Ashes Of Empire: The Dark Age [Alpha Version]

[Andy Scott]

NOTE: Alpha Version is available now on the Steam Workshop!

The mod starts in 527 at the crowning of Justinian I and the breakup of Clovis’ Frankish Kingdom. The mod will cover the transitional period from Late Antiquity to the Middle Ages, right up to where CK2 kicks off in the 9th century.

[Note: Currently we cannot change the start date in Imperator Rome, so it’ll still appear as 450 AUC]

The mod is currently in Alpha so it’s a limited experience at the moment. There will be bugs and other weird things as you play. Over the coming months and years we'll flesh it out to reach its full potential.

Discord Link: https://discord.gg/An4QKTk

Here are the features currently available in Alpha

• New nations in their 527 starting positions
• New religions: Chalcedonian Christianity, Arian Christianity, Nestorian Christianity, Monophysite Christianity, Tengri, Slavic and Islam
• New cultures: Bulgars, Slavs, Turks, Berbers, Polanes and more
• Some new characters: because Imperator’s character modding is buggy, it’s unpredictable which characters will actually appear on your game
• Roads in former Roman Empire territories
• The Nikka Riots
• The Plague Of Justinian
• The ability to form new nations: Ireland, Britannia, Pictland, Francia, The Holy Roman Empire, The Western Roman Empire, The Gothic Empire and Arabia

Features To Come In Future Versions

• Religion re-work
• Dozens of new characters
• More historically accurate pop distribution
• More historical flavor
• Better balance
• New animations
• New government types

Events To Come In Future Versions

• The Campaigns of Belisarius
• The Avar Khagnate
• The Slavic Invasion Of The Balkans
• The Göktürk Khaganate
• The Monophysite Controversy & Other Religious Disputes
• Gavelkind Succession In The Frankish Kingdoms
• The Rise Of Islam
• The Rise Of The Moors (Triggered if the Arabs reach Africa)
• The First Viking raids
• The First Bulgarian Incursions In The Balkans
• The Political Maneuvering Of The Pope and other Patriarchs

Everything that's been done so far has been done by just me, but for this mod to reach its full potential I need to build a team. If you’re interested in helping me go deeper with the history, create events, balance and contribute artwork to the project or even help with mod tasks like moving POPs around, implementing new religion dynamics and scripting events, please reach out to me on our Discord: https://discord.gg/An4QKTk

 

[Austregisel]

It was this mod I was expecting! Do you want to make the provinces governed by such people and be inherited by your children, not the ruler? Of course for feudal barbarian governments.

 

[cristofolmc]

Is this mod going to represent the fall apart of the Visigoth Hispania Kingdom and its conquest by Islam? Not too railroady, so you have a chance as the player to fight it and survive it and reform the Kingdom into a fully medieval one, insteado of tha clan structure it had, where in 100 years they had more like 20 kings because they kept killing each other to claim the throne?

It was this mod I was expecting! Do you want to make the provinces governed by such people and be inherited by your children, not the ruler? Of course for feudal barbarian governments.

That would be hella cool.

 

[Narol]

Great Mod concept, you already got me very hyped !!

However, why not start rather in 476 AD rather than 527 AD ???

That's really the start of the dark ages and you would have an even more interesting starting political landscape, with Clovis starting his ascension, Syagrus ("The last of the Romans") still holding part of Gauls, Odoacer in Italy, Nepos in Illyria and even a few Huns remaining in the East even if their empire disintegrated a few years earlier...

Just look, by Jove :

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_...a/File:Europe_and_the_Near_East_at_476_AD.png

By starting only in 527 AD, you are missing on 51 fascinating years that have been decisive for the formation of many dark ages countries, IMHO.

 

[Andy Scott]

Great Mod concept, you already got me very hyped !!

However, why not start rather in 476 AD rather than 527 AD ???

That's really the start of the dark ages and you would have an even more interesting starting political landscape, with Clovis starting his ascension, Syagrus ("The last of the Romans") still holding part of Gauls, Odoacer in Italy, Nepos in Illyria and even a few Huns remaining in the East even if their empire disintegrated a few years earlier...

