Playing IMPERATOR: ROME In 2024! 

Real Roman legionaries become channel members!

Imperator has the most beautiful map Paradox ever made.

Replay with the Invictus mod. It’s basically the community picking up where paradox left off. It doesn’t majorly overhaul any base features (turns out they are REALLY GOOD), just adds a ton of new content and overhauls the map. At this point, you don’t play imperator without invictus EDIT: for those of you that care, you can actually get steam achievements still with mods enabled. With Vic3 and ck3 that is standard now, but imperator didn't previously support that, so there is absolutely no reason to not play with invictus

Tbh, invictus mod made this game worth to be played again!

Dude, we need full LP for this game!

I would adore if CK3 used the commander loyalty system from Imperator. As in, if you have a commander out there who is disloyal, they won’t listen to your commands and will be completely autonomous. I think this is probably more like how rulers had to view their armies and commanders in Medieval times rather than the “put your rival as the commander and hope they die/get captured” mechanic. It would make picking a commander a bigger decision when raising troops for a war. And if there’s indeed a landless character mode coming with the next CK3 expansion, upgrading the prestige system so that national heroes rise and perhaps a legendary king comes from the battlefield (or, a huge rebellion…) - those are intriguing role playing dynamics that I would love to see

A couple of tips for those who've tried the game and were frustrated by the mechanics. Unlike EU4 you want to have a fort in every province and not just on the borders. Forts reduce unrest which increases province loyalty. So at least 1 fort per province and 2-3 for newly conquered states. That along with theaters and temples when you can research them. Second trick is if a province has declining loyalty of less than 34, you can switch the governor out and back and they will usually change to harsh treatment without wasting PP. At a small cost of loyalty, hopefully you didn't assign the governors job to someone with low loyalty beforehand. Third is to have only 1 city per province, obviously your province capital. It's more efficient to have have 1 city with 90 pops than 3 with 30. Pick a place with the best habitability even if its not the best resource available. Exceptions being a low population province (below 30-40) where it may be ok to have a 2nd city strictly as a granary silo. More available food increases pop growth, doesn't works as well in high pop states. Also your capital region where 4-6 cities may be ok for the trade bonuses. 4th and more challenging; Tyranny is your friend. Not a good one but it's the best source for AE reduction, plus adds to slave output, more tax money. So sack/destroy cities that you don't need. Just be weary of loyalty, maybe research loyalty techs. Next once you get legions there is an exploit where you can get them almost unlimited morale. It just depends on how many foreign holy sites you have access to, each one is supposed to give a 10% permanent morale boost to a legion when sacked. Its supposed to only do it once. But due to the game being perfectly balanced. What you can do is split up which ever legion you want to do this to and send one to however number of temples you want. Then pause the game and go through all the units and destroy each holy site with the legion. You'll see the event pop up repeatedly. I've gotten a 400% morale boost in Ironman. Usually I restrict myself to a meager 50-100% boost as I try to spread it around all my legions. And morale actually increases your damage output. My legions can easily fight 4-5 times their number, such victories give more rewards and bonuses. Eventually you'll have a single 10k legion smashing 100k troops. Lastly horse archers are OP, just like in real life. If you have access to the Persian military branch use them instead of heavy infantry and cavalry. Don't give them logistics or engineers. Have dedicated siege legions with infantry set aside. Because they can move at speed for 4, double the speed of infantry at 2. And they have 5 maneuver in battle. Basically they can hit everyone around them. Combined with the Persian bonuses and the special doctrine they're like roving helicopter gunships. The only thing that can stop them is a dedicated army of light cav but the AI never makes such an army. And they're good as far as army weight, not having the extra weight modifier that heavy cav has. Early steppe horde goes BRRT!

i really enjoyed this game. i hope they revisit the premis with updated mechanics. i had a lot of fun playing as a gaulish tribe fending off the romans

Please try it with Imperator: Invictus! It adds so much content, you can get an idea of what I:R would feel like if it kept getting support

If imperator could fix the family / character system . This would be a great game.

