A thread to discuss the big mods that you anticipate for Project Caesar, and what you think they might do with all the new mechanics that have been introduced. Obviously we can't say too much without a hands-on of the game, but I think it's still fun to discuss, and I figure there's modders out there who'd like to think up what they might do with the game when its released. Here's my predictions-
-Imperator Rome 1.5
This ones a gimme, as Project Caesar seems to incorporate all the best parts of Imperator Rome while ditching most of the chaff. We have pop's, minorities, characters, roadbuilding, higher province density, even volcanoes. I think the only aspects missing that people are fans of would be the customizable armies and legions. Personally I never interacted with it too much. Permanent troops haven't been discussed much though, so maybe they can be modded to work like Legions if people want? The other would be the Army Doctrines, and I think that should actually be added in a dlc for Project Caesar, but on a much smaller scale, where they correspond to tech-groups rather than cultural groups. We now officially have holy-sites, and I honestly think it's better if those correspond to much more fixed locations than the ability to plop them down anywhere- it doesn't make sense to me to have a temple to Athena anywhere but Athens. And I think that just leaves the artifacts that you could place in shrines, which I think was a fun mechanic but didn't really add much. We now have 'great works of art' but I'd like to see paradox or modders expand that out to a full on artifacts mechanic like in Crusader Kings. Also I presume that an Imperator Rome 1.5 will ditch my most hated part of Imperator- how you can only raise troops in lands of accepted cultures, and how there's pretty much zero bonuses to cultures within a culture-group. Imperator heavily prioritized assimilating cultures as opposed to integrating them, which I felt was both ahistorical, boring, and unfun.
-Anbennar
Probably the biggest EUIV mod now, I think they'll be able to play a lot with minority cultures in a way they clearly wanted to but couldn't quite in EUIV. They already added in a fun tolerance and migration mechanic, and I imagine this will go much more in-depth with Project Caesar. I likewise imagine they are going to have a lot of fun with the micro-nations added, that is the army, navy, and building based countries, which I think can better represent the playable adventuring companies that they have in that game. The only issue for them is I don't know if Project Caesar will have the same sort of migration mechanics. While I'm not as sure if Project Caesar itself will benefit from them, I think the ability for modders to play with them like in Anbennar means I want Paradox to not abandon the idea entirely. I think migration mechanics would also be highly improved for these micro-nations given they don't need wide-swathes of empty land to move through anymore.
For Anbennar specifically I wonder how they might play with the SoP's that are now in the game, but naturally that'd probably wait until they are given their own mechanics by Paradox. Anbennar has interesting mechanics for 'monstrous' nations and them becoming civilized, and SoP's would give them an additional layer to play with. But as I said, we currently know little on how SoP's will operate, and thus how the Anbenanr devs could take advantage of them.
The International Orders system would also work well for them for several regions I imagine, as well as international incidents. I think these both could help streamline the various 'thunderdomes' they set up where several smaller nations compete to unite regions, rather than letting the AI get stuck and squat on their little pieces of land.
I imagine Anbennar will find ways to expand their Expedition mechanics as well, but I hope that this is something Paradox creates their own set of mechanics for. Personally what I'd do is allow for the formation of 'expeditions' that create a small army-based nation vassal (you don't want to hand the reigns of ruling your country to the AI after all) that begins exploring territory for some lost treasure, you'd need permission of a landed country to search for treasures in their land. In a historical run in EUIV this would mostly generate small rewards of prestige or money, and wouldn't find anything too ahistoric, in most cases not uncovering much. I'd see this as a replacement for the 'search for the seven cities' mechanic from EUIV.
I'll also say I'm very interested in how Elder Scrolls Universalis and Lords of Universalis will take advantage of Project Caesar, but I have less to talk about there since they lack the same mechanical depth. I will say though that given that Project Caesar aims to better simulate the crumbling of empires, perhaps Elder Scrolls Universalis will be better off set in the Second Era than the First, simulating the downfall of the Akaviri Potentate, the splitting of Skyrim, and the formation of the factions of the Three Banners Wars through IO's. Though maybe if it's still set in the First Era we see a more united Snow Elf Empire crumbling from Nordic invasions and so on.
-Third Odyseey 2
One of the quirkier big mods, while I'm sure they can have a lot of fun with the new game mechanics, I don't think there's too much they'll need to overhaul since it doesn't change too much of the core mechanics. The only issue I think is that the 1337 start date means the imminent Ottoman invasion isn't upon them. I still hope Paradox adds a 1444 start date to Project Caesar though.
