Why does everyone hates barbarian factions?

[HeirOfGreece]

I really do like the barbarian factions because they have very good morale! Got those Warbands that can Warcry and Beat everyone up!
Yeah Yeah... Weak Cavalary... But does it matter? If you have strong infantry it is good! Very good ambushers. But only Weakness is the Weak settlements... And financial...

[LordK9]

I like them because they're so easy to rip up by my forces

[Vincent Butler]

I really do like the barbarian factions because they have very good morale! Got those Warbands that can Warcry and Beat everyone up!
Yeah Yeah... Weak Cavalary... But does it matter? If you have strong infantry it is good! Very good ambushers. But only Weakness is the Weak settlements... And financial...

I take it you are being tongue-in-cheek. Money is the problem for me. Also weak units, outside of Chosen Swordsmen. I guess Bull Warriors, but I can't stand them, unrealistic, and why do they have two hit points? Swordsmen are only decent. Chosen Axemen awesome vs armoured units, but vulnerable to missiles. No good spearmen. I am an infantry general, so Noble Cav are fine for me. If you use Warband, just hope nobody brings Wardogs. Wardogs are ineffective at anything better than Warband.



I think I like Gaul the best, Germania would be good but is worst for money. But Germania is a lot of specialized units, and not much in the way of line infantry, so not really my style. If Britain had normal cav and/or archers, that would be better, as well.

I do wish they had stone walls. The Gauls did have them in real life. Also, no way to deal with unrest once you get above a city (I know, ZPG). I have not quite mastered that. Good temples, the Julii and I think all Romans can build over a Gallic Sacred Circle of Epona and build Awesome Temple/Pantheion to Horse, which at Pantheion level gives units trained there +5 experience. Nice, a unit starting out with two silver chevrons. Abnoba gives gold sword to missile units, I think something Scythian or Dacian gives a gold shield, at least when combined with blacksmith upgrades. Don't know which one, though.

[HeirOfGreece]

Vincent Butler And yeah sorry for asking What are Wardogs ment for? I like never Recruit them (only when fighting elephants) Should i Recruit them more? And yeah i like Gauls the most too! Just do very high tax rates + farming + trader/market and you should be good

[ReluctantSamurai]

Barbarian factions are a lot of fun to play, and offer a wide variety of units. If you are a cavalry man (like me), you'll love Germania (my favorite) . Gothic and Noble Cavalry are among the best outside of the Middle East. A wide selection of infantry with AP weapons (Chosen Axe, Bezerkers, etc), one of the top archer units in the Chosen Archers, and a spear unit that is serviceable early in a campaign. The biggest downside is no good sword unit (which is strange considering Germania historically had excellent weaponsmiths), and a difficult starting economy. Can't do anything about the former unless you edit some files, but the latter can be helped with Temples of Freya which boost population growth, thereby increasing tax income, and ports in the North Sea which increase trade income.

Gaul has a wider variety of infantry, better income possibilities, better temples, Forester Archers, but not so good cavalry. They also have a much more difficult starting position, and you can find yourself at war with not only Rome and Carthage, but Britannia, Germania, Spain, and Scythia. Definitely not a faction for a beginner

Scythia is also for cavalry (my second favorite). Vanilla Horse Archers to start with, but excellent Noble Cavalry (both for the men and the women), Chosen Archers, but limited infantry. Scythia's starting position is far-flung, which is a problem. I always abandon Campus Sarmatae and Campus Alanni very early, and concentrate on developing Tanais, Scythia, and Chersonesos. Take out Thrace ASAP, and you are headed for the riches of Greece

I detest Britannia mostly because general units are glorified donkey carts posing as chariots, no decent cavalry, and no archers. Chosen Swords are excellent infantry, however.

Spain is boring. The only thing going for that faction are the Scutari, and that you can build a decent economy with all the port cities.

Dacia is kind of a cross between Germania and Thrace. Play if you get bored with other barbarian factions.

Also, no way to deal with unrest once you get above a city (I know, ZPG)

[Vincent Butler]

Agreed, the Barbarians are fun, because they are challenging. My fiercest battle was probably with Britain against the Senate. I won, but it was very close. Riots killed that campaign, but I was into Turkey. The entire map was blue. The Scipii had Africa and most of Turkey and the east, and I had most everything else. I had a good Germania going, into Italy, but after defeating Rome suddenly my finances tanked for no reason.

Will probably start a barbarian when I get bored with Seleucia, or maybe start as Parthia. But I would mod for more realism before then, I think. Probably would be Gaul if barbarian. It is probably not a bad idea to hit Britain in Samarobriva quickly before going after Rome, because you do need to go after Rome quickly. Take Rome, then Greece, or perhaps Spain.

[ReluctantSamurai]

But I would mod for more realism before then, I think.

One of the biggest modding changes one could make for Parthia is to give them the capability for paved roads. And not just simple paving, but highways. The link I posted in another thread proves beyond doubt, that the Persians built a lavish highway system throughout Mesopotamia long before the Romans laid their first road paver. And make Susa the Parthian capital. From the Achaemenid period onwards (540 BCE>>), it was the capital. Even after throwing off Seleucid domination (around 247 BCE), it was one of two capitals (the other being Ctesiphon on the Tigris River). How the devs decided that Arsakia (improperly named as the Persian name was Rhagae) which was basically the spring residence for the kings, should be the capital is beyond me In-game, Susa starts with stone walls, Arsakia is a backwater town with no walls at all. Go figure

[Sorry for the rant But I just hate how the devs screwed up things like this when 10 min of Googling would've gotten it right]

you do need to go after Rome quickly

Exactly. As Gaul, one needs to move quickly, and decisively. Not a faction for those who like to turtle.

Edit: For some reason the original link doesn't work anymore, but Wiki has a bunch of them in this article:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Road

Or just Google "Persian Royal Road" for others.....

[LordK9]

The Bull Warriors are possibly the best infantry unit in the game but the cost is way high and, well, they are the figment of someone's imagination. Spain (for me) is fun to play - just wish the AI would allow land swaps so I could avoid war with the Gauls and concentrate on the Romans and Carthage as I should.

Vincent Butler said: I had a good Germania going, into Italy, but after defeating Rome suddenly my finances tanked for no reason.

That seems to happen with all factions. Always frustrating.

[Vincent Butler]

The Bull Warriors are possibly the best infantry unit in the game

I think they gave them for balancing purposes. I don't know that I would rank them among the best, though I don't remember their stats. The best is probably Spartan Hoplites (insane attack, both primary and secondary, and high defense). But by the time of Rome Total War, even the Spartans weren't anything special compared to other hoplites. Bull Warriors absolutely should not have two hit points. Again, probably a balancing thing. I would imagine that the primary barbarian weapon was a spear, so the barbarians should have more spear units than just Warband. Then again, that is probably a decent representation of the standard barbarian unit. They had good swordsmen too, but the Warband would probably make up a vast majority of a barbarian army.

[LordK9]

Agreed. As far as swords vs spears, likely the same reason most vikings used axes - most couldn't afford to buy a sword.