Rome: Total War: Barbarian Invasion

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Rome Total War: Barbarian Invasion (often abbreviated to BI) is the first official expansion pack released by the Creative Assembly for the game Rome: Total War.
Barbarian Invasion was released on September 30, 2005.

Overview

It is the year 363 AD. After decades of internal strife, the Roman Empire has been split in two. In Europe, Barbarian tribes are on the move, ready and willing to cross the Rhine and Danube and attack the divided Romans. Huge armies of Barbarian Horsemen threaten the once great Empire, as rivalry between the two weakens their borders.

Christianity has become the state religion of the Roman empire. Paganism still remains with the Barbarians and much of the Empire, especially in frontier twons and forts. Religion will be a major issue, especially with the resurgent Sassanid Empire's worship of Zoroaster and their persecution of Christians, and the different denominations of Christianity amonst the barbarians.

Gameplay

See Rome: Total War and Expansions for game-play considerations common to Rome: Total War, Barbarian Invasion and Alexander. The gameplay is enhanced from that of the original Rome. Most of the changes can be found in the next section, but some, such as for unit balancing are not mentioned.

Romans In the original Rome, the player found himself with invincible legionary cohorts that would crush anything in their path! However, these are the waning days of Roman dominion, and the army is drastically changed. There are two basic infantry types- limitanei and comitatenses. The comitatenses are supposed to be frontline troops, but are not as strong as the legions of old! Do not march overconfidently into battle with a few of these!

Barbarians To reflect the rising star of the barbarian's fortunes, many of their units have been enhanced. Some barbarian factions can also convert to Christianity to gain access to even more powerful units! Barbarian units have very good mrale, and have good quality weapons. They have moved away from the puny warbands Caesar so easily crushed, and are now a force to be reckoned with! There is also a greater number of female units.

Horse Archer Factions Many new factions are built around horse archers, such as the Huns, Sarmatians, and Roxolani. THere are many types of horse archer, and are all poweful.

Eastern Factions The two eastern factions are the Sassanids and the Berbers. The Sassanids are based on Rome's Parthians, and start the game with a good-sized kingdom. They can reruit many powerful troops in terms of cavary, but have little good infantry until they can recruit the heavy Sughdian Warriors. Among the cavalry types are horse archers and Clibanarii, which are cataphracts with a bow and mace.

The Berbers have similar strengths and weaknesses. They have a wealth of good light cavalry, but few reliable infantry. There are many mercenaries available in the African regions, so they will act as fillers for many Berber armies.

Additional Features

• Night battles. Generals can now pick up traits that allow them to fight at night, thereby granting allied armies bonus and conferring disadvantages on the enemy.

• Emerging Factions. Some factions can emerge in the game as the result of revolts or historical events. For example, the Ostrogoths, Western Roman Rebels and Eastern Roman Rebels form if a settlement owned by the Goths, WRE or ERE rebels. The Slavs appear in-game in 410 AD, and the Romano-British emerge when all Roman-owned settlements in Britain are conquered by another faction.

• New factions, Generals, and Units. By 363 AD Europe, North Africa, and Middle East had drastically changed. New "barbarian" tribes were migrating into Europe, the Sassanids had risen in Persia, and the Roman Empire had been split in two, and had even come to blows. All this is reflected in the hundreds of new units available.

• Loyalty attribute. This is added to all Roman Family Members, and measures their chance to rebel or be bribed.

• Swimming. Many units can now swim, and can cross rivers without using a bridge or ford. This alters bridge battles significantly. A exhausted unit may drown when attempting to swim.

• Recruitable Generals. All factions can now recruit generals, providing they have the required level of Stable. They essentially act as a Captain that can gain character traits and ancillaries.

• New traits and ancillaries. Three and a half centuries onwards from the end of Rome:Total War, family members now gain new traits (though old ones can still be gained). The most important is the Night Fighter trait, allowing a General to fight at night.

• Hordes. Many Barbarian factions now have the ability to "horde". A larger overview of Hording can be found here.

• Religion. Religion is now a far more important aspect than in Rome: Total War. For more information, go here.

Factions

*See main article:Factions in BI

The factions in Barbarian Invasion are completely new, for the most part. There are still the Persian Empire, but in a different dynasty. There are still the romans, but instead of three families and a Senate, there are the Eastern and Western parts of the Roman Empire. These two factions are completely seperate, and will go to war against each other.

• Playable factions:
• Eastern Roman Empire
• Western Roman Empire
• Huns
• Goths
• Sarmatians
• Vandals, Franks
• Saxons
• Alemanni
• Sassanids

• Non-playable factions:
• Celts
• Burgundii
• Lombardi
• Roxolani
• Berbers
• Slavs
• Romano British
• Ostrogoths
• Eastern Roman Rebels
• Western Roman Rebels
• Rebels