A House Divided is the first expansion for Victoria II and provides some good improvements to the base game. There has been an overhal of the economic side of the game and also greater political options as well as an improved American Civil War.

The game engine has also been optimized for multi-core suppot which has improved performance especially late game although there most likely will be performance loss towards the 1900's in game.

The only complaint I have is that the expansion feels a bit light on features and with the exception of the multi-core support many of those features should have been present and working in the original game.

Overall AHD improves the Victoria experience for those already fond of the game.

The features added on to Victoria II through "A House Divided" help polish, smooth, and better almost every aspect of gameplay. I can very easily say that I much prefer this expansion over the vanilla version.

An excellent game, I like the diplomacy aspects, the new work to justify a War, the new map modes, and best of all, that the developers are always adding new good things to the game with patches, and yes, also fixes to some few bugs the game can have, but nothing that stop you to have great time playing this amazing game.

Victoria II: A House Divided is currently the only expansion pack for Victoria II. As happens so often with Paradox Interactive titles, AHD improves vastly on the original and makes it hard to imagine playing the game without it.

The improvements made by A House Divided on Vic II include changes to the diplomatic, political, and economic side of the game. The interface was also worked on. In all, Paradox focused on cutting down on unnecessary micro-management while not sacrificing depth and indeed added onto the game's depth. Victoria II is much better for it.

A last word must be said about the new scenario start. American Civil War, Bakumatsu, and buffs in general of the late 19th Century will rejoice with the new 1861 start. And it is obvious the designers put real effort into representing the time.

A House Divided gives a good balance for the money spent. The new timeline start not only let's you play as the newly formed CSA(more on that momentarily) but also is a start point right before the great unification of germany(1870 roughly), italy(newly forming) and a powerful and growing japan. All these new rising stars make for a whole new set for the game and allow you to fast forward on the slow and difficult process that can come from the grand campaign. Not to worry though, new features work both in the new campaign and out.

First though, the CSA start point is excellent. It not only recreates the tough position both sides were in, it also gives a fun chance for both sides to recreate their glory. The south is in a tough position against the more populous and industrious north, but having played it already, victory is not off the table. And then the true game of wills begins. One of the nice things i have so far enjoyed is that upon beating the North and waiting til the truce expired, the north did not instantly start a series of wars against me. This is a nice break from the incessant conflict that happened in the previous game.

As for the other new features, japan's growth is greatly recreated thanks to training schools that give you a new way to grow into an industrial nation and give you a choice in how you establish yourself as a power. And the features for improving foreign relations through industrial investments is a lot of fun, and adds a new dimension.

Perhaps the most convenient feature of the new additions is the ease of use in the interface. This game has tons of info, and now it is easier then ever to find out where armies are, how battles are going(color coded to show if your losing or winning), if nations in your sphere are being contested and how quickly your own influence is going up. All these features make this a perfect expansion. 20$ might seem a bit much, but consider that if you use these features and campaigns for more then 10 hours your probably getting your money's worth. I already sank about 15 hours into the CSA alone and i have other nations i can't wait to try either. Enjoy the game

A House Divided is a solid attition to Victoria 2 and worth a purchase for anyone who enjoys V2. The changes the the uncivilised nations and elections (with party loyalty and National Foci affecting voters) are the best additions to the game. Multicore support makes the game move much faster than previously, and the new rally point and auto-attack rebel systems reduce much of the micromanagement, allowing the player to focus on more important things. The new additions are good, but some of the old bugs are still there, especially issues with colonial migration. However, A House Divided is a great expansion and well worth its purchase price.

A marvellous improvement, in my opinion. The new civilising system is fantastic, and makes playing an unciv much more than waiting for technology. The economy seems much improved, and the new movements are very interesting. The interface improvements, although only superficial changes, make the game much easier to navigate. I have also noticed an improvement in overall performance, probably due to multi-core support. Thoroughly recommended!

A wonderful addition to Victoria 2. It makes the overall game much smoother and fun to play on all areas, but it's not going to turn anyone around. In a nutshell, if you liked Victoria 2 you will like A House Divided, but if you didn't like Victoria 2, A House Divided will not change your opinion.

This is not so much an expansion as just a really great update. It completely reworks the sphere of influence and CBs making the game more enjoyable and realistic. Additionally the new map overlays are nice. However, there really is nothing that is new but rather retooled and worked. While I really like the expansion it is probably best to wait until the price comes down a little.

A House Divided is a revolution for Victoria 2, bringing it to the best game from grand-strategy Paradox games at this moment.

All the dimensions of Victoria 2 have been improved, introducing new features. Just picking a few ones: 1.- You could "build" your casus belli against other countries and Great Powes, but you could be discovered with bad outcomes for your strategy. 2.- Your capitalist can invest in other countries, improving this way their relations with you, and, what it's more important, you'll get a share of their market for buying the products you need and selling your surplus production. 3.- Social movements: if your population wants a reform or it's worried of something (going too militaristic for instance) a social movement would be found, and it can be dangerous (founding rebel uprisings, increasing unrest in your country...) unless you accept the reform, which could upset other groups, or supress with your repression politics, which would bring consequences in the future. 4.- Leader's prestige: winning battles will make better your generals, etc.

You have also a new scenario, placed in 1861 (you can take the CSA, but, like in most Paradox games, every country in the world in the age), and a lot of new interface improvements giving more information (10 new mapmodes, more hints and helpnotes...) that are nice additions too.

