State
A state is any political structure comprising a community of people organized under some form of government; it is also called country.
In Imperator: Rome, a state owns at least one territory, one pop and some characters, except for Migrant Hordes; it can be sovereign (i.e, independent) or a subject (tributary, feudatory, tribal vassal, satrapy or client state). The player plays as a state, and controls the characters who compose the elite class. Please consult list of all countries in Imperator: Rome for an overview to choose from.
Contents
State Culture and Religion
Each state begins the game with a predefined culture, which can be seen at the top right corner of the 
National Overview screen, and religion, which can be viewed just above the pantheon dieties in the 
Religion tab. State religion can be changed during the game through a decision under the 
decisions button at the top bar if there are characters of that religion in your court and it is dominant in your capital. State culture generally cannot be changed except for through a few special events and decisions, such as startup events for 
Heraclea Pontica and 
Egypt, the 
Parthia formation decision, and events during the Yuezhi migrations.
Most often the culture and religion of populace living in the state is diverse, but they can be gradually changed to match the state religion and culture during the playthrough via assimilation and conversion. Pops of a different culture and culture group have a happiness malus that is significantly exacerbated by 
Aggressive Expansion, while pops of a different religion will count against religious unity and have a significant effect on 
Omen Power. Outside of events pops will always assimilate and convert to the state culture and religion.
Each nation also has a set heritage, offering two bonuses and one malus. This cannot be changed, even when forming a new nation, and its modifiers stay with you for the whole game.
Government
- Main article: Government
The other main defining feature of a state is its government type, which can be classified into one of three more general government forms - Republic, Monarchy or Tribal.
Different government types have different modifiers, bonuses, and National Idea slots, and it can be useful to switch to one that better synergizes with the current strategy and playstyle. Changing between government types is generally done by 
decision and the requirements can generally be seen at any time. These requirements may include a minimum 
stability level, certain 
laws (or not having certain laws), a minimum 
civilization value in the capital territory, a specific 
technology level, and more, and will almost always cost stability. Certain 
mission trees, such as the 
Carthaginian mission tree Aegis of Africa, may also allow for changing government type even when if the country does not meet the normal requirements.
The government form defines the method of succession, the available laws, and the makeup of the offices, which give political power and various bonuses according to the character's attributes and Loyalty. Each government form also has different mechanics that a player must deal with - Republics must seek the approval of the Senate for nearly every major action, Monarchies must watch their Legitimacy and deal with angry Pretenders, and Tribes must appease their Clan Chiefs and decide on the direction of Centralization. Government offices also provide political influence depending upon the holder's Loyalty. Changing the government form is usually harder than changing government type; reforming from a Tribal government to a Republic or Monarchy involves going through the Tribal Reform mission tree, changing from a Republic to a Monarchy requires high Tyranny and the declaration of a Dictatorship, and changing from a Monarchy to a Republic is not generally possible outside of a few special events or missions (such as the 
Syracusan mission tree Death to Tyrants).
Ruler
- Main article: Character
Each state is headed by a ruler, who is one of the characters living within its borders. They are visible on the Show Government tab of the government panel, and their traits, attributes, and relationships have a significant effect on state modifiers, character loyalty, and Senate support. Rulers with high attributes can be a considerable boon to their country, significantly strengthening the state and allowing the nation to punch well above its weight, while corrupt, low attribute rulers can inflict major penalties that a state must struggle through. The ruler is always the governor of the capital province and additionally may be appointed as either the general or admiral of an army or navy if the gender rules allow for it. Many events also take the point of view of the ruler, and different options may become available or unavailable based on the ruler's traits and attributes. Rulers of other states are prominently displayed in the Diplomacy screen.
A ruler may be supported by a co-ruler who may instead contribute their four main attributes if the ruler's abilities are lower. Additionally, in Aristocratic Republics, ruler popularity is instead calculated as the average popularity of the ruler and co-ruler, while their corruption is instead summed together. In Monarchies, the co-ruler is always the consort of the current ruler (if there is one), while in Aristocratic Governments the second place candidate in consular (or equivalent) elections becomes the co-consul, with the same term and requirements as the main consul. Other Republics and all Tribal governments do not have a co-ruler. It is required that the ruler (and co-ruler) have full citizenship, though minor characters can be elected in republics.
The type of government establishes how the succession of power occurs - by dynastic inheritance, Senatorial election, or rotation between Clan Chiefs, as well as whether rulers reign until death (as in Monarchies and Tribes) or if they have a fixed term (as in Republics). Monarchies and Tribes tend to stay with the same ruler for much longer and so while the nation will enjoy prosperity under great rulers for a much longer period of time they will also have to suffer for extended periods of misrule by poor rulers, while the relatively rapid elections of Republics mean that their ruler attributes are on the whole more even.
| Stat/Attribute | Bonuses |
|---|---|
 Martial
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 Finesse
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|
 Charisma
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|
 Zeal
|
|
 Popularity
|
For every point of popularity above 50:
For every point of popularity below 50:
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 Corruption
|
|
Accumulated points
Political Influence
Political Influence represents the state's political capital and is used to perform actions directly relating to the government, such as selecting national ideas or implementing laws.
