Victoria: An Empire Under the Sun
Encyclopedia
Victoria: An Empire Under the Sun is a real-time strategy
game by Paradox Entertainment
(now known as Paradox Interactive
). It covers its namesake the Victorian period, specifically 1836-1920 and runs on a modified version of the Europa Universalis
engine. The lead game programmer
was Johan Andersson
. The game was later ported to Macintosh by Virtual Programming.
Unlike previous Paradox Games, which either focused on exploration and colonization (Europa Universalis
) or warfare (Hearts of Iron
), Victoria focuses on internal management, covering the industrialization and social/political changes in a country. The game itself gives a lot of importance to the economy of a country, having a complex market system which is described as being one of the best economic simulators ever made. Fans of Paradox's games have noted this one for being the deepest game Paradox has yet made, making it quite popular with the Paradox fanbase. However, Victoria received largely indifferent reviews on release, averaging only 60.4% on Game Rankings
. Critics cited reasons such as the game's steep learning curve and its relatively dated graphics.
On August 19, 2009, Victoria II was announced, and was released on August 13, 2010.
The combined score of the above three categories determine the 'winner' of the game
.
, are consumed mostly by industry - but can nonetheless be sold directly for less profit
. The player possesses a wide range of options with which to build their economy, provided they have access to the proper raw materials. All resources can be collected or produced by industry. They can also be acquired on the world market. Access to the world market is granted based on a country's prestige rating.
is managed bilaterally; nations can engage in diplomacy using a variable yearly supply of diplomats, offering various treaties and entreaties to other states. Players can use money to improve relations with the other powers; offer to negotiate for technology, territory, colonial claims, and money; sign pacts of unilateral or mutual defense or full alliances; demand the cessation of colonialization of certain areas; and, if all other efforts fail, declare war
.
, depending on the war) territory. It is abstract, and consists of divisions marching to hostile territory and fighting a hands-off battle that the player has no control over save by sending reinforcements or withdrawing.
Combat efficiency, however, can be influenced decisively by the player. Appointing generals or admirals influences the morale and organization of the troops, as do technological improvements. An advanced railroad system in a province grants the province's owner bonuses
in combat, as well as increased mobility. Provinces can also be fortified and troops will entrench when left alone long
enough, both giving enormous combat benefits.
The ultimate objectives in warfare is dramatically different from those of other strategy games: it is generally very difficult to do severe damage to an enemy's economy in a single war, occupied territory is only temporarily in the hands of the occupier, and post-war territorial gains are generally modest and difficult to subdue. However, there are other conditions to peace such as War Indemnities and Humiliation.
Declaring war or seizing provinces from civilized countries without pre-existing claims makes diplomacy more difficult and can eventually lead to preemptive war
from other powers. Warmongers tend to discover themselves radically isolated from the rest of the world and forced to engage in warfare almost continuously, which can lead to neglect of industry and prestige.
Land units in Victoria are divided into four types:
Victoria: Revolutions (often called Ricky by the community) is the expansion pack
for Victoria: An Empire Under the Sun. It was released on August 17, 2006 through GamersGate, and on CD in October 2006.
Real-time strategy
Real-time strategy is a sub-genre of strategy video game which does not progress incrementally in turns. Brett Sperry is credited with coining the term to market Dune II....
game by Paradox Entertainment
Paradox Entertainment
Paradox Entertainment owns rights to many intellectual properties, the most famous of which is Conan the Barbarian as created by pulp author Robert E. Howard and expanded upon by many other authors over the years. Other properties include Bran Mak Morn, Kull, Solomon Kane, Mutant, Mutant...
(now known as Paradox Interactive
Paradox Interactive
-External links:*...
). It covers its namesake the Victorian period, specifically 1836-1920 and runs on a modified version of the Europa Universalis
Europa Universalis
Europa Universalis is a grand strategy video game released on March 14, 2000 by Paradox Interactive and distributed in North America by Strategy First...
engine. The lead game programmer
Game programmer
A game programmer is a software engineer, programmer, or computer scientist who primarily develops codebase for video games or related software, such as game development tools. Game programming has many specialized disciplines all of which fall under the umbrella term of "game programmer"...
was Johan Andersson
Johan Andersson (game programmer)
Johan Andersson is the lead game programmer for Paradox Interactive, the Swedish-based game company which created Europa Universalis series, Victoria series, Crusader Kings, and the Hearts of Iron series...
. The game was later ported to Macintosh by Virtual Programming.
Unlike previous Paradox Games, which either focused on exploration and colonization (Europa Universalis
Europa Universalis
Europa Universalis is a grand strategy video game released on March 14, 2000 by Paradox Interactive and distributed in North America by Strategy First...
) or warfare (Hearts of Iron
Hearts of Iron
Hearts of Iron is a grand strategy computer game developed by Paradox Interactive and published by Strategy First, set in the years 1936-1948. In the game you can control any one nation as World War II unfolds. It was released for Windows-compatible PCs in 2002. A Macintosh version was also...
), Victoria focuses on internal management, covering the industrialization and social/political changes in a country. The game itself gives a lot of importance to the economy of a country, having a complex market system which is described as being one of the best economic simulators ever made. Fans of Paradox's games have noted this one for being the deepest game Paradox has yet made, making it quite popular with the Paradox fanbase. However, Victoria received largely indifferent reviews on release, averaging only 60.4% on Game Rankings
Game Rankings
GameRankings is a website that collects review scores from both offline and online sources to give an average rating. It indexes over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 games.GameRankings is owned by CBS Interactive...
. Critics cited reasons such as the game's steep learning curve and its relatively dated graphics.
On August 19, 2009, Victoria II was announced, and was released on August 13, 2010.
Victory conditions
The main goal is to end the game with most Victory Points. To get victory points, you must score in three categories:- Prestige - claiming colonies, winning wars, implementing social and political reforms, researching technologies or through historical events.
- IndustryIndustryIndustry refers to the production of an economic good or service within an economy.-Industrial sectors:There are four key industrial economic sectors: the primary sector, largely raw material extraction industries such as mining and farming; the secondary sector, involving refining, construction,...
- building factories, converting farmers and labourers to craftsmen and by improving your transportation network. - MilitaryMilitaryA military is an organization authorized by its greater society to use lethal force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. The military may have additional functions of use to its greater society, such as advancing a political agenda e.g...
- the size and quality of your armyArmyAn army An army An army (from Latin arma "arms, weapons" via Old French armée, "armed" (feminine), in the broadest sense, is the land-based military of a nation or state. It may also include other branches of the military such as the air force via means of aviation corps...
and navyNavyA navy is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake- or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions...
.
The combined score of the above three categories determine the 'winner' of the game
Game
A game is structured playing, usually undertaken for enjoyment and sometimes used as an educational tool. Games are distinct from work, which is usually carried out for remuneration, and from art, which is more often an expression of aesthetic or ideological elements...
.
Economy
The economic system in Victoria attempts to simulate the flow of resources in a world market. Every province in the game produces a resource. Some resources, such as wheat, are demanded principally by POPs (population units), and can be sold directly. Other materials, such as timberTimber
Timber may refer to:* Timber, a term common in the United Kingdom and Australia for wood materials * Timber, Oregon, an unincorporated community in the U.S...
, are consumed mostly by industry - but can nonetheless be sold directly for less profit
Profit (accounting)
In accounting, profit can be considered to be the difference between the purchase price and the costs of bringing to market whatever it is that is accounted as an enterprise in terms of the component costs of delivered goods and/or services and any operating or other expenses.-Definition:There are...
. The player possesses a wide range of options with which to build their economy, provided they have access to the proper raw materials. All resources can be collected or produced by industry. They can also be acquired on the world market. Access to the world market is granted based on a country's prestige rating.
Resources
Victoria has 47 separate resources, produced by collection or production (or in one case both). Important resources include:- SteelSteelSteel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...
, important for the building of industry, railroads and some war goods, and generally profitable to produce; - CoalCoalCoal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
, used in the production of a formidable number of resources; - Sulphur, a bottleneck good in the production of arms and ammunition;
- Precious metalPrecious metalA precious metal is a rare, naturally occurring metallic chemical element of high economic value.Chemically, the precious metals are less reactive than most elements, have high lustre, are softer or more ductile, and have higher melting points than other metals...
, a very expensive luxury good, with a minor role in changing POP classes; - OpiumOpiumOpium is the dried latex obtained from the opium poppy . Opium contains up to 12% morphine, an alkaloid, which is frequently processed chemically to produce heroin for the illegal drug trade. The latex also includes codeine and non-narcotic alkaloids such as papaverine, thebaine and noscapine...
, an expensive luxury good and a major motivator for aggressive imperialism in Asia; - Machine partCapital goodA capital good, or simply capital in economics, is a manufactured means of production. Capital goods are acquired by a society by saving wealth which can be invested in the means of production....
s, vital for the building of industry and generally the bottleneck in industrialization.
