SwordsMaster's guide to playing Rome

Guide for Role-playing Roman Leaders and Armies for Europa Babarorum (EB)

Welcome to SwordsMaster’s role-playing guide for roman family members in Europa Barbarorum (EB from now on). As of now the last functional version is 0.74, so any changes applied afterwards are to be considered in revised versions of the guide.

This guide is separated into 2 parts, Sons of Mars (armies and generals), and Sons of Jupiter (governors). So let’s dive in.


…The historian crossed the room towards the illuminated end where a slave was still copying documents on Egyptian papyrus. “Not finished yet?” the slave looked up “Almost, master”. The historian opened one of the rolls and grunted satisfactorily. “Good”. “The young master will be happy”…

(Version 1.1 update)
Policy

The floor of the senate was a disputed place today. Both consuls and the tribune wanted to speak, but in the noise of the shouting senators noone could hear what they were saying. The man in the back row smiled. The session would have to be posponed. He got to keep his post for another while. Just enough.

You do not sell trade rights. You exchange them.

You can sell maps, or buy maps, but not exchange them unless with a long ally (more than 50 years).

You cannot declare war on any faction unless they attack an ally or have ships or armies, or agents (spies or assasins) wandering into your territory.

You can bribe armies only when at war. (duh!)

You can sign white peace (no resources exchanged) only when:

You have taken more settlements from the enemy than you lost.

Or you have not had hostilities for a year or more.

Sons of Rome:

Quote:

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The cursus honorum for a Roman noble looked like this: at age 20 or so the young man served with an army somewhere as a military tribune to get experience in war. At age 30 he entered could stand for election as quaestor and entered the senate. A few years after that he could stand for election as Tribune of the Plebs (if he was a plebeian) or as Aedile. (less influential) All these are essentially political functions, having nothing to do with the military.
At age 39 he could be elected as Praetor, the one-after highest official in Rome. The praetors were used for various political functions (lawcourts, foreign and domnestic offices) but were also sent to govern provinces after their term. This usually involved military commands.
At age 42 he could finally become one of the consuls, and the year after that would usually govern a province and lead armies if so inclined.
Most of these actual ages were only codified in the later republic, but the offices and the progression itself were in effect at the start of the game. (though in this time the actual consuls more often led the armies as wars were fought closer to Rome.)

Unfortunately for the Romans, there was no academy to train generals, which led to some spectucalarly incompetent field commanders, as well as some very good ones.

Anyway, to represent the real way wars were waged in the republic, the governor of a province would usually have to be the one to command armies. If he wants to fight an offensive war, he'd have to leave his province ungoverned. This would then cause much mumbling about "gloryseeking fools" back in Rome and complaints about misgovernment in the province itself, as well as being a royal pain in the backside for the player.

A more fun way to represent elements of this would be to send young family members back to Rome at the appropriate ages to stand for office for a year, if at all viable. The ages for consul and praetor are a bit too close for comfort, but say going at age 30 to enter the senate and at age 42 to become a consul could be done. Add aedile at 36 to taste. The more diplomatically inclined family members would also have to serve a couple of years with an army at age 20, before being allowed to go back to more peaceful pursuits.

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There are few exceptions:
Promoted captains cannot ever become governors. Nor can they ever retire from the army. Usually they have the “Plebeius” trait, and so are barred from governing anything unless they get a triumph. I consider them influential enough if they do, to govern any settlement bar Rome.

Promoted captains cannot obtain an education (i.e. sit in a settlement with an academy) unless they become Imperator.

Patrician generals can be made governors only if a “life changing” event occurs in their lives. They have a son, they become “attuned governors” (this represents the man discovering his vocation),or them getting an important post in the Republic (from Quaestor upwards).

Governors can command armies against rebels or in case of an invasion in their province, but have to return to their post if the enemy army leaves the province they are assigned to.

If, and only if, your Faction Leader is at the same time "Imperator", can the ages for the offices be neglected and anyone can stand for any office or command armies independently of his age. This case would represent a dictatorship - Sulla or Caesar style - and the governor's favourites would occupy important posts despite them being not old enough.

Now lets look at the particular cases:

Sons of Mars:

The young roman paced across the yard waiting for the general to finish talking to the barbarian guide. He was impatient. Today could be the first time he could maybe take independent action if the barbarian said the right thing. And of course he had received gold to say the right thing.

