Recent reviews by druebey

Truly a great game that needs a second edition and maybe a earlier start date and end date... honestly one of a kind and for its time was very impressive. Yes slow turns but ultimately a deep and complex strategy game that needs to go deeper and more complex to be a viable successor(if they do PoN2).

Quite frankly a relaxing game that can self play to a degree. Rather is fun for me myself as I get to blow ships up and continue to do so until you unlock diplomacy by taking your first island. build cogs and ketchs to destroy most ships. build a good base of income before spreading too far. sit back and do alot of easy trade deals ;)

Quite honestly this is a bag of excrument that has been labeled and shined up to look like a diamond. No matter HOW you SHINE a TARD, its a TARD.

Lets get into the facts of the DLC. One as the USA, its a major nerf due to liberty desire during wartime does not reflect part of you defeating enemies on their lands, etc. Two, AS USA the investment pool is more worried about making already private enterprises Private rather than build new ones. Great Britain and all other European powers by blarps are doing wonderfully... Power bloc invites accepted etc. While the USA cant do but 2/3 power blocs that are rather redudent if know USA history at the time. France jumps on you day one if declare against Mexico, A bug they fixed with Texas is back... They lose all the time. Graphic issues abound with anchors for land battles. IF take war goals you pressed against say france, they dont get the -1 modifier/ticker until after mexico has all claims taken or isnt in picture anymore. This is after 3 different reloads to see if I was doing something wrong(oh yeah thinking PDS can actually make a game that doesnt Nerf or degrade the USA). All this being said, so far the new screens for buildings and subjects are well needed. the new Manor and Fanancial districts are an interesting aspect considering they refuse to redo the economic side of things. these two new buildings are pretty well your banks.... always will complain that the .02% chance of a obligation if bankroll is too low...

All in all, This DLC is a Tard that was shined up and made to look like a obsiden piece... When it is so soft and mushy that even their known issues list before release already had over 20 game breaking and sometimes CTD issues. buy at your own risk... personally I am happy I got it as a gift from someone else and i didnt use my income... I shall wait for Gilded Destiny (a true contender for PDS), Ara, and imperialism 3 (added naval battles like land ones)... Last game is by red dragon group if not mistaken. This dlc had/has alot of hype behind it, but as evidenced by developers actions and things put into game... This will never be historical based, as per all the others in the series. Yes player decisions cause ahistoric things, but for the AI to be set on historical and still do fantasy things... says alot about the "robustness" of the fantasy aspects.

TDLR: Would I advise this, NO. Why, IT is a abomination that shows little to no growth in game loop other than MEME and such gamers. Serious gamers/historians will be appalled by what was done. Could it be fixed, some bugs yes; but ultimately the MEME culture rules this DLC to a great degree.

All that being said, Want a MEME game, buy this one with this dlc... As thats really what this DLC is worth, you cant take it at face value or its Value(way overpriced for what was ultimately a tard). Maybe I will be in minority as most people that would feel way i do, have left the PDS scene looking for a contender that will care about what they say. They have yet to fix any other nations but Europe and what small fix they did to USA(barely enough to really mention) is another JE about a native american tribe... When the glaring issues are still present, IE Texas independence war, Mexican American becomes Mexico/European power and American war, etc. Maybe they didnt have anyone to playtest as the USA... OR they told people not to as they knew they NERFED and degraded the USA so badly. Mean 2 years of no economic growth as everyone is funding a privatization drive instead of making more buildings... Texas losing mexican war every time, we are back to that bug again where it was 87% chance of loss... USA military was minimized as per a post and playing, the protectionism of european powers is way too high vs USA when trying to claim manifest destiny or likewise. Id get it if european power vs small european but USA VS Mexico??? UGH

Release day review yes, but at end of day they also delayed it if remember right at least twice.

