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?

[amritochates]

Ref: ToranagaSama

Thanks for the detailed reply. People usually tend to limit themselves in their posts, so it was quite pleasant for a nice intricate response to my post.

But I am afraid you are goung to be greatly disappointed if you are hoping for greater historical accuracy, going by the first unit showcased for BI at the .com, do check it out:
(http://www.totalwar.com/community/rtwbi.htm)
Its a roman catholic priest that looks like a druid carrying a cross or more accurately it looks more like a character out of constantine.

And by the way MAD is what you get when you think that "oh! that cool, let's us this wonderful spellcheck facility the VB board gives us", and it decides that there is no word such as MTW in the english language and replaces it with MAD and then you discover that you can't edit your post since you are still a junior member- funny ain't it.

[amritochates]

Ref: Dol Guldur

BI will feature a new campaign map with 72 provinces and 20 factions overall, out of which 10 will be playable. It will function as a new mini-campaign similar to the Viking campaign in MTW-VI in case you played it, and non of the factions in the BI campaign will show up in the orignal campaign and there shall be no crossover between these two campaigns.

The BI camapign will start in 363 AD and the 10 playable factions will be:

Eastern Roman Empire - the rich part of the Roman World, and now reverting to a more ‘Greek’ and Eastern outlook than strictly Roman. Their heavy cavalry is frightening indeed.

Western Roman Empire - under the rule of a strong Emperor there is the chance that Rome could become the centre of the world once again. The Legions may have changed, but they are still potentially powerful!

Huns - When Roman envoys finally met Attila the Hun they were horrified - the Huns were a new breed of warrior who live in the saddle and could ride and fight all day!

Goths - An ancient people from the Baltic, the Goths struck fear into their enemies thanks to their habit of sacrificing captives to Tyz, the war god. They may now be nominally Christian, but they haven’t forgotten all their old ways!

Vandals - Their name is still a byword for wanton destruction! Driven from their ancestral lands, the Vandals carved their way across Gaul and Spain, eventually marching through North Africa to settle around Carthage.

Saxons - Unlike the other German tribes, the Saxons didn’t look southwards to expand. They look seawards, and westwards towards the rich province of Britannia, creating the idea of ‘England’ in the process.

Franks - The ‘Free Men’ are a Germanic tribe of fierce warriors, famed for their steadfast infantry and their utterly dangerous throwing axes. They managed to conquer all of Gaul and give the land its modern name: France.

Allemanni - Although held off by the Romans over many centuries, the Germanic Allemanni people are now on the rise again. They crossed the frozen River Rhine in 366 and now are a threat to the good order of many Roman provinces.

Sarmatians - A fierce warrior people from the steppes, the ‘Syrmatae’ rule the lands to the north of the Black Sea. Their women-folk are supposedly as savage as the men, but as horsemen they are almost without equal - which is why they can be found as mercenaries in Roman armies.

Sassanid Empire - The Persian Empire has waxed and waned over the centuries, but in the Sassanid dynasty its rulers are vigorous and strong. At loggerheads with the Eastern Roman Empire over the Sassanids’ persecution of Christians, they are a power to be reckoned with in the East.

No information has been released so far about the other 10 non-playable factions though they are currently a matter of intense speculation.Naturally these non-playable factions will be playable after modding as in vanilla RTW.
Hope this helps.

[Dol Guldur]

LOL. I once had a spellchecker change Ostrogoths in an historical essay to Osteopaths, which made for very interesting reading!

EDITED....

Erm..thx

So that's 2 Roman factions, 7 Barbarian (?) and 1 Eastern making modding even more restricted to just 3 distinct, rather than 5 distinct, cultures?

No crossover, but some files are shared such as EDU and EDB - this must mean that a crossover can occur for mods? So Shieldwall, for example, could be implemented into the Imperial Campaign or any mod...

[amritochates]

XI.)Religion will play a greater role in determining your Tech Tree.As per the FAQ at the .com:
"A modified technology tree - allows barbarians to build and expand larger settlements. It also includes new buildings to reflect the changed importance given to religion at this time in history.
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."

