Imperator: Rome An Overview Guide and Basic Information About Levies

I. Overview

Levies and Legions were a concept introduced in 2.0 Marius update. As the game moved away from the pure standing armies concept of most Strategy games.

This was done to more accurately portray the Era since most countries at the start date, including Rome, did not have have professional Standing Armies but relied more on Citizen Levies to provide majority of their manpower needs.

This change did not only made the game more historically accurate but provided for a more interesting gameplay.

II. Introduction

Note: This guide was written during Version 2.01 somethings may have changed since then.

Basically Levies are raised from the Pops of your corresponding Governorship. The formula on the number of Levies that can be raised from a Governorship will be discussed later. If that Governorship also supports a Legion, the number of Cohorts of that Legion will be deducted from the size of the Levies.

Since Levies are associated with Pops, Pops would be killed when their corresponding Levies become stack wiped.

The raised Levies will be commended by the Governor and in case of the the country Capital the Ruler becomes the commander of the Levy.

For Tribes its a bit different. When raising Levies the Levies become split between the different Clan Chiefs and thus be commanded by them.

III. Levy Size and how to increase them

First question that usually comes into mind about Levies is how is the number of my Levies calculated. In other words how does the game calculate on how many of my Pops would be turned into Levy Armies.

The computation of the number of Levies in a Governorship is straight forward. First you get the number of Integrated Pops in a Governorship, deduct the number of slaves then multiply by the Levy size.

That is the total available as Levies but you then subtract the number of cohorts of a Legion that is raised from that Governorship.

Now let as see how it works in practice, simplest example would be the starting condition of Epirus.

Epirus have 108 integrated Pops and 21 of those are Slaves thus ( 108 – 21 ) 87 are non-Slave integrated pops.

Epirus here has a 12.5% Levy Size modifier so that is what we multiply with the 87 non-Slave integrated pops to get the total number of Pops available as Levies.( 87 x 12.5% ) = 10.875. But since Levy numbers is always rounded down we get a total of 10 available. Then subtract the number of Cohorts the Stratos of Greece has. Since it is a Legion raised from that Governorship, which is 4 Cohorts. So we get ( 10 – 4 ) = 6available as Levies.

Please note: That there is a Minimum of 4 Levies that could be raised from a Governorship. This may however be lowered since the game will never raise more cohorts than there are Pops in the Governorship and will always leave 1 Pop behind to prevent depopulation of a Territory.

III. How to increase Levy size besides increasing population.

Since we now know how to calculate the number of Levies. We now know how to increase their numbers by tweaking a few of the variables.

This assumes Pop numbers remaining constant.

III. A. Assimilation

First value that could be modified is the Number of Integrated pops. We increase the number of Integrated pops by two ways, first is to Assimilate Pops into you Primary Culture or second is toIntegrate a culture.

Both methods are time consuming and have their own positives and negatives.

Assimilation.

Since 1.2 or the Cicero update, Pops now have a slow but automatic process that happens with or without the player’s efforts but there are ways under the player’s control that could speed up the process.

What is the most efficient way to Assimilate?

For Provinces that are already of the same Religion as you, there is no question but simply to use Cultural Assimilation governor policy right away.

But for provinces that are majority non-state Religion and unintegrated Pops it is far more efficient to use Religious Conversion then switch to Cultural Assimilation governor policy when the Territories of the Province are mostly of the State Religion.

Why is it faster?

Let me explain, Conversions and Assimilations get deductions in provinces that are not majority State Religion and Integrated Culture.

A total Malus of 68% for Assimilation means that your Pops Assimilate at the effective rate of 32%.

A total Malus of 55% for Conversion means that your Pops Convert at the effective rate of 45%.

Your main goal is to remove the triple deductions of not State-Religion, Unintegrated Culture majority Province and the Pop being neither State Religion or Integrated culture.

Once the Majority Religion is already flipped you will now only suffer -25% to Assimilation thus an effective Assimilation efficiency of 75% thus Assimilating the Pops in the Province more than twice the speed.

Why Conversion first than Assimilation? Because Conversion is slowed less than Assimilation by the deductions.

