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Imperator DD #101 - A Most Auspicious Number

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Imperator: Rome 9045 Bug Reports 3692 Suggestions 2399 User Mods 675 Tech Support 516 Multiplayer 56 After Action Report (AAR)
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Arheo said:
I tried this.. it's technically possible, but its only consistently possible when there's one primary UI color. With more than this, you end up needing to recolor other elements based on the primary color, which is a nontrivial thing to do in a satisfactory manner. Might include that color function at release if anyone feels like playing with it in mods tho.
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Don't most countries also have a secondary colour? You could potentially recolour the secondary UI elements with that secondary colour. Might look awful though. Just an idea
 
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Is there also a reason for the map modes on the bottom right to be spaced out the way they are? Hidden message? Teasing new thus far unmentioned map modes or just coincidence?
 
Paghalay said:
Is there also a reason for the map modes on the bottom right to be spaced out the way they are? Hidden message? Teasing new thus far unmentioned map modes or just coincidence?
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Just because I was working on them, no hidden messages there (yet).
 
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@o@

Wow! Looking at the old and new UI side by side really shows just how... not to sound mean but... uninspired the old one was. I'm usually a big fan of function and prefer clarity and elegant minimalism when it comes to UI in UI-driven genres like this one. But the omnipresent single-tone marble of 1.x was too blandly utilitarian even for me >.<

But now there's colour and texture! And yet none of the pretty bits take up any space at the expense of functionality! I'm genuinely impressed how much more alive and more inviting the game feels and I'm not even playing it yet! Maybe this will help make Imperator more sustainable over long play sessions (for me at least).
 
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Princess Stabbity said:
@o@

Wow! Looking at the old and new UI side by side really shows just how... not to sound mean but... uninspired the old one was. I'm usually a big fan of function and prefer elegant minimalism most of the time, but the omnipresent single-tone marble was too much even for me >.<

But now there's colour and texture! And yet none of the pretty bits take up any space at the expense of functionality! I'm genuinely impressed how much better, more inviting this makes the game feel and I'm not even playing it yet!
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;D

Great to see how much different the eyes are xD
Okay then, use more colors for god sake but use them more subtle! No two major colors for the UI - thats way too much xD
 
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Well damn, after the flurry of disappointment from last week, you guys managed to turn me back to thoroughly exited in only a week.
I can't help but feel like this whole debacle could've been avoided if this DD was swapped with the last one, but alas, turning the opinion around like that is definitely worthy of high praise.

As for what is getting me this exited, I could very well say "all of it", but this particular one is the biggest to me:
Arheo said:
Pacing

I want to achieve a more consistent and choice-based progression to the flow of the game. As of right now, much of what the game offers you is available to you from the very beginning, and there are fewer ways to customise your playstyle than I would like. We’ll be looking at overhauling the inventions system and the military traditions system in order to effect a more intuitive system of progression that allows for a sense of advancement and identity to develop over the course of a game.

This doesn’t solely mean gating existing mechanics, however, this will also tie strongly to new features and additions coming in 2.0.
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This is, imo, the most understated aspect Imperator doesn't get right at all atm.
In all other PDX games you can clearly tell that the world has advanced a lot through time.
  • In CK, tech will have you progress from a largely levy based army to a standing one, as well as unlock buildings, succession laws and many other features which allows you to centralize your realm.
  • In EU, you'll have progressed from a tax based society to a production and trade based one, religious wars and even revolutions might've created rifts in the world, and armies will have gone from being composed mainly from pikeman infantry to riflemen and artillery.
  • In Victoria, the most drastic one imo, the very core of nations will be shaken in severe ways. Ideologies will arise and be the cause of turmoil (perhaps even revolutions), great wars and nationalism can break and give rise to some of the mightiest empires in history, and industrialization will change the scale which goods are produced and move large populations to urban areas. In the military, you can see the transition from sail to steam, mobilization will allow you to engage in wars with millions and millions, wars which themselves will have changed to endless meat grinders, and in the end give rise to tanks and airplanes.
  • Even HoI, in a much shorter period, manages to portray the advancements on its own scope. By the end, light tanks give space to modern armor, biplanes to jet aircraft, perhaps even infantry to mechanized, and of course, nukes. You can clearly see an army going from a WW1 structure into the modern era.
Imperator doesn't give any of these feelings at all, besides which colors the map is now painted in, you'd be hard pressed to see any real change to the world.
Perhaps one or two big cities have emerged somewhere, perhaps a lot of roads have been built, but in practical terms, nothing really has changed in a palpable way.
This gives me a big hit to engagement through a campaign tbh, to see a world this static (it was much, much worse before 1.2, granted, where even pops couldn't move on their own), though I'm not sure if that'd be just me.
But I'm indeed very, very pleased to see this on this list of priorities for this all new version of the game.

