Take this as my own personal review (Or read my own ;)) of the Paradox Interactive game: Victoria II.

Victoria II is a grand strategy game set in the 19th-20th century, play any and I mean any country be they big or small, rich or poor, have basic needs like pluming and medicine or use sticks and rocks to fight their enemies. You. Can. Play. Them. All. And it is still painful with each playthrough and you will love it or die knowing you wasted twenty dollars to buy a game you will at best play one time and never pick up ever again. But for everyone else this game is second to none in the grand strategy genre and will fill the hole in your heart that only a father can mend.

In an age of exploitation, slavery, colonization and very, very bloody warfare between nations you will learn to do exactly all of these things and maybe along the way you'll do better than anyone from that time ever could. The world is your oyster and thereby it is your right to do whatever you want to it because you live in solipsistic world where you are the only person that matters and the only thing that matters more is map painting which at the end of the day is what grand strategy is all about.

If you cannot adapt to the ever cruel world that is the 18/1900s, you will find this game to be either boring, hard or quite broken. The twenty or so people who live in Sweden made this game on a diet of Surströmming and alcohol as is the decree of the King of Sweden and as such the developers made enough mistakes that just so happen to make the game playable. They also made the trade system where in any man skilled enough can make a tank out of apples or clothes out of I dunno tobacco or opium probably. They made an AI that will make any techbro in sight breakdown and crumble into dust and if it weren't enough Paradox Interactive made the decision to never bother updating the game. Whether you think this good or bad just remember that Rise of the Eagles hasn't had an update for much longer. As has... Well just about any game as old as Victoria II. In other words, Victoria II is the Super Smash Bros. Melee of Paradox games:
-Rushed production
-Old (Both are well over a decade old at this point)
-Surprisingly functioning
-A whole lot of fun (With or without friends)

Anyways onto exploiting this gem of a game!~

The landmasses called Continents are for the most part their own separate worlds. Some are worse than others but have a redeeming quality that makes the playing experience unique to that place. Within these are Subcontinents which are a further division of the planet with examples of the Balkans in Europe, Patagonia in South America and South-Eastern Asia in well Asia. Once you've moved on from fighting within a Subcontinent you should at least plan to have the strength to back it up usually in the form of an actually good army and allies who actually have armies or at least land that can be sieged so that you don't die of war exhaustion.

Learning these is the best way to get you on the path to a nation of your choice for how you want to play the game the sad truth is that most nations are unplayable because they suck (Ex: Tripoli in the base game just die to the Ottomans) and others aren't because they don't suck.

I'll go through each continent and rate them for the following:
1. Are there civilized nations? If not then playing may not be recommended unless you plan to conquer the other uncivs.
2. How many POPs are present? In the 1800's and even the early 1900's the population of Earth isn't evenly distributed so most places don't have a lot of POPs. If there are nations in the continent in question have less than 1 million POPs you may have a stunted game because of how much POPs matter (Doesn't apply if you are playing in the Americas or Oceania where you can attract POPs via reforms.).
3. How much do you have to contend with other nations? Like the question above most continents aren't exactly war-torn hellholes and can be a bit boring if you aren't going out of your way to go make the world a worse place than it already is.
4. How much flavor is present? Most nations have decisions and cores and many other such things that have historical context while others don't. Most of these tend to be either Great Powers or Secondary Powers in the game because the devs intend for you to play as them.
For each of these I'll rate or take away points between 0-4.

Europe: The mainstay of the game and center of the world. At least if you ask a European from the era. All nations in Europe are civilized (Even the ones that you'd think wouldn't be.). Most nations start off with more than 1 million POPs. The real drawback for Europe is that with so much concentration set here the biggest conflicts will happen here with the most violence being right in the middle in Germany and eastern Europe. Speaking of which Europe is where most of if not the majority of all historical flavor is, Italy and Germany can form usually around the mid-game as well as Scandinavia and the Byzantine Empire (Albeit by the player, the AI is not to good at forming to many nations.). All in all a pretty solid place to start any run. The best nations play are any of the Great Powers especially Prussia who has the best shot to form Germany (And can annex the entirety of Austria of you play your cards right) which just dominates the game because Germany is OP (Never underestimate German mobilized armies that steamroll Russia and somehow never really stop spawning.). The worst nations to play I would probably say are all the tiny one region minors, some are alright but often times straight up unplayable due to low pop counts. 4/4 Great continent for experienced players and 3/4 for inexperienced players.

Asia: The breadbasket of the world and stomping grounds of Europeans. Asia can be a nasty place to play if you aren't civilized since uncivs likely fight with sticks and stones and die just as easily as rebels. Did I also mention that no nation in Asia starts as civilized? Not exactly easy but in the hands of the right player you can just as easily dominate the game. In light of the aforementioned lack of civilization levels is Asia's POPs and my Lord, it is like the sea but with people. Mainly in East Asia with Japan and Korea having millions of Pops and the Behemoth that is China having literally more than 100 Million POPs at the start of the game. You can break the game so easily with that many POPs and you can fund your entire nation to the end of the game and then some. That said you you will have to contend with the Europeans, especially Britain who will either sphere nations, just annex them or take ports from China. If you can get around that then you will be on the way to win the game. As for Flavor the only places that really have it are the East Asian countries, most of Central Asia have cores on each other and Arabian nations and form Arabia which can be OP if you can go through the gauntlet that is forming Arabia. The best nations to play are China and Japan who can civilize fairly early and can rival Europeans for domination. Korea, Iran and Afghanistan can also be fun if you don't get stomped. Don't play as anyone else though. 3/4 Great continent with so many POPs ready for the taking (To a better place or to hell on earth is your decision.).

Africa: In the base game Africa is pretty bare bones, there is only a handful of nations to play and none of them are really fun, your best bet might be one of the Boer states in South Africa since they start off civilized but are not really all that good. In HPM and other mods Africa has more to give with a lot more nations than the Paradox dev team bothered to add though they are all quite weak which turns Africa into the "I can't take land in Asia." Continent. Africa is rich with POPs and has many strategic points that can help to have (Mostly coasts and supply limits that will destroy any army foolish enough to have more than 2 regiments.). As for flavor you don't really get much playing in Africa but when you can colonize that is when you get the chance to do some fun stuff. 1/4 If you play here, not very fun unless you plan to play a mod or at least 2/4 if you play as a colonizer.

