QuintusSertorius
04-08-2008, 13:26
This is very much a work in progress and will be updated regularly as I write more. Rather than attempting to edit the old document, I'm just doing it again from scratch.
Here's what I have so far...
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Ave Quirites,
If you are reading this, you may already have an interest in historical-inspired house rules for playing the Romani. The purpose of house-ruling play is two-fold; to give yourself an additional challenge that the RTW engine doesn't really offer without unbalancing play, and to have fun "roleplaying" the actions of the Roman Republic. If restraining yourself from acting in ahistorical ways and using strategy and tactics that might seem suboptimal sound like more work than fun, then this guide is probably not for you. This is not a means to the fastest and most effective route to victory, indeed one of the express aims of these house rules is to slow the game down and prevent the blitzkrieg style of play that leads to a rapid conclusion of a game.
For those who are still with me, this is an update on my original guide covering the nuances specific to EB and with a few minor changes here and there. I hope people enjoy this one as much as they did the first.
Salve
Quintus Sertorius
General Rules
This all started originally with historical expansion only, then gradually worked it's way out to include army compositions, economic buildup, diplomacy style and romanisation procedure. I guess the first general rule is only do this if you consider historical versimilitude fun. Second, you don't have to stick rigidly to this guide no matter what, and no matter how much fun it may or may not be. The Republic did have emergencies where the normal rules were suspended and exceptional measures were taken to ensure it's survival. The darkest days of the Second Punic War were rife with examples of how flexible the normally staid way of doing things could become when there was the need.
Not so much a general rule, as a question of difficulty, I don't agree with the recommended campaign difficulty setting for EB. Very Hard campaign difficulty is not conducive to historical behaviour, nor indeed any kind of balance between the AI factions. It also makes power-broking less effective. The reason for this is two-fold; the hyper-aggressive behaviour from the AI means you'll never get a moment's peace and diplomacy is all but useless; and the AI factions have so much money washing around that they can spam you with stack after stack after stack. Which I don't consider realistic, or fun. They already get bonuses from a money script to stop them going too far into the red, they don't need a bonus 10,000 mnai every turn each. Especially not factions like the Ptolemaioi and Karthadastim who are already rich. Instead I play on Hard, with the recommended Medium battle difficulty. Harder battle difficulties add bonuses to the AI faction's defense and morale, which unbalances battles. Instead your difficulty here comes from the composition and disposition of your forces.
One of my first general rules regards what is effectively a player exploit, and something I consider pretty unrealistic; namely retraining. It's an exploit if you're using rtw.exe and possibly if you're using BI.exe, but not if you're using alex.exe. Essentially the AI is either inconsistent in it's use of retraining, or simply doesn't retrain at all. Which gives an unfair advantage to the player who goes through the micromanaging hassle of cycling their units back to Italy to be retrained. Furthermore it's pretty unrealistic to be able to restore a remnant of a veteran unit to full strength without any loss of that experience.
Instead what you should do is raise new units to merge into the old. This more accurately represents drafts of new recruits being integrated into existing ones, with the attendant loss of effectiveness that comes from mixing green and veteran troops together. A beneficial side-effect of this is that you don't need to bring armies home to reinforce them and make up for losses. The countervaling factor though is the logistics involved in sending detachments out to replace casualties. However it is possible to plan for this, having some units waiting in settlements near to your active armies for the eventuality of replacements.
Something that's developed since my first guide is the scope of maintaining historicity. The game is not static but for a player's moves, the AI is always active changing things. Which means you have to make a choice in how far you are willing to go to maintain versimilitude. You can stick only to ensuring your own expansion is historical, or you can work to maintain the general environment.
The former is simpler, requiring you only to pay attention to your own actions. The latter is more complicated, because it requires you to take an active hand in guiding the AI factions, possibly intervening to rescue the smaller factions and curtail the activities of the larger. In some ways this isn't actually inconsistent with the main aim of historicity - Rome often acted to maintain the balance of power overseas. For keeping your enemies (and former/future enemies) weak and divided prevents any one of them becoming a threat to Rome.
Personally, I also consider this power-broking role a lot of fun, which adds something to the game, especially when in times of peace and reconstruction when there isn't a lot to do. It also provides a pretty active ongoing role for your agents, in particular your diplomats.
On "cheating"
Now in preserving historicity, I have no problem with using "cheats" - both console commands and the Force Diplomacy script. But with one proviso - I never use them to directly benefit myself (with the exception of getting ceasefires from the truculent AI, which will almost never agree even when it's thoroughly beaten). If you don't like using these kinds of things, your task will be much harder. Indeed you may have to use armies and give away lots of your own cash to secure ceasefires to make it so.
At the end of your turn, before you click to progress to the next, think about the AI factions. You don't necessarily need to do this every turn, but it becomes more important the longer the game goes on.
First step is to toggle the "fog of war" in the console. Check out the campaign map in the mini-map and see if anything seems out of place. Rapid Ptolemaic and Baktrian advance are the usual culprits, along with northward expansion of Makedonia and Hayasdan.
If you do find some of the smaller factions struggling to resist the bigger ones, or to expand, give them additional funds through the add_money command. If necessary, give negative money to their aggressors as well. Bear in mind, however that it can take some time for this to become effective, but also that once it kicks in it may flip the situation entirely in reverse. The AI is somewhat unpredictable in precisely what it spends money on in conforming to it's style.
Later in the game when you've got diplomats out there, you can make use of the Force Diplomacy script to remove settlements from those factions either threatening the smaller ones, or trying to expand ahistorically. Again it's often the aforementioned Ptolemaic/Baktrian juggernaughts and Makedonian/Hai rush for the north.
The best way to use Force Diplomacy is to offer a token amount of cash for the settlements you want to remove. Then you need another diplomat close to the recipient faction to give it to them. You may need to give yourself some money to do this, because they invariably require a gift of 5000-10000 mnai to accept your gift of a settlement. If they refuse even then, you may have to use Force Diplomacy and demand a token amount of cash as the exchange. This is an almost continual monitoring role, as a result it usually pays to have a fiplomat near one of almost every faction's homeland settlements.
Family Members
Generalship
While your use of family members doesn't change a great deal, their age and status becomes a concern. A Roman general and indeed governor should be a man of maturity and experience, it is not the place of young men to be leading armies.
When a young senatorial comes of age, his correct place is at Rome, where he can begin his true education in the bearing of a politician and soldier. Between the ages of 16 and 20, they should reside in the city, attending the Forum, walking in the entourage of their relatives and training on the Campus Martius.
At the age of 20, they may begin their military career as a tribune supporting the efforts of older magistrates. A particularly appropriate role is with the cavalry, demonstrating their personal courage and skill at arms by leading them in the charge. They must have demonstrated service in 10 campaigns to qualify for a seat in the Senate. They may also serve in junior offices such as the aedileship during this time.
At 30 their political career proper begins. Ideally they should return to Rome for election to the tribunate (for plebians) or a quaestorship (for patricians).
