RFRE - mod: Roma Victrix!

We can see that you are a as ahead as can be concerning the date / tech researched. I am however surprised to see your treasury, which is a little low. Do you remember how much gpt you were making during your golden age ? Also, what is your building strategy for cities ? What do you build in priority ? I'm asking because as you know I am working on a patch and guidelines are always welcomed. Also, very importantly, when you get at 225ad, don't forget to tell us about the economical effects on your gpt. Thanks and may Jupiter protect the Imperium !
 
Clap clap clap! Great update! :goodjob::king::goodjob::king:

Thank you, i appreciate that :goodjob:

We can see that you are a as ahead as can be concerning the date / tech researched. I am however surprised to see your treasury, which is a little low. Do you remember how much gpt you were making during your golden age ? Also, what is your building strategy for cities ? What do you build in priority ? I'm asking because as you know I am working on a patch and guidelines are always welcomed. Also, very importantly, when you get at 225ad, don't forget to tell us about the economical effects on your gpt. Thanks and may Jupiter protect the Imperium !

Well, economic buildings are certainly on priority and regarding the core cities i practically have all buildings. I have spend some thousands on buildings but i don't think more than 10k, on the other hand i have upgraded my units as soon as possible (and all of them, except free ones that upgarde to paid units), but i'm not aware of any cause that could be responsible for beeing far back in regard of treasury, though i'm not micromanaging much. I'd be interested to see how others go with unmodded biqs in this regard.
As i said in the main thread i'll regularly integrate economic figures in future updates, the next is already in process.
However, i can't guarantee new chapters will follow soon, as i have several other things to do, which have priority, but i don't think you'll have to wait more than one or two weeks, maybe with some exceptions.
 
Chapter XVIII: Persian Succession

Year: 136 AD



Vallum Hadriani increases the city's defense by 100 %, acts as a stealth attack barrier and reduces corruption in britannia.



The short war with Numidia comes to an end. There is nothing left which is worth fighting for.

Year: 163 AD

Another war of attrition is at hand, this time against Parthia and not to early. Around 175 AD they will discover stronger units which make them a lot more dangerous. I'm a bit sad about starting this war, because they were polite and by trading with them i can reduce the risk of an attack, but i have to face the truth that war against the overlords of Persia is inevitable.

I declare war and wait for the things to come.

Year: 166 AD

The economical situation of the Empire, one turn before the Folly of Commodus:



The Parthians are fielding an impressive force. This about fifty horsemen are only the spearhead.



Year: 169 AD



By the way, there are now 136 persian units in my sight. Smells like serious trouble, it's time to open hostilities now. After i finished my turn the Parthians are down by 24 units and 13 redlined, which means a quarter is out of combat for now. The Cohortes Imperatoriae are not touched, as they shall form the defence of my cities. The Limes has been emptied for now, as i don't have enough "material" to fill it efficiently against this horde.

Year: 172 AD

The Persians seem to be hesitant to attack the fortified Cohortes Imperatoriae, so for now i remain the only attacker. I estimate about 70 units in fighting condition left, sadly many of his fast units have escaped from my legions. It would have been a good move to take more cavalry with me, than i have done.

Year: 175 AD

The Persian Front before my move:



Year: 177 AD (now two one turn equals two years)

The invasion army has been reduced to a stack of 25 horse archers (the old 7.3.2-type), without any serious attacks from the Persians, who obviously have a lot of respect before the cohortes imperatoriae. Still, a lot of them have escaped and will come back when refreshed.

Year: 179 AD

No persian units on roman territory (heavy reloading involved, especially for my 3-movement-blitz-numidians).



In Babylon you can see a Praesidium Sassanidum (8.6.2) which is one of the new persian units that mark the transition from parthian to sassanid rule and which will serve as the new persian standard defender. The new attacker, the Clibanarius with 14 attack, a two hit point bonus and a movement of 3 has a punch...