Edit: also, with all the focus on characters as well, and the new CK3 tech, I can't help but imagine an Imperator with fully animated character models.
I'd definitely not put that on high priority, and would probably be a bigger resource drain than any return it might give, but it's a nice thought nonetheless.
 
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Arheo said:
Our main military focus for 2.0 will be on tying the recruitment system(s!) into the rest of our simulation, as well as adding a much larger recognition for the cultural diversity of military forces in different parts of the map.
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This is big.
Very curious to know how it unfolds.
 
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Arheo said:
I tried this.. it's technically possible, but its only consistently possible when there's one primary UI color. With more than this, you end up needing to recolor other elements based on the primary color, which is a nontrivial thing to do in a satisfactory manner. Might include that color function at release if anyone feels like playing with it in mods tho.
Click to expand...
Didn’t CK2 have different UI colors, based on religion groups, iirc?
 
I like the new UI, but I always wondered why so many complained about the light theme in particular, why do so many prefer dark themes? I think it fit nicely into a classical era game, being such a golden age of culture. I will say I preferred the statuary to the new flat designs that seem to be taking over, though I know that was an unpopular opinion. I also hope that part of "pacing" will be to give the game more of a direction each play through. Finally, I hope that we will see a bit more uniqueness between minor factions, especially the Tribes. All in all, I am happy this game seems to be getting more love than March of the Eagles or Sengoku.
 
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I am glad you choose to go the 2.0 path instead of small updates. I am really looking forward to it now.
Only thing that is missing is trade/economics rework, i wish you could include those 2 aspects into the 2.0 release, the economy tab particularly is so bland, maybe some gliders?
Pretty please.
 
Wow, fantastic work! I am always a sucker for more artwork. The only thing I see that I will miss is the round upper buttons over the new side bar, but it's a small price to pay.
 
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I love this, and think it will be widely well recieved. I hope you're able to wield the power of a more sleek and effective UI / UX to frame and communicate everything the game does well, and the other things you're changing in 2.0

Arheo said:
The astute amongst you will notice that we have a new tooltip system - the recent release of CK3 has enabled us to make use of much more intuitive nested tooltip technology.
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Neat! much needed. are you going all the way with this? tooltips within tooltips within tooltips? information about scoped assets made available, nested right at the source?


going forward ill be particularly interested to learn more about what the changes to "pacing" will look like...
Arheo said:
Pacing

I want to achieve a more consistent and choice-based progression to the flow of the game. As of right now, much of what the game offers you is available to you from the very beginning, and there are fewer ways to customise your playstyle than I would like. We’ll be looking at overhauling the inventions system and the military traditions system in order to effect a more intuitive system of progression that allows for a sense of advancement and identity to develop over the course of a game.

This doesn’t solely mean gating existing mechanics, however, this will also tie strongly to new features and additions coming in 2.0.
Click to expand...

... I could see inventions unlocking new kinds of cultural decisions, unlocking the ability to build a holy site and make different provincial investments. There are so many possibilities!
 
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Todie said:
Neat! much needed. are you going all the way with this? tooltips within tooltips within tooltips? information about scoped assets made available, nested right at the source?
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Nested tooltips, yes. Callbacks with specific info in many cases, though it's unlikely to be as totally integrated as in CK3 - an awful lot of text and time goes into these!
 
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