Author: James Northstar
Original Thread: Roman Economic Strategy: A Guide


Roman Economic Strategy

After a long time of haunting forums like this one (mostly *cough* other forums, that are now dead), I realized most Rome Total War players don't have the faintest clue how to play to the economic and administrative strengths of the 3 different starting Roman factions- at least not beyond the Brutii (arguably the simplest of the three from an economic standpoint). Therefore, I decided to create a simple guide to help players to better understand the 3 factions- especially the Scipii, the most under-appreciated Roman faction:


Basic Overview:

It is true that unless you're a truly atrocious administrator and empire-manager, you can almost always make up for poor economic strategy to at least some degree simply by conquering more territory- and indeed this is the strategy that even many veteran Total War players knowingly (or unknowingly) follow in their path of expansion and imperial Roman glory; much as did many of those ancient Roman leaders who lacked keen economic minds.

*However*, if you can efficiently manage your empire, and squeeze the most out of ever last settlement; you will have a lot more money to play with to expand your empire that much faster, and you will also inevitably have an easier time finding the resources to divert to properly protecting what you already own...

Enough said, time for some strategy...


Grand Strategy:

The first thing most Total War players fail to understand when playing as any Roman faction is that each of the three factions has a different overall grand strategic path, which when properly exploited can make them significantly more effective in their wars and expansion. Note the repeated use of the term "grand" strategic- there *is* a difference between specific, localized strategy to win a war against an individual opponent, and grand strategy- which can be best defined as a larger overarching plan guiding your decisions on what to build, when (and how quickly) to expand, and what types of units to train. There are three basic elements that should be accounted for in any grand strategic plan, and differ between each of the Roman factions:

Attrition
You read that right. That fancy word everybody likes to throw around for, basically, men getting killed. The fact of the matter is, different strategic plans will lead to different levels of attrition on your forces. The most important factors affecting this are the level of armor you decide to equip your troops with (Hastati vs. Princeps; "early", chainmail-equipped Legionaries vs. platemail-equipped Legionries; armor upgrades and the like) ; the number of missile troops you assign to your armies; and surprisingly for some players, the stamina values of your troops and your level of use of tactical reserves (defense skill decreases RAPIDLY with increasing exhaustion levels).

Availability
The ability of a faction to train excellent troops won't do it any good if those troops don't become available until you develop a Huge City barracks, and you never make it past a Large City (it is for this very reason that the Secleucids, while excellent tactically, are in a terrible position strategically- their best units don't become available until late-game, and they're usually either dead or already steamrolling the world at the hands of an excellent tactician who took Militia Hoplites to world domination by then... Trust me, it can be done- I made it as far as taking Apollonia once without a single unit of Phalanx Pikemen- and took Tarentum with just 2 or 3 in a largely militia army.) Although most of the Roman factions don't vary much in their unit rosters, the Scipii pose a MAJOR exception to this rule with their strictly late-game naval units, as well as their superior gladiators- which are also only available late-game.

Growth
There are two elements to economic growth in Rome Total War- and I'm sure if you've played any Total War game more than once you're already familiar with them: population, and money. The latter of these often gets the most attention, but the former is equally important. If you're recruiting literally thousands of soldiers in the early game to raise armies that will suffer high attrition, you're going to strangle your economy's long-term growth (the AI is famous for often doing this- but WITHOUT actually using the dozens of cheap units it recruits). Money also is of solid importance though- if you can't afford the buildings, farms, aqueducts, and other improvements to keep your population growing or happy because you're spending it all on upkeep, well you know the results which the historical Western Roman Empire loved so well- either revolt and plummeting tax rates, or economic stagnation- or both... Like anything else it Total War, you can get these either through internal growth or conquest. Like I'm about to explain, the different Roman factions also differ in which of these they do best...



The Factions:

Now that I've explained these three elements that I'm sure you all love so well, it's time to cut to the meat of this (not so short) guide. The three Roman factions. Bear with me- to do them justice is going to take a while...


The Julii
Perhaps the most popular of the Roman factions- but usually not for their apparent roaring economic strength (let's face it- we'd all love to smash a few barbarian skulls now and then... However most players opt for the Brutii if they're looking for an economic powerhouse.) However, the Julii actually are capable of supporting a vibrant and extremely strong economy, *IF* the player knows what he's doing when playing as them. Here are the basic elements you need to know:

- The Julii find their greatest strength in farming. You read that right, FARMING. Not trade, or taxation (though they get this indirectly), or conquest, FARMING. How, you might ask?

