Imperator - Development Diary - 21st of January 2019

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Trin Tragula

Design Lead - Crusader Kings 3
Paradox Staff
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Aug 1, 2003
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Hello and welcome to another Development Diary for Imperator:Rome!
Today I will be talking about Navies, I will expand some on the changes we are making to Diplomacy, and lastly I will be describing the geographical regions of Bactria, Parthia and the far reaches of the Seleucid Empire.


Navies
In Imperator:Rome there is only one type of naval unit, the Trireme (representing all forms of War Galleys). Ships can only be built in ports, and ports only exist in predefined locations around the map. Building ships also requires access to Wood in the Province that the City belongs to.

ports.png

In our period, and perhaps in most of history, the Mediterranean has been a highway for transportation rather than an obstacle to be traversed. The main purpose of a fleet in Imperator:Rome is to ferry troops from one destination to another, and to stop others from doing the same in your territorial waters.

Fleets can also blockade ports in wartime, decreasing commerce and potentially contributing to the warscore for their side of the conflict.


The strengths and weaknesses of these ships can then be modified by things like Trade Goods, Military Traditions, Admirals, Inventions, and more.

Just like there are army unit abilities on land there are also unit abilities at sea:

  • Ramming Tactics: Navy Offensive Damage +10% Navy Defense Damage -10%
  • Boarding Tactics: Navy Offense Damage -10% Navy Defense Damage +10%
  • Raid Port: Steals a number of pops from an adjacent port and turns them into Slaves in your capital (at a cost of 1 Aggressive Expansion).

navalbattle.png

Naval battles will be somewhat familiar to those who have played our earlier games.

When a battle is started every ship will attempt to target an enemy ship to deal damage to. What determines their success is their positioning value, which is derived from their leading admiral with a random element. Positioning is re-rolled every day of battle.

In an ongoing battle bad positioning will result in picking a new target, which if you are unlucky could mean finding no target, or even targeting one of your own ships. If a friendly ship is targeted the ship will always try to pick a new target next day.

Damage is dealt in a similar way to in land battles. Offensive modifiers and dice roll is reduced by the enemy defensive modifiers and dice roll (this is then further increased or decreased by the specific damage modifiers on either side for Strength Damage or Morale Damage).

Ships that have no morale left will retreat from battle, ships that have no strength left will be sunk.

piratescreenshot.png

Pirates

Whenever money is being made there will be those who desire to have that money for themselves. Any port that attracts enough trade will also risk attracting pirates.

Pirates can appear outside of ports and the chance that they do so is based on how many Trade Routes the Province that the Port belongs to has.

This chance can be reduced through laws and inventions.

A pirate fleet can be at most 10 ships in size and will attempt to blockade the port it spawns next to. It is also hostile to all non-pirate navies. Should the pirate fleet be defeated, but not destroyed, it will attempt to find another weakly guarded port to blockade.


Diplomacy


And with that we turn once again to Diplomacy, and more specifically unto how Claims, Truces, War Declarations and Peace will Work in Imperator:Rome.


Casus Belli

Like in many Paradox games before the difference between a justified war and one with no justification matters in Imperator:Rome.

Casus Bellis come in a variety of forms and shape such as:
  • Claim: A country is considered to always have a Casus Belli against a country if it has a claim on a city that the other country owns.
  • Supporting Rebels: A country is always considered to have a Casus Belli against someone who supports rebels inside it.
  • Insult: A country will receive a time limited Casus Belli against a country that has sent an insult to it.
  • Guarantee: A country will receive a time limited Casus Belli against a country that attacks someone Guaranteed by them.
  • Broken Subject Status: A country will receive a time limited Casus Belli against a country that breaks a subject relationship with them.
  • Broken Alliance: A country will receive a time limited Casus Belli against a country that dishonors its alliance towards them.
Declaring war without a Casus Belli will cost the attacker 2 Stability and give additional Aggressive Expansion.

