[MOD] Imperator Invictus
- Thread starter Snowlet
- Start date
-
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.
Check Baltic military tradition tree, which all Germanics should have
- 1
found, you still need to open it And after that you can be hired by raids without declaring war ?
Once you gain enough military xp, you can start unlocking traditions - slave raid will let you steal pops from undefended ports for AE
- 1
similar to when you loot with a migrating tribes, but instead of gold you get pop??
- 2
@Snowlet
I have a question for you guys.
Did you ever consider splitting up big territories? For example the territories in Scandia or Venedia.
It would make sense as these territories are already handicapped by their terrain and climate, so splitting them would reward a good player with increased capability for playing tall.
I just really find it annoying that the visually same sized region in the south (Greece, Italy, Palestine) has 2x or even 3x more territories than a simmilar sized or even larger region in the north. It obviously made sense to have it that way when the game launched, but i feel like you guys have made the game so much more than Greece and Rome and so some adjustments would be very much welcome all over the map.
If you have the will for it (as i understand its a probably very tedious process) please do!
I have a question for you guys.
Did you ever consider splitting up big territories? For example the territories in Scandia or Venedia.
It would make sense as these territories are already handicapped by their terrain and climate, so splitting them would reward a good player with increased capability for playing tall.
I just really find it annoying that the visually same sized region in the south (Greece, Italy, Palestine) has 2x or even 3x more territories than a simmilar sized or even larger region in the north. It obviously made sense to have it that way when the game launched, but i feel like you guys have made the game so much more than Greece and Rome and so some adjustments would be very much welcome all over the map.
If you have the will for it (as i understand its a probably very tedious process) please do!
- 2
- 2
- 1
- 1
Hey guys, so I've been playing a campaign as rome with the invictus mod and I'm pretty sure the August 3rd update broke the save, anyway to fix it or can I revert to an old version of the mod? Help would be appreciated
Greetings
Greetings
Use this mod to continue your save https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3014203278
- 1
- 1
Hey guys, is there a known issue in Invictus with Forts and ZoC? I see units walk past forts and also zone of control captures activating unexpectedly? See the screenshot. ZoC is auto capturing without a fort, also referring the the province that's not even adjacent. Weird!
Pretty new to this mod, so I am not sure if its just a bug or expected behavior change in Invictus? Thanks!
P.S. Using 2.0.4/1.6.1
Pretty new to this mod, so I am not sure if its just a bug or expected behavior change in Invictus? Thanks!
P.S. Using 2.0.4/1.6.1
Attachments
Last edited:
That is also the case in vanilla
ZoC doesn't work like it does in eu4. The only way to truly block movement is by building a fort chain or, more sensibly, building forts in strategic locations where the terrain doesn't allow movement (rivers, coast, mountains). The fort will unsiege the sieged territories of the province though.
ZoC doesn't work like it does in eu4. The only way to truly block movement is by building a fort chain or, more sensibly, building forts in strategic locations where the terrain doesn't allow movement (rivers, coast, mountains). The fort will unsiege the sieged territories of the province though.
- 2
- 1
Thanks for your perspective!That is also the case in vanilla
ZoC doesn't work like it does in eu4. The only way to truly block movement is by building a fort chain or, more sensibly, building forts in strategic locations where the terrain doesn't allow movement (rivers, coast, mountains). The fort will unsiege the sieged territories of the province though.
Maybe memory is failing me since its been a while since I played this game, but I specifically recall in Imperator ZoC auto capture all territories adjacent to fort and also not being able to move past the enemy fort towards an uncaptured location. There is even a special map mode that used to show areas around the forts covered by this effect. It's possible it may have been changed in the most recent vanilla updates already, I will have to re-check... Or it could be another classic case of so called "Mandella effect"
If you think about it, they specifically say that barbarian armies can ignore this effect, which means normal armies could not, at least in the past versions.
And in terms of auto capture without a fort (depicted on my screenshot), I just saw in one of the videos that Invictus made it so that capturing a local province capital will cause auto capture all the remaining tiles of the province. And indeed in this case Cisra is the capital of Etruscan Tuscia province, so i guess it would make sense, just have to note and ignore the old description for ZoC auto capture that talks about influence from the fort. It's no longer the case in Invictus.
As @olivenkranz pointed out, this is in my experience nothing related to IR (and sadly likely also nothing IR can fix):
https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...instead-of-being-forced-into-a-siege.1418119/
https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/threads/i-r-fort-zoc-not-blocking-movement.1385073/
Searching for "ZoC" or "Zone of controls" yields quite a lot of threads in the bug section generally.