It is an abstract currency generated by loyal members of your government over time, who are chosen as office holders. The total value accrued each month is determined by each character's Loyalty, therefore, it may fluctuate consistently over the year. Each government office provides up to +0.25 per month, if the holder's Loyalty is at 100.
Military Experience
It is a countrywide value that measures the degree of Military Experience the state has built up. This currency is used to acquire Military Traditions.
Military Experience increases by +0.30 per month, modified by current average cohort experience and war exhaustion, where reliance on mercenaries reduces the speed it accumulates by. The player can activate the "Drill ability" on an army, which will build up cohort experience in exchange for increased maintenance cost and Loyalty gain chance.
Wealth
- Main article: Economy
Wealth - Basic monetary currency. Wealth income is provided by tax collection, domestic commerce, subject tributes, and export/import routes.
Expenses are comprised of army and fleet maintenance, fort maintenance, characters' wages, building costs, founding of cities/metropolises, invention acquisition, some character interactions, and slave resettlement between territories. If a state runs into deficit, a random event may grant some gold in exchange for a temporary drawback.
Manpower
Manpower represents a pool of ready-to-fight people who are drawn from 
freeman and 
tribesman pops inhabiting a state. It is required to recruiting new army cohorts and replenishing attrition or combat losses.
Manpower is directly increased by several trade goods bonuses (e.g., horses and iron) and Barracks/Training Camp buildings, as well as it is modified by freeman / tribesman happiness and output.
Research
Research Points represent the progression of techniques and discoveries during the time period. They are produced by 
citizen pops inhabiting a state, and it is recommended that at least 1/3 of a state's population is made up of citizens in order to achieve 100% research efficiency. The player can track research production on the 
technology panel.
They are automatically spent towards advancing the four fields of technology: martial, civil, oratory and religious. Each new advance in a field grants several bonuses and unlock three new random inventions which are acquired with gold.
Research points are increased by the Academy city building, and trade goods bonuses (cloth, earthenware, glass and papyrus). They are modified by characters employed as researchers, and citizen happiness and output.
Aggressive Expansion
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Aggressive Expansion (AE) represents the resentment that other states and pops in your empire have against conquests and other aggressive actions you take. The primary effect of Aggressive Expansion is to decrease the happiness of non-state culture population and lower the loyalty of all subject States, significantly increasing unrest at higher levels and raising the risk of a rebellion. Higher Aggressive Expansion also significantly decreases the opinion of nearby states (though allies have a much reduced opinion malus) and makes it more likely that the nation is viewed as a threat, making it more difficult to conduct diplomacy and encouraging other states to form alliances or defensive leagues against the expanding country. Very high Aggressive Expansion will have an impact on even primary culture pops and reduces political influence generation. Aggressive Expansion has a base value of 0, where it has no effects, and can become arbitrarily high, but cannot become negative.
Each point of Aggressive Expansion has the following modifiers:
-0.40% Wrong Culture Happiness
-0.80% Wrong Culture Group Happiness
-0.02 Claim Fabrication Speed
-0.5 Loyalty of Subject States
Each point of Aggressive Expansion beyond 50 also has the following effects, in addition to the ones above:
-0.10% Monthly Political Influence
-0.50% Primary Culture Happiness
-2.00% Aggressive Expansion Impact
Aggressive Expansion is primarily accrued through conquering new territories or forcing vassalization during a war. Several diplomatic actions, character interactions, and unit abilities also increase Aggressive Expansion.
