Rome: Total War
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| Rome: Total War | |
| Image:Romebox.jpg | |
| Developer(s) | Creative Assembly |
| Publisher(s) | Activision |
| Release date(s) | September 22, 2004 |
| Genre | Real-time strategy |
| Mode(s) | Single player, multiplayer |
| Platform(s) | PC |
Rome: Total War (or RTW) is a grand strategy computer game where players fight historical and fictitious battles during the era of the Roman Republic, from 270 BCE to 14 CE. The game was developed by Creative Assembly and released on September 22, 2004. A demo of the game, which features a playable version of The Battle of the River Trebia, with the player taking the role of Hannibal, was released on August 23, 2004 and is freely available for downloading.
The game features large scale battles of ancient armies with thousands of warriors. The main innovation is a brand new high-quality 3D graphics engine that allows reproduction of large scale battles realistically. Another prominent feature is the integration of the strategic and tactical views - the landscape for the battles is the same as seen on that particular spot on the strategic map where the armies meet.
The player can take roles equivalent to those of generals such as Hannibal Barca, the brilliant Carthaginian general during the Second Punic War, the Gallic warlord Vercingetorix, and Julius Caesar. Among the playable factions are three Roman families (Julii, Brutii, Scipii), which are available from the start of the game, and the free Greek city-states, Carthage, Gaul, Britannia, Germania, Parthia and the successor states of the Seleucid Empire and Ptolemaic Egypt, all of which must be unlocked before they can be played with. Like Medieval: Total War, there are also many non-playable factions, including the Dacians, Numidians, Scythians and Armenians.
The gameplay is similar to that of its predecessors, Shogun: Total War and Medieval: Total War, although there are some changes to the mechanics of sieges and city fights have been added. Most notable is that players now move their units with movement points; in previous games units were moved by territory.
Thanks to the realism of both the simulation and the graphics, even before its release a preliminary but completely workable version of the game engine was used in two series of TV programs: Decisive Battles by the History Channel where it was used to recreate famous historical battles, and Time Commanders by BBC Two, where teams of novice nongamers commanded ancient armies to replay key battles of antiquity. The game engine was fine tuned specifically for these television shows by military historians for maximum historical accuracy.
Contents |
Factions
Factions in the Original Game
When Rome is first installed, it will only allow the player to play as one of the three Roman factions: the Julii, the Brutii, or the Scipii. Over the course of a campaign as the Romans, additional factions will gradually be unlocked, up to a total of eight when the player wins the campaign. There are a further nine factions—Macedon, Pontus, Armenia, Dacia, Scythia, Spain, Thrace, and Numidia—which cannot be unlocked this way, but which play well if unlocked through a user-created modification. Two final factions, the Senate and Rebels, have special roles in the game, and as they are not meant to be played by users of this game, modifying the game to allow faction playability may cause instability.
Roman Factions
Rome includes three playable Roman factions: the Julii, the Brutii, and the Scipii (in addition to the unplayable S.P.Q.R.). The three factions start out allied to each other and the Senate, and may not attack each other at the beginning of the game. Each Roman faction can also view the others' map information in real time, a benefit not accorded to any other alliance. However, the factions generally function independently, and a player controlling a Roman faction probably won't bother lending assistance to his allies.
All three factions receive missions from the Senate, but may choose to follow them or not at their leisure. Following Senate missions will increase the player's standing with the Senate, and players in good standing with the Senate will receive progressively greater rewards for completing missions. If one of the Roman factions is unpopular with the Senate, however, the Senate may begin demanding that the faction complete the missions it's assigned, and penalize it if it doesn't.
In addition to Senate standing, Roman factions must keep an eye on their popular standing. In general, popular standing tends to increase as a faction gains more territory—the public likes a conqueror. On the other hand, the Senate tends to get worried when a faction accumulates too much power. At a certain point, the Senate will inevitably request that the player's faction leader commit suicide. As with any Senate demand, the faction may accept or refuse—if it accepts, the faction leader dies and the heir becomes the new faction leader, buying the faction a few more years of Senate toleration before the demand is repeated; if it refuses, the Roman factions are plunged into civil war. The player may also initiate civil war once his popular standing is high enough by simply attacking another Roman faction.
