This guide tells you how to use the Politics panel to increase your faction's influence while keeping the influence of other factions as low as possible. I describe what every action does, and this is an in-depth look at the faction mechanics and not just the "keep loyalty above zero" that the basic aim of using this panel is. Introduction Greetings all, I may be 11 years late to the party, but while playing this wonderful game and learning something new every day, I hadn't come across an in-depth tutorial on the politics section of the game specifically regarding influence (the ones I had come across were either too basic, or told you to abuse the system in the first few turns of a campaign when you are protected from civil wars and can mess with the senate as you please, or talked about things you could do in older versions of the game you no longer can, like Adopt members from another party (now you can only do so via Entice), so while Rome II initially released in late 2013, and the Emperor edition that introduced the politics panel releasd in late 2014, the final form of the Political Intrigues as they currently are, was only patched in 2018 to accompany the Rise of the Republic DLC, therefore many guides out there are outdated and so I have decided to write one myself for the current and latest patch (2.4.0) and share it here with you. A while ago I made a shorter thread with tips on how to avoid a civil war (found here https://steamcommunity.com/app/214950/discussions/0/510701523638987052/) And the tl;dr version of it was, that the main purpose of the politics panel is to keep all other parties’ loyalty to yours in the positive numbers to prevent both Secession (one party seceding from your empire and the provinces alloted to its family turning hostile) and a full blown Civil War (ALL parties basically forcing YOU to secede from now their, formally your, empire, by all their provinces turning hostile except for yours) as either of these tear your holdings apart and basically reset your campaign progress, I realized the much more challenging side-quest is to at the same time also keep increasing your own party’s influence in the senate, as you need a minimum amount (65%) to one day be able to transition the republic into an empire not just because of the additional edict and military technology research rate boost and additional factionwide recruitment slot it brings, but because it makes you the IMPERATOR – the real endgame achievement after all the toils of you having campaigned for your faction and conquered half the known world for what is otherwise an entitled Urbs full of ungrateful plebs. So, while I covered the basics on how to avoid a civil war in the above linked thread, in this one I want to go deeper into faction politics to show you how to increase your party’s influence in the senate as well, without brute forcing / duressing a party into secession and then conquering their provinces; so this requires more finesse than just keeping the other parties loyal. The Basics Ideally, you want as many members as possible in your party and as few as possible in the other parties, but the game knows this and has mechanisms to prevent it, like whenever it forces you to immediately replace a general/admiral for a stack that has lost its leader by only making members from other parties show up for hire, or decreasing your senate influence each time you choose to hire one for your own party instead. The first step in understanding politics is that actions against other party members can only be done by YOUR party members, for the obvious reason that you are playing this game as your party. Other party members can only be tasked with duties that benefit your faction as a whole, like being sent on a diplomatic mission to improve relations with another faction, or hold games in a province to boost its happiness level etc, but not do anything against other parties or against your party, while your party members can. Furthermore, even looking only at the abilities of your party members, many actions can only be done if your party member wishing to do it, is idling in the senate (wearing a toga) and NOT a general leading one of your armies or fleets (wearing a helmet), as most options are greyed out for the latter who are serving at the frontier, far away from Rome. This newfound freedom to do shenanigans (expending their accumulated pool of gravitas), is the reward for retiring your party members from military duty before they die (by opening up the general/admiral panel and clicking on REPLACE to swap the leader for someone else) and thereby sending the experienced fellow back home to harass people in the senate, as it opens up options for them that aren’t available to newcomers, because many of these senate actions are furthermore also locked behind a cost in gravitas or a needed minimum attribute value of authority, cunning or zeal – values your party members usually only pick up by having served in the military and won battles and having leveled up, representing knowledge acquired over the course of a career on the frontier. And lastly, another hurdle is the targeted party member’s authority, cunning or zeal, and the matchup certain actions demand, like the initiator’s cunning that has to be 2 points higher than the target’s zeal and so on. Keep in mind attributes are not just boosted or docked by the senate actions I will explain further below, but also raised a little bit by attaching the proper ancillary to a party member, allowing for example Rome’s women to at least do some basic politics (“lobbying”) in the senate, with the help of these male ancillaries/advisors etc. Likewise, you shouldn’t forget to detach any stat boosting ancillary from the party member you are targeting if you have to lower their attributes a bit for it to work. As dictator, god, or divine spirit playing the game, think of it as you having the power to make that ancillary miss the fateful senate hearing or find themselves purchasing groceries at the forum rather than remain in an advisory role at the victim’s side on that day. One more thing you need to pay attention to, is that the game will punish you for doing the same political action more than once during the same turn, as the gravitas or monetary cost of subsequent attempts will be exponentially steeper than the previous time, so you get your best value if you keep it to once per turn, e.g. marry once per turn, not twice, even if you have spare income in the treasury this turn. The final thing to keep in mind, and one that people often forget, is that expending gravitas to do fun things in the senate actually makes your faction weaker in the long run, because gravitas is being spent from your party members' collective pool to get you some immediate, but short term effects, like boosting your treasury or improving other members' statlines or weakening other party members' statlines and so on, but doing nothing while just accumulating gravitas is in its own way a good thing as your party's influence keeps increasing that way - which is what you ultimately want, and not the shenanigans. Still, let's move on to the things you can do: Hire New Politician Hire (new) politician – assuming you have already reached the maximum amount of generals/admirals determined by your Imperium level, you may ask why would you want to do this, if you can just go to the raise army/fleet tab and hire a general/admiral there once you are below strength again? Because the gravitas of politicians sitting around in the senate adds influence to their party, and not just the gravitas of serving generals, of which you can only have a finite amount, determined by your Imperium level. But there is no upper limit on politicians. They also accumulate gravitas each turn despite doing nothing, while a general or admiral only increases his via battles – gravitas he then can’t use, because he is serving on the frontier. Yes, it costs influence to hire a senator for YOUR party, but if you keep him in the senate, the gravitas he accumulates and keeps adding to your party’s tally after some point will outweigh the initial influence you lost to launch his career. Also, you can always turn a politician sitting in the senate into a general/admiral for 0 gold (denarii) and therefore don’t need to pay to hire generals/admirals at all, and so just go ahead and hire a male politician for your party whenever you can afford one, and appoint him to lead your forces when the need arises, like during a future turn when you have just enough income to raise an army and a general’s bodyguard unit, but not to also hire a general to lead it. Until then, they shall remain in the senate and every point of gravitas they have (and keep accumulating) will also keep increasing your party’s influence. Hiring a new senator for your party, whenever available, is therefore more rewarding than spending that amount of denarii (usually just over a thousand) in upgrading one building somewhere on the campaign map. Also keep in mind that you can’t predict when a general or admiral dies of old age, but when they do, the game immediately forces you to pick a new general/admiral and then you may find yourself forced to appoint (or gods forbid, create) a member from a different party, ruining your quest to keep their influence small. Seek Spouse Seek spouse – for most of the game, the discount method of hiring a new gravitas generating senate politician (and if the initiator is female, also potential general/admiral). Rather than paying the full cost in the raise army/navy or the hire politician panel, clicking on the seek spouse button (which requires an unmarried party member) will generate a politician for the same party that member belongs to, for cheaper, who you can then use to lead an army or navy (he will cost 0 denarii to lead them, as he is already in the senate rather than having to be created). When playing as rome, telling a male to find a spouse is less rewarding, as the spouse will be a woman who cant lead armies/fleets and thus only has a limited role in the senate. But marriage also grants each of the weds several bonuses (or sometimes downsides) shown in the spouse card. Only seek spouses for your own party members, NEVER instruct rival party members to do so, or you will only crowd their roster with more members generating gravitas and thus more influence, unless you have some elaborate plan where you want to strengthen a weak party who has a lot of loyalty to yours, so that both of you can put pressure on decreasing the influence of a big party that doesn’t like you and could snatch a lot of territory from your empire if a civil war breaks out. Only in such a case does increasing the member count by telling people in another party to seek spouses and have you reap the marriage bonuses granted by each spouse to their significant other for your faction, do more good than harm. Well, there is one final reason to seek spouses for rival party members, and that is when their stats are too high for your own party members to manipulate them (e.g. raise their party loyalty to yours with Improve Relations) which can be easier to do on the newly created spouse which usually only has 3 authority, cunning and zeal. Political Marriage Political marriage – primarily done to keep the loyalty of another party permanently higher than it otherwise would be, for as long as the married couple is alive. It requires the targeted party to have a minimum loyalty of 10 and your initiator should have more gravitas than the target of the opposite gender, as well as paying for it (more expensive than seek spouse and doesn’t grant you a new party member, so only do this if the stability of your empire needs to rest on that long term loyalty bonus). Gather Support Gather Support – increases your party’s influence by 2%, but requires an authority of 7 OR zeal of 7 and damages all other parties’ loyalty by -2 for the next 4 turns AND costs money. Consider this the sledgehammer method of increasing your party’s influence, usually only doable by your faction leader who has money to spare and most other parties' loyalty is in the positives. The great thing is it can be done by generals who are serving, and doesn't even cost any gravitas, making it one of the most useful actions in the entire politics tab when it comes to increasing influence, and worth every penny. Promote Promote - Because the first rank is free, promoting is one of the most effective methods of increasing your faction strength both in terms of economy and influence in the senate, but you have to be careful about when you do it. When playing as Rome, men and women have different tiers of promotion, but the first rank is always free, while subsequent ranks cost an increasing amount of denarii. Therefore, it is always better to promote everyone before promoting the first character a second time. For women, the first tier, Influential Woman, gives her +3 gravitas per turn, +3% wealth from all entertainment buildings in all regions of your empire, and a permanent +3 loyalty from her party if it is a different one to yours, for as long as she is alive. For men, the first tier, Military Tribune, grants a +3% tax rate for the Province under your control they are in (regardless in which region under your control of that Province he is in). Military Tribune also makes his land units cost -2% upkeep (so it doesn't work on admirals), and finally, he gets +1 gravitas per turn even when he is leading an army or navy. However, promoting your own party member brings with it a -2 loyalty from ALL other parties lasting for 2 turns, while promoting a different party's member grants you a permanent +1 loyalty from that party for as long as the promoted character is alive, making both options worth considering. Higher tiers of promotion are basically multipliers of the same list of bonuses, i.e. the next rank, Quaestor, would be +6% to province tax rate instead of +3%; -4% army upkeep instead of -2% and so on, but now costs money to promote, so it may take around 10 turns to make back in gold what you initially spent as a lump sum to advance the tier. Only during the first third or so of the game, when you can field only a handful of generals because you are limited by your Imperium level, is it worth it to promote them to higher tiers, if you take extra care not to get them killed on the battlefield. One last thing to keep in mind is you cannot promote your faction leader. When playing as Rome, this is the Dictator. He is also your family leader, but sometimes the two titles can be split, and then you may end up with a different family leader (who you can promote) and faction leader (Dictator, who you can't promote). Embezzle Embezzle – if your (non-serving) embezzling party member has 6 or more cunning and a fair amount of gravitas, they can basically print free money, as clicking on embezzle will give you a big cash bonus that can come in very handy during desperate times when you are at war and need the cash to immediately swell the ranks of one of your armies with mercenaries without having to cancel your infrastructure projects that are nearing completion elsewhere. The cost of embezzling is a loss of gravitas (that increases with every repeated attempt) and therefore a slowed growth of your party’s influence in the senate over the course of future turns, and all other parties losing loyalty to your party by a small amount, so I wouldnt call this a cheat code as you also cant repeat this again and again with the same character and need cunning politicians to begin with. Adopt Adopt – usually required if your faction leader wants a male heir, but hasn’t been able to biologically create one yet. Or perhaps you want a more talented one to be your heir than that weak son of his. Or perhaps you just want to spawn more children – as the prerequisite for that are adults who have been adopted into your family, because adults in other parties or even in your party, but outside your family, cant make children. And children, once matured into adults, are free senators/generals/admirals from your party, i.e. no hiring cost and no loss in senators/influence. Therefore aside from births, adoption is the only way to add more members to your family, rather than just to your party (being the list right of your family tree, where senators/generals/admirals hired for your party are usually found). Also, there is the risk that unadopted party members found a new political party, should your faction have too few in the senate (like after your rookie mistake of trying to lower the amount of parties by provoking one to secede and then eliminating them in a blitzkrieg, only to come back to one of your party members having founded another party). However, each time you adopt a new member into your family, the gravitas of all eligible heirs already in it will sink by 5 points (who the eligible heirs are, is highlighted by those portraits not having faded in color when you click on “make heir” and then hover the mouse over your family tree, and using the mouse wheel to zoom out in case it is too big). The adopter can be anyone in your family and not just the faction leader or his heir, so you can expand your family tree in any direction - horizontal or vertical, by deciding who the "parent" of the adoptee will be, as long as the adopter has 2 more authority than the adoptee’s zeal. This is why sometimes your faction leader can’t adopt, but someone else in your family, like his heir, can – cause he has more authority than the target’s zeal, which your current faction leader may not have. Remember you can Insult the adoptee to lower his zeal, or Praise the faction leader to increase his authority. Declare Heir Declare Heir - only available to your family member who is marked as the Family Leader (yellow shield with white crest) which usually is, when playing as Rome, the Dictator (purple