A Guide To Roman Offices

[Poppis]

This is a small guide that will explain how to get all the Roman Offices and what benefits they give. If you are reading the export_descr file yourself or are playing the game and notice I have made mistakes, please post here so I can fix them as soon as possible. Also if you just have some other suggestions for the guide, post them and I'll see what I can do. There are still some things missing from the guide(mostly minor stuff) but for the most part this should be enough to help you in your Roman campaigns when it comes to planning your offices. The big blocks of italic text are taken directly from the ingame notification window you get in the first few turns of a Roman campaign. They give a nice historical background to how these offices worked, which is great if you want to roleplay a little.

Intro:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The Roman Republic was, economically, a highly stratified society. Slaves, freedmen and citizens were differentiated on the basis of birth (i.e. the child of slaves is a slave, the child of citizens was a citizen), but within these broad social groups status was dictated primarily by wealth. The Servian constitution, which divided the citizen body into 'classes' had its origins in a military system where each individual equipped himself according to his means and eventually formed the centuriate assembly, the premier electoral body of the Republic. The highest ranked members of this body were the equites, the wealthiest members of the elite, who during the Early Republic had formed the cavalry. These were the men who had the wealth and influence to be elected to magistracies and, by 272, counted among their number many plebeian families. They were the bankers, landowners and businessmen of the Republic. Members of the Senate were barred from some commercial activities and their concern with governing led to occasional clashes with important non-senatorial equites, hence the divide stressed by some Late Republican sources between the two groups. Nevertheless, it is important to remember that all members of the political elite were, strictly, part of this socio-economic group. In EB II the Roman characters can come from approximately 60 distinct families within this tiny elite. Therefore, all characters begin with at least the status of eques: in game terms this means only that the character is not yet a senator. Conversely, the Senators are all those who have been elected to the office of quaestor, after the age of 27, and are, thus, members of the Senate. This does not, in itself, mean that they are qualified to command, however.

In order for your family members to progress to the next levels of the cursus honorum, they will generally have to be present in Rome to stand for election. Elections take place every fourth turn, during the turn-end from winter to spring. Characters that can stand for election have a special 'eligible for' trait in their traits list. If a character with such a trait is present in Rome at the end of the year's winter turn, he has a chance of being elected to the office for which he is eligible. If he's elected, he will gain a special trait related to the office and can then enjoy its benefits for the term attached to it. Election chances are determined by several factors: how long the character has served with the legions, his traits and, at times, a healthy dose of dumb luck. Most magistracies come with bonuses that remain in effect after a character has served his term, though they are usually less influential than the benefits provided by the magistrates during their time in office. As such, ensuring a steady supply of characters with political positions will help with urban and military management on the campaign map, though this will gradually require more management from the player as the campaign progresses, travelling distances grow larger and competition for political influence becomes more problematic (represented by the limited amount of available unit slots in Rome).

There's a couple of things you should know before we get started.

1. All offices last for one year unless otherwise stated.

2. The Military Service trait line. This is a hidden trait line that is required for some offices.

You start at zero Military Service points(MSP) and you will get one point per turn if the following requirements are met:

• You are not in a settlement
• You are Eques
• You currently have less than 30 MSP

The last level(ie once you have 30 MSP) will give you +1 Command but of course being a hidden traitline you won't see this. Also once you have the last level, you will eventually get the "True Roman" trait which will give you +1 Influence and +1 Public Security.

3. Imperium

Some offices give you the Imperium trait.
If you have Imperium you get +1 to personal security.
If you do not have Imperium, you get -3 Command when attacking(or assaulting during a siege) and -1 morale.