+ The Roman Temple of Ceres, constructable by the Julii, does several beneficial things for the economy. First of all, it directly increases farming output in more or less exactly the same manner as a farm. This DIRECTLY translates into increased income, in the same manner as a mine or trade route does. Most players forget or are unaware of just how significant this income is- in the early game; before roads, ports, and Eastern trade caravans stretch everywhere, farming often comprises 40-50% of your total income, with taxes making up 25-40% more, and the remaining 10-25% coming from trade routes and mines. Farming is a BIG DEAL, and a BIG moneymaker early in the game. Most players simply aren't aware of how important this income is because it tends to remain more or less flat throughout the game, with a slow linear increase of only one level per city size, while trade tends to grow exponentially...

+ Farms = Taxes. Not directly, but through population. In case you hadn't noticed that that tiny town with only 400 people left in it after you exterminated everyone else just wasn't producing much tax income, taxes are proportional to population. The actual equation isn't directly linear, though, if you check in the game's raws- taxes follow a stepwise curve: which means they basically follow more and more gradual slopes as population increases. Think of it this way- the larger your population, the more urbanized it is, and the more tax evasion your administration suffers from- as the largely mobile urban population suddenly isn't home in their flat the next time the Censor's local officials come round... (The Romans, as I'm sure you're aware, were the first civilization to conduct a regular census of their entire population on a regular basis for tax-assessment purposes. Taxes were collected on a regional, rather than individual, basis by the Roman government- which contracted out the actual collection duties to "publicans", private contractors who bid on the right to collect taxes in accordance with the size of the region's population in the last census.) The more food your farms produces, via the benefits of a Temple of Ceres, the larger your population will grow, as will your tax income.

+ Management. You know, those "scrolls" on your governor's character card. I'll get more into this later, but Management works in basically like the inverse of Corruption- it adds, rather than subtracts, a specific percentage to your settlement's total income based on its overall income- which includes farming and tax income. The Roman Temple of Ceres not only increases the base income, but provides some traits/ancillaries for your characters that improve management ability as well (the Priest of Ceres provides Management, I know that for sure. I think the temple also improves a bureaucracy-type trait, though I'll have to check on this...) In a more figurative sense of the word management, the Temple of Ceres, as a temple of farming, also provides traits/ancillaries that improve farm output even further- such as the "Agriculturalist" retinue member, and "Good Farmer" (Grower, etc.) trait- which also acts as the anti-trait of "Poor Farmer".


- The Julii do an excellent job of GROWING (remember the AAG's from earlier?) their economy quickly, through INTERNAL growth. Because their emphasis on farming also leads to rapid population growth, they are quickly able to upgrade their settlements to higher levels. Which is important, because the territories they typically expand into are barbarian bum-F%#& nowheresville, with little population, less infrastructure, and none of those lovely wonders Brutii-players love so much... (Which is also why the Julii benefit a lot less from new conquest).


- The Julii tend to suffer from higher ATTRITION than either of the other Roman factions. Barbarians are disproportionately fierce fighters relative to the value and economic output of their lands (they can recruit much tougher units for a given recruitment and upkeep cost than can more "civilized" factions. Just compare the upkeep costs on their unit roster some time to that of the spendthrift Greeks, I dare you...) What's more, wars against barbarians tend to drag on against stack after stack of cheap units because of this tendency- rather than being decided in handful of decisive battles like against more "civilized" folks. You've got to be a good strategist to minimize this as much as possible (not coincidentally, the Roman Temple of Jupiter, which the Julii also can build, provides the "Strategist" trait for characters stationed in the settlement for extended periods of time).

- The Julii benefit from higher AVAILABILITY than their rivals the Scipii, though are heavily outmatched in this regard by the Brutii (who also have a growth-temple, and can capture a number of relatively well-developed cities early in the game, in Greece/Macedon). The Julii's ability to expand their cities quickly through farming, coupled with the relative compactness of their target barbarian territories all within a few years' march of Rome once proper roads are built (compare this to the Scipii or Brutii, who end up with territories as far-flung as Egypt and Syria), all combine to give them rapid and consistent access to their best troops. For bonus points, speed the process of growth of outlying towns with Peasant unit "settlers" (works best on Huge unit-scale). They also lack any unique late-game troops (excepting the Arcanii) like the Scipii- the Julii have no special ships, and can build their (relatively weak) gladiator units with nothing but a provincial Arena.


All in all, the Julii make for a high-growth faction with a surprisingly high economic potential, once their cities are built up to the large/huge city size..