You should aim to have armies led by a general who is at least a praetor, if not a consul, or who has held one of these offices previously. If you don't have any who qualify, they should be at least 38 years of age. If you have issues with the engine making the younger man general, move him out of the army stack then back in. Assuming he isn't genuinely better-qualified, he should be relegated to lieutenant (silver star), rather than general (gold star).
Governorship
The other duty of your family members is acting as governors in your various settlements. Every settlement should have it's taxes set at High as default. More and you encourage needless unrest and corruption, although it can serve a useful purpose in constraining population growth. Lower and your governors become administrative incompetents, and settlements can grow too fast. It's especially important Roma has at least High tax, so that the studying youngsters don't all become blithering idiots when it comes to numbers. Technically Roman citizens stopped paying tax in 167BC, and it became a key right of citizenship. However it's not really possible to simulate this in the game. An exception to the High tax rule is recently-conquered provinces. Client rulers are only in place for a short time, and often the high rates of building can maintain their administrative abilities even if lower taxes are detrimental towards them.
Move your family members out of conquered settlements as soon as a client ruler is installed. Not only is there the Interloper trait issue, but it demonstrates poor faith on the part of the Republic not to trust provincials to run their own affairs as long as they pay their taxes.
Leave foreign buildings alone, aside from barracks and government buildings. Rome did not go around destroying a conquered culture as a matter of course, and in particular allowed people their chosen forms of religious worship. If you must, build over temples, but don't destroy them. The greatest amount of culture penalty comes from the governor's residence in a province, so aim to upgrade this as soon as you can.
Armies
Historical composition and deployment of your forces is the name of the game. Note that this is definitely not optimal from an effectiveness perspective, and using historical formations can take some getting used to.
Composition is the first question. The core Roman units are pretty good, and if you're playing for pure effectiveness there's a temptation to recruit all-Roman (or even all-principes) armies. Not only is this historically inaccurate, I think you miss out on the variety you can get with a Roman army. Historically half of a consular army (the unit upon which my standard army is based) was composed of allied/non-Roman troops, the socii. They fought in two alae alongside the two Roman legions. A praetorian army half that size (ie one legion and one ala) may be commanded by a praetor (or possibly quaestor or tribune under exceptional circumstances).
Now after the Second Punic War, many Italian communities (particularly the Samnites, Bruttians and Lucanians) who had previously sent armies organised in their traditional manner fell out of favour with Rome for their infidelity in defecting to Hannibal. These were either forbidden from raising their own armies, or else organised in an entirely Roman manner. To represent this, after 211BC or so, the only Italian infantry you should recruit are the pedites extraordinarii. Replace the other pair of allied infantry with some other non-Roman troops.
On the question of when to upgrade your MICs to take advantage of reform events, resist the temptation to do this immediately (since reformed troops are almost always better than the ones you had before). You will get the Polybian reform not long after 240BC when you take Lilibeo, but wait until later in the 230sBC before upgrading and recruiting a new army to replace the old legions. Make sure you disband the old Camillian Roman troops - possibly in the same settlements you recruit the new Polybian ones in if you're concerned about population levels.
Even if you get the Marian reformin the 170sBC, don't upgrade your MIC until 110BC at the earliest. Technically you shouldn't recruit any evocati until you've fought some battles with your new cohor reformata.
Optional rule for Polybian armies: Triarii maniples. Historically these were half the size of the hastati and principes maniples. There are two ways of representing this. The simplest is to recruit half the number of units of triarii. My personal preference is to go into the EDU and halve their size, cost and upkeep.
Command
The command unit for all armies is the same; a general of sufficient age and office to lead and possibly a younger family member acting as tribune (or a legate if they're a quaestor or above). Additional family members are purely optional. The general should not be used as cavalry unless absolutely necessary. His job is to supervise from behind the fighting line, providing inspiration along with ensuring his men know that valour and cowardice both will be witnessed and this rewarded or punished as necessary. The tribune/legate on the other hand should be used as cavalry, since it is the place of young men aspiring to office to demonstrate their bravery.
Camillian
The Roman core of a Camillian consular army is two legions, represented by the following units:
1 unit of Leves
1 unit of Accensi
1 unit of Rorarii
2 units of Hastati
2 units of Principes
2 unit of Triarii
Optional: 1 unit of Equites (your FM tribune/legate can count as Roman cavalry)
The two socii alae are composed as follows:
2 units of allied skirmishers (any mix of javelineers, archers and slingers)
4 units of allied infantry (two different pairs of Samnite, Lucanian, Bruttium, Ligurian or Gallic infantry)
1 unit of pedites extraordinarii
1 unit of classical hoplites
1 or 2 units of allied cavalry (Campanian, Greek, Gallic, Ligurian or anything else available, or possibly equites extraordinarii)
Polybian
The Roman core of a Polybian consular army is two legions, represented by the following units:
1 unit of Velites
1 unit of Accensi
2 units of Hastati
2 units of Principes
1 unit of Triarii (or two if you're playing with half-sized maniples)
Optional: 1 unit of Equites (your FM tribune/legate can count as Roman cavalry)
The two socii alae are composed as follows:
2 units of allied skirmishers (any mix of javelineers, archers and slingers)
4 units of allied infantry (two different pairs of Samnite, Lucanian, Bruttium, Ligurian, Gallic, or Iberian infantry)
1 unit of pedites extraordinarii
1 or 2 units of allied cavalry (Campanian, Greek, Gallic, Ligurian or anything else available, or possibly equites extraordinarii)
Marian
The Roman core of a Marian army is as follows:
1st Legion
1 General
1 unit of First Cohort
1 unit of cohors reformata
1 unit of antesignani
2nd Legion
1 tribune
1 unit of First Cohort
1 unit of cohors reformata
1 unit of cohors evocata
Support
1 unit of Scorpions/arrow throwers
The allied part is as follows:
1 unit of allied javelin-men
1 unit of allied slingers or archers
1 unit of allied cavalry
Optional: 2 units of allied close-order foot
This represents two legions and their supporting artillery, light troops, cavalry and allied infantry. Feel free to add additional support units. A third legion can be presented by adding three more cohorts as above.
An option for early post-Marian troops is to have just the First Cohort and two normal cohorts as one legion, since there were as yet no veterans to draw upon.
Disposition
Camillian and Polybian armies should be deployed in the triplex acies, three lines giving strength in depth and keeping most of your forces in reserve. Marian forces can be deployed in three, two or even one line as befits the situation.
Key:
Gen - The general
FM - Family member
Tri - Triarii (or allied hoplites)
Pri - Principes
Has - Hastati
Ski - Accensi/Leves/Velites
Ror - Roraii
ASk - Allied Skirmisher
ALI - Allied Light Infantry
AHI - Allied Heavy Infantry
Cav - Cavalry
Camillian and Polybian
----ASk----Ski----Ski----ASk
Cav-----ALI----Has----Has----ALI----FM/Cav
----AHI-----Pri-----Pri-----AHI
--------Ror-----Tri-----Tri-----Gen
Placement of the General varies, as long as he's behind the fighting line it doesn't really matter. Put the extraordinarii wherever you want to, or keep in reserve with the general. The only difference between Camillian and Polybian armies is the absence of the Rorarii.
