A Complete Beginner's Guide to Paradox Grand Strategy Games in 2024
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Published 2023-12-19
Thank you so much to Avancadia for sponsoring this video!
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There are so many Paradox grand strategy games out there these days that it can be legitimately hard to track, especially if you’re new to the franchise - and if you want to dive into it. Thing is, it can be hard to figure out what type of grand strategy games you wanna play. Even though Paradox GSGs share aspects of gameplay design, they are also quite different - so different in fact, that people legitimately struggle with making the transition from one to the next. In fact, I do to!
That’s why I thought it was time to make an up-to-date 2023 and 2024 complete beginner’s guide to Paradox grand strategy games, with brief overviews of the games and why you might like them, how difficult they are to learn, and doing it all in historical sequence!
Please let me know if you found this video helpful in the comments, and remember to like the video and subscribe to the channel! :)
#paradoxgaming #grandstrategy #paradoxgrandstrategy #paradoxgames #paradoxgaming #crusaderkings3 #victoria3 #stellaris #heartsofiron4 #imperatorrome #europauniversalis4
All Comments (21)
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I just started with Victoria 3 last month during its free weekend, never played a paradox game before. I played Sardinia Peidmont and I tried giving women property rights, I failed and caused my government to fall apart, then I joined a war against Austria, then France joined Austria against me even tho they owed me a diplomatic obligation, game's great
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Having just passed around 700 hours in hoi4 using all sorts of different mods with each play though, I can safely say I’m still learning new things every time I play 😂 such a great game
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I love paradox games. I've had so many amazing and fun stories come out of games before. Not only are they fun strategy games but they are amazing emergent story games
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Congrats on the new channel!
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I like how you rank games depending on how hard it is to learn how to play and not how fun you think it is. Great video. 10/10
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I love how you always subtly plug your mods by showing off the beautiful maps, practically begging for people to ask how you got them to look like that. Personally, I think your CK3 map immersion is your best work, I adore the contrast and fog of war.
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Thanks for the video. Extremely helpful for me. I own EU4 and HOI4 already and you helped me with my play order. Subbed and will browse your channel for more. Take care
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I started with CK3 and now I picked up Victoria 3 for $10. I was always disappointed with the lack of economy and trade mechanics with CK3. Really enjoying Victoria 3 with all its updates.
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I'm surprised you scored EU4's difficulty lower than V3. V3 is a complex game that's made much easier with their nested tooltips. EU4 doesn't have this feature so I feel like the learning curve is much steeper. Loved the video though!
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I've bought most of these games, but never played them (like the other 200 Steam games I've never played). The amount of DLC puts me off, as it seems like you're only buying half a game, or an incomplete game, when you buy the base version. HOI4 looks interesting to me, and I bought some DLC even though I haven't played it yet. The other ones I have are Imperator: Rome (on Epic, do they even do mods?), EU3 (GOG) and EU4 (Steam), Stellaris (Steam) and Victoria 2 (GOG). Maybe I'll pick up CK3 on sale, just to have the complete set gathering dust. I probably would like these games, but they seem like they would take a long time to learn, so I keep putting them off. Thanks for putting the "learning curve" rating, so I know not to start with Victoria or HOI, lol.
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So I have played Stellaris for over 1000 hours and I was looking for another Paradox game to get into, this video helped a lot to choose which one to play, thank you! (btw I chose to go for EU IV)
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Theres no way i just discovered this after just watching the 2022 version... This other channel was so hidden for me. Definitely woulda preferred this content on your main channel
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I played hoi 4 first and then ck3 and now victoria 3 damn those game are so additive once u understand
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Great video and you do an excellent job of providing an overview of all the games. Just to throw my two cents in on the CK2/3 debate, I still find the overall content of CK2 much better compared to CK3 even if the QoL isn’t as good. From secret societies, plagues, merchant republics, migratory tribes, the College of Cardinals, varied and numerous start dates, etc. CK2 just has it all. I sincerely hope one day CK3 catches up, and on that day I can finally retire good ole CK2. I think at their cores though, CK2 is a GSG with rpg elements whereas CK3 is an rpg with GSG elements.
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I appreciate the love you show for Imperator. It's a great game and i actually have more hours there than in any of the others
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What UI mods do you have for CK3 i love that
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Imperator Rome would be the best if they kept firing the furnace. I'm just glad they are updating it again.
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you seem to have avoided talking about dlc's when they are in every paradox game (and a lot in some cases). In some games like eu4 playing without dlc is like playing a beta or even an alpha version of the game
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I only played Civ & Total Wars. A excluding the learning difficulty, what should be your recommended game to start, Europa IV or Victoria 3? Thanks.