Ok, let's start:

A Roman youth, especially one from an elite background, would be expected to serve several years in the military before embarking on a political career. To represent this, we have introduced a system where young characters accumulate hidden points based on their military service, which rewards those who follow the traditional path with a higher chance of election to the office of quaestor, and subsequently, entry to the Senate. These points are gained when a character ends a turn outside a settlement, but it would make sense for them to spend this time with a campaigning army. If there is no current campaign, simply spending time around the troops still counts. Depending on how long a character serves, the Tribal Assembly may even elect him to the position of tribune of the soldiers, which gives him a role as a staff officer without imperium. This is not considered a part of the cursus honorum however, and a man can still succeed without any military experience, though his chances are greatly reduced. On the other hand, this time could also be spent in cities with educational facilities (represented by the 'academic' building-chain), which may positively impact his traits and ancillaries. As such, the player will have to choose how to best prepare their characters for their careers in the upper levels of Roman society.

Tribunus Militum

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Requirements:

To get "Tribunus Militum" trait

• Is Eques
• Has not been military tribune before
• Winter turn end

Chance to get:

• 100% if you have 30 MSP
• 25% if you have at least 20 MSP
• 10% if you have at least 10 MSP

Benefits/Penalties:

During office

• Bobyguard valour +1
• If you have Poor Tactician trait, you got a small chance to lose it every turn
• If you don't have Poor Tactician trait, you will have a small chance to get points in Good Tactician, Scout and Logistical Skill trait lines

After term is over

• Morale +1

Quaestor

The quaestorship is the first office in EB II's cursus honorum, and the prerequisite for all further magistracies. During his year of office a quaestor could have several responsibilities, including running the mint at Rome, serving on a governor's staff, or looking after the grain supply. Historically, those quaestors who accompanied provincial governors would generally remain with them until the end of their term as proquaestor, but this is currently not represented by a trait in EB II. These men would best be utilised, in a role-playing sense, as governors of cities, whether within Italy or in an overseas province. This office is unique in that it can eventually be acquired outside of Rome itself, if eligible characters are present in cities with Latin rights or Roman citizenship.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Requirements:

To get "Eligible for Quaestor" trait

• Age 26 or higher
• Is Eques

To get elected

• End winter turn in a settlement that has Ius Latinorum (Latin Constitution) or Municipia et Civitas Romani government building

Chance to get elected:

• 100% if you have 30 MSP
• 75% if you have at least 20 MSP
• 50% if you have at least 10 MSP
• 25% if you have less than 10 MSP

Benefits/Penalties:

During office

• Tax Collection +10%
• If you're selfish, you got a small chance to get points in Corrupt, Indulgens and Avarus trait lines every turn
• If you're unselfish, you got a small chance to get points in Upright, Moderatus and Matchematics Skill trait lines every turn

After term is over

• You become Senator(+1 Influence)

Tribunus Plebis

The tribunate of the plebs and the aedileship are the subsequent steps on the ladder. Both of these offices are Rome-based. The tribunes of the plebs were unable to exercise their powers beyond the first milestone outside of the city, and the aediles were intended to administer the city and provide entertainment for the populace. As such, a player should avoid removing these officials from Rome during their period of office.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Requirements:

To get elected

• Age 33
• Is Senator
• Is Plebeian
• Has not been Praetor
• Doesn't have an office at the moment
• Ends winter turn in Roma

Chance to get elected:

• 80% if you are charismatic
• 40% if you are not

Benefits/Penalties:

During office

• Influence +1
• Personal Security +1
• Movement Points -100%
• The turn you become Tribunus Plebis, you got a small chance to get a point in the Rabblerouser and Inspiring Speaker trait lines
• If you have low energy, you got a small chance every turn to become a Weak Tribune(while you're weak, you got a chance to become a Coward)
• If you have high energy and the Popularis trait, you got a small chance every turn to become an Aggressive Tribune(while you're aggressive you got a chance to improve your Politics Skill)

After term is over

• Unrest -1
• You will keep the Aggressive/Weak Tribune trait if you got either during the office, though they won't increase your Coward/Politics Skill after the office is over. Aggressive gives +influence, weak gives -influence, both give -public security.

