1st-2nd century AD Mods for Imperator: Rome

[rakovskii]

I like games dealing with the 1st-2nd century AD because it involves the rise of Christianity. In Imperator Rome, the main Mods dealing with the 1st-2nd centuries AD are Timeline Extensions, and there seem to be two basic types - one is "A Christianity Mod" and two newer extension mods based on it, and the other is the "Historical Imperator Pack" and an Invictus extension mod based on it:

• "A Christianity Mod" (2019) - It says that to unlock it, you have to play through the campaign's normal end date (1st century BC), and that this could take super long to get to. It "adds events to start the rise of Christianity from around 30AD onwards". It says that "Simple I:R Timeline Extender"is a later version of this same Mod.
  • "Simple I:R Timeline Extender" (May 11, 2022) by tinwiz- It looks good, includes events like Christianity's rise, and extends the timeline to 476 AD. It has a "Decision available for players to convert to Christianity around 854 AUC, with fully playable pantheons made up of historical saints... Being the first to invoke a Christian saint can reveal historical characters and give relics to players depending on their region and culture". It says that one of the known issues is "slowdowns and lag develops after about 1054 AUC / 300 CE".
  • "Timeline Extension for Invictus" (Jan. 17, 2023) by tinwiz - This is a time extension Submod for the Invictus Mod, and this timeline mod goes to 73 AD. (It "should be placed below Invictus in the launcher load order")
• "Historical Imperator Pack" (Jan 23, 2022) by Ooiue. It extends the timeline to 73 AD, creates some historical figures like Caesar, and seems to give some bonuses to Rome. It doesn't have special Christian events. I beat it on Very Easy as Judea and posted my map and comments here: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2936440039
  • "Historical Imperator Pack - Invictus". (Jan 1, 2023) by Ooiue. It is practically the same as the Mod above, and extends the timeline for the Invictus Mod to 73 AD. The Designer wrote, "The original Invictus mod needs to be HIGHER in the mod PLAYLIST than this mod."

I also found three Mods that change the game to a first century or Christian theme, but that are either defective or feel incomplete:

• "Nero UI" Mods - These are named after the first century Roman emperor Nero and change the graphics and UI. It's named after Nero, the crazy Roman empire, and makes the graphics darker. I think that this Mod no longer works with Imperator Rome as of Jan. 2023 because of updates to the game made since the Mod was made.
• "Tigranes the Great mod (94 BC starting date)" - It includes the rise of Christianity. Unfortunately, this Mod doesn't work on my game as of Jan. 25, 2023. The screen gets stuck on "Loading 100%" when it tries to load the screen for a new game when the Mod is turned on. I am guessing that the problem is that it was designed for an older, outdated version of the game.
• "END OF DAYS Invictus sub mod 18/01" - You have to subscribe to the Invictus Mod too for it to work. The mod feels half complete, somewhere between a medieval themed apocalyptic game and an ancient setting, like from the BC period. For instance, Kievan Rus is labeled a Seafaring nation and has a double headed eagle flag, but its soldiers look like ancient peasant warriors. Plus, OSR (Osroene), Parthia, Commagene, and probably a few other countries are in the Balkans in the Mod, but in real life they should be elsewhere, like in the Middle East.

I don't know if the Late Republic Mod goes into the first century.

Let me know if you come across others.

 

[Edgy Tcheez]

Great post!

On a side note, I have looking for a mod that includes Christian Arabs such as the Ghassanids. They were supposed to be developed in the Fall of Rome mod. However, it seems that the creator of that mod has abandoned it. The idea of having Christian Arabs either as client states/Foederati
for the byzantines or totally independent to face the Muslim conquest from the south and/or the Sasanian empire from the east, is immersive.

 

[rakovskii]

Great post!

On a side note, I have looking for a mod that includes Christian Arabs such as the Ghassanids. They were supposed to be developed in the Fall of Rome mod. However, it seems that the creator of that mod has abandoned it. The idea of having Christian Arabs either as client states/Foederati
for the byzantines or totally independent to face the Muslim conquest from the south and/or the Sasanian empire from the east, is immersive.

Edgy,
It seems that Imperator sometime does a good job developing lesser known tribes and historical aspects, but skips over some others.

