In need of some beginners tips as Rome

[kpagcha]

This has been my first week playing DeI and I am pretty lost in many aspects. Here are some, both specific and more or less general:

- What are some tips for a good early balance, in terms of buildings to construct? I have three provinces already and I feel like I am spamming random stuff. There's recruitment provinces, specialized provinces based on regional effects, but other than that, I have no idea how to make a good use of some other building chains like the yellow one (the Villa, Colonia, etc).

- I can't seem to take public order under control. All my provinces are unhappy. Cultural differences produce a lot of unhappiness even though Roman culture is at 75%. Slave unrest is super hight too for some reason... I can't really counter with temples or amphiteatres either because the modifier is too big. The only way I can manage to crank it up is sitting my faction leader, consults or praetors in the province for a while.

- I am still wrapping my head around how the supply system works. At first I thought it was provincial but it turns out it's regional. What's the deal exactly? If you sit many armies in a region they will eat up all the supplies and start to get attrition? So far I've had no issues with supplies. What's the poin in building granaries then? The main use I think I've understood is that they extend the supply line to the adjacent provinces, so I guess you should build them in provinces adjacent to territories you want to conquer. But other than that how do you play with supplies? What should I have in mind? Where should I build grain stores?

- Are resource buildings even worth it? I am trading with a bunch of factions and producing as many resources as I can, but I'm not even making 2k off trade.

- Is there something wrong with the grain resource? Both Rome and Taras have the grain resource icon, but there is no special building for it. But then Panormos does not have the resource but I can build a special resource building. What's the deal?

- My client state Veneti hasn't moved their armies from their territories even though they have confirmed the target I set for them. Anything wrong here? Or just client states suffering from their flaws in vanilla?

- How do I get growth to expand my settlements? I can't seem to see the accumulated growth number anywhere and I haven't been able to expand my settlements since the beginning of the campaign and I'm like 50 turns in already.

Other than these questions, I would really appreciate any tip you have for a beginner playing as Rome. Tips on buildings, units, techs, diplomacy, strategies, understanding the new mechanics and playing with them effectively, etc...

edit: adding questions as they come

- When should I build a Shipwright over a Military Wharf? The bonuses and penalties are essentially the same, but the Military Wharf provides far superior units. The only reason to get a Shipwright would be getting the sweet 40% bonus for maritime commerce but I highly doubt this would produce more income than simply building a Harbour instead.

- I started building a bunch of farms for food as I was told, but I don't see how they impact growth? Maybe that post meant that with >20 food you get +4 growth?

- How do you counter banditry? Because of farms and other buildings my banditry is going up in Latium. What is the best way to counter it?

- Is building temples for the economic boost even worth it because of the upkeep costs? For instance in vanilla I liked to get Neptune temples in full coastal provinces where I would build trading ports. But since now these temples have -10% cost in province outcome, is it even worth it?

[Sonny WiFiHr]

Rebellion is good thing . You will face like 4 units for +20 happy . Kill that army but one rebel unit must escape. Repeat for 4-5 turns.
You will have 100 happy , +8 happy per turn (it will diminish -1 per turn). Bunch of traits and experience.

Build farms for food and upgrade town centers ASAP (those with +food have priority) they give biggest growth rate
Then Upgrade resources for trade.
You will be strong in 20 turns if you send spies to arrange trade or admiral (no supply penalty for solo admiral or general).
Sometimes I put everything on highest taxes waiting them to rebel. But I do not recommend that .

Supply system in early game - forget it. You can't send anything far away when it kicks

Sell slaves is edict - sell them

Client state on resource that gives bonus to research is bad move - Veneti

You should earn 7k from early trade so it is very worth to do trade. It is not affected by corruption
Picking military traits - waste of time. You can win without them. But General with reduced corruption and high taxes can produce another stack alone

You can earn 100k by arranging trade .

[Satansblofish]

This has been my first week playing DeI and I am pretty lost in many aspects. Here are some, both specific and more or less general:

- What are some tips for a good early balance, in terms of buildings to construct? I have three provinces already and I feel like I am spamming random stuff. There's recruitment provinces, specialized provinces based on regional effects, but other than that, I have no idea how to make a good use of some other building chains like the yellow one (the Villa, Colonia, etc).

