The game trades "complexity" for "depth." There are far fewer systems to master in Aggressors: Ancient Rome than any of the games you've mentioned. Where Aggressors: Ancient Rome excells is in forcing meaningful trade-offs most every turn due primarily to: (1) the interdependence...

I was about to say something similar, Pavel. In many 4X games it is actually fairly common for AI players to declare war on other players, human players included, as a means to curry favor with another player. In Civ VI, for example, there is a significant and long lasting relationship bonus that is...

I agree. Doesn't seem like sales are doing too well, unfortunately. Maybe I'm wrong about that, though. I'm basing my assumption on the number of recent Steam reviews, which is quite low. It's too bad. This is a really great game and Pavel is an awesome developer. I posted reviews on the 4X Reddit I...

It's also a very rewarding feeling to be in a situation like gwgardner describes, but then figure out how to deal with the situation. For example, if you are dependent on another nation for a resource and then that nation either starts taking advantage of the situation to gouge you (something I thin...

Having an oligarchic structure also has the benefit of historical accuracy. The various ancient empires and cultures around the Mediterranean from the Bronze Age onward specialized in the production of various goods and resources. The integration of markets through trade and the associated conflicts...

Resource poor would be my choice. Scarcity definitely makes for more interesting game play. Probably best to have at least two or three countries with fairly significant distributions of a scarce resource type, though, rather than just one country "cornering the market," as you put it. Fro...