Imperator: Rome (grand strategy)

[Leamas 29]

Map looks sexy as hell. I'm looking forward to spending 20 hours on the tutorial and another 10 hours to understand a gameplay mechanic.

I've clocked in 1400+ hours on Crusader Kings 2, Europa Universalis 4, and Hearts of Iron 3 and 4. So I'm down. But I think might wait until the vanilla version hits $9.99. Based on past practice, Paradox will release the base game and 80 DLCs over the next 10 years.

Edited April 9, 2019 by Leamas

[MillerEP 30447]

Let me know what you think, I've been eying this one too.

[Leamas 29]

On 4/10/2019 at 9:05 PM, MillerEP said:

Let me know what you think, I've been eying this one too.

There is a lot to digest. It looks like Paradox incorporated some of the good parts of each successful game they've made in the last decade into I:R.

I want to see how the game runs and feels now that they moved the Clausewitz engine to running on 64-bit processors. Graphically, they've taken full advantage of the increased memory capacity. There is a lot of geographical detail and the map transitions nicely from paper to terrain when you zoom out and in. The test will be how smooth you can maneuver around the screen when you're in year 300 of the campaign and the game needs to convey all the data up to that point. In CK2, it got a bit laggy after 500 years when the game would have to contain thousands of names and stats of individual holdings and characters (plus their portraits and coat of arms).

The lead director worked on EUIV and some of the other developers worked on CK2. It's clear that the EUIV elements "won out" for I:R. You're playing as the embodiment of a nation like in EUIV and not as a character like in CK2. There are some CK2 elements still around since you have to deal with people who have stats, ambitions, bloodlines, and portraits. That's cool. I'm a big CK2 guy. In EUIV, it felt a little shallow that your ruler was just a name with three stats.

I'd like to know how battles work. I've always been hazy about that part of the game. I know I need to build buildings, make a stack with a diverse composite of troops, and attack/defend on favorable terrain. Other than that, I never figured out how each battle phase was supposed to be won or loss, or if the results were based on a % of success modified by your bonuses and maluses.

7,000 cities is a lot of cities on a relatively small map like this. The CK2 map covers the Iberian peninsula all the way to western China, and EUIV starts in Europe and then covers the whole globe except the arctics. So the screen might become very dense with troops, diplomatic characters, and city-level details popping up all over the place. Again, I'll see how much people complain about the lag (and other bugs) at launch and wait until the game gets a satisfyingly polished update and dips down to an attractive price point. If you plan it right, you can spend $30 worth of content on a Paradox game and get 150-200 hours of play in the first year.

Edited April 12, 2019 by Leamas

[MillerEP 30447]

This is supposed to be a GamePass for PC title, so I'm glad I waited to buy it. I'll jump on as soon as I can get it.

[txhorns 2409]

I've always wanted to get into a grand strategy game but never had a desktop.  Would this work on a laptop computer?  More specifically an HP Elitebook?

[SimonBolivar 10957]

They just announced CK3 so that's nice. 

[The Hot Dog Buffet 1291]

On 10/15/2019 at 11:31 AM, txhorns said:

I've always wanted to get into a grand strategy game but never had a desktop.  Would this work on a laptop computer?  More specifically an HP Elitebook?

It depends on your specs. I would recommend Crusader Kings 2. You are more likely to be able to run it, and it is free. It's also a better game at this point.