Imperator: Rome - Status Update (Apr 2021)

[cloudwasher]

I really wish that Imperator wasn't made to be a victim of the struggles being had by the EU4 and HOI4 teams, who are both clearly struggling. I also feel its somewhat deceptive to put out a 2.0 patch, publicize it as a revitalization, then yank the carpet out from underneath because EU4 keeps screwing up their DLCs and HOI4 can't seem to finish their DLCs. In 1.0, when Imperator was getting savaged by 85% of people for the political power points system, I wrote a positive review on steam saying that I've been buying Paradox products for, at the time, almost 20 years (longer than 20 years now), and that I had confidence that they would spend years correcting the problem and Paradox doesn't do cheap cash grabs then abandon their work. I want you guys to know I went back and deleted that review. You made a liar out of me, and that leaves a very bitter taste in my mouth. Since you guys went public as a corporation the quality of work, and commitment to titles, have both dropped off a cliff. I'm rooting for you guys, and hope you can find some way to pull things back together as a company, but man it feels like the ship is grounded on the rocks right now. It's not just an Imperator problem, it's quickly becoming a company wide problem, and shuffling around deck chairs isn't going to pull the ship off the rocks.

 

[RedJack]

+1


we'll see the effects of the trust drop as soon as anything will go on pre-order.
pre-orders require trust....

As someone who got burned in IR AND Empire, I won't be doing preorders again period. This isn't unique to Paradox, but seems many games are released and dumped.

 

[Onlyherefortheconverter]

In 160 BC, Rome occupies the whole of Italy, the main islands of the Western Mediterranean Sea, big chunks of Iberia, has defeated the Seleucid empire at Magnesia, partitioned Macedonia and is about to gobble up the whole of mainland Greece. So, yes, Rome is about to be a tiny bit the focus of that game.

This could very well attract 50 times more players that Imperator did (many of them no doubt willing to fight Attila in the Colosseum or whatever nonsense), I'm just saying that I won't be a part of that.

With Imperator, the developers made the rather courageous choice to set their world in a not much covered (and much richer than most people suspect) period of the Ancient World and that's one of the things I'm most grateful for (they even had a DLC that included Syracuse, think about that). Telling them they should have done the same old stuff that has already been (badly) done to death by every other entertainment company is simply adding insult to injury.

To your first point - I mean, this can be said of all PDX games. The Caliphates and Byzantine were large empires in 1066, doesn't mean CK3 is a game about only them. The Ottomans were on the ascendancy in 1453, doesn't make EU4 a game about only the Ottomans. The British Empire was, like, everywhere in 1836, doesn't make VIC2 a game about only the British...even despite the fact that its named after Victoria. So just because Rome's the biggest kid on the block in 160 BC/E, it doesn't mean the game will only be about Rome.

It may well have been a brave choice to set the game in 300 BC/E but at the end of the day, if people don't buy it then its not going to help sustain the game. Look, I myself would love for PDX to make a post-Roman Migration era game to fill in the gap between Imperator and CK3 but I've accepted the fact that its unlikely to happen because it might not be the most popular of time periods compared to the other games. Thems the breaks, its out of our control unfortunately. I don't have anything against the game, I'd love to see Imperator continued or an Imperator 3 at some point in the future.

 

[The_Sound_Of_Violence]

To your first point - I mean, this can be said of all PDX games. The Caliphates and Byzantine were large empires in 1066, doesn't mean CK3 is a game about only them. The Ottomans were on the ascendancy in 1453, doesn't make EU4 a game about only the Ottomans. The British Empire was, like, everywhere in 1836, doesn't make VIC2 a game about only the British...even despite the fact that its named after Victoria. So just because Rome's the biggest kid on the block in 160 BC/E, it doesn't mean the game will only be about Rome.

It may well have been a brave choice to set the game in 300 BC/E but at the end of the day, if people don't buy it then its not going to help sustain the game. Look, I myself would love for PDX to make a post-Roman Migration era game to fill in the gap between Imperator and CK3 but I've accepted the fact that its unlikely to happen because it might not be the most popular of time periods compared to the other games. Thems the breaks, its out of our control unfortunately. I don't have anything against the game, I'd love to see Imperator continued or an Imperator 3 at some point in the future.

If you are still trying to sell me your idea, you are going to be very disappointed.

 

[Bovrick]

If you are still trying to sell me your idea, you are going to be very disappointed.

Yeah wanting to skip the Second Punic War would be...a suboptimal choice for this game. Though, if you wanted to make a Republic character-simulator like plenty of people prefer (not me), where other tags are all fodder, then just covering the Late Republic would make sense.

 

[Onlyherefortheconverter]

If you are still trying to sell me your idea, you are going to be very disappointed.

I'm not selling you anything, I'm simply having a discussion.

 

[Astallon]

I could understand your motives and why you are doing this. But I also would like to express my disappointment with your decision as I feel it's not a good one.

On the other hand I would like also to express my support for the devs and team of Imperator for the great work you did with Marius update and even you had a difficult game in hands, the game improved in several ways and I also enjoyed it a lot.

I can only call to the modder community to expand this game in several ways, so maybe PDX rethink in a future about this.

And again, thanks to the game team for this little dream came true.

