Victory 3 will reflect the astronomical costs of war

Victoria 3’s latest development journal on war is out now, complementing the series of posts on the grand strategy game’s new approach to international conflict with a look at the costs of war.

Turns out there are a lot of them, and they are substantial; in fact, according to this newspaper, it seems that Victoria 3 will take the war more seriously than any of its predecessors.

One of the pillars of war design in Victoria 3 is that war is costly. The developers have taken it seriously, it seems Victoria 3 models the concept of all-out war by turning it into a fundamental change for their nation’s economy.

The war imposes new demands on your population, your industrial base, and your commercial network; there is nothing it does not have an impact on in the game.

Your army model will determine how much of this works. So far, there are four of these planned for Victoria 3, ranging from the old peasant tax model to the regular standing army of trained professional soldiers.

Depending on the nation you lead and the circumstances you are in, either of these may be the right fit.

The newspaper takes us through the process of mobilizing recruits under the models of mass recruitment and peasant levies. Compulsory military service can only occur during wartime or while your nation is actively involved in diplomatic work.

You will be able to activate recruits in any or all of your states, where they will organize in a newly built recruiting center before forming battalions and marching to a front where they are needed.

But these recruits don’t come out of anywhere – they are your citizens, and recruiting them for military service takes them out of whatever work they were doing before the war started.

That means their industries will suffer short-term labor shortages and will have to replace lost workers.

It could also mean that the factories you relied on to supply your armies don’t have enough manpower available to produce the goods those units will need.

In addition, the movement of troops to the front is limited by the infrastructure available in the states through which they have to travel to get there.

All of this means that you will have to think carefully about the states you are recruiting from and how many battalions you want to form.

Another important factor to consider is the fact that recruited battalions, once mobilized, use twice the normal amount of resources. That makes them expensive to field, sure, but it also increases demand for all the products they use, driving prices up even higher.

This, in turn, creates incentives for your neighbors to start selling you guns, as their prices will skyrocket during the war.

The diary also includes some in-progress footage of how the war will change the landscape itself. Areas that see a lot of battles will eventually be devastated, and you will be able to see that on the map when you get closer.

Fortunately, wars don’t have to last forever, and Paradox says the next development journal will discuss how peace accords are made. The Victoria 3 release date is expected to be next year.