Editing Victoria (section)

==Role-playing value==
In baseline game, be it first or second one, there is close to none. You will be hard-pressed to prevent history from rolling as it did OTL, especially when Great Britain, France, Austria and Prussia are left to their own devices. The combination of short duration of the game (100 years, as opposed to 400-500 for ''Europa Universalis'' and ''Crusader Kings''), opening setup and most importantly, technological and economical disparities mean that you will be most likely unable to deviate history too much and even while playing in best possible way, your results are going to be timid - as uncivilised nation just surviving will be an achievement by itself. And that without even mentioning hard-coded stuff.

However, if you go for mods, especially POP Demand Mod and anything that branches from it, the game is far less railroaded and non-linear, allowing some wiggle space. Things like managing to modernise Persia or Egypt, kicking Brits out of India (either as other European power or even Punjab), maintaining the Union in the Netherlands, preventing collapse of Chinese Empire (or reforming it into something more functional), Mexicans not getting their teeth kicked in American-Mexican War and so many more alt-history scenarios are open. Not due to the game being dumbed-down (quite the contrary), but because the mechanics are refined and adjusted to provide for other countries than "the big six" club of the UK, the USA, France, Prussia/Germany, Russia and Austria. Also, the "big six" themselves can be played differently and with far more detailed goals and options.

Some fun scenarios to try:
* As some city-state or otherwise irrevelant dot on a map, become Great Power, without fighting wars, colonising or doing anything that requires crossing your own borders - makes suprisingly engaging gameplay, as you have full focus on the political and economical part of the game. Hardmode: achieve Great Power status by prestige alone, which in this setup means being the artistic capital of the world.
* Unify Germany or Italy as any of the unlikely (or even impossible) candidates.
* As a non-European, participate, or even "win", scramble for Africa. Hardmode: prevent it as any of the native kingdoms.
* As Ottomans, bitch-slap the Khedive and show him what happens when an Albanian-Turkish governor dares being Islam's top dog. Hard Mode: keep the Eternal A*glo (may Allah forgive me for uttering this word) out of Middle East.
* As either Persia or Egypt, implement the governmental reforms and show those Turks how to properly run the show. Or just don't get gobbled by Westerners.
* As Mexico, not only resist Yank incursions, but expand into "their" frontier. Ocean to ocean no more.
* Keep the United Provinces of Central America united, rather than imploding into bunch of banana republics.Bolivar is watching you, son.
* As any of the South America countries, become Great Power. Hardmode: play anyone else than Brazil and Argentina. Bonus round: exceed the USA in immigration flow (impossible to do in Vicky 1 due to hard-coded bonus)
* As either Russia or Austria reform your "empire" to actually be an empire, while either keeping better control of your population or make the countless ethnicities boiling for nationalistic uprising feel welcomed instead. Also, as Russia, don't get booted by commies or fascists. Hardmode: turn into a democracy.
* As Spain or Portugal, sort your shit internally and then work on your vestigal colonies. Hardmode: sphere and/or regain control of your former colonial empire. Bonus round for Portugal: make [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pink_Map Pink Map] real.
* As China, stop smelling your own farts and prevent being raped by Brits, French and whoever else joins the party. If you play your cards right, you can end up surpassing everyone by 1880s and just keep rolling from there, with your population allowing to easily outpace next top 5 economies combined.
** In similar flavour, as either Korea or Vietnam westernise and survive as independent nation. Hardmode: become Great Power.
* As Netherlands, maintain the Union with Belgium and then work things out for peaceful co-existence, turning into industrial powerhouse to rival the UK thanks to combination of resources, workforce and rare colonial goods. Hardmode: restore the Republic.
* As any of the Boer states, survive, thrive, expand and eventually retake the whole Cape Colony, getting rid of British yoke. Hardmode: survive against Brits and Boers as independent Zulus till 1936.
* As Punjab, stay afloat long enough to get civilised and boot Brits out of (northern) India. Or ignore the Redcoats and instead go for Central Asia.
As you can see, the recurring theme is to beat the Perfidious Albion, a.k.a the Eternal Anglo one way or another or prevent it from conquering your ass or turning you into a druggie bitch. And for obvious reasons, the role-playing value greatly expands in multiplayer, since you can co-ordinate your goals with other players, even when playing against each other.