Grand Strategy Imperator: Rome - the new grand strategy from Paradox

[Shadowfang]

Between this and Field of Glory, which should I go for?

 

[razvedchiki]

field of glory.

 

[XenomorphII]

I don't know now. Feel like both have strong and weak points with a it depends on how development goes and personal preference.

• FoG has awful diplomacy right now (I think it is supposed to be next up to be messed with) which makes the game feel easy, Imperator has more diplomacy going on, but it is normal pdox diplomacy ie random or the diaodachi tend to become a buddies club that devastate their neighbors.
• FoG does province development way better (even though I dislike the random card draws determining whats available to build sometimes), while Imperator is a clusterfuck of bonuses that makes it hard to tell if building something will really help you or what it actually does.
• Internal politics in FoG is managing your pops jobs occasionally and selling/freeing slaves as events allow to prevent issues, in Imperator you have actual people and families to keep pleased and if you make them really mad they will cause problems if they have positions, also pops that can get rebellious if you let them.
• Combat is probably dependent on if you get FoG2 or not. FoG:E battles and warfare are build army throw at enemy, with a handy power indicator to let you know if you will win. Imperator has similar army creation to other pdox games, but now you can set your armies tactics so you can build specialist forces for different enemies/roles which is kinda neat and helpful when punching above your weight (examples: shock forces made up of heavy cav and inf, defensive heavy inf and archer, with the different stances buffing appropriate units but suffering weakness to certain other stances)
• FoG has the neat decadence mechanic to push empires to collapse, Imperator blobs blob
• Imperator has an outstanding map, FoG feels bare in comparison, factions feel samey in both to me largely though FoG does a little better here.
  
• FoG will likely keep getting patched but won't have a mountain of DLC (probably), Imperator is a pdox game

 

[Van-d-all]

Between this and Field of Glory, which should I go for?

Anything else than this really. This game is so damn undercooked I have serious doubts if they can ever get it to be decent. It's probably going to be ditched like EU Rome.

 

[fantadomat]

Between this and Field of Glory, which should I go for?

Pirate them both and see which one you like more. Field of glory does feel a lot more like a tabletop game than actual strategy. There are better eu4 mods than any of those two.

 

[Life of the Party]

Just wanted to point something out.

Bambyce: Small state based around the cult of the Canaanite deity Atargatis. The state predates Macedonian conquest but has sworn fealty first to Alexander and then to his successors. The Theocratic Monarchy is ruled by the hereditary High Priests of Bambyce.

As far as I can tell, there is no mention of Atargatis anywhere. I know there are bigger fish to fry but how do you have a faction described as a cult and then forget to even put the cult's deity into the game.

 

[Agesilaus]

I played Imperator last night for the first time since the release version. Spent a few hours on it.

It's... actually good. I played as Syracuse and there was always something interesting going on. I was very surprised and impressed by the effort they put into the mission system. The character system is also much improved. In fact, it feels like everything has been improved. Even my AI allies were able to make meaningful contributions to my wars.

This is what the game should have been on day 1, at minimum. I am going to play again and I will likely buy any DLC. Obviously the province construction system could be better, as could parts of the interface, but I'm happy this game isn't going the way of EU:Rome.

 

[Aemar]

I will likely buy any DLC.

 

[Fedora Master]

I played Imperator last night for the first time since the release version. Spent a few hours on it.

It's... actually good. I played as Syracuse and there was always something interesting going on. I was very surprised and impressed by the effort they put into the mission system. The character system is also much improved. In fact, it feels like everything has been improved. Even my AI allies were able to make meaningful contributions to my wars.

This is what the game should have been on day 1, at minimum. I am going to play again and I will likely buy any DLC. Obviously the province construction system could be better, as could parts of the interface, but I'm happy this game isn't going the way of EU:Rome.

I might re-acquire the game. If I find you were wrong I'll hold you responsible.

 

[Agesilaus]

I played Imperator last night for the first time since the release version. Spent a few hours on it.

