[MOD] Imperator Invictus

[Snowlet]

Dev Diary 65: Illyrian Pirates + Personality Traits

Salvete!
Today we'll be talking about new missions for the Illyrian pirates, integration of some very well-made mods for which i'll hand you over to Zorgoball but first, for those of you who want to know what country they should play. I present a map by Juanen which shows every mission available to countries neatly on a map.

Let me also quickly thank everyone for the support we've received, we're now just a few hundred subscribers away from the 50k milestone!
Now, i'll hand you over to Zorgoball to present his missions.

Hello, Zorgoball here with a brand new mission tree to show off today, one that is available to any tag with the Illyrian culture group. Before we get into that, however, I have two announcements - Invictus has been generously granted permission to incorporate two more fantastic mods, so I first begin my segment by gratefully acknowledging the authors and giving them due credit. We have added Crownsteler’s lovely Vexilla Coronam, so your next playthroughs in Gaul will be even more flavorful, and we have also integrated the Personality traits from the outstanding More Character Traits mod by RetconCrisis - you can expect to see events with some of these new character traits, including in the new tree “Scourge of the Mare Adriaticum”.

When Invictus reached the milestone of 10,000 subscribers, we announced a story contest, and in a (somewhat late but better than never) salute to the winning entry, “Pirate Illyria” is finally here. Those familiar with the history of this region might know of the story of the queen of the Ardiaei tribe that ruled around 230 BCE, but this mission tree is not about recreating the narrative of the historic Pirate Queen. Instead of being railroaded down her path, we have created the conditions that will allow your own pirate nation to organically form, but with a few very obvious easter eggs and other historic nods to those looking for them. Let’s take a look at the 22 tasks, each with their own event (and a couple of event chains as well).

The right side of the tree will assist the Illyrians in conquering their neighbors while boosting some of the cultural heritages and military traditions that you will find waiting for you in this region. Once you have built a worthy armada, all bets are off and “Raiding For Slaves” will become a new national pastime. Illyrian tribes already gain substantial bonuses by accessing vanilla military traditions and unlocking certain inventions, and this tree will help to make you into a raiding juggernaut.

Don’t expect to gain a ton of foreign claims throughout this campaign, because this mission does not focus on expanding wide, but will rather help you play tall in the region of Illyria - you, as the player, can decide where you’d like to conquer. A few important foreign islands, like Korkyra and Meligounis, will become targets of your warships, however - you will need fortified harbors as ports of safe refuge for the…partners…that you are working with. Before we go any further down the right side, we should meet the scalliwags that are docked in your waters, waiting for you in the left branches of the missions.

In time, this clandestine relationship between you and the pirates develops into something official, but only after you two have worked together to build up your shared nation.
The “Pirate Shipyards” modifier that they will help you construct will become a prototype of sorts, one that will be built a couple of other times throughout the mission, yet they come with a little unrest…that’s the price of living a pirate’s life, I’m afraid.

Once you make the momentous decision to embrace piracy, the grateful buccaneers will send you the Pirate’s Crown, carried by the official liaison between your two worlds, a respected pirate named Teuta. You can choose to abandon your national heritage and embrace the Pirate’s Heritage, as well as obtaining one of the newly added character traits, Pillager, but be advised that your neighboring countries will be very unhappy to see you go down this road…but who cares what they think, anyways.

Without giving too much away, be sure to keep one eye on Teuta, because as the influence of the pirates grows within your nation, her status could change accordingly…her event chain is memorable, to say the least.

As the story of this mission tree unfolds, there will be ample opportunities to upgrade your navy and fighting forces. The “Libernian Liburnians” task will incorporate the latest developments in aquatic fighting technology to strengthen your fastest ships, and the “Fearsomely Arrayed” task will require that you unlock both of the Illyrian cultural military technologies that Invictus added. Your armies will be well-equipped for your profitable raids on Greece, Magna Graecia and Italia.

Dementive has also worked some GUI wizardry to bring even more art to this next update, so you will now see military traditions being used as event pictures.

As your power grows, you will eventually be given permission to officially wear the Pirate Crown, receiving a new title as your country embraces an Elective Monarchy to choose this prestigious role (and yes, if your ruler is a female, she will be known as the Pirate Queen). You will also have opportunities to claim the Mare Adriaticum as your personal sea, with some nice bonuses to accompany this brash declaration.

You will have fun doing dastardly things that are expected of pirates, like stealing the entire island of Rhodes (as long as it’s not player controlled). The corresponding event chain for “The Isle of Roses” task will see you personally leading your fighting men in their finest hour.

