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I bought this game in the steam sale and after bungling the release it appears to be pretty solid now. I'm a bit wary of a lot of the countries you can play as because they seem to be directly in the path of giant, very powerful countries (e.g. all the minor greek states, everyone in Italy that isn't Rome, etc etc). Is it hard to win a war against one of the major powers if you're a smaller or medium sized country? I'm used to EU4 where that kind of war would be very hard to win, but I'm not sure if it's easier in I:R.
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May 29, 2021 14:47
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The Diadochi are relatively paper tigers because of their large number of non integrated culture pops and their religious disunity. That isn't to say that they're weak but they are much weaker than their size would have you think. Also they usually start in a massive multi way war which gives you time to build up your own strength or maybe jump on one. Generally speaking you do have to play Imperator aggressively to be successful, the AI is quite good at being opportunistic and if you try to play slowly you'll eventually get your rear end kicked by Rome or some other power which managed to grow and stabilise quickly. You can make extremely large conquests in a short space of time and as long as you have a cooling down period afterwards everything is fine, there's no AI coalition wars or anything. Mercenaries are extremely strong and the AI doesn't use them terribly well so keeping a lot of cash on hand can get you out of some problems (hiring a 12+ mil score mercenary captain is a good way to start a conquest streak)
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May 29, 2021 15:01
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That's good advice, thank you. How hard is a uniting greece playthrough, in that sense? On the starting screen, Athens and Sparta are both listed as 'hard'. Should I wait until I've played some easier countries first before I do something like that?
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May 29, 2021 15:09
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Red Bones posted:That's good advice, thank you. How hard is a uniting greece playthrough, in that sense? On the starting screen, Athens and Sparta are both listed as 'hard'. Should I wait until I've played some easier countries first before I do something like that? They’re not super hard, but you might end up restarting a few times. You need to gently caress around with pops and such as them, vs someone like Rome or Egypt where you can just steamroll from day 1 no matter how little you understand. Otoh, it’s easier to learn the mechanics when you are just focusing on a tiny city state and not a big empire
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May 29, 2021 15:16
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Red Bones posted:That's good advice, thank you. How hard is a uniting greece playthrough, in that sense? On the starting screen, Athens and Sparta are both listed as 'hard'. Should I wait until I've played some easier countries first before I do something like that? It's easier to fight one larger enemy than an alliance of city states with forts everywhere. Fighting in Greece is annoying even when you have numerical advantage. For starting I'd recommend a medium sized power which is nowhere near Greece or Rome. There aren't terribly many of these interesting mid-size starts which is one of the game's big weaknesses. Kush (south of Egypt) is pretty good, so is Bosporan Kingdom (smaller but able to expand fast). There's a few choices in India but then you also have to deal with Maurya eventually.
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May 29, 2021 16:54
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I wanna give this game another shot now that it has a ton of patches and dlcs. What's the best start for the Perfidious Albion cheevo?
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May 30, 2021 18:52
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MonsieurChoc posted:I wanna give this game another shot now that it has a ton of patches and dlcs. What's the best start for the Perfidious Albion cheevo? Brigantia. The Brigantic culture starts off with 97 pops, which is absolutely pathetic, but it's far more than any other culture on the larger of the two islands. Plus it's nice and centrally located. Make sure to integrate Hibernian culture, it will make the colonization of the vast wasteland of Ireland much easier.
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May 30, 2021 19:06
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trapped mouse posted:Brigantia. The Brigantic culture starts off with 97 pops, which is absolutely pathetic, but it's far more than any other culture on the larger of the two islands. Plus it's nice and centrally located. Make sure to integrate Hibernian culture, it will make the colonization of the vast wasteland of Ireland much easier. Alright thanks.
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May 30, 2021 20:26
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Played as Brigantia and Epirus yesterday, and wow it's amazing how much the game wa simproved since last time I tried it. I got a whole bunch of questions about mechanics though haha.