- A final note on the Julii: The player MUST remember to build plenty of buildings of public order when his Ceres-supported cities really start to get up there in size, so he isn't wasting all that extra tax income on large garrisons... (Garrisons work well on small towns and cities, but they derive public order from the RATIO of soldiers to citizens- which means that you need more and more soldiers for a given amount of public order from "garrison" the larger your city becomes. Garrisons/taxes are never really a profitable strategy in anything beyond peasant or town-militia garrisons in early or large towns, but it just gets worse the larger your city becomes...) Once a city near the capital reaches a certain (very large) size, throwing monthly gladiatorial games OR races in order to raise the tax rate actually becomes PROFITABLE- as the cost of the games is a constant, but the increase in tax income per rate "notch" increases with city size... How's that for mass-entertainment? (Why does the city need to be near the capital for this to work? I'll explain that later...)



The Scipii

Deriving their name from Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus, without question the greatest general in Roman history (for all his fame and glory, Julius Caesar never faced down and defeated anyone half as clever as Hannibal Barca), the Scipii are without question my favorite faction in Rome Total War. They're also the most under-rated, and not just because they get to face down the Carthaginians. Here's why:


Law & Order

No, I'm not talking about that repetitive, poorly-made show your parents (or maybe your girlfriend- don't yell at me!) watch all the time on TV. I'm talking about the "Law" factor in Rome Total War.

Most people falsely mistake "Law" for being basically the same as "Happiness", but I CANNOT, CANNOT, CANNOT emphasize this enough to players- they're very different, and "Law" points are INFINITELY more valuable. Given the choice between 4 points of law, and 5 points of happiness, you should ALWAYS choose the 4 points of law. Here's why:


CORRUPTION

To most Rome Total War players, even experienced players, who have ever bothered to look in the "More Details" tab of one of their settlements, and seen this terrible thing called "Corruption" eating up all their income from many of their cities in the late-game; Corruption is simply a mystery. It doesn't have to be. Let me break it down for you, as I imagine NOBODY ever has for you before (most likely because they didn't understand it themselves...)

First of all, the base level of Corruption is based on two simple, rational, easily understandable factors- not on some vague and difficult-to-predict aspect like your faction's "moral integrity" (Rome Total War in fact simulates no such thing in the long-run). Here they are:

Distance
The hand which can steal in the dark steals more greedily. Simply put, THE FURTHER A SETTLEMENT IS FROM YOUR CAPITAL, THE MORE CORRUPTION IT WILL EXPERIENCE. This is why you don't see much Corruption in the early-game: most of your settlements are relatively close to your faction capital. Think of it this way: the financial records, the clerks, the style of clothing important men can't (or suddenly can) afford, how regularly your soldiers are being paid- all things are all being carefully watched by your faction leader to make sure your governors, generals, officers, bureaucrats, and the like; aren't taking a little something-something aside for themselves.

Due to the increasing difficulties of communication and monitoring the further a settlement is from your capital (thankfully, Rome Total War doesn't include any sort of annoying/ridiculous/unrealistic the-more-cities-you-have the-more-money-you-lose mechanism. It doesn't matter if you have two cities or 50 cities, corruption is based on map distance, not city-count. Too bad they couldn't have included a mechanism for travel-time instead: would have made Highways and Roads even more useful, as well as adding a touch more realism...), theft increases with increasing map-distance from your capital (that is, absolute distance- as the crow flies- not how long it takes an army to get there). For this reason, it is often advisable to always place your capital at the geographic center of your faction's territory, to minimize corruption...

Economic Output
The more money there is to steal, the less somebody will notice if a couple denarii go astray here or there, right? At least, that's the way your bureaucrats and other important nameless officials (though your named characters can positively or negatively affect final corruption levels- they never directly cause corruption) seem to think. The more money a given settlement rakes in (BEFORE things like salaries, wages for your army, and devastation "costs"- which is why it's possible for Corruption to go much of the way to putting a settlement with relatively-low army upkeep costs into the red anyways...), the more of it gets stolen. I would assume that, following logic and reason, more money cannot be stolen than is actually being produced- but I've never actually done anything to confirm this (the theoretical distance a settlement would have to be from the capital would, I think, be slightly larger than the width of the entire campaign map).


Putting it Together
The way these two factors interact is this: Distance provides a fractional-multiplier for the PERCENTAGE of total income that is stolen at each individual settlement (Corruption, as repeatedly stated, increases with distance- and is virtually non-existent extremely close to your capital). That percentage is multiplied by the TOTAL economic output of each settlement for the actual amount that is stolen there...

I hope you can see the implications of this- though the Julii or (as I'll discuss later) the Brutii both have faction-specific temples and geographical locations that allow them to produce a lot of money at their bases; as their empires grow larger and larger, more and more of this money is stolen by corrupt officials/bureaucrats before it ever reaches the faction coffers... The Scipii, on the other hand:


Why You Want Saturnine Priests Guarding Your Treasury

In yet another brilliant move by Creative Assembly back in its glory days when it created Rome Total War (don't even get me *STARTED* on how far downhill Total War has come to the days of Rome: 2... The more you start teasing apart all the little details of what made the original so great, the more you realize how the sequel was just a rushed-out half-attempt by comparison, despite its good intentions: probably thanks to the dirty, lazy money-grubbers at Sega rushing the product out the figurative production door early...), the brilliant game designers managed to get another aspect of Roman history eerily correct- the importance of the Temples of Saturn to guarding the Roman treasury...