Bug report: I'm playing as Bactria, and I think the character Diodotus got generated twice. I have a Diodotus Tarixanian, whom I made governor of Gandhara, and a Diodotus Rachnian whom I can appoint to an other province. Both have the "Blood of Diodotus" trait.
- 1
In the Illyria mission there are tasks that do not grant the modifiers that they say, reviewing the code verify that they are the ones that are enclosed between the brackets of show_as_tooltip, those that are not enclosed by show_as_tooltip work perfectly
- 1
there is no event that gives them?
There is no event that gives them?
the events are triggered but they do not grant the modifier, and I checked the code of the events and they do not have any of the modifiers, at least in tasks 1 and 2
DD76: Cyrenaica, Libya and the Egyptians
Dev Diary 76: Cyrenaica, Libya and the Egyptians
Salvete!
Today Izn will be presenting more native Cyrenaican content, an Egyptian Culture Rework and a teaser for the [REDACTED] tree we released last update. And so i’ll hand you right over to him.
Hey and hey, it’s me Izn. It’s come to my attention that 2 years ago, on the 23rd of August 2021, Dev Diary 15 released. At the end of the Dev Diary, there was a certain claim made from former Invictus dev Torugu, who mysteriously vanished from the scene soon after. ‘That’s it for this Cyrenaica Dev Diary. The final Cyrenaica DD, which you can expect several weeks from now, will have the second Libya mission tree, some content for Egypt if it gets taken over by Magas, as well as a grab bag of minor features that I haven’t had the chance to show off yet.’ Well, it has indeed been several weeks to say the least, and yet there was never a final Cyrenaica DD. This was the last image we ever saw relating to this mysterious Libya tree that was never meant to be.
Although I’m quite far removed from the team two years ago, it was suggested to me that I pick up the long since abandoned work of the Cyrenaica tree. And so, I dub this little reclamation process internally as the Cyrenaica Encore trees. I wanna go over what I’ve worked on so far and my future plans with Cyrenaica Encore. Throughout this Dev Diary, I’ll be parroting the Dev Diary from 2 years ago. Without further ado, here’s the updated Libyan Resurgence tree, based largely on the scraps and crumbs I was able to find from Torugu!
Despite it being largely the same, you may notice that some of the tasks have differing durations. That’s simply because I had to look at these tasks and take a guess on what in Adaelus’ name Torogu wanted, and what I could do to put my own flavor on it. Heck, sometimes all I had to go off was the very screenshot of the tree from earlier, as well as Dev Diary 15 itself. So then, let’s break down this new interpretation of the Libyan Resurgence tree.
“Becoming Libya is initially a bit of a step backwards as Libya starts as a federated tribe. However, the large number of highly cultured Cyrenaican Greeks in your newly conquered territory means that it doesn’t have to stay that way for long: The left half of this mission tree focuses on integrating the Greek population and fast tracking you towards monarchy.”
This vision stays pretty much the same for said left side of the tree. You’ll be able to take the fast pass to the front of the ‘civilized’ line thanks to your formerly Greek owned territories.
Torugu in DD15 mentioned that his favorite task was Letter’s for the Libyan Tongue. Now, this had to be reinterpreted as several concepts don’t exist in the current version of Invictus that he outlines in Dev Diary 15. You will, of course, still have the option to adopt the Greek script, which will give you modifiers fitting for using the Greek’s help, or you can instead go for the Tifinagh script used by the Numidian (West Amazigh) peoples. Originally, the task had you entice someone to your court of Numidian culture, however, I found this to be rather awkward and strange in practice… in addition, every Numidian state is painfully outside of your diplomatic range by the time you reach that task. Instead, I’ve reinterpreted this into an event chain where you figure out how to ‘acquire’ a suitable Numidian scribe into your court. You can either use your diplomatic skills, dabble in some bribery, or straight up kidnap a poor Numidian. Regardless of how you get this Numidian scribe into your court, you’ll then be able to implement the Tifinagh script, and it’ll take around a year to actually implement it.
Unlocking the ability to write won’t just leave you with a simple modifier, but also newly available decisions tailored to the script you chose.
As for my own favorite task that I’ve designed so far, it’s Seek Common Ground. It’s another event chain, this time one that draws on the comparisons of culture and religion. It ends in an action packed narration by the legend Zorgoball, which I will tease ever so slightly.
