Imperator - Development Diary - 18th of March 2019

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Lord Hoosier

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I'm going to have to form the Argead Empire and Galatia.

Also "Greater Iberia" is funny, because we have ghetto Iberia in the Caucasus at game start.
 

Concrete

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Aww man. Not too happy about Tartessia becoming a generically named cultural federation or a bland "Greater Iberia". The original reference to a near-mythical city is a far better title to bear.

I also don't like the successors throwing off their individual name after reunification of Alexander's Empire.
Nor the forced government switch, if in the interim one of the successor states found themselves democratic traditions.
 

Creamu

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Ugh, world conquest achievment and not even o very hard achievment. My hype for this game just got halved if its gonna be another brainless blobfest like EU4 where world conquest is possible and the game is designed around making it possible (not even a very hard achievemea, just ''hard"?.

Honestly I feel the same way.

If world conquest was in its own category "Super Hard" I would be reassured. But its just "Hard"? Meh.
 

Sam_Stone

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Hello and welcome to this weeks development diary for Imperator: Rome!

Today's diary will cover a variety of things, from some changes done to Mercenaries, Forts, Tribes and Tribal Retinues, to the Achievements and Formable countries the game will ship with.

Zones of Control
View attachment 463529
As described in earlier diaries Imperator will have a fort and Zone of Control system that is familiar to anyone who has played EU4. In short a fort will exert a Zone of Control over all surrounding cities and obstruct movement for enemy troops.
The expansive map of Imperator means that it can at times be a bit of work to take control of cities as you advance into enemy territory. This is especially a problem when the local military victory is already won, the enemy troops expelled, and local fortifications are under your control.
To facilitate the takeover when you have already, de facto, won we have made forts able to automatically start taking control over adjacent cities, even in enemy territory.
This means that once a fort has fallen you can save your armies the work of controlling cities in the fort's Zone of Control. Fort control also works across national borders, meaning border forts will automatically start taking control over any adjacent enemy cities that are not protected by enemy forts or troops.
In addition to all of the above you are now required to control all forts in a province, as well as the province capital, before you can demand that province in a peace negotiation.

While we feel Mercenaries fill an important role in the game it has over time become more and more apparent that it can be a problem that you could Mercenary "Bomb" people by suddenly hiring a lot of troops already close to-, or even right on top of, an ongoing battle or siege.
Newly hired mercenary troops now start at 0 morale and will slowly build up to full morale. This also makes it more important to be able to afford their maintenance for a longer period when you hire them, and not just the immediate power cost.

Tribal Retinues
View attachment 463535
As described in an earlier diary, the retinues of Tribal Clan Leaders are armies that can be vital to success as an expanding tribe, but their size is dependent on the Clan Leader rather than on you. It could therefore be problematic to have to pay for these armies despite having little control over their recruitment.
Tribal Retinues will now be paid for entirely by the Clan Leader and will not cost the Tribe anything at all to maintain. In return for these free to maintain and reinforce troops (even if loyal to people who may end up overthrowing the state) the tribes will now have to pay an additional 50% maintenance for all troops they recruit themselves, and the wage for each Clan Leader has gone up from 2% of the state income to 5% of the state income.
This should also complicate the choice of how many Clan Leaders you want in your tribe (something that you can steer through one of the Tribal laws).

Achievements and Formable Countries
As in our other games these can be become intermediate (or even final) goals for a campaign, or just something you pick up along the way.
Formable countries will generally include a few direct in game perks, while achievements are mostly relevant for those who like to show off their accomplishements (and require playing in Ironman mode).

Achievements
There will be 50 achievements in total, and they will be distributed widely in terms of geographic focus and difficulty. Hopefully there is something here for everyone :)

Very Easy:
View attachment 463233 Cincinnatus: Appoint a dictator as a Republic and have him step down
View attachment 463259 Do not disturb my circles: Research 40 Inventions
View attachment 463273 Tribal Concord: Change a law in a Tribal country.
View attachment 463258 Render to Caesar: Take any land in a war.
View attachment 463227 A new Home: As any Tribe Migrate to an empty city.
View attachment 463228 Alea Iacta Est - Have a Dictator holding on to power.
View attachment 463262 Soldier of Fortune: As a Monarchy send a pretender away to be a mercenary.
View attachment 463253 Panem et Circenses - Participate in 10 Olympic Games.
View attachment 463242 International Relations - Befriend two other rulers.
View attachment 463266 Strategic Reserve - Import or produce all types of Strategic Trade Goods in your capital.

