Imperator: Rome 15 Quick Tips for Starting the Game

We’ve got an assortment of helpful tips that is great to know before you start for both veterans of Paradox games and those new to the genre. Imperator: Rome is a grand strategy game where you control a map and you make decisions internally (how much to pay people, what to trade where, etc.) and externally (who to invade, who to ally with, etc.) to determine your success in the game.

The biggest tip is that Imperator Rome is like a fine wine that gets better with age. The first few playthroughs, even for fans experienced in the genre, often involve epic random failure from subsystems that were ignored or events that were triggered. That’s the joy of the game.

Below you’ll find a variety of tips that you should soak in before you start your next game.

1. You can only ally with countries that are your same rank, but there are ally-like interactions with higher and lower ranked powers that you can seek.
2. Having 15 slaves in a city will cause it to create an additional trade good. Cities have a fixed trade good, so it will be whatever is that city’s trade good. The first copy via slaves stays in the city, but subsequent copies can be traded.
3. Europa Universalis IV has a lot in common with Imperator: Rome, but they are two different games with many things changed and modified between them. There is an argument in the community on if it’s a sequel to EU4 or EU: Rome.
4. The goal of the game is really simple – turn more of the map your color. The complex part is navigating the subsystems to reach that victory. Don’t be afraid of combat.
5. Avoid uncontrolled growth as much as possible. Expand with intent. The game is about resource management, so always expand understanding your current upkeep, what resources you have and what resources you need.
6. Loyalty is important – you want to avoid a civil war at all costs. Likewise with Tyranny. Don’t oppose the senate too much if going Republic.
7. Go into battles you know you’re going to win. Make sure to place wargoals in achievable locations to make the battle a success. Look at the map and think of your strategy and what victory looks like – if you don’t see it, avoid going into battle.
8. When you colonize, the city you colonize from can’t recolonize from awhile but the just colonized city can colonize. If you move enough people into the new city, you can colonize immediately again.
9. When you reach regional power (25 cities) your government bonuses double.
10. You only lose when your country is annexed by another country or you lose a civil war.
11. Slaves can revolt, managing them is important because it can be a large portion of your economy. Slaves provide copies of trade goods (see tip 2) and taxes.
12. The slowest unit in an army dictates the armies speed. Just one slow unit will slow down the entire army.
13. Mercenaries are strong – seriously strong. You can buy the enemies mercenaries, causing them to lose power and you to gain and they can be a quick way to end a war that you need to get out of.
14. Remember that the A.I. won’t always break a trade when they start to get mad at you, but if you go to war they will break the trade and that can mess up your economy. Plan for trade goods when you to go to war.
15. Play, play, play and don’t spoil too much more! The fun of the game is finding the new events and ways to expand.