Originally Posted by
Philadelphos
I've done some further experiments and come to the following conclusions.
I believe that the CTD is due to a Senate Mission regarding one of the other two superfaction members. These missions appear as a message in the Senate Policy panel. Probably the Senate wanted to outlaw Epirus, and that meant that they had to outlaw themselves.
I appears quite clear, that the Senate is closely linked to the position of factions in the game. Indeed, you need to write only once Superfaction in any faction, and the game automatically takes the first three factions to complete the Senate panel, and the fourth to fill the Senate offices. Even if you choose a completely different superfaction name, let's say dacia, the senate magistrates will be most likely of faction number four.
My hypothesis is that if you choose one of the first three factions for your superfaction, it will always create CTDs. And if there is no way to deactivate certain critical missions, you will enjoy such a game only for a short while.
IF ANYBODY KNOWS HOW TO DEACTIVATE CERTAIN SENATE MISSIONS, OR ANY OTHER SOLUTION, PLEASE LET ME KNOW!
But you can play as another player and have the Romans (and if you want the other two factions) guided by Senate missions.
So my configuration is actually useful for playing Epirus, Carthage or any other faction. It should result in a much more active Roman faction, that attacks Sardinia, and similar stuff, but this must still be verified.
If you want to play Rome with the Senate, you need to put a further faction as superfaction (not # 2 and 3), in my case that would be the Greek Cities, but it could also be Dacia, or Eastern Kingdoms (romans_senate), or even Rebels. But factions number 2 and 3 will be in the super-faction in any case, even if you don't declare them, and they will receive Senate Missions. And they won't be able to wage war against each other or the super-faction-senate, unless they are already at war (like Rome-Epirus, or Rebels against all).
Each party will see all that happens in the other countries, and they may also receive some impossible mission, if one of the superfaction partners loses a province and they are ordered to take it back. This is why the Rebels are no good choice. So you need to choose well the factions you want to include into your superfaction.
In my case, I think the best choice is Epirus, because they are so close and already at war with the Romans.
The Greek Cities as the Superfaction Senate is not so bad after all, because most of these (Massilia, Athens, Rhodes, Byzantium, Chersonesus) were loyal allies of the Romans.
Even the Scipii (Hellenic Kingdoms) are not so bad, because they include Pergamon and Sparta. The only downfall is that they may lose some provinces in Bactria and then you're ordered to reconquer Marakanda or something like that.
Alternatives might be Numidia or Dacia, or even Thrace, Illyria, Macedon, or Scythia. It depends on one's strategy and alliances.
In any case, it should be able to play a unified Roman faction with Senate orders. I've already played twenty turns with the greek_cities as my superfaction, and it all went fine, with the only inconvenience, that I once had a Senate mission for conquering a lost province in Bactria. So I'm optimistic, that I can add this at least as an option to the next edition of Rome Total History.
I'll keep you updated.