Greetings! My thanks for bearing with us over the holidays, the team has had a good break, and were back and ready to begin the 1.4 Archimedes update for Imperator: Rome. Before I go into a little more depth as to what you might expect in the first part of 2020, Id like to address what some of you may already have noticed. Our previous roadmap indicated that 1.4 (previously titled Cassander) would be an weighty expansion to I:R - weve taken the decision to change our tack a little here. This is in part due to the success of the 1.2 and 1.3 updates: the ambitious release cadence we achieved in order to be able to bring the radical changes and additions contained therein, is something that we feel suits Imperator well, and is a practice I would like to keep up. What does this mean? Well, in practical terms, you can expect to see smaller, more frequent updates than some of our sister titles. We believe that we can provide a more engaging experience for our players by having the opportunity to react to feedback with relative haste (the development of the 1.2 Cicero update, for example), which in turn gives us the chance to focus on individual, core themes on a per-update basis. Does more updates mean more paid DLC than were used to on [insert PDS game here]? Simply put; no. As well be producing more frequent updates, not all of them will have a price tag. Content packs accompanying free updates is a model that I believe serves us well, and gives players the greatest amount of choice and flexibility as to how they spend their money. Does this mean Imperator is dead? Absolutely not. Were committed to Imperator - we believe there is huge potential in both the era and game. Indeed, the I:R team seems to have mysteriously grown over the holidays. Ive pre-empted these questions, and I expect some of you to have more. Ill do my best to answer those which I can in this thread. --- Moving on, we come to the subject of 2020. I wanted to give you an update as to our plans for the first few updates this year, however before I do, I must stress that any and all plans are subject to change - the level of communication and feedback weve had with you on our previous updates makes me confident that transparency is the only way forward here, but it should be with the understanding that the realities of development sometimes hit unexpected turns. To aid our planning, weve split each update cycle into something were calling a season. Giving each season a rough theme allows us to better focus on key parts of the game in need of improvement, without committing to a discrete number of updates or releases. Season 1: Religion and Culture Archimedes: My intention is that the Archimedes update will focus heavily on expanding the religious gameplay options. Well be overhauling omens, allowing and promoting hybridisation of religions and pantheons, the dedication of holy sites, and many more features tied to the religious theming of the Archimedes update. In addition, well be taking some time to rework character loyalty as a more organic system and squashing some oft-requested minor features. Menander: The second major part of this release naturally looks towards culture. Its too early to tell you exactly what you can expect to see here, but to me, the lack of ability to promote cultural diversity is something I believe needs improvement. Other themes for the Menander update are likely to include Subjects, unrest/rebellions, and more. Does this mean you wont touch [Feature X] until its part of a season? Not necessarily. Themes and seasons are a focus, not a restriction. Whats after Season 1? Well, its a little early to say. -However-, what I can do is give you the intended theme for S2: Warfare. To conclude, Im aware that many of you like meaty, detailed Dev diaries that explain features on a mechanical level. This is not something weve forgotten, and next week well dive into the details of the Archimedes update to look at Deities and Pantheons. /Arheo Edit: As we lack any exciting screenshots to show you due to the recent holidays, I felt it would be a good time to prove that team Imperator is also team CAT (featuring an assortment of team cats):
To discuss this post on our forums (or higher quality cat pics), you can view the original thread here.