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Faction Highlights – Diadochi in Europe

The realm of the Imperiums games has always been centered around Greece, the cradle of ancient Mediterranean civilization. This region will continue to play a prominent role in the upcoming expansion Imperiums: Rome vs Carthage as well.

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Hellas laid political and cultural foundations which the great Macedonian Empire was then built on. Together, they formed the heartland of the empire of Alexander the Great. Now, the region is once again full of animosities that hinder any hopes for a lasting peace.

Hellenic cities as well as Sparta no longer play a dominant role in the political affairs of the eastern Mediterranean. Their power has diminished but their strategic position, economic infrastructure and military traditions still make them valuable allies who could tip the scales in the raging wars of the Diadochi.

Cassander, the king of Macedon, and Lysimachus, king of Thrace, once fought together under Alexander's banner but there is no cordiality between them anymore. Macedon is a prized trophy, the throne in Pella and the crown of Alexander too big an enticement. Both Cassander and Lysimachus are embroiled in the conflict with and against each other and their former comrades Antigonid, Seleucus and Ptolemy.

Riding high on this all consuming hostility is Pyrrhus of Epirus. Enjoying relatively good relations with Hellas, supporting the claims of Antigonid on the Macedonian throne and himself in a good position to march over the Macedonian border, he could rise to dominance if he plays his cards well.

Getting an upper hand in this conflict will be a gargantuan task, with all of the general animosity and unyielding ambitions.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1839160/Imperiums_Rome_vs_Carthage/
Can Sparta, Hellas or Macedon revive their glory days or will they exhaust each other in an endless conflict and fall prey to a stronger player? Wishlist the upcoming Imperiums: Rome vs Carthage DLC and see if you can rule the world from the cradle of civilization.

Yours,
Kube Games team.

Spotlight - Social unrest

The Spotlight series will continue today with another new mechanic in the upcoming Imperiums: Rome vs Carthage DLC we call Social unrest. This will introduce a new multi-turn event into the game, offering a more realistic setting for social upheavals.



Powerful men often tend to ignore the aches and pains of the plebs. They fight their great wars, changing the world order and the history of millions, but have no time to care about the petty troubles of the lower classes. But the masses are a powerful force and a small spark of unrest can easily ignite a fire that could burn even the greatest of kings.

A wise ruler should keep his subjects happy, or at least content. Small spends here and there to improve roads or urban infrastructure, stationing military close to border towns to provide safety, after all, not that much that is needed to maintain order. What if the rebelling voices do start to rise from the crowds? Call in your army immediately, make whatever promises required to appease the local citizenry and suppress any revolt before it can gain momentum.

As always, Pavel will provide more detailed description of the new mechanic.

Originally posted by Pavel
The existing mechanic managing the occurrences of social unrest was based on triggering one-turn events that were activated when a number of predefined conditions were met in at least one city. The following rebellion always left behind damages (large or small) to be repaired later. In certain cases it could even trigger a civil war, which would lead to the division of the country and the rise of a new faction. In any case, social unrest always meant troubles.

There were several flaws:
  • The player was not forewarned directly. Although he received regular reports, the outbreak of social unrest happened suddenly, seemingly out of the blue.

  • There were no tools the player could actively use to further prevent the spread of the rebellion to other places. He could take some precautions in the form of city improvements but these only lowered the risk of social revolt, they didn’t prevent it totally. Also the player could not check that the measures put in place were actually working (if they did, the revolt simply didn´t occur).

  • The event itself had no development, no interaction with the player. He only had to deal with its destructive effects as a sort of punishment for ignoring the decreasing morale in his cities.

All these flaws were considered when designing the new mechanic. It will still make life hard for the player who ignores the wishes of his people but it will be more immersive and much more fun.

Rebellion can occur in one or more centers, usually the least happy cities in the whole country and it can spread from there to other parts of the empire in the following turns. The actions of the player will directly influence the way the revolt spreads or is halted. In this sense, it will add another tactical layer to the game instead of just tedious damage repairs. No more rebelling masses ruining what they can in one turn and disappearing in the next. So what are the rules of the new mechanic?