Year: 183 AD



The Migratio Magna spawns new and improved Praedatores, which will conduct raids into roman dacia.

The units which had succesfully retreated after the first battles come back over the Euphrate. With less many units they will not last as long.
Something which can be useful to know when fighting along rivers: The other civs don't have the construction tech and thus are not able to cross rivers without loss of the whole movement point.



None of them survived. I'll now wait another turn to see if others show up, otherwise i'll offer peace. I thought about conquering Mesopotamia, but as the Sassanids have taken control it could become a bloody job once some clibanarii show up, so i chose the safer road.

Year: 185 AD

The Persians sue for peace, so i'll show mercy.



An overview of the Roman Empire after the war that caused the Parthians to lose control over Persia to the Sassanids *cough* :







You can see the peak of power is crossed. I fear the Animus Barbarorum is growing in distant lands...
 
Yes!:goodjob:

This is getting very interesting for me...cant wait til the next update!:crazyeye:
 
The near future will probably not be sooo interesting...

Doesnt bother me im really enjoying this...only bad thing is updates will probably be less common because of turn times:(

I dont know about you but RFRE runs really slow late game on my computer.
 
Doesnt bother me im really enjoying this...only bad thing is updates will probably be less common because of turn times:(

I dont know about you but RFRE runs really slow late game on my computer.

Yes, i know that, at the moment it has not yet considerably increased, but i just don't have much time to play.
 
Yes, i know that, at the moment it has not yet considerably increased, but i just don't have much time to play.

Youve been gone a while, just wondering if youre going to update this?:mischief:
 
Youve been gone a while, just wondering if youre going to update this?:mischief:

I'm sorry for being silent for such a long time. I put it aside due to time management problems and finally... forgot...
But i promise that this is not dead yet and i'll be working on another chapter, soon.
So, until then, i suppose.
 
Chapter XIX: Crisis of the third Century

Year: 193 AD



One turn until discovery of Severan Dynasty is left. Although the real crisis is yet to come, my cash flow will go down considerably: This tech allows me to build the Legio Mercennaria, a Legion that doesn't cost upkeep. You should build as many of them as you can, because soon you won't be able any longer to build a comparably strong unit without upkeep cost. Training a lot of legions of course means that the population of the empire will go down (which in turn lowers my income).
In comparison to the Legio Imperatoria has the Legio Mercennaria two less hitpoints, a lower offensive and a higher defensive value. This represents the change of the infantry's role in battle, as offensive actions were more and more carried out by cavalry.
Legions from now on do not enslave Servi any longer, but Foederati, who can be upgraded to Miles Alarius Germanicus or Eques Alarius Germanicus once Diocletian's Reform is discovered.

Another important issue of this tech is the Constitutio Antoniana. This great wonder will create a Municipium in every city of the empire and thus making it possible to grant full citizenship in short time. The Constitutio Antoniana can only be constructed in a civil war, but in comparison to the Lex Agraria it becomes obsolete after a long time has past, in 475 AD. This means that you can use its effect in (probably) every civil war still to come in your game.
This in turn means that you don't have to start a civil war now, but can wait until you have to do for a change of gouvernment. This is, of course, an exploit and i'm really ashamed - especially because i have avoided several other ones - , but *cough* i'll use it anyways *cough*

Year: 195 AD



Year: 199 AD



The Thermae Caracallae make two people in Roma happy, add culture and reduce the risk of slave unrest at a maintenance cost of 10.
The Thermae Caracallae need eight existing Thermae in order to be build. To have eight Thermae should not be a great problem at this point of the game, although you have to be careful where you build one, as they are expensive and cannot be destroyed. This can be especially a problem after the crisis of the third century is discovered and overused land reduces the amount of food that can be grown in the western half of the empire.
Eight cities that are a safe bet to pay off are Roma, Mediolanum, Massilia, Carthago, Utica, Alexandria, Pergamum and Byzantium, partly depending on how you distribute the tiles.