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May 31, 2021 13:04
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MonsieurChoc posted:Played as Brigantia and Epirus yesterday, and wow it's amazing how much the game wa simproved since last time I tried it. Well feel free to ask them here, this thread could use the activity.
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May 31, 2021 16:48
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I reinstalled imperator to give it a go for the first time since release, and the loading screens about delaying hannibal and rolling the dice is all very cute, but I kind of would have liked if there was more to the game than that, because it keeps consistently crashing while trying to load a new game, before I even get to the faction picking screen tried to verify integrity and such, but o well e:  ah yes, a future release. . .' (deleting imperator in my documents folder fixed it) Bohemian Nights fucked around with this message at 17:22 on May 31, 2021 |
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May 31, 2021 17:14
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trapped mouse posted:Well feel free to ask them here, this thread could use the activity. Alright, the new Wonder screen is kind of mystifying me. How do I tech up? I'm assuming the old Spiff exploit to gain infinite tech doesn't work anymore. Does Difficulty affect the achievements I can get? I had other ones but I don,t remember them now.
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May 31, 2021 18:03
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Wonders are basically like ideas you have to build. They improve over time and the more you spend on them to start with the better they start. Not sure how cost effective they are but there are some really good bonuses in there now. Teching up means citizens and nobles, which means getting as many pops into cities as possible- found them if you can, move pops in if you can't. Founding a new city is always a better idea than building buildings to improve an existing one. Eventually you'll hit your tech rate cap (it's not hard), so you want to anticipate that and tech towards the techs that increase that cap. There are, I think, four? Three or four and one extra for having integrated Greeks. No idea about cheevos.
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May 31, 2021 19:54
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Are republics (Ie: Rome) still a pain in the rear end to play as?
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May 31, 2021 20:17
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KOGAHAZAN!! posted:Wonders are basically like ideas you have to build. They improve over time and the more you spend on them to start with the better they start. Not sure how cost effective they are but there are some really good bonuses in there now. Thanks, gonna try those when I restart a Brigantia run tonight. And how do the new God Shrines work?
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May 31, 2021 20:55
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Didn’t realize I had this game and starting it up. Have a lot of experience with CK2 and EU2 so I (think) I get those similar parts to IR. The pops part is new to me. I know I can’t expect a brief explanation of a Paradox mechanic, but is there a definite thing that I need to always attention to that may not be obvious when starting? Also I know there was a major rework sometime in the past, but if I find a good explanation of pops from before that time would it still be correct or was that something that changed?
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May 31, 2021 21:09
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What I really hate is how short the game is. I managed to migrate and form Galatia and only had like 50 years where I was a monarchy and great power and was just about to gear up to duke it out with the seleucids when the game ended.
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May 31, 2021 21:51
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KDdidit posted:Didn’t realize I had this game and starting it up. Have a lot of experience with CK2 and EU2 so I (think) I get those similar parts to IR. The pops part is new to me. I know I can’t expect a brief explanation of a Paradox mechanic, but is there a definite thing that I need to always attention to that may not be obvious when starting? Also I know there was a major rework sometime in the past, but if I find a good explanation of pops from before that time would it still be correct or was that something that changed? So the wiki has a decent page about Pops, what the different types of pops produce and what keeps them happy and/or productive: https://imperator.paradoxwikis.com/Population One thing that isn't mentioned that changed in 2.0 is Levies. There is a basic explanation of levies here, but culture plays a large part of it. Basically, levies are similar to CK2 in the sense that it is a hard limit on your army size. Instead of it being based on holdings and buildings, it is based on how many non-slave pops you have of the "right" culture. You have a main culture which can not be changed, and every free pop from that culture group contributes to how many levies you are able to raise. However you can also integrate a culture, meaning you go to the culture tab and say they are allowed to be citizens now. From then on that new culture will also contribute levies (and research points!) to your nation, making your army larger. But the more groups you integrate, the larger your base happiness goes down on your main/integrated cultures. Unintegrated cultures basically just provide gold. Maybe manpower. Also there's something called a Levy Size Modifier. There are a few ways to change that BUT the usual way is through passing laws. Also, you can't change the composition of the levy, for that you need to raise a legion instead. But the legion has a hard force limit based on your levy size.