Easy:
View attachment 463274 Triumvir: Survive a Civil War.
View attachment 463244 Legacy of Aristotle - All 4 Researchers have a skill of 11 in each respective skill (Martial, Finesse, Charisma and Zeal).
View attachment 463235 Envy of the world - Own a city with at least 100 civilization value.
View attachment 463272 Tribal Assembly: Become a Republic as a Tribe
View attachment 463239 Hispania Universalis: Form Greater Iberia.
View attachment 463261 What have the Romans ever Done for us? As Rome own all of Palestine. Have at least 70 civilization in all cities in the Judea area.
View attachment 463256 Punic Ascendance: Conquer Hispania as Carthage.
View attachment 463270 Times New Roman - Own Cariala, Italica and the province of Helvetia as Rome
View attachment 463229 Antipater’s Dream - As Macedonia conquer the regions of Greece and Epirus.
View attachment 463267 The Besieger - As Phrygia sack Babylon, Alexandria, Lysimachea and Pella.

Medium:
View attachment 463251 Over 9000: Have at least 9000 pops.
View attachment 463268 The Romans are Crazy: Form Gaul.
View attachment 463232 Carthago Delenda Est: Conquer Carthage and sack it.
View attachment 463249 New Kingdom: Form Egypt, have Egyptian Succession and conquer Nubia and Syria
View attachment 463234 City of the World’s Desire: Have 15 Trade Routes in Byzantium (theoretical max currently in a capital).
View attachment 463257 Pyrrhic Victory: Take Rome as Epirus
View attachment 463255 Perfidious Albion - Unite Albion (decision) in 50 years.
View attachment 463241 Imperial Ambition: Adopt the Imperium Government type.
View attachment 463231 Bois are Back in town: Conquer Boihaemum region as the Boii.
View attachment 463252 Pan-Hellenic League: Unite Greece as a Greek Republic.
View attachment 463265 Stonehenge: As a Megalithic country own 20 sources of stone and the city of Cunetio.
View attachment 463263 Soter: As Ptolemaic Egypt own all wonders of the world through conquest or construction.
View attachment 463271 To the end of the world: Conquer the regions of Gandhara, Mahdyadesa, Pracya, Maru, and Avanti, as the Seleucid Empire or Bactria.
View attachment 463269 Three Great Fires: Form Persia and own Ganzak, Nevshapur and Gur.
View attachment 463240 Holy Fire - Desecrate Holy Sites for 10 different Religions.

Hard:

View attachment 463250 No more worlds left to conquer: Reform Alexander’s Empire as a successor state.
View attachment 463236 Garum Nobile: Produce a Surplus of 10 Fish in one city.
View attachment 463275 True Vandal : Start as Vandalia, migrate to Africa, conquer it all, and occupy Rome in a War.
View attachment 463237 Germania Magna: as a Germanic country own all of the regions of Germania, Germania Superior, Vistula, and Boiohaemum.
View attachment 463245 The Man who Would be King: As Bactria become independent and conquer the Regions of Ariana, Bactria and Gandhara.
View attachment 463230 Ashoka’s Pillars: As Maurya conquer all of India, convert to Buddhism and have 80% Religious Unity.
View attachment 463246 Mare Nostrum: Conquer every city adjacent to the Mediterranean as Rome.
View attachment 463247 Megalopolis: As the country of Megalopolis have 80 pops in the city of Megalopolis.
View attachment 463254 Pax Aeterna: Conquer the world.
View attachment 463248 Molon Labe!: As Sparta conquer the city of Persepolis and sack it.

