I haven't played as a Roman faction in a long time. Probably because that last one got a bit boring (think it was the Julii), same old senate barking out random rubbish. [sarcasm]EG "Block the port at Pergammum, bearing in mind you have one ship in your fleet, and it is based at the port in Narbo Martius. You have 5 turns to comply, and your reward will be nothing special" [/Sarcasm]

In the end, you just get fed up with what the senate tell you to do. Think I went ahead without orders (from the senate) and took control of Gaul, Britain and Spain. This wasn't enough to gain the popularity needed with the people to turn on Rome, so I tried something else - started the civil war early by using assassins.

What I did was sent a useless assassin (with limited subterfuge skills) to Rome, and found an important Senate family member, think it was the heir or leader (if you're going to give this a try, save your game before you do this ). Made an attempt at trying to kill the Senate leader, obviously it failed, but my assassin was caught and slain by the bodyguards - note that this has to happen if you want the civil war to start. You are immediately outlawed by the Senate, but for some random reason they usually outlaw the other 2 factions within a turn or so. Well done, you've started the civil war early, and can finally put the Senate to the sword - they deserve it after all, after what they've put you through