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Virtually everyone who plays Imp2 for any length of time soon starts to put together an Imp3 wish list. Not wanting to be different in that regard, here's my contribution...


If I've ever encountered a better game than Imperialism II, I haven't been able to recall it for quite some time now.. If I had to take one game to a desert island, the Imp would be it, no question.
       There is so much to like about this game. The depth of the gameplay, the depth of the economic model, the way trade works, and the fact that it's a thinking game -- you spend as much, if not more, time just thinking about stuff as actually doing things. There must be a whole sub-class of finger-twitchering FPS-players out there who absolutely detest games like this.
      One of the things that playing Imp2 does (for me, at least) is to open the "What if..."   Pandora's Box; the ever-growing list of impossibilities and unlikelihoods that would, if I owned a sweatshop full of slave programmers, become Imp3, yesterday sometime...

GENERAL IDEAS

1) Pbem (Play by email), with a utility that can process the submitted game files and create new ones. Email (i.e. negotiate with) other players from inside the game.

2) Deeper diplomacy -- just about everything should be negotiable.

3) Modding ability -- the graphics should be directories of gifs that can easily be tweaked or replaced. The configuration should be derived as much as possible from text files that can be edited. Events should be determined by scripts in text files that can be edited. In other words, the whole game should be wide open to mods and scenarios.

4) Map editor -- for user maps in scenarios..

PARTICULAR IDEAS

THE MAP
Firstly, a lot of what I say below hangs off this idea; Imp3 should be able to use a map of the entire real world, and you should be able to play any country you want. This would change the focus of the game a lot. It would allow the game to be pointed in the direction of 'history sim', which, imho, would be a very interesting place for it to go. It's tempting to suggest that the ideas of Great Power, minor nation and New World could go, but on reflection, those divisions are such a fundamental part of the game's structure that's hard to imagine it without them.
       A world map would also make the idea of randomly generated worlds less important than it is in Imp2. Under the heading "Community" below , I explain why this would be a good thing (Imp2 has been too smart for its own good.).
       (Also, the idea of controlling x number of provinces to win the game should be retired. It's a board game kind of victory condition, anyway, and is arbitrary and artificial.) At the very least, you should be able to set victory conditions, and controlling a number of provinces should be just one of the available options.
     There could be different maps: There could be a 'real' map, in which the distribution of resources follows as closely as possible the actual known distribution in 1500, or whatever the starting year would be. If there was gold in Silesia in 1500, then let there be gold on the map. If York was a big cattle farming area, then so be it. This map could be constantly being fine-tuned as a result of player input (there were gem mines in Egypt, and the textile industries in Flanders need to be stronger, that sort of thing), and the game could have the option of updating the map from the FC servers. This map could be an ongoing project -- mapping the world in 1500, or in other years, depending on the scenario. History fans love that sort of thing. People who were working on mods could fine-tune and customise maps as well.

THE ECONOMY
Other people have got things to say about this, but I really can't see much that needs changing here. The way production works is already intricately and seamlessly tied in with the map and with gameplay overall. Sure, you could add more raw materials or more manufactured goods, but then you run the risk of over-complicating things. Obviously things would change to keep in line with all the other developments in Imp3, but I can't see any screamers here. One decision needed, though -- whether to base it on the Imp I or II model, as they are quite different, with Imp I having manufactured goods such as furniture, weaponry, etc.

