Hello there!

Today I have the pleasure of telling you about the Punic missions, and give you a deeper look into the mission system.

For Carthage, we have split the missions into two categories, conquest and infrastructure, for the sake of simplicity. In the conquest based missions we have focused on the Punic spheres of influence like Sicily, Africa, Iberia, Rome, and even Phoenicia. Whereas for the infrastructure ones, we have looked at some of their strengths, i.e their navies and their commerce.

It should be noted that most of these missions would become active for any Punic country of some size, not just Carthage themselves.

NB: Apologies for the small pictures, Steam does not like large files. You can view full size pictures on our forum thread linked at the bottom of this post.


Aegis of Africa (Conquest)

Africa is the heart of the Carthaginian might, with its rich fertile farms and many Punic settlements. At the start your have a lot of small feudatories as well as the two large tribal vassals in Musulamia and Massylia. Historically the latter would go on to defect to Rome during the Second Punic War, and form a large kingdom threatening their weakened Punic neighbor.



For the mission tasks in this mission, you will mainly focus on integrating your many feudatories, and put an end to the tribal vassals at your borders. As for your larger Feudatories in Emporia and Tripolitania, their integration is set aside as optional mission tasks, giving the player the choice if you want to keep them as feudatories or not. As for the final task, you will be given the choice of two permanent bonuses.


An End to Sicillian Warfare (Conquest)

Sicily was a thorn in the side of Carthage, as the Greco-Punic wars for the island had already been an on-going thing for close to 200 years at this point. Just before the start date of Imperator Agathokles, the Greek Tyrant of Syracuse, had brought the war all the way to Africa and ravaged the Punic heartland.



The mission tasks for this mission is focused around completely conquering the island, and building up the ancient Phoenician cities on the island. In addition, early on you have a choice if you want to liberate or… “liberate” Akragas.



In the second half of the mission we have set aside some optional mission tasks to build some heavy ships, and for the player to be able to improve the wine and grain trade goods across the island. When finishing up the mission, you will be able to focus your efforts on integrating the area or to make a Feudatory that will be put in charge of the island.


The Iberian Struggle (Conquest)

The Phoenicians settled in southern Iberia several centuries before our start date, and by the time of the 3rd century BCE these areas had mostly fallen under Carthaginian influence. The Carthaginians would go on to take control of the rich silver mines of south-eastern Iberia, and the Roman occupation of the area played a decisive role in turning the tide of the Second Punic War.



For the mission tasks in the mission, you will focus on taking control of the silver mines in south-east Iberia, as well as setting up defenses in the nearby area. You will be able to move down two separate routes to either the mission task ‘Hispanic Overlord’ or ‘Rise of Carthago Nova’. The former will quell the unrest in the area, and the latter will make a new Colony subject named Carthago Nova who will gain control of your holdings in Iberia.




Aftermath of the Revolution (Infrastructure):

During the war with Agathokles Bomilcar was a leading commander, and some say a Suffete of Carthage, and one of the strongmen in charge of the state. It is said he was willing to let the Greeks run wild, in the hopes that he could overthrow the Carthaginian government and become a tyrant in his own right. Though his coup failed, the Carthaginian state was still shook for a long time by this unbecoming little revolt.



At the start of the game you will be able to pick up the pieces of the failed coup, and try to make your own mark on the Carthaginian government. You could either try to ally up with the Council of the 104 and turn the state more oligarchic, find like-minded among those who once took part in the revolution and turn more plutocratic, or strengthen the current system. The old “Mercenary Patron” decision has also been implemented as part of this mission, and removed as a decision.


Trade Investments (Infrastructure):

The Phoenicians were known as avid traders through most of the Antiquity, bringing goods from one end of the Mediterranean to the other, making quite a fortune while doing so. With the rise of Carthage in the west, they became the new overlords of the western trade routes, growing wealthy on the mines of Iberia and Sardinia.



The Trade Investments mission is fairly split up, with a lot of optional tasks you can choose to do. You can choose to build up your riches in Sardinia, set up another journey to explore the borders of Africa, or settle the Libyan desert. The main mission tasks include improving trade relations with Egypt or the Seleucids, and to improve the city of Carthage.


Naval Supremacy (Infrastructure):

The Phoenicians, and later on their Punic descendants, grew a certain reputation for dominating naval warfare. Unfounded or not, it is clear they had a lot of expertise at sea after setting up trade routes all across the Mediterranean.



The mission will focus on improving your navies, dominating the ports in Africa and expand the Cothon in Carthage (the old decision have been removed). An optional task will let you try to buy a port in Gaul, if you want to start looking that way. One of the benefits of the mission is that you can set a focus for all your ports in Africa, giving them a permanent military, commerce or assimilation bonus. There’s also an optional task to set up relations with your Phoenician ancestors to gain access to the great cedars of Phoenicia, to improve your ships.


Entering Magna Graecia (Conquest):

Magna Graecia was a patchwork of alliances, wars, and treaties between the Greek settlers, the locals, and the Italics coming down from the north. Though we never saw the Punics ever enter Magna Graecia with the exception of Hannibal’s campaigns, it made sense to give them a mission in the area if they were to take control of Sicily.



For the Magna Graecia mission you have an optional path all the way to the left, where you can choose to take a more… hands-on approach. Whereas for the rest of the missions, you can mostly do with increasing relations with the major port-owners in the area, and take specific cities. For the final missions, you can choose if you want to focus on approaching the Greeks, the Italics or simply focus on your own territories in the area.


End the Roman Wolf (Conquest):

Though Carthage and Rome were on friendly terms before the First Punic War, they ended up as the two major players in the western Mediterranean. As neither was willing to back down, they eventually up confronting one another, and after three brutal long wars, Rome was the only power left standing.



After you start the mission to beat Rome, you will have a main path to follow as well as one optional path. The optional path on the left will be based around beating the Roman navy, and potentially giving you access to the Rome-exclusive Corvus invention.

For the main path, you will be able to decide if you want to try and enter Italy from the north through Cisalpine Gaul or through Magna Graecia in the south.




In either case, you will be able to release cities in the area you focus on to fight Rome as well. And after you have finally subjugated or conquered Rome, you will be able to do with it as you see fit.


Liberating Phoenicia (Conquest):

The Phoenicians played an important role in bringing trade, inventions and ideas all across the Mediterranean, as well as settling colonies all across the southern and western parts of it. But in-spite of this, they were rarely independent, and often had to pay tribute to one overlord or another. If Carthage were to grow into a strong empire of their own, they might be able to return to their ancient homeland and liberate it from foreign forces.



For the mission, there is an optional path for taking and improving Cyprus to become a copper trade hub. Whereas the main path will focus on retaking core Phoenician lands, and the great cedar trees situated across Phoenicia. At the end of it, you will be able to release Phoenicia as a feudatory, or to take control of the area as a hegemon of the Phoenician cities.