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May 31, 2021 22:43
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Popoto posted:Are republics (Ie: Rome) still a pain in the rear end to play as? Yes, though not as much as it used to be, and it’s much easier to switch to a dictatorship now, assuming you can reach the required size. This is trivial for Rome (I did it in the first decade or two iirc) but a lot harder for the Greeks.
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May 31, 2021 23:28
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Republics are also a bit easier to game to keep high support. The character system really doesn't work well with them, though, and you really, really want to avoid short term lengths.
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Jun 1, 2021 00:43
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For some damnfool reason I started as the Mithridaric kingdom and just got the tag switch event. I guess my goal is to consolidate the mess around me an wait to absorb Pontus? Ive played a bunch of EU4 et al but I'm kinda lost rn
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Jun 1, 2021 19:34
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I keep starting games and then quitting after 10 years to try another start lol.
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Jun 3, 2021 03:34
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Okay started over as Massilia and have close to unified my starting region. Assuming I don't get eaten by Rome, how should I be developing my territory? I've got a bunch of levies since I integrated the main barbarian culture but it doesn't seem like I'm making thst much more money
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Jun 3, 2021 15:00
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Trade is the big money maker but you need to make sure that there's enough independent states around to actually buy your stuff. It's one of the bigger weaknesses of the game which never got fixed; your ability to produce goods greatly increases with size and number pops, but if you have to trade them internally they are much less valuable.
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Jun 3, 2021 15:24
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StashAugustine posted:Okay started over as Massilia and have close to unified my starting region. Assuming I don't get eaten by Rome, how should I be developing my territory? I've got a bunch of levies since I integrated the main barbarian culture but it doesn't seem like I'm making thst much more money Your commerce income is usually way higher than tax income so one good strategy is to find a territory with a valuable trade good and build a city there because cities automatically produce two trade goods instead of one. The other way to get two trade goods in a territory is to pack loads of slaves into it, but I've never really been successful with this. In fact there's usually no point in having more than one slave in a non-city territory, because you only need one to produce the trade good, so if you can be bothered to micromanage it's good to move as many as possible into your cities so they can promote to citizens and nobles etc. and make use of the bonuses from buildings. Then pick all the bonuses you can that increase commerce income: there's an idea that does it, an omen, etc. When it comes to developing cities I'm usually worried about research so I build libraries and the buildings that increase your ratio of nobles and citizens.
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Jun 3, 2021 15:27
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What's the mechanic that allows your land to get occupied in a war even without enemy troops stepping foot in it? A cursory google search says something about fort control, but I'm like 99% sure the enemy didn't have any occupied forts nearby. I thought it might have something to do with a port, but it doesn't seem to be that either.
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Jun 3, 2021 15:36
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KDdidit posted:What's the mechanic that allows your land to get occupied in a war even without enemy troops stepping foot in it? A cursory google search says something about fort control, but I'm like 99% sure the enemy didn't have any occupied forts nearby. I thought it might have something to do with a port, but it doesn't seem to be that either. It's the province capital. If you capture that then all the other territories in the province will flip over unless they have a fort or army in. The province capital has an icon so it's pretty easy to spot.
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Jun 3, 2021 15:42
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KDdidit posted:What's the mechanic that allows your land to get occupied in a war even without enemy troops stepping foot in it? A cursory google search says something about fort control, but I'm like 99% sure the enemy didn't have any occupied forts nearby. I thought it might have something to do with a port, but it doesn't seem to be that either. I think forts also project a Zone of Control into enemy territory in Imperator, but I might be misremembering.
