Imperator Rome - Rome starting moves guide!

[@henrywill124]

1. If you import 2 Stone from trade routes, the -10% building cost can get more research buildings quicker. Getting 2 Furs also helps with military exp decay, which will help with the traditions exploit. 2. Sanctioned Privileges is the better oratory idea to start with. Your Senate's agenda will want to change from Tribal Assembly to Senatorial Endorsement, so the Oratory idea can at least give you some corruption reduction. 3. If you lower your army maintenance whilst you have no levies, you tax rate actually goes up since the extra happiness improves output. 4. If you raise a levy during the congress event, your feudatory chances improves as the AI takes relative power to account. EG. Sabina gets you a 49% chance vs 30ish%. 5. If you get an event asking you to guarantee Syracuse against Carthage, always do it, as you get 50 military experience and if you pause the game, you can instantly revoke the guarantee without any diplomatic penalties. Otherwise your guides have been really helpful in the last week, thanks!

[@LordForwind]

Great tips, there are so many I knew I would miss a few!

[@jmullner76]

Thank you for this. Funny thing, when I start a game with Rome, my levy from Rome is all light cavalry.

[@LordForwind]

very weird

[@jmullner76]

@Michael Mancini Got it fixed now.

[@harryellis910]

This guide is really helpful! I’ve been struggling as Rome to reach their historic boarders by the end. I’d love a guide on how to expand at a steady pace to finally finish a campaign?

[@LordForwind]

Lots of it is stability, so go for grand temples and theaters along with conversion laws, backed up with trade money in unintegrated cultural happiness

[@harryellis910]

@@LordForwind Thanks, I’ll check out your Rome streams to try and gain some more understanding.

[@Crazy_Diamond_75]

The real slowdown I've found comes from the aggressive expansion penalties, because having more than 50% AE can really cripple the stability of freshly conquered provinces. There's nothing like waiting in peace for a decade because you need your aggressive expansion to decay. If you're taking a bunch of territory you don't have claims on, then even the innovations, killing pigs, and proccing Jupiter's omen might not be enough to fend off the effects of unhappiness and stability of AE. So that said, try to make sure you're always taking territories/provinces that you have claims on. Having a claim will always at least halve the aggressive expansion you take. (More if you already have other AE reduction effects.) You can't make claims on countries you are at war with, so what you should do is plan ahead and plan to be at war constantly. While you're at war with your current target, start making claims on your next target. Taking missions that give you claims helps a lot with this, and missions will often have cascade effects where completing one stage gives you claims for the next stage. You should also be fabricating as often as you can, though you still need political influence for other things so try to balance it. In real life, the Roman Republic was at war virtually its entire history until it became an Empire. There was no Pax Romana when it was a republic. So read into that a little if you want to reach its historic borders by the end.

[@MrGiraffe247]

Haha, I was looking for a Rome starting move guide last week, but stumbled on your other tutorials instead. Really liked them, so decided to check out the rest of your videos today, and there it is! Thank you! :-)

[@LordForwind]

A reward for loyalty the I guess

[@crisal7]

Great video. I almost watched all of them. I'm playing hardest difficulty ironman nowadays. On my first two failing saves I started going south first conquering almost most of them with the exception of a couple of city states, then turning my eyes up north, for a easy conquest, since I am beefed up by now. It turned to be wrong move. And here is the reason why: freaking loyalty issues from my governor of Magna Grecia. The as.shole now compares his governorship power (almost all magna Grecia) with my consul power (only Latium) and laugh at his face. So what i just did in my third save is going after the north first all the way up to Ravena and then by 458 BC I took Etruria with the exception of corsica. Peace deal signed, and only then I took all magna grecia. Other than that your tips also work great on the hardest difficulty. Your tip on the academies to be built first on your major cities in Latium were a killer for my third save. Thanks

[@LordForwind]

Ty!

