Let's Sperg Let's Play Victoria: An Empire Under the Sun - With actual audience participation!

[Massa's Little Buckie]

: MURICA

 

[Zaryiu2]

I'm thinking of making a let's play of Crusader Kings II not gonna lie based on how you have run this so far

 

[Kane Lives]

Kane decrees that you take

Austria to claim it's rightful place as the ruling European power once more.

 

[Dagobert]

America.

I have only played Vic2, but if we can, I say we do America and never abolish slavery.

 

[SalmonForSale]

I want to make Capitalist Russia, so:

Russia

Also kill Lenin if you can get your hands on him.

 

[Leibowitz]

Russia: Make Siberia Great Again.

 

[R00T]

Russia because I don't want to be boring and do the US. Also being nobility and attempting to avoid being murdered sounds way more fun. Can we save Rasputin?
double spoiler can we make Rhodesia?

 

[Zaryiu2]

View attachment 2292775Russia because I don't want to be boring and do the US. Also being nobility and attempting to avoid being murdered sounds way more fun. Can we save Rasputin?
double spoiler can we make Rhodesia?

Spoiler

Rasputin didn't help make Russia better

 

[Neo-Holstien]

Country Selection: First Round

I've decided to cut down on the options for the first country we play to leave the list as uncomplicated as possible. I feel I left some creative options on the table.

Yes I'm aware my color palette is a little fucked up on the red and white countries. I might be able to fix it by the time the game gets going.

United Kingdom

View attachment 2292587
The United Kingdom is the single most powerful country on the face of the planet in 1836, beginning the game with extensive colonies in India, Africa, the Pacific and Canada. The UK also has the highest literacy in the game and the maximum possible starting technology, with a large army and extremely powerful navy. The AI is better at building navies than I am but I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to maintain naval supremacy if I start as the UK.

Needless to say starting the game as the UK will be the most broken option we can take. To keep the game interesting I’ll have to start out with things as “small” as annexing all of India and move up to nuttier shit like taking over China, retaking Normandy from France and making the United States of America a British colony again.

Pros:

• Hilariously powerful.
• The AI is terrible at naval invasions, so the Isles will more than likely never fall even if our navy is destroyed.
• India + the British Isles provides almost all of the resources the Empire will need in the game.
• Best navy in the game.
• Numerous jumping-off points for colonies on all six continents.

Cons:

• Basically zero challenge.
• Will almost definitely be no formidable enemies remaining to go on to the Hearts of Iron stage.
• Nuance will be sucked out of the game since the British start with the best everything and don’t really need to worry about actually building an empire since they already start with one.

United States of America

View attachment 2292589
The United States of America starts the game with no injuns to fight, having essentially taken over all of the territory it would control except for Texas and the territory held by Mexico. The USA has a special event to annex both Texas and all of the land it took from Mexico in the ensuing war, which will basically elevate the USA to its present day territory right at the start of the game.

From there, expanding the American Empire will be a simple matter of picking our targets, as few countries will be capable of defending against the size and might of the American military. Only the British Empire will have the naval power to rival the USA; nearly any other country can be defeated outright or at least fought to a standstill. The question is, would we want to get involved in the affairs of smelly yerps or stick to our own territory?

Pros:

• Most of the best technology in the game.
• Immigration is rigged completely to favor America.
• American Capitalist pops are the best at building factories and will continue expanding America’s industry even if you’re in the middle of a Communist regime during the Great Depression.
• Once the British are kicked out of Canada and the French prevented from gangraping Mexico, Europe will almost never interfere in the affairs of either North or South America.
• No need to worry about the Monroe Doctrine when you are Monroe.

Cons:

• Africa is a bitch to colonize without a starting base there.
• The UK will declare war constantly if we try to do anything fun like annex Mexico, so that will become annoying fast.
• We may have to go to war with Russia for control of Alaska, which is miserable.
• The American Civil War will happen every game until very specific steps are taken to avert it. Steps which I of course won’t reveal to you.
• The game will plateau around 1870 which will be about the point where the American Empire is effectively invincible.
• Like with the UK there may be nobody left to fight come Hearts of Iron 2.

France

View attachment 2292593
France begins the game as roughly the second most powerful nation on Earth, but its AI is lobotomized to reflect the French slump we saw in real world history. Still, in the hands of a player France can become a powerful empire capable of fulfilling the dreams of Napoleon and more. Difficulties however include the two German empires, a near constant conflict with the UK over Africa and social unrest triggered by unavoidable events.