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Jun 3, 2021 15:42
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After failing to get Perfidious Albion, I might try to form Gaul since it doesn't have a timer. Might use Avernia since they have a unique heritage.
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Jun 3, 2021 15:56
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Here's little Arvernia, taking it slow, just conquering what is needed to have the entire Arvernia province, slowly building cities and teching up. Suddenly huge Roman blob. I might need to go on the warpath!!!
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Jun 4, 2021 00:19
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Yesterday continued my Carthago campaign... and the game just has too many personas (with all those inter-person-events also). In a very interruptive way too many. It materializes in a wish that they should have had abstracted the family into single entity (something like Republic of Rome boardgame has). Almost everything else is great (or great-close).
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Jun 6, 2021 19:14
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teokarp posted:Yesterday continued my Carthago campaign... and the game just has too many personas (with all those inter-person-events also). In a very interruptive way too many. Yeah agreed. I would happily use a mod that disables all those events where you have to just pick which characters to piss off. Usually you can sort of pick at random but occasionally it will drop someone below 40 loyalty and cause loads of issues. It's a shame because disloyal generals and governors could be one of the most interesting parts of the game (I do like how disloyal generals will just do their own thing), but there's just too many characters and not enough to distinguish them or engage with them in a fun way...
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Jun 6, 2021 22:55
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If I am conquering a region that has a different religion and a different culture group to my own, what's the standard approach? Am I meant to integrate the culture, convert all the pops, un-integrate it then assimilate all of them? Or do I just sit there and let it take ages and deal with the very low province loyalty and rebellions? If I'm Rome and I've just conquered the Po valley, or if I'm Carthage and I've just conquered the rest of the megalithic berber states in North Africa, what am I meant to do?
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Jun 13, 2021 14:04
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Red Bones posted:If I am conquering a region that has a different religion and a different culture group to my own, what's the standard approach? Am I meant to integrate the culture, convert all the pops, un-integrate it then assimilate all of them? Or do I just sit there and let it take ages and deal with the very low province loyalty and rebellions? If I'm Rome and I've just conquered the Po valley, or if I'm Carthage and I've just conquered the rest of the megalithic berber states in North Africa, what am I meant to do? I'm no expert but I usually go by the number of pops. If the number rivals my existing integrated pops then integrate them, if there aren't that many then just let them slowly assimilate.
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Jun 13, 2021 14:45
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Red Bones posted:If I am conquering a region that has a different religion and a different culture group to my own, what's the standard approach? Am I meant to integrate the culture, convert all the pops, un-integrate it then assimilate all of them? Or do I just sit there and let it take ages and deal with the very low province loyalty and rebellions? If I'm Rome and I've just conquered the Po valley, or if I'm Carthage and I've just conquered the rest of the megalithic berber states in North Africa, what am I meant to do? One thing that helps is trying to get a surplus of Olives, Fish, Precious Metals, and (if possible) Dyes in the capital. All of these things give global happiness for a pop type across the country, which will lower unrest. Don't worry about tribesmen, they promote/demote pretty fast. And if the pop group isn't large enough to justify integration then just try to keep happiness up, there are buildings and province imports that help with this. Also, don't forget that there are many inventions that will give a flat increase to provincial loyalty regardless of the happiness of the population. Also, just a side note, the Lepontic culture group in the Po Valley is the largest Barbarian culture group in the game. So if you are looking to get the Barbarian military traditions it is definitely a good idea to integrate them, your research efficiency will take a hit though.
