As we’ve reported, Imperator: Rome’s upcoming major patch, Marius 2.0, is going to include an overhaul of the grand strategy game’s clunky user interface. Paradox UX designer Jiroro has posted a new dev diary on the ongoing work on the menu system, along with several screenshots of the work-in-progress UI.
The coming overhaul isn’t just about refreshing the menus’ visuals; although it’s definitely doing that, giving them a cleaner, less cluttered look. It’s also adding some welcome functionality to several systems, putting more of what you want to do into convenient, sensible places.
For example, with the Marius 2.0 version of the UI, you’ll be able to cancel or destroy buildings in the Macro Builder tool, simply by right-clicking on the territory while in the Macro Builder mode. This will be a godsend for players who like to do a bit of conquering (and who doesn’t?), as it’ll eliminate the tedious process of clicking each individual settlement to find the outdated buildings you’ve just taken over and replace them with new ones.
Jiroro also provided a new peek at the Nation Overview panel. In addition to its new look, this menu will also sport the ability to toggle specific nation alerts on and off. If you’d like to stop receiving notifications about embracing the Canaanite Pantheon, just uncheck that box in the Overview tab.
We know Monday is a very anticipated day for you, citizens.
👉No need to wait any longer: Our latest DD is out! 🎉
Take a look at part 2 of UI rework!https://t.co/h5PtjhHrTg pic.twitter.com/y2DTe62tmS— Imperator (@gameimperator) November 2, 2020
The Management tab has been split into two sub-tabs: one that gives you a list of your provinces, and another that groups them by governorship. Jiroro says she and her team are still “exploring how it feels” with the both views available.
Finally, Jiroro provided some looks at the refreshed Religion view, which will include new background art for holy sites that changes depending on their tier. That window will also have more space for flavour text for things like treasures and deities, and so overall the Religion panel ought to feel much more lively once Marius 2.0 arrives.
Today’s dev diary is a follow-up to Jiroro’s first post on the UI rework, which explains some of the reasoning behind the update and the concepts that underpin the team’s goals for it. She also teased some coming changes to naval combat, which we’ll hopefully learn more about soon.
While you wait, you can try out some of the best Imperator: Rome mods that we’ve helpfully collected for your time in classical Rome.