Everything I wish I would’ve known on my first play-through; useful tips and tricks to successfully navigate the political intrigues and global battlefield of ancient Rome.
 
 

PREFACE

**UPDATES TO THIS GUIDE ARE ONGOING**
 
 

 
 

Ave, legate.

 
 
The information within this guide will range from basic information for new players to advanced tips for those looking to sharpen the edges of their well worn gladius.
 
 
I intend for updates to be regular, but they are at the mercy of my free time and you may come across unfinished content within the guide.
 
 
Feedback and requests are always welcome.
 
 
Hopefully you will find it useful in your campaign!
 
 
 

MAKE YOUR “ORDINARY” GEAR BECOME “LEGENDARY”

Got some unique weapons/armor collecting dust in your inventory because your new loot was better?
 
 
PUT THEM TO USE!
 

• Dismantle unique equipment you are not using
• Apply their unique abilities to your ordinary gear via the Modify option at the smithy

 
 

 
 
This allows you to swap powerful item abilities between your gear, resulting in RIDICULOUSLY effective combinations.
 
 
Notably, you can swap some equipment abilities between different equipment types as well.
 
 
Want that sword / spear ability on a bow instead? You got it.
 
 

 
 
NOTE: You can always dismantle any item to refund the unique material and re-forge the original item or modify a different item with it’s ability.
 
 
 

PUT SEXTUS TO WORK

Don’t be stingy with that hoard of crafting materials!
 
 

• Craft new equipment for new stat rolls (and potential upgrades)
• Modify your gear to customize your equipment or boost the current stats
   
   
   
   
   
  You can potentially turn that [+1 Health] into a much beefier [+3 health] or swap useless resistances for ones you actually need.
   
   
   
   
   
  As you unlock Modification Blueprints, remember to check your smithy!
   
   
   
   
   
  

 
 
 

DON’T LOSE YOUR EQUIPMENT

I really wish I had realized this sooner but praetorians you hire keep the equipment you give them even when the campaign ends and you transition between Acts.
 
 

• Any equipment your recruited praetorians may have had, including unique gear, can be potentially inaccessible.
• This includes when you return to Rome, if you dismiss them from your praetorian guard before un-equipping the items, or if you do not re-hire them on your next campaign.
   
   
   
   
   
  Be sure to unequip unique items from your praetorians BEFORE dismissing them or transitioning back to Rome.
   
   
   
   
   
  To recover any of these items, you can simply re-hire them into your praetorian guard and THEN unequip the items, but if you are in Rome then you are out of luck.

 
 
 

LEGION WARFARE

“PULLO! FORMATION!“
 
 
Confused about what’s happening during an army battle? Fear not, you are not alone.
 
 
Your selected commander/centurion has TRAITS that will be used in a series of checks during a battle.
 
 

 
 
NOTE: The traits checked in battles will include the centurion’s character class, such as Princeps, Veles, Sagittarius, or Triarius.
 
 
You can track the traits covered by your 4-man team of centurions on the “Party” tab of the Barracks Tent in camp.
 
 

 
 
Centurions unlock more traits by participating in battles.
 
 
***You will want to have as many traits covered by your 4 centurions as possible***
 
 
During the battle, there will be ATTACK and DEFENSE checks of seemingly random traits. If your commander has a trait in the check, it will succeed. If he does not, it will fail.
 
 

If an ATTACK succeeds, you will have a positive result such as:
• Increasing legion morale
• Increasing loot % range
• Reducing enemy manpower
• Reducing risk to commander/centurions
• Reducing enemy morale
   
   
   
   
   
  If an ATTACK fails nothing will happen.
   
   
   
   
   
  
   
   
   
   
   
  If a DEFENSE fails, you will have a negative result such as:
• Loss of legion morale
• Loss of legion manpower
• Reduced loot % range
• Increased risk to commander/centurions
   
   
   
   
   
  If a DEFENSE succeeds nothing will happen.
   
   
   
   
   
  

 
 
What about AGGRESSION and DEFENSE?
 
 
AGGRESSION will increase the effects of a successful attack on enemy manpower.
 
 
DEFENSE will reduce the effects of a failed defense on your legion’s manpower.
 
 

LEGION EXPERIENCE

 
 
You may find yourself struggling to build your legion’s experience. Experience is a great power modifier that can allow you to wipe out armies much larger than your own.
 
