Berbers (BI faction)

[frogbeastegg]

This faction must be edited before it can be played.

[Laman]

The Berbers are as noted one the five faction that are there on the start that has to be edited in order to be played. Just as the Celts one only needs to edit descr_strat.txt (Roxolani, Burgundii and Lombardi requires in addition to this that descriptions are added in the file .../bi/data/text/campaign_descr.txt IIRC)

I played on M/M and the strategy i used was first get 1 boat, and an acceptable army and then invade Iberia and capture Corduba. In all cities in Iberia I choose exterminate, and destroyed the pagan temples, building churches in their place (since Berbers can't build pagan temples there is little reason to save them). As I was securing Iberia a second army was sent to conquer Carthage and at the moment I have all of Iberia and Africa west of Cyrenaica, a total of 8 provinces. I only need to conquer Cyrenaica and Aegyptus in order to get the 10 provinces (including Africa and Aegyptus) i need for victory. The cities in Iberia are important in order to get enough money (not just to provide province count), after taking Corduba it gave a few thousand dinarii each turn, which is very helpful since my original cities couldn't handle the cost of my at then still rather modest army.

Regarding the army, you will have nice light cavalry, but your infantry lack in defense, so they shouldn't be expected to stand up against units such as comitatenses (or indeed almost any kind of Roman infantry) in a close fight.

[DukeofSerbia]

Berbers are one of the easest factions.
Enemies - Your only enemy is WRE and later ERE. Sassanids, ERE Rebels and WRE Rebels are my allies. First what I done is to sigh trade rights with WRE to make some money until my army came to Cartago. Cartago is hard to held. Iberia is easy for conquering, but cities are 100% pagan and Berbers are 100% Cristians (with 100% Moslem names). Later invade east - Leiptis Magna, Cyrencania and Alexandria. WRE will never send reinforsment to Iberia and Africa because they have huge problems on eastern borders. The same for ERE - Sassanids cut them on two parts.
Army - infantry can hold for a while (Berber Axemen and Hillmen) until cavalry flank. Units are cheap. There are a lot of usefull mercs who can fight with Roman infantry (Veteraniii) succesfully.
Economy - I'm richest faction from 3rd turn and have 2-4k denarii per turn. Trade with WRE is the only way to became rich in my experience.

[DukeofSerbia]

I play m/m.
Family members - Berbers have really bad characters. In my current game I only have one governeur (I own 6 cities). Everybody are fiscal flexibile and financial irregular + many other bad traits. They are only good in coversion to Cristianity and nothing else.

Now is around 410 and WRE started to send huge armies because Franks and Goths sighned truce. I bribed some as I have money, but I had pretty nasty battle on Carthago Nova brigde with WRE faction leader + 5 generals + some auxilia troops. I had Pyrric win. The key of control of Iberia are brigdes.
Use Mercs Veteranii to hold brigde, Mercs Equites Veteranii in wedge, desert horse archers, and Moorish raiders (hit and run strategy with Equites Veteranii) and Berbers axemen to fill gaps in line. Those Imperial German Bodyguards are real pain for Berbers' units.

And install unofficial patch for BI from player1 as Berbers have bug (can't built hillmen).

[Wilhelm The Mediocre]

do you have a link to the patch?

[PseRamesses]

The Berbers are initially hard to play so speed is crucial. A non-existent economy and poor troops makes it essentially crucial to get an early cash-booster.

1. Send all troops you can spare towards Carthage.
2. Besiege C until you have enough troops to take it. Exterminate = zillions!
3. Repeat with Lepcis Magna.
4. Build a boat and invade Iberia which is low guarded and rich.

Once Iberia is in your hands. Tech up and build money making structures. If WRE persists on denying you a ceasefire I usually take Sardinia and Sicily too before I turn my greedy eyes on Cyrene and Alexandria. By taking the above mentioned cities you´ve reached your 10-province goal and only Alexandria is left to win the game.

[Wilhelm The Mediocre]

Please ignore my previous ignorant statement.

[Bernhard of Clairvaux]

well I think I like playing the underdogs, the Celts and the Berbers. Right now I am playing Berber medium/hard (hard for battles).

Overall strategy: Build up a trading empire that will allow massive build up of your crappy troops and allow recruitment of expensive mercenaries. Remember to expand in turns. The cities you capture will mostly be pagan. See to that you have converted one city before you move on to the next. You will loose some pagan benefits but gain a long term steady income and loyal city.

Pro: Good starting position, Christian religion (to build up cities)

Con: the worst unit set up in the game. Most troops have rather low stats and lousy morale. You don´t get any real elite troops.

Battle strategy. Basically to overwhelm the enemy. One on one you will loose due to poor morale. Let the enemy come to you. Pepper them with arrows (desert archers, desert cavalry and javelin - Hillmen). Then clash with your mountain men. Your cavalry (Moors) are pretty good though not outstanding. They can win the day for you but use them before your infantry start routing (it will sooner or later). Mercenaries are a must to beef up your armies.
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The first move is to take Corduba. Gather all troops you got in Tingi. Build a boat and sail. Corduba will fall pretty easy to you.

