Open Beta Update 4 is now LIVE! - Not for Problem Reports!
Happy Wednesday Victorians!
Update 4 of the 1.14 Open Beta is here! This update further refines some changes made in previous Open Beta updates such as further infamy and naval balancing, as well as newer additions such as war goal expiry and capitulation, improvements to AI resource expansion and more!
To those of you who are just finding out about the beta or need a refresher on how to join, you can opt into the Beta by following these instructions:
- Navigate to your Steam Library.
- Right-click Victoria 3 and select “Properties”.
- In the newly created window, select “Game Versions & Betas”.
- Now find the “1.14-openbeta” option and select it.
- If you wish to opt out and return to the live version of the game, you can scroll back up to the top of the same list and select “Default Public Version”
The Open Beta is only available in English, other languages will be supported when changes make it to the public version of the game.
Changes in 1.14 Open Beta Update 4
Everything in this section will be available to test in the 4th Open Beta update, which was released shortly before this post went live. To see the changes brought by the previous updates of the Open Beta, check out the following links.
War Goal Expiry and Capitulation
- What is it: In wars lasting over 2 years, war goals that stay uncontested for 12 months are dropped. AI countries now capitulate when clearly defeated, and wars should no longer drag on forever at 0% war support.
- What to test/feedback: Whether long wars now end more naturally, and whether the war goal dropping system feels fair and the timers feel appropriately long.
Infamy Rebalance
- What is it: Infamy was rebalanced: large, rich states and reunification wars cost less, claims and Psychology technologies reduce it further, and a new game rule scales it up or down.
- What to test/feedback: Whether expansion feels appropriately costly and reunification wars achievable, whether infamy still feels over-tuned by default.
Naval Balance Follow-up
- What is it: Obsolete ships can no longer fully exploit unscreened fleets, torpedo craft now correctly punish early ironclads, and navy prestige is back in line with fleet strength.
- What to test/feedback: Whether modern fleets are properly invincible to wooden ships now, whether naval combat in general feels balanced
Straits: Smarter AI and Trade Routing
- What is it: AI strait controllers now weigh toll income against the harm and anger a restriction causes, and affected countries push back through treaties and diplomatic plays more often. Hubs will now also be more likely to re-route trade to avoid excessive tolls.
- What to test/feedback: Whether AI strait closures, tolls and the reactions to them feel appropriate, whether the diplomatic penalties for tolls and closures are correctly scaled.
AI Expansion and Diplomacy
- What is it: The AI values states more for scarce resources like oil or gold and primary-culture pops, incorporates more of what it takes, and no longer starts diplomatic plays over war goals it barely wants.
- What to test/feedback: Whether AI diplomatic plays and war goal selection feels more rational. Whether valuable resources are weighted enough.
Journal Entry Adjustments
- What is it: A large number of journal entries were adjusted to account for the new war goal flipping system so they don’t end prematurely or incorrectly.
- What to test/feedback: Whether there is still content that breaks as a result of war goal flipping, whether journal entries seem to work correctly in general.
Naval Transport and Invasions
- What is it: Further improvements to the naval transport management system. We believe it should now be in a stable and reliable state.
- What to test/feedback: Whether sea transports now behave predictably and consistently.
Stationing in Subjects & Subject War Fixes
- What is it: Armies can be stationed in your subjects' states. Freeing or taking a subject mid-war no longer leaves its land occupied by allies or ends the war unexpectedly.
- What to test/feedback: Whether defending subjects and mid-war changes of allegiance feel smooth, whether stationing in subjects works well or can get your armies stuck.
What’s next?
Unfortunately we ran out of time for further improvements to the economic & trade AI for the last open beta update, but despair not! It will still get done, just for 1.15 and its post-release updates. We will of course also generally fix bugs and make tweaks and balance adjustments to all 1.14 changes before we release it as part of 1.15 - the final open beta does not reflect the final state of 1.14!
We are planning a bonus dev diary sometime next week which will summarize all the important 1.14 changes as they will land in 1.15, and where we will also show off a feature that happened as a result of 1.14 experimentation but which also did not get done in time for the final open beta: Multiple world market hubs per market area!
More information on this tantalizing market area screenshot of Russia will come in next week’s bonus DD.
That’s all from us today! Thank you for participating in the Open Beta, the feedback gathered has been invaluable to the team!
Posted by the game’s developer or publisher to its Steam community hub and published by Valve through Steam’s public news API. Sifter reproduces it unedited and writes none of it.