Iberian Investments (Infrastructure):

After the Carthaginian conquest and subjugation of the Iberian tribes, a strong faction grew up around the city that would later be known as Carthago Nova. Particularly Hamilcar Barca and his sons took control of Iberia and made it their power-base, one that would later go on to attack Rome itself.



If you have finished up the Iberian Struggle mission, you will potentially be given the option of building up the infrastructure of Iberia to secure the wealthy lands. The mission is based around the Barcid family’s rise to fame, and you will see Hamilcar and his sons play an important role in it.


I hope you enjoyed this little preview into the Carthaginian missions! Next week we’ll take a look at the savages in Rome, and what kind of missions they’ll be getting.

To discuss this diary further or to see full size pictures, you can view the thread on our forums here.

Unfortunately last week we had some technical difficulties with Steam posts, but the development diary for last week can still be read on our forums here!

We have worked quite diligently since our Cicero Update! The Livy Update is making progress and along it will come the free Punic Wars Content Pack! We shall now go back to building an even greater Rome! More information below!

When the rulers of Messana invited Roman protection for their Sicilian city, they could not have expected that they were igniting a fierce rivalry that would set the Western Mediterranean aflame for over a century. Carthage had traditionally seen Sicily as its sphere of influence and it could accept no equal on the island. Rome and Carthage would go to war in 265 BC, in the first of three wars that would finally end with the sack of Carthage in 146 BC.



This free content pack for Imperator: Rome includes new events and units models to illustrate the greatest wars of the classical age - the superpower showdown between the nascent Roman Republic, and the established Carthaginian Empire.

The Punic Wars content pack includes:

• Roman Mission Pack: Ten unique mission trees for the star of Imperator: Rome to guide your conquest of Italy and neighboring regions.
  
• Carthaginian Mission Pack: Ten unique mission trees for the children of Tyre to help you plan your mercantile and military dominance of Africa, Spain and the rest of the west.
  
• Numidian Unit Model: New army model for the Numidians, North Africans often hired as mercenaries by larger powers.
  
• Carthaginian Ship Model: A unique ship design for Carthaginian navies.
  
• New Music: Three additional music tracks to soothe your conquering soul.

The most recent update to Imperator: Rome is named for Titus Livius, the Roman historian whose work was the foundation of schoolboy learning well into the modern age. His wrote stories about heroic Romans like Horatius, Camillus and Decius laying the foundation of a great city, providing role models for centuries.

The Free 1.3 Livy Update to Imperator: Rome is also concerned with characters and how they create lasting legacies, drawing you into the drama of history being written before your eyes.

• Character Experience System: The more characters are asked to do, the better they become. Cultivate young talent as they climb the ranks, with new events for experienced statesmen.
  
• Family System Reworked: Fewer families to track, but great families are more important. Watch their fortunes rise and fall as they accumulate prestige.
  
• Procedurally Generated Missions: New mission system produces contextual goals and rewards that reflect your current situation.
  
• Improved Map: Greater detail for some map locations including Sicily, the British Isles, parts of Greece and the Baltic region.
  
• Map Mode Manager: New map mode manager lets you customize the manager menu so it emphasizes maps you rely on.
  
• Inferno Graphics: The drama of war is now illustrated on map, as cities burn while under attack.
  
• And much more: The Livy add-on will include other changes that will be announced in coming weeks.

Hi, and welcome to another dev diary for Imperator: Rome!

As one of the major features in the 1.3 Livy update, we wanted to address objective and direction.

We had discussed the possibility of a mission system well before release, but had not been happy with any of the designs that we considered. There were several key points that we felt (for legitimate reasons), hadn’t really been covered by similar systems in our sister-titles, and we felt strongly that I:R should have it’s own, unique system.

Firstly, we wanted to ensure that any iteration of a mission system avoided rail-roading the player into playing the game in the same way each time (with any given nation), and secondly, that the player did not only complete tasks, but that the tasks and missions would drive story, both for the intended target, and within the local region.

What we came up with, was a system in which we would write mission ‘blocks’, if you will, which covered compact geographic areas or distinct subject matter, and of which the player had an array to choose from. For example, Rome may be presented with the initial choice to focus on uniting Italia, or instead choosing a mission to develop the land they already own, or turn to the south and deal with Magna Graecia.



Each of these mission blocks will be self-contained, and are intended to tell a bit of a story alongside the expected mission fare. Missions will appear as dynamically generated flow-trees, and contain a variety of tasks including timed tasks akin to focus trees, and objectives requiring conditions to be fulfilled.

With the relative power of the scripting tools available to us, we’ve been able to create a series of highly procedural missions with varying objectives and task branches, which will react to the situation in which a nation finds itself, and which should maintain a basic feeling of individuality each time they are selected. This idea of ‘generic’ missions, if you will, is an inevitability while the mission system is in its infancy, but should provide enough variety as to prevent every nation from feeling directly comparable.



Of course, we are working on a great set of story missions, and one of the primary focuses of these is to provide a sense of regional narrative. A mission for Rome which deals with Sicily, for example, will contain a great deal of regional involvement; for the primary antagonists as well as for nations close by, but incidental to the greater conflict. Our story missions are just that; stories intended to allow a player to pick chapters appropriate to their interests, in which to immerse themselves.

We’ll cover a bit more about our story missions in the near future, so stay tuned, and I’ll do my best to cover any questions that you have about the upcoming systems!

/Arheo

You can discuss today's diary on our forums here.

Hello everyone and welcome back to another Development Diary for Imperator Rome. It is now almost two weeks since we released the Cicero update, and we are now starting to be able to talk about what will come in the Livy update which is planned for later this year.

Let’s start by digging deep into a mechanic that has not seen much change in the last 15 years of PDS gamnes.

The reinforcement mechanic of Imperator is basically the same as EU3 has, which every game since then, from Victoria 2 to HoI4, have used. You lose soldiers to combat and attrition, and slowly recover them from your manpower pool, with a speed that depends on multiple factors.

In the Livy update, this all changes.

• Armies will consume food, and they will be able to carry food with them.
  
• Elephants will not require more food than they can carry, while Camels can carry more.
  
• Different units have different food consumption values.
  
• New Unit Type called Supply Train that can carry much more food, but are slow and abysmal in combat.
  
• Armies stock up on food supply in their own territory, or in territory where they have taken control of the provincial capital.
  
• Armies no longer lose soldiers to normal attrition.
  
• Attrition now drains the food supply of an army, with high attrition increasing this.
  
• Armies without food loses about 5% of its strength each month.
  
• Your armies can ONLY reinforce when they are not taking attrition.

This gives the following benefits to the game experience.

• AI is better at handling this situation with regards to manpower.
  
• You will actually be able to lose sieges, as you can run out of food, and lose enough troops.
  
• A deeper and more immersive warfare.
  
• You will have more control over your manpower.

