Imperivm: Great Battles of Rome

Last updated
Imperivm: The Great Battles of Rome
Imperivm RTC - Great Battles of Rome Coverart.png
Developer(s) Haemimont Games
Publisher(s) FX Interactive
Platform(s) Windows
Release
  • ITA: May 10, 2005
  • ESP: May 10, 2005
2019: HD Beta version
Genre(s) Real-time strategy, Real-time tactics
Mode(s) Single player

Imperivm: Great Battles of Rome (also known as Imperivm III: Great Battles of Rome, Imperivm RTC: Great Battles of Rome, or Imperium GBR) is a 2005 real-time strategy video game for Microsoft Windows. It is a sequel to the RTS/RPGs Celtic Kings: Rage of War and Imperivm II: The Punic Wars . [1] The game, released in May 2005, was developed by Haemimont Games together with FX Interactive. [2] It was re-released on Steam on August 16, 2021.

Contents

The game contains various civilizations to choose from, including Rome (Imperial and Republican), Egypt, Germania, Britannia, Iberia, Gaul, and Carthage. It also has a more elaborate hero system than its predecessors.

Gameplay

The game focuses on tactics, troop mobility and terrain topography rather than sheer strength of numbers for winning battles. Though resources are important, there is less relevance in gathering them than in other real-time battle games. Instead of sending an army of servants to mine, lumber, collect food or gather any other kind of resources these are generated at a constant rate directly proportional to the inhabitants of a population center.

There are 3 player modes to choose from:

Civilizations

There are different civilizations to choose from, each with unique weakness and strengths: Egypt, Carthage, Republican Rome, Imperial Rome, Gallia, Germania, Hispania and Britannia. [3]

Battles

Imperivm: Great Battles of Rome revives the battles which made Ancient Rome one of the great empire of the world, such as the Siege of Numantia, August victory against Mark Antony and Cleopatra in Egypt, Marcus Aurelius campaign against the Germans in the north of the Rhin river, Viriathus uprising in the West Iberian Peninsula and the Siege of Alesia led by Julius Caesar. [4]

A special kind of unit called hero, which has become standard on Real-Time Strategy and Real-Time Tactic games, is used to group the different classes of soldiers under one command.

As a soldier builds up on experience he becomes more effective in combat.

By assaulting keeps a civilization can also gain access to loot like extra food or gold.

Heroes

Unlike normal military units, heroes are generally stronger and more valuable in battle. Their main strength lies in the ability to attach a group of up to 50 units, which from then on would follow their commands. When attached, the units receive part of the hero's experience as a bonus to their own. In addition, heroes arrange armies in specific formations that provide their units with an additional bonus when executing the stand ground command. Unlike units each hero has five skills that are unique to them and their civilization. These improve not only their individual combat abilities but also that of their army. Some of them are beneficial to the hero and the units attached to the hero. Other skills are beneficial to the units or help during battles.

Formations

There are four kind of formations in the game: Square, Block, Line and Center Cavalry. Each gives different bonus. Usually the maximum number of units on an army is limited to 50 but in the case of Republican Rome this cap can be pushed up to 70.

Also, different formations favors mixes on soldiers classes quantities. For example; choosing a line formation would benefit an army composed of a majority of ranged attackers.

By grouping two or more Generals the size of an army can be effectively increased. Orders can be issued simultaneously to each General who in turn would relay them to their troops. Conveniently once that the positions of the joined armies have been set, the computer will make the best effort to keep the defined distance between groups.

This feature gives more possibilities since this allows specialization of groups. Each can choose the more convenient formation, for instance, two armies, one composed only from ranged attackers and the other of a good mix of melee troops, can choose line and block respectively.

As a unit gets to see more action his skill level increases; every unit has a level to reflect this, thus it is possible to get a favorable outcome when facing a numerically superior enemy with battle hardened troops, the most appropriate formation and some maneuvering.

Buildings and Population Centers

There are several classes of populations centers.

Villages

These population centers produce food at a constant rate. Each one has a population limit and current living people, depending on the completeness of population the production rate decreases or increases, also the people can be transferred to keeps or fortresses. Campaigning Troops can be supplied from these places though is much more useful to use scorched earth tactics to avoid defending a counterattack if the village is at the very end of the supply lines.

Walled City

The main establishment; this is where the player recruits troops, make most of the basic training for them and upgrade certain abilities. Every walled city has a tavern, a coliseum, a blacksmith, a temple for the gods and a certain class of town center. What varies, according to the civilization, is what can be obtained on those buildings.