The task will also allow for a recurring event about a game, similar to the Olympics in implementation for the game, though quite different in practice; and an associated Great Wonder to boot. May Lady Barce herself bless the players with good RNG in the coming games o7.
Though all of this may be a tad off putting… I think Torugu put it best when he talked about the hesitation you might have to actually go down this left path, so I’ll let his words speak for me.
“-having only just triumphed over the Greek invaders, you might balk at integrating them into the administrative structure of your country. If so, you will want to follow the other branch of the tree. That means that you’ll have to reform your government the old-fashioned way, but you will have the opportunity to become a true terror for the countries unfortunate enough to border you.”
Let’s get right into it then. For this right path of the tree, instead of centralizing and taking on Greek culture, you’ll enact a sweet revenge, and some cultural reclamation, to the chagrin of the Cyrenaicans. After all, those pompous Greeks never forget to remind the world of Libyan barbarism. Then, I say, why not show them how much of barbarians you can be!
Now, frankly, I don’t know how in Ammon’s name I would replicate all these ideas yet. Telugu was playing with a mechanic that doesn’t even exist in Invictus, nor will it. As such, I have less to show for this side (for now)… but, I will mention that this side will transform you into what can only be described as a desert horde! Or perhaps more fitting to call it a… camel horde? Regardless, the concept is that you’ll be adopting the strongest tribal government type, the Steppe Horde, but with a modifier that sacrifices some Steppe Horde modifiers for in exchange for some that would be better fitted to the desert instead. In addition, the Terror from the Desert is its own powerful modifier made to further highlight the feeling of becoming a true monster of the sea of sands.
I also would like to take a moment to mention that either path of this tree will lead to different trees to further establish yourself. After all, being the King of the Eastern Libyans only means so much when there are Libyans east of yourself. And then, why not become the King of all the Libyans-or better yet-of all the Amazighs?
Or if you go down the tribal path to become the Terror of the Desert, and you want to live up to your name of terrorizing ‘civilized’ people, then there is no place better to turn than to the banks of the Nile Delta. The legacy of the Meshwesh dynasties, the 22nd and 23rd dynasties of Egypt, could be reclaimed if Kemet again finds herself under the domination of the Great Chiefs of Ma.
Next, I’ll talk about the revisions and expansions to the first Cyrenaica tree. Most of you probably aren’t aware that there are sometimes ghosts hiding within the script. So, I had to delve into the realm of Hades to confront these spirits. What I found was a whopping 12 tasks waiting to be added to the fantastic first Cyrene tree.
In addition to updating the fabulous original tree with some quality of life improvements (like events firing for every mission task), you’ll get a whole new side to the tree. There’re more to these plans, and in fact, there’s a potential for even more. However, that will have to come from further motivation. I can at least promise those three Libu trees and the reclaimed expansion to the Queen’s Firstborn tree.
That’s really all I have for the Cyrene side of things, but since it’s in the area, I’d like to talk about the Egyptian culture rework I’m also working on. It took a meticulous amount of reorganizing pops across the desert to get this balanced correctly, and I do believe the result will be quite satisfactory. Here’s the new map of Egyptian cultures.
I’ll quickly go over the what-and-whys of this. Sahidic and Bohairic are horrible names for Egyptian culture in the 3rd to 1st centuries BCE. Those words refer to the dialects of Coptic spoken across the Nile. However, Coptic isn’t even prominent yet! Instead, some proto-Coptic is starting to be used, while Demotic Egyptian is the major script and tongue. In fact, Sahidic and Bohairic don’t show up till something like the 5th century CE. Faiyumic is another dialect of Coptic, but it can just as easily describe the people of the Faiyum independently of it’s later use as a term referring to the dialect. Meanwhile, Bohairic and Sahidic are much more intrinsically linked to the dialects themselves rather than the region or people of the areas they cover. Therefore, I changed Bohairic to Memphite and Sahidic to Thebaic. These names aren’t perfect, but they’re much more logical and fitting for the time period than the alternatives.
There’s also the new culture of Oasitae. Previously, the Oases of Egypt were either Sahidic or Faiyumic… which doesn’t make a lick of sense, really. While it would be accurate to split up the Oasitae into the Oases near Farafra and the Oases near Siwa, for balance reasons, they’re being grouped together into one culture for the Egyptians who inhabit the red lands of Set. This Oasitae Egyptian culture is surprisingly sizable with around 100 pops in it. There is also a buff to Upper Egypt’s population to account for these new Oasitae pops, which actually works out since Upper Egypt already had some questionably low pop counts in cities. It certainly isn’t the height of Thebes’ population anymore, but it was like a dead zone before.