Ah, a military career in Rome. The admiration of the ladies, of the elders and the power that comes with an army and the shiny golden eagle. But it is not that easy. Even if some barbarian arrow doesn’t take you and the Gods prevent you from dying from cold or illness, there are still plenty of things to be afraid of.

Once decided if a man is to become a general or a governor, the general will spend a year in the academy, unless his biological father is also a general, in which case he can serve with his dad, and even adopt his ancillaries. This is the only case when ancillaries can be transferred. It represents the dispute for power to find and collect the ancillaries with every new character.

All generals must retire when they reach 60 years of age. The only exception is the promoted captains that are discussed above. Once they reach this healthy age, command is transferred to the younger general in the stack, or if there is none, the army must remain in a fort inside roman territory until a new general is dispatched.

(Update 1.2)
All young generals have to spend at least 1 year in a stack with a more senior general before they can command anything at all themselves even garrison troops unless they have the “Veteran” trait, in which case they are considered experienced enough.

Experienced armies (armies in which 50% or more of units have at least a silver chevron) cannot be commanded by any general that doesn’t have 2 stars (or Veteran + 1 star).

Armies have to be composed of a roman “core” i.e. at least 50% roman. Any battlefield army (not rebel-fighting) has to have at least 1 hastati, 1 principe 1 triarii, and at most 4 units of cavalry including generals. Only rebel-fighting forces can have 1 general, battlefield armies need 2. No professional roman soldiers can be left as garrison, i.e. only roarii, accensii and leves and local units.

(Update 2.2)
Another consideration is retraining: Roman units can only be retrained in a settlement with a governor and the ability to manufacture weapons and armour (any armour-upgrading buildings). Local units can be retrained in any settlement.

More conditions: Units with 3 or more silver chevrons cannot be retrained. At all. This is to represent the possibility of recruiting soldiers with a few campaigns behind their backs from the settled citizens, but the impossibility of obtaining top-notch veterans out of the blue.

Mercenaries cannot be retrained or re-equipped.

(Update ver 1.1)
Guard units: A unit can be considered "guard" once they reach 3 silver chevrons. This is a life-changing matter. The guards must get the best available equipment (i.e. be retrained in the city with the highest level of armour&weapons available), they cannot be used in the first line of attack unless absolutely necessary and they remain with the general that saw them reach the "guard" status until his death (not retirement). After that, they can either return to front-line duty or be assigned to the Faction Leader or Faction Heir. This is the only case when a professional unit can be used as garrison.

There are several conditions:

First: The Princeps' guard must be more experienced than the Heir's. At all times.
Second: If the Princeps doesn't have a guard, the heir cannot have one either (unless he is the general who formed it(under who's command it became "guard"))-
Third: If a different unit aquires a "guard" status higher than the one already present, the most experienced one gets the post.
Fourth: Only one guard unit per general unless they are a part of a battlefield army.
And this conclude the chapter on generals.



Sons of Jupiter

The man at the table clapped once. A centurion entered the room. The tax collector turned around. "I know you have been keen on colecting taxes, Claudius, but not so keen on passing them on to the Republic" said the governor as he put a scroll on the table. "Hence the interview" he added. "Now my centurion and his men will make sure it doesn't happen again."

Governors. The men who bring in your income, and build your cities. They are men you need to watch.

Every governor has to have a spy and a diplomat stationed in the city. This is to reflect his network of aids and officers for the nearby province.

As a youngster, a governor has to spend at least 2 years in an academy. They cannot either inherit ancillaries, even less so than the generals. The governors within the Italian peninsula cannot be old generals, as a rule of thumb, these would occupy provinces they themselves conquered.

The governors will be distributed according to their influence in concentric circles around Rome, with the most influential ones being closer to the capital.

The governors don’t get retired, although if they lose their influence as they get older, they might be replaced by more influential men and moved to the peripheria.


Ver: 2.2 to be updated

Thanks to:
Randal: for the info on Republican offices and ages

Noone has an opinion? Or noone has actualy read the whole thing?:sweatdrop:

I love it. I don't really play with Romans (or at all at the moment - damn my slow computer!) but I am thoroughly tempted to do so after reading this. I would love to see something like this for other factions.

This should most definately be stickied!

Foot

That's great, you should try to make it for other factions !

I know it's called ROME: Total War, but I don't find myself playing Rome all that often. I'll give it a go, though, and try this out. See how it goes.

Its pretty neat!