War Goals:
When a war is declared the aggressor will have chosen a specific war goal. Fulfilling this war goal will result in a gradual increase of scope up to an additional 25% War Score. Unlike in other games, such as Europa Universalis IV however, the war goal and the Casus Belli need not be directly linked. A claim gives a Casus Belli, and unlocks the conquest war goal, but you can choose to declare a superiority war all the same. The Casus Belli will still remove the stability penalty you would normally have gotten on the start of the war.

wargoal.png

There are three different War Goals in the game:

  • Conquest: If you have a Claim on a Province held by another country you can declare conquest war over that Province. In that case holding the entire enemy province selected will be the war goal. A conquest war will automatically end if the entire war goal is held by either party for 1 year + 180 days per Rank.
  • Show Superiority: The War goal is to show superiority in battle. Once over 10 war score from battles is achieved the extra ticking war score starts applying.
  • Show Naval Superiority: The War goal is to show superiority in naval battles. Once over 10 war score from battles is achieved the extra ticking war score starts applying. Having more blockades than your enemy will also contribute.
Truces:
After a peace has been signed a truce will be in power for between 5 and 15 years. The length of the Truce will be dependent on the severity of the peace agreement. During this time it will cost 5 Stability to declare war again against the same enemy.

War Leaders, Changes to Call to Arms & Separate Peace:

warleaderchange.png


War Leadership, Call to Arms and Separate Peace, are all concepts that will be familiar to anyone who has played our games before.

While wars can have many participants the country declaring the war and the country being declared upon will initially be considered the War Leaders.

War Leaders will negotiate on behalf of the entire side (including all allies and subject countries) to which they belong and a war will not end until the two War Leaders agree to a peace.

War Leadership in Imperator:Rome can also change. If a country with higher Max Manpower and more provinces than the existing leader joins, then this country will be considered the new War Leader and can call its own allies. When this is the case the War Declaration interface will warn that a country may take over the leadership of the war, and War Leadership can only be transferred once.


To further press home the need to choose your allies carefully we have made some changes to how alliances function. In Imperator:Rome you will not be able to refuse a call to arms from an attacked ally. If you want to have the aid of another power you need to be ready to come to their aid.

It is also not possible to separate peace as a junior participant of a war until 36 months have passed, as a junior participant is expected to be involved in order to help the war leader bring the war to completion, rather than using someone else's conflict to expand themselves.


Bactria and Parthia

Bactria
Bactria.png

Parthia
parthia.png

Dahae Region
dahae.png
Today we look to the north east from the region that was under focus in the last development diary. To the successors, and to some extent to Achaemenid Persia before them Parthia and Bactria are on the periphery. At the same time these are not regions of economical inconsequence. There are ancient cities here, trade ties with the far east, and India and a culture that has been under influence of first Persian and then Greek overlordship.

At the start of our game almost all of this region is controlled by Greek Satrapies, and while Seleucus and his son Antiochus has recently made sure to root out any local power holders that may not be loyal to the state, they now expect to be left alone.

Historically both satrapies would eventually break free, Bactria would go on to found a Graeco-Bactrian kingdom that came to rule large parts of northern India, creating a Greek-Indian fusion, a state ruled by a Greek Buddhist dynasty.

Parthia on the other hand would be overrun by the Daehae tribes to the north and become the core of the Arsacid Empire, a state that would conquer most of Persia and eventually become a rival of the expanding Republic of Rome.

Starting Countries:
bactriaparthia.png
  • Parthia: Seleucid Satrapy on the border between Persia proper and the open tribal region to the north. While Parthia is perhaps not the richest Satrapy it enjoys a great deal of autonomy and as the core for future expansion it has great potential. Parthia starts as a Satrapy subject of the Seleucids.
  • Bactria: The other great eastern Satrapy under the Seleucids is Bactria. A much richer region than Parthia, in the fertile valley between Hindukush in modern Afghanistan and the Pamir mountains. It has a larger population and the region is already something of a cultural melting pot of Greek veterans, settlers, persian bureaucrats, and local Indo-Iranian farmers and city-dwellers. Bactria has been described by some as a ‘Wild West’ of its day. Starts as a Satrapy Subject state of the Seleucids.
  • Parnia: One of a number of Dahae tribal kingdoms in the region between the Caspian Sea and Bactria. Would eventually conquer Parthia and found the Parthian Empire, ruled by the Arsacid dynasty. Like all of the Dahae Tribes, if Parnia exapnds it can form a Dahae federation, greatly strengthening its ranks and potentially reading itself for an invasion of Iran. Starts independent and unaligned.
  • Scythia: Tribal kingdom on the northern edge of the Caspian. An open steppe separates it from European Scythia in one direction and Sogdia in the other. Starts independent and unaligned.
  • Zanthia: Small tribal kingdom of the Dahae people. Like Parnia it can potentially form the core of something greater. Starts independent and unaligned.
  • Pissuria: Small tribal kingdom on the edge of the Dahae region and Parthia. Starts independent and unaligned.
  • Kharesmia: Tribal kingdom in the Amu Darya river delta, right between the Dahae tribes and Bactria. Starts independent and unaligned.
 