Mm, I suppose since this isn’t just a Cyrenaican dev diary, I could tease one more thing. A whole hidden tree from your’s truly that’s already in the version of the mod you are playing right now. The ‘redacted’ tree. Please have some patience as I am certainly one for dramatic introductions.
A long time ago, before Alexander was great. Before there was a Persia to conquer. Before there was an Assyria to overthrow. Before the peoples of the Sea would terrorize the world of Bronze. A certain group of people would find themselves alight in the crescent of civilization itself.
Ah… but that light would be ablaze only for so long. It would be stamped out by the sons of Ashur, leaving only the ash.
Millennia have gone by, without so much of a thought of this ash. Buried under the legacies of Assyrians, Babylonians, Medians, Persians, and Macedonians. Perhaps… it takes only a certain person, or a certain people, to find that that ash is no ordinary ash. It shines to only some… a glint of a time long past. And from those brazen ashes, could it be that this long gone empire could, indeed, return?
To all those who seek to reignite the flames, have your eyes blessed by the River Indus and let fate guide your way to the land between the Tigris and Euphrates, where the Generals of Alexander Brawl, and where history is waiting to be reforged. Rise… From Brazen Ashes.
That’s it for this Dev Diary. The next Cyrenaica DD, which you can expect sometime in the future, will showcase the other Libya trees, potentially more details on the expansion for The Queen’s Firstborn tree, and maybe some more treats revolving around this strange and interesting piece of the desert we call Cyrenaica.
I hope, if Torugu’s reading, that he’d be happy with the continuation of his wonderful Cyrenaica content. And to the rest, I look forward to seeing your reactions! I bid you all adieu.
Salvete!
Today Izn will be presenting more native Cyrenaican content, an Egyptian Culture Rework and a teaser for the [REDACTED] tree we released last update. And so i’ll hand you right over to him.
Hey and hey, it’s me Izn. It’s come to my attention that 2 years ago, on the 23rd of August 2021, Dev Diary 15 released. At the end of the Dev Diary, there was a certain claim made from former Invictus dev Torugu, who mysteriously vanished from the scene soon after. ‘That’s it for this Cyrenaica Dev Diary. The final Cyrenaica DD, which you can expect several weeks from now, will have the second Libya mission tree, some content for Egypt if it gets taken over by Magas, as well as a grab bag of minor features that I haven’t had the chance to show off yet.’ Well, it has indeed been several weeks to say the least, and yet there was never a final Cyrenaica DD. This was the last image we ever saw relating to this mysterious Libya tree that was never meant to be.
Although I’m quite far removed from the team two years ago, it was suggested to me that I pick up the long since abandoned work of the Cyrenaica tree. And so, I dub this little reclamation process internally as the Cyrenaica Encore trees. I wanna go over what I’ve worked on so far and my future plans with Cyrenaica Encore. Throughout this Dev Diary, I’ll be parroting the Dev Diary from 2 years ago. Without further ado, here’s the updated Libyan Resurgence tree, based largely on the scraps and crumbs I was able to find from Torugu!
Despite it being largely the same, you may notice that some of the tasks have differing durations. That’s simply because I had to look at these tasks and take a guess on what in Adaelus’ name Torogu wanted, and what I could do to put my own flavor on it. Heck, sometimes all I had to go off was the very screenshot of the tree from earlier, as well as Dev Diary 15 itself. So then, let’s break down this new interpretation of the Libyan Resurgence tree.
“Becoming Libya is initially a bit of a step backwards as Libya starts as a federated tribe. However, the large number of highly cultured Cyrenaican Greeks in your newly conquered territory means that it doesn’t have to stay that way for long: The left half of this mission tree focuses on integrating the Greek population and fast tracking you towards monarchy.”
This vision stays pretty much the same for said left side of the tree. You’ll be able to take the fast pass to the front of the ‘civilized’ line thanks to your formerly Greek owned territories.
