[Dead] Imperium Julianorum Beta

[Goth]

Imperium Julianorum is a mod set in the year 361 AD and is intended to simulate the might have beens if Julian had not died in battle in 363AD.
The mod starts in the Winter of 361AD , Julian is at sirmium with his army and has just heard of the death of Constantius and his promotion to Emperor.
Game Features
A new map stretching to India (courtesy of The Celt) and adaapted my myself and Ramon(of IBFG)
Roman Empire is now a unified Empire
Old ERE have become the Armenians
Old ERE Rebels have become the Quadi
Skins are a mixture of work from Attila Reloaded, Ramon(IBFG), Goth, Kali, Dick and Alxcruel
Archers Skymod
Oorie bois Realistic Tree size mod
Darths Bi Gameplay fix 1.6(will be updated in later versions)
Also contributions from Piko and Viper1980

Playable Faction List
Roman Empire
Sassanid Empire
Armenia
The Huns
The Celts
The Saxons
The Franks
The Burgundians
The Lombards
The Alemanni
The Vandals
The Quadi
The Visigoths
The Ostrogoths
The Berbers
The Sarmatians
Tha Alani

This release is only a Beta because I didnt have time to do everything i wanted to make the mod polished. It is however fully playable , it has not been balanced or properly tested so I need your feedback guys, both good and bad. also i have tried to make the mod as historical as possible given the time I had to do the mod so feedback on historical inaccuracies are welcome too.

DOWNLOAD - Imperium Julianorum Beta 0.2

It comes with a dedicated installer, just make sure you have a clean install of BI 1.6 and point the installer to your rome total war folder(not the rome total war - bi folder)

Screenshots
The new Armenian Generals Bodyguards in action against the Sassanids

Armenian Cataphracts also against Sassanids

Quadi Spearmen defending against Roman Palatina

The Romans are breaking through

The new map regions

The Minimap


Thanks
Goth

[Shaun]

Cool, i was wondering when someone would make a mod like this. Can we plaese see a screenshot of the map?

And i see you are using Attilas skins, nice.

[Mad Guitar Murphy]

Cool, i was wondering when someone would make a mod like this. Can we plaese see a screenshot of the map?

And i see you are using Attilas skins, nice.

Yea, I was just about to ask the same thing (hoping for enough provinces in the east). Looks like perhaps there finally is a nice mod for BI, I think I only played the game for 10 houres.

[Goth]

Added Political and Region Maps to first post

Goth

[Stalins Ghost]

Brilliant! I was gonna try to do this myself some time! That's awesome. +1 Rep :wink:

I'll look foward to see where you go with this in the future, thats for sure!

[Goth]

Brilliant! I was gonna try to do this myself some time! That's awesome. +1 Rep :wink:

I'll look foward to see where you go with this in the future, thats for sure!

Thanks Stalin
I hope it meets your expectations, you are obviously a fan of julian so any information you can contribute will be valuable. Most of my info comes from the net and also from the novel Julian by Gore Vidal.
So far what is left to be done is new unit cards for all the units, Info cards and descriptions for the units and some buildings. New minimaps and decriptions of objectives etc for the menu. New loading screens(1 done so far) new intro movie with new intro music. Game balance and bug finding.
I decided to release now as a beta to stimulate some ideas from the community while i can take my time doing the remaining jobs.

Goth

[Marcus Scaurus]

The Minimap

Aren't the Romans way too strong with so many provinces? Or will half of them rebel?

[Goth]

Aren't the Romans way too strong with so many provinces? Or will half of them rebel?

This was a real problem to overcome but i think I have cracked it. I have balanced the game so they cant have a runaway victory but it hasnt been properly tested. This is one of the reasons the game is in beta form at the moment. I need people to test the game thoroughly and give feedback on game inbalance and any bugs or innaccuracies.

Goth

[Shaun]

Aren't the Romans way too strong with so many provinces? Or will half of them rebel?

You could say the saem about the Sassanids. The Romans have loads of potential enemies on thier borders, but the Sassanids have none.

[Goth]

You could say the saem about the Sassanids. The Romans have loads of potential enemies on thier borders, but the Sassanids have none.