Revolts cannot be predicted with certainty, but they can be expected based on the situation in the cities and in this sense they can also be prevented by the remedial actions of the player. The major factors that contribute to the outbreak of a revolt are:
  • Local happiness in the cities is the key to social order. You can prevent any signs of unrest by keeping local happiness at least at 100% and if this is not possible garrison units should be kept in the most unhappy cities.

  • Equally important is to pay attention to any damages to the infrastructure. Leaving cities damaged without repair for a longer period of time leads to low morale and unhappiness. Repairing cities should be always made a priority.

  • Regional centers tend to be more rebellious and you should keep these cities happier than any other.

  • The same applies to former capitals.

  • Building the Civil service improvement in cities where the signs of revolt are strongest is an important preventive measure against outbreaks of unrest.

  • Calling a city council (state decision) is a part of crisis management that can be used to suppress unrest in cities where the Civil service improvement hasn’t been built yet, but only in cases when the rebellion has already started to spread to other centers. Once activated, it increases happiness and it will simulate the effects of the Civil service improvement for several turns. On the other hand, it completely stops production in the affected cities (production on surrounding tiles remains intact) and as usual certain resources are necessary for activation.

  • Declaring martial law (state decision) is also an effective measure but it can create secondary problems so it should only be used in times of extreme need.

The spreading of unrest happens organically from one city to another. All the above-mentioned factors that affect the occurrence of unrest also apply to the way it spreads. There are however additional factors that should be taken into account:
  • When the revolt reaches a city that is already very unhappy, the rebellious moods get even stronger.

  • As the revolt spreads to more cities, its force diminishes. There is one important exception as described above with a city with already angered population. This could have the opposite effect and the rebellion can get a new breath of life.

  • The chances of revolt spreading to other cities is also related to the distance between the cities and how accessible the terrain between them is.

  • Loyalty and General Morale of rebelling cities decreases every turn.

  • Garrisons in rebelling cities are not immune to the mood in the city and their Morale is also negatively affected every turn. Therefore, if you use garrisons to suppress unrest, it is good to replace them with fresh men after a while.

  • If the revolt reaches a certain threshold, it can cause a decrease in the population in the rebelling cities and damages to infrastructure that will need extensive repairs.

  • Activating the City council state decision can greatly diminish the force of the revolt and its capacity to spread to other cities (this state decision is only available in cities without a Civil service improvement).

  • Declaring martial law will have the same effect.

  • Theoretically, unrest can spread beyond your borders, however, this is rather an exceptional case. If it happens, these two rebellions will be independent movements not affecting each other.

Unrest can have destructive effects, causing great damages to the cities and infrastructure and in the worst case it can even result in splitting the country in two. It is therefore important to prevent its outbreak and in cases where it occurs to act swiftly and with force, as any procrastination can only worsen the situation.

As a newcomer to the throne, you will have to deal with many pressing issues at home and abroad in setting a new course for your country. You can easily forget or perhaps not see as important the small signs of discontent among your subjects, but take the reports from within your country seriously. There is only a thin line between grumpy talk in a local inn and turning pitchforks and tools into weapons.

Will you succeed in leaving behind a legacy worthy of one of the most beloved kings in history?

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

Yours,
Kube Games team.

Age of Alexander Dev Stream IX - Corsica

Hello everyone.

I hope you can finally enjoy the first days of spring and the warm sun outside.
I will continue our campaign playing Hellas in the Age of Alexander scenario and I would be happy if you join me on my expedition.
It is already the ninth episode and we start again this Wednesday at 9PM CEST (12PM PDT - 8PM BST) time.

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The last episode was really interesting and quite surprising at the same time.

On the Persian front, we finally resumed our advance after a Persian counterattack that stopped our progress.
We besieged Gordion and even though the siege was broken by Persian cavalry, we were eventually able to conquer the city and hold it.
We also took the cities Pessinus and Amastris on the coast of the Black Sea but the latter conquest was a mistake. The battlefront was severely weakened as a result. Although it was guarded by our best hoplite unit, it was extremely damaged from the previous turns and this proved to be fatal - our beloved Antimachos army was entirely destroyed. This was without any exaggeration the biggest loss from the start of the game.
Despite some partial successes, the whole advance stopped again and turned into a stalemate. The Persians brought several fresh units to the front including Kardakes which exhausted our armies and we had to stop all planned operations.
The Persian economy started growing considerably and the whole campaign might now turn to war of attrition which would not be in our favor. That's one of the reasons for transforming Anatolia into a regular part of the republic by building the economic infrastructure with a new blacksmith and number of city facilities.