North America: NA is the opposite of Africa, instead of a desolate wasteland where apparently most of the continent hasn't bothered to move past the stone age you have at most three nations and one of them doesn't exist until much later. Not exactly a very violent place unless you play as Mexico or the United States. The American Civil War can happen though that ends pretty quick, if not America may break apart into the Free states of America (In the case that there are more Slave states) and a few others on the west coast. Both the nations I mentioned have more than 1 million POPs and can get more via immigration which is nice though make sure to put them to good use. As for flavor The USA has a fair bit and can take a lot of land and Central America exists, they can break apart and become OSMs. Overall a 3/4 If you play as the USA or Mexico (Provided you know how to fight the USA) and 2/4 for the tiny Central American states.

South America: SA is the boring version of NA. There are ten nations of varying POPs and they are all weak and horrible in their own ways. Only Brazil and Argentina have decent POP numbers and if it weren't for every nation in SA starting with democracy as their government type you could maybe do something fun with them but no. As for flavor every state has cores on another state and Colombia, Ecuador and/or Venezuela can form Gran Columbia, not exactly strong but you're cool if you can form it. 2/4 Arguably the one continent that is ignored the most by Paradox, it could've been so much fun but instead we got an over-glorified AFK waiting room.

Oceania: Just like the devs I completely overlooked a surprisingly fun starting location. At the start just about everything is owned by the UK but through releasing you can play as Australia or New Zealand (There could be others but these two are the only ones that are worth a playthrough.). There isn't too much to these two other than they get immigration and in the hands of a competent player can easily become a great power. 3/4 If you're good otherwise no.

To run a country you have to have some ideology and to have that you need politics and then throw out anything your pops think is best because they are stupid.

When you play there is always a party in power, if you are a democracy and aren't the USA you will understand how horrible democracy is. You cannot choose anything, only your pops can and they are sure to choose the absolute worse parties for the entire game.

However monarchies can choose and they should because it's your country you get to choose what you want to be in power.

Here's a Ranking of every party as they show up in game:


Conservative: Generally decent, good economics and military. Control of factories and citizenship can vary. They can allow social and political reforms from time to time but not all the time. Conservatives are a jack of all trades, just above decent but better than most parties. Overall B.


Liberal: Are the second worst party in general, horrible economy and military. No control over factories which will lead to closures and thereby losing industrial points but they generally are the only parties to give full citizenship. The only reason to EVER have them is to flex on your friends, it's one thing to do well with conservative or reactionary parties but when you can full siege someone while these guys are in power you must be doing something right somehow. Overall F-D tier, pretty bad in just about every case.


Reactionary: The best at the start, great economics and military. Full control over factories and always residency citizenship. As for reforms, while they roll back political reforms and appeal social reforms, which is good. Overall A, for a better country have these guys in power.


Anarcho Liberal: THE WORST PARTY EVER, like liberals horrible economy and mediocre military. And if they weren't bad enough you can find yourself with a Bourgeois dictatorship or by a better name Victoria II player hell, because with the liberals you can watch your country die a slow, painful death as debt increases and your weakening military loses men for about as long as an election goes (Or in the case of a monarchy, when you decide), with a Bourgeois dictatorship that will go on effectively forever until they get overthrown by other rebels. Overall F, KILL ALL ANARCHO LIBERALS THEY LITERALLY RUIN GAMES. You'd be better off having a bad case of diarrhea than have any Anarcho-liberals in power.


Socialism: In a way it is very like Socialism in the 1800s. It only comes up in the mid-game so it isn't as good as Reactionary. However it does give the best economy you can get, setting things up for planned economy (The BEST economic policy for making money) as well as protectionism for a lot of money. Socialism also tends to have full citizenship which is another plus. And if that weren't enough they also support social and political polices which is just the cherry on top of this state issued ice cream sundae. Where they lack is in military, they usually are anti-military which is really bad in a game that demands you have a good funded military or else you are as good as dead. Overall B, very situational though it can yield the much necessary funding for anyone to go conquering the world.


Communism: Do you like Socialism but hate how awful your military is when you have it? Communism is like the older (And thus cooler and better) brother to Socialism. You get all the economics of Socialism AND good to even great military with pro-military or even jingoism (The BEST war policy) and you even get full citizenship. Only problem is that most parties are inconsistent with this model and are really just Socialism reskined. If that is the case don't bother. Overall B-A (C if they have the same polices as Socialists), great for anyone looking to conquer now and not later.


Fascism: Just Reactionary with a modern twist. They have similar polices for both economy and military and if that were it they'd be only a repaint of a better ideology and in the late game as well. What makes them somehow better is the fact that they can make reforms for both political and social reforms, which isn't something you can do with Reactionary, though don't do political reforms to much. Remember it's easier to gas and gun down 1 million rebels than deal with this game's absolute garbage democracy mechanics. Overall B, If they were around sooner they'd be A but they'll never dethrone Reactionary for me.

As you can tell this game is very pro-dictatorship and why wouldn't it be? Are you saying YOU aren't a better ruler for your POPs then they are of themselves? This is a Paradox game so of course the AI is bad (If not brain-dead) and doesn't know how to map paint, but you sure do. Though it does state the truth that if you actually listen to what people want and think that people are more than just walking piles of money ripe to be taxed for every penny and sent of to die in some God-forsaken war then there is something wrong with you.

Also since it isn't worth it's own section I'll quickly go over government types. Republics suck unless you play the USA since you can't change the ruling party. Absolute monarchy, HM's government and Prussian constitutionalism are all the same thing but the latter have elections. Constitutional monarchy is the best type since you can pick whatever party you want and get elections and *immigrants (*In the Americas and Oceania.). Dictatorships just depend on the policies of the party in question so avoid Bourgeois dictatorships (No idea how that works) but look into the others.