shield with white crest) and hence overriding the yellow shield, over the course of a game these two titles can split, and then you will realize only the Family Leader can declare the heir, and not the Dictator. Anyway, when the Family Leader dies, one of the eligible heirs is chosen by the game to be the next Family Leader. But if you want to ensure that only a certain person is chosen as the next Family Leader, you can do so by Declaring the Heir - an action that costs the current Family Leader 20 gravitas to declare and requires the person he is declaring as heir's zeal to not be more than 2 points lower than his own zeal. So if it is too low, you can bump it up with Praise, or lower the faction leader's with Insult. Also, upon being declared as such, the new Heir gets a shield of his own telling others he has been made the Heir and a 10 gravitas boost. Educate Educate – only decreeable on children, and only by the faction leader or heir (even if they are leading an army) you pay a large sum to give them a +2 stat boost on either authority, cunning or zeal, decided randomly, once they become adults. While noble and commendable, it simply isnt worth the money as it can go in the thousands of denarii. And I believe it increases with every child you have already educated, or by Imperium level, not sure. What’s more, some of them can die while being tutored, thereby making it a complete waste of money. Assassinate Assassinate – Since you can’t use your agents to do this to your own faction members, and getting them killed on the battlefield comes with a massive loyalty penalty of -15 if it was a party member and -30 if it was the party leader (dying of natural causes doesn’t incur these penalties) that only decreases by 3 after each subsequent turn, the best place is instead to kill them on the senate floor (et tu, Brute?) but only as a last resort, i.e. if civil war is unavoidable and the disloyal faction has some high tier generals in it with high authority values making them hard to entice over to your family (remember, you can disband armies, but not generals, who then return to just being senators which the AI can recruit back into leading armies). Assassinate, which requires the person ordering it to pay money AND have a higher cunning than the victim's cunning, comes with a surprisingly low loyalty penalty of just -5, perhaps because from a gameplay perspective you’re deleting your own characters, and from a lore perspective the victim party not really knowing which rival party ordered the deed (and one family's like or dislike of another non-ruling family isn't shown in the game, because it is irrelevant for any civil war purposes). If you have reduced a party down to just one member, assassinating this person won’t make the party disappear. The game will instead immediately spawn a new senator for that party who becomes its party leader (a distant uncle who appears out of nowhere). Then why reduce member count, you ask? To keep that party’s influence low and help your own party reach the threshold to transition from republic into empire, as I mentioned the goal of this whole sidequest is. Also, pay attention to the party trait each character has, which only becomes relevant when the character becomes party leader. You can see this on the party overview panel. Some party leaders can have a really horrible party trait, like "Hates Barbarians" which offers no bonuses, but incurs a cumulative -2 loyalty penalty to your party for each Barbarian faction you have any kind of treaty (trade agreement, non-aggression pact, military access, defensive alliance etc.) with, that can go all the way up to a permanent -10 loyalty of his party to yours for as long as he is alive. Another nasty trait is Pacifist: -2 loyalty for every faction you are at war with. The party overview panel also tells you what the trait of his successor will be, and if it is a much better one, like "Traditionalist", which gives you +1 loyalty from his party for every Province where your culture is dominant, then that's another good reason for assassination. Finally, if your faction leader is female, she has the chance to marry an entirely different faction's male leader. Think of it working the same way as Political Marriage, except the permanent bonus for as long as the marriage endures isnt for party loyalty, but a diplomatic relations bonus. A side effect of marrying another faction is that you get that faction leader's adopted generals added to your family tree. This allows you to assassinate them, weakening that faction. Self deletion Self deletion – while you can even assassinate characters belonging to your own party, it costs money, whereas convincing them to off themselves is free and gives ALL other parties +2 loyalty to yours for 4 turns, making it - at first glance, the better choice. Obviously you only want to get rid of useless ones in your party, so only characters with 1 or less gravitas have the hemlock (poisonous plant) symbol left of the portrait to tell them there is no place for noobs, scrubs and bottom feeders in your group of chads, so please treat yourself to some tea. On a more serious note though, having low gravitas per se isn’t an issue, as there isnt an upper limit on how many politicians your party can have, which might have otherwise made you weed out all those who contribute little to no influence, and since gravitas plays no role on the battlefield and increases each turn in the senate, keep men with low gravitas for their other attributes unless they have some negative traits like being flaccid, foul mouthed or inbred. Low gravitas women however are pretty useless, since you can’t tell them to seek a spouse because of the 30 gravitas threshold, nor use them as roman generals, so go right ahead and delete her to get that loyalty bonus from all other parties. At least, during the first leg of the campaign. But during the mid to late campaign when you have enough income at the start of each turn to keep Securing Loyalty every couple of turns and topping it up with Improve Relations, Loyalty edicts, Flirting and, once the loyalty is in the positives, Sending Gifts and Political Marriage, your own party will have also grown in size, and a single self deletion carries with it a massive, massive penalty of -5 gravitas for ALL your party members, so if you have 20 other members, you just lost upto 100 gravitas (assuming nobody else had less than 5 gravitas) and therefore the temporary 4 turn +2 loyalty boost to all other parties by the sacrifice will no longer be worth it. Entice With Entice, you can steal other parties’ members and add them to your own party, making it obvious who was behind this, and therefore slapped with a bigger -8 loyalty penalty from the affected party. The enticer has to spend at least 30 gravitas, and needs to have 2 more cunning than the targeted member’s authority, so usually you will want to steal non-active duty party members (e.g. roman women) with high gravitas and low authority, as adding them to your party will help you grow your senate influence over time, which in turn results in a greater share of territories being alloted to your party, and thus a hold over more territories in a civil war. If these women were married, even better! Because their non-enticed husbands from the victim party will now be treated as if the enticed women had always been from your party and had engaged in a political marriage, i.e. you get some loyalty back from the enticed party because of the marital ties. The in-game balance of this stealing is that Entice halves the targeted character’s gravitas. Someone having switched sides loses face and their credibility and standing in the senate, after all. But if their gravitas was very high to begin with, not only did you rob the entire amount from the targeted party’s pool, but have now added half of it to yours, making it a more rewarding action long term than to just strangle the individual. Entice is also good, if redistributing gravitas isn’t your primary concern, but rather grabbing a particularly talented general who is serving a rival party. He may have low gravitas, but otherwise good stats and abilities, and it would be a shame if you were forced to fight him in an upcoming civil war you already know cant be avoided because of how low their loyalty is to your family. Entice is therefore an essential tool to weaken a rival party who is already disloyal to you by taking their best and brightest (as well as the entire army they lead!!!) before the civil war starts, more so than assassination which also costs money, while Entice doesn’t. You can’t entice the party leader, so the party will have at least 1 member left and therefore disappear from the senate only by seceding. Send Gift Send Gift – costs the initiator money, only leaders of other parties can be targeted, and gives a small bonus of +2 gravitas to the initiator, but the main reason you do this is because it stabilizes the targeted party’s loyalty by +2 for the next 4 turns. Since Secure Loyalty grants 5 times the loyalty bonus for the same amount of turns, but doesn’t cost 5 times the amount of denarii to do so, gift sending is only worth considering if you are short on cash and/or have already secured loyalty and need this to top up the loyalty, but gift sending can only be done if the targeted party’s loyalty is 0 or higher, while securing loyalty can be done even if the loyalty is in the negatives. Improve Relations Improve Relations - an action that costs the initiator 30 gravitas and lots of money, what it does is not only improve the loyalty of the targeted party by +2 for the next 3 turns, but also costs the person from the other party you spoke to, 5 gravitas per turn for the next 2 turns (so -10 gravitas in total). It is worse than Send Gift, because not only does the same +2 loyalty boost last for 1 turn less (3 instead of 4), but while it lowers the gravitas of the target by 10, it lowers the initiator's gravitas by 30, meaning you lose more than the targeted party; it is also twice as expensive in terms of money and furthermore, requires the initiator to have 2 zeal more than the target's cunning, where Send Gift has no such complicated preconditions. However, the big advantage of Improve Relations is it can be done even when the loyalty of the target party is in the negatives, while Send Gift can only be done if it is a positive value. Another reason why you may choose Improve Relations over Send Gift is when you want to dock your initiator's gravitas on purpose by 30 to drop it to below 20, so that his spouse can then file for a divorce because one of the two had generated a really bad trait in the other's profile (e.g. 3% corruption). Do A Favor Do a Favor – an action that costs the initiator 20 gravitas, it increases the targeted character’s authority by +1 if he is from your party, or grants him +5 gravitas if he is from a different party, and on top of this the attempt costs a lot of money, so NEVER do this to someone from another party as there is no loyalty reward. No doubt an oversight by CA. A prerequisite is the initiator must have 2 more authority than the target’s. It makes sense to do favors to roman women with high gravitas but low authority, since they cant increase their authority by campaigning, but once they have enough authority, can unlock actions that require a base level of authority to perform, like go on Vacation to increase their cunning, or Adopt someone (which requires 2 more authority than their zeal), or the best one - Gather Support for your party, which requires an authority of 7. Praise Praise – increases the target’s gravitas by 10 and zeal by 1, but costs the praiser 30 gravitas. If someone from another faction is praised, you get +3 loyalty for 3 turns, making this (aside from killing off your own characters or Flirting) the ONLY other way to increase another party’s loyalty that does NOT cost money, as all the other methods do, but at the cost of permanently empowering your foes (unless it’s a battlefield general whose zeal you actually don’t mind being buffed). Praising members from your own party does not incur a loyalty penalty from other factions, so Praise sounds like a good idea for zealous veteran party members with lots of gravitas to “level up” the zeal of newcomers – even though doing so within your own party still results in a net gravitas loss (you expend 30 to gain 10, i.e. lose 20 and what’s more, only non-military politicians can praise and if you praise one of your own generals who is serving, you lose 30 gravitas but the 10 he gains isnt added to your influence because the person you praised is on the frontier and not in the senate right now), it is worth it for the zeal level up, and opens up new venues for the praised person, like getting enough gravitas to be able to seek a spouse (30 needed) this turn, or someone with high zeal but low gravitas praising someone with high gravitas but low zeal can bring their zeal level high enough that you can then use them to start doing actions that cost gravitas but also require a minimum amount of zeal, like praising others themselves - multiple times due to their high pool of gravitas. Therefore, a sort of praise chain reaction. However, one more prerequisite is the person praising needs to have 2 more zeal than the cunning of the person being praised. Therefore, it is a weird but workable solution to first Provoke the one being praised (“your parlor tricks don’t work here in the senate!”) to lower their cunning aka self-esteem, only to then praise them (“nah fam, just kidding, your speech yesterday was really good”) to increase their gravitas and zeal, resulting in a net benefit for the victim, as they gained more (+10 gravitas, +1 zeal) than they lost (-1 cunning) while the zeal buff now allows them to praise others themselves, if they meet the zeal is 2 higher than target’s cunning criteria themselves. Vacation Vacation – increases your character’s cunning by +1 and gravitas by +5, but costs a lot of money and requires an authority of 6 AND zeal of 6, so very few characters in your faction will fulfill both stat requirements while sitting around idly in the senate, to be sent on vacation with a bag of cash, all only to increase their cunning by 1 and a tiny boost in gravitas. Flirt Flirt – is performed on a married couple from a rival party, and by one of your party members who is not married to someone else from your party, and if single, also isn’t interested in getting married soon, because flirting makes everyone except the target lose gravitas – i.e. you (reducing your chances of getting married unless you have enough gravitas to waste on flirting), your spouse (wont happen if you are unmarried), and the target’s spouse, but not the target, so flirting to a single is almost useless. Flirting is tricky, as it requires the flirter to have 2 more cunning than the target’s authority, and also costs the initiator 30 gravitas, meaning newcomers to your party are too unskilled to flirt, and it is unlikely that one of your high gravitas party members is still single (unless you deliberately never married them off, or their spouse died recently), as you usually want to marry them off when they are young to be able to maximize the chance of being able to bear children (happens only if they have been adopted into your family) and/or just enjoy the bonuses they (you) get from them having a spouse (and the spouse getting bonuses from them, so basically x2 bonuses) for as long as possible. The flirter gains back 10 gravitas (meaning they only lose 20 gravitas per flirt) and the target party’s spouse loses 10 gravitas. Flirting is therefore bad for both our party (20 gravitas loss) and the targeted married couple (10 gravitas loss), as only those parties who were not party (sorry) to this action keep their gravitas intact, and hence their influence in the senate, undamaged. So flirt if your party already has a lot of influence. Flirting with a rival party also gives +2 loyalty for 2 turns from that party, meaning you can weaken it without making them more disloyal. Flirt can be even better if the flirter is from your party and already in a political marriage with a rival party (whose loyalty to yours has been boosted via the marriage). By flirting, the flirter can now reduce the gravitas of upto three parties, thus ending the scenario with your rival parties having lost as much gravitas as you (20 vs 20, as you lose 20 gravitas, while your spouse who is from another party loses 10 gravitas, and the targeted party’s spouse loses 10 gravitas). There is also the possibility of flirting to a married couple from the same party your flirter already is in a political marriage with, making you lose 20 gravitas, while the targeted party loses 20 gravitas as well - 10 gravitas deducted from your spouse of that party, and 10 gravitas deducted from the spouse of the other person of that party you flirted with. In such a scenario you'd want to evaluate whether you want to lower yours and the (second?) biggest party in the senate's influence, or lower yours and the weakest party in the senate's influence, whichever is more beneficial to you. Finally, the benefit of lowering one’s own gravitas or one's spouse’s gravitas via flirt allows the flirter or their spouse to then file for a divorce, if he or his wife have created a really negative trait as a result of their marriage, like a factionwide increase in corruption. This brings us to... Divorce Divorce – as mentioned before, when you seek a spouse, just like in real life, the ensuing marriage may play out well or be a bad thing, once each character’s “intimate nature” is revealed as traits in the spouse card of the character they are married to (who they are married to is shown if you hover your mouse over the small white silhouette of a face in profile, in the lower right of the spouse card), traits