Plan and build around having 20 food. It's a relatively safe amount to work with while being readily achievable and is a nice +4 to growth. Building religious temples that focus on PO and and cultural conversion never hurt. You can try to specialize them later once you see learned more overall about the game and can see the advantages.

- I can't seem to take public order under control. All my provinces are unhappy. Cultural differences produce a lot of unhappiness even though Roman culture is at 75%. Slave unrest is super hight too for some reason... I can't really counter with temples or amphiteatres either because the modifier is too big. The only way I can manage to crank it up is sitting my faction leader, consults or praetors in the province for a while.

Options for increasing PO:

-Pay your politicians to go administer the province. By far the easiest way to get consistent easy PO points. They do come at a cost though - politically and monetarily.
-Use food and games edict.
-Use generals with high public order. Spec into it if you must. Double up with admirals in port cities if your coffers can handle it.
-grab a couple low cost units and patrol. You can also put them in patrol stance in the city. I think that is considered 'cheating' - it's your game though and sub mods are available that accomplish roughly the same thing under the premise it makes no sense or is burdensome. Stationing extra men to patrol in your city doesn't seem too nonsensical.
-Hire and use agents. Not just governors. Sometimes you can find ones with bonuses to the Food and Games edict.
-For cultural differences, you probably have generals who can reduce PO penalties for cultural diff. by 20%. Maybe more. You can also spec your generals into this and get up to 40% pretty quickly.
-Build an amphitheater or w/e major PO building in your capital.
-Build temples. Use the ones with the highest PO and CC combo.
-Slow your expansion to where your culture is more established before toppling your next opponent. You can use your armies to patrol this way.

The goal is to combo these ideas together because you can achieve some pretty significant PO gains.

Also could grab some sub mods like softcore or no PO penalty for garrisoning troops.

- I am still wrapping my head around how the supply system works. At first I thought it was provincial but it turns out it's regional. What's the deal exactly? If you sit many armies in a region they will eat up all the supplies and start to get attrition? So far I've had no issues with supplies. What's the poin in building granaries then? The main use I think I've understood is that they extend the supply line to the adjacent provinces, so I guess you should build them in provinces adjacent to territories you want to conquer. But other than that how do you play with supplies? What should I have in mind? Where should I build grain stores?

There are tutorials around the site and I'm pretty sure some are even stickied. Generally, you seem to have gist of it though. Iirc, there are some prime port locations where you can build a supply warehouse that will connect with a lot of regions. Perhaps some other players could chime in with the answer or correct me.

Whenever I play with only 20 man armies supply rarely seems to be an issue nowadays. Just kind of the way it goes. With the right combo of sub mods and difficulty settings you could probably make it a more consistent challenge. With 41 man armies it comes up as a problem more often.

I think playing with smaller factions in heavily contested areas can still feel the supplies pinch. My Sweboz and Macedon campaign had some food and supply issues due to so much fighting/sieging/sacking/raiding on my 2-3 settlements.

- Are resource buildings even worth it? I am trading with a bunch of factions and producing as many resources as I can, but I'm not even making 2k off trade.

Yeah, absolutely. I don't think they are all created equal so if you are trying to min/max then I am sure some of them may be left out of certain mid/late game builds. They're great thematically though.

- Is there something wrong with the grain resource? Both Rome and Taras have the grain resource icon, but there is no special building for it. But then Panormos does not have the resource but I can build a special resource building. What's the deal?

I'm not sure offhandedly but I believe a city can acquire the grain resource by constructing a granary? Check out their yellow buildings and see what those are.

- My client state Veneti hasn't moved their armies from their territories even though they have confirmed the target I set for them. Anything wrong here? Or just client states suffering from their flaws in vanilla?

I'm pretty sure it's just an unfortunate consequence of vanilla.

- How do I get growth to expand my settlements? I can't seem to see the accumulated growth number anywhere and I haven't been able to expand my settlements since the beginning of the campaign and I'm like 50 turns in already.

