Roads

Levels at a glance

	Level	Cost	Build time	Minimum settlement	Upgrades to		Level	Cost	Build time	Minimum settlement	Upgrades to
	Roads	2,500	3	town	Paved Roads		Paved Roads	5,000	5	city	Highways
	Highways	7,500	8	large city	—

Costs in denarii, build time in turns.

Roads

Roads are vital to territorial defence, allowing armies to move to meet any threat.

These minor roads have been made usable by the military only where necessary, and for the most part they are ancient tracks worn into the landscape, created over generations.

Military engineers improve these ancient ways a little with simple bridges, a stony roadbed in marshy spots and by cutting back vegetation. They are not ideal but are certainly better than nothing.

Requirements: all of these must hold before this level can be built.

• Government Building (Dependency, Indirect Rule, Direct Rule or Homeland)

What it does

• roads at level 0
• taxable income -5 to -1, depending on how many settlements your empire holds

Paved Roads

These improved roads allow armies to assemble and then meet approaching enemies swiftly. Paved roads are built for military use first and foremost. They are carefully surveyed and constructed, often including cuttings and extensive causeways. They will not degenerate into muddy rivers in winter or dusty tracks in summer, no matter how hard the usage.

Requirements: all of these must hold before this level can be built.

• You do not play a Scythian, Germanic, Brittonic or Libyan faction
• Government Building (Dependency, Indirect Rule, Direct Rule or Homeland)

What it does

• roads at level 1
• taxable income -10 to -5, depending on how many settlements your empire holds

Highways

These superb roads allow very swift movement by massed Roman armies to defend the Empire.

These Roman roads allow swift movement by large armies to defend the Empire. As engineering works, they are unmatched in the rest of the world.

The straight-line simplicity of these roads hides the genius that has gone into their careful construction (few other nations can match Roman engineering), as they can carry almost limitless military traffic.

Requirements: all of these must hold before this level can be built.

• You play a Roman, Greek, Western Hellenistic, Eastern Hellenistic, Anatolian, Caucasian, Iranian or Phoenician faction
• Government Building (Dependency, Indirect Rule, Direct Rule or Homeland)

What it does

• roads at level 2
• taxable income -12 to -8, depending on how many settlements your empire holds

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