Marian
Garrisons
Don't use your legions as garrisons (it's bad for discipline). Indeed station them in a fort in the region they're based. Since you can't demobilise and re-mobilise veterans, you have to keep them as though they were a standing army. Historically there was a consular army stationed at the barracks in Capua, and later on certain proconsular provinces came with a consular-sized force. Create a fort outside Capua to station the consular army for central Italy. This can be used both for the defense of Italy, and if need be to be shipped out to a provincial hotspot (making sure you recruit a new consular army to replace them if you can). Other places which you can station a fort to house your legions are Cisalpine Gaul, Sicily, Illyria, Hispania (one in "nearer" Spain, one in "further" Spain), Macedonia, Greece, Africa, Asia Minor, Syria and Gaul. More detail is in the conquest timeline.
Garrisons should be composed of troops from the local area, representing either local levies or demobilised veterans in the area. In fully Roman areas (Roma, Capua, Arpi, Arretium, Ariminium), these should be composed of Roman troops, just a couple of units is more than enough. In those besides Roma, feel free to switch one of the Roman units for an Italian one - Samnites, Bruttians, Lucanians, Campanians, although try to stick to those who are from that region.
In new regions outside of central Italy, you should begin with a client ruler in place, and thus the garrison should be local levies available in place at the disposal of the client ruler. Given that they aren't greatly Romanised yet, they won't be Roman troops, and the legion used to capture the settlement should be moved out as soon as the transition period is complete (ie when unrest has died down a bit). This means rather immediately Gallic troops in Bononia and Segesta, and Greek troops in Taras, Rhegion and Sicily. They're also useful for adding some variety to the allied component of your armies (Gallic Slingers, Hellenic Heavy Skirmishers and Ligurian Leuce Epos in particular).
Navies
Never blockade enemy ports. The AI is too dumb to do it to you very often or with consistency, and they really suffer from lack of funds. Use your navies to break blockades on your ports, transport troops and sink any enemy fleets passing through.
Economy
Early on your main focus should be on your economic development, laying the groundwork so you can support multiple armies. Roads, ports and markets should always be among the very first things you build in any settlement. This will help finance future development as well as troops, and make moving your armies around easier. Roads in particular were a major part of pacifying a province and a symbol of the growth of Roman government.
Don't build guard barracks or hospitals, these are for the Augustan era.
Romanisation and Treatment of the Conquered
Bringing new provinces into the fold is a gradual process which cannot be rushed. While there is a temptation to simply install the best government type you can in any new region, it makes it too easy to recruit factional troops and isn't very realistic either. Instead every new province begins with a type IV government, where a client ruler sympathetic to Rome is installed who can begin the process of Romanising the people and exposing them to our ways. After 20-30 years (ie a generation) it is time to expand the assimilation of the local peoples, and move to a type III government. After another 20-30 years, move to type II if available, and finally after another generation type I for those in Italy.
While the game doesn't really properly represent the reality of siege warfare - ie that if a settlement surrenders it is well treated, if it resists and is assaulted it will be sacked - there are some simple rules. Extermination is rare. Only two settlements were razed to the ground (and in the same year - 146BC), Kart-Hadast and Korinthos.
Enslavement is common with "barbarians", Caesar made a vast fortune enslaving Gauls (though more often the prisoners from battle, rather than people taken from settlements - only the most intransigent tribes were enslaved en masse), because the general gets the proceeds of prisoner sales.
With more "civilised" peoples, I think occupation is more common, though in the campaigns that finally brought Greece under Roman rule after the Third Punic War, many slaves were taken. Many more Greeks willingly sold themselves for a more interesting life in Rome as tutors, stewards, body slaves and the like. It was through this process that Rome was Hellenised, and most of it's people became Hellenophones.
The wars in Hispania were (as seems to be the case throughout Spains history) notable for their brutality and ferocity on both sides. The tribal peoples would not submit meekly to Roman rule, there were lots of cases of tribes being wiped out through both extermination and mass-suicide.
Sicily is actually easier to occupy, the populations are huge and will really upset your other cities if you start transporting people in large numbers (rising squalor, etc). Carthaginian cities I tended to occupy too. Gallic ones are enslaved.
Diplomacy
Your first task is to get your diplomats out to see the world, and more importantly secure trading rights with other factions. Those you share land borders and sea lanes with are the most important, those beyond that are simply useful to gain experience for your diplomats. Try to trade map information for added experience. Don't ever "sell" map information or trade rights. Trade rights are always given for free, because it's mutually beneficial. Trade map info for map info, never ask for money. Never accept (or offer) a ceasefire unless it also comes with some kind of reward to Rome. That means tribute.
Later on diplomats play a key role in helping you to prevent any one faction rising to dominance, allowing you to play regional power-broker. Both through use of Force Diplomacy to remove settlements from one faction and give to another, but also to bribe away the armies of stronger factions.
The prime goal in your diplomacy game is to maintain Rome's pre-eminence in it's sphere of influence. This means keeping all the factions close to you weak, and letting none of them become stronger than all the others. Gaul (Arverni and Aedui) by sporadically sending armies to defeat their field armies, and occasionally capturing and burning a settlement (before giving it back, or if you prefer abandon and wait until it revolts, which will give them some troops again). Try to ensure neither Aedui nor Arverni gain ascendancy over the other, and especially avoid one destroying the other. If need be use Force Diplomacy to redistribute settlements and the console to dole out additional funds to the weaker of the two. Gaul is a useful buffer state to keep between yourself and the tougher barbarians (Sweboz, Lusotanii, Getai). Get an alliance with the Lusotanii as soon as you can. They're key to the lengthy conflict with Carthage. If necessary, pay them a token regular tribute to keep them positive with Rome.
With the "civilised" factions, feel free to use diplomats later in the game to bribe away neutral armies. The three Hellenic factions require almost constant maintenance in this regard, preventing any one of Epeiros, Makedonia or Koinon Hellenon taking control is key.
This is actually a really fun mini-game in and of itself, maintaining the balance of power without the sword. If someone does start losing a lot of territory, send a legion there to smash the interloper, and give their settlements back (for free). None of the Hellenic factions will tend to refuse a peace after you've humbled them (if all else fails there's Force Diplomacy), and it gives a general something to do in the slack periods.
Rome never "started" foreign wars (or so they liked to believe). The Senate was deeply suspicious of foreign adventures, or the cost and effort of maintaining overseas territories. Maintaining status quo is defending Rome's interests, so attacking a nation aggressing against it's neighbour in your region is not aggressive, but "defensive" on your part..
Conquest timeline
Conquest of Italy (272BC-260BC)
Your first task is to drive the Epirote invaders out of Italy before the year 272BC closes. Taras must be brought into the Republic! Once that is done seek a peace with Epeiros, demanding a small tribute (less than 1000 mnai) to show they accept their defeat. Then get trading rights with them to restore relations to a more normal keel. Spend 271BC recruiting and restoring your armies to march again.
