The Berbers are a minor non-playable faction featured in Rome: Total War: Barbarian Invasion. They were later made playable, along with all the other non-playable factions in Total War: Rome Remastered.
Description[]
The Berebers were a desert-dwelling people who as the Western Empire slowly declined caused trouble for the Romans in North Africa. A change in climate may have prompted these tribes to move north, or it may simply have been the perceived weakening of the Roman garrisons. Whatever the cause, the danger presented by the Berbers was such that the Romans were forced to fortify the frontier and strengthen the garrisons.
However, the Berbers aren't the only people looking to take advantage of Roman decline. Vandals have crossed the Mediterranean Sea from Spain and are looking to dominate the North African littoral. To prosper the Berbers must drive the Romans and Vandals into the sea or themselves be forced back into the desert.
Overviews[]
The Berbers are a minor faction based on the remaining Carthaginian legacy remaining in Africa. They have their own, unique, culture group and own just two territories. They're one of the less threatening tribes the Romans will face compared to other, more dangerous barbarians coming from Eastern Europe. They have a small unit roster, no siege equipment and can be easily contained but shouldn't be underestimated. They're one of the few factions who start off Christian from the start and can't change their religion, further hampering their attempts to expand from Africa.
Tactics[]
The Berbers are a small thorn in the Roman side when playing as the Western Roman Empire, since they start out at war with Rome. Like the Celts, they are hampered by a small unit roster, poor starting settlements that limit both their economy and army size as well as a lack in better infrastructure. They're unlikely to accomplish more than the occasional raid into Roman territory and won't build up too much of an army. Thanks to their poor settlements, they will not grow much in both population or territory, but will nevertheless be an annoyance down in north Africa if not dealt with. They'll be on your hitlist as both the Vandals and Western Empire. For the Vandals, the Berbers own settlements needed to satisfy the Vandal victory conditions, while the Romans will want to stamp them out to secure the African front and be able to direct units towards the more threatened Gaul and Italia settlements.
The Berbers were made playable in Rome Remastered with a faction difficulty of hard. Their victory conditions are deceptively simple, to just hold 10 settlements including Carthage and Alexandria. However, this is a slight problem which can be dealt with slowly. Starting out, the faction has some traits that make building up difficult. The culture to them is unique, being the only Carthaginian culture group in the expansion, but this limits their infrastructure, meaning building high end squalor prevention buildings is impossible, as are better stone walls or better roads to name a few. The two settlements the Berbers start with are very poor and unable to both sustain a large population or a large economy which limits their army.
While the Berbers may be temped to march across the desert to Carthage and get started on their victory conditions right away, this is in fact a bad option. Instead, the Berbers should construct a boat and build as big of an army as their economy allows. From here, a short sail across the straights to Hispania is the way forwards for two reasons. The first is that there are several settlements nearby to the Berber capital which can be taken in just a few turns, whereas marching to Carthage would take 5 turns at minimum. The second, more important reason, is that the settlement just opposite the Berber capital has mines, and mines give a lot of money! Taking the settlement across from the capital will instantly give the Berbers a much needed economic boost, to both build a large army and more buildings. Tearing down the Pagan shrine/temple and replacing it with Christian buildings is also a good idea to get unrest down from religion, while replacing as many Roman buildings with Carthaginian ones and tearing down any that can't be replaced is a good idea as well to reduce unrest due to culture.
From here, conquering Hispania is a good idea. Not only will it secure the Berber homeland, but also give more settlements with mines, allowing for a large army to be stationed in Hispania to protect against both Roman reconquest attempts and any barbarian invasions. Gaul, however, should be left alone, as many barbarian hordes and factions, as well as the Western Empire, will be fighting all over Gaul, whereas holding Hispania just gives a threat against the Romans, as one of their victory settlements is in Hispania. After Hispania is secure, conquering Africa is the next task, but building an army should be easy now that the Berbers have control of Hispania and their mines. Carthage will be the first settlement on the hitlist, since it's one of the Berber victory provinces, before marching on to Aegyptus (Egypt).
One of the hidden challenges to the Berber campaign raises its head here, which is keeping unrest down from the distance to the capital. While it may be tempting for the Berbers to change their capital to Carthago, which is more central between Hispania and Aegyptus, this is not necessarily the best option. While changing the capital to Carthago will keep the ex-Roman cities in Africa happy, namely Carthago and Leptis Magna, it will greatly increase unrest in both the ex-capital of Tingi as well as the further away settlements in Hispania. As a result, expanding towards Alexandria is problematic due to the capital distance but also the lack of infrastructure buildings the Berbers can build. While the Romans can build aqueducts to lower squalor (in Rome Remastered), the Berbers have access to a tier 2 squalor reduction building and nothing more. Keeping the Roman buildings will keep the squalor lower but increase unrest due to culture differences, whereas knocking down the Roman buildings and replacing them with the Carthaginian ones will lower the culture penalty but increase squalor, so it's a lose-lose situation either way. Keeping control of Hispania is important to having an economy as the Berbers, so keeping a large army at each settlement between Carthago and Alexandria is the best idea rather than moving the capital, since when the settlement revolts the Berbers can simply attack it and exterminate the population to reduce both unrest and squalor. It limits the max amount of population the settlements can have but it's the only way to keep them under Berber control thanks to the lack of infrastructure and squalor reduction buildings the Berbers have, which is one of the reasons this campaign is marked as 'hard' difficulty.
Herein lies the other challenge to the Berber campaign which is that they must go to war with the Eastern Roman Empire as well, since Alexandria is a part of the Eastern Empire. They use a lot more cavalry and mounted archers which may take a Berber army by surprise if they are only equipped to take on the more infantry based armies of the Western Empire. However, if they East is distracted with a larger threat such as the Sassanids, or is just not garrisoning Aegyptus very well, getting in and quickly taking Alexandria can be done without much Eastern Roman interference. The best way for the Berbers to get to Alexandria is to get an army on a boat and just sail right up to the city, landing next to it and declaring war on the East, taking the city before they can march any reinforcements. From here, if the Berbers have taken all of Hispania and Africa up to this point, they will be very close to owning 10 settlements if they are not already. If a few short, continuing to march deeper into the Middle East and taking a few settlements in the Holy Land will push the Berbers over to 10 settlements, thus securing victory! Alternatively, depending on the Eastern Empire's disposition, having a diplomat to offer peace and some of the cash the Berbers will have lying around from all the mines in Hispania for a settlement from them will have a high chance of success, also netting 10 settlements for the Berber victory.
Units[]
- Peasants
- Berber Axemen
- Mountain Men
- Hillmen
- Desert Archers
- Camel Raiders
- Moorish Raiders
- Berber Lancers
- Desert Chieftain
- Desert Cavalry
Trivia[]
- The Berbers are the only faction to be a part of the Carthaginian culture group in the entire expansion.
Gallery[]
