it is not really a grand strategy game with a whole extremely complex simulation engine undergirding it, the way Paradox games are.
This might actually be a plus for me, for as much as I want to love those games, I always ultimately get bogged down in that shit.
I haven’t played in a while, but I have over 100 hours in EU4, with at least a half a dozen of the dlc, and I can say that I still don’t truly know how to play those games “properly.” The level of detail is simultaneously insane and dumb (sometimes their approximations of real life things are understandably absurd). I love the idea of them though.
I just got a new PC with a little more juice, and picked up Victoria 3 and have been debating if I should start watching tutorial videos or not…
Completely and wildly different genre, but I’ve been very intrigued so far with Workers & Resources: Soviet Republic as a city builder with a pretty impressive amount of detail. It’s unique among the genre as the main goal isn’t financial, but more focused on the well-being of your citizens. Lots of public housing, public transport, walking paths… There are two currencies, and if you choose to deal with the West you have to use a separate currency.
I feel like if I’m going to put the time into a complex “simulation” game at this point, it might be that one.