Virtual Limes (Invictus)
More sensible and believable AI expansion:
· The AI follows natural boundaries and uses buffer states to guard its borders.
· AI Rome follows a more historical path of expansion.
· Numerous anti-bordergore mechanisms.
For Imperator 2.0.* + Invictus 1.10
Load order:
– Invictus
– Invictus submods (if any)
– this mod
– Reanimata (if you use it)
Non-Steam users can find my mods on my Github page[github.com].
Other versions:
· Virtual Limes (Vanilla)
· Virtual Limes (Terra Indomita)
Nov 2024 update: Complete rework. All the features have been rewritten for better optimization and more flexibility. Every feature can now be turned on/off at any time.

The primary goal of this mod is to create historically plausible expansion patterns for the AI countries. To achieve this, the mods assigns each AI a dynamic "Expansion Zone", outside of which provinces are vassalized rather than conquered. This creates buffer states which act as a barrier blocking further expansion in a certain direction. Expansion Zones evolve over time, growing or shrinking depending on how well the country is doing, so that some buffer states are eventually integrated while others go independent. This results in a dynamic and self-renewing geopolitical distribution, a prettier map and an overall more interesting world history.
A secondary goal of the mod is to try to reduce bordergore, for example by making AI civil wars end faster or by forcing the AI to exchange certain key areas or regions as a whole.
A third goal of the mod is to give AI Rome and AI Parthia a better chance at achieving their historical goals and replacing the Hellenistic world order.
The player is never affected by any feature in this mod, and whatever modifier the AI receives as a result of this mod, is disabled whenever it comes into contact with the player in any way.

Every feature can be turned on/off at any point by editing the file "z_defines.txt" in:
Steamsteamappsworkshopcontent8595803020427093commonscript_values
Full list here.
Recommended additions:
- Fix Scorched Earth (Invictus), if you hate when the map looks like Swiss cheese
- Dynastic Country Names, perfect for Marches that go on to form their own kingdoms