Year: 219 AD



The Crisis of the Third Century is at hand and will put the stability of the empire under a test. Discovery of the tech makes the resource "overused land" available, which reduces the value of a large amount of tiles especially in the western half of the empire. In addition i will have to build the great wonder of the same name as the tech, which will make a lot of citizens unhappy throughout the empire. Luckily i'm not at war and won't suffer from war weariness in addition.
Some years in the future i will discover the 175 AD - 225 AD tech. This renders the Forum, Emporium, Latifundia and the Praetor wonder obsolete. All together i will lose a lot of money in the attempt to maintain order.

This is how i will proceed to reduce the negative effects of the crisis to a minimum:
In this turn (219 AD) i will start a prebuild for the Crisis-wonder in Roma. Once i discover the tech i'll change to the wonder, which needs 100 shields. With my 44 shields that i produce in Roma at the moment the wonder takes three turns and will be completed in 225 AD.
Once completed, i change construction to Cohortes Imperatoriae, which needs 400 shields and thus is an ideal prebuild for Opus Imperator-Soldati, a wonder that will be discovered with the tech Soldier-Emperors and helps against the effects of the crisis.
Once i achieved discovery of Soldier-Emperors in 12 turns, i change to F1 screen after choosing the next tech and change construction in Roma to Opus Imperator-Soldati, that will be completed in the same turn, 245 AD, thus reducing the unhappyness problems to a minimum.

Year: 221 AD





The first stage of the crisis:
Affected by Overused land are Hispania (with exception of the eastern coast), Gallia, Britannia, Mauretania, southern Italia and Sicilia (around Panormus).
Of course there is no overused land where other resources are and not on hills and mountains.

Year: 223 AD

The Sassanids have declared war on the Armenians. Sadly there is not much that i can do for them, right now.

Year: 225 AD



The second stage of the crisis (Well, in fact i had expected more of an effect):



The Persians have taken Nisibis from the Armenians. They seem to be well recovered. I should have left more troops in Mesopotamia, so that i could help the Armenians, but i didn't thought it would be necessary at the time. Ah, well. Mistakes are to learn from. Hopefully won't the Persians become to strong.

I decide to bribe Amida from the Armenians. I may give it back later, if they survive, but for now it should prevent the Persians from taking it, slowing down their advance without getting me involved in the hostilities.

Year: 229 AD



This wonder spawns the sassanid siege engineers, highly dangerous units (as if the clibanarii were not enough...).

In the meantime i got the 225 AD advance, so several of my income generating buildings are obsolete. This is how my economy now looks in the third stage of the crisis:



You can see that "from cities" has decreased from 5327 in 193 AD to 3479 in 229 AD. This hurts, but won't get me broke.

Year: 231 AD



The Castra Roxolani spawns Roxolani, who are a hidden nationality unit with very high offense. They will raid Dacia and make holding it increasingly difficult.
It is almost impossible to defeat this unit by defending, so i advice to give them something cheap to destroy before striking back.

In this same turn i have made acquaintance with the Praedator Pictus, a fast and dangerous hidden nationality unit with a massive hitpoint bonus. This reminds me of sending some more troops and artillery to Britannia.

Year: 239 AD

The Persian advance from south has stopped after i bribed Amida and they lead their troops around to attack from east. I'm now trying to help by blocking and opening passes.
In the persian stacks which are in sight are 16 Clibanarii (14(6).5.3).



Year: 245 AD



I go to the internal advisor, enter Roma and change my prebuild cohortes imperatoriae, just like i have explained before:



The Opus Imperator-Soldati doubles the defense of all cities in the empire, spawns a Legio Mercennaria every 8 turns and makes seven citizens happy throughout the empire, thus partly negating the unhappyness from the crisis.



I'm still losing money, but the situation has improved vastly.

