Grand Ages: Rome/Gameplay

Starting out, players create a character, choosing their name, gender and portrait. They then choose which family to associate their character with, selecting between the Flavii, Valerii, Julii, Aemilii or Lucii, each with unique traits that benefit the player in military, civic or economic ways.

The focus of the game is on macromanagement. Each mission involves building a Roman colony in various locations around the Roman Republic, with certain requirements and bonus objectives to successfully complete the mission. A colony includes various food production buildings, such as wheat and pig farms, bakeries and butchers; material production buildings such as lumber camps and brick works; religious temples; and various types of housing for different citizen classes (Plebs, Patricians and Equites). Emphasis is placed on efficiency and employment, ensuring that all buildings are staffed by the appropriate worker class.

Resources are based on a "flow" economy, in which the player does not actually accumulate a stockpile of resources, but rather develops the infrastructure to construct and maintain buildings. To gain more resources, players may opt to build communities around the map, engage in trade or purchase estates, which remain with the character for the duration of the campaign.

Players must keep the citizens content through satisfactory levels of food, religion and entertainment. Building benefits work on a radius system, with buildings providing their bonuses or needing other materials within a certain distance. The player may construct significant monuments for large or global bonuses, such as the Colosseum, Circus Maximus and Pantheon. When players fail to satisfy the needs of their citizens, crime and disease may spread and homes may be deserted, which may lead to a chain reaction in the shortage of goods and services.

Missions will often focus on military skirmishes, allowing the player to recruit, train and command groups of units such as hastati, triarii and auxilia. Battles usually occur on a small scale with a basic experience and morale system. Often, campaign maps will feature barbarian villages or war camps, which can be subjugated for additional resources or razed for money and slaves.