((idk if this is a recc or me just rambling about my latest vic3 experience but I wrote it anyways))
Vic3 gets slightly more intelligible I found the more I applied realistic economics to it:
“Oh if I overtax my citizens, they can’t move their money into businesses. Okay but if I take that tax and increase social services then they get a standard of living increase and they just have more to spend anyway. Okay I have a lot of underdeveloped farmland and my productive base sucks as this country, why don’t we open up investment to this larger country I consider an ally and then I can get revenue off of their business here. Then I can flex my construction into urbanized goods so I don’t have to depend on trade for tools and other necessaries that could break my economy. Oh the world market is real low on X good, let me build into that and triangulate a way to to be more dominant in that market.”
That and when you can start gobbling up vassals but you have to be careful about investment flight too. Your capitalists want cheap labor, sure, but that’s money you’re not making in a place that a greater power or a rival might take for themselves. If they develop a good your market needs though it could be worth it.
Last game I played I did some nation hopping for small quest lines. I kept central america together than formed etheopia and subsequently the horn of Africa country (I think a mod I have does that). Fought off Egypt, the English, French, US, English a 2nd time and almost became a great power before the game ended. When you get to the later military techs defense becomes a crazy advantage.
Also doing cheeky leapfrogging with naval invasions and practicing encirclement tactics is real viable and gratifying. With war in general now I feel like there’s a really clear line between my economy and my military to the point where I can plan ahead and pull stupid results.
It can be fun to purposefully radicalize a population and switch to the rebels in some cases too. I did that for France to get an early 2nd republic. Having the ability to almost instantly pass 2 really radical reforms feels hilarious.
Theres a culture overhaul mod I had that I liked. It got a little hairy with notifications but had plenty of options to opt out of some. It really added extra tasks and challenges for your economy other than war which I really really like.
There’s an extended politics mod too which I was 50/50 on. Cool addition of depth but too many interest groups for me to keep track of personally. I think base game hits the right balance of political group verity and abstraction.
Okay that’s all I got on my Vic3 take. Play it with real economics in mind and the system acts (usually) appropriately regardless of what a tooltip might say or not say, try out mods (especially the Morgereote culture one), purposefully cause revolutions for the plot, be open to doing country swaps to make something interesting happen. The best Vic3 I’ve played usually started with a save scum point and me thinking “alright, let’s be really funny here, what if…”
Not the game you’re talking about but reminded me how surprisingly good Space Marine was. Came out of nowhere, played tight, was slightly cheaper than most AAAs at the time (I remember anyways), and that was it.
Wonder if the sequel was any good.