This implies that all factions will have the same choice in detemining their religion as the Viking Faction did in the orignal Viking Campaign or as the Nipponese factions do in Shogun with corresponding advantages and disadvantages to each choice. Thougfh not explicitly stated it does appear that any such choice will be irreversiable.

XII.)Generals will now be recuitable for the roman factions as in the orignal MTW.
"Generals - can now be recruited as well as adopted into the family. There are also new vices and virtues as well as ancillary characters for generals’ retinues."

XII.)Civil wars and loyalty ratings are back , promising greater strategic challenges for us, no more rushing throgh the map like Alexander now.
"Rebellions - can now flare up into full-fledged civil wars. Your generals can decide that they would make better kings or emperors than the current rulers and take matters into their own hands!"

Thats all for today, look for the next update on saturday, and do check out the new unit profile for BI at the .com.
http://www.totalwar.com/community/rtwbi.htm

[amritochates]

Ref: Dol Guldur
Don't know about the file types though it is confirmed that BI will use a different file type for save games, though I cannot locate the reference right now.

Concerning Culture groups, if you read my earlier post to you a little more carefully you will find that there are posibly 5 distinct cultures as in Vanilla.

Firstly there are the roman factions now shrunk down to one: The Western Roman Empire.

Secondly the Greek factions now represented by the Eastern Roman Empire.
Ref:"the rich part of the Roman World, and now reverting to a more ‘Greek’ and Eastern outlook than strictly Roman. Their heavy cavalry is frightening indeed."

Thirdly the Eastern factions represented by the Sassanid Empire.

Fourthly the infantry based barbarian factions such as the Franks and the Saxons.

Fifthly the nomadic barabrian cultures such as the Huns and the Sarmatians.

Hope this helped.

[Dol Guldur]

Thx...I never thought of it like that. It is possible.

I thought I read somewhere that there would be a demo in August, and somewhere else that the full release would likely not come before September.

The demo will answer some questions perhaps.

[Mikeus Caesar]

The only problem i have is that only 8 factions are playable. Surely they would have learnt by now that we didn't like it last time and won't like it this time?

[antisocialmunky]

It's sounding like a blend of RTW and MTW. Which it should be... as the world is transitioning into that period...

I wish that faction reemergence would be put into it. It'd be nice if the rebel emergence were territorily based and they would be named after the ethnic group from that territory. Their unit roster would be a composite of regional units(Legionaires in Italy, Warbands in Gaul, Axemen in Germany), the focus of the region(Heavy Infantry from Rome, Tribal warriors from France and Germany, HA from the Step and Mideast), and the roster of those who they rebel against(Legionaires from Rome, Huscarles from the Goths, Raiders from the Saxons). That would be so fun and jacked up.

[ToranagaSama]

Ref: ToranagaSama

Thanks for the detailed reply. People usually tend to limit themselves in their posts, so it was quite pleasant for a nice intricate response to my post.

Hey, its what I do around here, beside pissing people off!

But I am afraid you are goung to be greatly disappointed if you are hoping for greater historical accuracy, going by the first unit showcased for BI at the .com, do check it out:
(http://www.totalwar.com/community/rtwbi.htm)
Its a roman catholic priest that looks like a druid carrying a cross or more accurately it looks more like a character out of constantine.

So true, so true, seems like a knockoff of *Screeching Women* (or whatever they are called). Not exactly like the Priests/Imams of MTW.

And by the way MAD is what you get when you think that "oh! that cool, let's us this wonderful spellcheck facility the VB board gives us", and it decides that there is no word such as MTW in the english language and replaces it with MAD and then you discover that you can't edit your post since you are still a junior member- funny ain't it.

LOL!!!

When spelling is important to a post, try this, cut and paste it either to a word processing document, or to an Email document, and use the spell check from those software(s) (better functionality, and probably better spellchecker), then cut and paste back. Delete the wp/email doc or keep for a backup.

Welcome to the Org!!!

[lars573]

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?

Roman: down from 4 to 2

Eastern: Down from 3 to 1 (Sassannid) (the other 2 became Roman)

Egyptian: became roman

Greek: became Roman

Carthaginian: became Roman