The Julii start out in the northern portion of the Italian peninsula, and they usually focus on fighting barbarian tribes to the north. The Brutii start out in the south of the peninsula, and they usually focus on the Greek factions to the east. The Scipii begin in Sicily with a stronghold in central Italy nearby to Rome itself, and usually focus on fighting Carthage, Numidia and Egypt to the south. Other than that, the primary difference between the three factions is temple selection—all factions in the game can build any one of a few temples in their settlements, and each temple has a unique effect on the settlement. It's generally agreed that the Julii have the weakest temples. Each faction also has one or more unique units:
- The Julii receive middle-strength gladiators as units, Samnite Gladiators, and correspondingly are able to recruit them before the Scipii but after the Brutii, as well as the Arcani stealth unit.
- The Brutii receive the weakest gladiators, Velite Gladiators, but can recruit them before the other Romans can recruit their own. They receive no additional unique units, but their superior temples make up for the loss of a few rather specialized units in the late game.
- The Scipii can recruit special ships—Corvus Quinquiremes and Deceres—by erecting temples to Neptune. They have the most powerful gladiators (Murmillo Gladiators), but receive them later than the other factions.
If the Senate faction is manually unlocked and played by a human player, its role in Roman policy is ignored. Senate missions no longer exist, there are no Senate officers, and there is no Senate or popular standing. If the player attempts to go to the Senate screen, which normally tells Roman factions about these four things, the game crashes.
The Roman factions can each recruit 32 or 33 different unit types.
- The combat infantry are Peasants, Town Watch, Hastati, Principes, Triarii, (Early) Legionary Cohorts, (Early) Legionary First Cohorts, Praetorian Cohorts, Urban Cohorts, Velite Gladiators, Samnite Gladiators, Mirmillo Gladiators
- The strategic infantry are Velites, (Light) Auxilia, Archer Auxilia, Roman Archers, and Arcani
- The fast units are Wardogs, Incendiary Pigs, Equites, Cavalry Auxilia, Legionary Cavalry, Roman Cavalry, and Praetorian Cavalry
- The mechanical units are (Repeating) Ballistae, Scorpions, and (Heavy) Onagers
- The naval units are Biremes, Triremes, Quadriremes, Corvus Quinquiremes, and Deceres
Historical Accuracy
The three-faction Roman system in the game is entirely ahistorical. In fact, republican Rome was ruled exclusively by the Senate (which had substantially more power than is reflected in the game) and the various assemblies. Individual families might rule small provinces, but expansions to the empire would have been assigned to new governors, not left to the generals who conquered them. Generals, too, were selected by the Senate and assemblies, and the roles of governorship and generalship were not as conflated as they are in the game (although influential politicians such as Julius Caesar could quite possibly serve as both generals and governors).
The primary reason for the three-faction system is to simulate the civil war that ultimately resulted in the end of the Roman Republic. The names of the Roman factions probably derive, respectively, from Gaius Julius Caesar, Marcus Junius Brutus, and Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus Major, each the most famous to bear his name, but why these three Romans were chosen is unknown to the public. Furthermore, while the Julii may hypothetically be correctly said to be Imperialists because Julius Caesar became the first dictator perpetuus, the precusor to the modern understanding of Roman Emperor (which his successor, Augustus Caesar, would assume), Brutus was thoroughly Republican and is in fact famous for having killed Julius Caesar after he was granted absolute power through the office of dictator perpetuus by the Senate; theoretically speaking, the family of Brutus would not have imperial ambitions.
In addition, although perhaps more trivially, the names are declined incorrectly. While the plural of Julius is indeed Julii, the plural of Brutus is Bruti, not Brutii. Likewise, the plural of Scipio is Scipiones, instead of Scipii. Latin words are, in general, wholly or partially Anglicized in pronunciation; velites (Latin [welɪtes]) is pronounced /vɛlɪtes/ instead of the expected /vɛlɪtiz/ (compare the ending sounds of the English word indices). Similarly, the C in principes is pronounced as a hard [k] as in Latin instead of the [s] expected for English. See Latin declension and Latin pronunciation.
