[b]Salve, citizens of Rome![/b] Building an empire is a long process. Wars need to be won, but sometimes battles are lost. Despite our commanders and soldiers glorious courage, we must stand before you and announce a battle (release date) has been lost and the war will go on longer than we planned and hoped. We failed. But fear not - the war (release) [b]WILL[/b] be won eventually - in just a few months. We owe you answers. We know. We believe in open government. We are all brothers, even if we will be stoned and vegetables will be thrown at us for the next few days.. we will take it with grace. Truth be told, the game is pretty much finished! We were sure we are so close to victory, but some highly skilled enemy units managed to surprise us at the very last moment just as we were storming the front lines: Those enemy units are vicious. The heartless barbarians call them "Localization, Voice Overs and Steam Verification". Because of the nature and size of our empire, verification seems to be a much longer and complex maneuver than usual. We also did not foresee the speed of Localization and Voice Overs, and because of those challenges, our soldiers could not storm the enemy on time. The enemy will surrender eventually, we are close, we are stronger, we are bigger and more disciplined! But they did manage to slow us down. The battle might have been lost but the war is almost won and will be over in a couple of months (beginning on 2024). We will stand judgement. But we also ask you, our brothers, for compassion. Rome was not built in a day, and we are ashamed, but we also urge you to remember our strength lies in unity in tough times. We also love you all <3 [b]For Honor. For the Empire! The Senate.[/b]