 
The solution I found was fairly simple and could help you as well:
 
 

• Choose a centurion that will have high “Manpower Retained” score.
   
   
   
   
   
  
• Choose a centurion with the “Medicus” specialization.
   
   
   
   
   
  
• Select stratagems that reduce casualties during the battle.
   
   
   
   
   
  
   
   
   
   
   
  Experience is earned for your legion by a threshold of killing more enemy troops than the number of your own troops that are killed, so when trying to build an experienced legion you will want to minimize casualties and do everything you can to end the battle with as many troops as possible.
   
   
   
   
   
  

 
 

LEGION MORALE

 
 
Your legion’s morale will have a direct effect on it’s fighting strength, and getting your morale to maximum can easily be achieved early in your campaign by doing the following:
 
 

• Build the “Baths“ upgrade to your legion’s camp
   
   
   
   
   
  
• Recruit a praetorian with the “Social“ trait
   
   
   
   
   
  
• Assign your social praetorian to the baths until your legion’s morale is at 100
   
   
   
   
   
  

A praetorian with the social trait will regularly increase your legion’s morale while assigned to the baths on a revolving 32-hour increment during your campaigns.
 
 

 
 
If none of the available praetorians for recruitment have the social trait, assign a praetorian to the Barracks Tent to refresh available recruits.
 
 
NOTE: Other ways to improve legion morale include the use of certain stratagems during army battles and successful attacks during army battles.
 
 
*Building and upgrading your legion’s Workshop will allow you to unlock and upgrade your strategems, respectively. Many early stratagems come with penalties to morale, so upgrading your workshop is a recommended as a priority for preserving morale as you wage war.
 
 

STRATAGEMS

 
 
Arguably, the single greatest factor to your legion’s success on the battlefield will be your STRATAGEMS: the tactics chosen during a battle.
 
 
You will only start the game with a few level 1 stratagems, but more can be unlocked by building and manning a Workshop. This makes the workshop a fairly high priority item when considering which buildings to build / upgrade at your legion’s outpost.
 
 

 
 
Once your workshop is up and running, you will want to almost ALWAYS have a praetorian assigned to it. Early in the game, this will allow you to unlock the remainder of the level 1 stratagems as well as start stocking up on one-time-use stratagems (identified by their red color).
 

• Hire a praetorian with the “Architect” trait
   
   
   
   
   
  
• Assign your architect praetorian to the workshop and leave them there
   
   
   
   
   
  
• Return to camp and visit the workshop occasionally to check your stratagem unlocks
   
   
   
   
   
  

 
 
After each time you upgrade your workshop (typically only once per campaign depending on how you utilize your resources) you will be able to unlock improved versions of your stratagems with reduced (or sometimes REMOVED) penalties or improved benefits.
 
 

PILLAGE YOUR WAY TO WEALTH

 
 

• There is no time limit during campaigns, and although you will want to prioritize defending your captured territory when enemy attack notices happen, you should otherwise take the time to repeatedly farm resource nodes.
• Choose a garrison territory near lots of resource nodes to reduce your legion’s travel time.
   
   
   
   
   
  
   
   
   
   
   
  1. Defend Your Territory (Legion Assignments can be cancelled if needed)
      
      
      
  2. Send Legion to Resource Nodes whenever they’re available
      
      
      
  3. Visit Observatories to Discover Loot for Salvage
      
      
      
  4. Visit Your Camp or a Town to refill water / sell resources
      
      
      
  5. REPEAT UNTIL SATISFIED
      
      
      
      
      
     
      
      
      

  Defend Your Territory (Legion Assignments can be cancelled if needed)
   
   
   
  Send Legion to Resource Nodes whenever they’re available
   
   
   
  Visit Observatories to Discover Loot for Salvage
   
   
   
  Visit Your Camp or a Town to refill water / sell resources
   
   
   
  REPEAT UNTIL SATISFIED
   
   
   
   
   
  

• Having a large amount of denarii is highly recommended as it makes many options available both during and after a campaign.
• Having surplus resources CAN CARRY OVER INTO YOUR NEXT CAMPAIGN giving you a strong start on your next conquest.

 
 
 

USE YOUR TACTICALS

“IACITE PILA!“
 
 
If you aren’t already, for the love of Jupiter, use your tactical items with wild abandon.
 
