Imperiums: Greek Wars News

It is time for another part of our Spotlight series, today focused on Historical Events. This new mechanic that will be introduced in the upcoming Imperiums: Rome vs Carthage DLC will enhance the feeling of historical authenticity and will bring interesting, yet realistic twists into the game flow.



As soon as you start your rule you will be inundated with reports and news from all corners of your empire, everybody will try to get your attention. As always, they all find their own problems to be the most pressing and acute, thus requiring the immediate attention of the ruler. In such situation, seemingly unimportant events might go unnoticed or pushed low on the list of priorities. You should learn to be sensitive to the signs and small manifestations that warn you of potential major changes on the horizon. What precautions can be taken to prepare for the unexpected?

Reports of barbarian groups living in the forests beyond the river border come every once in a while. Of course, they could be a peaceful people, but ignoring their existence completely might be a grave mistake. Perhaps a small garrison positioned on a lookout over the river is a sufficient precaution, one that might save the day should they decide to cross the river en mass, with sharp axes and battle cries.

Pavel will give you a more detailed insight into how this mechanic works:

Originally posted by Pavel

It was our ambition from the beginning to make Imperiums historically authentic and believable. Once you enter the game, your actions and decisions create an alternative history, however, the initial setup is carefully designed to illustrate historical reality as faithfully as possible. To this end, we undertake a thorough AI balancing and tweaking to make the AI behavior logical and realistic, or at least historically plausible during the first dozens of turns.

The new mechanic called Historical Events should further increase immersion and enhance the feeling of a true historical setting. We have selected several key events that shaped this historical period and have slotted them into the new campaign Rome vs Carthage. Therefore you might experience some history-changing events that are not triggered as a consequence of the developments in the game but have been implemented externally.

They do not occur accidentally, nothing ever does in Imperiums games:). We have taken extra care to define the trigger conditions in such a way, that these events fit logically into the game situation. Often, their occurrence is preceded by „signs“ that you can observe directly in the game. A small spoiler now, examples of such events are, the intrusion of the Sarmatians into the Black Sea region leading to the destabilization of the whole area, the migration of the Germanic tribes towards Pannonia and the Danube river and the unrest in Bithynia that set off a number of other events that affected the whole of Asia Minor.

The conditioning of the historical events is flexible, so they can be triggered anytime during the game and their effects can differ greatly depending on the current situation. Moreover, you will be informed about the potential dangers and the likelihood of their occurrence. It will then be up to you to analyze the situation and take whatever precautions you deem necessary.

The selection and implementation of the historical events was tailored to the Rome vs Carthage campaign, however, we are aware that many players prefer custom maps to the historical scenarios. We wanted them to enjoy this new mechanic as well but the implementation is more difficult here. Not only do the settings vary greatly but also the map itself is not „known“ in advance. Here, the historical events will be of different nature than in the historical campaign, more generic, to fit the many different courses in which the game can develop. We believe that the extensive testing has been worth it. You can expect events such as the division of an empire between the sons of a deceased king, internal collapse caused by the decadence of the empire or annexation based on the historical affinity of particular regions.

This mechanic is in many aspects a continuation of our previous efforts to make the game more immersive and the gaming experience as authentic as possible. We hope and believe that the selection and implementation of these events will increase player engagement and intensify the feeling of a true historical setting, as your game tells a believable story that could easily pass into the history books.

To weigh up the importance of all that is happening within the empire as well as outside of it, is one more aspect of the leadership skills that distinguish a good leader from a great one. Expect the unexpected and whenever possible apply measures that could prevent a catastrophe. Bad luck can befall you at any time and often it is a minor precaution taken some time in the past, perhaps long forgotten, that can change the outcome.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1839160/Imperiums_Rome_vs_Carthage/

Yours,
Kube Games team.

Today, we will introduce you to another interesting region in the upcoming Imperiums: Rome vs Carthage DLC. The eastern Mediterranean is the main stage for the wars of the generals of Alexander the Great, the Diadochi, who fight for the remnants of his vast empire.

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Alexander’s Empire disintegrated soon after his death and left his generals fighting for power. The desire to become the next Alexander pitted former friends against each other, all memories of past adventures erased and replaced with covert or open hostility.

