EU3-differences between patch versions?

[RZZZA]

hullo there, i've recently been shown the EUIII demo and I fiddled around with it for a day or two before purchasing EUIII. I noticed in the demo that the AI acts far differently than in the actual game.

In the demo, I could play as a small one or two province faction like Mecklenburg and not worry about invasion from every side right away. In the demo it seemed like the AI was more peaceful, more willing to be diplomatic, and time itself seemed to progress slower. Even though I always keep the time on 3 arrows, in the demo it seemed far less events scrolled in the chatbox over the same amount of time.

I finally decided that the 1.3 patched version was just unplayable. The AI was far too aggressive, dishonorable and unreasonable. so I re-installed EUIII and left it completely unpatched. It's better but it still doesn't seem quite right....meh.

am I crazy or did the aggressiveness & diplomacy of the AI seem much more "correct" in the demo?

[Aketi]

RZZZA, you are crazy. It's not a good idea to play Paradox games unpatched (balance, bugs and CTDs!). Paradox usually makes very good patches, and I am a 100% sure the game got better with every patch.

No invasions in your Magdeburg campaign might have been caused by your and your neighbors HRE membership, at least to some extend.
The AI probably had some perfect reasons for acting like that, I assume you weren't aware of all the game mechanics which influence diplomacy, since your fairly new to the game. This might help.

Starting out with larger nations like Spain is much better for a more enjoyable learning of the game.

Anyway, I'd also suggest you to get the Napoleons Ambitions expansion, you won't regret it!

[RZZZA]

I like this game because i like playing as small factions, in the demo mecklenburg was not attacked from all sides right away. in 1.3 they are, i can only assume they seriously tweaked some ai aggression settings. among many other things, who knows to what extent? i certainly dont.

I'll try 1.3 again after i finish my current england campaign on 1.0

[Aketi]

Same here RZZZA-- desperately fighting for survival as a minor is fun!

I think I have actually heard complaints about an unreasonable AI before, but I can't really judge this myself since I don't play vanilla. I think the expansion introduced some new starting campaign options, like AI aggressiveness. Edit: here's an old thread which has a picture of the new options.

Anyway, you might want to get the Magna Mundi mod once you're advanced enough, it's an absolutely perfect and plausible experience (and it's much harder and more complex).

[The Good]

My favorite small factions are Ragusa, Cyprus, Wallachia, Morea, Trebizond, Brandenburg, and Munster (Irish faction).

Welcome back to TWC RZZZA. You've been absent a long time!