House Rules

[SpartanPhalanx]

Presumbably if you play as Britannia you collect stray cats and a kids go-kart and fashion a rudimentary chariot?

You put those kitties on speed and you should see em move

[Severous]

I tend to create rules, or objectives, or rules of engagement, for each campaign I play.

Current campaign:
- Senate missions must be performed asap. Will break other rules to do this.
- Must not attack an ally or neutral faction
- Must always offer ceasefire after capture of a region..with cash and trade rights given to try and encourage ceasefire
- No exterminating population of captured towns
- No eliminating another faction
- No building military buildings..except walls and blacksmiths.

This set of rules is designed to force a slower pace of expansion.

[ciprianrusu]

My house rules are as follows:

1.Never break an alliance
2.Attack only if you are provoked
3.Never bribe cities
4.Never accept marriage proposal from generals over 30 years of age
5.Use armies without a general only against rebel armies that spawn on your territory.
6.Never accept a ceasefire proposal from a former ally that stabbed me in the back.
7.Never party before a major battle. (there is nothing worst than to go onto the battle whit a hangover )

[CrazyGuy]

Here's a rule that I adopted without even knowing it.

I only just discovered that you can swap retinues around and hence create a 'super general'. This seems grossly unfair, hence I don't do it.

Pythagoras chose to follow him, who am I to interfere? Also it prevents one uber-general conquering the planet on its own...

[Charge]

Great campaign rule - play battles only with faction leader, others auto-resolve.

[mrdun]

A couple of house rules I adopt:

- Play all battles so I enemies cannot regroup and attack me again.

- If a family member is under 30 he has to be someones understudy whether commanding or governing.

- Only a Consul can command on his own.

- Where possible I recruit a large enough army to take settlements to natural borders like rivers or mountains. For example take Patavium, Mediolanium and segesta in one sweep.

[ShaiHulud]

I play with Darth Mod and that mod, besides providing the most capable AI, allows me to create for myself house rules that are more in line with historical actualities. Also, using the large map and starting the game confronted by Pyrhuss and a basically unconquered Italy, Rome(me) has extremely limited income for a long time and faces true threats to survival. The tests begin immediately.

1. Try to maintain 4-4-2 ratio of Hastati, Principe and Triarii in my armies.

2. No raising of ROMAN specific type troops (the three in rule one) outside of the beginning provinces. As the rest of the Roman penisula and Transalpine/Cisalpine Rome are conquered they can only provide these types after their culture is down to 10%, ie, they became Romanized. The same rule applies to Spain, Carthage, Gaul, Greece.

3. Until they are Romanized I can only recruit troops that are specifically titled 'auxiliary' in foriegn provinces. The use of auxiliaries is well noted in Roman armies. Mercenaries of any types are still allowed. In fact, they become almost mandatory due to rule 2!

4. All marriage proposals are accepted. Romans often married solely for political advantage or to ally with a prominent or useful family. Age was not considered for these types of arrangements.

5. No general under 25 can lead a Roman army. I make exception to this rule when dealing with rebel armies on the Roman penisula because recalling a general from a campaign to deal with minor disruptions would not have
been done.

6. Generals under 25 spend their time either with their father/sponsors, in Rome, with a senior general on campaign, or in the city in which they spawn.

7. Can't enslave within the Peninsula or Transalpine/Cisalpine Rome. Extermination is allowed only in Northern Gaul, Germanic provinces, and cities that rebel.

8. Can't bribe armies, rebels, cities.

9. Can't declare war without a Roman diplomat at the enemy capital to render the ultimatum.

10. Can't accept cease fire unless Rome receives substantial tribute. NEVER offer tribute of any kind.

11. All alliances are sacrosanct. Allies that break faith are to be conquered, period.

12. No fleet has more than 4 ships.

13 Can't send an army to Cathaginian Africa until Carthaginian Spain and Sicily are conquered.

14. I take Senate missions if they suit me. Some are unrealistic, requiring that one swing from one end of the map to the other. Take an island in the Med, then go take Patavium, for instance. There's not enough time or troops, early on, to do all the Senate wishes. Sometimes, they have to face frustration.

With Darth Mod, the large map, and these house rules, I find that Roman expansion has a more realistic pace and feel.