Victoria 3 Announced, PDXCon

Hello, everyone. We are gathered here at this most solemn occasion to celebrate the announcement of Victoria 3. More meme than a game, it’s entertainment value nowadays is not so much as a Grand-Strategy colonization-a-thon but as an eternal joke, plaguing Paradox’s forums and Reddit threads alike.

No more, it seems! The beloved, 2010 classic that allowed players to guider their nations from the early 19th century into the dawn of the 20th is now back and ready for a third and glorious run. Dig deep into the engrossing political situation in one of the most complicated and rapidly-changing periods in world History. Victoria 3 has been officially revealed. A joke, no more.

The first day of PDXCon, like all things Paradox, started as a steaming pile of cringeworthy shit and ended up being decent and fun. Paradox’s CEO, Ebba Ljungerud run-ins with the narrator made me giggle a couple of times and the laid off atmosphere managed to keep the entire corporate shtick far off. Straight to the point, announcement after announcement , the first day of PDXCon was better than what most of us expected, me thinks. Here’s a small run-down of what went down.

–Crusader Kings III Royal Court DLC announced, to focus on court and vassals politics, with players being able to enter their throne room and interact with “numerous systems to further their political power and agenda”. Court gatherings are going to be a thing, with vassals bringing their grievances for us to manage and to serve swift justice to those unwilling to follow the rule of law.

–Dumpster fire gangster wannabe, Empire of Sin is focusing on fixing empire management and the strategical layer by introducing a precinct mechanic and, of course, adding mod support later this year.

–Hearts of Iron IV is going to the eastern front with a new DLC called No Step Back and is finally bringing the long awaited Tank Designer mode and it’s deepening the supply system with trains and railroads.

–The best City Sim of all time, Cities Skylines is adding more variety to Bridges, Piers and Train Stations with two new content creator packs.

–OG Early Access darling, Prison Architect is bringing new ways for convicts to rehabilitate themselves by baking and petting dogs with Second Chances DLC.

–Stellaris is doing… something. And they’re doing it well because Stellaris sold 4 million units and is reaching higher player counts every month.. Very nice.

–Surviving Mars is selling vinyls.

Field of Glory II Medieval: Reconquista released

One of the best articles I’ve ever written my Ultimate Guide To Portugal In Videogames (and a very, very brief History of Portugal). I was ridiculously excited at the Wolves at the Gates DLC for Fields of Glory II because with it, I could travel back in time and recreate some of the battles that kickstarted the Reconquista. Fast forward 2 years and watch me glean with excitement and joy at the prospect of expanding my previous, early medieval military endeavours on the rocky terrains of northern Iberia into the southern, warm plains of Al-Grab (modern day Algarve). Bringing the Portuguese Reconquista to an end. Stay on your lookout tower expecting articles exploring the Medieval warfare of the period. Here’s a small list of features from Slitherine’s website.

• 20 more nations and factions covering Spain, Italy and North Africa from 1040 AD to 1270 AD. These include Andalusians, Almohads, Arabs, Aragonese, Byzantine Catapanate of Italy, Castilians/Leónese, Catalans, Granadines, Hafsids, Italian Guelfs, Italian Ghibellines, Italo-Normans, Lombards, Marinids, Murabits, Navarrese, Papal, Portuguese, the Kingdom of Sicily and Tuaregs. Each of these has their own historically accurate banner. 
• 41 more units, allowing the troops of all of the new factions to be accurately represented. 
• 45 more army lists allowing historically realistic armies for each of the above factions and their allies at different dates during the period, and bringing the total number of Medieval army lists to 103. In addition armies can include contingents from historical allies. This gives more than fifty thousand permutations. You will never run out of new matchups to try. 
• 8 more historical scenarios covering key engagements of the period on an epic scale. These include Monte Maggiore 1041, Civitate 1053, Cabra 1079, Sagrajas 1086, Legnano 1176, Las Navas De Tolosa 1212, Montaperti 1260 and Benevento 1266. 
• 33 more historical matchups added to Quick Battle mode, increasing the total to 98, playable from either side. 
• 4 more historically-based campaigns covering major leaders and conflicts of the era: El Cid, Muhammad II of Granada, Normans in the South and Frederick II Hohenstaufen.  
• Sandbox campaign expanded to include all the new army lists, allowing you to lead any nation (and their historical allies) against any other nation (and their allies) – giving thousands of permutations.

More Total War Warhammer 3 is always welcome

Turns out the Hinged Hussars Kislev Warriors can ride horses and are not limited to bears. That’s a relief! The wait for TWW3 is unbearable.

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