the post above me is very true. i didnt form an alliance with any roman faction on the game where it happened to me, but the problem is u r already allied to the other roman factions from the beginning of the game anyway. the only way u can avoid this bug is to always be ahead of all the other roman factions (i.e. never let anyone else surpass you) and always be the one to start the civil war, i.e. backstab the romans the first chance you get. i dont even know y the makers have to have this mechanism where u dont have the option to start the civil war until u are powerful enough. i mean that should be part of family strategy to go along with the senate until im strong enough, not an obligation. its a bad decision to go against the senate at the beginning of the game but the option should always be there. the way it should be is that u do have the option to backstab romans at any point, but if u do that b4 u are powerful enough, all other roman factions unite and wipe you off the map. anyone else agrees? why disable the option to make a bad decision in a strategy game?