Reasons to expand

[MVAgrippa]

As a massive fan of TW (and long time lurker on these forums) one of the only things I have always felt was missing was a reason to take particular regions.

For example, Egypt was knows as the 'bread basket' of Rome and Gaul also provided huge amounts of grain to support Rome once conquered by Caesar. Sicily was rich in sliver deposits, which had pretty much paid for the construction of the Carthaginian navy. I expect other areas were rich in timber etc.

Does anyone know what the incentives to expand/take particular regions are in Rome 2?

[lollaaja]

Well, it's an empire building game. By CA's own admission, the majority of battles are autoresolved and therefore their focus should be on the campaign map. As to what other incentives there are, well, there are trade resources. I think it would be very interesting if large cities weren't able to maintain themselves with their own food buildings and instead had to be supported by other settlements, but I'm guessing that won't happen. Hopefully it could be modded so that Rome would really start to feel pressure to expand as the Eternal City keeps growing. It would really be a different challenge if Italy, for example, had a only a certain production capability for food and if you wanted to keep the plebs in Rome content, you were forced to look towards Africa and Egypt to gain food. It would make food a more interesting diplomatic subsystem as well. A food embargo against a faction could cause hostilities to break out, much like the U.S. oil embargo of Japan forced the Japanese hand during the 2nd WW. Interesting options...

[Mikelus Trento]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzvFNLAnYNw

[SamueleD]

LEBENSRAUM!

[Jonesy_lmao]

I've got to admit this used to be an issues pre-Shogun 2. But then, the game was originally named Total War for a reason... their goal was to recreate awesome wars and battles during a particular period along with elements of history. Now however, it is becoming much more weighted towards history and realistic international relations.

So while in early games the reason to expand would be a defensive or offensive position, or to avoid large armies, now it has much value.

Take Shogun 2... the resources are required for creating certain buildings or units. I imagine this will be expanded upon in Rome II. Like you say, Egypt may be a valuable target to provide the valuable trade and resources. On the other hand - if playing as Rome for example - you may decide to infact create a strong defensive pact with Egypt, possibly turning them against Carthage while you invade the northern provinces. I just hope when you have a strong alliance with a nation, this time it means they won't betray you except in extreme cases.

[MVAgrippa]

I think Egypt is a good example of this point. In Roman times, it was the personal domain of the Emperor because of the huge amount of grain that it supplied. Mark Anthony's attempt to block this grain supply resulted in starvation in Rome, forcing Augustus Caesar to send an army to defeat him. It would be great in the game if there were incentives as strong as these to capture specific regions!