There are twin targets for 270BC: Bononia in the north and Rhegion in the south. Rhegion is especially important because Roman honour is at stake. Liguria (Segesta) is a difficult one. The Ligurians resisted the Romans for a long time, not being completely pacified until the 1st century BC. Feel free to besiege, but don't take Segesta.
As an option, you may want to take Massilia and put a client ruler in place. Historically Massilia (along with the Greek communities on the north-eastern coast of Spain) was a long-time ally of Rome. When the client ruler there dies, just replace them with another one.
First Punic War (265BC-240BC)
If you're lucky, Qarthadast will have made threatening moves in Sicily by now towards Messana and Syrakousai. It's time to punish these transgressions and come to the rescue of the Mamertines in Messana. 264BC is the time to move, besiege and take Messana (assuming there isn't already a Karthadastim army there, or that they haven't taken it). Depending on the AI behaviour you should now have a few battles to fight in Sicily, but do not take Lilibeo. That won't be yours until the peace treaty of 240BC in which the city should be given to you in return for peace (use Force Diplomacy, or else just take it by siege in 240BC). Instead to force the issue, land a consular army in north-eastern Africa in 255BC and try to bring the Karthdastim to battle. Raid a settlement or two before shipping back to Sicily (Atiqa is a likely target, it revolted in the 250sBC and had to be suppressed by Qarthadast).
In 257BC there's a Qarthadastim Family Member who comes of age. His appearance will spur the AI to action, often he comes out and hires lots of mercenaries to give you a set-piece battle or two.
Resist the temptation to take Syrakousai - it did not become a Roman settlement until 211BC and instead remained independent, but allied. You may besiege it a few times, but never order an assault.
Alalia was taken by the Romans in 257BC, occupied early in the war, although not finally pacified for a long time after. Karali became Roman by revolt in 238BC. You might do this either by Force Diplomacy, or land a praetorian army to take it. You should be able to afford a permanent consular army in Sicily once it is secure.
Raiding Segesta in 238BC and holding it long for a couple of turns should secure the Polybian reforms. Don't hurry to upgrade your MICs and replace the Roman component of your armies. Some time in the 230sBC is timely enough, in time for the next war.
First Illyrian War (229-228BC)
Illyrian pirates have been raiding your shipping routes and taking ransom. Deal with them by taking Segestica and Dalmanion. This will also give you enough funds to maintain a third consular army on a permanent basis.
Campaigns in Cisalpine Gaul (225BC-222BC)
Gallic raids, including an warband that for a brief time threatened Rome until defeated at Telamon spurred more activity in the north of Italy. Everything south of the Alps was secured, using those mountains as a natural barrier, although this region wasn't completely pacified for a long time afterwards. The hardy mountain tribes resisted Roman rule for over a century after these campaigns, and many joined Hannibal's invasion of Italy. Aim for Patavium first, then Mediolanium.
You may need to defend Mediolanium against raids from the Aedui, and possibly even lead a punitive raid into southern Gaul to prevent attacks as a result of taking it. Once their military capacity is reduced, you may have to use Force Diplomacy to get a ceasefire out of them. What you don't want to do is weaken them so much the Arverni become dominant, or worse start a premature conquest of Gaul.
Once Cisalpine Gaul is secure, you can recruit a fourth consular army to station there. Feel free after this campaign to take Segesta, aiming to have it by 218BC.
Second Illyrian War (219-218BC)
No settlements would be taken in this war, look to fight some rebels or bandits.
Second Punic War (217BC-200BC)
This will be the most tumultuous period in the game, and one which will require some pretty heavy use of Force Diplomacy if you want to push the versimilitude element. It will begin with you losing a number of Italian settlements to defection to Qarthadast, but end with recovering them and kicking the Karthadastim out of Spain. It may also stretch your tactical abilities to their limit, involving fighting in Italy, Sicily, Spain, Illyria and Greece. For the strictest adherence to historical record, you'll need to script the appearance of Hannibal's army and use Force Diplomacy to give them Cisalpine Gaul to prevent that army wandering off to Spain. Alternatively, give Cisalpine Gaul and Liguria to whichever of the Gallic factions is the weaker in 218/217, then spawn Hannibal's army later on. If you wish to simulate the losses at Trebia and Ticinus, disband some of the consular army stationed in Cisalpine Gaul.
War in Italy
In 216BC Capua defected after the defeat at Cannae. You may wish to disband all but one of your consular armies in Italy. Use Force Diplomacy to give the settlement to Qarthadast. This might be a good time to script the appearance of Hannibal's army, now that the AI has territory to defend. Capua wasn't recaptured until 211BC after a long siege.
In 213BC Bomilcar landed the only reinforcements Hannibal received from Qarthadast in Locri, in south-western Italy. Spawn a small stack with African troops, cavalry and a unit of elephants somewhere north of Rhegion.
In 212BC Taras defected to Hannibal. Again use a diplomat to gift the settlement to Qarthadast. It wasn't recovered until 209BC.
War in Spain
In 218BC send a consular army to Spain, to fight the Qarthadastim there (a good candidate is the army in Illyria). Take Emporion, which will become the base of your operations. You have license to advance into Edetania and possibly take Arse, but retreat in 215BC back to Lacetania until 210BC.
In 210BC you've got a lot to do in Spain. Land an army of reinforcements for the army in Emporion, along with a promising young general. Your aim is to rapidly sweep down the coast, taking Mastia by 209BC. By 206BC you need to clear the Qarthadastim out of Spain altogether.
War in Sicily
In 213 BC, start the siege of Syrakousai. Later in that year, spawn a Qarthadastim force under Himilco not far from the settlement.
First Makedonian War (215BC-209BC)
Second Makedonian War (200BC-197BC)
Even while Italy was predated on by Hannibal's army, the Romans sought to defend their position in the wider world. Taking issue to Phillip V's opportunistic actions, they declared war on Makedonia. However, this wasn't a war fought directly with Roman troops, but through proxies and allies. Assuming Makedonia is the dominant power in Greece by this time, declare war on them. Hopefully drawing the consular army away from Illyria will tempt them into attacking your settlements there. Draw a praetorian army from your Sicilian army along with a Greek general and gather them in Taras. Then ship them over to Illyria, possibly hiring some mercenaries to fill their numbers out. Your aim here is to tip the balance in the favour of Koinon Hellenon, and provide annoyance value to Makedonia. If you take Makedonian settlements, gift them to Koinon Hellenon, or else hold them until the end of the war and give them back. This is unusual in Roman warfare, but your energies will be consumed with Qarthadast. And another war with Makedonia will avenge this necessary slight on Roman honour.
Turdetani Revolt (197BC)
Baikor
Syrian War (192BC-188BC)
Ligurian Wars (187BC-173BC)
First Celtiberian War (181BC-179BC)
Third Makedonian War (171BC-168BC)
Pillage of Epeiros (167BC)
Epidamnos
Ambrakia
Dalmatia/Pannonian Campaign (157BC-155BC)
Lusitanian War (154BC-138BC)
Second Celtiberian War (153BC-151BC)
Fourth Makedonian War (150BC-147BC)
Third Punic War (149BC-146BC)
Achaean War (146BC)
Third Celtiberian War (143BC-133BC)
Pergamon Bequest (133BC)
Here's what I have so far...
