Getting Low on Threads

**Praetor Rick** · 03-29-2008, 04:36

I'll have to go with Byzantium and Nicomedia. Beyond the fact that Byzantium was the captial of the only remaining Roman Empire after the western portion collapsed, it and it's sister city across the strait, Nicomedia, are the gateways to the Black Sea, which is astonishingly prosperous, with tons of internal trade.

**salemty** · 03-29-2008, 05:54

ive got a question. if im playing romans what would be a good order for me to build my buildings in to balance military, public order and income. also after ive got a population of about 12000 i never seem to know what i should build. can someone help me plz.

favourite city: Athens

Favourite unit: armoured hoplites

**Quirinus** · 03-29-2008, 07:29

It really depends on your plans for the city. Is it a front-line/troop-producing settlement? Or is it a cash-cow settlement?

As the Romans, your most important military buildings are the barracks, as Romans have good infantry. The stables and archery range can wait, though you might also want to invest in stables, as you can hold races in a hippodrome (similar in purpose to the arena, raises public order).

Otherwise build the markets. If you have mines, build those as well-- they provide a nice fixed income. If you are a coastal province, build ports as soon as possible-- sea trade is very lucrative.

Public-order buildings I generally build when needed-- i.e. if you public order is 150% at the highest tax level, then public-order buildings are obviously not a priority. I do invest in arenas just in case though-- you never know what may happen, and the gladiatorial games are a nice fallback in case public order suddenly plummets. Plus, you get to build gladiator units, which, although not particularly useful, are cool as hell.

**Omanes Alexandrapolites** · 03-29-2008, 11:04

Originally Posted by salemty

ive got a question. if im playing romans what would be a good order for me to build my buildings in to balance military, public order and income. also after ive got a population of about 12000 i never seem to know what i should build. can someone help me plz.

To add to what Quirinus has said, you can estimate the viability and worth of each individual structure by examining the settlement details scroll.

This can be activated by double clicking on the selected settlement and then selecting the (what I think is) middle icon on the bottom right hand corner of the scroll. It activates a scroll with a load of pictograms on it.

Once you are in, select to construct a building, any building, on the right hand (original) scroll. When you do, faded icons should appear on the "+" level of any of the pictograms. Hover your mouse over them to see the bonus it provides to this statistic.

The "-" level may also have some icons which repeatedly fade out. These icons are existing penalties which will be removed by the selected building's effects. Hover over them to see details.

Different buildings provide different levels of benefits. Those which provide the highest benefit to something which the settlement needs to do better are probably worth building first. Those which are not so useful probably need building last.

Do bear in mind that the "+" side of some statistics are not always good. High levels of population growth can eventually result in a large populace, henceforth resulting in squalor which dramatically reduces public order.

**Motep** · 03-30-2008, 02:00

hmmm....

My favorite city would have to be Syracuse. I dont really have a reason, I am just biased to that city for some random reason I dont really understand.

My favorite unit would have to be the armoured hoplite. It is a useful unit, and I just plain like the skin. It doesnt help that they are the mainstay in my armies of global conquest, and that I have reused the skin in modding many times.

**Spartan198** · 03-30-2008, 04:33

Originally Posted by Motep

My favorite unit would have to be the armoured hoplite. It is a useful unit, and I just plain like the skin. It doesnt help that they are the mainstay in my armies of global conquest, and that I have reused the skin in modding many times.

Armored Hoplites are mainstays in my vanilla & XGM armies as well (but I must admit,the XGM version looks unusual without the corinthian helmet).

**Motep** · 03-30-2008, 06:15

Originally Posted by Spartan198

Armored Hoplites are mainstays in my vanilla & XGM armies as well (but I must admit,the XGM version looks unusual without the corinthian helmet).

You just have to love that helmet.

To be honest, that is one of the reasons why I did not get XGM, the other one being that I am too lazy.

**RLucid** · 03-30-2008, 13:48

Originally Posted by Quirinus

It really depends on your plans for the city. Is it a front-line/troop-producing settlement? Or is it a cash-cow settlement?

As the Romans, your most important military buildings are the barracks, as Romans have good infantry. The stables and archery range can wait, though you might also want to invest in stables, as you can hold races in a hippodrome (similar in purpose to the arena, raises public order).

Yes, the Hastati are the mainstay in the early part of the game, so the militia barracks are a priority. However, at 440dn they're expensive enough early game, not to be wasted so I attempt to minimise casualties.

So it's best to field balanced forces, with strong missile arm as well as cavalry units. So I think a Practice range in a fast growing town is the next priority (fast growth due to desirability of the Archer unit), and the low production cost of the Velites.

Therefore, even the trade settlements can usefully produce (retrain) ancillary units, like Equites & Velites, who compliment the HI.

As the Jullii, the main lack against Gaul is spear-men in the early part of game to counter enemy noble Cavalry. Whilst deploying General's cavalry aggressively to shape the battle in early phase works well, sometimes 3 opponent family members join forces with addition of barbarian light cavalry, meaning the Roman cavalry has to fall back on infantry support. So Town Watch (used in squares to act as charge blockers), and Barbarian Mercenary Spearmen are recruited usefully to. It is possible to avoid mercenary spearmen early on in game, but an aversion will probably lead to an unnecessary defeat later in game, sometime during push on Lugdunum, Alesia & Narboensis.

The missile units, Velites & Illyrian mercs, reduce Hastati casualties, and add offense to the defensively deployed weakies, like Town Watch who usefully push Battering Rams etc permit immediate garrison post-siege, so the main force can immediately march on (without the General) to invest the next target. They also force if deployed forward as skirmishers, the poorly armoured (no helmets) barbarians to charge, rather than rest prior to engaging; a small but significant advantage to the front-line Hastati who can throw pila & counter-charge, confusing warbands who are attempting to attack the fleeing skirmishers.

A side benefit, is that Captain led force, may be attacked in open field, getting to fight a primarily defensive battle in a strong position, with light cavalry. You may even get free recruitment via adoption of a useful HC unit.

Against low quality barbarian forces, combining the weakest units, Hastati, Velites, Equites & Town Watch, as the backbone of the forces; eases retraining considerably.

In comparison a preoccupation of mine, is keeping the initial Archer & Triarii, out of trouble where they're likely to take casualties, as they're too useful.

**Abokasee** · 03-30-2008, 14:39

Originally Posted by Omanes Alexandrapolites

That reminds me of something the EB team put in the early BETA versions (0.7.x) of their mod - the disabled trait "EB Team Member" which gave a dramatic influence bonus and management bonus. It was sadly removed later on due to the space being needed for additional "real" traits.

And I saw a bartixan one... gave -2 influence...