Ideas to consider here:
- Senate giving you orders (they should be downright stupid sometimes just so that people can hate them and want to create the empire
- Legion mechanics (R2TW didn't do a very good job at this
- Very aggressive Carthage (towards Rome anyhow - they fought three huge wars between 270 BC and 146 BC)
CTGW's engine may be suitable for this, just change the map scale (far more detail), with many more missions, better diplomacy and some focus on civilians as well (fighting is fun, but a game can't just rely on it!)
- BNC