Torugu in DD15 mentioned that his favorite task was Letter’s for the Libyan Tongue. Now, this had to be reinterpreted as several concepts don’t exist in the current version of Invictus that he outlines in Dev Diary 15. You will, of course, still have the option to adopt the Greek script, which will give you modifiers fitting for using the Greek’s help, or you can instead go for the Tifinagh script used by the Numidian (West Amazigh) peoples. Originally, the task had you entice someone to your court of Numidian culture, however, I found this to be rather awkward and strange in practice… in addition, every Numidian state is painfully outside of your diplomatic range by the time you reach that task. Instead, I’ve reinterpreted this into an event chain where you figure out how to ‘acquire’ a suitable Numidian scribe into your court. You can either use your diplomatic skills, dabble in some bribery, or straight up kidnap a poor Numidian. Regardless of how you get this Numidian scribe into your court, you’ll then be able to implement the Tifinagh script, and it’ll take around a year to actually implement it.
Unlocking the ability to write won’t just leave you with a simple modifier, but also newly available decisions tailored to the script you chose.
As for my own favorite task that I’ve designed so far, it’s Seek Common Ground. It’s another event chain, this time one that draws on the comparisons of culture and religion. It ends in an action packed narration by the legend Zorgoball, which I will tease ever so slightly.
The task will also allow for a recurring event about a game, similar to the Olympics in implementation for the game, though quite different in practice; and an associated Great Wonder to boot. May Lady Barce herself bless the players with good RNG in the coming games o7.
Though all of this may be a tad off putting… I think Torugu put it best when he talked about the hesitation you might have to actually go down this left path, so I’ll let his words speak for me.
“-having only just triumphed over the Greek invaders, you might balk at integrating them into the administrative structure of your country. If so, you will want to follow the other branch of the tree. That means that you’ll have to reform your government the old-fashioned way, but you will have the opportunity to become a true terror for the countries unfortunate enough to border you.”
Let’s get right into it then. For this right path of the tree, instead of centralizing and taking on Greek culture, you’ll enact a sweet revenge, and some cultural reclamation, to the chagrin of the Cyrenaicans. After all, those pompous Greeks never forget to remind the world of Libyan barbarism. Then, I say, why not show them how much of barbarians you can be!
Now, frankly, I don’t know how in Ammon’s name I would replicate all these ideas yet. Telugu was playing with a mechanic that doesn’t even exist in Invictus, nor will it. As such, I have less to show for this side (for now)… but, I will mention that this side will transform you into what can only be described as a desert horde! Or perhaps more fitting to call it a… camel horde? Regardless, the concept is that you’ll be adopting the strongest tribal government type, the Steppe Horde, but with a modifier that sacrifices some Steppe Horde modifiers for in exchange for some that would be better fitted to the desert instead. In addition, the Terror from the Desert is its own powerful modifier made to further highlight the feeling of becoming a true monster of the sea of sands.
I also would like to take a moment to mention that either path of this tree will lead to different trees to further establish yourself. After all, being the King of the Eastern Libyans only means so much when there are Libyans east of yourself. And then, why not become the King of all the Libyans-or better yet-of all the Amazighs?
Or if you go down the tribal path to become the Terror of the Desert, and you want to live up to your name of terrorizing ‘civilized’ people, then there is no place better to turn than to the banks of the Nile Delta. The legacy of the Meshwesh dynasties, the 22nd and 23rd dynasties of Egypt, could be reclaimed if Kemet again finds herself under the domination of the Great Chiefs of Ma.
Next, I’ll talk about the revisions and expansions to the first Cyrenaica tree. Most of you probably aren’t aware that there are sometimes ghosts hiding within the script. So, I had to delve into the realm of Hades to confront these spirits. What I found was a whopping 12 tasks waiting to be added to the fantastic first Cyrene tree.
In addition to updating the fabulous original tree with some quality of life improvements (like events firing for every mission task), you’ll get a whole new side to the tree. There’re more to these plans, and in fact, there’s a potential for even more. However, that will have to come from further motivation. I can at least promise those three Libu trees and the reclaimed expansion to the Queen’s Firstborn tree.
That’s really all I have for the Cyrene side of things, but since it’s in the area, I’d like to talk about the Egyptian culture rework I’m also working on. It took a meticulous amount of reorganizing pops across the desert to get this balanced correctly, and I do believe the result will be quite satisfactory. Here’s the new map of Egyptian cultures.
I’ll quickly go over the what-and-whys of this. Sahidic and Bohairic are horrible names for Egyptian culture in the 3rd to 1st centuries BCE. Those words refer to the dialects of Coptic spoken across the Nile. However, Coptic isn’t even prominent yet! Instead, some proto-Coptic is starting to be used, while Demotic Egyptian is the major script and tongue. In fact, Sahidic and Bohairic don’t show up till something like the 5th century CE. Faiyumic is another dialect of Coptic, but it can just as easily describe the people of the Faiyum independently of it’s later use as a term referring to the dialect. Meanwhile, Bohairic and Sahidic are much more intrinsically linked to the dialects themselves rather than the region or people of the areas they cover. Therefore, I changed Bohairic to Memphite and Sahidic to Thebaic. These names aren’t perfect, but they’re much more logical and fitting for the time period than the alternatives.
