Start to finish: 'Prepare for war' (4) in Citadelum

In this fourth mission of The Rise of the Roman Empire campaign, you don't have to fight. You will have to upgrade Plebeians to a new higher level and you'll be producing new foods. 

Story

Antiphrai, 34 BC. After the defeat of Sextus Pompeius in Sicily, Gaius Octavius has returned to Rome in triumph. For his part, Marcus Antonius has been appointed king of Egypt in Alexandria and has divided the former Roman provinces among the sons of Cleopatra. 

Gaius Octavius has felt threatened by this maneuver and orders you to deploy an outpost in North Africa, while he turns public opinion against Cleopatra. Your mission may establish a turning point in the rivalry between Octavius and Marcus Antonius. 

Objectives

• Upgrade 5 plebeians' houses to level 3
• Produce 100 Pigs
• Send 400 Wine to Rome
• Send 350 Pork steaks to Rome

In short

• Difficulty: Easy
• Region map: Big
• Trading routes: 7
• Initial resources:
  • 25.000 Denarii
  • 1400 wood
  • 1400 stone
  • 200 wooden planks
  • 200 stone bricks
• Enemy presence: 5 armies
• Fighting required: No

Walkthrough

The first thing you'll notice when starting the mission Prepare for war, is that a large part of the map is not fertile. On the mini map, it looks like a VERY LARGE part isn't fertile, which seems like you'll be having a hard time finding enough ground to grow your crops.

In reality, this isn't the case. There is plenty of fertile soil to be found in this region. Nevertheless, it's a good idea to stick to building on the east side of the river (presumably the Nile). The largest patch of fertile soil is at the place where the sea enters the land mass. Reserve that space for your farms, as it will be easier to keep those all together. 

You can build your whole city on the sand, citizens don't mind the drought.

Basic city layout

In the middle of the desert, you'll find a raised plateau next to a stone and iron deposit and some broken pillars. This is an ideal spot to place the forum. 

Fun fact: the forum doesn't actually need to be close to your city and your homes: it just needs to be connected by road. You could tuck it away somewhere remote in a corner, no one would notice. 

In reality, I like to make it stand out and look pretty. So by putting it on the plateau, you set it up to be magnificent. 

Once you found the right spot and built the forum, start with building a basic city layout.

It will only take a minute or so for your Prestige Level to rise to level 2, which means you can start preparing for Patricians. 

Build a melon orchard and cabbage orchard, then the tax office, a market and finally 8 Patricians' houses.

Basic city layout to start mission 4 in Citadelum, Prepare for war.

If you have excess Plebeians, don't hesitate to put them to work in the Logging camp, Stone quarry or any of the food orchards. A little extra stock of anything never hurt anyone.

Just wait until you reach the next Prestige Level. It won't take too long. 

Do you happen to find yourself with lots of excess stone? On the region map, you'll find that a trade route with Psenemphaia is already at your disposal. This city will buy stone and iron ore. It does not pay a lot per unit, but at 240 and 250 units daily, you would still gain 1220 Denarii extra income. 

Prestige Level 3 & 4

Once you are at Prestige Level 3, build 8 more Plebeians' houses. 

Get a head start on food production for higher level Plebeians by adding a Carrot orchard, an Onion orchard and another Wheat field to the food production hub. You should probably add a second Granary too.

To prepare for level 2 Patricians, build a Bakery, a Fishing dock and a Fishmonger. Even though you are not required to upgrade Patricians, you will be glad for the money level 2 and 3 Patricians' houses bring in.

Add some decorations to upgrade both Patricians' houses and Plebeians' houses to level 2. Build them Baths to keep them clean and happy.

To work on the objectives, build

• a Grape orchard, 1 worker
• a Winery, 4 workers producing 100 wine per day
• a Pig farm, 4 workers producing 48 pigs per day
• a Butchery, 4 workers producing 80 pork steaks per day

With these production rates, in 5 days you will have produced enough to complete all objectives.

Prestige Level 5 & Victory!

From now on, it is just a waiting game. As long as you haven't ticked off the 3 objectives for pigs, wine and pork steaks yet, do nothing and fast forward until you have.

Keep assigning your unemployed Plebeians to Fire Stations, Engineers' post, Warehouses etc. Otherwise they'll moan about unemployment. 

You will reach Prestige Level 5 during that time, but it's fine. You don't have to do anything. Of course, feel free to continue building up your city. Citadelum is a city builder game after all!

Once you tick of the production of 100 pigs (automatic) ✅, and sending wine ✅ and pork steaks ✅ to Rome (click of a button), add some more decorations to one of your Plebeian areas. This will upgrade their houses to level 3. As soon as 5 of them have upgraded, you will have won the game. ✅

The forum on the hill can be surrounded by decorations, creating an idyllic picture overlooking the city.

Victory is yours!

Continue after finishing the objectives

This choice is yours. If you want to expand your empire, here are some pointers:

• To your west is Taposiris Megale. If you're short on swords, they sell them. Taposiris Megale also buys papyrus. 
• To the south west is Naukratis. Apparently famous for its papyrus 😉 But it for 4 Denarii per unit, sell it for 7 Denarii per unit at Taposiris Megale for an extra boost in trade finance. 
• To the south of Psenemphaia you'll find an enemy legion of 20 archers and 18 cavalry. Give them a quick death.
• East of Naukratis you'll find an enemy army of 28 infantry and 20 archers. Justice will be swift.
• To the far east, you'll find a decent challenge. An enemy legion consisting of 15 cavalry, 28 infantry and 30 archers. You're going to need some tactics to win this battle.
• That army is protecting Sais, a city buying grapes and selling ivory and milk.
• To the north of Sais, you'll find Bouto. Why these 2 just don't talk to each other, I don't know. In any case, Bouto buys Ivory. Bouto also buys stone bricks actually, in case you needed more money (and get rid of bricks).
• North of Bouto is a small army of 28 infantry and 20 archers waiting for you.
• North of your settlement lies Kanopos. They will buy flax and sell onions and pork steaks. Not worth it, really. 
• Go east twice from Kanopos to find Bolbitine. They buy wood and shields, while selling bread.
• Travel north along the coast to find another decent army of 72 infantry, lead by 2 centurions. Watch your back. They are not protecting anything. Unless you want to prove your battle skills or draw out some raids, leave this territory unexplored. 

Region map

This is the full region map of mission 4, Prepare for war, in Citadelum.

The full region map of Prepare for war, the fourth mission in the Citadelum campaign.