One thing that's worth mentioning is how the province and territory management system is a rather satisfying "gardening" experience that can be very visually pleasing as you found and grow cities exactly where you want them.
@@association3cm675 well I would pay money for official extra content. But I’m really grateful for Invictus for keeping the game alive. Man it would be a dream if paradox made the invictus mod official part of the game as an update and hire all the devs from invictus to keep working on the game for them. It would be perfect (I know this will probably never happen)
He did an absolutely amazing job, and so did the team he led! It's crazy what the right vision and the right management can do. With only one more year of development, you really wonder what Imperator: Rome could've looked like...
I played it on release for like one hour, stopped. Didn't like it. I picked it up almsot exactly one year later. Started as Rome. Played to the end date over the course of several days. That playthrough is one of the most memorable gaming experiences I had. Probably because of the gameplay actually capturing the events from that time. I fought several Punic wars, just like the Romans did in reality. And I was the underdog. The first one I was the defender, barely fighting them off on the south of the italian mainland and actually only barely "winning", having bled their manpower dry slightly faster than they did mine. My navies stayed in ports, because I was hopelessly outclassed on the water. The second war, I was more their equal. I still could not match them head on on water, but if they split off naval forces I could beat them. This time, on land, I pushed into Sicily and managed to take the entire island in fierce fighting and in the last weeks of the war managed to land a legion on Africa and take a province right next to Carthage. I think I actually had to not take all of Sicily in the peace deal to take that province, but it was worth it. The Third Punic War broke the Carthaginians for good. I took all their heartlands quickly, using my foothold on Africa, right next to their capital as a foothold. After that war only their coastal provinces to the south and west were left, their navy broken, their status relegated to an ordinary power. Because of how in some ways it aligned with how the real events played out in history, this is so memorable for me. And because of the scale of the wars and how it slowly turned in my favour. There was much more in that playthrough that made it memorable to me, like how I managed to abolish the Republic and turn into an Empire. But it paled in comparison to the Punic Wars, especially because the first one was a fight for survival.
@@AndysParadox The game is absolutely amazing, but until you listed all the features I had not realised just how many features there are, compared to other games. The game was insanely ambitious and at least in the state it was at even when I started playing it again everything works! No fundamentally broken systems as far as I can remember. After Rome I played as Sparta and that was when I "got" the diplomacy side of things, playing out the two big successor states next to me against each other and becoming a greek superpower. Then I stopped because other things and stuff and new announcements happening and I followed that excitedly but was busy with other stuff -like the also amazing, equally ambitious but more focused CK3. Then it got shelved and I haven't touched it since. But I already downloaded it after I watched your video and will definitely have another go at it sometime next week.
That's great, I really wanna do a Greek campaign myself. Tried Athens back in the day, but man that was hard considering Macedon wants to eat you. Hope you get to try it again soon :) @@kotzebrecher
I personally think Imperator Rome is a great game but I needs a better ui and hud to engage new players to the game as most people would look at it and see all those numbers and figures and not have a clue what to do. Also great video dude!
Thank you so much! Yeah thing about Imperator is that it is legitimately hard to get into, although in truth, if you just start playing and go with the flow, you’ll learn it eventually. It’s not like Hearts of Iron 4 where you’re gonna get seriously maimed if you don’t know the ins and outs of the military upgrade and composition systems
That's where it was heading with 2.0's focus on the complete overhaul of the UI and the upheaval of the military systems. Seeing what could have been would have been so good.
It’s the only paradox game I’ve played, it took me a while to figure out that population needs to be integrated to increase the amount of pops you can recruit into levies/legions. When I took control of all of Italy, I was like there’s no way my army my armies are restricted to the same size as with your starting territory.
@@marcgw496 as rome i use the colony mechanic and assimilation to make everyone roman As rome ive also learned to conquer italia and non-punic magna graecia in 20 years to boost myself early game
Yes, this game is great potential burried by lackluster release. Also, among the modes for this game two other should be mentioned: 1) Bronze age. About, you've geussed it, the Bronze age period (yes, the same mod exists for CK3, but IMO Imperator's trade, pops' cultures and army reforms mechanics fit the era much better than CK's character-driven RPG) 2) Imperator: Invictus. An expansion of nation's mission trees, cultures, AI, Laws, and more. In short it's a couple of Paradox DLCs worth of work done by modders and avaliable for free 😁
Absolutely! Loved bronze age, and Imperator: Invictus is the base for Terra Indomita, I just love the concept of the vastly expanded map of the latter :)
@@AndysParadox Its worth noting that Indomita and Invictus are quite different in the fundamental mechanics. Indomita I find cool but feels largely empty and especially when it stands beside the base of Invictus which feels like the true inheritor of the mainline development of the game especially in terms of its really excellent writing. I would put Invictus as the definitive version of the game and maybe leave Indomita as a cool adendum.
@@AndysParadox Invictus adds none of the mechanics Indomita does and is usually a month or two ahead in updates. Invictus is an expansion of vanilla but not a fundamental rework, no peace deal rework which AI cannot use for example. It was done this way so we could have both philosophies.
It's the first PDX game that got my interest (Total War player here) because of the period, I couldn't figure it out and stopped, but since trying Stellaris I have been able to understand it better and give it a go again. Lastly, Roma Invicta.
There needs to be guides. People stop playing because they don't understand the game or it seems complicated to them. I started actively working with the CIS community on popularization of "Emperor of Rome", and from experience I can tell you that the main problem turned out to be player education. Great video!
@@AndysParadox i really like playing bactria, especially in the invictus mod where you can take advantage of the mauryan collapse. as for best mod it's either terra indomita or bronze age mod. it's really fun playing east asia in terra indomita, but going back to the bronze age is really cool in the bronze age mod too, it's almost like a different game
Pro tip: Use the character finder to recruit Geniuses and Polymaths from other nations. Then set them to do research. They will occasionally discover a completely free tech and can do so multiple times.
