3 questions

[NerZhulen]

1) what triggers marian reforms

2) what gives "supply army ration" building??

3) why are all roman cities on start "allied states" when the building gives
+20% happiness
-25% happiness
-40% tax

like what use is that?

[-FrOzeN-]

1, should cover 2 also.

Same as last time...

When can you recruit the legions?

Because each legion has its own particular Area of Recruitment (AOR), is unique to itself, and can only be recruited after the Marian Reforms, people often ask that one question: How/When can I recruit the legions? Rest assured, this is a simple guideline to to facilitate you in recruiting the legions.

When can you recruit the legions?

You initiate the Marian Reforms by building an imperial palace in Akragas (located in Sicily). This allows you to recruit non-named and non-numbered legions. To set the basework for recruiting numbered and named legions, you must build a Supply of Army Rations in the city you wish to recruit from To be able to recruit the Hamata or "Republican" legions, you must build a Roman Fortress in the city you wish to recruit from. To be able to recruit the Segmentata or "Imperial" legions, you must build a Curia Hostilia in the city you wish to recruit from. To be able to recruit early Praetorian legions, you must build the Praetorian Guard Training Ground in Rome. To be able to recruit late Praetorian legions, you must build the Castra Praetoria in Rome.

3, No idea why it sais -25% (could be the negative effect from building barracks), but it makes the cities happier as you let them keep their own governement, at the cost of taxes of course.

[Brusilov]

Maybe the 'allied states' building is a step to do something else?

The -25% is indeed a negative effect on happiness and -40% means it costs you money to maintain it.

Have a read of this thread as it contains some background information on why some things are set upp how they are in RSII: http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=387577

[rory o'kane]

With regards to your third question, the reason for this is because that's how Rome initially governed her territories outside Latium - by allowing a good deal of independence - so, in other words, not taxing the crap out of them - and some degree of rights for their citizens - usually, the so-called Latin rights (which were a step above non-citizens, but a step below full-on Roman citizenship), and in return, the Allied/Client state would provide troops to fight in the Roman army. During the Second Punic war, when some of Rome's allies, including Capua, defected to Hannibal, the lure of greater rights within the Roman world was a powerful lure to come back into the Roman fold peaceably. However, after a few centuries of this arrangement, and as the Roman Republic's territory expanded, soldiers were called away for ever greater lengths of time. The Italian allies (known as Socii) were shouldering a large amount of the burden of keeping garrisons across the Roman world, and resentment began to grow. Since half the Roman army was made up of Italians, surely the rewards should come back to the Italians as much as Rome, and eventually, this erupted into the Social War of 91-88BC. The Romans were ultimately victorious, but the Italians did gain considerable concessions - those Italian states who remained loyal were offered Roman citizenship, as were those willing to come to terms. Not long after the war, the franchise was extended as far north as the River Po, effectively uniting Italy under the Roman banner.

Anyways, rant aside, we're attempting to give the affect shown above. The Italians are initially happier being Allies or clients of Rome (hence the happiness), but that means that due to the treaties you have with them, you can't tax them to the hilt (hence the tax penalty). However, the granting of Citizenship means you can tax them to the hilt (they're now totally under Roman control), but discontent with the taxes can be a problem - however, if you show the people the benefits of Roman rule, by building temples, aqueducts, and the like, the happiness issue shouldn't be a problem.