Greetings, all!
Today marks my first official dev diary as Game Director of this august project. Many of you have expressed interest in the direction I intend to take Imperator - this is a topic upon which I have made much thought. I:R is a game with huge potential; an era straddling the final days of the ailing yet proud Diadochi, as well as the storied ascent of Rome. The term ‘map painting’ describes Imperator well, though not only, perhaps, in the way it was originally intended. With the advent of I:R and subsequent updates, the expression of cultural or national identity upon the map became possible through the founding of cities, building of roads, and cultivation of pops - this is an area that I feel strongly about. To me, it is equally possible to paint the map on an internal level, as well as external, and it is paramount to see one’s decisions reflected visually upon the fabric of the map.
The war game inside I:R at launch was a compelling simulation, and with the Cicero update, I feel that realm management reached a similar state. That simulation is the core that drives a PDS grand strategy game; Imperator is no different. With Livy, we began working on structure, using great families and missions to provide a framework to identify character and goal, respectively. For the future, we’re still considering a multitude of ideas.
To say that we have ideas, however, would be an understatement. There are so many things that I believe would fit perfectly into the world we’re creating. Beginning in 2020, (and in no particular order or discrete timeline!), we’ll be considering culture, religion, and warfare. These are all aspects of the game that are ripe for expansion and development, as well as systemic improvements for culture especially.Additionally, I’d like to retain the high level of communication and transparency that we’ve had with our fans, inasmuch as is possible. Your continued feedback is much appreciated.
As we end the year, however, we have an small patch for those of you that are enjoying the 1.3 update, which includes a host of balance changes and fixes. I’ll hand over to Trin Tragula, who’ll give you the rundown on what you can expect!
/Arheo
1.3.2
Livy 1.3.2 went out as an open beta for the Livy Update last week and it contains a combination of tweaks and fixes to issues found in missions, as well as some extra stability fixes for crashes that some users experienced. Sometime in the near future, when we are content that this patch is working as we intend it will be released as a regular update on all platforms.
Balance tweaks in 1.3.2:
Statesmanship:
With statesmanship you are rewarded for keeping someone employed, as they will only reach their full potential if given the sufficient experience within the government apparatus.
The effect at launch during 1.3 Livy was quite harsh however, with many characters never getting near their full potential.
In 1.3.2 the base output of many offices have been tweaked to account for statesmanship, and the Finesse attribute on characters will also help produce a steady increase of Statesmanship for those with a strong inclination for government work.
Stability:
When stability was reworked some time ago, and made to decay towards the middle, the intent was that you should over time experience periods of good stability, where everything is going your way, and bad stability, which are veritable slump periods for your country.
The decay has however been too quick, which means it never really mattered too much when you gained or lost stability as it would always rapidly return to the middle ground.
In 1.3.2 we have slowed the decay of stability, which should allow you both longer periods of well being as well as longer periods of crisis.
Units & Food:
With Livy the food system was expanded to allow armies to carry food and to use stored food to mitigate attrition, with taking provincial capitals in order to secure food supply in hostile territory now being an integral part of warfare.
In the balance patch we have looked again at how much food units can carry, and at the cost for the supply trains that are now vital for any drawn out siege or campaign in hostile territory.
Fixes in 1.3.2:
Stability
The patch fixes a number of crashes that some experienced on startup, as well as some minor improvements to performance.
Missions:
Livy saw the introduction of a new mission system, as a way to guide expansion but primarily also to deliver scripted content such as event, alternate history and meaningful interaction with things that are not directly covered by game mechanics.
As with any new system the release to the general public has unearthed some issues in mission design that we now begin to address (especially for the General missions).
The 1.3.2 patch will take care of most of the oversights reported in the general missions reported to date, as well as a number of issues in the missions for Carthage and Rome.
Highlights include picking more sensible regional capitals for the development mission, as well as a fix for the demand that you grow olives in the wild wastes of Scandinavia. The general conquest mission will also no longer abort when you succeed too well with it.
For a full list of mission related fixes see the 1.3.2 changelog at the end of our forum post here.
With the holidays approaching us, we'll see you next year for more Development Diaries!