@AndysParadox No problem! Archimedes is a free one you can get as Rome if you conquer Sicily early enough. He appears in an event and you can set him to research.
Imperator Rome is the most underrated game. I still hope they'd just release it as 7-Day free to play bundled with the awsome Imperator Invictus Mod and see if people are interested in it.
Best music and visuals, there are still some game mechanics that, to me, do not work well like the civil wars and trade . But the way monarchies and tribes develop is nearly perfect. The mission trees are helpful in kickstarting campaigns, but don't make the games feel ruled by them. But the tribes are where I appreciate things the most, taking the Lusitanians and Vesonti and turning them into kingdoms powerful enought to stave off the Romans and Carthaginians to the empires of Gaul and Iberia where I wipe them off the map. Lot of fun
Yeah, I remember that. The failed launch, the arguments about mana, UI etc., followed by 2.0 where I went "NOW we're talking!" and played the hell out of it for only God knows how long, followed by er... "we're not doing anything with it anymore, let's do some more HoI4 (any resemblance to actual historical events completely unintended, let's ally China to Colombia and conquer the world in 1939)"... Well, that's what happens when studios go public. They don't own their company anymore, the share holders do, and the incredibly talented dev teams are now hired help. Share holders want you to make casual Candy Crush-alikes forever? Guess that's what you'll be doing forever now.
I hate it when companies go public man... I fully believe PDX still makes amazing games, but I miss the days of CK2 and EU4, that campy feeling of these amazing games was fantastic. Old Gods DLC trailer? Unmatched to this day
@@AndysParadox Agreed, 100%! They absolutely still can make amazing games and have, it's not like their huge talent pool isn't still there, it's just that... HoI4... I mean, I know some people love it, but I've always loved PDX games for their historic feel and complexity, and then they launched what, to me, is a digital version of Axis and Allies. On the other hand, then came CK3, which surprised me in a good way. I'd fully expected it to be another dumbed down "game for the masses", but I was proven wrong, so very very wrong.
Modders of Terra Dominatus added eastern asia, some major civilization like China (warring states), Khmer (south east asia), Yue (south china), Japan, Korea, central asia nomadic (Xiongnu, Parnia), ... make the map almost complete showing all ancient and classical civilizations, and clash between east vs west powers is incredible.
The game is actually good. The problem is that has almost zero quality of life and support like no shortcuts and lots of frustrating useless modifiers, while some necessary actions do not exist. The fact that there are few things to do at peace compared to EU4 and the absolute lack of playthrough variety (only one starting date that always turns into a battle royale between 5 or 6 nations) makes the game quite boring and predictable if compared with other paradox titles. If developers update it again and add some QoL fixes and more dates to play as some of the most iconic leaders of Antiquity like Caesar or Hannibal, the game could match CK or EU.
Would love more starting dates for sure, but nothing to do during peace time? Lots of political events, tinkering with characters, managing loyalties, preparing legions, raising buildings, managing pops and trade, honestly I find there to be quite a whole lot to do!
@@AndysParadox maybe there are more things to do at peace than I remember honestly as I haven't play the game in a long time, but I remember peace time more enjoyable in EU4. My apologies mate
You cannot imagine how excited I was about this game. Before its release, I was a big fan of CK2, EUIV, and Vic2. And it looked like this game aimed at combining all the best parts of said games (RPG, State, Pops) together... and for whatever reason it didn't work out. The disappointment still resonates deep somewhere inside me. That being said I still have it on my to-do list to do a proper dive into this game... just couldn't find time yet.
My only complaints: - Lack of National Diplomatic Actions compared to other paradox games like Stellaris, and Victoria 3. - Internal Politics are good but can be the best among all Paradox games. For instance, playing Rome as a Republic is awesome, but being unable to engage with all senators and not just the Party Leaders is a shortcoming. Imagine if you could sway a few Populist Senators by Bribing them and defecting from their Party Leader's vote. The Senate view could have been much better, with tiny character portraits so we could see what characters are senators. Also being Imperator and bringing people to Trial is really fun but what if instead of a base success/failure, the chance for the given trial is much more dynamic and is determined by many more factors than already in-game. Imagine if you fail to jail said Character as Dictator/Imperator but ultimately you want to ignore the trial and have them arrested anyway. I wish we could do that, and the success rate of that would be based on the influence the Dictator has versus the number of loyal cohorts the given character has. If you fail to arrest them in this new action, then that player would flee Rome but would return with an army of supporters. This would make the game much more immersive!
I think this game could be significantly better and actually very profitable with just a bit more effort. It's like they're 90-95% on the path towards a great game and then quit in early access. In my eyes it needs AI/difficulty rework to make wars feel dangerous (right now only thing i consider is what land I want, not who I have to take it from), and it needs a few more events for variety. That's it.
Profitable idk. Everyone wants to play Rome, some people will play Macedon, Egypt, Bactria, and Carthage, then that’s really it. Nobody wants to play Gallic tribe #87 besides me. Ancient history doesn’t have the same familiarity with people, which is probably the main thing that held the game back even after such amazing updates
Paradox should trial a few “free weeks” for Imperator Rome. If they bring a skeleton team for it, maybe trial it with a modest DLC for the Celts (or even just the Gauls for something tighter he with more focus). Then see what the repose is like, it appears IR has been on a steadily upward trajectory this last 18 months or so. Invictus, plus the intervention of Laith, Ludi, Lambert, and a few other prominent streamers, has breathed new life into it! Since 1.8/2.0, a part of me has been convinced that IR doubtless has the potential to be Paradox’s BEST game.
