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

[Agame]

There's the words I've been waiting a year to see, lol:

In the Marius Update there are no longer any permanent armies at start in most of the world (there are exceptions, we will return to those). Instead troops are raised in time of need directly from the non-slave pops of your empire.

Fucking finallly! <3_<3

Game will still be shit...

But yea, that is finally something decent to change, they desperately need to find some way to make this game stand apart from the others. And combat/armies would be a good place to start.

 

[razvedchiki]

needs a lot more mid/late mechanics to be enjoyable.
having permanent "legions" (reaaally hope they dont name all the retinues legions) under the command of local govs can open the game into actual civil wars.

 

[Theodora]

needs a lot more mid/late mechanics to be enjoyable.
having permanent "legions" (reaaally hope they dont name all the retinues legions) under the command of local govs can open the game into actual civil wars.

I think developing towards permanent professional armies and expanding wealth (holdings) will necessarily add more civil drama like that.

 

[Theodora]

More warfare news!

Legions and reforms:

Spoiler

Hello, and welcome to another diary about warfare changes in the Marius update for Imperator: Rome!

Last week I described how armies as a rule will now be raised by levying the population. This time I will talk about standing armies and how they feature in the game. These are called Legions, drawing inspiration from the permanent Legions of the late Republic and the Roman Empire.



Just as last week, I want to remind you that everything you see is work in progress, interfaces, numbers, requirements are all subject to change still.



Legions

Legions represent a permanent army of professional soldiers. This form of organization required considerable wealth and all the administrative powers of a highly centralized state, but offered a few key advantages: firstly, by decoupling military service from membership in the class of property-owning citizens, the pool of potentially recruitable manpower was greatly increased. Having a corps of professional soldiers meant the state could be defended without permanently mobilizing its most economically productive citizens at ruinous cost to the tax base, and those in the ranks stayed active for years, becoming hardened veterans.



For the Romans this kind of force did not become common until after the Punic wars, when it proved to be impractical to use levies to garrison the increasingly far-flung borders of the empire.

Over time the Legions came to completely replace the levied troops, with permanent numbers, honorific titles, and an esprit de corps that is the root of every modern army. This radical innovation in military organization dramatically transformed the Roman state, and the role of a military commander.



A Legion is an army that acts as a permanent object, and will only ever be destroyed if disbanded, or its Governorship ceases to exist. All currently existing Legions will be shown in a national Legion Interface, where a Legion’s composition, upkeep, and history can be examined.. Here you can also add, change or delete subunits to specialize the Legion to your needs, or order it to be disbanded.



Unlike Levies the troops in a Legion will require maintenance, as they are professional soldiers.

Creating a Legion

(The Legion Interface - Very Much still work in progress)

As you can see in this screenshot, Legions are created from the national military interface, where they occupy their own tab.

Much like levies Legions are raised from a region under a governor, and each unit in the Legion reduces the potential levy from the same region by one. The levy size also acts as an upper limit on how many units can be added to a Legion.

Where a Levy consists of an assortment of units based on the culture of the pops being called into service, the troop composition of the Legion itself is entirely up to the player (as long as the country can afford it). This means that as long as a unit type can be levied anywhere in your nation you can also recruit these units for your Legions. Additionally you have control over support cohorts like Supply Trains and Engineers.

Adding units to a Legion will come both at an up front cost of Gold and Manpower, as well as a maintenance cost over time.



At the start of the game the vast majority of countries in the world are unable to create Legions, and in order to change this a Republic or Monarchy must adopt the appropriate military reform laws. A tribe, on the other hand, has a longer path to be able to field Legions, as doing so will require them to first reform their government along either Republican or Monarchist lines.

Laws can require there to be no Legions at all, allow you one Legion in your capital region, or allow you to recruit Legions freely as long as you can support them in all regions under your control.



Republican Military Reforms:

(The requirements for the Punic Reforms for Rome, unlike what the current tooltip would have you believe the requirement does not actually care about how many ports you have)



Military Reform laws have been redesigned for both Republics and Monarchies in the Marius Update, allowing you to decide the size of the levy you want, and to what extent you can recruit Legions. Republics will by default feature larger levies than monarchies but also have a slightly harder time unlocking the laws that allow them to raise Legions.

Enacting the law “Punic Reforms” in Rome, or the “Provisioning Act” in another Republic, will unlock the ability to form a Legion in your Capital region. This law requires that your country is at least a Major Power and that you have researched the “Professional Soldiers” Invention in the Martial Invention Tree.

To be able to recruit Legions in any region, a Republic needs to unlock the “Cohorts” military invention, as well as reaching the rank of Great Power.



Monarchy Military Reforms

Monarchies will have somewhat smaller levies by default than Republics do, but in return all they require to be able to raise their first Legion is to be a Regional Power. Additionally all the Diadochi Kingdoms start with this law enabled, and with a Legion already existing in a historical location.

To be able to raise Legions without restrictions, a monarchy is required to be of the same rank and have the same inventions as a Republic.



Legion History

Since Legions are permanent military units they never really go away (barring strolls down to Cannae, or through the Teutoburgerwald…). Over the course of a campaign, a Legion will keep track of all major battles fought, its past commanders and of course any Honors or Dishonors that it earned during its existence.

The history of a specific Legion can be viewed in the Army interface (as you can see in the screenshot above, the Legions that exist at the start will allow you to see the history of what they accomplished in the years before the game began).



Honors & Dishonors

Throughout its lifetime a Legion will partake in many battles and may suffer defeats or win victories. Especially notable events may result in the Legion earning a distinction, something that marks its past deeds and the impact they have on the spirit of the Legion going forward. Sources of honors can be things like great battles, their leaders earning Triumphs, or capturing an important city. Dishonors on the other hand come from more deplorable actions, such as sacking a holy site, rampant looting, or embarrassing military defeats.

When an Honor or Dishonor is attained, an event will pop to describe how this came to be.

Both Honors and Dishonors will leave permanent marks on the specific Legion, visible in the Legion interface and conferring a permanent bonus or penalty to it from that point on.

They will also have a name and a description that, together with the entry in the Legion’s history, will remind you how they were earned.



Legion Commanders - Legates and Tribunes

The main commander of a Legion is now known as the Legate, this is the person responsible for the Legion. The Legate earns a comparatively high salary, and will be the default commander for the main army belonging to the Legion.



Apart from the Legate each Legion can also have up to 3 Tribunes assigned. Tribunes are characters that do not command the Legion but are still considered to be employed, making them unable to hold other jobs.

Should an army be split from the main army in the Legion the default commander will be one of the Tribunes, and a Tribune will also automatically take the place of the Legate if he or she should fall in battle or otherwise die while serving.



Since commanding armies is a full time job for the Legates and Tribunes, unlike the Governors that command your levies, these are positions very suitable for characters with good military skills.

It is worth remembering that since units can become loyal to your commanders, and convert to Loyal Veterans if disbanded, these are positions that can over time become dangerous. Especially since disbanding an army under a disloyal commander is impossible (though you may be able to convince them to leave their command in return for a Triumph in the capital).



While some of this is familiar from the current version of the game, there is a significant difference here in that military commanders only become a danger to your state once you have begun to create permanent armies.

Before that you might still have reason to fear your governors, who at times can become quite powerful, but you won’t really see the type of commanders with large armies loyal to them personally until you start to rely on Legions. This is something of a change of pace, and one we feel better reflects the evolution of the maturing Roman Republic, and the path to Empire.





Military Experience

(Numbers are not final)

Ever since the Levy Diary you might be wondering what is happening to Military Experience. Since levies are not permanent troops you cannot really generate Military Experience by drilling them (and in fact this ability is disabled altogether for levies).

While levies cannot drill, they still earn experience in battles like any unit in the game. The amount that they still have when you disband them will now result in a one-time boost to Military Experience, allowing you to invest in Military Traditions based on the experience your troops earned during their campaigns.

Additionally all government types now have an office that contributes directly to Military Experience at a slow but steady pace.



Legions can still drill as in the current version of the game and their training will continue to contribute much like any units do in 1.5.



And with that I leave you for this time

We will be back next week for more about what we have been working on!

And in case you missed last week, levies:

Spoiler

Hello and welcome to another Development Diary for the Imperator: Rome - Marius update.

Today I will be talking a bit about one of the bigger changes coming to warfare, and how you raise armies in the game.



Levies



For most of the era covered by the game, the armies of Rome and other major powers were mostly composed of levies. In the Republics of the Greco-Roman world the levy system was in many ways the foundation of democracy, based on the idea that someone who fights for their city also has the right to vote. While this was a versatile and cheap way to ensure that large armies could be mustered rapidly, the lack of professional soldiers also meant that it was hard to specialize armies and even harder to garrison far away provinces.



In the Marius Update there are no longer any permanent armies at start in most of the world (there are exceptions, we will return to those). Instead troops are raised in time of need directly from the non-slave pops of your empire.

(screenshot of the current version of the Levy interface)



Levy Size



Levies are raised on a Governorship basis, and only pops that belong to integrated cultures will be called up. Since all able-bodied men from that pop are now part of your armed forces, any pop that is part of the levy will stop contributing to the economy, until the levy is disbanded.

In addition to not producing income while levied, a pop that is part of a levy is exempt from migration, assimilation, conversion, and starvation. Perhaps most importantly, when a unit dies, so may it's associated pop!

Raising levies have no cost in itself apart from a small bump in War Exhaustion. Keeping the levy raised for a long time will incur a ticking War Exhaustion, similar to when you are at war in the current version of the game.

How many of the integrated culture pops that are mobilized if you choose to raise your levy is mainly dependent on two things: Current Military Reform Law (these have been revamped a bit for both Monarchies and Republics) and your current Economic Policy.

The latter may be preferable if you want to decrease or increase your levy size somewhat temporarily, while laws are better for your long term goals. Republican laws for levies tend to give slightly bigger numbers than those of the monarchies (who on the other hand have easier access to Legions - but more on those later).

(An example of a law affecting levy size, the color coding is not final

)



Levy Troop Composition & Troop Type



Unlike the current version of the game, you do not have direct control over what kind of troops your levied armies contain. What kind of troops you get is instead dependent on the culture of the pops being raised, with each culture in the game having its own preferred troop type template.



This means that levied troops will vary greatly depending on where in the world you are raising them, and dependent on what cultures you have integrated. An Etruscan levy is going to be different from a Roman one, and a Macedonian levy will be different from a Carthaginian one.

