Rome/Strategic Overview

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< Rome

  • Strengths: Very versatile economic cultural bonuses and versatile unit roster featuring strong heavy infantry and siege component, decent and variegated navy. Ability to heal units with Supply Carts helps in defensive warfare.
  • Weaknesses: Very few light infantry units, somewhat mediocre cavalry and limited mercenary selection, not ideal for rushing due to prohibitive unit costs.

The Rome of Warbirth is the premier classical civilisation as we knew it — a potential economic powerhouse, specialising in Timber and construction, sustaining and sustained itself by a powerful military machine centred around the Roman legions. Unlike Kings & Conquerors, this is a Roman civilistion that is not in its infancy and fighting for its life, but is instead maturing and displaying the hallmarks of its namesake — a penchant for militarism and monumental construction work. This latter component is represented by its enhanced Woodworking abilities and its ability to receive Construction upgrades at the Sawmill for free. Timber and woodworking technologies are some of the most vital components of a standard Rise of Nations game. Timber is required to build most buildings, ships and siege weapons in the main, and to conduct Administrative research, which expands the physical size of your empire.

As such, it can thus be adduced that the Roman civ is a highly expansionist one, perhaps moreso given that Rome in Warbirth controls some of the strongest units, if not the best ones. At the heart of this unit roster is a series of heavy infantry — the Pedites and the Milites lines which in turn are supported by a vast plethora of siege machines and boats. Owing to these units being classified as assault infantry — a class of infantry that can tank missile weapons, especially arrows and other salvos shot from buildings, Rome can be said to be tipped towards offensive approaches to playing Rise of Nations. It is not meant to be used as say, the Arabs in Age of Chariots, or the rival Garamantian civilisation. Rather, these units are best used for what Rome excelled in — the taking of cities and defending them from other factions, by use of these selfsame units.

Only the Greeks , and to a lesser extent, the German, Carthaginian and Dacian factions, can be expected to go toe to toe against the Romans. However, the Roman roster still has some glaring weaknesses. The first is a notable lack of "trash" units, ie units trained at Settlements or Peasant Hovels. Only Slingers and Angry Mobs, not Peasant Levy, can be raised by Rome, thus the Romans are often bereft of the ability to spam last-ditch meat shields or to fully man up their towers and cities in times of need to ensure maximum damage on attacking enemies. As a result, it isn't very flexible in the early game despite being classified as a sedentary agrarian nation. More problematic however is the lack of good cavalry. Roman cavalry is mostly caught ought in the middle — it doesn't enjoy the same advantages as other factions with ranged cavalry, while its best cavalry unit, the Clibanarius, is fairly well-armoured, but costlier and relatively immobile compared to the cheaper Cataphracts of other nations, while it in turn is outclassed by the Persian Grivpanvar. Pedites and Milites are not cheap, either, and so Rome often finds itself at a numerical disadvantage, especially against other nations such as China and Germania who often enjoy strong cost advantages and great variety with regards to their own indigenous infantry. There are almost no mercenary units either, with the only mercenaries to speak of being Berber Auxilia cavalry and Iberian Neitotoi Slingers. As mentioned again, before, these units are often outclassed by others, with Berber Auxilia being outranged by most bow cavalry, and the Neitotoi being notable only for their accurate sling shots.

If violence isn't your favourite game, then you can always consider building wonders. The Romans are special in that they have several wonders — the Imperial Necropoleis, the Imperial Gardens, Pantheon, Scriptorum Magnum, and two unique wonders — the Domus Aurea and the Amphitheatrum Flavium. These two are unique in that they each require a combination of two different Governments to be built, thus providing the Roman player some means of fine-tuning the game as required — the Amphitheatrum for defence, the Domus Aurea to promote booming.

All told, the best strategy for Rome here is to go tower rushing and siege rushing, with a few heavy infantry units thrown in for good measure. Rome works well on water maps of either size, or in games where the terrain has plenty of chokepoints that can be quickly blocked up by heavy infantry or towers, such as the Himalayas map. It is not ideal for large all-land maps, in which case alliances with light infantry nations such as China, or cavalry nations such as the Sarmatians are ideal. Play this civ with an eye to early tower rushing and/or middle- to late-game booming, and you will seize the day from your foes.

Best age(s):[edit | edit source]

None, but the Roman roster has weaknesses that make it vulnerable to certain civs.

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