Hello everyone.

We want to wish you all Happy New Year filled with many memorable moments. It has been a long while since we published the last news. Well, there have been reasons for it, but as of December 2023, Aggressors: Ancient Rome has come back "home" under our own (indie) wings, those of Kube Games dev studio.

We prepared an update with bug fixes and some improvements. You can now expect regular updates, even though we do not plan any major changes to the gameplay, rather smaller changes improving the player experience.

It is quite possible that you haven't heard of Kube Games yet. We are a small indie team from the Czech Republic focusing purely on turn-based strategy games. Aggressors: Ancient Rome was our first game released under a publisher.
Our next game was released two years later under our name of Kube Games. It is called Imperiums: Greek Wars, and it already has three DLCs with a fourth, Imperiums: Rise of Caesar, coming very soon. If you like Aggressors, you might want to give Imperiums a try. It features a number of interesting new mechanics, and it also has multiplayer!

https://steamproxy.com/steamstore/app/1183470/Imperiums_Greek_Wars/

We have already started working on our next game. Even though it is still mostly on paper, we have some testing 3D models and music tracks done as well as prototyped terrain. We will be publishing regular news and updates about its progress, so subscribe to our Developer page here on Steam if you want to stay tuned.

We hope that you will stay with us!

Yours,
Kube Games team.

For all you fans of Aggressors: Ancient Rome we have some terrific news. Our new expansion pack Imperiums: Rome vs Carthage is what you can call "Aggressors 2.0" with upgrades in graphics, a bigger map, new mechanics and new units. The twists and challenges will test your military skill, political shrewdness and tactical genius to the limits.

Imperiums is the spiritual successor of Aggressors, yet it is a completely new game with a different look, additional features and a different historical feel to it. We built on the solid foundations and strengths of Aggressors and then expanded the game in many varying directions to enhance the player experience. We have put a lot of effort in making Imperiums a truly deep 4X strategy game and we consider Rome vs Carthage to be the highlight of our work.

The DLC focuses on the central Mediterranean where the fledgling Roman Republic still fights the other Latin tribes hoping one day to have the strength to challenge the great power of Carthage.

The huge map covers all of the interesting areas of this era, from Iberia to Babylon and from the wild seemingly uninhabited wilderness beyond the Alps to the Arabian desert. 25 states are waiting for you to assume the leadership and rewrite history, ending with their name in golden letters. Show your Roman heart and challenge the greatest empires of the time; assume the leadership of the Carthaginian Empire and make your power felt all around the Mediterranean; become the true successor of Alexander the Great by restoring his empire in the east; or make the world tremble in the face of Gallic hordes.

What major changes can you expect in Imperiums?

• Upgrade in graphics.
  
• More granular economy infrastructure based on specialized resource refineries.
  
• New diplomatic deals including joint military campaigns.
  
• Generals who encourage your fighting units and set out on dangerous quests.
  
• Emissaries who lobby for your cause at foreign courts and plot against third parties.
  
• Corruption mechanic.
  
• New administrative structure allowing the building of provincial capitals.
  
• Demobilization of military units in times of peace.
  
• Migrating tribes pushing at the borders of the civilized world.
  
• Multiturn events such as plague, revolts and floods.
  
• Historical events that enhance immersion and authentic feel.
  
• Mandatory objectives

and much more…

You can now purchase the DLC on its own or in a bundle together with the vanilla game Imperiums: Greek Wars and the Imperiums: Age of Alexander DLC. All have a limited launch discount.

You can also purchase the DLC separately on our website; by doing so you will support the dev team directly and be able to get a better price!

https://steamproxy.com/steamstore/app/1839160/Imperiums_Rome_vs_Carthage/

We can proudly announce that we won an Indie Prize 2018[www.indieprize.org] award in the category "Best Game Design"!

It was a great experience, and the number and quality of indie games presented at the Casual Connect event in London makes our success even more precious for us. It came as a big surprise, as Aggressors is not really the "Casual" cup of tea for everyone.

Casual Connect is over, we are already back in Prague with our nice glass award, but that's definitely not the only thing we got at the conference. We met interesting new business partners, got great feedback about the game, made new friends, and learned about new technologies and changes in the gaming industry.

Thank you, Casual Connect, for the opportunity to come to London and for making the event a worthwhile experience!

EDIT:
Here[www.facebook.com] is the stream from Casual Connect about Aggressors.
Unfortunately the quality is not that good.

Hello Everyone,

We have some great news! Among 100 finalists at Casual Connect, we are among 22 nominees for an Indie Prize!

Most of the other nominees are pretty casual, so Aggressors stands out from the crowd quite a bit, as we don't fit the "casual" theme.
Even so, we have been nominated, which really surprises us!

