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As we develop the Romans, we are showing you how we are building them, who is building them, and also why we are building them the way that we are. Though we have finally revealed every Roman Unit, Building, and Technology, we are continuing to present all of their miscellaneous extra features as we design them. This week, we are revealing the Roman Advisors that will be launching with the civ.

Roman Advisors
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Each of the original six civs have three Legendary Advisors plus at least three non-Legendary Advisors that are exclusive to each civ. Therefore, we are creating that many Roman Advisors. Though the exact details are subject to change, we do not expect many changes:

(PF2K's Personal Note: Before you go crazy over this guy's stats, do realize that unlike War Elephants and Berserkers and similar units, Legionaries do not have Area Damage, so their DPS output in large numbers isn't as high as a bunch of grouped of Berserkers or Elephants or units like that. Rest assured that there won't be overpowered or power-creep content for the Romans! Also remember that these stats aren't final and totally subject to balance testing.)


(PF2K's Personal Note: As one of Rome's greatest generals of all time, Pompey was famous for his military genius. but "Above all, he was often able to adapt to his enemies.". I believe that bonus damage protection is a good way of showcasing adaptability in AoEO which is why I went for this effect for Pompey.)


(PF2K's Personal Note: As my favorite Advisor in the set, one of my biggest inspirations for this Advisor's effects was the fact that he made a substantial amount of his fortune through production from silver mines, and speculative real estate purchases. I think in terms of AoEO mechanics, this is as close to manifesting this historical fact as it gets, right?)

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In addition to the three Legendary Advisors, the Romans will launch with three non-Legendary Advisors, one of which will be in Age IV and two of them will be in Age III:

(PF2K's Personal Note: You might be wondering why someone who looks as Roman as Mark Antony would affect Gallic Horsemen and not another Roman unit. Mark Antony lived in Gallic lands for over a year while being under the command of Caesar, after helping him conquer them. Therefore he's our best candidate for an Advisor who would affect Gallic Horsemen. You can read more about this HERE.)



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We have been incredibly fortunate to locate a fair amount of the original artwork for the Romans, including the art for all of these Advisors (except for Crassus, which is the work of PF2K). Though none of these artworks were available in the form of Advisor cards, so PF2K had to create those as well.

Some of these Advisors will also find their way into the game in the form of Roman Quest Givers. We plan to launch with at least seven Roman Quest Givers (found in your Roman Capital City, the City of Rome, and elsewhere around the game). Quest Givers always have a 3D model plus three separate two-dimensional images. We have the images for Roman Quest Givers but need to create the 3D models.

We are just now creating those models, and we will wait until they are closer to completion before revealing them to you. (Of course, we also need to decide exactly what new Quests those Quest Givers will be giving you.)

Other than working on Quest Givers, this week our 3D team has been continuing to iron out a number of kinks in the core civ. We still have many weeks to go troubleshooting.

Recommended Advisor Loadouts
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As you know, players are able to equip one Advisor per Age in their Advisor Hall before heading into their questing adventures. These are 4 loadouts that we recommend you to try when you get the chance to play the Romans.

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These loadouts are certainly not the only good choices and we are confident that you guys in the community are going to be coming up with the most optimized builds and Advisor combinations. You can check out all Advisors HERE. Which Advisor loadouts would you go with, and why? Let us know in the comments below! We are excited to see what you guys can come up with.

Meanwhile, we have also formally begun playtesting with our PvP Balance Team. We will spare you all the gory details and spare the Balance Team the awkwardness of having their decisions picked apart publicly. But in broad strokes, in the first week of balance testing, they’ve focused mostly on the early game, such as the civ’s Age 1 starting resources and the power dynamics through Age 2. The Decurion (our Age 2 cavalry unit) is still going the bruiser we always described him to be, but he needed a bit of calibration to his build limits, HP, speed, and cost. He’s now a little less expensive and a little less overpowering, but still will be noticeably both of these things.

Not surprisingly, the Engineer continues to be the focus of lots of playtesting discussion. The Balance Team was instrumental in the design of this unit throughout the last year, and they are still working on getting him tuned up. Notably, we have been grappling with finding a way for players to locate their Engineers easily. They are not Villagers and so are not linked to the Idle Villager button. But since they construct Buildings like Villagers, it’s natural to want to find him quickly and not let him stagnate. We are unable to create an Idle Engineer hotkey or UI button, so we are experimenting with some other ideas to make him easily located on the screen. Once we decide on a final version, we will share it with you.

At any rate, the Balance Team is continuing to work through the Romans, and we will keep you all up to date here. Once we are more satisfied with the balance of the Romans, we plan to bring in some additional players of all skill levels to help stress test their tuning. In meanwhile, we hope to read your thoughts below!

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Thank you so much for reading, and we will see you all next time!
Project Celeste Development Team

What do you think about this week's blog? What would you like to see next? Let us know in the comments below!

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Missed the Roman Civilization's announcement? Find out about it HERE.

Project Celeste is completely free and always will be. However, we gladly accept donations for our overhead costs, which are larger than we have budgeted. If you want to support us, you can do so HERE.

Read every Romans related blog HERE.

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