Romans have an unpopular real-life gold cost affecting their play rate.

The term "locked behind overpriced dlc", could apply here also

thinking on it, the +5 charge attack pretty effectively represents the pilum, which was commonly thrown while entering battle by roman soldiers

We really need an Aetius or Majorian campaign to bring the faction into the AoE2 timeline.

I think it's correct decision to add late roman empire as they already had Huns from conqueror, and also weird why they don't add them earlier.

I would love to see a comparation between Western Romans ( Romans) and the Eastern Romans (byzantines) and how one could be better against them and compare with other civs and see if they can work together to rule over all other civilizations, as the unitec Roman Empire once did. ❤

I suck at the intended game play but I still love playing this. Fulfills the nostalgia box quite nicely.

Never been happier to see a KZfaq get a sponsorship deal. SotL has been breaking down and explaining AoE2 mechanics and filling an important niche for this community for years. Well deserved!

We desperately need a single player Romans campaign

You should include the most useful allies as a part of these videos

Nice harder, better, faster, stronger reference out there 9:47

Loved the Daft Punk reference at 9:45

I think it'd be interesting as unique buildings are becoming more a thing, if the Romans could eventually build a building called the fortress or something which wouldn't fire arrows, but would allow for the production of their snowball units (legionnaire, centurion, scorpion) from one building. Maybe also have it so that scorpions could garrison within the building and fire from it. Personally I would take that over the unique tech allowing for the charge attack... Maybe it's too powerful, or too weak, I don't pretend to be a numbers master lol.

I always appreciate the extra effort into the puns. Good stuff!

8:49 yesterday during Nac5 we saw Romans vs Japanese and the legionry went toe to toe with samurai because of their infantry bonus.

9:47 Nobody expects the Roman Daft Punk

Romans are gaining recognition in pro scene recently, as the spearmen and pikemen are super tanky in a typical scout opening mirror in open maps like land madness. The extra melee armor really gives Romans a clear edge in scout war, that you can swarm other player's spearmen or pikemen with large number of scouts, while your opponent can't, or with much heavier prices.

Glad to finally get an overview of a civ that's so obscure no one's heard of it before this game

They have one of the most dangerous death balls in the game. Just like in history though, facing strong raids is their biggest weakness. (Good luck if you’re facing the Romans on a closed map though.)

Roman scorpions: You’ve yeed your last haw

I think what also plays into roman's pick rates: Their DLC is not that well regarded. It only adds the romans and the "AoE1 playset". I skipped this DLC as it didn't provide value for money to me. I doubt I'm alone...

Now that we've gotten our mandatory thinking about the Roman Empire out of the way, I would like to say I enjoy Romans. Their unique game plan is just solid where another infantry civ feels like it needs something more. It feels odd to play, but smooth. Worth the price? Probably not on its own. But since I already own it, I might as well get some enjoyment out of it when I play.

They should have added the Vandals as a civilisation at the same time as the Romans.

Even when I don’t have time to watch a full video I click just hoping to hear that intro

As a Roman's main thank you for the video!!!

Every time I hear the intro song I get hit with nostalgia. Feels like I've been watching your content for a decade. Happy holidays, folks!

Love the aoe2 romans, they are well designed overall. I hope that you'll do the Italians overview next, as the one present is very old and basically now they are almost a new civilization.

Lol I was looking all over for this video the other day! 😢 Finally! ❤

hey sotl any chance of you leaving your old civ overviews as public? It’d be real nice to look at some of the old civs from time to time imo

Pretty hard to tell with the narration going on and the fighting in the background, but you can see the superb villager pathing in this video as well 12:12

Can you add a link for Spirit of the Outlaw? I would go out of my way to visit that establishment!

I think you have missed that in a large fight many charge attacks will hit the same unit taking out the first enemy units significantly faster than without it, snowballing the fight afterwards.

I wonder if their 5% bonus would feel a bit less "generic Are Just Better" if it only applied to repairing buildings and building defenses (walls etc), which would have a solid use in tense quickwall/raiding situations, focus more in on what I assume to be part of the historical source for the bonus (the rapid military engineering Roman armies could perform), and wouldn't feel like it was nerfing them too much since they're performing so strongly at the moment. (If it was too insignificant then, it could be bumped up to 10%, I dunno)

I think the lack of demolition ship in the Roman tech tree is not because their "no-powder" rule, but instead because the Battle at Cape Bon, in which the Western and Eastern Roman navies made one last ditch attempt to reconquer Carthage from the Vandals but failed because the latter used demolition ships to obliterate the Western fleet.