Note: The Aggressive/Weak Tribune is just the name of the trait line. The ingame trait names are

Aggressive Tribune:
Ius Intercessionis - Sacrosanctitas - Plebiscita

Weak Tribune:
Afraid to Veto - Skips Meetings - Accepts Bribes

Aedilis Curulis

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Requirements:

To get "Eligible for Aedilis" trait

• Age 32 or higher
• Is Senator
• Is Patrician
• Has not been Praetor
• Doesn't have an office at the moment

To get elected

• End winter turn in Roma

Chance to get elected:

• 80% if you have at least 20 MSP
• 60% if you have the wealthy trait
• 40% if none of the above is true

Benefits/Penalties:

During office

• Law +1
• Construction costs -10%
• Personal security +1
• Every time you complete a building, you got a 20% chance to get a point in the Good Builder trait line
• Every time you end a turn in a settlement and the build queue is empty despite having cash, you got a chance to get a point in Bad Builder, Idle and Cheapskate trait lines
• Every time you throw games(I don't know if it matters how often you do this) you got a small chance to get points in the Generous, Gregarious and Gladiatorial Fan trait lines
• Every time you throw races(I don't know if it matters how often you do this) you got a small chance to get points in the Generous, Gregarious and Race Goer trait lines

After term is over

• Influence +1

Aedilis Plebis

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Requirements:

To get "Eligible for Aedilis" trait

• Age 32 or higher
• Is Senator
• Is Plebeian
• Has not been Praetor
• Doesn't have an office at the moment

To get elected

• End winter turn in Roma

Chance to get elected:

• 80% if you have at least 20 MSP
• 60% if you have the wealthy trait
• 40% if none of the above is true

Benefits/Penalties:

During office

• Law +1
• Unrest -1
• Every time you complete a building, you got a 20% chance to get a point in the Good Builder trait line
• Every time you end a turn in a settlement and the build queue is empty despite having cash, you got a chance to get a point in Bad Builder, Idle and Avarus trait lines
• Every time you throw games(I don't know if it matters how often you do this) you got a small chance to get points in the Generous and Gladiatorial Fan trait lines, and lose a point in the Wealthy trait line
• Every time you throw races(I don't know if it matters how often you do this) you got a small chance to get points in the Generous and Race Goer trait lines, and lose a point in the Wealthy trait line

After term is over

• Unrest -1

Legatus

Recognising that governors need assistance, we have also implemented a system where non-magistrates can be named as legates of a governor, if they end a turn within a provincial city. These men are associates of the governor, and can act in his name, but do not have imperium and should avoid fighting, if at all possible. If a praetorian or consular governor needed to leave his province before his replacement had arrived, historically he would leave either a legatus or proquaestor in his place. Legates who leave their province will lose the trait.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Requirements:

To get elected

• Is Eques or Senator(also, being a junior post you cannot get this office after you've been a Praetor or Consul)
• Doesn't have an office at the moment
• End turn in a settlement that has Provincia Romana government building

Benefits/Penalties:

During office

• Unrest -1
• Command +2 when attacking
• Morale +1
• If you're a Governor of a city and public order is green, you got a chance to get points in Just and Good Administrator trait lines

After term is over

• -

Note: You do not lose Legatus after one year, instead you will only lose it if/when you get another office.

Office of Praetor

The praetorship and consulship are the most significant magistracies from a game-play perspective as they grant a character imperium, simply speaking the right to command an army. Only those characters with imperium have official sanction from the Senate and People of Rome (and the gods) to lead troops into battle. Historically these men would be allocated a province by the Senate, or, increasingly in the Late Republic, the Plebeian Assembly. A province could be a geographical region (e.g. Sicily), command in a war (e.g. the war against Mithridates) or simply a task (e.g. defending the coast of Italy, or gathering a fleet). By the Late Republic, the norm was for geographically defined provinces, and due to the complexity of representing the changes in administrative practice over EB IIs period we have chosen to focus on this typology. As such, regions corresponding with historical provinces will generate an ancillary if an appropriate governor is in place. Traditionally, scholars thought that praetors generally governed provinces, where consuls tended to wage war. Recent work, however, has proved this simple dichotomy to be mistaken, praetors were certainly able to fight just as legally as consuls and could even triumph. However, as a rule, consuls would be allocated the most significant military province in a given year. Since one year (4 turns) is insufficient in game terms to allow a magistrate to engage in any meaningful action within his province, we have implemented a uniform system of proroguing (extending the imperium) of each praetor and consul for an additional five years (20 turns) as promagistrates. While prorogation was common during the Republic, such extended terms were historically rare except during periods of intense crisis.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Requirements:

To get "Eligible for Praetorship" trait

• Age 36
• Is Senator
• Has not been Consul
• Doesn't have an office at the moment

To get elected

• End winter turn in Roma

Chance to get elected:

• 100% if you have at least 5 Influence
• 75% if you have 30 MSP
• 50% if none of the above is true

Benefits/Penalties:

During office

• Has Imperium
• Law +1
• Influence +2
• Personal Security +1

Note: After the year is over, will become ProPraetor(same benefits as Praetor, but lasts for five years).

After term is over

• +1 Influence to your Senator trait(for a total of +2 Influence)

Consul

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Requirements:

To get "Eligible for Consulship" trait

• Age 40
• Has been Praetor
• Doesn't have an office at the moment

To get elected

• End winter turn in Roma

Chance to get elected:

• 100% if you have at least 7 Influence
• 75% if you have 30 MSP
• 40% if none of the above is true

Benefits/Penalties:

During office

• Has Imperium
• Law +1
• Influence +3
• Personal Security +2
• Command +1
• You become Novitas(+1 influence) if you are not Nobile already

Note: After the year is over, will become ProConsul(same benefits as Consul, but lasts for five years).

After term is over

• +1 Influence to your Senator trait(for a total of +3 Influence)

Office of Censor

Finally, the censors were responsible for undertaking a census of Roman citizens every five years, as well as letting out public contracts for that period. This office was restricted to men who had held the consulship and its holders should generally remain at Rome for the duration of their office. The most influential of Roman leaders may even be honoured with the position of pontifex maximus, a lifelong appointment as the chief religious officer of the state and the most senior priest in the city.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Requirements:

To get "Eligible for Censor" trait

• Age 47
• Has been Consul
• Has not been Censor before
• Doesn't have an office at the moment
• Next year is Censor year*

To get elected

• End winter turn in Roma
• Next year is Censor year*

Benefits/Penalties:

During office

• Influence +2
• If you have the Just trait line(Even-Handed, Just, Absolutely Just), you got a small chance to get a point in the Just trait line
• If you have the Unjust trait line(Judgemental, Wrong-headed, Unjust), you got a small chance to get points in the Crudelis, Wealthy and Corrupt trait lines
• If you end your turn in a settlement and have high charisma, you got a small chance to get a point in the Dignitas trait line

After term is over

• Influence +1

*Censor year comes around once every five years.

Office of Pontifex Maximus

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Requirements:

To get elected

• Is Faction Leader
• Is Patrician
• Has been Consul
• Doesn't have the Sacrilegious trait line(Irreverent, Contemptuous of the Gods, Sacrilegious)
• Doesn't have the Public Atheism trait line(Faithless, Atheist, Despises the Gods, Hates the Gods)

Chance to get:

• 7% chance to get every turn

Benefits/Penalties:

During office

• Influence +1

Note: "Office of Pontifex Maximus" trait is permanent. You will never lose it.

Summary: Below are the total stats after doing all the offices(except Pontifex Maximus since this is only available for the faction leader):

Patricians

• Command +1
• Influence +6
• Troop Morale +1

Plebeians

• Command +1
• Influence +5
• Troop Morale +1
• Unrest -2

So the difference is that patricians get +1 Influence whereas plebeians get -2 Unrest. But remember that the "Plebeian" trait itself gives -3 Influence, so the difference is in fact 4 Influence. Also, if you got 30 MSPs you will eventually get the True Roman trait which will give +1 Influence and +1 Public Security.

