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IngarStene said:
The most interesting part in this article is the statement: "Rome will focus on empirebuilding, not to drift an empire once it has been created,..".

Can anyone confirm this statement?

".. therefore the game wont cover the whole roman history, but rather end when the player has established his empire."

I guess you are right on, but I thought I might elaborate:

"Rome will focus on building an empire, not to run it once it has been created."


So I guess the victory condition would be to create an empire like Rome had in its hay-days within the given timeframe.

" Interessant nok vil terrenget spille inn på handelsrutene, og det vil være vanskeligere å åpne en handelsrute med en annen nasjon om grenseområdene preges av fjellkjeder, for eksempel."

-> Bad terrain, i.e. mountains will limit trading between those two provinces. Or as it say; "It will be harder to establish a trading route with a nation whose borderarea is dominated by mountain ranges, for example. "

" Det vil også være mulig å forhandle med dem [barbarene], og gi for eksempel gi dem områder som de kan få kontroll over (mot at de sverger troskap til deg)."

You can give land to barbarians and they will in turn 'swear aligance' (U know what I mean) to you.
 
Translation, Part 1

Translation following (note, I'm no expert, just a very bored Norwegian)



More grand strategy from Paradox


Can you create your own version of the Roman Empire?


Swedish Paradox has come far since the year 2000, when they released Europa Universalis. The game became an unexpected hit among strategy gamers, and sold well enough for Paradox to expand on the concept. In the following years they released several titles based on the same game play foundation, and their games were received with open arms by a hungry gaming audience. After dealing with the middle ages, colonial times, the Second World War and much more, Paradox have now decided to focus on another well known period: the Roman era.

Grand strategy in familiar style

Europa Universalis: Rome looks to be exactly what the fans of the series expect: Good, old Europa Universalis in a new suit, and with new content. Paradox have of course added some new features, as they did with ever new game in the series, but the basic game play will be easily recognizable for any who have ever laid their hands on a Europa Universalis game. Lead designer Johan Andersson describes the game so:

– «Same but different» – The players will recognize the format, but all the content is new and unexplored.

There isn't exactly any lack of strategy games set in the roman epoch. With grand titles such as Rome: Total War, and a series of less famous titles, such as CivCity: Rome, Slitherine, Legion and Glory of the Roman Empire on the marked, it's easy to make one wonder why the swedes at Paradox decided on precisely the Roman era for their new game. Andersson is convinced that Paradox has something new to add to the period, with their well known sense of detail.

- There haven't been any previous strategy games that have dealt with the roman era with the same depth and feeling that our kind of game represents. We like the period and we're convinced that we can make a very good game adapted to the era.

The action in Rome starts at the beginning of the wars between Rome and her arch-enemy Carthage. At this time it was by no means clear that Rome would become the dominant country for the next centuries. Carthage also had a strong position, and Rome had other enemies as well, like the Persian empire of Parthia. You can assume control over Rome and build the empire with trade and conquest, or you can try to lead one of the other states if you feel like rewriting history.

An Empire is born

Rome focuses on building an empire, and not on the act of actually running the empire once it has been made. Therefore the game does not cover the entirety of Roman history, and instead ends when the player has built a real empire. The action is of course centered around the Mediterranean, but also covers everything from England to modern day Iran, and the game gives you the opportunity of conquering all the territories that the Romans themselves managed to conquer. In total, the game area is populated by approximately 50 different factions, from Gaelic tribes to well known nations like Macedonia and Egypt.

Like in previous games the focus is on making the game fairly authentic and historically correct, at least up until the point when the players and the computer run states are released with the intention of doing their best in rewriting all of history. Andersson explains how the focus on historical accuracy has meant several new challenges for the developers; as opposed to the middle ages and other periods that Paradox has covered, there is still a fair amount of roman history that is unknown.

- The biggest challenge has been the fact that there is a definite limit on how much historical material which is available. Even though you, for example, can find plenty about Rome, there is almost nothing about Carthage, and this has meant more work from our side during the development.

The first change you're likely to notice from the previous Europa Universalis games are the graphics. While Paradox traditionally favoured a more functional style of graphics, Rome will offer a more detailed projection of the gaming areas. The new map looks great, and you can zoom in and out as you please.
 
Translation, Part 2

Easier for new players

The Europa Universalis games have never been very friendly to new players, but it's clear that Paradox hopes that the new, more detailed and colourful graphics will attract many new players. To that occasion they have also worked a lot on making sure that the learning curve doesn't turn out to be a vertical and insurmountable wall for new players.

- We have worked hard on making the game easier to approach. We have learned a lot about the development of a good user interface, and lately our reputation in this area has been improving. The learning curve is something we've had our minds on from the first day of the project, and the goal of keeping it as straight as possible imbues the whole development process.

You control your nation on three levels. The first covers your entire country, and lets you make major changes that affect the whole country. The next is on the provincial level, where you get the opportunity to develop the individual provinces which make up your country. Lastly there's the unit level, which gives you control over the individual forces, and lets you move them around on the map. At the very top, by the way, there are certain "ideas", that may be comparable to the "civics" of Civilization. You can choose different ideas that will be central to your country, as each influences it in different ways.

All trade routes lead to Rome

Just like in Civilization, you need access to different types of resources to be able to build different types of forces, so it pays off expand with a strategic mindset, or be just a bit diplomatic so that you can get good trading partners. Important trade goods include salt and iron, and they all have their own benefits. Interestingly enough the trade routes will be affected by the terrain, and it will for example be more difficult to open a trade route with another nation if the border areas are characterized by mountain ranges.

In addition to a robust trading system, the game will have an extensive diplomacy element, which lets you negotiate complicated deals with other nations. But be aware that the rules for diplomacy were slightly different in the roman era from what they are today. If you send a diplomat to a nation which doesn't particularly like you, you could very well have him back in bits (and then safely assume that the proposals he brought were found wanting).

Diplomacy and politics are completely character based, and all the different characters obviously have unique characteristics. So it might be a risk sending your most talented diplomat you speak with the enemy, as you risk losing him. But your different characters also have varied opinions and agendas, and some will undoubtedly appear as dangerous rivals to your leader (who has to run elections). In that case having them disappear in the dark, German forests, never to be seen again, might not seem like such a bad thing after all?

An uncivilized world

At the time of the Romans, the so-called civilized world was so to speak smaller or bigger islands in a dark, uncivilized ocean. So barbarians also play an important role in Europa Universalis: Rome. They will be a constant threat, and will among other things be able to conquer provinces and form their own nations. It will also be possible to negotiate with them, and for example give them areas to control (in exchange for their allegiance). In any case it will be a good idea to make sure that your borders are well defended, as well as subsidizing colonization so that the border areas become increasingly civilized.

One element which might be slightly controversial with adherents of historical accuracy is the way the game implements religion. In Europa Universalis: Rome the gods are in fact real, and you can present them with offerings to receive different benefits (depending on which gods you go for). But the gods can be unpredictable, and if they aren't satisfied with the offerings, you could see some unfortunate consequences. Andersson explains it thusly:

- The gods are real in the game, in the way that your nation is affected on what you sacrifice. People were of strong faith back then, so this had to be an important part of the game.

All in all, it seems as if Paradox are well on their way of delivering yet another excellent strategy game in Europa Universalis: Rome. The basic philosophy of this well known Swedish company is simple: They make games that they themselves want to play, and luckily for us, as it turns out time and time again, they are far from alone in their taste in games. We are looking forward to seeing if Europa Universalis: Rome is just as delightful as its predecessors, when the game is released come spring.
 
Thanks for the transulation. :)