....try to keep my denarii below 40k to avoid the trait penalties. Am I missing something?
Brutii are the easiest Roman faction (vanilla).
Your natural sphere of influence is the very rich Agean.
You can recruit Cretans in the pre-marian era to get long range missile and don't have to go far to pick up Horse Archers for skirmish/raid forces.
Of your early opponents, only Macedon fields decent cavalry.
Your temple set has the most useful mix of bonuses and you can add to these by maintaining Artemisian and Aresian temples in some conquered cities.
You only need boats for short hops, so you don't have to worry about out-building the AI fleets.
You still get to start by picking off 2 weak barb cities in 3 turns if you want.
If the Selkies get bumped from Sardis quickly, you may never have to face elephants in battle and have the option to "wall off" from the Eggies and get your 50 in the North if you want.
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