There’s also the new culture of Oasitae. Previously, the Oases of Egypt were either Sahidic or Faiyumic… which doesn’t make a lick of sense, really. While it would be accurate to split up the Oasitae into the Oases near Farafra and the Oases near Siwa, for balance reasons, they’re being grouped together into one culture for the Egyptians who inhabit the red lands of Set. This Oasitae Egyptian culture is surprisingly sizable with around 100 pops in it. There is also a buff to Upper Egypt’s population to account for these new Oasitae pops, which actually works out since Upper Egypt already had some questionably low pop counts in cities. It certainly isn’t the height of Thebes’ population anymore, but it was like a dead zone before.
Mm, I suppose since this isn’t just a Cyrenaican dev diary, I could tease one more thing. A whole hidden tree from your’s truly that’s already in the version of the mod you are playing right now. The ‘redacted’ tree. Please have some patience as I am certainly one for dramatic introductions.
A long time ago, before Alexander was great. Before there was a Persia to conquer. Before there was an Assyria to overthrow. Before the peoples of the Sea would terrorize the world of Bronze. A certain group of people would find themselves alight in the crescent of civilization itself.
Ah… but that light would be ablaze only for so long. It would be stamped out by the sons of Ashur, leaving only the ash.
Millennia have gone by, without so much of a thought of this ash. Buried under the legacies of Assyrians, Babylonians, Medians, Persians, and Macedonians. Perhaps… it takes only a certain person, or a certain people, to find that that ash is no ordinary ash. It shines to only some… a glint of a time long past. And from those brazen ashes, could it be that this long gone empire could, indeed, return?
To all those who seek to reignite the flames, have your eyes blessed by the River Indus and let fate guide your way to the land between the Tigris and Euphrates, where the Generals of Alexander Brawl, and where history is waiting to be reforged. Rise… From Brazen Ashes.
That’s it for this Dev Diary. The next Cyrenaica DD, which you can expect sometime in the future, will showcase the other Libya trees, potentially more details on the expansion for The Queen’s Firstborn tree, and maybe some more treats revolving around this strange and interesting piece of the desert we call Cyrenaica.
I hope, if Torugu’s reading, that he’d be happy with the continuation of his wonderful Cyrenaica content. And to the rest, I look forward to seeing your reactions! I bid you all adieu.
- 13
- 10
Dev Diary 76: Cyrenaica, Libya and the Egyptians
Salvete!
Today Izn will be presenting more native Cyrenaican content, an Egyptian Culture Rework and a teaser for the [REDACTED] tree we released last update. And so i’ll hand you right over to him.
Hey and hey, it’s me Izn. It’s come to my attention that 2 years ago, on the 23rd of August 2021, Dev Diary 15 released. At the end of the Dev Diary, there was a certain claim made from former Invictus dev Torugu, who mysteriously vanished from the scene soon after. ‘That’s it for this Cyrenaica Dev Diary. The final Cyrenaica DD, which you can expect several weeks from now, will have the second Libya mission tree, some content for Egypt if it gets taken over by Magas, as well as a grab bag of minor features that I haven’t had the chance to show off yet.’ Well, it has indeed been several weeks to say the least, and yet there was never a final Cyrenaica DD. This was the last image we ever saw relating to this mysterious Libya tree that was never meant to be.
Although I’m quite far removed from the team two years ago, it was suggested to me that I pick up the long since abandoned work of the Cyrenaica tree. And so, I dub this little reclamation process internally as the Cyrenaica Encore trees. I wanna go over what I’ve worked on so far and my future plans with Cyrenaica Encore. Throughout this Dev Diary, I’ll be parroting the Dev Diary from 2 years ago. Without further ado, here’s the updated Libyan Resurgence tree, based largely on the scraps and crumbs I was able to find from Torugu!
Despite it being largely the same, you may notice that some of the tasks have differing durations. That’s simply because I had to look at these tasks and take a guess on what in Adaelus’ name Torogu wanted, and what I could do to put my own flavor on it. Heck, sometimes all I had to go off was the very screenshot of the tree from earlier, as well as Dev Diary 15 itself. So then, let’s break down this new interpretation of the Libyan Resurgence tree.