With all that said you should look beyond party lines and just look for parties with these policies:
Trade policy: Protectionism
Economic policy: State Capitalism or Planned Economy as both are good
Religious policy: Doesn't really matter that much. Religion in this game is very underdeveloped and doesn't really affect gameplay. Though from what can be done Moralism and to an extent Pluralism convert POPs to the state religion faster
Citizenship policy: Limited or Full Citizenship
War policy: Jingoism (Or Pro military if you need extra money)
If any party has all these or most then pick them and stick with them.

Okay I've mentioned a few times here and there how republics aren't really all that good in this game, and I'm right it is horrendous and should be avoided at all costs. If you value your fun as much as anyone should you'll avoid becoming a republic like avoiding fellow anthropoids. Most will never see one in their life and will be better off because of that, others however will make the mistake the moment they're born and will wonder why their life is in shambles. For people who actually want to play a nation that doesn't go in the red move on to the next section.

To say it right republics in real life are designed to be run by the people for the people, usually by choosing leaders and making group decisions that affect the whole. In Victoria II however republics are so complex they make the most corrupt and rigged republics to ever run fair and working as intended.

First are the POPs who vote, what they vote for no one knows because the game isn't that in depth. All that there is to know is that whatever issues they are most aligned with currently will decide their vote unless they have consciousness (Yes, this is the only time consciousness matters in this game and this will be the only time I mention it.). Consciousness will shift votes closer to ideologies liefer than issues. That's it and nothing else.

Then all the votes are tallied in the province and whichever voting system you have will decide the end result. Once the whole nation is done choosing their next party there is a 9^256.4 out of 10 chance you will be disappointed as you find your POPs do not have you or your nation's best interests and will elect the liberals into power for the tenth time this playthrough.

While the system Paradox made is a steaming pile of horse manure there is one nugget of good stuck inside. The events that pop up from time to time can give some militancy somewhere in your electing provinces. Do it enough and you can start passing reforms. You can also start a new election the second the last one ends to create an endless cycle of failure and success. Though at the end of the day why choose to be lukewarm when you can have a functioning society?

Oh and while it doesn't pertain to this kind of system, proletariat and bourgeoisie dictatorships (Communist and Anarcho-Liberal respectively) aren't too good either as passing political reforms is harder under these two. That might sound okay on paper but considering that those reforms stop rebels the only thing to stop these two is to use of rebels that will overthrow the government for you. When you're at that point you might as well restart your save to before those two take power or just bear with them until something changes.

If there is anything any Victoria II player can agree on besides democracy being the worst government type, is that rebels are the worst and the scum of the earth. Like in all Paradox games nobody likes them.

How do these tares spawn? Who knows exactly other than if your militancy is high enough and the rebels get enough organization they will spawn, probably literally from the devil's mouth (Especially Jacobins.). Upon spawning they will proceed to occupy whatever province they started in and won't stop until either you kill all of them or they win and topple the government.

Of course while I exaggerate not all rebels are bad, context is everything. Some rebels can lead to turning your nation into a dictatorship or monarchy which is good. Remember, reactionary, communist or fascist rebels should be left alone, all others should be killed on site. Unless you are *A. playing an unciv, kill these so you don't lose all your progress. *B. Also if they're rebels in enemy territory, leave them be and they will serve you well and provide ripe stripped entertainment. *C. including nationalists and if there just so happen to be a bunch of puppets or a truce that is keeping you from your prize. (*In most cases the continued existence of any rebels should be up to the player to do away with.)

Unsurprisingly if you actually know how to play the game and make the best armies with the best generals then rebels go from a potential game ruining experience into a 'How many POPs can I kill?' game. I've had this before during a late game with Austria and managed to kill 400,000 of my own POPs (Likely with gas) and they were never a problem ever again. For every problem there is an answer and gas is one of them. You see unlike in real life where most governments just either wait out opposition or throw them out of helicopters we deal with them the same as an enemy nation and treat them as such.

TAKE THAT JACOBINS! SCREW YOU! I HATE YOU SO MUCH AND YOUR HORRIBLE GOVERNMENT TYPE (Both in game and in real life. I mean seriously, how can 'democracy' and 'freedom' compare with millenniums dominated by despotic kingdoms and feudalism? Yuck!).

Believe it or not the economy of Victoria II is really easy and just requires you do this one thing. I'll tell you but you got to keep it a secret okay? Yeah, okay are you ready to hear it now?
-Nod head
-"Economics? What do I look like, some guy in a suit and tie?"
-[Intelligence 10] "I already know how the system works thank you."
-[Barter 70] "How about I give you this car muffler and you'll just tell me."
-[Speech 50/70] "Sure, I mean so far you've been better than my mother when she gets all talky-talky about economics."
[success] Okay then I'll tell you the only thing you need to know. Just keep taxes and tariffs up to 100% percent. Always, and never bring them down for any reason.

There is no reason not to have your taxes and tariffs to their max, only the downfall of your money. Keep in mind that even at such a level you aren't actually taking every last penny any of your POPs have, just what your efficiency can get out of them. You can increase your tax efficiency with economic techs and the amount of money from tariffs through industrial tech as well as some economic techs that affect RGOs.

Remember always to keep these two at their highest level even for middle and rich classes. All the POPs (Except for Craftsmen and Soldier POPs) are the same and there is no wrong reason for wanting all the money you can get from them, unless of course you have plenty of money already in which case MAKE MORE MONEY!

Yeah, Victoria II's trade system is just an enigma layered within mysteries stacked upon unobtainable knowledge. Simply put, nobody knows how trade works (Not even the Paradox devs who coded and play tested it.). Sometimes it doesn't work and you're money just goes into the red because the price of whatever your most produced good is has plummeted. How do you control the prices? Answer: YOU DON'T, THEY CONTROL YOU.

The only thing you need to know about trade is how much of an RGO you are making within your provinces which are mostly raw materials such as coal, iron, sulfur (<- Which are the best RGOs btw.). From these can more refined goods come from factories (Which also improves your industrial score too, so keep that in mind) that will make just about everything you need, the overall results of any factory is dependent on the game allowing you to turn a profit.

