Whats the best roman faction in RTW?

[Garvanko]

Brutii is the best balanced. Their position in the map means they will benefit from the vast wealth of the Med, while their temples generally provide the benefits that are required in a campaign.

Scipii obviously for weapons upgrades and sea trade. Close second

Julii has the best temple for traing Generals and Governors - Jupiter. But their growth and happiness temples are only good either early in the game or late.

[Avicenna]

What's wrong with Ceres or Jupiter in the early or late game? Ceres temples give you can edge over the rival Romans, due to fast-expanding cities because of farming bonuses. Jupiter can be used to keep the barbarian settlements tamed. Nothing wrong with them midgame, in my opinion.

Also, you can expand wherever you want and ignore senate missions. Any faction should try to go for Carthage and Greece, being the rich provinces they are.

[Ciaran]

Once you´ve reached the 24000 mark growth is the last thing you want - it gives way more problems than can reasonably be solved and leaves you begging for a good plague. The Bacchus temple isn´t bad, a big happiness boost and the priests give one Influence and two Management. I´m not sure about the Jupiter or Ceres priests, though - or any of the other Roman priests, for that matter.

[cunobelinus]

In my opinion it is the Brutii they have best posistion and i think they get best bonuses and are genreally better.

[Garvanko]

Once you´ve reached the 24000 mark growth is the last thing you want - it gives way more problems than can reasonably be solved and leaves you begging for a good plague. The Bacchus temple isn´t bad, a big happiness boost and the priests give one Influence and two Management. I´m not sure about the Jupiter or Ceres priests, though - or any of the other Roman priests, for that matter.

Jupiter will create great Governors and Generals - Must have them in Arretium and Ariminium.

Ceres is for growth, but you only need it at the start - in Patavium especially, it will grow fast and trigger the marius reforms. Bacchus is useful late in the game, when you're conquering far-off provinces - good for quelling rebellion.

So in terms of usefulness over the course of a whole campaign, Im afraid the julii temples (Jupiter aside), have a fairly limited role.

[Ciaran]

You´re telling me.
No need to worry about the Marius Reform when playing Julii, though. I´ve just started a new Julii campaign (hard campaign/medium battles) and all of the sudden the Marius reform popped up in 245BC, thanks to the Scipii. Damn fast that was, my own cities are still in the Minor City phase, so I don´t even have a chance to train even Early Legionaires anywhere but in Arretium. I suppose to grow fast like that, the AI Roman factions must enslave as a default when capturing a settlement. And they´ve captured big ones, for the Scipii didn´t go for Carthage, but followed the Bruti to Greece.

The Bacchus priest isn´t half bad, either, he gives two Influence and one Management (I was wrong a post above), so when you need good governors instead of generals that´s what you´ll want. And the happiness bonus the Bacchus temple line gives can´t go wrong, either.
Or give a character both a Jupiter and Bacchus priest, that´ll get you a lot of Influence and Management, with a bi of Command thrown in as a bonus. More Commands stars are easy enough to get, after all.

[Ludens]

The Bacchus priest isn´t half bad, either, he gives two Influence and one Management (I was wrong a post above), so when you need good governors instead of generals that´s what you´ll want. And the happiness bonus the Bacchus temple line gives can´t go wrong, either.
Or give a character both a Jupiter and Bacchus priest, that´ll get you a lot of Influence and Management, with a bi of Command thrown in as a bonus. More Commands stars are easy enough to get, after all.

The problem is that temples of Bacchus (or any other temple of fun for that matter) are very bad for your governors. They tend to give all sorts of indulgence-traits. The ancillaries the temple provides are a mixed bag too. The priest is good, and cooks are decent as well, but drinking companion, pet idiot and slubberdegullion are all too common for my taste. So, I stick to Jupiter when I play the Julii.

[Krauser]

I think the Brutii are probably the best because they get so much money. They don't have to worry about money whatsoever whereas the other roman factions don't get rolling for a little bit longer.

