[Preview] Campaign Mechanics: Building chains, Seasons and Urbanisation

[Petellius]

Hello all, welcome to my own personal preview of what I have been working on for the past year. My main job has been creating building chain effects for the campaign, so how much food a building produces and so on. Being who I am, however, I went so much further than that and basically overhauled large amounts of the campaign mechanics to make them much more interesting and realistic.

An important warning: All of these mechanics are still WIP, they are not fully balanced and some effects and texts are missing in a few of these images. These bugs will not be present in the full release.

Before I go on, for those who have not seen them already, I will show various screenshots of different areas of the map and an in-game look at the overall map.

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Carthage

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Alexandria

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Gaul

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Antioch

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Britain

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Seasonal Effects

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Below is an example of all seasonal effects in the Mediterranean.

Spring - A season of growth, for building agricultural buildings and the birth of new cattle. The effect of the cold winter is still felt during this season, with fertility still being slightly lowered.


Summer - The season for cattle, whether they be used for their meat or produce all cattle farming income is increased during this season. Furthermore, the population gains a happiness bonus due to the enjoyable summer weather.


Autumn - During Autumn the population focuses on the harvest of grain to refill the grain stores (more on this later).


Winter - A season of disruption, the fields become muddy, crops die and the population shelters in their homes, fires blazing and bemoaning the awful cold weather, praying they don't get sick. All recruitment in this season is stopped, armies cannot march far and all income and food drastically drops.





Unseasonal Conditions

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Seasons can often be unusual, with some seasons being better for the region and some being worse. A bad spring will essentially continue the winter on a further season, while a good spring brings on warm, rainy weather perfect for plant growth. A good summer means good weather and a happy population, while a bad one means a terrible drought that will ruin your crops, kill your cattle and cause disease. A good autumn will mean a fantastic harvest, the population will celebrate heavily, while a bad harvest will cripple a province as the crops will be flooded and there are no supplies left in the grain stores for the population to use. A bad harvest is the most dangerous seasonal variant and will give -50 happiness and attrition to a province. A good winter is a mild winter, while a bad winter will kill off your population in freezing conditions.

Fertility and Food Reserves

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Fertility is now the main factor in how a province produces food and money. The higher a regions fertility the more food it will produce and the the more tax it will take from the sale of such produce. Certain things effect fertility, mainly seasons and irrigation. Irrigation comes from buildings such as aqueducts which allow water to be transported and siphoned off for use in the fields.

Agricultural Aqueduct Effects


As discussed before seasons also effect fertility, with the fertility scale going winter-spring-summer-autumn, winter being the lowest and autumn the highest. To stop your province from starving you will need to create a grain storage building to store the grain collected in autumn for winter. The stores of food reserves drops over the year, where the reserves will be empty come the autumn harvest.

Grain Storage Building

Urbanisation

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Urbanisation is a new mechanic that has been introduced to show how regions had varying types of urbanisation. The more urban a region the faster you can recruit troops, the better the roads, the larger and more content the urban population is. The more rural the region, the more crops can be built and the more money you will gain from farming, while cities with large urban populations will struggle with overcrowding more quickly.


Heavily Urbanized Region




Urban Region




Rural Region




Heavily Rural Region




Urban Population

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The urban population is a mechanic that shows how much of the population is based in urban centres. The more urban a province is, the more it will attract people to the urban centres. Urban populations increase income through taxation and commerce in the urban areas, at the cost of happiness in the settlement. This mechanic is a remake of the immigration mechanic.

The "Nostalgic Building System"

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The building system in Ancient Empires is "nostalgic" for one main reason, it has strong similarities to the how government chains worked in Europa Barborum and Roma Surrectum II. As such each region can be governed differently by the main building chain that the player chooses.

Roman Colony

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Roman colonies can only be constructed in Italy and come in two variants, Latin and Roman. A Latin colony is a colony that allowed the citizens there to gain the 'Latin Right' something that happened often leading up to the Socii Wars, and allowed cities of particular importance to be loyal to Rome by giving the citizens certain protections that would be upheld by Roman Law. A Roman Colony gives the population citizenship and full protection under Roman Law

Tributary States

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Tributary states retain some of their self control and government in return for tributes of money and soldiers to the expanding Roman Empire. The Stipendaria are the lowest, with no real power. They are states that have been allowed to keep their old system of government but it answers to Rome and pays for the privilege. The Liberae is a 'Liberated' state that has been restored to have its own government in all local matters, and are largely left alone by the state as long as they pay their dues. The Foederata are allies to Rome. They still pay tributes but they gain many exemptions to other taxes and restrictions that the other tribute states suffer, furthermore they are given some support by Roman law.