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Ave Quirites,
If you are reading this, you may already have an interest in historical-inspired house rules for playing the Romani. The purpose of house-ruling play is two-fold; to give yourself an additional challenge that the RTW engine doesn't really offer without unbalancing play, and to have fun "roleplaying" the actions of the Roman Republic. If restraining yourself from acting in ahistorical ways and using strategy and tactics that might seem suboptimal sound like more work than fun, then this guide is probably not for you. This is not a means to the fastest and most effective route to victory, indeed one of the express aims of these house rules is to slow the game down and prevent the blitzkrieg style of play that leads to a rapid conclusion of a game.
For those who are still with me, this is an update on my original guide covering the nuances specific to EB and with a few minor changes here and there. I hope people enjoy this one as much as they did the first.
Salve
Quintus Sertorius
General Rules
This all started originally with historical expansion only, then gradually worked it's way out to include army compositions, economic buildup, diplomacy style and romanisation procedure. I guess the first general rule is only do this if you consider historical versimilitude fun. Second, you don't have to stick rigidly to this guide no matter what, and no matter how much fun it may or may not be. The Republic did have emergencies where the normal rules were suspended and exceptional measures were taken to ensure it's survival. The darkest days of the Second Punic War were rife with examples of how flexible the normally staid way of doing things could become when there was the need.
Not so much a general rule, as a question of difficulty, I don't agree with the recommended campaign difficulty setting for EB. Very Hard campaign difficulty is not conducive to historical behaviour, nor indeed any kind of balance between the AI factions. It also makes power-broking less effective. The reason for this is two-fold; the hyper-aggressive behaviour from the AI means you'll never get a moment's peace and diplomacy is all but useless; and the AI factions have so much money washing around that they can spam you with stack after stack after stack. Which I don't consider realistic, or fun. They already get bonuses from a money script to stop them going too far into the red, they don't need a bonus 10,000 mnai every turn each. Especially not factions like the Ptolemaioi and Karthadastim who are already rich. Instead I play on Hard, with the recommended Medium battle difficulty. Harder battle difficulties add bonuses to the AI faction's defense and morale, which unbalances battles. Instead your difficulty here comes from the composition and disposition of your forces.
One of my first general rules regards what is effectively a player exploit, and something I consider pretty unrealistic; namely retraining. It's an exploit if you're using rtw.exe and possibly if you're using BI.exe, but not if you're using alex.exe. Essentially the AI is either inconsistent in it's use of retraining, or simply doesn't retrain at all. Which gives an unfair advantage to the player who goes through the micromanaging hassle of cycling their units back to Italy to be retrained. Furthermore it's pretty unrealistic to be able to restore a remnant of a veteran unit to full strength without any loss of that experience.
Instead what you should do is raise new units to merge into the old. This more accurately represents drafts of new recruits being integrated into existing ones, with the attendant loss of effectiveness that comes from mixing green and veteran troops together. A beneficial side-effect of this is that you don't need to bring armies home to reinforce them and make up for losses. The countervaling factor though is the logistics involved in sending detachments out to replace casualties. However it is possible to plan for this, having some units waiting in settlements near to your active armies for the eventuality of replacements.
Something that's developed since my first guide is the scope of maintaining historicity. The game is not static but for a player's moves, the AI is always active changing things. Which means you have to make a choice in how far you are willing to go to maintain versimilitude. You can stick only to ensuring your own expansion is historical, or you can work to maintain the general environment.
The former is simpler, requiring you only to pay attention to your own actions. The latter is more complicated, because it requires you to take an active hand in guiding the AI factions, possibly intervening to rescue the smaller factions and curtail the activities of the larger. In some ways this isn't actually inconsistent with the main aim of historicity - Rome often acted to maintain the balance of power overseas. For keeping your enemies (and former/future enemies) weak and divided prevents any one of them becoming a threat to Rome.
Personally, I also consider this power-broking role a lot of fun, which adds something to the game, especially when in times of peace and reconstruction when there isn't a lot to do. It also provides a pretty active ongoing role for your agents, in particular your diplomats.
On "cheating"
Now in preserving historicity, I have no problem with using "cheats" - both console commands and the Force Diplomacy script. But with one proviso - I never use them to directly benefit myself (with the exception of getting ceasefires from the truculent AI, which will almost never agree even when it's thoroughly beaten). If you don't like using these kinds of things, your task will be much harder. Indeed you may have to use armies and give away lots of your own cash to secure ceasefires to make it so.
At the end of your turn, before you click to progress to the next, think about the AI factions. You don't necessarily need to do this every turn, but it becomes more important the longer the game goes on.
First step is to toggle the "fog of war" in the console. Check out the campaign map in the mini-map and see if anything seems out of place. Rapid Ptolemaic and Baktrian advance are the usual culprits, along with northward expansion of Makedonia and Hayasdan.
If you do find some of the smaller factions struggling to resist the bigger ones, or to expand, give them additional funds through the add_money command. If necessary, give negative money to their aggressors as well. Bear in mind, however that it can take some time for this to become effective, but also that once it kicks in it may flip the situation entirely in reverse. The AI is somewhat unpredictable in precisely what it spends money on in conforming to it's style.
Later in the game when you've got diplomats out there, you can make use of the Force Diplomacy script to remove settlements from those factions either threatening the smaller ones, or trying to expand ahistorically. Again it's often the aforementioned Ptolemaic/Baktrian juggernaughts and Makedonian/Hai rush for the north.
The best way to use Force Diplomacy is to offer a token amount of cash for the settlements you want to remove. Then you need another diplomat close to the recipient faction to give it to them. You may need to give yourself some money to do this, because they invariably require a gift of 5000-10000 mnai to accept your gift of a settlement. If they refuse even then, you may have to use Force Diplomacy and demand a token amount of cash as the exchange. This is an almost continual monitoring role, as a result it usually pays to have a fiplomat near one of almost every faction's homeland settlements.
Family Members
Generalship
While your use of family members doesn't change a great deal, their age and status becomes a concern. A Roman general and indeed governor should be a man of maturity and experience, it is not the place of young men to be leading armies.
When a young senatorial comes of age, his correct place is at Rome, where he can begin his true education in the bearing of a politician and soldier. Between the ages of 16 and 20, they should reside in the city, attending the Forum, walking in the entourage of their relatives and training on the Campus Martius.
At the age of 20, they may begin their military career as a tribune supporting the efforts of older magistrates. A particularly appropriate role is with the cavalry, demonstrating their personal courage and skill at arms by leading them in the charge. They must have demonstrated service in 10 campaigns to qualify for a seat in the Senate. They may also serve in junior offices such as the aedileship during this time.
At 30 their political career proper begins. Ideally they should return to Rome for election to the tribunate (for plebians) or a quaestorship (for patricians).
You should aim to have armies led by a general who is at least a praetor, if not a consul, or who has held one of these offices previously. If you don't have any who qualify, they should be at least 38 years of age. If you have issues with the engine making the younger man general, move him out of the army stack then back in. Assuming he isn't genuinely better-qualified, he should be relegated to lieutenant (silver star), rather than general (gold star).
