Romans

This article is about the civilization in Age of Empires: The Rise of Rome. For the civilization in Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings, see Byzantines.

Civilization

Technology tree

Strategy

“	I found Rome a city of bricks and left it a city of marble	”
—Augustus

The Romans are a playable civilization in Age of Empires: The Rise of Rome. The Romans controlled the empire from modern day Italy in the city of Rome, which was once one of the largest cities in the world. At its highest peak the empire extended across large areas of Europe, some of North Africa, and Asia Minor. The Romans in the game are primarily an offensive civilization but they also work well under defensive strategies due to their cheaper cost of constructing buildings and fortifications. Due to their access to powerful Iron Age technologies, they are able to field formidable armies in most games since they produce some of the finest infantry from the Barracks.

During their expansion and zenith, the Romans were known for their skills at building, as well as defending their borders against barbarian people, which is reflected in the tower and building discount. Roman soldiers, better known as Legionaries, were highly disciplined and able to adapt to extreme situations and defeat even some of the toughest soldiers at that time, like the infamous Macedonian Phalanx. To reflect this, their swordsmen attack faster.

Features[]

Roman architecture style
Swordsmen have -33% reload time.^[1]
Buildings cost -10%.
Towers cost -40%.

Changelog[]

Age of Empires[]

Buildings cost -15%.
Towers cost -50%.

Definitive Edition[]

With Content Update 9, buildings cost -10%.
With update 38862, towers cost -40%.

AI player names[]

Caesar - Roman general, consul and dictator, lived 100-44 BC
Vespasian (Vespasiānus) - Roman Emperor 69-79
Trajan (Trāiānus) - Roman Emperor 98-117
Nero (Nerō) - Roman Emperor 54-68
Claudius - Roman Emperor 41-54
Domitian (Domitiānus) - Roman Emperor 81-96
Marcus Aurelius - Roman Emperor 161-180
Sulla - Roman general, consul and dictator, lived 138-78 BC
Octavian (Octavianus) - Roman Emperor 27 BC-AD 14, known as Augustus

History[]

The Roman Empire at its height in 117 AD

The city of Rome was founded several thousand years ago and became a Republic in 509 BC. It quickly became a major power and controlled much of the Mediterranean after defeating Carthage. After several power struggles Rome became an Empire with the first Roman emperor being Augustus Caesar. The Roman Empire had the strongest and the most disciplined army in its time and was the dominant power in the area. One major feat of the Empire besides defeating Carthage was defeating Greece who were a major military power, one of the reasons the Romans thought they were descendants of the people of Troy, which was a city that was sacked and had most of its population massacred by the Greeks around 1200 B.C. At its height it was a vast empire that ruled most of Europe, North Africa and the Middle-East at its pinnacle between 44 BC and 180 AD, often known as Pax Romana, or Roman Peace. The Roman Empire eventually began to decline as its bureaucrats became very ineffective, invasions from various Germanic tribes and the Huns increased and numerous civil wars began across the empire. The Roman Empire was split into an Eastern and Western half by Emperor Diocletian in 293 as the empire was seen as too big for one person to rule. A second capital was made in Byzantium. The Western Empire fell in 476 while the Eastern Half, self-named Romania (called the Byzantine Empire by scholars since the late modern period), survived another thousand years. The Byzantines were toppled by the Turks in 1453.

Comments[]

↑ As of DE CU11, the bonus actually makes every second blow of Short Swordsmen line commence twice as fast, as if the rate of fire (RoF) was 0.75 seconds instead of 1.5 seconds like a generic Short Swordsman; however, every first attack's RoF is set to normal 1.5 sec. It also counts in the attack delay (AD) of a Short Swordsman (0.75 sec., unchanged for Romans), so the first two blows of the initial attack (after the AD) are dealt with RoF of 0.75 sec. Thus, Roman Short Swordsman, after reaching its target (the animation of the attack has just started), deals damage with the following cooldowns (every "→" means the damage is dealt): 0.75 sec. delay because of AD → 0.75 sec. delay due to increased RoF mitigating AD → 0.75 sec. because of increased RoF bonus → 1.5 sec. generic delay → 0.75 sec. → 1.5 sec. → 0.75 sec, which combines for 5.25 sec.; generic civilization would have 8.25 sec. instead. This lead to a slightly higher actual bonus RoF for the first blows.

The Romans are the only civilization introduced in The Rise of Rome that have no access to either camel or elephant units.

[1] As of DE CU11, the bonus actually makes every second blow of Short Swordsmen line commence twice as fast, as if the rate of fire (RoF) was 0.75 seconds instead of 1.5 seconds like a generic Short Swordsman; however, every first attack's RoF is set to normal 1.5 sec. It also counts in the attack delay (AD) of a Short Swordsman (0.75 sec., unchanged for Romans), so the first two blows of the initial attack (after the AD) are dealt with RoF of 0.75 sec. Thus, Roman Short Swordsman, after reaching its target (the animation of the attack has just started), deals damage with the following cooldowns (every "→" means the damage is dealt): 0.75 sec. delay because of AD → 0.75 sec. delay due to increased RoF mitigating AD → 0.75 sec. because of increased RoF bonus → 1.5 sec. generic delay → 0.75 sec. → 1.5 sec. → 0.75 sec, which combines for 5.25 sec.; generic civilization would have 8.25 sec. instead. This lead to a slightly higher actual bonus RoF for the first blows.

[1]