Thats true, if anyone wants a challenge try playing as Armenia, sandwhiched between 2 mighty Empires
There are no Hordes at the moment, this is 361AD, the huns did not destroy the Alani untill 372 , the intention is that the huns will conquer the Alani and then move on to the Sarmatians, this could be altered later with scripting to produce a sudden surge of hunnic horde units in the ukraine but 361 is too early to introduce them.

Goth

[Shaun]

Where are the hordes? i didnt see any stars on the map. If the hordes are settles they will never become a horde unless they are destroyed, which for far away tribes like the Huns is extremely unlikely.

[Stalins Ghost]

Just to point it out, the Empire was in an incredibly strong position in 361AD- possibly the greatest position since before the 3rd century crisis, although whether it was in a greater position than during Diocletian or Constantine is up for debate. Lets just say it was doing very well at this time.

I'll be able to offer pointers and such like, but until the end of June I'm bogged down with exams. I'm about to try it now though

[Shaun]

Well anyway, good luck, and finally another BI mod.

Maybe you should add in some Armenian units.

[Goth]

Be sure to let me know what you think Stalin :original:
There are already Armenian Units in the game, they include
Bodyguards, Cataphracts, Javelinmen, Slingers and Archers, I may add some more at a later date but info on Armenian units in this ere are sketchy and I think I have more or less got the bulk troops covered.
Goth

[Joar]

I will download, play and report as soon as I get this crucial question answered: You say that I should point the installer to the main RTW folder. Is the directory "switchable"? If the directory is "locked" on the main folder, then it's impossible for me to play since I will not install it over my vanilla RTW.

I have about five mods installed and everytime I try out a new mod, I just make a copy of my vanilla one and install the new mod on the copy.

Really looking forward to this one since your other BI mod was great.

[Goth]

It doesnt mean to install it over your original bi install, I am just trying to stress the importance of installing it to rtw folder and not the bi folder. I always keep a clean install of rome on my computer so I can duplicate it and add a new mod just as you have described. So yes you can install it onto a copy of your vanilla bi no problem.
Edit - I have altered the text in the first post to clear up any misunderstanding

Cheers
Goth

[Joar]

Good. The reason I haven't played IBFG yet is because one of the patches didn't let me change the directory of the installer, I asked about this and they told they would fix it, which they probably have. I was just asking so that this mod didn't have the same thing.

Downloading now.

[Methoz]

btw-very bad hosting... good place for this mod is uploadport or filefactory
i have 4mb/s net and download from rapidshare is 39kb/s (ooooh,sloow)
normal is my downloading ca 450kb/s

[Joar]

I've played it now for a few hours and it feels good. I've played as the Romans, Quadi, Visigoths, Ostrogoths and Armenia. Here's a few impressions:

- A lot of the units are coming up in the description as "the faceless peasant", but that's no big deal.

- More fun if the Quadi could horde, I've seen them get destroyed early on a couple of times.

- Ostrogoth Step Raiders have a piece of wall on their backs. Looks heavy and uncomfortable.

- Had a CTD in 380, playing as the Visigoths, when hitting end turn button. Seems random though and the ordinary BI bugs.

- Had several CTD's playing as the Ostrogoths and settling in Italy. When hitting end turn button around 387 - 389 caused several ( about 5 or 6 ) CTD's. I think that the crash came when the turn came to the Roman Empire.

- Armenian Christian shrines had a WARNING text instead of a description.

- Armenia needs some heavy infantry! And wasn't their recruitment system a bit fuzzy? Military buildings that didn't enable any new units or upgraded experience etc?

- More mercenaries would be a very nice feature. Why not some Armenian, Arab, Berber, Syrian and even Indian mercenaries? Personally, I would love to have some Arab units, especially to represent the presence of the Ghassanids and the Lakhmids.

- The Roman Rebels and the Sarmatians have the same campaign map colours ( bright yellow ) which is a bit confusing.

- Nice to see that You've used the "proper family" idea. Julian(us) is quite lonely in the beginning... ;-)

- Although I haven't seen it happened ( played til about 390 ), could there be a risk that the Sassanid steamroll north and wipe out the Huns rather early on?