 
With the exception of a few prolonged, multi-stage boss battles, it will do no harm to use them as often as possible (provided you are packing spares as per the section of this guide below).
 
 
Tactical items (javelins, greek fire jars, bandages, caltrops, etc) can easily turn the tide of a battle and can be used by your praetorians as a free action.
 
 
I’ll cover my favorites and how I use them:
 
 

• Pilum– Break shields, deal damage, AND shred armor? USE THESE BAD BOYS. Sometimes having that extra bit of armor shred or damage makes all the difference.
   
   
   
   
   
  
• Caltrops– I made the mistake of ignoring these until late in the game. They are a GREAT way to deal ridiculous amounts of bleed damage and slow down / funnel enemies. The ding-dong AI will typically throw themselves on top of them, killing their movement and bleeding themselves every turn.
   
   
   
   
   
  
• Greek Fire– Up front, setting an area (and any enemies in it) on fire? I’m sold. The true value here, though, is area denial. Create effective choke points by using a combination of Greek Fire and Caltrops, then set your shield wall of principes at the mouth ready to receive the enemy. This can make some of the fights where you are vastly outnumbered a bit more manageable.
• Bandage– The quintessential tool for praetorians to recover lost health during a battle; the humble bandage. It is generally a good idea to have at least one if not multiple praetorians carry some bandages into battle. Bandages are not restricted to the Triarius character class, although you can specialize your Triarius to heal for more when using them. Be aware, the bandage will trigger attacks of opportunity from nearby enemies and will not remove certain status effects such as poison.

 

REPLENISH YOUR TACTICALS

 
 
Eventually you will need to replenish your depleted tactical items after your many hard-fought battles. You will want to head over to your legate’s tent in camp to do this. You can replenish tactical items for free a certain number of times depending on the upgrade level of your tent and for a material cost as much as you need after that, when in camp.
 
 
However, we are Romans, and unlike our barbarian enemies we will not squander precious resources when arming our legionaries.
 
 

• Hire yourself a praetorian with the “Scavenger” and “Freeloader” traits
• Assign this praetorian to your legate’s tent after every trip back to camp to restock

 
 

 
 
This will not only grant you an extra free resupply for a tactical item, but reduce how long it takes for your free resupplies to refresh.
 
 
Ultimately, you will not want to rely solely on your legate’s tent to keep your praetorians well armed. You will want to utilize the next tip in our guide, which brings us to…
 
 

ALWAYS BRING A SPARE

 
 
Try to always have a stock of spare tacticals in your inventory.
 
 
This will ensure you always have them available when away from your legion’s garrison, and you can replace depleted tactical items with fresh spares to keep going battle after battle.
 
 
There will be portions of the game where you will NOT have access to your legates tent or smithy but you may NEED to replenish your usable items.
 
 
Spares. Spares are the solution.
 
 
Specifically, when you are in Rome.
 
 

• Before ending a campaign, craft as many extras of the items you need as possible
• If you deplete the charges on your equipped items, swap them out for the fresh ones in your inventory
• TRUST ME YOU WANT TO DO THIS

 
 
 

USE YOUR ENVIRONMENT

FREE TACTICAL ITEMS
 
 
For those who have not yet noticed, the battlefields are typically dotted with interactive tactical items.
 
 
You can get anything from free bandages from medical crates to free javelins in a pila barrel. Even torches from a fire pit can help give you that tactical edge of setting your barbarian foes aflame.
 
 
Be warned: Your enemies will do the same.
 
 
OIL AND WATER
 
 
Have you experienced the joys of sending a fire arrow from your sagittarius into an oil barrel, around which your enemies have decided to gather? It’s both satisfying and effective.
 
 
Keep your eyes peeled for chances to use oil or water barrels to your advantage in battle.
 
 
Breaking them can open different options to your team of praetorians.
 
 

• Oil barrels can create both a debuff area and an ignitable surface which you can take advantage of with flaming arrows, torches, etc.
• Water barrels can extinguish any allies that may have accidentally (or deliberately) caught on fire.

 
 

 
 
Hope you enjoy the post for Expeditions: Rome Gameplay Tips & Tricks Weapons-Characters-Classes & Tactics, If you think we should update the post or something is wrong please let us know via comment and we will fix it how fast as possible! Thank you and have a great day!