Rome is one of the core Civilizations that has been around for a while, and for good reason. While not terribly specific in any way, Rome is a great Civilization that allows you to really play any style you want, although an aggressive, expansionist approach is usually the most effective with the early game unit bonuses. With a strong production special, you can quickly build a large empire, using Legions to help build road networks to connect cities. Rome really plays how it should, with a focus on expanding and production, and an emphasis on assimilating enemy cities and quickly building them up with the added production bonus with buildings. However, with the production bonus of buildings, it is also possible to focus on an economic or scientific powerhouse, with a large empire providing huge bonuses due to cheaper and faster building rates.
Leader: Augustus Ceasar
Ability:
The Glory of Rome: This ability provides an extra 25% production bonus towards any buildings that are already built in the capital city. How fitting.
This special ability is best used to quickly build a large empire with strong city infrastructure. Since it is a given that you will have the basic buildings such as the Granary, Barracks, and Library in the capital, it is easy to improve new or conquered cities, making the valuable additions to your empire. It is also a good idea to build expensive buildings such as Universities and Factories in the capital first, as it will allow the rest of your empire to catch up much more quickly.
Special Units:
Ballista: The Ballista is a stronger, more fragile version of the Catapult which it replaces. It has a 10% bonus versus cities, but this is countered with limited visibility and poor defense strength, as it cannot defend itself from melee attacks.
The Ballista is an excellent early game unit if used correctly by the player. It can be used to quickly take enemy cities, but must also always be defended by Legions or other units, as the Ballista is an easy target for enemy troops. Since they are rather slow, weak, and must set up prior to firing, is it advisable to always build them in groups to take turns taking damage from cities.
Legion: The Legion is a powerful melee unit which replaces the Swordsman in the early game. This unit can also construct roads and forts, making it a strategically valuable unit outside of combat.
The Legion is an early game unit that will allow Rome to quickly expand and conquer before the development of stronger medieval units. When used with the Ballista, it is possible to quickly take cities and destroy enemy units before they can react. One fun strategy is using the Legions to build a road to a city before capturing it, which will instantly connect the Trade Route and also allow your units to reach the front lines quicker.