Barbarian factions
Barbarian factions have certain unique disadvantages. Unlike most civilized factions, they can't build roads more sophisticated than dirt paths, which inhibits their strategic movement. More importantly, their technology is limited to only three city levels, as opposed to five for civilized factions, and thus they tend to achieve their most advanced units quickly. Some players feel that this makes the barbarians boring, since they don't gain new units after a short while into the game. Other players feel that it takes an unusual amount of cunning and skill to successfully play as a barbarian. Although barbarian units are for the most part stronger and faster than other units, they are also highly disorganized and quick to run away if the battle goes poorly, and as such they have a stunted capacity to carry out the complex real-time manoeuvers which are required to win some of the tougher engagements. Because of this, many of the more expert players take pride in the elegant battle tactics they employ to defeat much more organized opponents (who invariably have much more "staying power") in particularly protracted online battles.
Gaul (playable) starts out with a very large territory, but it's usually attacked by several other factions at once, including the very powerful Julii. Due to this and its disadvantages as a barbarian, it's among the more difficult factions in the game to play. It can be effectively played however, if the Germanics and the Britons are successfully allied in the conquest of Rome. The Gauls have good infantry and good archers, but little cavalry. The Gauls can recruit 11 different units. These are Warhounds, Barbarian Cavalry, Barbarian Noble Cavalry, Barbarian Peasants, Druids, Warband, Chosen Swordsmen, Naked Fanatics, Swordsmen, Forester Warband and Skirmisher Warband.
Britannia (playable) starts out in control of the British Isles, with only a small foothold in mainland Europe. Its armies tend to include chariot archers, as well as frenzied swordsmen covered in intricate woad patterns, and units that hurl severed human heads covered in quicklime to demoralize enemies. The Britons can recruit 10 different units. These are Warhounds, British Heavy Chariots, British Light Chariots, Barbarian Peasants, Druids, Warband, Chosen Swordsmen, Swordsmen, Woad Warriors, Head Hurlers and Slingers.
Germania (playable) begins to the northeast of Gaul and the east of Britannia. It will usually fight the Gauls and the British at the start. German forces include strong infantry, such as axemen. They also have several units intended to terrorize the enemy, such as the fearsome berserkers and axe-wielding night raiders covered in black war paint. They also have the effective Spear Warband which are the only barbarians to have the ability to move into the formidable "phalanx" formation. They are possibly the most powerful barbarian faction. The Germanic tribes can recruit 14 different units. They are Warhounds, Barbarian Cavalry, Barbarian Noble Cavalry, Gothic Cavalry, Barbarian Peasants, Berserkers, Screeching Women, Axemen, Chosen Axemen, Naked Fanatics, Night Raiders, Chosen Archer Warband, Skirmisher Warband and Spear Warband.
Spain (non-playable) begins on the Iberian peninsula. Its armies tend to be more cavalry-oriented than most barbarians, and it usually fights the Carthaginian and Gaulish expansion into Iberia. Despite being relatively strong for a non-playable faction, they usually end up being slowly absorbed into greater Gaul, or enslaved by Carthage, making Spain an important deciding ground of the game for all factions situation in the western mediterranean. The Spanish can recruit 11 different units. They are Warhounds, Onagers, Round Shield Cavalry, Iberian Infantry, Peasants, Scutarii, Town Militia, Bull Warriors, Naked Fanatics, Skirmishers and Slingers.
Dacia (non-playable) relies mainly on heavy infantry. They are a placeholder faction similar to but somewhat stronger than Numidia, with no unique units and poor starting territories. However, they often survive for some time longer than would be expected simply because nearby factions usually have more pressing concerns (Germania with the Gauls and Britons; Thrace and Scythia with the wealthy Parthians). The Dacians can recruit 12 different units. They are Warhounds, Ballistae, Onagers, Barbarian Cavalry, Barbarian Noble Cavalry, Barbarian Peasants, Warband, Chosen Swordsmen, Falxmen, Naked Fanatics, Archer Warband and Chosen Archer Warband.
