Just read a review of the new expansion for RTW and was wondering if any dopers out there have got their copy yet…and what they think of it. I haven’t rushed out to get mine yet only because it doesn’t look like they have done a lot to the game except to introduce some new maps and new races you can play. The game itself seems pretty much unchanged and I’m unsure how fun it will be to play the various invading barbarian’s and tear down Rome (might be fun to try and defend Rome FROM the barbarians I suppose).
I just picked up Barbarian Invasion a few weeks ago. It’s a very solid game. Some of the changes they made are freaking badass. For instance, during bridge assaults some units have the ‘swim’ ability which allows them to, you guessed it, swim across. This allows some armies to attempt a flanking action even when their forces are gummed up on a bridge.
There is also night fighting, which is just neat.
However, there are even fewer settlements than the previous game, and I believe that wonders of the world no longer do anything. Rome, or rather its two factions, by the way, has some real problems dealing with horde armies…
All in all it’s a different product than the game it’s an expansion for, and for the twenty bucks I’d say it’s worth playing.
Which is a good thing IMHO. As the map size and shape are essentially the same, you have more open ground between settlements, which equals fewer sieges and more field battles. I hate sieges.
More to the point it is an absolute necessity for the horde factions to function properly as a “push” element. After three settlements are taken the horde factions cease to be hordes and lose their massive numerical advantage. More settlements would equal a quicker grinding to a halt of horde movement, decreasing their threat.
The 1.3 patch alone is good. If you preferred the tactical engine of MTW ( as many of the hardcore seem to ), BI moves a little more in that direction, with the 1.3 patch lengthening battles a bit, nerfing archers a tad ( shields get a good anti-archery bonus now ) and adding improved anti-calvary ability to spearmen. It also repairs some bugs, while adding a few. But hey, what else is new :).
However I also particularly like the BI campaign. It’s shorter ( technically and only if you are interested in beating the in-game victory conditions - you can play on if you like ), but more dynamic and random IMO ( and more than a few others judging from message board chatter ). The hordes are so unpredictable that each game can feel quite different and just about any faction can end up on top. It also means some campaigns can be deadly dull ( the Saxons in particular seem to be easier, due to their northern starting position ), but occasionally you’ll be scrabbling for air as you get pounded over and over again. And I think the horde concept was, overall, very well-implemented.
Plus I rather like that time period ;).
A worthy expansion and I’d say worth the dinero if you’re a fan.
I still haven’t gotten used to playing as a horde. Any tips would be welcome I seem to have trouble with the transition from horde to settled. After restarting more times then I can count I finally got established in greece as the huns only to have some other hordes take a few countries from me. Sure they were poorly defended ones I just taken from rebel factions but I’m used to never losing countries once I have them.
I usually play all total wars on hard settings but I’m thinking about tapping it down until I get this figured out.
