Well, the Roman Republic was an empire... but regardless, you can play Rome any way you want. The government type isn't hard-coded into the civ.
New Civ Game Guide: Persia
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Navelgazer
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Yeah, that's about what I figured. But (while I could be wrong here) I'm guessing that a Hazarapatis transforming into an ordinary commander at the Exploration Age won't make it lose its promotion.
Does everyone forget that Julius Caesar is technically a leader of Republican era Rome? Yes, he was a dictator but officially Octavian was the first emperor.
The only thing standing between Julius Caesar and the title imperator was 23 stabs in the back.
The Fanatical
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Yes, he lived during the Republican era, but he and Octavian are always the first choices. I wanted something fresh for a change.
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Cincinnatus. He will lead for only a single Age and force you to pick a new leaderYes, he lived during the Republican era, but he and Octavian are always the first choices. I wanted something fresh for a change.
Guandao
Rajah of Minyue and Langkasuka
You guys are talking about Rome in a thread about Persia. 
thecrazyscot
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All threads lead to Rome.
Boris Gudenuf
Deity
This is CivFanatics: Our motto is Sidetracks Я Us
Leucarum
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I think you mean "SidTracks"
Boris Gudenuf
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MeierMeanderings
Shirk Scrambles
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The Thread Subject is Only a Suggestion
shaglio
The Prince of Dorkness
Maybe they'll put Trajan in a DLC down the road.Yes, he lived during the Republican era, but he and Octavian are always the first choices. I wanted something fresh for a change.
Sh! Or the mods will find out!
moysturfurmer
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Good shots of Immortals here. Some have oval shields
queenpea
King
These videos are beautiful, but I really miss the narrated civilization first look videos. I know we get narration with the leader videos, but those are less interesting to me.
Boris Gudenuf
Deity
A quick overview of Immortals and other Persian infantry in the field:
This is another page from R. Nelson's Armies of the Greek and Persian Wars.
Numbers 22 and 23 are, respectively, "court dress" of Persian (No 22) and Median (No, 23) nobles. No. 24 is the 'classic' formal dress of Immortals from the column of reliefs at Persepolis.
Number 25 is the Immortal and regular Persian heavy infantry in the field: wearing the more practical Median tight trousers and relatively short tunic rather than the longer Persian styles. The clothing, both tunic and trousers, are highly decorated and brightly colored: reds, yellows very common, blues less so, green not at all. From literary sources we also know that the Immortals, at least, wore iron lammellar or scale armor under the loose tunic. The game graphics show the armor worn outside, which is a legitimate change to show it graphically, but not smart in a Middle Eastern summer sun - metal anything gets too hot to touch in a very few hours!
The shield is wicker, an exact match for some of the shields carried in-game. Note that, like the court figure, he carries both spear and bow.
No. 26 is another mainstay of the Persian Royal Army: Assyrians in a very iconic Assyrian-style helmet and tunic, which might again cover metal armor. I include him mainly to show that parts of the "Persian" army also carried the Egyptian-type large shield - rectangular with rounded top.
There are also other parts of the army with smaller round shields, like Paphlagonians, Mysians, and Thracians, but no illustrations or descriptions of any of the armored infantry like Immortals or Assyrians or ordinary Persians with round shields. That doesn't mean there were never any, just that the round shield - usually of leather or wicker - seems to have been mainly used by lighter infantry without armor and relying on thrown javelins rather than melee weapons like heavy spears or swords.
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The Fanatical
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I'm not a fan of the circular shields. I think they were added to the unit because some Persian warriors carry hoplons in the Alexander Sarcophagus, but that might have been artistic liberty, and there is no proof that these were indeed Immortals. Instead, wicker crescent-shaped shields (Taka) would have been a better historical alternative. Not a fan of the use of the Greek Kopis and Xiphos by the Immortals either. Their primary melee weapon was a spear with silver and gold pomegranates or apples on the rear. I think I understand why they carry swords though, the unit replaces the Warrior, probably. If Firaxis definitely needed to make them swordsmen, then the Sagaris would have been perfect. Something that I don't understand, not even a little is the leopard skins. Herodotus only mentions the Aethiopians wearing leopard skins in the Achaemenid army, not the Persian Immortals.
Overall I find the unit's appearance a downgrade from previous titles, not because of the graphics but because I believe they added too much inaccurate variety of armours that wasn't needed. The unit appears like a mixture of different Achaemenid troops. It depicts lightly armed Sparabaras, it has the leopard skins of the Aethiopians mentioned by Herodotus and only some of the Immortals wear the appropriate scale armour. The Persian Immortals were an elite unit made exclusively of Medians and Persians. They were provided with the most elaborate and rich armour in the entire army, and as such some uniformity in armour should have existed. I think this is failed to be depicted.
Personally, I would have added 3 additional "helmets" as these headwears are shown at Persepolis. I would have kept the Phrygian cap, but I would include a Persian headband, an Iranian felt hat and the Persian tiara that the Hazarapatis's flagbearers wear. For armour, I would have given scale linothoraxes to all of them. Despite my artistic objections, I am a fan of the removal of metallic face masks, something the real Immortals never wore.
Boris Gudenuf
Deity
It's certainly possible that the 'Immortals' had adopted the big Hoplon (aspis) shields by the time of Alexander. but by that time they were not the Immortals unit we usually think of. According to the Persian order of battle at Gaugamela (translated by Aristoboulos) there were only 2000 of them left, and their place as the personal bodyguard of the King of Kings was supplemented by other infantry units of Greek mercenaries and Indian infantry, all, according to the order of battle document, arrayed around Darius along with 1000-man units of Persian and Indian cavalry.
Modeling an iconic Elite unit for a Civ as it (possibly) appeared at its end is not an especially good idea to project the image of either eliteness nor a Civ of achievement: if I wanted to model Gaugamela or anything from that period, I'd do what I did in college and study Alexander's army primarily, not the collection of various troops (including infantry quickly mounted on semi-broken horses as 'cavalry' and far too many central Asian horsemen without the discipline or cohesion to stand up to the Macedonian units) that was all that was left of the great Persian forces that conquered from the coast of Asia Minor to India.
Modeling an iconic Elite unit for a Civ as it (possibly) appeared at its end is not an especially good idea to project the image of either eliteness nor a Civ of achievement: if I wanted to model Gaugamela or anything from that period, I'd do what I did in college and study Alexander's army primarily, not the collection of various troops (including infantry quickly mounted on semi-broken horses as 'cavalry' and far too many central Asian horsemen without the discipline or cohesion to stand up to the Macedonian units) that was all that was left of the great Persian forces that conquered from the coast of Asia Minor to India.
The Fanatical
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That is something probable, but the unit didn't carry hoplons in the time of Xerxes. The Hoplite is already in the game and carries hoplons. Why the Immortal needs to carry them too? Middle-Eastern Warriors and the Purabhettarah Unique Military Unit carry the characteristic Persian oval shield that should have been unique to the Immortal, in my opinion. Very weird artistic choices, I have to say. I really hope that an advanced modding system will fix more easily this time such things that might bother some people, including myself.
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Boris Gudenuf
Deity
When units have distinctive paraphenalia, it makes no sense to give them items associated with entirely different units - from entirely different Civs, to boot. That is especially true of graphically-obvious material like shields and weapons like long thrusting spears, which are really hard to mistake for swords of any size.
Associated with that, when a unit or set of units displays really colorful and emblematic clothing, why not display it? The Persian troops wore tunics and trousers covered with bright patterns and colors - as did, in general, most of the central Asian peoples from Scythians on, and when history gives you such visually-distinctive material to work with, it is almost criminal not to use it.
