Waited until Patch 1.3 to play, so unlike other players I haven't had to relearn the game every update.
Only a single playthrough in (1700s Scotland), but here's a few things I can comment on:
A few downsides:
- Enemy military AI is not great, can prove tricky early game when outnumbered 1:5 but once professional armies come around you can pretty quickly pull some unlikely victories by just paying some attention. Enemies accept peace deals a bit too easily too.
- Events/Reforms flavor is nice, but would prefer a full mission system.
- Trade seems a bit unintuitive sometimes, but this might just be me (and you can just automate it if it becomes too much of a hassle).
Upsides:
+ AI expansion overall. Wasn't expecting much from earlier impressions, but in my only run so far, Spain and Ottomans have formed and consolidated their historical territories, Muscovy is about to form Russia, and France is a menace while still being blocked at the borders of the HRE.
+ If you're playing a small-medium starting nation, you do not run out of things to do by the 1400s. The new mechanics and situations each age offers are refreshing enough to slow you down and keep you invested, although as always, more content is welcome in the future.
+ Not a single crash, decent performance (splitting ticks into hours might have been a mistake though).
Overall thoughts:
The game is ready to be played and enjoyed. This game, less like EU4/HOI4 and more like CK3/VIC3, relies on the player to set their own goals, expectations, and strategies. Like Civilization 6, it is a fairly easy game to "succeed" at. The fun comes from doing so the way you want to.
I'm sure that there is currently not enough content to keep me invested for 10+ campaigns, but I think it is finally worth getting into. If Paradox keeps up development and continues to listen to feedback, this *will* be the Magnum Opus of the Grand Strategy genre.