that previously played no role in their daily affairs. These can give bonuses, or be a strain on your faction, for example a naggy wife lowering her husband’s authority or gravitas, or worse, insisting on expensive baubles that are a drain on the faction treasury in the form of increasing factionwide corruption (even a small increase like 3% can cost you hundreds or even thousands of denarii per turn). So instead of waiting “till death do us part”, a divorce ends these traits for both husband and wife, leaving your faction’s fortunes for the better. Even though the divorcees don’t die, their “in the sheets” traits will disappear, so you can still keep them in your party without suffering the problems their marriage had caused. However, to be able to file for a divorce, you need money, and the initiator’s gravitas also needs to be 40 or higher, while their spouse’s not higher than 20, and whoever files for the divorce will lose a further 5 gravitas per turn, during the next 2 turns, while the divorcee loses 15 gravitas immediately, but is then free to go. You can lower gravitas in preparation for the divorcee via actions that cost him/her gravitas, as long as he/she has a high enough level of cunning (Flirt or Spread Rumors), authority (Do Favor) or zeal (Praise, Provoke, or Improve Relations). Another reason why you may want to file for a divorce is so you can immediately remarry and thus generate another party member for your own party, if there are none available in the hire politician panel and none of your party members are single. After all, the goal is to avoid filling the other parties with more members. Or perhaps you want to file for divorce and then enter a political marriage to quickly boost another party's loyalty after you have done everything else in your power to raise it. Insult Insult – drops the target’s gravitas by 10 and also lowers the target’s zeal by 1. Zeal gives a boost to the general’s bodyguard unit’s combat stats. While this may not be all that impressive for a small unit of horsemen, if the general’s unit is a big blob of Triarii, debuffing them will help in a civil war, albeit marginally. Insult is mainly used as a prerequisite for other actions that require the target’s zeal to be lower than one of the initiator’s attributes, for example if you want to adopt one of your own generals into your family, but his high zeal is preventing it (“how dare the entitled brat refuse the generous offer!”). Insulting a different party member comes with a -5 loyalty penalty lasting for 2 turns, the same as Assassinate, so it's really not worth doing that. Insult is also useful if you want to push your own party member’s gravitas down to 20 to enable a divorce, but do this only if they cant do any political action themselves that cost (lower their) gravitas or flirt because they lack cunning. Spread Rumors Spread Rumors – costs the initiator 15 gravitas, lots of money, requires 2 more cunning than the target’s zeal, and incurs a -3 loyalty penalty that lasts for 4 turns, all only to lower the target’s authority by 1. Authority is the radius of the general’s morale buff circle. Easily fixed by moving a bit closer to the unit he wants to hold the line if the ring is smaller, I’d say lowering this is even less relevant than debuffing zeal via Insult. However, if there is a different action you want to do (like Flirt to damage their gravitas, or Entice to completely make them switch sides) both of which require the target to have lower authority than the initiator’s cunning, then spreading rumors about them first, is the prerequisite needed to allow you to do those things, which would have otherwise been almost impossible (as Spread Rumors as preparation for Entice is much easier to do than raise the initiator's Cunning via Vacation, which in turn requires them to have high authority and high zeal). Provoke Provoke – costs the initiator 20 gravitas, requires him to have 2 more zeal than the target, and lowers the target’s Cunning by 1. If the target was from a different party, you also incur a -3 loyalty penalty for 3 turns. Again, you’d think this action makes little sense, but some actions require the victim to have a lower cunning than the initiator, like Assassinate (a different party's member), or Praise (your own party member) and therefore this acts as preparation. It also increases the chance of a political incident happening next turn. But in most instances, only Provoke if you plan on assassinating the target, but need to lower their cunning to be able to do so. Ursurp Legacy Ursurp Legacy – the weirdest of all actions, what it does is allow the initiator to make themself the heir without having been made an heir. On the rare occasion that your faction leader has chosen an untalented hack for his heir, and is old and has run out of gravitas for having spent it on other actions, and therefore cannot make someone else his heir, a strapping young lad with a promising future can ursurp legacy to make himself the heir by force. It requires the faction leader to have less than 30 gravitas, and the ursurper to have 3 more authority than the faction leader, and comes with a hefty penalty of +10% influence for all other parties and -10 gravitas for all your party members. Unnecessarily harsh, while the reward for ursurping legacy is negligible. I think CA had some plan for this but then lost their bearings and left this needlessly expensive action the way it currently is.

The Art of War is an Ancient Chinese military guidebook written by the strategist Sun Tzu during the Period of the Warring States (402-221 BC). This is not my writing, I merely put it into guide fromat to help Total War players who want to increase their strategic knowlege of the game. Notes These are my notes on the text. I believe LI stands for light infrantry, but I'm not sure. The Art of War is required reading for U.S. Army officers. 1. Laying Plans 1. Sun Tzu said: The art of war is of vital importance to the State. 2. It is a matter of life and death, a road either to safety or to ruin. Hence it is a subject of inquiry which can on no account be neglected. 3. The art of war, then, is governed by five constant factors, to be taken into account in one’s deliberations, when seeking to determine the conditions obtaining in the field. 4. These are: (1) The Moral Law; (2) Heaven; (3) Earth; (4) The Commander; (5) Method and discipline. 5,6. The Moral Law causes the people to be in complete accord with their ruler, so that they will follow him regardless of their lives, undismayed by any danger. 7. Heaven signifies night and day, cold and heat, times and seasons. 8. Earth comprises distances, great and small; danger and security; open ground and narrow passes; the chances of life and death. 9. The Commander stands for the virtues of wisdom, sincerely, benevolence, courage and strictness. 10. By method and discipline are to be understood the marshaling of the army in its proper subdivisions, the graduations of rank among the officers, the maintenance of roads by which supplies may reach the army, and the control of military expenditure. 11. These five heads should be familiar to every general: he who knows them will be victorious; he who knows them not will fail. 12. Therefore, in your deliberations, when seeking to determine the military conditions, let them be made the basis of a comparison, in this wise:— 13. (1) Which of the two sovereigns is imbued with the Moral law? (2) Which of the two generals has most ability? (3) With whom lie the advantages derived from Heaven and Earth? (4) On which side is discipline most rigorously enforced? (5) Which army is stronger? (6) On which side are officers and men more highly trained? (7) In which army is there the greater constancy both in reward and punishment? 14. By means of these seven considerations I can forecast victory or defeat. 15. The general that hearkens to my counsel and acts upon it, will conquer: let such a one be retained in command! The general that hearkens not to my counsel nor acts upon it, will suffer defeat:—let such a one be dismissed! 16. While heading the profit of my counsel, avail yourself also of any helpful circumstances over and beyond the ordinary rules. 17. According as circumstances are favorable, one should modify one’s plans. 18. All warfare is based on deception. 19. Hence, when able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must seem inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near. 20. Hold out baits to entice the enemy. Feign disorder, and crush him. 21. If he is secure at all points, be prepared for him. If he is in superior strength, evade him. 22. If your opponent is of choleric temper, seek to irritate him. Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant. 23. If he is taking his ease, give him no rest. If his forces are united, separate them. 24. Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are not expected. 25. These military devices, leading to victory, must not be divulged beforehand. 26. Now the general who wins a battle makes many calculations in his temple ere the battle is fought. The general who loses a battle makes but few calculations beforehand. Thus do many calculations lead to victory, and few calculations to defeat: how much more no calculation at all! It is by attention to this point that I can foresee who is likely to win or lose 2. Waging War 1. Sun Tzu said: In the operations of war, where there are in the field a thousand swift chariots, as many heavy chariots, and a hundred thousand mail-clad soldiers, with provisions enough to carry them a thousand li, the expenditure at home and at the front, including entertainment of guests, small items such as glue and paint, and sums spent on chariots and armor, will reach the total of a thousand ounces of silver per day. Such is the cost of raising an army of 100,000 men. 2. When you engage in actual fighting, if victory is long in coming, then men’s weapons will grow dull and their ardor will be damped. If you lay siege to a town, you will exhaust your strength. 3. Again, if the campaign is protracted, the resources of the State will not be equal to the strain. 4. Now, when your weapons are dulled, your ardor damped, your strength exhausted and your treasure spent, other chieftains will spring up to take advantage of your extremity. Then no man, however wise, will be able to avert the consequences that must ensue. 5. Thus, though we have heard of stupid haste in war, cleverness has never been seen associated with long delays. 6. There is no instance of a country having benefited from prolonged warfare. 7. It is only one who is thoroughly acquainted with the evils of war that can thoroughly understand the profitable way of carrying it on. 8. The skillful soldier does not raise a second levy, neither are his supply-wagons loaded more than twice. 9. Bring war material with you from home, but forage on the enemy. Thus the army will have food enough for its needs. 10. Poverty of the State exchequer causes an army to be maintained by contributions from a distance. Contributing to maintain an army at a distance causes the people to be impoverished. 11. On the other hand, the proximity of an army causes prices to go up; and high prices cause the people’s substance to be drained away. 12. When their substance is drained away, the peasantry will be afflicted by heavy exactions. 13,14. With this loss of substance and exhaustion of strength, the homes of the people will be stripped bare, and three-tenths of their income will be dissipated; while government expenses for broken chariots, worn-out horses, breast-plates and helmets, bows and arrows, spears and shields, protective mantles, draught-oxen and heavy wagons, will amount to four-tenths of its total revenue. 15. Hence a wise general makes a point of foraging on the enemy. One cartload of the enemy’s provisions is equivalent to twenty of one’s own, and likewise a single picul of his provender is equivalent to twenty from one’s own store. 16. Now in order to kill the enemy, our men must be roused to anger; that there may be advantage from defeating the enemy, they must have their rewards. 17. Therefore in chariot fighting, when ten or more chariots have been taken, those should be rewarded who took the first. Our own flags should be substituted for those of the enemy, and the chariots mingled and used in conjunction with ours. The captured soldiers should be kindly treated and kept. 18. This is called, using the conquered foe to augment one’s own strength. 19. In war, then, let your great object be victory, not lengthy campaigns. 20. Thus it may be known that the leader of armies is the arbiter of the people’s fate, the man on whom it depends whether the nation shall be in peace or in peril. 3. Attack with Strategem 1. Sun Tzu said: In the practical art of war, the best thing of all is to take the enemy’s country whole and intact; to shatter and destroy it is not so good. So, too, it is better to recapture an army entire than to destroy it, to capture a regiment, a detachment or a company entire than to destroy them. 2. Hence to fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy’s resistance without fighting. 3. Thus the highest form of generalship is to balk the enemy’s plans; the next best is to prevent the junction of the enemy’s forces; the next in order is to attack the enemy’s army in the field; and the worst policy of all is to besiege walled cities. 4. The rule is, not to besiege walled cities if it can possibly be avoided. The preparation of mantlets, movable shelters, and various implements of war, will take up three whole months; and the piling up of mounds over against the walls will take three months more. 5. The general, unable to control his irritation, will launch his men to the assault like swarming ants, with the result that one-third of his men are slain, while the town still remains untaken. Such are the disastrous effects of a siege. 6. Therefore the skillful leader subdues the enemy’s troops without any fighting; he captures their cities without laying siege to them; he overthrows their kingdom without lengthy operations in the field. 7. With his forces intact he will dispute the mastery of the Empire, and thus, without losing a man, his triumph will be complete. This is the method of attacking by stratagem. 8. It is the rule in war, if our forces are ten to the enemy’s one, to surround him; if five to one, to attack him; if twice as numerous, to divide our army into two. 9. If equally matched, we can offer battle; if slightly inferior in numbers, we can avoid the enemy; f quite unequal in every way, we can flee from him. 10. Hence, though an obstinate fight may be made by a small force, in the end it must be captured by the larger force. 11. Now the general is the bulwark of the State; if the bulwark is complete at all points; the State will be strong; if the bulwark is defective, the State will be weak. 12. There are three ways in which a ruler can bring misfortune upon his army:— 13. (1) By commanding the army to advance or to retreat, being ignorant of the fact that it cannot obey. This is called hobbling the army. 14. (2) By attempting to govern an army in the same way as he administers a kingdom, being ignorant of the conditions which obtain in an army. This causes restlessness in the soldier’s minds. 15. (3) By employing the officers of his army without discrimination, through ignorance of the military principle of adaptation to circumstances. This shakes the confidence of the soldiers. 16. But when the army is restless and distrustful, trouble is sure to come from the other feudal princes. This is simply bringing anarchy into the army, and flinging victory away. 17. Thus we may know that there are five essentials for victory: (1) He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight. (2) He will win who knows how to handle both superior and inferior forces. (3) He will win whose army is animated by the same spirit throughout all its ranks. (4) He will win who, prepared himself, waits to take the enemy unprepared. (5) He will win who has military capacity and is not interfered with by the sovereign. 18. Hence the saying: If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle. 4. Tactical Dispositions 1. Sun Tzu said: The good fighters of old first put themselves beyond the possibility of defeat, and then waited for an opportunity of defeating the enemy. 2. To secure ourselves against defeat lies in our own hands, but the opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself. 3. Thus the good fighter is able to secure himself against defeat, but cannot make certain of defeating the enemy. 4. Hence the saying: One may know how to conquer without being able to do it. 5. Security against defeat implies defensive tactics; ability to defeat the enemy means taking the offensive. 6. Standing on the defensive indicates insufficient strength; attacking, a superabundance of strength. 7. The general who is skilled in defense hides in the most secret recesses of the earth; he who is skilled in attack flashes forth from the topmost heights of heaven. Thus on the one hand we have ability to protect ourselves; on the other, a victory that is complete. 8. To see victory only when it is within the ken of the common herd is not the acme of excellence. 9. Neither is it the acme of excellence if you fight and conquer and the whole Empire says, “Well done!” 10. To lift an autumn hair is no sign of great strength; to see the sun and moon is no sign of sharp sight; to hear the noise of thunder is no sign of a quick ear. 11. What the ancients called a clever fighter is one who not only wins, but excels in winning with ease. 12. Hence his victories bring him neither reputation for wisdom nor credit for courage. 13. He wins his battles by making no mistakes. Making no mistakes is what establishes the certainty of victory, for it means conquering an enemy that is already defeated. 