Slaists guide to RTW 2 politics

[Bellicin]

Very good guide indeed! I got the game a bit late and am still getting the feel for it in my first campaign, so this helped a lot seeing as there is no in-game tutorial to politics (that I'm aware of anyway).

All and all it feels they might have overdone the whole system with politics, at least from what I've seen so far. The whole gravitas ---> influence ---> promotions-mechanic appears pretty good and sensible, but when you have to spend influence to gain influence and actually replace your generals to advance it kind of takes the fun out of it. Actually I had a similar problem as the one Bramborough described with a high ambition faction leader for an opposing faction with a +gravitas wife. Still not quite sure how it happened but that general lived for ages, pushing his faction past mine by right of a good wife alone, which appeared rather silly for me as new to the game. Oh well, thanks to this guide I'm finally making progress so maybe it'll turn around :)

Kind regards

[Slaists]

Very good guide indeed! I got the game a bit late and am still getting the feel for it in my first campaign, so this helped a lot seeing as there is no in-game tutorial to politics (that I'm aware of anyway).

All and all it feels they might have overdone the whole system with politics, at least from what I've seen so far. The whole gravitas ---> influence ---> promotions-mechanic appears pretty good and sensible, but when you have to spend influence to gain influence and actually replace your generals to advance it kind of takes the fun out of it. Actually I had a similar problem as the one Bramborough described with a high ambition faction leader for an opposing faction with a +gravitas wife. Still not quite sure how it happened but that general lived for ages, pushing his faction past mine by right of a good wife alone, which appeared rather silly for me as new to the game. Oh well, thanks to this guide I'm finally making progress so maybe it'll turn around :)

Kind regards

@Bellicin, I myself do not have a huge problem with the need to rotate the generals: it is actually representative of how things worked in Rome. If someone was far in the field and neglected the home political life they lost influence. Cesar went to great length to maintain his while he was campaigning in Gaul.

Also, the rotation indirectly helps to level up generals since they are available to be dispatched to any corner of your empire.

The influence shift with promotions also is not that bad. If you carry out big political decisions some in your party might agree, some might not. My feel is that in order to maximize influence it's best to promote only ambition 3 generals and leave the rest without any promotions. That's in monarchies. In republics: promote away :)

[Bad213Boy]

One thing you might want to add. I've found sending opposing factions members with high influence on suicide missions. Do you know what effect this has on parties when a member dies?

[Bad213Boy]

Something I noticed. I know it works for the beginning of the game, though I'm not sure about later in the game. Any new general candidate in your own faction that costs -4 Senators should have a +3 ambition. Candidates with -3 Senators have +2 ambition and candidates with -2 Senators have +1 ambition. So this will be a good indicator which generals in your own faction are the best to have.

I've noticed it's easier to get the head of each House to have a leader of +3 ambition. Why? Because it seems whom ever has the higher ambition at the beginning of the game, they're automatically shuffled to the lead position. This will allow you to hire or adopt any new member that also has a +3 ambition. I haven't tested this, but I think promotions supersede ambition. I'm thinking if you have 2 members with the same promotions, then the one with the higher ambition will take lead.

Whats the best way to use Other House members? Are you still trying to keep their influence low?

[Slaists]

The main thing about opposition is to try to keep their gravitas gain at minimum; especially for high ambition characters. The absolute level of Gravitas itself does not seem to matter; just the ambition weighted cumulative gain (for both factions) in each turn

[Slaists]

LOL, anybody seen "evil mother in law" ancillary since patch 9? It seems, CA has removed it.

[Matulko33333]

Can you please tell me how can i change retainers por remove them or transfer them to another general?... in my patch 9 every barbarian campaign my generals tend to get likes greeks trait which gives me +2 hellenic culture and 2% research rate and if there is any way how to get rid of it i will appreciate that but otherwise nic politic guide my next campaign will be more focused on politics based on your guide ;)

[ECCLES567]

How do you deal with Satrapies when playing the Arche Selucids ? Their armies operate independently, sometimes conflicting with your own strategies. Sometimes they take cities within provinces that you require.