What with the Barbarian Invasion expansion coming out, I figured I'd see what you guys thought of Rome and whether you'll get the expansion. Anyway, this game is awesome, I've been playing it to one extent or another since I purchased it. My only problem is that the battle A.I. is tactically inflexible and some factions are pointlessly unavaliabe for use (which is easily remedied)
My absolute favorite part is probably the pre-battle speeches your generals give. Roman generals have the most varied speeches, and they're effected by the guy's stats, so a general with the "bloodthirsty" stat would rant about blood and his desire to bathe in it. A "Boring speaker" is .....boring. The best is a general who is nuts, sure it turns your morale to shit but nothing beats staring down the approaching hordes while listening to his insanity. These are some of my favorites(as best as I recollect):
"They may have the moon people on their side, but we have hats! Big hats! It will protect us from their evil gaze!"
"The enemy are out there, and they're really mad, because I ATE ALL THEIR BEES! Now they have no honey!"
"We have sharper pointy things then they! Oh yes, MUCH sharper!"
"We control our own destinies. I refuse to allow my life to be dictated by some damn bird!" -(said about poor omens for the battle)
"And any man who comes through this fight mostly unharmed will be my sister! It'll be free frocks and jollies for ever, you'll see!"
"Hello. Today we are gathered here to do battle. Regretable, isn't it, but sometimes, you know, life is like that. You have to do something that you don't want to do, just because someone is telling you to do it. I didn't want to be here myself, but then my mother told me I'd better make a reasonable show of it, so here we go then..."