Start to finish: 'Under the auspices of the Roman Empire' (1) in Citadelum

In this mission of Citadelum, you will start the Roman expansion of Britannia. It does require knowledge of the game, so only start this mission if you have completed - or at least played - the Rise of the Roman Empire campaign. 

Story

Eburacum, 79 AD. After Julius Caesar's invasion of Britain in 54 BC, the Roman armies continue to expand north. In 77 AD, the general Gnaeus Julius Agricola is appointed consul of Britannia and begins his expansion into Caledonia. 

To ensure his dominion over the territory, he asks you to establish a series of fortresses, starting with the reconstruction of Eburacum.    

Objectives

• Reach prestige level 8 in your city
• Free the city of Isirium
• Train 200 soldiers
• Discover the city of Derventio

In short

• Difficulty: Hard
• Region map: Big
• Trading routes: 6
• Initial resources:
  • 15.000 Denarii
  • 1000 wood
  • 1000 stone
• Enemy presence: 8 armies
• Fighting required: Yes (and it won't be easy)

Walkthrough

For this walkthrough, I'm going to assume you have already played the The Rise of the Roman Empire campaign and have finished all 10 levels. This means you are familiar with the gameplay mechanics of Citadelum and know how to build your city.

The region map is very shrouded. Not too different from England's weather nowadays to be honest, at least not from my experience. 😉

In the Settlement view, you can see there is enough free space to build a decent size settlement. Plenty for Prestige Level 8 at least. 

There are 2 stone deposits and an iron deposit close to each other in the south west side of the map. On the south east side of the map there is a single stone deposit with an iron deposit in a forest. Both of these could be great starts for a resource hub. Only downside there is that it is across the river from the mainland, so you can' t reach it until you unlock bridges at Prestige Level 3. 

As the forum still doesn't need to be located close to housing, feel free to put it anywhere. As long as it is connected by road to where you are building your settlement, you're good. 

Important detail to note: the white-ish ground that looks frozen is not fertile. Farms will have to go on green ground.

Build up your city. As long as you don't venture outside of your own region, chances of being raided are slim to none. Work your way up to Prestige Level 8 ✅, then start producing weapons, shields and armour to prepare for the next objectives.

Training army and discovering cities

Once you've reached Prestige Level 8, set up your city so that it can fend for itself. 

This means you should:

• Check your Management Scroll to see if you're production matches or exceeds the consumption;
• Make sure you have enough temples (at least 2 for each God);
• You have all 3 entertainment buildings in your city and enough performers to host events;

For the last one, keep in mind that 1 of the gladiators dies during a show. Train new ones after at least 2 shows. 

When you're all set, you can start training an army. Feel free to build an extra set of workshop to produce the weapons if it's not going quick enough.

You'll soon notice that you are surrounded by enemies. 4 Smaller armies of about 50 soldiers each to the north, east, south-west and west. A larger force of 131 soldiers awaits in the south.

Unless you have spent time and resources on guards for your city, you shouldn't ignore any of those armies. Every standing army of the enemy on the region map increases the enemy raid risk with 30%.

The smaller enemy armies are easily defeated. You don't even need to be Rome's greatest general: just make sure you have the number advantage. 

With those out of the way, you can discover Danum to the east. It's not required, but they do trade in fish and fish fillets for a profit of 2100 Denarii per day. 

You will find Derventio ✅ by going North, North, West. Bonus: Derventio is protected by a small army that belongs to you. No fighting required there. 

Note: these 40 soldiers do not count towards the objective of training 200 soldiers. You will need to actually train them yourself. 

Once you have, grab those 200 soldiers you trained ✅ and raise the biggest legion you can muster. 

The larger armies is where it gets interesting. Not only do they pose more of a challenge, they actually exceed the 200-limit to which you are tied. 

To the south is an army of 131 strong, with 80 infantry, 30 archers and 20 cavalry. Once you've defeated them, you will free Lagentium. This city will buy iron and wooden planks for a total of 3000 Denarii per day.

Wrapping up

To the south west is a massive army of 213 soldiers: 120 infantry, 60 archers and 30 cavalry. This is unfair, as your Roman legion still can't go higher than 200 soldiers.

You can handle it though. Just be careful for the archers. Send some cavalry at them as soon as you can. 

As you may have expected, these soldiers are holding Isirium hostage. You will have to defeat the army to win this level, which means you will have to keep trying if it doesn't work at the first try.

After defeating the army, you will have completed the last objective of freeing Isirium ✅ and have accomplished the mission.

Ave Caesar!

Continuing after victory

If you want to continue playing after you finish the last objective, here are some pointers. 

• To the north-east are more armies to practice your military skills. You'll find a 176 strong army with 60 infantry, 60 archers and 55 cavalry. Archers are always tricky. They are holding Petuaria, which buys Medicinal herbs and Onions. One region further to the east you will find an artifact.
• In the north you'll be greeted by an army of 150 infantry and 10 cavalry. A lot easier to defeat. It will unlock Praesidium, which buys Furniture and Wooden planks. Same as before: one region further north you will find an artifact.

Full region map for Citadelum mission 1, Under the auspices of the Roman Empire