As mentioned above factories will produce any one good for their entire existence and can do even better if there are certain criteria that are reached which will improve their work (Including RGOs within the region or technology granted to the player.). Capitalist POPs can also build factories and railroads but are not quite on the same level as the player in terms of actual business sense.

If you produce enough you might be in the top 5 for the nations producing the RGO in question which is really the only thing you should aim for when it comes to RGOs. Overall though the best factories to build are those relating to industry and military or in other words: Military industrial complex Wartime manufacturing network as Dwight David Eisenhower put it.

There are also a bunch of broken and useless things you can do on the trade screen and I will tell you right now they are all a waste of time. Don't bother with trade because there is no point in understanding the bottomless spaghetti code that allows it's existence.

POPs are:

• Stupid
  
• Can't do anything without dictatorial supervision
  
• Apparently a-okay with being ruled over by some country that has no idea how to speak the local language
  
• An essential building block of any nation regardless of color

Forget score, POPs are the only thing that matters. Your only goal in the game is this:


Never stop stealing POPs from other nations. Never consider the atrocities people within your nation are doing, tell yourself it doesn't happen. They're all just zeros and you're the one and in binary that makes you inseparable.

Think of POPs like your power level. If you have an equal amount of or more POPs than your enemies you can ensure victory through decisive means, and if not then worm your way into some easy to take territory and grow from there. And the greatest POPs of them all are undeniably Soldiers and Craftsmen, one boosts your industrial score for every 2500 of them you have and the other can increase all your scores at once.

Beneath them are every other POP type in the game, who mostly are here to fill in the space. Farmers and Laborers make up the bulk of POPs in every province and produce the RGOs those provinces make and are not ideal to have focuses on. Slaves are just farmers who suck at well everything (Same with Serfs if you play a mod that has them) so just abolish slavery and let these guys work an actual job. Artisans are micro-factories, not being as effective but in doubt they can produce tanks out of apples if need be. Bureaucrats improve administration, that's it. Clerks are just Craftsmen who give you RP, you need a ton of them (AKA 4% of your POPs) to do get marginal increases so don't bother with these guys. Clergymen do the same and give you a lot more than Clerks and literacy and you only need half the hantle of these guys so always keep an eye on them. Officers allow you to generate points to fabricate a general via RNG. Aristocrats are parasites that give such a small return to you it's basically nonexistent. Lastly are Capitalists who can build factories and railroads, they are very bad at this and don't have a lot of consistency so don't rely on them.

If not them than the only POP to encourage is soldiers which are the heart of any gamer's multi-ethnic and very much radicalized empire/republic/nation or whatever you call it. Simply put with soldier POPs you can get more POPs which just makes a feedback loop of non-stop gain. Here's a simple formula to understand when to focus on getting more soldier POPs:

• Yes: Then move on to the next state and keep your soldier POPs to the absolute limit. Proceed to question two.
  
• No: Keep focus on increasing soldier POPs until at 2% then proceed to question two.

• Yes: Retain one (1) focus on promoting soldiers, if not then craftsmen.
  
• No: Increase to 2% and assume the above.

Most nations have a few thousand or possibly anywhere between 1 million and 15+ million, your goal is to at least have something like 250+ Million or even more than 1 G (That being billion) people which you can do if you just make sure you have not just the best military but the only military that exists.

POPs of course can rise up against you, not for justice against the player's tyranny or to bring about some kind of revolution no no. In this game they just do it just to spite you (Or if there are just so happen to be more then your POPs hantle than they want to kill your computer) and the only question is this:


Oh and this quote that I'm certain my Oshi would say about Civilization:

The 1800's, a time of relative peace and prosperity for Europe and North America. In this game you will find that to be number one peace is NOT an option and in fact you should always be at war or at least getting ready for the next one. Like the adage 'You can't make an omelette without breaking eggs.', if you want to be number one in the one spot that matters you will have to effectively kill, cripple and destroy every other nation you come into contact with. Often most nations are really paper tigers and you can kill their entire military with a few key battles.

Before we get to that I should go over CBs and war goals. Before any war you must first have a Casus Belli (Literally 'War cause') which you can make by justifying. If you happen to be caught at any time while it generates you will incur infamy but this can be negated with save scumming and releasing puppets. As for war goals you can add these while at war with any target who is at war with you. War goals will cost the full price for infamy so be wise with them. You will also require your population to demand Jingoism to add war goals which can be increased by having revanchism over not owning your own cores. Now that you know the means to be at war let us get into the means to carry out those wars.

In Victoria II those means are allies and rolls (You'll know why in a minute), if you have a high enough amount of these you can destroy the competition. When you fight any war you can occupy enemy land over the course of days or months which is good because not only does occupation give warscore but will also give that nation war exhaustion which at high amounts will kill their economy and cripple their nation for a good few years. Doesn't matter if that province has a whole one person living in it, the exhaustion of occupation adds up equally for everyone.

To avoid having this happen to you attack occupying armies or defend your land strategically. With the proper techs in the Army tab you can easily overestimate your power, for a real advantage you'll need many more techs than your enemy or have gas attack when they don't have gas defense. The real way battles are won are with the rolls you get throughout battles along with the bonuses (Includes: Generals with attack or defense, terrain advantage on hills, mountains along with rivers, dig-in (For defense) and lastly the aforementioned gas attack.).

Alternatively if you really want to win better you can always play the waiting game (Better known as IRL WWI) Where you and your enemy just stand there, waiting for the other to make their move. This only really works against either Republic nations or mobilized nations (Usually both) because these usually don't have the best grasp on their economy and will easily tank if left long enough and there by be left with a bunch of weakened armies who can't fight at their best.

If you used save-scumming you can easily gain all the bonuses you'll need to destroy any army dense enough to attack someone with real living functions. After you win a battle and have the opportunity make sure to put that army out of it's misery and attack it however many times you'll need to in order to make it disappear entirely. Now that's bad but don't worry, war crimes don't exist and won't be invented until WWI. Speaking of which...

GREAT WARS! Great because they let you take even more from your enemies for war goals and what not. These are only late game though and you'll need at least 4 (Maybe 3?) Great powers fighting each other. Still worthwhile if you win.

