Karl Marx got design credit on this

Posted on June 7, 2006 by Scott Jennings| 10 Comments

Paradox just sent out a press release announcing a new expansion pack for Victoria (the fatally flawed 19th century sim). No link yet, so I’ll just copy and paste the press release and screenshots after the cut.

Hopefully the “overhauls” include lessons learned from HOI2. Victoria was a fantastic idea married to a completely unplayable economic system. Anyway, I’m looking forward to it.

Paradox Interactive announced today that they are working on an expansion to their history simulation, \’e2\’80\’9cVictoria \’e2\’80\ldblquote An Empire Under the Sun\’e2\’80\’9d. The expansion will be available exclusively through the online retailer Gamersgate.com. \’e2\’80\’9cVictoria \’e2\’80\ldblquote Revolutions\’e2\’80\’9d is scheduled for a release in August 2006, at $9.99/\’e2\’82\’ac9.99.

Upon its release, \’e2\’80\’9cVictoria \’e2\’80\ldblquote An Empire Under the Sun\’e2\’80\’9d was hailed by some critics as the ultimate World Domination and Empire-Building simulation. The new expansion will be in a similar vein while offering several new and exciting features. Among other things, players will be able to link this game to other Paradox games, thus extending the gameplay for both!

\’e2\’80\’9cThis is the first time we release one of our titles exclusively on Gamersgate.com,\’e2\’80\’9d said Susana Meza, Marketing and PR Director of Paradox Interactive. \’e2\’80\’9cThis expansion has been on many of our fans\’e2\’80\’99 wish lists for a long time, and by releasing it solely via download, we can ensure it reaches them as soon as the production team has finished the code.\’e2\’80\’9d

New features of \’e2\’80\’9cVictoria \’e2\’80\ldblquote Revolutions\’e2\’80\’9d include:

  • 15 extra years of game play. Lead your nation through the challenging interwar period!

  • An expanded tech tree to cover the interwar period, including aircrafts and carriers.

  • A DOOMSDAY converter which allows players to continue their game in \’e2\’80\’9cHearts of Iron 2: Doomsday\’e2\’80\’9d.

  • A revamped election and politics system, adding a new level of realism to the game.

  • An overhauled military system, which will be linked with the player\’e2\’80\’99s policy decisions.

  • A new economic system that brings more realism through various economic models.

Screenshots: In Firefox, right click and View Pics. In IE… uh… download Firefox.

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  • http://artificialmonkeys.blogspot.com/ Goemagog

    so how much is paradox paying you to pimp their games instead of the ones you work(ed) on?

    Goe, curious.

  • Fd

    There are more than enough vicky fans out there who’d just post such a thing solely out of love for the game. ;)

  • http://uticensis.blogspot.com Troy Goodfellow

    On my blog, I called Victoria the ugly stepsister of the EU engine games. Lots of great ideas, but way too much information to process and not enough feedback on a lot of crucial issues. So it got fewer patches than any of the other games and remained more of a niche game even within the niche cult that is Paradox.

    I’m thrilled they are going back to it, though. The screenshots finally seem to give governments more of a role as a break on militarism or industrial expansion. So long as they find a way to make the economic model work – tax policy was insane.

  • Nicademus

    Has there ever been a case of Paradox fanboidom in someone not diagnosed with OCD?

    Its like war for accountants.

  • Danneskjold

    Hrm, is Victoria the ugly stepsister? I would say it is Crusader Kings, frankly.

    How long until an MMORPG allows you to develop a dynasty over time in a non-Sims context? Exactly.

  • scottj

    > Its like war for accountants.

    Clearly you never saw 70′s-era pen and paper wargames. These are SIMPLER.

  • http://lostranger.blogspot.com almagill

    > Its like war for accountants.

    You say this as if it’s a bad thing… ;)

  • http://uticensis.blogspot.com Troy Goodfellow

    “Hrm, is Victoria the ugly stepsister? I would say it is Crusader Kings, frankly.”

    CK got a lot more support from Paradox including a long, public beta patch phase that Vicky didn’t. I happen to think it is a much better game, too, especially if you do approach it from a role-playing/soap opera angle.

    Not that CK didn’t have problems, but fewer of them were as rooted in basic game design choices than in Vicky.

  • gordon

    Victoria ain’t complicated, but people with ADD are not the target audience.

  • Guup

    Yes it’s not complicated at all. I’ve played the game several hundred hours, even “won” a few games.

    It’s DEFENITELY complicated, and please all you people stop throwing crap like ADD and OCD around. I claim it’s complicated with a comparison to EU and similiar games. It’s just not intuative how Vic works.

    Im sure cancer doesn’t make this game easier, or having broken arms… so?