What does a man have to do to have a Egyptian campaign video

imperator rome has the most interesting conquest mechanics IMO. the fact you can be a small barbarian tribe and conquer a huge kingdom, creating a small ruling caste of germanic nobles with greek citizens is really unique in paradox games. i love the combat system as well, but so many things are just not fleshed out enough. the characters i could never find any interest in, and the deifying a dead family members. there's so many weird mechanics in this game that i'm sure people have no idea existed.the intrigue is probably interesting to someone out there

You should do a Imperator: Rome series with the Invictus mod.

fast opinion, if they had made the game like CK instead of whatever mix of ck + eu they did, it would have been fantastic. ps: yes the game has the best map of all games, whatever team made the map should have been asked to make all the maps.

I still can’t believe they abandoned this game, it had so much potential! It is beautiful!

This game does have its flaws, but I do think it does so many cool things. The mod Imperator Invictus is the way to go if anyone feels like giving it a try!

That game is NOT dead! it's alive in my heart

I really wish that there was a game that combined imperator Rome, CK3 and EU4. The perfect Eras to combine, really, separating the old world from the new one. It would basically be the combination of these 3 games, Victoria 3 and HOI4.

You seriously need to try this game with the Invictus mod!

i stepped away from the computer for a bit so not sure if your playing invictus, but if you arnt please to a LP with invictus

This game is criminally underrated

I hope you play this again with Invictus enabled! It's basically the fans of the game keeping development ongoing!

my steam review on march 21, 2021. im a sad boy. "they really made something special here. there is a plenty of issues the game has. its got some balance issues, id like more character interactions, more events, quest balance. with that said, 2.0 did an unbelievable job making the core gameplay compelling. this means the hard stuff is done. a few dlc's, as paradox does, and tweaking the balance is easy. the pop and legion system is brilliant and sets it apart from other paradox games, and all the other stuff this game needs has already been done in other games, so its only a matter of time until its added to this one." wow my grammar is terrible.

Yes, please! I would love to see a playthrough with Invictus!

This game needs a revival and more updates unfortunately paradox won’t do anything so

I really agree with your points of CK3 learning from the religion system here regarding holy sites. I love the depth of CK3’s religion system but holy sites are a sore spot. It would be good if founding a religion or when the head of faith you could pick the holy sites. And being able to deposit relics at holy sites would make so much sense and make capturing another religion’s even a bigger deal - maybe have an event for followers when such happens. Another thing I think could be learned from is the culture system. I prefer this system of accepting cultures and assimilation to CK3’s “send a councilor and hope it goes well” style. I want to fine tune the rights of cultures and try to curry favor / acceptance of them like you can in Imperator.

Very good current review. I'm going to pick it up again just because of the video! But I'm going to be honest with you when it comes to the state of this game. Knowing it doesn't receive more content is good in a way. I feel like I can pick it up whenever without expecting big changes. It feels "finished" like the olden times of gaming. It just eases a lot of pressure from having the latest DLC or checking the last patches. It feels good to pick up a complete game, something that is done.

Play imperator invictus the overhaul mod!! It's got more flavour and better/different mechanics

I never wanted to pay for a game that is not supported and updated, so I just play Fallen Eagle on Ck3. The minority culture map had me looking at it for around 30 minutes cause it was just sooo interesting, though Imperator has a lot of cool things too!

Everyone keeps plugging invictus which makes total sense but i think that vanilla is already a very solid, well made experience on it own

I really liked this game actually. Wish they kept supporting it.

My favorite pdx game

This begs for a retro EU: Rome video. Miss cheesing the whole Roman army to drown in the Straight of Messina as Pyrrhus and Egypt rushing to space age every time.

Best pop system man rly rly love it

If you decide to play this game again, use the Imperator Rome mod Invictus, it adds thousands of hours of flavor built by a team of really dedicated misdeed who love what this game could have been.

I bought Imperator in the fall because it was like, $8 CND or something, then very quickly dropped it. Between that and a free play weekend from a few years ago, I have about three hours...but you've really made me want to check it out for real. _Please_ do a tutorial LP of it, I would love that so.