This will give you the economy you need to expand. The trade between Tingi and Corduba generate very good income.

Next move. Go for Carthage Nova. It will too fall rather easy though you might expect more heavy resistance. More income to you.

Next move is to take the rest of Iberia (Salamanca or what the name is, forgot). It will be possible but expect some tough battles. recruit mercenaries whenever you can find them. When it is done block the mountain passage to Iberia with a fort. In my game I fough the vandals. Close victory and expect huge losses. Defend inside a city to maximise your chances.

Next move is to grab the islands around and take Carthage. Start with Caralis, then take Carthage then Syracuse. It can be done just did it.

Now you have basically restored Carthage´s old trading empire and you will have a lot of cash (I have 100 000 and is making around + 4000 each turn. It may sound crappy but I am fielding two large armies right now with many mercenaries, one for invading Italy and one for dealing with the Vandals) From here nothing should stop you.

[Rodion Romanovich]

I second the Iberia or Carthage strategies. I can only think of four stragegies which may work for the berbers, listed in the order of efficiency IMO, with the most effective first:
- carthage - explained by others above. Strength is that you'll defend your starting desert provinces by this offensive, and push into strong roman heartlands, for instance Rome, where you have good troop buildings. Weakness is that the resistance may grow quickly, as romans can reinforce the area with troops trained in these heartland provinces with good troop buildings.
- Iberia first - explained by others above, having an army with many, at least 2 IMO, horse archers is recommended for this. Strengths: you'll meet quite weak opposition unable to defend well vs horse archers, Weaknesses: 1. there's a lot of WRE troops in Spain, so you may run out of archer ammo in the battles unless you have enough horse archers. 2. your abilities to defend your desert provinces are limited, but it takes long time anyway for the WRE to prepare for an effective offensive on these desert provinces even if you leave them almost unguarded. If you're quick in Spain, you might be able to reinforce them in time, and take Carthage pretty soon. 3. Spain is larger than the WRE controlled area in north africa. It's easier to reinforce the area, as no ships are required. It can, if you have bad luck, result in heavier fighting than the Carthage first strategy.
- rushing lepcis magna with a good army. This will help economy, and WRE will usually not handle their counter-attacks from Carthage well, which opens a path for taking carthage. If they camp in Carthage, you can improve your army somewhat and send all you got to Carthage, and should be able to take the city. Lepcis magna first strategy has the weakness that it takes longer to get an army there than carthage, so you'll have more debt by the time you get there.
- Sardinia first strategy - has same strengths and weaknesses as Lepcis magna first stragegy, but an additional weakness in that it might cut off good troops because your naval strength is very limited, and it's probably one of the least useful strategies

[Kagemusha]

Im playing currently a campaign with Berbers and use a little bit different Strategy.First i builded some peasants to hold my two cities.then i sent all my fighting units with my best commander to siege Carthage.After i took Carthage instead attacking Iberia i build ships in Carthage and took Sicily and Corsica&Sardinia. Since the Western Roman Rebels had took control of Leptis Manga i made peace with WRE and gained some money also in process.After that i took Leptis Manga from Western Roman Rebels. After i made peace with the WRE money is coming in from doors and windows.Now i have 6 provinces and Currently im sieging Cyrenaica at the moment.My plan for the 4 last provinces to take in order to win the campaign are Cyrenaica,Egypt, Cretes and Cyprus. I dont know what you others think but i like the Berber campaign, because it has not too many provinces to overtake and manage.Refreshing.

[Fate]

This faction seems to be a bit of a strange one, as i found out when i started playing it yesterday. Obviously, your troops are of a low quality: poor morale, defense, and attack. You have few family members, and there's obviously a large amount of ground to cover.
First off, i went for carthage, held by the WRE. I thought enough damage from my assassin on the morale boosters of the population wopuld make it rebel. I did however forget that it would go to the WRER, my allies.
So i had to break my alliance to take cartahge, which is well worth it.
Next stop was Leptis Magna, also held by my new enemies the WRER. In this time i was able to ceasefire with the WRE and the ERE. So i besiege Leptis, which has only its faction leader in it. The i see coming from the east a small WRER force, with a family member, so i set my assassin to work on him, and kill him within a turns march of the settlement. But when he gets there, he is able to reinforce the Faction Leader, and the relief army has another family member!! How?!

Anyways, i took the settlement, and it rebelled, so its back to the WRE empire now, and the alliance is broken, as ae the trade rights. So im sending an army into Ilberia to take on the WRE there, and to build back up the trade links, before doign the old island hop!

[Stuperman]

The i see coming from the east a small WRER force, with a family member, so i set my assassin to work on him, and kill him within a turns march of the settlement. But when he gets there, he is able to reinforce the Faction Leader, and the relief army has another family member!! How?!

The AI (in RTW anyways) can cheat and spawn adopt generals into stacks with no general, esentially a 'Man of the Hour' without fighing a battle

[Hound of Ulster]

I lost my Berbers campaign in BI for one reason alone: Carthage. The provience revolted against me THREE times, even after I exterminated it TWICE in a span of 15 turns. Eventually the Western Empire moved against me and I was forced into a general retreat. I conceded the campaign by moving all of my forces out of Tingi and waiting until the city revolted against me, causing my defeat.