14. Hence the skillful fighter puts himself into a position which makes defeat impossible, and does not miss the moment for defeating the enemy. 15. Thus it is that in war the victorious strategist only seeks battle after the victory has been won, whereas he who is destined to defeat first fights and afterwards looks for victory. 16. The consummate leader cultivates the moral law, and strictly adheres to method and discipline; thus it is in his power to control success. 17. In respect of military method, we have, firstly, Measurement; secondly, Estimation of quantity; thirdly, Calculation; fourthly, Balancing of chances; fifthly, Victory. 18. Measurement owes its existence to Earth; Estimation of quantity to Measurement; Calculation to Estimation of quantity; Balancing of chances to Calculation; and Victory to Balancing of chances. 19. A victorious army opposed to a routed one, is as a pound’s weight placed in the scale against a single grain. 20. The onrush of a conquering force is like the bursting of pent-up waters into a chasm a thousand fathoms deep. 5. Energy 1. Sun Tzu said: The control of a large force is the same principle as the control of a few men: it is merely a question of dividing up their numbers. 2. Fighting with a large army under your command is nowise different from fighting with a small one: it is merely a question of instituting signs and signals. 3. To ensure that your whole host may withstand the brunt of the enemy’s attack and remain unshaken— this is effected by maneuvers direct and indirect. 4. That the impact of your army may be like a grindstone dashed against an egg—this is effected by the science of weak points and strong. 5. In all fighting, the direct method may be used for joining battle, but indirect methods will be needed in order to secure victory. 6. Indirect tactics, efficiently applied, are inexhaustible as Heaven and Earth, unending as the flow of rivers and streams; like the sun and moon, they end but to begin anew; like the four seasons, they pass away to return once more. 7. There are not more than five musical notes, yet the combinations of these five give rise to more melodies than can ever be heard. 8. There are not more than five primary colors (blue, yellow, red, white, and black), yet in combination they produce more hues than can ever been seen. 9. There are not more than five cardinal tastes (sour, acrid, salt, sweet, bitter), yet combinations of them yield more flavors than can ever be tasted. 10. In battle, there are not more than two methods of attack—the direct and the indirect; yet these two in combination give rise to an endless series of maneuvers. 11. The direct and the indirect lead on to each other in turn. It is like moving in a circle—you never come to an end. Who can exhaust the possibilities of their combination? 12. The onset of troops is like the rush of a torrent which will even roll stones along in its course. 13. The quality of decision is like the well-timed swoop of a falcon which enables it to strike and destroy its victim. 14. Therefore the good fighter will be terrible in his onset, and prompt in his decision. 15. Energy may be likened to the bending of a crossbow; decision, to the releasing of a trigger. 16. Amid the turmoil and tumult of battle, there may be seeming disorder and yet no real disorder at all; amid confusion and chaos, your array may be without head or tail, yet it will be proof against defeat. 17. Simulated disorder postulates perfect discipline, simulated fear postulates courage; simulated weakness postulates strength. 18. Hiding order beneath the cloak of disorder is simply a question of subdivision; concealing courage under a show of timidity presupposes a fund of latent energy; masking strength with weakness is to be effected by tactical dispositions. 19. Thus one who is skillful at keeping the enemy on the move maintains deceitful appearances, according to which the enemy will act. He sacrifices something, that the enemy may snatch at it. 20. By holding out baits, he keeps him on the march; then with a body of picked men he lies in wait for him. 21. The clever combatant looks to the effect of combined energy, and does not require too much from individuals. Hence his ability to pick out the right men and utilize combined energy. 22. When he utilizes combined energy, his fighting men become as it were like unto rolling logs or stones. For it is the nature of a log or stone to remain motionless on level ground, and to move when on a slope; if four-cornered, to come to a standstill, but if round-shaped, to go rolling down. 23. Thus the energy developed by good fighting men is as the momentum of a round stone rolled down a mountain thousands of feet in height. So much on the subject of energy. 6. Weak Points and Strong 1. Sun Tzu said: Whoever is first in the field and awaits the coming of the enemy, will be fresh for the fight; whoever is second in the field and has to hasten to battle will arrive exhausted. 2. Therefore the clever combatant imposes his will on the enemy, but does not allow the enemy’s will to be imposed on him. 3. By holding out advantages to him, he can cause the enemy to approach of his own accord; or, by inflicting damage, he can make it impossible for the enemy to draw near. 4. If the enemy is taking his ease, he can harass him; if well supplied with food, he can starve him out; if quietly encamped, he can force him to move. 5. Appear at points which the enemy must hasten to defend; march swiftly to places where you are not expected. 6. An army may march great distances without distress, if it marches through country where the enemy is not. 7. You can be sure of succeeding in your attacks if you only attack places which are undefended. You can ensure the safety of your defense if you only hold positions that cannot be attacked. 8. Hence that general is skillful in attack whose opponent does not know what to defend; and he is skillful in defense whose opponent does not know what to attack. 9. O divine art of subtlety and secrecy! Through you we learn to be invisible, through you inaudible; and hence we can hold the enemy’s fate in our hands. 10. You may advance and be absolutely irresistible, if you make for the enemy’s weak points; you may retire and be safe from pursuit if your movements are more rapid than those of the enemy. 11. If we wish to fight, the enemy can be forced to an engagement even though he be sheltered behind a high rampart and a deep ditch. All we need do is attack some other place that he will be obliged to relieve. 12. If we do not wish to fight, we can prevent the enemy from engaging us even though the lines of our encampment be merely traced out on the ground. All we need do is to throw something odd and unaccountable in his way. 13. By discovering the enemy’s dispositions and remaining invisible ourselves, we can keep our forces concentrated, while the enemy’s must be divided. 14. We can form a single united body, while the enemy must split up into fractions. Hence there will be a whole pitted against separate parts of a whole, which means that we shall be many to the enemy’s few. 15. And if we are able thus to attack an inferior force with a superior one, our opponents will be in dire straits. 16. The spot where we intend to fight must not be made known; for then the enemy will have to prepare against a possible attack at several different points; and his forces being thus distributed in many directions, the numbers we shall have to face at any given point will be proportionately few. 17. For should the enemy strengthen his van, he will weaken his rear; should he strengthen his rear, he will weaken his van; should he strengthen his left, he will weaken his right; should he strengthen his right, he will weaken his left. If he sends reinforcements everywhere, he will everywhere be weak. 18. Numerical weakness comes from having to prepare against possible attacks; numerical strength, from compelling our adversary to make these preparations against us. 19. Knowing the place and the time of the coming battle, we may concentrate from the greatest distances in order to fight. 20. But if neither time nor place be known, then the left wing will be impotent to succor the right, the right equally impotent to succor the left, the van unable to relieve the rear, or the rear to support the van. How much more so if the furthest portions of the army are anything under a hundred LI apart, and even the nearest are separated by several LI! 21. Though according to my estimate the soldiers of Yueh exceed our own in number, that shall advantage them nothing in the matter of victory. I say then that victory can be achieved. 22. Though the enemy be stronger in numbers, we may prevent him from fighting. Scheme so as to discover his plans and the likelihood of their success. 23. Rouse him, and learn the principle of his activity or inactivity. Force him to reveal himself, so as to find out his vulnerable spots. 24. Carefully compare the opposing army with your own, so that you may know where strength is superabundant and where it is deficient. 25. In making tactical dispositions, the highest pitch you can attain is to conceal them; conceal your dispositions, and you will be safe from the prying of the subtlest spies, from the machinations of the wisest brains. 26. How victory may be produced for them out of the enemy’s own tactics—that is what the multitude cannot comprehend. 27. All men can see the tactics whereby I conquer, but what none can see is the strategy out of which victory is evolved. 28. Do not repeat the tactics which have gained you one victory, but let your methods be regulated by the infinite variety of circumstances. 29. Military tactics are like unto water; for water in its natural course runs away from high places and hastens downwards. 30. So in war, the way is to avoid what is strong and to strike at what is weak. 31. Water shapes its course according to the nature of the ground over which it flows; the soldier works out his victory in relation to the foe whom he is facing. 32. Therefore, just as water retains no constant shape, so in warfare there are no constant conditions. 33. He who can modify his tactics in relation to his opponent and thereby succeed in winning, may be called a heaven-born captain. 34. The five elements (water, fire, wood, metal, earth) are not always equally predominant; the four seasons make way for each other in turn. There are short days and long; the moon has its periods of waning and waxing. 7. Maneuvering 1. Sun Tzu said: In war, the general receives his commands from the sovereign. 2. Having collected an army and concentrated his forces, he must blend and harmonize the different elements thereof before pitching his camp. 3. After that, comes tactical maneuvering, than which there is nothing more difficult. The difficulty of tactical maneuvering consists in turning the devious into the direct, and misfortune into gain. 4. Thus, to take a long and circuitous route, after enticing the enemy out of the way, and though starting after him, to contrive to reach the goal before him, shows knowledge of the artifice of deviation. 5. Maneuvering with an army is advantageous; with an undisciplined multitude, most dangerous. 6. If you set a fully equipped army in march in order to snatch an advantage, the chances are that you will be too late. On the other hand, to detach a flying column for the purpose involves the sacrifice of its baggage and stores. 7. Thus, if you order your men to roll up their buff-coats, and make forced marches without halting day or night, covering double the usual distance at a stretch, doing a hundred LI in order to wrest an advantage, the leaders of all your three divisions will fall into the hands of the enemy. 8. The stronger men will be in front, the jaded ones will fall behind, and on this plan only one-tenth of your army will reach its destination. 9. If you march fifty LI in order to outmaneuver the enemy, you will lose the leader of your first division, and only half your force will reach the goal. 10. If you march thirty LI with the same object, two-thirds of your army will arrive. 11. We may take it then that an army without its baggage-train is lost; without provisions it is lost; without bases of supply it is lost. 12. We cannot enter into alliances until we are acquainted with the designs of our neighbors. 13. We are not fit to lead an army on the march unless we are familiar with the face of the country— its mountains and forests, its pitfalls and precipices, its marshes and swamps. 14. We shall be unable to turn natural advantage to account unless we make use of local guides. 15. In war, practice dissimulation, and you will succeed. 16. Whether to concentrate or to divide your troops, must be decided by circumstances. 17. Let your rapidity be that of the wind, your compactness that of the forest. 18. In raiding and plundering be like fire, is immovability like a mountain. 19. Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt. 20. When you plunder a countryside, let the spoil be divided amongst your men; when you capture new territory, cut it up into allotments for the benefit of the soldiery. 21. Ponder and deliberate before you make a move. 22. He will conquer who has learnt the artifice of deviation. Such is the art of maneuvering. 23. The Book of Army Management says: On the field of battle, the spoken word does not carry far enough: hence the institution of gongs and drums. Nor can ordinary objects be seen clearly enough: hence the institution of banners and flags. 24. Gongs and drums, banners and flags, are means whereby the ears and eyes of the host may be focused on one particular point. 25. The host thus forming a single united body, is it impossible either for the brave to advance alone, or for the cowardly to retreat alone. This is the art of handling large masses of men. 26. In night-fighting, then, make much use of signal-fires and drums, and in fighting by day, of flags and banners, as a means of influencing the ears and eyes of your army. 27. A whole army may be robbed of its spirit; a commander-in-chief may be robbed of his presence of mind. 28. Now a soldier’s spirit is keenest in the morning; by noonday it has begun to flag; and in the evening, his mind is bent only on returning to camp. 29. A clever general, therefore, avoids an army when its spirit is keen, but attacks it when it is sluggish and inclined to return. This is the art of studying moods. 30. Disciplined and calm, to await the appearance of disorder and hubbub amongst the enemy:—this is the art of retaining self-possession. 31. To be near the goal while the enemy is still far from it, to wait at ease while the enemy is toiling and struggling, to be well-fed while the enemy is famished:—this is the art of husbanding one’s strength. 32. To refrain from intercepting an enemy whose banners are in perfect order, to refrain from attacking an army drawn up in calm and confident array:—this is the art of studying circumstances. 33. It is a military axiom not to advance uphill against the enemy, nor to oppose him when he comes downhill. 34. Do not pursue an enemy who simulates flight; do not attack soldiers whose temper is keen. 35. Do not swallow bait offered by the enemy. Do not interfere with an army that is returning home. 36. When you surround an army, leave an outlet free. Do not press a desperate foe too hard. 37. Such is the art of warfare. 8. Variations in Tactics 1. Sun Tzu said: In war, the general receives his commands from the sovereign, collects his army and concentrates his forces 2. When in difficult country, do not encamp. In country where high roads intersect, join hands with your allies. Do not linger in dangerously isolated positions. In hemmed-in situations, you must resort to stratagem. In desperate position, you must fight. 3. There are roads which must not be followed, armies which must be not attacked, towns which must be besieged, positions which must not be contested, commands of the sovereign which must not be obeyed. 4. The general who thoroughly understands the advantages that accompany variation of tactics knows how to handle his troops. 5. The general who does not understand these, may be well acquainted with the configuration of the country, yet he will not be able to turn his knowledge to practical account. 6. So, the student of war who is unversed in the art of war of varying his plans, even though he be acquainted with the Five Advantages, will fail to make the best use of his men. 7. Hence in the wise leader’s plans, considerations of advantage and of disadvantage will be blended together. 8. If our expectation of advantage be tempered in this way, we may succeed in accomplishing the essential part of our schemes. 9. If, on the other hand, in the midst of difficulties we are always ready to seize an advantage, we may extricate ourselves from misfortune. 10. Reduce the hostile chiefs by inflicting damage on them; and make trouble for them, and keep them constantly engaged; hold out specious allurements, and make them rush to any given point. 11. The art of war teaches us to rely not on the likelihood of the enemy’s not coming, but on our own readiness to receive him; not on the chance of his not attacking, but rather on the fact that we have made our position unassailable. 12. There are five dangerous faults which may affect a general: (1) Recklessness, which leads to destruction; (2) cowardice, which leads to capture; (3) a hasty temper, which can be provoked by insults; (4) a delicacy of honor which is sensitive to shame; (5) over-solicitude for his men, which exposes him to worry and trouble. 13. These are the five besetting sins of a general, ruinous to the conduct of war. 14. When an army is overthrown and its leader slain, the cause will surely be found among these five dangerous faults. Let them be a subject of meditation. 