Scythian (non-playable) forces are overwhelmingly composed of horse archers. Historically, the Scythians were a small tribe by the time of the game's start, and the Sarmatians had largely taken over the steppes. Then again, neither the Scythians nor the Sarmatians had any form of organized government, so the representation of either as a unified faction is ahistorical. Sarmatians do appear in the form of heavy cavalrymercenaries. The Scythians can recruit 12 different units. They are Warhounds, Onagers, Barbarian Cavalry, Head Hunting Maidens, Scythian Nobles, Scythian Horse Archers, Scythian Noble Archers, Scythian Noble Women, Barbarian Peasants, Axemen, Archer Warband and Chosen Archer Warband.
Greek Factions
The Greek Cities (playable) starts with colonies in Sicily and Asia Minor and territory in the Aegean Sea area. Its troop selection essentially consists of hoplites, although it has access to powerful missile troops in standalone battles (as opposed to the campaign, where those troops are recruitable by any faction as mercenaries). The Greek cities weren't unified during this time period historically—each was its own city-state, although most were allied with some of the others. Greece is perhaps the hardest faction to play, especially in the beginning, because they immediately find themselves under attack by both the ultra-powerful Romans and the wealthy Carthaginians from the west, as well as the Parthians, Seleucids and the desert people of Pontus from the east; this is counterbalanced by the fact that Greece begins as the most advanced faction, with the capacity to generate huge revenues and mass produce strong infantry from the very first turn onwards. Also, from the start they control or are within striking distance of almost all of the games wonders. Even so, Greece usually only survives if it allies with, or conquers Macedonia, or if it makes good use of its Phalanx formation infantry to defend its cities. The Greeks can recruit 14 different units. They are Incendiary Pigs, Ballistae, Onagers, Heavy Onagers, Greek Cavalry, Militia Cavalry, Peasants, Archers, Heavy Peltasts, Peltasts, Armoured Hoplites, Hoplites, Militia Hoplites and Spartan Hoplites.
Macedonian (non-playable) armies focus largely on the Macedonian phalanx and shock cavalry, including the Companion cavalry used by Alexander the Great. However, due to certain bugs with the game's handling of charging units, the Companion Cavalry is not as powerful as originally intended to be. The Macedonians can recruit 14 different units. They are Ballistae, Heavy Onagers, Onagers, Greek Cavalry, Light Lancers, Companion Cavalry, Macedonian Cavalry, Peasants, Archers, Peltasts, Levy Pikemen, Militia Hoplites, Phalanx Pikemen, Royal Pikemen.
The Seleucid Empire (playable) starts in the Middle East and Asia Minor, controlling Mesopotamia and the remains of Alexander's empire there. Its main force is similar to that of the Macedonians, containing the same powerful Macedonian phalangites and shock cavalry (including Companion Cavalry). However, its armies can also contain hoplites, scythe-armed chariots, war elephants, cataphracts, and Roman-style legionaries, giving it the most diverse troop selection in the game. The Seleucids are quite possibly the strongest faction in the game, arguably superior to Rome in the quality and selection of troops. This is counterbalanced by their close proximity to the strong Egyptian and Parthian empires, in addition to the less formidable but still dangerous Pontic and Armenian factions. As such, when controlled by the less able computer the Selucids are often, but not always, destroyed. The Seleucids can recruit 17 different units. They are Onagers, Greek Cavalry, Armoured Elephants, Cataphracts, Companion Cavalry. Elephants, Scythed Chariots, War Elephants, Militia Cavalry, Peasants, Silver Shield Legionaries, Archers, Peltasts, Levy Pikemen, Militia Hoplites, Phalanx Pikemen, Silver Shield Pikemen.
