Imperator: Rome

Yeah just saw that overnight.

I mean, that’s cool - it’s also not the biggest problem with the Rome faction imo. I would probably choose a couple of other things over the inclusion of an additional Consul.

I haven’t played the game yet, but the (lack of) two consuls was one of my biggest issues with what I know of the game.

It’s a pity the new AGEOD game will thread the same ground as this instead of being a more focused operational sim like AJE. I don’t see myself playing both games.

Can you elaborate? I really haven’t followed the development much other than watching a Quill18 vid the other day. And he wasn’t playing Rome.

My review goes up tomorrow where I touch on a few of these things, but I don’t mind saying now that, for example, It’s a shame Rome uses a standing army system when at the start of the game they would have still largely used the annually raised citizen legions.

I think anyway - my own personal reading is more around the mid second century where the standing army was already starting to emerge, but it was more of a case they kept raised legions in situ in places like Spain to fight off the Iberian tribes, which ended up having significant consequences to the economic and socio-political landscapes back in Rome. Many ended up staying in the army so long that their land-holdings back home got neglected and bought up by the Senatorial class (who then imported slave labour to work them), which mean’t they then fall out of the minimum property requirement needed to be eligible for the army in the first place.

It’s a fascinating transition that’s not really represented in the game at all. So my own personal choice would be to make Rome similar to basically every nation in CK2 prior to the inclusion of Retinues, where they would have had to raise legions annually for a task and then either disband them once the war was over, or keep them in place (which would have trade-offs but could lead to a reform chain that would eventually switch Rome over to a standing army).

It’s perhaps not easy to have such a system for a single nation so I can understand them wanting to keep an even experience across the board. I find that more of a shame than Rome not having a second Consul though, which is less important in the context of a grand-strategy game (IMO).

Wait, this means everybody works with standing armies?

From what I’ve experienced so far, every nation and government type more or less has what would mechanically be classed as a standing army, EU4 style.

Some government types like Tribes have armies raised and maintained by Tribal Chiefs, which can still be controlled like regular armies except when that character is disloyal. There are also mercenary armies dotted around the map just standing there like those weirdos you see at parties (read: me).

Actually, the real history is ten times more fun than the 300-style fantasy. :-P

I hope this’ll be better than EU: Rome, which I never managed to get into.

Same.

Oh, this is released tomorrow. Looking forward to reviews, opinions, etc.

I really like EU4, so hoping for a similar vein.

I prefer standing armies, for instance, hated the non-standing CK2 model.

It looks a lot like EU4 to me, with some added features (more characters, pops, different trade system, army composition is different) and a whole new setting. If it just delivers that I’ll be happy, warts and growing pains and all.

Plus the screenshots look like pure map porn for me. That isn’t a major factor but it sure doesn’t hurt!

Sadly, I have a long day at work and some family obligations tomorrow so not sure if I’ll really get to play. I’ll try to console myself that I’ll get the benefit of the inevitable hotfix, but I’ll likely have to quarantine myself from this thread (or try, at least). I’m a weirdo who doesn’t like to read reviews or word of mouth about games I already know I’m going to play, I like to be able to form my own opinion in isolation first. It’s also why I haven’t watched a single minute of video on the game.

Hey gang. I will be streaming Imperator: Rome on Twitch tomorrow when it releases.

My Twitch handle is:
axisandallies79

Please join me. I will update again when my stream goes live. I only have one monitor, so I will stop periodically to read chat.

First review:

TL;DR: It’s good Boii.

Good luck with the stream @axisandallies! I would love to join, but unfortunately when it releases I will be too busy playing the game. Might be a good venue for those on the fence.

From that IGN review:

Once you do get up to speed, though, Imperator treats you to one of the most involved and interesting combat systems I’ve seen in a genre that’s usually dominated by crashing giant balls of infantry into each other with winning or losing based on who can bring the greatest numbers to bear. In addition to a plethora of troop types that ranges from infantry to chariots to mounted camels and elephants, each army has access to a set of stances that can counter or be countered by others. Their effectiveness is determined by the troop types in an army, so you can tell what tactics an opponent is most likely to use by scouting out how their forces are composed. If you see a lot of light infantry on the march, they’re probably not going to use shock tactics, and those Scythians and their horse archers are potent but predictable. It’s tactically interesting and rewards observation and planning, rather than settling with a lame, guess-based rock-paper-scissors system.

The combat sounds interesting.

What’s the download size? I’m considering picking it up to see if this laptop can handle it but I’m also on a data cap right now.

This does indeed sound promising. Looking forward to trying it in a few quarters!

I’m told IGN accidentally went live early, so don’t be surprised if that review disappear from the net for a bit (although it may not). The rest aren’t due to land for another six hours or so, unless we get the green light to go early.

Is anyone else a little concerned that the review embargo won’t be lifted until after the game is released?

Not really, seems to be par for the course any more. Plus enough streamers have it, even if they are just a marketing tool, I feel like I can determine if I want a game by watching them. Quill is really good and making every game seem great, but others you can tell when they are frustrated by something and not overly smitten with it.

Yeah I’m thinking that if the reviews are there, and the streamers have it, why bother with such a strict embargo?

edit> the link to the review doesn’t work, so it appears to have been taken down!