“Becoming Libya is initially a bit of a step backwards as Libya starts as a federated tribe. However, the large number of highly cultured Cyrenaican Greeks in your newly conquered territory means that it doesn’t have to stay that way for long: The left half of this mission tree focuses on integrating the Greek population and fast tracking you towards monarchy.”
This vision stays pretty much the same for said left side of the tree. You’ll be able to take the fast pass to the front of the ‘civilized’ line thanks to your formerly Greek owned territories.
Torugu in DD15 mentioned that his favorite task was Letter’s for the Libyan Tongue. Now, this had to be reinterpreted as several concepts don’t exist in the current version of Invictus that he outlines in Dev Diary 15. You will, of course, still have the option to adopt the Greek script, which will give you modifiers fitting for using the Greek’s help, or you can instead go for the Tifinagh script used by the Numidian (West Amazigh) peoples. Originally, the task had you entice someone to your court of Numidian culture, however, I found this to be rather awkward and strange in practice… in addition, every Numidian state is painfully outside of your diplomatic range by the time you reach that task. Instead, I’ve reinterpreted this into an event chain where you figure out how to ‘acquire’ a suitable Numidian scribe into your court. You can either use your diplomatic skills, dabble in some bribery, or straight up kidnap a poor Numidian. Regardless of how you get this Numidian scribe into your court, you’ll then be able to implement the Tifinagh script, and it’ll take around a year to actually implement it.
Unlocking the ability to write won’t just leave you with a simple modifier, but also newly available decisions tailored to the script you chose.
As for my own favorite task that I’ve designed so far, it’s Seek Common Ground. It’s another event chain, this time one that draws on the comparisons of culture and religion. It ends in an action packed narration by the legend Zorgoball, which I will tease ever so slightly.
The task will also allow for a recurring event about a game, similar to the Olympics in implementation for the game, though quite different in practice; and an associated Great Wonder to boot. May Lady Barce herself bless the players with good RNG in the coming games o7.
Though all of this may be a tad off putting… I think Torugu put it best when he talked about the hesitation you might have to actually go down this left path, so I’ll let his words speak for me.
“-having only just triumphed over the Greek invaders, you might balk at integrating them into the administrative structure of your country. If so, you will want to follow the other branch of the tree. That means that you’ll have to reform your government the old-fashioned way, but you will have the opportunity to become a true terror for the countries unfortunate enough to border you.”
Let’s get right into it then. For this right path of the tree, instead of centralizing and taking on Greek culture, you’ll enact a sweet revenge, and some cultural reclamation, to the chagrin of the Cyrenaicans. After all, those pompous Greeks never forget to remind the world of Libyan barbarism. Then, I say, why not show them how much of barbarians you can be!
Now, frankly, I don’t know how in Ammon’s name I would replicate all these ideas yet. Telugu was playing with a mechanic that doesn’t even exist in Invictus, nor will it. As such, I have less to show for this side (for now)… but, I will mention that this side will transform you into what can only be described as a desert horde! Or perhaps more fitting to call it a… camel horde? Regardless, the concept is that you’ll be adopting the strongest tribal government type, the Steppe Horde, but with a modifier that sacrifices some Steppe Horde modifiers for in exchange for some that would be better fitted to the desert instead. In addition, the Terror from the Desert is its own powerful modifier made to further highlight the feeling of becoming a true monster of the sea of sands.
I also would like to take a moment to mention that either path of this tree will lead to different trees to further establish yourself. After all, being the King of the Eastern Libyans only means so much when there are Libyans east of yourself. And then, why not become the King of all the Libyans-or better yet-of all the Amazighs?
Or if you go down the tribal path to become the Terror of the Desert, and you want to live up to your name of terrorizing ‘civilized’ people, then there is no place better to turn than to the banks of the Nile Delta. The legacy of the Meshwesh dynasties, the 22nd and 23rd dynasties of Egypt, could be reclaimed if Kemet again finds herself under the domination of the Great Chiefs of Ma.
Next, I’ll talk about the revisions and expansions to the first Cyrenaica tree. Most of you probably aren’t aware that there are sometimes ghosts hiding within the script. So, I had to delve into the realm of Hades to confront these spirits. What I found was a whopping 12 tasks waiting to be added to the fantastic first Cyrene tree.
