With peace settling over the land and three empires ground into dust beneath the Praetorians' Iron boots, the people of Rome proceeded to Latinize their new conquests. Caledonia, to the north, never fully integrated into the empire, but the Pictish people there were skilled with their hands and devout in their Jewish faith, making the region a valuable center for trade and production. Londinium, on the same island, proved to be a valuable buffer between the empire proper and the barbaric builders. It was a city in which Roman and blue-faced Pict alike could walk the streets without incident. Parisiorum and Matrice became core cities of the empire, becoming almost as Roman as Rome itself. Of course Matrice, being the home of the One True Faith, would be especially valuable to Caesar, but its value could not yet be harnessed. And Iconium, on the sandy shores of North Africa, was a long-term project, an early beachhead on making the Mediterranean a Roman lake.
After a short while, Caesar's rulership was codified into a proper Monarchy, and work began on a written form of Latin. The Chinese were regularly pestered in hopes that they would release the key to Alphabet without needing Metal Casting in return (The Picts of Caledonia were busily erecting a massive idol in their harbor, and they insisted that its construction remain a secret). As the Romans drew ever closer to just figuring it out on their own, a 12th Regiment of Praetorians was outfitted for battle in Rome:
The possibility of a Praetorian-led school teaching Drill techniques across the empire was awfully tempting (especially when combined with the special Axe handles developed earlier- Free Drill I and Shock would be really cool), but Caesar decided simply to allow his City Raiders to do what they do best. Unpromoted Praetorians across Europe were taught the secrets of City Raiding in preparation for the next war.
Iron Working was continually dangled to the Chinese for Alphabet, but, unfortunately, they finished researching it themselves before the Romans could finagle a reasonable trade. By the time Alphabet was almost done, though, Qin was willing to part with it for a song:
And the quest for the unified
Denarius was embarked on. Rome was large, and had more important things to build than Courthouses, so Currency would be a reasonable stopgap measure to shore up the economy.
After all, there was a new war on:
Frederick was a savage with delusions of civility. He strutted about in his stolen linens and ridiculous hat, issuing nonsense proclamations as if he were a Caesar in his own right! And even on the outskirts of Parisiorum rural bumpkins pledged their loyalty to this buffoon, robbing Rome of valuable production. These shenanigans would need to stop, and Praetorian justice was the best way to ensure that they did.
Berlin, a hideous parody of an actual Roman city, was well-defended, full of Axemen skilled in the art of repelling hand-to-hand attackers:
Caesar approved the training of veterans from the English war as "Breaker" units, going City Raider 3, Combat 1 and Shock. These hardened heroes broke through Frederick's supposedly invincible line and rapidly brought the city into the empire. Ridiculous hats were outlawed.
Hamilcar Barca in our time was a sworn enemy of Rome. In this timeline, though, he was a loyal Roman citizen, a student of the Praetorians' City Raider tactics who went on to teach in the Eternal City:
This allowed us to train City Raider 3 Praetorians out of the gate
Frederick somehow slipped away from the Battle of Berlin and was pursued to the east:
Berlin was conquered and renamed Germania and Hamburg, after a quick Praetorian-led changing of the guard, became Konigsburg (Okay, not Roman at all, but a way-cool name that just so happens to be right there).
As the old German capital ceased its revolts, we got a fun little message about it:
See? "Germania has been pacified." We're already doing better than the historical Rome!
Of course, Germania's Copper was the final ingredient needed for the mysterious Caledonians to finish their idol:
Traders from miles around came to the British Isles to see the massive creation of the crazed Picts. This, combined with Currency, buoyed our economy somewhat, but we are clearly getting closer and closer to needing those Courthouses.
At this point, the war with the Germans had become a rout. The main force continued north along the Baltic coast, but a small expeditionary force, led by a legendary Breaker, made landfall at the tip of the Scandinavian peninsula to open up a second front:
The German forces were caught unawares, sending most of their might along the Russian coastline.
The city fell easily, allowing an eventual pincer on Germany's last real city of consequence:
And Frederick was reduced to a small hideout in the far north. Rome pursued, of course. It wouldn't do to allow a sworn enemy to recover when he's down. But the war at this point assumed a more leisurely pace.
After all, Europe took time out from its military production to found Hibernia on the Emerald Isle:
And build the Mahabodhi in Matrice:
This shrine also eased our financial woes, but we're pretty much in a full-scale wartime economy, here.
In 470 B.C., Frederick's final bastion fell to Roman strength at arms:
Frederick was given a clean death. A warrior's death. And, no. The blade didn't stick.
So here we stopped. I'm aiming Feudalism, for the ability to vassalize crippled foes, but maybe it's time to just take the plunge and go Code of Laws. After all, we can't keep conquering forever (note: That is a lie).
So here's the world as we know it:
Russia is a nasty border to have, what with Catherine's Creativity and all, but she's Pleased with us, and she has a lot of cities that frankly aren't worth conquering. Alexander is, obviously, a much better target, being hemmed in by the Middle Eastern civilizations.
Do we have a Technological advantage on the Greeks?
Why, yes we do. We have Catapults moving toward the front as we speak. It'll take us a while to recall our Legions from End-o-the-World, anyway, so this will give our siege time to catch up.
Finally, a look at our military loadout:
I know, I know. Get more Workers. That's what Alex is for.
The save: