Some major changes are coming to Victoria 3 in the next major patch, and to make sure everything’s working as intended before it arrives, Paradox is running an open beta for everyone who owns the newest addition to its ever-growing stable of grand strategy games. The Victoria 3 beta update 1.2 opens February 8, and the devs caution players to strap in, because “there will be bugs.”
Martin Anward, Victoria 3’s game director, explains that finding bugs and eliminating them are the main purpose of open beta testing.
“Some aspects of the game will be greatly improved, but other things will be in a rougher state,” he writes. “If not, we’d just launch it without a beta phase!”
The beta branch of update 1.2 will be open February 8, at 1am PST/ 4am EDT/ 9am GMT. Once it’s available, you’ll be able to find it in the Victoria 3 Steam options menu under betas, where a new branch called 1.2-beta will appear in the drop-down menu. Anward states that there will be an official forum post with step-by–step instructions for how to access it.
Paradox plans to release an update for Victoria 3’s main branch on March 13th. However, it is possible that plans may change depending on the beta. The beta phase will see the team release two updates approximately every week.
So what are you able to expect from the update? When everything’s in place, update 1.2 will add new features like an autonomous investment system, which will add a new game rule that allows non-government entities to independently construct buildings using a country’s investment pool. Military campaigns are getting new player-definable strategic objectives – you’ll only be able to specify one of these at the outset of the open beta, but the plan is to allow for multiple strategic objectives per country.
The update also adds some fluffy nice-to-haves, like an in-game music player (similar to the one you may know from Hearts of Iron IV), rebindable keys, and a way to customise notifications – which Victoria 3 loves throwing at you in stacks.
Update 1.2 will also improve performance and how the AI deals in relation to its economy, military and ports. The differences between different economic systems should be apparent, and the model of profits from trade routes as well as GDP should be more realistic.
The update also makes some welcome changes to Victoria 3’s lovely interface, making it easier to see the needs of your pops, why radicals are radicalising, and your convoy network.
Check out our Victoria 3 beginner’s guide if you’re just getting started, and refer to our primer on Victoria 3 construction to get your nation up and running in the dawning industrial age.