And lastly as for mobilization treat it like you would any emergency button, as in press it only if you don't think you'll win with your current army. Mobilization can and usually will take a toll on your economy due to the infantry divisions consisting of poor strata POPs who are being taken from their jobs. You can find some truly awesome power within mobilization but that coincides with having a fairly large army so use caution when it comes to it.

To cut my original cringy diatribe short I don't like the world 'Imperialism' because it implies that the guy at the top (If there really is such a person within the system that can be identified) is titled 'Emperor' but in most cases that person isn't real and it just makes me mad that people can't just think of a better term. 'Imperialism' is apparently when one culture overtakes and rules (Or oppresses) another culture which if you ask me doesn't really come to mind at all considering that's just how nations work.

In Victoria II we don't have 'Imperialism'. We have a completely different thing called 'Gamerism' (Coined by moi) which is defined as such:
1. Doing 'Epic gamer moves on your POPs'
2. Map painting, ideally with only one color
3. Same as above but with more border gore
4. Taking all your puppets units and sending them to die in the desert
5. Researching the tech of the same name even though it takes so much damn time
6. Taxing only the poor because there are so many of them compared to the middle and rich (Really though tax ALL of them 100%)
7. Adding nations to your sphere

This PNG will suffice in telling you all you need to know, not that 'Imperialism' garbage.


Think of this game the same way you'd think about working out. If you're not making gains you are doing something wrong. Quite simply you are not stealing enough from everyone around you or beating them to a pulp. It's not about imperialism it's about dominion and you need to remind everyone they're in your house and it's your rules. Then go home and play Victoria II to relax. And don't worry you'll understand once you really know how to play this game why that makes sense.

Understanding the dynamics of power and maintaining your stay on the world it's up to you if you want better or worse. Of course that would be the case if those were mutually exclusive.

Yes one of the mainstays of power keeping everyone else down, not a privilege or perk. If you leave any other nation unchecked for too long they will either overtake you or be a constant buzzing in your ear. In other words to quote someone far more versed in gaming culture:


Lay off your enemies and they will come down on you. Be their friend and you will miss out on taking the spoils. Play the game wisely and you will be the house. Simply put, the best defense is the best offence. And making sure there is no chance for your opponents to challenge you is your goal and no other way is better than exploitation!

When border gore is convenient it is superior to neat and nice borders, you won't have much a chance to defend that land often but whether you make a lot of money or legitimately cut nations in half you are doing something right.

As I have mentioned Victoria II is littered with more bugs than there are in the biggest ant colonies. It begs the question that everyone here is asking: "Why are you telling me all of this?" And "Mister, I just want to eat the bugs, shut up and let me feast." *Here are some you can take advantage of in your next game:

*Craftsmen bug: No one knows exactly sure how or even why this works aside from the fact that when a craftsmen POP is made POPs of a different culture and or religion convert into those of the first craftsmen. Whether this is useful or not depends on if the culture they convert to is a primary or accepted culture. This can be used in a sort of pump and dump.
1. get as many Craftsmen as you can, ideally somewhere around 500,000 for smaller operations and 1 million for larger ones.
2. once you are satisfied with the amount you've gained shut down or destroy all the factories in that region (Or the whole country if you need to.).
3. wait for all your craftsmen to find new jobs, ideally as soldier POPs. Note: If they do not switch to soldier POPs then restart the process, otherwise you can always wait around for more craftsmen to do this exploit.
If this works you will have a massive soldier base to make equally massive armies.

*Revanchism: A mechanic in game that arises from not owning cored states. Initially this doesn't really seem like anything special and you may not even get any but in large percentages it will fuel your peoples jingoism popularity and allow you to add wargoals. With low jingoism you can't add wargoals which always sucks because without high revanchism your people may not tend to want more than you bargained for. Keeping high revanchism and not actually taking the states is like in real life when one country goes to war with another for one reason but is really doing it for something else (Ex: Every war in the past 100 years, the fourth crusade, in fact that is just about every war isn't it? Well okay then :P)

*Krakow: A OPM in former Poland who can instantly remove all their infamy just by releasing Poland as a subject state. In doing this you actually aren't releasing Poland because there isn't any land for them to have (Until you take land where they have cores) which makes Krakow one of the most unusual nations in the game.

*Japan and other island nations: As I mentioned Japan is a viable nation to play in Asia but did you know you CAN go over the infamy limit and not have to get destroyed by the world? Due to being in Asia no one outside of Asia will be able to declare containment wars on you so long as you do not border them. Islands don't border anyone so you can take all the islands in the world and puppet nations willy-nilly to your hearts content.

Truce blocking: After a war the nations involved cannot declare war and usually do not do so. If even two of them join in a crisis then the crisis doesn't start a war and if one nation that has many truces goes over the infamy limit no nation that has a truce will be able to declare war on them. A double edged sword as you can tell.

*Truce breaking: An essential exploit for doing world conquest. In game you can make CBs on any nation even after you've made one, do this after you've made one and once you are done fighting you can declare war again dispute your truce. Bear in mind you will get quite the penalty for truce breaking (Mostly loosing prestige and gaining two infamy) which if you have the confidence to do this will be negligible.

*Steel stealing: A bug that only the most otherworldly of Victoria II players may even dare to use. By making the demand of steel or any good way, WAY higher than it's supply makes it impossible for anyone to actually get that good. Steel is perhaps the best to do this with since the majority of factories need steel not only to be made but also to make things.

*Generic oversea tags: Sometimes when you have colonies in overseas territory and research through the Political Thought branch you'll get generic tags (That's about all I know on how to get them.). Doing so you can release and play in land that would normally be uncivilized but now you get to play civilized and have the primary and accepted cultures of the former nation as your own along with whatever land was given to you. In other words, you can make Africa a viable place to play the game.

Peace deal with over 100 war score: What if I told you, you can take more than is possible in a peace deal? Even I though it wasn't possible but I found out you totally can without the yesman cheat. If your allies add war goals on a nation who is an ally of your target enemy and they are ready to give up you can take as much as 101 war score in war goals. Or at least that's what I managed. Don't rely on this bug too much though as the exact requirements for it are yet unknown even to the top players. It's better to do these separately and take more than you'd be allowed with one peace deal anyways.

