I'm also playing my first game but to be honest it was meant to be just a test game in which I just tried to figure the game out. I think I may have been too slow though as I only control 29 regions with about 190 turns left and it's taking an age to keep raising big enough armies to keep expanding my territories.
Is it necessary to control 50 regions before making a play for Rome itself ?
I may just start over actually as the other Roman factions have become very powerful as I've concentrated on conquering the Gauls, Spanish and the Britons instead. I'm going to have a tough time against the Brutii especially.
It takes a little while to get used to the game, especially if you're new to the TW series, but from your comments you seem to have gotten to grips with it so far.
Before you can attack the Senate you need sufficient popularity with the people which is basically gained via military prowess. If you've got 29 provinces then you're not far off, but if the Brutii & Scipii are powerful too then it will take a little longer in coming. Don't worry; you can't miss it when it does.
That said, even though you don't need 50 territories before you war, it might be a good idea as the more you have to begin with, the shorter the civil war that follows.
It's going to take even longerI didn't realise you couldn't attack the Brutii or Scipii until you had
the support of the people - I thought that only applied to Rome itself. I'm having to ship my armies all the way across to Egypt in order to take more territories. I've got a load of spies in the other Roman cities and they've hardly got any defenders in them so I'm itching to take them on.
Does the support from the people have to be at it's fullest before that's possible ?
Yes, it does, but it should jump up when you've got over 30 territories. Have the Germanians been defeated yet? If I were you, I would try to expand your Gallic front into eastern Europe; the settlements there aren't worth much, but they're easy money and if you press down into the Balkans you'll gain another front from which to attack the Brutii.
Germania only have one tiny province left as far as I can tell. Every time I go into their territory the senate gets annoyed and gives me two turns to leave. If I stay there will that initiate a war between me and Rome ?
The Brutii have most of Eastern Europe sewn up which is why I'm desperate to attack them. I think I've left it all a bit late now but I'm attacking Egypt instead to gain more territories and increase my support.
Out of interest, do the Brutii ever actually bother to cross the Propontis? They always seem to concentrate on trampling around Eastern Europe, which always seemed a bit of a waste of time when you have all of the Near East laid out before you...
Or do they do that regularly and I'm just not paying attention?
Click on the Senate button and it'll tell you how many turns you have left along with how many territories you control.I'm on like 160 BC, how many turns are left for me?