For me personally, Vicky 3 is the winner by a long mile. I have sunk hundreds more hours into that game than Stellaris or CK3, and EU4 was my previous favourite.
I actually think Vicky 3's developments borderline obsolete the EU series for me.
this post was submitted on 13 May 2025
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I once tried ck3 my video card was somehow about to ignite, granted it's a Chepo video card, but it's a fancy map game. Ck2 is getting no more dlc so I'd go with that one because its finished.
For the same reason I'm avoiding Viky 3.
Also, pirate, don't buy, paradox uses steam dmr as far as I know.
I think the most cohesive experience right now is CK3, though my favorites are Vic 3 and Old World Blues (Fallout mod for HOI4).
It really depends on what you enjoy the most out of such games, but as a blind recommendation I’d say CK3
It really depends on what you enjoy the most out of such games
The illusion that states are run by sane people making good plans :P
I dunno, the numbers do stuff and it's fun because the numbers affect the other numbers and if you massage the bad numbers right then the good numbers get large.
Stellaris is currently in a poor place. They just got another total population system rework. It's not going so well right now.
It's a shame distant worlds 2 flopped. Stellaris lost a lot of flavour when they went with hyperlanes and map painting.
RIP my beautiful wormhole stations...
CK3 by a country mile, it simplified a bunch of mechanics and focused on the RP, but everything works together
Vicky 3's navy and combat are simultaneously too finicky and hands off
Stellaris is good if you just roll back the latest update (needs some hot fixes)
Isn't there a new one coming soon?
I dunno which is best but the only one I've ever been able to get into is Stellaris because the others' starting states overwhelm me instantly.
CK3 is pretty good for losing time. It’s definitely the easiest to just go with the flow. Most losses don’t feel game ending and can give you something to go after. I got a friend really into it even though he doesn’t seem to have any interest in the other games.
Vic 3 is alright once you figure out how to keep things stable enough while still ignoring the more complex systems.
HoI4 is a horrible broken mess. I’ve been playing it a lot recently.
I’ve never played EU4 so idk there.
Is it praxis to pick Germany in HoI4 and lose as fast as possible?
I think they added a communist path for Germany recently, but I haven’t played it yet.
If it is then I’m a damn activist
CK3 is really good and probs one of their most approachable. the khans of the steppe DLC just came out which looks great and they are adding china soon too. i think they've supported the game really well with DLC (price notwithstanding) and updates, it's in a nice mature state now and is super fun. i think the leaders and traits systems in CK3 make roleplaying really fun too. it's pretty RP centric with the variety of events and decisions in the game now especially with tours and tournaments which i like.
EU4 is in a pretty good place, all the DLC since Leviathan has been good, and Leviathan was patched into a pretty good state after a while.