Additionally Religious Conversion policy gives ( ( 0.3 x Governor finesse) + 0.03 ) Conversion compared to ( ( 0.1 x Governor finesse) + 0.01 ) Assimilation for Cultural Assimilation It means that the former is 3 times as effective as the latter.

Thus flipping Religion to the majority mark is a lot quicker than flipping culture more than thrice in fact.

Not to mention the added bonus to Happiness since most of the Pops are already of your State Religion.

Note: This is applicable to most countries with the exception of Judea. Since Judean Heritage provides -25% Conversion speed while their religion provides +20% Assimilation speed. Thus it is faster for them to just Assimilate right away.

What else can I do to speed up Assimilation besides Conversion then Assimilation?

Note: I am only including things that are under the players control and will work for a majority of countries, so I am skipping Heritages, random events, or Mission Tree boons.

A. Firstis what was stated previously Governor Policies of Cultural Assimilation and Religious Conversion.

B. Second is the construction of specific buildings.

The Settlement building Provincial Legation increases Assimilation by +0.15 along with a +75% Migration speed bonus. This is not advised since its +0.15 Assimilation is not worth the building slot.

The City Building, Great theater building gives +2 Assimilation speed along with other bonuses, it requires the Oratory Invention Gradual Economic Integration.

Requires an investment of 5 innovations.

Another City building that helps the Conversion then Assimilation process is the Grand Temple it increases Conversion by +2 along with other bonuses. This building requires the Religious Invention Open Religion. Which only requires an investment of 3 innovations

C. Third is unlocking inventions, there is only invention that increase Assimilation Speed.
The Civic Tech Cultural Administration, among other things, increases Assimilation Speed by 10%.

There are however a few inventions that increases Conversion speed thus speeding up the Conversion to Assimilation process.

E. Forth is unlocking laws

Tribes have Oral Tradition Law in the decentralized path, requiring -50% Centralization before it could be activated, it gives +30% Assimilation speed. Getting this when available is highly advised.

Monarchies have the best Assimilation Law by far.
Cultural Decimation law provides +30% Assimilation Speed and +0.25 Assimilation Speed. It requires the invention Proscribed Cannon and importantly, it can be accessed at the start for countries that start with level 2 tech.

Requires 6 Innovations thus more accessible than its Tribal counter part.

III. B. Integration

• Integrating a Culture

Integration is much faster than Assimilation but it is not without its disadvantages.

Integrating requires you to set the Civic rights of a specific Culture to allow it to promote to Citizen or Nobles.

It is in the Cultural Tab

Integration of Cultures that are of a different Culture Group are at the rate of 50%. Integration has a minimum of 0.05% daily progress and maximum of 0.4% depending on the size of the Culture. (Taking about 9 months to 5.5 years) Your country also receives a modifier of -0.2 Stability monthly for every culture being integrated. So it is advisable to Integrate one Culture at a time

You also receive a -4% Happiness for all integrated culture for every culture you integrate with an addition of -5% Happiness if the culture was given Noble Rights.

So… is it better to Assimilate or to Integrate for the sake of increasing Levy numbers?

Integration is better in the short term since it is faster thus you gain increased Levy numbers earlier. In the medium to the long term Assimilation is better because you avoid the -4% Happiness for all integrated culture modifier.

III. C. Promotion

Another way of increasing Levy numbers is to promote your slave pops. Since slaves are deducted in the calculation of your Levy numbers. It then stands that decreasing the proportion of Slaves in your Pop numbers would increase your Levy numbers.

There will be two main methods in decreasing the Slave ratio of your population. Both methods are not mutually exclusive from each other and may be done in tandem.

First let me explain Pop ratios in Settlements.

Settlements, absent any other modifiers, have really a high desired Slaves ratio.

Republics and Monarchies have 66% Slave desired ratio in Settlements

Tribes have a 44% Slave desired ratio in Settlements, 50% smaller than Republics and Monarchies but still high non-the less.

First solution is to add a Barracks building in your Settlements. This increases the Freemen desired ratio in your Settlements. Thus you will have less Slaves in them.

Note: has an unintended effect of reducing your Trade Goods and Tax income while also increasing your Manpower. Since only Slaves produce Trade Goods and Freemen produce less Tax than Slaves but produce Manpower as a trade off.