Honestly the last update for Imperator was really a resurection for the game. When paradox stop the support I was really disapointed especilly after all the efforts to make the game enjoyable.

Quite honestly, I really love Imperator Rome 2.0. I never played 1.0 and bought it a few years ago after all the disappointment faded out and I found it to be quite engaging, and I especially had fun with the peacetime mechanics trying to manage my empire and placate the disparate political factions. There's no reason why people should have written this game off. We need people to come back to it.

Play with 'Imperator: Invictus' mod when playing 'Imperator: Rome' And yes the comments are gonna spam you about this...

tbh one of the best things about paradox is the historical accuracy. these games you can learn so much - or even just learn what books to pick up. I used to get jaded over all the unknown shit on the maps, but once you learn its actually cool and I appreciate the historical accuracy.

I actually really enjoy playing Imperator Rome and I appreciate the attempt to try to get in all the mechanics from the popular Grand Strategy Paradox games. And I think they fleshed it out decently in Update 2.0. My biggest issue with the game are the missions and how they want you to build cities a certain way, even though often times it's completly inefficient. Overall still very enjoyable game though !

Bruh imagine playing without the Invictus mod. Thanks for the interest in I:R but please bro I can't upvote a vid that's not using Invictus.

The trade and army system are my favorites from this game, love the bonus from surplus and the diversity in units, the latter being the best IMO

It's a shame that Imperator doesn't get enough love. It's actually a nice game in my mind

One of the things that always disappointed me was the lack of immersion as opposed to being an Empire builder. There is so much political intrigue and events in the Ancient World that it feels like Imperator has even barely scratched the surface. This is one of those games that deserves a revisit by Paradox, or a remake of it. Keep what made Imperator good, now improve upon it. It sucks because we need a good game in classical antiquity right now, and us classical fans are languishing without any good games being released for it. This game is not 'perishing' it perished the day Paradox abandoned it for reasons that were understandable, but like Rome II, it is a game of unfulfilled ambitions.

Ehhh..., Imperator Rome..., such a good game! Years have passed and I still haven't got over the fact that they stopped developing it. 2.0 was such a huge step forward and right at the time when the game was showing so much promise they stabbed it in the back.

So many comments about invictus mod. Because i liked the game but never played that, i feel like i have to try that now. Goddammit OPB robbing my time again.

please more imperator rome 🙏🙏🙏

Laith's Imperator influence is spreading

You should do Imperator rome playthrough, i really enjoy this

Bring this game back to life, it’s all I have 😂 it’s so underrated, we are even doing a weekly 10 -15 ppl MP Roleplay game (with Invictus mod tho)

Thanks for the vid, it does make me want to go back to this, it’s a decent game all in all.

Technology is fine. It works ! Trade well not so good. For me this is paradox best gam, hands down ! It’s the only paradox game I played thru

Imagine a tecnology sistem like ck3, in the culture, with a population system like imperator rome, would be really cool.

Imperator has so much potential..

I always come back to this game just because it feels like your nation is a thing vecause the cultures and pops change based on your actions.

I'd really love to see you play the Bronze Age mod for Imperator, it just feels so much better than vanilla Imperator!

Here's to hoping we will one day see an Imperator Rome 2

The research screen reminds me of Stellaris. It's amazing how this game is amalgamation of every system from every game ever.

I can't believe we got a Imperator: Rome video before a seaason 3 to the basque roleplay game.

I think my biggest two wishlist's for if they ever further supported the game are Different time starts (namely near or at the time of the foundation of the roman empire. probably ceasar start date for maximum alt scenarios) and expanded gameplay for tribal societies like the gallics and germanics.

