Imperator Dev Diary, 10th of February 2020

[Nussor]

I think it would be nice if you could also choose a "patron deity" regardless and build non-unique holy sites.

 

[MohawkWolfo98]

Absolutely brilliant. Can’t wait to try this out

 

[blackchoas]

oh sweet, I like this, looking forward to going full Ashoka and spending all my time and money building new holy sites to the Buddha

Question about the screenshot, assuming its correct, it looks like 3 of your patron dieties all share the same holy site, which makes sense historically, many of the largest riches temple complexes had temples to multiple gods, but how does this work mechanically? Can you just stack all your gods in one city, say Rome, with all its wealth and spender and the imports of my vast empire, or will I need to spread all my gods out into different temples instead of building just one really sick temple, or is it like a religious restrictions? So you can stack Hellenistic gods together but not cross religions, or can you, like Ptomlemy would.

 

[Agamidae]

Now I want to build a Necropolis for Hades. And level it up with the number of casualties in wars
I'm looking forward to what the modders will do with this.

 

[Alfray Stryke]

oh sweet, I like this, looking forward to going full Ashoka and spending all my time and money building new holy sites to the Buddha

Question about the screenshot, assuming its correct, it looks like 3 of your patron dieties all share the same holy site, which makes sense historically, many of the largest riches temple complexes had temples to multiple gods, but how does this work mechanically? Can you just stack all your gods in one city, say Rome, with all its wealth and spender and the imports of my vast empire, or will I need to spread all my gods out into different temples instead of building just one really sick temple, or is it like a religious restrictions? So you can stack Hellenistic gods together but not cross religions, or can you, like Ptomlemy would.

Since that's a UI mock up, I'd be very wary of reading anything about how mechanics work from it. I wouldn't expect we could stack holy sites in the same city, but it'd be nice if we could.

 

[Ares Enyalios]

While i really like the concept, i think limiting it to only on temple worldwide per deity is the wrong decision. In my opinion it would be better to have several holysides for one deity by different nations but limit the amount of holysides one nation can built and connect it with the nation level. In that case a worldpower can built holysites for all their gods but a poleis can built none, a local power 1 and regional power 2 or so.

After all their were so many holysides. Zeus had hundreds and Apollo nearly equally and especially the already founded holysides of the greeks in olympia, delphi etc. would mean that for the hellenic pantheon there is little to found.

 

[MrMess85]

Yes. Patronizing specific gods and building up costly cult centers for them is very much in line with the political role that religion played in the era
See Pyrrhus renovations at Dodona, The Ptolemaic shrines to Alexander, etc

Thanks for the reply.

It was more the desecrating of holy sites and the opinion impact of that. I don't recall any incident of that in ancient history - the desecration and the collective outrage from that via other nations.

In anything Rome was an interesting example of it being multi-faith, how it incorporated various different religions from different parts of Europe and the Med into its pantheon.

 

[Wesum]

Will Holy Sites be visible in the map? (Greek temple for Helenics, stone circle for Celtics, massive holy tree for Germanics...) Would add much needed flavor.

 

[Rubidium]

I could easily see different aspects of gods as options (e.g. Zeus Olympios at Olympia, Zeus Bouleus at Dodona, etc.).

Alternatively, I could see "mini-holy sites" that aren't internationally important, but give a small bonus to that particular god (presumably these would be cheaper to found). So, for instance, Apollo could have his Holy Site at Delphi, but the Aetolians could have (or invest in) a mini-holy site for Apollo Thermos that would give e.g. a bonus to omen power specific to Apollo.

 

[Razmorg]

While i really like the concept, i think limiting it to only on temple worldwide per deity is the wrong decision. In my opinion it would be better to have several holysides for one deity by different nations but limit the amount of holysides one nation can built and connect it with the nation level. In that case a worldpower can built holysites for all their gods but a poleis can built none, a local power 1 and regional power 2 or so.

After all their were so many holysides. Zeus had hundreds and Apollo nearly equally and especially the already founded holysides of the greeks in olympia, delphi etc. would mean that for the hellenic pantheon there is little to found.

Problem with that is then you just make it a fancy temple. Pretty sure this is supposed to be "the" holy site. And frankly I think this mechanic is more interesting when it's more limited.

 

[Ukhan2]

If the DLC will be paid, will hosts of multiplayer games be able to share their DLC with players in their games? Or will every player have to own and activate the DLC, as is presently the case with the Punic Wars?

 

[Temudhun Khan]

Next week, we’ll be back to have a look at some of the Missions that will be coming as part of the paid Content Pack: Magna Graecia, that will accompany the 1.4 release, as well as a look at the revised holdings mechanic, which contains a new take on character land ownership.

Oh, I was not aware of a DLC tied with this patch. I guess Syracuse is getting some love, and maybe Taras too.

EDIT: And also Epirus.

 

[Trin Tragula]

Problem with that is then you just make it a fancy temple. Pretty sure this is supposed to be "the" holy site. And frankly I think this mechanic is more interesting when it's more limited.

