Marius candidate

Playing EB 1.2 as the Romani, I'm preparing the Marian reforms. I have been carefully grooming 3 candidates (all sharp/charismatic/vigorous and Plebeian) that will be in their late 50s/early 60s by 172 BC, by which time I hope at least one of them will be Consul or ex-Consul. Two of the candidates have become Popularis. My star candidate (the youngest and thus the least likely to die of old age before 272 BC), however, does not seem to get Popularis, and I'm wondering if he has acquired another trait that is mutually exclusive with Popularis:

Attachment 5329
Attachment 5328

Any thoughts/suggestions?

Given that he is gens papiria he is likely to become populist sooner or later given the family history (for example papirius carbo was supporter of marius and consul 3 times during his reign)

You could always send him to city that has temple of ceres, some players have noticed that FM's who become worshippers of ceres tend to gain popularis trait.

Kiitos.

I've sent him to govern Ariminum where he will destroy the existing temple and then build the Ceres line of temples from scratch. I'll post back here, hopefully with good news, sometime soon.

Alright, it worked. After a couple of turns, when I checked on him, he had acquired the Popularis trait. In the meantime, I conquered my 45th settlement and it's 192BC. So now I'll just move my other two candidates to govern big cities in Italy, and hopefully at least one of them will eventually become Consul. Then I'll just wait patiently for 20 years, get the Marian reform, continue the Roman expansion across the Mediterranean, and start preparing for the Imperial reform :)

I'm now in 177BC (5 years away from the Marius trigger year) and my 3 Marius candidates have all become Consuls and subsequently (the following season) acquired the Potential Reformator trait. One of them, the youngest, has also become the Faction Leader!

And... in a surprise move, the oldest of them just got the High Ambitions trait. Sure enough, he seems to fulfill all the requirements for Augustus. Now, I only have 46 provinces, 380 battles (including wins & losses), and the trigger year for Augustus is still 52 years away. I don't suppose that if I make this guy the faction heir, kill off the faction leader (which incidentally is my best Marius candidate...), I would get the Augustus reform, possibly even before the Marius reform??? In other words, will the Augustus reform trigger once the High Ambitions trait is acquired, or do I also have to fulfill the other requirements? I would tend to think that no, I need to fulfill all the other requirements as well, but from reading the FAQ (pasted below for convenience), I could interpret that once the High Ambitions trait is acquired (regardless of other conditions, perhaps by a fluke or a bug...), the Augustan reform will trigger:

Quote:

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Augustan
If a man with the drive arises in the Republic, willing to overthrow the Senate, give him the chance and these reforms will take place. (These reforms are not inevitable and are based on whether such a character arrises.)

-At least year 125BC
-Hold 90 settlements
-Have at least 45 type2 settlements
-Fight 400 battles
-Have a general that is:
Sharp/Charismatic/Vigorous
At least Skilled Bureaucrat
At least Arrogans
At least Expert Recruiter
Can't be Selfless
(If these conditions are met, the general will receive a trait telling he wants to seize power. Make him the Faction Heir and as soon as he becomes the leader the reforms will happen.)

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Any thoughts/experiences to share?

You can't trigger Augustan reforms before Marian reforms. There might be a way to get them occur simultaneously, but that would probably depend on the unconditional Marian reforms (i.e. owning 90 provinces).

The 90 provinces requirement is one of the requirements for the Augustan reforms anyway.

[QUOTE=Mindblank;2053446011]I'm now in 177BC (5 years away from the Marius trigger year) and my 3 Marius candidates have all become Consuls and subsequently (the following season) acquired the Potential Reformator trait. One of them, the youngest, has also become the Faction Leader!

OK great. My question is, do your Marian reform candidates have to be in Rome to be elected, or can they get an exemption?

Nope, their location doesn't matter.