Marius and farming

[franks_tank]

Hey guys,

Right now I have 2 cities ready to build the Imperial palace...but since it takes such a long time to build what would you suggest: constructing most of the other buildings available (there are quite a lot but most are expensive) before you have 30 turns to wait to build anything else, or get to the Marius reforms as soon as possible?

Question 2: I never really thought about the farms and handled them just like in vanilla...most of them are on the second or third level I guess...how do they work in SPQR or what's the difference to vanilla?...is it as "dangerous" to build them as in vanilla?...it's a little late to ask, I know, but since they could generate money as well I thought I ask before I just build them and every second city lands in chaos because of population explosions

Thanks in advance

[Echo26]

1) I personally build all other buildings before upgrading a settlement. Just personal style. Most people around here enjoy the challenge of the Pre-marian troops and hold off as long as possible. I try to have them around there historical date also. Its all up to you and how your campaign is going.

2) I don't know of any major diffrences. In your core cities building them might not be a problem, but one you start conquering far off lands it could prove to be a hinderance.

[BiggBudd]

As the Romans you have many buildings that give happy bonus, and you can hold races if you build high level stables and games in the arena's, and bear in mind the bigger the population the more taxes you get. You can also build academies which give bonuses to your cities governors. All of which will allow you to build the farms np. Only certain cities get a "restless" bonus, ie when they get big they are ungovernable, too many revolts. In these cities farms arnt advisable. Only experience will let you know which cities they are.
The bottom line is you can always sack a revolting city, so dont be afraid to experiment.
And you get more money if you build farms and use games/races to keep them happy than not building them and not needing the happy bonus's they give.
However you will get traits to your guv if you hold races/games all the time, some are good some bad!

[Alexis Synelnik]

I always try to build Imperial palace as soon as possible, because I'll be able to recruit elite roman infantry with higher stats and more effective abilities to fight against roman enemies.
As to farms I build them in initially roman cities, or nearby cities to my capital(distance penalty is not so high), where I can all the time take under control the population happiness. And I am sure these cities will never revolt. They handle huge population and remain the principal resource of men for my armies.
Sometimes I build farms in cities that are potentially dangerous on rebellions. The only reason is to speed up the romanization of the conquered town/city or If I want to boost quickly the population growth under the certain conditions.

[Marcus Porcius Cato Uticencis]

Ad 1) this is not as much a question of marian reforms as of problems with squalor...Delaying building of imperial palace (or any other next tier governor building before you get to imperial one) makes the squalor grow in your cities and the longer you delay it, the faster it grows, making it finally VERY uneasy to handle, since happiness falls down rapidly. It wouldnt be such a problem if it didnt take 30 turns to finish, but particularly for Imperial palace my advice is - build it asap!

Ad 2) Its definitely not so dangerous, first of all you dont have access to higher tiers of farming constructions (if you play as roman), like irrigation or latifundia you know from vanilla. Communal farming, third tier is the highest level you can reach, plus higher tiers youll get in conquered cities of course...Most of the cities in SPQR wont cross 30.000 people, so you shouldnt be afarid, just build them, they are crucial for your ability to keep economy going and to reach higher tiers of the palace...

[hammy the hamster]

try and capture the mausoleum at halicarnassus, it speeds up building times hugely with things like imperial palaces and other top tier buildings

[Valerius Tiberius]

on 1, it indeed differs from style to style

i just build them when i thought it was the right time

also, on 2, build them
they won't give any problems or something (like vanilla sometimes did) and you only have until a certain level (no latifundia etc)

hope it helps

[Echo26]

try and capture the mausoleum at halicarnassus, it speeds up building times hugely with things like imperial palaces and other top tier buildings

Hammy thats brilliant I never thought of that.

+rep since I'm in such a charitable mood this morning

[franks_tank]

Thanks for all the replies,

Well, I will upgrade farms then...didn't even know they can't be upgraded to the highest levels

I think I will wait with the palace and build everything neccessary before..at the moment I wouldn't have much use for them and I'm doing fine with the PM-legions...the cities where IP could be built are pretty much safe from squalor so that won't be a problem

Capturing the mausoleum is a good idea but not an option at the moment...as mentioned in another thread I tried to invade greece from the south, hoping the greek armies would get pulled out of the Castra area but unfortunately the opposite happened...Tergeste and Athens are under attack constantly by greek armies...usually 3-4 battles per turn and they don't seem to run out of men...I always won without any greater losses so far but right now I can't say if I can hold the southern part of greece because of those massive attacks...the mausoleum is not even far away but there are no legions to get over there, capture the city and hold it permanently...I looked at the greek military stats and the graph is going straight down but still they must have vast amounts of armies...it was definitely a big mistake to let them grow so strong...I focused on Germania and Gaul since they were really aggressive in the beginning and by now they are pretty much defeated but taking greece or at least the cities near the adriatic sea will take ages...a nice little battle against german troops would be a real treat at the moment...everywhere you look: hoplites, hoplites, hoplites...*yawn*

[Hesus de bodemloze]

1) i build imperial palace atround the year 100 so when thy are finisht it will be 70 b.c. i like my premarius armies, my objective with pre marius armies is to occupy : italy, iberia, nord africa, greece and macedon before having the imperial legions. when i have these parts of the world i start making republican legions and conquer gaul, asia minor and egypt.

2) i am using the add-on and i believe farming was taken out of it.

[Marcus Porcius Cato Uticencis]

Hey, Hesus, how the hell could you build imperial palaces around 100 BC??????? Thats some 360 turns after me (!!!!!!!!!!!) (I suppose you play 4tpy, dont you?), how do you treat your cities for so long that they dont need imperial palaces to fight squalor? Normally, I would consider it impossible, but if you say so...

[Hesus de bodemloze]

i just don' t build them that early. recruit a lot of legions in your italian city' s lower your taxes and kill every one that complains.

[Valerius Tiberius]

hmmm, good idea

but (alas, maybe) i have Republicans
and i'll use them until i have Roma and become an Empire
(that's right, defeating the Senate with republicans)

Valerius Tiberius

[Hesus de bodemloze]

hmmm, good idea

but (alas, maybe) i have Republicans
and i'll use them until i have Roma and become an Empire
(that's right, defeating the Senate with republicans)

Valerius Tiberius

i wanted to start my conquest with republicans round 70 b.c. hoping to capture gaul, asia minor and egypt around 50 B.C. and then taking rome with republicans.

[Echo26]

I wish it were possible to have when you go to war with Rome that certain provinces automatically rebel as part of the civil war.

[Marcus Porcius Cato Uticencis]

I think this could be scripted...But noone is too eager to use scripts in his mod, it considerably makes the game slower (just imagine AI turn lasting minutes!). For instance, EB mod uses some heavy scripting, but if you dont have NASA superfast machine, it makes the game very annoying, since everything takes terribly long...

[Echo26]

Ya I tried EB lol and thought it was way to slow.