Can you continue games from For the Glory or is it only EU 2?

More comfortable when they are thin and if you are male women will admire the bulge being in the right place rather than the wallet.

That's what I tell myself anyway ;P

Hey but.. is EU:ROME a standalone EU3 exp?
Has anyone played it?
Damn pack, I'd like to buy you, but there are too many IFs.

No. EU:Rome is a regular game somewhere between EU and CK gameplay-wise. What other IFs are there?

- if Rome is good or not (some reviews are low, expecially about the AI).
- if I should just buy CK in the future, instead of Rome (same setting, more famous title, export dinasty).
- if FtG \ AoD \ DH will show up, making EU2 and HoI2 obsolete versions (as some said).
- (which other Paradox games I'm going to buy).

- Can't say if Rome is a good game or not
- CK and Rome have different settings, Rome is more warfare oriented according to Matruchus
- Possible but that doesn't make these games necessarily obsolete...

It has long been a conversation topic among fans that a perfect game set in that time period would have Total War's battles with EU's campaign maps and CK's emphasis on characters ambitions and development. EU:Rome covers you on those two last points. Battles are typical EU army stack movement with the EU3 engine and some randomness. So you can say that it looks like Rome Total War with the battles on auto-resolve but with much more interesting dynamics regarding individuals.

The strongest point for me in this game is playing as Rome and having to deal with the Senate's demands while trying to keep everything in the nation working well. The thing is that the senate has 5 major factions (Military, Civic, Mercantile, Religious and Populist) with its leaders and members. The guy that's in charge of everything is the Consul that is voted on every numbers of years (depending on the type of Republic you choose) and if he's from faction X, you will have an easier time passing laws, picking ideas and gaining loyalty from members of faction X... but meanwhile that will probably upset folks from faction Y and Z! And every faction has great leaders, some better at leading armies, others at governing regions, diplomacy or taking a civic office but you can never just pick a faction and ignore others if you want to avoid revolts and civil war. Having said that, even a well run republic is at risk of a civil war due to how strong some of the characters can become (legions gain loyalty to a certain General if they fight many battles under the same banner and while promptly take the General side if he disagrees with your Consul's rule, governors can become corrupt and grow very powerful in a rich province and starting thinking about independence, etc ) and how big their egos can get.
The fun part is that you can influence this in all sort of ways from subtle manoeuvres like giving a very prestigious Qaestor office to the Mercantile leader will make him more loyal while giving more prestige to his faction, making that faction in turn more attractive to other characters which will then gain more seats in the senate (because each character in the game has their own tendencies, desires and personal agenda that will lead to them changing parties, poisoning or sabotaging enemies careers, assassinations, etc) or more blatant moves like slandering their name or assassinating them. Balancing the characters ambitions and factions is definitely satisfying and it is always fun when that particular character that you groomed as Army Qaestor and General becomes leader of the Military faction and then Consul because of all the backroom deals and orchestrating that you've done before.

Another thing is that, like in other EU games, you don't really have a win state. You play on and follow the Senate's directions (that follow the historic progression of the Roman expansion) if you want but in the end you really just set your own objectives and play for how long and how you wish. Plus, another old EU titles staple: crappy tutorial and not that great of an UI, although, like I mentioned before, I did find it easier to get into than EU2 and EU3 due to its scope and theme.

If in doubt, watch some let's plays on youtube. That's what I always say. ;-p

Question.

Is there an increase in complexity, from, say, EU, to EU2, to EU3 etc...?

yeah, you can pick any date within that time period or just pick a nation and start time at one of the main events (Pyrrhic wars, Punic wars, Gallic Wars, etc)

Hearts of Iron 2 is not going to be obsolete if Arsenal of Democracy or Darkest Hours comes. Arsenal of Democracy and Darkest Hour are basically fan made games on the basis of HOI 2 and were published by paradox. Those two games give you a different playstyle with more events or different alternative history game scenarios and different tech trees and spy options then HOI 2 where as they are basically the same in playstyle since they use the same game engine.

Thanks for the long response, this sounds very interesting and I like that you gave a lot of detail. The only game I own from Paradox is the first Crusader Kings. I unfortunately couldn't get into because of how old it was and it just didn't have the feeling I was looking for. This game looks really good though. I'm defiantly thinking about getting it, I'm been looking for something to fill that total war itch. This just may do it. Lol. xD

Ok.. the spammers have changed algorythm : \

Hahahaha! But is it working? I was told that the thick wallet attracts women... Especially when you are getting older and older... But anyway you can always stuff wallets with unpaid bills and receipts and from the distance it will look good too. Anyway, thanks for the laughs mate!