It's... actually good. I played as Syracuse and there was always something interesting going on. I was very surprised and impressed by the effort they put into the mission system. The character system is also much improved. In fact, it feels like everything has been improved. Even my AI allies were able to make meaningful contributions to my wars.

This is what the game should have been on day 1, at minimum. I am going to play again and I will likely buy any DLC. Obviously the province construction system could be better, as could parts of the interface, but I'm happy this game isn't going the way of EU:Rome.

I might re-acquire the game. If I find you were wrong I'll hold you responsible.

Too much pressure, man; I hereby disavow all positive things I have ever said about anything

 

[Fedora Master]

You're safe, I've decided it's too much of a hassle to put together all the update torrents.

 

[vonAchdorf]

You could just play it legally and free on Steam until tomorrow.

 

[Fedora Master]

Well they certainly added MOAR BUTTAN FOR CLICKAN now.

 

[Aemar]

The main reason I uninstalled the game after 3 minutes.

 

[Agesilaus]

I revisited the game as Sparta, enjoyed it a lot, here are my findings:

Beginning:
You being with a sizable community of Hebrews in Sparta, which is just bizarre. They immediately begin emigrating or converting to the local religion/culture.
Sparta does not begin with a CB against Messenia. However, it's not a big deal because the mission immediately gives you CBs on the Peloponnese, Aetolia, and Crete.
The way the government/society is modeled is not particularly accurate, maybe they'll release a Spartan DLC at some point to make me happy.

The mission goal is to unify the Peloponnese, Crete, and Aetolia.

It's a pretty strong starting spot for a minor power, tbh, which is historically accurate. I quickly moved against Messenia and seized it, obviously. I allied with Argos and then reduced Elis to a client state. With that done, I had completed the "Lakonia" section of the mission.

Middle:
I beat up on the central and Northern Peloponnese states. Argos was a good ally and Elis always threw in a handful of soldiers.

What is really nice is that the game allows you to reduce cities to rural settlements (and vice versa) and tear down forts. It made for a more "authentic" Sparta experience. When I took Megalopolis, I destroyed the city and spread everyone throughout the countryside. I also tore down all the forts/city-walls around the Peloponnese. So essentially, I was able to reduce Messenia to its proper servitude, I was allowed to tear down the city of Megalopolis and send all the people to the country side, and much of the Peloponnese was governed by "client states". These are all major historical goals for Sparta, so two thumbs up for making them possible.

Due to constant warfare I managed to depopulate part of the Peloponnese. Thankfully you can pay for random people to resettle the area, and if you get your military tech high enough you can make it klerouch. I was disappointed that the game limits the number of client states you can have (3, depending on decisions), which means I had to directly rule more land than I desired.

It was relatively easy to take Crete, which was occupied by several independent city-states. I just conquered one, then when the others allied I declared war on them and just swept the whole island. Sparta was militarily active in the region during this period, so I understand it being a mission goal.

Late:

By this time, I had all of the Peloponnese except the area near Korinth, which was controlled by Macedonia. I also had Crete. To complete the mission you have to take Aetolia, all of the Peloponnese, and Crete, so I was essentially forced into a showdown with Macedonia.

Rome randomly declared war on Elis, my client state, which forced me to hang out for a while in Lakonia defending the coast until I could white peace out. The game allows you to peace out if the war goal is not contested for a period of time; this is a great feature, because it doesn't matter if Rome takes Crete if the war goal was against Elis. So I peaced out and took my revenge on Elis by removing their client status and declaring war.

However, apparently Macedonia decided to secure the independence of Elis, so I was unexpectedly in a war with Macedonia. I immediately destroyed Elis and then seized all the Macedonian holdings in southern greece. The military access option is not very accurate/believable in this game, because you cannot walk through hostile land unless you request "military access" or are at war with the party. Whatever, it worked to my benefit and Macedonia was unable to defend their holdings.

