Imperator - Development Diary - 1st of July 2019

[Lord Hoosier]

This looks really grear, keep up the good work. I hope the game continues in this direction in future updates.

I'm so happy you did not give up on this title like March of the Eagles.

 

[spinoza013]

Can I pick some peaches?

 

[Temudhun Khan]

First, I have to say that I love everything in this DD and all the news we got since yesterday. I have a few questions, though:

1) You said there will always be 1 pop assimilated/converted at a time. Did you mean per city or per province? (or per faction, but I doubt it). Also, will it be "1 pop being converted and 1 being assimilated" OR "1 being converted or 1 being assimilated"?
2) Will active pop promotion disapear entirely? I don't care about assimilation and conversion being passive only with the player only influencing it indirectly, but promotion is the only instance in which I think the ruler should be able to take an active role with an instant effect, passing an edict to free hundred of slaves or grant citizenship to hundred of freemen at a time isn't so farfetched (it may however cause in increase in tyranny)

 

[AlleyTheToaster]

One would presume so, locking anything behind a paywall at this point surely would not be a smart play by Paradox but you never know I guess. Might be a better idea to have the next update free and maybe some sort of flavour pack dlc that is optional if they feel the need to release dlc to justify development time.

well, that's what I thought they said previously. But who knows. Just checking.

 

[ohmka]

Why wasn't it done this way before the first time? You already have a game where pops move from one place to another and where the assimilate on their own given the proper conditions. It is called Victoria and its sequel Victoria 2.

Shame it took a bashing of the game with poor thought process to get it right by dumping spending mana points on every single pop to achieve that result, too this.

Because of the way the game has been developed (with monarch points), it made sens for them not to have complex pop mechanisms.
It's not because pop migration/promotion exists in Victoria, that every game with pop should have the same mechanics.
Now however, as they are making a huge turn towards more simulation and less "board-like" mechanics, it makes sens to introduce them...

well, that's what I thought they said previously. But who knows. Just checking.

There is a roadmap post, where they clearly show that the Cicero update will be free.
The following one (Livy) will be launched with a (probably not free) content pack.
And then comes a full-fledged expansion (with Cassander update).

 

[Wagonlitz]

If the population of a certain pop type is below 33% in a given city then a random pop is picked for promotion. This pop will then over time start promoting to the underrepresented pop type. The speed of promotion will be dependent on modifiers as well as using the Social Mobility governor policy.

So that means that high slave cities aren't possible anymore?
Can this demote pops too, or will a city with less than 33% slaves not have any slaves made from demotion? And a city with 100% citizens will have no freemen made from demotion?

If not then we really need a way to enslave some of our own pops.

 

[cristofolmc]

It would indeed be cool if negative growth modifiers from disasters and famines and such would give a negative promotion that when dropped below 0, a citizen demotes, showing that the rich, before starving to death, get broke and poorer.

This rate would be much higher than negative growth, so every 6 months or so a citizen would demote.

 

[Todie]

So that means that high slave cities aren't possible anymore?
Can this demote pops too, or will a city with less than 33% slaves not have any slaves made from demotion? And a city with 100% citizens will have no freemen made from demotion?

Most likely passive pop promotion is pretty slow if you dont boost it.

Holdings can be used to bind slaves and keep them from promotion-elegibility.
You can also draw freemen and citizens from your dedicated slave-city by increasing migration attraction in elegible cities, with aqueduct buildings for example. (slaves wont migrate if not over pop cap)

 

[Belryuminus]

Conversion is about changing religion which is why wrong religion have more impact than culture. Assimilation is about changing culture which would likely be most impacted by majority culture. As greek pops have same religion they Will be assimilated somewhat quicker but as greek cities are larger they Will keep majority for longer which Will slow down conversion in the long run.

Love the DD and the direction.
Feels like i'll have to re-learn half of the game (which i dont handle well yet anyway) and that's cool with me.

@Denkt and @Paland0 are making intersting points. Maybe that new system could also be the opportunity to build a new mechanic around the concept of syncretism.

Despite i'm not an Antique specialist, seems fair to say Roman and Greek cultures co-existed in several regions for quite a long time resulting in some cultural melting pot at some point, in certain places.

Maybe there's something to think about, starting from that, to build syncretism between closes cultures and religions. Also between cultures of the same group.

 

[AlleyTheToaster]

Stop, there's no Monarch power stuff at the top anymore. Are you going to get rid of that for good?

 

[Denkt]

Stop, there's no Monarch power stuff at the top anymore. Are you going to get rid of that for good?

Yes that is the main point of 1.2 patch.

 

[Leloush]

So can we still "get rid" of tribal pops?

* in this case "get rid" is not defined as a destructiv event, just the forceful conversion of tribesmen to freemen.
...
I don't think that this makes it sound better XD

So I will ask the question different:
Will tribesmen be an "exeption" of the rule
"If the population of a certain pop type is below 33% in a given city then a random pop is picked for promotion. This pop will then over time start promoting to the underrepresented pop type."
you wrote of? In the current version you can't get tribesmen through promotion. Will this still be the same.


PS: I am sorry for my - probably - bad English. It is not my mother tongue.

 

[Denkt]

Promotion only work uppwards so slave and tribesmen promote to freemen and freemen to citizens.

However the game Will not promote tribesmen if they are Below their limit which is likely quite high for tribes.

 

[EpicProGamer76]

Will acquisition of wealth prevent the promotion of pops and instead demote them slowly over time while boosting the wealth of the governor? Or is that bleed them dry?

 

[Akbar The Great]

Yes that is the main point of 1.2 patch.

Turn your sarcasm-ometer on.

 

[MohawkWolfo98]

Turn your sarcasm-ometer on.

Im not even sure what the original poster meant by that, tbh.

If hes complaining about the fact there may be mana still after 1.2, its still perfectly fine imo as its now anchored by realistic currencies like tyranny, stability, political influence etc, rather than hats and seaweed. After all, you do need some values to measure the state of the country other than money and manpower.

 

[Lord Hoosier]

People should migrate across water if there are two ports. Say Spartans moving to the Bosphoran region if Sparta conquered that area. Would replicate Greek and Punic colonialism well.

 

[cristofolmc]

People should migrate across water if there are two ports. Say Spartans moving to the Bosphoran region if Sparta conquered that area. Would replicate Greek and Punic colonialism well.

Yea im hoping foor a settlers mechanic so roman people from the peninsula can move to North Africa or Hispania and help develop it and convert it. Same for greeks to their colonies

 

[Arizal]

Wow, they are doing it! They are changing this game from the grounds up for it to be a simulation!

Regarding the pops, the next step would be to get rid of the 33,3% division. The natural equilibrium should be far less equal than that. I don't have the numbers, but I doubt a third of the population in every country were citizens or supposed to be.

Some laws to reflect either a different equilibrium or to lock conversion altogether (to the status of citizen or from the status of slave, for example) would add a lot of realism. The production values would then likely have to be tweaked, however.

 

[Wagonlitz]

You can also draw freemen and citizens from your dedicated slave-city by increasing migration attraction in elegible cities, with aqueduct buildings for example. (slaves wont migrate if not over pop cap)

Woulnd't that just make the problem bigger in that the percentage of freemen and citizens would go down.