Sassanids Faction Guide: Rome Total War Barbarian Invasion

Today we discuss strategy, tips and advice for the Sassanids campaign for Rome Total War Barbarian Invasion
Second channel: / @lugoreviews2805
Discord: / discord

[@alessandrobenvenuti6551]

“I’ll come from the backdoor and totally dominate them” priceless :,)

[@karelspinka3031]

Guide "How to play as Sassanids" in a nutshell: 1) Recruit Clibinarii. 2) Send them to fight. 3) Take a cup of coffee and watch how they melt your enemies. 4) Deal with the religious unrest in your new cities, somehow.

[@tylerpeterson3281]

Slowly, very very slowly, the one thing holding that faction back is religion, but being one of the only factions with 1 faith, they get a lot of generals with conversion traits/retainers

[@karelspinka3031]

@The Martial Lord of Loyalty One possible solution: Turn off 'fire at will' mode, hold 'alt' key and double right click on the enemy. Unless you play on a smartphone, then I just don't know...

[@hannibalburgers477]

add_population X 40000 x 100 add_money 40000 × 5 process_cq X × 100 add-population X -40000 x 100

[@vdaddy242]

Add_population 40000 x 5

[@AlithAnar]

@@hannibalburgers477 lmao

[@Robbi_]

They're like parthians on steroids

[@frosty2461]

Think it's more than just steroids at this point

[@levinb1]

To be fair, the Sassanids emerged from the weakness of the Parthian state... which meant the Persians had to be pretty hardcore to reassert their own sovereignty after being dominated first by Seleucids after Alexander’s death, and then later the Parthians.

[@angramainyu335]

Pretty much historically accurate statement

[@18Hongo]

So basically the Parthians with infantry, then?

[@aaronluisdelacruz4212]

That's an understatement

[@herroberbesserwisser7331]

Clibinarii aren't like Hastati. They are full fletched out horse archers with insane Armor!!!

[@CirosKhan]

And wield a mace

[@tylerpeterson3281]

In my campaign I had armies full of them with token infintry or seige to break walls, catephracts win battles, Clibinarii win wars

[@Cba409]

Clibinarii are a tier 2 cav unit that can only be countered by tier 5 units from other factions.

[@snowisthebestweather]

The only BI campaign I've done. Spammed Clibinarii Immortals and won pretty much effortlessly. They're trainable generals and long range horse archers that can fight hand-to-hand, and they also help spread Zoroastrianism.

[@numerouno1976]

On VH/VH difficulty the clibinarii immortal are one of the most overpowered things I've seen in a videogame for quite a while.

[@armandom.s.1844]

I agree with people saying the map should have been expanded East to give Sassanians a challenge with factions like white Huns but remember this is a Rome-based game so the main factions are both Romans. The map is, like in original Rome total war, centered around Rome and the Mediterranean. Sassanians are like most factions designed to be a side faction to challenge the Romans and not a complete empire of its own. Same with Seleucids and Parthians in original Rome.

[@cyberspacer1453]

I see a sassanid guide, I watch faster than Skyrim can be rereleased

[@BraydenLondon88]

Lol I love both games but its true Bethesda needs to work on the new stuff not skyrim over and over again we got the modders to do it

[@Fyrebrand18]

I feel like CA missed the chance to implement the Arabs as another powerful late game horde faction that threatens to take over the Eastern Mediterranean and North Africa.

[@hernanreipp3321]

This expansion was supposed to include more factions like the White Huns and the Moors. But for some reason they were scrapped. They were practically a copy and paste of the Huns and Berbers.

[@basiliimakedonas1109]

Problem is that Arabs are many centuries away from invading and until then Eastern Rome probably gets fucked because shitty campaign AI and the player and/or AI has already established an empire powerful enough that can steamroll any invasion

[@RocketHarry865]

@@basiliimakedonas1109 I think there should be either the white huns or Gutpa Empire of India to give the Sassanids a powerful challange

[@johnirby8847]

Maybe as an emergent faction 200 years into the game!

[@thebenevolentsun6575]

​@@basiliimakedonas1109that was never a problem in medieval 2 though.

[@someorclad9738]

"You're most effective against yourself." I don't think you intended that, but goddamn that sounds badass.

[@lugotorix6173]

hahaha I'll have to make sure to use that in real life now

[@r4v3nh0od3]

Horse archer spammer watching this: *heavy breathing*

[@_Gandalf_The_White]

Sassanids are the most fun to play but the most unfair and gruelling to fight against. Clib stacks are too filthy.

[@ares106]

“Dominate the ERE through the back door” got it 👍

[@BraydenLondon88]

Dude I just started a Persian campaign right before this came out this will help a lot thank you

[@lugotorix6173]

Happy to help!

