Imperiums: Greek Wars

Every good game designer should have a clear plan what features and mechanics are to be implemented and how they will interact well before he starts coding. The whole construction should be clearly visible in his mind. Based on this, he can make a good estimate of completion time. But in the spirit of Imperiums games, we have to be prepared for the unexpected :)

It is natural that as the game grows under your hands, you suddenly see improvements that would make the game flow smoother, be more fun, more interesting … But any additional work necessarily requires more time to complete the game. I am not only talking about the development itself, but balancing, testing, tweaking and here, you really have to exercise iron discipline to be able to judge what you can afford to include within the current schedule and budget, and what simply has to wait till the next time. We, too, had to learn to be realistic.

The times when we got carried away are gone. We often learnt the hard way that we have to be systematic, otherwise we trap ourselves in a vicious circle of never finishing, constantly fighting the feeling the game is not complete. Saying that though, sometimes you just can’t resist :)
Whenever there is a suggestion for something new to be implemented above the original plan, we weigh carefully how much the implementation will delay our schedule and how big any changes to the game core would be and only when these factors are acceptable, do we start working on it.

This Spotlight is dedicated to those features that we did not include in our plans for Imperiums: Rome vs Carthage, but they did make it in nevertheless.

First came two events that are iconic for the ancient Greek and Roman eras and were already part of the Greek Wars campaign. Again, you will be able to build the famous Colossus that will earn you additional Influence. As before, the construction can only be started by using a dedicated state decision when you meet all the conditions. There can only be one Colossus in the game and the AI factions are capable of building it as well.

The second event is the Olympic Games, by far the most used and liked event in the Imperiums campaigns. Considering that one turn in Rome vs Carthage will last half a year (contrary to Greek Wars where it lasts one quarter), it will be possible to join the Games every 8th turn. In order not to make this mechanic a game-changer but rather an interesting gamble, the fee to join the Games was lowered and so were the potential winnings. You can spin the Wheel of Fortune without jeopardizing the state coffers.

Now the real new additions.

Apart from the Colossus, one more world wonder was added, the Lighthouse of Alexandria that we simply call "the Great Lighthouse" (because it might not be built in Alexandria :)).
The historical lighthouse was not built at the time when our campaign starts which gives room for any faction around the Mediterranean to build this great structure. Similarly to Colossus, the Lighthouse can be built only once in the game, rewarding you with additional Influence and significantly reducing trade loss on all trade routes to 50%. This means that you will save a great deal of resources on overhead costs, the same applies for states trading with you. That naturally increases the interest of other nations in trading with you, giving you a great advantage in international trade.

It would of course be great to have more world wonders in the game, we stuck to these two, simply to stay faithful to history. Only these two were built more or less in the time of our campaign.

Two more historical events are the latest additions to the game. Although we focused on this whole feature in one of the previous Spotlights, these two events have not yet been implemented:)
Both are dedicated to the famous military campaigns of Pyrrhus of Epirus, one to southern Italy and another to Sicily.
Similarly to other historical events, they are semi-scripted, triggered by a set of pre-defined conditions that ensure that the events logically fit the current situation. If the Greek city of Tarento in southern Italy is threatened you can see Pyrrhus aiding them, as well as his landing on Sicily to try to push the Carthaginian oppressors back to Africa.
Our goal was to add to the feeling of historical authenticity, increasing immersion.

Finally, there is a new quest inspired by a historical event to spice up the game. After the death of Alexander the Great, his body was sent to Macedonia, only to be hijacked on the way by Ptolemy and brought to Egypt with great honors.
We have placed the tomb of Alexander with his corpse, in a mausoleum in the city of Memphis in Egypt. Ownership of the sarcophagus generates an extra income of Influence every turn, as it is a matter of great honor to guard the remains of the great strategist. Following Ptolemy’s example, anybody can try to steal the body.
There can be only one Alexander’s Mausoleum on the map and any faction that wants to keep the sarcophagus must send a General to the place where the body currently rests, steal it and bring it to their capital within ten turns. If the mission is successful, a new Mausoleum is built with a significant increase in relations with all the other Diadochi.
The quest can be repeated many times until a General does not manage to get the sarcophagus to the capital in time or is killed on the way, in both cases the body is ruined and lost forever.

