ready to give it a try

[I of the Storm]

OK, I played a few turns of the Romani campaign. Looks good so far. With the hotfixes, battle seems ok, but I haven't had many yet.

Upon conquest, I can - as far as I can see - choose between Allied and Socii. With the latter, I have serious public order issues for many turns, so I guess I'm supposed to ally them first for a couple of years, and only later turn them into socii, right?

MICs are gone too? How about reforms, are they implemented already?

[Maeran]

Many reforms are already in there. MICs have been replaced, most recruitment is now based on the government building.

The public order issues are a result of a populace with a different culture. Check in, say, Tarentum's city browser tab and you will see that they have a large proportion of Hellenic culture, while you are Western Mediterranean States, or something to that effect. From time to time you will get a notice that Colonists are available to dispatch. You will need a 'roadside garrisons' building first, but building colonies will increase your share of the culture in a region over time. Maintaining public order outside your core territories is much harder in EB2. Read around the forum for other tips on the subject, I'm sure you will get the hang of it quickly enough.

[I of the Storm]

Will do.
I'm perfectly fine with such a mechanism. In fact, I rather like the idea.
One quick question: Does this apply to the AI as well or do they get scripted boni because too stupid?

[I of the Storm]

Sorry for necro'ing, but this is more or less my thread, I figured I might as well ask my questions here.

I've played the romans for a while and the culture thing is still a bit obscure to me. From the looks of it, it's the converted M2TW religion mechanic.
What I don't understand however is why even some of my core territories (Arretium, Ariminum) are loosing western med culture. Even Capua has a negative "culture income" to the point where I can no longer recruit high tier roman (or was it allied?) troops, instead hoplitai became available.

Occasionally, I get the advisor telling me about colonies available, unlocking the "lex de colonia creando" building. I built that where I could (one in Capua f.e.) but still my culture is in decline. How is the availability of those "colony points" determined?

Also, AI: seems pretty aggressive - Carthage had all of Sicily even before I could move troops out of Taras and Rhegion. The Boii seem quite strong, so do the Ptolemies. They're halfway to Persia already.

The rather stable borders from EB1 seem to be gone, sadly.

Is there a guide about the culture mechanics somewhere?

Battles are and look great, btw! Good job, team.
The unit cohesion is sometimes questionable, but that's a M2TW thing, I suppose.

[Rovert]

i dont think your Culture can decline , i havent had that happen , it can be very hard to get it up it takes a long time , just keep building your colony crap where you can , it come up every 16 turns or so .

[QuintusSertorius]

i dont think your Culture can decline , i havent had that happen , it can be very hard to get it up it takes a long time , just keep building your colony crap where you can , it come up every 16 turns or so .

Your culture can decline if you're close to a region with a different culture and your governor doesn't have very high influence. More likely, though, where a building is present which converts to something else. The Native Garrison is the classic one, anywhere from Anatolia eastwards it converts to Eastern Imperial.