- This is not a bug or anything, but why can't Romans bribe other Romans? When playing as the Roman Empire, it's not possible for me to bribe rebel Romans, but they can sure bribe my units. It's not that they say no to my bribing proposals - the option to bribe doesn't even exist. Could this be changed?

Anyway, these are my first impressions. I will report back as soon as I've played a bit more and have a better idea about any balancing issues etc.

Once again: Great job ( as always )!

[Goth]

I've played it now for a few hours and it feels good. I've played as the Romans, Quadi, Visigoths, Ostrogoths and Armenia. Here's a few impressions:

- A lot of the units are coming up in the description as "the faceless peasant", but that's no big deal.

- More fun if the Quadi could horde, I've seen them get destroyed early on a couple of times.

- Ostrogoth Step Raiders have a piece of wall on their backs. Looks heavy and uncomfortable.

- Had a CTD in 380, playing as the Visigoths, when hitting end turn button. Seems random though and the ordinary BI bugs.

- Had several CTD's playing as the Ostrogoths and settling in Italy. When hitting end turn button around 387 - 389 caused several ( about 5 or 6 ) CTD's. I think that the crash came when the turn came to the Roman Empire.

- Armenian Christian shrines had a WARNING text instead of a description.

- Armenia needs some heavy infantry! And wasn't their recruitment system a bit fuzzy? Military buildings that didn't enable any new units or upgraded experience etc?

- More mercenaries would be a very nice feature. Why not some Armenian, Arab, Berber, Syrian and even Indian mercenaries? Personally, I would love to have some Arab units, especially to represent the presence of the Ghassanids and the Lakhmids.

- The Roman Rebels and the Sarmatians have the same campaign map colours ( bright yellow ) which is a bit confusing.

- Nice to see that You've used the "proper family" idea. Julian(us) is quite lonely in the beginning... ;-)

- Although I haven't seen it happened ( played til about 390 ), could there be a risk that the Sassanid steamroll north and wipe out the Huns rather early on?

- This is not a bug or anything, but why can't Romans bribe other Romans? When playing as the Roman Empire, it's not possible for me to bribe rebel Romans, but they can sure bribe my units. It's not that they say no to my bribing proposals - the option to bribe doesn't even exist. Could this be changed?

Anyway, these are my first impressions. I will report back as soon as I've played a bit more and have a better idea about any balancing issues etc.

Once again: Great job ( as always )!

Hi joar
To answer your comments
Descriptions havent been done yet , they are on the list of things to do along with unit cards and lots of other stuff
Quadi cant horde, Damn! Thats something I forgot to do before release, i will fix for the next release
Ostrogoth raiders are fine on my install ,could you provide me with a screenshot or test again just in case its a one off
CTDs are a little worrying as I cant think what could be causing them, I havent had any so far so I will have to wait untill I experience them so I can fix, for now just use autosave and see if it still happens when you reload . If it does I would be very grateful if you would send me the save game so I can investigate
Armenian Christian churches still have to have a description written for the (on the to do list)
Armenia didnt have any heavy infantry in this era, what they had were good cavalry and poor light mountain infantry. The phalanxes they fielded in the time of Tigranes the great were troops left over from seleucid cities the armenians had conquered. At this point in history no records of Armenian Heavy infantry are known to me .
Extending the mercenary pool to include the extra regions on the new map is also on the todo list, I have already considered doing Indian mercenaries in Pangur and Kandahar,the other merc units you mention are very good suggestions though that I had not previously thought of.
Going to change the Roman Rebels to a Light Green colour on the minimap
I have given Julian a wife only, this is a little innacurate as Julian had announced himself to be celibate after the death of Helena but I think for the purposes of this mod going to 480 AD it was necessary to give him a wife.
I dont think the Sassanids will go north for the huns(I hope not anyway) this would be very innacurate. In real life they would never have survived the journeyto Campus Sakae it was just too barren and desert like for a civilised army to cross. Only steppe nomads seemed to have the ability to cross such areas.
I have no Idea why the Romans cant bribe Romans, I have been asked this before but have never gotten around to checking it out. Anybody else have any Ideas? Is it hardcoded?

Thanks for all the analysis Joar its very much appreciated

Goth