After hundreds of hours tearing my hair out (but still inexplicably having fun) in Vicky 2, I had really high expectations for Vic3. Let’s see how it delivered:

The good
Markets! No more tedious "influencing" to get nations in your sphere. It's a simple diplomatic [or military] ladder to incorporate potential members into your market, or to join one yourself (which atm seems to be the ideal way to play smaller nations, as it lets you specialize, and eases of the extreme convoy/admin demands of trading for your needs)
Economic simulation that feels like it makes sense, with a few different ways to prosper and lots of progression (It's still tough when you're in a small market, but so is life I guess).
Immersion: Very beautiful and immersive living map. Amazing music, and pleasant soundscape brings the experience alive.
Warfare: The move away from maneuvering unit stacks works really well. Changing unit types in bulk and not having to worry about which province has enough soldiers to support your units etc is a HUGE QoL improvement. It's not all sunshine though, see below
Improved tutorial, tool tips, intro/guided campaigns: Excellent! Nuff said.

The bad
Automatic building upgrades need some work, as building industry in a wide country can get tedious and confusing. Setting up the first factory in each state and then having them expand when it's reasonable
Warfare often feels like a black box slot machine. It's hard to know before engagements start, who will have the advantage, and how the war will progress.
The UI certainly takes some time to get into. I don't think it's horrible, but I often find myself flipping around a lot to find what I'm looking for. It's on the right track though.
AI needs some help with it's priorities. Italy and USA for example tend to have trouble consolidating something akin to their historical borders, which while I don't want it railroaded, I do think the AI should strive to achieve this (especially Italy, as there's lots of Italians as well as good resources in those regions.)

The ugly
Fronts break during war! similar to how fronts split or pass by certain oddly shaped states in HoI4 (I'm looking at you, Crimea!) fronts some times open out of seemingly nowhere and, if you aren't paying attention, the AI can barrel through the freshly abandoned front and quickly encircle you and completely turn the war.
Way too few interactions with subjects. I'd like to see region trading, tech sharing, investments, maybe meddling in/influencing politics of your subjects
Classic AI border gore. Instead of consolidating regions, they pop colonies and do random conquests all over the place. I don't care for railroading, but the AI should desire to at least fill out states they're already in over starting five other colonies.


TLDR: It has issues with balancing and needs some polish, but everything is solid and enjoyable.
This one's for all you reactionary haters : 8.5/10.

[h1] The queen is dead - long live the queen! [/h1] After hundreds of hours tearing my hair out (but still inexplicably having fun) in Vicky 2, I had really high expectations for Vic3. Let’s see how it delivered: [b]The good[/b] Markets! No more tedious "influencing" to get nations in your sphere. It's a simple diplomatic [or military] ladder to incorporate potential members into your market, or to join one yourself (which atm seems to be the ideal way to play smaller nations, as it lets you specialize, and eases of the extreme convoy/admin demands of trading for your needs) Economic simulation that feels like it makes sense, with a few different ways to prosper and lots of progression (It's still tough when you're in a small market, but so is life I guess). Immersion: Very beautiful and immersive living map. Amazing music, and pleasant soundscape brings the experience alive. Warfare: The move away from maneuvering unit stacks works really well. Changing unit types in bulk and not having to worry about which province has enough soldiers to support your units etc is a HUGE QoL improvement. It's not all sunshine though, see below Improved tutorial, tool tips, intro/guided campaigns: Excellent! Nuff said. [b] The bad [/b] Automatic building upgrades need some work, as building industry in a wide country can get tedious and confusing. Setting up the first factory in each state and then having them expand when it's reasonable Warfare often feels like a black box slot machine. It's hard to know before engagements start, who will have the advantage, and how the war will progress. The UI certainly takes some time to get into. I don't think it's horrible, but I often find myself flipping around a lot to find what I'm looking for. It's on the right track though. AI needs some help with it's priorities. Italy and USA for example tend to have trouble consolidating something akin to their historical borders, which while I don't want it railroaded, I do think the AI should strive to achieve this (especially Italy, as there's lots of Italians as well as good resources in those regions.) [b] The ugly [/b] Fronts break during war! similar to how fronts split or pass by certain oddly shaped states in HoI4 (I'm looking at you, Crimea!) fronts some times open out of seemingly nowhere and, if you aren't paying attention, the AI can barrel through the freshly abandoned front and quickly encircle you and completely turn the war. Way too few interactions with subjects. I'd like to see region trading, tech sharing, investments, maybe meddling in/influencing politics of your subjects Classic AI border gore. Instead of consolidating regions, they pop colonies and do random conquests all over the place. I don't care for railroading, but the AI should desire to at least fill out states they're already in over starting five other colonies. TLDR: It has issues with balancing and needs some polish, but everything is solid and enjoyable. This one's for all you reactionary haters : 8.5/10.