Anyone who has always wanted to whip up the economy and politics of a state in the 19th century is most likely cavorting in Victoria 3. The strategy game from Paradox is currently very popular, even if fans on Steam are always a little disappointed.
Now Paradox has released its first major patch, tackling a whole carriage load of problems. First and foremost, these are balance optimizations, but the AI and lots of bug fixes are also in the patch notes.
You can find out how we like the game in general in our test video:
16:59
Victoria 3 – Test video for the massive global strategy game
These are the highlights of Patch 1.0.4
Fewer slaves
Victoria 3 is a historical game that tries to represent the world of the Victorian era as completely as possible. Therefore, the society of that time often shows its ugliest side. The slave trade in particular is still widespread in some areas of the world in Victoria 3. However, the patch now at least ensures that people are no longer forced into slavery quite as quickly.
In numbers, only 0.5 percent of the population becomes slaves every week due to debt, instead of the previous 5 percent. Also, if 20 percent of the population is already slaves, no more pops will be enslaved.
The American Civil War becomes more compelling
While we’re obviously supposed to have some control over how the story unfolds, it’s been very easy to avoid the American Civil War so far. For this, the slave laws simply had to be adjusted. It’s not that easy anymore. The new patch ensures that political movements to abolish or preserve slavery can more easily lead to the radicalization of the population. In general, it is no longer so easy to abolish laws when there is a strong party in government that opposes them.
Our guides to Victoria 3
Are you new to Victoria 3 and need help? Our guides will help you master this complicated game:
Further changes
In addition to these major adjustments related to slavery and civil wars, the patch also implements even more improvements. Here is a quick overview of other important changes:
- The AI should be a little more aggressive and get involved better in diplomacy games.
- Building construction tooltips give better information on how income changes.
- If military salaries are cut, training will be slower, and if civil servants’ salaries are cut, it will cost us prestige.
- Political movements start preparing for a revolution as soon as they are radicalized by the age of 50.
- Fixed various crashes.
You can find more details about the changes in the official patch notes on the next page.
Table of Contents