[@billrobert3226]

always helps to get a fresh perspective. I like the style, seems like some good tips im gonna try some of them out

[@LordForwind]

Good luck

[@albinosbruh4713]

As Rome ( or any nation that can’t raise legions at the start) you should rush Professional Training and then take innovations that increase research efficiency ( 4 inno in religious and 5 inno in oratory ) for extra 50% RE it will really boost your tech advancement

[@LordForwind]

You don't want to high research though at some point the diminishing returns make it useless

[@Crazy_Diamond_75]

On my first attempted playthrough of Imperator, I went south and conquered the Samnites and the Lucanians first. This left Etruria open to taking over Sabinia and Umbria. So when I went back up to face Etruria right after the truce had expired, it meant they were a lot bigger and more difficult to conquer. They'd even made some headway into Cisalpine Gaul. On my current playthrough (I restarted because I didn't realize that having a single legion was worth it and therefore had none in that first playthrough), I figured it was probably worth it to take out Sabinia and Umbria first before turning south. (This is actually the direction the tutorial has you take as well.) I think that is definitively the better move, since it cripples a lot of Etruria's potential expansion and makes them a much weaker target.

[@LordForwind]

I had them take all of northern Italy once and still beat them with Rome's starting levies

[@Crazy_Diamond_75]

@@LordForwind i mean, that's what I ended up doing as well, but it is easier if you don't let them have it.

[@heightsjosh8305]

I'd disagree about rushing for a legion. Romes levy is strong, (the tribute states help) you can save a lot of money (plus the money gained from sieging as the consul), and also avoid the loyalty issues of generals for a while. The popularity gain for the consul from warfare is really good. I usually avoid raising the legions until I face Egypt or the Seleucids. Your levy can deal with all your neighbors from the beginning, including carthage. Focusing on culture conversion, can give you a very loyal population quickly, which increases levy size. My current playthrough has 35k from rome, and another 30k from Capua.. and I've taken out Carhage, Macedon, and most my other neighbors. By avoiding the legions, you save a ton of money to be used for investment and building the economy. just a thought.

[@LordForwind]

I tried it that way, you end up worse off. Legions are super useful and not that expensive

[@heightsjosh8305]

@@LordForwind Strange. I had the opposite experience. :D I still upgraded to legions when I hit the major nations. Oh, I used some mercs to beef up the levies, so that could be it.

[@StrawberrySilk]

I like starting with 33% improved opinion idea, doing a quick flip to appeasing stance and snagging a ton of feudatories, inspired by your feudatory spam. Then it's non stop expansions from there.

[@LordForwind]

The opinion idea only works though if you spend the time to improve relations, and conquering is more important usually!

[@StrawberrySilk]

@@LordForwind I find the vassal swarm really useful early game (not that rome really has that much she can't handle). It's like having automated armies without any resource upkeep.

[@paradox7358]

How convenient. I'm just about to start a Rome campaign.

[@LordForwind]

Perfect timing me randomly deciding to release this today rather than in a few days

[@acolyte1951]

now I want to play a rome game!

[@LordForwind]

Yeah the other nations pale in comparision

[@skeletonrowdie1768]

LOL I thought at 12:27 wow a friend I got plays Mount&Blade

[@LordForwind]

Mount and blade is fun

[@torfistrom4549]

Just put the beginning navy on hunt fleets as the navy capture ships. You wontt need to build any ships that way..

[@LordForwind]

yep

[@andrewfowens]

Another great video!

[@LordForwind]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@blackcorp0001]

Very helpful ty so much

[@LordForwind]

Glad to help

[@blackcorp0001]

@@LordForwind looking forward to future vids

[@LordForwind]

Well since imperator is done development for now more of these videos might be awhile but I will do other paradox games

[@Scarfold]

I usually find it easier to expand to the northern territories at first (Sabina, Umbria, etc). and then Etruria. After that I curb stomp on the southern peninsula. I usually do this because by that time you're big enough to take them on at the same time, and they usually form a massive alliance, so you can conquer all of the south in one big, but short, war.

[@LordForwind]

See I find going south easier since they dont have the alliances set up yet, so you just easily and quickly pick them off with ease

[@Crazy_Diamond_75]

Split the difference. Taking Sabinia and Umbria cripples Etruria's expansion. That war is short enough that most of the southern provinces remain unallied, and you don't have to wait for Etruria's truce to expire. After Sabinia and Umbria, go south and conquer as much as you want. Then come back and finish off the Etrurians. By the time you're done with the southern war, the truce will have long since expired.

[@TheCropper007]

Can you do one about Carthage.

[@LordForwind]

Probably, havent played them much on this patch yet, but I'll try!

[@kennethstople3969]

For deity, you want to swap to Minerva for science and morale. Frankly its the only omen i call when playing Roma.

[@LordForwind]

I dont find her worth it, I usually am at research cap as Rome and more points doesnt help.