Governorship
The other duty of your family members is acting as governors in your various settlements. Every settlement should have it's taxes set at High as default. More and you encourage needless unrest and corruption, although it can serve a useful purpose in constraining population growth. Lower and your governors become administrative incompetents, and settlements can grow too fast. It's especially important Roma has at least High tax, so that the studying youngsters don't all become blithering idiots when it comes to numbers. Technically Roman citizens stopped paying tax in 167BC, and it became a key right of citizenship. However it's not really possible to simulate this in the game. An exception to the High tax rule is recently-conquered provinces. Client rulers are only in place for a short time, and often the high rates of building can maintain their administrative abilities even if lower taxes are detrimental towards them.
Move your family members out of conquered settlements as soon as a client ruler is installed. Not only is there the Interloper trait issue, but it demonstrates poor faith on the part of the Republic not to trust provincials to run their own affairs as long as they pay their taxes.
Leave foreign buildings alone, aside from barracks and government buildings. Rome did not go around destroying a conquered culture as a matter of course, and in particular allowed people their chosen forms of religious worship. If you must, build over temples, but don't destroy them. The greatest amount of culture penalty comes from the governor's residence in a province, so aim to upgrade this as soon as you can.
Armies
Historical composition and deployment of your forces is the name of the game. Note that this is definitely not optimal from an effectiveness perspective, and using historical formations can take some getting used to.
Composition is the first question. The core Roman units are pretty good, and if you're playing for pure effectiveness there's a temptation to recruit all-Roman (or even all-principes) armies. Not only is this historically inaccurate, I think you miss out on the variety you can get with a Roman army. Historically half of a consular army (the unit upon which my standard army is based) was composed of allied/non-Roman troops, the socii. They fought in two alae alongside the two Roman legions. A praetorian army half that size (ie one legion and one ala) may be commanded by a praetor (or possibly quaestor or tribune under exceptional circumstances).
Now after the Second Punic War, many Italian communities (particularly the Samnites, Bruttians and Lucanians) who had previously sent armies organised in their traditional manner fell out of favour with Rome for their infidelity in defecting to Hannibal. These were either forbidden from raising their own armies, or else organised in an entirely Roman manner. To represent this, after 211BC or so, the only Italian infantry you should recruit are the pedites extraordinarii. Replace the other pair of allied infantry with some other non-Roman troops.
On the question of when to upgrade your MICs to take advantage of reform events, resist the temptation to do this immediately (since reformed troops are almost always better than the ones you had before). You will get the Polybian reform not long after 240BC when you take Lilibeo, but wait until later in the 230sBC before upgrading and recruiting a new army to replace the old legions. Make sure you disband the old Camillian Roman troops - possibly in the same settlements you recruit the new Polybian ones in if you're concerned about population levels.
Even if you get the Marian reformin the 170sBC, don't upgrade your MIC until 110BC at the earliest. Technically you shouldn't recruit any evocati until you've fought some battles with your new cohor reformata.
Optional rule for Polybian armies: Triarii maniples. Historically these were half the size of the hastati and principes maniples. There are two ways of representing this. The simplest is to recruit half the number of units of triarii. My personal preference is to go into the EDU and halve their size, cost and upkeep.
Command
The command unit for all armies is the same; a general of sufficient age and office to lead and possibly a younger family member acting as tribune (or a legate if they're a quaestor or above). Additional family members are purely optional. The general should not be used as cavalry unless absolutely necessary. His job is to supervise from behind the fighting line, providing inspiration along with ensuring his men know that valour and cowardice both will be witnessed and this rewarded or punished as necessary. The tribune/legate on the other hand should be used as cavalry, since it is the place of young men aspiring to office to demonstrate their bravery.
Camillian
The Roman core of a Camillian consular army is two legions, represented by the following units:
1 unit of Leves
1 unit of Accensi
1 unit of Rorarii
2 units of Hastati
2 units of Principes
2 unit of Triarii
Optional: 1 unit of Equites (your FM tribune/legate can count as Roman cavalry)
The two socii alae are composed as follows:
2 units of allied skirmishers (any mix of javelineers, archers and slingers)
4 units of allied infantry (two different pairs of Samnite, Lucanian, Bruttium, Ligurian or Gallic infantry)
1 unit of pedites extraordinarii
1 unit of classical hoplites
1 or 2 units of allied cavalry (Campanian, Greek, Gallic, Ligurian or anything else available, or possibly equites extraordinarii)
Polybian
The Roman core of a Polybian consular army is two legions, represented by the following units:
1 unit of Velites
1 unit of Accensi
2 units of Hastati
2 units of Principes
1 unit of Triarii (or two if you're playing with half-sized maniples)
Optional: 1 unit of Equites (your FM tribune/legate can count as Roman cavalry)
The two socii alae are composed as follows:
2 units of allied skirmishers (any mix of javelineers, archers and slingers)
4 units of allied infantry (two different pairs of Samnite, Lucanian, Bruttium, Ligurian, Gallic, or Iberian infantry)
1 unit of pedites extraordinarii
1 or 2 units of allied cavalry (Campanian, Greek, Gallic, Ligurian or anything else available, or possibly equites extraordinarii)
Marian
The Roman core of a Marian army is as follows:
1st Legion
1 General
1 unit of First Cohort
1 unit of cohors reformata
1 unit of antesignani
2nd Legion
1 tribune
1 unit of First Cohort
1 unit of cohors reformata
1 unit of cohors evocata
Support
1 unit of Scorpions/arrow throwers
The allied part is as follows:
1 unit of allied javelin-men
1 unit of allied slingers or archers
1 unit of allied cavalry
Optional: 2 units of allied close-order foot
This represents two legions and their supporting artillery, light troops, cavalry and allied infantry. Feel free to add additional support units. A third legion can be presented by adding three more cohorts as above.
An option for early post-Marian troops is to have just the First Cohort and two normal cohorts as one legion, since there were as yet no veterans to draw upon.
Disposition
Camillian and Polybian armies should be deployed in the triplex acies, three lines giving strength in depth and keeping most of your forces in reserve. Marian forces can be deployed in three, two or even one line as befits the situation.
Key:
Gen - The general
FM - Family member
Tri - Triarii (or allied hoplites)
Pri - Principes
Has - Hastati
Ski - Accensi/Leves/Velites
Ror - Roraii
ASk - Allied Skirmisher
ALI - Allied Light Infantry
AHI - Allied Heavy Infantry
Cav - Cavalry
Camillian and Polybian
----ASk----Ski----Ski----ASk
Cav-----ALI----Has----Has----ALI----FM/Cav
----AHI-----Pri-----Pri-----AHI
--------Ror-----Tri-----Tri-----Gen
Placement of the General varies, as long as he's behind the fighting line it doesn't really matter. Put the extraordinarii wherever you want to, or keep in reserve with the general. The only difference between Camillian and Polybian armies is the absence of the Rorarii.