[@ericcartman6573]

Bam 432226 did you buy a mod for Alexander to play the aechamenid Persians, or, Parthians?

[@BraydenLondon88]

@@ericcartman6573 sassanids but I can play the acheameds in Alexander since I changed the game files to allow it and I was doing a parthian campaign but all 3 dynasties have different troops however he made a video for both except for the Alexander one.

[@Lichtenhammer]

The Sassanids are really annoying to beat. In my last Western Roman Empire campaign, in which I went for complete world domination, I had a really painful endgame against the Sassanids and their numerous full stacks of elite cavalry.

[@lugotorix6173]

Yeah their cav is certainly hard to deal with, I agree

[@handyman8051]

They are annoyinf but palatinae are reliable enough to deal with them tbh.

[@hannibalburgers477]

Can we talk about how to beat late game Sassanids? I am playing as huns and they defeat me in every single battle. My arrows are weak against their armors, my infantry get melted by their cataphracts. I can only defeat them with collecting Veteranni, and I am bankrupt

[@GeneralPuff]

@@hannibalburgers477 I just fought a siege with a single clibinarii immortal (general unit) 48 man unit fighting my FOUR fresh, non veteran comitatense first cohorts in a narrow street, where heavy infantry should dominate any cav, but they killed all damned cohorts and that's bullshit because again it was four units of 242 men each. I have no idea what the "hard" counter to them would be. And yeah, I second your experience with arrows haha, they don't go through the armor almost at all, it's utter BS in such a cav-centric expac as BI imo. Edit: Am playing Western Rome

[@lolasdm6959]

@@GeneralPuff Weakest Persian vs Strongest Roman

[@milkbaologist5610]

the best thing about them is the fact that it do not have to fend off hordes

[@chrisleranthonysilveira5464]

Thanks for the video

[@CirosKhan]

Should have mentioned Alt+Attacks

[@paulokimbrillantes4250]

The problem with sughdian warriors they cannot be trained outside of the original Sassanian Territories

[@hernanreipp6983]

I hope in the remastered version remove that and make them trainable in most territories or at least replenish they ranks.

[@christmascactus1882]

Capital city is pronounced TESS-if-on, or possibly k-TESS-if-on, sources differ. The one without the K comes from later sources but in the accurate Persian language, whereas the one with the K comes from contemporanious, but Greek sources. It's actually right on the otherside of the river of the ancient Greek city of Seleucia, and right next to where the Arabs build the capital of their empire, Baghdad. That one site has been the capital of three world spanning, one Greek, one Persian, one Arab (although both the Greeks and Arab heavily Persianized over time).

[@lilben4184]

Only 30 miles south of those three is the site of Babylon, the birthplace of Hammurabi's Code. We're also pretty sure (though not certain) that somewhere within 20 miles of Baghdad lie the remains of Akkad the capital of the Akkadian Empire, arguably the first-ever empire in the history of the world. The Mesopotamia River Valley is one helluva drug.

[@huntermad5668]

For rushing; keep bare minimum infatry in your cities to keep PO then spam spies to open the gates of all the cities you fancy then get the generals inside to begin the slaughter. Added bonus when they have zoroastrian trait. You can add that trait with console command too

[@nathanaelyny]

Thanks for this

[@Ronga_Xilandi]

1º Antioch; 2º Jesuralem; 3ºCesariam; 4º Alexandria. They are the most developed cities, so you can keep up your heavy cav armies and are also the one that bring the most money.

[@stormrunner4081]

Hyped up bounus vs elephant and chariot only one other on the map has ether and there on the opposite side of the map

[@RocketHarry865]

I think the Sassanids need more gameplay challanges. The map should be increase vastly to the east to include the rest of the Iranian plateau, Afganistan, Bactria, Pakistan, Transoxiana and North India. Then add 3 more factions to contest your eastern territories. The first faction is the Hephthalites (White Huns) a Horde that starts out in the far north east and is relatively peaceful in early game but in the late game becomes really aggressive and will push down south into your eastern territories. The second faction is the Kidarites (Red Huns) a semi settled nomadic people in Bactria who will be your main early problems in the east as they will attack your territories and at the same time will try and push south into India. The final new faction is the Gupta Empire that rule parts of North India and will also like to try and take your most eastern most territories.

[@alexanderthegreat1356]

Yea the mod “invasio barbarorum flagium deli” sorts out most of those problems

[@cobrazax]

i noticed that they cant train their best infantry everywhere...so that is a major problem. did anyone else notice this??

[@huntermad5668]

You don't need infantry as Sassanid. For battle at least; still needed for PO. The only things you need are a group of 4-5 Clibinarii Immortals

[@olefredrikskjegstad5972]

A note about the slingers. Does it explicitly say that they're firing rocks? I don't think so based on my memory. Thing is, exactly what they're slinging can be quite varied. They could be using metal pellets, for example, a thing that was done historically.