I personally like to have guidelines that are rigorously enforced in peaceful/prosperous/victorious times - but which get thrown out the window in difficult situations!

I also like to have the "habits" evolve over time. In my most recent game I spent far less time training my younger members in settlements (where they picked up useful, but peaceful, ancilliaries for the most part) and instead made them ride around with my equite "police force" to suppress the abundant brigands. This lead to a kind of extreme "military ethic" which meant that I privileged people with military experience over those without it in getting the good settlements to govern.

In some ways I prefer to let this develop as I play, I'm not really trying to faithfully replicate the development of the Roman Republic in my campaigns - I like to think of it more as a big "what if things went a lot differently?" sort of deal.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mujalumbo

I know it's called ROME: Total War, but I don't find myself playing Rome all that often. I'll give it a go, though, and try this out. See how it goes.

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Rome is great! More people should play Rome! :)

Even more? It's the single most played faction in vanilla...

Well, of course! Our Rome is a different animal entirely. Great guide, SwordsMaster :2thumbsup:

I don't have any strict rules, but I try to determine early on whether a general will be better at campaigning or governing/rebel-fighting, and focus their energies accordingly. I try to give everyone some combat experience, but some family members just aren't cut out for a more active life. On the other hand, I've had some generals advance rapidly in gaining command stars, through victory and defeat.

I am starting my Rome campaign again following your rules:2thumbsup:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sarcasm

Even more? It's the single most played faction in vanilla...

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EB's Rome is way more interesting than vanilla Rome. :)

great guide, but one problem. wouldn't roman politicians historically need success in order to come to power, especially the first triumvirate. Politics and military achievements went hand in hand

my field general was killed in battle in Bononia. So I had to bring a new general. He has no EXP. I would rather to have him stay in town but an army without a general might defect. This situation has been scary for a while. Now things got better. Rome expanding slowly but with great success. By 250bc, I have all of Italy and now I am focused on Illyria. Can't wait the Gauls attack me to provoke war on me, but they just seems so lazy. This campaign has been very interesting with SwordMaster's Guide. :2thumbsup:

Thanks all for the kind words. Updated to version 1.1

Great guide. I love this RPG playing style that breaks the hard-coded barriers.

Beware of the Macedonians...and the ctds fighting them specially in sieges with reinforcements...I've lost many good units because of that.

I love this idea, but I do strongly disagree with some aspects:

Quote:

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In general, once a family member is adopted or comes of age, you decide if he will take up a military or a diplomatic career, just like in real life. And once decided, you have to stick to it.

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This was not the case in the ancient Roman Republic. Any young nobleman was expected to serve in no less than 10 campaigns if he wanted any kind of political career. Anyone who wanted to be a general would have to be elected to public office first.

The cursus honorum for a Roman noble looked like this: at age 20 or so the young man served with an army somewhere as a military tribune to get experience in war. At age 30 he entered could stand for election as quaestor and entered the senate. A few years after that he could stand for election as Tribune of the Plebs (if he was a plebeian) or as Aedile. (less influential) All these are essentially political functions, having nothing to do with the military.
At age 39 he could be elected as Praetor, the one-after highest official in Rome. The praetors were used for various political functions (lawcourts, foreign and domnestic offices) but were also sent to govern provinces after their term. This usually involved military commands.
At age 42 he could finally become one of the consuls, and the year after that would usually govern a province and lead armies if so inclined.
Most of these actual ages were only codified in the later republic, but the offices and the progression itself were in effect at the start of the game. (though in this time the actual consuls more often led the armies as wars were fought closer to Rome.)

Unfortunately for the Romans, there was no academy to train generals, which led to some spectucalarly incompetent field commanders, as well as some very good ones.

Anyway, to represent the real way wars were waged in the republic, the governor of a province would usually have to be the one to command armies. If he wants to fight an offensive war, he'd have to leave his province ungoverned. This would then cause much mumbling about "gloryseeking fools" back in Rome and complaints about misgovernment in the province itself, as well as being a royal pain in the backside for the player.

A more fun way to represent elements of this would be to send young family members back to Rome at the appropriate ages to stand for office for a year, if at all viable. The ages for consul and praetor are a bit too close for comfort, but say going at age 30 to enter the senate and at age 42 to become a consul could be done. Add aedile at 36 to taste. The more diplomatically inclined family members would also have to serve a couple of years with an army at age 20, before being allowed to go back to more peaceful pursuits.