Over time, if you take the decision to form Illyria, you will be able to throw your lot entirely in with the pirates, receiving an upgraded “Illyrian Pirate Heritage” that is a souped up version of the “Pirate Heritage” you have the option to choose earlier in the tree.

Of course, there are some more cool things I could talk about, and I genuinely want to because this tree is so fun, but we have to leave you something to discover for yourselves. See you next time!

 

[yenot]

Awesome new content from your team, as always!

One question regarding a different region - not sure if this is an Invictus thing or vanilla, but Epirus has just snuck Tarentum from under my siege. One moment they are -21% to capitulation, the next one - an Epirote tributary, fully at peace with me. Is this WAD behaviour or just an oversight (in case you know, of cource, since this might just as well be a vanilla thing).

 

[Gurkhal]

Here's a question. As I'm currently engaging myself with the, to my knowledge, famous Europa Barbarorum 2 mod.

Is there any chance that the mod team might, at some point down the line, put together a manual for the mod based on dev diaries, comments from the modding team, selected guides from veteran players/modders, a selected bibliography for further reading etc.?

 

[pi4t]

I'm getting a repeatable CTD before getting to the main menu. I have the mod installed from the Paradox Plaza, on the GOG version of the game. I've tried wiping my whole documents/paradox interactive/imperator folder, but the crash is continuing. It happens with Imperator enabled and no other mods, but doesn't happen with the vanilla game.

I'm not at all familiar with Paradox game engines, so I can't say what's going on. But I've attached the crash log the game generated. Could someone take a look? It seems like the error txt file is saying it's some sort of problem involving Heirs of Alexander, I think...

 

[Snowlet]

I'm getting a repeatable CTD before getting to the main menu. I have the mod installed from the Paradox Plaza, on the GOG version of the game. I've tried wiping my whole documents/paradox interactive/imperator folder, but the crash is continuing. It happens with Imperator enabled and no other mods, but doesn't happen with the vanilla game.

I'm not at all familiar with Paradox game engines, so I can't say what's going on. But I've attached the crash log the game generated. Could someone take a look? It seems like the error txt file is saying it's some sort of problem involving Heirs of Alexander, I think...

Join our discord, there's instructions for a manual installation of the mod in the faq. Sadly Paradox plaza is a broken mod distribution platform so unless you have the steam version and can use the workshop, you'll need to do a manual install.

 

[Daspa]

Today I started a game with the intention of creating Lagatia without checking that the decision to start the invasion is no longer available. what was the reason it was deactivated? Do you plan to implement it again?

 

[Pero Coveilha]

Hi,

First, let me thank you for your great mod! (it was a bit painful to install because my platform is GOG, but it's all good now)

Now, to my problem : I've been playing Venetia>Armorica. I aborted the armorican mission tree after accomplishing 3/4 of it, thinking that I might take on vanilla missions in the meanwhile in order to develop my economy. It's been more than 20 years in the game now, and the option to take back the armorican mission hasn't reappeared. Is it WAD? Or do I have to be an armorican minor to get it?

Also I'm close to creating Gaul, will it be possible afterwards to get back the mission or not?

 

[Daspa]

Hi,

First, let me thank you for your great mod! (it was a bit painful to install because my platform is GOG, but it's all good now)

Now, to my problem : I've been playing Venetia>Armorica. I aborted the armorican mission tree after accomplishing 3/4 of it, thinking that I might take on vanilla missions in the meanwhile in order to develop my economy. It's been more than 20 years in the game now, and the option to take back the armorican mission hasn't reappeared. Is it WAD? Or do I have to be an armorican minor to get it?

Also I'm close to creating Gaul, will it be possible afterwards to get back the mission or not?

If at this time you became a monarchy or a republic, you lose access to the mission, if that is not the case then you are wrong on the date.

 

[Pero Coveilha]

Aaah yes, that's it, I'm in a republic now. I thought that creating Gaul would help me completing the mission, and for that I needed to change of regime. Looks like I got my priorities wrong.
Thanks for the info

 

[Snowlet]

Dev Diary 66: The Tribal Menace

Salvete!
Today we’ll be talking about a rework of the AI tribal collapse (which will now function more like a midgame local threat), many more AI changes and a rework to the gamerules.

