Barbarian Invasion Western Rome help

[~Isabella of Castile~]

hi, I've recently started a R:TW BI campaign as the Western Roman Empire, and I kept Brittain for a long while, but I couldn't keep it up, so I left and I'm having trouble in France, Spain and the Balkans with Rebels and barbarians, north africa is still pretty much under control, but I'm having nasty barbarian and rebel issues in Europe, I've held out against them pretty well so far, but the slow recruitment rate and the constant invasions are getting harder to fend off, although Italy is pretty much untouched. so, does anyone have suggestions to help me out here?

[Noir]

There are basically two approaches in this:

1. Abandon all you feel is beyond redemption (such as Salona) and use money from it to build and protect the rest.

2. Do not give up a single inch anywhere and fight to keep it together.

Religiously you can convert to paganism/christianity or even keep separate parts of the empire under different religions according to their local trends. I've played succesful campaigns using all three - just choose adoptees (generals/governors) carefully under religious grounds.

Remember: conquering the Germans is not your goal - all you want is to take out the Allemani and contain the rest of them (perhaps later take out the Saxons as well if you can). The same is true for the Celts - don't go after them; just don't give them reason to come after you (have proper garisons and do not provoke). This means that you need to keep the German frontier cities intact and contain Saxon and Burgundian expansion - also do not give the Franks reason to Horde-up.

Use river crossings to hold off the Hordes that surely will visit you: Huns, Goths, Vandals, Roxolanni (less often), Slavs. All can be taken out with relatively small casualties and a few only armies in the Rhine and Po rivers.

Forget about making profits in the first 20 turns - just make sure you are positive no matter how little and that there aren't rebellions. Use governors for this and keep it together as best as you can. Disband all garissons and use peasants instead especially in Spain (uneccessary). Your wars are faught in the German frontier and in Carthage. Carthage might change hands a few times but don't worry too much over it - it can be reclaimed or rebel back to you. You can eventually take out the Berbers when you feel comfortable and leave them with just their desert posessions.

Make a couple of field armies and keep one in the German north and one in the Italian North. Take out the Alemanni - as long as they are alive your life is trouble. Also contain or even eradicate the Saxons they are bound to have an expansionist phase but if you hold them back they'll just sink in debts and inactivity (beware of multiple barbarian family members making a last stand in town squares! they'll just m a s s a c r e you no matter how good your troops are - lure them out of there with a junk unit and then fight them).

Start building up farms and your trade - you'll notice that cities are large but they have no economic power. Farms make wonders to happiness as well (population is unhappy also when they are on decline - going on the rise with farms balances that out). Britain, West France. Spanish Mediterranean, South France and Italy should be kickstarted and maintained as internal trade centers - they can make you good money. Have a small but trained fleet (by fighting) to set off the pirates that spawn here and there. (Sometimes pirate fleets concentrate from the North Seas and invade in huge chunks the Mediteranean - that can be a bit of a pain).

After you contain the Germans and defeat the Hordes the ERE will take on you. Maintain the frontier in the North of Italy and hit them in their main cities in Greece that are usually unprotected. This alone should generate such wealth from sacking and more trading income that you should be able to win the war against them too.

*edit* Success is reliant upon succesfully defending sieges. The wre especialy in the first 20 turns has no means to cover the invasions here and there - but has better defences (walls) - just make sure you know where and when you will be hit (wathtowers/spies) and make sure you have an appropriate garisson against coming enemy stacks. The AI willput you under siege for some turns maybe but will eventually assault. Use this to your advantage - limitanei that are close to useless on the field can do quite some damage from walls. A few commitances are necessary to take out the enemy melee grunt. Archers are your most important unit - they'll get rid of enemy killers like Lombard beserkers and the like.

Having said that - immediately disband garrisson troops that weight too much in your treasury if you see they are uneeded.

Cities are bound to be lost certain times - however its important that you keep the "core" that runs from Italy all the way up to the Netherlands. You should own all cities there and be able to defend it (even if they are sieged or change hands once or more). To help your self you can make it your troop producing facilities as well. This will make sure that Gaul and Spain remain unspoiled and provide you with the financies to go on. Comfort is scarce even later in the game - only once you own Greece and Asia Minor will your profits enable you finally to go after whom you like.

I haven't actually read this thread, but i'msure it'll have a lot of good and detailed info/strategies/hints/tips (guides forum):
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=54952

Many Thanks

Noir