Rather than use their fleet to raid Lakonia, they decided to seize all of Crete. I had a much better plan: I allied with Aetolia and Boiotia, which meant I could freely cross from the Northern Peloponnese into Aetolia and then into Thessaly. Most Macedonian cities don't have forts, and the Macedonian army was away in Crete and/or dealing with other problems.

I essentially sacked every single city in Epirus, Thessaly, Euboia, and Macedonia. Most of them had no walls and fell immediately. When I reached Pella and took it, I got a special "Pella Delende Est" option and just steam-rolled the place. My treasury was through the roof and the Peloponnese was replenished with millions of slaves. Totally absurd, but absolutely hilarious.

Macedonia surrendered without a battle, so now I am sitting on all the Peloponnese and Crete, and I'm allied with Aetolia and Boiotia. The only mission left is to conquer Aetolia, which is easy enough except... Rome fucking conquered a little island off the side that is part of the province.

So I quit for the time being because I don't feel like a big fight with Rome over some dumb island north of Zakynthos.

Great fun. If it's still free go play it, why not.

 

[razvedchiki]

if only macedonia could get its shit together and roflstomp your hoplites with is 12 inch long sarissa.

 

[Fedora Master]

They added a bunch of tribes to Ireland. The majority of their leaders at the start date are women.

 

[thesecret1]

I'm still puzzled why they added jews basically everywhere. A couple communities in Mesopotamia, sure, but why are they on black sea coast? Why do they have a large community in Rome? Why are they even in tribal areas?

 

[LizardWizard]

I revisited the game as Sparta, enjoyed it a lot, here are my findings:

Beginning:
You being with a sizable community of Hebrews in Sparta, which is just bizarre. They immediately begin emigrating or converting to the local religion/culture.
Sparta does not begin with a CB against Messenia. However, it's not a big deal because the mission immediately gives you CBs on the Peloponnese, Aetolia, and Crete.
The way the government/society is modeled is not particularly accurate, maybe they'll release a Spartan DLC at some point to make me happy.

The mission goal is to unify the Peloponnese, Crete, and Aetolia.

It's a pretty strong starting spot for a minor power, tbh, which is historically accurate. I quickly moved against Messenia and seized it, obviously. I allied with Argos and then reduced Elis to a client state. With that done, I had completed the "Lakonia" section of the mission.

Middle:
I beat up on the central and Northern Peloponnese states. Argos was a good ally and Elis always threw in a handful of soldiers.

What is really nice is that the game allows you to reduce cities to rural settlements (and vice versa) and tear down forts. It made for a more "authentic" Sparta experience. When I took Megalopolis, I destroyed the city and spread everyone throughout the countryside. I also tore down all the forts/city-walls around the Peloponnese. So essentially, I was able to reduce Messenia to its proper servitude, I was allowed to tear down the city of Megalopolis and send all the people to the country side, and much of the Peloponnese was governed by "client states". These are all major historical goals for Sparta, so two thumbs up for making them possible.

Due to constant warfare I managed to depopulate part of the Peloponnese. Thankfully you can pay for random people to resettle the area, and if you get your military tech high enough you can make it klerouch. I was disappointed that the game limits the number of client states you can have (3, depending on decisions), which means I had to directly rule more land than I desired.

It was relatively easy to take Crete, which was occupied by several independent city-states. I just conquered one, then when the others allied I declared war on them and just swept the whole island. Sparta was militarily active in the region during this period, so I understand it being a mission goal.

Late:

By this time, I had all of the Peloponnese except the area near Korinth, which was controlled by Macedonia. I also had Crete. To complete the mission you have to take Aetolia, all of the Peloponnese, and Crete, so I was essentially forced into a showdown with Macedonia.

Rome randomly declared war on Elis, my client state, which forced me to hang out for a while in Lakonia defending the coast until I could white peace out. The game allows you to peace out if the war goal is not contested for a period of time; this is a great feature, because it doesn't matter if Rome takes Crete if the war goal was against Elis. So I peaced out and took my revenge on Elis by removing their client status and declaring war.