Very Hard:
View attachment 463264 Spice Must Flow: Control all Spice production as Mosylon.
View attachment 463243 Kingdom of David: As a Jewish country unite Palestine, Syria and expand to the Nile, and the Tigris in the regions.
View attachment 463260 Reverse Alexander: As a non-Mauryan Hindu, Buddhist or Jain power conquer Pataliputra, Babylon, Memphis and Athens.
View attachment 463238 Heraclea Persica: Starting as Heraclea Pontica form the Achaemenid Empire
View attachment 463276 Tyrean Purple: Form Phoenicia and have a total of at least 500 ships and a surplus of 5 Dyes in Tyre.

Formable Nations

As in many games before it Imperator will feature a number of countries that an expanding state can "form". Allowing you to shift the identity of your people. Generally these will confer a number of smaller bonuses, as well as a new color and name (and in many cases a new flag). Some of these we have mentioned earlier, in regional development diaries, but this list will include all formable nations at game release.
While this is an overview of all formable countries it is not a complete go through in that it does not mention every effect or requirement for each formable country. If a country belongs to a certain tier then that country cannot be formed by other countries of the same tier or above.

Tier 1:
Small regional formables, often Tribal Federations.
View attachment 463530
  1. Achaea: The Achaean League can be formed by expansive Republics in Achaea. Granting claims on the larger area.
  2. Arcadia: The Arcadian League can be formed by expansive Republics in Arcadia. Grants claims on the larger area.
  3. Cyprus: Can be formed by a small country in control of all of Cyprus.
  4. Aquitania: Tribal Federation for uniting the Aquitani countries.
  5. Aremorica: Tribal Federation for uniting the Aremorican tribes.
  6. Asturia: Tribal Federation for uniting the Asturian tribes.
  7. Carpetania: Tribal Federation for uniting the Carpetani tribes.
  8. Celtiberia: Tribal Federation for uniting the Celtiberi tribes.
  9. Gallaecia: Tribal Federation for uniting the Gallaecian tribes.
  10. Lusitiania: Tribal Federation for uniting the Lusitani tribes.
  11. Vettonia: Tribal Federation for uniting the Vettonian tribes.
Tier 2
Larger regional formables
View attachment 463570
  1. Assyria: The Neo-Assyrian Empire may be long gone but Assyria has remained an important constituent region of the Median, Persian and Greek empires that came after it. A sufficiently successful local power can reclaim its legacy.
  2. Babylon: An even more recent empire, the Neo-Babylonian one, can also be restored by a successful local power willing to relocate to the Mesopotamian riverlands.
  3. Cilicia: As one of the richer Anatolian regions, often used as a staging ground for the armies of the successor states, Cilicia can also support its own regional kingdom.
  4. Crete: Should one Cretan state come to control all the important cities of the island it can assume a new pan-cretan identity.
  5. Dravida: An Indian state that conquers the important cities of the south can form a larger kingdom known as Dravida.
  6. Galatia: A Celtic country that finds itself in control of the right parts of central Anatolia can resettle there and assume a new "Galatian" identity.
  7. Helvetia: Larger Tribal Federation for uniting the Helveti tribes.
  8. Illyria: Should a local country unite the Illyrian region it can create a new pan-illyrian state.
  9. Media: A growing Median power (such as for instance Atropatene) can attempt to lay claim to the legacy of the old Median Empire.
  10. Numidia: Unifying the tribal states of North West Africa allows you to form the greater state of Numidia.
  11. Sicily: While the title "king of Sicily", was assumed by Agathocles of Syracuse at our start, the island was by no mean unified. Should any one power come to conquer all of it, it is possible lay the foundation of a greater Sicilian state.
  12. Syria: At our start Syria is completely owned by the Antigonid state of Phrygia,
  13. Yamnat: Unifying the countries of southern Arabia allows you to form the greater state of Yamnat.
  14. Saxonia: Tribal federation for the Germanic tribes of Saxonian culture.
  15. Belgia: Tribal Federation for the Belgae tribes.
  16. Pretania: Tribal Federation for the tribes of Pretania.
  17. Caledonian Confederacy: Tribal federation for the Caledonian tribes.
  18. Noricum: Tribal federation for the Noric tribes.
  19. Dahae: Tribal Federation for the Dahae tribes.