INFRASTRUCTURE
It would be a good idea to have cities be able to reach the point where their influence (which at the moment is the "transport=4" thing that you have at the start) expands outwards by another square. This could happen when a certain number or type of researches are complete, and would be the equivalent of a small city becoming a large one. It's area of influence would therefore also be bigger.
      On any empty tile (i.e. one not containing a resource) within that area, you would be able to further develop your megalopolis by building items from a new category; infrastructure. You could build a University, a Shipyard (on a coast), a Cathedral, a Military Academy, A Heavy Industrial Region, and a Special Economic Zone (trade). The presence of these would have further impact on various elements such as trade efficiency, research, the price that could be obtained for manufactured goods such as Cast Iron or Steel (because they would be of higher quality), quality of military units. etc,
      In this way, you would be able to further develop your provinces in ways specific to each, and in keeping with their resource base. It would be another, more province-specific, way of researching; in fact this system could pretty much replace the present research system.
      The following infrastructure units could be available:

1) The Industrial Region allows all mines in the province to be upgraded to the next level (there are still 4 levels of development), at the small cost of a Level 1 upgrade. Mines can now also be upgraded in all the other provinces, i.e. that don't have an Industrial Region, but the cost in those cases is higher, without any discount. This is because the technology would have to be transferred to the other provinces.
       The Industrial Region also creates bonus materials, just as a developed town does presently. It results in increased sale price for any goods that are produced in the province (because of increased quality). If an industrial region is destroyed, the advantages it confers disappear.

2) The University allows for cheaper research in any other institution found in the province.. It provides a free research bonus every x turns. It provides for a free civ unit every x turns. It also slows down the rate of increase in the cash cost of civ units. (Rather than stay the same price, they get more expensive as time moves on; universities take the edge off this.) A Univeristy allows recruiting of an Amabassador.

3) The Military Academy increases research on military units. It provides a free military unit upgrade each x turns. It adds a level to the fortification of the province. It speeds up the healing of any injured troops in the province (because of the military hospital, of course). A Military Academy allows recruiting of Generals.

4) The Special Economic Zone affects trade. It makes any trade-related researches less expensive. It makes trade deals that involved any resources produced in the province more likely. It raises the sale price of all resources in the province.

5) The Shipyard makes naval research less expensive. You get a free ship upgrade every x turns. It speeds repair of damaged ships in that port (they can only be built in ports, of course). A Shipyard allows recruiting of Commodores.

6) The Trades School allows for the upgrading of a farm or mine in that province every x turns. Like Industrial Regions, the upgrades happen at Level 1 cost, as long as the Trades Academy is present. In other provinces, the upgrades, while they are available, cost much more.
       Trade Schools at the different levels of development allow training of apprentices, journeymen and artisans respectively.

7) The Mission. Native provinces can rebel against you if you handle them wrongly. Building a Mission gradually lessens the risk of rebellion. A Mission also depletes the morale of native armies of the same tribe in directly neighbouring provinces. Missions can occasionally develop a resource in the province to Level 1. They can eventually lead to the cultural conversion of the province.

Some general notes on these institutions:

a) Each one requires a yearly cash budget to function. They can be mothballed if they can't be afforded for a while. (This saves the expense of rebuilding. It's the equivalent of just sending the staff home for a while.)

b) The loss of an institution (e.g. through losing the province in war) deals a blow to the relevant part of society; e.g. a downgrading of mines or farms in the province, a reduction in diplomatic skills, or loss or downgrading of some military units, depending on what institutions are involved.

c) Institutions can be captured in war, and only need a relatively small injection of capital in order to become operational again.

d) Institutions have four levels of development. These equate to the four current levels of development for individual resources, such as farms and mines. The first instance of an insitution reaching each level of development might be more expensnive than each subsequent time you build one of that level -- it is the cost of making the breakthrough.

e) When a Spy is operating in a province, he only gets access to information (i.e. the researching bonus) of institutions that have been built in that province.

f) The end result of all these institutions, and the point of them, is that tech advances become dependent on provinces. This will make the various strengths and weaknesses of provinces even more important than in Imp2. The resource base of a province will play a large part in determining the best way to develop it.
       Losing a well-developed province in a war could be a real blow, just as gaining one could be a windfall.

g) How developed a province can become depends on how many vacant tiles there are within the city's area. A small city won't support many institutions -- a more developed city will support more, and a Level 3 city can be a virtual megalopolis. This level should be very expensive, and relquire a lot of resources to achieve.

