Hardest Roman faction

[Greacia_Roma]

Personally i think its the scipii because carthage is hard to beat if they hav the right troops(elephants) and because they get the least amount of cities in africa and though egypt is rich it is hard to conquer. Whats your opinions?

[Omanes Alexandrapolites]

Most definitely, early on, the Brutii. Greece may be rich, but phalanxes simply mow down pre-marian troops and pre-marian cavalry. Post-marian troops are better, so, later on, life is slightly easier for the Brutii and it gets even better after the trade of the Helenes is flowing into the coffers.

When you get into the later game, the title possibly belongs to the Scipii, that is, if you listen to the senate and go into Egypt from the South - definitely a wealthy and powerful foe. If you don't, then it may be even easier that the Brutii. Taking Crete and then going into Turkey is the route which I always take and this results in unimaginable wealth - enough to fuel stack after stack.

However, bear in mind, if the right path is taken, each Roman faction is as easy as the next one to manage and win as - afterall they do have equal abilities.

[Noir]

Just to add to the confusion: Julii overall - Carthage can be taken easily early on and after this Scipii coffers should be bending from the weight of gold - the Brutii early game is indeed hard as the Macedons/Greeks may provide resistance - however it is not more than the in-depth Gaulish resistance - or that of the Britons if they are steam rolling, and on top of this Greece makes you the richest faction in the game - while Gaul, Hispania and Germania give you barely a living.

The Julii have the most "interesting" post civil war start game IMO because of this, the other two factions can pretty much bribe their dominance after they beat the local challenge.

The Scipii can beat the Julii to Hispania and the Brutii to southern Greece at the same time after they conquer Carthage too, severely cutting them off - going into an offense against Egypt is not necessary for them.

Many Thanks

Noir

[guineawolf]

i agree with Omanes,Brutii are the best,coz:
temple of JUNO=increase population
temple of MARS=3 level of troops exp,plus 1 morale(that means +4 morale for Brutii legions,Brutii troops can fight even without a general)
temple of MERCURY=increase trade income

Brutii temple that make it very good at start of it's campaign..Set it's capitol at Athens will be very ???????


But 3 romans faction got it's specialty,:
Julii rely on leadership(Jupiter)
Brutii rely on troops training=exp(Mars)
Scipii rely on equipment(naval superiority=Neptune,better quality equipment=Saturn,Vulcan)


if the Brutii can get easterner faction to build SPN for it,then it will be very powerful(if not?it will be like strong pressure water pipe with greater leak),but for me i will still chose my favourite faction Scipii.

[Noir]

I thought who is the hardest (to play presumably) was the question Guineawolf?

[Stuperman]

and what is SPN?

I find it hard to classify any of the roman factions 'hard' once scipii have sicily they have it made, and peltasts own elephants.

the brutii have it made, maniples outmanouver phalanx's with ease, and get rich quick.

the Julii are probably the 'hardest' cause they have no military temples (although one gives strategist bonuses to generals) and relitively poor lands, but they also face the weakest enemies so it kinda balances out.

[Omanes Alexandrapolites]

I, oddly, find the Julii the easiest. The Gallic disorganized troops are easily beaten back, especially post-marian, and, as with all factions, the world is practically your's after you own about thirty provinces - the wealth coming in is simply unrealistically enormous.

Also, like the almighty Scipii, they have a law temple to counteract corruption and unlawfulness in far way lands. This provides an empire which is rarely rebellious and is wealthier - unlike the Brutii who do not gain this luxury bonus. War temples, although are a nice option to have, are not, in my opinion, necessary when playing as Roman faction - post-Marian units are quite strong enough without any extra bonuses.

[GM1940]

Scipii, for reasons already mentioned. Brutii also tricky for above reasons, although I found less so.

Julii's fine temples, easy access to a -huge- barbarian empire and lack of any tricky adversaries make up for the poorer provinces I think; by the time civil war rolls around any Roman faction should be desperately socking away each turn's income in extravagant build queues and a bloated military in order to avoid the 50,000d penalties.

[guineawolf]

I thought who is the hardest (to play presumably) was the question Guineawolf?

the answer is the Brutii,coz for me i got no temple to prevent corruptiuon,even i can get more cash from mercury,but still can prevent more "water" loose form a broken pipe........of coz ,only at later game...for Julii,it just the direction they of,more money invested to get rid of culture penalty and low profit in it......always not enough Denarii to spend on both military and buildings,either you invested into new troops,or you just can build them all

and what is SPN?

Secret Police Network=SPN.

post-Marian units are quite strong enough without any extra bonuses.

i agree with that too,but even pre marian romans troops are oredi fit the job for me,except cavalry,the Forester and CAW will take them down easily.Get the principles(7 armor) oredi good enough as their 6 morale compare to hoplites 4 morale.........

Scipii, for reasons already mentioned. Brutii also tricky for above reasons, although I found less so.

Julii's fine temples,

Julii is good,i found each of their three temples quite useful,Jupiter=Leaderships,you will findout that your family members alwayscome out with starssss,and strategist to give command bonuses.Ceres=population growth,influence by Caeser 3,i think it should have farming output bonuses(increase farming income).
Then the Bacchus,yes it give bad traits,but it gives comedians=retinue(+1 morale for all troops at the battlefield).

