Short Description of the Product :

• Historical real-time strategy game on the Roman Republic from 275 to 43 BC,
  with 10 different historical scenarios
  
• Six active Roman political factions, represented by players (up to 6 in multiplayer mode), dozens of opponents to select among the 100+ nations represented in the game
  
• Historically faithful representation of Roman world politics, economy, diplomacy and military
  
• Realistic rendering of characters, buildings, resources, landscapes and military or civilian units
  
• Large map of ancient Europe, from Ireland to Persia, including multiple zoom levels and 4 different map modes
  
• Over 150 historical events, dozens of stratagems that can be used by players,
  and all famous historical characters of Roman history,
  
• A strategy game with a strong political foces that will make the most of your negotiating talent when confronted by a high-level Artificial Intelligence.
  

General Concept :

Pax Romana can be played with two different levels of difficulty or complexity :

• A ''Strategic'' version, where the player personifies Rome, as a nation, and faces other nations (playable or AI-controlled). It is a rather traditional real-time strategy game, with all the basic ingredients of management, conquest, domination and power, offering different scenarios spread over a period of time from 272 BC to 217 AD.
  
• A ''Political'' version, that includes all the elements of the above, but where players impersonate a famous historical character from ancient Rome (Caesar, Pompeius, Cicero, Scipio, Cato, etc…), leading a political faction of noble patricians, with different scenarios of variable length, spread over a time period from the Fall of Tarentum (275 BC) to the Roman Civil War (44 BC)

Common Features :

• The game is real-time, with up to 5 adjustable speeds
  
• It allows for multi-player gaming, anywhere between 2 to 6 players, according to scenario
  6 types of different climates and as many terrains
  
• A large map with 500+ regions, from Ireland to Persia, with over 50 different economic resources, dozens of industrial, agricultural or mining infrastructures, roads to build, wild land to clear
  
• 100+ different types of military units, some specific to nations (Roman Legions for instance), each with their own levels of discipline, morale and experience,
  
• A Diplomatic tool that offers more than 30 different and varied options
  
• 60 stratagems that will give flavor and spice to game play, allowing players to throw dirty tricks at their opponents, or obtain the "helping hand of god" in more opportunistic cases
  
• 150 historical events, to recreate anything from the Punic Wars to Spartacus
  

To win, Rome must :

• conquer all objectives assigned by the scenario being played, while having developed in military and economic might at the same time
  
• survive victoriously in all conflicts (be they triggered by players themselves or by historical events), and see all major opponents subjugated!
  

Political mode specifics :

• Here, players can only take the role of Romans, impersonating a famous historical character at the head of a political party
  
• The new phases included in the ''political'' game are:
  
  • The Elections (campaign running from July to December) where you can promote the candidacy of one or more of your Senators to the 6 most important magistrates posts of the Republic
    
  • The Forum (year start) where you manage your political party (recruitments, popularity) and bargain with theother factions,
    
  • The Senate (once you left the Forum), where, as Consul, you can strive to have your political agenda discussed and voted on favorably by the 300 Senators,
    
  • and, once in while, resounding court cases in the midst of the year, where you can bring your wily opponents to justice or have to defend your own team in epic trials.
    
• During those phases, players may undertake various actions, openly or secretly, suffer or benefit from random events, manage the political career of their faction leader, start discussions and negotiations to gain support for acceding the various levels of power in the Roman Republic.
  
• To win; the player must fulfill all victory conditions as in the strategic game, and in addition, become sole master of Rome, be it through unchallenged political influence, overwhelming wealth or mere brutal force.
  

Game Play:

Whatever the scenario, the game follows a linear flow in real-time, more or less sequenced like this:

• At year's start, immediately after the events are displayed, there is huge political activity in Rome (Forum and Senate) between the various factions fighting for supreme power, each of them player or AI-controlled.
  Note: in the strategic game, the whole phase is replaced by more "political" events.
  
• Most of the rest of the year takes place on the map, where wars for the glory of Rome are pursued, as well as relentless economic expansion, the spread of Roman culture and the personal enrichment of the various characters (through the gracious help of the clients they have recruited beforehand). In the political game, it may be interrupted by Court Cases or urgent Senate meetings on international politics.
  
• Then, at the onset of winter starts the electoral campaign in Rome (political only), where players try to gain the popular vote that will give them one or more of the highest magistrates jobs in the Republic, allowing more political and power activities in the future coming year.
  

NB : in the strategic game, the whole phase is replaced by Elections Results.

Game Objective :

According to selected type of gameplay (strategic or political), victory conditions may vary.

Victory :

Most of the time, the scenario victory conditions will describe one or more precise objectives to be achieved, whether by Rome (Strategic game) or by both Rome and the politcal party or historical character played (political game). Achieving such objective(s) is considered a primary victory

• Primary victories end the game :
  whoever has met its victory conditions first and managed to uphold his position for a full year has won. Among possible conditions, you can find:
  • Reach a certain amount of victory points (VP) as set in the scenario parameters,
  • Manage to have one's faction leader elected Consul for Life (through senatorial vote)
    or even recognized as Emperor in later scenarios,

 

• If none of these conditions are met at game's end, there is the possibility for a secondary victory, which uses the various accumulated VP to differentiate the players, the "winner" being the one with the highest VP score.

Defeat :

The game also includes two defeat conditions, which immediately end the game and have all the players lose the game; as follows:

• Let Rome be overwhelmed and conquered militarily
• Let the level of discontent of the Plebs (the People of Rome) drop to the point where
  it will lead to the fall of the Senate, and hence of the Republic (political game only).