Wish us luck today!

We received some excellent news earlier this month:
Aggressors: Ancient Rome has been selected as a finalist for the Casual Connect[casualconnect.org] 2019 Indie Prize!

You can see all the finalists here[www.indieprize.org]

It's already a big achievement to have gotten to the final, considering the nature of the game; not many strategy titles are there with us!
We'll be there at the event in London, so please stop by and say hello if you're around. Otherwise follow us on Twitter or our Discord channel[discord.gg].
See you soon!

We have received a number of very good reviews from various gaming websites in the past few weeks, and we would like to share at least some of them with you. Such reviews are evidence that the game has matured and been polished to a high level of satisfaction for you – our players.

Still hesitating? Read some of the references and step in the world of Aggressors Ancient Rome with us!

Ulvespill[ulvespill.net] score 9.6/10

Originally posted by Ulvespill:

Aggressors: Ancient Rome is a great indie game in the 4X genre and it really deserves a go if you like turn-based strategy.

Way Too Many Games[waytoomany.games] score 9/10

Originally posted by Way Too Many Games:

This is 4X gaming perfection. Everything is polished to a point, no mechanic is wasted, and everything comes together beautifully instead of being lost in needless complexity.

The Mommy Gamers[themommygamers.com]

Originally posted by The Mommy Gamers:

This game is deep and controlled and considered. Every element has been chosen for a reason and implemented with care.

Spanish:
Gamers Hub[www.crgamershub.club] score 9/10

Turkish:
Strategyturk[www.strategyturk.com] score 8/10

One of the first scenarios that was uploaded to the Aggressors Steam workshop was “Ancient Orient BC1000” with its own mod “Orient”.

In that time our Map Builder tool was not yet available, and the creator made his map manually. It contained Greece, Asia Minor, Egypt, and Middle Eastern territories like Syria, Assyria, Arabia, etc. The scenario was a bit of a surprise for me. The other scenario creators were pretty active on the forum and our Discord channel[discordapp.com] asking questions regarding the game editor, mod related issues, how to add new factions, and so on.
The creator of “Ancient Orient BC1000” was different. He rarely asked questions on forum, and he was able to figure out most of the things on his own. That's also the reason why I was a bit sceptical about the result. I eventually had some time to try it later and I was very surprised how much Hiro, the creator, was able to handle on his own. Not only it was a nice map with a balanced setup but Hiro was able to create a set of Objectives for each player, their own banners, coat of arms, and illustrations. I was impressed, even more so that he created it almost without any help or support.

Right before Christmas, Hiro published an even more ambitious scenario called "Sengoku Japan 1560". It had a much bigger map with an impressive 38 factions and 100 villages and towns across all Japanese islands. Hiro now had the Map Builder available, which made map creation easier and looking more life-like. Similar to his previous scenario, he created its own banner, coat of arms and illustration for each faction. I would like to say that it is a great work. Also, all the game windows were illustrated in the spirit of mediaeval Japan, but that was not all. He went into such detail that every faction has its own names of military units and fleets, and there were also dozens of Objectives. The game also has its own Government systems.

I have to humbly confess that I haven’t had time to try this great scenario yet, however you should not hesitate and give it a go. One of the signs of a good modder/scenario creator is that he keeps his work updated and reacts to players' wishes. Hiro is definitely one of these creators. He always updates it shortly after new game version is up and he never lets a player's request go unnoticed.

I am now leaving the floor to Hiro to tell you his story in his own words.

Originally posted by Hiro:

When the Map builder tool for Aggressors came out, I made several maps. While playing with this new toy, I decided to make a new scenario with these maps. Eventually I selected two scenario candidates: one was a scenario about the Sengoku period of Japan, the other about medieval Europe, but I decided to make the former because as a native Japanese, I could more easily gather necessary materials such as flags and faction pictures for the diplomacy screen; also I wanted to make a scenario about completely new circumstances and factions.

Europe was already represented in the Mediterranean main scenario and several user-created scenarios. Finally I thought the Sengoku period was more suitable for the game engine, because eventually during the Sengoku period, Japan was united by Oda/Toyotomi clan like Roman Republic did with the Mediterranean coasts. On the other hand, medieval Europe was never united by one powerful faction; consequently that scenario must be an alternative history one (to be honest I don't much care about historical persuasiveness though). For these reasons, I decided to make the Sengoku one.

One of the challenges I've meet in developing the scenario/mod was gathering suitable pictures for event graphics. I chose these pictures from Ukiyoe, traditional Japanese art and several pictures of Sengoku period, but too many event graphics were required. Also testing game balance was a never-ending task. I myself am not a good strategy gamer; I usually play the game at the Noob difficulty. But the Sengoku scenario was even more difficult than the Mediterranean main scenario, so testing the scenario was (and is) very challenging.