One thing that fans of the Crusader Kings series recognise and have been requesting since they first saw the game, is the ability to name your rulers children. In Livy, the popup for newborns for your ruler will allow you to edit the name to anything you want.



Another Quality of Life option which have been requested, that is also being added to Livy is the possibility for you to see what trait your ruler would gain or lose from an event, and be able to to tooltip the icon to show the impact.



Stay tuned for next week, when my padawan Peter Nicholson will explain what the new button in the top screen is for.

You can read and discuss the original post on our forums here.

The “Cicero” update to Imperator: Rome makes a number of dramatic changes to the core game, letting the player focus on political consequences and imperial governance instead of waiting for numbers to grow. Provincial populations can now be nudged towards assimilation, but are mostly autonomous in their preferences. Provinces themselves can be developed along a range of settlement sizes, according to your priorities and wealth.

The political and military games have also been enhanced. Advisor loyalty will affect how flexible you are in meeting new political challenges, and balancing the competing factions in your empire will be important in new ways. Your armies must gain experience in order to adopt new traditions, but that might mean risky wars or expensive drilling.

In all, “Cicero” is an attempt to see if new game design ideas can work in one of our favorite settings.



Deeper Province Management

• Develop settlements in the provinces, founding new cities or establishing great metropolises at the center of your empire
  
• 17 unique buildings to enhance provincial wealth and capabilities
  
• Population development, migration and conversion now happen dynamically
  
• Food may be stored in a province and depleted over time. Save grain for a coming crisis or starve an enemy into submission.

Challenging Political Game

• Monarch power replaced by Political Influence, a store of value based on the loyalty of your advisors. Ruler skills now affect national capabilities, not specific actions.
  
• Each form of government must consider trade-offs when passing new laws. Republics must consider the balance of their factions, while Monarchies risk pitting generals against governors.

Greater variety in nations

• Unique national heritages for each culture, reflecting historic strengths and priorities
  
• Unique inventions for many nations
  
• New events and flavor interactions, many tied to the nation you are playing
  
• New Ways of War
  
• Revamped the military traditions available to each culture
  
• Unlock these traditions with Military Experience, which can be earned incrementally or through combat and peace time drilling.
  
• Changes to the AI promote conflict between the non-human controlled nations, making a more dynamic and dangerous world, especially in the endgame.

Salvete Citizens,

Today we bring you no development diary. Instead, our august conscript fathers bade me convey to you, people of Rome, that the update eponymously titled after our comrade Marcus Tullius Cicero is to be released to you upon the morrow.

Indeed, the senate has sent an envoy to further detail the great works achieved in the Cicero update - click below to listen to his rhetoric.



Furthermore, details of the features and ephemera present in the Cicero update can be found here:

###################
# New Features
###################

- You can now disband loyal cohorts, for double the cost, but those loyal cohorts will turn into "veteran cohorts" for that character that impact their powerbase, and will be raised as experienced cohorts if that character revolts.
- Pops now no longer instantly promote or demote to another type, assimilate their culture or convert their religion. All of these changes will now instead happen over time due to a combination of factors that you can speed up through government policies and other actions. An overview for current changes underway in a city can be opened from the city interface.
- Pops now migrate over time to neighboring cities, cities in the same province, or between provinces with a port in your empire. Manual movement of pops is now only possible for Slaves and Tribesmen (if you are a Tribe).
- Monarch power has been removed as a concept. Instead mechanics have been changed to happen over time, use other currencies or opportunity cost. A new currency, Political Influence, is now generated by loyal members of your Government over time. Political Influence will be used to perform actions directly relating to your country's government such as selecting National Ideas or implementing Laws.
- Reworked Experience. Unit Experience no longer decays from losses in combat but instead decays over time. All armies now have access to the Drill ability which will increase their cost and loyalty gain chance while allowing them to build up experience.
- Reworked Military Traditions. Military traditions are now acquired using Military Experience, a countrywide value that measures the degree of Military Experience your country has built up. Military Experience increases from your average cohort experience and War Exhaustion, where reliance on mercenaries reduce the speed it accumulates by.
- Split cities into Cities, Settlements and Metropolises, collectively known as territories. Only Cities and Metropolises are now represented by 3D buildings on the map.
- Settlement is the basic owned territorial unit. A settlement has lower population cap than a city and can only have one building. Settlement buildings are different from those available in cities and focus more on production and output. In a settlement the population will trend towards being slaves or tribesmen (if owned by a tribe).
- A city can be founded in a settlement for a cost of Gold and Political Influence. A city can have multiple buildings and will have a higher population cap than a settlement. In cities more slaves are required to produce surplus goods, and over time pops will be more likely to become Citizens or Freemen.
- A Metropolis can be upgraded from a provincial capital city with high population. City buildings are still available but it will have a higher migration attraction, and more building slots than a city.
- A City or Metropolis can be turned back into a settlement for a cost of Tyranny, this costs less Tyranny for Tribes.
- Added 11 new building types, to create more depth to develop your cities,
- Added 5 new buildings for Settlements.
- Fabricating claims is no longer instant, instead it is done over time.
- A new character interaction to bestow a regional nickname on governors has been added.
- A new character interaction to impose corruption sanctions on a character has been added, reducing their corruption at a cost of loyalty and tyranny.
- Food is now produced in all owned territories, the amount is dependent on the local terrain. Food is consumed by Pops and Military units that would otherwise take attrition. Any surplus food is stored in the Province. A large food store will increase population growth and local defensiveness. A depleted food storage results in starvation and lowered defensiveness.
- Surplus Trade Goods can now also generate food, these can be imported to feed big cities.
- Added a new governor policy: Harsh Treatment, reducing migration attraction and population output, in return for higher provincial loyalty.
- Added a version of the War Council government interaction for Republics.
- Added a Curiate Assembly government interaction for Republics.
- All Republic Laws reworked, with certain categories unlock from tech.
- All Monarchy Laws reworked, with certain categories unlock from tech.
- All Tribal Laws reworked, unlocked by certain Centralization thresholds.

###################
# Gamebalance
###################

# Economy

- Each Holding now gives a boost to commerce income in the city in which they are situated.
- Economic Policy for Wages now only affect those characters that are getting wages.
- Economic Policy for Wages reduced to 0.05 loyalty when increased, down from 0.1.
- Building cost inventions previously targeting specific buildings are converted to -0.05 build_cost, with the exception of Granaries.
- All traits yielding build_cost are now -0.05 build_cost from -0.1
- Aqueducts now require civ of 30.
- Mercantile Diplomatic Stance now reduces Trade Route creation cost by 40% instead of 25%.
- Reduced price of province investments.
- Increased effect of Military Province investment.
- Removed the free Capital Trade Route for all countries, instead the mid setting for Trade taxation will now provide 1 extra capital Trade Route.
- Increased effect of Military Province investment.
- Reduced price of province investments.