I just remembered how the early Romans used elephants during a few battles. I don't know how well it would balance out but it would have been fun for the Romans to have un-upgraded Battle Elephants

Hope you don't start an web site for a dental practice. Spirit of the jaw. Lol love those ads btw.

Spanish: "My villagers are just better than everyone else's!" Romans: "That's cute."

Spirit of the Flaw - at 8:07 as the legionary has +2 Melee armour I've been watching his videos for 4 years and don't think I've ever noticed a mistake before

I actually watch his videos while working out , helps me pass the time

at first i didnt like the idea of romans being here at the AoE2 time frame but after learning about all the pockets of roman resistance sprinkled among the fallen western empire i can be at peace with this but i definitely love the subtle wink at the 3rd century crisis by the legionary looks and making them peak at castle age but fell behind at imperial age 😂 what i dont like is them being good at sea... i'd prefer the skrim becoming velites or have the light cav upgrade to equites

It's so good to see an old legend again.

Your Squarespace websites are very cleverly named. Bravo

in case someone is wondering: the correct ratio is 1 Centurion to 40 Legionaires (the optio is the other officer for every century of 80 men)

I believe that their low popularity is due to the fact that Return of Rome is not the best DLC and many players are skipping it, therefore resulting in a low usage rate

The way I see Commitatenses is that the main benefit is in the training speed, the charge attack being a bonus. When you compare it to Chivalry for the Franks it is only slightly more expensive but giving a better training speed buff for your most essential units :)

I thought you had already made a civ overview on the Romans? Anyway nice video as always

the fact roman dont have supply is a flavor fail.

You can't help but feel ROMANtic about the two units I see what did you there

The 5% eco bonus is less of am advamtage. And more of an abiloty thay covers up the mistakes one makes when ecoing.

Romans lacking treadmill crane despite them beeing one of the first to use them is a massive oversight in my book they were great builders so why not double down on that

Ayyy when did you start including the intro again? Love it

Charge attack synergizes well with the Scorpions - Scorpions will deal a bit of damage to a lot of units, which ends up with charge attack actually decreasing the amount of hits needed to kill enemy units.

Aetius would be proud

They're not played much because a lot of players haven't bought the DLC, nor do they have any intentions to do so anytime soon (for various reasons).

Seems like the Romans will be a hidden gem no longer, thanks Spirit of the Law, lol.

great stuff! :-)

Another thing with Droman, at least at low ELO, they act almost like a Naval Mangonel. Good at taking out groups of land units and also bunched up ships. This means they mass easier, have more usaage than cannon galleons and can often wipe a poorly mirco'd group of galleys and fire ships.

Ad arrrmaaa!!

His voice literally calms me down😂❤

I would change the team bonus for scorpions (and maybe trebuchets) to move faster to keep up with infantry. It's much better, without being an op bonus.

I've always asked myself "Why not add Romans?". For 20 years. When I'm finally at peace with their absence, they are added...

Great video! Can you do a 2023 update for the Japanese, Teutons, and Celts?

Romans teaming up with Byzantines in 2v2 are a strong combo: romans provide cavalier with charge attack and byz have fully upgraded arbalest something that roman empires lovers should try

They should've put one of your videos on the Voyager golden record.

I can't quite put my $15 on why the Romans are so unpopular...

You might want to include a working link to your newest venture since the name leads to the various songs with the same name

They could have got a special tech called "Pilum" and make infantry's first attack be from a short distance

Your squarespace ads are amazing

I kinda love the fact they added Romans

Actually watching this from ROME! Just flew here this morning. What were the possibilities? 😅

They missed a good opportunity to make this civ unique in playstyle. Roman start strong in the early game then weaker as time goes on ( starting in castle age) compared to other civs. This would give the feel they are falling behind the times ( they are an ancient civ after all)and give the player a sense of urgency to attack early and cover ground. Dark age model buildings like they are in castle as well. Maybe in imperial -- Romans could have had an expensive tech called "reforms" for example where their units can be competitive with other civ imperial units. Or maybe that tech can turn them into byzantines or something.

Can you do a AoE 1 civilisation break down that comes with the Rise of Rome DLC or at least a quick check of which civ does what good and bad? Along with showing off what the AoE 1 does now that it never did in the past?

As a teuton main player I can not ignore, that the romans look both like a kinda similar and a worthy opponent civilisation.