To begin, during the last few months I have reworked the tribal collapse event. In vanilla, if tribes are large enough and get to low stability, they implode, and this often means tribal regions are completely unable to unite and rarely form a threat to players. To make the game more interesting, instead of imploding, the event (which only fires for AI) now works like this:

• A tribe of sufficient size (110 territories) that is either unstable or highly decentralized will see the event trigger within a year. Should it have collapsed before and managed to rise again, it will immediately skip to the next step.
  • Should the tribe be of one of the Steppe culture groups, it will gain the Tier 4 Steppe Horde government, greatly buffing it and turning the AI extremely expansionist after about 20 years. The next step will fire.
  • Should the tribe not be of the Steppe culture groups and be a migratory tribe, it will gain many bonuses to migration, morale and more. The AI will also again turn extremely expansionist, spreading out rapidly after about 20 years. The next step will fire.
  • Should the tribe be neither of a Steppe culture group or be a migratory, it will gain mainly bonuses to help civilize, build cities, centralize quite rapidly, after about 20 years. The next step will fire.
• The 20 years since the initial event has passed; if the AI has not managed to civilize during this time and become a monarchy/republic, it will implode, the player will be notified with a news event. (This will logically always happen for migratory and steppe tribes, as only federated or settled tribes gain aid in civilizing.)
  • The AI will receive a bad modifier for 5 years, reducing its morale, manpower and more making their rise from this collapse much less likely.
  • Every region of the country will become its own settled tributary tribe (unlike Vanilla which implodes into weak areas, a state the size of a region is still a functioning country). They will also gain a temporary bonus to aggression and morale to make it more likely for them to take over their overlord.
  • Should the AI manage to somehow collapse twice in one game, the country will still implode however the regions will be independent. (Our testing has shown this leads to very dynamic tribal regions.)

To summarize: the AI will unify barbarian lands more, be much more likely to form a threat to you, and they will collapse when unable to reform or when losing authority over time as a Steppe horde.

Now onto some more general AI changes:

• AI will now get the optimal law choices by events (like the 10% levy size law) as they cannot change laws naturally; only effects like in events can do it for them.
• Carthaginian AI has received major tweaks speeding up their conquests outside of Africa, and letting them keep their subjects for longer. Our tests have shown this has made it easier to play in North-Africa but harder to invade Carthage from, let’s say, Rome.
• Rome has received some tweaks to make them more likely to invade Africa and Gaul and focus less on Germania/Pannonia.
• AI will save up less money and thus be more likely to spend it on developing.
• AI will spend slightly less on Navies if it isn’t a major power.
• AI will spend a greater percentage of its money on buildings.
• Barbarians are more likely to accept settling.
• AI now accounts for Levy Size when deciding which modifiers to go for (previously they ignored this crucial modifier completely).
• Traits are now better accounted for in AI aggression; this will mostly lead to more expansion, but in some cases, like a Pacifist ruler, they will try to be at peace.
• AI will stop letting all its provinces starve when it can actually import food.
• AI no longer has to deal with the Indian religious laws.

Honestly, I hope you all will appreciate the work I've done on AI/tribes. It takes a long time and is maybe less fancy than mission trees and event chains, but I believe a good strategy game needs competent AI to play against and to challenge you more to succeed.


Now onto the game rules which have been reworked by Dementive based upon Agami’s original work. It is once again a separate menu:

With this change, we can now accommodate more gamerules:

The options you’ll now have:
- Disable Seasonal Food Mechanic
- Disable the Larger revolts/regional rebellions as described a few DD’s back
- Disable the New Diadochi CB mechanics where entire provinces switch
- Disable the scripted Mauryan collapse
- Disable the scripted Galatian Invasion
- Enabling the Diadochi Dynastic names (Thrace to Lysimachid Kingdom, Macedon to Antipatrid Kingdom)

And finally, it’s Zorgoball sneaking in with a teaser for next week’s DD…

 

[CapnMunch]

This is all excellent. One lower-priority question I have is whether anyone on the team has considered adding a random country button as in other PDS games? Would such a thing even be possible to add?

 

[Traxium318]

You guys rock

 

[Kamis51]

bought imperator rome just because i saw yours mod, pdx should release your mods like dlc in give your whole income

 

[XSamatan]

Honestly, I hope you all will appreciate the work I've done on AI/tribes. It takes a long time and is maybe less fancy than mission trees and event chains, but I believe a good strategy game needs competent AI to play against and to challenge you more to succeed.

I wholeheartedly agree - any improvement in this part of the game makes for a more natural experience.

On a side note, a fine AI does not need to be railroaded by mission trees, sadly PDX seems to have forgotten this principle in the last years. "Fancy mission trees" make for a nice, but one timed experience, a working and well balanced sub system will give us players hundreds of enjoyable hours.

