Paradox passed along some new info on its upcoming strategy expansion, Victoria: Revolutions. The $9.99 expansion pack will be launching on Gamer’s Gate on August 17th, and in anticipation of that, the developers explain one of the features of the game (colonial system) and how it translates into the expansion:

The basic ideas for the colonial system were implemented for Victoria: Empire under the Sun and has now undergone a substantial re-haul to work better in actual gameplay. The improvements have focused on three areas:

Slowing down the pace of colonial building Reducing the colonial dead locks resulting from countries building colonies in strange places. The concept of range. No longer can you just build colonies anywhere; you need the province to within range of a naval base. As your naval tech advances you can build bigger naval bases and extend your range. By the end of the game you can virtually colonize anywhere in the globe, if there are any slots left. The players’ ability to colonize is linked to the province life rating. As players discover more tech they can colonize provinces with yet lower life ratings. The default setup is done so that a spectrum of techs and inventions are needed from various areas in order to colonize yet more provinces. However, those who enjoy modding the game can use whichever techs of choice.

In addition, the size of the huge colonial provinces has been reduced down to maximum 4 provinces in the state.

There is one last final change. Historically each country focused its colonization on single regions and tended to not welcome other countries in their area (unless the other country was bigger and more powerful). In Victoria: Revolutions players will also be forced to prioritize harder as they can only colonize a certain number of states at a time. Should someone else want to colonize a state, there is only one way for you to beat him to it – by having superior prestige.

The color coding is also an important aspect of Victoria: Revolutions.

Blue: Already owned by someone

Green: The player can colonize

Grey: The player cannot colonize due to life rating being too low, the province is out of range, or the province cannot be reached from current position.

There is an additional color (Red), which advises if someone is already colonizing the province. Overall, these changes and the new map view have been designed to make those colonial decisions much simpler. What are you waiting for?

Look for the game on www.Gamersgate.com later this month.