The arch enemy seems to be the Antigonids who rule in most of Anatole. Adamant in their dealings with the other Diadochi, they hope to win the loyalty of the Greek cities and with their help take the throne of Macedon. They can rely on a strong economy and rich cities, but they are surrounded by treachery on all sides and trust is not something they give lightly.

Seleucus who controls the lands from Syria to Babylon is just as ambitious but a much bigger empire makes it almost impossible to focus all his armies and energy in one place. The smaller kingdoms of Armenia and Cappadocia more or less accept his suzerainty but the Antigonid kingdom in the west is a direct threat to his power and Anatole must be taken if he is ever to sleep well.

Ptolemy in Egypt is relatively far away and thus safe from the endless backstabbing of his former comrades, but even he nurtures great ambitions. He controls the outlying island of Cyprus and southern Anatole and both these territories give him a strategic advantage for his immediate expansion plans towards Syria. Above that, many smaller nations hold Egypt in high esteem and if he could convert their affinity into a pledge of loyalty, it would give him a definite political advantage over the others.

As often happens, power and war lust has clouded the minds of former friends and anyone who accepts a seat of power in this region will face formidable and merciless enemies.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1839160/Imperiums_Rome_vs_Carthage/
Wishlist the Imperiums: Rome vs Carthage DLC and prove your worth in prolonged bloody conflicts. Never forget though that here more than anywhere else a hand offered in a friendly gesture can hide a poisonous sting.

Yours,
Kube Games team.

Hello everyone.
It has been more than two months since the last update, time is just flying :) We have had our hands full getting the upcoming DLC Imperiums: Rome vs Carthage ready for beta and doing some prep work for the new project, and in the meantime improving the current game core. It is now time to upgrade all your instances to a new version 1.2.5.!

The update 1.2.5. has the code name "Difficulty matters" as the most important change is related to the selected game difficulty. It also brings a number of improvements and changes based on your feedback, wishes and bug reports. Your feedback does matter to us. Please, keep sharing your thoughts, ideas and suggestions with us and let us know whenever you experience a bug, we too want to make Imperiums perfect!



So what's new in "your" update?

• The initial setup can now vary depending on selected game difficulty. In all of the official scenarios (Greek Wars, Alexander, Peloponnese and Troy campaigns) you will be granted additional starting resources and bonus units if you start on lower difficulty levels (noob, beginner, easy and partially medium). Higher difficulty levels are not affected by this change. This should allow newcomers to do "more" in the first turns while giving them a "bigger buffer" for mistakes.
  
  
• The raiding event was reimplemented into the vanilla campaign. Early warning system will send you a report about the Celtic raiding parties well in advance with an approximation where they shall appear.
  
  
• The attitude of new factions towards existing nations has been tweaked. So far, when a new faction appears, its attitude towards others has always been neutral. Now, it will range from friendly to hostile to make it more variable and natural. We plan to build on this further in the following updates.
  
  
• Pending diplomatic proposals have been added to the tooltip in the political map, when you hover over a particular banner or cameo (thanks to gripley and his suggestion).
  
  
• The odds of a tile changing affiliation when applying influence on it were added to the tooltip (thanks to Hector of Troy and his suggestion).
  
  
• AI will focus more on the destruction of enemy suppliers that support attacking units. This should make the AI tactical plans for actual battlefronts more cunning.
  
  
• "AI player difficulty" was renamed to "AI proficiency". The term has caused already a lot of confusion, making some players quite unhappy (again thanks to gripley and his note).
  
  
• The production modifier, when a state is in a "transformation period" (going through a change of government), was tweaked to have a less devastating impact on the economy during this process.
  
  
• Changes in the trading mechanic were implemented. Until now, the majority of the traded food was spoiled before it was used. Now, the demand of the units, cities and other objects is deducted from the stockpile BEFORE the amount of spoiled food is calculated and deducted (thank to MiyabiSFG and our discussion on Discord).
  
  
• A Tooltip stating current local birth grant was added to the panel showing the actual size of the city (in the lower right corner of the Unit menu). Clicking on the panel opens the Birth rate window where you can manage the birth rate support.
  
  
• An issue with "City foundations" being removed when wood was chopped on the city tile, was fixed.
  