Kind Regards
XSamatan

 

[Diskianterezh]

Great changes ! This will have a huge positive impact on tag limits, very interesting for Timeline Extender.
I might totally change the limitations of tribal explosion in the Crisis mod, as those improvement are a better version.

 

[nachinus]

AI improvements are always welcome!!! It plays a huge part in the overall gaming experience, I really appreciate you spend time improving it. I know it's hard work without the joy of creating something new, but it's critical. Kudos for that!!!!

 

[JC_von_Preussen]

Very exciting !

 

[Regal Orangutan]

Absolutely love the AI enhancements! To me, these kind of changes have the biggest impact on improving the game.

Thank you for all of your hard work.

 

[Kart0she4ka]

PDX really needs to offer you a job, you make better updates than what they do for their supported titles! AI improvements, gameplay, immersion (i.e. the most important things), while today's PDX have not forgotten only how to make good music, great work, thank you for this amazing piece of modding!

 

[Snowlet]

Dev Diary 67: Nabatea

Salvete! Today we’ll be talking about a new mission tree and content for the Nabateans, for which I'll hand you over to OmegaCorps.

OmegaCorps here, I would like to introduce you to a passion of many of the team’s devs: Arabia.

Yet, I am here to challenge your perspective of this vast, desolate landscape which has long piqued the interest of many unfamiliar with its sands and rocky cliffs. I am here to tell you how the Arabs built cities, how they forged a centralized and unified people, and how they contested with the Greeks and other Mediterranean juggernauts - I’m here to tell you about the NABATEANS!

(I also wanna send out a huge thank you to Aerozona and Zorgoball for putting in some major work to help bring the Nabataean content to life!)

The Nabataeans, who both lived in tribal villages/holdings, built marvelous rock-cut architecture cities and rich processions into the crevices and cliffsides of many large rock formations in the desert - Petra was one of the most exquisite of these.

The capital of the Nabataeans will now be the holy site for the solar deity and high-god of the Nabataean pantheon, Dushara, and, to honor the story told in the Zenon Papyri, Nabataea is going to default to mixed-gender rules, because that Greek man’s records tell of how his friend went into the desert to sell slaves to the Nabataeans, but upon finding them was beaten and chased off, for the Nabataeans respected women and deplored the actions of the slave-trader who would do such things to women. For players, this will mean being able to utilize the full might of your character screen, placing women into administrative/government roles should your male characters’ stats prove lacking.

Here is the nation:

Here is its mission:

With the Nabtaean mission, we attempt to have the player interact with the cultural, historical, religious, and economic aspects of these still little-known people.

Reliving the complicated past the Nabtaeans had with the Israelites of Judea, you may both fight for and against them as it suits your interests and the status of important ports and trading cities such as Gaza. Similarly, the Diadochi will fear you as you become an expert in Desert warfare, outpacing them, out-supplying them, and outmaneuvering them in the harsh environment. You can be sure you’ll take your environmental expertise to the lands of the Sinai, Basra, the Levant, and the Arabian coasts and interior.

Similarly, your people became rich through their control of the spice trade along the rocky coast of Arabia Petraea - why should you not seize the opportunity to take the riches for yourself and bolster your people’s geopolitical position. Cities such as Hegra, practically a second capital for the Nabtaeans, will be your bastions and your tolling stations, almost like the ports of the desert. They will assist you in conquering south-wards and setting up waystations, also known as caravanserai, where camel-travelers rest and trade on their way up and down the spice roads.

But fear not, for your actions are not unholy in the eyes of Al-Qaum or Dushara or any of the like - some would say that the Nabataeans are the fiercest of holy people, building incomprehensible monuments to their gods and the leaders who took on their images. The holy processions to the rock-cut tombs, the dolmen-like Beryl blocks, the great tombs themselves - all of these will be yours and will help you reach towards the heavens and deify the strongest of your royal line as your ancestors did, for how else would we still know of the Obodids?

Yet, in the end, is the goal of any people not to conquer their homeland (or to even make a final decision on which place they consider their homeland)? Why should the Nabtaeans remain boxed in the northwestern Arabian peninsula when the whole expanse of Arabia waits for them, ripe for the taking, the rich spice lands ready for the exporting seasons. Walk the paths of the Liyhanites and the Qedarites to reach the most distant, holy, and prosperous corners of the sands where you might yet find riches and wonders… perhaps new pathways in the desert have been unlocked for you.

There’s also a secret new tag for those with the courage and ambition to realize it:

Zorgoball, popping in at the end with more teasers for a looming DD…