Romani Overpowered

[Phalanx300]

The problem is that RTW doesn't allow recruitment pools. The mechanism of recruitment pools really fits the historical levy mechanism of factions like the SPQR which rely on loyal colonies of settlers to raise armies; it will be part of the "empire building" effort that is simply not there in EB 1 since you are quite right that the SPQR faction is almost "given" an empire at turn 0 (at least as far as the military/order infrastructure goes).

On the other hand far as I know the engine is heavily (if not overly so) biased towards sea trade; which means that without substantial re-mapping of Italy (less regions = less ports = less income) the SPQR simply starts out with an unrealistic strategic advantage over factions like the Arche Seleukeia which arguably had a more potent economy at turn 0. (Unfortunately the trade with India and Arabia doesn't yield its fair share of lucrative income in EB 1; nor do the Silk Road and similar trade routes.) So even in EB 2 I expect that the SPQR will be among the easier-to-manage factions.

I gues Medieval2 unit recruitment system will mean more historical accurate armies for factions? (Meaning no more levy spams and such)

[satalexton]

Oh the joy of slaughtering stack after stack of lugoae and vigiles......no, It's absolutely annoying to do that every turn. The Romaioi are known throwing men like rabbits breed, but certainly not vigiles!

[athanaric]

Oh the joy of slaughtering stack after stack of lugoae and vigiles......no, It's absolutely annoying to do that every turn. The Romaioi are known throwing men like rabbits breed, but certainly not vigiles!

Yeah... In my current campaign, it goes like this: before I pillaged their cities, the Romaioi swarmed me with Extraordinarii and Triarii. Now that most (but not all) of their factional barracks are destroyed, they send huge numbers of Lugoae and Akontistai. I don't even know how they get them that fast, given they only own a few Gallic and Hellenic settlements . The good side of this is that my pikemen get experience really fast, with up to 660 kills/battle...


Regarding the main topic: I think that the fact that the AI gets scripted replacements for each recruited unit (AFAIK +220 men to a town's populace for 200 recruited soldiers) is part of the problem. I don't know how this will be in EB II but perhaps this number could be reduced a little bit.
Other than that, the naval invasions in M2TW will certainly make a Romani campaign tougher. Right now the relative security of their homeland from AI enemy incursions is a major factor in the low difficulty of a Romani campaign.

Personally I've been toying with the idea of modding my copy of the EDB to give rather higher bonus trade goods from river ports, the caravan buildings line and trade-route uniques like the Amber and Silk Roads. Also would it be possible to put in a small fixed cash bonus to them to help balance them against the engine-skewed sea trade ?

That would be great. In my experience, these "buildings" give only a very small trade bonus in EB I.