Other than these questions, I would really appreciate any tip you have for a beginner playing as Rome. Tips on buildings, units, techs, diplomacy, strategies, understanding the new mechanics and playing with them effectively, etc...

For growth, do some of the stuff I mentioned above. Food buildings can pump up your growth. Edicts and agents too.

Some advice in general, take some time and read around this board and the strategy boards and it will pay dividends. A good example is another one of these threads on the strat boards Dresden mentions the importance of building around a provinces special traits/bonuses for maxing it's benefits. Then the very next post goes on to explain some of the benefits.

Really great community here so don't be afraid to check out the array of sub mods as well. There are some really excellent ones for spicing up your game in all kinds of different ways.

[kpagcha]

Thank you both for your answers. These were very helpful, I really appreciate it. I hope I can get some more like these

Plan and build around having 20 food. It's a relatively safe amount to work with while being readily achievable and is a nice +4 to growth.

Rule of thumb is farms if high fertility, cattle if low fertility, right? But what are some good situations to build the 3rd food building, the granary I think it's called?

there are some prime port locations where you can build a supply warehouse that will connect with a lot of regions.

In terms of supply lines, is the region adjacency to a port calculated by sea or land regions? Or both? So if I build a port in the any of the Eastern coast settlements of Italy, will armies in Illyricum be supplied because they are 1 sea region away (iirc ports have a reange of 2), or they will not because they are >3 land regions away from it?

Whenever I play with only 20 man armies supply rarely seems to be an issue nowadays. Just kind of the way it goes. With the right combo of sub mods and difficulty settings you could probably make it a more consistent challenge. With 41 man armies it comes up as a problem more often.

I assume >20 man armies is a submod?

I'm not sure offhandedly but I believe a city can acquire the grain resource by constructing a granary? Check out their yellow buildings and see what those are.

Oh I understand now. Yeah Rome and Taras got the grain resource because I built a granary in them. However why does Panormos has the grain resource building in it when the city doesn't show the grain resource next to its name? I'm not sure what you refer to with the yellow buildings? What chain? And what are you saying I should check? I didn't follow that part there.

A good example is another one of these threads on the strat boards Dresden mentions the importance of building around a provinces special traits/bonuses for maxing it's benefits. Then the very next post goes on to explain some of the benefits.

Can you please link those posts? Not sure which ones you're referring to or where to find them.

[corsair831]

You get early access to siege weapons as Rome, use them to kill the walled cities of Epirus in southern italy and the walled city to the north of Italy.

Once you have north central and southern Italy, your economy is insane so you should be pretty invincible, just pick off weak targets one at a time.

[kpagcha]

Another question: when should I build a Shipwright over a Military Wharf? The bonuses and penalties are essentially the same, but the Military Wharf provides far superior units. The only reason to get a Shipwright would be getting the sweet 40% bonus for maritime commerce but I highly doubt this would produce more income than simply building a Harbour instead.

[Sonny WiFiHr]

Cost of sending other party Diplomat to give PO boost is gravitas. If you send them your will strengthen other parties so no +5 PO for early game. Had trouble with sending
If you send one of yours it cost a lot. It is cheaper to loot and fight rebellions with 5-6 unit army. You will lose 30.000 people in Rome anyway you play but Arretium should be occupied. PO yellow building (Gladiator) and Temple is enough if you do not play hardcore
Taras will lose 20000 occupied. Same as above

Everything else will loose same amount occupied or looted. Only way to quick gain PO (it influence development) is rebellion. 5 turns of taxes + fights for full growing region vs 5000 diplomacy gold, rebellion and huge price in gravitas or civil war.
You will get +8 PO on top of that for crushing rebellion. Developed Cisalpina and Macedonia far faster that way. Leveled up Administrator in process for cash boom. Ended in 100 PO and it stayed there (even on hardcore)
Compared to Italia (occupied + big investment) they gained more quicker (still in negative PO, 5000 gold spend, lost half of population).

