Update: the showcase footage that was streamed on Twitch earlier today can be found at the bottom of this story.
Paradox Development Studio will be presenting gameplay in progress for the upcoming strategy title Imperator: Rome. The showcase will be taking place on Twitch tomorrow, January 8, with the Game Director Johan Andersson. The stream will take place at 15:00 CET and it has been decided that the first streaming showcase of the game will focus on a particular point in time in Rome. It will be a time when Rome has become the most powerful entity in Central Italy and just after the nation defeated the Samnites and Etruscans. At this point in history, Rome was drawing the attention of world powers near and far. Although the game will show the campaign’s success up to this point, it will also “highlight how even small conflicts can blow up into great multisided wars in this region.”
We previously discussed Imperator: Rome’s announcement back in May and talked about the character management systems and needs of the civilization of which players will take control. In the December development diary, several outlined changes to the soon to be released game have been announced. The map will be changed from its original plan to being divided into regions. There will be 7 to 8 regions, which will give each province 10 to 12 cities within them. Paradox commented on the regional governor system, saying that “having one governor per province turned to be less fun than expected. The management and interaction with a large amount of governors in a medium-sized empire forced them to become too irrelevant.” Now each region will have its own governor.
Also, the concept of families will become more important to in-game characters. A character may be in a player’s country, but belong to a family of another. Members of families will all contribute to the “family prestige.” AI reaction to diplomacy deals that players have sent out will now be automatically replied to instead of occurring the next day. Even more specifics on the change to troops, trade, and user interface can be found in the developer diary’s page.
Imperator: Rome does not have a set release date, but is expected to release this year and be compatible on PC and Mac.
Watch First Imperator: Rome Stream Ever from ParadoxInteractive on www.twitch.tv