-Imperator Rome 1.5
This ones a gimme, as Project Caesar seems to incorporate all the best parts of Imperator Rome while ditching most of the chaff. We have pop's, minorities, characters, roadbuilding, higher province density, even volcanoes. I think the only aspects missing that people are fans of would be the customizable armies and legions. Personally I never interacted with it too much. Permanent troops haven't been discussed much though, so maybe they can be modded to work like Legions if people want? The other would be the Army Doctrines, and I think that should actually be added in a dlc for Project Caesar, but on a much smaller scale, where they correspond to tech-groups rather than cultural groups. We now officially have holy-sites, and I honestly think it's better if those correspond to much more fixed locations than the ability to plop them down anywhere- it doesn't make sense to me to have a temple to Athena anywhere but Athens. And I think that just leaves the artifacts that you could place in shrines, which I think was a fun mechanic but didn't really add much. We now have 'great works of art' but I'd like to see paradox or modders expand that out to a full on artifacts mechanic like in Crusader Kings. Also I presume that an Imperator Rome 1.5 will ditch my most hated part of Imperator- how you can only raise troops in lands of accepted cultures, and how there's pretty much zero bonuses to cultures within a culture-group. Imperator heavily prioritized assimilating cultures as opposed to integrating them, which I felt was both ahistorical, boring, and unfun.
-Anbennar
Probably the biggest EUIV mod now, I think they'll be able to play a lot with minority cultures in a way they clearly wanted to but couldn't quite in EUIV. They already added in a fun tolerance and migration mechanic, and I imagine this will go much more in-depth with Project Caesar. I likewise imagine they are going to have a lot of fun with the micro-nations added, that is the army, navy, and building based countries, which I think can better represent the playable adventuring companies that they have in that game. The only issue for them is I don't know if Project Caesar will have the same sort of migration mechanics. While I'm not as sure if Project Caesar itself will benefit from them, I think the ability for modders to play with them like in Anbennar means I want Paradox to not abandon the idea entirely. I think migration mechanics would also be highly improved for these micro-nations given they don't need wide-swathes of empty land to move through anymore.
For Anbennar specifically I wonder how they might play with the SoP's that are now in the game, but naturally that'd probably wait until they are given their own mechanics by Paradox. Anbennar has interesting mechanics for 'monstrous' nations and them becoming civilized, and SoP's would give them an additional layer to play with. But as I said, we currently know little on how SoP's will operate, and thus how the Anbenanr devs could take advantage of them.
The International Orders system would also work well for them for several regions I imagine, as well as international incidents. I think these both could help streamline the various 'thunderdomes' they set up where several smaller nations compete to unite regions, rather than letting the AI get stuck and squat on their little pieces of land.
I imagine Anbennar will find ways to expand their Expedition mechanics as well, but I hope that this is something Paradox creates their own set of mechanics for. Personally what I'd do is allow for the formation of 'expeditions' that create a small army-based nation vassal (you don't want to hand the reigns of ruling your country to the AI after all) that begins exploring territory for some lost treasure, you'd need permission of a landed country to search for treasures in their land. In a historical run in EUIV this would mostly generate small rewards of prestige or money, and wouldn't find anything too ahistoric, in most cases not uncovering much. I'd see this as a replacement for the 'search for the seven cities' mechanic from EUIV.
I'll also say I'm very interested in how Elder Scrolls Universalis and Lords of Universalis will take advantage of Project Caesar, but I have less to talk about there since they lack the same mechanical depth. I will say though that given that Project Caesar aims to better simulate the crumbling of empires, perhaps Elder Scrolls Universalis will be better off set in the Second Era than the First, simulating the downfall of the Akaviri Potentate, the splitting of Skyrim, and the formation of the factions of the Three Banners Wars through IO's. Though maybe if it's still set in the First Era we see a more united Snow Elf Empire crumbling from Nordic invasions and so on.
-Third Odyseey 2
One of the quirkier big mods, while I'm sure they can have a lot of fun with the new game mechanics, I don't think there's too much they'll need to overhaul since it doesn't change too much of the core mechanics. The only issue I think is that the 1337 start date means the imminent Ottoman invasion isn't upon them. I still hope Paradox adds a 1444 start date to Project Caesar though.
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