 gain
|
Type | |
|---|---|---|
| +25 |
| |
| +20 |
| |
| +10 |
| |
| +5 |
| |
| +2 |
| |
| +1 | ||
| +0.5 |
|
The base 
Aggressive Expansion Decay is -0.20% of current Aggressive Expansion per month, which can be increased by another -0.20% with the 
Appeasing Diplomatic Stance and another -0.20% if your ruler has the 
Righteous trait; however, this decay is active only if your country is not currently on the side of the aggressor in a war. There are also several sources of flat monthly
Aggressive Expansion Change that is active at all times, including Oratory inventions, government offices, and various deities. All static sources of monthly Aggressive Expansion Change are listed below:
|
|
Type | |
|---|---|---|
| +0.020 |
| |
| -0.010 |
| |
| -0.015 |
| |
| -0.020 |
| |
| -0.025 |
| |
| -0.03125 |
| |
| -0.050 |
|
Aggressive Expansion Impact modifies how much aggressive expansion is accrued from conquering land and vassalizing other states after a war, primarily decreasing the AE cost of conquest. Sources of Aggressive Expansion Impact include Oratory inventions, Laws, ruler traits, heritages, mission/event modifiers, and high aggressive expansion; the last in particular means that at some point above 50 you will accrue very little additional Aggressive Expansion for any further conquests, effectively providing a soft cap to the modifier. The effects of Aggressive Expansion Impact are capped at -95.00%, corresponding to an absolute minimum of 0.05 aggressive expansion per territory annexed or vassalized. Static sources of Aggressive Expansion Impact are listed below:
|
|
Type | |
|---|---|---|
| +15.00% |
| |
| +10.00% |
| |
| -2.00% | per point of Aggressive Expansion above 50
| |
| -5.00% |
| |
| -6.25% |
| |
| -10.00% |
| |
| -20.00% |
| |
| -50.00% |
|
The impact of Aggressive Expansion is felt most in the early game, when diplomacy is most important and the lack of Aggression Expansion Impact means that taking even a few provinces can rack up a large amount of Aggressive Expansion. Governor armies may be necessary to suppress unrest in wrong culture group provinces in order to handle province loyalty and allow for conversion and assimilation to happen, while judicious use of Improving Relations can help prevent the diplomatic situation from getting out of hand. An expansionist empire should focus on sources of Aggressive Expansion Change and Impact, as well as 
Wrong Culture Group Happiness bonuses as this is where the bulk of the effects are felt. In the later game, when the player has built up a large empire that can easily stand against its neighbours, developed a large enough base of primary culture provinces that will be largely unaffected by Aggressive Expansion-driven unhappiness, accumulated many of the AE Change and Impact modifiers, and either accrued enough wrong culture group happiness modifiers or have sufficient garrison army capacity to handle different culture group provinces even at relatively high AE values, an empire can take advantage of the Aggressive Expansion Impact for having higher than 50 AE to be able to conquer large amounts of territory at little to no additional aggressive expansion penalty.
Tyranny
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Please help with verifying or updating this section. It was last verified for version 1.4. |
Tyranny represents the level of oppression in your country and produces resentment against the government by characters and primary culture pops, but also increases the willingness of pops and factions to accede to your demands and the centralization of power. The level of Tyranny must be carefully managed, particularly in the early game, in order to avoid large reductions in character loyalty that can ensue in civil war as well as ensuring the productivity of your primary culture population, but in the later game when inventions and growth in power make characters and pops easier to deal with the increased Senate support for actions and war score cost bonus can become quite useful. The base Tyranny values range from the base value of 0, where it has no effects, to 100, and cannot be negative.
Each point of Tyranny gives the following modifiers:
- -0.50% Primary Culture Happiness
-0.50% War score Cost
+0.50% Pop Assimilation Speed- 32px -0.25 Loyalty of Generals
- 32px -0.25 Loyalty of Admirals
- 32px -0.25 Loyalty of Governors
+0.50% National Slave Output
-1.00% Imprison Cost- -1.00% Execute Cost
In Republics, each point of Tyranny also increases Senatorial Faction support for actions according to the following table:
| Action Type |  Civic /  Military /  Mercantile /  Religious Faction Support |
 Populist Faction Support
|
|---|---|---|
 Character Interactions |
+1.00% | +1.00% |
 Law Changes |
+0.50% | +1.00% |
 Diplomatic Actions |
+1.00% | +2.00% |
Tyranny is primarily increased by various character actions, such as imprisoning, executing, and imposing sanctions on various characters, as well as overriding the will of the Senate in Republics when doing character interactions, changing laws, or conducting diplomacy. There are also many events, particularly those relating to characters and their interactions, that can raise or lower the country's tyranny level. The actions and interactions that cost or change the national Tyranny value are listed below by their base cost, which can be changed by various interaction-specific modifiers:
 gain
|
Type | |
|---|---|---|
| +30 |
| |
| +10 |
| |
| +5 |
| |
| +4 |
| |
| +3 |
| |
| +2 |
| |
| +1 |
| |
| +0.5 |
| |
| +0.01 |
| |
| -1 |
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| -5 |
|
Tyranny is primarily lost through 
Monthly Tyranny change, which has a base reduction of -0.2 Tyranny per month. This can be increased and changed by many different modifiers, such as certain Oratory inventions, various deity and omen bonuses, ruler attributes and traits, and more, static sources of which are listed below:
|
|
Type | |
|---|---|---|
| +0.04 |
| |
| +0.025 |
| |
| +0.02 |
| |
| +0.01 |
| |
| -0.01 |
| |
| -0.015 |
| |
| -0.02 |
| |
| -0.025 | ||
| -0.03125 |
| |
| -0.04 |
| |
| -0.05 |
| |
| -0.10 |
|
In Republics, the Senatorial faction support from even relatively low amounts of Tyranny can be quite useful, making it worthwhile to have some level of Tyranny even in the early game when its effects are hardest to counteract. While monarchies have somewhat less use of Tyranny in the early game where expansion is more likely to be limited by Aggressive Expansion, Tyranny is generally not particularly problematic at lower levels and it is not very important to keep it low unless the nation is already experiencing issues with loyalty. It is worth noting that since Tyranny decay does not scale according to its current value and there are no easy ways to quickly lower it, high Tyranny can be problematic if the state is not prepared, especially if the ruler has low 
Charisma.