@@ffreeze9924 I do think it could be profitable. And with that I mean if they have absolutely minimal expenses. Just keep 2-6 volunteers on it and they will slowly improve the game and the community will hype every patch. After a year or two it might be loved enough for pdx to restart development of new big dlcs for it. For basically all developers this would make no sense but pdx have a history of milking grand strategy games for years so maybe they can see the potential in this small baby cow
I honestly dont mind that this game is no longer being supported. It's nice to play a beautiful PDX game that is actually "complete", and not having to worry about the temptation of a new DLC every 6 months. I am only a man, and can never seem to say no to those. 😞 I do love this game though and though there are a few things here and there that could be improved, if it remains "dead" to PDX in its current state i would not complain
Game is Amazing, it first confused me but now I am a regular player. OFC since it lacked tutorials, i decided to play with the files to change a bit of it. XD
I take a good grand strategy game about the antiquity over wwii, eu4 and Stellaris any day. It's a real shame how the game was treated at launch. Thank the gods for great modders that have finally made the game how it was suppose to be played.
I love this game. I was so excited when it was announced and released. And, I was sooo disappointed when they decided to abandon it. I had dreams of a decade of dlc turning the monster into a bloated beauty like eu4. Regional mechanics, complexified character mechanics, tribal overhauls, the works. I would gladly spend hundreds of dollars on this game. The Marius update was such a game changer. Honestly the release version was a little rough. I think that is why it failed. But the beautiful interaction between population class, culture, and religion and its impact on every aspect of your empire are so interesting. Endlessly satisfying. I haven’t even tried Invictus yet, saving that for later. Still enjoying the base game immensely. If they are really done with the game, I plan to get squeeze every drop from what exists now.
Paradox! Please listen to me and make a DLC which will improve barbarians and make their gameplay more specific and diverse. PLEASE! Game is awesome and does not deserve to be abandoned like this.
Honestly, I wish imperator had a start date based around caeser. With events covering his rise in the gaullic campaigns moving on to the cleopatra affair and civil war against the senate. Before his death and the final war for rome. I think it could provide a lot of unique characters to play like brutus, vercingetorix, cleopatra, or pompey. Not to mention, it would provide more of a focus to areas like egypt and gaul.
I want these systems in a eu game. Maybe dont change the trade system in eu as it is very fitting for its period. But i love the systems from IR for real just missing the early modern spicyness and how important the geo political aspect is in eu
Amazing they Shelved their best game. With some tweeks it will be a monster and make a Version for the imperial and post imperial period using the same base. Paradox wake up And make Some Money.
Ive always wanted to try it but never knew if id like it and at the time i was not as good at paradox games (im still not now) but im gonna have to get this at some point
This game is the paradox game I have played the 2. Most (EU4 has first place). It’s really good and with the mod that adds more stuff, even better. I’m sad they stopped the game, could have been the best paradox title, but they sadly F’ed up the release.
EU3, Victoria 2 and CK3 are the games I have spent the most time on. This game has seemed so complicated and that has put me off - along with the awful launch product - for years. But I started playing the other day and it really seems like an amazing game. Victoria 3 was a big let down so I am glad I have a new strategy game to sink some hours in to.
I played a run recently and overall systems and mechanics are good but I felt that there was no real goal or purpose to play the game. I played an hellenic city in Crimae, build some fortifications and develop my capital with trade and buildings and that's it. Characters and event are meh.. All become very repetitive, there is so many characters, each of them are irrevelant. Legion and levies are interesting mechanics but fall flat. All unpassable mountains could have lead to interesting warfare but warfare is crap.. Millions of mercs and units rushing at you everywhere.. There is zero decisive battle. The good part is that you can put your armies in auto mode. Imperator Rome good part are : build road, concentrate people in mega cities, enjoy the gorgeous map Bad part : no real goal, warfare is such a pain, diplomacy is braindead so you just just conquer conquer conquer and get bored
I picked up the game during a sale but haven't come around to installing it yet. Once I start my first playthrough, should I stick to vanilla or straight install the Invictus mod?
The mistake was launching it as a DLC project, especially when people would throw 30+ hours into their first game only to find out on round 2 that the nations were all basically the same... If we saw how bad it was right away the anger would not be so great.
Vic 3 feels like Imperator at release and since - like, it's good it IS getting updates and stuff, but literally the game was unfinished at release, feels like Paradox didn't really even consider how well the game runs given we're still waiting on optimization and stuff with coming 1.6 update. Milstuff was plain just not finished when game launched and they tried to pass the broken frontline system off as a feature. Now they have slight military control and the pathfinding is broken, etc. I legit think Covid ruined their dev cycle and game wasn't complete at launch, and we're left to wait for things to be patched and balanced in. It seems like they arent going to abandon it like Imperator, at least, but who knows, maybe when they hit 2.0 they'll just dip out too haha.
Even after grasping all PDX games, IR is too complex for its too obscure UI (formations, army strength, army composition). Late game armies are equal, diplomacy / spying is too lacking, tech and missions are mess to read / plan.
There isn't much left for them to do, clean up some of the cultural tech, rather than everyone having Roman tech trees and a some work on the tribal/clan nations and it would be pretty much perfect
increase the game time limit, more unique mission trees, more flavor, more mechanics a la other PDX games are doing, more scenarios etc, lots of stuff to do :)
I like trade, but the main thing I have no idea why it works this way, is the fact that we get incoming export offers constantly, like bro, I wanna keep my shit to an extent, I don't need 15 trade notifications a month. I know we can toggle it to an extent, but I want some to get through lol
@@AndysParadox Yeah, that system is a bit odd to get used to. I think what bothers me most about trade is I simply can't visualize what's going on. Why some trade routes are open, and some aren't. They needed a little more "Victoria 3" in my "Europa Kings of Iron" game ;P
"Too good now" as if to imply that it's changed even though it hasn't received any update at all because Paradox stopped supporting it. Misleading title.
