Players of grand strategy games who want a better focus on politics and populations might want to giveVictoria 3a shot. Considered a sequel toVictoria 2, hit grand strategy devs from Paradox Development createdVictoria 3as a game to simulate the years 1836 to 1936, allowing players to navigate the century as one of more than 100 countries.
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What’s interesting aboutVictoria 3is how there’s more focus on managing politics and population groups. This time, players need to manage various Diplomatic Plays to give more room for diplomatic actions with less emphasis on warfare. With the sheer potential for complexity acrossVictoria 3gameplay, players might want to check on variousConsole Commandsto maximize their strategies.
Accessing The Console
Before players deep dive into what the console does, it’s important to at least understand the intended use of the console command. In mostgames likeVictoria 3, theConsole Windowis essentially a place where developers and testers can debug non-ironman games to hash things out that may have gotten wrong in a game. At its core, these games allow the Console Window to exist to quickly make changes to current sessions to test new parameters and even fix errors in a live format. Of course, being able to modify the game’s components also means a magic wand to make virtually anything happen, provided players know what things to input.
The Console Proper
As with most other titles and even 4X games with console commands, players can access the Console Window via theTilde (~)key. Otherwise, players may also useShift + Alt + C. PressingTabwhile typing may allow players to “complete” entries they have currently written based on the available commands with the same format.
Enabling/Disabling Debug Mode
While most games have some form of console window to enable players to modify aspects of gameplay, setups inVictoria 3can be modified even further with theDebug Mode. This mode lets players get more in-depth with the changes they want to implement in the game. Whereas the Console Window is where they will type their commands, Debug Mode enables these commands to take place. Here are some things to consider:
Stats, Settings, Configurations
Players who want a more “standard” way of checking for errors in the game can try the traditional way of debugging the title’s many features. These commands can let players see stats, change camera positions, and input numerical values to things that don’t necessarily affect the overall gameplay of the current session, regardless of the chosenVictoria 3civilizations.
These commands are the “true” purpose of the console - to control the game via its code instead of interfaces to check how certain things function and see how changes to variables can affect the overall presentation of the game with the hopes of correcting mistakes.
3dstats
See 3D stats
3dstats.EnableGfxZoneStats
Change the game resolution via the console
Browser.OpenURL []
Open a URL via the browser through the console
Get camera debug information
Load a camera position
Save a camera position
Put the game state checksums to the current game log
Delete local crash dumps older than a specific period
Simulate a crash, which then results in a game exit
Debug.Achievements.Lock []
Lock all achievements once more
An alternate way of locking all achievements
Debug.Achievements.ToggleDebug []
Put achievements in debug mode
Debug.TextureMode [Name of debug mode]
Enable a texture for debugging purposes
Dockables.Create [Dockable name]
Create a dockable
Dockables.CreateUserLayout [Dockable layout name]
Generate a new user layout copy of the current layout with a new name
Dockables.DeleteUserLayout [Dockable layout name]
Delete layout as a user layout
Hide revealed dockables
Save the current layout as user layout
Dockables.ShowLayout [Dockable layout name]
View an existing layout and hide the current one
Show the dockable layout manager
GUI.AnimationTimeline.LogStats
Dump the stats of the GUI Animation Timeline system into the debug log
GUI.ClearWidgets
Reset the dummy widget
GUI.CreateDockable [File name] [Widget name] [Dockable id. If doesn’t exist, it will be registered]
Create a dummy dockable widget
Create a dummy widget
Include the loc key in the output of localization
Show only the loc key in the output of localization
Don’t run the data system
Clear all the logs
Reset error count
Map.SavePNG [] [] [<yes/no> Should render flat (optional)]
Save a map for a specific map mode in PNG format
Print a map object information for debugging
MapObjects.GenerateGameLocators [] [ (optional)]
Create locators for the map objects in the game
Place a map object under the player’s cursor
Open a graph view of the tick tasks
Clear the cache of portraits to fully reset them
Toggle random logging
Regenerate the terrain bitmap
Threading.TaskThreadCount [The number of task threads]
Get or set the number of task threads
check_save
Check the consistency of loading and saving
clearlines
Clear lines
clearspawnedentities
Delete entities created by the “spawnentity” command
coa_preview_window
compound_nodeeditor
Check the compound node editor
crash
Force a game crash
show_goals
Show the goals of the AI
ai.debug [tag]
Release debug info for a country
ai_evaluate_building [ ]
Check the debug data for a specific state and building
ai_evaluate_interest []
Check the debug data of the strategic region
ai_evaluate_production_method [ ]
Check the debug data of a selected production method
ai_evaluate_trade_route [ ]
Check the debug data of a selected country trade partner and selected goods
callstack
Show the callstack
Specific Debug Options
Players who want to go for full diagnostics may want to consider checking out various debug options thatVictoria 3gameplay offers. That way, players will be able to not just check for errors in the game, but even log information they find in order to send error reports or create more accurate assessments.
