• We have updated our Community Code of Conduct. Please read through the new rules for the forum that are an integral part of Paradox Interactive’s User Agreement.
Greetings all,

My part of today’s developer diary focuses on further changes coming to the population system in 2.0.

The changes to civilization value mentioned previously opened up further opportunities for a rethink on population growth. In 1.5 and before, cities were largely sustained by prolonged inwards migration. While this is not something I necessarily want to change, we’ll be splitting up where population growth comes from, with the dual intentions of letting cities stand their own ground when growing pops, and allowing for more engagement in how you promote growth in owned territory.

Firstly, base pop growth, and pop growth from stability have been reduced significantly.

Secondly, civilization value now contributes to population growth, simulating an increased growth rate in developed metropoles.

Thirdly, the population growth rate from stored food has been slightly reduced, however, the food consumption of tribesmen has been reduced, making it easier to boost growth in undeveloped tribal territories without also affecting the inherently low population capacity of said land.

Lastly, various sources of population growth have been slightly reduced to accommodate the new increases from civilization value.

What does this achieve?

Overall, there should be slightly less global growth in the average game, but still enough control to make long-term decisions valid, and for local factors to have much more of an impact on the fabric of the game.

100.png

These graphs show the 2.0 build prior to population changes, and post population changes. As you can see, the newer system (bottom) results in less total population over time, with a marginally nerfed warm period event being one of the main factors.

Games in 1.5 had a tendency to balloon in population density towards the endgame, due in part to the availability of inventions and modifiers affecting pop growth. With population now being intrinsically related to army sizes, we felt it was time to return to a more realistic* growth pattern that still allows the player to manipulate the world situation to their advantage.

Related to these changes, domestic migration has been slowed down slightly, and settlement production buildings (with the exception of the Legation) now reduce outward pop migration to almost 0 (unless there are extenuating circumstances such as occupation or overpopulation).

*The academic consensus appears to be that the usual global increase in population entered a bit of a plateau at around the time Imperator is set, to around the time it ends.

Research Efficiency

Somewhat tangentially to population changes, we’re also going to be gating the maximum research efficiency of nations. The base maximum research efficiency of nations will now begin at 125%. This value can be relatively easy to achieve for smaller nations, and should still offset technological advancement positively if focused upon, however, a great disparity in tech between larger empires and city-states was simply too easy to achieve.

We still want technology to be a valid choice in nation-building, however, and numerous nodes have been added to the invention tree, increasing the maximum research efficiency that a country can achieve - if you want to build a state as a shining beacon of technological advancement, this is entirely possible, but you’ll have to weigh up this decision against other valuable advancements.

101.png


With that, I’ll hand over to @Chopmist to take you through some of the map changes coming in 2.0!

[The eagle eyed among you also noticed the recurrence of the infamous ‘glowing borders’ bug in a recent screenshot. This has since been resolved.]
 
Everything looks cool, But I just want to see Impassable Terrain blend in more with country color just like Prior to 1.5 Update. Currently Empires look fractured with different shade ocloring of impassable terrain.

Would be great if this is the case, if you zoom almost completely out, when you e.g. want to take a nice screenshot.
 
Last edited:
  • 2Like
Reactions:
Niiiiiiiice.

Big fan of the population growth changes, and those map changes of course! Nice to see the double Mazaka is gone as well! And the removal of that annoying highlight bug is a highlight in itself.

@Chopmist What culture did the previously Bithynian Greek states get? And is the Anatolian Pontic culture still present?
 
  • 4Like
Reactions:
I really like this change that will come in 2.0. The map changes is good. More realism to the game.

@Arheo Do you guys have ever thought about to implement Night and Day on the map? I know the games time lapse don't include hours, but if you divide in 4( or whatever is better) regions and random them with night/day and with rains, thunderstorm/sandstorms, snow and etc it will be fun. Like having a battle on the night, or a ambush. I know that other PDS game doesn't have this.

One more thing about the map, I really enjoy the map of Imperator its different from Crusaders and EU4. But the sea color and river could change a little, like more green or dark blue in some areas or a crystal blue. I know that Mediterranean Sea is very different in some regions.
 