[@kennethstople3969]

@@LordForwind When you start conquering outside your culture and religious group which you will, that science ratio will tumble, and converting will take time. Running Minerva will offset that, and the army morale is oh so good when the tech tree can help you with discipline.

[@jmullner76]

On the tech tree, Urban Planning or Rural Planning? I would think to go with Rural since you can always use province upgrades to get more buildings in cities? Thoughts?

[@LordForwind]

well right now non-cities are relatively useless but its a matter of personal preference

[@parsatayebi7652]

You think you can do one with the Invictus mod?

[@LordForwind]

maybe, need to get a bit better with it first

[@xiaomiredmi1410]

Is it important to build aquaducts or do you just let the population to reach the limit in capital?

[@LordForwind]

You want as many people as possible there since you should have build stuff like academies where more pop is better

[@GameyRaccoon]

Ive been playing for a bit on my first rome game (that i didnt lose to etruria immediately) and I got all of Italy, Sardinia, and Sicily. But I keep having to put my provinces on harsh treatment since the unrest is like 3.00 in places like sardinia and north italy. (My stab is around 50 and i promoted etruscan and sabinian to citizen.) Should i not have? Should i integrate more? And how do you get enough money to build buildings? My legion is costing 18 gold a month.

[@LordForwind]

Promotion isn't bad but those aren't large culture groups. Build more law buildings and appoint better governors. Early on a legion might be too much money to build to full strength, use more levies. I did a couple of Rome lps and streams you might want to check out as well as my economy guide. Econ 101 though, trade is how you make money not taxes so trade a ton and invest in trade innovations.

[@GameyRaccoon]

@@LordForwind yeah, ive been learning as i went along and this game i told myself to watch your tutorials once i found them. (The other ones ive found are dreadfully boring and/or outdated.) A previous try i had gotten a similarly sized country but it all fell apart since i didn't know what provincial loyalty was and they started rebelling and the senate twisted my arm into attacking carthage. I also had spent all my innovations on trying to rush cohorts which was pretty foolish. I balanced it this time, and the religious stuff has really helped. Also building great temples and other buildings if i can afford it, and deleting overlapping forts. (Though i think this also gives an unrest hit?) But I promoted Sabinian and Etruscan to citizen because at that point (and i wasn't even sure if I was gonna get to play much longer or die to a disaster) they actually made up more of my country than anyone, so I made them citizens. I used my EU4 instinct, where I promote cultures that are big enough, but the culture system in this game feels a lot more foreign to me. Is demotion an option? Would it be viable? Most of my disloyal provinces (they are fixed with harsh treatment, or noticing a governor is corrupt, or building a great temple, etc.) are non-hellenic, Gallic and Punic provinces, my integrated pops are all quite happy. Will they convert to my religion and then to my culture on their own with the appropriate policy or is there something I need to do for that to happen? And they would be loyal right? Really sorry for the long comment, but thanks for any help, you've really helped me actually start underdtanding this game, which has been sitting in my library for too long!!

[@LordForwind]

Thanks for the praise. Demotion is a possibility, but I would just avoid promoting them in the first place. You need theaters and temples to convert non-citizen cultures and other religions. I tend to build both in every cities I get. Try to only embrace cultures that unlock new army tradition trees. Rome has some amazing government reforms that allow for good religious and cultural converting. Go for religion first culture second, and get the religion innovations that speed it up. Once they convert, they will be normal good loyal citizens or other pop type. Also be aware you can give governors troops with will lower unrest in the area and if you automate them tend to handle most rebel issues.

[@bobbyb2506]

i start with 0 innovations, did they change it?

[@LordForwind]

no, that sounds like a glitch, most civilized nations get 10 or so.

[@ejajafrozarb]

Rome is OP

[@LordForwind]

Totally, no one else is close

[@waryace2]

Agreed, that Roman levy buff is crazy, most of my games late game is me slowly chipping away at them and cold war.

[@bobbyjoe1111]

As they should be tbh, although I think it would be more interesting to have an earlier start date before Rome is already the dominant power in Italy. Sometime like 350 BC before the first samnite war

[@dusk6159]

@@bobbyjoe1111 Indeed, and different starting dates for Rome and for others are dearly needed

[@danielneal264]

Just started getting into the game. Curious why you delete all those buildings at outset when it will be quite a while before you have the coin to build better structures and before the territories are at building cap where it even matters. Shouldn't you just wait until you've hit building cap for a territory AND have funds to add better structure, getting the bonus along the way? Do the buildings have some sort of maintenance cost?

