This was a tough outing. An initial goal was to try and finish without going into debt. I tried saving money by not using any forts, and heavily taxing the residents, but this wicked scenario had economic roadblocks left and right. I thought I could break through in the 202BC save after Neptune’s blessing but no dice. On the 23rd year, I went ahead and built the hippodrome, got into debt, but was finally able to collect taxes on small villas.
I turned off the vegetable and vine export farms in the final year to get enough workers. I also switched from locally producing pottery and wine to importing them instead.
Finished the game on VH using Julius 1.60, with all requests met and no gifts given.