Pros:

• Good starting technology, army and navy.
• Begins the game with extensive bases in Africa and some in the Pacific which will provide excellent springboards for colonization.
• Incentives to colonize more of Africa and the Pacific than the other empires.
• Probably the one country that has the easiest time invading the UK due to its proximity.

Cons:

• If Prussia defeats us in the Franco-Prussia War, it will trigger a nasty event chain called The Fall of France which will make the game quite miserable to play.
• If Germany forms at all, the game is basically over.
• Having to fight both Prussia and Austria at the same time is a nightmare.
• If we accrue high infamy it will mean constant wars with the UK, particularly in Africa which always becomes a battleground between the two powers.
• The English Channel goes both ways and makes it very easy for the UK to invade continental France if they decide they’re sick of our shit.
• We would be playing as France.

Prussia

View attachment 2292594
Small and underpopulated, Prussia was an unexpected contender to rise from the ashes of the Napoleonic Wars. Historically the nation of Prussia would go on to defeat Austria and claim dominance amongst the German nations. Prussia is the only country in the game that can become and unify Germany, which it arguably must do in order to become competitive with the other European powers.

Pros:

• Can unify Germany. Succeeding usually propels Germany to the #1 most powerful nation slot instantly.
• Begins as the head of a powerful alliance including all of the German nations such as fellow Great Power Austria.
• Has the maximum amount of starting technology for the military and I think industry.
• Its greatest rival, France, is a retarded pushover.
• Can easily gain colonies in Africa by stripping them from France.
• Can easily gain colonies in the Pacific by stripping them from the Netherlands.

Cons:

• The UK and Russia despise Germany if we form it.
• Austria will more than likely betray us and try to stop us from unifying Germany.
• Must unify Germany to stay relevant. If we fuck it up The Fall of Prussia will occur.
• Generally doesn’t have the resources to spare to start colonizing Africa (other than war gains) until after they form Germany, by which point all of the best African territories have been taken over by the British.
• Russia will be our worst and most dangerous enemy.
• Low population makes recruiting enough manpower for the army difficult in some situations.
• German Minors may break their alliance with us as a result of certain random occurrences, which can be incredibly irritating if we lose military access through their territory.

Austria

View attachment 2292596
Ill-fated in our history due to being an ugly potato made up of a patchwork of random ethnicities with essentially no common ground with one another, Austria in the hands of a player has great potential. I have the most experience in this game playing as Austria and left to my own devices I can very easily reshape most of continental Europe to my liking. That said, there are some very extreme caveats to playing as Austria that could make our survival questionable at best later on.

Pros:

• Tremendous population of serfs to draw tons of manpower from. The enemy will choke on our dead.
• Rich natural resources across its already vast empire, Austria will want for very little.
• Is perfectly poised to subjugate Italy before they become a problem.
• Is perfectly poised to dismember the elderly and dying Ottoman Empire.
• Has a buffer against France.

Cons:

• Somewhat weaker starting technology than the other European powers.
• Cannot form Germany. If we want to challenge Prussia and unify the German people ourselves, it will be through war alone. This requires a lot of preparation and conflict with Prussia beforehand.
• Russia despises us and will declare war just about every four years.
• Cannot really expand into Africa at all without drawing the wrath of the British, which given that we start with no navy is a huge problem.
• There is a prescribed order in which to subjugate the various parts of Europe we have access to, which I will not reveal to you.
• The country will essentially be in perpetual war until the 1880s at earliest.
• If Italy forms and we aren’t allied with them, we’re probably fucked.
• If Germany forms and we aren’t allied with them, we’re definitely fucked.
• Our multi-ethnic empire will eventually suffer tremendous revolts unless we dismantle it into puppet states. If we don’t have a strong German core homeland to fall back on when this happens, we’re fucked.

Sardinia-Piedmont

View attachment 2292600
Historically the state that formed Italy, Sardinia-Piedmont is one of two states that can form Italy in this game, the other being the weaker and more isolated Two Sicilies. Sardinia is quite tiny and has a small population, but can make up for this by invading parts of Italy early and also getting a head start on a colonial empire.

Pros:

• Excellent starting technology.
• Can and probably will form Italy. The event chain to do this triggers so easily and Two Sicilies disintegrates so rapidly that there’s basically no way we can fuck it up.
• The French AI is designed to favor Sardinia and constantly build relations with us regardless of our actions.
• The UK will regularly guarantee our independence against foreign aggression.

