Any Total War must be somewhere between impregnated ovula and foetus on that scale.
I prefer CK over EU over Victoria over HOI personally, I don't really like modern settings because they lack funky microgeopolitics. Already in Victoria the whole game feels like lots of tension building up and nothing really happening, unless you specifically choose a nation in a disputed zone, such as south america. When you play a big european power you spend years doing nothing but building up then it's one big war. IMO the wargame aspect of paradox grand strategy games isn't good enough to support a whole game like that. In CK2 you can control a square inch of land and declare war to another square inch of land because one of your courtiers is the cousin of a half-brother of the mother of their leader, how awesome is that ?
I disagree. Wargame aspect in EU is, indeed, pretty meh, but not so in Victoria or HoI games. It is very possible to win against larger armies, if you use your forces correctly. And victories matter a lot more, as it is a lot harder for countries to recover from devastating losses in these games.
And, even though a single war won't see you almost annexing another large country, at most netting you a region or two, it is extremely satisfying to transform a small/medium sized country into an empire, as you don't just take huge chunks of territory.
Overall, things that happen in Victoria seem to have a lot more weight to them and stuff happens a lot more progressively, which i love.