In conclusion, Paradox is known for making expansions that not only make up their vanilla games but improve them greatly... and A House Divided is probably the best one of them (even more than In Nomime and Heir to the Throne from EUIII). It worths every cent/penny/bluecoin you invest on it.

If you came for the new buttons and somewhat improved economy, then go for it. If you came for the new westernization/civilization system, however, you may wish to check some of the complaints on the paradox forum and perhaps watch gameplay videos on youtube so that you can decide whether you want to give it a try. Overall 3/5.

Victoria II: A House Divided is an Expansion for the Paradox game Victoria II. In this expansion Paradox has addressed many of the issues of the original game. Most importantly the expansion features a completely new economic system where industry and technology has been rebalanced. This is a great improvement on the old system as economic management is now a challenge to earn money and there is a lot more ways to spend them, you can invest money in projects started by capitalists in your own country and if you are a great power you can invest money in the infrastructure of countries within your sphere. The Industrialization process has also been rebalanced and now works a lot better than in the original game. The scoring system also seems to have been rebalanced this means that AI Industrialization no longer results in incredibly high scores and it is now compete with Great Britain on the scoreboard as most of the major nations.

The game also has a slightly reworked political with expands the political part of the game and provides new options, paths and challenges. This new systems works shockingly well and I have not experienced any serious problems with it.

The game interface has also been improved and there has been added a lot of new tooltips and shortcuts which makes the game easier to manage. Some of the tooltips could have been done better, but it is a clear improvement on the original game.

The last major new feature is a new war justification system. It is now impossible to declare war without a justification for it. However a system has been added which allows a nation to develop a casus belli of any kind against any nation. This means that the player is in a much better position to direct the expansion of their nation. However this system also creates quite a few problems. One of them is that AI seem to have trouble with this very open war system and declares a lot of non-sensible wars particularly inter-European wars whish does not fit very well with the era. Similarly the fact that paradox has simply added the new war justification system on top of the old casus belli system also seem to create quite a few problems for the AI and it might have been better if they had reworked it completely.

However in general I think A House Divided is a great expansion and a must have for all players of Victoria II. It much improves the game and adds quite a few additional hours of gameplay.

This expansion brings so many good things:

The new reforms paths allow even the smallest "uncivilized" countries to somehow make their way to industrialization.

Elections now "feel" much better. For instance, political fiefs will tend to form in areas where the same party wins often.

China divides up into cliques, making an end to the irrational situations where a game was basically won just as soon as someone managed to get China into your own sphere.

This expansion is a must for everyone who likes Vicy II.

With all these new additions Victoria II has become even more addictive if possible. The political side has really come to the fore, becoming a really integral part in making your country just what you want it to be. The new map overlays are a great help in your decision making giving you information on the people, industry and politics in a new scale. While you might think that the price of A House Divided is a bit steep for a mere patch when you see how much effort they've put into this it's easily justified. A must-have for anyone wanting a deeper experience playing Victoria II

This new expansion pack for Victoria 2 is just amazing. It adds so much depth to the gameplay, improving the, already really good, game even more. It takes all those elements you loved in Victoria 2 in to a whole new level. Personally I noticed it adding a little bit difficulty and making it slightly more complex, but once you get the hang of it, it's something you will end up spending tons of hours on.

Also to those who are wondering; If you have a copy of Victoria 2 that you bought from a retail shop in a boxed version, a copy of A House Divided from GamersGate works just fine with it!

The main focus of AHD is about usability. Many repetitive tasks of micromanagement gets a easy and fast way to be done - as build infrastructure at provinces, expand or subside factories from a same type at once, use extra influence over 100% at SOI to get ride of others powres influence and the auto rebels hunt (at EUIII last versions this resource is a time saver). Just this was a great improvment that justify the expansion to all Vickies fans.Some improvments for balance, as the division of China at many "substates" correct some severe unbalance problems (if you get China at your SOI in Victoia II you had a very large market, at AHD this do not happens anymore. The political section gains also some improvments to get deeper with reforms and movements, but the change are not so big, there are many thing to be done at this. Few words: good improvment to hard gamer, but a bit expensive for a first expansion.

This expansion has greatly improved the original game, by adding features that allows the player to spend less time on micromanagement (SoIs, anyone?) and more time on actually *playing*. So far, I have not found a single thing to complain about - except, perhaps, the lack of a 1914 scenario. It even appears to be relatively bug-free. Not a small thing, considering how buggy most of Paradox' releases have been before the first 1-2 patches.

Overall, I believe that the game is well worth its price. It enhances an already good game and I'm quite confident that all fans of V2 will enjoy AHD.

The game is Amazing! The new features innovatively have addressed issues facing the old the old game and have added new layers of complexity and replayability. This game is definitely a must try for Victoria II fans.

Victoria II: A House Divided is an excellent expansion that adds a lot to both gameplay and functionality in an already excellent game.

My favourite feature about this expansion is that it makes all types of nations more fun to play, from the uncivilized nations, who get new, interesting mechanics to simulate the process of westernization, to the Great Powers, who get new ways to handle their Spheres of Influence. Clever interface features have gotten rid of much of the irritating micromanagement that was still present in Victoria II, such as recruitment and merging of armies, opening/closing/expanding masses of factories, or easy switching of your National Focus from one state to another. All in all, I think this expansion is the most feature-packed expansion for any Paradox Interactive game to date, and it's well worth a purchase.

An excellent expansion to an already interesting game. A lot of interface changes makes for a more convenient playing experience, with more information easily available, a better ability to change and fiddle around with message settings, and plenty more options for the player, all being produced with fewer clicks than in the original version. It lets the game be more of a game and less of a chore!