Suicide of faction leader.

[Mooks]

The senate just informed me that I have too have my faction leader commit suicide..I accepted. The penalty was being a outlaw, and the death was instant. The man was 77, old old man. He had the virtue "in the pink".

What a sad way to go....

[Papewaio]

That is normally a very large hint to rebel...

[Mooks]

I probaly wouldve. Just I had no standing army in Italy at this time. I have 1 in upper gaul and another one in brittania (finishing off the chariot riding britons) 2 in egypt (ironically with both egyptian generals) finishing off the egyptians. , other then that, nothing. So basically im not ready yet.

[Ciaran]

Then you´d better call backyour armies to Italy, or raise new ones. From what I´ve read (I´ve never had the Senate dislike me enough to order my leader to commit suicide - how do you do it?) the suicide will only give you a couple of turns before the Senate will request the next sacrifice of a leader.

[Quillan]

I've never been ordered to suicide either, but I've heard the same thing. Within a couple of turns, your new faction leader will be ordered to suicide. Get those armies back ASAP!

[Garvanko]

You know things are a bit shakey with the senate when they start threatening to investigate your faction's finances.

I would never accept assassination of my faction leader. We are a family, after all.

[Celt Centurion]

I've had the order to have my Faction leader commit suicide quite often, pretty much every game that I'm a Roman Faction, and have won the "short" campaign. There was one time however, when it did not happen till about 30 or so BC. By then, I had won the "short" campaign, and had nearly 40 territories.

The order is quite simple, the tile tell you to have your faction leader commit suicide, and there is a place to click "accept or reject." If you accept, your Faction Leader dies instantly. If you reject, you are immediately outlawed, and the Senate, and both other Roman factions begin attacking you immediately. I havein the past, accepted the mission, but soon learned, that then they tell you to have your new Faction Leader commit suicide as well, and the next new one, and so forth, which will cause your family to die out.

Your family members all commit suicide, and then a Faction Destroyed tile comes up, referring to your faction.

What I do now, is have two large armies with fully upgraded armor, waiting in Forts near the border furthest from the one adjoining Rome, and when the mission comes to commit suidide, I refuse, and immediately dispatch the armies to Besiege Rome. The Senate will usually have 2-3 full stacks by then, One with after Marius troops, maybe two, and they will usually have "silver armor." There will usually be a third, consisting of Pre-Marius units inside the wall. I have always had to destroy the two "stonger" ones first, and the last one inside the wall doesn't seem quite as tough. Once, they made it really easy, by all three armies attacking me, outside the walls, and instead of all three at once, it was one at a time, giving me a chance to reform before they made contact.

From Refusing the Suicide Order to becoming Imperator, was two turns.

Strength and Honor,

Celt Centurion

Then you´d better call backyour armies to Italy, or raise new ones. From what I´ve read (I´ve never had the Senate dislike me enough to order my leader to commit suicide - how do you do it?) the suicide will only give you a couple of turns before the Senate will request the next sacrifice of a leader.

[Slicendice]

I've had it happen. I used a small force to attack Rome while their guard was to far away to assist. I put spies inside the city and rushed in.

When they told me to kill my leader I knew I had to rebel.

[Ciaran]

I still wonder under which conditions you get outlawed. I´ve never, ever managed it so far (five games with different Roman families so far). Neither did any other faction, by the way. The worst I got was Senate popularity down to three icons when I had about thirty provinces. After that it rose again, although my popularity with the plebs is so hight that it can´t be displayed anymore.
I fail missions, I have troops standing in countries where they shouldn´t be, I´m the richest, the most powerful, bigggest, whatever, name it, it´s true. And still the Senate won´t threaten me . Of course I could march in and take Rome over, dito the other families, or trying to assasinate my fellow Romans, but that´s cheating.

I´ve tried blitzing, I´ve tried slow-going, I´ve tried building up massive armies, I´ve tried getting fabulously rich, I´ve tried failing the missions, I´ve tried going against Senate policy, all to no avail. And I play on VH campaign difficulty, of course. What do I do wrong - I must be doing something wrong, others got their leader asked to commit suicide, why not me ? I thought the challenge of the game was supposed to be to avoid or survive the wrath of the Senate, not earing it.