My verdict: the Berbers are impossiable.

[Roslagii Keel]

Faction Overwiev: Berbers
A Roslagii Boredom project. All opinions based on experience from hundreds of battles and several campaigns at different difficulties.

General Overwiev
The berbers start with two settlements in the southwestern corner of the map. Tingi is a potentially important trading port on the north african coast, while Dumatha is a settled oasis smack in the middle of the desert. They start out at war with the western roman empire and must control 10 settlements including Carthage and Alexandria to win. They are an all-christian faction, and often have a weak economy due to less than honest tax collectors. The berbers are a fun and challenging faction to play because of their starting location and the fact that most of their warriors wear no armor at all. There is something immensly heroic about seing a group of berber axemen charge home against a line of comitanses with nothing but wicker shields to protect themselves!

The Berber Army
Most units in the berber rooster have good stamina and/or fast movement and this should be exploited to minimize the effects of your low defense ratings. It's often a good idea to make the enemy run around a bit and tire themselves before the battle is joined in earnest. Study the battles of Saladin for more advise on this tactic.

Infantry
Berber Axemen are interesting because they are the only level-1 infantry with the "effective against armor" trait. They are useful for defending and storming walls, and to soften up comitanses while your cavalry prepares to finish them off. Hillmen are wonderful in all their tactical flexibility. They can stage effective ambushes like the old hillmen, but are also useful when deployed on the flanks on an infantry line. There they can throw javelins on would-be flanking cavalry, weakening them before your own cavalry attacks and pin them in place, to be counter-charged in the rear by the spear-wielding hillmen. A simple yet effective tactic that usually routs even elite heavy cavalry. Mountain Men are basicly thougher hillmen without javelins, and are of limited use as "medium spearmen" for those times when you really can't contend with the enemy cavalry on equal terms. *cough*vandals*cough*

Cavalry
Desert horse archers (Desert Cavalry) are obviously important to most battle-winning strategies, but do not underestimate the Moorish Raiders! I've found that moorish raiders can stand in for nearly every other type of melee cavalry and give a good account of themselves, especially when fielded in large numbers. Charging home, chasing down skirmishers, hacking the enemy into submission, pursuing fleeing enemies... Jack of all trades, master of none - the Moorish Raiders. I rarely field Berber Lancers and there are times when I regret this, such as when i spot a large, juicy infantry stack whith no cavalry whatsoever. They are good for breaking enemies and quickly inflicting casualties, but again, not a reliable bet compared to moorish raiders. Camel Raiders are, in theory, good against cavalry but horses are, in practice as it turns out, faster than camels. This means you must pin them down or outmaneuver them first and since you're doing that, why didn't you train a unit of moorish raiders in the first place?

Missiles
Desert Archers are decent enough archers, basicly hunters who gain bonuses in deserts rather than woods and snow. When caught in melee, they have proven to make rather good use of their combat bonus in deserts (and fight with larger swords than other archers!).

Buildings/Technology
Berbers can build stone walls and this is truly a blessing if the campaign goes poorly and your enemies decide to sort you out for good. They can build level 2 health structures, level 5 markets, and all tiers of christian churches, but other than this the berbers are even worse endowed than the goths buildingwise. Yet another reason to take Carthage early on... They can tech up to their best units quickly, but as they can only build level 1 smiths you will be forced to assaul the WRE with sticks and harsh language until you can raid a settlement with a well stocked armory. If you have captured a settlement with a foundry and the enemy send a powerful stack to retake it, don't waste your newly retrained units in a battle with uncertain outcome. Leave the city, lure the enemy into the desert and destroy them with their own roman steel!

Diplomacy
Trade rights with other mediterranean factions are important to the berbers. The WRE are usually not willing to cease hostilities until you have beaten them in battle. The WRE Rebels are your only likely early allies, and if they control lepcis magna (as they usually do) you must betray them sooner or later. In the mid to late game, you will be surprised to find that the saxons and allemanni (unless destroyed) are usually quite willing to ally with you and provide help against the WRE. When you take on the ERE to claim Alexandria, the Sassanids may or may not be willing to ally depending on wether the loyalist revolt in Dimmidi happened (a fun event in which arabia, half a continent away, joins your faction and puts you at war with either the ERE (not yet, not yet!) or the sassanids (look, I can explain this, um...)

Campaign Advice
Sound advice has already been given in this thread. Basically its a matter of where to take ground and in what order. Advancing east to early is a good way to collapse your economy and overextend your armies, as settlements are poor and far between. Taking the Iberian peninsula really helps your economy, but often result in horde problems in the mid to late game. The vandals in particular are quite angry at whoever controls corduba, and almost never suffer faction destroyed before they get to spain. Sicily and sardinia are similary rich, but your navy is weak and Rome is nearby, occationally spitting out powerful fleets with elite well-equipped units to retake their islands. The vandals may do the same, but more frequently and usually with weaker forces.

[Roslagii Keel]

"Overview" as someone pointed out. Sorry for mutilating english.

[Thermal]

I've always liked the berbers, but i rarely do well with them, nice battle tactics listed