Having a Barracks would increase your Freemen desired ratio to 58% while lowering desired Slave ratio from 66% to 33%.

Second solution is to make pops migrate to cities. Since Cities only have a base 30% desired Slave Ratio. Thus the more urbanized your population is the less proportion of your pops are slaves. Not to mention you are able to construct buildings in Cities that increases the desired ratio of other Pop types.

This is a natural process that the player doesn’t need to do anything but may speed up the process.

By the following ways.

a. By building a Provincial Legation in a settlement, this increases migration speed by 75%.
(Not advised, waste of building slot)

b. For Republics, enacting the Military Settlement Policy (Lex Servilia Glaucia for Rome) gives +1.5 Migration speed and +2 Promotion speed, this law requires lvl 12 Civic Tech.
(Not Advised, there are far better laws.)

c. Use Centralize Population governor policy. This increases Migration speed by +2 and Migration Attraction of Provincial Capital by 1. Since your Provincial Capital is most likely a City, this will result in a more urbanized population in the long term.

d. Have at least one city in every province. Since Cities act as migration magnets due to their high migration attraction, this would mean that Pops with in a province would most likely migrate towards the City, it is advised to turn the City as a Provincial Capital as well.

III. D. Levy Size Modifier

The next variable that could be changed to increase Levy numbers is the Levy Size Multiplier.

Do not be fooled how small +2.5% Levy Size may look. In reality it is more than that. Let me give an example. If you have 10% Levy Size, which is what most countries start with, this means you can raise 10% of your Pops as Levies. An increase of 2.5% would mean that you can now raise 12.5% of your pops instead. Thus an Increase of 25% in the number of levies you can raise.

So what are Ways to increase the Levy Size modifier?
Note: I am only discussing values that are in control of the player and I am not touching things like Heritages. Also there is a base 7.5% Levy size given to all countries.

I. Military Traditions.
There are 5 Military Tradition Trees that has 1 Military Tradition each that increases Levy Size by 2.5%. Some are more accessible than others.

Italic one needs an investment of 4 Traditions.

Indian one just needs an investment of 1 Tradition.

Barbarian one only needs an investment of 2 Traditions.

Persian one only needs an investment of 2 Traditions.

North African one needs a total investment of 5 Traditions.

Please note that both Greek Traditions and Both Levantine Traditions do not have a Military Tradition that increases Levy Size.

II. Monarchy Conscription Laws
Monarchies have a set of Laws that affect Levy Size as well as affect your ability to create legions.

As may be noticed above, Military Service gives the highest Levy Size modifier compared to other laws and by a long shot. (10% compared to 5% of the next highest) It is advised for most Monarchies to stick with that Law until you are large enough or rich enough before switching to Royal Guards or Royal Army since Legions cost a whole lot more than Levies and not worth the loss of 10% or 7.5% Levy Size. Thus it would be far more efficient to stick with Levies and supplement with Mercenaries rather than have a Legion dependent army.

It is worth noting that most Monarchies start out with the Noble Retinues Law rather than Military Service, thus in most cases, switching the Law at game start to Military Service is advisable, 5% Levy Size difference is worth the 15 Stability and 35 Political Influence of switching the law.

III. Republic Conscription Laws
Same with Monarchies, Republics have a set of Laws that affect Levy Size and also affects your ability to create legions. Rome has similar but not exactly the same laws as most Republics.

Most Republics

Rome

As maybe noticed from above, Rome has better Conscription Laws than most Republics thus, will be discussed separately.

For most Republics, sticking with Citizen Militia or Provisioning Act is advised for early game. Since you will not be able to afford being Legion heavy, making Military Modernization Law bad and not worth loosing the 5% Levy Size. Further, Cohorts, the Invention that gives access to the Law requires an investment of 8 Innovations thus this would better be spent else where. Making the Law not worth the opportunity cost in the early game.

Choosing between Citizen Militia or Provisioning Act depends on the availability of income. If building a single Legion is worth the cost of having 25% (10% to 7.5%) less Levies, 33% (7.5% to 5%) for Carthage.

Another thing that should be taken into account is Provisioning Act requires the invention Professional Training which requires an investment of 4 innovations to tech into.

