Fabius

Well there are cataphracts which are basically precursors to the plate armoured knight. So yes they did have cavalry with high pierce resistance.

Its an interesting idea, it does make certain automatic third rank troops impossible though, for instance Skiritai commandos and the possibility of third rank Triarii( which I am hopeful gets added).

The javelin cavalry is termed as an allied unit so theoretically would have some skill at their choice of combat, so the lance cavalry seems a more appropriate target for not getting any ranking bonus since its a native Roman unit.

Why not also increase the damage of the lancer? And/or give them an attack speed equal to spearmen?

The Roman legionary and his scorpion carrying mule from A23 Still sad it got replaced

Any specific reasons Iberians why considered OP?

That seems like a good resolution to the problem

This is a bad idea, we still want to enjoy using it. For example I enjoyed using Roman siege in A23 and then it got nerfed into the ground in A24 onwards and I am still annoyed at that. I am certain there are players who enjoy using fire cav because its a unique entity for all intents an purposes, much like Roman Siege from A23. If you going to impose this level of cost you may as well not have them in the game and you'll have a dead feature and frustrated players as an end result. A better option is to simply make the fire damage apply only to buildings, setting people on fire with a pointy stick seems rather unrealistic, its not a movie.

Consular have no chance because of the high hack armour on fire cav compared to return damage taken. Cataphracts may still have a slim chance given their 1.5 damage modifier against cavalry and higher health pool, but I honestly think they will still lose badly. Bolt shooters no longer have the fire rate of A23 and catapults have no area damage. And infantry dies or cannot do enough damage to merit them even trying. As it stands there is no hard counter

Giving them to someone else wont resolve the core issue that fire cav are inherently broken, one because skirmishers in general are broken, and two because if I understand their fire mechanic right they are stacking their own bonus damage on each attack, to the point they can ignore armour with impunity. Which is why they are killing buildings so easily as well. Third tier blacksmith upgrades didn't help either

Let us not forget that Iberians have Indibil who drops resources costs on units by 15 % and gives a 20 % training time bonus. Therefore allowing for greater mass production.

I agree not all civs should have a colony, but certainly empire building civs should have one or something similar. And Rome is the quintessential empire builder so it is a reasonable suggestion that they have something along those lines. Regarding veteran Triarii cost, I say it ought to be left the same. Skiritai are a sword unit, so not a direct comparison for Triarii which are spearmen, which don't cost metal unless champions. Rome already has swordsmen, adding another metal cost means Rome has no melee infantry in event of a metal shortage and that is unacceptable from a game play viewpoint.

I agree, capturing in order to get extra units is a nice side distraction, but ultimately will be considered irrelevant to the main objective of winning. Here is an idea using the tech idea, borrow the pick one mechanic used so much in Delende Est and create two technologies, each gives a selection of auxiliary units specific to a culture Rome would have historically drawn auxiliaries from. Then you present this as a choice to a Roman player. say in phase 2. This allows for strategic trade offs and overall unit diversity without having an over expanded unit roster. Seleucids does this currently with Reform and Traditional armies.

Regarding Roman logistics. I was given the idea of having a mule that buffs the movement speed of troops in a small radius, or the work rate. Possible unique technologies could be roads, so faster movement in your own territory. Then also the roman caligue could be another tech which again buffs troop movement. Not suggesting using all of these as much as having an ultra fast roman army would be hilarious to do. On a different note, Rome did start military colonies with its retired troops so what about a roman colony that trains veteran troops? Rather than having them trained from a military camp which is nice, but a colony is much more useful at a macro level.

How about allowing Roman military camps to be built in allied territory and allowing them to recruit troops that your allies have? its a purely team based bonus, but maybe something unique to consider for team games. I like the idea of hastati having a pilum attack, but I think for the sake of simplicity it should simply be treated like how maiden guard can switch between sword or bow. I think again this was done in Delende Est. And I think it can also be justified historically because most combat in 0 AD is taking place in or around a supply base. So infinite pila is not unreasonable. I would take it one step further and maintain the original unit stats, so you have what is essentially a heavier skirmisher but it moves slower and can fight in melee if required. This is I think would be a good way to capture the essence of early Roman legionaries while keeping it nice and simple. And the code has already been done in Delende Est so its available for use in this regard, just needs tweaking

As a Rome enthusiast I like the idea that Triarii have elite rank, that feels very historically accurate and overall a nice buff. Insula is also a nice addition for historical flavour. Maybe we can have our Sibylline books back too after all they only get burned a few centuries later Something I would like to suggest is the expansion of the allied troop roster, perhaps adding an Italic slinger or archer. Mercenaries could also be an option. We already have Balearic slingers and Creten archers available in the game code and Rome appears to have used both in the Punic wars, so there is historically room to maneuver within the time frame of 0 AD. Overall it would be nice to have a more flexible Roman military. On a rather different note, what about allowing captured elephant stables to train elephants for whoever has captured them? Currently they are useless unless you can already train elephants yourself. Captured war elephants feels like it could be rather fun.