Now that its latest grand strategy game is out and in the hands of players, Paradox Development Studio has released a preliminary Victoria 3 post-launch roadmap. It’s a high-level and slightly aspirational guide to what should be included in the first three major patches for Victoria 3, addressing some controversial topics like the mechanics of warfare, options in diplomacy, and historical immersion.
To start things off, game director Martin Anward says that he and the team have been “blown away by the sheer amount of people that have bought and are now playing Victoria 3.” While he acknowledges that there are some “rough edges,” Victoria 3 is “what I consider to be a great game, one that lives up to our vision.”
That said, Anward acknowledges that areas like warfare could do with a bit of polish. He says there are absolutely no plans to reverse course on the fundamental design decision to move to the ‘front’ system and away from more tactical unit micromanagement, but the developers will be working to deepen the existing system. The team is looking at adding features like setting strategic objectives for generals and intentionally splitting up longer fronts, while at the same time providing players with more information about what’s happening in wars and making generals better at selecting units.
The Victoria 3 team is also working on making the historical elements of the game more immersive and true-to-life. The devs want to make the AI play in “a more believable and immersive way,” and are still working on making the American Civil War take place more frequently.
Diplomacy is up for some interesting changes, too. Anward says the team is working on adding a “reverse-swaying” mechanic that allows third parties to offer their help in diplomatic plays in exchange for the promise of something. Further, you should soon be able to increase your demands beyond a single war goal. Other ideas include offering to trade away states and engaging in or accepting foreign investment.
Something I complained about in our Victoria 3 review was the difficulty of finding specific information on pops – it seemed to me that if a pop had radicalised, for example, I should be able to see what the driving factor had been, and Anward says it should soon be easier to get an overview of pops and the factors that are affecting them.
The team has set out a daunting list of things to work on, but with one impressive hotfix already out for Victoria 3, it seems the system they’ve built allows for some pretty fast turnaround times.
Our guide to Victoria 3 trade and Victoria 3 diplomatic plays will help get you on your feet in this complex economic and political simulator.