Now when a character comes of age you need to decide between getting them into school and keeping them out of settlements to get more MSPs. Of course MSPs are not mandatory by any means but it does help a lot in getting quaestor/aedileship and praetor/consul. Not to mention the +1 Command/+1 Influence/+1 Public Security/+1 Troop Morale you get from 30 MSP + True Roman trait + Military Tribune. So if you are going for the full 30 MSP you need to remember to get there before your quaestorship(since you only get MSPs while being equites and quaestorship changes you to senator). You can first get quaestorship at age 26 and since you become of age at 16, that gives a minimum of 10 years for schooling and getting MSP. Of course you can delay your first quaestorship to get more time if you need.

I think you should go to school first(at age 16). I'm not going into the details of how schools work but basically we want to avoid getting the unschooled trait and try to get the scholarly trait. If you aren't in school you can't get scholarly and if you are in school you have a slightly higher chance of getting scholarly than unschooled. So you go to school at 16 hoping to get scholarly as soon as possible. You have 10 years before your quaestorship and you need 30 turns(7.5 years) to get full MSP so that gives you 2.5 years of schooling. If you haven't gotten scholarly at that time you have to decide whether to go get your MSP or stay in school for a bit more thus delaying your quaestorship(remember that the next office after quaestorship is aedileship at age 32 so delaying quaestorship a bit isn't that big of a deal). Once you get scholarly you can get out of school right away. One last thing, once you reach age 28 you can no longer get scholarly/unschooled so feel free to leave and get your MSPs. Also remember to build your school in a city that doesn't have the Ius Latinorum gov building, so that your students don't accidentally become quaestors before you wanted them to.

As Curule Aedile make the most of your -10% construction cost bonus. Buildings are quite expensive in EBII and Italy is pretty cramped so with good planning you can get a lot out of those 4 turns.

As Junior Legate, try to keep the cities you govern at green public order in order to get the Just and Good Admin traits.

When picking "potential heir" remember that only patrician faction leaders can get the Office of Pontifex Maximus.

[_Tartaros_]

a.t.m. i didn´t have any general with imperium, i think. so i will check the generals if someone can get praetor or consul

[qwertykov]

Awesome work! Gives a great understanding of character mechanics and history of Roman politics. Saves us a whole lot of time making wasted moves on the campaign map. Bravo! Please keep em coming.

[Rumle-boy]

I am at turn 146 and have yet to have a man who legally can lead an army... That is, well, very hard.
a squad of 100 men runs after 10 casualties. So much for roman power.

[Casual Tactician]

I'm very thankful for this! Great work!


EDIT:

When you have the time to update the OP this official team post and my follow-up may be of some help.

[Poppis]

Updated to 2.3. Doesn't seem like much has changed really.

[melvidh]

Any Team member take a look and sticky if they think it worths it?

melvidh

[myarta]

It's correct content, but this subforum doesn't tend to get enough new threads that sticky-ing becomes necessary to find things in the same way the main forum does.

[IrishHitman]

I really need to keep MSPs in mind...

[Tarkus2.0]

Many thanks for this guide, Poppis! Great stuff.
I'm diving into EBII after some very enjoyable years playing EBI (and a brief but intense period playing TATW) and I wanted to start off here with the Romans. This is a big help with playing in a more realistic way. Thanks again!

[NapoleonMaster]

Can anyone tell me how to get the "Reformator" trait?. That's the only thing i need for the Marian Reforms to happen.

[myarta]

Can anyone tell me how to get the "Reformator" trait?. That's the only thing i need for the Marian Reforms to happen.

Sharp / Charismatic / Vigorous
Popularis (on the side of the people, not Optimates on the side of the patricians)
3+ Influence
3+ Command

It won't show up until the other conditions are possible (turn 500+, the latifundiae, etc as detailed in the reforms guide).
Then get him elected Consul to implement the reform.

[Mouzafphaerre]

Being very useful and still relevant as of 3.35 I've formatted this guide into a neatish PDF. Attached A Guide To Roman Offices.pdf.