Keeps

These are smaller than the walled city but play an important role by gathering resources as extra money or soldiers. Among them are: Gold Keep, Trading Keep and Training Keep.

The most obvious uses are as a forward base and defense point, keeps (no matter what class of keep) will attack any hostile nation party within certain range, but only when they have at least one occupant, the rate of fire can be increased by garrisoning more soldiers at the building but a line of supply must be established in order to keep alive the troops inside the fortification.

  • Gold Keep: Gold keeps can be used to increase the gold income for a particular civilization. When a building of this class has 2000 gold coins; it will generate more money, the player in possession of the keep can sent the surplus money to his walled city to aid in his war effort. By keeping an average population above 85% in the walled city and one Gold Keep a player can support two medium-sized armies to aid in the expansion of his empire.
  • Trading Keep: These buildings are also useful to earn an extra income by means of selling food sent from a near village or walled city; the profits can be sent either to the walled city or be invested on a Gold Keep.
  • Training Keep: These building are useful to raise the skill level of regular troops, generals or mercenaries. By storing food inside the building troops garrisoned inside will increase their level, though just to a certain level cap.
  • Recruit Keep: In this building peasants are slowly turned into Level 1 Mace Warriors; these troops in turn can be sent to the training keep to raise their level. Food is also required for this transformation.

Ruins

These are used to increase the power of your priest by performing rituals or they can contain powerful magic items that increase wielder's stats.

Liga Imperivm

Liga Imperivm is the online version of the game where players can chat and fight one against others. [5] There are different ranks, and from lowest to highest punctuation, it is formed by slave, liberto, plebeian, patrician, decurion, centurion, praefectus, tribune, legatus, aedile, priest, magistrate, senator, censor, quaestor, praetor, consul, proconsul, governor and emperor. [6]

In 2005, it organized the first Liga Imperivm championship, where players faced in a 1vs1 or 2vs2 duel. [7] [8] The winner got a trophy and €5000. [9]

Reception

Great Battles of Rome received a "Double Platinum" award from the Asociación Española de Distribuidores y Editores de Software de Entretenimiento (aDeSe), for more than 160,000 sales in Spain during its first 12 months. [10] During E3 2006 it was announced that the game sold more than 1 million copies and it became a Platinum title. [11]

The Great Battles of Rome Imperivm HD Edition

In 2018 a group of developers, supported by FX, begun to work on a beta version of the game, which is currently available through the platform Steam. [12] The new game is known within its largest community of active gamers as Imperivm III HD. [13] A series of constant updates [14] allows the game to feature: improved graphics (HD), new decorative and functional elements of maps, bugs and lag removal, balance of troops, new buildings, new unites, auto-update, new language available (English).

Imperivm GBR: Greek Civilization MOD

In 2016, the Italian team RattlesMake began an expansion of the game called Greek Civilization MOD with all the changes belonged to Steam version (until version 1.54) and the introduction of a new civilization: Greek. The first version was released on September 1, 2017, until version 2.0 dated February 20, 2023. [15] In September 2020, Greek Civilization MOD ended up in the viewfinder of FX so RattlesMake was forced to remove every track from the network of the mod because of a violation of Copyright.

Related Research Articles

<i>Empire Earth</i> (video game) 2001 video game

Empire Earth is a real-time strategy video game developed by Stainless Steel Studios and released on November 13, 2001. It is the first game in the Empire Earth series.

<i>Age of Empires II</i> 1999 real-time strategy video game

Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings is a real-time strategy video game developed by Ensemble Studios and published by Microsoft. Released in 1999 for Microsoft Windows and Macintosh in 2001, it is the second game in the Age of Empires series. The Age of Kings is set in the Middle Ages and contains thirteen playable civilizations. Players aim to gather resources, which they use to build towns, create armies, and defeat their enemies. There are five historically based campaigns, which conscript the player to specialized and story-backed conditions, as well as three additional single-player game modes; multiplayer is also supported.

<i>Warlords IV: Heroes of Etheria</i> 2003 video game

Warlords IV: Heroes of Etheria is a turn-based strategy video game developed by Infinite Interactive and published by Ubi Soft. It is the fourth in the Warlords series.

<i>Age of Empires III</i> 2005 real-time strategy video game

Age of Empires III is a real-time strategy video game developed by Microsoft Corporation's Ensemble Studios and published by Microsoft Game Studios. The Mac version was ported over and developed and published by Destineer's MacSoft. The PC version was released on October 18, 2005, in North America and November 4, 2005, in Europe, while the Mac version was released on November 21, 2006, in North America and September 29, 2006, in Europe. An N-Gage version of the game developed by Glu Mobile was released on April 28, 2009. It is the third game of the Age of Empires series and the sequel to Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings. A remaster titled Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition was released on October 15, 2020. Its successor, Age of Empires IV was released October 28, 2021, for Windows.