I would suggest bringing on a top player to comment on the dromons. Their utility is much much more and stronger than you are suggesting here.

Hell yeah

Hidden Gem... because it costs like a gem to get the civ /s

'Spirit of the Outlaw' Dad!

As a lifelong fan of both Fire Emblem and the Aztecs civ, I find Romans to be exceedingly fun to play, mainly because of their nontraditional playstyle and actually making Scorpions feel useful outside of Khmer. Also the Late Roman Empire aesthetics mounted atop their Centurions and Legionaries look REALLY fantastic. Ballistas is a very cool tech that reminds me of the amount of Scorpions used in Fire Emblem: Thracia 776 intent on causing frustration. Comitatenses is essentially a reworked Garland Wars in much the same way the Legionary is analogous to a Jaguar Warrior, so in some way, I can forgive the Aztecs being a pro only civ after they were nerfed into the ground (favorite civ since The Conquerors).

One thing that really helps the Romans out is that they have access to bracer, just like the Persians

The +5 especially on the cav is incredibly useful for sniping siege units both on a single unit and small group basis. Take the centurion which can kill an onager in 1 charge+2 normal attacks when fully upgraded, saving you one attack. Small groups can pick off trebs can attack or two sooner depending on which cav unit, packed/unpacked, etc. Also great for powering down rams and the legionary is great at that too. It's sometimes hard to quantify, but it can mean one less treb gets away or one less siege attack gets off or your units take arrow fire just a bit less and get out with alive/with more HP. Unsuspecting players often underestimate how quickly they can pick off weak units. Centurions can also kill vills in two hits if they have the charge, which can be critical in stopping castle drops and repairs.

I wish ballistics would affect Scorpions in general and not just for Romans. They feel infinitely nicer to use when they can track moving targets.

You mentioned the lack of bracer almost as much as Persians

what's the music playing in the background of the squarespace shoutout?

Onnne singular Roman overview

Roma stat! Diis gloria, imperatori gloria, populo gloria, et frumentum nostrum barbari crescant!

I wish their game plan was not so locked into a single strategy. Very little flexibility outside of a slow moving mass of legionarries and scorpions. At least they have decent light cav for raiding...

Y'know, would be cool if they added a Dromon equivalent for Native American civs as well

The Romans have become my favourite civ at the moment, massing Scorpions and Legionaries makes them incredibly threatening.

could you do a playthroug of the roman map you made?

I am assuming Samurai deal bonus damage to Legionaris as they count as unique unit?

What about some series about AoE2 Editor?

While I dislike that they added them, they did quite a solid job on designing the civilization.

Do the fishing ships benefit from the Romans 5% bonus ?

If i was asked to point to the strongest eco bonus, Id point to the viking's free wheel barrow/handcart bonus and the romans +5%. They are by far the strongest and most flexible at tge same time.

The farm basket generates food faster! So if I stole farms from a Roman player could that benefit my gather rate since the farm basket is always full form my Vils to gather from?

8:07 I see 1/1 base armor difference and 2/0 armor difference when factoring in upgrades, so that +1/0 armor yellow text is wrong either way right?

Ok, something about the armour comparison between Legionaries and Champions in the video confuses me. And damn, the puns are through the roof.

My question is, does a centurion from another player affect the legionary from another player like Red's Centurion gives bonus to Green's Legionary?

Would be fun if the byzantines would get legionaries aswell

first of all , yep thats defo civ tech bonuses made with the balance of other civs in mind since ,considering the romans struggles agenst cartage in part was due to how 'mediocre' their personal naval talents where compared to others hmm though about how much they are played , might it simple be a question of taste in ...era ? while its true rome more or lees is one of very very few powers that existed across the gap from the edge of 'ancient' era into the modern one and in many ways hade more to do with the modern era then the true classical or bronce age and other culture 'defining' tales and idonyms can be traced back to , but the way it often been proped up in peoples minds as 'the personification of ancient era' ..and one of the defining sentences for aoe 2 ( despite how in reality the time period it spans indeed should have hade a not just byzantium but a 'rome remnant' faction ) more or lees is all about 'rome is gone , the ancient era of mighty legions of order and valiant phalanaxes of honour and mythological beasts & magic is over now new powers rises out of the ashes' soo.. it be quite intersting if despite being good , it stays only 'spareingly' played as if peoples minds go more for the '' right i want to win but also ,what factions do i have lingering romantic associations with from school history classes about 'restoring order after rome was destroyed '' XD