[Matthew-p]

well its a though 1 i think it the brutii they have 3 xp shenron 4 for trarii but they have to take on greeks macedon and eastern factions scipii have gold gold sword and shield julii are me fav but they take on germans with axemen and berskers and the britons with head hurdlers and they dont route forever so yea oh and u only need the iq of a spade to beat the ai

[Matthew-p]

arcani are for all the roman factions

[gollum]

Welcome matthew_p to the org, enjoy your stay.

This is a bit of an old thread, but yes you are right that the AI is not of the highest order and there are many overpowered units in vanilla RTW.

The Julii are the only Roman faction that give a semblance of a challenge. Brutii and Scipii are way way too easy as they become too rich too fast. As the julii i try to conquer northern Greece and Asia Minor and Carthage faster than the Scipii and Brutii can in order to limit their expansion and secure a challenging mid game and an easier end game. The barbarians can always be converted later.

Fighting the Britons is indeed a pain, by virtue of the hugely overpowered head hurlers (that throw armor piercing! heads with missile attack 17!) and their chariots of course that have more lives than a persian cat (too many hit points for the chariot horses when cavalry horses have none). The germans are a nuisance at best however - the AI does a really bad job of their phalanxes as they dont affect the autocalc results between AI faction battles.

All these problems can be somewhat resolved by home modding or by using one of the many mods available for RTW.

[Lord Reid of Britannica]

I like the scipiians the most, mainly because I like their colour the most. But secondly because their starting position allows them to go anywhere they want if you dont follow the senate's commands.

[Shieldmaiden]

I like the scipiians the most, mainly because I like their colour the most. But secondly because their starting position allows them to go anywhere they want if you dont follow the senate's commands.

I'd pick Scipii too. I find their traditional Campaign enemies great fun and I like the "exotic" feel of Romans in Africa - plus Scipii Temples give you interesting options (unique ships, etc).

But the best Roman faction is a defeated one!

[gollum]

Originally posted by Shieldmaiden
But the best Roman faction is a defeated one!

Especially when its the last one remaining ;)

[Shadow Dragon]

My favorite Roman faction is House Scipii. After taking Sicily and Carthage, it's pretty easy to ship an army into southern Greece to get their best cities before the Brutii. Though after dealing with Carthage, you can basically go wherever you want from there. Plus, I love the temple of Saturn. It's public order bonuses work great to counteract squaler and distance penalties, plus the priest of Saturn bonus to officers gives them a nice influence and managment bonus.

[Andranik]

Juli Rulez !

red is cool on the map :D

[gollum]

Welcome to the org shadow dragon and andranik, enjoy your stay.

Red is cool on both maps actually, strategy and battle - not to mention that its more historically accurate.

Green and blue Romans?

gah!

[Quirinus]

But the best Roman faction is a defeated one!

Quoted for truth.

Julii and Scipii are good for variety, but the Brutii are easily the best. Trade temple on coastal settlements + exp. temple on the others = unlimited money and superior troops. Not to mention the expansion route of the Brutii goes through the richest region-- Greece and Asia Minor. Even the civil wars tend to be pretty easy because of the superior troops you can churn out in a war of attrition. And the AI hardly engages in any other kind of war.

[gollum]

Most of the people that like the Brutii and Scipii simply equate the best with the easiest.

That alone speaks volumes for all you Scipii and Brutii exploiters of Temple bonuses and easy expansion routes out there...

[ReluctantSamurai]

I would have to agree with a previous poster.....the best Roman faction is a dead one

I never play them any more as all are overpowered and overly easy to play.

I do like killing them by the thousands in the deserts of North Africa though........

[Slug For A Butt]

How about the Julii's potential access to the Awesome Temple Of Horse? Certainly makes for a powerful military. I only ever got one, but as you can imagine it became my recruitment centre (+5 exp).
I find the Scipii boring because of the large distances involved in travelling around Africa.
I love the military opposition of the Brutii, fighting against strong phalanxes early game is more interesting than fighting spear warbands I feel.

But as has been mentioned already, all the Romans are a little too powerful and similar.
I'm loving my Thracian campaign atm, phalanxes and falxmen are strong early on. But I'm wondering how they'll bear up in later game (not good I fear).