*The author of this guide has not done any of these exploits just yet, he only knows that they exist and are very ridiculous in both nature and practice. Do these at your own risk.

savescum (third-person singular simple present savescums, present participle savescumming, simple past and past participle savescummed)

• (intransitive, video games, roguelikes, derogatory) To reload the last saved game whenever the player character dies or an unfavorable outcome has been encountered

-Wiktionary definition of Save scumming

As stated, save scumming (AKA 'Quantum immortality') is the means of manipulating the game in order to avoid unfavorable or game ruining instances. Victoria II is no different and gives the player all the ability to not only save scum but to absolutely abuse it.

Here's the technique:

• 1. Make a save
  
  
• 2. Use the save whenever you want
  
  
• 3. (Optional though useful) Don't overwrite the save so you can return to the date

With this in mind any and all save scumming is possible, not only here but in any game with a save feature. Enjoy the capability of manipulating space and time *itself just to bend to your will all for the sake of your map.


*Within the game, not real life

Now that the content is made it is only up to us (AKA you) to create context.

These are the best times to use save scums:

• 1. During a war justification (Reducing or not gaining infamy)
  
  
• 2. Getting bad events (Best way to save 10% of the world's Albanian population from dying in one day)
  
  
• 3. During a rebellion (Moving your troops into place or entirely avoiding rebels from spawning in the first place)
  
  
• 4. Re-rolling generals (Turn a -5 Attack into +5)
  
  
• 5. When another country declares war on you (I'm talking about YOU France, you'll never get Elsaß–Lothringen)
  
  
• 6. During battles (Switching generals or getting better rolls)
  
  
• 7. Before or during crises (Choosing the right side to be on and wining, or just avoiding them all together)
  
  
• 8. Doing experiments (Declaring wars to get a scope of how strong your army is, seeing how many expenses you can take on before tanking or going over your infamy limit)

There are many more instances when to use save scumming but these are the top ones and the ones you'll use the most.


Do this and single player will be so much easier. No more getting screwed by RNG or the AI ruining your plans for the umpteenth time. Though be cautious, have multiple saves rather than few (Ideally one for each of the above plus a spare one you make during certain events and the auto-save of course.).

For the most part this makes the game way less painful, for instance instead of going over 25 infamy just because you wanted to conquer a two of your neighbors you can just coast by and NOT fight the whole world because you wanted to annex some African nations.

NOTE: Doing strict save scumming can be very tedious and time consuming. That said some leniency is recommended from time to time.

Let's be frank,


Sometimes it is hard to conquer a lot of land given how infamy works. Often you can take land and what do you know, it has nothing that is worth taking. "I got this borderland from Xland and all that is produced is grain and I gained a whole 55k POPs from it. At least I'm closer to getting Xland's actually good land!" Stop getting truce blocked from getting good RGOs and high POP land and instead use this weird exploit.

First declare war on Xland to release Yland (Ex: Decing on Russia to release Ukraine.). Once you've done that decrease relations with Yland (And remove them from your sphere if you have them in your sphere.). Once you've done that and the truces are up declare another war on Xland to release Yland's cores and another one on Yland to conquer them. If you do it correctly and release Yland's cores as they give you their surrender you will annex the entire country of Yland without having to declare needless wars that take up your time.

This is known as the aforementioned Release and conquer exploit and it is just wonderful for conquering the world. For instance if you can pull if off right you can annex the entirety of Poland-Lithuania's land with this exploit and in just three wars you can do what would take more than a dozen (You get All of Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, Lithuania and probably a few more bits of land.). Another great target for this is India, if you can pull if off right it will be the greatest heist you'll ever pull in Victoria II because in just 3 wars you can annex the entirety of India and gain some of the highest POP levels in the game as well as the really good RGOs they produce. Of course you will have to annex the many puppets of the United Kingdom though by that point war shouldn't be that hard for you. I'm also pretty sure that in HPM you can do this exploit with China and annex all of China which would essentially make you win the game now that you are guaranteed to have more POPs than any other country you fight and you only have to do it with three wars.

Playing single player is quite different from multi-player and a large reason for this is because of the so called artificial intelligence that Paradox made. And believe me it is one of the most awful, most disgusting sick twisted jokes that can pass for even being artificial (It's not even intelligent.).

If you're allied with them there's usually one of two kinds of allies you'll have:
1. The "I wanna ally but I'm a wuss with no actual army and will always refuse your calls to war" AI who suck. Call them in anyways because they will actually lose prestige which will lower their ranking.
2. The "I have an army and will join your wars but I also am missing half my cognitive functions and won't do anything useful for you." AI who also suck but I like their enthusiasm. They can make for the perfect meatshield.

How then can AI be a good ally? And the truth is that allies aren't meant to be good or useful. Any and all allies you have are pawns, distractions for your enemies to fight while you take care of business. Doesn't matter if they are a secondary or Great power that is the whole grain truth.

Aside from that you also have other options in the form of foreign investing and military aid which is the equivalent of throwing your money straight into a black hole never to be seen again and watch as those factories you spent a fortune on close down because the AI never seems to use factory subsidies. They are a means to an end in increasing relations and influence.

Also there is military access, it's good though really that's it.

Also I hate how the AI can still influence even though they have a truce. Why it's allowed for them but not the player is absurd and I hate it. That and the fact that the AI isn't really aggressive and hardly starts wars. I mean they do but compared to other Paradox titles Victoria II is one of the more relaxed games because of how underwhelming the AI is.

Yes, a sphere is a Great Power only ability in game. It's suppose to-
*Phone ringing
Oh, uh hold on.
*Pulls phone out of your pocket
Uh oh, I might be in trouble now. Okay easy now.
*Answers phone
Hello? Ay, my man Megatron how are you? Yeah I know I missed your call just now, I told you Cybertronian tech doesn't always get picked up. Well I'm sorry to hear that. Look I'm in the middle of something here and... No no! Not like that at all I... What? What!? No I'm not doing that, besides you don't even know what it's about. Fine, fine I'll see you around you big ape- I mean saurian.
*Puts phone on speaker and gives it to you then walks away
"Hello? Oh ahem..."

