The guide should help you understand the playstyle and talents of each family. The Lucii, Valerii, and Julii have more content because I personally favor their styles and talents. The Aemilii are too warlike for my tastes and the Flavii are also too focused on research. They aren't terrible families to play as but I feel like most missions favor more economic play styles.

The following is a short summary of each family's playstyle:

Lucii- Slaves are awesome and everyone should have them. Especially you. You know how to work them hard and this has given you a huge economic advantage. Your cities will utilize plebs for only the higher level positions while slaves spend most of their time on the farms and in the mines.

Valerii- All roads lead to Rome and you've got contracts with folks at the end of every road. Your family's trade network allows you to buy and sell your surplus resources throughout the empire. Use this to your advantage and rake in the denarii.

Julii- Who needs an army when you've got the entire population worshipping you? Your family knows how to connect with the common plebs. Your popularity allows you to inspire your military squads and even brings in some extra cash. Just be sure to keep everyone well-fed and entertained.

Aemillii- It doesn't matter if the population complains when you've got the army at your beck and call. Your family is popular among the Equites and your military squads easily take down any threat. Most of your gains come when conquering neighboring villages and fending off barbarian raids. You also benefit greatly from the War Academy and its research boost.

Flavii- Wisdom isn't found in the market or on the battlefield; it lays within the libraries of the Flavii family. Research enables your family to gain access to technology far more quickly than any other house. Even your military squads gain strength from your knowledge of tactics and leadership.

Most of the time you'll invest about 15 points in your family's talent tree and the rest in the City talent tree. The only exception to this might be the Aemilli family which has some synergy between the military and family tree.

Every family (except maybe the war-like Aemilli) will make use of this tree. It allows you to start up quickly and expand your network of roads, connecting outposts to your main settlement. Here is a quick summary of the talents, most without full names. I personally only invest 8 points in this tree.

1) Five Free and Five Instant Buildings- These talents have a clear benefit for your startup. You can create your expensive buildings right away and even initiate a Building Frenzy city-state effect. Be sure you choose your structures carefully and avoid wasting this on cheap buildings.

2) Scholar- This allows you to start researching before you've even created a library. Very handy

*Builder- This helps you get the most bang for your denarii when using builder camps but it doesn't synergize well with the later Magister Equitum talent in this tree.

3) Dives- More starting denarii is always welcome
Populares- Forums are an expensive and time-consuming structure. This is a must for any family.

4) You don't need platforms. Fires are only a concern if you can't balance your population's mood, which is simple to do. Don't waste the talent points.

5) Tribune- This talent grants you more goods from each insulae with well-fed plebs. More goods means more equites or more goods to sell in the market. Either one helps.
Peregrinus- Super useful for city-building. Many structures grant a popularity bonus when built touching a road. Roads also allow your military to move quickly from one edge of your settlement to another.

6) You don't need plazas or promenades.
7) You don't need to worry about crime unless you're an idiot. Keep the people employed and happy.
8) Aedile- Get your entertainment from buildings, not this talent.
9) Magister Equitum- This makes building outposts much easier by cutting down on build times.
10) Urbanus- Again, you shouldn't have crime unless you're a bad governor.
11) *Leader- 10 authority/minute is actually useful but spending additional talent points in this tree to unlock it might not be worth it.
12) *Senatus- 300 research points would give you a HUGE head-start on researching tech, but this isn't always useful. Again, it might not be worth the investment of extra talent points.
*Pontifex- Religious satisfaction is rarely THAT important and I only recall one mission where it is a bonus objective. Still, this might be nice if you're a fan of the Gods.

My personal favorite. This family uses slaves to maximum effect and they can easily create resource bases far from your main settlement. While other family's need to invest large amounts of money to create insulae, fountains, aquaducts, etc, you simply build an outpost, then a slave market. That's it. Any production structures, like farms and mines, can be build next to the market and are instantly worked by those slaves.

As a side note, I really like this family's playstyle but that in no way means I'm a fan of slavery. Just wanted to clarify that to avoid getting a string of angry commenters (though I doubt most people will bother reading this guide anyway).

1) Better Production- Saves money on upgrading those structures and time on research.
Brutal Exploitation- Allows you to build more markets or sell some slaves, since each market now requires less to build.

2) Roman Efficiency- The efficiency city-state effect is SUPER easy to get. Just make sure all your people are working. The added income with help early game when income sources are hard to find.
Slave Master- You should always be buying slaves via the Authority action or from conquered villages (if the village's destruction gives you a worthwhile amount).