The Soldier-Emperor tech also renders the Limes wonders obsolete which thus stop spawning Munitores. This is no big problem for me, as i have a bunch of these guys and the Limes is practically complete.
Maybe this is time to write a bit about how it looks like. The fortresses form a closed line along rivers, where possible. Roads are in front of the limes (so that my fast units don't lose several movement points when i'm attacking over the river) and behind the Limes, in order to allow fast repositioning of infantry and artillery and to speed up the hunt for units that have managed to get behind the line of defence.

Year: 247 AD



A large chunk of the sassanid army is far from any action now (as long as they don't attack me, too) and the Armenians even managed to take back Nisibis for one turn, so i hope this war will not endanger the balance in the east. I've brought some additional troops over, so maybe i can allow myself to get involved some day.
The Persians just have too many of those clibanarii!

And now another overview, although not much has changed:



 
Kwlness.

I can't wait to see if the western half of the empire falls later on, debateable wether you should challenge the Persians til the Byzantine Period though.
 
Kwlness.

I can't wait to see if the western half of the empire falls later on, debateable wether you should challenge the Persians til the Byzantine Period though.

I have decided to stay passive for some time and wait for the things to come while preparing for the onslaught. If Belisarius has no need for reconquering the west, he might as well go to the east... assumed that the empire stands until then...
I'm convinced that if only one of the barbarian civs would be controlled by a human player Rome wouldn't stand a chance, so i have to hope that the Artificial Idiot defeats himself.
 
I have decided to stay passive for some time and wait for the things to come while preparing for the onslaught. If Belisarius has no need for reconquering the west, he might as well go to the east... assumed that the empire stands until then...
I'm convinced that if only one of the barbarian civs would be controlled by a human player Rome wouldn't stand a chance, so i have to hope that the Artificial Idiot defeats himself.

Probably a good call there, more wars at this point will just compromise your empire more.

Ive actually tried this game once as Egypt (Made 'em playable in the editor) and found it quite easy to carve out an empire for myself while the AI romans struggled to take out the epirotes :p
 
Chapter XX: From Diocletian to Theodosius and to the Roman Decadence

Year: 251 AD



The Moenia Aureliani increase the defence of Roma. I hope this will never be necessary, but you can't know.

Year: 267 AD



This technology is important for several things. The first to mention is the new gouvernment, the absolute principate. The absolute principate is better suited for warfare, as it has low war weariness and a significantly higher number of upkeep free units.
It also allows the construction of some wonders, that are to be mentioned later.
The absolute principate's downside is the reduced worker efficiency, but this doesn't worry me, as most what has to be done, is ready.

A new wonder that requires the Absolute Principate is the Renovatio Diocletiani which places a diocese in every city, helping the economy back on its feet.
Two new improvements are available: The Castra, a defensive structure with very high maintenance costs and the Castra Foederatorum, that acts as barracks and spawns Milites Alarii Germanici, useful units without upkeep that can be upgraded to Equites Alarii Germanici.

Another helpful asset is a terrain improvement similar to the vanilla radar tower, called castra, which boosts your units' defence and offence, when in two tiles radius.
You can use your munitores to construct the castrae along the limes, if you have completed the work on forts.



I immediately enter civil war (which again reduces my population) in order to change to absolute principate. This is also the opportunity to build the Constitutio Antoniana.

Year: 269 AD



The Constitutio Antoniana places a Municipium in every city as long as the civil war lasts. I will use this to install roman citizenship throughout the whole empire.

Year: 283 AD

The Roxolani have attacked Sarmizegetusa and destroyed a unit of Cohortes Urbanae. However, they won't live long enough to celebrate, as my forces are ready to strike back.



Before the Renovatio Diocletiani:



Year: 285 AD



And after:



This screenshot serves the comparison between before and after at same tax level. I also can lower the research slider without losing a turn, so i'm earning money again.

