Western Roman Empire

Anybody manage to actually get in the Black with the W. Roman Empire in Barbarian Invasion? Although I am still in the early phases of the game I can't seem to make any money and I'm sinking deeper in the Red. I am currently starting multiple games to try different strategies but any ideas from others would be appreciated.

One idea I am trying is somewhat a slash and burn strategy where I sack all the buildings in my cities in Spain (since the majority of them rebel anyways and I figure if they're going to might as well give them nothing to work with) as well as other cities and consilidate my armies to provide for a better defense and take over rebelling cites one by one. Also, it gives you around 13000 denari to work with before the next turn so you can make some personell additions befor you get sucked down the big red hole of debt. Although I'm not in the plus column yet my debt isn't as large as when I start as is and take what's given.

Another idea I have yet to try but will soon when I have time is to make some reductions in my army since that is the biggest expense for the WRE in the beginning.

Either way I will figure something out. Nothing like a challenge.

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(At the Bridge of Death)

Bridgekeeper: What is your name?

Arthur: It is Arthur, King of the Britons

Bridgekeeper: What is your quest?

Arthur: To seek the Holy Grail.

Bridgekeeper: What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?

Arthur: African or European?

Bridgekeeper: Ah, I don't kno...... AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Hi Izdog911 ~:wave:

Welcome to the org.

I haven't got into Barbarian Invasion as much as I should due to other life commitments but you may want to start your search here:

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=54952

:charge:

The guides do have all the info, but here's the short version:

(1) Disband some units - e.g. all cav, most fleets.

(2) Demolish some buildings - e.g. most troop building places except the most developed (I try to recruit only from Rome).

(3) Exterminate some enemy cities - e.g. Celts, Alemanni, Berbers.

You can get into the black by (1) alone. (2) and (3) give you more money to invest in the ports and stuff that will help you rebound quickly.

I tried WRE doing that... but before I could get the cities you mentioned in 3) around 80% of the empire rebelled. Even though they were only peasants, I couldn't afford to do anything about them... just too many. A whole STACK of peasants plus a general..

To manage loyalty:
(1) Move the capitol to one of the towns on the French south coast (Massila, IIRC). That will minimise distance penalties to loyalty.
(2) Manage all settlements manually and set taxes at the highest you can to get a blue face (ie keep them low in most places)

If you do that, you should have only around 3 red faced settlements on turn 1:
(a) Lepcis Magna
(b) a small town in the north-eastern frontier
(c) a large Balkan city (Salonica?)
You should be able to manage these to avoid rebellions and get them happy over a few turns.
(a) and (b) just need the right religions - demolish any religious buildings that are contrary to the majority faith and build up the right buildings. Move out governors of the wrong religion and maybe get new governors. Building a few peasant garrisons may help.
(c) needs similar, plus maybe arena-type buildings.

I tend to leave religion at whatever the local populations like - Italy and N.Africa become 100% Christian; elsewhere 100% pagan. Some people try to get a unified Empire with one religion, in which case managing loyalty in the transition will be more of a challenge.

I've never seen the Western Roman rebels or had a WRE city rebel.