In addition to being dependent on culture, the unit type maps to different pop types. A cohort of Heavy cavalry is going to be raised from Citizens or Nobles, whereas an Archer cohort would be coming from Freemen or Tribesmen.

(A Persian Levy, raised in the hinterland of the Persis Governorship)



One thing this means is that if you move into a new region and integrate a culture there in order to gain access to their levies, you will likely also benefit from unlocking their military traditions, which are built to focus on strengthening the troops commonly levied for the cultures associated with it.

(As an example Persian Military Traditions have a branch that strongly focuses on Heavy Cavalry)



Another effect of the levy system is that you will find that you will not always have the troops that you wish at your disposal. A levy in northern Italy or Gaul will see some nobles bringing chariots to the battlefield, in Arabia there will be camels, and so on. A general usually has to find a way to fight with the army he’s got, rarely the one he wants. What we intend with this system is that players will have interesting challenges in the military development of their empire, with the nature of your armies evolving alongside your culture and geographical expanse.

The Levy Commander



As was often the case historically, we have given the governor a greater military importance when it comes to Levies. The Governor of the Governorship from which the levy is raised will be considered the commander for all armies levied from there. This means that in addition to picking someone who is both capable and loyal enough for you to expect to be able to control them, you now need to take in account their military skills. Your governor is not only the one who will ensure taxes reach you on time, they are also the person who will lead your troops from the designated region.



Tribal Levies



In a tribal country political leadership is shared between a number of Clan Chiefs, with the rulership of the country passing between them with each succession.

In previous versions of Imperator Clan chiefs have also had 1 permanently raised Clan Retinue with a number of units under their command, increasing their Power Base as well as giving the player cheap troops.

In the Marius update, Tribal Retinues will no longer exist. Tribes will also never have access to Legions, unlike Monarchies and Republics.



When levies are raised in a Tribal Country they will attempt to converge into at least as many armies as there are Clan Chiefs, granting command of one army to each stakeholder in the Tribe. This means that for a small tribe the raised levies can result in 3 quite small armies, similar to how retinue sizes are currently quite small.



All troops that are raised in a tribe will also start out with personal loyalty to one of the clan chiefs, meaning that clan chief powerbase will spike in times of war when levies are called. After the war, when levies are disbanded they will turn into loyal veterans (similar to how loyal troops already do when disbanded in the current version of the game), increasing the power base of your clan chiefs with every war you fight, until that clan chief dies and a new chief takes their place.



Clan chiefs not leading an army (for instance if you wish to merge your tribal levies, or if their army was destroyed) when you are at war will get a sharp loyalty penalty since they are not allowed to act out their authority like they expect. Clan chiefs in command of an army on the other hand will receive a substantial loyalty increase, for as long as the war lasts. We hope the task of forging a strong, united tribal army that can challenge the established empires, despite a measure of internal strife and disunity, will be an interesting challenge for the player.



Legions - A Permanent Army



Does the introduction of Levies mean we have no military commanders or permanent armies anymore? That we will now never have any control over what troops we bring to war? Not at all. As hinted before, the permanent army is not gone completely, but as in history it will only enter the scene gradually - and only for Monarchies and Republics. It will see its return in the form of a feature we call Legions, permanent armies of the kind that the Roman Legion system developed into after the Punic wars and brought into the Imperial era.



We will be talking more about Legions, their composition and specialization, and the way that they will follow you throughout a campaign in a future development Diary.

All seems very positive for 2.0 imo.

 

[Seigneur Locklear]

I'm quite optimistic about 2.0. I'm glad they are even bothering with updating the game though, considering how dead its fanbase is.

 

[Fedora Master]

I'm sure the AI totally won't fall flat on its face when trying to fight wars with levies.

 

[fantadomat]

 

[Theodora]

Huh, box art changed?

 

[Theodora]

More positive news.

The rather unexciting great wonders DLC has been merged into an upcoming content pack for the Diadochi, which adds mission trees and events for each of Alexander's successor states, as well as new music(!) and art.

And 2.0 will have new models distinguishing legions and levies from one another, e.g. Romans.:

Full dev diary, covering Legacy of Alexander content pack, Legion & Levy models, and then Seleukid mission trees:

Spoiler

Greetings all,



While there is yet more to come regarding Marian military matters, today I’m here to announce that the content pack, ‘Heirs of Alexander’, will be released in conjunction with the Marius update.



As befits our 2.0 statement, the Heirs of Alexander content pack will be the largest yet; encompassing mission trees and flavor events for all the Diadochi nations, as well as the ability to customize and build a large variety of Great Wonders as detailed in the Vitruvius dev diary.



Included alongside this will be a variety of additional content that you have grown to expect from content packs, including new event pictures, music tracks, and more.



As time goes on, we will introduce more specifics surrounding the content you will receive in the HoA pack, however, as a small addendum to last week’s diary, I would like to clarify that the Legion Honors that you encountered in the Legions feature reveal will be part of the HoA pack.



With this announcement out of the way, I’ll detail a few more changes you can expect in the Marius update!



Legacy of Alexander



This Diadochi-only wargoal has been refactored to use a mechanic similar to that of Civil Wars. What this means, in essence, is that occupying a territory belonging to the target war leader during a Legacy of Alexander war will result in the immediate cession of said territory to the opposing war leader.



Every territory that changes hands this way will add a small amount of war exhaustion to the war leader that gains the territory, resulting in wars in which large amounts of territory can change hands, whilst also reaching an organic ‘end’ point, at which both sides are weary enough to make peace.



We are also looking at making a similar wargoal available in other circumstances, particularly for situations in which it makes historical sense to do so, for example, the expansion of the Parthian state.



Legion/Levy Indicators



As hinted at last week, there will be a visual distinction between Levied units and Legionary units. The 3D unit models used to display levies and legions will use light and heavy infantry, respectively.



This distinction is a highly important gameplay factor, and as such, the large variety of new unit models will be included as part of the Marius update. @Katzura, as someone with a greater aesthetic eye than myself, has prepared a variety of screenshots to give you a preview of some of the unit models coming in 2.0!



We’ve included a side-by-side of the Levy and Legion models; some will be familiar to you, and some may be new. While we’ve tried to respect the period in which Imperator is set, in some cases we’ve had to use a little imagination, particularly for graphical cultures in which the distinction between levy and legion is not always clear.

Legion:Levy - Arabian group

Levy:Legion - Celtic Group

Levy:Legion - Greek Group

Levy:Legion - Roman



Next week we’ll have more legion/levy 3d models from other graphical culture groups to show you.



And now on to Snow Crystal’s Seleukid missions!

Hello there!



For those who haven’t seen me around before, I am Joachim, one of the Content Designers on Imperator: Rome.



This week it is my pleasure to introduce the new Seleukid mission trees that I have been working on for the Marius update. The Seleukids have 4 new mission trees, focusing on Babylonia, Syria, Anatolia, and Palestine/Phoenicia respectively.



When I started working on them, I wanted to showcase what happened in the early years of the dynasty, as well as pay particular attention to the regions where they could come into contact and conflict with the other Diadochi (as this is a Diadochi-focused pack).



I’ll try to limit myself slightly, by showing off each mission and talking a bit about them, then showcasing 1 specific mission task inside that mission, before moving on to the next tree. If this DD was to go into every specific task, I worry it might get a tad too long for most people.



Babylonia

For Babylonia, as a logical starting point when you begin a new game, I wanted to have some sort of interactions with the local priesthood. They played a notable role in the early rule of Seleukos when he was still a Satrap. I also wanted to show that Babylonia was in many ways an important reason why Seleukos rose to prominence, and a large part of the mission focuses on building up Babylonia to become an vital core for your nation.

One of the advantages of the changes we made in the Menander Update is that we now have access to more tools that we can utilize in our missions, like cultural integration. You’ll probably see several tasks like these, where we either ask you to integrate a specific culture or to have integrated a certain amount of people in an area or a region.



Syria

For many the Seleukid dynasty is deeply associated with the area around Syria (to the point where the region was occasionally called Seleukis), as Seleukos spent many years and considerable resources funding Antioch and Seleukeia Pieria. Because of our starting date, he does not actually own the area when the game starts, so it makes a natural ‘first goal’ for the player to start moving westwards to take control of the place the Seleukid dynasty was most known for holding.



The first three tasks (up to, but not including ‘Syrian Governance’) is focused around conquering the area if you do not already hold it, but everything afterwards is mostly focused around building up Syria.



On the right hand side, there’s some optional tasks where you can step through the Syrian Gates and start conquering Cilicia on the other side of the Amanus Mountains.

One of the things I wanted to showcase with this mission was how Seleukos actively built up Syria and had a large group of Greek settlers migrate to the region, so he could bolster his armies with Greek troops. Cut off from the west and the Mediterranean, Seleukos did not have access to the heavier infantry of his peers at our start date. It should be mentioned that the countries losing pops from this event are actually quite well paid to make up for it.



Anatolia

After beating back Lysimachos’ attempt at taking control of the whole empire, Seleukos himself was overtaken by ambition and eventually died at the hands of Ptolemy Keraunos, and with his death the final living Successor was put to rest. Unlike Lysimachos, who’s little empire quickly crumbled and fell apart, Seleukos’ death was fairly well handled by Antiochos, and the empire would endure for several hundred years.



One major change before and after Lysimachos’ attempt at conquering the other Diadochi was the importance of Anatolia for the Seleukids. Though Seleukos held parts of Cilicia after the Battle of Ipsos, his control was confined to the very south-eastern part of the region.



After the death of Seleukos, Antiochos would shift his focus westwards, spending a lot of his time in Anatolia where he funded several cities and improving the infrastructure all the way to Sardis in the far west, in addition to beating back the Galatian invasion. Later on two scions of the dynasty, Seleukos II Kallinikos and Antiochos Hierax, would fight over Anatolia, as it had become such an integral part of the empire.



As a third mission, it made a lot of sense to me to focus on Anatolia, and I chose to specifically focus on the regions surrounding the Persian Royal Road. The mission has both conquest missions as well as infrastructure, slowly moving you westwards as you go through it. It is not completely like Seleukos’ sudden capture of the whole region, but I figured it made for the best experience.

The Seleukid dynasty ended up being particularly associated with the Greek deity Apollo, leading to the syncretic deity Apollo-Nabû, as well as their support of the oracle in Didyma. It should be noted that Apollo Didymaios was originally a deity specifically for Syracuse in the Magna Graecia content pack, so you will only be able to unlock the deity for the Seleukid Empire if you already own that pack as well.