A little history lesson for those of you not as history-crazy as I am: the classical-era Romans traditionally relied on the priests of Saturn in Rome to guard the national treasury from thieves and would-be megalomaniac bureaucrats (this went horribly wrong during the Roman Civil War though- where it conveniently gathered a huge portion of the republic's treasury in one place for greedy and overly-ambitious imperialists and republicans to fight over, and ultimately empty out...)

Anyways, how does this translate into the game? The Roman Temples of Saturn that the Scipii can build in abundance throughout their settlements provide that lovely, charming factor the game calls "Law". Think of it as the rule of law- criminals are prosecuted and made examples of, nobody is above the rules (not even nobles), and policies and punishments are formally put into place to try to prevent crimes before they happen...

History again: this reflects the kind of culture that Saturn-worship encouraged, and the historical interest that certain more progressive-minded Romans (who did indeed often historically hail from the Cornelii family of Rome- which Scipio Africanus belonged to. A number of Cornelii were historically also hellenophiles: they were pro-greek culture, and sought in many other ways to imitate Greek achievements besides the establishment of a rational legal structure...) had in the establishment of law and order.


So, enough talk, why *DO* you want Saturn's priests guarding your treasury?


It's Not a Crime if There's No Law Against It!

Well, this is at least something I could *imagine* somebody really saying. Cutting to the chase, "Law" is the direct antithesis of Corruption; your primary, best, and in fact ONLY real defense against Corruption stealing all your money!

Put in more technical terms- every point of "Law" reduces the base "Corruption" modifier by a certain amount. That is, the PERCENTAGE of your income that gets stolen each turn goes down. Not terribly useful for a small town close to your capital, but for a Huge City with tons of economic production (taxes, farming, and especially in the late-game on the eastern side of the map- trade) across the map from your capital; LAW IS A RICH GOLD MINE!


Law essentially shrinks the distance of any city to your capital. It imposes standards, regulation, and punishment to deter corruption just as severe and effective as you might otherwise find only closer to the center of your empire. And speaking of "severe", the Temple of Saturn (referred to in the game raws as a "Temple of Law") also has another extremely valuable side-effect besides promoting the happiness of your population... (never forget: Law does double-duty as *both* a corruption-fighter AND a positive factor for public order...)

Any character stationed in a settlement where a Temple of Saturn (small temple level or above) can be found has a chance each turn of gaining a point in the "Harsh Judge" trait. What this does, besides making your character sound cruel and unrelenting in his punishment of criminals when you read the trait description (interestingly enough, the nearly-identical "Authoritarian" trait cannot be gained simply from being in a city with a Temple of Saturn- it normally requires crushing a riot with the Tax Rate on "Low", or inheriting it from one's father at Coming of Age. It is self-perpetuating though: meaning once they acquire the trait, it only becomes stronger- much like the drunkenness or sobriety traits...) is serve to increase "Law" by two points for each visible level of the trait, while simultaneously also increasing "Unrest" by 1 point for each trait level...

What that adds up to is that public order INCREASES by ONE tick for each level of "Harsh Judge" (Law has a positive effect on Public Order, Unrest has a negative effect), whereas Corruption DECREASES by TWO ticks for each level of "Harsh Judge".

I mention this trait specifically, whereas I rarely mention traits in such detail, because it is both EXTREMELY important and useful; and EXTREMELY common if your governors stick around in a settlement with a Temple of Saturn. And I mean *extremely*- a Roman character has something like a 30% chance of gaining a point in Harsh Judge each turn he sits idle (that is, not moving) in a settlement with a Temple of Saturn, and it only takes a couple points for the trait to reach its first visible "level" (the second level is reached at 3 points, the third at 7 points).


Corruption Summary
What this all adds up to is that the Scipii experience a much lower rate of Corruption than any of the other Roman factions due to the greater presence of the "Law" public order factor in any of their settlements featuring the Temple of Saturn. This is a HUGE money-maker for the Scipii in the late-game, where their settlements tend to be scattered all along the African coast (in fact, it's a significant factor even in the early-game: if your capital remains in Capua once you capture Carthage instead of moving to Sicily or the African coast, you will already be experience quite a bit of corruption, as Carthage is a rich city at a considerable map-distance for Capua...)

