Barbarian Invasion...unworthy expansion?

[Fireright]

Rome, for all its flaws, bugs and annoyances, remains a highly popular and enjoyable game, and could be regarded as bit of a 'classic'.

And then we have Barbarian Invasion as an expansion.....all things considered I regard it as an inferior game and unworthy expansion to Rome.

As a game its 'ok' but BI seems shoddy in production, annoying to play, and contains a real shocker of a gaff on the campaign map...the port of Petra. why is it there when theres no trade routes? What a howler.

Anyone else regard BI as an unworthy rush-job??

[Juvenal]

It would appear there is life on other planets after all.

BI introduced a significant number of new features to RTW that make it very popular with modders.

Hordes, Shieldwall, Schiltron, Swimming, Shadow-factions (East and West Roman Rebels), Emergent factions (Romano-British, Goths and Slavs), Religion and some new animations, such as two-handed pikes and great-swords.

Also I believe the battle AI is improved, and the campaign AI has the ability to mount naval invasions.

The Western Roman Empire campaign brings a fresh new dynamic to players bored with conquering Europe from a 3-province base.

Apart from the over-vivid colours and bland unit-rosters, BI was a very worthy and worthwhile expansion for RTW (much better than Alex).

[Fireright]

"Compare the quality and feel the width" of Kingdoms as a worthy expansion to M2.

Contrast that with BI, which was served up as the major expansion to Rome...a game worthy of a far better quality expansion.

The over-vivid colours are indeed just one of the 'irks' in this game...baffling why bright pink was selected for the Eastern Roman Empire, one of the major factions and a most un-military looking colour...bright pink ffs.

Introduction of religion as a major gameplay element, and yet no moveable religious agent pieces, priests...shoddy stuff.


Unworthy Expansion?....

It would appear there is life on other planets after all.

Unworthy of Comment.

[roam]

Tactics ,Battle system, ai improved.

In my opinion its ok. It needs more cities and the overall campaign should be better but a lot of good new features.

Overall ok, its is good enough. I am not too picky, i'll play anything remtoely decent and enjoy it.

[Rilsaur]

The over-vivid colours are indeed just one of the 'irks' in this game...baffling why bright pink was selected for the Eastern Roman Empire, one of the major factions and a most un-military looking colour...bright pink ffs.

erm, ERE's main color is purple in BI. Similar to the Byzzies in M2TW. as they should be.

[The Noble Lord]

BI introduced a significant number of new features to RTW that make it very popular with modders.

Hordes, Shieldwall, Schiltron, Swimming, Shadow-factions (East and West Roman Rebels), Emergent factions (Romano-British, Goths and Slavs), Religion and some new animations, such as two-handed pikes and great-swords.

Also I believe the battle AI is improved, and the campaign AI has the ability to mount naval invasions.

The Western Roman Empire campaign brings a fresh new dynamic to players bored with conquering Europe from a 3-province base.

Apart from the over-vivid colours and bland unit-rosters, BI was a very worthy and worthwhile expansion for RTW (much better than Alex).

I agree 110% with this statement. The RTW:Barbarian Invasion can proudly be called a worthy expansion and even a TW classic! And it's definitely 20.000 times better than this garbage of ETW and Napoleonic TW that they are going to release!!!

[roam]

Which is why its ok, but can you really compare it to RTW and honestly say 'Yes these are equal!'? I don't think there are enough settlements on BI. Add another 50 or however many they can before they reach there hardcoded limit and i would agree more.

I haven't played ETW so i can't comment.

[Fireright]

Which is why its ok, but can you really compare it to RTW and honestly say 'Yes these are equal!'? I don't think there are enough settlements on BI. Add another 50 or however many they can before they reach there hardcoded limit and i would agree more.

Thats another good point...not enough regions. After playing RTW, it's a bit like "where's the rest of the map?".

Shoddy.

[Warhammster]

Barbarian Invasion is better than regular Rome Total War. It also sports the best campaign in Total War history: surviving as the Western Roman Empire.


Still it doesn't compare to good old 2D Medieval - Total War, but that was the high peak og the series. I brood every day that my computer is to modern to install that good old game.

[cupoftea]

BI sucks? Say that to all the awesome dawesome mods that require BI, that alone makes BI one of the best expansions evar x)

[Chris Death]

I must say BI is a way better expansion than Alex and BI really isn't that bad.

As has been mentioned already there are a lot of improvements to the game
and there's that one thing that i also like very much. After a heroic victory
there's a chance you'll find two crossed swords on the campaign map and
if you hold your left mousebutton over it you can see details about that famous
battle location (like who, when etc.).

Another thing is the hammering you have to stand against when facing a horde
or maybe even two.

Usually expansions do not come up with so many improvements in game-mechanic
like BI did.

Also getting everything in one pack with RTW gold one can't say they tried to go
even for your underware with the price attack.

~S~ CD

[Fireright]

Also getting everything in one pack with RTW gold one can't say they tried to go
even for your underware with the price attack.

Aye, can't quibble too much with the price these days...bargain bin fiver job and all that.

I'm still left with the impression though that I'm playing a half-finished game with little attention paid to the campaign map aspect of the game. The totally useless and pointless port of Petra, and the lack of moveable priests/religious agents to speed up religious conversion or cause religious unrest in enemy territory, all indicate sloppy attention paid to the campaign game.

BI Top Tip #1 Do not build a mega-fleet in Petra....sailors get bored with nothing to defend or attack.

[Parzival2211]

After a heroic victory
there's a chance you'll find two crossed swords on the campaign map and
if you hold your left mousebutton over it you can see details about that famous
battle location (like who, when etc.).
~S~ CD

I have seen that in RTW as well - but I do have BI installed, too.

[|Sith| Max]

BI pwns Alex. Chris death's signature says the rest. This discussion should be moved to the trashbin.

[Jobke]

Please help me! I don't know how to create Legion with Eastern or Western Rome Empires!

[DeerHunter]

BI the best TW game ever made, The most balanced and varied in my humble opinion

[General Nuisance esq]

Better than Alex I grant you, but nowhere near as good as RTW and in my eyes the best expansion was kingdoms for M2TW
but each to their own

[roam]

It doesn't take a genius to work out BI is worse than Rome and better than Alexander. However it is still a good expansion in my opinion that is at least 'ok' as i said before, and i am glad i bought it, however it could defiantly be improved

[Fireright]

It doesn't take a genius to work out BI is worse than Rome and better than Alexander. However it is still a good expansion in my opinion that is at least 'ok' as i said before, and i am glad i bought it, however it could defiantly be improved

Fair comment methinks. I kinda feel the same...its 'ok' but not outstanding, and could certainly be improved, especially on the campaign map side of the game.

The horde aspect seems poorly implemented, and the religious stuff is an annoying hassle not aided by the omission of priests as moveable agent pieces. A 'classic' game like Rome deserves a better expansion with more polish and better implemented features.....'ok' game but reeks of rush job.

[roam]

Thanks.

Howver when you boil it down to the core, its all about money. Creative Assembly are a business and making money is their primary goal. Therefore, all things considered, i suspect these expansions may have been rushed out to make some money before they released M2TW and its a logical move? Hence why BI is good/ok but really lacks the finishing touches of TW that makes them truly awesome and RTW was revolutionary. It was always gonna be hard to make the expansion live up to expectation but tbh i don't think they tried very hard!