Palestine/Phoenicia

For the final mission, it made a lot of sense to focus on the region that would eventually lead to several Syrian Wars fought over it, Palestine and Phoenicia.



After the Battle of Ipsos, Seleukos was originally given a far larger piece of land, but found Ptolemy had already taken control of it and refused to hand it over to his old friend. Though Seleukos forgave this slight, and would go on to make more out of Syria than most would have expected of him, his descendants would eventually start using it as a reason to engage their southern neighbors in the many Syrian Wars.



For the mission, the first part of the mission focuses on securing a route southwards through the southern part of Syria. The second half focuses on conquering Palestine, and to start building up the infrastructure in the region, with a chance to release the Judean state as a client.

Similar to the migration to Syria, there was a large group of Greek settlers who ended up moving to Decapolis (leading to its name, as they re-established several of the 10 cities). I wanted a mission task that could replicate that to a certain degree, even though historically speaking the migration to Decapolis happened under both the Ptolemies and the Seleukids rather than in one fell swoop.



Conclusion



Personally I have always been a huge fan of the Seleukids, so it was a pleasure being able to work on them, and I hope people will enjoy the missions when they are finally released.



Until next time.

Imo all very positive.

 

[Wyatt_Derp]

It would seem Paradox has managed to find their very own version of No Man's Sky.

We shall dub thee 'No Man's Mediterranean Map Painter.'

 

[Theodora]

It would seem Paradox has managed to find their very own version of No Man's Sky.

We shall dub thee 'No Man's Mediterranean Map Painter.'

Haha ^^ so it would seem! I suppose the real 'test' of things will be how the 'relaunch' (I assume that they will push it as such?) goes and subsequent support/updates being greenlit by the useless suits who hold way too much sway over Paradox, the studio.

 

[Theodora]

I've skipped a few dev diaries because I'm not normally one to get excited about the ones that focus on mission trees — and if they're good I'd rather they be a surprise, anyway — but the one for the antigonids is pretty dope.

Today's Dev Diary, 'The Longest Diary':

Spoiler

Greetings all!



Today, you’ll be taken through a deep dive into the Antigonid mission trees coming in the Heirs of Alexander Content Pack.



Before we get started on that, however, I have a few housekeeping points to mention. Firstly, this will be the last dev diary of the year, as we are now leading up to Christmas vacations. Secondly, this also means that indeed, Marius and Heirs of Alexander will not be coming this year. This is a -very- comprehensive update, and we are going to take the time to get it right.



Yet you came here not for housekeeping, but for content; and content we shall provide.

Some of you noticed this button in an early version of the UI rework - the time has come to explain more.



Selecting Heirs in Monarchies



No longer will the line of succession be an immutable certainty, altered only by accidental death.



For a hefty cost in resources and perceived legitimacy; you will be able to grant your approval to anyone in your ruler’s direct line of succession. As you might imagine, this may have consequences amongst the other successors…



This minor feature was something we’ve wanted to add for a while, and in the course of doing so, it became apparent that this allowed for the creation of an additional government type; namely, an elective monarchy.



Elective Monarchy



Strictly speaking, there were no traditionally elective successions that we know of during our starting time period (yes, that is a challenge - prove me wrong!), however, the election of Kings was a tradition which exists in many of our core nation’s histories - including Rome.



Monarchy government types will be able to enable Elective Succession with a Law, as with all other succession types.

This variety of succession law greatly reduces all ordinary contributions to succession value; and instead gives all eligible characters in your nation a ‘vote’ towards the next monarch, chosen from amongst their valid successors.



The factors behind their preference for any given candidate are quite wide, including difference in stats, culture, religion, and quite prominently: age.



You will still be able to anoint a chosen candidate with the Anoint Successor feature, however this will be much less impactful than it is in other succession types.



In practice, elective monarchies can result in an unpredictable succession that yields you a monarch of advanced age - why would this be good?



Well, aside from being pretty fun, and encouraging out-of-the-box thinking in order to manipulate elections, successors in Elective Monarchies do not receive a pretender loyalty malus: they put all of their energy into getting themselves elected, and not stirring up trouble.



Unit Models



We’re not all the way there yet, but here’s a preview of the Scythian Levy:Legion models:

And the Iberic culture group Levy:Legion models:

And now it’s over to @Chopmist to take you through the Antigonid mission coming in the Heirs of Alexander DLC, in our latest attempt at creating the longest dev diary known to man.



/Arheo

Salve! Joe from Content Design here, and it’s my turn to take you through some of what we’ve been cooking up for our upcoming expansion: Heirs of Alexander. This time it’s missions for the Antigonid kingdom, with some other content treats thrown in. This is probably my favourite Diadochi realm, featuring towering personalities, compelling what-ifs, and an interesting underdog story.



Antigonus the One-Eyed’s is an often overlooked Diadochi state (heh), remembered for its defeat at Ipsus and outshone by the more enduring Seleucids and Egyptians - despite the fact he enjoyed decades of dominance, had an immense impact, and left a gripping story of fortune’s cruel reversals.



His domain’s disappearance only a few years after our start date offered an interesting design challenge, with only the preceding history and what the ancient historians wrote of the characters to guide their immediate objectives. I wanted to allow for the interesting possibilities of an alternative-history Antigonid victory, as well as the historic flight of the dynasty to Macedon after Antigonus’ defeat, and of course please those who just want the big yellow ‘fridge’ to crash and burn as quickly as possible.



In the end, the Antigonids received three mission trees, the first two focusing on their historical struggles in our period, and the third offering some alt-history fun.



Antigonus’ Vision

By the game's start, Antigonus has already spent the twenty-nine years since the battle of Issus slowly consolidating his power from Celaenae, his capital in the satrapy of Phrygia, and at this point the fall of his kingdom was perhaps difficult to imagine.



Having remained in the west of Alexander’s empire, Antigonus was not caught up in the excesses and adventures of the eastern expeditions. As a member of Philip II’s generation, he perhaps viewed these ventures more soberly than the younger royal companions he would later face, especially given the murder of his closer contemporaries Cleitus the Black and Parmenion by the king.



Having already almost lost everything fleeing from the regent Perdiccas soon after Alexander’s death, Antigonus has reconquered his holdings and beaten the Perdiccan satraps of Anatolia, including the famed Greek general Eumenes, whom he chased all the way to Media. Persia has since been abandoned to Seleucus, the satrap of Babylon, but, despite this, Antigonus rules over a vast realm, stretching from the Hellespont to the Euphrates and Judea.



He has recently declared himself joint basileus - king! - with his son Demetrius after the naval victory over Ptolemy at Salamis, simultaneously elevating his dynasty from petty nobility to royalty, claiming his lands as independent from the authority of Cassander in Macedon, and introducing his heir to his eastern subjects early to ensure a smooth transition upon his death.



To guarantee his dynasty’s survival, he looks to reverse recent setbacks in the Diadochi wars and develop his new capital Antigoneia as a center of power at the crossroads of the east, ensuring the fruits of decades of statecraft are not seized by Alexander’s jumped-up bodyguards and remain in the family.

The main branches focus on the long-held ambition of securing Greece, starting with the strategic city of Corinth, and on keeping the other Diadochi in check, with diplomatic and economic opportunities along the way.



Antigonus’ relations with the Greeks, particularly the Athenians, Ionians, and Aeolians, is one of his main legacies, epitomized by his Tyre proclamation, which promised to protect the autonomy of all Greek cities. His overtures not only secured alliances, but also provided vital manpower to bolster the Macedonian armies depleted by decades of war.

Many of the later great cities of Syria were arguably merely renamed by the Seleucids, and were in fact originally settled by Antigonus using veterans of the Argead army, which passed to his command from Antipater’s at Triparadisus. For example, Apamea was originally given the reassuringly Macedonian name of Pella.



Avenging the recent setbacks of his mishap-prone son Demetrius will be a pressing concern, the defeat at Rhodes being particularly galling given Ptolemy’s involvement.

Ultimately, the Antigonids will aim to unite all Greece, revive Philip’s League of Corinth as a protectorate, and declare themselves as the true successors of the Argeads.

Of course, all that is moot if our favourite cyclops fails to hold his strategic bastions or cannot conquer Corinth from Cassander before he dies.



The Antigonid Cause Wavers

As before, falling short will trigger an event, but whereas in the past the Antigonids had to choose between releasing Asia to Pergamon or taking a large hit to their stability, subject loyalty, and legitimacy, I wanted to better depict the consequences of the real-life ‘post-Ipsus’ partition, splintering the Antigonids in predictable but differing ways depending on their chosen path and drawing the other Diadochi into conflict over its results.



The Antigonids can now decide to go west and stake a claim to the turbulent Macedonian heartland by forfeiting Asia to the other Diadochi, or to hold on to a diminished core of eastern territories but lose their sway over Greece.

Going west, the Antigonids retain only Greece, Cyprus, and the Phoenician city of Tyre, with the Diadochi carving up their other territories as they did historically. Caria and Cilicia go to the short-lived satrapy of Cassander’s brother Pleistarchus, though Macedon may also choose to take the land themselves, while Thrace receives the vassal satrapies of Sardis and Phrygia, ruled by the treacherous governors Docimus and Phoenix who defected from the Antigonids after their defeat.

Historically, Demetrius and his son Antigonus II went on to dislodge the heirs of Cassander and other pretenders in Macedon, their family ruling there until those garum-guzzling Romans ousted Antigonus the One-Eyed’s great-great-great-grandson Perseus a century and a half later - not a bad innings. As a result, going west is required to unlock the next mission tree, which I’ll discuss soon.



Going west will also temporarily halve legion and ship upkeep, allowing the Antigonids to maintain a semblance of power despite their territorial losses, though their subjects will not be happy to remain under their thumb.



Staying in the east on the other hand will now cost them Greece, Cyprus, Bithynia, Asia, Palestine, and the Euphrates - if they still hold them that is - along with the old stability and other maluses.

What’s that? The third option? Well, if failure isn’t your jam, you can always game on. Per-game-on. (Please forgive me.)



That’s right, you can switch tags to the newborn satrapy of Pergamon, ruled by the Attalids (if they are still around) as subjects of Thrace. If you do, the Antigonids will be taken over by the AI and splinter along the lines of their first option.



Pergamon will of course be created shortly after the partition of the Antigonids anyway if you do not wish to play as them.

In the fallout, if not before, you may also see Mithridates stake his claim to northern Anatolia, and it is now possible to play as a Mithridatic Pontus by starting as Cius or Pontus and interacting with new events.