[ByzantineKnight]

I still wonder under which conditions you get outlawed. I´ve never, ever managed it so far (five games with different Roman families so far). Neither did any other faction, by the way. The worst I got was Senate popularity down to three icons when I had about thirty provinces. After that it rose again, although my popularity with the plebs is so hight that it can´t be displayed anymore.
I fail missions, I have troops standing in countries where they shouldn´t be, I´m the richest, the most powerful, bigggest, whatever, name it, it´s true. And still the Senate won´t threaten me . Of course I could march in and take Rome over, dito the other families, or trying to assasinate my fellow Romans, but that´s cheating.

I´ve tried blitzing, I´ve tried slow-going, I´ve tried building up massive armies, I´ve tried getting fabulously rich, I´ve tried failing the missions, I´ve tried going against Senate policy, all to no avail. And I play on VH campaign difficulty, of course. What do I do wrong - I must be doing something wrong, others got their leader asked to commit suicide, why not me ? I thought the challenge of the game was supposed to be to avoid or survive the wrath of the Senate, not earing it.

from the times ive played it seems the people like you if you attack and capture lots of stuff, and the senate only likes you if you dont attack unless they tell you to. that includes moving into enemy territory, i get the Kill my faction leader thing just about every game i play, cuz i just attack without the senate's approval and who likes the senate anyway they tell us what to do and all its like i like wiping them off the face of the earth.

[Pontifex Rex]

I´ve tried blitzing, I´ve tried slow-going, I´ve tried building up massive armies, I´ve tried getting fabulously rich, I´ve tried failing the missions, I´ve tried going against Senate policy, all to no avail. And I play on VH campaign difficulty, of course. What do I do wrong - I must be doing something wrong, others got their leader asked to commit suicide, why not me ? I thought the challenge of the game was supposed to be to avoid or survive the wrath of the Senate, not earing it.

Ummm,...from the three odd years of playing this game I always maneuver to destroy the Senate, *that* is the point of the game. You want to get strong enough to gain the support of the mob, weaken the other families, put yourself in position to start and then finish the civil war and then become Emperor.

There is no glory or lasting fame in being a minor player within a powerful family of the Roman Republic. Fame and lasting glory comes by becoming a dictator and having statues and coins made of you, Vestal Virgins offered to you and an empire in your hands to rule. Once you have accomplished that,...

....load up BI and try to defend the bl#ody thing

[Ciaran]

Of course it is, though my expectancy for the gameplay was (or rather still is) that on your road to that goal the Senate and the other factions don´t just sit there idle but bunch up against you (as in "increase the challenge of the mid- to endgame"). Instead, the Senate showers me still with gifts and missions and offices, I can easily conquer my fifty provinces abroad without interference from the other Roman factions and then take Rome in a matter of two to three turns and win without need for a prolonged civil war. Ideally, in my opinion at least, once I´m around say twenty provinces the Senate gets fearful of me and at about thirty they´ll do anything to stop me.
Gaining popularity, after all, is easy, conquer, win more battles than you lose, perhaps throw a few games and there you go.

[The Spartan (Returns)]

well, you better start making your armies in Italy. i just made two and I took over Rome. so easy...

[Pontifex Rex]

Of course it is, though my expectancy for the gameplay was (or rather still is) that on your road to that goal the Senate and the other factions don´t just sit there idle but bunch up against you (as in "increase the challenge of the mid- to endgame").

What I do is watch the popularity closely as it rises. When it gets within three pips of the top I start redeploying for the civil war. With usually some 30 -35 provinces and wars going on with foreign enemies you gear yourself to fight at a disadvantage. When given the opportunity to seize power do not delay, strike as soon as possible and go to war with the Senate and both other factions. If you tax high enough and reduce population growth, you may not even have begun the Marion Reforms.

It's a bit of a fudge but then the AI is pretty hopeless,... not surprising considering there is no "good" AI anywhere as yet.