realistic depiction of government?

when i play eb i like to roleplay somewhat, but it seems like some things with roman and carthage arne't true, like how there is a "faction leader" of rome didn't they have a new set of leaders every year? and same with carthage didnt shopet rule for 1 year? and I also head there might of even been two.

if anyone could clear this up that would be good, i understand if its for gameplay reason and i probably dont understand enough about the cultures so if osmeone could inform me of that too i'd be appreciative.

That's a limitation in the original game's engine, there's nothing that can be done about it: it is unmoddable...

On my old rig I swapped the bonuses of Heir and FL and used the Heir as "faction leader" which has to be (re)elected after a fixed term. The election is based on Family, ethnicity, factionculture and influence. I would also consider Population but that's too much hassle if you ask me. normally it results in an election within the "nobles council" aka the Family tree, political "party-" forming, counting which side is bigger and selecting a Leader of the respective Party based on Influence(Command and troops in case of very militaristic parties, Management and finances in very capitalistic parties or Age and Family in very conservative parties)

It's good roleplaying but It's a bit annoying if you have to do it every 4 turns, 16(thus every olypiad) is less stressfull.