Quite honestly this is a shell of a potential and thus I can not advise any to buy it. This game rather has many glaring problems that were announced even when it was still being developed to which the developers paid no mind to until they consistantly showed up in the suggestions area of this game on their forum.

1. The USA Civil war is the one and only way to get Afro-anything as an accepted culture as the USA even if you ban slavery before Civil war.
2. Most times Union States are part of the Confederate States when having the Civil war as the developers havent yet figured out how to input the line of Code that states something to the affect of "IF (non dixie) then is Union... IF (dixie region) is confederate..." easy right? thought this line be in game in beginning but appearently a simple IF Then Statement isnt so easy to figure out and implement..... cough cough
3. No USS Maine Incident, This Event was a defining moment for the USA as it was what started it as a imperial power.
4. Many historical events and effects of said events are missing... Manroe Doctrine anyone? TDR carry a big stick policy, etc...
5. The texan mexican war perdominately results in the texan lands becoming mexican... Santa Anna gets captured in less than 22% of games. Also add to this the Mexican American war never being really a thing and the texan state as never being added to manifest destiny(cough cough another but much simpler add) thus causing Texas to amount to the same amount of infamy and cost as jalisco or mexico province...
6. war score cost to add return claims should be miniscle vs states not being returned. This mechanic needs a major relook. Also on those lines, there should be a way to get claims on "neighboring" provinces/states without having to go war then incorporate them...


this is it for now, will continue review as think of other things and 1.x is done until first expansion.

edit after two DLC and over 2k hrs just listening to music to work on other things through the steam web application. As for me that really is all the game is worth right now, background music. As for the USA that I normally play, there truthfully is no flavor that could account for the time period, navally there is nothing but build clippers/steamers then weaponize them but that doesn't really require much, army is a joke really... Whom gets the better modifiers due to battle conditions. economically, there is no stockpiling, no real depth to economy other than build x building to make 2 goods and maybe one factory type for x good if dis similar. truthfully they need to go back to the research and realize that even razing buildings allowed it to be functional for other buildings, it didn't take 5 weeks or more to create a sectional of barracks etc. there are many trade goods and transportation types missing still. SOI was supposed to fix diplomacy and such, yet it threw history out the door and welcomed in fantasy land... quite honestly the implementations that the game has right now, make it more a meme generator than an actual economic HISTORIC game as it was marketed. truthfully it should not be marketed at this point to be historic or economic simulation... as neither points hold justification. Nor does its military mechanics give credence to the time period either. its neglect of Nation(or as most people believe you call them politically correctly Native American) relations with USA/Canada/Mexico and other American cultures while having the idealism of Social Economical-ism as reason for the USA Civil War, is changing history to fit agendas that shouldn't be prevalent in games. Much less having communism and its socialist beliefs before they were even "created" historically. A historic and Fantasy create a abomination that does none of what it was stated to be, yet there are those that still lap each concept as being almighty and just to make the games wonderful. Personally I am looking to other game studios as PDS/PDX/PI have lost what made them great in the industry and will push themselves into the corner much like the USSR did and we all know the results of it.

Sadly people will think this review is either too harsh or funny, yet not realize that I have been playing PDS games for years and am utterly dismayed at their gambits to gain casual gamers to gain more money. As they lost the soul of the company and its games when they started the cancellation of East Vs West a Hearts of Iron game, ignored people that loved Victoria 2 and their distress calls about mechanics, and in general have forgotten what made them a small indie company that could grow to 45 people and still make indie games... I get they have a bigger roster and like, but they sold their souls to do so. IPO, etc has caused them to look at games for profitability instead of catering to a small demographic that was very loyal.

I have played Most of Paradox interactive games but for stellaris, battletech, and most third party developed games. That being said, This game is on par with Europa Engine or better, that would be Victoria 1, HOI1-2, Darkest Hour, Arsenal of Democracy, EU1-3 games. It is not as complex as I would like, but the developer is working on it and adding scenerios and like to the game, so I am hoping that he will add more complexity and mechanics. It is one person, just as I am doing my games, so fact he did this much in java(a higher level language) gave me alot of hope for my own projects :D. Though I wish as stated he would do more complexity but in time I believe he may release a title for people like me.