Thrace (non-playable) is a quasi-barbarian faction, with both Greek and barbarian troops. Perhaps the strongest Thracian troops are Falxmen, who wield the rhomphaia or falx. Thrace can become unusually strong for a minor computer faction in some games, as their primary opponent, Macedon, is usually the main target of the Brutii. This can allow Thrace to take cities from the beleaguered Macedonians and become fairly large and powerful. Thrace's starting position borders on Macedon, Scythia and Dacia. The Thracians can recruit 10 different units. These are Onagers, Greek Cavalry, Militia Cavalry, Peasants, Bastarnae, Falxmen, Archers, Peltasts, Militia Hoplites and Phalanx Pikemen.
Carthaginian Factions
Carthage (playable) starts with scattered territories in North Africa, Sardinia, Sicily and the Iberian Peninsula. Its troops include a good mixture of infantry and cavalry and powerful elephants. Carthage is one of the more difficult factions to play, because Rome will always quickly declare war on you; your Spanish settlement is difficult to keep, and you always have to worry about Numidia at the same time. Survival is very difficult for Carthage, and it is almost always defeated early on the game when not played by a human. The main strategy is to destroy all buildings on Sicily and evacuate to Carthage itself and committing forces to the Numidian war effort. The Carthaginians can recruit 16 different units. They are Heavy Onagers, Onagers, Long Shield Cavalry, Round Shield Cavalry, Armoured Elephants, Elephants, Sacred Band Cavalry, War Elephants, Iberian Infantry, Peasants, Town Militia, Skirmishers, Slingers, Libyan Spearmen, Poeni Infantry and Sacred Band Infantry.
Numidia (non-playable) has speedy javelin-throwing light cavalry and other javelin-based units, as well as some light spear-armed infantry and their own legionaries. Numidia tends to declare war on Carthage early in the game. Numidia is a throw-away faction designed to be a place-holder to be defeated. It never survives until the end of the game, being destroyed by either Egypt, Carthage or the Scipii unless the player takes extraordinary measures to prevent this. The Numidians can recruit 10 different units. They are Onagers, Long Shield Cavalry, Numidian Camel Riders, Numidian Cavalry, Peasants, Numidian Legionaries, Archers, Numidian Javelinmen, Slingers and Desert Infantry.
Eastern Factions
Parthia (playable) starts on the eastern fringes of the map, with mostly landlocked areas. Its specialty lies with mounted units, particularly the fearsome cataphract-horse archer combination that it historically used to destroy the Romans at the Battle of Carrhae and which often dominates multiplayer battles in Rome. Parthia usually has a difficult time starting their fledgling kingdom, due primarily to (ironically) money problems and a severe lack of near-by annexable territories; the only available provinces, that is, provinces not owned by anybody likely to make come-uppance, are literally several hundred miles away which usually engenders a foot race with Seleucid forces wanting to fortify their position against Egypt. Another problem is the lack of good infantry, Eastern Infantry are too weak to be effective in combat so one must rely on Mercenaries early in the game. Once seed money and basic land requirements have been met, the Parthians quickly tend to become a dominatingly, overwhelmingly wealthy force due in part to their excellent trade position as well as a special faction-specific building which allows affiliation with India and distant East Asia (which are usually not featured in-game) and which essentially acts as a huge multiplier on all trade income. The Parthians can recruit 11 different units. They are Onagers, Cataphracts, Cataphract Camels, War Elephants, Horse Archers, Persian Cavalry, Hillmen, Peasants, Archers, Slingers and Eastern Infantry.
Armenia (non-playable), like Parthia, focuses mainly on cavalry. Armenia is the only faction with cataphract archers. They also have their own legionaries. Armenia begins with control of the area connecting Asia Minor and southern Russia, near Pontus, Parthia, and Scythia. The Armenians can recruit 11 different units. They are Onagers, Cataphracts, Cataphract Archers, Horse Archers, Hillmen, Peasants, Armenian Legionaries, Archers, Peltasts, Eastern Infantry, Heavy Spearmen.