  
• Couple of weird terrain issues were fixed (thanks to PLierMagic and his cooperation).
  
  
• Game running in Proton now supports all officially supported languages (initially it was running only in English).
  
  
• Number of improvements were implemented in Proton (based on cooperation with MasterionX).
  
  
• An issue with resetting game settings back to default values after restarting the game was fixed.
  
  
• Performance of AI turns was improved.
  
  
• All languages have been updated.
  
  
• Couple of rare CTDs were fixed.
  
  
• Some issues in Japanese localization were fixed (thanks to Airscape and his reports).

We would like to wish you a nice summer! Get some tan before the Rome vs Carthage DLC is out, you won't get much sunlight then :) Believe me, I know what I am talking about.
As always, if you haven't yet done so, please wishlist the upcoming DLC and spread the word :) Your support is vital and we are grateful for every single wishlist!

Yours,
Kube Games team.

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:

Originally posted by Pavel

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?

• 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.

None of this can be prevented, which only makes the damage control even more important!

• 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.

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.

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.

Hello everyone.

It's been a while since we published the last "What's in the Kube" article, not because there was nothing important to report, indeed the opposite, we've been extremely busy. A lot has happened with Imperiums as well as in our private lives. Most of the game related news has been covered in the articles about the upcoming DLC and the game updates, "What's in the Kube" focuses on major news and announcements, so here it is.



Firstly, an apology to all those players waiting for the new Imperiums: Rome vs Carthage DLC. The initial release was planned for this Spring and this is still "doable", however, we have decided to push back the launch date a bit. The truth is, this DLC is huge, the map is much bigger and is occupied by more factions (playable and dormant) than in the Age of Alexander expansion pack.
The DLC is already functional, the scenario setup and the assets are ready and almost all of the mechanics are implemented, but the balancing and testing of such a big world as this requires a good portion of time. We don't want to deliver an undercooked game, as always, we strive for a flawless, deeply immersive and fun gaming experience, while maintaining a high degree of historical authenticity and that simply requires more time.

We have decided to push the release to Q3. We hope and believe that this postponement will be compensated for by a great DLC. We can tell you already, that based on the internal testing runs this is shaping up to be the best Imperiums campaign so far!



Now to the good news :)
We have started planning and preparing our next project. Don't worry, we are not going to throw Imperiums overboard, we want to build on and expand the Imperiums brand.

We want to create a new game focused on a different historical era, one that is quite underrated in strategy games and in our opinion offers an interesting setting that deserves more attention. We are still discussing the details within the team and once the pillars of the game are clearly established, we will lay our cards out on the table to hear your opinions.

We can already reveal that the game will be ported to the Unity engine. This will solve several technical glitches with the current engine and allow us to consider releasing the game to more platforms, it should also improve the overall performance.
The map grid will turn into hexagons, making the map more pleasant to the eye and satisfying our more tactical focused players.
All of the assets, from the 3D models, to the illustrations, sounds and music will be completely new. We also plan to redo the UI taking into account the lessons we have learned from Aggressors and Imperiums.

It is a huge step and a big investment for us, but we are resolved to move our games to a new level. We are blessed to have a great community around us and if we may we would like to ask for your support. Please follow our channel(s), talk to friends about our current games, write a review, buy the game as a gift to your Steam friends. Any kind of support is greatly appreciated and makes our work easier. We are considering running a crowdfunding campaign, however we have to carefully weigh the pros and cons before committing to this option.

We want to assure you that our support for Imperiums: Greek Wars will not stop! We love the game as much as you do and we will continue to support and improve it. As proof, we can now tell you that another expansion pack after Rome vs Carthage is already cooking:)
It will be a smaller scenario, more suitable for shorter games and ideal for multiplayer games. It will be set in an extremely interesting period and we are already looking forward to starting full-time work on it. Just a small hint, this corner of the world is not covered in either the Age of Alexander or Rome vs Carthage DLCs.
Depending on sales, we have several ideas for other potential expansion pack, but that's a bit too far ahead yet.



And that's it. We hope that the good news overcomes any disappointment from the delayed release of Rome vs Carthage. Let us know what you think, where do you see the Imperiums game in a year or two?:)
More details about our future plans will follow soon, so stay with us!

Yours,
Kube Games team.