“Ecce, Roma Surrectum (Behold, Rome Arises)– Building an Empire”
That’s a mouthful, perhaps we’ll stick with Roma Surrectum, or RS for short. RS is a long standing Total Conversion first announced by dvk901 on September 29th, 2006. It has since grown to be one of the most popular total conversions for RTW. It is noted for the magnificent units, the unique factions, the unique Legions, and among other things, the award-winning friendly team. They have had a series of successful releases, starting with (this is a tad confusing) v.0.9. They then progressed to v.1, v.1.1, v.1.2, then a massive release, v. 1.5. Version 1.5 is remarked for having one of the most beautiful campaign maps out there. Roma Surrectum 2 is currently in production.
Roma Surrectum starts in 280 BC, and runs right through to some obscure A.D number. As of patch 1.5, Roma Surrectum now begins in 473 A.U.C, which is the same as 280 BC. Historically, A.U.C meant Ad Urbe Condita, from the Founding of the City of Rome, and the Romans used this system to count years well into the “Common Era”. This not only seperates the player from the BC/AD system so that they don’t feel the need to compare themselves with history, but it also bypasses the 66/67 BC bug.
One of the biggest features of Roma Surrectum is its ability to impede your conquering. Not only featuring a new Free Kingdoms and Tribes faction that will fight for every inch of land, it also features Factional Homelands. That means that outside of your factions regular homeland, regions will take more money and more soldiers to keep in your hands. This delays your progress because you have to build up infrastructure or face a revolt. This works to protect a faction as well. If you are being invaded, or are invading another faction, the defender gets more powerful the closer the attacker gets to their homeland. You lose valuable resources keeping those outer regions, and when they’re lost you no longer lose money holding them, allowing you to put more into defending your homeland.
Roma Surrectum 1.5 featured a completely revamped map. Cherryfunk, with the advice of others, molded the map to one of the most beautiful in the TW scene.
See this thread for other pictures of the map.
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=133792
Another feature of this mod is its unique Legions. Roma Surrectum contains 21 named Imperial Legions, 12 named Republican Legions, 2 Very Early Republic Legions, and the well-known Polybian Era units of the Hastati, Principes, Triarii, Velites, and Equites. An example of the Legions is followed. The legion is the Imperial Legio V Macedonica VII Pia VII Fidelis.
Legio V was one of the original twenty-eight legions raised by Octavian. There are two fifth legions recorded: the V Gallica and the V Urbana. It is possible that these both were early names for the V Macedonica. The legion probably participated in the Battle of Actium (31 BC). It later moved to Macedonia, where it stayed from 30 BC to AD 6, gaining its cognomen, before moving to Oescus (Moesia).
The Fifth was probably still in the East when the Great Jewish Revolt in Iudaea Province began in 66. Nero gave V Macedonica, the X Fretensis and the XV Apollinaris to Titus Flavius Vespasianus to counter the revolt. In 67, in Galilee, the city of Sepphoris surrendered peacefully to the Roman army, and later the V Macedonica conquered Mount Gerizim, the chief sanctuary of the Samaritans.
At the beginning of the reign of Commodus, the V Macedonica and the XIII Gemina defeated once again the Sarmatians, under the later usurpers Pescennius Niger and Clodius Albinus. The Fifth later supported Septimius Severus, in his fight for the purple. Then in 185 or 187, the legion was awarded of the title Pia Constans ("Faithful and reliable") or Pia Fidelis ("Faithful and loyal"), after defeating a mercenary army in Dacia.
While staying in Potaissa for most of the 3rd century, V Macedonica fought several times, earning honors. Valerian gave the Fifth the name III Pia III Fidelis; his son, Gallienus gave the legion the title VII Pia VII Fidelis, with the 4th, 5th and 6th titles awarded probably when the legion was used as a mobile cavalry unit against usurpers Ingenuus and Regalianus (260, Moesia). A vexillatio fought against Victorinus (Gaul, 269-271). The legion returned to Oescus in 274, after Aurelian had retired from Dacia. It guarded the province in later centuries, becoming a Comitatensis unit under the Magister Militum per Orientis. It became part of the Byzantine army in 475. The cavalry unit created by Gallienus was definitively detached by Diocletian, and become part of his Comitatus. This unit was sent to Mesopotamia, where it successfully fought against the Sassanid Empire in 296, and then to Memphis, where it had to stay until its entering into the Eastern Empire army (c475). By far one of the most long lasting cohesive army units ever known.
Apart from the unique Legions, Roma Surrectum also features unique City State Hoplites. The Roma Surrectum 2 one have recently been previewed, and they range from the Athenian Epilektoi Hoplite, to the Celto-Hellenic Hoplite, to the Syracusan Epilektoi Hoplites. In total there are 12 unique Hoplites.
See here for the rest of the Hoplites:
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=170628
Roma Surrectum also features 4 new factions; 3 are completely unique to this mod. They are Epirus, Kingdom of the Attalids (Pergamon), Syracuse, and Kingdom of the Cimmerian Bosporus. Each faction contains unique unit rosters and a unique playing experience found nowhere else.
Roma Surrectum 2 will be a completely new Total Conversion, starting during the Second Punic War. All the factions are being redone, the map is being redone, all the graphics are being redone, and pretty much everything else is being redone as well. A lot of research has been put into the mod to make sure it is historically accurate. Many of the factions have already been previewed, click here to find links to each preview.
One of the biggest features of RS2 besides the magnificent units, the beautiful map, and the brilliant coding is the entirely new battlemap environment. With the help of Gotthard, dvk was able to completely redo the Environment.
That is the end of the article. For the next issue, expect not only an interview with dvk901 and tone, but also some more screenshots of the wonderful Roma Surrectum 2.
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