Honestly the industrialization doesn't bother me, nor does staying pagan, I love Pagan timelines; but one thing I feel people tend to forget when writing Rome survives timelines it that societally speaking there tended to be a lot of ya know, civil wars, schisms, chaos, ETC.
Sure there were grace periods, most cultures got them, but when Rome warred on itself it did so a lot and hard; I basically feel some folks treat a surviving Rome almost like its empire on easy mode, but I feel little could be further from the truth.
Also a general "Progress is linear" thing which always rankles me, cos it very much isn't, especially when first discovering a technology or method, its developed based on available resources, culture and need.
That is to say an industrialized Rome would probably look quite different to say, Industrialized Britain even if its aesthetics has also changed or developed into something else along the way.
Sure there were grace periods, most cultures got them, but when Rome warred on itself it did so a lot and hard; I basically feel some folks treat a surviving Rome almost like its empire on easy mode, but I feel little could be further from the truth.
Also a general "Progress is linear" thing which always rankles me, cos it very much isn't, especially when first discovering a technology or method, its developed based on available resources, culture and need.
That is to say an industrialized Rome would probably look quite different to say, Industrialized Britain even if its aesthetics has also changed or developed into something else along the way.