3) Military Expert- Free training is great.
Taskmaster- This is the most powerful talent in the game. Any family can use slave markets, but this allows the Lucii to use slaves WITHOUT LOSS TO PRODUCTION. Plebs in your main settlement are free to focus purely on higher-end jobs.

4) Slave Builders- You want this for the same reasons you want Slave Master.

5) You want all three for the same reason you want the first production talent.

6) None here.

7) Roman Taxes- A free instant tax office allows you to supplement your income. This prevents you from using the forum to collect taxes in the future, but the office doesn't effect your popularity, so there really isn't any downside.
Vulcan's Favor- Avoid it. I rarely waste the time with blacksmiths.

8) Nothing at this stage is worth it.

9) Servants- This talent is great because it make the prissy Patricians worth all the effort. Sure they need clothes and oil, but they give us SLAVES! :D

Final Four- Dux & Imperator- Extra draft squads mean you'll take a hit to your popularity three times BUT you don't need to summon them all at once. You can spread it out. Regardless, having three extra squads at no resource cost is a HUGE advantage on almost any map.

Trade Contract- Bonus income from surplus material Not worth spending for family tree 12 talent

Outstanding Production- Maybe you haven't noticed, but this family is all about production. Get this and enjoy having the best farms and mines WITHOUT SPENDING A DENARII.

Lucii Recommended Talent and Estate List by OoT960Tti

Lucii recomended City Talents:
1) Five Free and Instant Buildings
2) Builder and Scholar
3) Dives and Populares
4) Free Platforms (Filler)
5) Tribune of the Plebs and Praetor Peregrinus (filler)
9) Master Equitum
11) Leader
12) Princeps Senatus
12) Pontifex Maximus

Lucii recommended Family Talents:
Family Tree
1) Better Production and Brutal Exploitation
2) Roman Efficiency and Slave Master
3) Task Master
4) Slave Builders
5) Upgraded Farms/Mines/Sheds
7) Roman Taxes
9) Servants

Recommended Lucii Estates (End Game)
1) Slave markets in Alesia
2) Ampitheater of Serdica
3) Quarries of Singidunum (marble is typically annoying to get allows you not to go out of way)
4) Markets in Rome
5) Tailorshops in Vindobona
6) Utica Docks

The Valerii are a family all about trading. If you've got a friend who knows a guy in the neighboring town who can cut you into a good deal, he's probably a Valerii. When you build cities, you'll have an entire avenue dedicated to markets. They generate so much denarii and other resources it would be crazy to build anything else.

You may not use ALL your talent points in this tree. Any left over should be invest in the City tree or maybe the Military. It's really your call.

*For their Talent tree, you need to invest a point in EVERY trade route talent. This is obviously a huge bonus for the family because some maps only give you access to certain routes and those require you to move military squads to capture them.*

1) Trade Route- GET IT.
Goods Market- This pairs well with the City Talent Tree ability (which gives extra goods per well-fed insulae). You have loads of markets. Get lots of well fed insulae and sell any goods you aren't using for equites. Goods fetch a good price. See what I did there?

2) Spoils of War gives you cash for winning a fight. You should always win fights.
Reparations gives you money for losing. Terrible.

3) Get the trade route.
Interest gives you a small boost to income but it quickly snowballs best talent for economy in the game

4) Materials Market is useless.

5) Trade route, yes.
Magnate Yes very good.

6) Learn the Hard Way is bad for the same reasons Reparations is garbage. Don't lose fights!
Triumph is a great compliment to Spoils of War. You get a huge EXP boost for your squads in addition to the money. Auto include

7) Mercury's Favor provides a 5 authority per market/port bonus. This is super helpful since you should be creating at least four markets every map.

8) Knowledge- 5% of your denarii to research gives you a major bonus Amazing.

9) Secutores- These beefy starting infantry give you an edge over most early game enemies. They are very slow but powerful.

10) Master Training is okay, but expensive. Love it for this family
Inheritance- 15k denairri after 30 minute Not worth it.
Bribery- Don't waste the money. Butcher those enemy squads for the EXP and denarii!

Recommended Talent and Estate list by OoT960Tti

Valerii recommended City Talents:
1) Five Free and Instant buildings
2) Builder (filler) and Scholar
3) Dives and Polulares
4) Free Platforms (filler)
5) Tribune of the Plebs and Praetor Peregrinus (filler)
9) Master Equitum
11) Leader
12) Princeps Senatus and Pontifex Maximus

Valerii recommended Family Talents
1) Massilia and Goods Market
2) Spoils of War
3) Neapolis and Interest
5) Serdica
7) Triumph
8) Mercury's Favor
9) The Price of Knowledge
10) Draft Secutores
12) Master Training
Notes: You can go for faster military outputs if desired I find training without limits extremely good with a family that prints money.

