Victoria 3, the latest grand strategy title from Paradox Interactive, is a game of economics, politics, and industrialization. From 1836 to 1936, players guide their chosen nation through one of the most tumultuous periods in world history. Whether it’s the great powers of Europe or the emerging powers of the new world, everyone is striving to grow inVictoria 3.
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One of the fastest routes into the modern era is through industrialization, moving away from the agriculture andpeasant farms ofCrusader Kings 3, and towards sprawling factories and steam-powered progress.Factories, also known as Industry Buildings, are the driving heart of industrialization inVictoria 3, andplayers must master how and when to build them.
How To See Available Factories In Victoria 3
Unlike Agriculture or Resource Buildings, Industry Buildings are only constructed in Urban areas, and building enough of them will cause cities to expand automatically through Urban Centers. As in manygrand strategy games, all Industry Buildings convert one type of Goods into another, whether it’s Wood into Paper at a Paper Mill, or Oil, Fabric, Engines, and Hardwood into Aeroplanes at a War Machine Industry.
There are three different methods players can use to build factories inVictoria 3. The first is the Buildings tab (F3), which shows a complete list of all the buildings in the player’s nation, the second is the State Building overview screen, accessed by clicking on any State within the nation, and the third is the Production Lens (Alt + 1), which displays a list of all buildings that the nation can build, much like thebuild menu inCities: Skylines.
How To Build Factories In Victoria 3
In the third tab of the Production Lens, players can see all the Industry buildings that they are able to build, as well as how many States they are able to build each one in, denoted by a number in the top right.Victoria 3uses thetooltips system fromCrusader Kings 3, and clicking on an Industry Building here or in the Buildings tab will show some more helpful information, including:
Due to the complex simulations ofParadox Interactive’s games, the building’s predicted profit shouldn’t be relied on too heavily inVictoria 3, as it will often show a slightly negative number even though the building will eventually make profit once fully staffed. Players should only be careful not to build buildings with a very negative predicted profit, -2k or above.
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Once players have chosen an Industry Building to construct and a State to construct it in, it will be added to the nation’s Construction Queue. The player’s Construction Sectors will then begin buying resources to build the new Industry, using either the nation’s Gold Reserves, or the Investment Pool if the nation’s Laws allowinvestment in Industry.Based on the speed of production it may take several months for a new building to complete, after which it will automatically begin employing workers and producing goods.
How To Expand Factories In Victoria 3
No matter whether they’re playing a large orsmall nation inVictoria 3,players will almost always want to have more than 1 of each factory in their States. Although the process for expanding an Industrial Building is the same as constructing a new one, when expanding an existing building it’s easier for players to use the Buildings Tab and press the plus symbol next to whichever building they wish to expand. Mousing over this plus symbol will give a brief version of the information from the Construction Interaction Map List, including predicted earnings, available labor, and construction costs.
It’s generally a good idea to expand an existing Industry Building rather than construct a new one in a different State, aslarge factory complexesgain an efficiency bonus that can help maximize their profits. The only exceptions to this rule are if the existing building is in a State with low Market Access or Infrastructure, or if there isn’t enough labor in the area to fill its jobs.
As an alternative to expanding Industry Buildings, players can also change their Production Methods, with additional Methods being steadily unlocked as the nation researches new Technologies. These Production Methods have a range of effects, from introducing new input Goods in order to increase output, adding secondary industries for rarer Goods, or increasing production using modern technologies like steam engines or electricity. Players should be constantly updating Production Methods and building new factories to maintain their economic power as they race toward the 20th century.
Victoria 3is out now on PC, macOS, and Linux.