Pontus' (non-playable) troops include javelin-armed cavalry as well as phalanx troops. Pontus' territories are located in the northern part of Asia Minor. As a result, the mountains surrounding it form a natural defence against the north, south and east, with chokepoints easily blocked by temporary forts. The Pontics can recruit 13 different units. They are Onagers, Cappadocian Cavalry, Pontic Heavy Cavalry, Pontic Light Cavalry, Scythed Chariots, Chariot Archers, Hillmen, Peasants, Archers, Peltasts, Bronze Shield Pikemen, Eastern Infantry and Phalanx Pikemen.
Egyptian Factions
Egypt (playable) starts in the Nile Valley and surrounding area. Its troops tend to be lightly armored due to the climate of the area. Egypt starts in a strong position, so they tend to grow early in the game, and are usually one of the great powers remaining near the game's end. The Egyptian army is another candidate for strongest in the game, due to cheap, numerous armor-piercing cavalry (Desert Cavalry), and efficient high-class units such as the Pharaoh's Guards and Pharaoh's Bowmen. It is disputed that the Egypt faction in this game is in fact the Ptolemaic Empire, although this is explicitly stated in the game and the time frame is correct for this conclusion to be drawn independantly. Egyptian archery is second to none, with the vast majority of Egypt's armed forces being either bowmen, or spearmen. Even Egypt's general is an archer unit (the only other playable faction accorded this trait is Parthia), meaning the player must rarely worry about the outcome of sending his general to assist at critical battle points. The strongest archers in the game are the Pharaoh's Bowmen, and even the basic bowmen units, available from the beginning of the game, come in groups of 240; the only archers in the game not to come in groups of 160, giving them a nearly insurmountable advantage against even the high-class archers of other factions. The Egyptians can recruit 17 different units. They are Heavy Onagers, Onagers, Desert Cavalry, Nubian Cavalry, Egyptian Chariots, Nile Cavalry, Camel Archers, Egyptian Chariot Archers, Peasants, Desert Axemen, Bowmen, Pharaoh's Bowmen, Skirmishers, Slingers, Nile Spearmen, Nubian Spearmen, Pharaoh's Guards.
Misc
The Rebels are a unique faction. Cities that rebel due to low public order usually defect to the rebel faction, and brigands of various kinds routinely appear under the rebel faction's control. Prior to the 1.2 patch, rebels would occasionally attack nearby armies, but never cities; as of the 1.2 patch, rebels will besiege cities as well on Hard and Very Hard difficulty levels. The rebel faction, if unlocked by modifying the game files, provides a unique (but sometimes buggy) game experience for the player.
See also
Factions in the Barbarian Invasion Expansion
As Barbarian Invasion takes place 350 years after the end of the original game, factions and provinces are very different. The Senate has been overthrown and Rome has split into a Western and Eastern empires, ruled from Rome and Constantinople respectively; Egypt, Greece, Macedon, Pontus, Carthage, Gaul, Numidia, Hispania, Britannia, Dacia, and Thrace have been absorbed into the Empire; the Seleucid empire has collapsed; the Parthians have been replaced with the new Sassanid dynasty; Huns have invaded Europe; and the Germanic tribes have unified and strengthened to the point where they are now capable of invading the Empire itself.
Hordes are a feature which is peculiar to Barbarian Invasion; hordes do not hold any provinces in the map but consist of full armies who are wandering closely together to the map. They get no income at all - except when they sack cities; in this case they conquer a settlement, but only to pillage and loot it, leaving the remnants to the rebels. Horde factions do not "die out"; when they have finally found a new homeland which is successfully conquered by an enemy, the whole faction becomes a horde again and flees, in order to seek a new home. With the concept of a horde the developers tried to reflect the migrations of several "barbarian" peoples of that time- especially Huns, Goths, Vandals, Franks, Burgundians and Lombards.
Roman factions
The Roman factions represent the remnants of the once powerful Roman Empire.
Eastern Roman Empire: Playable. Richest faction in the game, and equipped with heavy cavalry. They must hold (or conquer) 34 provinces, among them Northern Italy (Rome) and Africa (Carthage); initially, both regions are ruled by the Western Empire.
Western Roman Empire: Playable. Deteriorated, but still armed with powerful legions.
