Rome

About the Game

About This Game

Rome begins in 27 BC. The civil wars are over, the senate has just named you Augustus, and the whole Mediterranean waits to see what kind of ruler you will be. Every senator, general, governor and relative is a living character with ambitions, loyalties and a family of their own.

Rule the empire

Each turn is one month of your reign. Hand out offices, steer the senate, set taxes, feed Rome with grain from Egypt, build in your cities and keep 27 historical legions paid and loyal. Diplomacy with 86 foreign states, client kings and tribes can win you allies – or a war on the frontier. Conspiracies grow in the shadows, rivals wait for your mistakes, and without a worthy heir your dynasty dies with you.

Step into the world

At any moment you can leave the throne room and walk the empire in person. Ride through the streets of Rome, enter the Curia Iulia and preside over the senate, judge cases in the Basilica Iulia, offer sacrifice at the temple of Jupiter, or travel across the provinces to Alexandria, Carthage and the Seven Wonders. Every city of the empire is built from what you have actually constructed in the campaign.

Bread and circuses

Take your seat in the imperial box. Watch gladiators fight and decide the fate of the defeated with your thumb, bet on the Reds, Whites, Greens or Blues in the Circus Maximus, or pay for extraordinary games from your own purse. The crowd remembers.

Lead your legions

When diplomacy fails, command the battle yourself. Mid-sized battles put your cohorts, cavalry and archers on a real 3D battlefield with formations, pila volleys and charges; large historical battles from Gaugamela to Mons Graupius let you replay the great clashes of antiquity. At sea, board your trireme and hunt pirates.

A living Roman world

Crowds fill the forum, merchants call out from their stalls, fires break out in the crowded insulae, and seasons bring snow to the north and heat to the desert. Coronations, triumphs, weddings and state funerals unfold as playable ceremonies.

Key features

• Be Augustus – a historical start in 27 BC with the real imperial family, generals, senators, poets and 27 legions.

• Living characters – everyone ages, marries, has children, holds grudges and plots; loyalty is built deed by deed.

• Senate, offices and conspiracies – 600 senators in five factions, Roman offices, spies, informers, arrests and executions.

• Dynasty and succession – educate your heir, prepare his career, or watch the throne fall to a rival.

• Economy of an empire – taxes, grain supply, trade by sea and land, slaves, workshops and public buildings in every city.

• 86 foreign states – client kings, Parthia, Germanic tribes and more, each with rulers, families and relations to Rome.

• Walk the empire in 3D – leave the map at any time and explore Rome, provincial cities, harbours, villas and the Seven Wonders.

• Govern in person – preside over the senate in the Curia, hold court in the Basilica Iulia, attend sacrifices, weddings, triumphs and funerals.

• Gladiators and chariot races – watch, bet, sponsor your own games and decide life or death from the imperial box.

• Real-time battles – command cohorts in 3D battles with formations, volleys, charges and siege engines, plus 15 famous historical battles.

• Naval adventures – sail the Mediterranean, fight pirates, fish from the deck or dive overboard.

• Build your palace – design your own residence piece by piece, from podium to frescoed walls.

• Seasons and weather – snow in Britannia, golden deserts in Egypt, rain, fog and a full day–night cycle.