With respect to the homelands system won't restricting where assimilation and integration takes place to where it happened historically give advantages to the more historically successful factions? While the aim of the EB mod is historical accuracy, its goal isn't to make RTW into a historical simulation that merely reenacts history in the manner it happened. After a long period or Roman rule and successful Romanization it would seem only logical for it to be possible to recruit Roman Legions there, as happened, for example in Illyricum after Tiberius’ invasion and its subsequent Annexation.

Would it be possible for the EB mod to extend the period of time during which RTW takes place? I for one would like to be able to play into the 2nd or 3rd centuries A.D and the height of Imperial Rome.

I also find the fact that a bribed army (if its not made up of troops that your faction uses) disperses. Considering the level of mercenary use during the period wouldn’t it be more realistic for them to join your faction as mercenaries supplying you with troops (and a suitably massive upkeep cost). Also, is it possible to increase the cost and difficulty of bribing, and also take into account how close to home the army being bribe is. I would think it would take an incredible amount of money to hire a Germanic warband to attack their own tribal chief but significantly less to fight against a neighbor Gallic one.

Is it possible to reduce the distance to capital penalty? If possible it would seem to make sense that a good road system and a large amount of trade and thriving sea lanes should do something to mitigate this. After all, the Roman road system was almost as important in keeping the Empire together as the Legions.

The system of population and cities in RTW seems to tell us that everyone in the ancient world lived in urban centers. This is of course ridiculous as the vast majority of the population of the ancient world was made up of farmers who lived in the countryside. As such it should be feasible for a city of only 1000 to raise a number of (poorly equipped and trained) solders far in excess of its size. Either the population of cities in RTW is referring to the entire population of the province, in which case squalor would be a notably less pressing issue, or it is referring only to the population of the city proper, and as such the recruitment system seems notably flawed. While this, especially if the later supposition is true, would make little difference in actual game play, I still find it quite irksome.

Finally, sorry about the length of this post, could you briefly explain what EB’s plans for dealing with Roman factions are. It seems both ridiculous and ahistorical to have such private family fiefdoms during the high of the Republic’s power (although it becomes notably more accurate later in Roman history). I would love to at least seem a more unified Roman military uniform (rather than the radically different Purple, Red, Blue and Green) or vanilla RTW (same look different banners perhaps). It would be even nicer to see a unified Rome where 3 different families count as generals and governors and compete for leadership positions dispensed by the senate (of which they are important members). I’m about 99.9% sure that would require a complete recoding of large parts of the game though and will have to wait (fruitlessly I’m sure) for CA to do something about it.

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