The Past is now the Present
Why everyone listens and watches the old shit.
Games
Collections: Teaching Paradox, Imperator, Part IIa: Pops and Chains
Slavery as necessity. “To greatly simplify, in this vision, what makes the ancient economy distinct from other subsequent forms was its substantial reliance on slavery (as opposed to dependent tenants or wage laborers) as the main system by which labor… Read More »Collections: Teaching Paradox, Imperator, Part IIa: Pops and Chains
Collections: Teaching Paradox, Imperator, Part I: Divisa in Partes Tres
Diplomacy was hard in the ancient world. “On the diplomatic side, yes, Imperator in its deviations from the EUIV model captures something real about the ancient world, which is, quite simply, the relatively primitive and disconnected state of diplomacy in… Read More »Collections: Teaching Paradox, Imperator, Part I: Divisa in Partes Tres
Miscellanea: Victoria III Confirmed! (First Impressions)
Delegation. “the war system is quite different. Gone are moving individual armies through provinces, replaced by ‘fronts’ to which armies are assigned to either defend or push forward. I think some players are going to be quite unhappy with the… Read More »Miscellanea: Victoria III Confirmed! (First Impressions)
Collections: Teaching Paradox, Crusader Kings III, Part IV: Emperors, Soldiers and Peasants
Cities were powerful in the past. “A lord could dictate to the peasants, but had to negotiate with major towns, and this just isn’t well reflected in-game.” https://acoup.blog/2022/10/14/collections-teaching-paradox-crusader-kings-iii-part-iv-emperors-soldiers-and-peasants/
Collections: Teaching Paradox, Crusader Kings III, Part III: Constructivisting a Kingdom
How? “if power is personal, rather than institutional (leg one) and highly fragmented between many people (leg two), then how is power gained and kept within such systems.” https://acoup.blog/2022/10/07/collections-teaching-paradox-crusader-kings-iii-part-iii-constructivisting-a-kingdom/
Collections: Teaching Paradox, Crusader Kings III, Part IIa: Rascally Vassals
Ruling is not easy. “Because vassals only provide a percentage of their military strength to their liege but will field all of their strength in the event they rebel (typically through forming a faction whose demands are refused), large realms… Read More »Collections: Teaching Paradox, Crusader Kings III, Part IIa: Rascally Vassals
Collections: Teaching Paradox, Victoria II, Part II: The Ruin of War
Power rules them all. “What is at work here is not the Congresses themselves and certainly not law (indeed, the individual Congresses could be startlingly inconsistent), but rather balance of power politics. The pressures of anarchy aren’t restrained, but instead… Read More »Collections: Teaching Paradox, Victoria II, Part II: The Ruin of War
Collections: Teaching Paradox, Europa Universalis IV, Part II: Red Queens
Forces at play also in the real world. “So Burgundy is essentially in a race where it starts four feet behind and must sprint to catch up. Burgundy has to assemble power faster than France in order to remain secure.… Read More »Collections: Teaching Paradox, Europa Universalis IV, Part II: Red Queens
Collections: Teaching Paradox, Europa Universalis IV, Part I: State of Play
Even good games need to simplify. “The state has precise knowledge at all times of how much manpower they have available state-wide, how many sailors, exactly how much money and so on.These were things that pre-modern states generally did not… Read More »Collections: Teaching Paradox, Europa Universalis IV, Part I: State of Play