  20. Armenia: Should the Kingdom of Armenia be destroyed (or if you destroy it) you can reclaim their legacy and form a new Armenian Kingdom.
  21. Egypt: Should the Ptolemaic kingdom of Egypt be destroyed, someone else of Egyptian culture and religion can reform that kingdom.
  22. Macedon: If Macedon is destroyed there is no shortage of other countries who could reclaim that legacy. Gaining claims on all that the old kingdom once ruled.
  23. Phrygia: While Phrygia exists at start as the realm under Antigonus this is a smaller regional formable for someone who controls the core Phrygian region.
  24. Pontus: The kingdom of Pontus can be formed by a local power that conquers the region if the old Pontus state is destroyed. This decision is also available to anyone with the Mithridatid dynasty in power (at start this rules the small city state of Kios)
  25. Thrace: While Lysimachus and his family control Thrace at start there are also local kingdoms, like Odrysia, who may end up conquering the region from him. If they destroy Thrace they will be able to assume its identity.
Tier 3 Formables
Greater regional empires.
View attachment 463573
  1. Albion: A non-tribal country that has united the entire British isles can form the Empire of Albion.
  2. Argead Empire: While the great Diadochi kingdoms have a more realistic shot at this, any Hellenic kingdom can attempt to reform the Argead Empire, laying claim to all lands once ruled by Alexander the great. In order to do so they must conquer major cities all over this fallen empire.
  3. Bharatavarsha: An Indian country that conquers the entire subcontinent can lay claim to this prestigious title of an Pan-Indian Empire.
  4. Gaul: A Gallic power that unites its entire region may form the greater state of Gaul.
  5. Pan-Hellenic League: While the Pan-Hellenic League under Alexander, and later the successors, was a type of organization for the control of the Greek cities by an outside power, the ideal of a league to encompass the free Greek is not dead. An expansive Greek Republic that rises to sufficient power and influence can attempt to form a Pan-Hellenic league of a more true calling.
  6. Greater Iberia: A power in Iberia that unites the entire peninsula can form the greater state of Iberia.
  7. Persia: While the Persian empire was destroyed under Alexander, the name and tradition will not die as easily. A Persian power that reclaims the empire can assume a greater Pan-Persian imperial tradition once more.
  8. Phoenicia: Few Phoenician cities remain free at our start dates, and those that do are beholden to the Antigonids in Phrygia. Should they somehow be able to wrest away the greater Phoenician region from its current owners however they may attempt to form a greater Phoenician state.
  9. Magna Graecia: At our start Magna Graecia, Greek southern Italy, is divided into a great number of small, and mostly weak, states. Should one rise above all others they can form the greater state of Magna Graecia, champion of all Italian Greeks.
  10. Dacia: Unification country for the Dacian states, requires conquering and colonizing the greater Dacian region.
  11. Parthia: While Parthia exists as a Macedonian Seleucid Satrapy at start, a country in the region can destroy this state and form a new Parthian state (more similar to the Arsacid or Parthian empire).
Ah crap, I'm actually getting hyped now. I know this game will require bugfixes, patches and a few expansions to really reach it's potential but I'm still getting hyped now anyway. Fuck it, bring on the classical era map painting.
 

Concrete

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Honestly I feel the same way.

If world conquest was in its own category "Super Hard" I would be reassured. But its just "Hard"? Meh.

I'm pretty critical of the game myself, but I disagree with both of your criticisms.
Whatever you do, these games will only be as "difficult" as the forces arrayed against you. Considering the achievement does not exclude you from starting as the largest existing nation, you could technically manage it without ever truly fighting somebody stronger than you. Which isn't "Super Hard" by definition.
 

Creamu

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I'm pretty critical of the game myself, but I disagree with both of your criticisms.
Whatever you do, these games will only be as "difficult" as the forces arrayed against you. Considering the achievement does not exclude you from starting as the largest existing nation, you could technically manage it without ever truly fighting somebody stronger than you. Which isn't "Super Hard" by definition.

