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Bradwell

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I have been playing Stellaris for 1 yr+ now and enjoy the experience. I want to get my gameplay ready for Imperator but have not played any other Paradox Grand Strategy games. What would be a good game to play now that will let me get comfortable with all the depth and detail now so that when Imperator hits the learning curve will not be too steep. Your comments are greatly appreciated ...
 

PanzerCorps

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Imperator: Rome is most likely going to be more like EU: Rome than any other paradox games since it is a sequel to it, yes, but honestly Eu: Rome has a huge learning curve in and of itself and the ui quality of life will likely be a large step down from Stellaris. So I think a good other option would be Europa Universalis 4, which I think will also be very close to the Rome series but is also much easier to learn. Alternatively, starting with the more polished EU3 Chronicles could prepare you for Eu: Rome which would then prepare you for Imperator.

None of these games are bad so you can't really go wrong no matter what you choose!
 

Brynjar

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EU: Rome Gold (so it comes with the Vae Victis expansion) and update to the latest beta patch to avoid the worst of the bugs.
There is a beta patch available somewhere? I don't see it on Steam, and the Steam link to the game's homepage redirects me to https://www.paradoxplaza.com/404 . The imprecise wizard game on the error page appears to be more stable than the EU: Rome version I'm able to play through Steam though. (Europa Universalis: Rome - Gold edition always crashes after a bit for me, with no useful error message).
 

Cheexsta

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There is a beta patch available somewhere? I don't see it on Steam, and the Steam link to the game's homepage redirects me to https://www.paradoxplaza.com/404 . The imprecise wizard game on the error page appears to be more stable than the EU: Rome version I'm able to play through Steam though. (Europa Universalis: Rome - Gold edition always crashes after a bit for me, with no useful error message).
EUR predates Paradox's use of Steam, so was never fully integrated with it. The beta patch can be found buried in the EUR Tech Support forum, which you can only access if you have the game registered on your PDX account:

https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/patch-v2-36c-beta-checksum-xevc.707833/
 

Gyrvendal

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I would advise to play Crusader Kings 2 and Europa Universalis 4, as Imperator is advertised as a blend between those two games.

The balance between CK2 and EU4/Vic2 should remain in Rome2. Rome was a fantastic mix between CK1(characters), EU3 (diplomacy, and war) and Vic1(parties, provinces system and population dynamic) and its own feature like barbaric migration and the best civil wars in Paradox games - @Leon_Aditzu https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...e-2-if-it-happens.769694/page-5#post-19193193

This was such a great post describing Rome, so that when we started with Imperator, it was a natural to use.

Just note that buying EU4 or CK2 with all the DLCs is a pretty large money investment.
 

Gurkhal

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Stock up on wine, onion, garlic and cheese, and take your place in the phalanx!
 

Kliwarrior

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EU:Rome + VaeVictis + Reign of the Ancient mod , to enjoy a full populated map
 

Siegfriedfr

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I have been playing Stellaris for 1 yr+ now and enjoy the experience. I want to get my gameplay ready for Imperator but have not played any other Paradox Grand Strategy games. What would be a good game to play now that will let me get comfortable with all the depth and detail now so that when Imperator hits the learning curve will not be too steep. Your comments are greatly appreciated ...
Stop playing strategy games until it comes out, this way you will not suffer from genre's fatigue.
 

Thrake

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Travel to Rome and stab pigs for Zeus and Hares.
 

Sanny

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Yup stab pigs, make your offerings to the Gods for a good release.

I would also recommend watching HBO's Rome, still within the game's timeframe but very late game. Word of warning, avoid the Netflix version, there's like two episodes worth of footage missing apparently, get your hands on the BBC release instead or a dvd/bluray copy. Netflix has 20 episodes, the actual boxset has 22. They cut out a lot of the Politics/backstory from Season 1, which is a sin because Rome is such a good story and even at that by Episode 1 it's only half-told in regards to Julius Caesar.