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These are the slate of commands that testers often use when diagnosing problems when playing a game, and players who want to get to knowVictoria 3on a more technical level beyondchoosing the best nations and strategiesmay want to check these settings out.
date [date in format yyyy.mm.dd.hh]
Change the date
observe
Observe the game
debug_mode
Toggle debug mode
debug_lens_option
Toggle the “debug_lens_option” cheat codedebug_mode
debugcharacters
Create a logfile with all information on characters
debugcountrybudgets
Check all information on countries and budgets
debugemployment
Check data on a country’s employment
debugmarkets
Check data on a country’s goods and markets
debugpopconsumption
Check information on a population’s consumption
debugpopwealth
Check the wealth of all populations
debugstates
Check the information of all debug states
Debug.Achievements.Unlock []
Unlock an achievement based on the key
Graphics, Sound Adjustments
Players of the more artistically-inclined variety may be interested in adjusting some parts of the graphics and music of the game, especially whencomparingVictoria 3to other games likeCivilization 6. Below are some of the commands that allow them to reload textures or even modify the active GFX skin into a custom preset. There are even options to play specific songs and even create their own audio events, allowing players ofVictoria 3to go in-depth on specific graphics and audio cues of commands they want to be more immersive with.
gfx.reloadtexture
Reload textures
Select the active GFX skin
gfx.texture_limit
Select an MB (megabyte) limit to texture video memory usage
Set the current pause_factor of the music
Music.PlayTrack []
Play a specific song
Reset music
Stop the current rack
audio.cpu_info
Show the current CPU usage
audio.list_events
Create an audio event
audio.play_event [audio event]
Play an audio event
entity_editor
Load the entity editor dockable
map_editor
Open the map editor
mapmode [mapmode]
Switch to a map mode
Data Checking
Players who want a more technical way to tinker with the game without outright “cheating” may want to consider using the console commands below. These aren’t necessarily cheat commands per se compared to cheat codes in video games, but at least allowbeginners ofVictoria 3to understand how decisions affect their country and the rest of the nations.
Rather, these commands can give players ofVictoria 3insights into the statuses of various elements of other countries that can help them make more informed decisions with their own gameplay. For the more hardcore fans of 4X titles, these commands can also give them a more statistical point of view when it comes to viewing and confirming just how certain nations are performing in the game.
tag [country_tag]
Switch control of another country
find_unemployed
See all the unemployed in a population
check_pollution_level [state region tag]
Show the pollution for a specified region
create_building_history
Create a history of all buildings in the world
create_pop_history
Create a file with a complete population history
create_state_region_data
Create a list of all the states, regions, provinces, and their resources
update_distribution
Create a list of garrison unit distribution
update_employment
Update list of employees in buildings
validate_employment
Check unemployment across states
validate_income
Check countries with income deficits
Control A Country
Sometimes, it may just be interesting for players to observe other civilizations in a 4X game just to see how they approach development over time in the match. However, it can be a bit boring for players to wait in anticipation as to how civilizations will adjust to their immediate environment. Thankfully, players who want a more direct approach to how the world affects their fellow contenders can do so with these specific commands.
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While also technically a way to “cheat” the game, these commands give players just as much control over other civilizations as their own. Although these controls don’t have an official interface, just being able to adjust civilizations on a whim can add a bit of challenge to the gamer’s playthrough. And for the curious observer, it would be interesting to see how the AI reacts to specific yet unexpected situations - especially for players who want to see how AI may avoidmistakes they always make inVictoria 3. It may also help to realize thatCTRL + Clickalso works to control the country clicked, whereasCTRL + ALT + Clickcan control a selected state.
own [province id/state region tag] [country tag]
Change the owner of a country
add_approval [interest group name] [amount] [time]
Add an approval-timed modifier to an interest group
add_clout [interest group name] [amount] [time]
Adds or removes clout from an interest group via a timed modifier
add_ideology [interest group name] [Ideology to add.]
Add an ideology to an interest group
add_loyalists [culture] [amount]
Add loyalists to a culture depending on the population
add_radicals [culture] [amount]
Add radicals to a culture based on a fraction of the population
add_relations
Change country relations
add_war_support [country_tag] [amount]
Change war support of country in all of their existing wars
research
Acquire a research
wagerate
Set the wage rate of a building
change_law
Change a law
changestatepop [state_id] [pop_type / all] [factor]
Change the population size
escalate []
Escalate diplomatic plays
event [event name] [<country_tag/province_id>]
Execute an event
ignore_government_support
Ignore government support
enable_ai [all/tag]
disable_ai [all/tag]
ai.goal [tag] [goal type]
Check the goal of the system AI
create_ai [self/all/tag]
Create an AI for a country
create_country [country definition] [country type] [culture] [state id]
Create a country
create_political_movement []
Create a political movement
annex [<country tag/id>]
Annex a country
annex_all
Annex all other countries
conquerall [country tag]
Force all of an enemy’s provinces under the player’s control
Rebuild all adjacencies
kill_character [character name]
Kill the specified character
treatyport []
Take treaty port in a specified region
disable_pop_growth
Disable population growth cheat
disable_retooling
Disable retooling cheat
deiron
norevolution
DIsable revolutions
nosecession
Disable secessions
skip_migration
Skip the migration process
The Cheats
These commands are considered the most “cheat-like” in terms of what they’re capable of. Considered as the more straightforward and beneficial console commands, these inputs are quite similar to overpowered selections present when players tinker with the console in games such asThe Elder Scrollsseries or evenThe Sims.
Due to the sheer intensity of micromanagement inVictoria 3,these commands offer accessibility and convenience for players who want a smoother and more hassle-free ruling experience, be it through hacking their way to thebestVictoria 3army compositionsor dominating the economics scene. Most of these commands speed up the progression of things in aVictoria 3nation, most of which may take the span of several turns to complete. These can give players an unprecedented advantage in their sessions.
fastbuild
Create buildings much faster
fastenact
Enact policies in an instant
fasthire
Hire individuals faster
fastinstitutions
Create institutions faster
fastinterests
Speed up interests
fastmobilize
Mobilize units faster
fastresearch
Get research instantaneously
fastrevolution
Finish revolutions instantly
fastsecession
Conduct secessions instantly
fasttravels
Travel to locations faster
yesmen
All will agree to sway offers and diplomatic proposals
cthulhu
Displays: ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn!
Victoria 3was released in 2022 for the PC, Linux, and macOS.
