A User’s Guide to ROME II GRAND CAMPAIGN POLITICS - Part 4: Generals, Admirals, and Statesmen

You may have also noticed that the list of characters on the faction summary screen is not only populated by your generals and admirals (commanders) serving you in the field, but also statesmen back home in your capital. In political terms, statesmen are the same as commanders and have Influence-contributing Gravitas, but unlike commanders they don’t have a presence on the campaign map. They hold positions in office until a newly raised force is given to them or until a new army or navy is raised and needs leadership. Additionally, a commander does not have to die to be replaced; you can replace him by selecting his army on the campaign map and navigating to the replace option in the ‘General’s Details’ tab. If you choose to put an existing statesman in a position of command over an existing military or naval force, a swap in roles will occur and the previous commander of that force will be removed from the field, becoming a statesman himself.
Recruiting an existing statesman into a military or naval leadership role has no financial cost. However, the candidate pool of potential commanders will frequently be populated with previously inexistent characters that do have a financial cost to recruit. This cost is not only for the creation of a new military or naval commander, but essentially also represents the cost of bringing characters out of civilian life and into political reckoning. Rather importantly, they will already have predefined allegiances towards certain parties and once recruited, they will appear on the faction screen to contribute their own Gravitas to their party’s Influence.
The main thing to remember is that both commanders and statesmen alike will always remain in party politics until their deaths, regardless of their presence in the field. The notable difference between them in the political arena is that the generals and admirals have the added advantage of being able to actively increase their own Gravitas by winning battles. This could be one possible reason why you might want to replace an existing commander with another – in order to help boost the Gravitas of a politically inferior statesman by giving him the opportunity to attain some military victories. 
Many decisions to hire and fire commanders are choices with potential political ramifications, but it is often the case that circumstances will not make the choice so straightforward. For example, picture a scenario in which you are late in your campaign with a large and ever-expanding empire contributing to a high Imperium level. You are embroiled in a tough war, battling it out with another faction at the other side of the map, far from your faction capital. One of your top generals is killed in battle and you need to get another one out into the field as soon as possible to sustain your war efforts. But the next-best character – potentially the highest ranked commander in the candidate pool – is an existing statesman representing an opposition party. He is an ambitious character with high Gravitas; appointing him and giving him a chance at amassing more glory will possibly give his party greater Influence. It has the potential to drastically affect the balance, which is dangerously skewed against you. A civil war as a result of your waning political support is a real risk, and you are far from home where a coup d’état may take place. But you need good generals, so what choice do you make?
In reality, political actions could be used in multiple ways to get around this scenario, but this is just one minor example of a gameplay decision that can have some long-term political ramifications that might not be immediately obvious.

A User’s Guide to ROME II GRAND CAMPAIGN POLITICS - Part 3: Gravitas and Ambition

Gravitas is a character’s popularity and standing in the Roman world and is the key factor in determining their party's share of Influence. All the characters in a party contribute, but the effect is relative to the total Gravitas within other parties. So if an opposition party has several high-Gravitas members and you don't, the likelihood is that their Influence will increase as turns are ended, while yours will decrease.
Another thing to remember is that the Ambition of a character can increase the effect their Gravitas has on their party’s Influence, so it is prudent to be aware of how ambitious your generals are. The more ambitious a character is in relation to others, the more effect his Gravitas will have towards his party’s share of power.
To manipulate a party's share of Influence is to reduce or increase the amounts of Gravitas their characters possess. For example, one could attempt to discredit a party by spreading rumours about some or all of its members, reducing their overall Gravitas. Assassination of a prominent opposition member is another handy option that could have an even greater effect, since the entirety of one character’s contributing Gravitas can be removed completely in one swift action. Conversely, adoption steals a character into your own party, taking Gravitas away from one party and adding it to your own. More details will be given about political actions later on.

A User’s Guide to ROME II GRAND CAMPAIGN POLITICS - Part 2: The Faction Summary Screen

This is the main hub of the politics system, accessed by clicking the circular icon of your faction’s symbol located at the centre of the main campaign user interface. In this screen you can view everything you need to know about the inner politics of your faction, such as who the opposition parties are, how much Influence they have compared to you, as well as the traits and attributes of all politically relevant characters. The faction screen is also where you can attempt to manipulate the balance of power between parties by using character-targeted political actions like assassinations, marriage proposals, or promotions to higher office, amongst others.
The important characters listed on the faction summary screen are your political pawns; their turn-to-turn triumphs, trials, and tribulations directly affect the levels of Influence their parties can accumulate or lose. Clicking on their portraits reveals a detailed breakdown of their attributes in the main panel, the most important of them being Gravitas and Ambition. In the political arena, these are the numbers to keep an eye on. 

A User’s Guide to ROME II GRAND CAMPAIGN POLITICS - Part 1: Multi-Party Politics: Choosing families

In the Rome II Grand Campaign, the player controls the ruling party containing the faction leader. Depending on the chosen faction, the total number of political parties can range from two to four. Note that only Rome and Carthage have multi-family politics – that is, their political parties are divided up amongst more than two groups representing specific families. The choice of which Roman or Carthaginian family to control is made in the menu screen right before the campaign starts, with each different house or dynasty giving various different advantages and/or disadvantages in terms of faction effect bundles. For the rest of the factions, there is only the ruling party and one opposition party.
Controlling the balance of political power is more challenging when the levels of Influence have to be maintained between more than two parties, as is the case with Rome and Carthage. Therefore, players looking to learn Grand Campaign politics might want to choose one of the other available factions to start off with, for which the balance only has to be kept between the ruling party and one opposition group.

