10 Rome: Total War – Barbarian Invasion Battle Tips

Rome: Total War is now an Android/iOS mobile game, so brush up on your skills with 10 Rome: Total War-Barbarian Invasion battle tips! Players can now play one of the great games from SEGA's Total War series on their mobile devices.

10 Rome: Total War-Barbarian Invasion Battle Tips

Rome: Total War – Barbarian Invasion is the expansion to Rome: TW. That game is now back with a bang as Feral Interactive released a new Android version of Barbarian Invasion for Android and iOS mobile devices in 2019. The new BI Android version has revived Total War nostalgia for many fans and also introduced the series to new players on their mobile devices. The Barbarian Invasion app is retailing at $5.99 on Google Play and Apple App Store. After adding it to your mobile, check out some of the Barbarian Invasion battle tips below. 

So, now it’s time to sharpen your swords and lead your barbarian and Roman armies into battle once again. To emerge victorious in Barbarian Invasion campaigns, you’ll need to win most of the bigger battles yourself as you can’t always rely on the AI to automatically settle battles in your favor. Here are some Barbarian Invasion tips for winning campaign battles.

1. Don’t Risk Your General

This is one of the golden rules for battles in all Total War games. The general division is too important to your army’s morale to risk losing in battle. Consequently, your divisions will usually rout much more easily and quickly, which in most cases lead to defeat. Your entire army might collapse after a general is lost. Furthermore, losing generals in battles will also reduce the number of governors for your settlements.

10 Rome: Total War-Barbarian Invasion Battle Tips

A general division

The best thing to do with a general in battle is to keep it close to your divisions to boost their morale. When, or if, some of your divisions rout, use the general’s rally call to stop them fleeing from battle. Only attack divisions with your generals when the battle is almost certainly won or when they’re routing.

2. Target the Enemy General

Given the importance of generals to armies’ morale, killing the enemy’s general early is one of the best ways to win Barbarian Invasion battles. So, try to take out the enemy’s general as soon as you can. Identity what enemy unit is the general division at the start of a battle (it will usually be placed just behind the main army line). When the battle opens up a bit, take your chance to charge down the enemy general with some of your cavalry. If you’re equipped with long-range archer and catapult units, target the enemy general with them.

3. Don’t Forget the Cavalry!

Cavalry divisions with horses are more crucial to victory in the Rome: Total War games than any other title in the series that includes them. They’re the fastest moving and most maneuverable divisions in the game that also pack in very high attack values with charge bonuses to boot. When grouped together, cavalry divisions can mow down enemy armies. Your armies will lack maneuverability without cavalry.

10 Rome: Total War-Barbarian Invasion Battle Tips

Elite cavalry divisions

Cavalry divisions are essential for flanking (attacking divisions from two sides). Although it’s possible to flank with infantry units, it’s much harder to pull off flanking moves with them. To flank with impact, group your cavalry divisions together to combine them on one side of your line. Then strike at the rear or side of enemy infantry when they’re in active combat against your divisions during a battle. Alternatively, players can also mount attacks from both sides of infantry divisions with two or more cavalry units without needing infantry to flank them.

4. Take to the High Ground

At the start of a battle, analyze the terrain to see if there’s any good high ground (otherwise hills). High ground can provide divisions on it with a few advantages. Firstly, enemy divisions will get tired running up hills to attack your divisions. Hills enhance the distance of archery divisions and reduce friendly fire when missile units fire over divisions stationed ahead of them. Cavalry can also annihilate divisions when charging downhill. So, position, or move, your troops onto higher ground when you can.

5. Bring a Couple of Siege Towers to Capture Big Cities

Siege towers provide a good platform for taking city walls and capturing larger settlements. To take big cities with stone walls, bring at least two siege towers to the battle. Your siege towers will come under fire from the city walls and some of the divisions on them. So, it’s a good idea to have at least two siege towers for a battle in case one is set ablaze before it gets to the wall.

In addition, don’t approach city walls with siege towers from directly in front of a gate, which is where they’ll usually be positioned by default. The AI will station most of its defending infantry divisions along the stretch of wall across the gate. Thus, the enemy might be able to flank your units along the wall if your siege towers are moved directly adjacent to a gate. Furthermore, the biggest towers will also fire at you from the gate.

Instead, place your siege towers further to the left or right side of the gate’s wall during deployment where they’ll probably come under less fire. Then you can usually approach unguarded areas of the wall with the siege towers. Consequently, you’ll have more time to fully move a few divisions onto the wall before the enemy units can attack them.

10 Rome: Total War-Barbarian Invasion Battle Tips

Two siege towers approach a largely unguarded stretch of city wall.

6. Capture City Wall Towers Alongside City Paths

After taking a city wall gate, move a division to take all towers along the wall that runs alongside pathways in the city you’ll need to move across to reach the center. If you don’t do that, your divisions will come under fire from towers when they move along pathways that run alongside walls. Wall towers that you capture will also open fire on any enemy divisions on the ground below that move within their ranges.

10 Rome: Total War-Barbarian Invasion Battle Tips

A captured city wall tower sets an enemy siege unit ablaze.

7. Keep Your Infantry Divisions Together

Do not disperse your infantry during a battle. Your army can disperse when its units automatically start pursuing routing divisions. If you don’t stop them pursuing routing divisions, your army can get spread out across the map. As cavalry units are so fast, it’s okay to move them away from the rest of the army as they can quickly run back, but infantry divisions move much slower. Keep your army’s infantry together so that those divisions can support each other more and engulf enemy units in greater numbers during crucial phases of battles.

10 Rome: Total War-Barbarian Invasion Battle Tips

A dispersed army attacks the right flank of a compact army line.

8. Don’t Charge Spear Divisions With Cavalry

Anybody who has watched Braveheart might appreciate why it’s not a good idea to attack spearmen with cavalry. In that film, Gibson leads Scotland’s rebel army to an unlikely battle victory by countering England’s heavy cavalry division with spears. So, don’t go charging into spear divisions with cavalry in Barbarian Invasion. Players can also better protect both sides of their battle lines from cavalry by placing spear units on the right and left sides of their armies.

9. Target Isolated Divisions

The enemy, however, might not always keep its army together. If the enemy army gets a little dispersed and spread out, its isolated divisions will be especially vulnerable to attack. So, get your cavalry together with which you can charge down most isolated enemy divisions at will during a battle. That’s especially the case when attacking isolated missile units that aren’t any good at close quarters.

A group of cavalry swamp an isolated enemy division.

A group of cavalry swamp an isolated enemy division.

10. Select Fire at Will Mode

When the battle begins, set all the divisions you can to fire at will mode. A number of infantry divisions have a smaller amount of missiles (arrows, spears, or axes) that they will first fire automatically when you’ve selected fire at will. In addition to this, your archers and horse archers will already have this option set, but might also include fire missiles that can be more effective. Use your missile divisions to maximum effect at the beginning of the battle, and with increasing losses that should ensure that the other army is the first to charge toward your line.

Those Barbarian Invasion battle tips will give you a better chance of winning most of your campaign battles whether playing the game on Android, iOS, or Windows platforms. In addition, those tips apply to the original Rome: Total War game, which is also available for Android mobiles.

1 Comment

  1. Avatar photo

    That’s some very good advice for a great, great game. Thank you sir!!

    Reply

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