Imperator - Development Diary 6th of May 2019

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Keep great works! If only the game had one more year before its release I don't think it would have so many negative reviews on Steam now.
 
Does this mean that we may get to repair Pharaoh's Canal and connect Mediterranean and Red Sea at some point in development? :p

Plan is for it to be there :)
It was live and well during the Achaemenids and afaik the ptolemies also kept it maintained.

As an aside I’ve only heard wiki call it the canal of the pharaohs. Elsewhere I’ve seen Cyrus canal :)
 
I have to say that I'm glad to see this progress! I think the game is OK now but still... I expect Paradox games to be superb - and now Imperator looks like it's heading that way! Great job!
 
Sincere apologies, you're both quite right!
(I forgot about the HOI series, which I haven't played since the AOD iteration, and was thinking of EUR and CK and EU against which it's streets ahead)

Edited accordingly.

Nah, you're all good, was just teasing :)

And I did assume that you were comparing to the likes of EU and CK and not HOI.
 
The navies needed a rework and that is great. But i wonder why you have decided to focus here?. Alot of bad reviews are coming from the MANA system. I personally can't bring myself to play this game with its current anti strategy MANA focus.
Im worried the developers will abandon the community who appreciates the lack of abstract currencies for all actions in vic2, hoi4, and eu4.
Even the eu4 mana isnt great but as its mostly for tech, (no magic scroll power replacing your diplomats) its tolerable but this IR: Rome is just like a board game.

Do you not know how Dev diaries work?

Each one specializes in 1-2 things within an upcoming update. There’s obviously more diaries coming that will shine a light on other parts of the update. This isn’t the sole focus of 1.1
 
Will you be able to move your capital and change your culture? Playing as the last of the Achaemenids in Anatolia feels kind of meaningless currently, since they are stuck as Greek Hellenics with their capital being stuck in Bithynia. (switching your religion is a nice start to making that one half interesting!)

I believe Johan said changing capital is in the future plans (not sure how soon). In the meantime there’s a really easy mod that does that (I forget the name but it’s a pretty easy steam workshop search). I agree that culture changes would be cool.
 
I hope something will be done to transporting armies to make them more realistic for the age and not the rapid shuttle system for rome to put all her legions in rome when shes not using them.
 
Since Tyre is in the diary I have to ask - will you change it to an island as it historically should be this soon after the death of Alexander? It took numerous centuries for the causeway he built to change the tides and connect the island to the mainland how it is today.
 
Are there any plans to add the ability for players to make army templates based on the available combat tactics?

For example that you can create templates of several sizes for the Phalanx tactic, which is comprised of the optimal unit composition (light inf, heavy inf etc.).
 
@Trin Tragula
Thank you for your excellent explaintion for brilliant navy stuff. I love it so much.

For religious part, I sincerely hope that is only the first step to deeper religious experience. Johan said religion do not play an important role in classical age. The inference of religion may not so important campare to Middle Ages but religion was a stuff deeply integrated into their culture and everyday life.

When we talk about classical age, we always think about the magnificent Greek deities, the gorgeous temple.A good religion mechanic impress players and bring better gaming experience. Currently is good step although omens in my view is too simple, hope your team could deeper the religion machanic in the future.
 
I wonder with the major rivers, could it be possible to build bridges over them as major projects, allowing for rapid traversing of armies but also risking your enemies being able to use them against you? They could provide trade bonuses too, and become key chokepoints for invasions.

After all, Caesar built the first bridges across the Rhine and the Romans made great use of them to project power into Germania.
 
I had the good fortune to know Dr. Murray years ago. The man knows his stuff--especially where it concerns Hellenic and Hellenistic naval history and naval archaeology. The Battle of Actium was something of a baby of his as he conducted several underwater archaeological digs there and made some very interesting finds there. You can't do much better than use his research as a guide to go by. Looking forward to playing Pompey once it comes out.
 
So believe it or not I recall but we actually have testament from ancient authors that no fleets or bigger ships sailed the caspian :)
I’ll see if I can find the reference later tonight (or correct myself).

Interesting! I'll have to have a word with these ancient authors and check their sources! @Trin Tragula

Still, as this is Paradox, historically plausible alternate history should still be valid. Great empires may have eventually sprang up along the shores of the Caspian, and built massive navies!
 
Is there a way to zoom to countries on the trade screen with current active trades? I seem to have to use the search function for this which gets tedious trying to manage relations.
 
In order to strengthen our argument that the Seleukids tried to follow Alexander’s naval plans and thus devoted time and capital to building and
maintaining a naval presence in the Gulf, we also need to refer to the actions of Seleukos I and his son Antiochos I at the Caspian Sea. As we know, Alexander
had naval and maritime plans not only for the Gulf but also for the Caspian Sea. These plans were part of his universal vision to sail round the outer sea
and conquer the whole world. As we have seen previously, before his death he dispatched Herakleides to the Caspian Sea to find out if it was connected
to the Black Sea or the ocean. Although the project was shelved after his death, it was revitalized by Seleukos I and his son Antiochos I, who assigned
to Patroklos, a trusted Seleukid general(25) a periplous of the Caspian Sea. In other words, the Seleukids continued Alexander’s interrupted maritime plans.

https://www.academia.edu/28384661/The_Hellenistic_Gulf

@Trin Tragula