For temple bonuses,i must say Brutii JUNO also give herbalist(10) mix with chirugen(15),that means it will heal 25(value give in files,percentage?perhaps?) of wounded troops,better health that increase your general's hitpoint,like In the rude health(+4 general's hitppoint) for example,it also prolonged FM(family members) ages(?).
Mercury gives master traders(traits) that gives 30% bonus for all trade income.....

[pockettank]

IMHO the julii are the hardest brutii have it kinda hard but still easier than julii and scipii can skip carthage go to greece/asia minor and pwn every1 before going to carthage all while keeping the brutii from expanding making an easy dead roman during civil war :D

EDIT:julii are hardest cuz they never get money :p and in my first campaign ever with them which im playing now (even as i play EB) they have very little economy i have about 100k while brutii have 150k+ and scipii have 200k+ and i have my taxes as high as i can put them without rebellion in each settelment and Macedonia is pwning every army i send at them =/ even with marian troops... idk how though besides i cant field enough due to poor economy

[Zanar]

Julii are hands down the hardest on hard and very hard, the barbarian lands
have very little to offer in terms of money and trade, unless you go the second
route and take greece, which leaves time for the gauls to build up their armies
leaving your northern front open. it's kind of a semi lose/lose situation

[Greacia_Roma]

Overall you have to see it this way the julii are up against some of the easiest factions in the game AND they have huge amounts of cities and to be honost their up against unorganized barbarians! The brutii are up against a group od of factions 2 that are weak economily and militarly overall the best way to beat the phalanx is withe cavalry. The scipii are up against a organized powerhouse faction and even though they are rich quick they spend lots on troops to not only fight carthage but egypt as well(who in all my games end up owning almost all asia minor) and on top of all that they have very little land in italy and because of the city shortage in afric have it hard with the plebs!

[Rotc_Railey15]

I think the Brutii are the hardest cause your up against hoplites and pikemen. And its really bad when macedon and greek cities ally with one another.

I think Scipii is easiest because you get a huge profit and if you conquer sicily, youve pratically beaten Carthage in N. Africa.

[gaiusjulii]

I am gonna have rocks thrown at but here goes, i have played the Scipii a number of times and to be honest I think these to be the hardest my reason is that they are to cover a huge area with very few of their cities within one year of each other so if or when the egyptians do attack they do with like 5 stacks where as i find i have deal with 1 or 2 at the most to battle with, then throw in the numidians and all that money from trade is thrown away on defense, the Brutii being the easiest in my opinion The phalanx is very powerfull its also very slow so if you attack with hestati (auto fire) and velites they will already be a quater of their strength with out you even being one man down. then let your hestati get stuck in and then use your cavalry to slaughter the routing cowards and the julii not being hard only slow gruelling as its a long task to take gaul and spain as you have to be very selective in your troops due to cost however it is very rewarding it just takes longer to reap the rewards unlike greece and turkey for the Brutii being quick turn around

[guineawolf]

I thought who is the hardest (to play presumably) was the question Guineawolf?

oh,i think i am out of title,for me Julii are thehardest faction coz their expanding area so poor,even can't supply my building funds....
i though hardest=toughest.....

[Noir]

No problem guineawolf - thanks for the answer;

Many Thanks

Noir

[Askthepizzaguy]

The hardest Roman faction depends on your style of play as they are virtually identical. You don't necessarily HAVE to expand in the direction you are told to.

Try this:
As the Bruti or the Scipiones, expand in the direction of the other two factions, and box them in. (Havent' tried it with the Julii. I don't think you can do it fast enough)

Once you capture all their usual provinces, and you have them boxed in by your territory, keep them helpless by bribing their troops and using them against their enemies, expanding your territory.

So, if you are the Bruti, expand quickly into Sicily and trap the Scipiones. Send a diplomat north and bribe the Julii stacks that you can, and attack Gaul with those. To make it even harder on yourself, attack Greece simultaneously.

This is the challenge for those who think the game is too easy. Try playing as the entire Roman empire at once.

This is the most difficult way to play. So I would say it is a toss up between the Scipiones and the Bruti.

If you play as you are supposed to, I say the Bruti have the harder beginning game.

[Poulp']

The hardest Roman faction depends on your style of play as they are virtually identical. You don't necessarily HAVE to expand in the direction you are told to.

Try this:
As the Bruti or the Scipiones, expand in the direction of the other two factions, and box them in. (Havent' tried it with the Julii. I don't think you can do it fast enough)

Once you capture all their usual provinces, and you have them boxed in by your territory, keep them helpless by bribing their troops and using them against their enemies, expanding your territory.

So, if you are the Bruti, expand quickly into Sicily and trap the Scipiones. Send a diplomat north and bribe the Julii stacks that you can, and attack Gaul with those. To make it even harder on yourself, attack Greece simultaneously.

This is the challenge for those who think the game is too easy. Try playing as the entire Roman empire at once.