I honestly think it is a real shame that pdx stopped development of imperator when it was finally getting good

Underrated game nowadays, for sure. I prefer the Diadochi successor states over anything else. Mostly because of the titanic wars that happen in their respective areas. As Rome, the only challenge is Carthage, and that’s basically just being able to afford a navy large enough to transport your armies over to them. Otherwise you just steamroll the tribes and it becomes boring. Playing as the Selulkids for example, it is very challenging from the start. With Invictus mod, you start the game and immediately get an offer of royal marriage with the Indian state of Maurya. You gain a bloodline, and 3 units of war elephants. However you lose land. While it is the easier route, refusing it leads to war right away. The meta is to go green in warscore quickly and peace out. Remove a few subject states as subjects and war over (better to do this than integration of larger states, as it takes 20-50 years in game to integrate after 10 years of overlordship). Then shortly after the Diadochi wars kick off. You can attempt to avoid it but you’ll likely have to fight it anyway. Take advantage of these wars. I recommend you disband your navy right away to save money, remove some forts around your nation to save money right away, and don’t spend what you have yet. Antigonid goes to war with macedon, then Egypt. As soon as Egypt event pops up, hire as many mercenaries as you can and get your levies moving west. Go straight for the Levant, and cut off Egypt from taking lands. Then try and win against Antigonid quickly. Either consolidate and take over those former vassals through claims, or use the bonus for your starting ruler and try to take out the other Diadochi. The latter is difficult, as you’ll have no more money because of the mercenaries. Besides, it’s always fun to do a little intrigue to get those awesome bloodlines in your court, so by the 4th generation ruler, you’ll have the literal best bloodline rulers available. Long winded yes, but I just did all of this recently and it’s fresh.

10 years isn't that long. I've been boycotting the Seattle Art Museum since something like 1998. They had a West African textile exhibit and the index cards below the exhibits were in French and I found 3 grammatical errors with my rudimentary 4 years of French in an American high school. I went down to the lady at the 1st floor and explained the first error I saw and she said, "Yeah, someone already told us about that". OMG, the only correct answer would be, "Thank-you, we will get that fixed ASAP." Hence, over 20 years of boycotting with no end in sight!

Ironically the best paradox game so far

I really liked Imperator Rome. It felt like no matter who you played, if it wasn't Rome there was always the looming apocalyptic bossfight against Rome waiting for you once you hit the mid to lategame. It's like a race against the clock to blob as much as you can before your border starts getting red. Meanwhile as Rome all you've gotta do to win is import a grain surplus into your capital and give Macedonian pops citizenship and you've got like the best economy and army in the game lmao

I love what they did with the holy sites and being able to make your own holy sites. I often play a migratory style in all the paradox games, making cultures and religions in Ck3 is my jam. I just dont understand why they didn't do the holy site thing in CK3, especially when creating your own religion. That's why I like Godherja to much as the mod developers made it so if you play religions with no holy sites you get the option to choose the area in which your holy sites will be, and the syncretism choices are insane!

I remember back when Imperator Rome was released it was the first nail in my coffin for paradox games. I wouldnt say that it was a bad game but, for me, it drasticly shows the "blue print" of every paradox game. Just releasing the absolut barebone of a game that works fine technicly but skips everything interesting for selling it to later via DLC. Thats why i stopped playing Vic3 and didnt even bother buying CitySkylines2.

Imperator Rome is a good game. Rome is just so pumped and playing it is like an easy mode. Try diadochy or Epirus. The only downside of the game is that there is only one time frame and not a lot of replayability. I just wish that we would get one-day roman civil war, playing roman republic in Greece or Pompey in Sicily would be dope.

Gah i fuckin miss this game.. its still great wish paradox would pick it back up

My crowing achivement in 1.0 was reforming Babylon, I did like the game, but for some reason never decided to relearn it for 2.0, hope you do some modded content

Thanks for the video! I remember buying the game and leave it after one hour, but maybe I'll gibe it another shot. Quick question: if this is quite close to EU4, why play thos game instead of the Imperium Universalis mod for EU4? I mean, I play EU4 and I'm home, I just play without trying to understand the game mechanics. Why Imperator Rome?

Okay you convinced me I'll play imperator again

You should play with the imperator Invictus mod.

Zephyrus of the Western Winds, of the Nox Arcana, and of the Spring of Celestia [1:15 PM]

One of the biggest differences I find in this game compared to other map painters is that your population dictates your overall economy, manpower and research. So if you know how to manage the populations then you can really get over the ai no problem.