Stipendaria


Liberae


Foederata

Friends and Allies

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The Friends and Allies chain allows Rome to create client states, they will continue with complete independent control of their own state but are allied to Rome, with promises that one day the state will be inherited by Rome. Moving armies into these regions will cause both the army and the region to become unhappy, and you cannot replenish troops in these regions.

Other Buildings and leftover tips for the AE campaign

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Finally, I will showcase my setup for the province of Italy and Magna Graecia and explain my thinking behind the choices, so as to help you all understand how the effects all fit together.

Italy

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In Rome we see
- Roman Capital Building
- Public Baths
- Public Roads
- Circus

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- Campus Martius
- Temple to Jupiter

In Arretium we see
- Latin Colony
- Grain Store
- Ager Publicus (Public Land)
- Slums

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In Neapolis we see
- Latin Colony
- Trading Port
- Slave Traders
- Suburra

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So my main thinking here are these key main points. Italy his heavily urban, the only regions on the map which are this heavily urbanized and as such the lower class populations will need their happiness boosting. This is done through the temple, public fountains and baths, and the circus. While the image doesn't show it, the eventual idea for the circuses is that they will increase urbanisation, massively decrease the happiness drop because of this but also cost a lot to maintain and also remove some of the income due to the urban pop thanks to them spending it on the races. The roads and grain stores are something I try to have in every province, and as both effect every region in a province you only need one. The vicus (slums) in Arretium are there so that the region will allow for further urban pop increase (it is a rural region). The Ager Publicus allows for some happiness boost and food for the region also, to stop it from starving. In Neapolis the port brings in large amounts of trade, the slave trader increases all income across industry and agriculture in the province, while decreasing building costs province wide also. The suburra creates an artisan area for the urban population to work creating all manner of pottery and trinkets which will increase the income from the large amount of urban population coming into Italy. Both of the regions have Latin Colonies as I believe them to be very important and as such will be appeased so that I know that my main area of income and army production will not be effected by an Italian revolts.

Magna Graecia

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In Tarentum we see
- Roman Colony
- Military Port
- Grain Stores
- Temple of Neptune
- Public Roads
- Agricultural Aqueduct

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In Rhegion we see
- Foederata
- Trading Port
- Latifundia

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- Food Market

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In Syracusae we see
- Foederata
- Port of Syracuse
- Latifundia
- Slave Trader

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So in Southern Italy my plan was to maximize my profits. I installed an agricultural aqueduct to increase my fertility in the province and then added two villa estates (latifundia). Essentially added buildings that produced a large amount of food per fertility, and then bumped up the fertility. The Latifundia were huge farms run by slaves instead of the original tenant farmers who made up Rome's levy troops (the legions), and as such created large manpower problems in the years after 202 BC and forced the rural populations into the cities. In Central Italy I talked of the Ager Publicus (Public Land) which was land set aside by the state, stolen from their defeated enemy and given to Roman citizens to farm. To bolster these agricultural powerhouses I added a slave trader to decrease costs and increase profit, while also adding in a food market to increase profits and increase income from trade. Tarentum being the main city in the region, and being the military powerhouse, has been converted to a Roman colony and been given the grain stores. This is so that should the Italian states in the South turn against Rome, Tarentum will be almost impossible to take quickly.

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[Petellius]

- Reserved

[JamesDeLaBoro]

Great work. Love the level of detail going into the mod.

[jdofo]

Splendid, well thought and very promising work!

Could you elaborate further this statement: "This is so that should the Italian states in the South turn against Rome, Tarentum will be almost impossible to take quickly (Magna Grecia)"? Does it mean that there would be new rebellion mechanics in comparison to DeI/Rome II? Thank you very much in advance! Cheers

[KampfKeks510]

Great work it looks fantastic! [emoji106]

[Commissar Caligula_]

The font in the screenshots seems blurry and a pain to read. Did you take pics of your monitor with a camera rather than screenshotting, or is that what it actually looks like ingame?

