Yes, with an AI as strong as Sassenach describes, it will be interesting to see how an alliance of humans can deal with it. I just hate when a coalition of AIs attacks me because i go over my infamy.
In my games, I have seen a north german federation, Germany, Italy, france always colonises most of africa. england its just tooo strong, but i never saw a Russo-Turkish war taking place.

I plan to playtest today the ROME Gold version of europa universalis. now that's a period i like!

I thought that was the point of infamy, to be honest. Either you are doing things too quickly, or too aggressively.

A coalition of human players could beat UK fairly easily actually, but it would require close coordination and a degree of gamey tactics to do it. The way to go about things is to declare war with a goal of releasing India and freeing the satellites. UK needs to be beaten up quite badly before it concedes any war demands, but this can be done eventually. So if you have one war to release India in the Delhi province plus get two satellites released as well it weakens UK and creates a strong rival right there in the centre of their powerbase. You then repeat the process a few years later, adding more territory to India and releasing a couple more satellites (try to choose the ones which border the new India state that you created). In the space of maybe 3 wars over 15-20 years you can rip a massive slice of British India away from their control. It then becomes much easier for you to sail round there and conquer it from the resulting nations.

The only other way to do it is to attack Sindh and then Panjab as early as possible, then conquer Persia and a big slice of China to give yourself a huge population base of your own to rival British India. This is a much slower and more difficult process though, and the time it takes to do that the Brits are really developing India and probably expanding into China themselves.

Sassenach wrote:A coalition of human players could beat UK fairly easily actually, but it would require close coordination and a degree of gamey tactics to do it.

Is it possible to play Victoria II with other human players?

I tested Hearts of Iron II with Cypeg but we weren't able to get it to work because both of us were using laptop computers.

Regarding multi-players games, I've come across this website called Game Ranger which hosts quite a few games. I'm not sure if it allows for Victoria II, but I have tried Imperial Glory through the programme.

http://www.gameranger.com/

Alot of MP groups (for all paradox titles) use gameranger. I am apart of several largish ongoing HOI2, and EU3 games.

Just check paradox Forums or Lord ederon Forums for details of ongoing games, be warned though most games are played 1 session per week for 4-6hours. So be prepared to commit that one night/day for the next few months :)

Victoria 2 is crap for MP at the moment, give it till the next patch and hopefully theyve fixed alot fo the game breaking issues..... ie.. ''CRASHING''

**also the Paradox 'ROME' title is fun, but it is not much good for mp to be honest. EU3 is the solid bet if you want this type of war gaming. If your more into strategy and logistics go Hoi2.

I have been playing with some of these groups for many years now so if your interested in getting into something to test the water send me a pm, or goto Ed's site and sign up...

http://forums.ederon.net/

Thanks for sharing the site Rolls. I'm reading through some of the Victoria I game forums. The game really seems to take on new characteristics when there are human players negotiating, plotting etc. It incorporates the inter-personal relations that make Diplomacy so much fun with the complex option of the Victoria game.

When I first played Victoria II I thought that it would be excellent to have a game of Diplomacy that drew upon some of the elements (trade for example) from that game. Now it would definitely be interesting to try out Victoria II multi-players. I will have to re-download the game (I don't think I have it on my computer anymore.) Or try to find it in stores.

Regarding Game Ranger itself, is there a way to host a game from a laptop computer?

There is quite a bit of diplomacy to be had in all there games,

Vicky has by far the more complex trade and resource industrilization process of all there games. However i do find EU3 more enjoyable to play, especially with a big group..... but once they fix vicky2's mp problems ill certainly be having another go at it.

As for Game ranger, more depends on your firewall settings and your router settings (ie 'DMZ' turned ON) then on game Ranger. I see no reasons that you shouldnt be able to host or at least join. I can load and test for you some time if youd like to try.

I probably mispoke above, as the groups i play with have never used GR for EU3 or vicky2 (when weve tried to play it).... However alot of groups use GR for HOI2...... I suspect it works for the others, but i probably mispoke.

The Game Ranger website supports Europa Universalis: Rome but doesn't list any of the other games in the series. I'm just checking google for images of Europa Universalis III and the game looks quite good. I`ve never played any games in the EU series, what`s it like?

Paradox: Europa Universalis III

I tried a bit of Europa Universalis III yesterday but just couldn't figure it out. There were some ideas -- electing a Holy Roman Emperor, for example -- that would be interesting to implement in Diplomacy..

(Also, I see that Rolls and I have the same avatar. Any idea when the WWII avatars will be released?)

Not sure i do miss my German in his black leather jacket.

Do you have just EU3 or do you have the complete pack.. ie.. Innomine, Napoleans ambition, and divine Wind?

If youd like to play in mp some time send me a pm and i will let you know when the next game is on.

Try to influence the HRE electors upto 200%, have marriages and treaties witht hem where possible so they vote for you. Then you will receive some nice buffs if your ruler is elected as the HRE. (have the most votes and win). The alternative is to puppet them as a vassal and force there election of you :)

With your national ideas they unlock at certain tech levels, if you play as something like holland go for a trade buff. +1 Morale of armies is handy, cause you can reduce military funding and still fight well enough to control rebels. National banks with -.1 inflation is also handy if you need to mint more cash.

Finally took some time to get back into Vicky2. I wondered why I wasn't gaining much prestige, and then figured out that I should be converting my colonies into states. Suddenly I go from hovering from 7th to 9th to a solid 5th, and all my industrialists start building factories all over the place!

Oh, by the way, even if you are a Netherlands allied to Britain, joining a 'War of Containment' against France is a really bad idea

aaaa I remembered that There is this program called Hamatchi which people do use to play together I have seen it used for Counterstrike and possibly for Vicky too as seen on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0vNUVTw ... y_received

hope its not one of you :P

You can gain prestige also from technology

Considering that EU Rome is easy but frustrating at the same time, we can give it a go I guess.

Let me know and I will join

There is this program called Hamatchi which people do use to play together I have seen it used for Counterstrike and possibly for Vicky too as seen on youtube

How did you find out that they were using "Hamatchi"? (Or is it Hamachi)

-- Addendum --

Ok, I have downloaded the Hamachi programme. Haven't had the chance to test it out as yet. It doesn't look too complicated and hopefully it works.

I asked one of them :)
ok ww wil give it a go next week, or shall we try game ranger first with EU rome?

We dont need hamachi or game ranger to play eu3 or rome to be honest. Both are stable games in MP.

The only time people use these other programs is if they cant host or have issues with there router. Best to try connecting through IP first as it is stable as a table.

Count me in for either game if we get a redscape group going.