DIPLOMACY
Among all the components that add to the strength of Imp2's gameplay, diplomacy is the Achille's Heel.
       The trouble is that you can't do enough with diplomacy. For example, you can't dissolve an alliance, and the alliances you form with other Great Powers are one-dimensional affairs, and apart from going or not going to war, have little real consequence. There's also no concept of senior and junior partners in an alliance.
       It would be nice to be able to deliver ultimatums, such as a) allow access to my merchants, or I'll boycott you and your colonies, or b) hand over province X, or it's war...
      Perhaps you could be able to upgrade your embassies, too, so that they function more effectively, even without an ambassador...

AMBASSADORS
Ambassadors could be a civilian unit, hired like builders and engineers. While diplomatic realtions and activities could proceed at a standard level without having to send an ambassador to a foreign power, relations with them are taken to the next level once you send an ambassador. The persence of an ambassador could be required for some advanced activities, such as delivering ultimatums, negotiating a good peace treaty, or annexing. Ambassadors could gain experience with each international incident they're involved in, just as military units gain medals. The more experienced an ambassador, the higher his chances of success in diplomacy -- e.g. annexing a minor nation or negotiating a peace. (Negotiating a peace? -- see the following point)

WAR & PEACE
... is not just a slugfest, it's the extension of politics, yes, we know, so it should be treated as such. In Imp2, wars simply start and stop with few complications or effects, and no explanation as to why. The handling of wars as events in EU2 is interesting; provinces taken during a war are controlled by the occupier, but are still nominally owned by their rightful owner, at least until the peace is negotiated. Importantly, wars only end when there is a negotiated peace. When peace is struck by the warring parties, a siezed province might or might not change hands as part of the peace deal. If it doesn't change hands as part of the negotiated settlement, it reverts to its original owner. The peace negotiations might result in other events, such as a cash payment (i.e. reparations), merchant access, trade subsidies. And the resulting peace treaties should have a life span, just as in EU2, so that any country that breaks a treaty and redeclares war should suffer somehow (in EU2, you lose "stability points", a concept which Imp2 doesn't have and doesn't need.).

ANOTHER UNIT: THE GENERAL
First, we demote the current generals that are allocated automatically as your army increases in size to the status of mere officers. There might be some grumbling in the ranks, but such is life, and when you join the army, you know what you're getting into. The 'Officers' keep functioning as in Imp2; i.e. they increase moral during battle.
      The General is now a unit that we hire, just like the current civilian units. When you place a General in a province, he brings with him his whole entourage, and a fair whack of army infrastructure. In other words, a province with a General in it has extra troops as long as he's there, plus the fort could be tougher. All troops in the province fight as though they have an extra medal, what with them being spurred on by the General and all. When the General is on the scene, it takes more to make troops retreat. As long as the General is in a province, there are periodic free upgrades among troops that are in the province.
      Also, rebellions are less likely in provinces that have a General.
      As well as the General, we'll also need Commodores, who add the same sort of advantage to fleets.

BATTLES
The current tactical battle system is ok, it works. And the option to either let battles be resolved automatically or to take control is a good one.
      Still, I'd like to see the battle screen treated way differently-- my perfect solution (for now, anyway, and probably totally impractical) would be to use the Cossacks engine or something like it to fight battles. For every unit of infantry you have committed to the battle, you'd start the setup with maybe 10 soldiers. Or twenty, or whatever number would lead to balanced gameplay. The same could apply to cavalry and artillery. Maybe one artillery unit gets you five pieces on the battlefield.
       (Just like the current system, if a unit is damaged from previous battles and is at reduced strength or morale, this would be reflected in the number and morale of the units deployed at the start of the battle scenario.)
       Perhaps if a battle is being fought in a territory where you have cultural or other affinity with population, you get 'citizen militias' appearing by your side, to give you a hand (like Imp I). Of course, if the enemy is invading your territory to regain a province that is culturally their own, you might find that the militias join the other side, not yours... (Culture...? See the following point...)
      Oh, and it goes without saying that naval battles can be fought out, too.

