Hello and Welcome to another Developer Diary for Imperator: Rome!

Today we will be covering the Law changes, as well as new Character Interactions in the Cicero Update. As you will be aware if you have played the beta version of the Update we have revamped laws for all governments with the goal of making the government types more distinct from each other and to better interact with the game world.

This rework was in part necessary since the overhaul of population meant that many of the laws should now interact with the new system, changing the ideal ratios of different pop types in your cities, or increasing the speed of religious conversions, but it was also born out of a wish to introduce more meaningful choices when selecting your laws.


Republican Laws:


While half of the law categories are available from the start, the last 4 categories (Religious Laws, Integration Laws, Citizenship laws and Land Reforms) are now unlocked by technology as the game progresses.
The main chance to Republican laws however is that any choice you make will increase the influence over one faction in senate over the others over time. Often the faction that grows will do so in a reactive manner, empowering one faction will allow its opponents to grow.


Monarchy Laws:


Where Republics have to accept that any law they adopt will have an effect on the balance of the senate factions Monarchies will instead contend with the fact that most laws will now increase the loyalty of either your generals or your governors, while also decreasing it for the other group. In this way you will now have to balance the need for loyalty of your governors versus that of your generals.

Just as in Republics there are a number of Law Categories that are unlocked by technology (Taxation Laws, Domestic Laws, Conversion Laws, Authority Laws and Contract Law) with each further modifying the loyalty of your Governors and Generals.


Tribal Laws:


Tribes are different in many ways from other countries. Most notably the Centralization value of Tribal countries cover how sedentary their society is, and Tribes that do not settle down and turn into Monarchies or Republics have a hard time getting far ahead in technology.

Instead of unlocking from technology Tribal laws are separated into two distinct varieties. One variety opens up more laws the more negative your centralization is, while the other unlocks more laws the higher your centralization is.

Laws themselves will also all either increase or decrease Centralization over time, making laws an integral part of making your Tribe more migratory or in turning it more sedentary and ultimately a Republic or Monarchy.

The added effects of multiple laws also means that while it is slow at start the reformation of your society will tend to pick up pace over time as more laws are enacted.


Changes to Character Interactions:

Arrange Marriage:


Arranging marriages for your ruler is not as straightforward as it once was. Depending on their circumstances the family of your future spouse can now make demands for a monetary contribution in the form of a dowry for one of a number of reasons. Of course depending on the circumstances it may also be more straightforward, some rulers are more palatable than others.

Granting Regional Nicknames



While generals were already able to acquire regional nicknames (inheritable as cognomens if playing a Roman culture country) it is now also possible to grant these directly to a governor under your control.

Impose Corruption Sanctions


As another way to combat corruption in specific characters it is now possible to reduce the corruption of a character, this will also reduce their loyalty to an equal amount.

Power Base & Loyalty

In the Cicero Update power base in itself will lead to a decrease in loyalty, meaning that very powerful characters will naturally be harder to keep loyal over time. This has also replaced the loyalty decrease from Loyal Troops since these contribute to the Power Base as well.


Changes since the Open Beta

As the final release of this update draws nearer most of the things I talk about in this diary will already be known to those of you who have been playing the open beta. Therefore, here are some more assorted things we have changed since the last open version:

• The view for constructing buildings have had an overhaul, and the buttons for upgrading cities or revoking city status can now be found there.
  
• Revoking City Status no longer costs Political Influence, instead it costs only Tyranny. This cost is discounted heavily for Tribes.
  
• Upgrading a Settlement to a City, or a city to a Metropolis no longer has a scaling gold cost. Instead it costs a flat amount.
  
• Founding a city will now remove a local food trade good in a location, replacing it with something else. Should City Status be revoked the old food trade good will be returned. AI countries will avoid turning Food producing settlements into cities.
  
• A bug where local modifiers sometimes did not count (also known as Marketplaces do nothing) has been fixed.
  
• AI Monarchies will be a bit better at dealing with Tyranny by being more selective in how they use the ability to demand support for their heir.