9. The Army on the March 1. Sun Tzu said: We come now to the question of encamping the army, and observing signs of the enemy. Pass quickly over mountains, and keep in the neighborhood of valleys. 2. Camp in high places, facing the sun. Do not climb heights in order to fight. So much for mountain warfare. 3. After crossing a river, you should get far away from it. 4. When an invading force crosses a river in its onward march, do not advance to meet it in midstream. It will be best to let half the army get across, and then deliver your attack. 5. If you are anxious to fight, you should not go to meet the invader near a river which he has to cross. 6. Moor your craft higher up than the enemy, and facing the sun. Do not move up-stream to meet the enemy. So much for river warfare. 7. In crossing salt-marshes, your sole concern should be to get over them quickly, without any delay. 8. If forced to fight in a salt-marsh, you should have water and grass near you, and get your back to a clump of trees. So much for operations in salt-marches. 9. In dry, level country, take up an easily accessible position with rising ground to your right and on your rear, so that the danger may be in front, and safety lie behind. So much for campaigning in flat country. 10. These are the four useful branches of military knowledge which enabled the Yellow Emperor to vanquish four several sovereigns. 11. All armies prefer high ground to low and sunny places to dark. 12. If you are careful of your men, and camp on hard ground, the army will be free from disease of every kind, and this will spell victory. 13. When you come to a hill or a bank, occupy the sunny side, with the slope on your right rear. Thus you will at once act for the benefit of your soldiers and utilize the natural advantages of the ground. 14. When, in consequence of heavy rains up-country, a river which you wish to ford is swollen and flecked with foam, you must wait until it subsides. 15. Country in which there are precipitous cliffs with torrents running between, deep natural hollows, confined places, tangled thickets, quagmires and crevasses, should be left with all possible speed and not approached. 16. While we keep away from such places, we should get the enemy to approach them; while we face them, we should let the enemy have them on his rear. 17. If in the neighborhood of your camp there should be any hilly country, ponds surrounded by aquatic grass, hollow basins filled with reeds, or woods with thick undergrowth, they must be carefully routed out and searched; for these are places where men in ambush or insidious spies are likely to be lurking. 18. When the enemy is close at hand and remains quiet, he is relying on the natural strength of his position. 19. When he keeps aloof and tries to provoke a battle, he is anxious for the other side to advance. 20. If his place of encampment is easy of access, he is tendering a bait. 21. Movement amongst the trees of a forest shows that the enemy is advancing. The appearance of a number of screens in the midst of thick grass means that the enemy wants to make us suspicious. 22. The rising of birds in their flight is the sign of an ambuscade. Startled beasts indicate that a sudden attack is coming. 23. When there is dust rising in a high column, it is the sign of chariots advancing; when the dust is low, but spread over a wide area, it betokens the approach of infantry. When it branches out in different directions, it shows that parties have been sent to collect firewood. A few clouds of dust moving to and fro signify that the army is encamping. 24. Humble words and increased preparations are signs that the enemy is about to advance. Violent language and driving forward as if to the attack are signs that he will retreat. 25. When the light chariots come out first and take up a position on the wings, it is a sign that the enemy is forming for battle. 26. Peace proposals unaccompanied by a sworn covenant indicate a plot. 27. When there is much running about and the soldiers fall into rank, it means that the critical moment has come. 28. When some are seen advancing and some retreating, it is a lure. 29. When the soldiers stand leaning on their spears, they are faint from want of food. 30. If those who are sent to draw water begin by drinking themselves, the army is suffering from thirst. 31. If the enemy sees an advantage to be gained and makes no effort to secure it, the soldiers are exhausted. 32. If birds gather on any spot, it is unoccupied. Clamor by night betokens nervousness. 33. If there is disturbance in the camp, the general’s authority is weak. If the banners and flags are shifted about, sedition is afoot. If the officers are angry, it means that the men are weary. 34. When an army feeds its horses with grain and kills its cattle for food, and when the men do not hang their cooking-pots over the camp-fires, showing that they will not return to their tents, you may know that they are determined to fight to the death. 35. The sight of men whispering together in small knots or speaking in subdued tones points to disaffection amongst the rank and file. 36. Too frequent rewards signify that the enemy is at the end of his resources; too many punishments betray a condition of dire distress. 37. To begin by bluster, but afterwards to take fright at the enemy’s numbers, shows a supreme lack of intelligence. 38. When envoys are sent with compliments in their mouths, it is a sign that the enemy wishes for a truce. 39. If the enemy’s troops march up angrily and remain facing ours for a long time without either joining battle or taking themselves off again, the situation is one that demands great vigilance and circumspection. 40. If our troops are no more in number than the enemy, that is amply sufficient; it only means that no direct attack can be made. What we can do is simply to concentrate all our available strength, keep a close watch on the enemy, and obtain reinforcements. 41. He who exercises no forethought but makes light of his opponents is sure to be captured by them. 42. If soldiers are punished before they have grown attached to you, they will not prove submissive; and, unless submissive, then will be practically useless. If, when the soldiers have become attached to you, punishments are not enforced, they will still be unless. 43. Therefore soldiers must be treated in the first instance with humanity, but kept under control by means of iron discipline. This is a certain road to victory. 44. If in training soldiers commands are habitually enforced, the army will be well-disciplined; if not, its discipline will be bad. 45. If a general shows confidence in his men but always insists on his orders being obeyed, the gain will be mutual. 10. Terrain 1. Sun Tzu said: We may distinguish six kinds of terrain, to wit: (1) Accessible ground; (2) entangling ground; (3) temporizing ground; (4) narrow passes; (5) precipitous heights; (6) positions at a great distance from the enemy. 2. Ground which can be freely traversed by both sides is called accessible. 3. With regard to ground of this nature, be before the enemy in occupying the raised and sunny spots, and carefully guard your line of supplies. Then you will be able to fight with advantage. 4. Ground which can be abandoned but is hard to re-occupy is called entangling. 5. From a position of this sort, if the enemy is unprepared, you may sally forth and defeat him. But if the enemy is prepared for your coming, and you fail to defeat him, then, return being impossible, disaster will ensue. 6. When the position is such that neither side will gain by making the first move, it is called temporizing ground. 7. In a position of this sort, even though the enemy should offer us an attractive bait, it will be advisable not to stir forth, but rather to retreat, thus enticing the enemy in his turn; then, when part of his army has come out, we may deliver our attack with advantage. 8. With regard to narrow passes, if you can occupy them first, let them be strongly garrisoned and await the advent of the enemy. 9. Should the army forestall you in occupying a pass, do not go after him if the pass is fully garrisoned, but only if it is weakly garrisoned. 10. With regard to precipitous heights, if you are beforehand with your adversary, you should occupy the raised and sunny spots, and there wait for him to come up. 11. If the enemy has occupied them before you, do not follow him, but retreat and try to entice him away. 12. If you are situated at a great distance from the enemy, and the strength of the two armies is equal, it is not easy to provoke a battle, and fighting will be to your disadvantage. 13. These six are the principles connected with Earth. The general who has attained a responsible post must be careful to study them. 14. Now an army is exposed to six several calamities, not arising from natural causes, but from faults for which the general is responsible. These are: (1) Flight; (2) insubordination; (3) collapse; (4) ruin; (5) disorganization; (6) rout. 15. Other conditions being equal, if one force is hurled against another ten times its size, the result will be the flight of the former. 16. When the common soldiers are too strong and their officers too weak, the result is insubordination. When the officers are too strong and the common soldiers too weak, the result is collapse. 17. When the higher officers are angry and insubordinate, and on meeting the enemy give battle on their own account from a feeling of resentment, before the commander-in-chief can tell whether or no he is in a position to fight, the result is ruin. 18. When the general is weak and without authority; when his orders are not clear and distinct; when there are no fixes duties assigned to officers and men, and the ranks are formed in a slovenly haphazard manner, the result is utter disorganization. 19. When a general, unable to estimate the enemy’s strength, allows an inferior force to engage a larger one, or hurls a weak detachment against a powerful one, and neglects to place picked soldiers in the front rank, the result must be rout. 20. These are six ways of courting defeat, which must be carefully noted by the general who has attained a responsible post. 21. The natural formation of the country is the soldier’s best ally; but a power of estimating the adversary, of controlling the forces of victory, and of shrewdly calculating difficulties, dangers and distances, constitutes the test of a great general. 22. He who knows these things, and in fighting puts his knowledge into practice, will win his battles. He who knows them not, nor practices them, will surely be defeated. 23. If fighting is sure to result in victory, then you must fight, even though the ruler forbid it; if fighting will not result in victory, then you must not fight even at the ruler’s bidding. 24. The general who advances without coveting fame and retreats without fearing disgrace, whose only thought is to protect his country and do good service for his sovereign, is the jewel of the kingdom. 25. Regard your soldiers as your children, and they will follow you into the deepest valleys; look upon them as your own beloved sons, and they will stand by you even unto death. 26. If, however, you are indulgent, but unable to make your authority felt; kind-hearted, but unable to enforce your commands; and incapable, moreover, of quelling disorder: then your soldiers must be likened to spoilt children; they are useless for any practical purpose. 27. If we know that our own men are in a condition to attack, but are unaware that the enemy is not open to attack, we have gone only halfway towards victory. 28. If we know that the enemy is open to attack, but are unaware that our own men are not in a condition to attack, we have gone only halfway towards victory. 29. If we know that the enemy is open to attack, and also know that our men are in a condition to attack, but are unaware that the nature of the ground makes fighting impracticable, we have still gone only halfway towards victory. 30. Hence the experienced soldier, once in motion, is never bewildered; once he has broken camp, he is never at a loss. 31. Hence the saying: If you know the enemy and know yourself, your victory will not stand in doubt; if you know Heaven and know Earth, you may make your victory complete. 11. The Nine Situations (Part One) 1. Sun Tzu said: The art of war recognizes nine varieties of ground: (1) Dispersive ground; (2) facile ground; (3) contentious ground; (4) open ground; (5) ground of intersecting highways; (6) serious ground; (7) difficult ground; (8) hemmed-in ground; (9) desperate ground. 2. When a chieftain is fighting in his own territory, it is dispersive ground. 3. When he has penetrated into hostile territory, but to no great distance, it is facile ground. 4. Ground the possession of which imports great advantage to either side, is contentious ground. 5. Ground on which each side has liberty of movement is open ground. 6. Ground which forms the key to three contiguous states, so that he who occupies it first has most of the Empire at his command, is a ground of intersecting highways. 7. When an army has penetrated into the heart of a hostile country, leaving a number of fortified cities in its rear, it is serious ground. 8. Mountain forests, rugged steeps, marshes and fens—all country that is hard to traverse: this is difficult ground. 9. Ground which is reached through narrow gorges, and from which we can only retire by tortuous paths, so that a small number of the enemy would suffice to crush a large body of our men: this is hemmed in ground. 10. Ground on which we can only be saved from destruction by fighting without delay, is desperate ground. 11. On dispersive ground, therefore, fight not. On facile ground, halt not. On contentious ground, attack not. 12. On open ground, do not try to block the enemy’s way. On the ground of intersecting highways, join hands with your allies. 13. On serious ground, gather in plunder. In difficult ground, keep steadily on the march. 14. On hemmed-in ground, resort to stratagem. On desperate ground, fight. 15. Those who were called skillful leaders of old knew how to drive a wedge between the enemy’s front and rear; to prevent co-operation between his large and small divisions; to hinder the good troops from rescuing the bad, the officers from rallying their men. 16. When the enemy’s men were united, they managed to keep them in disorder. 17. When it was to their advantage, they made a forward move; when otherwise, they stopped still. 18. If asked how to cope with a great host of the enemy in orderly array and on the point of marching to the attack, I should say: “Begin by seizing something which your opponent holds dear; then he will be amenable to your will.” 19. Rapidity is the essence of war: take advantage of the enemy’s unreadiness, make your way by unexpected routes, and attack unguarded spots. 20. The following are the principles to be observed by an invading force: The further you penetrate into a country, the greater will be the solidarity of your troops, and thus the defenders will not prevail against you. 21. Make forays in fertile country in order to supply your army with food. 22. Carefully study the well-being of your men, and do not overtax them. Concentrate your energy and hoard your strength. Keep your army continually on the move, and devise unfathomable plans. 23. Throw your soldiers into positions whence there is no escape, and they will prefer death to flight. If they will face death, there is nothing they may not achieve. Officers and men alike will put forth their uttermost strength. 24. Soldiers when in desperate straits lose the sense of fear. If there is no place of refuge, they will stand firm. If they are in hostile country, they will show a stubborn front. If there is no help for it, they will fight hard. 25. Thus, without waiting to be marshaled, the soldiers will be constantly on the qui vive; without waiting to be asked, they will do your will; without restrictions, they will be faithful; without giving orders, they can be trusted. 26. Prohibit the taking of omens, and do away with superstitious doubts. Then, until death itself comes, no calamity need be feared. 27. If our soldiers are not overburdened with money, it is not because they have a distaste for riches; if their lives are not unduly long, it is not because they are disinclined to longevity. 28. On the day they are ordered out to battle, your soldiers may weep, those sitting up bedewing their garments, and those lying down letting the tears run down their cheeks. But let them once be brought to bay, and they will display the courage of a Chu or a Kuei. 29. The skillful tactician may be likened to the shuai-jan. Now the shuai-jan is a snake that is found in the ChUng mountains. Strike at its head, and you will be attacked by its tail; strike at its tail, and you will be attacked by its head; strike at its middle, and you will be attacked by head and tail both. 30. Asked if an army can be made to imitate the shuai-jan, I should answer, Yes. For the men of Wu and the men of Yueh are enemies; yet if they are crossing a river in the same boat and are caught by a storm, they will come to each other’s assistance just as the left hand helps the right. 31. Hence it is not enough to put one’s trust in the tethering of horses, and the burying of chariot wheels in the ground 32. The principle on which to manage an army is to set up one standard of courage which all must reach. 33. How to make the best of both strong and weak—that is a question involving the proper use of ground. 34. Thus the skillful general conducts his army just as though he were leading a single man, willynilly, by the hand. 35. It is the business of a general to be quiet and thus ensure secrecy; upright and just, and thus maintain order. 