[Quirinus]

How about the Julii's potential access to the Awesome Temple Of Horse? Certainly makes for a powerful military. I only ever got one, but as you can imagine it became my recruitment centre (+5 exp).

Yea... but if your one temple is located somewhere inconvenient like Samarobriva or the like... besides, as the Julii, the Gauls are the very first target. Plus Britannia and Germania sometimes join the party... in my Julii games the Gauls rarely last long enough to build a sacred circle of Epona (that's what the Awesome Temple of Horse needs, right?).

I'm loving my Thracian campaign atm, phalanxes and falxmen are strong early on. But I'm wondering how they'll bear up in later game (not good I fear).

imo the Thracians are not very rewarding to play, your high-tier units have nothing on the high-tier units of other Greek factions, not to mention the Romans. iirc the stats of the Bastarnae (I think) you get are even lower than that of the merc version. Do not want. D:

But that's me personally. If you're loving it don't let me rain on your parade. :)

[Rahwana]

imo the Thracians are not very rewarding to play, your high-tier units have nothing on the high-tier units of other Greek factions, not to mention the Romans. iirc the stats of the Bastarnae (I think) you get are even lower than that of the merc version. Do not want. D:

But that's me personally. If you're loving it don't let me rain on your parade. :)

Afaik, the Bastarnae has 2 hp... they are rewarding anyway...

[Slug For A Butt]

Yep, I think the Thracians will struggle later, so I'll have to go for the Romans soon.
But I think they'll be fun against other Phalanx nations except Seleucids who'll be just too strong if they last.

[Fadly]

I conquered the whole Europe except for one territory and (and a few rebellious provinces which i immedietly crushed in a few turns). after you destroy the senate and conquered 50 provinces, the game automatically end. to prevent this, first i choose one of my remotess, least strategic territory and present it as a gift to the Senate faction.wait until they send one of their family member there and then I took Rome, eliminate the other houses and proceed on rampaged of conquest, leaving only the one helpless SPQR territory to be.

[gollum]

Hello Fadly, the game ends after you conquer 50 cities and Rome, but you are given a choice to continue playing anyway. There is no need to gift the Senate anything.

[Myth]

Back on topic, Brutii for obvious reasons stated by me in other threads and by 5+ posters in this one.

[ReluctantSamurai]

I'd be inclined to agree...the Brutii. Once the Julii get past Mediolanium and Patavium, it's nothing but piss-poor barbarian country and other than a naval end-around, there's only the one pass with a road back to Italy.....past Masilia. The Scipii have quick access to one of the largest cities at the start in Syracuse, and a quick hop across to Carthage, but North Africa is too spread to count on many multiple training centers, and everything has to rely on naval power, which is the Scipii strong suit (the Corvus is way beyond cool along with the potential of getting 4-star admiral's).

[Tabuu]

I agree. Brutii all the way. The only thing they have to worry about is the greeks which should be a shoe-in. Plus, they can capture many coastal cities making their treasury as vast as the Roman Empire at its height. Scipii is good with early naval power, but they also have to deal with sailing down to Carthage which, historically, poses a challenge, not to mention the Numidians right behind the Carthaginians. Julii.......they have an advantage with their close proximity to Rome, but they are the ONLY lifeline for Rome in terms of northern invasion by the Gauls.

[Talimze]

I'd have to say that the Brutii are definitely the easiest Roman faction, but my favorite is the Julii. The reason is kind of weird: when the civil war comes, I don't have to fight the Julii. When I play as the Scipii or Brutii, I dread having to fight the Julii. Like the other factions, they expand virtually unopposed, and take territory like madmen. However, the territory they take is crap. When you have to fight them during the civil war, all of that fighting is just not worth the crappy territory. Much better to fight the Gauls or Germans for it. As the Julii, you still have to put in a lot of effort to defeat the Brutii and Scipii, but at least you get some nice land out of it.

Of course, there are differences between the factions other than starting position, like temples and gladiator units, but I don't consider these big enough differences to bother about.