What is the focus of this game?

[Grandmaster of Pwn]

Hi guys, trying to figure out if i (after a few more patches/dlc) wanna buy this game. I just got a basic question about this game. what branch is it mostly focused on?
1. warfare
2. economy
3. diplomacy
4. family/dynasty management

is there a clearly dominant branch? generally i do not like games that are mostly focused on combat. personally i enjoy more domination through economic build up / diplomacy. if this game is not that, are there maybe some game recommendations where i can dig into economic/diplomacy ?
thanks for any possible answers.

[Nate]

You'll be at war for most of the game but I'd say there's a greater focus on economy, diplomacy, government, internal-external politics, provincial management. It's a newer game so many of their systems are half baked. I'm enjoying it, and I do recommend it, though I'm new to paradox. I personally like it better than Civ and Stellaris.

[Twelvefield]

Just like ancient Rome, you need the economy to prosper. If you develop too slowly, you'll be over-run, so you need conquest to develop external sources of trade. The most basic conquest is military, but there are diplomatic options.

It also depends which faction you chose, although the game does expect you to pick Rome. There can be several "mission objectives" that you can accomplish to advance the game, and these are either military or economic/infrastructure based. At every turn, the characters will also generate events to either help or confound you. Keeping the characters balanced serves the Imperium.

As it stands the game is playable, and I enjoy it. As above, though some of the systems need more love from the devs, or mods, or patches. Sometimes you fight the barbarian hordes, and sometimes you fight the game itself.

[xXxHussarxXx]

>conquer others
>don't get conquered
This is the most basic goal in the game. You'll need to use economic,diplomatic and military power to get there. If you only play Rome you can get away with just military and maybe some economic development and that will be enough to take half the world. I would only recommend playing Rome just to learn the game and just ditch it afterwards because its incredibly boring.

Only play with factions from Alexander's empire(Macedon,Greek States,Armenia,Caucasian states, Phrygia,Seleucids,Judea, Parthia, Iberia etc.). If you play with a big faction like the Seleucids or Phrygia your initial goal will be to hold your empire together after which you can start expanding. If you play with one of the smaller nations you won't be at risk of exploding from Civil war but you'll have the bigger factions constantly breathing down your neck threatening your existence. You'll need to go after other minor factions to expand or you can set up defensive alliances against the bigger powers.

t. played as Rome,western tribes and states from Alexander's empire and would not recommend playing any faction west of the Balkans

[Rooter]

Listen to what the others have said.
U can play tall but ultimately its all about fuelling the engines of war/

[simurgh]

Carthage is fun to play as, some good custom missions, and can focus on economy, diplomacy and warfare.

[Siegfriedfr]

The problem of this game is that there is no endgame empire management systems.
So you just grow bigger and bigger and the game still plays the same, just with bigger numbers.

Also diplomacy is stunted because the game play as nation-states, not characters, making internal politics rather unintersting.

The map is pretty, but the game is a barebone wargame, even after all the patches.

[Cabal]

It's seems Imperator: Rome isn't any of what the OP mentioned. It's a dull mechanic lifeless numbers game for people who love counting.

[僕の名前 (仮)]

1. a lot, if you play wide empire. On higher difficulties AI also lot more agressive and will attack you more so you need soldiers everywhere. Though it's less combat-oriented than Hearts of Iron 4, you have more wars but they're shorter and smaller.
2. u need money and capital or province bonuses. I think food is most important tho, especially for your most populated provinces.
3. you can try make governor defect or general betray enemy but it didnt worked for me yet, most common diplomacy is war or make vassals. Senate can also be sometimes against war so you need to make them want go war.
4. trying to make all your important dudes loyal (more difficult for big empires), healthy and have lot of money. Sometimes you have to use bad generals or governors just to make family happy.

[Grandmaster of Pwn]

thanks all for the helpful input. i'm still interested, but will wait a while longer to see what cool dlc they might still release

[Twelvefield]

On a sale, it's a decent title.

[The Former]

If I had to rank your list in terms of how prevalent they are in the game... Well, part of it comes down to how you play, but here's how it tends to go for me.

1 > 4 > 3 > 2

Arguably most people experience it more like 1 > 3 > 4 > 2, but I put a LOT of focus on my characters. Without a doubt, though, economy is the least invested element of the game among those you listed.