Year: 293 AD



As usual i enter the internal advisor before closing the window and switch from prebuild to newly researched buildings, which are:



The Edictum Mediolani cancels the unhappiness from the Persecutiones Christianorum.



The Constantinopolis wonder gives a lot of different benefits and is needed to move the Capital to Byzantium (which i rename to Constantinopolis now).



The Consilium Nicaeae places an Ecclesia in every city in the empire.

The Conversion of Constantine also provides another reform of the army. The mercenary Legion is now replaced by a combination of defensive Limitanei and offensive Comitatenses which both cost support.

Before researching this tech i have upgraded my imperial Legions to Legio Merc. One can argue about the effectiveness of this move, as a Legio Imperatoria is stronger than a Legio Mercennaria, but i have some reasons.
First of all, i want as many free legions as i can get. Functionally, the Legio Imp can be replaced by the Comitatenses, thus isn't needed essentially. Beside this, they really shouldn't be around any longer...


In the first turn of the reform the core of my army consists of 199 Legions, 3 unites of Eques Legionarius and 13 units Comitatenses (Cavalry).

Year: 303 AD

The new Capital of the roman empire is Constantinopolis. This has the consequence that the parts of the empire have a shift in their importance, due to the change of corruption level.

While regions like Hispania and Britannia further lose potential, the hour of the eastern provinces is coming, if you have improved their infrastructure continually.
Cities with great potential that have yet suffered from the distance to Roma are for example Trapezus and Antiochia.

Year: 317 AD



With accepting the christian faith as state religion all pagan cult sites go obsolete, which especially affects the Delubrum and Templum.
Now i can construct the basilica, which is useful improvement, making two citizens content and reducing corruption and slave unrest. Yet, it is expensive and should be build in larger settlements only.

Additionally, a new gouvernment is available, the christian principate. Advantages over the absolute principate are the minimal corruption and higher worker efficiency. However, the downside mainly are decreased number of supported units, higher support costs and high war weariness. Changing the gouvernment would require another civil war, too, so i rather stay in absolute principate.

A sideeffect of the temples going obsolete is this: If you have cities, that still have no full citizenship and no temple build, these can now acquire civitas only through civil war and use of the Constitutio Antoniana, because the Municipium has the Temple as prerequisite.



The Hippodromus makes the crowds hysterical and cause one unhappy citizen in every city throughout the empire and creates one Cataphractus every ten turns.

Year: 319 AD

The Sassanids and Armenians have ended their war. I'm not sure if this is good for me. Anyways, i give Amida back to Armenia and open some passes.

Year: 331 AD



The Incursio Magna places an Incursio Barbarorum in every germanic settlement and generates one Eques Loricatus once in a while. The Incursio Barbarorum regularly spawns an Incursor (16(7).6.2), a unit with a bonus of six hitpoints that can enslave a Bellator Loricatus (10(5).6.2) when victorious.

Year: 333 AD

Now the Goths have completed their own Incursio Magna, too.

Year: 341 AD



This tech doesn't really do much: The Domus Vestalis, which produces a bit of culture in Roma, becomes obsolete.

My economy has recovered after the crisis:



But the enemies become stronger day by day:



Map hasn't changed beside Amida which i have given back to Armenia.

Year: 355 AD



It looks like the Persians are going to start another armenian war. Luckily i have positioned a Miles Auxiliarius south of Amida, so they couldn't attack at once. It is time to take the city under my caring protection again and seal the passes.
I have here sort of a mini-game going: trying to lure and trap as many Sassanids into the Caucasus.

Year: 365 AD



This first Roman Decadence tech enables me to build the Tributus Attilae, an improvement which costs 100 gold per turn, but is needed to construct the Theodosian Walls, which in turn will later enable the construction of the Hagia Sophia and the Imperium Belisarii.
The Tributus Attilae also spawns a Miles Auxiliarius every two turns.
 
Epic update there.

Can see everything coming together now as you advance into the byzantine period, cant wait for the germanic invasions:)
 
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