I came to EU:Rome from EU3 and I really enjoy the drama that arises even in "downtime" between wars, something I dont experience with EU3 where in downtime you are only waiting for a slider move or for a stab hit random event.
As an example, my Seleucid ruler had finally brought the Ptolemies to heel and was looking forward to a few decades of stabilising the empire and building up resources.
Instead his son Leo murders him, and siezes power. Fun. Then Leo decides to remove a trouble maker from his magistrates - the magistrates launches a civil war, which Leo wins handily as most of the army stays loyal. More fun. The traitor is caught and executed, and the traitors wife (Leo's aunt) is imprisoned. Who I later decide to release. Cos I am so nice.
Leo already has the whiff of brimstone from his siezing of power, but this is further confirmed when it emerges Leo has been having an affair with his cousin ( one of his friends, also the daughter of the treacherous magistrate and his aunt who had stayed loyal in the civil war) behind the back of both his wife, and his cousins husband ( a governor, and also a friend of Leo). A child is born, and I decide to acknowledge it, so the Governor takes a massive loyalty hit and becomes a rival. So Leo has him murdered and replaced. Great fun.
Meanwhile, Leos wife has taken his cousin as a rival and is now plotting to murder the cousin. However, Leo and his cousin remain friends whilst Leo and his wife are not...toying with the decision of having Leo murder his wife too and completely cross over to the dark side.
And that sort of drama ( murdering your father to sieze power, civil war, cheating with your best friends wife and then murdering him when he objects...) is all "downtime" stuff that adds a lot of flavour to characters and is quite entertaining. An AAR would practically write itself: I released the aunt just cos it seemed the nice thing to do, later the affair with the aunts daughter emerges, which makes it far easier to justify and explain from an AAR view of things.
As an example, my Seleucid ruler had finally brought the Ptolemies to heel and was looking forward to a few decades of stabilising the empire and building up resources.
Instead his son Leo murders him, and siezes power. Fun. Then Leo decides to remove a trouble maker from his magistrates - the magistrates launches a civil war, which Leo wins handily as most of the army stays loyal. More fun. The traitor is caught and executed, and the traitors wife (Leo's aunt) is imprisoned. Who I later decide to release. Cos I am so nice.
Leo already has the whiff of brimstone from his siezing of power, but this is further confirmed when it emerges Leo has been having an affair with his cousin ( one of his friends, also the daughter of the treacherous magistrate and his aunt who had stayed loyal in the civil war) behind the back of both his wife, and his cousins husband ( a governor, and also a friend of Leo). A child is born, and I decide to acknowledge it, so the Governor takes a massive loyalty hit and becomes a rival. So Leo has him murdered and replaced. Great fun.
Meanwhile, Leos wife has taken his cousin as a rival and is now plotting to murder the cousin. However, Leo and his cousin remain friends whilst Leo and his wife are not...toying with the decision of having Leo murder his wife too and completely cross over to the dark side.
And that sort of drama ( murdering your father to sieze power, civil war, cheating with your best friends wife and then murdering him when he objects...) is all "downtime" stuff that adds a lot of flavour to characters and is quite entertaining. An AAR would practically write itself: I released the aunt just cos it seemed the nice thing to do, later the affair with the aunts daughter emerges, which makes it far easier to justify and explain from an AAR view of things.