For the faction of the same name in Total War: Attila, see Sassanid Empire.
The Sassanid Empire is one of the playable factions in the Barbarian Invasion expansion for Rome: Total War. They are the sole playable faction in the east and are the new face of Rome's old enemy Parthia, since the Sassanids took over and replaced them.
Description[]
The Sassanids where the last native dynasty to rule in Persia after the Parthians were overthrown and before the Arab conquest of later centuries. Sitting astride the trade routes to the east, the Sassanid court was fabulously opulent, and the empire was dynamic and efficiently run. The military was equally efficient and dangerous, and a challenge to the Eastern Roman Empire. What caused so much tension with the Romans was the establishment of Zoroastrianism as the state religion in Sassanid lands and the subsequent persecution of Christians. This gave the Romans a pretext for war whenever it was needed. The Sassanids were certainly organised enough to expand their control of Armenia and to hold off the various steppe peoples. Rather than move southwards into Sassanid lands, most of these chose to head west towards the richer and far easier pickings of Rome.
A strong Sassanid leader has the chance to expand westwards while both halves of the Roman Empire are distracted by their own squabbles and barbarian hordes.
Historically the Sassanids lasted over 400 years from the fall of the Parthians until the coming of Islam and the Arabs. Islam replaced Zoroastrianism and the Caliphate made Persia a part of a new society.
Overview[]
The Sassanids are the only other major power at the start of the game other than the two halves of the Roman Empire. They control a decent amount of starting territories that are all built up with decent buildings and a good economy. Like most factions, they start with several small standing armies of varying unit compositions which can be balled together into one large army if desired.
They are the only faction to not only be a part of the eastern culture group but also have Zoroastrianism as their religion, something no other faction has as their religion. They focus mainly on mounted units with only a token few melee and missile infantry. As such, they're highly mobile with some very scary and powerful late game units such as the Clibinarii Immortals, elite melee cavalry who also have bows, Clibinarii who are replacements for the Parthian Cataphract as well as Elephants, the only faction in the game to use them.
Strategy[]
The Sassanids start at war with the Eastern Roman Empire right off the bat, so either sitting back to build an army or swiftly gathering all their starting units into one army and going for a quick raid into the Empire's lands will be the opening moves for the Sassanids. They start with 5 provinces and 7,000 gold which is a decent supply, while gold is easier to come by as the Sassanids compared to most factions. Starting at war with the Eastern Empire isn't such as bad thing, anyway, as the win conditions for the Sassanids is to hold 20 settlements as well as control Alexandria, Jerusalem and Constantinople, all of which are a part of the Eastern Empire, so war was inevitable.
Being the only playable faction to start as an eastern culture group as well as starting off Zoroastrian, actually keeping hold of settlements taken is something the Sassanids will struggle with the most. Not only will there be the culture penalty when taking Eastern Roman settlements but also the religious unrest, requiring a large army to remain in the settlement until the religion has been flipped to Zoroastrianism and some of the buildings have been either replaced or torn down to reduce unrest. This can make conquest slow as taking too many settlements has the risk of mass unrest and rebellion as the multiple unrest penalties applied to these settlements combined with the lack of a decent sized army to control the population will mean settlements can easily flip back to the Eastern Romans if not kept under careful control.
Like the Parthians before them, the Sassanids tend to field more horses and mounted archers than foot melee infantry. Their most powerful units are all cavalry based and have far greater stats than any melee infantry they could hope to field. For the early game, melee units will supplement the mounted units of the Sassanids while better buildings are built and the populations grow to unlock higher level buildings. For fighting the Eastern Empire, a mix of cavalry with infantry is good enough for taking some of the border settlements. Late game is a rather different affair, as access to the elite and nearly unmatched heavy cavalry unique to the Sassanids will take front and centre of their armies going forwards. Their unique Clibinarii and the Immortals variant are hard to kill and hard to counter, especially for the Eastern Empire after loosing half their territories to the Sassanids no doubt. Combined with Elephants, the Sassanids can become a nearly unstoppable force if left unopposed.
The Sassanids are quite lucky in that they'll only have one real enemy to deal with over the course of their campaign, being the Eastern Empire and their associated rebels. The only other faction bordering them is normal rebels and hordes generally ignore the eastern part of the map. As such, all military might and expansion wants can be found in the form of the Eastern Empire. The Huns may cause a problem if they come for the Eastern Empire rather than going for the Western Roman Empire, but generally the Huns will skirmish with the East and focus more on the West.
Units[]
- Peasants
- Kurdish Javelinmen
- Levy Spearmen
- Sughdian Warriors
- Mountain Slingers
- Desert Archers
- Camel Raiders
- Armoured Camel Riders
- Cataphracts
- Clibinarii
- Clibinarii Immortals
- Elephants
- Nomad Archer Cavalry
- Ballistas
- Onagers
- Heavy Onagers
Trivia[]
- The Sassanids are the only faction to start off Zoroastrianism. The Romans are either Pagan or Christian while the barbarians are all pagan of some variety.
- They are also the only faction in the expansion to be a part of the Eastern culture group.
- The Sassanids are the only faction in the expansion to use elephants.
Gallery[]
