Rome Total War: Barbarian Invasion

**FabMan** · February 15, 2010, 11:41 PM

I played Rome Total War a few years ago and stopped when Medieval Total War 2 Kingdoms came along. When I played Rome Total War it was with mods and I have been playing Medieval Total War 2 with Stainless Steel mod and I've enjoyed them both very much. I typically play hard/hard for the challenge, but without it becoming too hard and therefore a chore to play. I recently purchased Barbarian Invasion and installed the 1.6 patch and I am not impressed so far, after starting a new campaign I saw that Western Roman Empire would be the greatest challenge so I picked them.

However after 7 turns in I am very disappointed with the game. I know it is supposed to be difficult but the WRE feels gimped rather than having difficult challenges and the AI feels a lot worse than what I am use too. I expected it to be hard because my forces were stretch thin, I'd have limited funds and my people would be unhappy (due to changes in religion and low funds), which is true but I did not expect the WRE to have so few cities, which all are nearly rebelling, with all the cities with poor buildings and the worse of all rag dolls for soldiers.

In one map my units attacked a city which out numbered the opponents over 2:1 and the enemy had only 5 (but tougher) units. I was able to break down 2 gates and attack the enemy on two fronts, I wiped out 2 units quickly with taking minimal casualties leaving 13 units vs 3. I surrounded the enemy which were all squashed at the centre for some reason. I let loose with fire arrows and 2 units started running back and forth, not attacking my units though. They did this so much that one became exhausted quickly while the other was tired and their morale was failing, however they lost minimal units the general lost about 6 while war hounds lost about 15 which didn't make much sense to me. The arrows hit and the units moved but they just seem to shrug it off.

Then suddenly the general and the war hounds attack the 2 different fronts, which is good as this makes more sense. The general charges in an exhausted state my spearmen and does little damage on impact, so charge was useless. While the general engages the spearmen I send 2 units either side who first throw javelins and then charge, I have archers land non-flaming arrows and after a little I send a full unit of light Calvary in the rear (who seem to die on charge impact). So the general is attacked by 5 units, one from each side and one from above, I expect to take losses but still defeat the general. However within a short period of time all my units run away and most of them are dead, I check and the general unit has lost only 4 men in that attack while I've lost 6 units. I had a reserve sent in as the first fled and died. Can someone explain how and exhausted unit can defeat 6 fresh units?

Also the warhounds attacked another spearmen unit but they were easily defeated, lost half my spearmen though. But what I don't understand is why my units ignore the dogs and keep trying to attack the men that run off. I watched as how 4 hounds got around my spearmen and munched on the archers behind and none of them attacked the dogs. I tried to send in other units but when I clicked on the dogs they ran after the men who were further away and providing no threat. The archers didn't defend themselves and I watched as they slowly got eaten, I had to move other units on top of the archers and only when the dog bumped into them did they attack them.

By this time the invincible general came for the other front and piled into them again, within a short period my men fled. I assume they were shaken by the dogs first and then the invincible general just finished them off. Since their 3rd unit didn't move, 2 units wiped out 13 and I am an experienced player.

Also I notice that when I send my horsemen to attack a moving unit, they don't charge the bulk of the men but the stragglers, so they stop running to fight and the rest of the unit turn back and the charge is completely wasted.

Okay so is this just me or is the AI a lot worse in BI then what I've been use to and is there a mod that I can use that will allow for challenge but not for a slaughter?

Thanks guys.

**A Demented Goldfish** · February 16, 2010, 07:25 AM

Actualy the AI in BI is better than in RTW but MTW2 has the best AI (i havn't played empire so i wouldn't know)

**leseras** · February 16, 2010, 08:07 AM

Yeah actually i agree that the AI in BI is better then RTW. Maybe your difficulty settings are at easy?

**empr guy** · February 16, 2010, 08:47 AM

are you judging the AI on one battle? besides AI is AI. After you get the feel for it you can beat it without mercy on the lower settings.

and lets face it, if the AI tried to flank you in that battle and it didnt just send every unit including archers into a melee to your closest unit its better then empire

**vanity** · February 16, 2010, 11:38 AM

All those problems you mentioned are also present in RTW. Confused AI that exhausts itself; wardogs being separate from their unit (screws up its engagement status too); cavalry failing to run down or charge units, particularly disarrayed ones.

Archers don't do much damage against armored units when firing from the front.

I haven't played BI, but I'd wager that general was just an improved heavy cav. unit. And heavy cavalry annihilates pretty much everything, including all but the strongest of spearmen. Waves of low-tier units won't stand a chance, even from the rear.

Maybe you simply forgot about all those lovable little quirks of Rome in your time away?

**FabMan** · February 16, 2010, 11:22 PM

Vanity, that must be it.

I loved Rome: Total War, even after I turned the PC my mind would play out scenario's and I'd imagine what it would be like at that period. I even read books and learnt more on the period as it inspired me so. After I finished playing with the game I remember playing ME2 and thinking it was a good improvement, but now I've gone back to RTW I realise just how much they improved the AI. Plus with Stainless Steel the campaign game was really improved.

I'll put this game on hold until Fall of Rome (BI) 1.3 is released, as even though it will not improve the AI it should improve the campaign game.

**Dodge** · February 18, 2010, 10:17 AM

Originally Posted by FabMan

Vanity, that must be it.

I loved Rome: Total War, even after I turned the PC my mind would play out scenario's and I'd imagine what it would be like at that period. I even read books and learnt more on the period as it inspired me so. After I finished playing with the game I remember playing ME2 and thinking it was a good improvement, but now I've gone back to RTW I realise just how much they improved the AI. Plus with Stainless Steel the campaign game was really improved.

I'll put this game on hold until Fall of Rome (BI) 1.3 is released, as even though it will not improve the AI it should improve the campaign game.

Fall of Rome? Is this a mod?

**nvm** · February 18, 2010, 02:14 AM

I assume that the spearmen were Limitanei. Well, their attack sucks, so do not expect them to defeat a general. I did not realize that they suck that much until you came with this threatd

If your general isn`t nearby to your spearmen when they are fighting another general, then of course they are probably going to rout, because the units get a huge morale penalty for being next to the enemy general and a bonus for being close to your own general.