Seems like users have enjoyed my scenario/map, and send a lot of opinions, which helps further development of the scenario/mod. Also I want to make more Objectives. But all in all I've been satisfied with the current version of the scenario/mod. Perhaps I'll make a Medieval Europa version and other periods of history too. I realized while making the Sengoku scenario that this engine, especially the AIs, are excellent for these scenarios.

You can subscribe to “Ancient Orient 1000BC” here and “Sengoku Japan 1560” here.

Don't forget to drop a message there for Hiro once you try them. I can only stress that players' feedback (whatever it is) is always good, and especially the positive is the best motivation to keep going.

One of the scenarios which popped up in Aggressors: Ancient Rome Steam workshop not too long ago is called "Centurion". Its creator is a fan of an old-school strategy game of the same name released in 1990. As I am a big fan of this strategy game myself, I gave it a try and it instantly became one of my favorites. It is a great work and I had much fun playing it. Let me introduce you to Mogilan who created this scenario, and the journey of its creation in his own words.

Originally posted by Mogilan:

I’ll keep it simple, as I don’t want this text to be too boring. I was looking for a game set in the Ancient Era and Aggressors: Ancient Rome attracted me with its simplicity and resemblance to the Civilization series. I bought a game and finished the tutorial, the Simple one. I loved the game, the feel and settings. Graphics are also very nice – neat and clean. Not overloaded with useless 3D fireworks – every serious strategy gamer should appreciate this. But I didn’t like the map to be limited to Mediterranean: where is Gallia? Or Britannia? A quick decision was made to go straight into modding to fix this.

I wanted a bigger map, and there is a very nice Map builder attached to the game. I took me 5 minutes to figure out how it works (without watching or reading any dedicated manuals). What map should be used if the whole European theater needs to be covered? Luckily I’m a great fan of classic Centurion, and remembered that this game had a perfect map which covered all most interesting regions from the Roman Era. I found a gameplay of this game on Youtube, made a screenshot of the map and converted it into an Aggressors map using the Map Builder.

The result was much better than expected, but required some polishing. I placed some forest here and there, mountains and rivers… of course everything had to be historical and of strategic importance (did you know there are reports on the internet on historical forestation of Europe?). Alps had to be difficult to cross, rivers had to be natural borders, and some wild, less populous areas [during those] times covered by thick forest. Fertile Crescent? It needs to be fertile, so more rivers and grassland should do the job. The “Change Map Pattern” option of the editor was really useful in making the map look more realistic. You can make straits or shores look more natural. I used it a lot to form better looking Bosporus and islands.

But what about resources? That’s tricky. Remember, the game needs to be balanced, so the numbers and placement of the resources had to be decided with care. But you know, Aggressors’s main scenario has been balanced so well by its developer. Why not rely on tested solutions? I counted the number of resources in some randomly generated games and main scenario and came with 25 as a number of mines of each type on the map. I aimed to place them evenly on the map but also considered the strategical importance of some regions in that Era. So islands got some resources to make the invading effort worthwhile. Also historically, some regions like Egypt, Italia, or Asia Minor were richer than others. That’s why excess of gold was placed there.

Ahh and civilizations…

Of course, the main scenario has 20 factions – this is the number to stick to if I want to keep my game balanced. More factions would need more resources… that’s too difficult for the time being, so let’s keep 20 factions. I located the civs around the map so that every civ has some room to expand. Unfortunately, I had to delete Epirus (as the Balkans were too crowded) but added Boii instead (as the Romans didn’t have a natural enemy to the North and it would be too easy for them to expand). Adding factions is difficult at first as it requires delving in the code. But if you are familiar with languages that use tags (like html or xml) it should be much easier. Besides, Pavel, the developer and the community are very helpful and accessible and can explain everything. In fact, Googling for and then adjusting appropriate graphics (flags, leaders, coats-of-arms) was the most time-consuming part of the adding and modifying factions phase.

The last phase of preparing the scenario was the calibration. I wanted the scenario to well balanced. It was difficult to achieve because starting nations, by design, were not perfectly balanced. I wanted to see strong Rome, strong Carthage but weak Britons and Armenia. That’s why Rome starts with bigger capital and tons of resources nearby and Carthage starts with cities on two continents. So in order to ensure that the scenario will be highly replayable but with few historically strong civilizations to provide the challenge, I had to allow the AI to play it alone with no interference from my side. A few such games helped me to assess the game’s balance, and after few tweaks to starting positions of civilizations and resources locations I finally achieved satisfactory results.

