Why is Rome so popular?

[Martin Alvito]

Because it's Rome.

By far the best civ in the original game (music/palace), if not for the fact that picking Alex or England kicked Alex out of the game.

 

[Josephias]

Actually, the last kaiser was dethroned ninety-eight years ago, and the last tzar was murdered along with his family the same year.

Bah.. Little details of modern history

 

[Sync]

Rome were pretty OP in Civ4. Maybe a lot of it is hangover from that. Praetorian rushes on Pangaea maps were easy domination victories.

 

[WorldWarIV]

Do you know nothing about europe history? Rome founded the fundation of modern europe today in laws religion and so on.

I know plenty But the importance of a civilization in history is not a guarantee of its popularity in a video game, especially if it was badly designed in a previous iteration.

 

[Red Pearl]

@WorldWarIV do you not want to see Rome?

 

[Lord Lakely]

Rome were pretty OP in Civ 5 too. A handful of Legions + a few Comps/Ballistae each can tear through Atilla's army.

 

[WorldWarIV]

@WorldWarIV do you not want to see Rome?

Yes I do. I was just wondering why they seemed very popular after a rather bland interpretation in CiV. I would love an amazing Rome!

 

[Red Pearl]

Yes I do. I was just wondering why they seemed very popular after a rather bland interpretation in CiV. I would love an amazing Rome!

1. Just because Rome was bland in civ V doesn't mean that it will be bland in civ VI.
2. All of the civ VI civs that have been revealed look more unique then they were in previous civs so it is likely that Civ 6 Rome will also have more flavor.

 

[Craig_Sutter]

With Swordsman upgrading to Musketmen, Legions might stick around quite some time this iteration of the game... they may be very useful.

Truth be told, legions would not have done too badly on any battlefield prior to gun powder anyhow. Except for armored horse, things did not change all that significantly from classical to medieval.

 

[Craig_Sutter]

Same goes for Ballista if you go back to civ V.

 

[SMcM]

I choose based on passion, not logic, and I thought maybe I wasn't the only one

Not really what these polls are for .

 

[Alphons Rodulfo]

Because if you ask someone to close their eyes and picture the first civilization they think of, its far more likely to be Rome than anything else. As others have said, Rome is the example that others want to copy, Rome is the eternal city, Rome reached a pinnacle in warfare and engineering that was not eclipsed for half a millennia after it's fall.

And because of this, Rome makes people dream

I'm not so sure about that. In terms of building a civilization that can stand the test of time there is only one that made it: China. In terms of innovation of science, philosophy, engineering and civilized behaviour the first one that comes to mind is Greece. Rome was a great military power, they did make progress in the field of warfare but in other aspects it was a not so talented pupil of Greece. Rome, in my view, excelled in uncivilized behaviour, so I would not picture them as a great civilization. A great empire, sure. But not the pinnacle of civilization.

 

[SJSerio]

Lately, when it's time to predict which civilization will be revealed next, Rome is always in the lead, so I guess it's a pretty popular civ. I was wondering why is that, since I felt Rome was pretty bland in CiV. Is there anyone who played regularly as Rome in CiV? Is it because of what a Rome civilization could be with the new mechanics? Or is it because the Roman empire was awesome?

Well... I love the Roman period (from founding to republic to empire) along with the surrounding periods and cultures... But focused on Rome. I am currently studying history and I am considering focusing my studies on Rome. It tends too irk me that the majority of the time whenever Rome odds depicted in pop culture such as movies or even video games, they are usually oppressive, egotistical, tyrannical bullies. However, there is so much more to them than those negative stereotypes.

As far as Civilization goes, Rome is my top 3 civilizations to play as (others being America... Because I'm American... and Japan... Because I have a fascination and admiration for Japanese culture and history). I didn't mind Rome in Civ V so much, though I have seen some complaints about them. I loved their ability for legions to build roads and forts and didn't mind the small discount for buildings already in my capital.

I am looking forward to see what is in store for Rome in Civ VI. With the road mechanics, I adj expecting Rome to get earlier access to roads than other civs by allowing the legions to take the role of military engineers. Other than that, I can only speculate on their abilities and such and I can't wait to learn more about their role in Civilization VI.

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[CaiusDrewart]

Rome is popular is part because Rome always has a legion UU and its mechanics always encourage early empire. What is more fun than that? Moreover, the Roman Empire itself kind of represents the whole point of civ. A single city rises from humble beginnings to found a sprawling empire, changing the world forever in the process. That's what it's all about!

 

[CaiusDrewart]

According to wikipedia even the book was invented by the Romans.

Yes, under the Roman Empire people began binding texts in codices instead of using scrolls. It's a very good thing that they did, because a codex has far more survivability than a scroll! Of course, countless texts were never copied from scroll to codex, and lost forever. And even those that were had an uphill battle to survive the dark ages.

