Tips for gaining influence

[Lux_Ri]

So guys would you be kind and give me some advice for gaining more influence in politics?

[Teh_Diplomat]

Win battles with your family, when they're older and you've got some new and young family members, then replace them.

This allows your old men to return to Rome, where they will accrue influence each turn.

Also, put your rival houses into roles like Generals, and Admirals in safe spots in your empire to ensure they don't gain influence from being a statesman. That, combined with their lack of action is the best way I've found to stymie my rivals progress.

[Lux_Ri]

Thanks for the advice man. I want to convert the goverment type to empire but I was struggling with influence, couldn't raise it higher than 52%. I will give it a try next time I play

[webartist30]

Originally posted by Teh_Diplomat:

Win battles with your family, when they're older and you've got some new and young family members, then replace them.

This allows your old men to return to Rome, where they will accrue influence each turn.

Also, put your rival houses into roles like Generals, and Admirals in safe spots in your empire to ensure they don't gain influence from being a statesman. That, combined with their lack of action is the best way I've found to stymie my rivals progress.

Thanks! Never thought of the older vs. the younger family members replacement etc. I get so nervous about civil war in this game its frustrating :(

[Teh_Diplomat]

Originally posted by webartist30:

Originally posted by Teh_Diplomat:

Win battles with your family, when they're older and you've got some new and young family members, then replace them.

This allows your old men to return to Rome, where they will accrue influence each turn.

Also, put your rival houses into roles like Generals, and Admirals in safe spots in your empire to ensure they don't gain influence from being a statesman. That, combined with their lack of action is the best way I've found to stymie my rivals progress.

Thanks! Never thought of the older vs. the younger family members replacement etc. I get so nervous about civil war in this game its frustrating :(

I also should have obviously mentioned that you should always be tasking promotions to your family - for instance most if not all of your male family members, when they come of age can be instantly promoted; the first promotion is free too, so make a quick check each turn.

Also, you can adopt anyone as long as they're not the sole candidate from their house, or the house's leader.

In all honesty, the civil war once you know how to get more influence is something you'll be able to control.

The best strategy I've seen so far is to pump up your influence early game, while rushing for Marian reforms. Now, when the civil war does break out - since you've pushed your influence to max.

When civil war does break out (and from what I understand, it only happens once since recently patched) and the armies do split, you can simply upgrade the loyal units to legions, while you only have to face their Hastati. That makes for a few quick auto-resolve battles against their armies, and the garrisons of those lands they took.

[Vanilla Thunder]

I found one of the best ways to play is to totally focus your influence in the early game, build up maximum armies and keep a close eye on which family is going to try and start the civil war and where their lands are. For me, they had most of libya so i built armies in africa and aegyptus then proceeded to blitzkrieg the lands as soon as the civil war started. Take care to also beef up to marian reforms in the military tech tree so you can instantly upgrade the very turn the civil war starts to legionaries or spam out praetorians. Once you get the lands back, convert to Empire and then it effectively runs on auto pilot. All you need to do is make sure all your families get at least the level 1 free promotion and focus building influence on your characters with 3 ambition and you'll sit at a healthy 80% at least (use the secure loyalty in the politics tab, cash for +10 loyalty for 5 turns, couple that with the edict that gives +10 loyalty and youre safe. Just make sure your economy is beefy enough to supply this otherwise you're screwed). Economy is the most important thing. Don't be afraid to take time to build up provinces before you move on to further conquest. Assuming you're playing on hard or higher, you probably have a clue. If not, play on easier diff. until you understand the eco and buildings for your faction. There is no politics without economy so take the time and learn that part of the game and it will make your experience oh so much easier. Careful with who you trade with as well because some family leaders may hate greeks, easterners, barbs, etc. This will apply a loyalty debuff and can cause issue if theyre not properly handled.

[dogwalker1]

Great info here, glad I came across this thread.

On a somewhat related question, do non Roman factions also get hit with civil wars? I've always played as Rome and am now trying others; I thought the civil wars were just a Roman thing but I see other factions also have influence ratings and get the 'you no will no longer be protected from civil war in X turns' warning. Is that correct?
Edit: nm I see that's already been asked / answered in other threads. (answer = yes).