Its not about about fighting someone stronger than you, its more about internal mechanics. If you become stronger than everyone else, your biggest threat is yourself. Even starting a Maurya id would never expect to conquer all the way to Gaul without partial or complete collapse.

But i suppose it is a fairly "simple" game so theres no economical, logistical, or climate simulation which severely limits the many ways empires did collapse.
 

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Question, but where is Britannia/Pritannia, since we know from the Dev Clashs that both exist (the former is mentioned, the later is shown)? Or it it some kind of culture specific name for Albion?
 

Trin Tragula

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Question, but where is Britannia/Pritannia, since we know from the Dev Clashs that both exist (the former is mentioned, the later is shown)? Or it it some kind of culture specific name for Albion?

It’s there. In category 2 :)
 

Lolofik

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I am so consumed by Paradox that I am already waiting for expansions eventhough the base game hasn't even come out.
 

Concrete

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Its not about about fighting someone stronger than you, its more about internal mechanics. If you become stronger than everyone else, your biggest threat is yourself. Even starting a Maurya id would never expect to conquer all the way to Gaul without partial or complete collapse.

But i suppose it is a fairly "simple" game so theres no economical, logistical, or climate simulation which severely limits the many ways empires did collapse.

Yes, I understand the distinction. But I can't think of an example of a paradox game where meaningful and immersive internal problems are a significant hurdle to overcome in the path of blobbing like mad.
Your initial expansion is defined by your immediate neighbors, which can either be easy or "hard".
Beyond that certain point external powers can only threaten you so much. But that doesn't mean the internal difficulties that supersede them become particularly notable.
In EU4(depending on patch), you picked humanist and ticked up local autonomy on obtaining land. That's all, you're good.
In CK2 you usually have to deal with rebellions each succession, and the retarded threat mechanic. But both can be easily overcome by hoarding retinues and a stockpile of money. That's all, you're good there too.
Victoria 2 is more oldschool where you simply need to stay under a certain amount of BB until you're ready to burn the world. And then you're mostly limited by diplomatic points and warscore cost and truces.

So all in all I'd say that Imperator doesn't stand out as much less complex than the above examples.
Even if it is less complex(or were it more complex), these games are ultimately numbers games. And doing the sums isn't too difficult.
At worst you're considering the worst case scenario fort siege time of X amount of provinces across Y amount of wars to squeeze in the WC within the last Z number of years of the game. Or otherwise its an incredibly simple binary check of whether or not your reliable troops plus the money you can use to afford mercenaries is larger than the number of potentially rebellious forces by a comfortable enough margin to avoid disaster through battle RNG.

Difficulty in these games will always be frontloaded, and mostly exercises in self-handicapping, choosing a tiny nation among giants, etc.
 

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There's an achievement which talks about forming the Achaemenid Empire which would suggest that this is a tag you can form but it seems to be missing from the list. Misleading achievement text, or omission from the list of formables? Is this achievement just to form Persia?
 

Nikolai

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Kingdom of David: As a Jewish country unite Palestine, Syria and expand to the Nile, and the Tigris in the regions.
This achivement, but no formable tag?
 

Trin Tragula

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There's an achievement which talks about forming the Achaemenid Empire which would suggest that this is a tag you can form but it seems to be missing from the list. Misleading achievement text, or omission from the list of formables? Is this achievement just to form Persia?

Let’s just say the “form Persia” decision has a different outcome if you do it while being ruled by an Achaemenid ;)
 

Adrianople

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Let’s just say the “form Persia” decision has a different outcome if you do it while being ruled by an Achaemenid ;)
What of Jewish reformation? If a Jewish nation, such as Judaea, were to take over all the historical territory of the old Kingdom of Israel, there should be some sort of reward/formable nation. Otherwise it's a little empty, like conquering Jerusalem in CKII as a Jewish character without SoA.
 

Concrete

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Let’s just say the “form Persia” decision has a different outcome if you do it while being ruled by an Achaemenid ;)
That's a really tidy solution. Is it something added to the baseline decision if the dynasty is present, or does the presence of the ruling dynasty mean that the nation in question is offered a different formation decision?

Are there many other formation decisions that have this sort of nuance?
 

Dakka

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