Currently I never pick up fighting perks because they give so small boost compared to corruption reduction, research boost and tax rate.
Picking civ tech with growth boost is good investment. Only one military tech is needed - Aux camp (for archers)
Then for cheaper price you can destroy Cisalpina , Dalmatia and Macedonia without expensive balista. Supporting 12 Archers and 12 Italian slingers for almost same price as siege weapons but they will kill 2000- 4000 in wooden wall siege and in Pella. And you can move fast

Make trade agreement with Massalia and Daorsi . You will break them after 10 turns

There is no rule for what you will build. High fertility = more supply. Grazing potential = cattle farm. Build +5 food normal farm and forget bonuses. +20 food produce +5 growth. Cattle farm is for trade in mid game. Build fishing harbor in rome if you do not have rooms for farms
If you do not Build city centers with +food and farms you will be in shortage when you start build City centers with negative food (resource centers)
Trade should give you 10k if you have resources. You can rebuild building later
Somehow I managed to build every City center in first few turns including Rome and never had any shortage next 40 turns when I stopped play vanilla DEI. You start with 25000. It is enough for everything including 3x Hastati and levy javelin - enough for taking out Arretium if you move closest army to north.
Southern army should not recruit anything until you start move south. Than you can hit negative income but taking out Taras in turn 4 or 5 will put you in green.
When you take out Taras put your one army in harbour and cross the sea and take out Epirus for good. Slingers will help a lot in blitz against Macedonia and AE.

Then leave one weak army in Macedonia to crush rebellions. Move everything else to Cisalpina. It is turn 16 when you will can start war against Cisalpina. You should have 12 archers and 12 Italian slingers (you need them to kill everything behind wooden wall). Leave weak army and do the same with Dalmatia.
Mop up the rest of the map and build something for fun

[kpagcha]

I added some new questions. Check out my original post.

[Sonny WiFiHr]

Patrol stance reduce banditry, techs, building (red ones) - just right click on building for info
Temple - did you have public order problem ? Check your conversion rate and build something that can actually help to reduce PO penalty from foreginers and convert population faster.
Are you trying to build ultimate buildings ? Don't
Build what you currently need than you can convert them when you are not in trouble.

Read the manual / Faq. Look for more brownish topics like guide. In main forum

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...Guides-and-FAQ

Taras have bonus to both commerce and Industry . If you need ships than you build them. Early you only need Admiral or two (best slow expensive ship) to destroy any fleet with few ships. For big fleet you must be rich so go with trade - get rich than you can watch your idle fleet for turns. Because you need to conquer metal production regions first - boost is high for trade and for weapons and armor.
Controlling Metal and Glass is easy with Rome.
If you wan't to trade and be gamebreaking rich - don't conquer port cities. Trade is not affected with corruption. Non important for Rome but for smaller sea faction is crucial that they do not destroy trade (for some time).

[FlashHeart07]

We also have an entire sub forum for strategy guides on all sorts of factions and units. No doubt there is One for Rome

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[kpagcha]

I can't find any, that subforum has dozens of pages and hundreds of posts :/

[ScipioTheGreat]

What exactly are you having trouble with? Eprious?


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[FlashHeart07]

After a 2 second forum search. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...TuqsJbuQY/edit , most if not all should still be somewhat applicable to the current version of DeI.
Additionally, I found several other threads containing various information regarding historical army compositions, economy etc etc.
It can really pay-off for you and everyone else if you spend some time using the forum search tool

[♔Greek Strategos♔]

Please use the search forum tool before posting guys.

Moving this to :

DeI Strategy Guides and Gameplay Discussions

[kpagcha]

I tried using the search tool but it doesn't seem to work for specific subforums but for the entire site instead... I did find that manual as well but apparently it's outdated.

In any case, I am asking very specific questions, it's not like I'm asking for generic tips (which would be also welcome) so I don't see why I should resort to already existing guides (which I haven't been able to find enough of by the way) and not open a new post like this. They are simply different topics... And thanks again to those who have actually answered some of those questions.

[hoho96]

you could also join the DeI discord https://discord.gg/Wez6GSY where you can more easily chat with other players and the DeI team and ask about very specific info.