Quote Originally Posted by Sovereign
With Julii who should I begin to start up trade relations with? Are the Gauls a sound choice or should I take out Parvatium and the other city nearby early?

With Julii do I need to build up a navy? I did because of a senate mission but thats what launched me into debt.

Early in the game what units should I be training? How many units are needed to be garrisoned in a city?

How many cities should i be controlling early on? I think at one point i had about 5 but that overstretched me a bit, should i take them and kill inhabitents?

What shrines/buildings/etc are needed in cities?

Hehe, sorry for 20questions but I don't want to restart again. I figure the game i start christmas day will be my first real attempt.
Regarding trade relations, the Romans have the advantage of being allied amongst them, so you are already trading with your fellow Romans. The downside is that your allies are also at war with Carthage and the Greek cities early on which are great trade partners (the Egyptians are too far away for early trade).
As a Roman and especially as the Julii I wouldn't trade with my neighbors as that would strengthen them more than you.
Also, think that the amount of trade lines are limited to the size of your port, so you'll only trade with the most important cities until you have a bigger port that can support more trade lines and you’ll only have land routes from your border cities.

On the navy... well, you always need one to keep your sea lines clear of pirates or enemy navies which can blockade your ports. This is very frequent and lots of wars are started by port blockading (with no apparent reason). Just keep a couple medium stack of ships (depending on the size of your empire) and start clearing port by port when that need arises.
Otherwise, at least as the Julii and at the beginning of the campaign, you won't use a navy much as expansion into Africa and Greece is reserved for the Scipii and the Brutii and the Senate won't allow a conflict of spheres of influence.

When choosing the size of your cities garrison and the number of cities you want (and can) control early on, that depends a lot in which style of gameplay you prefer.
If you are an aggressive player you’ll probably have a lot of low quality garrisons and except in your border regions, several underdeveloped cities and mixed armies. I can’t give you any advice on this style of gameplay as I have never used it for a long period of time (personally I just don’t enjoy it).
On the other hand, if your gameplay style could be described as “slow buildup + slow steamroll” I’d recommend you to have a standardized garrison size and mix (personally 4 archers or 3 Roman archers after the Marian reforms and 4 hastatii / principes / legionaries depending on your capabilities) and also a standardized “city model”. For instance I would rarely expand without having all my cities with that described garrison and stone walls. After I conquer new provinces I keep big armies until the conquered cities build stone walls and “import” the garrisons from troop training cities.

Finally but not the least, you should never underestimate the religion in RTW, because having buildings from other cultures gives you a happiness penalty. If you conquer a non Roman city level all their original temples and build your own (I advice you to keep a big army near by because the locals won’t be happy until you build a new temple). Also keep in mind that if you lower the taxes of newly conquered cities they should grow faster, allowing you to build the next level of buildings right over the older ones which gave your city a culture penalty.

Always remember, a lot of happy peasants are lots of tax payers, a lot of angry ones are a rebel army.

If you want to choose the best temple for your gameplay, check the building tree, where you will find a short description of all the benefits that each temple gives. Personally I believe that, as the Romans, the Brutii have the best temple of all, the temple of Mars that will give your troops valour bonuses.


Good luck.