"Wait was that really what that primate was talking about? Well then I guess I'll just take over for now. Your attention primate, yesss. I want your services- nay I want your allegiance to me yesss. If I couldn't kill off humanity or Optimus Prime than I can always turn mankind against the Maximal menace and their Autobot ancestors. Yesss. After all, the wise tyrant always ensures the peons get the table scraps and not the spoil itself. Yesss, anyways I've got more important matters to attend to, more important than some dumb blog. Yesss."
Okay Megatron, I believe this hijack is over now.
"It may be, Yesss but just remember a Predacon never forgets. I'll make sure you are-"
*Hangs up phone and puts it back in your pocket
You know what I think we can skip the spheres of influence. All you really need to know is that it just establishes a sort of zone of 'friendliness' with the target nation and that nation alone will only like you (Most of the time.). Also they make either good or decent meat shields who can take the blows for you from time to time. Of course this is the AI so don't expect much.

One very important thing to understand is this; if you sphere a nation that has cores on your land they will not make an alliance with you no matter what. You can get military access if you raise relations high enough. Also making a puppet of another nation or releasing them as a puppet will set them in your sphere even if you were previously at hostile (The lowest of sphere levels.).

As for spherelings of other nations there are two ways of going about them being aggression or ignorance. If they happen to be quite the asset to your rival GP go after them diplomatically or militarily. If not then don't bother! Also if you have a truce with said GP and they don't have an alliance with said sphereling (Or if they are at friendly) you can declare war on them and they will not intervene against you. Lastly you can intervene in wars on behalf of spherelings or nations you have gotten to friendly.

Another thing, playing the sphere game is not for everyone and will very often lead to a game ending by the midgame because you'll be fighting the other seven GPs on the diplomatic field. Doesn't matter if you have 200 relation with your spherelings or there is a truce between them and an AI GP they always come back to be a royal pain in the side. The best thing to do is to just hold on to what you have and if you have the chance to take someone out of GP status do it with style and burn their whole country down with them.

Like the old saying goes, 'Too much of a good thing is bad.' And Victoria II is no exception.

In recreation (That includes gaming) this is called burnout. Doing a lot of what this guide explains can cause severe levels of burnout when done to an intensive level as save-scumming™ multiple exploits can be very exhausting, take it from me that keeping infamy under 24.99 can be a real pain when you load a save and get caught literally the next day. If left to grow you will end up like the below:



How do you avoid this? Simply there are two ways. First is to be a fair bit more lenient with saving, a perfect run can be very time consuming but giving some lee-way can give you a mental edge. The other way is to just leave the game for a few days, weeks or even a month or so. Save-scumming™ demands commitment but there is never a time limit (Aside from potential incidents such as losing your saves) so live in safety knowing your game will be waiting for you.

On another note remember that this is just a game, a hobby and not quite a competition. Take it easy, just not to easy or you may end up losing a lot more than you were expecting. Remember, the game is less important than the mental game that is life.

Take care of yourself, gamer. You deserve it. :)

During certain years like 1840 the philosophy branch will be open for research and as such each tech gives a bonus to your research points after finishing them.

Before the year any of these techs are available the best thing to do is not research anything for whatever amount of time you have until January 1st. Doing this will accumulate RP allowing you to research the tech as quickly as possible. Just keep an eye on this, if it goes over a year in points you will waste any points that could be used for research.

Literacy itself is not all that good to increase when it comes to research. Only do this for allowing better POPs and what not. If anything you'll only need to keep in mind how many clergymen you have (Or Intellectuals if you are playing a mod), like I've said elsewhere get them to 2% and once you do don't bother with them because they usually stay at that point increase naturally.


Here's a ranking of what techs you should do in order of importance:

-Philosophy branch: Philosophy is the best means of increasing your RP, besides getting clergymen. Always make sure whatever tech you research beforehand is done before the years that you can research these (Those being 1840, 1860, 1870 and 1880 and 1900.).
-Chemistry branch: This tree is great for three reasons. One is that you get extra POP growth which is always a must (About 0.08 or so) and secondly you also get all the more closer to colonization and last but certainly not least you get higher supply which allows for bigger armies. You also get some other stuff like factory types and what not but that is secondary.
-Artillery and Infantry branch: For any good military you'll need some actually good equipment for your armies and that is what these two branches do. Combined with a large army and great generals you'll be unstoppable.
-Navy dockyard and shipbuilding branches: A must for anyone looking to build up their navy. They also make your ships stronger so don't dote on it.
-Any techs that have country specific flavor: For example America gets the 'Manifest destiny' decision by researching Romanticism. Germany requires 'Nationalism & Imperalism' to form and so on.

-Market responsibility branch: Not exactly an overpowered tech but it will be there to save you from a failing economy. Also gives you more influence power as a GP so keep up with this for the sphere game.
-Infrastructure branch: A good tech though the benefits are surface level from what I've seen in my games. Besides moving troops faster and (I think) giving more supply status it's good enough.
-Social thought branch: Another good tech branch, this one actually improves your literacy rate which is a must for getting clerks and craftsmen. Not that you'll realize it while focusing on more important matters.
-Army doctrine branch: The only branch that improves your defensive power significantly through dig in and adding defense to your regiments. Great to get through these by the mid/late game to really grind your enemies down (And experience trench warfare.). Also gives/improves forts.

-Political thought branch: This gives you an extra national focus for each tech researched (And decreased casus belli speed for one of them) and it gives you the majority of every, bad, idea that you can get. It's like going to a pie shop and the pie wants to kill you or in other words it's cancer but good cancer a double edged sword (How did I not mention this sooner? Swords!).
-Every other branch: Seriously, if you're up to date on all the essentials and materials go and the aforementioned research branches do the other ones. Military logistics gives you gas attack by 1900 so keep that in mind when you can research it. Also metallurgy and power will increase your production so keep up with these if you are behind. All the other commerce techs give some not so useful improvements to factories and very little amounts of prestige besides giving you more money.