  • 8
  • 3
  • 1
Reactions:
the Antigonids, who will retain the Persian road from Kelainai to Perge along with the Pamphylian coast unless they abandon the east

Any chance this overhaul includes flavor related to Quinda, which Plutarch notes as having 1200 talents still in the treasury when Demetrius took it back after Ipsos?
 
  • 1
Reactions:
Any chance this overhaul includes flavor related to Quinda, which Plutarch notes as having 1200 talents still in the treasury when Demetrius took it back after Ipsos?

Its located on the map, although slightly obscured due to a fortress and under the name Kyinda, in the mountains above Soloi in Cilicia.

Fun fact: the translation that has Quinda in it, is almost a century older then the United States and even predates the Glorious Revolution.
 
Last edited:
  • 1
Reactions:
Do you guys have ever thought about to implement Night and Day on the map?

There actually was a thread on doubling daily ticks. (Not adding visual day/night cycle)
And Arheo said he wants that:
This is, as I think I've mentioned previously, something I would like to do. However, it's a very deep structural change which has a few mechanical considerations but many more considerations of a design nature, some of which have been identified in this thread. As such, this is not the manner of change we would make alongside an objectively huge update that touches many of the core areas we would also need to adjust when changing tickrate.

As you say, this topic doesn't necessarily cover a day/night cycle - though it is usually the first question asked after changing tick rate is mentioned. It's something which I personally dislike in grand strategy games, and should we ever look to change the underlying tickrate, I strongly doubt that I would also implement a graphical day/night cycle.
 
  • 3Like
  • 1
Reactions:
@Arheo
both the old and the new graph show no declines due to wars in the late game. Is the AI too reluctant to make war?

Mostly yes; there also tends to be a lot of unit-migration in the starting period which 'hides' a lot of starting pops as migrant units.
and no late-game migrations? Like the Cimbri and Teutones?

Many thanks to our betas and forumites for their research and suggestions, especially @Samitte and @Ketchup & friends, who will no doubt recognise their labors here.
Thanks you! it's really encouraging to see many suggestions implemented!
The new map looks MUCH better, there are only a few things you could improve further:

Bithynia:
  • Why have you removed Trikomia? it’s a heavy nerf for Bithynia, bad because Bithynia loses a fort as well. Please restore Trikomia and the fort there.
  • you still have not implemented the province borders adjustment. It should be extremely easy to do.
    Proposed solution: swap the territories between Bithynia and Bithyna Inferior provinces (the country borders won’t change): move Chelai and Tarsos to Bithynia and Pythopolis and Antigoneia Bithyniai to Bithynia Inferior instead.
    In order to make the province name clearer, we also propose to rename the province of Bithynia to Bithynia Litoralis.

Kyzikos:
  • Arta looks weird. it would look better an island tile with a ferry instead of adding that tiny bit on the mainland.

Lycia:
  • 1. Tlos should be redesigned for a better zone of control. 2. Pinara was an equally important city on the other side of the valley but is missing here. If there is not enough space for a new tile, replace Tlos and Kadyanda (North-South) with Pinara and Tlos (East-west, divided by the river). That would make better terrain for manoeuvring and ZoC.
Cilicia:
  • WHY is Alexandria ad Issum still missing? @Sadrallah Chaim Al-Adnani even made a map where you should put it.
    And also my home town is Adana (Adanos) and I know current Cilician Geography perfectly. Adanos's locaion is near to correct but acceptable.

    And I guess, that is Alexadretta's exact location that shows on the pic (According to me).

    16.png
  • Baka looks like a prime fort location, too good. Please restore Sipha as a chokepoint south of it (reduce Baka to 1.5 size, with Sipha between Baka to the north and Anazaros and Pindenisson to the south)

Balearic islands:
  • The province is unusually small (only 6 tiles). Have you added more? If not, please add Formentera as a tile and add 1 more tile on Mallorca. Perhaps split Menorca in 2.

Gaul:

Rivers:
  • Cilicia
    • Ceyhan (Pyramus), Berdan (Cydnus)
  • Britannia
    • Thames (Tamesis), Humber estuary (Abus)
  • Scythia
    • Don (Tanais), Volga (Rha)
  • Cisalpine Gaul
    • Po (Padus)
  • Hispania
    • Ebro (Iberus)
This is a somewhat odd choice why are Sakarya (in Bithynia), Durius (in Hispania), Tiber (in Italy) Severn (Wales) and Hypalis in Scythia not added as well?

