After introducing Plague and Social unrest as new multi-turn events, today’s Spotlight will be dedicated to Floods, a new mechanic representing the destructive power of nature in the upcoming Imperiums: Rome vs Carthage DLC.
Water gives life, but people in antiquity were also aware of its dark side. It can turn violent within hours and destroy lives and livelihoods, in the long term it can even threaten whole populations. The failure of crops means hunger and social upheavals.
With an empty stomach your soldiers will lose strength and morale, your cities will dwindle as people start to leave. Luckily, nature often has ways of healing its own wounds over time.
Let’s hear from Pavel to explain the mechanic in detail:
It comes as no surprise, particularly for the regular players, when I say that keeping substantial resources in reserve, is key in any strategy game and it applies even more so to Imperiums. Relying on the regular income received in previous turn(s) when replenishing depleted reserves, may not be a smart decision. The lack of essential resources, especially Food, is felt immediately. The new Floods mechanic puts the decision to keep sufficient Food in reserve, into a new perspective. Floods and other natural disasters in human history had an immense impact on the available food resources. As a good strategist, you should keep such an eventuality in mind and have contingency plans ready. Floods cannot be predicted. The conditions under which they occur are clear, their occurrence is sudden and it is impossible to stop the great flood of water once it comes. Floods occur in one river basin (not on all of them at the same time), the water floods the nearby fields, both the river tiles and the tiles alongside the river channel. Huge areas can be affected, particularly in flat regions, floods in one place can quite often mean floods occurring elsewhere at similar time. What form of destruction do the floods take?None of this can be prevented, which only makes the damage control even more important!
- Terrains such as plains, grassland, forests and woodlands are converted to swamps. This applies to all affected tiles and can destroy fields and farms along the river.
- Bridges on the flooded rivers can be damaged, so when the floods recede, it is good policy to check the state of bridges on that particular river(s).
- All fields and farms built on flooded tiles are destroyed.
Sooner or later the flood water disappears, but its consequences might be felt for many years. Check the damages, pay special attention to the ruined fields and farms, determine how your food production has been affected. Start rebuilding and repairing the infrastructure as fast as possible to prevent any secondary disasters, such as famine.
- Flooded tiles will dry out over time as the water recedes. Naturally, tiles furthest from the river dry out first.
- Sooner or later the swamps created on flooded tiles will return to the original terrain type. The only exception is when the terrain has been transformed by the player himself (e.g. draining swamp action).
- As soon as the tiles are dry again (either drained by the player or through the gradual retreat of the flood water), it is possible to build new fields and farms on plains and grassland as usual.
- Bridges damaged during floods can be repaired immediately. Keep in mind that any movement through swamps even when roads are built, is very slow. Keeping the road network and water crossings in good order is therefore very important.
Pray to the gods that they keep a protective hand over your land and its people. If a disaster strikes and the fields full of green sprouts turns to muddy pools, act fast. Trade the surplus of other resources for food, make certain that your people do not starve. Plans always change with circumstances, this is another challenge that will test your worthiness as a leader.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1839160/Imperiums_Rome_vs_Carthage/
Yours,
Kube Games team.