Victoria 3 Grand Edition

The real life time period introduced massive innovation to the world: steam ships, the telegraph, total industrial revolution as far as production and farming goes. Everyone, in those days, were living in exciting times, whether they knew it or not.

The time period also massively influenced our current lives, so it is interesting to explore the what ifs, as you change certain historical details and see how history might have played out.

There is a strong focus on your population and their demographics with a need to appease population groups known as pops, meaning large sections of people with shared interests.

Pops have varying ideologies, ideals, and interests that must be considered if they are not going to rebel against your control.

They can also develop unique tastes that must be catered for, no matter how ridiculous you find them: if not, then you get radicals fomenting dissent.

The Nitty Gritty

Diplomatic Plays is a new name for an old system: it is a revamped Victoria II’s crisis system. A country can make a list of demands to another, which then counters with their own demands in exchange. This immediately starts a timer. If this runs out with no diplomatic solution arrived upon, war may begin.

Some players spend their time attracting allies and deploying troops to strategic placements ready for the timer to run out and waiting for the fight to begin. However, the game developers want you to try and reach a diplomatic solution, believing that war is the failure of diplomacy.

To this end, anything achieved by war can be achieved by diplomacy and will cost fewer of your population their lives. You can use pacts, threats and bluffs to get your own way, which can make diplomacy just as engaging as combat.

There are beautiful graphics throughout the game, even in the menus where you spend a great deal of your time, setting your politics and diplomacy to your preferred levels, alongside a great, stirring soundtrack, and sound effects that are realistic and help you immerse yourself in the game.

The game is very nuanced, with multiple knock-on effects, making it fun to try. The enormous attention to detail means that top tier players will become absorbed in the minutiae of decision-making as they try to work out the effects of each strategy before they enact it.

What Country Can You Rule?

The game’s intensely detailed maps allow players to control any of one hundred countries: as long as they existed during the time period of the game. Amongst others you can play in or around:

Mexico: kicking off in the middle of a period of turbulence for the country: Texas split off to join the United States; and other regions of Mexico wanted independence or autonomy while the rest were trying to form a national government, and there was a scrappy and unsettled time with a number of colonial powers all trying to ‘help’, but things gradually improved and settled down. See what mayhem you can cause by letting the ‘wrong’ side win!

Prussia: now part of Germany, this kingdom only existed between 1701 and 1918, and was the driving force behind a united Germany. Despite the kingdom ceasing to exist before the end of the game’s timeline, it is a worthwhile and fascinating moment of history

Burma: fully colonised by the British during the timeline of the game (it was a colony from 1824 to 1948), you may know the country better as Myanmar – although some still use Burma because of political considerations.

Siam: better known today as Thailand, the kingdom of Siam was a wonderful place: rich in artworks and political intrigue – it is an excellent choice for history buffs

Austria: the period of the game begins during a period of calm in Austria, which was rather larger than it is today, thanks in part to its expansion as the Austro-Hungarian empire. However, within about ten years of this calm and largely prosperous beginning, things begin to look a little more revolutionary…

The Ottoman Empire: Osman I founded the Ottoman empire from his reign which began in around 1298. It lasted an incredible 626 years until 1924 when it was finally ended by the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. During the timeline of the game, the Ottoman Empire had dealings throughout Europe, from warring with Russia to trade deals with Great Britain to allowing Greece its independence

USA: fresh from the birth pangs of the American nation, the game’s timeline kicks off while abolitionists were beginning to gain traction for their anti-slavery campaigns, joined by women’s suffrage and temperance movements – in short, the USA was deciding who it wanted to be when it grew up, making this a great period to play in, seeing how different decisions could impact on US life today

China: during this period China was living through interesting times: the two Opium Wars raged, the British were hellbent on getting their hands on Chinese tea, using money, deceit and drugs to achieve their aims

Russia: Russia is a scrappy nation and the timeline of the game just proves this. The country fights with the Ottoman Empire, it fights with Britain and France in the Crimean War, it fights with Poland, and finally, begins to fight within its own borders. If it’s skirmish after skirmish that you’re looking for, Russia is your jam!