Oh, and one last thing about corruption: you shouldn't wait until the late game or the capture of distant and rich cities to start building Temples to Saturn. Because the worship of Saturn is also the Scipii's best path to early public-order other than a garrison; and the weapons/armor upgrades provided by a Temple of Vulcan (the only other Scipii temple providing significant tangible benefits early-game) can be shared by many settlements by means of placing Temples of Vulcan at centralized troop-training centers (preferably ones where there is also a lot of mining- as a Temple of Vulcan increases the chance of developing certain positive mining-related traits and ancillaries), and retraining troops trained elsewhere if absolutely necessary; it's also the best early-game money-maker for the Scipii.

Not to mention that you get the same absolute savings from reducing the corruption modifier by 10 percentage points in a city experiencing 10% corruption as you do by reducing it by 10 percentage points in a city experiencing 30% corruption...

Scipii Grand Strategy:

The Scipii starting position is, well, *interesting*, to say the least. They start out with only one province in Italy, Capua; and another province across the Straits of Messina, in, well, Messina. What this means for Scipii grand and economic strategy is interesting...


The Power of The Seas
Fleets are one of the most under-rated aspects of Rome Total War. Perhaps this is not surprising considering fleet battles sometimes seem arbitrary, and you can only auto-resolve them. However, they are also one of the most useful tools for a powerful empire- a strong fleet can not only strange your opponents' late-game largely trade-based economy, but bypass difficult defensive terrain and strongly fortified cities to strike at the enemy heartland (if only the AI had wisdom enough to defend the natural geographic bottlenecks...)

History Lesson: The Persian invasion of Greece failed in large part not due to the Battle of Thermopylae (which was an eventual Greek/Spartan defeat thanks to a traitor who led a portion of the Persian force through an alternative mountain pass to come out behind the Greek army), but due to their loss of the Battle of Salamis- a large and decisive naval battle off the Greek coast. The loss of naval support meant the Persians could not easily bring supplies or reinforcements to their large and powerful land army, which then proceeded to starve and desert due to attrition as the Greeks followed a sort of scorched-earth policy, and left the advancing victorious Persian army no food or shelter...

Fleets are equally underrated in Rome Total War as they were by the Persians (the Persian empire, preferring land warfare, actually built a BRIDGE of ships across the strait between Asia Minor and Europe, rather than keep those ships for naval warfare and resupply- which probably helped to cost them the Battle of Salamis). A clever leader can leverage a strong fleet to defeat a vastly superior enemy force by dividing and conquering, which is essentially for the typically outnumbered Scipii armies...


Scipio Africanus, where are my legions?
These words were of course never spoken by any historical figure, but perhaps they might have been. The historical Romans lost SEVERAL entire legions to the Carthaginians under Hannibal Barca before finally defeating him in Italy. Similarly, facing Carthaginian elephants with insufficient missile and cavalry support for my infantry is the ONLY way I have ever lost entire legions in my Rome Total War campaigns. Even full barbarian hordes in Barbarian Invasion couldn't do that (although they sometimes did force tactical withdrawals with a little over half my largest force slaughtered- though usually with FAR more barbarians taken to the afterlife with them...) The Carthaginians are simply tough foes under a properly clever general (general intelligence is represented by Command stars- though maybe I was unlucky enough to encounter an early 6+ star Carthaginian general), and it would be a mistake to underestimate them...

Facing a 'Flock of Birds'- the Numidians
The Numidians can be even worse for a poorly-prepared Roman legion. Although they typically lack the terror-weapons that are elephants, they possess something much more deadly- Numidian Cavalry. The historical Romans described the Numidian Cavalry as maneuvering 'Like a Flock of Birds', and indeed this well-describes their exceptional maneuverability and proper tactics under a competent enemy (even AI) general.

Proper Numidian tactics rely on hit-and-run attacks against unprepared medium and heavy infantry, putting their javelins' armor-piercing ability to good use. Numidian Cavalry are simply too fast, too agile, and have too much Stamina to catch with more traditional cavalry (short of the almost-exploitive tactic of pushing them against the side of the map, which I have nevertheless made use of many times...), and a wise general will make use of this to stay out of swords' reach of then enemy infantry, instead dealing as many casualties as possible on the vast Numidian plains and desert. Occasionally, the AI even has the sense to withdraw a Numidian force consisting largely of cavalry so it can fight again after emptying its clutch of javelins, although more often they simply follow up this tactic with a suicidal charge to the flank or rear of your heaviest infantry (who, not engaged elsewhere, can quickly turn to face them if they don't manage to on-time). Not that it matters- the Numidian territory is vast, and the AI will often spam your army with smaller "captain" stacks; wearing your men down long before your slow-moving force reaches any of their major cities... The halfway-decent and highly-inexpensive Numidian infantry, coupled with a large force of foot skirmishers and slingers, is more than capable of finishing the job if you don't come properly prepared...

