A challenge to paradox: Make a single large scale DLC for this game before killing it forever.

[olivenkranz]

I dunno, I think that mechanic changes, while welcome, won't be enough to revive the game from hiatus. Packaging them with something big like an eastern expansion makes more financial sense if the game was to be revisited at all. Otherwise I'd expect a reboot sometime in the distant future if anything at all, maybe a legacy patch like Victoria II.

Either China - new market - or Tribes. Ideally both.

 

[olivenkranz]

Either China - new market - or Tribes. Ideally both.

I want to add to this, that this may be a real possibility to grow the game. If it is available in chinese and China gets a nice, detailed part of the map it might sell well in Asia. Maybe add Korea and Indochina as well. Needs to polish one or two things, but the mechanics are there.

 

[Dagda]

I want to add to this, that this may be a real possibility to grow the game. If it is available in chinese and China gets a nice, detailed part of the map it might sell well in Asia. Maybe add Korea and Indochina as well. Needs to polish one or two things, but the mechanics are there.

At that point, might as well just make a Warring period SE Asia focused game. Tacking on a low budget expansion isn't going to grow a game that already failed.

 

[olivenkranz]

At that point, might as well just make a Warring period SE Asia focused game. Tacking on a low budget expansion isn't going to grow a game that already failed.

Imperator: China ?

 

[Dagda]

Imperator: China ?

But definitely more character focused, no need to make the same mistakes for the third time

 

[olivenkranz]

But definitely more character focused, no need to make the same mistakes for the third time

do you want Crusader Kings - Chinese Edition? (CK China)
I:R is not as character focused. If it was, it would be CK Rome. I:R is a civilization or empire builder. CK is a dynasty builder.
Why would an empire builder need more character focus? Some charcters that have some depths? - Yes. Some things could be added (matrilineal marriages f.ex)
What do you miss for charcters?

 

[klopkr]

I think that China would be a fairly fitting mega DLC for Inperator as it stands currently.

This is the period in which the Qin made China a thing. Unlike CKIII'S dynastic focus the core gameplay loop fits quite well for China in the period (hell there's even a mod for it already). And China would also justify focus on trade, diplomacy, subject interactions and barbarians- the Indian Ocean trade was a major thing overlooked (as a Mosylon fan I'd love to be able to be the entrepreneur between east and west that they were historically but diplo range prevents the existing trade from happening...). A map expansion would lean in to rebranding as a new game, and of course tapping into the China market.

I always dreamed of this expansion since playing them in the EU4: Imperator mod.

I don't think it would hype enough to bring in the playerbase we need though. Tapping into an untapped market when we're already on the brink sounds like a yolo type move.

But if they have a successful ROMAN expansion first that brough players back. Then a china expansion would be the absolute most natural next huge step!

I guess we're dreaming for Imperator 2 or Imperator devs coming back in 3 years for these ones though ;.;.

 

[Biegeltoren]

Sure, find me some devs and we'll get right on it!

Maybe I should volunteer. Though I may no longer have time to work on Anbennar then

 

[Quackytheduck]

Yeah, I will never buy another dlc from them. Boycotted Leviathan and Imperator's dlcs.

That's a shame (for the Imperator DLCs at least), considering that Imperator was the one that seemed to actually be getting consistently better (imo of course), with devs listening to fans. In many ways, starting out pretty badly was kind of beneficial for the game development angle, I feel, despite consigning it to death from a market standpoint in the long-run. It caused them to be able to pivot really easily and listen to fans more readily, I think.

 

[zaboli]

Heirs of Alexander already filled that role

 

[Chehabian]

Quick thing.

In 2021 we got Heirs of Alexander.

Stellaris has had years where they've only gotten one dlc.

It's *possible* that the game could technically make a comeback in 2022. I'm not saying it's likely, but rather that there is a possibility.

So perhaps it's too early to really say that the project is dead. Perhaps taken a backseat to other titles, but dead might be a bridge too far.

Then again, this could be me the ever hopelessly optimistic guy.

 

[Dagda]

If it was,

It wouldn't have failed so hard. Same goes for EU: Rome.

Quick thing.

In 2021 we got Heirs of Alexander.

Stellaris has had years where they've only gotten one dlc.

It's *possible* that the game could technically make a comeback in 2022. I'm not saying it's likely, but rather that there is a possibility.

So perhaps it's too early to really say that the project is dead. Perhaps taken a backseat to other titles, but dead might be a bridge too far.

Then again, this could be me the ever hopelessly optimistic guy.

Which year was that for Stellaris?

Stellaris was the fastest selling PDS game ever at the time it was first released.

 

[Yuanshu]

Give it an actual marketing team and hype it like you did when you released the game.

To this day I try to understand what happened to the person who made the good trailers for the launch....

 

[Vohen]

Quick thing.

In 2021 we got Heirs of Alexander.

Stellaris has had years where they've only gotten one dlc.

It's *possible* that the game could technically make a comeback in 2022. I'm not saying it's likely, but rather that there is a possibility.

So perhaps it's too early to really say that the project is dead. Perhaps taken a backseat to other titles, but dead might be a bridge too far.

Then again, this could be me the ever hopelessly optimistic guy.

