Victoria II: Take Your Diplomatic Hands Off My Sphere

Victoria II is the latest grand strategy title launched by Paradox Interactive, aiming to simulate the complex mix of diplomacy, wars and social upheaval that characterized the period between 1836 and 1936.

There's a lot to like in how Paradox Interactive managed to simulate the XIX century and the beginning of the XX in Victoria II, their latest grand strategy title, but maybe their biggest accomplishment is the Sphere of Influence concept and the hierarchy of powers.

The XIX century was a time of evolution both in terms of military strategy and in terms of diplomacy, with the most important nations in the world beginning to understand that people were more valuable working in fields, mines and in factories rather than dying on battlefields.

This means that peaceful dominance was becoming more attractive than outright war (colonial conquest excepted) and that spheres of influence were built by all powers who could afford the resources.

Victoria II creates a beautiful system to simulate all the moves and counter moves on the diplomacy fronts.

Great powers can influence other nations and, through a few steps, bring them into their Sphere of Influence, meaning that they offer alliances and become part of a common market.

But the real fun is not in getting someone in the sphere but making sure that he stays there, with the amount of attention and time spend watching the movements of other Great Powers bigger than that I have offered to something like the Trade tab.

And, in a series of moves parallel to real history, the diplomatic game for control of something like Luxemburg can quickly lead to actual wars between the Great Powers, with blood and iron employed just to wrestle control of a small piece of land from France to Austria or from Prussia to Great Britain.

I even managed to get something very similar to World War I going as soon as 1850 because of my insistence, as Austria, on getting Piedmont Sardinia in my sphere, which lead to a quick confrontation with France and then escalated to a war that included Prussia, the German minors, Denmark and Russia for more than 5 years.

The only problem with this diplomacy system is that the A.I. is incredibly suspicious and basically refuses to create alliances with other Great Powers, which leads to major wars that lack any real coordination between allies.