My mod/scenario met with very positive reception. Players praise the dynamic of the scenario – factions need to trade extensively to expand and this had impact on relationships. They do tend to form then leave Federations very often, so diplomacy is of more importance. It was something that I aimed for so I’m happy with the results. However, I still see a lot of room for improvement in this scenario. For example, I’d like to balance starting positions even better or add more factions. But for now overhauling the graphic side by adding more terrain types or improving images would be the next step.

Don't hesitate to try it out here.

I can also recommend the video history replay of my own game below.

Aggressors: Ancient Rome does not start and end with the Mediterranean scenario. Our players can create their own maps, factions, units, rules, or whole mods.

We would like to introduce you some of the most interesting ones, and let the creators themselves tell you something about what they created, what was their motivation, how they enjoyed creation of these scenarios, and what they may have struggled with. Today we would like to introduce you a scenario called "The Gallic Wars", created by Liko336.

Without further ado we give the floor to him to tell you about his "child".

Originally posted by Liko336:

One year ago, I came across the old game History [Channel] Great Empires: Rome and its original PC counterpart, Legion Gold. I decided to play another round, and enjoyed it, even with the lack of graphic, AI and diplomacy possibilities. My favorite map was “The Gallic Wars” with all its historical tribes. The historical feeling was good; you could see how your empire gets bigger with each city you conquer.

Then, around a half year later, I discovered Aggressors: Ancient Rome. I played various games in different scenarios, loved all the possibilities you get in this game, and started to create my own scenarios. I loved the Ancient Mediterranean map in Aggressors; however, I missed the upper part of Europe; I especially would have loved to meet the Gauls as in the old games mentioned before. There were a lot of scenarios, covering the battles over the River Rhenus, the British Isles, but the Gauls were missing. So, I decided to close this gap. My next idea coming to mind was to play “The Gallic Wars” from Legions Gold, but with all the advantages from Aggressors: Ancient Rome (A:AR). I just imagined my beloved scenario with the powerful AI from A:AR, all the new diplomacy possibilities such as Defense Pact, Confederation, trading, and so on. I was sure, if I can shift this map to A:AR, I will be able to play it in a much more historically accurate setting and get a way deeper, more narrative experience.

So, I started working on my second, bigger scenario and decided to publish it as soon as it was ready. Then I read of the new possibility to generate in-game maps based on images of real maps with the built-in map generator of A:AR. This was exactly what I needed: I took a map of France and a little bit of its environment around where you could see the different terrain types as well as heights, and generated the first version of the map. The great thing about it was that the map I generated this way had original proportions. I think this is essential for a good historical feeling. How often have I played on maps, or even created own maps, with unrealistic lengths between different places that just makes everything look odd!

After this, I further edited the generated map. I added more details, like rivers, swamps and mountain passes. The next steps were to set all the cities and to create the factions with the borders as they were in the original game. I opened the original game, compared the maps and added these things. I had to compare the distances and to figure out what would make sense for the units in A:AR. Rarely I needed to change some distances for gameplay reasons. This all was a pretty fast and straightforward process.

To finish my scenario, I had to set up the initial relationships between the factions. I was able to rely on the original game there as well. Changing the available units for the different factions, adding custom flags, setting up the start resources, naming territories and adding the difficulties were parts of the final work as well.

Once this was done, I played a first game and loved it. Meanwhile I discovered custom Objectives, which you could add for every nation. Possibilities for Objectives are almost endless. And the good thing is, it would also impact the behavior of the AI. Hence, I thought this could even make the scenario more historically accurate. I started experimenting with the Objectives and added some of them. It was very fun to work with Objectives. I figured out how to add my own descriptions for them and for the countries. This is great, as it offers you the possibility to tell your own – or, as was my goal, a more or less historical – story. I wanted to add realistic objectives that fit to the possible goals of the ancient tribes/factions. Therefore, I had to do some research work. This was another part I really loved. I learnt a lot about the factions/tribes while searching for information. And I like to have this historical knowledge!

But this was also – and it still is – the most time-consuming process for me: Adding Objectives and gathering historical information.

I am happy with the scenario I created in its current state. There are still things I could improve. This is maybe the negative side, because you get so many possibilities. You could always improve, add or change something. ;-)

As mentioned before, I would like to add custom, historically accurate Objectives for more nations that are fun to pursue. While researching, I also discovered some inaccuracies I should fix. In the original scenario, most of the cities were not ancient cities, but more different Gallic tribes. To solve this, I would need to change all the city names to real city names and not the names of its owning tribes who lived in these locations. This brings me to a next point: I could also set up city names for the regions and the possible unit names for each faction. I think these are smaller steps, with a lot of time required to do so. But these possibilities are differences to the original game and what it makes better – aside from all the great new mechanics and the AI you get anyway, for sure. :-)

Give it a try and let Liko336 know what do you think.

Steam workshop link to Gallic wars