Real talk here. If the game really is that incredible, people would play it. Imperator rome steam charts is a ghost town. Fans need to stop blaming players as if it was the players fault why the game was abandoned. Its ultimately the devs and publishers fault for not launching a game that is deserved to be played in the first place. This clearly shows the publishers behavior towards the fans, paradox doesnt see you IR fans are worth the investment. Hence why they stopped development.
I mean, you also have to understand that these content creators are paid to do this do drive up sales, even if its abandoned game, as you said, for PDX i:r is finished product, might as well sell it as legacy game This is marketing
@@ErnestIsGaming after i responded to your comment, few scrolls below your comment there is a dude who said that this video sold him this game and he was so happy it was on discount on gog Coincidence? But dont expect revival of this game They are still selling march of the eagles and vic2 and some other games in a bundle on discount as well No need work on legacy if its selling
bruh if I had gotten paid for this you would've known. It was a fun video to make and I did it of my own volition because I love it, nothing conspiratorial or "marketing" about it, although I of course want more people to buy it so that PDX can make more content for it
The gameplay loop is super addictive but hard to figure out without a good bit of dedication. Imperator has a serious "I get it now!" moment that most people don't get to
the player base was never good compare do their other games. i guess they made decision to focus on dlc's on games that are working instead of trying to fix was is bad. and they are in period where they need to upgrade their games. ck3 already came out. vicky3 eu5 is development. then its probably hoi5 turn
I remember when I played it and it wa slike 20-30 armies just swarming around in my kingdom. Then I said no I had it this is shit and went back to Stellaris and never looked back. Wasn't a surprise is flopped. But maybe I should try it again then if they fixed it. After all paid full price for it
@@AndysParadox If you’re going to make a video that garners thousands of views about a video game at least take two seconds to google how to properly pronounce the title.
I dont understand why you would push a game when not finished. There is no 2nd chance after release, also PDX just repeated its mistake with vic3. There is really no good reason, other then burn it a go for a quick money grab.
One thing that's worth mentioning is how the province and territory management system is a rather satisfying "gardening" experience that can be very visually pleasing as you found and grow cities exactly where you want them.
absolutely, the growth and city sprawl of imperator is just fantastic!
I wish Paradox would return to this game, it’s incredible!
The Invictus team is giving us free content, as soon as PDX starts working on it again, we'll have to pay 40 bucks for any updates.
@@association3cm675 well I would pay money for official extra content. But I’m really grateful for Invictus for keeping the game alive. Man it would be a dream if paradox made the invictus mod official part of the game as an update and hire all the devs from invictus to keep working on the game for them. It would be perfect (I know this will probably never happen)
i think invictus is so good dont need a dlc right now
@@association3cm675 Yeah they released a bare bone game sop they could shove overpriced DLC down our throat for content you actually want.
Eu5
IR easily has the best soundtrack of any PDX game. I still find myself humming some of the tracks to myself years later
It’s amazing! Although I have to say Stellaris is just beyond creation (get it), and PDX in general is next-level
sengoku and eu3 on top man
CK 2 OST is the best od game OST ever made IMHO, but still IR one is great too
Arheo (Peter) should have been the head of Imperator from the start. I'm glad that he's heading HOI4 atm, but man he did a hell of job on Imperator.
He did an absolutely amazing job, and so did the team he led! It's crazy what the right vision and the right management can do. With only one more year of development, you really wonder what Imperator: Rome could've looked like...
@@AndysParadox I'm gonna actually tweet him the video. He would appreciate it^^
oh thank you! let me know how it goes :D@@darthcalanil5333
@@AndysParadox he said he appreciates it, and that he misses working on IR. "those were good times"
yo link me! @@darthcalanil5333
I feel like Imperator will become a Victoria 2 of his times
Yeah, the question is if Paradox will ever touch the Roman era ever again...
I played it on release for like one hour, stopped. Didn't like it.
I picked it up almsot exactly one year later. Started as Rome. Played to the end date over the course of several days. That playthrough is one of the most memorable gaming experiences I had. Probably because of the gameplay actually capturing the events from that time. I fought several Punic wars, just like the Romans did in reality. And I was the underdog. The first one I was the defender, barely fighting them off on the south of the italian mainland and actually only barely "winning", having bled their manpower dry slightly faster than they did mine. My navies stayed in ports, because I was hopelessly outclassed on the water.
The second war, I was more their equal. I still could not match them head on on water, but if they split off naval forces I could beat them. This time, on land, I pushed into Sicily and managed to take the entire island in fierce fighting and in the last weeks of the war managed to land a legion on Africa and take a province right next to Carthage. I think I actually had to not take all of Sicily in the peace deal to take that province, but it was worth it.
The Third Punic War broke the Carthaginians for good. I took all their heartlands quickly, using my foothold on Africa, right next to their capital as a foothold. After that war only their coastal provinces to the south and west were left, their navy broken, their status relegated to an ordinary power.
Because of how in some ways it aligned with how the real events played out in history, this is so memorable for me. And because of the scale of the wars and how it slowly turned in my favour.
There was much more in that playthrough that made it memorable to me, like how I managed to abolish the Republic and turn into an Empire. But it paled in comparison to the Punic Wars, especially because the first one was a fight for survival.
That sounds awesome :)
@@AndysParadox The game is absolutely amazing, but until you listed all the features I had not realised just how many features there are, compared to other games. The game was insanely ambitious and at least in the state it was at even when I started playing it again everything works! No fundamentally broken systems as far as I can remember. After Rome I played as Sparta and that was when I "got" the diplomacy side of things, playing out the two big successor states next to me against each other and becoming a greek superpower. Then I stopped because other things and stuff and new announcements happening and I followed that excitedly but was busy with other stuff -like the also amazing, equally ambitious but more focused CK3. Then it got shelved and I haven't touched it since. But I already downloaded it after I watched your video and will definitely have another go at it sometime next week.
