This is interesting...

[AmbrosiusAurelianus]

I found the following statement on the totalwar website.

"Religion - is now an important factor. Christianity has become the dominant religion of the Empire, but it’s your choice whether or not to revert to paganism in the hope that this will bring victory. Barbarian factions can convert, opening up new parts of the technology tree in the process."

It's the last part I'm interested in. Could this feature be modded to allow factions to assimilate the technology of other factions when they conquer them and/or their provinces? I'm not thinking of playing as the Borg, but it would be nice to access the technology of other factions. This would allow "barbarians" to take on more advanced technology, and also give factions such as the Romans a greater variety of auxiliaries depending on the provinces that they conquer. The website already says that barbarians can build expanded settlements. Any thoughts anyone?

[antisocialmunky]

It never says what the new parts of the tech trees are. You probably just get to build those Clubmen Priests and churches to raise morale and generate cash.

[Viking]

In BI the barbarians can finally upgrade to huge citys, but whether that is only after conversion, I don`t know. It`ll be interesting to see what these 'new parts of the technology tree' are.

[edyzmedieval]

I wonder if the civilised worlds can switch their religion.....

[Conqueror]

The Romans can burn the churches and revive their old religion ~:cool:

[AntiochusIII]

The Romans can burn the churches and revive their old religion ~:cool:Awesome! That alone is enough incentive for me to buy BI. ~D

[AmbrosiusAurelianus]

Awesome! That alone is enough incentive for me to buy BI. ~D

Agreed, but would this create the possibility of a rebel faction emerging that is loyal to the other faith, such as when you conquered a faction in MTW? Where did you find that information, Conqueror?

[Conqueror]

From the BI site at totalwar.com:

Christianity has become the dominant religion of the Empire, but it’s your choice whether or not to revert to paganism in the hope that this will bring victory.

[Zenicetus]

I hope the portion of the tech tree that opens for barbarians if they convert is more for cultural flavor, and not something essential to winning the campaign. Maybe there will be an equivalent, branching tech tree if you stay pagan?

[AmbrosiusAurelianus]

From the BI site at totalwar.com:

Yeah, sure, but I meant about the burning churches bit. What I was trying to say is is there the possibility of conflict within your territories? You know, with rebels emerging loyal to the old religion, just as in MTW when people sprang up loyal to a pretender from the previous faction. Sorry, I wasn't expressing myself well enough. I was just wondering if you had another source.

As for whether it is required for victory, well I rather doubt that the game will make you do it. I guess having access to other technology will just make things easier.

[antisocialmunky]

They had it in MTW and STW. The religious zealots of MTW would rebel if their zeal was high and their faith was different. In STW, having buddhist temples before turning Christian got you in alot of trouble.

I personally liked STW's Buddist rebellions since I've seen 3 stacks worth of Buddhist monks pop up as opposed to a bunch of fanatics and spearmen from MTW. I haven't managed to get a challenging religious revolt in MTW at all.

I hope BI will improve this system so STW mods can improve on the original STW.

[Hold Steady]

They had it in MTW and STW. The religious zealots of MTW would rebel if their zeal was high and their faith was different. In STW, having buddhist temples before turning Christian got you in alot of trouble.

I personally liked STW's Buddist rebellions since I've seen 3 stacks worth of Buddhist monks pop up as opposed to a bunch of fanatics and spearmen from MTW. I haven't managed to get a challenging religious revolt in MTW at all.

I hope BI will improve this system so STW mods can improve on the original STW.

That's no challeging revolt, that's more like an invasion!