"Most of our releases take on a life of their own after release thanks to more than 100,000 active fans on our forums, said Johan Andersson, Head of Development at Paradox Interactive. "Expansions like Vae Victis allows us to add a whole new dimension to the original game while giving gamers a chance to probe further into those elements of the game that they have expressed most interest in."

Character improvement features in Vae Victis:

• A new character overview screen containing anumber of filters for browsing your characters including employed, unemployed and imprisoned characters.
• Characters have ambitions (think character missions.) Fulfilling them will yield different types of bonuses, and some ambitions will even influence character loyalty, political affiliation and behaviour.
• Governors are now in charge of whole regions rather than individual provinces. This both reduces micromanagement and makes the existing governors a lot more powerful and interesting.
• Characters now have a Prominence value that increases by holding prestigious offices, winning battles, etc. The most prominent characters will tend to marry and have children, which allows players to follow the fates of their favourite families throughout the game.
• Players can imprison, banish, or even execute characters. However, being too heavy-handed in getting rid of the opposition will increase the state Tyranny which has various detrimental effects.
• Vae Victis features Decisions and Missions very similar to the ones seen in the EU:III expansion In Nomine, with the addition of special decisions called Laws, which, unlike regular decisions, can be more or less easily revoked.

Vae Victis will get a vastly improved interface and introduce a lot of handy shortcuts. For example, the Province view will be bigger, more informative and more interactive, allowing you to quickly peruse the diplomatic status of – and easily set up trade routes with – other countries. There is also the much-needed new character overview screen mentioned above, and a greatly expanded and interactive dynastic view.

EU: Rome – Vae Victis in short:

• The dynamics of the characters that live in the Republic will come to life as the men and women have their own personal goals and agendas, which are often in conflict with each other. Will you be able to manage these willful personalities?
• As a Republic you will now need to take the Senate into the account. Characters will belong to various parties depending on their goals, values and ambition. The Senate will pass laws, which will allow or disallow certain country actions.
• Making sure that the party in power backs your own goals, adds another strategic element to gameplay.
• Monarchies and Tribes will have their own courts, beware of bootlickers and sycophants who will stop at nothing to replace your divinely appointed ruler with themselves.
• "Carthago Delenda Est". Senators will cry out and charge players to perform their duties. Now the Senate or a religious power can give players missions to fulfill, guiding the player through ambitions to experience a rich and rewarding history.
• Mobilize the Senate to back important laws such as 'Lex Gabinia' to fight piracy or the 'Lex Acilia Repetundarum' to reduce corruption.Players can also enact decisions at various levels, working with regional governors to grant citizenships to a region or a province.
• Completely revised military AI, particularly in the area of military campaigns. Will benefit experienced players in particular.
• An overhauled interface making the information more easily accessible for both new and advanced players.

EU: Rome – Vae Victis is scheduled for a digital download release via GamersGate in Q4, 2008 for $9.99, and will require EU: Rome to play.

Related articles, Click here!