This is the most difficult way to play. So I would say it is a toss up between the Scipiones and the Bruti.

If you play as you are supposed to, I say the Bruti have the harder beginning game.

Oh yes, you can box them in playing the Julii. The path is quite simple actually, head to Salona, sail to Sparta before they build a wall and race to Byzantium.
Ideally, you'll want to hold Sparta+Corinth (and Athens) in the south and Bylazora/Tylis/Byzantium in Northern Greece.

In my latest campaign, everything went so smoothly that the Brutii never set a foot in Greece, I owned every city there even before the civil war.
Scipii hold the whole of Sicily (I kicked the out of Italy), while the Brutii established a African empire on the ruins of Carthage and Numidia.

[Afkazar]

Scippi from what I've played.
By the time your done conquering all you can most of your allys will have taken most of the non roman territitory and your armies will be spread to the far corners of the map. The eygptians will be coming at you full force from the south.When civil war starts your main production centers are nowhere near combat.

[Patricius]

The Julii can be hard. Gaul does not provide too much revenue and the emnity and the Britons and Germans is likely. Playing as the Julii I try to take the Africans provinces. It keeps the Scipii small in size.

[Jasaray]

All the roman factions are easy to play with so it's quite hard to pick out one as the hardest, but i would have to say the brutii. The reason for this is the are the only faction that faces a credible military early on, though once you have a foothold in greece its plain sailing.

I would say the Julii and scipii are tied for probably the easiest campaigns in the game with the possible exception of egypt. Both face armies of very poor troops which are easily routed from the field. Although the Gallic and Germanic lands may not provide as much money to the julii they do have easy access to spain early on which is a pretty profitable province to own.

[icek]

scipii or juli. first, the best when it comes for military and sea but after defeating cartage they lose guidance from senate and must plan on their own. Second , weakest of that three when it come to military, poor provinces to conquer and lot of fighting.

[Sonicdahedgie]

Now, I've tried the brutii very little, but I'm going with the Julii.

I'm a relatively good payer and all, but the barbarians....


Arrgh, I'm like a real Roman! Being so organized all the time actually caused them to be somewhat afraid of things chaotic. Ergo, barbarians.

[tarbanrael]

I rather enjoyed my Julii campaigns the most.
My very first one, I had very little revenue on VH/VH going through Gaul. It took me a long time to conquer the province, but it was challenging and I really enjoyed it.

The second campaign i ever did with the Julii was different in that I loaded all my troops on them barges and sailed up to Greece and its riches. I prevented my fellow romans from getting those riches and managed to defeat the Greeks by siding with the Macedonians. And then eradicated the Macedonian armies...
with the money you get from that part of the world, your conquests are a lot easier from then on.

I never really enjoyed playing the Brutii.
I found the Scippii too easy.

[Caeser The III]

hello everybody, im back again O_o, anyway i think that the julii are harder, After all they almost did rule the world!

[Kings Hand]

Hey all,
I would have t say the julii, its a hard slog all the way through the barbarian lands without any great teched up cities t aim for. You spend most of ur cash upgrading towns, and most of ur good troops are coming from italy. That said my first julii campaign was probably my most enjoyable and challenging campaign with romans, i was eventually defeated by brutii in the civil war ;[

[the greek]

i agree i think juli are the hardest, as the scipi i always take greece and try to nick any other of the provinces the other roman factions head for, and no one is going to attack africa so you are free to attack other areas .

[mrdun]

So, Julii is the winner, I agree.

[Guyus Germanicus]

Hard to say. (no pun intended) I think it depends on the game and circumstances, and what difficulty level you play at. There's just enough randomness in the AI from game to game that it can change circumstancecs for your Roma faction.

When I take the Scipii, I too, try to move in on the Brutii action in Greece. If you're going to do some serious empire building, you need Corinth with it's wonder that supports public order. It behooves the Julii to slip down to Greece, too, if possible. Take Crete and slip over to Rhodes to get that wonder, too, that supports sea trade.

I am amazed at how profitable the Julii can make the Gaulish provinces. And given their five star city cluster of Arminium, Patavium, Arretium, Segesta, and Mediolanum, one can really rake in the cash. Throw in Segestica, Salona, Caralis, Marseilles, and Narbo, and you've got 10-11 cities in close proximity that provide the backbone of your finances.

Where the Julii miss out is they have no temples that enhance the military character and capabilities of their units.

The Scipii, if they plant a Temple of Neptune in Syracuse add to their naval capability, and that can be important in the later game. Couple that with a temple of Vulcan in Messana, and Sicily becomes a serious arsenal of quality units.

The consensus in this thread is probably correct - the Julii, by virtue of being geographically further from the 'wonders' and short-changed a bit on the temples - may be the most difficult to play. But I think the Gauls are a bit easier adversary than the Carthaginians and the Macedonians.

But the, I actually enjoy playing the Julii more than the other two rome factions. whatever . . . .

Sick'em wardogs!!

[Fookison]

I agree with Pizzaguy!!!
It really depends on how you play the faction. I have found that each Roman faction can be easy or hard depending on your tactics and where you mount your attacks. Also you must change your tactics as you face the different opponents.