Victoria 3 – Dev Diary #174 – The Great Wave & Volume 3

Exultant Thursday! It is I, High Naval Commissioner Martin, bringing you the latest tidings from the admirals under my command. We’re about to embark on a year-long journey of updates and content that we have dubbed ‘Volume 3’ (or ‘Expansion Pass 3’ as some of the more uncouth captains would have called it back in less civilized times).

 As you have no doubt inferred from the opening paragraph (and the many, many loud foghorns preceding it), Volume 3’s flagship is the Navy, accompanied by its sister ship Global Imperialism. In this development diary we take a ‘big-picture’ look at the content on offer in Volume 3, along with some of the notes we plan to hit in the accompanying free updates. As always, more detailed development diaries will follow on both paid and free features as we get closer to each separate release.

With all that said, it’s time to set sail towards our first topic.

Welcome to The Great Wave, sailors, the upcoming expansion for Victoria 3. 

Focused on exploring the new oceans of expanded navy mechanics, central to which is the Ship Designer, offering strategic naval choice-making aplenty! Then, navigating the dangerous currents of Japan during the turmoil of the late Edo period, with its political and social turmoil caused by the changing of times. 

Use the power of your navy in order to dominate local rivals and keep foreign threats at bay.

Guide Japan through the last days of the Shogunate, as you forge a modern power ready to challenge the greatest empires of the day.

Now, what is included in The Great Wave?

• Ship Designer: Design and construct a fleet according to your country’s strategic needs. Build powerful but expensive ocean-travelling warships to influence other nations, or build an efficient fleet designed to keep your coasts safe.

• Flagships: Customize your very own pride of the fleet and let it lead your navy to prestigious victories.

• Ship purchase treaties: Sell your ships to other countries across the globe, and draw profit from your ship building capabilities.

• Gunboat Diplomacy options: Use your fleet to influence other countries in new diplomatic actions.

• Narrative content:

  • Steer Japan through the social and political tumults of the late Edo period, characterized by increased challenges to Tokugawa samurai rule. Adapt to or revolt against a changing domestic and international landscape, and reform the country to see your vision through.

  • Contend with the entry of Japan onto the world stage, and best the Western powers at their own game. Use your navy to extend the reach of Japan beyond the home islands, and compete for land and influence with your powerful neighbours.

• New historical characters.

• Art: New clothing assets, a Japanese building style, UI skin, map, and table assets.

• Music: New period appropriate music tracks evoking Japan’s rich culture.

Alongside The Great Wave, we will be releasing free Update 1.13 that will focus on some of the areas shown in the Dev Diary 173, namely:

• Make navies more important for projecting global power and securing control of coasts.

• Turn individual ships into proper pieces of military hardware that can be built, sunk and repaired rather than just being manpower packages.

• Improve naval combat and make it mechanically distinct from land combat.

• Make declaring and holding onto diplomatic Interests a more rewarding and challenging aspect of global empire-building

• Make generals/admirals into more meaningful and noticeable actors in countries and reduce the micromanagement of large numbers of commanders.

• Make sure that supply is an important and meaningful part of the military system that can win or lose you wars.

This is not an exhaustive list, but we will go into more detail for both The Great Wave and Update 1.13 in future dev diaries starting next Thursday.

The Great Wave alongside Update 1.13, will release on April 28th 2026, and the expansion can be wishlisted now on Steam here. As well as screenshots of some of the content.

Now, let us move our spyglass over to Volume 3.

Volume 3

Welcome to Volume 3, it is early spring and as we said time to elucidate you on its contents!

Volume 3 includes:

• Warships - Bonus Pack

• The Great Wave - Expansion Pack

• State and Revolution - Immersion Pack

• Century of Strife - Immersion Pack

You can see more information about each pack later in the diary, aside from The Great Wave which you’ve already read about first.

By picking up Volume 3 you will save -20% compared to picking each item up separately, and you will also receive the Warships Pack immediately upon purchasing Volume 3.

The whole package is available now for $47.97. More information about each DLC can be found on the Volume 3 Steam Page here. Or read about in the following sections.

Warships

First up, for those of you who want to embark on nautical horizons already by getting Volume 3 today. The Warships Bonus Pack includes three new ship designs for the on-map representation of battleships, available right now as an instant unlock for owners of Volume 3.