# Governments

- The higher Government ranks now increases Political Influence gain.
- Ruler Martial now increases Manpower Recovery Speed & Army Morale Recovery.
- Ruler Finesse now increases National Commerce Income & reduce Build Cost.
- Ruler Charisma now increases Tyranny Reduction and Claim Fabrication Speed.
- Ruler Zeal now increases Monthly Stability Growth and War Exhaustion Reduction.
- Disloyal Characters are less likely to be elected in a Republic, as the Senate is less likely to trust them.
- Standardized Construction idea reduced to -0.2 build cost and speed from -0.3
- Consort or Co-Ruler will now use their finesse instead of rulers for governor policies, if higher.
- Populists no longer block PI gain, but instead has a -33% modifier to its gain.
- Finesse impact on governors reduced from 5% to 2.5%.
- All laws affecting pop ratios now only affect Cities and Metropolises.
- Last 2 tribal laws in the Centralization path now grant 5 Civilization capacity instead of poptype happiness.
- Laws now only reduce stability by 15 when changed.

# Characters

- Popularity from Naval Combat is now 10% of before.
- Tweaked down popularity gain from combat further.
- Families now keep track of how many children they have in total.
- Courtsize limit lowered to 120
- Foreign characters will now have less children.
- Families with less than 4 current children will now be allowed more children.
- Commanders now earn more gold and popularity from taking cities.
- Frequency of disloyalty schemes has been increased
- Magnitude of disloyalty schemes has been increased
- A country will never assume to have less than 5 holdings when calculating powerbase from holdings.
- A disloyal character will no longer get wages from the government.
- Ruler Popularity now impacts clan chief loyalty in tribes.
- The Ruler of a Tribe will no longer make or keep retinues.
- High Wages economic policy now increases loyalty by 0.05 per month (down from 0.1) and the loyalty is only applied to characters gaining a wage.
- Characters with prominence will now lose all prominence on leaving the country, with the exception of olympic competitors.
- Popularity of characters moving country is halved.
- Cautious Personality now gives better morale recovery and reinforcement times on commanded units.

# Units

- Popularity from naval combat is no longer 1% of what it should be.
- Cohorts loyal to a rebel commander, but not in their current army will be disbanded at the start of a civil war, and turned into veteran cohorts for that commander.
- You can now move regular cohorts loyal to a character to another unit. (merge, split, transfer, detach..)
- You can now assign units to the capital region.
- Morale from Military Experience reduced by 10x
- Migrant units no longer have any maintenance costs.
- Price of Chariots reduced from 8 to 6.
- Heavy Cavalry now does more damage to light cavalry and camels.
- Heavy Cavalry price reduced from 15 to 10, but build time has increased from 60 to 120.
- Archers now have +10% versus Heavy Infantry.
- Increased Price of Light Cavalry from 6 to 7.
- Reduced Mercenary Maintenance from +300% to +25%.
- Latin Traditions are now slightly weaker in their Light Infantry Bonuses.
- Boosted some of the Barbarian Traditions for Light Infantry and Chariots.
- Increased Siege impact on experience by x10.
- Horse Archers now take extra Morale Damage.
- Building roads now reduce movement by 75% instead of 90%.
- Mega Polyremes and Octeres no longer take less strength damage.
- Greatly increased experience gain from combat.
- Tweaked naval combat strength damage to be notably more significant.

# War & Peace

- Powerbase for Subject Loyalty is based around loyal cohorts, not total population compared.
- It is no longer possible to demand gold as part of a peace treaty.
- Experience from combat increased by 10X
- Fabricate Claims now costs 20 Political Influence
- A migrant horde without provinces at peace can declare a war even if at low stability.
- Pirate Raids slightly less frequent.
- Increased the war score from battles significantly, as well as the maximum warscore from battles.
- Liberated nations now get a truce from their former occupier.
- Added beneficial loyalty modifier after civil wars end.
- Pillage now grants treasury based on unit eight and location population.

# Technology

- Invention costs are now based on cost of X gold per pop in your country.
- Inventions no longer improve research speed.
- "Prestigious Trade Goods" invention now increases export value instead of lowering Trade Route cost.
- "Regulated Money Lenders" invention now increases import value instead of Global Commerce.
- Material Science Invention now reduces army unit weight.
- Added a number of country specific inventions.
Martial technology now increases maintenance costs by 3% per level, from 2%. Civic tech no longer reduces wage modifier.

# Religions

- Bon Religion bonus reduced to -0.1 build_cost from -0.15
- Canaanite Religion bonus is now reduced Naval Maintenance Cost.
- Zoroastrian Religion bonus is now reduced Army Maintenance Cost.
- Khaldic Religion bonus is now 10% Freeman Output instead of 5%.
- Iberic Religion bonus increased to 10% Global Import value.
- Heptadic Religion is now increased Cohort Starting Experience.
- All Omens that gave population growth now give increased food output.

# Traditions

- Agema Military Tradition now reduces Heavy Cavalry Cost.
- Greek Tradition bonuses to mountains now instead apply to hills.
- Levantine traditions now give 10% Naval morale instead of 5% (so in line with other traditions).
- March of the Eagles (+10% Land Morale) is now a finisher for latin tradition countries.
- North African Traditions now reduce War Elephant Cost.
- Triplex Acies Tactic now available as second tradition for latin countries.

#National Ideas

- State Religion now grants +5 Civilization capacity (from 10).
- Central urban Spaces now give 5% province loyalty instead of 3%.
- City Planning now gives 25% population capacity instead of building slots in cities.
- Discount from standard construction is now 15% (down from 20%).
- Grain Stockpile now increases food output and food capacity instead of population Growth.
- Institutional Proselytism now increases pop conversion speed.
- Siege ability from Siege Training is now 15% (up from 10%).

# Heritages

- Tartessian heritage now increases build cost by 5% instead of 10%.
- Thracian heritage now reduces Civic Provincial Investment cost by 10% instead of 1%.
- Byblos heritage now reduces Pop Assimilation Speed instead of Manpower Recovery Speed.
- Arvernian Heritage now reduces Heavy Infantry Maintenance instead of Slaves needed for Surplus.
- Rural Heritage now decreases cost to found cities instead of the cost to build roads.
- Armenian Heritage now reduces subject opinion instead of siege speed and increases manpower recovery speed instead of Hostile Attrition.
- Seleukos heritage now increases ruler popularity gain by 0.04 instead of 0.02.
- Ptolemaios heritage now decreases population assimilation instead of reducing diplomatic reputation.
- Added Kushite Heritage.
- Added Dahae Heritage.
- Added Helot Heritage.
- Added Kalingan Heritage.
- Added Nabatean Heritage.

# Territories & Provinces

- Governor Policies is now scaled by the finesse of the governor / ruler.
- High Unrest no longer blocks you from building units or build buildings in a province, only disloyal does.
- Migration logic will not move pops to a city where it would make it go over the cap.
- Move Capital no longer costs vast amounts of political influence
- Encourage Trade reduced to 25% base commerce income, but now provides 10% local monthly food modifier.
- Farmland changed to 50% population capacity modifier instead of 20 population capacity

# Mercenaries

- Halved the mercenary debt threshold for recruiting.