While most of mechanics are simplified, I still enjoy this title. I don't ever autoresolve battles unless have more than on generals army involved. That being said, I have beat with English militia and 3lb horitzers 40 some divisions once while losing a cannon and three militia divisions. Was rather fun flank attack flank attack...

Game literally sucks as it is now. I will never buy a paradox interactive/development studio game unless it is developed and made by another completely on their own. I honestly dislike this publisher/developer for their treatment of customers and also their DLC/expansion policy. Also they said that they plan to do more "milking" for any game after Europa universalis 4. Sorry cant support a company that is more interested in "milking" customers than the customers themselves. Also, somewhere on the internet is Podcat(lead Developer) stating he never played HOI3 to later where he changed it to never playing it much. So WHY was this guy a lead developer on HOI4??? Questionable intent if there ever was one.

Edit: After reviewing the mod rules for the steam workshop and also the PDS Forum, Mods are not allowed to copyright or prevent PDS from using any of their ideas for a game/DLC. I am making currently a complete and total conversion mod for HOI4 going from 1400 to modern day. IF they decide to utilize anything from that mod, I will probably get no credit at all nor a mention as the creator, most likely will have nasty words and bans/lawsuit preventing me from using my own ideas/concepts/artwork/etc in other games/mods/projects. Honestly that is unacceptable and I am truly contemplating making the mod friends only due to this, so I can control who gets it and who doesnt... Maybe even just host it on a external forum with a external location to download(forum doesnt have the bandwith to deal with size of it already). I mean I plan on paying people eventually to do graphics/sounds for the mod and I cant Copyright them myself??? Something is just not right about this picture. I have to think long and hard if I should keep the mod page open to players or close it to friends that will be testing it before I release it to the public on my own forum and etc. So many things I truly have issues with, Not only am I changing sounds/photos/etc but also I am changing events, focuses, buildings, requirements to build things, equipment type, list is huge. So PDS can take any of that and chose at their whem to utilize what I am doing in my free time.

for reference, https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/rules-for-user-made-mods-and-edits-of-pds-games.708039/

Rule #4 is the rule I am talking about. Credits does not mean they cant take your ideas and like without your premission.

Honestly I have been lately playing another game, that I can see they knocked off of. Knights of Honor. Honestly that game is alot more fun and doesnt have DLC/expansions that break the game. Yes it had a rocky start when it first came out, but its almost like someone or something didnt want the game to be famous so it was hidden from view for years. I love Knights of Honor and its mechanics I can see in EU4. I though will NEVER buy another paradox Development Studio game again. Published games by Paradox interactive maybe, but they have to be darn good. I will not support a company making a game that is x amount and then charging x times five or more for the complete experience. Sorry wont do it...

LOVE this game... I will be making a mod for it myself for 400 ad to 450 ad. I love this game so much I will mod it(developer and publisher advocate modding so I am allowed to do so within the games guidelines). I suggest this and Knights of Honor to any paradoxian fan or any GSG fan. absolutely love this game and falling in love with Knights of Honor.

Got this game as a gift a few days ago and let me tell ya, I am having alot of fun. Yes it is published by paradox interactive but it is totally not their game. They though if you look at their games have taken from this game alot of times. I honestly find this game alot more deep than their games in a few ways that they cant replicate. Also it doesnt have DLC spam like their games. For instance the New Expansion for EU4 is about plagues and like(should be a free patch as it doesnt really add much according to description) and it will cost I bet around 25 USD. That is the over half price of the original game. I cant support a company that treats its customers like that, when you buy a x amount game and have to buy x times 5/7 to make it complete. Just saying here, Also I suggest Darkest Hour, another game published but not made by PI.