That's great, I really wanna do a Greek campaign myself. Tried Athens back in the day, but man that was hard considering Macedon wants to eat you. Hope you get to try it again soon :) @@kotzebrecher
Start again with invictus mod!
I personally think Imperator Rome is a great game but I needs a better ui and hud to engage new players to the game as most people would look at it and see all those numbers and figures and not have a clue what to do. Also great video dude!
Thank you so much! Yeah thing about Imperator is that it is legitimately hard to get into, although in truth, if you just start playing and go with the flow, you’ll learn it eventually. It’s not like Hearts of Iron 4 where you’re gonna get seriously maimed if you don’t know the ins and outs of the military upgrade and composition systems
That's where it was heading with 2.0's focus on the complete overhaul of the UI and the upheaval of the military systems. Seeing what could have been would have been so good.
Better UI mod on the workshop is great
It’s the only paradox game I’ve played, it took me a while to figure out that population needs to be integrated to increase the amount of pops you can recruit into levies/legions. When I took control of all of Italy, I was like there’s no way my army my armies are restricted to the same size as with your starting territory.
@@marcgw496 as rome i use the colony mechanic and assimilation to make everyone roman
As rome ive also learned to conquer italia and non-punic magna graecia in 20 years to boost myself early game
Yes, this game is great potential burried by lackluster release.
Also, among the modes for this game two other should be mentioned:
1) Bronze age. About, you've geussed it, the Bronze age period (yes, the same mod exists for CK3, but IMO Imperator's trade, pops' cultures and army reforms mechanics fit the era much better than CK's character-driven RPG)
2) Imperator: Invictus. An expansion of nation's mission trees, cultures, AI, Laws, and more. In short it's a couple of Paradox DLCs worth of work done by modders and avaliable for free 😁
Absolutely! Loved bronze age, and Imperator: Invictus is the base for Terra Indomita, I just love the concept of the vastly expanded map of the latter :)
@@AndysParadox Its worth noting that Indomita and Invictus are quite different in the fundamental mechanics. Indomita I find cool but feels largely empty and especially when it stands beside the base of Invictus which feels like the true inheritor of the mainline development of the game especially in terms of its really excellent writing. I would put Invictus as the definitive version of the game and maybe leave Indomita as a cool adendum.
but since invictus is the base of indomita, what are the main difference?@@aidbotwoody939
@@AndysParadox Invictus adds none of the mechanics Indomita does and is usually a month or two ahead in updates.
Invictus is an expansion of vanilla but not a fundamental rework, no peace deal rework which AI cannot use for example.
It was done this way so we could have both philosophies.
thanks for the explanation, and thank you so much for your work on invictus!@@snowlet739
It's the first PDX game that got my interest (Total War player here) because of the period, I couldn't figure it out and stopped, but since trying Stellaris I have been able to understand it better and give it a go again.
Lastly, Roma Invicta.
Always! Glad you understand more of it in the end :)
God I miss Imperator Rome. By 2.0 it was one of the best Paradox games.
I miss it too :( I miss active development on it so bad
There once was a dream, that was called Imperator
There needs to be guides. People stop playing because they don't understand the game or it seems complicated to them. I started actively working with the CIS community on popularization of "Emperor of Rome", and from experience I can tell you that the main problem turned out to be player education. Great video!
i'm glad people are finally waking up to this game, i've been playing it constantly since 2.0
favorite nation? favorite mod? favorite mechanic? :D
Invictus is a really good mod@@AndysParadox
@@AndysParadox i really like playing bactria, especially in the invictus mod where you can take advantage of the mauryan collapse. as for best mod it's either terra indomita or bronze age mod. it's really fun playing east asia in terra indomita, but going back to the bronze age is really cool in the bronze age mod too, it's almost like a different game
ah Bactria sounds like a cool faction, especially in Terra Indomita with all the new landmass! Any cool events with them?@@Puffy_Clouds
Pro tip: Use the character finder to recruit Geniuses and Polymaths from other nations. Then set them to do research. They will occasionally discover a completely free tech and can do so multiple times.
oh wow, I never knew this! Thank you!
@AndysParadox No problem! Archimedes is a free one you can get as Rome if you conquer Sicily early enough. He appears in an event and you can set him to research.
I THINK THERE ARE TWO MORE TRAITS THAT DO THAT BUT I FORGOT WHICH
@@LavrencicUrban Scholar and something else.
Imperator Rome is the most underrated game. I still hope they'd just release it as 7-Day free to play bundled with the awsome Imperator Invictus Mod and see if people are interested in it.
Is the mod reliable/does it cause crashes? I want to get back into IR
I firmly believe that if Imperator was released in the condition it is at now, it wouldnt have “failed”
May be one to finally pick up… great video!
Absolutely you should! Thank you! :)
Its the best game paradox has made in my opinion and still has so much potential.
Forming Parthia in Imperator is some of the most fun I've ever had in a computer game.
This is my fav historical setting and I’m a CK 3 girl that loves Imperator. If it had a slightly more character focus then it’d be my favorite
Thats.... rare. Really super rare. That game could use their characters more... really wish it was still in active development.
So much potential. Loved playing the Antigonids
Thank god ck3 is finally getting somewhere. I was worried it wouldn’t stay around.
yes! excited for CK3 this year!
Awesome video with some great explanations!
I really appreciate it! :D
Started playing again.... using the invictus mod. It's really fun and so many options in how you want to play.
