Hearts of Iron 4, Vic 2, Imperator Rome, EU4, ETC

Stellaris > CK3 > Vic3.

At least until the damn slackers update Elder Kings mod then CK3 will be best.

Vic have way too much micromanagement for me. Stellaris have most content and best mods, but it bloats like crazy and work like shit later in game.

Problem with pirating those games is that all of them live by the mods, and best source of mods is Steam workshop. I think CK3 is the one best here since major total conversion mods usually have github or other alternative download. So my advice would be pirate this one and see if you like it.

Finally there is DLC question if you want to buy. Vic is the newest, it have only single DLC but is pretty barebones overall. Stellatis have shitton of DLC so it's most polished with most content, but it would be expensive, though you can get a lot of them very cheap in keyshops or whatnot. CK3 is middle way, last DLC about tournaments was banger, easily best PDX DLC ever for me.

@PolandIsAStateOfMind@lemmygrad.ml @nimux@Nimux@lemmygrad.ml @WhatWouldKarlDo@lemmygrad.ml @Drewfro66@lemmygrad.ml

Tagging all because I'd rather just do a single reply since everyone mentioned similar things.

Yeah to be honest I was mainly looking at Vic3 or Stellaris in the first place, never was into the dynasties of the CK series that much.

The main issue is really just age, Vic3 in classic Paradox fashion, is often buggy and dysfunctional because it is a new release. Just wondered how much it improved since then, but from y'alls replies, it still has a long way to go.

I guess I'll settle for Stellaris for now. Thanks for the help.

I'll definitely play Vic3 one day though - it's mechanics and setting is just too interesting for me personally. But I'll give it more time for the devs to sort out everything before committing. When I got sucked into EU4, it was already like 4 years since release so I can definitely wait.

I've bounced off of both Stellaris and CK3 repeatedly but I've fallen completely in love with Victoria 3. I think it's easily the easiest game to get into if you enjoy eu4.

It has problems, yeah. There are some countries that are just completely broken in the current version. But it's still overall playable and will only get better in time.

It’s really not worth it, the games aren’t complete unless you own all their dlc, I really recommend pirating paradox in particular

I personally prefer Stellaris. Vic3 is optimized like shit, lacks a lot of basic features and has little replayability. And while there are interesting mods, none managed to really redeem the game in my eyes.

Ck3 is pretty good, I'm just not really into the dynasty and personal relationship stuff. That one is also better on steam, as there are many great mods on the steam workshop and the dlcs are few and unremarkable. You won't miss much by only buying the base game.

Stellaris is better for nation building, with an economic system that's somehow better than Vic3. The politic side of things is rather lacking however. Overall it's a balanced game, with good economy, diplomacy and warfare. Like I said the only subpart department is politics, in which Vic3 is way better. The workshop is also very good for this game, but with the price of all dlcs piracy is also a good choice.

Note: Stellaris' frequent hotfixes and such mean that you're unlikely to be able to enjoy multiplayer if you have a pirated version. From personal experience.

I haven't played the other 2, but I like vic3 for the satisfaction of growing industry as well as the freedom from focus trees and set paths of hoi4.

I know you didn't really mention it as one of the three options, but if you haven't tried it you sound like you might like Cities Skylines. Its a micromanagers dream game, and theres plenty of replay value and longevity for each save game. Admittedly a lot of fun stuff is locked behind DLC but this is the case for every paradox game nowadays.

It depends what you're after.

CK3 is pretty well polished. It's surprisingly accessible this time around, and it's actually a really fun eugenics simulator. Recommended for fans of medieval royalty.

Stellaris is also well polished at this point. It's easily the least weird Paradox game. It plays like a traditional 4x game in space. There's a little something in the game for everyone and you can't go wrong. Especially for sci fi fans.

Victoria 3 is my pick of the bunch. It's rough. Rough enough that I wouldn't argue if you called it broken. But the core is solid. I've spent a stupid amount of time with this game already. It's a nation builder with an economic model that was designed by Marx himself. I'm already pretty much resigned to buying all the DLC for this game on day one. I've always waited for sales in other PDS games. Strongly recommended for people with an interest in macro economics and 19th century politics.