A User’s Guide to ROME II GRAND CAMPAIGN POLITICS - Beginning

A Brief Overview The first thing to know is that whether or not you choose to give it attention, party politics will always have some degree of overall consequence for your campaign. By carefully managing characters of political importance and engaging in the various political actions available to you, it is possible to control the constant sway of power that occurs between the parties within your faction. Ultimately, balance is the key – your political goal is to maintain inner stability, ensuring that no single party dominates the political arena. As a general rule, too much or too little Influence held by any one party, whether ruling or not, will always equate to political imbalance, potentially planting the seeds of insurrection. Affecting the Influence that each party possesses really boils down to the choices you make throughout the course of your campaign. This includes military and civil choices that might not seem to be directly political, such as which generals to appoint, which skills or ancillaries to upgrade them with, and even the order in which technologies are researched.
There is no single approach; political non-involvement (in other words, letting the political situation unfold on its own while concentrating on civil and military matters) is not necessarily a bad thing, at least in the short term. However, in the long term, inaction will likely result in certain parties gaining or losing Influence excessively without you knowing.  On the other hand, a player who is active in politics will be able to maintain good levels of political stability for as long as possible, prolonging the amount of time before a challenge is made to their leadership. When such a challenge occurs, a rival political party will break off and appear as a new enemy faction, initiating a civil war. Players who choose not to pay attention to Influence levels run the risk of having this occur when they least expect it, especially in the late game as their Imperium level reaches the latter tiers.
The civil war event is essentially the political end game, which will be talked about in greater detail later in this guide.

Total War: Rome II - Nervii (Belgian [Gaul-Germania]) Faction [Caesar in Gaul Campaign Pack]

Nervii


“Bravery, Austerity, Tradition”
A Celto-Germanic people, the Nervii were the most fierce – and fearless – of the Belgae tribes inhabiting northern Gaul, and renowned for their courage.

At the Battle of Sabis in 57BC, where their surprise attack almost defeated Caesar’s legions, they fought until only 500 of their original 60,000 warriors remained. Such bravery was at the heart of their culture, which was Spartan-like in both outlook and reputation. The Nervii would eschew all luxury, especially alcohol, which they perceived made the body and spirit weak. Instead, they pursued the traditions of their Celtic and Germanic origins, venerating the cult of the hero-warrior. As such, their kings and chieftains were chosen due to their martial prowess and wise leadership.
With such great emphasis placed on an individual’s skill and bravery in battle, the Nervii rarely used cavalry and missile weapons, apart from javelin-like lances. They instead favoured ambushes and lightning assaults to close quickly with their enemy and prove their mettle.
At the start of their campaign the Nervii have cordial ties to neighbouring tribes such as the Atrebates and Viromandui, as well as the wider Belgae tribal network stretching as far as Britannia. As such, they are in an excellent position to strengthen these bonds while moving deeper into Gaul. In fact, their fearsome reputation and skill in battle makes Nervii expansion further to the east or south highly probable…
Fearless warriors, the Nervii enjoy a boost to morale in friendly territories, and are also highly skilled ambushers. However, they lead an austere existence, resulting in lower industrial and commercial income than most.

Total War: Rome II - Galatia (Gaul-Asian Minor) Faction [Ceaser on Gaul Campaign Pack]

Galatia


“Raid, Focus, Dominate”

Celts of Gallic descent, the Galatians came to settle in and dominate areas of central Anatolia and Phrygia. Proud warriors, famed for their skill, loyalty, and ferocity in battle, they were highly prized as mercenaries throughout the Hellenistic world. It was 300 Galatian warriors that Julius Caesar gifted Cleopatra in 48BC as her bodyguard, such was their fearsome reputation.

Comprised of three tribes, the Tectosages, Tolistobogii, and Trocmi, the Galatians splintered off from Brennus’ Gauls during their invasion of Macedon and Greece in 279BC. Moving first through Thrace, they crossed the Bosporus into Asia Minor as allies of Nicomedes of Bithynia, in exchange for defeating his brother in their dynastic quarrel. After joining Nicomedes in a brief struggle against the expansionist Seleucids, they settled the area that would eventually become known as Galatia. The territory was divided between the three tribes, each maintaining its own capital and rule, but coming together in council at Drynemeton, a sacred grove of oaks situated southwest of Ancyra, the Tectosages’ capital. Leaving the indigenous Cappadocians relative control of their own lands in exchange for tithes, the Galatians became a military aristocracy. Much like the Spartans, this enabled them to focus on their martial skills. Fighting in the Celtic style, they made deadly use of swords, javelins, and oval shields.
Situated at the heart of Asia Minor, the Galatians have many choices before them. Extend their control over Cappadocia, or strike for the sea, through Pontus, Pergamon, or Bithynia and, with their position consolidated, sweep either east or west…
The Galatians are accomplished plunderers, gaining increased income from raiding and sacking, and their cultural affinity with Hellenic factions pays dividends at the diplomacy table. However, as a relatively isolated faction, they face heavier recruitment costs than most.