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The game is fully functional and fun to play. There is a community of players that keep playing and there are some mods that keep improving the game.

IMHO is worth it.

And then, there is the PDS statement that they may restart the game development after hiring personnel.
 
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I got the whole game for $24 on sale and have only played through two whole games and it feels like I've barely scratched the surface of the game. I'd definitely recommend getting it next time its on sale if you are curious.
 
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It really depends on what you want from the game. Some like it a lot (like I do), others don't. What I personally like, is that I do not have to go to war if I do not want to, once I have reached a certain size (not counting declarations on me by the ai). I can build my roads, wonders whatever I want (I like to build stuff). Sadly, as aforemention by another player, most regions do not have unique flavour. There are mods who do, such as we are at "Imperator Invictus". There is also "The Bronze Age Reborn", "Gladio et Sale" and there are many more who work on it.
 
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It is fun, which makes it sad development has stopped, however you’ll find after a while there are very unpolished aspects that detract from gameplay.

QoL features like the ability to set a focus for vassals doesn’t exist so you can’t coordinate your feudatories. This makes imperial war goals a nightmare when your feudatories siege land you don’t want at all. EU4 manages this fine.

The balance of factions in the Balkans is very poor with historical nations like Epirus suffering and a lack of major events. Imperator Invictus makes this situation so much better and makes the region very fun to play. Allowing generals to lead legions for characters like Phyrrus, scripted Phyrric war with Rome and the Celtic invasion events leading to Galatia forming in Anatolia really polish the gameplay. Sparta seems to perform much better with Invictis too as well bloodlines making characters more interesting.

QoL features that help the player understand what modifiers exist and where they come from needs some love. It’s difficult understanding in a monarchy for example why the primary heir is favoured when the tooltip only says ‘from modifiers’ with no indication what those modifiers are.

Trade goods are a great part of the game in that acquiring them are needed, but a system to represent trade routes that need to be defended with ships, trade hubs don’t exist and really need an overhaul. Without a proper system for this the game is still fun but noticeably underdeveloped.

Food is too easy to develop. Again Invictus really is great in that you must use a lot of your trade routes to bring in food unless you own food provinces. So you can’t waste trade routes on luxury goods unless you produce enough food already and this makes the pursuit of food a reason to expand.

Version 2.0 of imperator is definitely worth getting, but it should have been how the game had been released. If this was the base game then the players would still have looked for overhauls on trade, diplomacy, events (like Celtic invasion and Phryyic wars). Personally after playing Vanilla I think downloading Invictus is a must for any imperator player for a whole variety of reasons.

I really hope Paradox adds a vassal tab and trade system and the game would be up with the best as I don’t think modders could be expected to do this. Everything else modders seem to be excelling in.
 
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Just try it out on GOG.com

GOG gives you 30 days to ask for a refund. If you dont like it, refund it. I think Steam gives just a couple of hours before refunding, right?

And IMHO, it is the best game after EU4, sharing 2nd place with VIC2 and ahead of CK series, HOI series and Stellaris. But just my preferences.
 
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Well that's because Stellaris isn't Very good lol
There is nothing terribly wrong with Stellaris. But, its ahistorical so I mean, you don't feel an attachment the same way you might with a historical diadochi or ancient nation.

I mean, how many times is it fun to be the insect guys who eat other species they beat? I mean....once to see the mechanics, right?
 
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I'd say the exact opposite, it is worth getting at a reasonable cost, and it's far better off in the hands of the Invictus modders, and the game is better off with Paradox out the way.
Invictus adds a lot of flavour.
But unfortunately, modders can't change many mechanics. Unless paradox releases the full source code, modders won't be able to fill the gap.

And since @JaggedKnight is also asking about Victoria 2 as well he should buy the much better game (unless he buys both).
 
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I had much more fun with Eu Rome - it had living characters where ability to breed and pass your dynasty further wasn't restricted to few great families, barbarian incursions were threatening and it had frequent and challenging civil wars while in Imperator they are a joke.

Sadly without hope of making the game more difficult I can't recommend it. No challenge means boring game for me.

But if you like mindless, relaxed map painting then you can get it.
 
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