36. He must be able to mystify his officers and men by false reports and appearances, and thus keep them in total ignorance. 37. By altering his arrangements and changing his plans, he keeps the enemy without definite knowledge. By shifting his camp and taking circuitous routes, he prevents the enemy from anticipating his purpose. 38. At the critical moment, the leader of an army acts like one who has climbed up a height and then kicks away the ladder behind him. He carries his men deep into hostile territory before he shows his hand. 39. He burns his boats and breaks his cooking-pots; like a shepherd driving a flock of sheep, he drives his men this way and that, and nothing knows whither he is going. 40. To muster his host and bring it into danger:—this may be termed the business of the general. 41. The different measures suited to the nine varieties of ground; the expediency of aggressive or defensive tactics; and the fundamental laws of human nature: these are things that must most certainly be studied. 42. When invading hostile territory, the general principle is, that penetrating deeply brings cohesion; penetrating but a short way means dispersion. 43. When you leave your own country behind, and take your army across neighborhood territory, you find yourself on critical ground. When there are means of communication on all four sides, the ground is one of intersecting highways. 44. When you penetrate deeply into a country, it is serious ground. When you penetrate but a little way, it is facile ground. 45. When you have the enemy’s strongholds on your rear, and narrow passes in front, it is hemmedin ground. When there is no place of refuge at all, it is desperate ground. 46. Therefore, on dispersive ground, I would inspire my men with unity of purpose. On facile ground, I would see that there is close connection between all parts of my army. 47. On contentious ground, I would hurry up my rear. 48. On open ground, I would keep a vigilant eye on my defenses. On ground of intersecting highways, I would consolidate my alliances. 49. On serious ground, I would try to ensure a continuous stream of supplies. On difficult ground, I would keep pushing on along the road. 50. On hemmed-in ground, I would block any way of retreat. On desperate ground, I would proclaim to my soldiers the hopelessness of saving their lives. The Nine Situations (Part Two) 51. For it is the soldier’s disposition to offer an obstinate resistance when surrounded, to fight hard when he cannot help himself, and to obey promptly when he has fallen into danger. 52. We cannot enter into alliance with neighboring princes until we are acquainted with their designs. We are not fit to lead an army on the march unless we are familiar with the face of the country—its mountains and forests, its pitfalls and precipices, its marshes and swamps. We shall be unable to turn natural advantages to account unless we make use of local guides. 53. To be ignored of any one of the following four or five principles does not befit a warlike prince. 54. When a warlike prince attacks a powerful state, his generalship shows itself in preventing the concentration of the enemy’s forces. He overawes his opponents, and their allies are prevented from joining against him. 55. Hence he does not strive to ally himself with all and sundry, nor does he foster the power of other states. He carries out his own secret designs, keeping his antagonists in awe. Thus he is able to capture their cities and overthrow their kingdoms. 56. Bestow rewards without regard to rule, issue orders without regard to previous arrangements; and you will be able to handle a whole army as though you had to do with but a single man. 57. Confront your soldiers with the deed itself; never let them know your design. When the outlook is bright, bring it before their eyes; but tell them nothing when the situation is gloomy. 58. Place your army in deadly peril, and it will survive; plunge it into desperate straits, and it will come off in safety. 59. For it is precisely when a force has fallen into harm’s way that is capable of striking a blow for victory. 60. Success in warfare is gained by carefully accommodating ourselves to the enemy’s purpose. 61. By persistently hanging on the enemy’s flank, we shall succeed in the long run in killing the commander-in-chief. 62. This is called ability to accomplish a thing by sheer cunning. 63. On the day that you take up your command, block the frontier passes, destroy the official tallies, and stop the passage of all emissaries. 64. Be stern in the council-chamber, so that you may control the situation. 65. If the enemy leaves a door open, you must rush in. 66. Forestall your opponent by seizing what he holds dear, and subtly contrive to time his arrival on the ground. 67. Walk in the path defined by rule, and accommodate yourself to the enemy until you can fight a decisive battle. 68. At first, then, exhibit the coyness of a maiden, until the enemy gives you an opening; afterwards emulate the rapidity of a running hare, and it will be too late for the enemy to oppose you. 12. The Attack by Fire 1. Sun Tzu said: There are five ways of attacking with fire. The first is to burn soldiers in their camp; the second is to burn stores; the third is to burn baggage trains; the fourth is to burn arsenals and magazines; the fifth is to hurl dropping fire amongst the enemy. 2. In order to carry out an attack, we must have means available. The material for raising fire should always be kept in readiness. 3. There is a proper season for making attacks with fire, and special days for starting a conflagration. 4. The proper season is when the weather is very dry; the special days are those when the moon is in the constellations of the Sieve, the Wall, the Wing or the Cross-bar; for these four are all days of rising wind. 5. In attacking with fire, one should be prepared to meet five possible developments: 6. (1) When fire breaks out inside to enemy’s camp, respond at once with an attack from without. 7. (2) If there is an outbreak of fire, but the enemy’s soldiers remain quiet, bide your time and do not attack. 8. (3) When the force of the flames has reached its height, follow it up with an attack, if that is practicable; if not, stay where you are. 9. (4) If it is possible to make an assault with fire from without, do not wait for it to break out within, but deliver your attack at a favorable moment. 10. (5) When you start a fire, be to windward of it. Do not attack from the leeward. 11. A wind that rises in the daytime lasts long, but a night breeze soon falls. 12. In every army, the five developments connected with fire must be known, the movements of the stars calculated, and a watch kept for the proper days. 13. Hence those who use fire as an aid to the attack show intelligence; those who use water as an aid to the attack gain an accession of strength. 14. By means of water, an enemy may be intercepted, but not robbed of all his belongings. 15. Unhappy is the fate of one who tries to win his battles and succeed in his attacks without cultivating the spirit of enterprise; for the result is waste of time and general stagnation. 16. Hence the saying: The enlightened ruler lays his plans well ahead; the good general cultivates his resources. 17. Move not unless you see an advantage; use not your troops unless there is something to be gained; fight not unless the position is critical. 18. No ruler should put troops into the field merely to gratify his own spleen; no general should fight a battle simply out of pique. 19. If it is to your advantage, make a forward move; if not, stay where you are. 20. Anger may in time change to gladness; vexation may be succeeded by content. 21. But a kingdom that has once been destroyed can never come again into being; nor can the dead ever be brought back to life. 22. Hence the enlightened ruler is heedful, and the good general full of caution. This is the way to keep a country at peace and an army intact. 13. The Use of Spies 1. Sun Tzu said: Raising a host of a hundred thousand men and marching them great distances entails heavy loss on the people and a drain on the resources of the State. The daily expenditure will amount to a thousand ounces of silver. There will be commotion at home and abroad, and men will drop down exhausted on the highways. As many as seven hundred thousand families will be impeded in their labor. 2. Hostile armies may face each other for years, striving for the victory which is decided in a single day. This being so, to remain in ignorance of the enemy’s condition simply because one grudges the outlay of a hundred ounces of silver in honors and emoluments, is the height of inhumanity. 3. One who acts thus is no leader of men, no present help to his sovereign, no master of victory. 4. Thus, what enables the wise sovereign and the good general to strike and conquer, and achieve things beyond the reach of ordinary men, is foreknowledge. 5. Now this foreknowledge cannot be elicited from spirits; it cannot be obtained inductively from experience, nor by any deductive calculation. 6. Knowledge of the enemy’s dispositions can only be obtained from other men. 7. Hence the use of spies, of whom there are five classes: (1) Local spies; (2) inward spies; (3) converted spies; (4) doomed spies; (5) surviving spies. 8. When these five kinds of spy are all at work, none can discover the secret system. This is called “divine manipulation of the threads.” It is the sovereign’s most precious faculty. 9. Having local spies means employing the services of the inhabitants of a district. 10. Having inward spies, making use of officials of the enemy. 11. Having converted spies, getting hold of the enemy’s spies and using them for our own purposes. 12. Having doomed spies, doing certain things openly for purposes of deception, and allowing our spies to know of them and report them to the enemy. 13. Surviving spies, finally, are those who bring back news from the enemy’s camp. 14. Hence it is that which none in the whole army are more intimate relations to be maintained than with spies. None should be more liberally rewarded. In no other business should greater secrecy be preserved. 15. Spies cannot be usefully employed without a certain intuitive sagacity. 16. They cannot be properly managed without benevolence and straightforwardness. 17. Without subtle ingenuity of mind, one cannot make certain of the truth of their reports. 18. Be subtle! be subtle! and use your spies for every kind of business. 19. If a secret piece of news is divulged by a spy before the time is ripe, he must be put to death together with the man to whom the secret was told. 20. Whether the object be to crush an army, to storm a city, or to assassinate an individual, it is always necessary to begin by finding out the names of the attendants, the aides-de-camp, and doorkeepers and sentries of the general in command. Our spies must be commissioned to ascertain these. 21. The enemy’s spies who have come to spy on us must be sought out, tempted with bribes, led away and comfortably housed. Thus they will become converted spies and available for our service. 22. It is through the information brought by the converted spy that we are able to acquire and employ local and inward spies. 23. It is owing to his information, again, that we can cause the doomed spy to carry false tidings to the enemy. 24. Lastly, it is by his information that the surviving spy can be used on appointed occasions. 25. The end and aim of spying in all its five varieties is knowledge of the enemy; and this knowledge can only be derived, in the first instance, from the converted spy. Hence it is essential that the converted spy be treated with the utmost liberality. 26. Of old, the rise of the Yin dynasty was due to I Chih who had served under the Hsia. Likewise, the rise of the Chou dynasty was due to Lu Ya who had served under the Yin. 27. Hence it is only the enlightened ruler and the wise general who will use the highest intelligence of the army for purposes of spying and thereby they achieve great results. Spies are a most important element in water, because on them depends an army’s ability to move. Thanks you! Thanks for reading! If you made it to the end, congradulations, you just read the Art of War! I hope you learned something about military tactics and strategy, and I hope I helped you improve your Total War skills. Click here[artofwarsuntzu.com] if you want to download a PDF copy of the Art of War.

Follow up to my well-recieved Mid-Republican guide, this one will show you how to create a historically accurate army of the Late Republic through Imperial Roman era. Introduction As promised in my Mid-Republican guide, here is my second installment for injecting a healthy dose of history into your Rome 2: Total War experience. This guide will show you how to create and use your Roman armies during the Late Republic (147 BC - 30 BC) and the first period of the Roman Empire referred to as the Principate (27 BC - 284 AD). Again, just as I stated in my previous guide, the limitations on unit and army size in Rome 2 does not allow a full 1:1 copy of the military forces during this time period. I've experimented with different types and styles and have always kept historical accuracy in mind when coming up with the following compositions. The Marian Reforms The definitive start of the Late Republican Legion was of coarse the Marian Reforms. Gaius Marius, a Roman legate and statesman, was elected consul in 107 BC replacing Quintus Caecilius Metellus Numidicus whom the former had served under previously in Africa. At the time, Rome was engaged in the Jugurthine War (112 - 106 BC) in Numidia which had come to a complete standstill. Tasked with finishing this conflict and wary of the Germanic tribes encroaching from the North but with no army to raise, Marius introduced a number of changes to Rome's military over the subsequent years that eventually became permanent fixtures of the Late Republican and Imperial Roman Legion. In a nutshell, the Marian Reforms made five distinct alterations: I. Before 107 BC certain requirements needed to be met for a Roman to be allowed to join the Legion. He had to be a part of the fifth census class or higher, be a property owner, and had to supply his own weapons, armor, and other equipment. Marius effectively did away with this and opened recruitment up to the capite censi ("counted by the head") - the landless and/or poor population of the Republic - and convinced the state to cover the costs of arming every man. II. As opposed to the older practice of raising and disbanding Legions during and after a campaign, the Roman military would now be a standing army that recieved the same equipment and training year round whether the state was at war or not. III. The Manipular system was done away with and replaced by the cohort. A Legion would now field four-thousand eight-hundred fighting men divided into ten cohorts of four-hundred and eighty each further divided into six centuries containing eighty men. In addition a Roman army would now be made up of anywhere from two to six Legions.** IV. Besides spoils of war, soldiers would now recieve retirement benefits for their military service such as a pension and a plot of land within the geographic region the Legion had campaigned in. Officers on the other hand were typically given additional monetary rewards that could be over ten times greater than what the normal rank and file earned. V. At this time in history the Socii, the Republic's Italian allies, were growing more and more upset at their exclusion from Roman citizenship (see my previous guide for further info). In light of Tiberius Gracchus' reforms (133 BC) failing to properly address the issue, Marius decreed that any socii who fought for Rome and completed a set term of service would recieve citizenship. The effects of these reforms were substantial. Opening the Legion up to the poor made recruitment incredibly easy and standardizing equipment and training quickly led to Rome being able to field a military that was larger, stronger, more mobile, and able to respond faster than ever before. An unfortunate consequence however, one that Marius himself and many other Romans after him would discover, was the shift in loyalty of the common soldier. Whereas the Legions of the Early and Mid Republic were generally loyal to the state, the landless soliders of the new Legions owed their allegiance to their respective commanders who were in charge of keeping them fed, paid, and fighting. This shift would lead to the forthcoming civil wars between Marius and Sulla, Julius Caesar and Pompey, and the battles fought in the wake of Caesar's assassination. **Side Note** The size of the Legion would technically be six-thousand men however only four-thousand eight-hundred were actual soldiers. In a century eighty would be fighting men and twenty would be non-combatants - thus making a century literally made up of one-hundred men, a cohort literally six-hundred, and a Legion being six-thousand. The Late Republican Legion Now that Marius had standardized everything the Hastati, Principes, and Triarii ceased to exist as distinct heavy infantry types. They were instead replaced by what is commonly known as the Legionary. A Legionary of the Late Republic would be outfitted with either the lorica hamata (chainmail) or lorica squamata (scale) for armor and would carry a rectangular shield (scutum), two javalins (pilum), a short sword (gladius), and a dagger (pugio) along with other assorted non-combat related equipment. In relation to both light infantry and cavalry the Roman military also experienced some changes from the pre-Marian Reforms period. Equites more-or-less ceased to exist as a battlefield unit starting after the Second Punic War (218 - 201 BC). Either by coincidence or consequence to the opening up of the Legion to the poor/landless masses the Equestrian class (aristocrats of the