Yes this is not to be read as the only place where the god is worshipped (also why you can have a god in your pantheon without owning its holy site) but the main center of worship in the entire world

 

[Derek Pullem]

Yes. Patronizing specific gods and building up costly cult centers for them is very much in line with the political role that religion played in the era
See Pyrrhus renovations at Dodona, The Ptolemaic shrines to Alexander, etc

Just out of our era but the the Third Sacred War over Delphi in 356-346 BCE (clue there were two earlier wars) where a tiny nation state (Phocis) was able to go up against virtually the whole of Greece on the back of desecrating the Oracle at Delphi.

 

[Trin Tragula]

Thanks for the reply.

It was more the desecrating of holy sites and the opinion impact of that. I don't recall any incident of that in ancient history - the desecration and the collective outrage from that via other nations.

In anything Rome was an interesting example of it being multi-faith, how it incorporated various different religions from different parts of Europe and the Med into its pantheon.

Mind that this is not a huge opinion modifier, but it does exist (and international outrage within a religious community is not unheard of in the era, we are not talking crusades here).
If anything this update makes it easier to play a multi-faith country, as there is nothing stopping you from worshipping gods from multiple religions in your pantheon and patronizing their respective holy sites

 

[Trin Tragula]

Question about the screenshot, assuming its correct, it looks like 3 of your patron dieties all share the same holy site.

The way the mechanic works you cannot have more than one Holy Site in the same spot.
Multiple gods in the same territory could be interesting but would present some challenges as well. If you want to have a cluster of Holy Sites for your Pantheon there is nothing stopping you from setting up these sites close to eachother (as long as there aren't any present for your gods already).

 

[Wagonlitz]

Hi all,

As the eagle-eyed amongst you noticed last week, I included a subtle hint upon the subject of today’s DD.

Accompanying the Deity rework that you have already been introduced to, we’re working on a dynamic Holy Sites feature. In keeping with the organic way that Pantheons and deities work, we wanted holy sites to be entirely within player control - something you could dedicate, destroy, and utilise, without having a strict, pre-existing list of sites from day 1.


How will they work?

Any territory can be designated a Holy Site to a Deity which exists as part of your pantheon, and which does not currently have a designated Holy Site. The territory needs to be of the same dominant parent religion as the deity, and there will be a substantial cost for doing so. There can only be one holy site for a deity in the world (consider them a parent temple): if you want to acquire the site for a deity in your pantheon yet it is owned by someone else, you’ll need to resort to more violent means.

If you own and control the holy site dedicated to a deity, the passive and active effects of that deity will be increased. They will have a ‘level’ which is tied directly to the city status of the territory in which they are placed. This ties into some further goodies which I’ll explain more about in a future diary.

You can, of course own holy sites dedicated to Deities that are not part of your pantheon, though you will receive no additional bonuses for doing so.


What about historical sites?

There will be a bunch of pre-scripted holy sites such as the temple of Apollo at Delphi, or the Asclepeion at Epidaurus. Many deities will not have pre-scripted sites.


Can we destroy holy sites, once they’re created?

You will be able to desecrate holy sites, effectively removing the dedication for ephemeral bonuses, and allowing the site to be rededicated elsewhere. This will harm your relations with countries who worship this deity as part of their pantheon.


As a bonus, here’s a WIP wireframe of how your new Religion View might look, after the 1.4 update:

Next week, we’ll be back to have a look at some of the Missions that will be coming as part of the paid Content Pack: Magna Graecia, that will accompany the 1.4 release, as well as a look at the revised holdings mechanic, which contains a new take on character land ownership.

Has the localised deity names been scrapped, or is it just because it's heavy WIP that the dieties for Rome have the Greek and not the Latin names?

Looks interesting, can anything be said about a beta testing phase?

There's a beta on steam atm. I haven't checked it, but I'd presume it's 1.4 since what else would there be a beta for atm.

 

[Snow Crystal]

Has the localised deity names been scrapped, or is it just because it's heavy WIP that the dieties for Rome have the Greek and not the Latin names?

No, they have not been scrapped.

 

[Shadout123]

Has the localised deity names been scrapped, or is it just because it's heavy WIP that the dieties for Rome have the Greek and not the Latin names?

There's a beta on steam atm. I haven't checked it, but I'd presume it's 1.4 since what else would there be a beta for atm.

The publich branch beta doesn´t change anything so far we might get beta in the future. The other betas are just older versions e.g when you want to continue to play on an older save

 

[Andrzej I]

Mind that this is not a huge opinion modifier, but it does exist (and international outrage within a religious community is not unheard of in the era, we are not talking crusades here).

@Arheo @Snow Crystal

Come to think of it, not sure it was mentioned elsewhere, but I hope desecrating the holy site for Zeus, for example, would see a fairly harsh happiness penalty for all Hellenic religion pops in your country. Would this be the case?