Marian
Garrisons
Don't use your legions as garrisons (it's bad for discipline). Indeed station them in a fort in the region they're based. Since you can't demobilise and re-mobilise veterans, you have to keep them as though they were a standing army. Historically there was a consular army stationed at the barracks in Capua, and later on certain proconsular provinces came with a consular-sized force. Create a fort outside Capua to station the consular army for central Italy. This can be used both for the defense of Italy, and if need be to be shipped out to a provincial hotspot (making sure you recruit a new consular army to replace them if you can). Other places which you can station a fort to house your legions are Cisalpine Gaul, Sicily, Illyria, Hispania (one in "nearer" Spain, one in "further" Spain), Macedonia, Greece, Africa, Asia Minor, Syria and Gaul. More detail is in the conquest timeline.
Garrisons should be composed of troops from the local area, representing either local levies or demobilised veterans in the area. In fully Roman areas (Roma, Capua, Arpi, Arretium, Ariminium), these should be composed of Roman troops, just a couple of units is more than enough. In those besides Roma, feel free to switch one of the Roman units for an Italian one - Samnites, Bruttians, Lucanians, Campanians, although try to stick to those who are from that region.
In new regions outside of central Italy, you should begin with a client ruler in place, and thus the garrison should be local levies available in place at the disposal of the client ruler. Given that they aren't greatly Romanised yet, they won't be Roman troops, and the legion used to capture the settlement should be moved out as soon as the transition period is complete (ie when unrest has died down a bit). This means rather immediately Gallic troops in Bononia and Segesta, and Greek troops in Taras, Rhegion and Sicily. They're also useful for adding some variety to the allied component of your armies (Gallic Slingers, Hellenic Heavy Skirmishers and Ligurian Leuce Epos in particular).
Navies
Never blockade enemy ports. The AI is too dumb to do it to you very often or with consistency, and they really suffer from lack of funds. Use your navies to break blockades on your ports, transport troops and sink any enemy fleets passing through.
Economy
Early on your main focus should be on your economic development, laying the groundwork so you can support multiple armies. Roads, ports and markets should always be among the very first things you build in any settlement. This will help finance future development as well as troops, and make moving your armies around easier. Roads in particular were a major part of pacifying a province and a symbol of the growth of Roman government.
Don't build guard barracks or hospitals, these are for the Augustan era.
Romanisation and Treatment of the Conquered
Bringing new provinces into the fold is a gradual process which cannot be rushed. While there is a temptation to simply install the best government type you can in any new region, it makes it too easy to recruit factional troops and isn't very realistic either. Instead every new province begins with a type IV government, where a client ruler sympathetic to Rome is installed who can begin the process of Romanising the people and exposing them to our ways. After 20-30 years (ie a generation) it is time to expand the assimilation of the local peoples, and move to a type III government. After another 20-30 years, move to type II if available, and finally after another generation type I for those in Italy.
While the game doesn't really properly represent the reality of siege warfare - ie that if a settlement surrenders it is well treated, if it resists and is assaulted it will be sacked - there are some simple rules. Extermination is rare. Only two settlements were razed to the ground (and in the same year - 146BC), Kart-Hadast and Korinthos.
Enslavement is common with "barbarians", Caesar made a vast fortune enslaving Gauls (though more often the prisoners from battle, rather than people taken from settlements - only the most intransigent tribes were enslaved en masse), because the general gets the proceeds of prisoner sales.
With more "civilised" peoples, I think occupation is more common, though in the campaigns that finally brought Greece under Roman rule after the Third Punic War, many slaves were taken. Many more Greeks willingly sold themselves for a more interesting life in Rome as tutors, stewards, body slaves and the like. It was through this process that Rome was Hellenised, and most of it's people became Hellenophones.
The wars in Hispania were (as seems to be the case throughout Spains history) notable for their brutality and ferocity on both sides. The tribal peoples would not submit meekly to Roman rule, there were lots of cases of tribes being wiped out through both extermination and mass-suicide.
Sicily is actually easier to occupy, the populations are huge and will really upset your other cities if you start transporting people in large numbers (rising squalor, etc). Carthaginian cities I tended to occupy too. Gallic ones are enslaved.
Diplomacy
Your first task is to get your diplomats out to see the world, and more importantly secure trading rights with other factions. Those you share land borders and sea lanes with are the most important, those beyond that are simply useful to gain experience for your diplomats. Try to trade map information for added experience. Don't ever "sell" map information or trade rights. Trade rights are always given for free, because it's mutually beneficial. Trade map info for map info, never ask for money. Never accept (or offer) a ceasefire unless it also comes with some kind of reward to Rome. That means tribute.
Later on diplomats play a key role in helping you to prevent any one faction rising to dominance, allowing you to play regional power-broker. Both through use of Force Diplomacy to remove settlements from one faction and give to another, but also to bribe away the armies of stronger factions.
The prime goal in your diplomacy game is to maintain Rome's pre-eminence in it's sphere of influence. This means keeping all the factions close to you weak, and letting none of them become stronger than all the others. Gaul (Arverni and Aedui) by sporadically sending armies to defeat their field armies, and occasionally capturing and burning a settlement (before giving it back, or if you prefer abandon and wait until it revolts, which will give them some troops again). Try to ensure neither Aedui nor Arverni gain ascendancy over the other, and especially avoid one destroying the other. If need be use Force Diplomacy to redistribute settlements and the console to dole out additional funds to the weaker of the two. Gaul is a useful buffer state to keep between yourself and the tougher barbarians (Sweboz, Lusotanii, Getai). Get an alliance with the Lusotanii as soon as you can. They're key to the lengthy conflict with Carthage. If necessary, pay them a token regular tribute to keep them positive with Rome.
With the "civilised" factions, feel free to use diplomats later in the game to bribe away neutral armies. The three Hellenic factions require almost constant maintenance in this regard, preventing any one of Epeiros, Makedonia or Koinon Hellenon taking control is key.
This is actually a really fun mini-game in and of itself, maintaining the balance of power without the sword. If someone does start losing a lot of territory, send a legion there to smash the interloper, and give their settlements back (for free). None of the Hellenic factions will tend to refuse a peace after you've humbled them (if all else fails there's Force Diplomacy), and it gives a general something to do in the slack periods.
Rome never "started" foreign wars (or so they liked to believe). The Senate was deeply suspicious of foreign adventures, or the cost and effort of maintaining overseas territories. Maintaining status quo is defending Rome's interests, so attacking a nation aggressing against it's neighbour in your region is not aggressive, but "defensive" on your part..
Conquest timeline
Conquest of Italy (272BC-260BC)
Your first task is to drive the Epirote invaders out of Italy before the year 272BC closes. Taras must be brought into the Republic! Once that is done seek a peace with Epeiros, demanding a small tribute (less than 1000 mnai) to show they accept their defeat. Then get trading rights with them to restore relations to a more normal keel. Spend 271BC recruiting and restoring your armies to march again.
There are twin targets for 270BC: Bononia in the north and Rhegion in the south. Rhegion is especially important because Roman honour is at stake. Liguria (Segesta) is a difficult one. The Ligurians resisted the Romans for a long time, not being completely pacified until the 1st century BC. Feel free to besiege, but don't take Segesta.