These changes to the Antigonids splintering, Pergamon, and Mithridates, are part of the Marius patch and thus will not require the Heirs of Alexander expansion.



Macedonian Aspirations

As explained above, this mission will only become available if the Antigonids have failed to achieve their objectives and choose to abandon the east, continuing Demetrius’ campaigns in Greece. I wanted to give the player a choice between surviving in Syria or returning to Macedon to carve out a new home, and add content that not only allows for the fall of the Antigonids but adds to the game as a result of it. It’s also an interesting challenge to give up one of the largest Hellenistic realms and start again from scratch.

The main branch focuses on conquering Macedon, with diplomatic options based on historical events and the ability to complete certain Greek focused tasks from the previous mission if they were not completed before Antigonus’ death.

Historically Demetrius was well treated by the other Diadochi immediately after Ipsus, their diplomacy with him indicating that his legitimacy and usefulness as a rightful king was not diminished by the near total loss of his lands; Seleucus going so far as to marry Demetrius’ daughter, though the warm relations quickly faded once it became clear her father had not accepted defeat.

By securing Thessaly, the historic port city of Demetrias may be founded as a bastion of Antigonid power in northern Greece, and a lasting stamp of Demetrius’ influence on the region.

Given the right circumstances, the Antigonids can also benefit from the infighting of Cassander’s sons in their quest for Macedonian clay as they did historically...



Antigonid Birthright

The final tree relies on the second having been completed, and gives the Antigonids an incentive for alt-history reconquest, returning to reclaim their lost lands in Asia.



This imagines a scenario in which the Antigonids are more daring and less willing to forfeit their dynasty’s achievements than historically, allowing them to move your center of power back to Antigonus’ capitals and avenge the defeat of your founder, if you so wish.

The branches of this tree guide you in reconquering important parts of the old kingdom such as Cyprus, Phrygia, and Phoenicia, creating a dominant naval presence in the eastern Mediterranean once more, and recreating the historical subjects you may have lost previously, such as the Ionian and Aeolian Leagues, if so desired.

Claiming the land of your ancestors will of course prove the ultimate victory of the Antigonid dynasty as Macedonian successors, whatever defeats they may have suffered in the past, and finally avenge the treachery of those who betrayed Alexander’s most capable successor.

Phew. If you made it this far, your patience will furnish you well until the release of the Marius patch and Heirs of Alexander expansion. Until next time!

Future of the game seems bright. :D Any of the naysayers daring to feel optimistic as well?

 

[Aemar]

I'll probably buy this game in 2024.

 

[razvedchiki]

i really hope they wont name all the permanest armies "legions"
this is paradoxes playerbase here so you never know.

 

[Mortmal]

I'll probably buy this game in 2024.

The best way to get paradox games is on humble bundle for 1$ with most of the dlc, only impatient whales with too much time like me should buy at release.

 

[TemplarGR]

The best way to get paradox games is on humble bundle for 1$ with most of the dlc, only impatient whales with too much time like me should buy at release.

I agree with this. But i think the best thing to do for most people is to avoid getting paradox games in the first place. They suck, they are ridiculously overrated, and offer nothing of value. Ignore the shills and the whales who spent too much money and now they have to justify the purchase. The gameplay blows, Paradox couldn't create a decent strategy game even if their lives depended on it.

 

[Theodora]

By popular requestbullying,

two more devdiaries since last time (the links that follow should take you directly to the dev replies only, should you be interested in the follow-up Q&As):

Civilization, Buildings and Macedon (2021-01-11)

Spoiler

Greetings all!



Today, @Chopmist will be taking you through the mission trees for the final nation we’re covering in the Heirs of Alexander content pack: Macedon.



Before we deal with the bloodthirsty Kassander however, it’s time to explain some of the mechanics I’ve been teasing on twitter over the holidays.



Civilization Value



There are some significant changes coming to civ value. As an abstraction, it has never quite resonated with me - it is used at various points in the game to represent different things, and can be largely ignored beyond a certain point.



For the purposes of this rework, local civilization value is being more explicitly defined as the state of the infrastructure and sanitation of any given location. The monthly growth of civilization is not being changed explicitly, and this represents the education level and tradition of learning in a location. A territory with low growth will take longer to reach the cap, as before.



Where previously, civilization had a significant impact on the happiness of poptypes, this is being reduced. This is in part due to the cultural rework which focused on cultural poptypes and citizenship - after all, why should a citizen or noble resent living in a low infrastructure province if that is the norm for the area? Instead, the cultural impact of your pops will be far more important to the stability of your nation.



Civilization will now have a significant impact on the output capabilities of a province, and should be regarded as one of the most important local values. As such, we’re giving it pride of place in the new territory UI:

The effects of civilization are similarly important:

As you can see, the civilization value of a territory still has some effect on happiness, but far more impact on the overall output. Population output is now also tracked in the territory UI:

A territory will ‘break even’ at 30 civilization value, assuming no other modifiers are present. The output of territories where the dominant culture is not integrated will be subject to a further penalty, as will settlements:

(nb: the current starting max civilization level has not yet been adjusted for any territories - it will appear as over the cap in many of these WIP screenshots)



Pops will be relatively happy living in rural provinces, but will produce less compared to their urban brethren. This can of course be offset, as we will find out later.



Generating Civilization Cap



Along with these changes, an important change to the way in which we generate civilization cap is being introduced:

The contributions from government type and oratory technology have been drastically reduced, and are likely to be reduced even further. Instead, local factors become far more relevant - namely: buildings.



Most buildings will now contribute directly to civilization capacity in a territory, providing a huge amount more local variance in development levels throughout the map. Later in the game, you can expect to see flourishing capitals approaching 70-90% civilization, with values higher than this being reserved for those truly keen on eking the most out of their territories.



Building Changes



Related to the above, the building system is undergoing a minor refactor. As an addendum, I’d like to point out that while I’m aware many of you want a deep cultural building system, that is not something that we have the scope to address in this update.

City buildings have now been split into two categories -limited and unlimited. The top row of buildings are theoretically unlimited, and will function similarly to before - albeit with some rebalance, and now adding to civilization cap.

Most of the repeatable buildings will grant 2 civilization cap, with the notable exception of Aqueducts, which will function as before, granting flat local population capacity.



The bottom row of buildings are limited to a finite and unmodifiable (during gameplay) quantity. This functionality will of course be available to modders. Many of these limited buildings (with the exception of ratio buildings) will also require unlocking in the invention trees.

Pop ratio buildings are limited to 3, somewhat limiting the viability of mono-pop cities:

Finite buildings will be ‘capped’ visually to ensure you are aware you’ve reached the cap:

All the numbers you’re seeing are still subject to balance, of course. These changes aim to reduce some of the micromanagement and choice paralysis associated with having up to 16 unique buildings in an arbitrary number of cities, as well as adding some depth and progression to city building by tying buildings to the new technology system. In addition, the ‘gardening’ feeling is something that I know many of our players enjoy - playing tall and getting the most out of your pops should be enhanced by many of these changes.



Settlements will not be entirely left untouched by these changes, either. One of the big choices you’ll have to make during your campaign, if you head down the civic invention tree, is likely to interest those with a penchant for construction:

While still likely subject to balance, this exclusive choice will enable you to more definitively choose a ‘tall’ or ‘wide’ focus. Note that along with this change, all settlement buildings will still be unique - you are unable to sport a settlement with 2 mines, however you would be able to construct both a mine and a fort, or a barracks and tribal settlement.



/Arheo

Hello there, it’s Joe from Content again, back to talk you through the next set of missions coming in the Heirs of Alexander expansion. This time we’ll be looking at Macedon.



The story of this kingdom is a complex one, the crown flitting between the dynasty of Alexander’s successor Cassander and a myriad of petty claimants until the Antigonid dynasty eventually secured the throne, remaining there until the Roman conquest.



The Fates decided the Antipatrid dynasty would be short lived, but things were fairly stable in Macedon after the Antigonids took power, with wars against barbarians, Greek leagues, and the Illyrian tribes but no ambitious campaigns on the scale of the Diadochi wars until the Roman conquest. This need not be the case under your leadership, and there will be many opportunities to make moves.



Ultimately Macedon received three mission trees, with the latter two being available to any Macedonian country that supplants the Antipatrids in Pella, including the Antigonids, as well as the original tag.



Antipatros’ Legacy

By 304BC, Cassander had ruled Macedon as regent for thirteen years, and, unlike the other Diadochi, never claimed the title of basileus for himself. He has seen victory in the wars against Polyperchon and Olympias, securing Thessaly and successfully contesting the Antigonids in Greece, though his murder of the Argead heirs and harsh treatment of the Greek cities have given him a reputation for cruelty - embellished by the other successors to their benefit.

Cassander’s immediate objectives are to prevail in the Greek wars against Antigonus, Chalcis being an important target, and ensure they do not reconquer Corinth, the symbolic center of Macedonian authority in the region. Establishing the League of Corinth is an objective Macedon shares with the Antigonids, creating a strong and loyal Greek feudatory if they can push the other successors from the peninsula.

To help achieve these ends, Macedon has choices to make on the diminishing gold mines of Pangaeum, which funded Alexander’s initial invasion of Asia, as well as undermining the Athenian democracy to strike at the Antigonid’s hold over Greece, and establishing Antipatreia in Thessaly as an alternative to the Antigonid’s historical city of Demetrias.

The long standing rivalry with the Taulantians and Epirotes will also be a pressing concern, their conquest putting an end to western threats and distractions from the Diadochi wars.



Macedon may also uplift or annex the Paeonian tribes to the north, creating stronger subjects or finally completing Philip II’s campaigns in the region, and continue the Macedonian tradition of recruiting the famed Agrianian javelinmen to permanently bolster their military.



Ultimately, the Antipatrids will turn their de-facto kingship into a reality, formalizing the Antipatrid-Argead dynasty as the new royal line of Macedon.



Hellenic Mastery

But we are not Mace-done yet. As mentioned above, the following trees are available to any Macedonian country which has supplanted Antipatrid Macedon, including the Antigonids. As such, their objectives can overlap with the first Macedonian tree to some degree.



The first is called Hellenic Mastery, and focuses on becoming the wider hegemon and cultural leader of the Greek world, something which Antigonus II and his descendants spent their time on the throne striving for.

Macedon will aim to have their capital rival the sophistication of the old Greek cities, supplanting them as the population and cultural centers of the region. Philosophers may be attracted to the court based on the patronage Antigonus II gave to Zeno of Citium among many others, periodically providing skilled characters.