<i>Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends</i> 2006 video game

Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends is a science fantasy real-time strategy video game for Microsoft Windows, made by Big Huge Games, and published by Microsoft. It is a spin-off of the popular Rise of Nations, released in May 2006. However, rather than being a historical game, it is based in a fantasy world, where technology and magic co-exist. It was released on May 9, 2006 in North America and on various dates around May 26, 2006 in the rest of the world.

<i>Sacred</i> (video game) 2004 video game

Sacred is a 2004 action role-playing game developed by the German company Ascaron and published by Take 2 Interactive. It is set on the magical continent of Ancaria, with characters of various races each with their own missions. Two expansion packs were released for the game in 2004 and 2005. In 2008, Linux Game Publishing announced that they would port the game to the Linux operating system.

<i>Rise and Fall: Civilizations at War</i> 2006 video game

Rise and Fall: Civilizations at War is a real-time strategy video game developed by both Stainless Steel Studios and Midway Games which was released on June 12, 2006. The game incorporates segments of both third-person and first-person shooter gameplay, by allowing the player to temporarily control a "hero". Rise and Fall is based in the first millennium BC, and features four playable civilizations: Persia, Greece, Egypt, and Rome. The game includes over eighty civilization-unique military units, as well as eight "hero" units—of which only one may be purchased during a game. In Rise and Fall, there are two campaigns: one follows the conquests of Alexander the Great; and the other, the fictional liberation of Egypt by Cleopatra.

<i>Praetorians</i> (video game) 2003 real-time tactics video game

Praetorians is a 3D real-time tactics video game developed by Pyro Studios and published by Eidos Interactive in 2003, based on Julius Caesar's historical campaigns in Gaul and Britain, Crassus' battles in Parthia, and the events of Caesar's Civil War during the 1st century BC. The player controls either the Roman Republic, the Ptolemaic Kingdom, or a generic barbarian tribe based on the Helvetii, Gauls, and Celts.

<i>Port Royale 2</i> 2004 video game

Port Royale 2 is the sequel to the business simulation game Port Royale: Gold, Power and Pirates. It is set in the Caribbean during the 17th century. Created by Ascaron Entertainment in 2004, it combines a business simulator with real-time battles and towns that can be owned, built, developed or razed. A sequel, Port Royale 3: Pirates & Merchants, was released in 2012.

<i>Tzar: The Burden of the Crown</i> Real-time strategy game with Bulgarian development

Tzar: The Burden of the Crown, also known as simply Tzar, is a real-time strategy game for Microsoft Windows published by TalonSoft and developed by the Bulgarian game developer company Haemimont Games. The game was met with moderate success; however, it got mild recognition and audience when it was published as a demo in several gaming magazines.

<i>Guild Wars</i> (video game) 2005 video game

Guild Wars is a multiplayer online action role-playing game developed by ArenaNet, a subsidiary of South Korean game publisher NCSOFT, and released in 2005. As the original installment of the Guild Wars series, its campaign was retroactively titled Prophecies to differentiate it from the content of subsequent releases. The game contains a co-operative role-playing portion and a competitive Player versus Player (PvP) portion. In PvP, players may use either their co-operative characters or PvP-exclusive characters who are inherently maximum level and have account-based access to unlocked content.

<i>Celtic Kings: Rage of War</i> 2002 video game

Celtic Kings: Rage of War is a game developed by Haemimont Games. It is set during the conquest of Gaul by Julius Caesar.

<i>Commandos 3: Destination Berlin</i> Video game (2003)

Commandos 3: Destination Berlin is a real-time tactics video game and the third installment of the Commandos series. It was developed by Pyro Studios and published by Eidos Interactive in October 2003 for Windows. The game is the first in the series to use a true 3D engine as well as introduce deathmatch multiplayer mode.

The Real War franchise was a series of real-time tactics video games developed by Rival Interactive and published by Simon & Schuster Interactive.

<i>Grand Ages: Rome</i> 2009 video game

Grand Ages: Rome is a 2009 city-building and real-time strategy game developed by Haemimont Games and published by Kalypso Media. It is the sequel to 2008's Imperium Romanum. The Italian and Spanish versions of the game are titled as Imperivm: Civitas III. A sequel, Grand Ages: Medieval, was released on September 25, 2015.