The biggest surprise and disappointment was the planned conquest of Sparta or what remains from their holdings. They hold only two islands. One of them being Crete and that was our first target. We disembarked and were able to conquer half of the island. Nevertheless, the stronghold on the island was not only well fortified but three melee units were hiding inside which was totally unexpected. After several unsuccessful attempts to conquer the city, the army morale of the Spartan units started to grow considerably and they made a number of counterattacks. They destroyed two of our hoplite armies, considerably damaged another one and if we didn't have an axemen fortified on a position, we would have had to abandon Crete altogether.
We didn't give up though and started to prepare for a longer conflict. We founded a new town called Itanos on our side of the island and improved it immediately with a stockade. We sent General Kios to Crete to improve the morale of our units. We had to transport a hoplite unit (initially a planned reinforcement for Anatolia) to Crete to be able to hold the town. So far, we have lost two experienced units without achieving any tangible results.

In the rear, all seems to go well.
Particularly big changes are taking place in Italy, where we recently established a federation with the Romans and started building up the economy.
We built new cities around the Alps, a new blacksmith in the Po valley and we improved a number of cities by building new facilities. Our Sage Seleucus founded a philosophy school in Sipontum.
We focus our efforts on the former Roman army; we try to upgrade all the milites units to principes in the hope that the stronger units will be able to secure the northern border and slowly advance further.
We finally met the Illyrians from the Italian side at the city of Tergeste, where we both tried to assert control. Tergeste however is a tough nut to crack. Taking over the city will be one of the goals of the next episode.
Illyria proposed a confederation to us and it seemed a rational decision. We share a very long border in the south and east and now also in the west. They probably know that we are much stronger and should we go to war, we would be pulling the longer straw.
Nevertheless, we rejected the offer for now because it would considerably worsen our relationships with other factions. We hope that they will come back with an offer of federation, and we will be able to accept it this time.

Apart from Italy, we keep improving our economy on the mainland. Blacksmiths are being improved; in Korinth, our capital, Sage Bion built a philosophy school.
On the other hand, war with Persia (and now also with Sparta) and the military reforms in Italy are getting quite expensive. Our gold reserves went down about 90% which means we will not be able to recruit new units anymore.
Our economy desperately needs more slaves. We try to cover this demand by trading but it is too slow. We hope that more slaves could be obtained from the independent cities in the north of Italy and in (hopefully) newly conquered cities in Persia.

Carthago is quite idle but that is in our favor. We have sent a newly hired emissary Brygos to Carthago to keep the good relationships.
Events are taking an interesting course on Corsica. Kanelae, a Persian stronghold on the island, is slowly taking control of the island from Carthage, its city Alia being surrounded. It could be used as a pretext for a military expedition, an ideal task for the new Roman principes!



The goals of the next episode are quite clear. We shall defeat Spartans for good, take over Corsica and the independent city of Tergeste. If there are no unexpected surprises on the Persian front, we will try to push forward but I am a bit skeptical that any significant progress can be made, at least for now.

As always, Pavel will be happy to answer your questions during the stream so please join in Wednesday 20th on our Twitch channel.
See you there!

Yours,
Kube Games team.

P.S. Here is the episode in case you missed it.
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Faction Highlights – Wild North

Today, we venture to the realm of migrating tribes. These inhospitable regions have the potential to become lively, booming and prosperous, it only needs someone to assert a firm hold on the vast territories and their riches. Here is a glimpse of what awaits you in Imperiums: Rome vs Carthage DLC far in the north.

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The regions beyond the Alps and north of Danube are wilderness, only sparsely inhabited by nomadic and warrior tribes, making it a very interesting setting in comparison to any of the Mediterranean civilizations.

The vast empty lands offer a great opportunity for expansion. The harsh climate, dense forests, dangerous swamps, impassable mountains and rivers, all create great natural barriers protecting the core of the state. Consolidating such a large territory into a functional state and guarding the entry routes will require defensible strongholds to be built and manned by trained warriors. However, at some point, either other tribes of the north will enter this peaceful realm or the player’s own curiosity will lead him to cross the protective borders of his lands and move south towards the rich and booming Mediterranean cities.