Becoming the cultural leader of the Greek world will also depend on religious power; developing the important sanctuary of Dion under Mount Olympus will provide access to a new deity, Zeus Olympios, as well as a unique treasure. Control can also be tightened over the famous oracles of Greece, providing periodic events with messages from the gods and pleasing your Hellenic subjects.

Securing the main Greek cities directly will allow you to expand your influence - increasing assimilation speed and tax in the region - while controlling Messene will allow the construction of a fortress at Mount Ithome, a fourth fetter securing control over the Peloponnese which was suggested to Philip V.



Once the major Greek port cities around the Aegean are secured and Macedon has created a Metropolis to rival the cities of the east, the kingdom and dynasty will be secure.



Adriatic Dominance

Lastly, the third mission focuses on expansion westward into Illyria, something which was attempted unsuccessfully by Philip V, whose ambitions provoked the ire of Rome and ultimately led to their invasion of Greece and the end of the Macedonian kingdom.

Macedon will vie to control the Hellenic colonies of the western sea by diplomacy or war, developing a chosen city to become its hub on the Adriatic, and constructing a road over the mountains between it and Pella.

Ultimately this mission will see Macedon establish a foothold in Italia and dominate the entire Adriatic sea, with choices to make on the pirates that roam its waters and the fate of its natives.



That’s all from me!

Important balance changes and missions (2021-01-18)

Spoiler

Greetings all,



Today we’ll be taking a look at some of the more significant balance changes coming to the game with the advent of the 2.0 release.



Manpower



Due to the levies and legions features being added, manpower is undergoing a few adjustments. Simply put, manpower from pops is being increased, whereas the expected number of years for manpower to reach the maximum cap is being reduced.



This effectively means that your monthly manpower gains will go up, whereas your manpower pool will remain broadly similar to before.



Why these changes?



Well, with levied units being proportional to your population, we found that fielded forces tend to be larger than if one builds armies 1 unit at a time. Combined with the fact that levied pops do not contribute to resource income, this usually results in significant waiting periods in between conquest - something that could often feel like a hard block. Of course, these changes don’t offset the need for good pop planning, they merely mitigate some of the increased potential for attrition and casualty damage.



Statesmanship



As of 2.0, statesmanship will be vastly more important than prominence in republican elections; simulating more of a meritocratic/political aspect to character importance. It should become more likely to have long-serving officials elected to Consul, than those with inherent prominence from one of many sources.



Subjects and Integration



The per-pop cost to integrate subjects has been reduced significantly, as often pop growth would end up outstripping integration speed for larger subjects. Additionally, the AI has been altered to more frequently consider integration of smaller subjects without strategic potential.



Several subject types have been added in 2.0, many of which are accessible through the invention trees.

Additionally, previously tag specific subjects such as Syracuse’ mercenary state subject type can also be unlocked through the innovation tree, provided the Magna Graecia content pack is owned. Syracuse will still start with this subject type unlocked.



Oratory Inventions



During development of the oratory tree, it became apparent that more diplomatic ‘keystone’ style effects were required. Several have been added, and tie in to protectionism and intervention.

While the sum of the various keystone inventions can certainly seem very powerful, the limiting factor will still be how one spends the limited number of innovations one receives over the course of a campaign. Situational choice remains relevant, and allows for tailoring national capabilities according to desired playstyle.



While the invention trees still contain numerous modifier changes, we’ve tried to add plenty of decisions or unlockables that affect how you play the game, as well.



Mercenaries



The size of mercenary stacks now has a greater scaling based on where they are situated. This ensures that they maintain long-term viability, and allows you to better ‘grow’ mercenary bands for your own nefarious purposes.



This functionality previously existed, but was heavily reduced due to the propensity for ludicrous mercenary stacks. A more reasonable scaling has been applied.



Holy Sites and Treasures



Due to popular demand, you will now be able to remove treasures from holy sites not in your pantheon, without razing said site to the ground.

Additionally, holy sites have been given more prominence in the territory UI, where the holysite image will now replace the city status image, and will also show any treasures currently in the territory:

Treasures are a gameplay feature that were previously very difficult to interact with, as many of you have pointed out. These changes ought to mitigate some of those concerns.



AI Expansion



Whilst very difficult to balance optimal play and historical accuracy for the AI, we’ve changed the way that the AI evaluates potential wars. This puts a greater emphasis on going after claimed land, a vastly reduced likelihood of expanding into tribal territory (for non-tribal governments), and a greater likelihood of engaging in more evenly-matched warfare between regional powers.



In practice, this results in better expansion for our classic ‘great powers’ such as Rome and the Diadochi, and fewer snaking conquests into low-value tribal terrain. Of course, Imperator remains a sandbox - games will not play out the same way twice, and where sometimes Rome may fall, other great powers may rise to take their place…

Yes, that is Rome as a client kingdom.



And now I shall hand over to @Chopmist who’ll take you through the final, essential mission for any successful Diadoch.

Ave again, this time we’ll be taking a look at the last mission coming with our expansion Heirs of Alexander, a shared Diadochi mission designed by @Trin Tragula which is available to all five Successors when they complete two specific missions from their unique set (e.g. Egypt must complete Eastern Border and Thalassocracy).



Named Diadochi Empire, this mission provides a late-game challenge and thus expects you to already be a large nation, and directs you in establishing a new kind of realm that will fulfill Alexander’s dream of a lasting empire. It also sets out to draw up what might have been if a historical, lasting, united Hellenistic Empire were to dominate the Mediterrenean instead of Rome. The end goal of the mission, apart from lasting government institutions and a strong dynasty, is a uniting common identity beyond cultural and tribal differences - an alternative to Roman citizenship in real history.



As a result of its end game nature, the tasks of the mission have steep requirements, sometimes providing a place to sink your wealth, but offering unique and powerful rewards.

The resolution of its tasks will also sometimes allow you to decide between alternative ways to shape your universal empire.

The right hand path will first set you up with claims on Alexander’s entire empire in case they have been lost via the Epigoni event, and then ask you to conquer any core regions of Alexander’s empire which remain independent (Macedon, Mesopotamia, and/or Egypt, depending on which lands you already own) and give you a choice on how to govern them, with direct rule over such a large empire being quite taxing.



Conquering all of Persia and reclaiming the lands west of the Indus are optional objectives later on this side of the tree which will guide you in fulfilling the requirements of the Reunite Alexander’s Empire decision, which as before changes your country’s name and color - although if your ruler does not have the Blood of the Argeads trait it will be named the Macedonian Empire rather than Argead Empire.

To live up to the empire of old you must ensure your capital has a Great Work (decision-built and starting wonders such as the Pyramids, Pharos, etc. count), ensuring it is a lasting Metropolis.



For this vast empire to function the food supply must also be organized properly; inspired by the Roman bread doles, it will be quite the undertaking to ensure the poor are fed and order is maintained, and your choices in handling this matter will have lasting consequences.

Parallel to this, the left-hand path demands that you have the Empire government form if you are to manage such a large realm effectively, before inviting you to patronize the gods and asking you to assemble the Anthologia Philosophike - nine unique scholarly treasures scattered across the world which will be combined into one - to prove your dominant position as a center of learning and ensure the survival of the world’s knowledge for posterity.

Further, you will be tasked to establish a bureaucracy to oversee the empire’s administration, and decide on how its candidates will be picked, as well as to patronize philosophers, inviting skilled characters from across the world to the capital. A royal school will also be established, granting all current and future members of the ruling dynasty by blood extra skills in a chosen category to ensure the empire’s leaders are up to the task.

You may then prove you are Alexander’s true successor by honoring his memory and collecting his entire panoply - again scattered around the world - creating another combined treasure for your subjects to be inspired by and gawp at. Deification will also improve your ruler’s skills and legitimacy, the authority of the god-king lubricating the spokes of government.



After all that, you may finally achieve Alexander’s dream of a peaceful world-spanning empire, free from the cultural divisions of the past - something which your close-minded subjects will be loath to accept. The game will challenge you with a vast civil war, where you must destroy those who seek to cling to regional identity and unite the empire.

If you survive that, you will have nothing left to prove to your subjects, or the gods, and Alexander’s ambitions will finally have been realized. A new Hellenistic culture will be adopted by the state and its elite, spreading to the capital and largest cities first, representing the mixing of cultures and the common identity shared by all subjects of the God-Kings of your Hellenistic empire.

That’s all from me!

May I return to playing with the other overgrown children in shoutbox now, Mortmal?

 

[fantadomat]

By popular requestbullying,

two more devdiaries since last time (the links that follow should take you directly to the dev replies only, should you be interested in the followed Q&As):

Civilization, Buildings and Macedon (2021-01-11)

Spoiler

Greetings all!



Today, @Chopmist will be taking you through the mission trees for the final nation we’re covering in the Heirs of Alexander content pack: Macedon.



Before we deal with the bloodthirsty Kassander however, it’s time to explain some of the mechanics I’ve been teasing on twitter over the holidays.



Civilization Value



There are some significant changes coming to civ value. As an abstraction, it has never quite resonated with me - it is used at various points in the game to represent different things, and can be largely ignored beyond a certain point.



For the purposes of this rework, local civilization value is being more explicitly defined as the state of the infrastructure and sanitation of any given location. The monthly growth of civilization is not being changed explicitly, and this represents the education level and tradition of learning in a location. A territory with low growth will take longer to reach the cap, as before.



Where previously, civilization had a significant impact on the happiness of poptypes, this is being reduced. This is in part due to the cultural rework which focused on cultural poptypes and citizenship - after all, why should a citizen or noble resent living in a low infrastructure province if that is the norm for the area? Instead, the cultural impact of your pops will be far more important to the stability of your nation.



Civilization will now have a significant impact on the output capabilities of a province, and should be regarded as one of the most important local values. As such, we’re giving it pride of place in the new territory UI:

The effects of civilization are similarly important:

As you can see, the civilization value of a territory still has some effect on happiness, but far more impact on the overall output. Population output is now also tracked in the territory UI:

A territory will ‘break even’ at 30 civilization value, assuming no other modifiers are present. The output of territories where the dominant culture is not integrated will be subject to a further penalty, as will settlements:

(nb: the current starting max civilization level has not yet been adjusted for any territories - it will appear as over the cap in many of these WIP screenshots)



Pops will be relatively happy living in rural provinces, but will produce less compared to their urban brethren. This can of course be offset, as we will find out later.