Industrialization
The game focuses on industrialisation in a country, which is driven by technological research. The acquisition of machine parts is crucial to industrialization, as they are needed to build factories.Diplomacy
DiplomacyDiplomacy
Diplomacy is the art and practice of conducting negotiations between representatives of groups or states...
is managed bilaterally; nations can engage in diplomacy using a variable yearly supply of diplomats, offering various treaties and entreaties to other states. Players can use money to improve relations with the other powers; offer to negotiate for technology, territory, colonial claims, and money; sign pacts of unilateral or mutual defense or full alliances; demand the cessation of colonialization of certain areas; and, if all other efforts fail, declare war
War
War is a state of organized, armed, and often prolonged conflict carried on between states, nations, or other parties typified by extreme aggression, social disruption, and usually high mortality. War should be understood as an actual, intentional and widespread armed conflict between political...
.
Warfare
Warfare in Victoria is a special circumstance of diplomacy wherein two players attempt to invade one another's (national or colonialColony
In politics and history, a colony is a territory under the immediate political control of a state. For colonies in antiquity, city-states would often found their own colonies. Some colonies were historically countries, while others were territories without definite statehood from their inception....
, depending on the war) territory. It is abstract, and consists of divisions marching to hostile territory and fighting a hands-off battle that the player has no control over save by sending reinforcements or withdrawing.
Combat efficiency, however, can be influenced decisively by the player. Appointing generals or admirals influences the morale and organization of the troops, as do technological improvements. An advanced railroad system in a province grants the province's owner bonuses
in combat, as well as increased mobility. Provinces can also be fortified and troops will entrench when left alone long
enough, both giving enormous combat benefits.
The ultimate objectives in warfare is dramatically different from those of other strategy games: it is generally very difficult to do severe damage to an enemy's economy in a single war, occupied territory is only temporarily in the hands of the occupier, and post-war territorial gains are generally modest and difficult to subdue. However, there are other conditions to peace such as War Indemnities and Humiliation.
Declaring war or seizing provinces from civilized countries without pre-existing claims makes diplomacy more difficult and can eventually lead to preemptive war
Preemptive war
A preemptive war is a war that is commenced in an attempt to repel or defeat a perceived inevitable offensive or invasion, or to gain a strategic advantage in an impending war before that threat materializes. It is a war which preemptively 'breaks the peace'. The term: 'preemptive war' is...
from other powers. Warmongers tend to discover themselves radically isolated from the rest of the world and forced to engage in warfare almost continuously, which can lead to neglect of industry and prestige.
Units
Military units in Victoria are divided into two types: land and naval. Land units fight against enemy land units, and can occupy enemy provinces. They are the key to military supremacy. Naval units provide a more supportive role; bombarding enemy land units and fighting sea battles. Some naval units can also transport land units.Land units in Victoria are divided into four types:
- Infantry - the backbone of any army. Foot division of 10,000. Strong "fire attack", weak "shock attack", slow.
- Cavalry - a supplementary unit. Mounted division of 10,000. Weak "fire attack", strong "shock attack", fast.
- Dragoons - an intermediate unit. Semi-mounted division of 10,000. Intermediate in all respects.
- Irregulars - a weak unit, only found in uncivilized nations. Foot division of 10,000. Weak in all respects.
Mods
Like most popular Paradox games, multiple mods have been made for Victoria. The most popular of these mods is the Victoria Improvements Project commonly referred to as VIP. VIP includes new AI personalities, changed economy rules, new events and new nations. Other players who have become bored with the default situation of the world in the beginning of the game create alternative history mods, with other great powers. The Mod Franchil is one of most popular for French-speaking people.Victoria: Revolutions
Expansion pack
An expansion pack, expansion set, or supplement is an addition to an existing role-playing game, tabletop game or video game. These add-ons usually add new game areas, weapons, objects, and/or an extended storyline to a complete and already released game...
for Victoria: An Empire Under the Sun. It was released on August 17, 2006 through GamersGate, and on CD in October 2006.
New Features
- 15 extra years of game play, extending Victoria into the interbellum.
- An expanded tech tree to cover the interwar period, including aircraft and carriers.
- A DOOMSDAY converter which allows players to continue their game in Hearts of Iron II: Doomsday.
- A revamped election and politics system, adding a new level of realism to the game.
- A new ideology, fascism
- An overhauled military system, which will be linked with the player’s policy decisions.
- A new economic system that brings more realism through various economic models.