Slings and Arrows
The best, almost hard-counter to agile missile cavalry is typically large numbers of missile troops on foot (their numbers being greater and more inexpensive), but this tactic is not always entirely effective against the Numidians' low-cost, high-quality missile cavalry- who also excel at melee combat with light troops. Ultimately, you will typically have to counter them with either larger numbers (here's where your powerful, low-corruption economy REALLY pays its dividends), or missile cavalry of your own (typically Numidian Mercenaries)- though either tactic is expensive. This brings me to the first principle of Scipii economic strategy- Attrition.


Ye Gods, what Dastards would we command- swept to the war, the lumber of the land? (ATTRITION)
The Scipii face heavy attrition in their imperial campaigns- far more so than the Brutii, with their Greek opponents who tend to decide matters with single, large, decisive battles (it often takes too long for the Greeks to raise a second army of hoplites in the cramped conditions of the Greek peninsula, before an ambitious and strategy-minded Roman general pours in with his victorious force and besieges their key cities- effectively halting troop recruitment). Fighting the Numidians is like facing a swarm of birds (and they will often retreat rather than face certain doom when heavily-outnumbered), whereas the Carthiganians are a bit like facing the hordes of Mordor- their cheap, plentiful armies and mercenaries, drawn from a nearly-inexhaustible recruitment pool on Africa and ancient Libya's (modern-day Tunisia and Tripoli) abundantly-fertile soil, just keep coming and coming- there's no end to them short of taking Carthage itself...

Thus, a wise Scipii consul will bear in mind the imperative to minimize the attrition of his forces (and the resultant drain on his limited population), and will do everything he can to manage it:



Of Chestplates and Cretians- Combating Attrition

The best tactic available to a commander to reduce attrition is and always has been not to face his enemy at close quarters, while simultaneously leaving his own force well-protected against enemy bombardment.

It may not seem like a very 'Roman' tactic, but historically the Romans were a lot more innovative than we originally thought. They DID NOT simply recruit large armies of heavy infantry all the time, and bullheadedly march directly on their enemy like some kind of automatons- despite this being the description of historical Roman tactics many players of this game seem to (inaccurately) embrace. Rather, the Roman army made heavy use of auxiliary cavalry and missile troops, where appropriate, going so far as to raise an ENTIRE ARMY of horse-archer cavalry in the Near East (modern-day Syria and Lebanon) during the time of the Roman Civil War. Such examples of adaptable thinking were not the exception, but rather the rule- although some particularly bullheaded Roman commanders (*cough* Marc Antony) insisted on the planning of suicidal tactics like chasing the Parthians through the deserts of their homeland with little besides heavy infantry...

Similarly, the best tactic available to a wise Roman commander to minimize attritional losses is to make heavy use of ranged forces- particularly elite foot archers such as those of Crete- while simultaneously doing his all to harden his more conventional forces with the best arms and armor available.


The Might of the Smiths
The Roman Temple of Vulcan is invaluable in this regard. The Scipii' respect for smiths and their handicraft, often slowly won by long years of warfare against Numidian skirmishing forces, serves their armies well on nearly any front.

While the armor upgrades provided by Vulcan won't quite match the effectiveness of the early experience and morale upgrades of the Brutii when facing enemies in close-combat, there are INVALUABLE when engaging on opponent at a range.

The defensive system of Rome Total War works on a three-part foundation, as I'm sure anyone who has ever examined the unit cards has noticed: military units keep themselves alive with Armor, Shields, and that over-valued entity called "Defense Skill".

Much like in real-life, or in the words of your military adviser, "A well-trained soldier has no more defense against an arrow or javelin than a raw recruit." While this isn't ENTIRELY true- higher quality units often possess superior quality armor to their lower-cost counterparts, there is some truth to this adage when it comes to unit experience...

Because all an experience cheveron does, when it comes to combat stats, is improve Attack and Defense Skill (there is also a lesser positive effect on Morale- most notable when comparing bloodied soldiers to raw recruits) ; it DOESN'T provide an experienced veteran with any extra protection against arrows, slings, or javelins. An experienced commander will use this to his advantage- by targeting his enemies' most experienced soldiers first in battle (though this rarely matters against the AI- which tends to eat through even its elite troops like a World War I era meat-grinder...) However, of greater importance, improving the armor of YOUR most troops, especially your most experienced troops, will go a long way towards keeping them alive in battle...


The Scipii, as I mentioned, face heavy attrition in their campaigns. They also face repeated battles- where there is rich opportunity for valiant units to prove themselves again and again in battle, gaining experience cheverons in the process. However, to ensure that these veterans aren't slaughtered in the next volley of slingshot (Carthage and Numidia rarely utilize archers), your best tactic is to ensure that they are protected by high-quality armor.