Generating Civilization Cap



Along with these changes, an important change to the way in which we generate civilization cap is being introduced:

The contributions from government type and oratory technology have been drastically reduced, and are likely to be reduced even further. Instead, local factors become far more relevant - namely: buildings.



Most buildings will now contribute directly to civilization capacity in a territory, providing a huge amount more local variance in development levels throughout the map. Later in the game, you can expect to see flourishing capitals approaching 70-90% civilization, with values higher than this being reserved for those truly keen on eking the most out of their territories.



Building Changes



Related to the above, the building system is undergoing a minor refactor. As an addendum, I’d like to point out that while I’m aware many of you want a deep cultural building system, that is not something that we have the scope to address in this update.

City buildings have now been split into two categories -limited and unlimited. The top row of buildings are theoretically unlimited, and will function similarly to before - albeit with some rebalance, and now adding to civilization cap.

Most of the repeatable buildings will grant 2 civilization cap, with the notable exception of Aqueducts, which will function as before, granting flat local population capacity.



The bottom row of buildings are limited to a finite and unmodifiable (during gameplay) quantity. This functionality will of course be available to modders. Many of these limited buildings (with the exception of ratio buildings) will also require unlocking in the invention trees.

Pop ratio buildings are limited to 3, somewhat limiting the viability of mono-pop cities:

Finite buildings will be ‘capped’ visually to ensure you are aware you’ve reached the cap:

All the numbers you’re seeing are still subject to balance, of course. These changes aim to reduce some of the micromanagement and choice paralysis associated with having up to 16 unique buildings in an arbitrary number of cities, as well as adding some depth and progression to city building by tying buildings to the new technology system. In addition, the ‘gardening’ feeling is something that I know many of our players enjoy - playing tall and getting the most out of your pops should be enhanced by many of these changes.



Settlements will not be entirely left untouched by these changes, either. One of the big choices you’ll have to make during your campaign, if you head down the civic invention tree, is likely to interest those with a penchant for construction:

While still likely subject to balance, this exclusive choice will enable you to more definitively choose a ‘tall’ or ‘wide’ focus. Note that along with this change, all settlement buildings will still be unique - you are unable to sport a settlement with 2 mines, however you would be able to construct both a mine and a fort, or a barracks and tribal settlement.



/Arheo

Hello there, it’s Joe from Content again, back to talk you through the next set of missions coming in the Heirs of Alexander expansion. This time we’ll be looking at Macedon.



The story of this kingdom is a complex one, the crown flitting between the dynasty of Alexander’s successor Cassander and a myriad of petty claimants until the Antigonid dynasty eventually secured the throne, remaining there until the Roman conquest.



The Fates decided the Antipatrid dynasty would be short lived, but things were fairly stable in Macedon after the Antigonids took power, with wars against barbarians, Greek leagues, and the Illyrian tribes but no ambitious campaigns on the scale of the Diadochi wars until the Roman conquest. This need not be the case under your leadership, and there will be many opportunities to make moves.



Ultimately Macedon received three mission trees, with the latter two being available to any Macedonian country that supplants the Antipatrids in Pella, including the Antigonids, as well as the original tag.



Antipatros’ Legacy

By 304BC, Cassander had ruled Macedon as regent for thirteen years, and, unlike the other Diadochi, never claimed the title of basileus for himself. He has seen victory in the wars against Polyperchon and Olympias, securing Thessaly and successfully contesting the Antigonids in Greece, though his murder of the Argead heirs and harsh treatment of the Greek cities have given him a reputation for cruelty - embellished by the other successors to their benefit.

Cassander’s immediate objectives are to prevail in the Greek wars against Antigonus, Chalcis being an important target, and ensure they do not reconquer Corinth, the symbolic center of Macedonian authority in the region. Establishing the League of Corinth is an objective Macedon shares with the Antigonids, creating a strong and loyal Greek feudatory if they can push the other successors from the peninsula.

To help achieve these ends, Macedon has choices to make on the diminishing gold mines of Pangaeum, which funded Alexander’s initial invasion of Asia, as well as undermining the Athenian democracy to strike at the Antigonid’s hold over Greece, and establishing Antipatreia in Thessaly as an alternative to the Antigonid’s historical city of Demetrias.

The long standing rivalry with the Taulantians and Epirotes will also be a pressing concern, their conquest putting an end to western threats and distractions from the Diadochi wars.



Macedon may also uplift or annex the Paeonian tribes to the north, creating stronger subjects or finally completing Philip II’s campaigns in the region, and continue the Macedonian tradition of recruiting the famed Agrianian javelinmen to permanently bolster their military.



Ultimately, the Antipatrids will turn their de-facto kingship into a reality, formalizing the Antipatrid-Argead dynasty as the new royal line of Macedon.



Hellenic Mastery

But we are not Mace-done yet. As mentioned above, the following trees are available to any Macedonian country which has supplanted Antipatrid Macedon, including the Antigonids. As such, their objectives can overlap with the first Macedonian tree to some degree.



The first is called Hellenic Mastery, and focuses on becoming the wider hegemon and cultural leader of the Greek world, something which Antigonus II and his descendants spent their time on the throne striving for.

Macedon will aim to have their capital rival the sophistication of the old Greek cities, supplanting them as the population and cultural centers of the region. Philosophers may be attracted to the court based on the patronage Antigonus II gave to Zeno of Citium among many others, periodically providing skilled characters.



Becoming the cultural leader of the Greek world will also depend on religious power; developing the important sanctuary of Dion under Mount Olympus will provide access to a new deity, Zeus Olympios, as well as a unique treasure. Control can also be tightened over the famous oracles of Greece, providing periodic events with messages from the gods and pleasing your Hellenic subjects.

Securing the main Greek cities directly will allow you to expand your influence - increasing assimilation speed and tax in the region - while controlling Messene will allow the construction of a fortress at Mount Ithome, a fourth fetter securing control over the Peloponnese which was suggested to Philip V.



Once the major Greek port cities around the Aegean are secured and Macedon has created a Metropolis to rival the cities of the east, the kingdom and dynasty will be secure.



Adriatic Dominance

Lastly, the third mission focuses on expansion westward into Illyria, something which was attempted unsuccessfully by Philip V, whose ambitions provoked the ire of Rome and ultimately led to their invasion of Greece and the end of the Macedonian kingdom.

Macedon will vie to control the Hellenic colonies of the western sea by diplomacy or war, developing a chosen city to become its hub on the Adriatic, and constructing a road over the mountains between it and Pella.

Ultimately this mission will see Macedon establish a foothold in Italia and dominate the entire Adriatic sea, with choices to make on the pirates that roam its waters and the fate of its natives.



That’s all from me!

Important balance changes and missions (2021-01-18)

Spoiler

Greetings all,



Today we’ll be taking a look at some of the more significant balance changes coming to the game with the advent of the 2.0 release.



Manpower



Due to the levies and legions features being added, manpower is undergoing a few adjustments. Simply put, manpower from pops is being increased, whereas the expected number of years for manpower to reach the maximum cap is being reduced.



This effectively means that your monthly manpower gains will go up, whereas your manpower pool will remain broadly similar to before.



Why these changes?



Well, with levied units being proportional to your population, we found that fielded forces tend to be larger than if one builds armies 1 unit at a time. Combined with the fact that levied pops do not contribute to resource income, this usually results in significant waiting periods in between conquest - something that could often feel like a hard block. Of course, these changes don’t offset the need for good pop planning, they merely mitigate some of the increased potential for attrition and casualty damage.



Statesmanship



As of 2.0, statesmanship will be vastly more important than prominence in republican elections; simulating more of a meritocratic/political aspect to character importance. It should become more likely to have long-serving officials elected to Consul, than those with inherent prominence from one of many sources.



Subjects and Integration



The per-pop cost to integrate subjects has been reduced significantly, as often pop growth would end up outstripping integration speed for larger subjects. Additionally, the AI has been altered to more frequently consider integration of smaller subjects without strategic potential.



Several subject types have been added in 2.0, many of which are accessible through the invention trees.

Additionally, previously tag specific subjects such as Syracuse’ mercenary state subject type can also be unlocked through the innovation tree, provided the Magna Graecia content pack is owned. Syracuse will still start with this subject type unlocked.



Oratory Inventions



During development of the oratory tree, it became apparent that more diplomatic ‘keystone’ style effects were required. Several have been added, and tie in to protectionism and intervention.

While the sum of the various keystone inventions can certainly seem very powerful, the limiting factor will still be how one spends the limited number of innovations one receives over the course of a campaign. Situational choice remains relevant, and allows for tailoring national capabilities according to desired playstyle.



While the invention trees still contain numerous modifier changes, we’ve tried to add plenty of decisions or unlockables that affect how you play the game, as well.



Mercenaries



The size of mercenary stacks now has a greater scaling based on where they are situated. This ensures that they maintain long-term viability, and allows you to better ‘grow’ mercenary bands for your own nefarious purposes.



This functionality previously existed, but was heavily reduced due to the propensity for ludicrous mercenary stacks. A more reasonable scaling has been applied.



Holy Sites and Treasures



Due to popular demand, you will now be able to remove treasures from holy sites not in your pantheon, without razing said site to the ground.

Additionally, holy sites have been given more prominence in the territory UI, where the holysite image will now replace the city status image, and will also show any treasures currently in the territory:

Treasures are a gameplay feature that were previously very difficult to interact with, as many of you have pointed out. These changes ought to mitigate some of those concerns.



AI Expansion



Whilst very difficult to balance optimal play and historical accuracy for the AI, we’ve changed the way that the AI evaluates potential wars. This puts a greater emphasis on going after claimed land, a vastly reduced likelihood of expanding into tribal territory (for non-tribal governments), and a greater likelihood of engaging in more evenly-matched warfare between regional powers.



In practice, this results in better expansion for our classic ‘great powers’ such as Rome and the Diadochi, and fewer snaking conquests into low-value tribal terrain. Of course, Imperator remains a sandbox - games will not play out the same way twice, and where sometimes Rome may fall, other great powers may rise to take their place…

Yes, that is Rome as a client kingdom.



And now I shall hand over to @Chopmist who’ll take you through the final, essential mission for any successful Diadoch.

Ave again, this time we’ll be taking a look at the last mission coming with our expansion Heirs of Alexander, a shared Diadochi mission designed by @Trin Tragula which is available to all five Successors when they complete two specific missions from their unique set (e.g. Egypt must complete Eastern Border and Thalassocracy).



