The number of unit types has jumped to nine and includes camels and elephants, both of which have unique roles and strengths they’re not just reskinned cavalry. Preparing for these hands-off brawls seems considerably more involved this time, however. ![]() Like previous Paradox grand strategy romps, Imperator’s combat is hands-off, with the outcome determined by things like terrain, leader skills and troop composition. The army is completely wiped out, along with its general, poor Lucius Postumius Megellus. They’re defeated before the invasion force can turn back and rescue them. The Etruscans have over 10,000 heavy infantry, against the Romans’ 2,000, and even the skilful Roman cavalry can’t make up for that deficit. Oh well! Things get worse when the Etruscans slip behind the invading Roman legion, attacking a province protected by a much smaller army. Unfortunately, without a cassus belli, the rest of the world doesn’t view the invasion favourably. ![]() War is declared on neighbouring Etruria, and the Senate approves. That doesn’t guarantee anything, mind, as senators don’t always toe the party line, but it helps a lot. This one time, however, it seems like a small price to pay for giving the military lot ten extra seats on the Senate. Interfering with democracy like this is a little bit naughty, so it also generates 'tyranny', a measure of how authoritarian you are. To prepare for war, the military faction gets a boost at the cost of some political power. The most prominent faction, meanwhile, might keep voting down your laws and telling you that you can’t play soldier. Some members of your government will be rubbish at their jobs because they don’t have a high enough corresponding skill, or maybe just because they’re corrupt and lazy. Since you’re commanding a nation instead of playing as a character, you’ll still be running the show no matter what faction or individual rises to power, but that doesn’t mean they’re interchangeable. He belongs to the Civic faction, which informs some of the choices he makes and also means that, while he remains at the head of the Senate, Rome will enjoy reduced building times and costs. Publius Sempronius Sophus, the Consul, is a wise, charismatic leader who’s probably a little less popular than he’d like. ![]() Every senator belongs to a faction with their own agendas and attitudes, but they’re also individuals that are made up of character traits, skills and personal ambitions. There are plenty of places ripe for conquest, but ambitious rulers will have to manage the Senate if they want to start swallowing up territory.īig decisions need approval from the Senate, with each senator getting a vote, determining whether Rome gets to go to war or make a new alliance. It’s expansion time for the burgeoning republic, but it is far from the superpower it will eventually become. In this era, the Romans are fighting over Italy with Greek city-states, Etruscans, Samnites and, of course, Carthaginians. My tour of Imperator begins, appropriately, with the titular republic. It's the latter that stands out the most, however. ![]() The upcoming strategy game has Crusader King 2’s detailed characters, Europa Universalis 4’s broad national scope, Victoria 2’s demographics and even Hearts of Iron 4’s wargame sensibilities, all transposed to the world of antiquity. Watching all of Imperator: Rome’s wars, trade deals and politicking play out is a lot like viewing a highlight reel of Paradox’s current generation of grand strategy epics.
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