The main economic impact of Tyranny tends to be in research, since research is produced exclusively by citizens who will get the 
Primary Culture Happiness malus with higher tyranny without the compensating factor that the 
National Slave Output bonus gives for tax income. Therefore in games where research is a particular focus should be wary of high tyranny or otherwise ensure that there are enough other sources of primary culture citizen happiness to counteract the malus. However, generally the most important impact of Tyranny is in character Loyalty, and so prudent character management and/or aiming for character loyalty bonuses are important for dealing with high Tyranny.
In the later game, when the player has accumulated enough loyalty and happiness bonuses to handle the penalties, high Tyranny is much more useful and players can take full advantage of its bonuses, particularly the 
warscore cost reduction. In conjunction with reductions from other sources and growing Aggressive Expansion Impact bonuses, a player with high Tyranny can conquer a vast amount of territory in the lategame as opposed to what is feasible early on. The 
Pop Assimilation Speed and National Slave Output can also be very useful once the happiness and unrest problems can be properly dealt with, making for a powerful tyrannical empire.
State rank
This a measure of how large a state is, according to land expansion. Ranks are based on the number of currently incorporated territories, each state is qualified under one of the six following tiers.
All states can join alliances with other countries of same level, except for Great Powers.
Migrant Horde
- Territory range: 0
- National manpower: +1000
- Army weight modifier: -25%
- Number of Clan Chiefs: +1 (if Tribal)
City State
- Territory range: 1
- Diplomatic relation(s): +1
- National commerce income: +20%
- Fort defense: +20%
- Subject integration speed: +0.05
- Number of Clan Chiefs: +1 (if Tribal)
- May be part of defensive leagues
Local Power
- Territory range: 2 to 24
- Diplomatic relation(s): +2
- Diplomatic range: +10%
- Subject integration speed: +0.10
- Number of Clan Chiefs: +1 (if Tribal)
- May be part of defensive leagues
Regional Power
- Territory range: 25 to 99
- Diplomatic relation(s): +3
- Capital import route(s): +1
- Diplomatic range: +50%
- Subject integration speed: +0.15
- Monthly Political Influence gain: +25%
- Threshold for civil war: -3%
- Threshold for rebellion: -1%
- Number of Clan Chiefs: +2 (if Tribal)
- May use the diplomatic actions "Threaten War" and "Guarantee"
- May no longer be a member of defensive leagues
Major Power
- Territory range: 100 to 499
- Diplomatic relation(s): +4
- Capital import route(s): +2
- Diplomatic range: +125%
- Subject integration speed: +0.20
- Monthly Political Influence gain: +50%
- Threshold for civil war: -5%
- Threshold for rebellion: -3%
- Monthly General/Admiral/Governor Loyalty loss: -0.01
- Change governor policy cost: -10%
- Number of Clan Chiefs: +3 (if Tribal)
- May use the diplomatic actions "Threaten War", "Guarantee" and "Support Rebels"
- May no longer be a member of defensive leagues
Great Power
Must not be a subject of another state.
- Territory range: 500 or more
- Diplomatic relation(s): +5
- Capital import route(s): +2
- Diplomatic range: +225%
- Subject integration speed: +0.25
- Monthly Political Influence gain: +75%
- Threshold for civil war: -8%
- Threshold for rebellion: -5%
- Monthly General/Admiral/Governor Loyalty loss: -0.02
- Change governor policy cost: -30%
- Number of Clan Chiefs: +3 (if Tribal)
- May use the diplomatic actions "Threaten War", "Guarantee", "Support Rebels", "Intervene in War" and "Enforce Peace"
- May no longer be a member of defensive leagues
- May no longer have any alliances
Maximum civilization value
The maximum civilization level of any territory being part of a state; it cannot be higher than the country civilization level, which is visible on the 
Overview panel.
The value is based on the state's government type, modified by up to +10% at 100% centralization level of Tribes, +2% per advance level in Oratory, the national idea State Religion (+10%), gemstones trade good (+5% for capital surplus or +2.5% for exportation bonus), and +5%/+10% capital territory bonuses by forming regional tags (such as Saxonia, Gaul, Albion etc.).