Or is it your GemFX/ReShade settings?

[Petellius]

The font in the screenshots seems blurry and a pain to read. Did you take pics of your monitor with a camera rather than screenshotting, or is that what it actually looks like ingame?

Or is it your GemFX/ReShade settings?

No, my GEMFX is just ed xD
I need to re-do it soon, been messing around with it too much.

[servent9]

growth +21000 things means,,, there will be a chance to see a population system in first release?!

[Falco]

Looks amazing, can't wait.

[Petellius]

growth +21000 things means,,, there will be a chance to see a population system in first release?!

That is just an identifying number for me to use to know which building is which in the tables when I am editing. Pop won't be in first release I'm afraid.

[iko88]

spring:winter weather -2 fertilty, i think winter weather should be present in spring only in the alpes and some other mountain regions..we all know that everything blossom in spring...and also public order -10 in spring, but spring should be time of hope and hapines..you just lived trought harsh winter so everything is good again

[Petellius]

lol, fair, we'll see how it goes.

[Dresden]

Nice preview Exciting to see it come together.

[jmanugp]

Hi!
First and very importan: thanks a million to the team who make this mod, it seems to be awesome! Very likely waiting more than a year it will be worth, sure...
And second: do you mind changing the buildings icons? It seems coming back towards ROME 1... a little old fashioned, isn't it? we got over that, so maybe you could arrange attila buildings and make similars, cant you?
Cheers!

[Falco]

Hi!
First and very importan: thanks a million to the team who make this mod, it seems to be awesome! Very likely waiting more than a year it will be worth, sure...
And second: do you mind changing the buildings icons? It seems coming back towards ROME 1... a little old fashioned, isn't it? we got over that, so maybe you could arrange attila buildings and make similars, cant you?
Cheers!

I think changing building icons are probably one of the last things they'd do while trying to get the full mod released (unless they are placeholders of course).

[Willhelm123]

We specifically chose this nostalgic icon style.

[LordKainES]

It´s me or the cities look like a bit empty? I mean, for the lack of buildings inside the walls

I remember when I first try the "Alpha" campaign before the last update there was this problem... maybe due to some issues porting buildings from Rome II campaign to Attila´s... Will you be able to fix that in the future?

I love Rome II campaign cities... would be nice to have something similar in Ancient Empires!

[Eburovic]

I'm 300% for the rome I icon's style !! Feels more authentic & fresh, it brings some good old magic (being less detailed -more 'iconic'- I find them more inspiring) into the mix !
And anyway there will probably be someone to build another icons packs in an auxiliary mod x)
Your urbanism system and everything else makes so much more sense than the original game, there's so much real-depth in the managment now ! Utterly impressed & surprised by how it finally turned out
Also I've been playing the Rome I overhaul by Cody38 and found that the campaign was way more challenging & fun (civil war) with a 3 headed roman empire, with the 3 independant Houses Julii, Brutii & Scipii !
I was wondering if that's something you considered or if it is even feasible in Attila ?

[Petellius]

I'm 300% for the rome I icon's style !! Feels more authentic & fresh, it brings some good old magic (being less detailed -more 'iconic'- I find them more inspiring) into the mix !
And anyway there will probably be someone to build another icons packs in an auxiliary mod x)
Your urbanism system and everything else makes so much more sense than the original game, there's so much real-depth in the managment now ! Utterly impressed & surprised by how it finally turned out
Also I've been playing the Rome I overhaul by Cody38 and found that the campaign was way more challenging & fun (civil war) with a 3 headed roman empire, with the 3 independant Houses Julii, Brutii & Scipii !
I was wondering if that's something you considered or if it is even feasible in Attila ?

It's definitely feasible for sure, not really the direction AE will be going though. I'd for sure play a campaign with the 3 houses idea if someone makes some submods!

[Maalek]

I am not really impressed with the urbanisation system. I has been before ... if not in Rome total realism than maybe in Roma Surrectum I .. II ? It is a very big instrument to slow the gamepace down excessively and it gives you the feeling of more controle of the fate of a region... I am interested to see how it fits in the endproduct with all the other moded parts.

Best wishes for AE develepement. Keep up the good work!