Roman Empire vs. Roman Republic

[stratigo]

Its not a modern Republic. In History the Republic switched to the Empire because the Republic was not able to manage the expansion in the first place. In short form you can say: they tried to manage the empire like a town and only for the one town. Later on the first argument against Republics was excatly this. Its the best form for manage small towns.

We can also say for the modern time that having a Empire works not so well with having a democracy. Military and Security and "Nobles" start to play a biger role. I don't want to start a political discussion, but the USA are often blamed to go the way of the roman republic.

Its a game and i wantr deeper and more interesting mechanics for the governments. But so far the advtantages of a Monarchy are are not bad done. I switch to the Empire so soon i can.

Rome became an empire because greedy aristocrats hollowed out the state and started fighting to see who got to be the top dog. It had nothing to do with efficiency or an inability to rule or anything like that. Neither the republic or the principate really managed the empire particularly well

 

[Linusz]

TFW you are told Assimilation laws as monarchy aren't fabulous. You get +3 everywhere. To be honest I haven't tried figuring out how to game families to ensure heads are all of the same political faction, but from the little time I have played as Monarchy, I haven't really felt any noticable differences in laws and such. If you are playing as selecuids or as messalia then that +3 assimilation and the ability to do stuff without having to worry about approval is a relief. That said, long live the republic. Also the largest PI sink is governor policies, not claims (get a respective second place though).

Assimilation Law effect has been reduced to +0.25 and +30%. So it is not as good as it has been (by far). So theaters will still do the major work regarding assimilation. Especially if you take the associated wonder effect, I would rather go for conversion law since it is better to first convert, then assimilate and conversion is harder to get in general.

Well I will argue that FOUR province investments are nothing bad at all!
80 P.I. x 4 = 320 P.I.

P.I. is farmed at an avarage of 2 points per month (if skilled player) thus you get THIRTEEN YEARS of P.I. in one go. Plus you'll save a lot of money (depending of how many province investment you already done in the province)

I'd argue that the P.I. is very much worth.

I would argue it is not. Very much not. 320 P.I. means you get 16 claims for free in a monarchy while in a republic you would get 32 claims. So after the 16th claim, your benefit is gone. And if you play somewhat expansionist, you will need a lot more than 16 claims. Additionally, you get so many free province investments and their benefit is so small, that it is just not worth it.

 

[Spike05]

I would argue it is not. Very much not. 320 P.I. means you get 16 claims for free in a monarchy while in a republic you would get 32 claims. So after the 16th claim, your benefit is gone. And if you play somewhat expansionist, you will need a lot more than 16 claims. Additionally, you get so many free province investments and their benefit is so small, that it is just not worth it.

Oh well, if you care only about expansion, I may agree.
I play more the civilization builder side, and getting the most free investments (both for trade and for buildings) it's not a bad idea.
Count that the time the avarage player will move towards empire will be AFTER having conquered quite a bit of land. So conversion plus free investments doesn't look that bad on the practical level. But it really comes down to PLAYSTYLE.

Also IIRC the roman empire formed when it was almost at it's expansion peak, they "claimed" more land when were republic too.
Sure, they did expand later too, but not to the same amount they did as republic. So maybe it's "historically - appropriate"? idk

 

[Rubidium]

Another minor advantage for the OP's list:

You can deify your monarch. I mean, actually doing so is generally a trap, but you theoretically have that option!

 

[Vernichtere]

Rome became an empire because greedy aristocrats hollowed out the state and started fighting to see who got to be the top dog. It had nothing to do with efficiency or an inability to rule or anything like that. Neither the republic or the principate really managed the empire particularly well

There is no contradaction. Romes expansion was driven by its system early on. But the same system was not able to keep govern this expansion. The imperial system failed at some point for other reason, but it was a solution for a while.

 

[stratigo]

There is no contradaction. Romes expansion was driven by its system early on. But the same system was not able to keep govern this expansion. The imperial system failed at some point for other reason, but it was a solution for a while.

No... it isn't. The principate was extremely poor at managing the provinces and had a tiny bureaucratic apparatus. The republic didn't become an autocracy because that was just the best way to manage its hinterland. There's nothing about autocracies that make them better at managing land than a republic. The principate came into existence because Augustus was better at killing his enemies than his enemies were at killing him.

 

[Vernichtere]

No... it isn't. The principate was extremely poor at managing the provinces and had a tiny bureaucratic apparatus. The republic didn't become an autocracy because that was just the best way to manage its hinterland. There's nothing about autocracies that make them better at managing land than a republic. The principate came into existence because Augustus was better at killing his enemies than his enemies were at killing him.

Explaining hstory with just some random dude being a killer is a nobrainer. Before the final civil war Rome had these problems again and again. At some point such a dude wins,. Expansion meant generals and governors becoming wealthy and then they tried of course to go for power. The Empire had a smilare issues later on, but not in such a way like teh republic. The system was not able to adopt.

The tiny apparatus is true also for the republic.