I have one simple rule: If it makes sense for them to have done it in real life, then it makes sense for me to do it.

For example, playing as Rome, I've sold trade rights, simply because, in my imagination, the Senate demanded tribute before negotiations could even begin, since they were obviously bargaining from a position of advantage anyway.

I declared war against the Aedui to grab Mediolanum, but first I repeatedly (for at least one year) tried to negotiate it out of them, but they refused. The diplomatic tensions increased, until the Senate commanded the Proconsul of Cisalpine Gaul to annex Mediolanum by force.

Putting restrictions on trading maps, I can understand. That makes sense. So, instead, I send my diplomats on Marco Polo-esque adventures through the hinterlands of the world. The more they travel, the more influence my diplomats gain, so it is a win-win situation. I keep my maps secret and don't have to buy anyone else's.

I also try to build at least one diplomat for each major power I seek to have relations with. That way, I have an embassy beside their capital.

Cool info Randal, do you mind if I incorporate it to the guide? I'll give you credit for it, of course.

I do not really like setting up permanent embassies as realistically, only in need would embassadors be dispatched to deal with one or another power. That is why I have diplomats in all my "border" cities and another 3 in Rome, ready to leave.

Be careful Randal, you're projecting a lot of the rules that normalized the cursus honorum during the 2nd half of the 2nd century back into the early Middle Republic. Scipio Africanus was Aedile at 26 for example, and many men become consul and then later served again as praetor or another junior office.

I play as Rome in a very similar manner, with a few differences with my units...

...the rules I set for my units are as follows:

1. Retraining Troops at a barracks is forbidden. Only merging is allowed.

2. Only non professional soldiers may make up a garrison.

3. Local non-Roman troops are not allowed to be garrison troops.

4. Mercenaries can only be employed for three battles, where it is considered they have earnt their money. They must be disbanded immediately after their third battle.

5. Mercenaries can only enter the battlefield as reinforcements commanded by the A.I, unless the commander who hired them has the "mercenary captain" ancillary, in which case they can enter the battle along with the regular army (It is assumed the captain at your gens side is commanding them).
If the general who hired them doesn't have the above trait they must follow behind him and not remain as part of the regular stack.

6. If a mercenary army is attacked whilst it is not in a stack with a Roman general, the battle must be auto resolved.

4. I can train as many units as I like from hastati down except local non-Roman units, which are only allowed to form a third of a stack of any particular army.

5. A single unit of pricepes can only be trained when I have a 'FULL' Hastati unit with three bronze chevrons. The Hastati unit must travel to the city where I am going to train the unit of pricepes and there be disbanded. The unit of pricepes can only be trained once the Hastati unit is disbanded.

6. A double unit of pricepes can only be trained when I have a 'FULL' unit of pricepes with three bronze chevrons. The experienced pricepes unit must travel to the city where I am going to train the two units of pricepes and there be disbanded. The two units of pricepes can only be trained once the experienced pricepes unit is disbanded.

7. A unit of triarii can only be trained when I have a 'FULL' unit of pricepes with three bronze chevrons. The experienced pricepes unit must travel to the city where I am going to train the unit of triarii and there be disbanded. The unit of triarii can only be trained once the experienced pricepes unit is disbanded.

8. 6. A double unit of triarii can only be trained when I have a 'FULL' unit of triarii with three bronze chevrons. The experienced triarii unit must travel to the city where I am going to train the two units of triarii and there be disbanded. The two units of triarii can only be trained once the experienced triarii unit is disbanded.

9. A unit of Roman cavalry (does not include local ethnic units) can only be trained when I have a 'FULL' unit of triarii with three bronze chevrons. The experienced triarii unit must travel to the city where I am going to train the unit of cavalry and there be disbanded. The unit of cavalry can only be trained once the experienced triarii unit is disbanded.

10. The training of a double unit of Roman Cavalry is never permited.

11. When a reform comes along, the higher end units take their respective positions under the reform. e.g Camillan pricepes can be trained as Polybian pricepes after they have been disbanded.


Well if you managed to get through all that without falling asleep you have done well!

I find this style of play very rewarding as you very rarely end up with stack upon stack of "elites".

Try it out...It's not easy I can tell ya! ;)

Wow thats pretty harsh rules of unit training.
Battle in which your experienced core is whipped out must be really terrible news in Rome. Any screens from your Campaigns, i wonder how you are doing.
I think i will try it out.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by LorDBulA

Wow thats pretty harsh rules of unit training.
Battle in which your experienced core is whipped out must be really terrible news in Rome.