Best music and visuals, there are still some game mechanics that, to me, do not work well like the civil wars and trade . But the way monarchies and tribes develop is nearly perfect. The mission trees are helpful in kickstarting campaigns, but don't make the games feel ruled by them. But the tribes are where I appreciate things the most, taking the Lusitanians and Vesonti and turning them into kingdoms powerful enought to stave off the Romans and Carthaginians to the empires of Gaul and Iberia where I wipe them off the map. Lot of fun
This should be on your main channel
If I wanna grow my paradox audience I gotta start somewhere :)
man referenced Avatar TLAB and LOTR respect😁
did you also notice the Holy Grail reference ;)
I hope succes for you and your channel❤
Thank you so much, that means a lot :)
Yeah, I remember that. The failed launch, the arguments about mana, UI etc., followed by 2.0 where I went "NOW we're talking!" and played the hell out of it for only God knows how long, followed by er... "we're not doing anything with it anymore, let's do some more HoI4 (any resemblance to actual historical events completely unintended, let's ally China to Colombia and conquer the world in 1939)"...
Well, that's what happens when studios go public. They don't own their company anymore, the share holders do, and the incredibly talented dev teams are now hired help. Share holders want you to make casual Candy Crush-alikes forever? Guess that's what you'll be doing forever now.
I hate it when companies go public man... I fully believe PDX still makes amazing games, but I miss the days of CK2 and EU4, that campy feeling of these amazing games was fantastic. Old Gods DLC trailer? Unmatched to this day
@@AndysParadox Agreed, 100%! They absolutely still can make amazing games and have, it's not like their huge talent pool isn't still there, it's just that... HoI4... I mean, I know some people love it, but I've always loved PDX games for their historic feel and complexity, and then they launched what, to me, is a digital version of Axis and Allies. On the other hand, then came CK3, which surprised me in a good way. I'd fully expected it to be another dumbed down "game for the masses", but I was proven wrong, so very very wrong.
You both are 100% on point. Thats it.
2.0 is an amazing product and i almost refunded imperator rome at release.
Modders of Terra Dominatus added eastern asia, some major civilization like China (warring states), Khmer (south east asia), Yue (south china), Japan, Korea, central asia nomadic (Xiongnu, Parnia), ... make the map almost complete showing all ancient and classical civilizations, and clash between east vs west powers is incredible.
I cant wait for the march update :)
I cant agree with you more. If paradox had launched with Imperator 2.0 then this would be played so much more, but 2.0 is good on its own.
Oh absolutely, if it had launched as 2.0 it would've been hailed as one of the best Paradox games ever, I'm sure of it
The game is actually good. The problem is that has almost zero quality of life and support like no shortcuts and lots of frustrating useless modifiers, while some necessary actions do not exist. The fact that there are few things to do at peace compared to EU4 and the absolute lack of playthrough variety (only one starting date that always turns into a battle royale between 5 or 6 nations) makes the game quite boring and predictable if compared with other paradox titles. If developers update it again and add some QoL fixes and more dates to play as some of the most iconic leaders of Antiquity like Caesar or Hannibal, the game could match CK or EU.
Would love more starting dates for sure, but nothing to do during peace time? Lots of political events, tinkering with characters, managing loyalties, preparing legions, raising buildings, managing pops and trade, honestly I find there to be quite a whole lot to do!
@@AndysParadox maybe there are more things to do at peace than I remember honestly as I haven't play the game in a long time, but I remember peace time more enjoyable in EU4. My apologies mate
oh no worries :) if you play it again, let me know what you think! @@armandom.s.1844
You cannot imagine how excited I was about this game. Before its release, I was a big fan of CK2, EUIV, and Vic2. And it looked like this game aimed at combining all the best parts of said games (RPG, State, Pops) together... and for whatever reason it didn't work out. The disappointment still resonates deep somewhere inside me. That being said I still have it on my to-do list to do a proper dive into this game... just couldn't find time yet.
I love CK3, but this was my favorite. It was such a good game after 2 years. Its a shame the launch was so bad.
My only complaints:
- Lack of National Diplomatic Actions compared to other paradox games like Stellaris, and Victoria 3.
- Internal Politics are good but can be the best among all Paradox games. For instance, playing Rome as a Republic is awesome, but being unable to engage with all senators and not just the Party Leaders is a shortcoming. Imagine if you could sway a few Populist Senators by Bribing them and defecting from their Party Leader's vote. The Senate view could have been much better, with tiny character portraits so we could see what characters are senators. Also being Imperator and bringing people to Trial is really fun but what if instead of a base success/failure, the chance for the given trial is much more dynamic and is determined by many more factors than already in-game. Imagine if you fail to jail said Character as Dictator/Imperator but ultimately you want to ignore the trial and have them arrested anyway. I wish we could do that, and the success rate of that would be based on the influence the Dictator has versus the number of loyal cohorts the given character has. If you fail to arrest them in this new action, then that player would flee Rome but would return with an army of supporters. This would make the game much more immersive!
I think this game could be significantly better and actually very profitable with just a bit more effort. It's like they're 90-95% on the path towards a great game and then quit in early access.
In my eyes it needs AI/difficulty rework to make wars feel dangerous (right now only thing i consider is what land I want, not who I have to take it from), and it needs a few more events for variety. That's it.
I agree, it's exactly as if they had the game out in early access for 2 years, then said "no more" after the 1.0 release version!
Profitable idk. Everyone wants to play Rome, some people will play Macedon, Egypt, Bactria, and Carthage, then that’s really it. Nobody wants to play Gallic tribe #87 besides me. Ancient history doesn’t have the same familiarity with people, which is probably the main thing that held the game back even after such amazing updates
this might be true yeah, it's always either Rome or the successor states for me anyway @@ffreeze9924
Paradox should trial a few “free weeks” for Imperator Rome. If they bring a skeleton team for it, maybe trial it with a modest DLC for the Celts (or even just the Gauls for something tighter he with more focus). Then see what the repose is like, it appears IR has been on a steadily upward trajectory this last 18 months or so. Invictus, plus the intervention of Laith, Ludi, Lambert, and a few other prominent streamers, has breathed new life into it!
Since 1.8/2.0, a part of me has been convinced that IR doubtless has the potential to be Paradox’s BEST game.
