Before the new DLC drops, and renders the hours of my life spent making this completely redundant, I thought I’d share a civ concept I’ve been working on for the Romans.
I know everyone with an interest in Roman history has their own ideas about what made them great, and therefore what should be emphasised in an aoe civ. For this concept I focused on 2 aspects of Roman military excellence that I thought would make for an interesting playstyle:
- Military engineering - powerful and varied siege weapons and a few defensive bonuses
- Their extensive use of auxiliaries, giving a them a wide early game tech tree with a lot of options for aggressive early-game compositions.
I made these Romans into a mod and played every Roman themed custom campaign I could find, and they’re honestly great fun - let me know if you want to have a go and I’ll upload it. On to the in-game stuff!
The Romans - Infantry and Siege Civilisation
Civ Bonuses:
- Siege units have +1/+1 armour
- *Unit upgrades cost -25%
- Buildings (except Farms, Walls and Gates) support 1 population
- Infantry can build Town Centres starting in the Castle Age
*To clarify, this bonus only affects unit-line upgrades such as heavy cav archer, onager, pikeman etc. rather than blacksmith and other combat technologies.
Team Bonus: Walls and Gates have +1/+1 armour
Castle Age UT: Ballistarii - Ballistics for Scorpions and Carroballistae. Scorpions have -1 minimum range.
Imperial Age UT: Antonine Constitution - Allows Legionaries to train from Town Centres
Unique Units:
UU1 - Castle: Legionary
Tough, quick infantry which excels at fighting in groups. Strong vs. defences.
The Numbers (Elite):
Hitpoints: 75 (100)
Attack: 9 (12)
Armour: 1/3 (2/3)
Speed: 1.05
Reload: 2
Range: 0.3 - Allows them to fight in 2 ranks
Bonuses: +2 vs. Eagles, +3(+4) vs. Buildings, +4(+5) vs. Walls, Towers, Castles
Armour Class: Infantry, UU
Cost: 55 food, 40 gold
UU2: Siege Workshop CA: Carroballista
Fast moving siege weapon. Strong vs. siege.
Designed to counteract their lack of BBC and weak monks; a cheap, quick siege weapon that can outmanoeuvre other siege.
The Numbers (Elite):
Hitpoints: 55 (70)
Attack: 11 (14)
Armour: 0/5 (0/6)
Speed: 1.2
Reload: 3.5
Range: 6, Minimum Range 2
Bonuses: +12(+18) vs. Siege
Armour Class: Siege, UU, Cavalry (+10)
Cost: 75 wood, 65 gold
UU3: Imperial Scorpion
Imperial Age upgrade to the Heavy Scorpion, costs 1200 food and 1100 wood after civ bonus. Gives +10 hitpoints, +2 attack, +1 range, +0.1 speed
Tech Tree - Missing techs shown
Barracks
- Eagles
Stable
- Battle Elephants
- Paladin
- Hussar
Archery Range
- Crossbowman
- Hand Cannoneer
- Parthian Tactics
- Elephant Archer
Blacksmith
- Plate Barding Armour
Siege Workshop
- Bombard Cannon
University/Castle
- Chemistry
- Bombard Tower
Dock
- Cannon Galleon
Monastery
- Heresy
- Redemption
- Block Printing
- Theocracy
The first thing to note about the Romans is the very wide castle age tech tree - access to camels, steppe lancers and cav archers, and a discount to each of their upgrades in the Imperial Age. The second thing to note is the absence of several key technologies for most of their options - no crossbow, no plate barding armour and, in a world first, no chemistry, mean their late game will end up being reliant on an admittedly very strong infantry/siege composition. Roman scorpions are the stars of the show, ending up with more armour, hitpoints, attack and range compared to their generic counterparts, and the nimble carroballistae render bombard cannons less of a threat.
The Roman early game is almost entirely generic, with the only eco savings being 100 or so wood in houses and a discount on upgrading any surviving militia in the feudal age. Their tougher walls can help slow down enemy aggression, but until castle age the Romans are going to be a a distinct disadvantage. The legionary is a true infantry power unit. It is quick, resistant to arrow fire and, if massed, devastating in melee. After researching Antonine Constitution in imperial age, they are also self-replicating!
Finally, and not wanting to honk my own Cornu too much, the theme on the “Infantry build Town Centre” civ bonus is a beautiful piece of historical inspiration:
- Romans would famously construct fortified camps at the end of each day’s marching. In the same way, in-game Roman infantry can construct a strong fortified building and garrison inside.
- Roman veterans were often given land in newly conquered territories on retirement, helping to spread Roman customs and language to the local populace (and discouraging any thoughts of rebellion). In-game, Roman infantry can settle towns and introduce civilisation to an area of the map previously under enemy control.
I hope you enjoyed! Please let me know what you think, especially if there’s a bit of Roman history or military doctrine I missed out that you would love to see.