Valerii recommended Estates (End game)
1) Grand Temple of Mercury (Best for this Family)
2) Tailors in Vindobona
3) Quarries of Singidunum
4) Markets in Rome
5) Ampitheater of Serdica
6) Utica Docks

I'm slowly working on this. More on the Julii soon and then a brief summary of the Flavii and Aemelii.

Special thanks to richbaseball for his compliments early on. Knowing someone actually bothered to read this encouraged me to spend more time on it.

The guide will be finished by yours truly, Oot960Tti.

This family is actually fun to play. They're the popular rich kid who uses his family's wealth to host huge parties to help him get elected as class president. POPULARITY is the key to their success.

How do you gain popularity? Well, basically you need to make sure everyone has a lot of food and a lot of entertainment. If those two things are close to a 100%, your maximum popularity will be close to 100%.

If the best you can do is around 80%, relax. You can still go OVER your popularity cap, but you'll gradually lose popularity over time until you sink back to the cap. Careful planning should help you keep it high, but it's actually quite easy thanks to the Julii family talents.

Tier 1-
Grab Wine Export. When you've got enough wine, you get an income bonus. Great! You should be able to produce a bunch of wine from your estates, so if you plan your estates carefully, you'll be able to start most missions with this bonus. Even if you don't have those estates, you could always build some wineries.

Tier 2- Vox Populi is key to your popularity. When you place one insulae (pleb house) next to another, you get 1 point of popularity. Apparently, peasants like neighbours. This talent makes it FOUR points. Nice.

Eureka! This talents gives you a fat research bonus to help you every mission. When you're 'popular' you get an extra 200 research points. Since you plan on being popular for the entirety of your time in each mission, this will help you research very quickly.

Theatre (or Flax)- I personally don't use Theatres. I find them obnoxiously large and unpleasant to plan around. This doubles their impact on entertainment. Alternatively, you could invest in the T1 talent "Flax Export" which is the same as the Wine talent but with clothes. The goal here is to push your talent tree forward to get the next talent.

Pax Romana- Monuments are useful mid to late game and golden ages help radically speed up your city's growth. Use your golden ages to build major structures.

Patron of the Arts- Odeums are my favourite method of boosting entertainment for the masses. Circuses are cool, but waste slaves. Odeums with this talent are a HUGE boost to the local entertainment. Paired with a tavern (which provides food and entertainment), you have a sweet combo.

I recommend grouping 1 tavern, one odeum, and a bakery/food market. This should provide enough food/entertainment to raise your overall popularity cap and allow you to get Insulae that produce goods (which can be sold in the marketplace via trade or used to build Equite housing).

Golden Era - Yeah, this is a step back, but it's better than Praetor Peregrinus. Extra free buildings during a golden age is better than crime prevention because crime prevention only happens when you're doing a ♥♥♥♥ job planning your city. Regardless, it'll push your talent tree forward and open up...

BACCANALIA- Time to party like it's 199! This is named after festivals that celebrated the God Bacchus, who was the god of wine. You can click on your temples and pay a fee to throw a festival, which gives a boost to your popularity. When you don't need insulae and your popularity is threatening to dip too low (I think the threshold for "popular" status is 80-90?), you usually use this option to pump it back up. This wonderful talent lowers the price by FIFTY PERCENT. There is a cooldown on it if I recall correctly, so be careful with your timing.

Triarii Draft- Obviously a starting squad of heavy infantry is nicer than one of light infantry, although you lose the pilum toss ability. Still, I always get this.

Quastor is a must talent. An additional income boost for being popular? Yes please.

OPTIONAL COMBO- Motivation and Victory parade go well together if you're on a map with some military conflict. Victory parade gives you a +10 popularity boost every time you kill an enemy squad and motivation doubles your squad EXP gain when you're popular. But it only works if you're on a map with military conflict. Your choice.