Ministry of War, known in the formerly separate European version as Terra Militaris, is a massively multiplayer online browser-based strategy game developed by Chinese developer Suzhou Snail Electronic Co., Ltd.. It is published in the United States and Europe by its U.S. publishing division, Snail Games USA. It was released on November 27, 2010 in Europe. In 2014 the European game service transferred from Webzen to Snail Games USA.

<i>The Kings Crusade</i> 2010 video game

The Kings' Crusade is a real-time strategy video game with elements of role-playing. It was developed by NeocoreGames, and was published in October 2010 by Paradox Interactive. In Russia the game was published by 1C Company and Snowball Studios called Kings' Crusade. Lionheart.

<i>Nemesis of the Roman Empire</i> 2003 video game

Nemesis of the Roman Empire is a real-time strategy role-playing video game developed by Haemimont Games and published by Enlight Software. The sequel to Celtic Kings: Rage of War, the game is set in the Punic Wars and allows the player to take control of one of four nations, as well as Hannibal the Great.

<i>Patrician II: Quest for Power</i> 2000 video game

Patrician II: Quest for Power, entitled Patrizier 2: Geld und Macht in Germany, is the second video game from developer Ascaron in their Patrician series. The sequel to The Patrician, it is a game simulating trading, piracy, politics, and economy. An expansion pack, Patrizier 2: Aufschwung der Hanse, was released in Germany in 2001. A compilation release containing the main game and the expansion was released as Patrizier 2: Gold Edition in Germany in 2002 and as Patrician III: Rise of the Hanse internationally in 2003. A sequel, Patrician IV, was released in 2010.

<i>Codename: Panzers – Phase Two</i> 2005 video game

Codename: Panzers – Phase Two is a 2005 real-time tactics video game developed by the Hungarian studio StormRegion and published by cdv Software Entertainment. It is the sequel to Codename: Panzers – Phase One. The two games were followed by Codename: Panzers – Cold War.

References

  1. ↑ fista1.103. "Imperivm: Great Battles of Rome". Gog.com . CD Projekt . Retrieved 15 November 2018.
  2. ↑ "FX Interactive Presents Imperivm - Great Battles Of Rome At E3". Games Industry. Madrid. 16 May 2005. Retrieved 15 November 2018.
  3. ↑ "Guía de juego" (PDF). FX Interactive (in Spanish). Madrid. January 2005. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 September 2015. Retrieved 25 November 2018.
  4. ↑ "Galardones aDeSe 2005. Dossier de Prensa" (PDF). Asociación Española de Distribuidores y Editores de Software de Entretenimiento (in Spanish). January 2006. p. 40. Retrieved 15 November 2018.
  5. ↑ "Guía para jugar en Internet" (PDF). FX Interactive (in Spanish). GameSpy. Archived (PDF) from the original on 27 September 2015. Retrieved 29 November 2018.
  6. ↑ "Liga Imperivm y Desafío Civitas" (PDF). FX Interactive (in Spanish). Archived (PDF) from the original on 24 August 2009. Retrieved 29 November 2018.
  7. ↑ Delgado Derecha, Francisco (28 September 2005). "Comienza la Liga Imperivm 2005". Meristation (in Spanish). AS . Retrieved 1 July 2017.
  8. ↑ Villa, Aimé (28 September 2005). "Comienza la Liga Imperivm 2005". 3D Juegos (in Spanish). Retrieved 25 November 2018.
  9. ↑ Díaz, Pablo (29 October 2005). "El campeón de la liga Imperivm 2005 recibirá 5000 euros como premio". 3D Juegos (in Spanish). Retrieved 25 November 2018.
  10. ↑ "Galardones aDeSe 2005" (PDF) (in Spanish). Asociación Española de Distribuidores y Editores de Software de Entretenimiento. January 2006. pp. 6, 7. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 21, 2006.
  11. ↑ "Imperivm™ hits 1,000,000 and becomes Platinum". FX Interactive . Los Angeles. 11 May 2006. Archived from the original on 3 October 2018. Retrieved 15 November 2018.
  12. ↑ "The Great Battles of Rome Imperivm HD Edition for Steam! :: Imperium Romanum: Gold Edition General Discussions".
  13. ↑ "Imperivm GBR HD- Forum".
  14. ↑ "Actualizaciones – ImperivmWorld" (in Spanish). Retrieved 2019-07-08.
  15. ↑ "Greek Civilization MOD - Imperivm III GBR".
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.