In addition to updating the fabulous original tree with some quality of life improvements (like events firing for every mission task), you’ll get a whole new side to the tree. There’re more to these plans, and in fact, there’s a potential for even more. However, that will have to come from further motivation. I can at least promise those three Libu trees and the reclaimed expansion to the Queen’s Firstborn tree.
That’s really all I have for the Cyrene side of things, but since it’s in the area, I’d like to talk about the Egyptian culture rework I’m also working on. It took a meticulous amount of reorganizing pops across the desert to get this balanced correctly, and I do believe the result will be quite satisfactory. Here’s the new map of Egyptian cultures.
I’ll quickly go over the what-and-whys of this. Sahidic and Bohairic are horrible names for Egyptian culture in the 3rd to 1st centuries BCE. Those words refer to the dialects of Coptic spoken across the Nile. However, Coptic isn’t even prominent yet! Instead, some proto-Coptic is starting to be used, while Demotic Egyptian is the major script and tongue. In fact, Sahidic and Bohairic don’t show up till something like the 5th century CE. Faiyumic is another dialect of Coptic, but it can just as easily describe the people of the Faiyum independently of it’s later use as a term referring to the dialect. Meanwhile, Bohairic and Sahidic are much more intrinsically linked to the dialects themselves rather than the region or people of the areas they cover. Therefore, I changed Bohairic to Memphite and Sahidic to Thebaic. These names aren’t perfect, but they’re much more logical and fitting for the time period than the alternatives.
There’s also the new culture of Oasitae. Previously, the Oases of Egypt were either Sahidic or Faiyumic… which doesn’t make a lick of sense, really. While it would be accurate to split up the Oasitae into the Oases near Farafra and the Oases near Siwa, for balance reasons, they’re being grouped together into one culture for the Egyptians who inhabit the red lands of Set. This Oasitae Egyptian culture is surprisingly sizable with around 100 pops in it. There is also a buff to Upper Egypt’s population to account for these new Oasitae pops, which actually works out since Upper Egypt already had some questionably low pop counts in cities. It certainly isn’t the height of Thebes’ population anymore, but it was like a dead zone before.
Mm, I suppose since this isn’t just a Cyrenaican dev diary, I could tease one more thing. A whole hidden tree from your’s truly that’s already in the version of the mod you are playing right now. The ‘redacted’ tree. Please have some patience as I am certainly one for dramatic introductions.
A long time ago, before Alexander was great. Before there was a Persia to conquer. Before there was an Assyria to overthrow. Before the peoples of the Sea would terrorize the world of Bronze. A certain group of people would find themselves alight in the crescent of civilization itself.
Ah… but that light would be ablaze only for so long. It would be stamped out by the sons of Ashur, leaving only the ash.
Millennia have gone by, without so much of a thought of this ash. Buried under the legacies of Assyrians, Babylonians, Medians, Persians, and Macedonians. Perhaps… it takes only a certain person, or a certain people, to find that that ash is no ordinary ash. It shines to only some… a glint of a time long past. And from those brazen ashes, could it be that this long gone empire could, indeed, return?
To all those who seek to reignite the flames, have your eyes blessed by the River Indus and let fate guide your way to the land between the Tigris and Euphrates, where the Generals of Alexander Brawl, and where history is waiting to be reforged. Rise… From Brazen Ashes.
That’s it for this Dev Diary. The next Cyrenaica DD, which you can expect sometime in the future, will showcase the other Libya trees, potentially more details on the expansion for The Queen’s Firstborn tree, and maybe some more treats revolving around this strange and interesting piece of the desert we call Cyrenaica.
I hope, if Torugu’s reading, that he’d be happy with the continuation of his wonderful Cyrenaica content. And to the rest, I look forward to seeing your reactions! I bid you all adieu.
Super happy as always to see new quality content.
Really hoping that the Lybians and their Amazigh cousins to their west will receive their own unique city sprites at some point rather than those mud huts. At least change the colour a bit so it doesn't look that moist while sitting in the middle of the desert. Hopefully Matt TheLegoman can do something about it.
In regards to the secret reformable and its missions I bet that it has some powerful chariot buffs!
- 2
they promised but it's been two yearsSuper happy as always to see new quality content.
Really hoping that the Lybians and their Amazigh cousins to their west will receive their own unique city sprites at some point rather than those mud huts. At least change the colour a bit so it doesn't look that moist while sitting in the middle of the desert. Hopefully Matt TheLegoman can do something about it.
In regards to the secret reformable and its missions I bet that it has some powerful chariot buffs!