For those who like specifics, some of the notable changes are summarized below.
@Samitte made an update to his proposal on Anatolia a few days ago. You obviously didn't have the time to implement these new suggestions, but please don't forget to add them later.

The unit models from the Flavor Pack will be used for Legions, whereas Levies will use the same model as other Greek nations.
That's very sad news. You really need to update the flavour pack, add unique levy models dor the diadochi as well!
 
Last edited:
  • 5Like
  • 2
  • 2
Reactions:
There actually was a thread on doubling daily ticks. (Not adding visual day/night cycle)
And Arheo said he wants that:
Thanks for replying, I never thought there was thread about that. As he said this would need a deep change in many core areas. My vision about that would be like a Timezone, you don't need to change the ticks per day. I will reply on the thread, so this topic doesn't loose its focus.
 
Last edited:
Many people would like to see an update on diplomacy (maybe it will be the one after 2.0?). But we already have a tier list of "great" powers in I:R and I like the one from I:R more than the one from EU IV. Releasing nations maybe can be improved, but it's at least possible to release provinces. I'm not sure on the religious CB as it wasn't really a thing in the antiquity - only monotheists were at that time of the game somewhat suspicious to the polytheists, but not really a CB. So it would be anachronistic, if this would be a major thing for everybody. I guess with 2.0 we have some solution for the missing rivalry with the changed AI behavior (according to the screenshots from Twitter) :) But there should be more diplomacy actions, a better subject system and tying characters somehow into diplomacy more (but in a non-tedious way). But now I stop getting off topic :D

Religious casus bellis could include events where if you control (directly or through vassalage) Judea as a Hellenistic or Italic culture you get an increased chance at receiving an event where Judea rebels against you and get a CB that forces them to stay as your vassal and change the state religion to the Olympic pantheon. Could work for Zoroastrian provinces as well. It seems like a fun way to role play as Marcus Pontius. Maybe there could be character traits that makes them anti-Semitic which if he becomes a governor of a province with majority Semite culture, could rebel in the fashion I mentioned prior.

edit: I was thinking of this as more of trait for characters that could affect their governing style. This is not specific to semitic cultures could be any unintegrated culture group.
 
Last edited:
  • 2
Reactions:
Somewhat tangentially to population changes, we’re also going to be gating the maximum research efficiency of nations. The base maximum research efficiency of nations will now begin at 125%. This value can be relatively easy to achieve for smaller nations, and should still offset technological advancement positively if focused upon, however, a great disparity in tech between larger empires and city-states was simply too easy to achieve.
No more dragging Alexander out of his tomb for extra research scroll storage space. Got it.
 
  • 2Haha
Reactions:
I think this dev diary reminds me of an overhaul mod by a group of incredible history enthusiasts who are doing an amazing job. The pop rebalancing might not seem meaty but it's actually such a game killer at times currently. I'm so happy to see more balance changes being made to reduce population and as a result avoid the crazy warscore costs as the game progresses and with it the unrealistic speed of City growth.

Also love the changes to the Antigonids and them being weakened, I just hope the released tags are not feudatories? Maybe not as they're different culture groups I think. A whole different dynamic to the region.

I hope these changes help the Greek minors develop more independently of the Diadochi (due to Antigonid fragmentation) In history I think the successors had incredible influence over the Greek States but the Greeks were certainly their own players too. I'd like to see more regional Greek powers, like a strong acheaen formable or aetolian league.

Normally I'd say I'm delighted with the patch size of this magnitude, but seeing as we're getting so much I think you guys might as well take a bit longer and add subject management to the game. It would fit so well with the satrapies of the seleucids (managing Persian and varying cultures) the Greek subjects of the Antigonids (ordering Athenian ships to dominate the aegean and delegating the defence of the Cilician Gates to the cappadocians to delay the Egyptians and seleucids until Macedon is dealt with) and the Macedonians hoping to resurrect the League of Corinth and leading them as Hegemon.
 
  • 7Like
Reactions:
View attachment 674753
The fertile Padus valley.

