Working on a FAQ...

[Servius]

one I just learned today from these boards...

Q: Where can I get a list of all my Generals and all my cities and such?
A: Right-click on one of the three info buttons in the lower-left corner of a city's info sheet.

Q: How do I set rally points for my cities and ports?
A: Select the producing city/port then Alt+Right-click where you want the rally point to be

Q: I have two fleets, each with 10 or less ships, and I can't merge them, why?
A: both fleets may be lead by an admiral (a fleet with small gold stars like generals get). If that is so, individual ships within the fleets can be exchanged but you cannot put both admiral's ships in the same fleet. (I think this is so)

Q: Can I upgrade my ships with weapon and armor upgrades?
A: Yes, apparently you can. Dock them in the port of the city with the upgrading buildings and Retrain them. The next turn, just like land units, your ships will have weapon and/or armor upgrades

Q: Why can't I build a fort or watchtower?
A: This may be for serveral reasons. First, only generals (family members) can build those structures. Second, watchtowers can only be built in friendly (your, not your ally's) territory. Third, you gotta make sure you have enough money. Four, no foreign faction units can be in a grid next to the structure (if agents are the problem, you can move them by moving your General into their box, which forces them to move to another one). Fifth, some land does not allow you to build structures on it, Germania Inferior for example. Sixth, forts, once built, will only stay on the map if there is a garrison in it at the end of the turn. Abandoned forts disappear next turn.

Q: How can I block bridges/fords?
A: You can only physically seal river crossings by placing a unit on the bridge or ford box. You can build a fort on your side of the river, but that only slows down nme units (it takes them two turns instead of 1 to cross the river as your fort "pins" them for one turn, just like ships).

Q: How do I defeat Squallor?
A: You cannot defeat Squallor, you can only delay and compensate for it. Squallor occurs when your population grows; the bigger the city, the more squallor. You can delay Squallor problems by slowing population growth (raise taxes, don't build farms, merchants, or sanitation buildings) or by reducing your population by building settlers (peansants or other units you build in one city and disband in another, thus moving the citizens from one city to another).

You can compensate for Squallor by making people happy. Good governors can make people happy, so do temples, sanitation buildings, low taxes, and games. Garrisons and law temples indirectly reduce the unrest problems caused by Squallor not by making folks happy but by subduing unrest. Use low taxes and sanitation buildings as a last resort as they worsen the problem (through increased growth rate) more than they compensate for it (by making people happy. Sanitation buildings often provide +0.5% increase in population growth and +0.5% in happiness, but pop growth compounds while happiness doesn't. Tax rates only work significantly if you drop them to Low, which while making people happy, may also bankrupt your empire.