Recommended Talents
City
1) Five Free and Five Instant Buildings
2) Scholar and Builder
3) Dives and Populares
5) Tribune and Peregrinus
6) Aesthete (filler) (or free platforms)
9) Magister Equitum
11) Leader
12) Senatus and Pontifex

Family{/b]
1) Flax Export (Filler)
2) Pox Populi
3) Eureka!
4) Thespian
5) Pax Romana and Golden Era
6) Patron of the Arts
8) Meat for the People
9) Bacchanalia
10) Triarii Guard
11) Conviction
12) Motivation

Estates (End Game)
1) Tailorshops in Vindobona (+30 Olive Oil +30 Clothes)
2) Quarries of Singidunum (+30 Marble, +30 Stone)
3) Markets in Rome (+30 Goods)
4) Amphitheater of Serdica (+20 Slaves, +20 Recruits)
5) Grand Temple of Mercury (+4k starting denarii)
6) Utica Docks (+20 flour + 20 iron)

Hello I am Oot960Tti and I will continue this guide on Grand Ages Rome: Reign of Augustus for Ben Argo, OP. Note these are my personal thoughts on family talent tree and I will be adding my flair and personal preferences for what talents I choose and the estates.

Flavii - Motto: Knowledge is Power, Family Talent Overview

Family
1) Philosopher's Acadamy - 5 Popularity everytime you complete a research. It's alright for the early game to gain popularity to abuse forum taxing for denarii and this is an auto include as you can't progress without it.

Subsidies - 200 Denarii everytime you complete a research. Good boost of economy at start of game for this hero. Dies off later in game but the early money can't be undersold also an auto include.

2) Praefectus Urbanus - As OP has stated throughtout this guide your city shouldn't have criminals, build your city properly. This is the worst talent for this family which is saying something.

3) Eductated - Schools Generate double research. 10 research instead of 5 per house This is the best talent for this family and your city building basically will require you to have a school in every district to make this family viable.

4) Knowledge is Wealth - When not researching your research points generate denarii. This talent isn't strong nor is it necessarily weak however it's usefulness is only felt in the late game when you've researched all you want to. At the point you can utilize this talent your economy should already be making money through other means primarily religion.

Knowledge is Power - (See Motto and Roll Credits). When not researching your research points make your squads more experienced. This talent has a linear progression of 4 experience a second per 50 research. Stacks with Time Teaches and Master Training for training without limit.

5) Cheap Housing - Half Price in Denarii for Patrician Houses. My biggest issue with Patrician Villas is the fact they're so big and bulky. This makes building around them really a pain when every radius of real estate is valuable economically. Personal preference talent.

Pietas - Gardens guarantee minimal religious satisfaction. Useless, up there with Praefectus Ubranus on wondering why included in the game. You should always will be building Temple of Saturn and Temple of Mars on all of your settlements they are by far the two best temples to generate denarii to have an economy. Both gardens/ plazas are a waste of space.

6) Noble Officers - Patrician Villas provide 10 recruits. Must have while Patrician Villas are notorious for being hard to build around this talent at least gives you an extra benefit for having these nobles employed at your Pantheon, tax office etc. This is by far the best Patrician talent offered for this family. All the rest of Patrician talents are arguably lack luster at best.

7) Time Teaches - Squads gain experience over time. 66 Experience a second for squads base or 3960 a minute. This stacks with Knowledge of Power works with Master Training. Best military talent in family tree combined with MT.

8) Golden Age - When all research is completed, you enter a golden age. - Not the most attractive talent honestly and has negative synergy with Knowledge is Wealth and Knowledge is power. If you want to continue in tree it's this vs Knowledge is Wealth. I'd go with this because the upside has more upside potential for denarii savings albeit late game. It's honestly just choosing between two mediocre talents and personal preference. I dislike making too many patricians as they are way too large so I pick this for my gameplay.

9) Olives Supply - Patrician houses do not require olive oil. Auto include prevents the need for Tailorshops in Vindoba
Clothes Supply - Patrician houses do not require Clothes. Auto include same reason as above

10) Master Training - Double cost of training without level limit. Works with Knowledge is Power and Time Teaches. Not needed. This or Unstopable Knowledge

11) Seat of Power - The Senate is researched, can be completed and cost zero Denarii. I don't really see how having +200 authority helps this family design wise but it is an auto include if want Unstopable Knowledge and Senate being already researched and costing zero denarii is nice.

12) Unstoppable Knowledge - When all research is completed, your squads below level 12 become level 12. I love this but not absolutely needed this or Master training

Undeniable Knowledge - When all research is completed you gain 10000 denarii. Not worth the investment. 30k maybe we can talk.

13) Praetorian Guard - Your drafted squad is Praetorian Guard. This is absolutely amazing at start of game as this unit is OP, however with the Authority system from from the expansion being able to demoralize entire camps has reduced the effectiveness of Praetorian Guard's special from original game. This talent is now obsolete. Always grab Senatus and Pontifex in city tree IMO.