This means two things: recruiting better-armored soldiers as early in the game as possible (Princeps over Hastati- and for God's sake, *NEVER* rely on Town Watch spam to win Scipii battles), and upgrading your troops' armor with the larger temples of Vulcan.


If you do these two things as the Scipii, the benefits will snowball. Better armor for your men means you can expect them to survive more battles- which means they will acquire more experience. More experienced men can in turn be expected to perform better in combat- further increasing your mens' life expectancy. If your enemy faces you poorly-armored, as Numidians (and to a lessedr degree Carthaginians) often do, they also leave themselves intimately vulnerable to being slaughtered at a distance by your missile troops; leaving only a small force to be finished off by your heavy infantry. TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS WEAKNESS!

An enemy thinned by arrow-fire is an enemy easily broken. The main value of missile troops, even against lightly-armored foes, is not to actually kill your opponent off at a range (although if you can do this without suffering heavy losses yourself, GO FOR IT!) The main value of missile troops is to shake your enemies' resolve before they even engage with your heavy infantry (as they should be playing the Scipii) in the first place. A unit at half or two-thirds strength recently thinned by missile volleys will break and rout much sooner than a unit at full-strength. This is essential, because in Rome Total War, like in ancient warfare, far more casualties are normally dealt by your light cavalry as the enemy flees your main force than by actual combat with your men. This is ESSENTIAL to long-term strategic success as the Scipii, and also a handy way to train your cavalry forces...


In short, 'Arrows and Armor'- that's the secret to reducing attrition!

The Grand Fleet of Carthage
Anyone who's ever tried to win an Imperial Campaign as Carthage knows the value of a strong navy. Without it, Carthage can't move its armies to where they are needed, protect its naval trade, or even rotate provincial governors or install agents as-necessary. What many players forget is that, as the Scipii, you have basically taken over the reins of Carthage under Roman leadership. Carthage will soon, for good reason, become your most important city- sometimes even the site of your relocated capital- and your strategic position is much the same. As you just conquered Carthage, however, hopefully you are aware of some of the perils of this strategic placement...


Elephants Make Excellent Anchors
If you let Carthage live long enough to start training its better elephant units (you shouldn't have- it's of particular importance to conquer the city of Carthage before they build an Imperial Palace- otherwise you'll never fully culturally-assimilate the city, and will have constant public order problems on your hands with its enormously fertile farmland fueling the growth of an immense, unruly population...) you probably became aware that the best way to defeat an elephant unit is to send it to the bottom of the sea. Or more precisely, to send it and its crew of expensive professional rowers to the bottom of the deep blue (Triremes and Quinquremes were manned by highly-trained professionals, freemen not slaves, despite the inaccurate descriptions on RTW's Dockyard buildings...)

The Scipii would be wise to remember this lesson even after they vanquish Carthage. Not only is a strong navy important for keeping their own armies (which should even occasionally include Mercenary Elephants from the African coast) alive, it is also important for vanquishing their enemies' armies.

The Scipii do not benefit from as large a number of recruiting centers close to the center of power in Italy as the Julii or Brutii. Their major centers of recruitment are in Carthage and Sicily; if they should loose these they will be at a strong disadvantage, for their other settlements are unlikely to reach a similar level of size and development before the outbreak of the Roman Civil War.

Therefore, a wise Scipii leader will maintain a strong fleet. The Scipii are aided in this endeavor by their ability to construct the Temple of Neptune line of buildings...


Neptune- Roman God of the Sea
The Scipii worship of Neptune feels almost like an afterthought a times. It doesn't provide large public order or population growth bonuses. It doesn't provide trade or armor or experience bonuses. It doesn't even provide useful traits or ancillaries to your generals and governors. What it DOES do, is randomly provide a handful of useful ancillaries to your admirals upon creation at a city hosting these temples, at Large Temple level or above; and more important provide the ability to construct the Corvus Quinqureme and Decere at its Awesome Temple and Pantheon levels, respectively.


Bigger is Better
The old adage, only true to a certain extant with the fairer sex (hey, I couldn't resist the jibe!), after which point greater size means awkward and unwieldy; knows no such limit when it comes to the Roman navy. The Romans could never build their warships too large (maybe they were compensating for something?), and in fact neither can you.

The chief advantage of larger warships in Rome Total War is their superior stats. Larger warships benefit from higher armor, defense skill, or attack values than their smaller counterparts; and never cost more Denarii per-sailor.