Romano-British: Non-playable. Culturally speaking, a Roman faction. They appear when the Western Empire loses its two provinces of Britannia to invaders. The Romano-British use mostly Roman units, but they can also recruit the legendary Graal knights from Arthurian legend.
Eastern Roman rebels: Non-playable. This faction is spawned when Eastern Roman cities rebel. They have the same units like the Eastern Romans and start being at war with them.
Western Roman rebels: Non-playable. see above, but this time they affect the Western Empire.
Hunnic factions
The Hunnic factions are distinct towards the Nomadic factions, for they are only represented by the fearsome Huns themselves.
Huns: Playable. Excellent cavalry with high endurance. They must conquer both Rome and Constantinople. They start as a horde.
Nomadic factions
These barbarian factions start in Eastern Europe. Nomadic is an umbrella term; they include both Iranic peoples and Eastern German tribes, as well as the Slavs. The Nomad cavalry is overall superior to that of their Western brethren; furthermore they have access to highly competent mounted archers. Their infantry does fairly well, too. The main drawback of the Nomads is their lack in siege technology. All Nomadic factions are able to form a horde.
Goths: Playable. Sacrificially kill captured enemies, but in the beginning of the game most of them are already converted to Christianity. Their strength lies in their cavalry.
Vandals: Playable. Settled in Rome's former northeast African provinces. Start as a horde.
Sarmatians: Playable. Tribe living north of the Black Sea; excellent cavalry and woman-warriors.
Ostrogoths Non-playable. Similar to the Roman rebels, the Ostrogoths are spawned when a Goth city revolts.
Roxolani: Non-playable. A tribe related to the Sarmatians; because they are neighbours to the Hunnic hordes, they tend be the first faction to fall. Afterwards they form a horde as well.
Slavs Non-playable. Appear later in the game.
Barbarian factions
Barbarian factions populate Western and Central Europe (at least those parts that are not under Roman rule). Their strength lies in their powerful melee infantry, and most of them can lay sieges like civilized factions. The Barbarians do mostly roam more or less mountainous terrain with many forests; hence, their cavalry is a bit lacking.
Saxons: Playable. Settled in Rome's former British provinces. They have access to top-notch infantry.
Franks: Playable. Settled in Rome's former Gallic provinces; have axe-throwers and durable infantry. They can horde.
Alemanni: Playable. A confederation of Germanic tribes; their powerful infantry includes fearsome berserkers.
Celts Non-playable. They can be found in modern Scotland and Ireland, and will be a threat to either the Western Romans or the Romano-British.
Burgundians Non-playable. Rivals to the Franks, as their goal is to settle in Gaul, too. They can horde.
Lombards Non-playable. A tribe with strong infantry and archers; they will invade Northern Italy. They can horde.
Eastern factions
Sassanids: Playable. The new ruling dynasty of Persia; the strongest power in the East, rivals with the Eastern Romans, persecute Christians, and the only faction to use war elephants.
Northern African ("Carthaginian") factions
Berbers Non-playable. Concentrate on desert warfare; they have a fairly restricted unit roster, and are lacking in technology (especially infrastructure).
Misc
The rebels are represented in Barbarian Invasion as well, but this time they do not hold so many provinces like in the original game. Every time a city is sacked by a horde, it becomes rebellious (since the horde faction will not settle down).
Rome Total War engine limitations
Before its release, RTW was marketed to potential gamers by proclamations of massive, real-time, fully three-dimensional battle scenes being completely accessible to the gaming community at large. However, some veteran gamers were disappointed with the hard-coded engine limitations that cut the advertised experience short. These limitations could theoretically be removed only by editing the program in assembly code, since the Creative Assembly hasn't released the game's source code. In a program of RTW's size and complexity, however, anything but the simplest change is almost impossible by these means.