People are suggesting the Invictus mod which is definitely an improvement but pales in comparison to Terra indomita (itself an invictus mod spinoff) I also find that playing any nation with strong modifiers or alot of land/pops on normal difficulty turns to be pretty easy as long as you have a decent grasp of the game mechanics. Its even easier if you have a very strong grasp of the mechanics. Either way i'm really happy that modders have taken up the mantle of keeping this game alive.

This game more than any others needed multiple start dates. With Rome you're dealing with about 1000 years of history with a lot of interesting scenarios besides the same old grand campaign.

By far the best map in a paradox game, i also have not played this for years, shame it got abandoned.

I just decided to give it a try about a week ago. Loved it really, it was basically what I would want eu4 to look like. Unfortunately it has like 200 countries and like 1.5 actually interesting campaigns. Would like to see some total conversions into modernish age.

Still my favorite. I was very much looking forward to more.

I really wanted to like this game. Something about management was really awful, especially the families, but this time period was something I was looking forward to. Here's hoping they try again in the future.

"I do like playing with it" ~OPB 13:07

That how Victoria 3 is going be like in couple of years

Love this video! Thanks! I think a lot of us love to see more of this kind of imperator content. You pan around the map so fast. How do you do this? Middle button or do you have another secret? (special mouse?)

YES I LOVE THIS!! keep it up 🙌🙌

The way I see things, IR is the best game of PDX ever, which was ruined into ground by PDX itself. Purely speculative on my side, but I would say the game has (almost) nothing wrong going on (after 2.0), what was wrong was the way devs and marketing/management/sales (didn't) cooperated. The way Johan laid out his "vision" made me so godam angry that it tilts me to this day. "Look we made a barren structure so you can fill it with mods (and pay us on the way)". There so much nerve and unapologetical bad management in the way everything-IR-related was handled that it's pure sadness that this happened alongside, again from my pov, the best PDX product.

The game is alive and well thanks to the Invictus team, the youtubers making play-throughs and the vibrant reddit community.

I disagree with the Gaullic tribes, the one in the most northwest corner, and turned them in to a Gallic empire and it was super difficult but super rewarding. Or being the Luisitanians and creating the Empire of Hispania. I do think you hit the nail on the head when you say this is the one of the few games where being small nation and growing in to an Empire is super fun.

Mcdonalds and the Cheesburger thing makes my German heart skip a Beat. but i guess its actually better for my heart if i think about it...

There are some cool mods for this game you mentioned Invictus but there are other mods like Terra Invictia(Which adds more of East Asia), the Elder Scrolls Mod, and a still in progress Lord of the Rings mod. That's not even mentioning the smaller mods and add ons.

If imperator was more character driven like ck3 it would be my favorite paradox game. I like how the pop system & spreading your culture & religion is very satisfying. + I like how you can’t just spawn your 80,000k army & actually have to gather your forces. The choke points in mountainous regions is nice too

Roma eterna, it never died

This game + no man's sky are my favourite examples of "from horror to masterpiece"

Playing Rome in Imperator: Rome is just the easy mode :) My favourite run was as Athens trying to free from Macedon and reform into the Hellenic league. Rome will inevitably expand to your borders because they can have legions very early, while playing as tribes or city-states (like Athens) and finally passing the law for legions feels more rewarding. Also when playing as a city-state your survival becomes dependent on the trade bonuses and you really have to think of your research for more trade roots. What I really like about research is that smaller city-states are actually at benefit - having few lands means proportion of higher-class is higher (buildings impact majority of your pops) and sometimes you research much faster than huge states like Seleucids. In terms of support - I think the devs clearly said no new features will be released, but they support work of the Invictus mod team and fixed something the mod team been struggling with. I really wish I knew about Invictus mod earlier - they improve a lot but I hadn't had a chance to have a decent playthrough with the mod.

Imperator is genuinely the only game that I'm upset it stopped getting updates.

You should really try the invictus mod. It had so much to the game. It's basically pepole trying to continue the developement of the game on their own now. It improve the game without changing the cores mechanics

Man i really need this game to come back

Loved the pettiness intro, i feel you brother

This game just cemented my opinion of Paradox