These show up now for owners of the Warships bonus pack appearing in place of dreadnoughts* when in use in navies (Specifically, the Mikasa appears for countries with Japanese primary culture, the Dingyuan appears for countries with Han or Manchu primary culture, and the Borodino appears for countries with Russian primary culture).

* While these ships were not actually dreadnoughts, it’s the best fit available in 1.12, and they will be used in more suitable roles come 1.13!

Mikasa

The flagship of Admiral Tōgō throughout the Russo-Japanese War, the pre-dreadnought battleship Mikasa fought in every major fleet action of the war – becoming an enduring symbol of Japan's naval ascendancy.

Borodino

The Borodino class pre-dreadnoughts were the newest battleships in the Russian Imperial Navy at the time of the Russo-Japanese War. Forming the nucleus of Admiral Rozhestvensky's doomed Second Pacific Squadron, four members of the class would be sunk or captured at the Battle of Tsushima. 

Dingyuan

The pride of the Beiyang Fleet, the ironclad battleships Dingyuan and Zhenyuan were the most striking symbols of late-Qing military modernization. Fighting valiantly at the Battle of Yalu River, their performance was hampered by the chronic underfunding of the Chinese Imperial Navy.

Sweeping currents now bring us onwards to the frozen shores of Russia, where it is time for… 

State and Revolution

In the first Immersion Pack coming in Volume 3, steer the vast Russian Empire through an age of autocracy, revolution, and rebirth. Guide the Tsar’s ambitions, while dealing with the legacy of their predecessors.

Then confront the oncoming ghost of the epoch-defining civil war, and impose your post-revolutionary dreams in the aftermath.

Releasing Q4, 2026.

State and Revolution includes new content related to:

• A dynamic Journal Entry that updates based on the Tsar in power. Make use of different actions depending on the Tsar’s traits and other factors in order to achieve their ambitions.

• Deal with a flexible Russian revolution based on the Tsarist Governments, and the legacy of your predecessors.

• Fight through the Russian Civil War, following the collapse of the state.

• Build up the post-revolutionary Russia depending on its outcome. Make way for a communist government, or bring about your designs for an altogether different post-revolutionary regime.

• A new Journal Entry dealing with the pursuit of Russification.

• Narrative content for Poland and other nations vying for independence from Russia.

• Exile unwanted dissidents to Siberia to ensure power stays with you – though the outcome may not always be what you expect.

• As an autocratic ruler, appoint favorites, adopt their ideological stances, and engage in narrative content around their newfound powers.

• Experience Ukrainian and Belarusian cultural renaissances.

• Visual effects for seasonal changes across the globe.

• New historical characters.

• Russian building style, character assets, interface and map skin, and table assets.

• New Russia themed music!

From Russia we move onwards to the shores of East Asia, where one of the greatest dramas of the 19th century is playing out in a…

Century of Strife

Shape a bright future for China by advancing wise reforms, strengthening governance, and utilizing the vast potential of the nation to resist western encroachment and avoid the Century of Humiliation.

Releasing Q1, 2027.

Century of Strife includes the following:

• Walk the tightrope of reforming China, striking the right balance between necessary change and the country’s stability.

• Decide the fate of the imperial examination system, reforming or abolishing it to achieve your ambitions.

• Resist foreign encroachments and safeguard Chinese interests, such as in Korea.

• Support the Self-Strengthening movement to reform the Empire, or bring about its end through revolutionary action.

• Foster social and economic change in post-revolutionary China.

• Make use of unique cabinet interactions for China.

• Strengthen imperial power, or seek to end dynastic rule and establish a new base of legitimacy.

• Engage with new content for the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

• Experience events around the attempted opening of Korea by western powers from Korea’s perspective.

• New historical characters for the involved nations.

• Art: New clothing assets, a Chinese building style, UI skin, map, and table assets.

• New China-themed tracks.

We have this infographic below to give a quick overview on when each pack comes out and it looks delightful as well!

We hope you enjoyed the reveals today, and look forward to what we have coming next. Be prepared for so, so many nautical puns over the upcoming month.

Our next dev diary will be next week, and will be an overview of free Update 1.13’s contents hosted by Admiral Lino.