Victoria 3 is the latest grand strategy epic from Paradox Interactive, challenging players to guide and shape their chosen nation between 1836 and 1936. The Victorian Era is a time of progress, industrialization, and colonization, and Victoria 3 players will have to master all three to thrive as a modern nation.
Colonization is one of the driving factors behind the growth and industrialization of the Great Powers of Europe, as new Industries and Technologies require rare materials that can only be found on other continents. Players who choose to play as one of these developed Powers will need to know how, when, and why to colonize in Victoria 3.
How to Colonize In Victoria 3
Before players can begin colonizing in Victoria 3, they'll first have to enact one of the two Laws that enables the Colonial Affairs Institution. For many European nations this Institution will already be unlocked at the start of the game, but all others must first pass either the Colonial Resettlement or Colonial Exploitation Law.
These Laws represent two different approaches to colonization, and will grant different bonuses to the player's fledgling colonies. Colonial Resettlement will grant a huge bonus to Migration Attraction, accelerating the process of founding and growing the colonies. Colonial Exploitation will lower wages, subsistence output, and tension decay in the colonies, but provide a universal bonus to the output of all constructed buildings, making the colonies more productive but more rebellious.
Whichever Law players choose, they will also receive the Colonial Affairs Institution, which will create Colonial Growth Generation at the cost of Bureaucracy depending on its level. Finally, players will need to declare an Interest in the region they are planning to colonize. This system isn't often found in other grand strategy titles, and represents a powerful nation focusing its attention on a remote part of the world.
With the Colonial Affairs Institution up and running, and an Interest declared, all players need to do is select the Establish Colony option in the Diplomatic Lens. This will show a list of Decentralized regions that are ripe for colonization, and players can select any of them to begin the process.
Colony Tips and Tricks In Victoria 3
In order to pick a good colony location, players should use the Market tab and check the availability of rare and luxury resources in their potential colonies. Gold mines, rubber trees, and oil fields are all highly valuable, and players should aim to snap up the regions containing these resources as quickly as possible. Grand strategy games thrive on competition, and two rival Powers can begin colonizing the same region at the same time. Although these struggles can eventually turn into outright war, it'll be the nation with the higher Colony Growth that takes more land while the colonies are still growing.
Once established, a colony will spread through the Decentralized region at a rate dictated by the Colonial Affairs Institution. While multiple colonies can be developed at once, the output of the Institution will be split between them, dramatically reducing their growth rate. Because of this, nations with a small Colonial Affairs Institution will want to stick to developing a single colony at a time, while those with a larger Institution can afford to spread their efforts.
Each growing colony will generate Tension with the local people of that region, which can cause a Native Uprising if the Tension reaches Volatile. Players can either deploy Troops to defend the colony, or pause colonial development, which will cause the Tension to decay over time. Additionally, some regions can be very difficult to colonize if they have the Malaria feature, at least until players have developed the Quinine and Malaria Prevention Technologies.
Players are not able to Incorporate their colony, making it a formal part of their nation, until it has been fully colonized. Although the nation will still have access to an Unincorporated colony's raw resources, its Production and Infrastructure will never match a homeland region. Despite this, players should still make sure to build Ports and Railways in their colonies, in order to find new deposits and ship harvested resources back to the homeland. In order to provide adequate workers for these services, players can use the Greener Grass Decree to permanently boost a colony's Migration Attraction at the cost of Authority. With enough colonists, good Infrastructure, and access to raw materials, a well-placed colony can provide a massive benefit to its home nation.
Victoria 3 is out now for PC, macOS, and Linux.