no chance to rule Egypt as a single woman?

[LeoinFL]

Playing 2nd time as a female charc. On the 1st one i killed Cleo and had become an Egyptian Council. On second one i let Cleo live and remained single - no senate scene - is that normal or a bug?

[=DeadShot=]

Yes. It seems that you don't get to become a proconsul if you are a woman and kill Cleo.
If Cleo survives you are not proconsul man or woman.

[Kirara]

Saddly, it's not a bug. Female mc can't become proconsul. They are not even invited to meeting that divides spoils from war that they won. A very stupid decision from devs to genderlock content like this.

[Iso Koala]

Genderlock? Sheesh, its not genderlocking choices or game, its giving added variety and flavors!
Btw. The title is pretty big spoiler imho.

[Kirara]

Originally posted by Iso Koala:

Genderlock? Sheesh, its not genderlocking choices or game, its giving added variety and flavors!
Btw. The title is pretty big spoiler imho.

Does the game forbids male character to become proconsul if requierments is met? The answer is no! Does the game forbids female character to become proconsul if requierments is met? The answer is yes! It is genderlock!
There is also no alternate "variety and flavour" delivered to female mc to replace that senate meeting that is open for male mc.

[OutlawedDrifter]

Its better to just throw the whole republic in the trash and become dictator for life as a female MC anyway. Why serve a government that denies you positions based on your genitals anyway?

[Kirara]

Originally posted by OutlawedDrifter:

Its better to just throw the whole republic in the trash and become dictator for life as a female MC anyway. Why serve a government that denies you positions based on your genitals anyway?

Well, this is exactly what I did as my female mc. And since female mc is my personal canon, then that is also my canon ending. Indeed, why try to preserve society, that treats you like lesser being?

[Atma]

As a woman, I saved the Republic from all who would threaten its tenets.

I won't say that was my intention at the time, but it's how I'll be remembered.

[LeoinFL]

I actually really like that playing as a woman changed the game that much. I mean this is the epitome of pater famile it a big deal that you even able to do as much as you can as a woman char. Do I want equal opportunity in real life for women - of course but not in a game about ancient Rome. " alternate "variety and flavour" delivered to female mc" ? what do you call the meeting with Cato?

[Kirara]

Originally posted by LeoinFL:

I actually really like that playing as a woman changed the game that much. I mean this is the epitome of pater famile it a big deal that you even able to do as much as you can as a woman char. Do I want equal opportunity in real life for women - of course but not in a game about ancient Rome. " alternate "variety and flavour" delivered to female mc" ? what do you call the meeting with Cato?

My biggest problem is that game goes too far with it's sexism. It never hesitates to insult and remind female mc that she is nothing at any opportunity and there comes time, when one gets fed up with that crap. Genderlocked content also does not help.
Cato is just another romance option, just like Cleoptara, so I fail to see how he is supposed to be compensation for missing out proconsul position in game. If anything, his "courtship" feels very awkward, clumsy and insulting and I would gladly trade it for that proconsul role, than tolerate any more of that sad frogs presence.
I suffered through it exactly one time, to get achievement. Then reloaded and tossed that ugly boring frog out of my chars office and have been doing that every playthrough since.

[♠.brT]

They had to include those misogynistic comments because that's what Rome was back then, extremely misogynistic. Not including a little bit of that would be strange. Hell i'd argue they didn't went far enough, a woman leading a legion into battle would be scandalous for Rome. And the senate goes along just like that because Lucullus told them to deal with it? no freaking way.

It is understandable why they chose to not allow the female main character to be proconsul, Rome needs to go through a very dramatic period in its life for such a huge change in gender roles to be accepted by its people, and that's what happens at the end, a huge thing happens, and depending on your choices you may get a powerful political position that changes Rome forever.

[Rampage]

You want to change history??? Seek help

[The Bored Architect]

Originally posted by Kirara:

Originally posted by Iso Koala:

Genderlock? Sheesh, its not genderlocking choices or game, its giving added variety and flavors!
Btw. The title is pretty big spoiler imho.

