Punic Wars, 264 BC

Let us consider, to make the next simulation possible, that the political power of Carthage (the suffetes and the families descended from kings) would have understood the risk of living in the shadow of Rome. They would understand that, although the vocation of their people (of Phoenician origin) was essentially mercantilist, they could not continue to practice it peacefully, should the Roman Senate decide to expand its territory beyond the Italic peninsula. And so, rather late (because they could have conquered all of Sicily, involved in the Greek wars a long time ago) than never they would decide for a total war against Rome, to destroy its political power over the other nations of the peninsula so that they could conform to a Confederate Republic. This would not forever prevent the inexorable march of Roman power, but perhaps postpone or significantly alter its effects.