Cons:

• We’re dependent on France and the UK to not get raped by Austria.
• Building a colonial empire is hard when you’re tiny.
• Until we form Italy we’re basically useless.
• Once formed Italy is surrounded on three sides by potentially hostile empires. Allies may not be forthcoming depending on our infamy.
• When Germany forms, we’re totally fucked if we can’t get on their good side. I say “when” because there is utterly no way in hell we can actually prevent Germany from forming, short of somehow winning the Franco-Prussian War for France (good fucking luck).

The Netherlands

View attachment 2292601
A small nation that none-the-less starts out with advanced technology and an extensive colonial empire in the Pacific, the Netherlands has strong potential abroad but will have trouble holding down the fort at home.

Pros:

• Excellent starting technology.
• Begins the game controlling most of Indonesia. May be able to start colonizing the Pacific before the British get to it if they are sufficiently distracted with Africa.

Cons:

• Is tiny and borders Prussia on basically its entire eastern frontier.
• Terrible manpower reserves due to its small size and population.
• Getting Belgium back is nearly impossible.
• Germany has a claim on the territory of Luxembourg, which means Germany will eventually declare war to take it unless we ally with them.
• Colonizing Africa means playing nice with the British because they can tear our empire apart in a heartbeat.

Russia

View attachment 2292604
Russia is vast and controls an incredible amount of manpower, even by the standards of the Russia we know and love since the Russian Empire includes Ukraine, half of Poland, Finland and the entire Caucasus region. Russia also begins the game with a massive frontier with China that can be easily exploited to carve out huge colonial gains without having to dick around with colonizing Africa.

Pros:

• Being a mostly land-based empire is cozy as fuck.
• Incredible manpower. Almost nothing else in the game compares.
• China, Austria, the Ottoman Empire and Persia all provide ample places for us to invade and carve hunks off of to create a colonial empire without having to take to the sea.

Cons:

• Easily the worst starting technology of a major European power, on par with only the Ottomans.
• Russian Navy? lol
• Expanding too deeply into China will cause… problems.
• Has a large number of events that can cause the peasantry to revolt if we run things poorly. This is mostly to facilitate the creation of the Soviet Union but in practice it’s just a bunch of annoying bumps in the road.
• Germany will fuck us right up if we let them form.

Voting will remain open until 8:00 PM Eastern USA Time tomorrow night.
Don't forget your icon!
Anyone can vote in this initial round, you do not need to be on the list yet!
Please restrict your choice to only one country in your vote. Perhaps a runner up but don't be surprised if I disregard those.

View attachment 2292606France, Bonaparte's revenge
I hope I make the list

 

[White Devil]

I personally wouldn't mind doing hardmode as Austria and bringing the million year Kaiserreich to the rest of the world via the glory of sharp looking uniforms and a penchant for disgusting shit sex, but I think the votes going to come down to US vs Russia.

I don't consider Russians (or most Slavs for that matter) human beings, so

USA

 

[Disc]

View attachment 2292648 Russia
Let's make Russia Great

Russia

Let's make Russia Great for once.

 

[Corn Flakes]

Russia

Because land war in Asia is fun for all family.

 

[Mooger Meng]

I'll be the outlier that votes for

Fronce France
because I'd like to see those wine-swilling cheese apes live up the their forgotten legacy and inflict the stink of bleu liquor across the breadth of Yurp and A-Freeka before it is replaced with the sour tang of shame in the summer mockbuster World War 2: War Harder.

 

[Fuck Y'all]

China

 

[Penne Dreadful]

Netherlands.

 

[JongleJingle]

Imma go for Russia. I may be a Obersturmführer, but there is the opportunity to turn a brutal land like Russia into something truly great.

It also gives me an excuse to drink all the Vodka I want. AND the excuse to push us towards nuclear supremacy.

I WANT YOU FOR THE NUCLEAR BRIGADES! ENLIST FOR BIG GUNS, BIGGER ARMOR AND BITCHIN' BABES!

 

[RIPRhongoBongo]

Let us make Mother Russia great and terrible empire comrades

 

[Hermann the German]

This sounds fascinating. I'd definitely like to participate in this political exercise. Normally I'd have to vote for Prussia or Austria, but in this case:

View attachment votingrights.png.webp Russia.

The USA would be boring, and I wanna see a potential Soviet Manchuria.

 

[hot hot leg]

Prussia (with a P)

Let's carry on the legacy of Frederick the Great.

 

[NerdShamer]

Russia, I want to see the world burn!