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Is there a way to obtain settlements belonging to other Roman factions without getting any penalties? For example, when I bought Caralis from Julii, the Senate got all pissy and made me return it, or else they would "reveal my secret". What is this secret and is there a way to get settlements belonging to Roman factions before the Civil War occurs?
I did exactly the same in my first campaign as the Julii. I bribed at least 5 Brutii's settlements. If the Senate threatens you, leave the city and bribe it again in the next turn. When you reach that period the civil war is about to break anyway, so don't pay attention to the Senate.
Trade them settlement for settlement if you can. The senate might not see this as bribery. Just make sure you give them the outlying settlements so their corruption hits the roof.
mfberg
I think I discovered a method. If you fill their city with lots of spies (about 8-12), the city WILL rebel. I've started rebellions in Thebes and Alexandria (while Egypt still had Memphis with the loyalty wonder) with fewer spies. If a Roman faction loses a city to revolts, all factions will be assigned the task of retaking it within ten turns. Just have an army nearby and beseige it first. This first happened to me when Julii lost Masilla and I got a retake settlement mission. Lucklily, I had a small force at Laebaeum, and was able to take it. No return settlement order has been assigned.
I use this one too though it also has a high cost (100 D each spy) and it doesn't always end up into a rebellion, the AI somehow manages to make the happiness level off.
Over the course of the game I nurture a small entourage of about six spies, a pair of assassins and a diplomat, getting their ratings up as high as is possible. As a group they are pretty effective at ruinning any city's day. The effect the spies have on happiness is massively increased with experience, plus the assassin helps take care of any counter spies, enemy assassins etc. Furthermore he can sabotage morale-increasing or revinue-generating buildings to further encourage rebellion. It can work against even fairly happy cities with large garrisons.
Don't over-do it with the sabotage though. One time I got so into sabotaging the entire infrastructure of a city that I had to spend all the money I gained from slaughtering the populace on repairing the damage.
I've only recently got heavily into espionage and it is a fastly under-rated aspect to the game. Not only can you swipe territories from your "allies" without getting into trouble but you can seriously undermine your enemies war efforts and economy for the price of a pair of assassins, a diplomat and a few spies....