However, apparently Macedonia decided to secure the independence of Elis, so I was unexpectedly in a war with Macedonia. I immediately destroyed Elis and then seized all the Macedonian holdings in southern greece. The military access option is not very accurate/believable in this game, because you cannot walk through hostile land unless you request "military access" or are at war with the party. Whatever, it worked to my benefit and Macedonia was unable to defend their holdings.

Rather than use their fleet to raid Lakonia, they decided to seize all of Crete. I had a much better plan: I allied with Aetolia and Boiotia, which meant I could freely cross from the Northern Peloponnese into Aetolia and then into Thessaly. Most Macedonian cities don't have forts, and the Macedonian army was away in Crete and/or dealing with other problems.

I essentially sacked every single city in Epirus, Thessaly, Euboia, and Macedonia. Most of them had no walls and fell immediately. When I reached Pella and took it, I got a special "Pella Delende Est" option and just steam-rolled the place. My treasury was through the roof and the Peloponnese was replenished with millions of slaves. Totally absurd, but absolutely hilarious.

Macedonia surrendered without a battle, so now I am sitting on all the Peloponnese and Crete, and I'm allied with Aetolia and Boiotia. The only mission left is to conquer Aetolia, which is easy enough except... Rome fucking conquered a little island off the side that is part of the province.

So I quit for the time being because I don't feel like a big fight with Rome over some dumb island north of Zakynthos.

Great fun. If it's still free go play it, why not.

Sounds like the same game except with EU4 missions

Vicky 2 population still probably higher

 

[fantadomat]

I'm still puzzled why they added jews basically everywhere. A couple communities in Mesopotamia, sure, but why are they on black sea coast? Why do they have a large community in Rome? Why are they even in tribal areas?

Because they are dumb sjw retards that don't care about history. It should have been greeks not jews.

 

[Agesilaus]

if only macedonia could get its shit together and roflstomp your hoplites with is 12 inch long sarissa.

Kleomenes III introduced sarissas to Sparta in the 3rd century, so Macedonia will find itself outgunned if it ever figures out how to move its armies into southern greece. I have a bit of a soft spot for them now, though, given that I made over 1000 gold and repopulated my land with slaves after burning all their unwalled cities.

 

[Fedora Master]

After fucking around during the free weekend all I can say is that they bloated the game with "things to click", often without sensible descriptions of what clicking things really does. It's the same problem I have with EUIV, you leave the game for a year and once you come back you have to relearn half of it. Many features also appear rather thoughtless - Steppe tribes receiving bonuses to ships for example.

 

[fantadomat]

After fucking around during the free weekend all I can say is that they bloated the game with "things to click", often without sensible descriptions of what clicking things really does. It's the same problem I have with EUIV, you leave the game for a year and once you come back you have to relearn half of it. Many features also appear rather thoughtless - Steppe tribes receiving bonuses to ships for example.

I agree,don't use half of their retarded mechanics. Even the fucking estates are annoying garbage that i just leave to give me permanent bonus to something.

 

[Preben]

if only macedonia could get its shit together and roflstomp your hoplites with is 12 inch long sarissa.

Kleomenes III introduced sarissas to Sparta in the 3rd century, so Macedonia will find itself outgunned if it ever figures out how to move its armies into southern greece. I have a bit of a soft spot for them now, though, given that I made over 1000 gold and repopulated my land with slaves after burning all their unwalled cities.

Cleomenes III indeed rearmed Spartiates. All three of them.

 

[razvedchiki]

Cleomenes rearmed 2000 ex helots with the sarissa on the eve of the battle of sellasia,which he lost.
Anyway the macedonian phalanx dominance over the traditional phalanx doesnt mean that it can not be beaten by a hoplite style army in open field battle,this happened at least once in the lamian war shorty after alexanders death.
Not sure if all these are replicated somehow in game,from what i saw though all hellinistic states share the same units and traditions,ie with sparta you can build companion cavalry and pezethairoi phalangitai.