Hopefully Rome II will fix these problems:
1. Sitting around waiting for barbarians to attack so that you can take their land
A solution would be to make colonization passive, and out of the player's control
2. Treaties shouldn't be time bombs. Rome should declare war on Carthage months after a treaty expires. The Punic Wars had at least twenty years between them.
3. Relations shouldn't be so centered on religion and culture. People traded with each other back then without conquering each other first. If I have a hot commodity, I should be able to trade it to the Persians if they have an open trade route.
1. Sitting around waiting for barbarians to attack so that you can take their land
A solution would be to make colonization passive, and out of the player's control
2. Treaties shouldn't be time bombs. Rome should declare war on Carthage months after a treaty expires. The Punic Wars had at least twenty years between them.
3. Relations shouldn't be so centered on religion and culture. People traded with each other back then without conquering each other first. If I have a hot commodity, I should be able to trade it to the Persians if they have an open trade route.