Yes, the most useless tech in the game. Don't bother with this one, it is a sick joke that the devs put it in here in the first place. You only get increased reinforcement speed and army experience which I don't find to be all too helpful for what you put into this. You get only ONE invention, that being radios which is all the way at the end of this so yeah very useless over all.

If you have the gotten past the point of no return and exceeded the sacred 24.99 infamy that makes the entire world hate you no matter who you are? Don't worry, we Gamers have a saying:


Just as much as the number of casualties is a number so is your infamy. While this game does have an option to play in 'hard mode' the true hard mode is having a whole 25 infamy. This is where we separate the boys from the men and where lads become chads. It's where the game goes from grand strategy to survival horror. Why? *Because every Great Power nation will declare war on you, your allies will leave you, your nation will rebel against you and once it happens you will only wonder where it all went so wrong.

What else is numbered but your days? You have 100 years to do as much as you can with whatever country you play as and over the course of any and every game you will get a truce with whoever you were at war with. *Before you exceed 24.99 Infamy you must first have had at least one war with every relevant Great Power, if you have not then they will not hesitate to declare war on you all at once, flay your army, dice your economy and literally game-ruin your country.

Once you've avoided this you will have about 5 years to go and do whatever you want in terms of declaring war, even Spherlings are not safe unless they are allies. Once the truce runs out make sure to move whatever amount of armies you must to the appropriate place they need to be before your enemies jump the gun on you. Show no mercy to them, give no quarter. If you do they will kill you. It's a very dog eat dog world here and it doesn't get any worse.

*That is, any great power that either shares a border with you or has their capital in the same continent as you. Good to know if you play Japan or any other Asian country (Or Island country for that matter.).

I haven't played multiplayer yet but considering what I've seen imagine playing Victoria II regularly, if by regular it means you have to put up with the awful internet connection for this game and people 'Hugboxing' you into game ruining wars.

While were at it why not go over some player types that you can try for your next game with the boys:
-The cold war sitter: Spend the whole game making tones of money and when a big war starts up fund both or just the one side. Use your money as a means of manipulating others to do things for you, Like weakening a powerful state or helping you kill rebels. Bonus points if you can make them forgo certain techs and leave them in a loop of needing you for aid and you sending them to go do more dirty work.
-The drunk: You don't know why you're playing Victoria II or even why your playing multiplayer but you damn well that you want to do whatever is on your mind. Preferable if you don't plan on sticking around too long. You will probably get banned for this by the way.
-The thug: You have a massive amount of POPs and a lot of soldiers to boot. Your one and only goal is to beat some ass. Pairs well with the Cold war sitter who will generously bankroll your wars for you but don't be too trusting.
-The Germany player: Always plays Germany or whatever nation they like most in every single game. These players are cold, calculating and above all deadly if they actually know how to play the nation in question. If they're just LARPing then they'll make easy prey.
-Margaret Thatcher: Another dangerous player. These people will do whatever petty things they can just because they can and will most likely cause a world war over some backwater region. Their one weakness is usually a competent hugbox.
The saboteur: A devious player who intentionally throws the game or does things to any one country just to game-ruin. For instance: Deleting the entire Russian army or deleting all the factories in the UK (who mind you are the only nation at the start who have a machine parts factory which is an essential item for making other factories.).
And lastly the map-painter: A player whose only desire is to map-paint, by any means necessary. Similar to the drunk but a fair bit more competent.

Aside from that multiplayer is just as much fun as single player though keep in mind not everything in this guide will help you there.

There is currently an open source version of Victoria II being developed. I'm not certain of how much use this guide will be for that version, hopefully many much needed changes can be made for a now decade old game that as of April 16th will have gone a whole decade without any major changes to the gameplay.

Like all Paradox titles Victoria II is no stranger to mods, the majority are good though really all they are is just another coat of paint over what is a good game. Here's a few just off the top of my head.

Historical Project Mod: An honest upgrade to an already fantastic game. Adds a whole lot of flavor and dare I say actually makes the game playable. For real I actually play the game entirely through this mod, it's just that good.

Greater Project Mod: In short it's the above but better. In longer terms it's what the game would be like if Paradox updated it like their other titles. Is also quite labor intensive from what I've heard to build yourself a mega machine computer before playing this.

Project Alice: The entire game overhauled into what Victoria III should have been like. Though to be honest they may have gone overboard with how much they did. Still quite cool.

Always war: Exactly what it sounds like. Unfortunately the download link is now locked and there by is lost forever which depending on how you feel about lag and rebel deathstacks may be a good or bad thing.

Ultimate mod: A pretentious sounding title for what is an extended timeline version of Victoria II. Goes back as far as the 1600s and doesn't end until the year 99999 or what ever year it ends. I'm not sure if it even is around now though.

Kaiserreich: Yes this is the precursor to the HOI IV mod and it shows. Fairly limited and ultimately forgotten. There was also one for HOI III and I think HOI II but not a lot of people play those now.

Divergences in darkness: Wacky mod where England and France are one country (Which isn't even the ugliest thing this mod has to offer.). Early game allows the player to go ham because of infamy reduction that goes down is more than base game. Fun especially with friends.

Harald's triumph: Same as above except this time it's the British isles and most of Scandinavia.

The new era: For people who don't want to play Hearts of Iron but still want to play a game set in WW2 (With a game made to simulate warfare from a century prior.).

Thrones of Lorraine: I honestly don't even know, nor do I want to know what this mod is about but it sure is bizarre. So many microstates at the start and so much content, almost on the same level as Voltaire's Nightmare of EUIV.

Crimea mod: A mod that is supposed to fix the shortcomings of the original and adds a few minor things all over the place. Is the only mod to date that has a viable Bourgeois dictatorship (Should've just removed it entirely.).

Yeah a lot of the more wacky mods have a premise of being even more wacky than the others which is their whole selling point. "My mod has SO much lore and nations with borders that I drew in my sleep." Is the premise that just about every overhaul mod has, not that I have a problem with that but you don't really need a whole lot of wacky to make your mod unique.