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Yep those harsh battles are a real nightmare!

That's why I tend to spread out my more experienced units.

As for the loss being heavily felt in Rome, is exactly how it should be! ;)


Unfortunately I get an error whilst i'm on this webpage which prevents me from putting images or smilies on my posts, so i'll put some links up to screenies a bit later perhaps (with a little expalnation to go with them).

Of course I'd be glad if this information were incorporated in the guide, that's why I wrote it.

But Qwerty is of course right that the ages I listed apply only in the later republic, as I noted in my first post. More flexibility exists at the start of the game. (the final system would be in place by the time of the marian reforms. I believe Sulla did much to formalise these rules, though perhaps he just added the rule that patricians could do everything two years earlier than plebeians. I'd need to look that up.)

I didn't know that people actually went back to more junior offices in the early republic... interesting. I do know that the rules were broken even after they were formalised, with many people standing for office at too young ages or even skipping some altogether, or standing multiple times for the same office.

A cool way to implement this would be to allow characters with high influence scores to stand for office sooner than they're allowed to, thereby getting to lead armies and govern provinces at younger ages.

Yeah, I'll try to find you an example about holding a junior office after a higher one, I remember reading about someone who was praetor after being consul (or maybe even censor) a few weeks ago.

Updated to 1.2.

Megalos, see if I used your training restrictions, my "guard" system wouldn't work, although I see where you are coming from.

Don't mean to derail the thread but does anyone have a guide to follow for one of the Barbarian factions?

In my current campaign as the Arverni I'm trying to think of something but can't come up with anything more than

1: Governor: sent to Bibracte or Roma for schooling, 5 years

2:Must be governor of the same province he started out governing until he dies

3:Can raise troops as a garrison

4:If he achieves the Arjos trait he can order a General to go on an expedition/make war with a faction, with or without due cause

5:Can be a candidate for Faction Heir

6:Can order exploration/colonization missions

7: The governors main concern is to build income. If there the Verrix decides there is no direct threat to Gallic lands during wartime, the Governor of a province make spend as much of the treasury as he wants to construct buildings that will increase profit in a settlement. If the Verrix does indeed decide there is a threat however, the governor may construct no buildings, as all funds are directed towards the military.

1: General: Can either raise an army by building a fort in Arverni land and recruiting troops from nearby provinces; then go on a Campaign

2:Can guard newly conquered garrisons

3:If the general faces a Crushing Defeat he must give up the rights to lead his men and live in exile in Sicily, or Sardinia, Corsica, or Crete, he will lose the right to train armies for campaigns but may still recruit for garrison

4:Can retire between ages 45-55, although mandatory retirement is age 55. After retirement, he may choose to become a governor in one of the provinces he has conquered, but only in one of those provinces

5: Cannot be a candidate for faction heir

6: Can choose be part of the Enforcers, a band of noble cavalrymen that react to rebels and Brigands

7: He cannot use any garrison intended troops (Lugoae) as warriors, but has no strict composition of his army other than infantry must outnumber cavalry 3:1


Diplomats/Spies/Assassins:
Diplomats act as representitives of the Keltoi alliance, they may:
trade map information freely
obtain trade rights
they may NOT try to make peacedeals, as the Arjos consider it a sign of weakness

Spies: answer only to the king, to prevent the Arjos from using spies against each other, absolutely NO spy can remain in celtic land for more than 2 years after recruitment

Assassins: Also answer to the Verrix. Must leave Celtic lands after a few months of recruitment. After out of Celtic territory, they act as rogue agents to try to prevent a military response if an assassination goes wrong. A usual team of 3 spies, 3 assassins, and 2 diplomats go on a mission to a foreign nation to scout it out before an invasion/as a peacetime reaction to a Nation making an alliance with an enemy of the Arverni

It's only a start, does anyone else use anything like this?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SwordsMaster

Updated to 1.2.

Megalos, see if I used your training restrictions, my "guard" system wouldn't work, although I see where you are coming from.

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Well you don't have to send the units off to be retrained... you could just leave them until they get their silver chevrons, if you wanted that unit to be a guard unit.

But i'm guessing that there weren't that many lower-end soldiers acting as guards back in the day... but that is only a guess, I have nothing to verify that! ;)

I guess it comes down to personal preference in the end though.

Added a few rules for retraining and generally updated to 2.2.