• Some of the 3D models such as blacksmith, stable and shipyard have been remade, with fort and defensive wall in the making and new city models further in the pipeline.
  
  
• Trade routes can now go through unowned territories hidden in the fog of war (previously, trade routes were automatically cancelled when parts of their routes through unowned territories were not fully visible).
  
  
• Strategic Overview was extended by "grouped map item types". For now, three groups were added - military, mines, and buildings which allows you to get a better picture of the whole economic and military situation.
  
  
• Strategic Overview in the list view now automatically scrolls to the currently selected map item and highlights it.
  
  
• New keyboard shortcut was added to the Strategic Overview - pressing Tab now instantly switches between map and list views.
  
  
• Brief description per faction was added to the New Game window containing information about the initial setup and how difficult the start will be.
  
  
• "Tooltip delay" game setting was implemented.
  
  
• "Map exchange" treaty importance was increased. It is now one of the most "intimate" treaties (apart from military pacts).
  
  
• Set of positions where particular buildings cannot be built is newly defined for all scenarios (this should prevent exploits such as blocking certain straits by shipyards).
  
  
• Food production of scrubs was slightly increased.
  
  
• Trade loss information was added to the tooltip in the Political Map.
  
  
• The Research progress bar is always visible even when there is nothing being researched. This should make it easier for you to navigate to the Technology Tree and draw your attention to the fact that you are not researching anything.
  
  
• Report panel stops the automatic scrolling when you first click on an item in the list.
  
  
• Tooltip comparing governments (when you want to choose a new government) was improved.
  
  
• Using "Alert" action now also adds dismissed units to the unit loop.
  
  
• Rewards received for completed Objectives are now better arranged in the information window.
  
  
• When you click on the fake lock when selecting a faction in the New Game window, a window with a warning pops up and once you confirm your selection, this particular faction will be automatically checked (previously you had to check it manually again).

• AI more adequately reacts to certain events happening to other members of its union as well as events related to its master (such as losing the capital city).
  
  
• When AI considers how and where to attack an enemy, it takes more into consideration its resource situation and its current needs. If AI is in need of a particular resource, it might redirect the attack to a particular mine(s) or certain producer.
  
  
• AI will not build fields/farms anymore on tiles outside of the city range.
  
  
• Improved algorithm in charge of newly built units (and their types).
  
  
• Improved algorithm for keeping all units supplied.
  
  
• Movement of Generals was improved.

• Too loud intros were tuned down (player's game settings).
  
  
• Small issue in "Teach technology" action was fixed (you could not teach a technology to your own confederation members).
  
  
• An issue with building and repairing a temple causing city damages (in particular, when the number of local citizens was low) was fixed.
  
  
• Small fixes in Objectives and Achievements related to your federation members was fixed.
  
  
• An issue with Generals deserting when they were in "containers" (like a city) was fixed.
  
  
• When two factions join in a federation and the member state already has some confederation members, these member states stay as confederation members also in the newly created federation (previously they all turned into federations).
  
  
• The list of unit improvements checkboxes on the right side of the Strategic Overview was not positioned correctly when UI scaling was active.
  
  
• Strange bug which was creating more factions with the same name and banner in custom worlds was fixed.
  
  
• An issue with very weak Hades Warriors was fixed.
  
  
• Several rare CTDs fixed.

• Hellenic League - interesting and diverse start at three different locations. Many potential threats but none of them critical.
  
• Ptolemaic Kingdom - peaceful beginning allowing sufficient time and options to build economy and prepare for military campaigns.
  
• Antigonid Kingdom - dramatic start with enemies all around. It is all about diplomacy and tactics.
  
• Lysimachus - easy start with clear goals. Diplomacy is key.
  
