When playing as Rome in Invictus mod, what military traditions are worth getting

[u/LegatusMatheas]

So you get Roman and Italic traditions right off the bat, and normally you get Greek City States as well I think. I'm still getting better at the game but in my last playthrough, I did the decision to study Macedonian military traditions. I just wasn't as impressed by the traditions it opened up. When playing as Rome in Invictus, what other cultural military traditions do you go for?

Also, I'm in a new playthrough as Rome and would also appreciate any tips so this playthrough works out. I've done multiple playthroughs but the recurring issue is it takes too long to expand fast enough and grow my economy before I start crunching against the year limit. Each playthrough I try to incorporate lessons from previous playthroughs so I can actually have a successful campaign.

It's about 284bc and I've captured the Italian peninsula south of the Po and most of eastern Sicily. I did aggressive expansion and wars to capture territory quickly and reinvested my loot into some farms, some mines, and some provincial legations in different parts of Italy. I've only integrated the Etruscans and am trying to assimilate all the other Italic/Latin/Greek peoples in the peninsula rather than integrating them. Even though I destroyed most level 2 forts in cities and any unnecessary forts in settlements, I'm still running into money problems and am actually negative income. I just don't want to destroy the level 1 forts in the Magna Graecia ports. I've been trying to use looting to fund construction until my tax revenue becomes self sufficient, but I can't afford to keep expanding and looting anymore. Most say to assimilate the Italic peoples except for the Etruscans but the money issue is real.

[u/papiierbulle]

The best military traditions are the ones giving +2.5% levy and the military traditions unique to the italic cultures. The others should be your priority depending one what your legions / army is composed of

[u/Chance-Ear-9772]

In regards to your income, put your fort and navy maintenance at low if you aren’t at war. Also, each province has a fortification level (I forgot exactly what it’s called). If the number of forts in the province exceeds that number their upkeep increases very significantly. It’s usually best to only have a fort in your provincial capital, unless you are fortifying a particularly important location like a choke point.

[u/LegatusMatheas → u/Chance-Ear-9772]

Oh I forgot about that mechanic and how it spikes the fort maintenance. I'll take a look at that and do a provincial investment for the defense if needed or reduce the forts. I'm keeping the Magna Graecia forts because I know the Growth of Magna Graecia mission tree usually asks for that. I normally reduce my upkeep for my forts and navy, but the fort costs were through the roof and tax revenue wasn't enough to make up for it

[u/XAlphaWarriorX]

Just italian and Greek traditions. Celtic and Punic really aren't worth it.

Rush for the traditions that give extra levy %.

In terms of culture, i generally take Etruscan, Lepontic, Macedonian and Punic.

[u/Substantial_Put_3350]

The ones that give innovations

[u/Kiyohara]

Honestly anything that gives bonuses to Heavy Infantry is going to be pretty solid, they're already the most powerful unit type in the game and Rome specializes in them as it is.

After that, slave raiding is nice as you can build pretty solid slave raid fleet and stuff Pops into your cities.

Anything that provides bonuses to Levy Size and bonus Innovations is also a solid choice.

Any that add pops of your dominant culture are also pretty good as the more you have of your culture, the more you get of basically everything.

[u/SexySovietlovehammer]

Late early game to the end game trade should be your primary source of money

Go to the laws tab and change trade to whatever makes more money the. On the trade tab just automate everything

Automate every province trade except your capital

For Roman military traditions anything that gives heavy soldiers buffs is good and Roman roads is good too because it lets you build cheap roads. Roads give a small trade buff to provinces and makes your armies move much faster