Roman social hierarchy) began to find other non-military avenues by which to follow their political and/or social ambitions. In their place, auxiliary and non-Roman cavalry units began to appear in support of the Legion during campaigns. There did however exist some form of Legionary cavalry but they were very few and were typically used in non-combat roles like scouting and being message runners. It also appears as though the Velites were replaced by these foreign warriors as well. Lastly, it's during the Late Republic era that artillery began to show up on the historical record as being a common part of the Roman military. Historically speaking, these non-Roman cavalry and light infantry units as well as the artillery would be combined into a complimentary force that would support the Legion but would not technically be considered a part of it. Due to the limitations of army size and the number of which you can raise I've found that the most appropriate composition for a Late Republican Legion is to combine these two seperate forces into one. The following is what you end up with. Late Republican Legion One (1) General attached to Veteran Legionaries bodyguard One (1) First Legionary Cohort Two (2) Veteran Legionaries Six (6) Legionaries Three (3) Native Cavalry (ex: Numidian Cavalry, Iberian Cavalry, Gallic Cavalry, etc) Three (3) Native Light Infantry (ex: Numidian Javalinmen, Gallic Light Infantry, Balaeric Slingers, Iberian Infantry, etc) Two (2) Ballista Two (2) Scorpion This will give you a full twenty-stack and account for heavy infantry, cavalry, light infantry/skirmishers, and artillery. The following sections will now show you how to properly use these units. Legionaries Your main fighting force just like the Hastati, Principes, and Triarii. Will throw their javalins prior to engaging the enemy. Can be used in a variation of ways and formations (expanded in the section below) Veteran Legionaries Simply more statistically powerful versions of the Legionaries unit. Can be included in the Legion setup if desired or replaced with regular Legionaries units. Personally I used them in the same fashion as Triarii (expanded upon below) First Legionary Cohort Slightly more statistically powerful Legionaries unit. Should be included in every Legion. Historically considered to be the most pretigious and experienced of the whole Legion, hence why I include them in the first line of battle (expanded on below). Native Cavalry Can be any non-Roman cavalry unit recruited through the Auxiliary Barracks in foreign territory. Used in the same fashion as the Equites - for engaging enemy cavalry units, flanking infantry, or running down routing foes. Place them on the flanks of your Legionaries. Native Light Infantry Can be any non-Roman infantry unit recruited through the Auxiliary Barracks in foreign territory. Can be either ranged or melee based units. If ranged use them like the Velites - screen the front ranks of the Legionaries, engage enemy skirmishers, hit-and-run on the ranks of your foes. If melee use them as either reserve troops for your Legionaries, to guard the flanks, or even to guard your artillery units. Ballista Heavy hitting anti-infantry and siege weapon. "Explosive" rounds will cause chaos among enemy infantry. During sieges use them to destroy walls, gates, towers, etc Deploy them behind your infantry. Scorpion Anti-infantry weapons only. Deploy behind your infantry - despite being close to the ground they shouldn't willingly fire through friendly units. The Late Republican Legion in The Field One of the biggest changes to how the Roman Legion fought after the Marian Reforms revolved around the dissolution of the three distinct heavy infantry ranks and the addition of one single type. Now Roman commanders were given a lot more flexibility in how they deployed their cohorts. A single, double, and triple line were all used and in multiple line formations cohorts could be interchanged with one another when those fighting on the front line became tired. Cohorts from the second or third line could also be used to bolster the flanks of the first or fill gaps which might open. Personally I used the triple line formation referenced by Julius Caesar in his memoirs of the conquest of Gaul (58 - 50 BC). In this formation the front rank contains the First Cohort and three other Legionaries for a total of four units. The two following lines then have three Legionaries units each and in my case, since I used Veteran Legionaries, I had these units bringing up the third line and only used them when the battle wasn't looking in my favor or I needed to counteract an enemy flanking attack. Aside from this, much remains the same. Your cavalry should be located on the flanks of the Legionaries and any ranged light infantry should fill the role the Velites previously played. If your light infantry units are not ranged however I would use them exclusively as reserve troops and deploy them on the flanks of or behind your third line of Legionaries. Artillery then can be deployed either behind your Legionaries or behind and off to both sides. Don't worry about putting them behind your units though, unlike the original Rome: Total War your artillery will not try and fire in a straight line through your own men when the enemy gets too close. All in all, just like the Roman commanders of the time, the choice is yours how you want to use and move your Legionaries on the battlefield. The specific tactics and strategies of the Manipular system are now gone and the possibilities are open to you. As you'll see, much like reality, this introduction of flexibility will make your Legions much more effective and powerful on the field of battle. The Principate and the Dominate The first period of the Roman Empire is sometimes referred to as the Principate. Beginning in 27 BC when Augustus Caesar was named Emperor, the Principate is distinguished from the later Dominate due to the trend among subsequent Emperors of preserving an illusion that the Republic had survived. Rather than flaunting their immense power, Augustus and those that came after him considered themselves "princeps senatus, princeps civitatis" or literally "first among the senators, first among the citizens" and reassured the people of Rome that the much despised Roman Monarchy had not returned. Instead, Emperors were painted as wise fatherly figures who had risen up to the challenge of steering the Senate and the state towards the greater good. This system continued for a little over three hundred years until the Imperial Crisis (235 - 284 AD) - a time when civil war, foreign invasion, plague, and economic depression gripped the Empire and threatened to dismantle the entire thing. Despite the Emperor Aurelian's (270 - 275 AD) successes in defeating the Visigoths, Vandals, Persians, Palmyrenes, and the Gallic Empire and reestablishing the Imperial borders many problems remained - mostly stemming from the sheer size of the Empire. When Diocletian became Emperor in 284 AD he introduced the Tetrarchy - a system that divided Rome among four rulers: two co-emperors and two junior emperors. Each set would go on to control what today we consider to be the Western and Eastern Roman Empires (though it should be noted that Romans themselves didn't recognize this distinct, geographic split). It was from 284 AD onwards that we recognize the Dominate period of the Empire as the illusion of the old Republic was throw away and Emperors assumed more-or-less complete control over their respective half of the Empire. While the Dominate period ended with the formal collapse of the Western Roman Empire in 476 AD, the Eastern Roman Empire continued to exist and would eventually adopt a system of autocratic absolutism. The Principate Legion All-in-all much didn't change between the Late Republican and early Imperial Roman Legion. The most significant change Augustus made in regards to it was that he reduced the number of Legions from fifty to either twenty-five or twenty-eight (sources disagree which). Additionally, Legions were now typically tasked with border security on the Northern and Eastern fringes of the Empire - used to counteract (both defensively and offensively) any and all foriegn powers looking to invade or threaten Rome. Equipment also remained much the same save for the adoption of the lorica segmentata an armor made up of segemented plates which were iron on the inside, steel on the outside. The details surrounding the lorica segmentata are debated amongst historians who tend to agree that it first appeared around 9 BC but disagree over who actually wore it and how widespread it was used. Some believe, citing Trajan's Column, that the armor was used by the standard Legionary but others think that it might have been either used as a formal/parade armor or was just uncommon compared to the more widespread continued use of the lorica hamata. In Rome 2 the shift between the Late Republican and Principate Legion comes in the form of "updated" units (much like the change from Mid-Republican to Marian Legions). Legonaries are replaced with the Legionary Cohort, the First Cohort is replaced by the Eagle Cohort, Equites are replaced by Legionary Cavalry, Veteran Legionaries are replaced by the Evocati Cohort, and the General's Bodyguard Equites option is replaced with the Legatus. As you'll see my setup remains mostly the same aside from the removing of native/auxiliary cavalry and light infantry. The reason for doing revolves around the inclusion of the Auxiliae (expanded upon below) who would more-or-less fill that role. In their place I've included Onagers and Legionary Cavalry. Onagers begin to show on the historical record as part of the Roman military around this time, and Legionary Cavalry were basically non-Roman cavalrymen who would probably recieve standardized weapons and armor. Principate Legion One (1) General w/Legatus One (1) Eagle Cohort Nine (9) Legionary Cohort Three (3) Legionary Cavalry Two (2) Scorpion Two (2) Ballista Two (2) Onagers The roles of each of these units remains much the same as the ones which they replaced. Onagers will give you a nice boost to your artillery capabilities and will definitely help your Legion's siege warfare. Legionary Cavalry will also be a little more useful since native cavalry units can vary in their defensive and offensive abilities. With a standardized heavy cavalry you'll now be able to use them as such on the battlefield. The Auxiliae The second change which Augustus Caesar was responsible for during the Principate was the formal organization of allied/native armies dubbed the Auxiliae. Much like the socii alae of the Mid-Republican era, the Auxiliae was not composed of Roman citizens. Instead it was made up of native peoples from all across the Empire known as peregrini (foriegners). These Auxiliae, like the socii, would be around the same size of and accompany the Legions when they marched to war but would also act as defensive garrison forces within their geographic location. Weapons and armor of the Auxiliae is thought to be standardized and fairly identical to the Legion by at least 50 AD but it's possible that units were allowed to outfit themselves with their own native arms and armor before and possibly after this date. Overall the role of the Auxiliae was to provide the Legions with additional infantry, cavalry, and possibly skirmishers (javalinmen, archers, slingers, etc). Auxiliae of the Principate One (1) General w/Legatus Ten (10) Auxiliary Infantry Three (3) Auxiliary Cavalry Three (3) Native skirmisher units (archers, slingers, javalinmen, etc) Two (2) Scorpion One (1) Ballista The inclusion of artillery was a personal choice of mine as I haven't found any evidence to suggest that it was or was not present in the Auxiliae. Given that the non-Roman support troops of the Late Republic were typically deployed with the Legion's artillery and Augustus' emphasis on making the Auxiliae fairly equal to the Legion in terms of equipment I chose to include it here. It should be noted that the Auxiliary Infantry in Rome 2 is a bit different than what it probably would've been in reality. Given that Augustus intended them to be outfitted similar to the Legion it's assumed that they were given the lorica hamata armor, the gladius, the pugio, and the javalin (though not the heavy pilum type). The only thing that stands out as definitively different is that the auxiliary troops used the round clipeus shield as opposed to the rectangular scutum. In the game though Auxiliary Infantry are shown using spears. My assumption would be that Creative Assembly just needed to make them different from the regular Legionaries. Either way the Auxiliary Infantry still acts as a heavy infantry unit and can be used as such. Lastly, my setup here is just one possibility amongst a few. In order to keep things somewhat historically accurate you should keep the ten Aux. Infantry and three Aux. Cavalry but feel free to experiment with the other open slots in regards to different kinds of native light/heavy infantry, cavalry, and skirmishers. The Praetorian Guard The last major military contribution Augustus made to the Empire was the official formation of an elite unit loyal to the Emperor - the Praetorian Guard. Prior to the Principate the Praetorians were elite hand picked troops who formed a force no larger than a cohort. Their duties were simply to remain loyal to and protect their commanding officer. When Augustus came to power he knew that the Praetorians could offer both a military and a political advantage if he made some changes. The previous years of relentless civil war had made it abundantly clear that if someone in power wanted to stay there they needed a sufficient force of loyal soldiers to protect them. Under the guise of respecting Republican laws forbiding military forces in the city of Rome, Augustus formed the Praetorian Guard and stationed them outside the city. Numbering nine cohorts of five-hundred men (later increased to one-thousand), the Guard was a total force of around four-thousand five-hundred however only three of these cohorts would be on duty at any given time. The Guards' main duties included the protection of Rome and the protection of the Emperor himself. When they were on patrol or acting as bodyguards in the city for the Emperor they would be without armor and had to hide their weapons from view (again in order to respect old Republican law). If the Emperor went out on campaign the Praetorians would raise their full strength and act as any other Legion would aside from either being commanded directly by the Emperor or at least always being on hand. Given their use as both an offensive and defensive force I've decided to compose the Praetorian Guard in a similar fashion to an actual Legion. Historically speaking the Praetorians only had a small number of cavalry (about thirty) and there's nothing to suggest they had artillery but for the purposes of the game I'm willing to overlook those facts. Also, you'll notice that I have ten Praetorian Cohorts as opposed to nine. Personally I like that nice even number especially since it mirrors the same organization as the typical Imperial Legion. Historically though the number of Praetorian cohorts actually changed numerous times, increasing to twelve in 47 AD, sixteen in 69 AD, and ten in 101 AD. Praetorian Guard One (1) General (preferably the Emperor) w/Legatus Ten (10) Praetorian Cohorts Three (3) Praetorian Cavalry Two (2) Scorpion Two (2) Ballista Two (2) Onager The Principate Legion in the Field Simply put there's nothing to suggest that there were any monumental changes in Legionary tactics or strategies following the founding of the Empire. The flexibility of the Legions remained intact and now the Auxiliae were acting as an independent force that provided light infantry, cavalry, and skirmishers. Personally I kept using Caesar's formation mentioned above and have found no serious issue in doing so. The only thing I believe worth mentioning would be the change in how Legions were used within the Empire. As mentioned before they were typically deployed to areas along the borders in the North and East and remained stationed there as a garrison force or to be used in the event of a foreign invasion or to launch an offensive against a potential threat. The Auxiliae also served this purpose and would act in support of the Legions or would remain behind to defend the now Legion-less provinces. In the game I've assigned one Legion and one Auxiliae to each geographic area (Gaul, Iberia, Africa, Greece, etc). Unfortunately due to the restrictions on how many armies you can have (which tops out at twelve I believe) this will become harder as you further expand your Empire. Personally I have not gotten to this point but I would think the best option to take when this happens is to start making some concessions in terms of the geographic boundaries. For instance right now I have a Legion and an Auxiliae for both Greece and Anatolia (Asia Minor). If I needed to I could move one of those Legions and one Auxiliae out of Greece and deploy them in some newly conquered territory - thus leaving one Legion/Auxiliae combo for Greece-Anatolia. Or you could hunt down and download that mod floating out there that increases the army/navy cap. Sieges Sieges in the Late Republican and Imperial era are basically not going to be all that different from how you fought them before the Marian Reforms with the exception of widespread use of artillery pieces. As mentioned in the previous guide, solid accounts of Roman siege warfare don't really start showing up until Julius Caesar's conquest of Gaul (in his memoirs of the campaign). During that time the most famous siege was that of Alesia where Caesar had his men surround the settlement and encircle it with wooden pallisades, earth-works, trenches, and Ballista towers. This, naturally, is not