@@ffreeze9924 I do think it could be profitable. And with that I mean if they have absolutely minimal expenses. Just keep 2-6 volunteers on it and they will slowly improve the game and the community will hype every patch. After a year or two it might be loved enough for pdx to restart development of new big dlcs for it.
For basically all developers this would make no sense but pdx have a history of milking grand strategy games for years so maybe they can see the potential in this small baby cow
I honestly dont mind that this game is no longer being supported. It's nice to play a beautiful PDX game that is actually "complete", and not having to worry about the temptation of a new DLC every 6 months. I am only a man, and can never seem to say no to those. 😞
I do love this game though and though there are a few things here and there that could be improved, if it remains "dead" to PDX in its current state i would not complain
Long live the glory of Imperator
Game is Amazing, it first confused me but now I am a regular player.
OFC since it lacked tutorials, i decided to play with the files to change a bit of it. XD
I take a good grand strategy game about the antiquity over wwii, eu4 and Stellaris any day. It's a real shame how the game was treated at launch. Thank the gods for great modders that have finally made the game how it was suppose to be played.
Terra indomita is THE way to play the game, and its not close.
The game is PDX's shame for staying on the shelf. A solid 8/10
you convinced me, i'll try it
Do the Hellenic kingdoms have ways of attracting Greeks to fight in their armies? That wind be so cool if so
All I can say is we need a new DLC to make this the best game ever rivaling HOI but even more historical
I love this game. I was so excited when it was announced and released. And, I was sooo disappointed when they decided to abandon it. I had dreams of a decade of dlc turning the monster into a bloated beauty like eu4. Regional mechanics, complexified character mechanics, tribal overhauls, the works. I would gladly spend hundreds of dollars on this game.
The Marius update was such a game changer. Honestly the release version was a little rough. I think that is why it failed. But the beautiful interaction between population class, culture, and religion and its impact on every aspect of your empire are so interesting. Endlessly satisfying.
I haven’t even tried Invictus yet, saving that for later. Still enjoying the base game immensely. If they are really done with the game, I plan to get squeeze every drop from what exists now.
IR has the best map design by far in my honest opinion.
Paradox! Please listen to me and make a DLC which will improve barbarians and make their gameplay more specific and diverse. PLEASE! Game is awesome and does not deserve to be abandoned like this.
Honestly, I wish imperator had a start date based around caeser. With events covering his rise in the gaullic campaigns moving on to the cleopatra affair and civil war against the senate. Before his death and the final war for rome. I think it could provide a lot of unique characters to play like brutus, vercingetorix, cleopatra, or pompey. Not to mention, it would provide more of a focus to areas like egypt and gaul.
had no idea this game existed until i head modder snowlet was modding this game
Play this game now, were increasing numbers, now, up to 1500 concurrent now at the highs.
I want these systems in a eu game. Maybe dont change the trade system in eu as it is very fitting for its period. But i love the systems from IR for real just missing the early modern spicyness and how important the geo political aspect is in eu
Amazing they
Shelved their best game. With some tweeks it will be a monster and make a
Version for the imperial and post imperial period using the same base. Paradox wake up
And make
Some
Money.
CK3 really needs quite a lot of mechanics this game has! I don't undestand why Imperator is so unpopular in comparison.
Ive always wanted to try it but never knew if id like it and at the time i was not as good at paradox games (im still not now) but im gonna have to get this at some point
I recommend checking it out, perhaps on a sale :)
I play this game, its good and simple strategy game. Love it.
Nice avatar reference 😂
haha thank you! :D
This game is the paradox game I have played the 2. Most (EU4 has first place). It’s really good and with the mod that adds more stuff, even better. I’m sad they stopped the game, could have been the best paradox title, but they sadly F’ed up the release.
EU3, Victoria 2 and CK3 are the games I have spent the most time on. This game has seemed so complicated and that has put me off - along with the awful launch product - for years. But I started playing the other day and it really seems like an amazing game. Victoria 3 was a big let down so I am glad I have a new strategy game to sink some hours in to.
I would love it so much to play it but as long as I can´t remove roads I dont like my ocd simply won´t allow me. :(
We'd need devs to add that ability :/
I played a run recently and overall systems and mechanics are good but I felt that there was no real goal or purpose to play the game.
I played an hellenic city in Crimae, build some fortifications and develop my capital with trade and buildings and that's it.
Characters and event are meh.. All become very repetitive, there is so many characters, each of them are irrevelant.
Legion and levies are interesting mechanics but fall flat.
All unpassable mountains could have lead to interesting warfare but warfare is crap..
Millions of mercs and units rushing at you everywhere.. There is zero decisive battle. The good part is that you can put your armies in auto mode.
Imperator Rome good part are :
build road, concentrate people in mega cities, enjoy the gorgeous map
Bad part :
no real goal, warfare is such a pain, diplomacy is braindead so you just just conquer conquer conquer and get bored
I still play all the time with mods tho
which mods? :)
I picked up the game during a sale but haven't come around to installing it yet. Once I start my first playthrough, should I stick to vanilla or straight install the Invictus mod?
I remember the travesty that was the EU4 style mana system the game had at launch.
The mistake was launching it as a DLC project, especially when people would throw 30+ hours into their first game only to find out on round 2 that the nations were all basically the same... If we saw how bad it was right away the anger would not be so great.
Vic 3 feels like Imperator at release and since - like, it's good it IS getting updates and stuff, but literally the game was unfinished at release, feels like Paradox didn't really even consider how well the game runs given we're still waiting on optimization and stuff with coming 1.6 update. Milstuff was plain just not finished when game launched and they tried to pass the broken frontline system off as a feature. Now they have slight military control and the pathfinding is broken, etc. I legit think Covid ruined their dev cycle and game wasn't complete at launch, and we're left to wait for things to be patched and balanced in.