Named Diadochi Empire, this mission provides a late-game challenge and thus expects you to already be a large nation, and directs you in establishing a new kind of realm that will fulfill Alexander’s dream of a lasting empire. It also sets out to draw up what might have been if a historical, lasting, united Hellenistic Empire were to dominate the Mediterrenean instead of Rome. The end goal of the mission, apart from lasting government institutions and a strong dynasty, is a uniting common identity beyond cultural and tribal differences - an alternative to Roman citizenship in real history.



As a result of its end game nature, the tasks of the mission have steep requirements, sometimes providing a place to sink your wealth, but offering unique and powerful rewards.

The resolution of its tasks will also sometimes allow you to decide between alternative ways to shape your universal empire.

The right hand path will first set you up with claims on Alexander’s entire empire in case they have been lost via the Epigoni event, and then ask you to conquer any core regions of Alexander’s empire which remain independent (Macedon, Mesopotamia, and/or Egypt, depending on which lands you already own) and give you a choice on how to govern them, with direct rule over such a large empire being quite taxing.



Conquering all of Persia and reclaiming the lands west of the Indus are optional objectives later on this side of the tree which will guide you in fulfilling the requirements of the Reunite Alexander’s Empire decision, which as before changes your country’s name and color - although if your ruler does not have the Blood of the Argeads trait it will be named the Macedonian Empire rather than Argead Empire.

To live up to the empire of old you must ensure your capital has a Great Work (decision-built and starting wonders such as the Pyramids, Pharos, etc. count), ensuring it is a lasting Metropolis.



For this vast empire to function the food supply must also be organized properly; inspired by the Roman bread doles, it will be quite the undertaking to ensure the poor are fed and order is maintained, and your choices in handling this matter will have lasting consequences.

Parallel to this, the left-hand path demands that you have the Empire government form if you are to manage such a large realm effectively, before inviting you to patronize the gods and asking you to assemble the Anthologia Philosophike - nine unique scholarly treasures scattered across the world which will be combined into one - to prove your dominant position as a center of learning and ensure the survival of the world’s knowledge for posterity.

Further, you will be tasked to establish a bureaucracy to oversee the empire’s administration, and decide on how its candidates will be picked, as well as to patronize philosophers, inviting skilled characters from across the world to the capital. A royal school will also be established, granting all current and future members of the ruling dynasty by blood extra skills in a chosen category to ensure the empire’s leaders are up to the task.

You may then prove you are Alexander’s true successor by honoring his memory and collecting his entire panoply - again scattered around the world - creating another combined treasure for your subjects to be inspired by and gawp at. Deification will also improve your ruler’s skills and legitimacy, the authority of the god-king lubricating the spokes of government.



After all that, you may finally achieve Alexander’s dream of a peaceful world-spanning empire, free from the cultural divisions of the past - something which your close-minded subjects will be loath to accept. The game will challenge you with a vast civil war, where you must destroy those who seek to cling to regional identity and unite the empire.

If you survive that, you will have nothing left to prove to your subjects, or the gods, and Alexander’s ambitions will finally have been realized. A new Hellenistic culture will be adopted by the state and its elite, spreading to the capital and largest cities first, representing the mixing of cultures and the common identity shared by all subjects of the God-Kings of your Hellenistic empire.

That’s all from me!

May I return to playing with the other overgrown children in shoutbox now, Mortmal?

No,first send him a dick pic. By the way,haven't seen you in the shoutbox lately,we must have passed each other. Thought that you could have killed yourself or gotten shanked by a mostly peaceful rape gang,like most of the codexers go out of the site. Anyway,glad you are ok .

 

[Theodora]

No,first send him a dick pic. By the way,haven't seen you in the shoutbox lately,we must have passed each other. Thought that you could have killed yourself or gotten shanked by a mostly peaceful rape gang,like most of the codexers go out of the site. Anyway,glad you are ok .

That is by far the weirdest way anyone has said "glad you are ok", but thank you. I had a challenging New Year, lol.

Anyway, he seems more interested in tiddies. Or maybe that was someone else. <Tries to think of how to make this back about shilling for I:R 2.0.> Maybe Arheo_ is the only one deserving nudes.

 

[Fedora Master]

 

[Mortmal]

By popular requestbullying,

two more devdiaries since last time (the links that follow should take you directly to the dev replies only, should you be interested in the follow-up Q&As):

Civilization, Buildings and Macedon (2021-01-11)

Spoiler

Greetings all!



Today, @Chopmist will be taking you through the mission trees for the final nation we’re covering in the Heirs of Alexander content pack: Macedon.



Before we deal with the bloodthirsty Kassander however, it’s time to explain some of the mechanics I’ve been teasing on twitter over the holidays.



Civilization Value



There are some significant changes coming to civ value. As an abstraction, it has never quite resonated with me - it is used at various points in the game to represent different things, and can be largely ignored beyond a certain point.



For the purposes of this rework, local civilization value is being more explicitly defined as the state of the infrastructure and sanitation of any given location. The monthly growth of civilization is not being changed explicitly, and this represents the education level and tradition of learning in a location. A territory with low growth will take longer to reach the cap, as before.



Where previously, civilization had a significant impact on the happiness of poptypes, this is being reduced. This is in part due to the cultural rework which focused on cultural poptypes and citizenship - after all, why should a citizen or noble resent living in a low infrastructure province if that is the norm for the area? Instead, the cultural impact of your pops will be far more important to the stability of your nation.



Civilization will now have a significant impact on the output capabilities of a province, and should be regarded as one of the most important local values. As such, we’re giving it pride of place in the new territory UI:

The effects of civilization are similarly important:

As you can see, the civilization value of a territory still has some effect on happiness, but far more impact on the overall output. Population output is now also tracked in the territory UI:

A territory will ‘break even’ at 30 civilization value, assuming no other modifiers are present. The output of territories where the dominant culture is not integrated will be subject to a further penalty, as will settlements:

(nb: the current starting max civilization level has not yet been adjusted for any territories - it will appear as over the cap in many of these WIP screenshots)



Pops will be relatively happy living in rural provinces, but will produce less compared to their urban brethren. This can of course be offset, as we will find out later.



Generating Civilization Cap



Along with these changes, an important change to the way in which we generate civilization cap is being introduced:

The contributions from government type and oratory technology have been drastically reduced, and are likely to be reduced even further. Instead, local factors become far more relevant - namely: buildings.



Most buildings will now contribute directly to civilization capacity in a territory, providing a huge amount more local variance in development levels throughout the map. Later in the game, you can expect to see flourishing capitals approaching 70-90% civilization, with values higher than this being reserved for those truly keen on eking the most out of their territories.



Building Changes



Related to the above, the building system is undergoing a minor refactor. As an addendum, I’d like to point out that while I’m aware many of you want a deep cultural building system, that is not something that we have the scope to address in this update.

City buildings have now been split into two categories -limited and unlimited. The top row of buildings are theoretically unlimited, and will function similarly to before - albeit with some rebalance, and now adding to civilization cap.

Most of the repeatable buildings will grant 2 civilization cap, with the notable exception of Aqueducts, which will function as before, granting flat local population capacity.



The bottom row of buildings are limited to a finite and unmodifiable (during gameplay) quantity. This functionality will of course be available to modders. Many of these limited buildings (with the exception of ratio buildings) will also require unlocking in the invention trees.

Pop ratio buildings are limited to 3, somewhat limiting the viability of mono-pop cities:

Finite buildings will be ‘capped’ visually to ensure you are aware you’ve reached the cap:

All the numbers you’re seeing are still subject to balance, of course. These changes aim to reduce some of the micromanagement and choice paralysis associated with having up to 16 unique buildings in an arbitrary number of cities, as well as adding some depth and progression to city building by tying buildings to the new technology system. In addition, the ‘gardening’ feeling is something that I know many of our players enjoy - playing tall and getting the most out of your pops should be enhanced by many of these changes.



Settlements will not be entirely left untouched by these changes, either. One of the big choices you’ll have to make during your campaign, if you head down the civic invention tree, is likely to interest those with a penchant for construction:

While still likely subject to balance, this exclusive choice will enable you to more definitively choose a ‘tall’ or ‘wide’ focus. Note that along with this change, all settlement buildings will still be unique - you are unable to sport a settlement with 2 mines, however you would be able to construct both a mine and a fort, or a barracks and tribal settlement.



/Arheo

Hello there, it’s Joe from Content again, back to talk you through the next set of missions coming in the Heirs of Alexander expansion. This time we’ll be looking at Macedon.



The story of this kingdom is a complex one, the crown flitting between the dynasty of Alexander’s successor Cassander and a myriad of petty claimants until the Antigonid dynasty eventually secured the throne, remaining there until the Roman conquest.



The Fates decided the Antipatrid dynasty would be short lived, but things were fairly stable in Macedon after the Antigonids took power, with wars against barbarians, Greek leagues, and the Illyrian tribes but no ambitious campaigns on the scale of the Diadochi wars until the Roman conquest. This need not be the case under your leadership, and there will be many opportunities to make moves.



Ultimately Macedon received three mission trees, with the latter two being available to any Macedonian country that supplants the Antipatrids in Pella, including the Antigonids, as well as the original tag.



Antipatros’ Legacy

By 304BC, Cassander had ruled Macedon as regent for thirteen years, and, unlike the other Diadochi, never claimed the title of basileus for himself. He has seen victory in the wars against Polyperchon and Olympias, securing Thessaly and successfully contesting the Antigonids in Greece, though his murder of the Argead heirs and harsh treatment of the Greek cities have given him a reputation for cruelty - embellished by the other successors to their benefit.

Cassander’s immediate objectives are to prevail in the Greek wars against Antigonus, Chalcis being an important target, and ensure they do not reconquer Corinth, the symbolic center of Macedonian authority in the region. Establishing the League of Corinth is an objective Macedon shares with the Antigonids, creating a strong and loyal Greek feudatory if they can push the other successors from the peninsula.

To help achieve these ends, Macedon has choices to make on the diminishing gold mines of Pangaeum, which funded Alexander’s initial invasion of Asia, as well as undermining the Athenian democracy to strike at the Antigonid’s hold over Greece, and establishing Antipatreia in Thessaly as an alternative to the Antigonid’s historical city of Demetrias.

The long standing rivalry with the Taulantians and Epirotes will also be a pressing concern, their conquest putting an end to western threats and distractions from the Diadochi wars.



Macedon may also uplift or annex the Paeonian tribes to the north, creating stronger subjects or finally completing Philip II’s campaigns in the region, and continue the Macedonian tradition of recruiting the famed Agrianian javelinmen to permanently bolster their military.



