-8]

EU II is a great introduction into how the Europa engine works... It's got a fair amount of depth in the grand scheme of things, but it's very easy to learn the component parts. For the Glory would be an excellent title to get; it's essentially EU II greatly modified to have a more streamlined UI and improved mechanics under the hood.

[Lysander13]

Hey guys, I've been on the website a couple of times for mods and such, but I never realised you have such a good community here. ^_^ I've been browsing for a few hours and seems its a pretty cool place.

Just a quick question, I've always been tempted to buy a Grand Strategy game from Paradox, but having never played any of their games, I've no idea which one.

The period of history i'm most interested in is probably Roman Era, but I've bad things about Rome EU and very good things and Crusader Kings and EU III.

Just wondering if you can recommend the most complete Grand strategy experience for someone new to the genre =)

Thanks a lot, have a nice day =)

Helikaon.

Welcome to the forums.

Don't be scared away from giving EU:Rome a try, particularly if your a fan of the era. With the expansion Vae Victis it's really not as bad as some would make it out to seem. Though for your first Paradox game, i'd recommend you go with EU III with expansions.

Whatever you do...... Don't break into Paradox games with Victoria.

[Pickle_mole]

EUIII, its the one that made me fall in love with paradox.

[Teutonic Joe]

I am actually going to recommend something that was published, and not made by paradox. The game Knights of Honor has been a real fun game to play and i have already clocked in about 11 hrs. Basically, imagine if you had a simplified EU with the option to fight like in the TW game. Its all real time. The game gives you the option to lead your armies and control them on the battlefield. Whats cool is that, even when controlling the army, you still get map alerts and armies are still moving about and can help you or your adversary. Very innovative in my opinion.

[.Achilles.]

thanks the reply's guys, definately going to give EU III a shot. Also thanks Joe, awesome suggestion, checking it out now. =D

[Tankfriend]

Knights of Honor isn't bad, but it cannot really keep up the long-term motivation in my opinion. The main problem is that it's something of both Paradox and Total War, but neither part really excels at anything. The real-time combat is a little extra to the side without any real necessity for it - unlike Total War, auto-resolve generally has quite good results as long as you have good troops and a good general. And the economy is exceedingly easy because the only thing you have to do is hire merchants, assign the most prosperous foreign nations for trade and wait. The things that KoH far outperforms Total War in is AI and diplomacy, and even Paradox games have a serious rival in it there.
That said, it also has quite a few very interesting gameplay ideas like "great achievements", regional/national/special units, rare ressources that are randomly generated around the map each time you start a new game and province improvements based on those ressources.

[MehemtAli_Pasha]

Victoria is my first game and it wasnt so bad. i struggled at first, but it was well worth it, as it is my favorite strategy game to date.

any way i can understand why would go with EUIII and not Vicky but still, it's a game to be considered if you are more into a political economical game.

[Musthavename]

Make sure you get EU3 complete. HTTT isn't nescessary (it's not included in Complete), and you might want to put it off until you decide wether you like it or not. With the Complete Edition, it takes away a LOT of needless micromanagement, which is always a great thing.

[Pickle_mole]

HTTT is a must in my book, makes wars and rebels so much better

[the42up]

EUIII for sure. The best part about EUIII, is that it has one of the best user made mods of any paradox game (and paradox games are known for their strong community mod support).

You play EUIII, get good at it, then go and install the magni mundi mod. The mod was so damn good, paradox had the mod team make their own spin off stand alone game (its should be out next year i imagine...the stand alone game that is).

[Lysander13]

EUIII for sure. The best part about EUIII, is that it has one of the best user made mods of any paradox game (and paradox games are known for their strong community mod support).

You play EUIII, get good at it, then go and install the magni mundi mod. The mod was so damn good, paradox had the mod team make their own spin off stand alone game (its should be out next year i imagine...the stand alone game that is).

Well to be fair.....

Magna Mundi is not exclusive to that club. Paradox has done just that for a few mods. IIRC, MM just happens to be the latest one.

[the42up]

Well to be fair.....

Magna Mundi is not exclusive to that club. Paradox has done just that for a few mods. IIRC, MM just happens to be the latest one.

yeah quite a few actually. I am just a big fan boy when it comes to Magna Mundi.

[Heavy Weapons Guy]

EUIII for sure. The best part about EUIII, is that it has one of the best user made mods of any paradox game (and paradox games are known for their strong community mod support).

You play EUIII, get good at it, then go and install the magni mundi mod. The mod was so damn good, paradox had the mod team make their own spin off stand alone game (its should be out next year i imagine...the stand alone game that is).

Is it still available for free?

[Their Law]

Is it still available for free?

There's two versions now. The Magna Mundi platinum mod, which is the traditional mod. I think the latest version is for HTTT 4.1. And the Magna Mundi game which is under development at the moment.

[Kanaric]

EU3 with expansions.

It is the easiest to learn, also its the least buggy and most impressive game of their current generation.

HOI3 is crap, frankly. It is nothing like HOI2 at all in terms of completeness or fun factor, so I guess HOI2 would do as well.

I still think EU3 though, its easily their best game in recent years. After that you could check out their other games that are awesome like EU2 (completely different game if you play AGCEEP mod than EU3 so its interesting even though there is a sequel), hoi2, rome, the hoi2 remake, etc. Victoria 2 should be good as well.

[cenkiss]

EU3 is the easiest and user-friendly for a new player.

[Hookah Smoking Caterpiller]

Vicky.

On hard.