As previously stated, Roman Conscription Laws are a little different from most Republics thus suggested law is different for them. Republican Levy is the go to Law for them early game, maybe until they can unite Italy, Sicily, and Cisalpine Gaul or maybe even after that. Since getting a single Legion is hardly worth the loss of 5% Levy Size.

Unfortunately Rome starts out with the Servian Levy Law so it is advisable to switch at game start to Republican Levy, 2.5% Levy Size is worth the 15 Stability and 35 Political Influence of switching the law.

Republican Levies give +7.5% Levy Size, that together with the base 7.5% and Roman Heritage that gives an additional 2.5%. Thus giving you 17.5% Levy Size compared to the starting 10% or 12.5% of most countries mean you will be able to outnumber them around 1.5 to 1.

IIII. Tribes
Simply by being a Tribal Government type, Tribes gain a bonus to Levy Size depending on the type of Tribe.

+10%/+5% Levy Size is nothing to laugh at.

Tribes can also increase Levy Size modifier by decreasing Centralization. Centralization is decreased mainly by laws on the left side.

That whopping +15% Levy Size and +25% Morale at -100% Centralization.

It is worth to note however that going Decentralized means that it is almost impossible for you to reform into a Monarchy or a Republic. Meaning you would stay as a Tribe.

+10% From Tribal Federation/ Migratory Tribe, +15% From -100% Centralization along with the +7.5% Base means that you can get 32.5% Levy Size and that’s even before Military Tradition bonuses. This along with the fact that your Settlements are only 44% Slaves instead of 66% Slaves mean that at the same size you can outnumber non-Tribes around 3 to 1.

IIII. Composition

The next thing one may wonder about Levies is how are Levy composition determined.

Every Culture has a pre-defined ratio of Levy composition. This may be viewed three ways

It may be viewed at game start, before selecting your country by placing your cursor on the name of the culture.

When the game is already started it may be viewed in the Cultural Tab by placing your cursor on the name of the culture then doing it again in the second tool tip after it has already locked.

Another way is via provincial window. It maybe this way or you could go to population tab and press the view population window to and look at the individual cultures there.

It maybe that simple for Governorships that have only one Culture but what if there is more than one culture in a Governorship? Which is what happens in most cases.
In this case what governs the Levy composition is the Culture that has the largest amount of pops. This is regardless of the fact that this culture is Integrated or not. (This maybe just a mistake by the Devs thus maybe changed in later versions.)

Note: That every 10th Levy unit will always be a Donkey.

V. Miscellaneous

• A.

Different Levy types use different Pop types, their relationship are as follows:

War Elephants, Heavy Cavalry, Heavy Infantry are considered as Advanced Tier units.
They require Nobles or Citizens to Levy.

Light Infantry, Light Cavalry, Horse Archers, Archers, Chariots, and Camels are considered as Basic Tier units.
They require Freemen or Tribesmen.

Supply Trains do not have a Tier and are automatically Levied when required.

• B.

How do I choose where my levies are mustered?

It is done via Levy Map mode.

First press the cog icon, the one inside the red circle.

Then when the pop up appears, drag the Levies Map mode one, the one that looks like the one in the blue circle.

Then place it in any map mode slot.

Activate the Map mode.

Then pick where in the governorship do you wish to muster the Levies of that Governorship.

• C.

Why are my Levies loosing men?

It is because you do not have enough pops to support your current Levy numbers, they were either Killed, Promoted, Demoted, or Migrated away.

• D.

If Levies have been raised for at least 6 months and have more than 0% experience they will create Military Experience when disbanded.

• E.

How long until I can raise my Levies again?

If you are in a defensive war you can raise them right away.

If not a Levy need (4 months + (Lost manpower x 12 months) ) amount of time before a Levy can be raised again.

• F.

Yes, Levies can be split, but you cannot merge Levies from different Governorships. This may be done via army tab.

By pressing either of the buttons in the red circle. Unless the commander is disloyal.

• G.

Levies Produce War Exhaustion

They produce 0.5 War Exhaustion per Governorship when raised and an additional 0.04 monthly after being raised for 12 months.

This is all for Imperator: Rome An Overview Guide and Basic Information About Levies hope you enjoy the post. If you believe we forget or we should update the post please let us know via comment, we will try our best to fix how fast is possible! Have a great day!