Recommended Talents
City
1) Five Free and Five Instant Buildings
2) Scholar and Builder
3) Dives and Populares
5) Tribune and Peregrinus
6) Aesthete (filler) (or free platforms)
9) Magister Equitum
11) Leader
12) Senatus and Pontifex

Family
1) Philosopher's City and Subsidies
3) Educated
4) Knowledge is Power and Knowledge is Wealth
5) Cheap Housing
6) Noble Officers
7) Time Teaches
9) Olive's Supply and Clothes Supply
11) Seat of Power
12) Unstoppable Knowledge

Recommended Estates (End game)
1) Library of Alexandria (+100 Research) (Best for this Family)
2) Quarries of Singidunum (+30 Marble, +30 Stone)
3) Markets in Rome (+30 Goods) so useful
4) Amphitheater of Serdica (+20 Slaves, +20 Recruits)
5) Grand Temple of Mercury (+4k starting denarii)
6) Utica Docks (+20 flour + 20 iron amazing and only costs 5k)

Aemelii Family Guide - Motto: The Ends Justify The Means
1) Cheap Housing - Auto include half price of Equestrian houses. Need a tier 1 talent to progress this is it.

Praetor - Employed Equestrians never become criminals - Useless ignore don't have criminals.

2) Teach from Experience - Capturing a Barbarian villiage gives 10k experience to nearby allies. I prefer this even though it's more situational than Spoils of Conquest. Higher upside potential. Swap with Spoils on certain maps if need the talent space.

Spoils of Conquest - Capturing a Barbarian villiage gives 1000 Denarii. Overall better choice solo but Teach from Experience has higher upside. Swap these two between maps with allies vs solo.

3) The Glory of War - Military academy gives 10 authority per minute. Auto include.

Armaments - New squads gain 2 levels. Auto include.

4) Curb the Crowd - Less houses are burnt in riots. Useless don't have riots.

5) Academy of War - Military academy is always researched. Useless. Military academy is a first tier talent that should take seconds to research.

The Truth About War - Military academy gives double research. More research the better, grab it.

The Rush of War - Military academy is built instantly and costs 0 denarii. Easy auto include. This family wants to rush military output.

7) Military Doctors - The hospital is researched, completed instant, costs 0 denarii. This is situationally good. Arguable if worth the talent. If struggling and losing squads grab this. Multiplayer auto include.

Spoils of War - Gain 500 Denarii when defeating a squad. Better than Military Doctors overall if not losing squads. Military economy talent. Wish this was more denarii for a tier 7 talent. Still an auto include for me.

8) Tax Farming - Taxing gives 50% more denarii. Great boost at start of game with instant forum researched from city tree. Still doesn't make up for lack of economy on this family. Still an auto include.

9) Triumph - When victorious a squad gains 10k experience. Auto include

Equestrian Guard - The drafted squad is Equestri. Auto include. Military mobility is a core of this family's playstyle.

10) Make an Example - 10 authority when you demolish an enemy building. Useless. Absolutely useless.

12) Self Maitenance - When a squad becomes level 12 it pays back it's cost in denarii. If this was a tier 10 talent instead of Make an Example I'd grab it instantly. Because it's tier 12 I'd rather invest in City talent's highest tiers. You either choose this, Veteran Ferocity, or Legio Mobilization (military tier 1 talent). Personal prefrence,

Veteran Ferocity - Squads above level 12 deal 50% more damage. Great late game, but doesn't help you until then. In testing I prefered the damage over the economics of Self maitenance. This is a win more talent. You either choose this, Self Maitenance, or Legio Mobilization (Military tier 1 talent). Personal preference.

Aemelii Talent Recommendations:
City
1) Five Free and Five Instant Buildings
2) Scholar and Builder
3) Dives and Populares
5) Tribune and Peregrinus
6) Aesthete (filler) (or free platforms)
9) Magister Equitum
11) Leader
12) Senatus and Pontifex

Family
1) Cheap Housing
2) Teach from Experience
3) Glory of War and Armaments
5) Truth about War and The Rush of War
7) Military Doctors and Spoils of War
8) Tax Farming
9) Triumph and Equestrian Guard
12) Veteran Ferocity

Estates (End Game)
1) Udica Docks - +20 Flour +20 Iron
2) Ampitheater of Serdica - +20 Slaves, +20 Recruits
3) Grand Temple of Mercury - +4k Starting Denari
4) Tailorshops in Vindobona - +30 Clothes, + 30 Olive Oil
5) Quarries of Singidunum - + 30 Marble, + 30 Stone
6) Markets in Rome - +30 Goods