 

[SJSerio]

China has done lots of great things, but it's also been excellent at making the people who conquered it call themselves Chinese. You'd be hard pressed to say that (to take some of the most common examples) that there is any continuity stretching from the Qin to the Yuan to the Qing to the Ming. I'd probably agree it's the same civilization, but it is close to the limit. They stood the test of time to a large extent because it's been very good at the propaganda which say it's stood the test of time.

Greece was not so civilised itself. I presume that you're not talking about Spartan timocracy, but about the Athenian Republic/Empire? They did well for a few decades by bullying their neighbours and produced some impressive philosophers and a handful of works of art. But the only reason their culture spread is that it was admired by the Romans. A lot of what we know in ancient mathematics is written down by the greeks, but that doesn't mean that the greeks discovered it. It means that the Romans like doing intellectual pursuits in Greek (like people in Europe used Latin until 1700). Take the shinning example of Greek science, the Great Library of Alexendria. By far it's most influencial couple of centuries was when it was under Roman rule. That's not to say that the Greeks achieved nothing, but it does pale in comparison.

Other than incomparable military dominance for 600 years, the Romans did lots of things. Take engineering: the arch, the pulley, the crane, siphons and domes. Oh, and concrete. In art: alfresco mural paintings, realistic sculptors and new forms of theatre. If you prefer administration: centralised logistics, a meritocratic civil service and the first instance of a monotheistic religion with reasonably strong homogeneity (perfect homogeneity if you count the Byzantines as Roman (which you should)). According to wikipedia even the book was invented by the Romans.

To put it another way, after Athens fell, no one was proclaiming to be "the new greece". Every petty king in Europe for a thousand years wanted to claim some of the legitimacy and greatness of Rome. If you want to build an imposing structure which will give the visitor the certainty that you are in the right and will be around forever, you do so in a greco-Roman style - and not because of the greco part. Just go to Tiananmen square and look at the National People's Congress.


Of course, this is all purely subjective. But I stand by my earlier statement. Ask someone (from the target audience of the game) to close their eyes and picture a great and glorious civilization, it's going to be Rome that comes to mind before all others.

Thank you for responding to that... Saved me the trouble. [emoji2]

I will add, though that many people think that the American government was based on the Greeks and their democracy. However, America is actually a republic and is more inspired by Rome (also with influence of England's constitutional monarchy and the Iroquois league). Also, many of the buildings in the capital, like the capital building, the many memorials, and even the White House, are more influenced by Roman architecture than Greek.

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[Magil]

Because they're the Romans!
The guys that conquered basically the entirely of southern Europe, north Africa and more!
They're the guys with the aqueducts, the baths, the forums, the temples, the arenas.
They're the guys that everyone else was trying to imitate, claiming to be the true successors of.
They're the guys whose names and words stereotypically end in "-ius", the guys who carried these long shields and made cool formations using them, the guys who had golden helmets and laurel wreaths.
They're the guys in Spartacus, the guys in Ben Hur, the guys in nearly every single biblical film (except if the film is about the story of Moses, in which case it's the Egyptians). They're the guys who Asterix and Obelix always sent flying through the air.

For the vast majority of the people posting here, the Romans heavily influenced they way they and their society live, and have done so for millennia. They have a huuuge influence in our way of life, our pop culture, even our own idea of what a Civilization is.
This is regardless of how Rome was depicted in Civilization V. Rome, all in all, it's just... cool. And maybe those who are more into history see Rome with less of a spark. Maybe hardcore CivFanatics see Rome with less of a spark. But for the casual enthusiast, Rome is really really awesome.
And maybe it's just me, but I like to see really really awesome civs in Civilization games.

This kinda stuff, and it's not really a new thing. What's fascinating to me in particular is how idealized and idolized the Roman empire was throughout the Medieval era in Europe, to the extent that there were attempts at creating successor states, like the Holy Roman Empire.

 

[Xen]

The thing is the desire to claim the mantle of Rine isnt just a classic christian Europeam thing either- thebOttoman Turks also tried to make the argument that the first Rome was pagan, the Second (the Byzantines and or HRE) was Christian- and the third, the Ottomans themselves- was islamic.

 

[Acken]

Rome is the real world version of a civ game. Start with one city to rule the "world" (their world at least) through military and culture

Also Rome had a huge influence over Europe for centuries after the fall of the western empire. And its one of the longest lasting empire.

 

[SofNascimento_]

I wouldn't call Rome the archtype civilization, but it's certainly the archtype Empire. Western civlization's notion of empire was created by the Romans. So everytime in a civ video you hear "lead on empire...", "will your empire last...", "create an empire...", etc... this 'empire' thing is a Roman creation. So is it really a surprise it is such a popular civ?