# Pops

- You can now enslave population in cities protected by Zone of Control as well, but there is an internal cooldown of about 5 years.
- Non-Tribes will "promote" tribesmen to slaves if they have more than enough freemen.
- Pop Migrations will not swarm the same place, as each incoming pop reduces target migration value internally by -0.5 at evaluation.
- Slaves will no longer be sent to cities that are at their population capacity limit. Instead slaves will be spread out to other nearby cities.
- Slaves now produce more gold.
- Tribes have less happiness penalties with other cultures.
- Slaves will not migrate on their own.
- Slaves will not promote if that would mean you would lose a goods produced, in cities where all holdings are assigned.
- Slaves may promote to tribesmen in tribes.
- Pops of wrong religion are slower to assimilate.
- Pops of wrong culture are slower to convert.
- Different Poptypes now have individual speeds for assimilation, conversion, promotion, demotion, growing and migrating.
- Overpopulation no longer reduces Population Growth, instead it reduces migration attraction and Pop Happiness.
- Starvation now more harmful to Population Growth.
- Climate now has a smaller effect on Population Capacity but also affects Food Output.
- Base conversion and assimilation speed for all pop types reduced.
- Penalty for wrong dominant culture/religion to action speed reduced.
- Pop capacity now scales per missing pop.
- Starvation now affects total population capacity. Overpopulation now reduces population growth by a small amount per overpopulation

# Tradegoods

- Furs export and capital bonus changed to -0.5% experience_decay, from starting experience.
- Marble now increases Civilization Value instead of loyalty, which precious metals already does.
- Removed Growth Category for Trade Good, replaced it with a Food category.
- Surplus of Grain, Fish, Livestock and Vegetables now generates food.
- Salt now increases Population Capacity locally, Surplus of Salt increases Food Storage Capacity.

#Buildings

- Fortresses, works as before but can be built in any type of territory (only 1 level in a settlement).
- Settlement: All Settlement buildings increase population capacity by 25%
- Settlement: Barracks increase desired Freemen ratio to around 75%, as well as freemen happiness and manpower by 20%.
- Settlement: Slave Estate Increases Monthly Food Output by 50%, as well as Slave Output by 40%.
- Settlement: Mines can be built in Settlements that produce Marble, Stone, Precious Metals, Base Metals or Iron and will decrease the needed slaves for producing trade good surplus by 5.
- Settlement: Farming Settlements can be built where Grain, Fish, Vegetables and Livestock exists and increases Food output by 50% and reduces slaves needed for producing trade good surplus by 5.
- Settlement: Tribal Settlement increases Tribesman happiness by 20% and their output by 40%.
- Settlement: Provincial Legation increases Migration Speed by 75% and assimilation speed by 0.2.
- City: Training Camps Increase Local manpower by 10%
- City: Foundry Increases Unit Starting Experience by 5, increases local ship building and recruit speed by 10%
- City: Markets increase Local Commerce by 25%
- City: Tax Offices Increase Local Tax by 10%
- City: Courts of Law Increase Monthly state loyalty by 0.02
- City: Academy increases Research points Generation by 2.5% and Pop Promotion Speed by 0.5.
- City: Granaries increase Maximum Food Storage Capacity by 200.
- City: Libraries increase Citizen Happiness by 3% and Desired Citizen Ratio in the city by 0.06.
- City: Forums increases Freemen Happiness by 3% and Desired Freemen Ratio in the city by 0.06.
- City: Mills increases Slave Happiness by 3% and Slave Output by 3% and Desired Slave Ratio in city by 0.06.
- City: Temples increases Happiness for State Religion Pops by 3% and Conversion Speed by 1.
- City: Theatres increase Happiness for State Culture Pops by 3% and Assimilation Speed by 1.
- City: Aqueducts increases population capacity by 4.

###################
# AI
###################

# Economy

- AI will consider building economic buildings where appropriate based on scripted weights.
- AI will consider changing governor policies periodically based on province needs.

# Diplomacy

- Rewrote defensive league formation logic, they will now primarily grow in response to a common threat.

# Military

- AI will now assault given breaches and sufficient manpower.
- Build ships to navy now will build using naval distance for prioritization.

# Misc

- AI will no longer trade away food if it would cause them to starve.
- AI monarchies will no longer demand that characters support their heir, even when they already did so.

- Ai will prioritise disloyal high powerbase characters more with bribes.

# Antagonist System

- Countries can now be defined as Antagonists, which gives them mechanical benefits against other AI countries, and also higher bonuses at higher game-difficulties.
- Rome, Carthage, Macedon, Thrace, Parnia & Arverni are now Antagonists.
- Remove deprecated "lucky_nation" bonus for Rome, Bactria and Parnia.
- All antagonists use the previous Roman Aggressiveness.

###################
# Interface
###################

# Alerts

- Alertmanager tooltip for disloyal characters now have more information about the powerbase.
- You now get an alert if you have free idea slots.

# Map

- Added a pirate haven indicator to provinces with pirate havens in the barbarian, diplomatic, trade and trade route map modes.
- Made claim stripes yellow in diplomatic mapmode.

# Misc

- Default for trade options is now auto-accept trade, and never give up capital surplus.
- Reworked Buildings Interface.
- View Pops screen now changes to another province when you click on the map.
- View Pops Interface now shows the current pop ratio and desired ratio of pops.
- Trade Interface reworked with more information and a sortable list of trade routes.
- New Technology popups will now list what inventions were unlocked.
- Legitimacy and Centralization is now shown in the top bar for countries that have them.
- You can now detach damaged ships from a fleet with one button press.
- All characters with a power base will now be considered as relevant for the disloyal characters in outliner and alert.
- Added two columns for religious and cultural unity for provinces in the ledger.
- Made the event window slightly less squished.
- Policy Window now fits all policies again without a scrollbar.
- Added sort buttons to the family view.
- The total unit strength is now displayed when you have multiple units selected.
- Improved tooltips for colonising.
- Added outliner category for city building/improvement.
- Clicking the top bar resources will now open the corresponding interface.
- The total unit strength is now displayed when you have multiple units selected.
- Naval mercs are now sorted by naval distance in the Mercenaries Screen.
- Added confirmation window when loading savegame with different version.
- Game now uses steam rich presence to show information to your friends.
- Will now show that a save game is from a different game version.

##############################
# User Modding
##############################

# New Functionality

- Prices can now be scripted to be based on "gold_per_pop".
- Territory types can be fully scripted.

# Effects

- Added 'add_loyal_veterans' effect for character scope.

# Triggers

- Added 'num_loyal_veterans' trigger for character scope.
- Added state_level_loyalty trigger on state scope.
- Added has_low_economic_policy, has_mid_economic_policy & has_high_economic_policy triggers.
- Added 'is_antagonist' trigger for country scope.
- Added state level loyalty trigger.

