Attacking Capitals -- What does it do?

[Siris]

I've just thought of this, what if I just march towards Rome, (of course I'd be flanked by Bruti, Scipii, & Juli, so just wouldnt work out that way), but if I marched on Rome, & took it over, would all of the Roman factions then in turn, go into civil war on who will re-claim it & rise above the others to power?

Heh, trust me, I'm going to leave a patch of devestation of literally, total war upon Italy. Its our second to last ditch effort to repel them. Its going to be hard, but I'm still debating on massacring the populace, or just keeping it for my slaves, which I have extensive number of.
(just theoritically speaking, from all the Macedonian cities I took, and enslaved all of those citizens)

[Oaty]

Sack the city and have a diplo hand it back. That way there is no revolt and in reality there should not be a revolt in a freshly conquered city that is left vacant by your troops.

Sacking the enemy capital may cause them military harm but may actually economically help them as it seems the capital gets moved to a central area wich means less corruption and higher income.

I know financial chaos historically would happen but it's just a game and the poor A.I. does'nt need anymore hurting

[Siris]

Oh their not going to be hurt, I'm going to make them suffer. In real life it would most likely do one of two things.

1) Make the Romans pull out of your lands, so you wont sacqu another Capital, forceing them into submission.

2) They fight harder, and make a push for your Capital

Rome's Romans, what they'll do is send a few armies to try & take down mine burning their cities & massacring their populace, about it. But hopefully they will go into civil war or be hurt very badley.

But still, what if I just take Rome, will it push them all into civil war vs. each other to try to be the one faction that "reclaims" Rome and rises to power?

Reason I cannot do try this out guys, as I've mentioned before, is that my PC, this one, cannot run RTW, only my G-Parents, and I wont get to use it until Friday night, Saturday, & most of Sunday, which is when I'm at their house. So by Friday night, you'll know what happened .

[Sethik]

I say try and hold their cities. It will give you a HUGE boost over every other faction if you manage to take and hold Italia. You get 6 fully developed cities (6 military centers churning out the best units the greeks can offer), a gigantic econ bonus, and a position from which to launch an invasion of any costoal faction (Carthage, Egypt, Gaul, Spain, Selucids, Pontus, etc.) Trust me, keeping the Italy will benefit you far more in the long run.

[Siris]

Yea well cash isnt an issue, but the military production is, just not enough cities to pop the military out.

Also, when do I get the kick arse Greek Hoplites that are the most advanced above armoured Hoplites?

And when do I get the Spartan Hoplites which are the strongest ones?! The reason I picked Sparta mostly is because, it says the Spartan Hoplites almost NEVER run away in a battle, they'll fight to the last man. That is what I want! An army of values that will fight to the last man for their cause, not guys who will fight for a moment, and run off while being mowed down by missiles & calvery. If they would actually fight to the last man they'd cause much more extensive damage to the enemies, will weaken them much much more.

I had 8 Spartan Hoplites, started with them, and they fought in one of my battles, I watched as they all were killed, but unlike the other units, they stood their ground to the end, without running, now THAT, is an army!

I'm bringing this up because I'm needing those Spartan Hoplites & those best Greek Hoplites as the weapon as to which to turn the tide of the war against the Romans, should the Itilia plan fail, or even if it works still use them to finish off the crippled Romans.

[Belenus]

I suggest you try to hold one or two of their cities. That gives you a good base of power in Italy, plus though 4,000 men won't go to waste and can still be used. A suicide raiding force sounds good, but with all those men, you might as well go to Italy and stay.

[D. Boon's Ghost]

With Rome, herself, taken, the other Roman factions carry on as they always will; they won't erupt into revolt, they won't bother to reclaim Rome, etc.
The AI Romans don't actually have any ties to the Roman Senate, I believe.

This, to me, is really odd. It doesn't make sense that the Senate is nothing more than eye candy when playing as a Non-Roman. I mean... they don't had out missions to the AI Romans, they don't attempt to acquire land, they don't do much of anything but sail their hundreds of ships back and forth.
I think it would be nicer if the Romans played as one huge faction when playing against them. I have yet to see Julii, for example, helping out the Brutii while I, the Macedons, crush them into the pavement. You would think that the second you landed troops on the Italian boot, every single Roman (no matter the color) would rush to kick you off.