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Nice update. A naval DLC is defenetly at must need one day...

Other than that, what military ideas do these nations have, and when will we see them (if not already)?
 
Great dev diary, thanks Trin! :)

It would be nice tho to be able to see the naval combat between the ships, similar to that of HOI4/EU4, rather than just simple cards of triemes. Would give it more immersion.
 
Not gonna lie, the naval combat is disappointing, what with a standard 1 unit type throughout the entire game (is it still called a trireme outside the med?) and a choice of only two naval tactics. I suspect this system will produce the same sad result of that in EUIV: one-dimensional naval combat and no real impetus to build towards being a naval power except for a few island-based nations.
 
What are the 3 kinds of uncolonized terrain around the steppe? I'm guessing the tannish one is the map borders and the lightest shade is colonizeable, but what about the darker shade (e.g. directly north of Scythia)? Will there only be a thin strip of land we can interact with above the Caspian Sea, or is the darker shade also colonizeable or something?
 
Raid Port: Steals a number of pops from an adjacent port and turns them into Slaves in your capital (at a cost of 1 Aggressive Expansion).

ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS. Opens up loads of warfare opportunities. Specially for naval countries like Carthage. That will spice Cathage's run up.

A conquest war will automatically end if the entire war goal is held by either party for 1 year + 180 days per Rank.

I quite like this as well. Seems realistic. And removes annoying negotiations against a stupid AI. If you can't retake it, it is just mine, no silly AI calculations that drag the war innecessarily for ever.

It is also not possible to separate peace as a junior participant of a war until 36 months have passed, as a junior participant is expected to be involved in order to help the war leader bring the war to completion, rather than using someone else's conflict to expand themselves.

Like this a lot as well. Hate how you can abuse and exploit AI's stupidity and "good will" :)P) in EU4. This will force you to actually think the allies you want to ally and think if you are really going to be prepared to fight.
 
Wait, so how can the Diadochi reunite Alexander's Empire? Can a conquest CB be on a whole country?
 
Have the embarched troops any impact on naval battle? In the Punic War, a lot of men fought the naval battles, not just the rawmen ., and Pompeus took 30 legions ( about 100k men) to fight the pirates .
Moreover, why you don't need any ship to commerce?
Isn't the naval aspects oversimplified (that is, no improvement from EU:Rome ?)

Maps are real gorgeous, anyway!
 
so I'm going to have to reload save and break alliance because my ally's ally got attacked

so I'm playing boi I have allied a neighbor to the north far away from anyone I would be afraid of fighting but they have allied the Etruscans who have lost a war to Rome already and are kind of small so after the roman truce is over they attack again but this time my ally becomes the war leader does this mean that I would have to fight Rome??????????!!!
 
I was wondering will you be able to embark units on ships and then raid a nation your not at war with like in ck2? Just asking as I think I remember one of the barbarian traditions allowed them to raid but there wasn't any details on how raiding worked.
 
Raid Port: Steals a number of pops from an adjacent port and turns them into Slaves in your capital (at a cost of 1 Aggressive Expansion).
Nooo! Aargh, I hate Raid Coasts in EU4, it's such an obnoxious mechanic. Please tell me this can only be done during war or something. If you can do it during peacetime, can it at least give the raided nation a Casus Belli? It'd be ridiculous if someone could land on your shores, abduct and enslave your people, and that's not a cause for war!
 
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"A conquest war will automatically end if the entire war goal is held by either party for 1 year + 180 days per Rank."

I hope this will not make a potential epic war like a Sicilian War of Conquest (First Punic war in game terms?) look trivial and not last the 23 years that it should. Without playing the game I can't really say thou!
 
Not gonna lie, I'm disappointed that PDS takes a step backwards with that Piracy mechanic.
 
Nooo! Aargh, I hate Raid Coasts in EU4, it's such an obnoxious mechanic. Please tell me this can only be done during war or something. If you can do it during peacetime, can it at least give the raided nation a Casus Belli? It'd be ridiculous if someone could land on your shores, abduct and enslave your people, and that's not a cause for war!

Yes its for war only as far as I understand. It would break the game otherwise, just overpopulating your country and depopulating your neighbours raiding them 24/7.