Troy, Tom and Rob Zacny talk about Europa Universalis 3, the new Heir to the Throne expansion and how the series rewards different play styles. Has the new expansion compromised the importance of stability? How does the new system change our favorite nations’ development? Can Tom keep all the changes in every expansion straight? (Spoiler: No, he cannot.)
One Move Behind – EU3: Heir to the Throne Edition | RobZacny.com // Jan 5, 2010 at 8:44 pm
[…] Goodfellow asked me to fill the third seat on the Three Moves Ahead podcast over the weekend, so I spent a few days furiously playing the latest expansion in order to get a […]
It’s hard and you need a bit of luck but it is possible to succeed playing a New World nation. Here is how Prawnstar almost conquered the world as the Iroquois:
http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?t=384744
Coincidentally, I am also playing a game as England -> Great Britain where former ally Portugal stole a couple of Scottish provinces from me in a peace treaty. Jerkfaces.
Sadly, the house of Tudor just died out (in 1669) as the last heir was lost in a hunting accident.
I typically don’t use spies for revolts, but rather higher stakes. False Calims, gives a cassus belli with very low infamy for annexation or forcing the target into a personal union. I’ve used it to great effect as Brandenburg for the acquisition of small German states.
Great episode.
Maybe it’s just me, but I’ve always found that LISTENING to people talk about EU is more fun than actually playing EU.
Jon
Reading AARs for EU3 is usually good stuff….that’s kind of like listening.
Wow – that Iroquois AAR. Ended up reading that whole thing. Man, that level of play … Masterful.
I shudder to think what a player that skilled and knowledgeable will be able to do with the new Cassus Belli system.
That Iroquois AAR is inspiring.
I think Rob fits really very well into the TMA panel.
I just wanted to stop by and say this podcast made me wish two things.
1. That I could be into a game like this. You guys made it sound so interesting and cool.
2. That I had a deeper understanding of history. Or–let’s be honest–any understanding of history.
Great job as always.
Excellent episode. EU3 is one of those games I keep meaning to get into. I’m familiar with it, played a couple games, but nowhere near the hundreds of hours that would be necessary to really understand the game.
Why the Vicky 2 hate, Troy? Vicky 1 was a great idea, it just didn’t work that well with the convoluted UI. With all the practice Paradox has in polishing UIs now, I can see Vicky 2 coming out excellently.
As I explain in the most recent episode, the Vicky hate is more reservation than anything else. But the developer diaries I’ve read have certainly piqued my interest more than I thought they would.
I’m not sure exactly what the changes are in the next expansion but the comment was made that the Pope is not useful to have on your side. I disagree with this (But like I said I don’t know what all changes were made) mainly because being the Papal Controller lowers your bad boy AND helps you get good reasons to go to war with countries with different religions than you have without any hits against your own country. This may be less useful now with the new limited war system though. Still that BB help is always needed in my games, I suppose because I’m always a warlord bastard :P
BTW Great Podcast :)
Railick:
Absolutely true about the power of the pope, but I think one of our major issues was how non-interactive it is in the Heir to the Throne expansion. You can actually take a lot of steps to deal with the Empire in many different ways now but the Pope is harder to use as a game device; you can’t bribe cardinals any more, for example. Your power in the Curia is based on things that have as their object things larger than being Papal Controller (religious tolerance, narrowmindedness, general diplomatic relations with the Papacy, etc.)
Zacny on EU3 // Feb 16, 2010 at 4:33 pm
[…] Zacny, whose performance on our Heir to the Throne episode of Three Moves Ahead convinced us to make him a regular voice, has written a column on the game for […]
A New Column and Addenda | RobZacny.com // Feb 16, 2010 at 8:16 pm
[…] my story shows EU3’s mechanics at their best. Readers and TMA listeners might recall that when we did a show on Heir to the Throne, both Tom and Troy had misgivings about how well the stability mechanic worked over the long haul. […]