Ultimately, the Antipatrids will turn their de-facto kingship into a reality, formalizing the Antipatrid-Argead dynasty as the new royal line of Macedon.



Hellenic Mastery

But we are not Mace-done yet. As mentioned above, the following trees are available to any Macedonian country which has supplanted Antipatrid Macedon, including the Antigonids. As such, their objectives can overlap with the first Macedonian tree to some degree.



The first is called Hellenic Mastery, and focuses on becoming the wider hegemon and cultural leader of the Greek world, something which Antigonus II and his descendants spent their time on the throne striving for.

Macedon will aim to have their capital rival the sophistication of the old Greek cities, supplanting them as the population and cultural centers of the region. Philosophers may be attracted to the court based on the patronage Antigonus II gave to Zeno of Citium among many others, periodically providing skilled characters.



Becoming the cultural leader of the Greek world will also depend on religious power; developing the important sanctuary of Dion under Mount Olympus will provide access to a new deity, Zeus Olympios, as well as a unique treasure. Control can also be tightened over the famous oracles of Greece, providing periodic events with messages from the gods and pleasing your Hellenic subjects.

Securing the main Greek cities directly will allow you to expand your influence - increasing assimilation speed and tax in the region - while controlling Messene will allow the construction of a fortress at Mount Ithome, a fourth fetter securing control over the Peloponnese which was suggested to Philip V.



Once the major Greek port cities around the Aegean are secured and Macedon has created a Metropolis to rival the cities of the east, the kingdom and dynasty will be secure.



Adriatic Dominance

Lastly, the third mission focuses on expansion westward into Illyria, something which was attempted unsuccessfully by Philip V, whose ambitions provoked the ire of Rome and ultimately led to their invasion of Greece and the end of the Macedonian kingdom.

Macedon will vie to control the Hellenic colonies of the western sea by diplomacy or war, developing a chosen city to become its hub on the Adriatic, and constructing a road over the mountains between it and Pella.

Ultimately this mission will see Macedon establish a foothold in Italia and dominate the entire Adriatic sea, with choices to make on the pirates that roam its waters and the fate of its natives.



That’s all from me!

Important balance changes and missions (2021-01-18)

Spoiler

Greetings all,



Today we’ll be taking a look at some of the more significant balance changes coming to the game with the advent of the 2.0 release.



Manpower



Due to the levies and legions features being added, manpower is undergoing a few adjustments. Simply put, manpower from pops is being increased, whereas the expected number of years for manpower to reach the maximum cap is being reduced.



This effectively means that your monthly manpower gains will go up, whereas your manpower pool will remain broadly similar to before.



Why these changes?



Well, with levied units being proportional to your population, we found that fielded forces tend to be larger than if one builds armies 1 unit at a time. Combined with the fact that levied pops do not contribute to resource income, this usually results in significant waiting periods in between conquest - something that could often feel like a hard block. Of course, these changes don’t offset the need for good pop planning, they merely mitigate some of the increased potential for attrition and casualty damage.



Statesmanship



As of 2.0, statesmanship will be vastly more important than prominence in republican elections; simulating more of a meritocratic/political aspect to character importance. It should become more likely to have long-serving officials elected to Consul, than those with inherent prominence from one of many sources.



Subjects and Integration



The per-pop cost to integrate subjects has been reduced significantly, as often pop growth would end up outstripping integration speed for larger subjects. Additionally, the AI has been altered to more frequently consider integration of smaller subjects without strategic potential.



Several subject types have been added in 2.0, many of which are accessible through the invention trees.

Additionally, previously tag specific subjects such as Syracuse’ mercenary state subject type can also be unlocked through the innovation tree, provided the Magna Graecia content pack is owned. Syracuse will still start with this subject type unlocked.



Oratory Inventions



During development of the oratory tree, it became apparent that more diplomatic ‘keystone’ style effects were required. Several have been added, and tie in to protectionism and intervention.

While the sum of the various keystone inventions can certainly seem very powerful, the limiting factor will still be how one spends the limited number of innovations one receives over the course of a campaign. Situational choice remains relevant, and allows for tailoring national capabilities according to desired playstyle.



While the invention trees still contain numerous modifier changes, we’ve tried to add plenty of decisions or unlockables that affect how you play the game, as well.



Mercenaries



The size of mercenary stacks now has a greater scaling based on where they are situated. This ensures that they maintain long-term viability, and allows you to better ‘grow’ mercenary bands for your own nefarious purposes.



This functionality previously existed, but was heavily reduced due to the propensity for ludicrous mercenary stacks. A more reasonable scaling has been applied.



Holy Sites and Treasures



Due to popular demand, you will now be able to remove treasures from holy sites not in your pantheon, without razing said site to the ground.

Additionally, holy sites have been given more prominence in the territory UI, where the holysite image will now replace the city status image, and will also show any treasures currently in the territory:

Treasures are a gameplay feature that were previously very difficult to interact with, as many of you have pointed out. These changes ought to mitigate some of those concerns.



AI Expansion



Whilst very difficult to balance optimal play and historical accuracy for the AI, we’ve changed the way that the AI evaluates potential wars. This puts a greater emphasis on going after claimed land, a vastly reduced likelihood of expanding into tribal territory (for non-tribal governments), and a greater likelihood of engaging in more evenly-matched warfare between regional powers.



In practice, this results in better expansion for our classic ‘great powers’ such as Rome and the Diadochi, and fewer snaking conquests into low-value tribal terrain. Of course, Imperator remains a sandbox - games will not play out the same way twice, and where sometimes Rome may fall, other great powers may rise to take their place…

Yes, that is Rome as a client kingdom.



And now I shall hand over to @Chopmist who’ll take you through the final, essential mission for any successful Diadoch.

Ave again, this time we’ll be taking a look at the last mission coming with our expansion Heirs of Alexander, a shared Diadochi mission designed by @Trin Tragula which is available to all five Successors when they complete two specific missions from their unique set (e.g. Egypt must complete Eastern Border and Thalassocracy).



Named Diadochi Empire, this mission provides a late-game challenge and thus expects you to already be a large nation, and directs you in establishing a new kind of realm that will fulfill Alexander’s dream of a lasting empire. It also sets out to draw up what might have been if a historical, lasting, united Hellenistic Empire were to dominate the Mediterrenean instead of Rome. The end goal of the mission, apart from lasting government institutions and a strong dynasty, is a uniting common identity beyond cultural and tribal differences - an alternative to Roman citizenship in real history.



As a result of its end game nature, the tasks of the mission have steep requirements, sometimes providing a place to sink your wealth, but offering unique and powerful rewards.

The resolution of its tasks will also sometimes allow you to decide between alternative ways to shape your universal empire.

The right hand path will first set you up with claims on Alexander’s entire empire in case they have been lost via the Epigoni event, and then ask you to conquer any core regions of Alexander’s empire which remain independent (Macedon, Mesopotamia, and/or Egypt, depending on which lands you already own) and give you a choice on how to govern them, with direct rule over such a large empire being quite taxing.



Conquering all of Persia and reclaiming the lands west of the Indus are optional objectives later on this side of the tree which will guide you in fulfilling the requirements of the Reunite Alexander’s Empire decision, which as before changes your country’s name and color - although if your ruler does not have the Blood of the Argeads trait it will be named the Macedonian Empire rather than Argead Empire.

To live up to the empire of old you must ensure your capital has a Great Work (decision-built and starting wonders such as the Pyramids, Pharos, etc. count), ensuring it is a lasting Metropolis.



For this vast empire to function the food supply must also be organized properly; inspired by the Roman bread doles, it will be quite the undertaking to ensure the poor are fed and order is maintained, and your choices in handling this matter will have lasting consequences.

Parallel to this, the left-hand path demands that you have the Empire government form if you are to manage such a large realm effectively, before inviting you to patronize the gods and asking you to assemble the Anthologia Philosophike - nine unique scholarly treasures scattered across the world which will be combined into one - to prove your dominant position as a center of learning and ensure the survival of the world’s knowledge for posterity.

Further, you will be tasked to establish a bureaucracy to oversee the empire’s administration, and decide on how its candidates will be picked, as well as to patronize philosophers, inviting skilled characters from across the world to the capital. A royal school will also be established, granting all current and future members of the ruling dynasty by blood extra skills in a chosen category to ensure the empire’s leaders are up to the task.

You may then prove you are Alexander’s true successor by honoring his memory and collecting his entire panoply - again scattered around the world - creating another combined treasure for your subjects to be inspired by and gawp at. Deification will also improve your ruler’s skills and legitimacy, the authority of the god-king lubricating the spokes of government.



After all that, you may finally achieve Alexander’s dream of a peaceful world-spanning empire, free from the cultural divisions of the past - something which your close-minded subjects will be loath to accept. The game will challenge you with a vast civil war, where you must destroy those who seek to cling to regional identity and unite the empire.

If you survive that, you will have nothing left to prove to your subjects, or the gods, and Alexander’s ambitions will finally have been realized. A new Hellenistic culture will be adopted by the state and its elite, spreading to the capital and largest cities first, representing the mixing of cultures and the common identity shared by all subjects of the God-Kings of your Hellenistic empire.

That’s all from me!

May I return to playing with the other overgrown children in shoutbox now, Mortmal?

Yes i am satisfied for now, but i was on verge to report you to your supervisor... Yes you can play with the shoutbox kids again, but be carefull they are beta orbiting so badly they are gonna crash.

 

[Theodora]

Yes i am satisfied for now, but i was on verge to report you to your supervisor... Yes you can play with the shoutbox kids again, but be carefull they are beta orbiting so badly they are gonna crash.

if that's orbiting i'd hate to see a more concerted effort.

(maybe i wanna orbit arheo_ tho.)

 

[Mortmal]

Yes i am satisfied for now, but i was on verge to report you to your supervisor... Yes you can play with the shoutbox kids again, but be carefull they are beta orbiting so badly they are gonna crash.

if that's orbiting i'd hate to see a more concerted effort.

(maybe i wanna orbit arheo_ tho.)

If that can help to get a balanced , bugless and in depth imperator update, by any means send him nudes.

 

[Theodora]

Marius/2.0 and Heirs of Alexander DLC out on the 16th February.

Last week's DD included a bunch of little notes, including changes to population growth and upcoming map changes.

Genuinely can't wait.

 

[razvedchiki]

wake me up when you can export the battles in field of glory 2.