• Samnites - dangerous situation from the start with all-is-at-stake battles right at the beginning. A bad start can turn into defeat in several turns, a very tactical game.

It has always been our ambition to make a strategy game that makes the player think one step ahead and plan his actions carefully weighing all his options, sort of chess in the form of a strategic game. Mindless clicking should be limited to a bare minimum and micromanagement that leads to no strategic advantage, should be obliterated. A player should have less tasks during his turns, but they all require close attention as they are important and could potentially change the course of the game.

I can already hear some of your objections and I admit that this approach has its pros and cons. On one hand, it intensifies the feeling that your decisions matter and that they do affect the game developments. It forces you to think about your decisions before you take them and that, at least in my opinion, is a great advantage of this approach. On the other hand, the reduction of the micromanagement duties to a bare minimum could create a feeling there is „not enough to do“. It would of course totally break the deep immersion we strive for, so we have to come up with other ways to keep you entertained and „busy“.

One way is to use a competitive AI that provides a worthy opponent to your efforts, another is the never ending struggle with limited resources. The Imperiums: Rome vs Carthage DLC will introduce a new challenge, in my opinion, one of the best mechanics in the whole Imperiums series, we have called it Migrating Tribes.

In the Imperiums base game, independent nations represented by cities without owners have already been implemented. They cannot engage in political negotiations and do not take an active role as the game develops. We have built on this mechanic over time.

First, we changed these lifeless cities into communities capable of self improvement and self defense. They improve their settlements as any other player would and build a small defensive military force. Next came what we call internally “mirror development”, an ability of these cities to “learn” from nearby foreign settlements and adopt their technological achievements. This increases the notion of continual development through natural interaction. Another level was the addition of the so called “territorial behavior”, which allowed the independent nation to protect not only the city itself but also the surrounding area by attacking any foreign units if they violated these invisible borders. These cities grow in size similarly to regular cities, which means that the city perimeter also grows, so it creates an interesting natural barrier to expanding factions. As players have already found out, independent cities are definitely not easy prey and they can often require a substantial force to subdue their tenacity.

Now, the new Migrating Tribes mechanic takes this whole concept to a completely new level. Independent cities are no longer standalone centers passively interacting with their surroundings. The scattered settlements could belong to a single tribe, although they do not form a state. However, they can act together and have a common goal. As an example, take the small communities of the Helveti or Celtiberian people. They function independently of each other, but may have similar interests and in certain situations they would all follow the same line of thinking. Bad harvests might force them from their current territories and they will migrate in similar directions rather than moving around wildly with no logic. Perhaps if rich lands were found further along the river all of their expansion efforts would unanimously follow this route.

All of this should create some very interesting tensions in the game. Individual groups push towards certain regions in a coordinated migration, meeting the factions already settled there. They are no longer just defending their bare livelihoods, but they expand their territories with determination. The “empty” areas on the map, where before, you would usually only encounter small settlements with limited resistance, are now suddenly active and potentially dangerous territories. Resource mines in these lands are no longer low hanging fruit but will be contested. The seemingly uninhabited territories are transformed into true terra incognita, holding hordes of dangerous nomads who can come and ravage your nation. What’s more, there is no political dialogue with them, they only know the power of the sword.

The icing on the cake is the ability of these tribes to establish new kingdoms and hence become a new political faction. For this to happen, a certain predefined number of cities must be associated with the tribe. This number differs based on the tribe and historical cohesion of its members. From mindless standalone cities we have created a potentially dangerous force that bars the way to the expansive efforts of established kingdoms and that also nurtures dormant ambitions that could give rise to a new power capable of winning the game.

As a game designer, I find this mechanic to be a major addition to the upcoming DLC. It makes the game more engaging and fun, as it faithfully illustrates the historical movements of small tribes. The majority of them slid into obscurity over time but a few entered history with an unexpected force leaving a long lasting legacy behind. I hope that you will love this new feature and that Imperiums: Rome vs Carthage will make it to the top of your gaming list and stay there for a long time.