Many PDX games have years with only one DLC, but even then they are in active development during the entire time (except for vacations).
Imperator will spend the rest of the year, at the very least, with no active development.
If they happen to pick it back up in early 2022, it'll likely be a new team on top of that, demanding even more time for training and whatnot, to only then slowly develop a new patch.
If we are very, very lucky, a smaller scoped DLC could perhaps be released by fall 2022, and a larger scoped DLC couldn't realistically come before 2023.

 

[Manic Eskimo]

I'll just say that I was waiting for the first big DLC before I start playing again. I did a similar thing with EU4. I preordered played the game for a month then didn't come back to it for another two years. By that time it was a much better game.

 

[master_kong]

I'll just say that I was waiting for the first big DLC before I start playing again. I did a similar thing with EU4. I preordered played the game for a month then didn't come back to it for another two years. By that time it was a much better game.

And I was waiting for more polishing, bug fixing before playing.

 

[Chehabian]

It wouldn't have failed so hard. Same goes for EU: Rome.



Which year was that for Stellaris?

Stellaris was the fastest selling PDS game ever at the time it was first released.

2017 I believe. Remember that too - Stellaris had a pretty rough initial perception because of the lack of content. Pretty empty midgame too for a looong time.

Many PDX games have years with only one DLC, but even then they are in active development during the entire time (except for vacations).
Imperator will spend the rest of the year, at the very least, with no active development.
If they happen to pick it back up in early 2022, it'll likely be a new team on top of that, demanding even more time for training and whatnot, to only then slowly develop a new patch.
If we are very, very lucky, a smaller scoped DLC could perhaps be released by fall 2022, and a larger scoped DLC couldn't realistically come before 2023.

I do think that for all the doom and gloom in these threads, the possibility that they'll return remains.
There's a lot of time between now and January, 2022.

It doesn't feel great right now, but I'm sure with time our perspectives might change. Hopefully too we'll get some kind of word that's a little less disconcerting as the news we've seen from Paradox this week.

 

[Surimi]

Honestly, I struggle to think of a single Paradox game which hasn't been declared some terrible failure on these forums due to a perceived lack of content on release. CK3 seems to have been the closest we've ever gotten to a "positive" reception from the fanbase. I guess you could include HOI4, which outperformed expectations I think, but even then fans of the series seem to have been really salty.

But it is clear from the reaction after Imperator's launch that it wasn't received as well as expected, and although I will happily stan it in its current state (it's genuinely become one of my favourites on the back of gameplay alone, as the period doesn't interest me much) it wouldn't surprise me if it's still struggling to recover from the poorly received release.

One thing I'd really like to see is a strong modding community for I:R. The ongoing popularity of HOI4 is largely sustained by its exceptional modding community, and I:R is a really interesting toolset for modders. I feel like I:R would be absolutely perfect for some kind of fantasy total conversion, for example.

 

[CPU Taro]

I'll just say that I was waiting for the first big DLC before I start playing again. I did a similar thing with EU4. I preordered played the game for a month then didn't come back to it for another two years. By that time it was a much better game.

I think a lot of us were waiting for that. I don’t know what we were supposed to do, keep imperator idling in the background all day, just to show we care about it?

I want to believe they don’t rely solely such metrics, because YouTube and other sources would show otherwise, that there’s still a very genuine interest in the game (though they should certainly know this by now, from the response on here to the recent news).

 

[Megabyzos]

We've all seen the recent news that the devs for Imperator are being shifted away and that there are no major plans for this game this year.

I won't rehash our feelings towards this here since there's a perfectly fine thread for it.

This thread is a challenge and a plea to the higher ups at Paradox.

Give this game one major feature rich DLC before killing it. Be it in 2022 or later. Just give it one try before you put the nail in the coffin. Give it an actual marketing team and hype it like you did when you released the game. Give the world a chance to see that Imperator isn't just the game it was on release and actually market it as a good game to new fans instead of a broken game you quietly fixed.

And when we're talking about a feature rich DLC I mean a real feature rich DLC that leans on the tropes the public LOVES about the setting. Like you do for vikings in CK, Germany in HoI4, or the HRE in EU4, or sweden in any of your games .

Things regular people know and love about the setting:
Caesar
Cleopatra
Taking over the republic/civil wars
Carthago delenda est (actual end all winner takes all war with carthage)
Barbarian invasions
Some ambitious general conquering all of gaul, africa, or persia because he can

Just use the fanboy popular culture of rome for your benefit and pitch it that way through marketing. If Total War can make a remaster of their old game in the setting sexy then so can your marketing department with Imperator!

Hell it might be the most work but if you put in a start date with literally any of the memorable historical figures of rome (punic wars, caesar, marc antony v augustus, etc) and locked it behind the DLC I am sure it would be able to sell a $30 DLC very well. Especially when players come back and see all the free fixes they missed along the way.

Then maybe we players should change cooperation rules between PDX and us. I openly asking how much money PDX needs for creating next DLC? We xan make petition and raise funds on Kickstarter.

But we demand:
arheo as project manager, barbarian invasion solution, cursum honorum in Roman civ, working fleet. Then we can wait even year or two but with certainty that patch will appear. What do You think?