Greetings all! Things have been a little up in the air lately, but I hope you’re all managing to stay safe and secure.
In today’s DD, I hope to give you all a little something to look forward to, as well as a round-up of some more minor additions coming to both the free update and content pack alike.
Without further ado, however, it is my pleasure to announce that the Archimedes update and the Magna Graecia content pack will be available for your delectation on the 31st March.
As you might be aware by now, the Archimedes update will be free for all users, and contains an entire overhaul of the religion and omen mechanics, deities, sacred treasures, new events, additional content, and a dizzying array of bugfixes and balance tweaks.
The Magna Graecia content pack, priced at $7.99 / £5.79 / €7.99, will be available for purchase on all our usual platforms, and contains bespoke mission trees and content for Sparta, Athens, and Syracuse; a set of hellenistic themed treasures, 3 new music tracks, the Apotheosis feature allowing you to deify your past (or present!) rulers, new hellenistic deities replete with unique 2D art, and new 3D art for certain Greek nations (you can find more on this below!).
In addition to this news, I‘d like to share an updated roadmap graphic with you. We’ll begin to reveal more details about future plans as we get a bit closer, but this will serve to indicate my development intentions going forwards.
And now for those of you that have patiently awaited additional gameplay content - here are some minor changes that we’re making to each of the focus tags in Magna Graecia.
It is my firm belief that the identity of a playthrough in I:R is composed of that feeling of ‘uniqueness’ that exists as a combination of the many small aspects that make up your nation. As we develop I:R, these small but individual mechanical changes to tags, are an incredibly important part of differentiating between tag A and tag B; in combination with interactions and features enabled by other defining aspects of a nation - religion, culture, and more.
As Athens, you’ll be able to revive the ancient punishment of Ostracization; a character interaction that acts much like banishment, but is usable without imprisoning the target. You’ll incur a hefty tyranny cost, as well as the ire of the target’s family, and you’ll have no control over where the target flees, or what they get up to when they’re there..
The power of being able to deal with unruly characters is offset by a highly variable tyranny cost, and the increasing reluctance of the Ekklesia to support your actions at high tyranny.
As Sparta, a tall, military playstyle can be enriched by two new Province Investments, which replace Provincial Procurators and Mystery Cults for your nation.
The changes to these investments open up opportunities for some highly optimized core Provinces, in combination with the Spartan mission trees.
The unique mechanic for Syracuse plays off a desire to retain a focus on the famous City States of geographical Magna Graecia, as well as draw on the famous and ruthless nature of Agathocles’ past.
You’ll be able to release single cities as client states, having installed a puppet governor. These new subjects have a 50% bonus to their -base- manpower, ensuring that they punch above their weight in terms of supported army. For each of the subjects that you own, you’ll receive a small reduction in Mercenary Maintenance cost, and if you double down on the mercenary life, you’ll be able to utilise a new character interaction, which will let you elect a new ruling line from among your mercenary subjects.
The above mechanics are linked to the Magna Graecia content pack, but coming in the Archimedes update, is the ability to favorite characters of your choosing:
Favorite Characters will appear in the outliner, allowing you quick access to their character sheet or interactions. There is no restriction on who you can favorite - if you want to keep track of foreign rulers, that’s perfectly fine. Characters that have been favorited will be removed from your outliner once deceased.
A final thing we've done as part of the Archimedes update, is to add a series of startup events and choices for Diadochi nations, which make the starting situation a little more deterministic. I felt that the regional narrative in Greece was often lacking; as such, the 4th war of the Diadochi is much more likely to occur, with various rare outcomes still being possible.
Last, but not least, a promised look at some of the unit models that owners of Magna Graecia will receive:
Included will be unique unit models for Sparta, Athens and Syracuse, and as an added bonus, a unit model for Cretan nations, featuring the feared Minotaur as a shield boss:
That’s all I've got for you this week, folks, but with our release imminent, you can expect a wrap-up on content and features next week, and a comprehensive set of patch notes shortly thereafter. Stay safe out there!
