several questions:

[sakuraoni]

I haven't been able to play RTW much lately, but the last time I played I ran into several problems in my campaign as the Julii on med/med.

Right now as the situation stands I have all of western and central europe, (sparring the british isles), some parts of what is now Morocco. I am preparing to make my move onto rome, but before I do so I must do some internal cleaning. here are the problems:

1.) lack of generals/governors to make the proper offensive and anticipated defence.
2.) Squalor has become a major problem. most of my cities (especially in western europe) are around 70-100 public order. I am not losing money, but my profits fluctuate often and the only source of income that I can get is through conquest (which just further inflates the problem).
3.) Some of the senate missions, while straightforward are impossible to succeed not because I lack the ability, but because its just not working right! For instance, i am givin the order to accept the surrender of the Dacians and accept them as a protectorate. I send my diplomat over, demand they give up, even throw in money and other goodies and they still refuse! This has happened numerous times.

Since I am not at home I cant go into greater detail, but those are the basics.

I also dont know how to gain the publics favor. I only have 4 points from the public, but 8 from the senate?

well anyway to summarize:
how to I churn out more generals
how do I reduce squalor, public order and thus increase profits
how do I force a nation to accept becoming a protectorate

thanks in advance!

matt

[Colovion]

Churn out more Generals:

Send some Captains out against some enemy forces and mop the floor with them - it has a possibility of giving you the option of Adopting him into your family because of his valour on the battlefield.

Reduce Squalor etc...

Really all you can do is make sure your capital is in the center of your controlled areas and build happiness and public order buildings. Or at least I can't think of anythign else besides increasing garrison sizes.

Protectorate....

not sure about this one - I haven't had to coerce anyone into one yet. If they don't accept I don't know what else you can do.

[Doug-Thompson]

how to I churn out more generals
how do I reduce squalor, public order and thus increase profits
how do I force a nation to accept becoming a protectorate



Unfortunately, these problems are much easier to prevent than to cure.

1. After an initial rush of rapid expansion, there's a time period when you'll be rolling in cash. During that time, bribe a lot of foreign faction members, particulary if you are fighting that faction.

You will pay exhorbitant prices. The Egyptians seem to have a particularly inflated sense of self-worth. However, if you take those bribed turncoats and ship them back to your capital and build an academy there, they will attract a following and — most importantly — they will marry and produce heirs.

2. Squalor is hard to control but much harder to reduce. You have to stay on top of that problem.

However, at this point, the only solution I've found is: tax the fool out of a city to stop it's population growth; play games at the colloseum to preserve loyaly; produce LOTS of peasants, and either get them killed or move them en masse into town where you've massacred the population, then disband them there. They become part of the general population there.

[Soulflame]

For the third point, check out the stickied Diplomacy Guide, it might have some usefull tips.
As for the popularity with the people. You can get traits that improve it (usually associated with conquering a lot of regions, which could give the 'victor' or 'conquerrer' trait), also getting more regions improve it, and lastly I think happiness also influences it. (So revolts are kind of bad)

Good luck with your campaign!