It seems like they arent going to abandon it like Imperator, at least, but who knows, maybe when they hit 2.0 they'll just dip out too haha.
Even after grasping all PDX games, IR is too complex for its too obscure UI (formations, army strength, army composition). Late game armies are equal, diplomacy / spying is too lacking, tech and missions are mess to read / plan.
i loveeeee this game i want to play it tonight
I don't understand. can you explain it to me, who never played any paradox games
It is too bad, I liked the feel of IR, it was blan to be sure, but it looked good and had a good feel to the game.
it's a shame that they abandoned it before reworking the barbaric nations, i think some of the game mechanics make it too unfair for them.
Hey Andy, I see the goods with a surplus are highlighted. What mod is this?
Invictus / better ui 2.0
It’s one of the best Paradox games, especially because there are no further DLCs or updates. So the modders have there undisturbed playground.
There isn't much left for them to do, clean up some of the cultural tech, rather than everyone having Roman tech trees and a some work on the tribal/clan nations and it would be pretty much perfect
increase the game time limit, more unique mission trees, more flavor, more mechanics a la other PDX games are doing, more scenarios etc, lots of stuff to do :)
ANY ONE WHO READ LIVIVS'S HISTORIES KNOWS THAT BUNCH OF ROMAN CHARACTERS WERE REAL PEOPLE.
I blame Johan.He is just so obnoxious and arogant. Ruined what he could.
Honestly, after the updates the only system that I think isn't well developed in this game is trade.
I like trade, but the main thing I have no idea why it works this way, is the fact that we get incoming export offers constantly, like bro, I wanna keep my shit to an extent, I don't need 15 trade notifications a month. I know we can toggle it to an extent, but I want some to get through lol
@@AndysParadox Yeah, that system is a bit odd to get used to. I think what bothers me most about trade is I simply can't visualize what's going on. Why some trade routes are open, and some aren't.
They needed a little more "Victoria 3" in my "Europa Kings of Iron" game ;P
"Too good now" as if to imply that it's changed even though it hasn't received any update at all because Paradox stopped supporting it. Misleading title.
I still think the biggest mistake was not making it a character focused game like CK
As underdeveloped as IR is, I still prefer a game that’s one and done as opposed to the infinite DLC 💩 model.
It is in a good state and honestly better than 99% of strategy games out there, so that's a good thing!
Big reason people didn’t play it as well its was very complex and scared people off. Information overload
no lol.
its very simple compared to their other games.
its too simple it was boring.
@@spatrk6634 Sure buddy
@@yaasinm yes buddy, you obviously have not played any other strategy game from paradox.
@@spatrk6634 sure kid.
@@yaasinm haha. thx.
im 32 tho.
once you grow up you will realize how silly you are
Terra indomita
great mod!
Its.. SPQR Time!
Real talk here. If the game really is that incredible, people would play it. Imperator rome steam charts is a ghost town.
Fans need to stop blaming players as if it was the players fault why the game was abandoned. Its ultimately the devs and publishers fault for not launching a game that is deserved to be played in the first place.
This clearly shows the publishers behavior towards the fans, paradox doesnt see you IR fans are worth the investment. Hence why they stopped development.
I mean, you also have to understand that these content creators are paid to do this do drive up sales, even if its abandoned game, as you said, for PDX i:r is finished product, might as well sell it as legacy game
This is marketing
@@Bleilock1 interesting makreting thought. If paradox will support this game due to sale increase then why the hell not. Pls support this game paradox
@@ErnestIsGaming after i responded to your comment, few scrolls below your comment there is a dude who said that this video sold him this game and he was so happy it was on discount on gog
Coincidence?
But dont expect revival of this game
They are still selling march of the eagles and vic2 and some other games in a bundle on discount as well
No need work on legacy if its selling
bruh if I had gotten paid for this you would've known. It was a fun video to make and I did it of my own volition because I love it, nothing conspiratorial or "marketing" about it, although I of course want more people to buy it so that PDX can make more content for it
The gameplay loop is super addictive but hard to figure out without a good bit of dedication. Imperator has a serious "I get it now!" moment that most people don't get to
Put the imperator team back to
Work.
I beg to differ (regarding the title obviously) good idea, bad execution, plus not enough content.
Amazing.
Something is not right. Why is this game abandoned, if it is so ingenious?!
the player base was never good compare do their other games.
i guess they made decision to focus on dlc's on games that are working instead of trying to fix was is bad.
and they are in period where they need to upgrade their games.
ck3 already came out.
vicky3
eu5 is development.
then its probably hoi5 turn
I remember when I played it and it wa slike 20-30 armies just swarming around in my kingdom. Then I said no I had it this is shit and went back to Stellaris and never looked back. Wasn't a surprise is flopped. But maybe I should try it again then if they fixed it. After all paid full price for it
If only it had better combat.
Why are the Romans Hellenic?
because they are.
their entire culture and religion is copy pasted from greeks.
Because they copied the Greeks 😂
Sounds like just a 2.0 review thats been made dozens of times by other content creators
You guys mispronouncing imperator is killing me. Pronounced im·pe·ra·tor NOT imper-a-tor.
You must be fun at Latin parties
@@AndysParadox If you’re going to make a video that garners thousands of views about a video game at least take two seconds to google how to properly pronounce the title.
I dont understand why you would push a game when not finished. There is no 2nd chance after release, also PDX just repeated its mistake with vic3.
There is really no good reason, other then burn it a go for a quick money grab.
this is the sad truth often :( at least Victoria 3 is faring a lot better than Imperator, but man Imperator is such a tragic tale...
I have no time to.learn.the game so I will stay at vicky 2 😅
I love this game
War end system is flawed.
LETS FLOCK THIS GAME AGAIN!!!!!
Lost potential for real 😢
Tragic fr fr :(
jeez this game is so complex! non playable for me
Good game but redo economy and tweek politics. War is great