Just look, by Jove :

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_...a/File:Europe_and_the_Near_East_at_476_AD.png

By starting only in 527 AD, you are missing on 51 fascinating years that have been decisive for the formation of many dark ages countries, IMHO.

Hey, thanks for the feedback!

I chose the 527 start date for a few reasons...

1. I wanted Italy controlled by the Ostrogoths rather than Odoacer

2. Eventually I’d like to have a bunch of events related to Justinian, Belisarius and Theodora

3. Having the Nikka riots and plague hit in the first 20 years provides a simple way to weaken the Roman Empire early

4. I wanted the Slavs on the Danube frontier with the Avars poised to attack

5. I wanted the Goturks on the map

6. Eventually I want the Arab invasions to occur within 100 years of the game beginning to pose a major mid game shakeup

 

[Narol]

Ok, that's 6 points that make sense... Let's go for 527.

Anyway, there is already a CK2 Mod that does the 476 start ("When the World Stopped Making Sense") , so maybe that would have been a little redondant and it's smart from you to choose a different starting point.

Btw, any chances for a warchief named Arthur somewhere in Britain as an easter egg ? (according to experts, if he existed he probably reigned around that time)

 

[TinWiz]

Really cool idea. Are you able to mod the 00_defines file to change the start and end dates on the timeline?

Nvm just read the preview.

 

[Drogan]

This will be the greatest mod ever!

 

[CrazyZombie]

Ok, that's 6 points that make sense... Let's go for 527.

Anyway, there is already a CK2 Mod that does the 476 start ("When the World Stopped Making Sense") , so maybe that would have been a little redondant and it's smart from you to choose a different starting point.

Btw, any chances for a warchief named Arthur somewhere in Britain as an easter egg ? (according to experts, if he existed he probably reigned around that time)

Funny story. In the mod for Attila TW where is depicted Civil war of 410 in the Western Rome, Roman Britain is a separate state from Rome (well, just as other rebellious parts), and guess what is the name of that state leader? Vortigern.

P.S. Yep, that was a weird film...

 

[egich]

YES! YES!

When will the alpha version be available?

 

[Andy Scott]

YES! YES!

When will the alpha version be available?

Within the next 2 weeks

 

[Eternal Phobia]

Hey, thanks for the feedback!

I chose the 527 start date for a few reasons...

1. I wanted Italy controlled by the Ostrogoths rather than Odoacer

2. Eventually I’d like to have a bunch of events related to Justinian, Belisarius and Theodora

3. Having the Nikka riots and plague hit in the first 20 years provides a simple way to weaken the Roman Empire early

4. I wanted the Slavs on the Danube frontier with the Avars poised to attack

5. I wanted the Goturks on the map

6. Eventually I want the Arab invasions to occur within 100 years of the game beginning to pose a major mid game shakeup

527 is also a good start date because Khosrow Anushiruwan is about to take the Sassanian throne and he is one seriously cool dude

 

[Eicna]

The Campaigns of Belisarius (You’ll even have the option of restoring an independent Western Roman Empire if you so choose!)

I assumed you have played Total war: Attila the Last Roman DLC?
I literally was thinking about I want to play as Belisarius in Imperator: Rome and fuck Justinian up as I did in total war Attila, then I found this mod page.

 

[Andy Scott]

The alpha version is live now

 

[cristofolmc]

The alpha version is live now

I thought it came in 2 weeks

 

[Cameron122]

when I embrace latin culture the decision to form the WRE disappears, am i misunderstanding the requirements?

 

[Andy Scott]

Nope, that was a code error. Just fixed it so when you start a new game you should be able to form the WRE

 

[cristofolmc]

Would it be possible to make unique decisions to each latin kingdom so insteado of just embracing latin culture, they embrace the hispano-roman or anglo-roman or whatever local culture they rule over is? It doesnt feel right that you go roman from rome in an hispano-roman kingdom.

 

[Andy Scott]

I agree. In the next major update there’ll be the ability to create a Romano-Gothic, Romano-Vandal, etc variants

 

[Marinakis]

I truly hope that this mod takes root and grows. The dark ages are such an interesting period of time and seriously underrepresented in grand strategy games.

Good luck!