The Gauls of the west are attracted by the warm and fertile southern regions and regularly make attempts to establish permanent settlements along the river Pados. The ongoing conflict among the Latin tribes plays into their hands and choosing the right side to support in this tribal war could make their position in northern Italy much stronger.

Celts occupying the far north keep to themselves, not venturing south but rather focusing on building their own kingdom.

Further east is the home of the Dacians. They must walk carefully between their dangerous neighbors, Lysimachus in the south and the Scythian riders in the north.

Many smaller tribes roam the vast lands, among them the fearless Germanic warriors. Their incursions south bring chaos and disruption.

Can you survive the unforgiving harsh conditions and build a lasting empire to humble the great powers of the Mediterranean?

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1839160/Imperiums_Rome_vs_Carthage/
The wild north in the upcoming DLC will challenge even the masters among you! Don't forget to wishlist the expansion so you won't miss the release discount.

Yours,
Kube Games team.

Spotlight - Mandatory objectives

Today, we will continue our Spotlight series and talk about another new mechanic in the upcoming Imperiums: Rome vs Carthage, Mandatory objectives, we want to provide an extra challenge whilst increasing immersion.

If you haven't done so already, please consider wishlisting the DLC so you won't miss the release discount!



Your word is law, your decisions determine the future of your people. Every great leader wants a legacy to carry his name through the ages, for most this is achieved on the battlefield.

The ambitions of your subjects are often much more humble, they want to be fed, to feel safe in their homes and for their businesses to thrive. Full bellies, good neighbors and a little spending money, this seems like a good life to them.

A good leader knows the hopes and wishes of his people, a wise leader works to fulfill them.

Pavel will explain how this enhanced mechanic will work.


Originally posted by Pavel
Objectives have been an integral part of Imperiums since the first release, they cover short or mid term goals in economic, military, political, cultural or scientific areas. There are some 10 to 15 specific objectives per faction that provide a rich depth and background to their situation.

We try to be as historically accurate as possible by creating objectives that are logical and plausible. One way we use to manage this is to use trigger conditions. This ensures that only objectives that make sense in the current game context are activated in the current list, also some objectives are only unlocked if earlier objectives have been completed.

Many players appreciate the extra challenges these objectives provide, the attention to detail and of course any rewards. New players or players playing a new faction can get some idea of what strategies may be worth pursuing by taking a look at their objectives, indeed the rewards can often provide a bonus early in the game.

Others players simply ignore them, either they don’t know about them or they are too preoccupied with their own in game tasks, often they can be surprised when a pop up informs them that they have completed an objective without realizing it.

The objectives mechanic runs smoothly, it increases immersion and rewards players and we have been pondering for a while how to raise its profile. We considered reminding the player with messages but this would be too forced and obtrusive, we want the player to be interested in them and motivated to complete them. After some consideration we have agreed on a concept we call “Mandatory Objectives”.

The concept behind mandatory objectives is simple, your faction will have to choose an objective from the currently available list and commit to it.
The mandatory objective you select will have to be completed within a set time period, success will bring rewards, failure, negative consequences. Once selected, a mandatory objective cannot be changed. Once a mandatory objective has been completed (or not) there will be a break (a cool down period) before the player is once again prompted to choose another mandatory objective.

You will need to evaluate the available objectives against your strategy, the time limits and your current situation before making your choice. Postponing the decision is possible but it comes with a penalty, time limits to complete the objective are reduced by two game turns for every postponement. The idea behind this is to make the player commit to an objective rather than just wait and see how things develop in the game.

Note for players who don't like any commitments: It will be possible for players to disable the mandatory objectives mechanic if they do not wish to use it.

The changes to the original concept may seem small but the impact on game play will be quite significant. You must take into account the desires of your people when you decide on your course of action, as ignoring them could cost you greatly.

Will you rule with a velvet glove or an iron fist? Will you listen to your people or ignore their clamor as you fulfill your dreams of greatness?

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1839160/Imperiums_Rome_vs_Carthage/
Yours,
Kube Games team.