Does the game forbids male character to become proconsul if requierments is met? The answer is no! Does the game forbids female character to become proconsul if requierments is met? The answer is yes! It is genderlock!

Not really, it's mostly sloppy research added to the chain of unplausible contrivances in this story.

Allow me to break you in: not even a male legate should become Proconsul after the African campaign, simply because it just didn't work that way.

Because reasons, our MC is a legate, that is the commanding officer of a legion (legatus legionis). Too bad because, after the Marian military reforms, as a rule the legatus legionis was an ex-magistrate (an ex-praetor, usually) given command of a legion. A legatus could be placed in charge of a province, but in order to do so he had to be an ex-consul with the same powers of a praetor. I scarcely need to remind that the MC's political carreer starts just at the end of Act 4 (if he/she supports the Republic and chooses to do so).

At this point, I'm curious: exactly why can the male legate become a Proconsul at the end of Act 2? Storywise, what is the rationale given by the game?

See where I am going with this? There is no way the MC could become a legate just because Lucullus said so. There is no way the MC could become Proconsul just for conquering Egypt. But I guess we had to play the legion battle minigame, so our MC should be a legate no matter what. Curiously, this applies both to the female and to the male MC. Funny that…

[Kirara]

Originally posted by Tremere Apprentice:

Originally posted by Kirara:

Does the game forbids male character to become proconsul if requierments is met? The answer is no! Does the game forbids female character to become proconsul if requierments is met? The answer is yes! It is genderlock!

Not really, it's mostly sloppy research added to the chain of unplausible contrivances in this story.

Allow me to break you in: not even a male legate should become Proconsul after the African campaign, simply because it just didn't work that way.

Because reasons, our MC is a legate, that is the commanding officer of a legion (legatus legionis). Too bad because, after the Marian military reforms, as a rule the legatus legionis was an ex-magistrate (an ex-praetor, usually) given command of a legion. A legatus could be placed in charge of a province, but in order to do so he had to be an ex-consul with the same powers of a praetor. I scarcely need to remind that the MC's political carreer starts just at the end of Act 4 (if he/she supports the Republic and chooses to do so).

At this point, I'm curious: exactly why can the male legate become a Proconsul at the end of Act 2? Storywise, what is the rationale given by the game?

See where I am going with this? There is no way the MC could become a legate just because Lucullus said so. There is no way the MC could become Proconsul just for conquering Egypt. But I guess we had to play the legion battle minigame, so our MC should be a legate no matter what. Curiously, this applies both to the female and to the male MC. Funny that…

It does not really matter what would or would not happen in real life or historically. All that matters are content that is present in game. Which is - male mc gets to experience content that is locked for female mc. That is all.

[Iso Koala]

Its not content really. Its one ending slide that lasts 30 seconds.
Imho, female NPC has much more content along the way, like the scenes where she has to defend herself being female add much more to the game than one ending that she doesnt get. Female mc has more content than male mc. Thats a fact.

[The Bored Architect]

Originally posted by Kirara:

It does not really matter what would or would not happen in real life or historically. All that matters are content that is present in game. Which is - male mc gets to experience content that is locked for female mc. That is all.

Then we'll have to agree to disagree. The Expedition Series has always been a low-fantasy alternative history setting. This means the historical details are a crucial aspect of it. This series works because it somehow strikes a sweet spot between historical believability and creative liberties. This is the reason why we can have female conquistadores and shield-maidens, and we can play as one without losing our suspension of disbelief. This is expecially true in Viking, where the devs pulled off this much, much better. This time? Not so much.

Ultimately, you almost seem to believe this is some sort of conspiracy against female gamers. I think this is just sloppy research coupled with a misguided attempt at giving us a female-centric narrative, which unfortunately is infested with the most cliched tropes ever ("All men are bastards" and all that. Really? It's 2022 and we can't yet do better than that?).