Rubicon

[Octavius Julius]

If anyone has read the book Rubicon by Tom Holland, they'll come to learn that the only most important place in the whole of Rome is Rome.

RTW should have more emphasis on diplomacy, family management and senate elections. There should be alot more interaction between the Roman factions.

If anyone has read this book, or any history of Rome, please post their opinions in comparison to what RTW presents.

[Thaum]

Yeah Octavius, have nearly completed it. An excellent read, although a little hard to understand all the political turn-abouts etc. that the Romans seemed to undergo. It makes them out to be a shower of turn coat buggers who would sell their own granny up the river if it would get them ahead. Although I suppose this is the contradiction that is at the heart of Roman people and is why it is very difficult for people of the modern world to understand their methods and actions.

I would love to see some more interaction between the factions, although how far can one go with a game. In fact if one was to go through half the machinations of the Roman politicians, that would be a game double the size and complexity of Rome:TW in itself.

On a side note I do thoroughly recommend this book to any players of the game. It is a brilliant book. Although I would have preferred if he did not gloss over the battles in such a trivial manner. One example is Holland spends practically a chapter or two leading up to the battle of Pharphalus (sp) between Ceaser and Pompey and then describes the battle in a scant two pages. In fact the war between Rome and Cartage are also skimped over as well.

Anyway my 2 cent euro ones that is J

[drone]

There was a thread in the colosseum about modifying the civil war. I think the gist was that if you start a civil war, there was some chance that some of your family members would remain loyal to the senate, and some chance that other families might lose members to you. This would reintroduce loyalty (a great M:TW trait).

It would be nice if the senate offices given out to family members allowed you to stick it to the other families (and vice versa). I think only one office really affects the game now. But imagine, Biggus Dikkus Julii is given the office of Gladitorial Inspector, "Sorry, Nottius Maximus Scipii, your colosseum in Syracuse does not meet code, you will have to shut it down for a year". Nothing too major, but you could affect the relationship with the other families and annoy them greatly.

[Ar7]

I have noticed this too, I kind of get the feeling that Rome is something independant that doesn't really have any influence over anything. In my current campaign I completely forgot about Rome, it feels like I am playing a certain "Brutiland"

I have had a couple of ideas on how to improve it, though I do not know what would it take to code them or if it is possible at all.

Here are a couple:

-If a member of your family gets elected consul ( I think it was this one ) then he gets to control Senat's army. This should add an interesting twist and make people really want to become consul.

-A position in the Senat that let's the player give missions to all of the Roman families

-Also it would be interesting if every appointment to Senat would give a player certain options.

-This one should be the easiest to do - modd the game so there would be only one Roman faction that controls Julii, Brutii, Scipii lands and Rome. This way you really are playing Rome not some back alley. This would cause balancing issues though....but would be fun nevertheless.

I have a couple of more, but they are not so clear and need to be given a few minutes time to be thought over.

[Smaug-V]

Rubicon is a great book. Gives real insight into Roman motivation and culture. I agree that some changes to the role of the senate and the other Roman factions in the game would be very welcome. For a start, Rome is way too easy to take. And I never got the feeling that, when i was attacking a Roman faction or the senate, it was any different to attacking any of the other nations in the game. As those who have read Rubicon or any other insights into that period of time will know, attacking fellow Romans was no small thing. And sacking Rome itself was a VERY big deal. Romans were immensely proud of being without a King. They grew up with the idea that, because they ruled themselves, they were superior to the 'barbarians'. This was how they justified conquering forging an empire. The conquering of Gaul, Carthage and the rest was in the name of the glorius and tyrant-free city of Rome. So laying siege to Rome, defeating a pretty pathetic senatorial army and wandering into the city feels a bit unsatisfying. I love RTW, but the campaign seems to be flawed in a few respects. As you progress through the game the AI generals dont seem to improve, while the player only gets better at being a general. The game even seems to get easier;
:Build army
:crush badly-led AI army
:kill yet another enemy family member (and thus destroy any chance of having to face an experienced AI general at any point in the game)
:take city
:repeat to fade...

Beefing up the Senate, adding some sort of promotion system and being able to cooperate more with the other Roman factions (maybe in some famous historical battles?) would add difficulty, structure and a feeling of progression to the game. The destruction of the power of the senate in Rome was an exciting and unique period in history. Glossing over it was a missed opportunity.

Of course these are just the opinions of a relatively bad RTW player, so feel free to ignore

Smaug-V