# Other

- Buildings can now get scripted triggers to limit them from being built
- Buildings can now get scripted triggers to limit them from being shown in the build interface as well.
- Inventions can now get scripted triggers to limit them.
- UI can now use big terrain icons.
- All triggers and effects can be printed to your documents folder using the console command ‘script_docs’ (you will need to be in debug mode to access the console)

###################
# Setup & Script
###################

# Decisions

- Rome now changes to Roman Empire if Imperial government is adopted.
- The "A Mediterrenean Capital" decision now moves your capital for you and gives a better modifier than before to the new capital.

# Events

- Roman flavor events added, pertaining to schisms and significant civil wars.
- Unpopular consuls will now trigger various adverse events on election.
- High power base characters will now be eligible for various event chains reducing their loyalty and affecting internal stability.
- New consorts will no longer rival themselves in Discreditable Dalliance and Indecent Affair chains.
- Fixed military character triggers in military co-consul chain.
- Stopped consorts demanding offices.
- Increased cooldown of Bureaucratic Issues event from 5 years to 25.
- Fixed chance of duplicate characters in Debt Bondage Scandal event.
- Reduced harshness of modifiers in Incendiary Slave event.
- Fixed missing event picture in a trial event.
- Fixed imprisoned characters being scapegoats in trials or appearing in mediation events.
- Fixed A Venomous Tongue firing for already disloyal provinces.
- Fixed names of cities in Diadochi startup events.
- Made Eager Consort and In Good Hands chains mutually exclusive.
- Removed some charisma from the Incendiary Slave.
- Rebalanced the Earthquakes so the killed numbers of pop should be more correct to the amount given in the tooltip, and reduced the cost of paying to take care of the affected provinces.
- Prove Legitimacy interaction now gives bloodlines to character's descendents, if discovered.
- Added event chain to marriage proposals.
- Added several Roman flavor events with a civil-war theme.
- Caught Red Handed correctly reduces loyalty on imprisoned character, preventing exploits.
- Reduced frequency of Caught Red Handed character scheme.
- Peace for the eastern satrapies now also applies a truce with all Seleucid subject states.
- City event that speaks of storm is now connected to having a storm.

# Setup

- Greekified Greek names, family names, nicknames, and regnal names for everyone except Alexander the Great.
- Added Nikaia, Pleistarchos, and Alexarchos Antipatrid (siblings of Kassandros).
- Added Arsinoe, and Eurydike (daughters of Lysimachos).
- Added Blood the Argeads trait to children of Kassandros and Thessalonike (Philippos, Alexandros, Antipatros).
- Fixed family name of Apama Sogdianid (Seleukos' wife).
- Tweaked Numidian Kings event for Carthage.
- Fixed starting Centralization of Massaesylia, Massylia, Musulamia, and Pontus (from 0 to 50)
- Mithridatids are now Median.
- Created more starting trade routes for Carthage, Macedon, Thrace, Athens and Syracuse.
- Kios is now Bithynian country culture.
- Egypt now starts with Levantine Traditions.
- The starting great men of the era now have slightly more exceptional stats.
- Added some more starting characters to the Seleucid Empire.
- There are now more greek settlements in the Seleucid Empire.

# Map

- Added more dynamic city names, removed duplicates, and fixed some anachronistic city names.
- Changed Epirus starting capital to Passaron.
- Changed Euobean starting capital to Karystos.
- Changed Karystos trade good to marble to represent Cipollino/marmor carystium.
- Tweaked starting roads in Jharkhand/east Maurya.

#######################
# Bugfixes
######################


# Stability & Performance

- Fixed a rare crash in longer games.
- Fixed crash when killing ships with boarded cohorts.
- Fixed a rare crash when selecting event options.
- Fixed crash in mercenary view on MacOS.
- Fixed issue where the game looks unresponsive while loading the game.
- Fixed potential crash when doing peace treaties.
- Optimizated map drawing of cities and reduced memory usage.
- Made UI checking for available decisions much faster.
- Multithreaded updating of city graphics (units, wonders etc).
- Save files are much smaller now by default.
- Fixed case where we kept updating map icons zoomed out.
- Reduce daily update for spouse death to improve performance. Only check for spouse death on death of a character.
- Fixed crash when trying to read a savegame in some causes
- Improved fixedpoint64 implementation.
- Implemented parallel writing of savegames.
- Fix for making sure onactions with a single effect still can be called 'delayed'.

# Multiplayer & Out of Syncs

- Fixed rare on-action related OOS.
- Fixed potential characters OOS.
- Fixed rare OOS caused by wonders.
- Fixed rare crash in longer games.
- Fixed rare crash when revolts failed.
- Fixed rare crash when selecting event options.
- Added crossplay functionality for microsoft store.

# Script and Events

- Made Eager Consort and In Good Hands mutually exclusive.
- Consorts will no longer demand offices.
- Characters will now correctly become Foreign Citizens upon moving country.
- Grant stipends no longer charges twice.
- Seize Assets now reduces loyalty of characters, military colonies checks that province has an owner, and governor policy tooltip no longer displays number of tribesmen promoted.


# Game Mechanic Bugs

- A bug where local modifiers sometimes did not count (also known as Marketplaces do nothing) has been fixed.
- Units assigned to a Regional Governor will now use their combat tactics in battle.
- Clan chiefs will no longer start as another position.
- Fixed a few bugs where the game had hardcoded 1000 instead of the Cohort_size define.
- Cost Changes for Declaring Wars now work, aka no-cb-wars-omen etc.
- Can no longer attempt ransom prisoner from char interactions if at war.
- Lack of Governor will no longer upset pops that governor is of a different religion called "".
- Hordes can no longer accumulate negative loot.
- Migrations now use migrating speed and not conversion speed for pops.
- Pops will no longer migrate into Volcanos or Wastelands.
- Mercenaries are no longer caught in an endless loop between two cities after employment.
- Imprisoned disloyal characters can no longer start a civil war.
- Fixed city dominant culture not being recalculated as it should.
- It's no longer possible to abort assaults by retreat.
- Fixed a rare crash when revolts failed.
- Fixed bug where it was possible to disband navies in the lobby.
- Fixed bug where re-colonizing a city would clear any permanent modifiers.
- Fixed right flanking units attack the left most unit instead of right most unit.
- Navy combat now respects flanks and properly uses flanking units
- There are no longer child country rulers at start of the game.
- Declaring war on a country which has allies with whom you are fighting together, won't pull them in that war.
- Fixed bug where shattered retreating unit was stopped from passing through non-friendly territory, causing odd ping-pong behaviour.
- Subjects will now join their overlord in war when using the threaten war action.