/Arheo
In today’s DD, I hope to give you all a little something to look forward to, as well as a round-up of some more minor additions coming to both the free update and content pack alike.
Without further ado, however, it is my pleasure to announce that the Archimedes update and the Magna Graecia content pack will be available for your delectation on the 31st March.
As you might be aware by now, the Archimedes update will be free for all users, and contains an entire overhaul of the religion and omen mechanics, deities, sacred treasures, new events, additional content, and a dizzying array of bugfixes and balance tweaks.
The Magna Graecia content pack, priced at $7.99 / £5.79 / €7.99, will be available for purchase on all our usual platforms, and contains bespoke mission trees and content for Sparta, Athens, and Syracuse; a set of hellenistic themed treasures, 3 new music tracks, the Apotheosis feature allowing you to deify your past (or present!) rulers, new hellenistic deities replete with unique 2D art, and new 3D art for certain Greek nations (you can find more on this below!).
In addition to this news, I‘d like to share an updated roadmap graphic with you. We’ll begin to reveal more details about future plans as we get a bit closer, but this will serve to indicate my development intentions going forwards.
And now for those of you that have patiently awaited additional gameplay content - here are some minor changes that we’re making to each of the focus tags in Magna Graecia.
It is my firm belief that the identity of a playthrough in I:R is composed of that feeling of ‘uniqueness’ that exists as a combination of the many small aspects that make up your nation. As we develop I:R, these small but individual mechanical changes to tags, are an incredibly important part of differentiating between tag A and tag B; in combination with interactions and features enabled by other defining aspects of a nation - religion, culture, and more.
As Athens, you’ll be able to revive the ancient punishment of Ostracization; a character interaction that acts much like banishment, but is usable without imprisoning the target. You’ll incur a hefty tyranny cost, as well as the ire of the target’s family, and you’ll have no control over where the target flees, or what they get up to when they’re there..
The power of being able to deal with unruly characters is offset by a highly variable tyranny cost, and the increasing reluctance of the Ekklesia to support your actions at high tyranny.
As Sparta, a tall, military playstyle can be enriched by two new Province Investments, which replace Provincial Procurators and Mystery Cults for your nation.
The changes to these investments open up opportunities for some highly optimized core Provinces, in combination with the Spartan mission trees.
The unique mechanic for Syracuse plays off a desire to retain a focus on the famous City States of geographical Magna Graecia, as well as draw on the famous and ruthless nature of Agathocles’ past.
You’ll be able to release single cities as client states, having installed a puppet governor. These new subjects have a 50% bonus to their -base- manpower, ensuring that they punch above their weight in terms of supported army. For each of the subjects that you own, you’ll receive a small reduction in Mercenary Maintenance cost, and if you double down on the mercenary life, you’ll be able to utilise a new character interaction, which will let you elect a new ruling line from among your mercenary subjects.
The above mechanics are linked to the Magna Graecia content pack, but coming in the Archimedes update, is the ability to favorite characters of your choosing:
Favorite Characters will appear in the outliner, allowing you quick access to their character sheet or interactions. There is no restriction on who you can favorite - if you want to keep track of foreign rulers, that’s perfectly fine. Characters that have been favorited will be removed from your outliner once deceased.
A final thing we've done as part of the Archimedes update, is to add a series of startup events and choices for Diadochi nations, which make the starting situation a little more deterministic. I felt that the regional narrative in Greece was often lacking; as such, the 4th war of the Diadochi is much more likely to occur, with various rare outcomes still being possible.
Last, but not least, a promised look at some of the unit models that owners of Magna Graecia will receive:
Included will be unique unit models for Sparta, Athens and Syracuse, and as an added bonus, a unit model for Cretan nations, featuring the feared Minotaur as a shield boss:
That’s all I've got for you this week, folks, but with our release imminent, you can expect a wrap-up on content and features next week, and a comprehensive set of patch notes shortly thereafter. Stay safe out there!
/Arheo
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