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Jun 13, 2021 16:25
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I'll never finish a WC in EU4, but I've now done one in Imperator. Boom. Started as the Seleukids, and grabbed the achievement for taking Pella before my starting ruler's death, which left me in a pretty good position in control of most of Asia Minor and Macedonia plus my starting lands (minus the East which got ceded via event to the Mauryas, otherwise they declare on you while you're also fighting the Diadochi in the West which is an unwinnable situation.) Got bogged down a bit in the mid game as the Romans, Egyptians, and Mauryans took turns at declaring on me while I was still fighting the last one, which made it hard to press an advantage. Still managed to take chunks out each time and eventually wore them down enough that I was able to roll over what they had left using the Imperial Conquest CB, which is key to a WC, otherwise truce timers mean you'll never get anywhere. Truce breaking tanks your stability which is incredibly precious when you have AE hovering around 80-90 for much of the game, which means your stability is seldom over 40. Dropping under 20 stability means you can't declare war, so no EU4 style chain truce breaking shenanigans. The religious tree was also really important. I beelined the invention that gives you passive conversion and then grabbed most of the happiness inventions. These mean you don't need to worry about your low stability and high war exhaustion making all your provinces rebel constantly - you need your troops on the frontiers taking land, not putting down rebellions in the heartland.
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Jun 22, 2021 12:56
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Good job! People say EU4 WC is very boring. Is this the case in I:R? Do you feel you're done with the game? Tell us about your feelings.
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Jun 22, 2021 13:19
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It got a bit tedious towards the end, after I'd taken down the surprisingly resilient Romans and there were no more threats left. Also, microing all my armies to capture every territory individually in my Imperial Conquest wars was fairly awful. You can let the AI do it for you but I don't really trust it to do it safely/efficiently. There was still a bit of tension from the race against the clock which helped - I wasn't sure I was gonna make it for a while. Won't do another WC but I'll still play the odd run. I'm still enjoying the game and I've got a few achievements left to get after all!
Wafflecopper fucked around with this message at 14:01 on Jun 22, 2021 |
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Jun 22, 2021 13:57
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Wafflecopper posted:I'll never finish a WC in EU4, but I've now done one in Imperator. Boom. Just curious, did you end up building any monuments/wonders this run? If so, what effects did you choose?
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Jun 23, 2021 05:10
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Just one in my capital, for one of the missions in the shared Diadochi mission tree that unlocks after completing the two specific to your tag. I went with Military Research Doctrine (Mil tech + local research), Tax & Commerce (Tax & Trade income + local trade routes), and Military Training Traditions (Legion maint + starting exp + monthly exp). Those felt like the best effects I had available, there's probably some other juicy stuff locked behind all the wonder effect inventions I never took but I always felt like I needed something else more than I needed new wonder effects, especially since gold could always be spent on theatres and temples to keep my provinces happy and productive, or more legions to conquer faster, rather than on building more wonders. I only started stockpiling obscene money in the last few years, 95% of the game I was spending it as fast as it came in. Speaking of buildings I don't think I ever spent gold on any building that wasn't a temple, theatre, academy, library, or fort. Never got around to unlocking foundries and my research was capped most of the time anyway, finished on lvl 23. Only ever upgraded one city (my capital) to a metropolis too, needed all my influence for stabbing pigs and fabricating. e: Oh and speaking of the Diadochi tree, don't finish the Basilike Eirene mission, it's an absolute trap. I learnt that on an older run. It starts a huge civil war which takes half your land and legions. You apparently can't influence the size of it (like you can for the one you get when switching from a republic to a dictatorship) and definitely don't have time for it if you're going for a WC. According to Google (I took one look at size of the war and alt-F4ed out), even if/when you win it changes your primary culture and a few of your pops to a new one, Hellenistic, which most of your pops still won't have, and demotes your old one (ie. Macedonian) and apparently won't let you make them nobles again. So your research and happiness all get tanked for the rest of the game because you won't have time to convert everyone over that late in the game. You do also get a permanent 10% buff to integrated culture happiness and 35% to assimilation speed which is a very nice permanent buff but absolutely not worth the war and culture change. There's still some other nice permanent research and happiness buffs plus a bunch of free inventions earlier in the tree though so it's worth doing up until that point. If you're not doing a WC it might make for a good end-boss war though. Wafflecopper fucked around with this message at 05:51 on Jun 23, 2021 |
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Jun 23, 2021 05:34
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