[@LordForwind]

Buildings influence what class of population you get in provinces, so deleting them starts off the slow process of changing the pops over to better ones

[@danielneal264]

@@LordForwind That makes sense for some of them, but do the tax office, training camp, marketplace, etc., influence pop mix in a territory? I thought only the "desired ratio" buildings did so.

[@LordForwind]

Some of them are just bad basically and if you forget to remove them it weakens you long-term but you don't have to rush non ratio building removal

[@keremdemircan4203]

great video bro. I recently bought this game and I thought I can manage an Antigonid game as an EU4 vet but I was horribly mistaken haha. I went back to the good old Rome and sucked on that too. So thanks for this guide. It helps immensely. For the future can you do an Antigonid guide? But not pussy as guide like giving up all of your lands. I want a real fuckin guide like you manage to hold every province you have and beat back those loser diadochies. Thank you again. I can't wait to see future guides. Keep up the good work.

[@LordForwind]

hmm probably but I would give land to the Maurya early on, you can win the war but its not worth it. You want as much time in the middle east and europe with the Alexander Legacy Cb

[@keremdemircan4203]

​@@LordForwind oh i think you misunderstood me. I am talking about antigonids not selucids. Nevertheless, I'm down for that too haha.Selucids and antigonids are my fav diadochies. You are now one of my fav youtubers and trust me your path is open in this youtube thing. I can tell that for sure.

[@LordForwind]

Ah my bad confused your comment with another but yeah I could probably do one on them soon!

[@LordForwind]

Also thanks for thinking I could make YT work because it took 4+ years to get 1/4 of my subs in 2 weeks...

[@xiaomiredmi1410]

does an extra import route help you with growth of your capital or is it about the bonuses?

[@LordForwind]

just the bonuses

[@thimostratege8501]

Question: If I start a Rome game, I have political influence of 100 instead your 200. Did PDX changed the start values?

[@LordForwind]

they must have then

[@0witw047]

Would you say the +integrated culture happiness deities are good? Diana especially lets you integrate a few extra cultures for the quick extra hundred or so levies without any happiness problems, but then you might have some research problems. If you stack omen power though it’s especially good, pop growth is important though so I could see why someone might want Venus instead, and a lot of people prefer assimilation over integration.

[@LordForwind]

any culture deity is pretty good, assimilation is stronger since the pops will then be nobles not just citizens but integration allows you to expand faster and excess happiness of integrate pops is very useful

[@Darthwgamer]

What's the possibility of Rome being vassalized early game?

[@LordForwind]

low but it can happen, Rome either lives and grows big or dies quickly

[@Darthwgamer]

@@LordForwind Well ya they're a vassal of the Samnium so ya kind of funny to.

[@nordstern2664]

A friend and i want to play multiplayer. Do you know any countries für beginners which can support eachother without limitating the further expansion of both countries. Currently we tries Rome and Macedonia. But my friend is crushed against the diadochian empire in anatolia (former phyrgia) early in the game, so i can not help him.

[@LordForwind]

Hmm thrace Macedon could work if thrace goes north or go rome Syracuse.

[@Dholo]

It looks like you start with double the political influence that I do. Did something change? I couldn't find anything in any patch notes.

[@LordForwind]

Maybe? I dont think so, could be based off starting randomized stats for people too.

[@kur0sh1]

could you also explain what the 'ai settings ' do? It isnt clear if youre handing over control of your factio to ai or if youre setting rules for the other ai factions

[@LordForwind]

Thats for MP I believe if you had to step away for a min. It doesnt affect AI settings.

[@kur0sh1]

thanks for clearing that up

[@goldrumble5736]

are you sure I should build academies for research? library's are the buildings that give research point...

[@LordForwind]

Ahh this is why a guide is needed, library multiply the research from nobles and citizens, the more of them the more research generated.

[@goldrumble5736]

@@LordForwind ohhh I get it now, thank you so much for the guids and the explanation dud.

[@LordForwind]

NP! Its fun to do, glad to help!

[@k-man4]

I'm struggling with what seems to be the simplest things as Rome, hoi4 was easier to learn bruh 💀

[@LordForwind]

Different styles of game. I struggled with hoi for ages