possible in Rome 2, so we've got to stick with the standard practice of using Ballistae (and during the Imperial era Onagers as well) to destroy defending artillery, towers, gates, and/or walls while your Legionaries advance using the Testudo ("tortoise") formation. In addition, Scorpions and ranged infantry (such as archers) can be used to harrass any defenders on the walls to better cover your advancing Legion. This sort of bombardment assault is cited as being used at the siege of Jotapata in 68 AD during the Jewish Revolt. If the city is on the coastline also make sure to include a navy in your assault as this was fairly common for settlements by the sea. Your navy can then either engage any ships (garrison or otherwise) that the enemy has and/or attempt to assault the port and penetrate the outer defenses - capturing control points, engaging any nearby defenders, or fighting their way to the gates to allow better access for your Legion(s). One piece of advice though, do make sure you have more than one access point into the city. Batter down the gates, knock down a wall, use ladders, and such in order to get as many Legionaries into the city as possible. Concentrating on one single breach (especially at the gates) will usually result in absolute chaos as the defenders will push back against any forces you have coming through the bottleneck of the gateway. Also I can't stress enough that taking out towers is incredibly important. In one siege I fought, a single Scorpion tower managed to completely obliterate three units of Legionaries as they marched with ladders towards the walls and scaled them. What About Praetorians, Evocati, and Armored Legionaries? I know some of you might be wondering about these units and why I have not added them in any of my compositions. The following will explain why: Praetorians - You get access to the Praetorians (note, not the Praetorian Cohort) after researching the tech that allows you to start recruiting Legionaries. The way I see it these early versions of the Praetorians are more in line with the pre-Augustus ones mentioned above - namely that a Roman commander may or may not have a cohort of them accompanying him on campaigns. If you'd really like to include them in your Late Republic setup I would replace one of the native cavalry or infantry units with them and keep them by your General at all times during battles. Given the inclusion of this unit and its historical purpose in the Late Republic it's sort of odd that they weren't made an option for a General's bodyguard. Evocati - These units replace your Veteran Legionaries and pretty much are exactly the same thing - veterans of the Legion. The difference here seems to be that Evocati are those men who have served their time and be given a discharge but either passed it up or came back to the Legion when a popular or favorite commander called on them (which was sometimes key in this period of multiple civil wars). In my research there's nothing to suggest that the Evocati were organized into a cohort of their own fellow veterans but rather were brought back and promoted to such positions as centurions or others. They were also commonly exempt from the military duties of the typical rank and file like building the military encampment. Using them is purely up to you however to keep things relatively accurate perhaps only use one in your Legion to replace a regular Legionary Cohort. Armored Legionaries - These units are basically Legionary Cohorts but with slightly higher stats. Visually speaking, the Armored Legionaries unit has each soldier outfitted with the lorica segmentata while the Legionary Cohort troops are a mix of those wearing that armor as well as the lorica hamata. Include them if you'd like. Honestly though given the somewhat hazy accuracy of the armor's commonality I'm personally more comfortable using the regular Legionary Cohort (for history's sake). More Historical Flavor Again here are some additional points of interest if you feel like adding just a tiny bit more historical accuracy to your campaign. When marching on campaign the Legion would build a fortification camp at the end of each day and destroy it when they headed out in the morning. This practice served multiple purposes besides just plain defense such as keeping the men in good physical condition. If you'd like you could attempt to recreate this practice in the game. The only issue will of coarse be that in order for an army to use the defensive mode on the campaign map it cannot spend more than half of its movement points - effectively halfing your potential map coverage. The two big dates for the Marian Reforms and the start of the Principate are 107 BC and 27 BC respectively. Since the Cohort and Professional technologies are what unlocks a majority of the units to be used in the Late Republic and Imperial era if you'd like to stick to the time frame ensure that you unlock those technologies on those dates. This is pretty simple to achieve as all you need to do is look at how many turns it will take to research them and then factor that into your in-game date. For example, if you see that the Cohort Organization is going to take you five turns to complete don't begin researching it until 112 BC. If you decide to recruit/use the Praetorian Guard make sure to encamp them outside Rome and only use them if an enemy invades the Italian peninsula/threatens the city of Rome or if you're desperately in need of an additional force in wartime. Whether at home or on campaign make sure that your Emperor is the one in command of the Guard. Feliciter! Congratulations, if you've read the whole guide down to here you've either got a love of history or alot of time on your hands (or you're bored...). I really hope you all have enjoyed reading this and maybe learned a thing or two about the Late Republican and early Imperial Legion. If you haven't done so already please check out my other guide about the Mid-Republican Legion which covers Rome's military from the campaign start time until the Marian Reforms. Thank you to everyone who had made my previous guide one of the more popular ones on here and for showing their support. It really was your comments there that convinced me to put my nose to the grind and pump out this behemoth of a game guide. If enough people want it to happen I may be convinced to start looking into other cultures and factions and do similar guides for them as well. For the time being however I'm going to play some more of this game (I have not done so since starting this guide two days ago).

I've spent over 2000 hours playing TW:R2 and still not had enough. At some point I started adding mods and right now I think I've collected a bunch (and what I believe, an OK load order) to get the best experience to my taste. I've seen other guides of collections and figured, I'll share mine as well! Perhaps some of you are also looking for something more challenging and new. EDIT: GO STRAIGHT TO THE BOTTOM FOR LATEST UPDATES! In total, 37 mods, some giving 'outdated' but confirmed working for me. The larger map on Grand campaign, slower paced and huge 40 unit armies. Improved AI recruitments, aggressive and unlocked diplomatic options. Added cultures and just a great mix of things that causes you stay on your toes and go on for more than 500 turns in one campaign. If you like it, give this a thumbs up! SO, end of chit-chat and here's the list, in my load order 1, 2, 3 and onwards..! EDIT 2022-06-12 : NOVA ROMA Guide can be seen below! All of the mods listed in this guide was merged, updated and improved in to one big mod! I PRESENT TO YOU NOVA ROMAhttps://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2752256116 If you liked this guide you're going to love that mod! Enjoy! Send a small thank you[www.paypal.com] ROMA INVICTA! Load order 1 - A very Aggressive AI https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=412776142 WHY: I wanted the AI to not just sit idle and wait for me to attack. I want to see some gauls or germanic tribes seize a moment while my armies were fighting of Carthage in the Iberian peninsula. 2-4 : AAA Generals 2: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1623319395 3: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1949431188 4: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1415360013 WHY: Nice touch to see your generals and their wifes age and change over the course of all that playtime. Even better when you see 'your equal' on the AI side standing at your borders ready for you. 5-6 : Orbis 5: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2420691432 6: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1970932617 WHY: I love the way the changes this does to how the game looks. Who doesn't want it good looking after all these years? And it is not heavy for my 960 GTX card either! Win-Win! 7-10 : Rome II HD 7: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2246133511 8: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2188020726 9: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2069985721 10: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2045642196 WHY: It's one thing to have the campaign map looking good. This on the other hand.. wow! The units and their details. It's a must for that clash of your 40 armies as you zoom in and look at them have at it. 11-13 : Extra graphicals 11: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1730062353 12: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=458844755 13: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=318420643 WHY: Some nice touch to the cities and the unit cards. I prefer 'real' images instead of those 2D art ones. The last one is important though: It fixes the bug with having 40 units in your army. 14-15 : Blanks 14: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2432708158 15: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2436247164 WHY: No lines whatsoever. Just nature and the traders. It just gives the world a more immersive feeling, you know what I mean? 16-19 : Level up the AI 16: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=233589292 17: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1431419896 18: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1494382256 19: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2597408723 WHY: Now this is a big game changer. The big guys are the ones you want to fight, like Cartage and Egypt. And you want them, as big empires, to have massive armies. And you don't want them to send some stacks of levies at you, nooo, some real trained warriors. And as a last touch, lets just increase that 'other income' so that they get an extra bump to afford it. 20 : The larger map 20: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2096448001 WHY: Simple, it is a larger map. More cities and improved layout. It creates some interesting scenarios that didn't happen on the old/original one. A big plus is the included of 4 turns per year! 21-23 : Bandits! Plagues! Diplomacy! 21: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1214366088 22: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=186922227 23: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1397295936 WHY: Bandits? Yes. Plagues? Yes. Because it adds something of an random event so the world doesn't feel so static. It's also frustrating to see the plague sweep across your lands and moving your armies away so you don't loose half of the troops. When it comes to the diplomatic things, I like to have the possiblity to choose what I want to happen. I like to have the freedom of choice. With the new outcomes I started to use it more for the benefits rather than just keeping the other houses happy. 24-26 : Campaign additions 24: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1497225180 25: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=821192894 26: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=205975174 WHY: I like long games and where you have to think about your choices rather than '1 turn and fixed!'. Rome wasn't built in a day, aye? The wonders is a great addition, gives some factions bonuses and I like to read about them ones in a while as they pop up. The season effects is a no-brainer, it is needed to keep that feeling of nature actually affecting your army. 27-30 : More additions 27: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1487757748 28: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=250719205 29: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1480527106 30: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1480526390 WHY: There are other cultures in this world and I like to see egyptians in egypt! And if the campaign couldn't get any better, add more towns for a more alive environment... I actually place my armies close 'towns' now thinking they can relax in the inns after all that marching. And as I mention before, I like the freedom so if I want my capital to be somewhere... the it should be... I AM THE EMPEROR! 31-33 : Corrections... 31: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=754698092 32: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=368300258 33: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=808472171 WHY: Bugfixes, because it is needed. Garrison because as the city grows, so should its defenders and keepers of the peace. And the last with corrections is to add some more alternatives to the factions. One thing I like about it is the auxiliary cavalry & infantry blockade until later in the game. Makes it much more challenging! 34-35 : Romans, raise shields! 34: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1473594899 35: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1465654710 WHY: With focus on that the romans were hard to fight. Testudo was the ancient 'tank', it should be hard to route with arches & slingers. The shield wall is great to finally use if you're trying to hold a line. 36-37 : Let there be blood 36: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1448531545 37: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=310675480 WHY: I love a more animated battle as you can finally see how some of your brave soldiers fight in to the enemy and it just feels more authentic. I also like when 1vs1 group clash and after some time there is no line anymore, just pure mix of fighting between each soldier. The blood mod is added since I felt that it could be improved as well as keeping the blood on the battlefield even after the fight. Last but not least Now that you have it all loaded and in the correct order... let's not forget an important step. This is where we edit the savefile to how many units per army is allowed. And with the mod above, you wont have any troubles with visuals :) Download EditSF : https://sourceforge.net/projects/packfilemanager/files/EditSF/ Start a new grand campaign and save directly after the intro Minimize the game and start EditSF Click on File->Open and locate your new save file (C: Users [NAME] AppData Roaming The Creative Assembly Rome2 save_games) Click on the + icon: CAMPAIGN_SAVE_GAME -> COMPRESSED_DATA -> CAMPAIGN_ENV Select CAMPAIGN_MODEL and change the 9th row from top (should have value 20) to 40 Click on File->Save Wait until the texts changes from Red to Black. Then close EditSF Open up your minimized game and load the save file! NOW ENJOY! I apologize for the many mods but this is worth it. It creates a game unlike any Rome you've played before but still relatable to the 'vanilla' feeling. Don't forget to give it a thumbs up since I guess we won't see you for 500 turns now...? ROMA INVICTA! EDIT 2021-05-31 Hey all! After a pull through to approx. 400 turns I decided to check for an improved AI and I found one mod that I've been trying out and it feels a lot better! It not only change the recruitment but also the AI's building construction and gives it a bit of research bonus on higher difficulty ;) So it's number 18 that I've replaced! https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1494382256 I'm also looking in to changing a mod for a bit better balance so stay tuned for more updates! Also, I want to give huge thanks for all the likes and great feedback! It makes me happy to see that you enjoy it :) EDIT 2021-09-09 GOOD NEWS EVERYONE! After yet another(or 2..) campaigns through to approx. 300 turns while running my own modified mod of income changes to a few factions I went ahead and uploaded the first version of it. It feels well balanced and really competetive when you face of the bigger factions now, especially as Rome you have Carthage growing the south, Macedon in the east while Egypt, Seleucid and Parthia have at it in the far east! This time it's number 19 that I've replaced! https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2597408723 I have also found the REALLY ANNOYING bug with public order, sent a fix to the owners of said mod and they have finally replied that this will be fixed as soon as possible! In other news, I've been trying to modify another mod and get in contact with the owner. It would change the start a little bit but I think it would greatly improve the gameplay... more of this later! Again, I want to give huge thanks for all the likes and great feedback! Keep at it and let me know what you think! Salutations! EDIT 2021-09-28 - IMPROVED LOADING TIMES Hello again! With more mods, the loading times to campaign has been increase and I couldn't figure out why BUT an answer has been found and I have also confirmed that it works! In short: - Copy all .PACK files of the mods own subfolders, usually found at: C: Program Files (x86) Steam steamapps workshop content 214950 - To the game's Data folder, usually found at: C: Program Files (x86) Steam steamapps common Total War Rome II data And that should do it! My loading times lowered substantially! Enjoy! Original post/answer: https://steamcommunity.com/app/214950/discussions/0/2952662888309858346/