He cleaned up the mess after the vandal sack of Rome, then reclaimed much of Gaul and Hispania.
3 Likes
That sounds pretty notable! Yeah, thatās a good choice.
4 Likes
Heās maybe the only good Western Emperor, that really got cursed when it comes to emperors (60 years of Honorius and Valentinian III, then most were puppetsā¦). Another good choice would be not following an emperor, but the general Stilicho.
For a completely different style, now playing the bad guyā¦ Ricimer. Cursed be his nameā¦
Or a Honorius campaign if you want an AFK simulator, feeding your pet chickens while the Empire is burning 
5 Likes
I thought about Constantine III and tying it into a potential Alans campaign later down the road, but his reign was short and ended in his unceremonious death, so thatās a no-go.
3 Likes
An usurper ? That would fit the times.
Alternatively, as many have requested a Belisarius campaign : make it mix the Byzantines (when in the East) and the Romans (when in the West).
3 Likes
I mean, following Aetius as a military commander would be an interesting campaign. Especially since it would be cool to be on the other side of the Battle in the Catalunian Fields. Like a Burgundian/Joan of Arc situation. They historically even won the battle. Changing up the concept and making it different from the Hun perspective would be nice to play.
2 Likes
Yeah, some generals might be better choices than emperors. After all, the Franksā campaign donāt follow a French king at all for instance 
2 Likes
True, even though thatās fighting for Charles VII, who still rules by the last mission. The Western Empire was considerably more disfunctional.
1 Like
Understatement of the 5th century.
3 Likes
Really for Romans campaign in aoe2 there are so many options:
Constantine, the one who built the later Roman empire completing Diocletianās reforms, many battles against barbarians and rivals (massentius and licinius), rise of Constantinople, Christianity etc ā¦
Julian, last pagan emperor, defeated the alemanni in Gaul and was acclaimed by the army, his campaign against the Sassanids however was a mistakeā¦ Very dramatic character, kinda āhow the mighty have fallenā like
Theodosius, both father and son, the first saved Britain from barbarians one last time and the son had to fight Magnus maximus, usurper in the same Britain of his father, and later unified the empire for one last time by defeating arbogast and eugenius
Stilicho, half vandal general, starts from Theodosius reign and defended Rome from being sacked before its time defeating goths, vandals, Alans etc. Betrayed and killed by emperor honorius thus condemning Rome against Alaric.
Aetius, Roman general and rival of Attila, would be the best choice to tell the Huns campaign from the other side, but not only that, he fought Boniface at the beginning of his career and other battles, followed the same fare of stilicho, murdered by jealous valentinian III
Ricimer, suebian patrician that was puppeteer of many of the last western emperors, could be a ābad guyā kind of campaign where you have to kill even the poor majorian but in the end being victim of a similar fate, still he defended successfully Italy from vandals and many other invasions
Majorian, last great western emperor, managed to reconquer Gaul, Spain and was ready to retake Africa before being murdered by ricimer, tragic guy, for sure would be a great pick, was friend of aegidius, the guy that would later create the kingdom of Soissons
For early eastern empire if you consider it:
Justinian, there already are custom campaigns about him, thereās variety since you can fight against Persians, the Nika rebellion, then against vandals in Africa the next scenario, then in Italy against goths, franks and alemanni, even in Spainā¦ Both belisarius and narses could be protagonists
Maurice, again war against Sassanids, the Lombards in Italy and finally against Avars and Slavs invasion in the Balkans, important and underrated emperor, wanted to divide again eastern and western empires but followed a tragic end, killed by a centurion named phocas who would become emperor after the armyās rebellion
Heraclius, last Latin Augustus and First greek Basileus of Constantinople, could start from his father, an Armenian who became exarch of Carthage and then dethrone phocas the usurper in Constantinople, but the main focus of the campaign should be him resisting Avars and Persians sieging the city and then counterattack and reconquer all provinces lost to Sassanids from Egypt to Armenia, truly impressive accomplishmentā¦ Was the last Roman persian war, after that Muslims came but Iām not sure if to include this since after that every scenario would be about losing until heraclius death
After them itās Byzantine history Iād say.
3 Likes
But to have a good Roman campaign would be better to have other barbarian factions before. For sure vandals, Avars and Lombards in a dlc would be great, that could be also the moment to give aoe2 Romans a campaign along the others, since it seems theyāre coming out without it for nowā¦
1 Like
A campaign for Aetius
1 Like
I wish it could be covered in a Khalid ibn al-Walid campaign, but I donāt have high hopes considering the Saracens have already one campaign plus 2 El Cid scenarios and Iām not sure the devs would split them into separate civs.
Yeah, Vandals especiallyā¦ Lombards may be quite redundant with the Goths and Italians.
1 Like
I agree. And itās why I thought the Trajan campaign was for AoE2 (also pics of a Trajan AoE2 hero modelā¦), as so many of his opponents donāt have a civ in AoE1. While in AoE2 there were better fits.
1 Like
Making Trajan in AOE2 would have pushed 2 centuries further back than I feel comfortable with, and Iām already going far with Stallone. Also I donāt know who could play as the Dacians in AOE2.
2 Likes
Probably Goths or Celts, and have the scenario editor switch their architecture.
1 Like
Yeah, AoE2 should definitely not go earlier than the Crisis of the Third Century, and ideally I wouldnāt go earlier than we already are at the start of Alaricās campaign.
2 Likes
I see an argument for putting Diocletianās reforms as a good start, transforming the Principate into the Dominate. Then Constantine adopting Christianity. Given the AI list for the Romans, the devs officially put it when Theodosius split the Empire between his 2 sons, but as always the limit is a bit elastic.
But indeed before the Crisis, thatās AOE1 territory. Notably as this is maybe the only time Palmyre got relevant during a few years.
3 Likes
I donāt know to me itās crazy Lombards are not in game and Italians are but maybe Iām biasedā¦ Yes they were Germanic like goths but I can assure you they totally deserve their own civ. Little in common with Italians if not for geographic reasons.
Saracens should definitely be split. Robby is trying to do that and for now he has done Umayyad and Mamelukes which he renamed Syrians and Egyptians (because aoe2 seems to generally avoid dynastic names). But the guy you mentioned was of the rashiduns, Iād like to have them as well but I heard people saying Muslims are very sensitive to Muhammad depiction in videogamesā¦
Bit if not a full campaign at least the battle of yarmouk which is probably one of the most impactful in history.
God I hope not, that would completely miss the point of having Romans in aoe2 lol
I was one of the most enthusiastic for Romans in aoe2 but itās clearly not early II century Romans ahah
1 Like
I think the Rashiduns and other people from the Hejaz, Najd and Persian Gulf could be called the Bedouins (maybe too generic, I donāt knowā¦)
The campaign wouldnāt necessarily need to feature Muhammad, even though Khalid fought against him and then served under his command, we could start under Abu Bakr with the Ridda Wars and then the wars against the Sassanid and Byzantine Empires. Thereās plenty enough to do a great campaign without taking the risk of depicting Muhammad directly (I donāt think the Rashidun caliph pose the same problem, but I may be mistakenā¦)
As for the Umayyads/Syrians, I would personally call the civ āLevantinesā unless Robby also wants to do an Iraqi civ to represent the Abbasid dynasty.
1 Like