As an option, you may want to take Massilia and put a client ruler in place. Historically Massilia (along with the Greek communities on the north-eastern coast of Spain) was a long-time ally of Rome. When the client ruler there dies, just replace them with another one.
First Punic War (265BC-240BC)
If you're lucky, Qarthadast will have made threatening moves in Sicily by now towards Messana and Syrakousai. It's time to punish these transgressions and come to the rescue of the Mamertines in Messana. 264BC is the time to move, besiege and take Messana (assuming there isn't already a Karthadastim army there, or that they haven't taken it). Depending on the AI behaviour you should now have a few battles to fight in Sicily, but do not take Lilibeo. That won't be yours until the peace treaty of 240BC in which the city should be given to you in return for peace (use Force Diplomacy, or else just take it by siege in 240BC). Instead to force the issue, land a consular army in north-eastern Africa in 255BC and try to bring the Karthdastim to battle. Raid a settlement or two before shipping back to Sicily (Atiqa is a likely target, it revolted in the 250sBC and had to be suppressed by Qarthadast).
In 257BC there's a Qarthadastim Family Member who comes of age. His appearance will spur the AI to action, often he comes out and hires lots of mercenaries to give you a set-piece battle or two.
Resist the temptation to take Syrakousai - it did not become a Roman settlement until 211BC and instead remained independent, but allied. You may besiege it a few times, but never order an assault.
Alalia was taken by the Romans in 257BC, occupied early in the war, although not finally pacified for a long time after. Karali became Roman by revolt in 238BC. You might do this either by Force Diplomacy, or land a praetorian army to take it. You should be able to afford a permanent consular army in Sicily once it is secure.
Raiding Segesta in 238BC and holding it long for a couple of turns should secure the Polybian reforms. Don't hurry to upgrade your MICs and replace the Roman component of your armies. Some time in the 230sBC is timely enough, in time for the next war.
First Illyrian War (229-228BC)
Illyrian pirates have been raiding your shipping routes and taking ransom. Deal with them by taking Segestica and Dalmanion. This will also give you enough funds to maintain a third consular army on a permanent basis.
Campaigns in Cisalpine Gaul (225BC-222BC)
Gallic raids, including an warband that for a brief time threatened Rome until defeated at Telamon spurred more activity in the north of Italy. Everything south of the Alps was secured, using those mountains as a natural barrier, although this region wasn't completely pacified for a long time afterwards. The hardy mountain tribes resisted Roman rule for over a century after these campaigns, and many joined Hannibal's invasion of Italy. Aim for Patavium first, then Mediolanium.
You may need to defend Mediolanium against raids from the Aedui, and possibly even lead a punitive raid into southern Gaul to prevent attacks as a result of taking it. Once their military capacity is reduced, you may have to use Force Diplomacy to get a ceasefire out of them. What you don't want to do is weaken them so much the Arverni become dominant, or worse start a premature conquest of Gaul.
Once Cisalpine Gaul is secure, you can recruit a fourth consular army to station there. Feel free after this campaign to take Segesta, aiming to have it by 218BC.
Second Illyrian War (219-218BC)
No settlements would be taken in this war, look to fight some rebels or bandits.
Second Punic War (217BC-200BC)
This will be the most tumultuous period in the game, and one which will require some pretty heavy use of Force Diplomacy if you want to push the versimilitude element. It will begin with you losing a number of Italian settlements to defection to Qarthadast, but end with recovering them and kicking the Karthadastim out of Spain. It may also stretch your tactical abilities to their limit, involving fighting in Italy, Sicily, Spain, Illyria and Greece. For the strictest adherence to historical record, you'll need to script the appearance of Hannibal's army and use Force Diplomacy to give them Cisalpine Gaul to prevent that army wandering off to Spain. Alternatively, give Cisalpine Gaul and Liguria to whichever of the Gallic factions is the weaker in 218/217, then spawn Hannibal's army later on. If you wish to simulate the losses at Trebia and Ticinus, disband some of the consular army stationed in Cisalpine Gaul.
War in Italy
In 216BC Capua defected after the defeat at Cannae. You may wish to disband all but one of your consular armies in Italy. Use Force Diplomacy to give the settlement to Qarthadast. This might be a good time to script the appearance of Hannibal's army, now that the AI has territory to defend. Capua wasn't recaptured until 211BC after a long siege.
In 213BC Bomilcar landed the only reinforcements Hannibal received from Qarthadast in Locri, in south-western Italy. Spawn a small stack with African troops, cavalry and a unit of elephants somewhere north of Rhegion.
In 212BC Taras defected to Hannibal. Again use a diplomat to gift the settlement to Qarthadast. It wasn't recovered until 209BC.
War in Spain
In 218BC send a consular army to Spain, to fight the Qarthadastim there (a good candidate is the army in Illyria). Take Emporion, which will become the base of your operations. You have license to advance into Edetania and possibly take Arse, but retreat in 215BC back to Lacetania until 210BC.
In 210BC you've got a lot to do in Spain. Land an army of reinforcements for the army in Emporion, along with a promising young general. Your aim is to rapidly sweep down the coast, taking Mastia by 209BC. By 206BC you need to clear the Qarthadastim out of Spain altogether.
War in Sicily
In 213 BC, start the siege of Syrakousai. Later in that year, spawn a Qarthadastim force under Himilco not far from the settlement.
First Makedonian War (215BC-209BC)
Second Makedonian War (200BC-197BC)
Even while Italy was predated on by Hannibal's army, the Romans sought to defend their position in the wider world. Taking issue to Phillip V's opportunistic actions, they declared war on Makedonia. However, this wasn't a war fought directly with Roman troops, but through proxies and allies. Assuming Makedonia is the dominant power in Greece by this time, declare war on them. Hopefully drawing the consular army away from Illyria will tempt them into attacking your settlements there. Draw a praetorian army from your Sicilian army along with a Greek general and gather them in Taras. Then ship them over to Illyria, possibly hiring some mercenaries to fill their numbers out. Your aim here is to tip the balance in the favour of Koinon Hellenon, and provide annoyance value to Makedonia. If you take Makedonian settlements, gift them to Koinon Hellenon, or else hold them until the end of the war and give them back. This is unusual in Roman warfare, but your energies will be consumed with Qarthadast. And another war with Makedonia will avenge this necessary slight on Roman honour.
Turdetani Revolt (197BC)
Baikor
Syrian War (192BC-188BC)
Ligurian Wars (187BC-173BC)
First Celtiberian War (181BC-179BC)
Third Makedonian War (171BC-168BC)
Pillage of Epeiros (167BC)
Epidamnos
Ambrakia
Dalmatia/Pannonian Campaign (157BC-155BC)
Lusitanian War (154BC-138BC)
Second Celtiberian War (153BC-151BC)
Fourth Makedonian War (150BC-147BC)
Third Punic War (149BC-146BC)
Achaean War (146BC)
Third Celtiberian War (143BC-133BC)
Pergamon Bequest (133BC)