Battles
Many factors are hard-coded into the engine, limiting the scale of battles. Individual units can only contain up to 240 soldiers, and a maximum of 24,000 individual characters can participate in one battle simultaneously. The engine itself, through extensive testing on the Total War Center forums, has been shown to handle only up to about 8,000 soldiers in a single battle before exhibiting slowdown, even on the most powerful of computer systems. (Large battles of the era routinely included tens of thousands of men.) Still, RTW can simultaneously render more three-dimensional soldiers than any other game as of March 2005.
Modification
Another manner in which the game was marketed to the computer elite and veterans to the Total War series was that the game was heavily, if not completely moddable. However, hard-coded limitations of the engine has held up these operations, as well as many other possible modifications and game improvements. The hard-coding of many aspects of the game has heavily limited the ability to modify several key areas of the game, such as the faction selection. Modification has also been held back by limited documentation—much information critical to modding had to be discovered by trial and error. Nevertheless, RTW remains a highly moddable game by most standards, even if it's not at the level of Half-Life 2 or certain other games. However, unlike most other games, modding RTW can easily be done with almost no tools at all. A simple text editor, such as notepad, can be used to alter almost anything in the game.
The first mod for RTW was born long before the game was released, when some people who hoped for a historically accurate game were upset by inaccurate portrayals of barbarian factions. They formed a team, called, Europa Barbarorum (EB), to gather information about the barbarians of the period in hopes of persuading the Creative Assembly to depict them more accurately. That bid failed when CA indicated that it had no intention of making the game absolutely historical. EB nevertheless continued to gather information, eventually including information about all aspects of the time period rather than just barbarians, with the intent of releasing a realism modification after the game's release. As of March 2005, EB has by far the largest staff of any RTW modification, although it still hasn't released an initial version months after RTW went gold. A public beta, however, is on the way.
After Rome was released, many other individuals and teams put together modifications for public consumption. Amongst the earliest major modifications to be released was Rome Total Realism (RTR), which also sought to make the game more realistic. More recently, SPQR: Total War was released—originally it was labeled a realism mod as well, but it has since dropped that appellation. Still another popular modification is the DarthMod. Rome Total Realism is almost certainly the most popular "total conversion" mod released so far (as opposed to those that make only minor tweaks), with an estimated 60-80,000 downloads of the 6.0 version within 24 hours after its release.
There are a number of other total conversion mods that have released preliminary versions as of September 2005. These include Chivalry: Total War, a medieval mod; Fall of Rome: Total War, based on the fall of the Roman Empire; and two Middle-earth modifications: Fourth Age: Total War and Middle Earth: Total War. Many modifications have boards at the Guild, Total War Center, the Rome: Total Realism forum, or the Strategic Command Center.
There are also other modification projects that have yet to be released. Many Rome: Total War mods release screenshots and previews of their work in order to establish a fan base. A comparatively new method of generating interest in a modification project is to release trailers made by the same method as the BBC Time Commanders series. The first mod to use this method extensively was Troy: Total War (TTW), with three trailers released by October 2005.
The latest patched version of RTW, 1.2, suffers from a number of bugs that have been corrected by the fans. Such issues include problems with the characters' traits (such as "Good Commander", "Angry", "Casual Adulterer", etc.), retinue members, sprites, soldier statistics, and other problems. A number of projects have sprung up to deal with them. Perhaps the most notable, comprehensive and well-supported is player1's Bug-Fixer.
Barbarian Invasion leaked
Barbarian Invasion, due for release on September 30, 2005, was released roughly a week early by WEBHALLEN.com, a Swedish computer game retailer. The game was spotted shortly thereafter on warez sites and eBay. The Creative Assembly stated that the leak was due to unauthorized action on the part of a distributor.[1]
See also
External links
- Official Game Website
- Official Barbarian Invasion website
- The Guild (a.k.a. "the Org"), an important unofficial game website
- Rome: Total Realism forums for general RTW discussion as well as mod-specific discussion
- Rome: Total War Heaven, an important unofficial game website
- Strategic Command Center, another important unofficial game website
- Total War Center, another important unofficial game website, including many downloads
- A wiki for the game
Mod websites
- Fourth Age: Total War (LotR)
- Rome: Total Realism
- Troy Total WarMajor Mod Portals