SOCIETY & CULTURE
Now here's a tricky one. This area is totally neglected by Imp2. As the ruler of your Empire, you seem to have no control over society and culture, while having complete authority over trade and production. Some idea of your Empire's cultural domain could add a lot to the gamespace.
       Adding the concept of 'culture' could add lots of possibilities. It makes sense that your home provinces are easier to develop than New World provinces, for example. Also, you might experience rebellions among populations that are not from your own culture. (This is an EU2 idea; if you let rebels control a province for too long, there is the danger that they might defect to another country, probably back to their homeland.)

HISTORICAL TIMELINE / LEADERS
Taking a rather sizable leaf from EU2's book here. This is a really obvious way to add a lot of flavor to the Imp experience. Here's where scripting enters the picture, and the history sim idea can really get a workout. Leaders could come and go based on history. They should have attributes based on what we know from history. If some king was known to have screwed up his country's food industry to finance a war, then something in the scripting could reflect that. If a particular king of England brought about a thaw in relations with France, then relations between France and England should get a boost during his reign. If he was a military genius, then your troops' performance should reflect the fact.

PUTTING A FACE ON IT
The headings of Diplomacy and Historical Timeline are really addressing one issue -- the desirability of putting a human face on some of the action in Imp3. Imp2 is heavy on the calculations, but it's possible to forget that we're meant to be dealing with the leaders and governments of other countries. Imp3 needs to introduce the idea that there's someone at the other end of the AI.

COMMUNITY
Finally, it's possible to see in Imp2 itself some of the reasons for the game's lack of an ongoing online community.
       Prime example: mods. In the gaming world, people love mods. They love hacking into things and changing them around, making scenarios, editing ini files, making their own campaigns or worlds or levels. Look at the active mod communities that flourish for games like Civ3, EU2, or HalfLife.
       But you can't mod Imp2. There are no scripts to hack, and no events to debate the virtues of and then edit a texti file to change. The best you can do now is say to someone "Try behyuu as a map key. You'll get lots of horses and iron ore. (or punish yourself and try Nepal)"
       If Imp3 could be script-based and as user-editable as possible, players could make their own scenarios (The Great Northern War, whatever...). People could swap and argue scenarios and tweak each other's mods... It is for this reason that I say that the randomly generated world, clever though it is, should be retired or made a minor option. It's clever and works well, but it does in seconds what people should be toiling long and hard over, muttering and cursing as they go. Once people start doing that with a game, it takes a lot to make them stop playing.

dminoz
Last edited March 29, 2005


IMPERIALISM 2

Full version (57Mb)*
Patch (1.03)
No CD patch (for 1.03)
Manual (pdf)

Tech Tree (pdf)


IMPERIALISM 1
Full version (41 Mb)*
Patch
Manual (pdf)


TRADE EMPIRES
Full version (130Mb)*
Most of these
downloads (other than
the full versions, which
are direct) require
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* The full versions of
all 3 games are
fully patched, noCD,
and don't need
installation - just unzip.
To help conserve
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the links are not
here, but are on the
Links page of
the Yahoo
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STRATEGY GUIDES


EU2

Imp2 often gets compared to Europa Universalis 2. I've tried to get enthusiastic about EU2, but I just can't. It is, after all a pretty competent history sim, so there should be a lot to like about it.
    In the end, though, it gets boring, waiting as the years tick by, while you get enough money to be able to finance the next war. There are really two states in EU2 -- fighting another same-as war, or getting ready for the next one.
    And the economic model is woeful. All you can do is promote a few officials, and blow your savings on a 'manufactory', which gives you an icon in a province, and tweaks some of the behind-the-scenes database.
    EU2 has some things that Imp3 could learn from, though. Actually, many of the things that are weak in Imp2 are strong in EU2, and vice versa. EU2 has s strong sense of society and history. Imp2 has a strong prodcution / economy system.

 



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