Ευχαριστώ πολύ και καλή τύχη.

 

[n0cturn4l]

Yeah wanting to skip the Second Punic War would be...a suboptimal choice for this game. Though, if you wanted to make a Republic character-simulator like plenty of people prefer (not me), where other tags are all fodder, then just covering the Late Republic would make sense.

Honestly the game should cover from the early Republic to the late empire, you can add the latter with DLCs but right now it feels that half the game is missing.

 

[Qantrix]

Honestly the game should cover from the early Republic to the late empire, you can add the latter with DLCs but right now it feels that half the game is missing.

Yeah it was also the obvious expansion path for Imperator I would say. Adding in the rivalry between Rome and Sassanids, the rise of Christianity and its relation to paganism, mystery cults (much of the CK2 society model mechanics fit Mithraism better than what it tried to portray) and tribal warrior societies, (working) migratory tribes and great invasions, and some extra start dates.

Judging by the number of mods that try to simulate it I would reckon that a ~400AD Start Date would be quite popular: keeping the Western Roman Empire running or helping to destroy it, making it pagan again, collapsing Roman rule and Germanic invasions in Britain, etc.

 

[sfbaytf]

This blows. IR was just hitting its stride.

 

[Lamisatr]

When modders approach this game I think they ought to look and improving core systems. the ones PDS left behind, and then extend the timeline.

 

[Dogukan91]

Come on this is not a project that should be left. It has a nice character and mission now, its sense of geography and civilization building is there.
The game just reached a really good point. I personally do not play it much because I don't have time to game a lot but I am ready to throw my money at any new content tbh.

This game has an amazing sandbox basis and with a few more areas upgraded, it can last forever with mods. Not to mention that its map is so much nice to look at, out of all the paradox games.

 

[Rifal]

The disappointment that was CK3, the Leviathan debacle and now this. To quote Alestorm: "An unforgivable offence, of that there is no doubt"
Probably the end of me buying Paradox products for the foreseeable future.

 

[Testeria]

Hi all, Arheo here.

As mentioned above, many of the faces you've become used to seeing in relation to Imperator will be moving on to utilise their talent in support of new projects.

2.0 was, and will remain a seminal moment in Imperator's history. The reception from the players has been overwhelming, and we are beyond proud of what the team has accomplished.

I will also be joining the team in their exodus to projects various, so I wanted to take this opportunity to thank the I:R team, our community and fans for crafting Imperator into a strong, unique element in the PDS repertoire.

I have confidence that Imperator will continue to grow towards the vision we created for it, and I will continue to be present both here and elsewhere for further conversation regarding the best PDS game

/Peter

I can understand They moved You from Imperator but why disbanding such a good team? You proved Yourself with Imperator, from programming point of view it is such a waste...

 

[Gurluas]

Imperator has a ton of potential. PLEASE do not abandon it forever.
I know it had a rocky start, but there is SO much that can be done with it going forward.

Hopefully a Tribe Designer will come out one day...
I'll be waiting for your return!

 

[Jack Churchill]

Imperator is honestly the only Paradox game I'm really invested in beyond Stellaris. HOI4 seems to lack any real direction and EU4 is dying of bloat that's sapping what enjoyment I used to have with it. CK3 might grab me eventually, but it just seems really bland, even now.

I'm just really disappointed

 

[Ondolindë]

@Arheo, terribly saddened by the news. However, I want to express my thanks for all your hard work and ask you to extend it to your team. I really hope that the slight hope that remains that Imperator is once again worked on its true. May you shine your knowledge, dedication and work ethic on other projects.

 

[Gatkramp]

Wait, so... you just fixed it and got it going well... so you're going to take all the people that did the work and remove them for other projects? ....right, ok. Sure. I mean, I get it but... huh.

If it isn't selling and is losing the company money, then yes. The player numbers didn't hold up and the DLC obviously wasn't selling enough to cover costs. It's a sensible business decision, even if it really sucks for us fans.

The many, many negative reviews and culture of shit talking the game on social media surely didn't help. The fact is that most grand strategy players were unwilling to give Imperator a go, even after two years of post-release support. The game had been on life support for those two years, and drastic attempts were made to improve the situation. When its condition didn't improve, its not surprising they opted to pull the plug.

 

[Zhein]

You made a liar out of me, and that leaves a very bitter taste in my mouth

You know, what I find really fun, is that I'm telling exactly that on the HoI4 forums.
That it's a terrible move because people supported the game on the argument that Paradox didn't abandon games. And on HoI 4 forums they are all "hurrdurrr nobody likes imperator who cares".

Might be a sensible move income-wise today, but on the long run it's destroying paradox's reputation that their games are in for the long haul, even if they are bland at the start they'll get better blablabla, you all know the speech, everyone made it when Imperator was released. But now ? Now everyone that was using the same argument that you did must feel exactly the same. The reviews are pretty explicit about that.

Maybe a sensible move income-wise, but you're not getting the community goodwill back, and not even leaving a skeleton crew on Imperator a lot more in the long run, when your next failure will not get received with as much benevolence that the community was willing to give Imperator.

 

[Stephanos]

@Arheo The support and love you and the team showed to Imperator and the fanbase was incredible. Thank you for your hard work and best of luck in your future projects.