Hi all,

I am a massive fan of DEI and have been subscribed to it for years (I can't remember the last time I played Vanilla Rome, but Dresden has single-handedly managed to keep me engaged with this game! For that, I salute you!)

A topic I wanted to discuss is the initial food shortage you start with in Marc Antony's campaign.

I recently rewatched the HBO series Rome and in series 2 Antony essentially forces war with Octavian by extorting the republic for the eastern grain supplies (in the series, his demands 3 times the usual rate, plus Carthage and Spain).

When dividing the republic up between Lepidus, Octavian and Antony, Octavian specifically states that the East has all the grain as well.

It is interesting that within the campaign the Eastern side of Rome starts with a food shortage of -5.

I appreciate that a TV series shouldn't be taken as historical fact but I haven't had much joy verifying if this was the case via google. It seems that in reality that the last war of the roman republic was exclusively forced via Octavian because of Antony's will (according to wikipedia).

I was wondering if anyone could verify if this was the case and secondly is it right that the eastern side of the republic should start with a -5 food shortage?

For me this has been an irritating initial challenge to get over whilst warring with Parthia. Can anyone share their strategy with how they deal with this initial food shortage on the campaign?

Roma invicta!