Barbarian Invasion: Comprehensive Mini FAQ

[amritochates]

I thought I would post up a brief summary of what we already know about the expansion, though avoiding the obvious facts such as 100 new units, a new campaign map and sundry other details that are by now common knowledgeand concentrating more on the finer nuances of the game:
(P.s:check the bottom of the thread for sources and screenshots.)

I.)The new campaign map will feature only 72 provinces which will be much larger than most of the provinces existing in the current strategic map.
Ref:Shoguns FAQ from the .com
Q. How many provinces will be incorporated in the cep-map. Is it comparable to MAD:VI?
A. Although we are using the same basic map of Europe the settlements borders and territories have been redefined. This was an attempt to represent the considerable amount of change in tribal and national boundaries as well as the re-organization of Roman-controlled territories under the Roman Empire in the 300 years from the 1st century AD to 4the century AD (E.g. Diocletian's implementation of Diocese). At the last count there were 72 regions.

II.)A modified form of the re-emerging factions feature from MAD has been introduced with new factions emerging from rebellious cities (Ostrogoths emerge from the Goths, for example). Though some would consider this a retrograde step, esp those who remember the end game rebellions from MAD most vividly- though there are no indications so far that this will occur in BI.

II.)Barbarian Factions will have recruited Warlords who can act as generals and governors as the number of Barbarian family was apparently not asas high as those of the civilized factions. The ability to create such powerful characters will offset by the fact that they will usually have a loyalty issues.

IV.)There will be in total 20 new factions including both the Roman Factions. of which only 8 factions will be playable without modding.

V.)Horde units range from weak to elite units will be available only to the barbarian factions when they moving en masse as a horde.Their function is to bolster an existing barbarian army enough that it becomes a force to be reckoned with. However when you do choose to settle down in your new home province you'll lose all of your horde units, drastically decreasing your offensive power.

VI.)The Governors will now have an affinity for a particular religion, which - if its of the dominant religion in a city - can placate a population, or - if it's not - cause quite a lot of unrest in a city similar to the piety rankings in MTW.

VII.)Clergymen will be able to convert either your own cities or those of your opponents to to the needed religion, however most cities willgradually move towards Christianity as the game goes on to reflect the historical situation existing then.

VIII.)As a further sop to historical accuracy most of the wonders have been destroyed on the campaign map.

IX.)New barbarian retinues have been added, additionally Religious relics which are added in BI will function as retinues.

X.)The technology tree allows for both pagan and Christian structures to be built, and even allows for different religious policies in different parts of your empire, if one wishes.

Thats all for now, look for further upgrades on the next weekend.

Links:
http://www.heavengames.com/previews/rtwx/index.shtml
http://p223.ezboard.com/fshoguntotal...ID=19529.topic
http://www.heavengames.com/gallery/RTW_XPack@E3_2005

[HarunTaiwan]

Nice run down.

I also notice you used Roman numerals for that extra touch.

[amritochates]

Thanks.

We aim to please.

[Horatius]

Will Romans be able to apoint family members to the Senate, or is that too complex?

[lars573]

Their is no senate to appointe family members to. The X-pack campagin is set during the Dominate (while the vanilla campagin goes from the polybian to early princapate), the senate ceased to matter to the politics and running of the empire 100 years before the campagin starts.

[Horatius]

Their is no senate to appointe family members to. The X-pack campagin is set during the Dominate (while the vanilla campagin goes from the polybian to early princapate), the senate ceased to matter to the politics and running of the empire 100 years before the campagin starts.

It didn't cease to matter in terms of the advancement of individuals though.

Being a Senator of Rome gave individual people an extra edge in personal advancement, it gave patricians a lot of extra prestige to say "I am a Senator", so it would make sense realistically to pay a certain amount of money to make a family member a senator which would give something like +1 to management/influence/command.

Too bad you can't do that.

[ToranagaSama]

Thank you for the list, amritochates.

I try to muddle thru the .com faq, but the white type/black background tries the eyes and the nerves. In addition to the faq that I'm not that RTW motivated and have low expectations for BI. It's appreciated to have someone cut thru the chaff.

Its my hope that the changes, adjustments, additions and subtractions, will facilitate RTW's relative (to STW/MTW) weak Gameplay. My comments are in that regard:

1. Well that should makes things a bit more *Strategic*; hopefully with good deal fewer meaningless battles.

2. Funny, just the other day I discovered a lost (huge) cache of MTW screenshots. Reviewing them I quickly begain to notice a LOT of little features, etc., that I had forgotten about that are missing from RTW. Re-emerging factions is one I noted. Good to see they are bringing it back.

I must be losing it, but what does "MAD" mean?
I'm thinking it must be the non-English equivalent to MTW, correct?

3. Interesting. I wonder if it'll make it *easier* for Barbarian factions to get/make Govenors---meaning they will have *more* available?

4. I've always wondered why CA limits acess to the available factions?

Also, why to *unlock* the unavailable factions, one is required to do so thru *Modding*. If one of CA's primary goals is to make the game more "accessible", then requiring a person to *Mod* the game isn't the way to do it. Seems non-sensical.

A person needs to learn the Mod themselves and/or figure out how to apply a Mod. Why put your Customers thru such a hassle unncessarily?? Particularly, when its so much easier and simplier to go **Click**!

5. Hmmm....

Seems like a modified *Crusade* feature. Personally, I hated Crusades in MTW. Hopefully, I will hate this feature less. Particularly, since I doubt I'll play any of the Barbarian factions. Oh, now that I think about it, its a modified Golden Horde feature. Oh great, I hated the GH feature too.

6. 7. and 10. Religion. This was another of those little features I noticed reviewing my old MTW screenshots. This was a VERY nice little feature. Played strongly in terms of Rebellions. A good player had to seriously consider Religion when choosing when and which Faction/Province to invade. Ensuring that you had sufficient number of Religious Agents (Priets/Imans) when invading a Province of a different religion was crucial.

Actually, it was prudent that several years *prior* to invading say a Islamic Province, playing as Catholic, to send in one or more Priests. In the early to mid stages if you knew you were going to have to take a particularly strong and crucial province, I send in an Agent LONG before I was ready to invade. I'd start with a spare Priest, then after awhile send in another, then another, to rise the Catholic percentage to some decent level, say maybe in the 20% to 40% range.

Successfully accomplshing this prior to invading, not only helped in lessening the chance of Rebellion, but, even more significantly, it lessened the number of troops necessary for Garrison duty. More quickly freeing your *war* Army to move on to more conquests.

Religion was one are in which the AI was rather proficient at, relatively speaking. If you followed the sort of religious agent strategy I described above, the pleasing thing is the AI would react. The AI wouldn't just stand still and be raped, it would send in Assassins to kill off your Priests; it would retaliate by sending in Imams/Priests into your territory. The AI may not have the capability to be as *strategically* pointed as a human, but it held its own pretty well, resulting in these little sub-battles of Regligous Agents, Assasins, and Inquisitions. Fun! I can still remember the fear that the sight of a red garbed Cardinal could instill. (Note: using Hardcore Rules Humans should not use Cardinals/Inquisitions)

Glad to see CA bring Religion back into the fray!

8. Good! The less Cheese and Gimmicktry the better!!!!

9. Interesting.

TS.

[Dol Guldur]

I'd like to know how the cultures shape up. I'm guessing...

Barbarian: replaced by all the new Barbarian cultures which seems to dominate (guess that's why it's called Barbarian Invasion!)

Roman: down from 4 to 2

Eastern: Down from 3 to 1 (Sassannid)

Egyptian: None?

Greek: None?

Carthaginian: None?