At this point, I feel it necessary to dispel a certain myth about naval combat in Rome Total War. Unlike in Rome 2 (which highly inaccurately makes naval combat all about the survival of the marines on top- a ship which looses all of its marines will be considered "defeated" and usually turn and flee shortly before this happens), naval combat in Rome Total War is all about the survival of the rowers below-decks. Six triremes with half crew-complements pack no more of an offensive punch than three fully-manned triremes, and five half-manned triremes will lose to three triremes with full crews.

It is for this reason that you usually want to opt for the larger warships in Rome Total War whenever possible. They typically carry the same number of men per Denarii of maintenance cost, and sometimes slightly more, so you do not suffer a loss of total affordable manpower this way in the long run. On the other hand, each sailor in a Quinqureme is better-protected than his counterpart in a Trireme, ostensibly due to the thicker hull and stronger marine complement. So you get more combat power per sailor, and at least the same number of sailors per Denarii in upkeep (with fleets, which should spend most of their time in port to shelter them from storms, and maintained even in peacetime to deal with pirates, upkeep *rapidly* becomes more important than recruitment costs)

The Power of the Crow's Beak
One of the major problems with Quinquremes, however, although generally considered a superior warship to the Trireme in ancient times; was its lack of mobility, and consequent difficulty in initiating boarding actions against enemy ships.

The Romans historically dealt with this during the Punic Wars by developing the "Corvus" ("Crow's Beak")- a long wooden bridge which swung out on a hinge from the nose or sides of larger warships, and impaled the enemy deck with a sharp "beak" on the end.

The main function of the Corvus was to secure a stable connection for a warships' sailors to board the enemy ship. Reflecting this fact, in Rome Total War the Corvus Quinqureme, which can be built by the Scipii with an Awesome Temple of Neptune, provides additional "Attack" stat compared to standard Quinquremes- at little addditional cost.

Deceres- the Floating Fortresses
Even better, if the Scipii invest in their temples all the way to a Pantheon with Neptune as its chief god, as well as also building a Dockyard, they gain the ability to construct the enormous Decere (or "ten")- a massive beast of a ship which benefits from both higher attack and defense statistics than its smaller Quinqureme ("five") cousins, as well as a larger crew complement- the historical version had at least twice as many rowers as a Quinqureme. The main disadvantage of the Decere is the incredible infrastructure necessary to construct it- usually limiting its practical utility in Rome Total War campaigns to the immediate vicinity of Italy, and occasionally, in campaigns featuring a particularly late Civil War, to the vicinity of the largest ports in the Near East (Alexandria and Sidon). The Decere makes up for this logistical constraint with the best cost-efficiency for naval power in the game (a single one of these behemoths can often take on entire pirate fleets- which are typically composed of Bireme-sized ships), as well as the ability to bring a larger number of sailors to full-stack naval battles where both sides are fielding 20 Quinquremes (minus one for each Decere on the Scipii side)- although such battles are an extreme rarity in Rome Total War due to the incompetence of the AI and its tendency to scatter its fleets...

For those who have been astutely studying my earlier discourse on Scipii grand strategy, you will recognize another advantage to the Decere- improved resistance to attrition.

The Scipii, to remind you, have relatively few major recruiting centers (places where you will likely have an Army Barracks or Hippodrome by the time of the Roman Civil War)- seriously hampering their ability to replace the rather heavy losses any Roman faction will inevitably face when its armies match up against the battle-hardened and similarly trained forces of the other Roman factions, whose generals and soldiers have until then been cutting their teeth fighting Greeks or Gauls.

Therefore, any advantage a Scipii player can obtain in hardening their forces against attrition ahead of time will serve them well.

The Decere provides particularly useful in this regard. Not only does it have higher stats- (usually) reducing the number of men lost in each naval battle- it also has a higher unit size, enabling a Decere to fight on for longer as a useful combat force.

The Decere, thereby, is in many ways the First Cohort of the seas. The combination of slightly improved stats, and larger unit size, enable the Decere to serve through far more battles as a useful combat entity (before risking complete unit annihilation from a close-fought battle), at the expense of proving a logistical nightmare to retrain- in much the same way as a First Cohort on land (which, in the original game, can only be recruited in the city of Rome itself- much like Spartan Hoplites can only be recruited in the vicinity of Sparta- for those of you wondering why you've never encountered First Cohorts in any of your Imperial Campaigns...)

Build Deceres, and build them early- so by the time of the Roman Civil War you'll have a number of these behemoths, already battle-hardened from countless skirmishes hunting pirates and the occasional marauding enemy fleet. This will save you from needing to replace as many ships in the midst of the Civil War, freeing your cities up to train fresh infantry instead- as a Decere is EXTREMELY difficult to sink when fully-manned, and it is *MUCH* quicker to retain a ship than to build a new one from scratch...