# Text & UX

- Peace Treaties tooltips will now say who will get the AE.
- Invalid Characters will be removed from character target selection.
- Heritage in Ledger is now sorted by name, not by internal index.
- Now only shows 2 decimals for Unit Weight in attrition tooltip.
- Fixed the detach siege tooltip when all are loyal.
- Improved tooltip for Garrisons in cityview.
- Build Ships UI no longer resets to army when clicking on another port.
- Fixed bug where building progress was not displayed when building buildings.
- Fixed gov policy tooltips for decentralize and centralize.
- Fixed disloyal characters appearing twice in alert.
- Fixed attrition not being displayed correctly in multi-unit selection view.
- Fixed trade route cost tooltip lacking the cost icon.
- The mercenary view will now update as new mercenaries are created or destroyed while open.
- Fixed case where alliance was preferred over being at war in diplomacy mapmode.
- Fixed ship selection circle sometimes remaining on the map after the ship had been moved to a port.
- Fixed superfluous 'our' in the tooltip for the Subjugative diplomatic stance.
- Fixed trade route cost tooltip lacking the cost icon.
- Replaced the work 'Rank' with rank icon in diplomacy interface nation list.
- The Support Rebels (Apoyar a rebeldes) diplomatic action should now properly show up under the Covert Actions (Acciones encubiertas) category when using Spanish language setting.
- The mercenary view will now update as new mercenaries are created or destroyed while open.
- Tooltip for Abort Rebel Support now properly shows the name of the target country.
- Commerce income tooltip now counts bonuses granted by trade.

# Misc

- DLCs which don't affect the checksum are no longer required to load saves.
- Enabling debug mode will now recalculate the version checksum.
- Fixed bald characters sometimes growing their hair back.
- Fixed global script variables not being updated.
- Fixed ship selection circle sometimes remaining on the map after the ship had been moved to a port.
- Fixed case where AI would sometimes not run logic for certain armies.
- No more overwriting ideas when game is in tutorial mode when you load a save.
- Revanchism is now localized.

Hello and welcome to today development diary for Imperator: Rome!


I’m Carlberg, the Art Lead on Imperator, and today we’re going to have a look at some of the visual changes that we’ve done to 1.2 Cicero. It’s also going to be a bit of a retrospective at some of the visual additions since release as well, and our thoughts behind them.

New Interfaces and UX
As shown in earlier DD’s we’ve been working on improving our interfaces. This is a collaborative effort between our 2D artists and UX designer to make sure each window becomes more easily readable and contain the information you might need at a glance. In the case of our province view for example some information that wasn't as necessary was moved out, and more important information moved in from other interfaces to make sure it's closer at hand.



The new building icons were another area where we sought to increase the clarity, as the previous icons were small and unclear. When we added the new set of buildings we made sure that they and the old ones had a more iconic look and easier silhouette to read. This includes both the new set of buildings for settlements and for cities/metropolises.



In general we’re looking at making our interfaces more clear and streamlined. It’s a bit of a balance we need to strike between having information readily available, but it shouldn't be so cluttered that it’s hard to actually discern. This is of course an ongoing process and will continue past 1.2 Cicero.


Curtailed Fog
As we got to hear from a lot of people after release, the fog was too strong. So much so that a mod popped up that went in and removed it completely. We definitely agreed it was too much and dialed it back. The before and after images below will give you a good idea of the change to bring more clarity to the world.



The fog became a problem when the game camera was at certain angles and just overall. We made sure that it’d look better at all zoom levels and just play a role in the background, for areas much further away in the distance.


Progressing civilization
In 1.2 we dialed back the amount of visual cities in the world to create a more stark contrast between sparsely settled provinces and large bustling cities. This also makes the growth of cities and civilization stand out more in the world.



A living world
Starting in 1.1 we’ve been adding more of what we call dynamic objects to the world. These come in the form of constructible wonders, storms, volcanic eruptions and the like. They are ways for us to show the progress of the classical states, as well as the uncaring nature of the elements and the world itself.



We aim to add more dynamic aspects to the world in the future, and it should also open up the avenue for our modders to add interesting things to the world as well.


Seagulls
So as some may have spotted, and we have noted earlier, is that now all the ports in the game have seagulls flying overhead. This is not merely for aesthetics but also a sign that the territory is a potential port location.

Deepwater ports were hard to construct in this era, the Romans did, but more so during the Imperial era. Most states instead had to rely on using naturally occurring deepwater for their ports. So now, even if a territory is uncolonized, these seagulls will be flying overhead as a telltale sign of the natural harbor location.




Visualizing the Future
Going forward we aim to add more interesting aspects to the world to tell the state of your empires, or what might afflict them. A more living world we will all enjoy conquering.

Some of the things on the horizon I’m burning to show you, but those will have to wait until they’re ready for showing.

That’s it for this weeks Dev Diary!

To discuss the diary further you can view the original post on our forums here.

Join us today at 14:00 CEST for a special Q&A session with content designer Peter Nicholson, answering questions that you, the players, have submitted to us! You can watch us on Twitch when we go live here!

Hello and welcome to another development diary for Imperator:Rome!

Most of us are hard at work finishing up the 1.2 Cicero update, fixing things found in the open beta as well as in our internal testing. Others have now moved on to the future Livy Update, which I cannot talk too much about right now.

With the release of the final 1.2 approaching I thought I’d take the opportunity to introduce some of those who are part of the Imperator:Rome team and what they do. :)



Name & Nickname: Johan
Role: Creative Director
What I do: Whatever is needed to make a game.. Mostly design and coding these days.
Favorite Feature: Mana! j/k I really like how the dynamic pop mechanic worked out in Cicero.
Favorite Nation: I love playing Tartessos



Nickname: Arheo
What I do: Content Designer! Skilled in being bald, musicology, and battering rams. I have a hand in miscellaneous parts of Imperator. I'm always happy to discuss balance, design, or accidental features on the forums.
Favorite Creation: The Olympics
Least Favourite Creation: The Olympics



Nickname: Trin Tragula
Name: Henrik
Role: Game Designer
What I do: My job is to come up with and document design as well as tweaking and adjusting the balance of the game. I have been working on Imperator since the project started but for a long time I also used to be the single Content Designer on EU4. Like many other Paradox employees I was also once a modder of these games before becoming a developer.
Favorite Thing: I have always been in love with the maps of paradox games and I think Imperator has one of our best maps so far. From the Cicero Update I really enjoy how the dynamic between Food, Cities and Settlements turned out.



Name: Joachim
Forum Name: Snow Crystal
Role: Content Designer
What I do: So I pretty much work with everything that isn't Art, Sound nor Code. Be that map changes or fixes, events, decisions, or whatever else needs Script work. Similarly to my time on CK2, I prefer working on the map or formables.
Personally I always love starting with the smallest nations on the map, so I have a lot of playthroughs with Gadir, the Phoenician nations etc, and I secretly have a goal to give them all something special so I'll have even more fun playing them.
Fun fact: I once paid 16 euros for a tiny ice-cream I didn't even get to eat.



