Imperia Online

Imperia Online Review

By Toan Layne

Imperia Online is a 2D free-to-play, browser-based, city-building strategy game developed and published by Imperia Ltd. The game was officially released on August 23, 2005 and is available on the PC as well as for iOS and Android.

Imperia Online is set in the Medieval world where players take on the role of a Lord of an undeveloped province. The province can be developed through constructing and upgrading of various economic and military buildings as well as universities that are used for researching key technologies. Players can recruit and train military troops to attack other provinces to plunder their resources as well as to defend their provinces from attacks. Diplomacy and good communication skills are also tested in the game as players must interact with each other to trade their resources and form alliances.

Start of an Empire

Like most city-building games, players start off with an undeveloped city which they need to develop and expand to ultimately achieve world domination. While building a city from scratch can seem daunting, especially for players new to the genre, Imperia Online features a tutorial system that eases players into the nuances of city-building games such as constructing, gathering resources, training troops, and how to attack other provinces. Even after the tutorial, players are given missions that help guide them in developing their provinces. While these missions can be ignored in favor of specific strategies, they do reward players with valuable resources needed to develop their provinces further. Players are also given a choice of whether to accept a seven-day beginner protection period during which they can’t attack or be attacked by other players.

Have It Your Way

Imperia Online allows players to fully customize their city layout, which is quite rare in browser-based city-building games. Players are free to choose where to place their buildings and can even relocate ones that have already been built. Players can also change the layout of their buildings. Changing the layout, however, is merely cosmetic and won’t affect the building’s functions. A unique feature in the game is the ability to “Merge” buildings which allows the player to join four buildings of the same kind and combine them into one big building. Again, this is purely cosmetic and can also be easily undone with a click of a button.

Managing a City

Like most city-building games, constructing structures and upgrading them is the core of Imperia Online’s gameplay. Constructing buildings allows the player to produce resources, train troops, and ultimately grow their city. Buildings are constructed and upgraded through the main building called the “Town Hall,” which is the first building that all players start with. Other buildings can be classified into two types: Economic and Military. Economic buildings, like the Lumber Mill and Iron Mine, generate resources used to keep the players province working like clockwork. Military buildings, like the Infantry Barracks and the Siege Workshop, are where players can recruit units that they can use to attack other provinces or garrison in the Fortress to defend against attacks. The game also features a population system that controls the number of units a player can recruit. The population limit can be increased by upgrading the Farm and the Granary.

Going to War

Combat in Imperia Online happens automatically, where the game calculates the type of units a player has in his/her army along with the number of units for each type to determine the outcome of the battle. The system uses a rock-paper-scissors function. For example, Cavalry units beat Archer units all of the time and Swordsmen units most of the time, while Archers beat Spearmen all of the time. Spearmen, on the other hand, will win against Cavalry any time. The game allows players to make three types of attacks one after the other: Field Battle, Fortress Siege, and Pillage. Players start by engaging opposing players in Field Battle which rewards players with Military and Honor points. Winning a Field Battle allows the winning player to lay siege on the loser’s fortress. A successful siege rewards player with resources and opens up the option to Pillage the enemy province. When pillaging, gold is granted to the attacking player for every village killed.

In addition, Morale plays a big part in battles, as the longer a battle drags on, the lower the troops' morale. Once Morale drops below a certain point, the player’s troops will retreat from battle and might possibly suffer heavy casualties from the pursuing army. After battles, both armies’ troops are restored by a certain amount: 32% for the winner and 17% for the loser. An additional 50% casualty is imposed on the remaining troops of an army that flees due to low morale.

All that Glitters is Good

Most free-to-play games offer premium items or benefits in exchange for real-world money and Imperia Online is no different. Players can purchase Diamonds which they can exchange for bonuses like production boosts, instant building construction, and instant research. The ability to instantly construct buildings alone is enough to make the game pay-to-win since you can start from scratch and have a strong city by the end of the day just by using Diamonds. While this is a common thing in most city-building games like Tribal Wars and the widely popular Clash of Clans, it doesn’t necessarily make it a good thing. Also, if you plan on leaving your province unattended for an extended length of time, 10 Diamonds buys you the ability to enter “Vacation Mode.” In Vacation mode, all resource productions stops but the player’s province becomes immune to attack.

The Great People

With the release of Version 6, Imperia Online added a new gameplay element called The Great People. The update added the concept of Noblemen, composed of the Emperor and his court, who can gain experience and level up in two disciplines, Governor and General. Governor skills boost the province’s resource and troop production while General skills improve an army’s battle capabilities. Each nobleman also comes with unique inborn talents that players can use to their advantage.

Final Verdict – Good

Imperia Online is a pretty good city-building game. However, the lack of animations and sounds might make other players think twice about trying it out with the multitude of relatively better alternatives out there in the market. However, the sounds might not be such a big deal since most players tend to turn them off anyway. The game’s noblemen feature is a nice touch which makes it stand out a bit from other games in the genre. The fact that Diplomacy and negotiation plays a big part in the game is also one of its strong points since it creates a dynamic atmosphere with alliances constantly changing. Overall, a game still worth trying out.

Imperia Online Screenshots

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Imperia Online Videos

Imperia Online Links

Imperia Online Official Site
Imperia Online Wikipedia
Imperia Online Google Play Page

Imperia Online Requirements

Operating System: XP / Vista / 7 / 8
CPU: Intel Pentium 4 or AMD Equivalent
Video Card: Any Graphics Card (Integrated works well too)
RAM: 512 MB
Hard Disk Space: 100 MB (Cache)

Imperia Online is a browser-based MMO and will run smoothly on practically any PC. The game was tested and works well on Internet Explorer, Opera, Firefox and Chrome. Any modern web-browser should run the game smoothly.

Imperia Online Additional Information

Developer: Imperia Online Ltd.
Publisher: Imperia Online Ltd.

Platform(s): Browser, Android, iOS

Original Author(s): Dobroslav Dimitrov, Moni Dochev

Release Date: August 23, 2005

Expansions:

1. Version 1 - initial release - 2005
2. Version 2 & 3 - 2006 (launched in parallel, each offering a different ruleset to cater to different playstyles).
3. Version 4 - 2008 (originally conceived as a test version for Version 5, this version would go on to receive major visual updates and see the introduction of Nomad Invasions tournaments).
4. Version 5 - Age of Conquest - 2010
5. Version 6 - The Great People - 2014 (also brought Imperia Online to iOS, Android, and Facebook).

Development History / Background

Developed by the Bulgarian software company Imperia Online Ltd., Imperia Online has enjoyed rapid growth across the world and has been translated into over 30 languages. Originally released in August 2005, the game has over 20 million registered users and has seen six major updates known as versions. Since 2011, the developers have held an annual tournament for Imperia Online titled "The World Cup."