Before starting this post, I would like to state the main reasons why many people and I have given up on the game or have taken a very long break from it. I do this to point out the perceived and the actual defects of the game so that we may know what to focus on.
With that said I will start with the general opinion that others have about the game. And by that, I mean that there is a "lack of flavor" when it comes to nations and government-types and that by playing one nation you would have the experience of playing them all, and this is somewhat true, as the game becomes stale on a second playthrough, and boring on the 3rd, 4th, 5th.
As for me, I don’t think that the lack of flavor is all that is putting people to sleep. The truth is much more nuanced and would take me a few pages to describe but here is a very short summary: “The game lacks its own identity and mechanics”. It relies too much on what it gets from other PDX games like Europa Universalis, Victoria, and CK and brings nothing new to the table.
Before designing any game, a designer must answer these questions:
What is the feeling my game evokes for the user?
SMARTNESS! All PDX games evoke the feeling of being smart through strategic gameplay relevant to a time period.
What is the first thing that comes to mind when you mention a certain time period?
Early Medieval to Late Medieval (CK) - Wars fought on the premiss of personal prestige, dynasties, and religion. This means that you play as one character, at a time, from a consecutive line of characters all from the same dynasty, and tend to use your divine right as an excuse for all your actions.
The Renaissance to the Industrial Age (EU) - Discovery, Colonisation, Early Industry. This means that you play as a nation and fight wars on the basis of tax, production, and trade profits. Religion is secondary but still there.
Industrial age (Victoria) - Rapid evolution of science, Industry, “The Scramble for Africa”, and the premise of The Great War and its conclusion. This means that you play as an industrializing nation trying to produce/secure enough resources for all of your pops while keeping up with your global neighbors and trying to secure a piece of Africa but eventually sinking into the “optimistic” pit of war and the eventual Great War.
Ancient Era (Imperator): Archaic city-states, Incredible evolutions on the political stage for elites and plebs, Wars fought over the sake of empires, Rapid Expansions over primitive peoples. This means a lot of things:
For the current build it means the following: You play as a guy and then he dies and you get another guy, and only his stats are different, and the events of your nation are all the same and there was never anything new or random that happened because you, as the supreme leader, were in control of everything?
And here is my take: You start by creating or choosing a family from a roster within the nation you picked. These families belong to tribes or clans made up of other families. At least 3 tribes/clans make up a nation (Rome started with 3 tribes but had 35 tribes at the end of the late republic). Your goal within the game is to ensure that you and your children acquire offices within the nation, and through these positions of power start to influence the nation and events within and without but never directly. Politics in this era were all about acquiring and maintaining wealth and power, suffering through losses and setbacks while keeping a straight face and cordial attitude towards your rivals. In republics and city-states, an office or a military position was never a permanent thing, and even in tribes or kingdoms, rival families would scheme and sometimes overthrow each other from such positions at court. This type of indirect gameplay opens up a new path for players not fully explored in any other PDX game, except for that tiny CK II DLC called Republics but very little.
Also, the family you pick should be a small group made out of the Paterfamilias, Matrona, Filii/Filiae, and they matter the most to your playthrough. The tribes/clans are the families of your grandparents, brothers & cousins - they matter but less.
^Build mechanics around the stuff above^
Here is a scenario for a playthrough that should make it clearer what people and I want:
- You start as a minor family within one of the clans of your nation. You only have a measly inheritance of a little money, the estate and the lands around it, and a noble’s name with all the privilege and responsibility that comes with it. You control nothing but the affairs of your household and estate.
- Your overall goal is to acquire wealth and power for yourself or your sons by gaining estates and offices - civil or military
- You can do this by playing on your strong points (stats), starting a campaign for a minor political office you are suited for, then using your money and influence to win the said campaign. And let’s say that by the grace of the gods, your abilities, and money, you win, and become an Aedile (You supervise public works, archives, markets, events).
- And let’s say that you make a few rivals and friends in this position but you also do a good job, and by doing this you get enough money and influence that you can assure that one of your sons gains a minor military position that gives him control of some of the nation’s troops (you can now control an army).
- You then instruct your son to bring glory to the family through his actions on the battlefield by getting most of the war contribution during a war. This can be done by winning battles, conquering cities, occupying territories, and capturing slaves(for the nation and yourself). War contribution during a war is calculated among the families and clans that have military offices during said war.
- You now have a substantial amount of wealth, a civil office for yourself, and a military position for your son. This means that you are stable enough politically and financially that you now “eat at the big table”, rub elbows with the most influential and powerful people within the government, and can now influence the direction of your nation.
- And then all hell breaks loose! A drought hits your estates, your turn of office is ended, your son dies in battle due to his ambition, and now your rivals want your head.
- Among your options, you have the following:
- “stay and face the music” - use whatever is left of your political clout and turn everything around
- liquidize your estates, take your money and leave the country starting a new life in a different nation
- accept your rivals demands and become one of his clients and become limited, for a time, in your political and military carrier
- You chose to “stay and face the music”. So you start your “warpath” by blackmailing, formalizing marriage alliances, and establishing a client system within the lower tiers of the government, made up of all your friends and former subordinates. So that you can return to the government, aaaaaaaaand congrats, you’re back baby!
- And then a civil war happens when the most influential and powerful general of the nation decides that he will be a better ruler than the current government.
- You, being a pragmatic person, start placing your bets with both sides. Placating the ego of the general by promising your support, and at the same time spreading rumors among the plebs and the elite about the said general, one more debauched and scandalous than the other, to the point that nothing is certain about his character, and whether he wins or fails his political future is uncertain but your future and your family is secured.
^All of the political managing needs to be done with mechanics and not with events. Events should be the random stuff that you are not in control of, or ready for. Events need to make you rethink everything you planned for, they need to create an environment of uncertainty. Some may be caused by certain factors but not in a way that a user can easily predict them. Make people feel SMART when they manipulate the events of a nation, like war declaration, ruler abdications, riots, etc^
The reason why I think that viewing the game through the visage of a family or Paterfamilias while having indirect control on the nation outcome is that players don't have anything they get emotionally attached to in the game. I remember playing a general with excellent stats but he had nothing else about him that made him interesting because the in-game mechanics do not bother to actually give him life. My emotional attachment to him and any other actual character was the same - none.
Disclaimer: I am pretty sure that nothing can be done with the current game and that any actual improvement to the Imperator franchise will come with the second iteration of the game.
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