RTR and the lack of the Republican Feel

[Lacessit]

I have owned RTW ever since it came out and loved it to bits. As a kid, and even as a teenager, I have always been interested (maybe obsessed is a better word) with Roman history, the Punic Wars, Hannibal, Pyrrhus, Marius, Sulla, Vercingetorix, Caesar and all the other great men of the period. RTW was the game I had been waiting for all my life.

As you can probably gather, I LIKED Vanilla. I played it till MIITW came out, and when I'd played that for some months, I just came back to RTW.

After all this time on vanilla, I decided it was time for some mods. I tried a few, RTR, came out on top. It felt like a whole new game! I had to subdue provinces before I could recruit, the units were much more, well... Realistic! A great mod, and a great gaming experience.

But I think it misses out on one big gameplay aspect that vanilla did much better. The feeling that you are in a republic, and eventually striving to obtain supreme power. The mess of the civil wars, the bit where Roman gets pitted against Roman. In the RTR FAQ, it is explained that the mod does away with the 'Family faction system' because it is utterly unrealistic. Of course that's true. It's not as if three or more families dominated Roman politics in an almost feudal system for more than two centuries. But still I think that it was the best way to simulate the 'Republican Feel' I was talking about. It also incorporated the Cursus Honorum, the complete indepence of the Senate from any faction... A great aspect of vanilla, that was lost in RTR.

So does anyone else feel this way? That RTR is a great mod, but lacks this particular aspect? Are there any remedial submods? Discuss!

[Third spearman from the left]

You read my mind

I have always thought the same thing, I have been playing RTW now and think I'm getting close to needing a new and more realistic feel. But of the two mods i've looked at RTR and EB both remove the Senate and therefore the civil war. While I understand this it does mean the power struggle for Rome is lost which is a shame.

People complain about the senate missions but I think they are a reminder that you are not boss just yet.

[Warmaster Horus]

Well, at the beginning I liked it, but after interesting myself to roman history, I just ... didn't handle it the same. So, EB is good for me.

Speaking of EB, it also incorporates the Cursus Honorum, as well as Triumphs.

And I believe that there are (some) submods that bring the families back for RTR. Of course, you can check out Imperator, which incorporates the loyalty feature from Barbarian Invasion. So, when your Roman General's loyalty is too low... CIVIL WAR!!!

[Kings Hand]

Have you tried SPQR yet? if not then i give it my humble recomendation, not only is the senate present but they are given super-elite praetorian guard as their defence, which u cannot recruit till u conquer rome. The mod is very different from vanilla, not least in the fact that all units have zero recruitment times. But for overall strategy and logistics of your conquests it is second to none, and the battles are pretty good too :p

ps: House Rules for added depth and difficulty - difficulty=good

[Lacessit]

Have you tried SPQR yet? if not then i give it my humble recomendation, not only is the senate present but they are given super-elite praetorian guard as their defence, which u cannot recruit till u conquer rome. The mod is very different from vanilla, not least in the fact that all units have zero recruitment times. But for overall strategy and logistics of your conquests it is second to none, and the battles are pretty good too :p

ps: House Rules for added depth and difficulty - difficulty=good

I did try SPQR, but liked RTR better. Don't know, maybe it was the units, the battle feel,... RTR came out on top, except for the 'unified Roman state' thing. Any links to the afore-mentioned sub mods?

[econ21]

This mod puts the three Roman factions back into RTR:

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...hlight=snakeiv

I gave it a little run around a while back and it is very nicely done.

And curiously, at the beginning as Julii, it was about the hardest campaign Roman campaign I've ever experienced. It must be the fact that you only have a couple of settlements or something, as I've always considered the Romans uber in RTR.