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Imperator: Rome has a big free 'Cicero' update out now with some major changes

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Paradox have just launched a big free update to their struggling new strategy game Imperator: Rome, which might help to turn things around for it.

Today the free Cicero update launched, which Paradox said lets "the player focus on political consequences and imperial governance instead of waiting for numbers to grow". It also has a new trailer to go along with the Cicero 1.2 update:

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For a breakdown of the features, this is what Paradox said is included:

  • Deeper Province Management
    • Develop settlements in the provinces, founding new cities or establishing great metropolises at the center of your empire
    • 17 unique buildings to enhance provincial wealth and capabilities
    • Population development, migration and conversion now happen dynamically
    • Food may be stored in a province and depleted over time. Save grain for a coming crisis or starve an enemy into submission.
  • Challenging Political Game
    • Monarch power replaced by Political Influence, a store of value based on the loyalty of your advisors. Ruler skills now affect national capabilities, not specific actions.
    • Each form of government must consider trade-offs when passing new laws. Republics must consider the balance of their factions, while Monarchies risk pitting generals against governors.
  • Greater variety in nations
    • Unique national heritages for each culture, reflecting historic strengths and priorities
    • Unique inventions for many nations
    • New events and flavor interactions, many tied to the nation you are playing
  • New Ways of War
    • Revamped the military traditions available to each culture
    • Unlock these traditions with Military Experience, which can be earned incrementally or through combat and peace time drilling.
    • Changes to the AI promote conflict between the non-human controlled nations, making a more dynamic and dangerous world, especially in the endgame.

Since launching with Linux support back in April, it has not had a very good reception from users. This is one of those times where thoughts from the bigger gaming critics just hasn't matched up to the reality from what users expected. Looking across both Steam and Metacritic, there's a really clear gap between them. It's the worst rated Paradox Development Studio game on Steam right now too and of all their modern titles, it also has the lowest amount of players.

As of yet, I haven't been able to try the latest update as the Linux build on GOG is not up to date. Once it is, I may jump in to see if it has improved. When the last major update (1.1.0 Pompey, June 26th) was released, it took around a week for the Linux build to be up to date on GOG so hopefully they're quicker this time.

If you find it doesn't work due to the Paradox Launcher, this launch option should help:

LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libc.so.6 %command%

Going by their roadmap, now this is out the next update is named Livy which will be due towards the end of the year.

Want to pick up a copy it's on Humble Store, GOG and Steam.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly came back to check on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. Find me on Mastodon.
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8 comments

gojul Sep 24, 2019
Launcher seems to be still broken...
Liam Dawe Sep 24, 2019
Quoting: gojulLauncher seems to be still broken...
Can you not get around it using the same trick as was needed for Prison Architect and Europa Universalis IV?
gojul Sep 24, 2019
The workaround works, thanks !
Liam Dawe Sep 24, 2019
Quoting: gojulThe workaround works, thanks !
Great! Added to the article.
mcphail Sep 24, 2019
I've found that the game launches consistently from the Paradox Launcher after installing libc++abi1 on my Ubuntu 18.04 machine. Worth a try if you're struggling.
Supay Sep 24, 2019
I just can't get my head round how they still haven't fixed the launcher issues and then rolled it out to EUIV as well, in the same broken state. I refunded Imperator as it was so broken under Linux and their tech support told me no ETA on a resolution. I've been a huge fan and supporter of Paradox's titles for years due to their Linux support and as they are games I enjoy, but the way they seem to be going in dropping new titles supporting Linux and screwing up like this means I've currently ended all spending on their titles till I have a better ideaas to what is going on. Their upcoming con may give a hint to that as they have at least one new game to announce. If that lacks Linux support then we'll have an idea.
jens Sep 24, 2019
  • Supporter
For anybody with slight interest in the ancient Roman world, I can also recommend reading the Cicero trilogy:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32310982-the-cicero-trilogy


Last edited by jens on 24 September 2019 at 7:54 pm UTC
chr Sep 26, 2019
I personally groaned when I heard that his update will give more nation-specific content. I feel that this a money sink that I don't particularly enjoy. Because that invites for railroading the game and creating more meta-gaming reasons to prefer one state over another.

I'm personally much more interested of having a simulation-sandbox type of a game and just let it loose from a relatively fixed point in time. If making games was as easy as thinking about them once a week, then I would have spawned a rival to Paradox games from this frustration already.

I also dislike the combat-focus of their games. I understand that this is the legacy of the roots of these types of games from board game heritage and cold-war era mentality (everything for the state), but I'd like to just grow my empire not in territory but social and cultural and scientific and QOL development. Like watching (and helping) a tree grow or something.

But that's just me. Maybe most players are very happy with the games currently. And I sure have spent hundreds of hours enjoying their games. I just want... more.
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