For instance, on one hand, I didn't know until I played Imperator Rome that there were Jewish communities on the north side of the Black Sea. In the game, they are around the Sea of Azov (southern Russia and SE Ukraine). Meanwhile, the Imperator Rome game at start skips over historical strong ancient Jewish communities in Ethiopia (who claim relation to the Queen of Sheba), Carthage (Josephus linked them to the Tribe of Asher), and (southwest India, where Christians have a Tradition that Thomas preached).

The developers made story missions for Rome, Carthage, and the major Greek powers (Egypt, Seleucids, Antigones), but gave less attention to some lesser known ones like Judea. The Invictus Mod tries to address this, adding Russian/Ukrainian tribes and a Judean mission tree, but with mixed results (still no added Jewish communities).

 

[Edgy Tcheez]

Edgy,
It seems that Imperator sometime does a good job developing lesser known tribes and historical aspects, but skips over some others.

For instance, on one hand, I didn't know until I played Imperator Rome that there were Jewish communities on the north side of the Black Sea. In the game, they are around the Sea of Azov (southern Russia and SE Ukraine). Meanwhile, the Imperator Rome game at start skips over historical strong ancient Jewish communities in Ethiopia (who claim relation to the Queen of Sheba), Carthage (Josephus linked them to the Tribe of Asher), and (southwest India, where Christians have a Tradition that Thomas preached).

The developers made story missions for Rome, Carthage, and the major Greek powers (Egypt, Seleucids, Antigones), but gave less attention to some lesser known ones like Judea. The Invictus Mod tries to address this, adding Russian/Ukrainian tribes and a Judean mission tree, but with mixed results (still no added Jewish communities).

Indeed. Well, Invictus is still a growing project and Jewish communities may get more development which includes historical and geographic details, missions, policies and whatnot as they were familiar in early and mid antiquity.


Having a sub-mod of the magnitude of Invictus that deals with historical details from Late Antiquity would be hugely entertaining, especially in the Middle East, where Abrahamic religions are trying to spread regionally and beyond.

There is Ashes of Empire Dark Ages 2.0 mod that has some interesting details about Late Antiquity. However, there is still a lot of potential to be realized, especially in Arabia.

 

[rakovskii]

Indeed. Well, Invictus is still a growing project and Jewish communities may get more development which includes historical and geographic details, missions, policies and whatnot as they were familiar in early and mid antiquity.


Having a sub-mod of the magnitude of Invictus that deals with historical details from Late Antiquity would be hugely entertaining, especially in the Middle East, where Abrahamic religions are trying to spread regionally and beyond.

There is Ashes of Empire Dark Ages 2.0 mod that has some interesting details about Late Antiquity. However, there is still a lot of potential to be realized, especially in Arabia.

In the Simple TImeline Extender Mod, the Mod Designer gave Christianity and Judaism completely separate pantheons. When he made Christianity as a new religion, he gave it new figures like the archangel Michael and the Virgin Mary. However, in real life, Christianity's "pantheon" of venerated figures includes the "Deified Ruler" figures that Judaism venerates in the game- Daniel, Esther, David, Solomon, Abraham, etc. The Mod Designer explained in the comments section for the Simple TImeline Extender Mod that this was because he wanted to minimize his changes to the base original game files.

The Ashes of Empire Dark Ages 2.0 Mod says that "The mod starts in 527 at the crowning of Justinian I and the breakup of Clovis’ Frankish Kingdom."

 

[rakovskii]

I finished the "Historical Imperator Pack" as Judea, through to 73 AD, and then played Invictus with the Timeline Extender as Melanchlaenia and converted to Judaism, then Christianity. Next, I played Invictus with the Extender again as Judea, converted to Christianity, and conquered/clientized all nations and territories. A neat event was getting an "Achievement" for discovering the Ark of the Covenant.

Success as Christian Judea with the Invictus Timeline Extender Mod

Playing as Judea with Tinwiz's Timeline Extender Mod for Invictus (version 1.5f Dies Natalis), I converted to Christianity in the early 2nd century, soon after conversion became possible. I finally held all the map's territories on Oct. 2, 991...

forum.paradoxplaza.com

However, it's not a Steam Achievement - the only two for Judea are Holy Pilgrim and Kingdom of David.

Steam Community :: Screenshot :: Playing as Judea, the Invictus Mod lets you get the Ark of the Covenant. But it's not an official Steam Achievement.

Steam Community: Imperator: Rome. Playing as Judea, the Invictus Mod lets you get the Ark of the Covenant. But it's not an official Steam Achievement.

steamcommunity.com