Nickname: Katz
Name: Sebastian
What I do: Embedded QA on the project and have been along since the start. I try to keep a good overview of the project to do what I can to have good releases reaching you all. Outside of games I tend to try to be out with my camera.
Favorite Bug: Demon Ghost Cassander haunting the Mac.



Forum name: Gorion3
Reddit name: u/Gorbear
Role: Tech Lead
What I do: A tech lead is part of the leadership team that is making decisions. Specifically a tech lead is responsible for the technical delivery of a game, setting up workflows & processes within the team together with the producer. Besides that talk with design about what is feasible and what is not. Besides that I do some programming, mainly working tasks that are not set 'features'. These are bug fixes, optimizations, but sometimes a new feature :)
Favorite feature: I love army automation!



Nickname: Egladil
What I do: Programmer. I joined both Paradox and this project about 1.5 years ago. Before that I worked as a software engineering consultant at Sweden's oldest consultancy agency, doing all kinds of different things. Since I started I've touched basically every part of the projects code, adding new features and fixing things that broke. In addition to programming, I also made the flag for Celticia. Outside of work I do larping, play colony management games, and most importantly pet my cats
Trivia: Was once a developer for OpenTTD



Name: Evan Wu
Role: Programmer
What I do: I’ve been a huge fan of Paradox since Crusader Kings (the first one) and recently joined the company. Currently proud to be part of the Imperator team programming gameplay features and AI. Outside of games I’m either looking to fly my drone or scuba dive into the sea.
Fun fact: When I was a kid, I made a strategy game in school which other kids paid to play.



Name & Nickname: Timor
Role: 2D/UI Artist
What I do: As long as it exists in the game, my job is to make it look as nice and appealing as I can in the time given to me.
Favorite Feature: Events. In particular, the event images. These were a real joy to make and to set the art style for.
Favorite Nation: Yamato... now we just need to get it on the map and travel into the future by a few hundred years.



Name: Joacim
Forum name: Carlberg
Role: Art Lead
What I do: I'm the person who's in charge of the visual parts of Imperator. With my background in 3D I've been a part in setting the visual style for the units of the world, as well as the painting of the world itself with my colleagues. I'm always keen to make Imperator looking better, and work to make the map and world feel even more alive.
Trivia: Used to fight a bit of Longword HEMA before moving to Stockholm, and have always been a history nut when it comes to armor and uniforms.

Name: Hörður
Handle: Aule_the_creator
Role: (Freelance) Content Designer
What I do: I have only recently started at Paradox, so I make whatever they tell me to make. So far I've mostly been doing historical flavor events, which works well for me as a historian.
Trivia: I do historical high-medieval and viking-age reenactment in my spare time: hit and stab friends with blunt metal weapons, always aim for the crotch. That sort of thing.


That was all for this week! There will be more information about the patch and the game as soon as tomorrow (10th Sept 19) as @Arheo will host a Q&A at 14:00 where he will be answering questions from the community. This will be available through our Twitch Channel.

To discuss today's diary feel free to head over to our forums here!

Hello and Welcome to another Developer Diary for Imperator: Rome!

Today we will be covering the Law changes, as well as new Character Interactions in the Cicero Update. As you will be aware if you have played the beta version of the Update we have revamped laws for all governments with the goal of making the government types more distinct from each other and to better interact with the game world.

This rework was in part necessary since the overhaul of population meant that many of the laws should now interact with the new system, changing the ideal ratios of different pop types in your cities, or increasing the speed of religious conversions, but it was also born out of a wish to introduce more meaningful choices when selecting your laws.




While half of the law categories are available from the start, the last 4 categories (Religious Laws, Integration Laws, Citizenship laws and Land Reforms) are now unlocked by technology as the game progresses.
The main chance to Republican laws however is that any choice you make will increase the influence over one faction in senate over the others over time. Often the faction that grows will do so in a reactive manner, empowering one faction will allow its opponents to grow.




Where Republics have to accept that any law they adopt will have an effect on the balance of the senate factions Monarchies will instead contend with the fact that most laws will now increase the loyalty of either your generals or your governors, while also decreasing it for the other group. In this way you will now have to balance the need for loyalty of your governors versus that of your generals.

Just as in Republics there are a number of Law Categories that are unlocked by technology (Taxation Laws, Domestic Laws, Conversion Laws, Authority Laws and Contract Law) with each further modifying the loyalty of your Governors and Generals.




Tribes are different in many ways from other countries. Most notably the Centralization value of Tribal countries cover how sedentary their society is, and Tribes that do not settle down and turn into Monarchies or Republics have a hard time getting far ahead in technology.

Instead of unlocking from technology Tribal laws are separated into two distinct varieties. One variety opens up more laws the more negative your centralization is, while the other unlocks more laws the higher your centralization is.

Laws themselves will also all either increase or decrease Centralization over time, making laws an integral part of making your Tribe more migratory or in turning it more sedentary and ultimately a Republic or Monarchy.

The added effects of multiple laws also means that while it is slow at start the reformation of your society will tend to pick up pace over time as more laws are enacted.



Arrange Marriage:


Arranging marriages for your ruler is not as straightforward as it once was. Depending on their circumstances the family of your future spouse can now make demands for a monetary contribution in the form of a dowry for one of a number of reasons. Of course depending on the circumstances it may also be more straightforward, some rulers are more palatable than others.

Granting Regional Nicknames



While generals were already able to acquire regional nicknames (inheritable as cognomens if playing a Roman culture country) it is now also possible to grant these directly to a governor under your control.

Impose Corruption Sanctions

​
As another way to combat corruption in specific characters it is now possible to reduce the corruption of a character, this will also reduce their loyalty to an equal amount.

Power Base & Loyalty​

In the Cicero Update power base in itself will lead to a decrease in loyalty, meaning that very powerful characters will naturally be harder to keep loyal over time. This has also replaced the loyalty decrease from Loyal Troops since these contribute to the Power Base as well.



As the final release of this update draws nearer most of the things I talk about in this diary will already be known to those of you who have been playing the open beta. Therefore, here are some more assorted things we have changed since the last open version:

• The view for constructing buildings have had an overhaul, and the buttons for upgrading cities or revoking city status can now be found there.
  
• Revoking City Status no longer costs Political Influence, instead it costs only Tyranny. This cost is discounted heavily for Tribes.
  
• Upgrading a Settlement to a City, or a city to a Metropolis no longer has a scaling gold cost. Instead it costs a flat amount.
  
• Founding a city will now remove a local food trade good in a location, replacing it with something else. Should City Status be revoked the old food trade good will be returned. AI countries will avoid turning Food producing settlements into cities.
  
• A bug where local modifiers sometimes did not count (also known as Marketplaces do nothing) has been fixed.
  
• AI Monarchies will be a bit better at dealing with Tyranny by being more selective in how they use the ability to demand support for their heir.

You can discuss the original post on our forums here!