I'm SO happy you brought a change in Venetic territories (my homeland), I wasn't hoping anymore! Ateste was one of their most significant settlements, more than the previous Aponus for sure. Judging by the view, it seems that Altinum is still going to be their only city, I would give that status to Patavium, although Altinum was an important center, Patavium was the closest to a Venetic capital, probably their most ancient settlement and by the time of Livy it would be the second wealthiest city in Italy after Rome.
 
  • 3Like
  • 3
Reactions:
I'm SO happy you brought a change in Venetic territories (my homeland), I wasn't hoping anymore! Ateste was one of their most significant settlements, more than the previous Aponus for sure. Judging by the view, it seems that Altinum is still going to be their only city, I would give that status to Patavium, although Altinum was an important center, Patavium was the closest to a Venetic capital, probably their most ancient settlement and by the time of Livy it would be the second wealthiest city in Italy after Rome.
Oh look, another Venetian ;)
 
  • 3Like
Reactions:
Awesome stuff!

Really nice to see these changes and I'm getting hyped to play 2.0. :D

Now I just have to decide which state to start playing as.
 
  • 1
Reactions:
PDX out here with a master class in how to mislead with data presentation via graphs. Wow..

Jokes aside, great DD! Can’t wait!
For the love of the Olympians... their x-axes aren't even allied.

But I'll just forgive them. Yesturday seemed like a rough day for them.
 
  • 1Like
Reactions:
Another great DD, i hope we will see a release or Beta asap.

A Question that is not related to this DD, but will there be an ingame Multiplayer Chat in this Update? Is there any information on this?
 
  • 1
  • 1Like
Reactions:
What culture did the previously Bithynian Greek states get? And is the Anatolian Pontic culture still present?
Seems I missed this, Pontic no longer exists in the Anatolian group and the Greeks in Heraclea Pontica and eastwards are now majority Pontic Hellenic (renamed from Greco-Pontic). West of that, Greeks on both sides of Marmara are now majority Propontic until Abdera in the north and Parion in the south.

Any chance this overhaul includes flavor related to Quinda, which Plutarch notes as having 1200 talents still in the treasury when Demetrius took it back after Ipsos?
As Samitte said it is now on the map, and there is also some related content in the Antigonid missions.
 
  • 6
  • 3Like
  • 1
Reactions:
@Arheo
both the old and the new graph show no declines due to wars in the late game. Is the AI too reluctant to make war?


and no late-game migrations? Like the Cimbri and Teutones?


Thanks you! it's really encouraging to see many suggestions implemented!
The new map looks MUCH better, there are only a few things you could improve further:

Bithynia:
  • Why have you removed Trikomia? it’s a heavy nerf for Bithynia, bad because Bithynia loses a fort as well. Please restore Trikomia and the fort there.
  • you still have not implemented the province borders adjustment. It should be extremely easy to do.

Kyzikos:
  • Arta looks weird. it would look better an island tile with a ferry instead of adding that tiny bit on the mainland.

Lycia:
  • 1. Tlos should be redesigned for a better zone of control. 2. Pinara was an equally important city on the other side of the valley but is missing here. If there is not enough space for a new tile, replace Tlos and Kadyanda (North-South) with Pinara and Tlos (East-west, divided by the river). That would make better terrain for manoeuvring and ZoC.
Cilicia:
  • WHY is Alexandria ad Issum still missing? @Sadrallah Chaim Al-Adnani even made a map where you should put it.
  • Baka looks like a prime fort location, too good. Please restore Sipha as a chokepoint south of it (reduce Baka to 1.5 size, with Sipha between Baka to the north and Anazaros and Pindenisson to the south)

Balearic islands:
  • The province is unusually small (only 6 tiles). Have you added more? If not, please add Formentera as a tile and add 1 more tile on Mallorca. Perhaps split Menorca in 2.

Gaul:

Rivers:

This is a somewhat odd choice why are Sakarya (in Bithynia), Durius (in Hispania), Tiber (in Italy) Severn (Wales) and Hypalis in Scythia not added as well?


@Samitte made an update to his proposal on Anatolia a few days ago. You obviously didn't have the time to implement these new suggestions, but please don't forget to add them later.


That's very sad news. You really need to update the flavour pack, add unique levy models dor the diadochi as well!
Maybe Alexandria ad Issum can be added instead of Myriandios. Finally both places were united. (According to my search.)