[@danielolsson7134]

Too bad the Sughdian warriors are limited to maybe 3-4 or 5? of the starting locations, if only they were available in every settlement, I have never found a mod to change that fact. I think the Heavy Camels also were limited in accessability. In reality the Sassanid Empire were a very fearsome foe. ("Created" by the Romans.) I think that their Rome 2 Total war counterparts were better in that aspect.

[@cobrazax]

yes that limitation makes them pretty shitty...as u dont have access to your best infantry most of the time. i guess u can try to rely on mercenary legions...

[@huntermad5668]

@@cobrazax Why do you use infantry as Sassanid in battle? You can spam spies to open all the gates and let the cav do all the work. The immortals would crush anything on their path. As Sassasanid, you only need lv2 Stable and trader to spam Clibinarii and spies. The infantry is for PO

[@cobrazax]

@@huntermad5668 I dont like to take damage from the towers. They can use mercenary comitatenses though

[@nathanwilliams4954]

Cool!

[@johnirby8847]

Weirdly...Sarmation Auxilia of the WRE are a great counter to both the Horde factions and the ERE and Sassinids...They are armoured and fast moving but the excellent stamina is what wins...they can cause Clibbanrii and Immortals to chase to exhaustion but still be fresh and charge and win...same tactic against horde cavalry. Cheap..1 turn..most under rated unit in the game!

[@selder_7]

Best positioned faction in the game I’d say. Very unlikely that hordes come your way, and even if they do you can just stick an army on the bridge above Koran’s and you’re find. So you can focus entirely on war with one faction (east romans) without being backstabbed which no other faction has

[@camerong3818]

HOW. ARE. YOU. READING. MY. MIND.

[@lugotorix6173]

hahahaha

[@BraydenLondon88]

@@lugotorix6173 I'm guessing celts next? And by the way you can actually play as the slavs if you go into the games files and give them some characters and some units so maybe you can do that for us and make a video of it that way we can see on your opinion what would be a balanced mix of characters and units for them because I gave them nothing but nine steppe Raiders and their leader I can maybe set a link to a video on how to do it because it's not very well known but I have 2 videos on it on my channel or I can link it but you may be able to find it if you search up "how to make the slavs playable in barbarian invasion and low and behold my vids show up with a couple of melkor videos and some of yours but it would be cool if you check out mine.

[@uncxrrect3868]

Should do barbarians faction next

[@ukownjchak3169]

So it's like the parthien and arminoun mix than from Rome total war? What tactics do you use against the hord factions and where would you draw a defensive line against them? Or do you use the sea as a border? Just curious for a new player

[@htoosaw9012]

Use spear unit

[@WTFisDrifting]

Will watch later. Not sure how it’s 20 minutes and all you gotta do is bring ha ha/cataphracts. My experience has been that’s all you need to reach Rome.

[@thelaziestguyuveverknown]

Will you do a Vandal or Goth campaign (or of any faction)?

[@lugotorix6173]

Probably not a campaign (any tim soon anyway) to be honest, but a vandal faction guide will be coming soon and I've already made a goth one :)

[@juliovielma8703]

Lugotorix and it didn’t came

[@johnirby8847]

Clibinari melee attack is armor piercing....

[@thetzar2573]

Sassanids gonna come and stick their cavalry spear through the "back door" of the Eastern Roman Empire.

[@learnwithsarine2386]

Armenians living in the Sassanids empire were providimg most of the horses and horsemen of the SASSANIDS empire.

[@orao4022]

Parthian and Persian nobility provided most but Armenia did contribute when their king was a sassanid puppet and they didnt contribute when they were a roman puppet

[@he4620]

Both Armenia and Persia have great history like it👍

[@thenoobprincev2529]

That's....b*llshit, buddy. Funnily enough Armenia itself had adopted heavy cavalry on Persian ways, and Of course, their Kings and many of their high nobilities were Iranians themselves.

[@torgomaghanyan7633]

Basically Armenia, Parthia amd scythina in rome tw , sassanids in Rome bb invasion and Hungary, polan and byz in mtw2 is horde factions and based on their units it’s wise to play as horde, aka cav only

[@user-gq6rv5wp2p]

There's a kinda f.ckup with balance. The heavy cavalry here is too unbeatable. Once I couldn't defeat two Sassanid generals with ten legionary units. Vice versa, they defeated me. I had to use carroballistas and artillery to take them down. I couldn't even storm besieged cities held by a single general units. I had to besiege them until they gave up.

[@hernanreipp6983]

Against their generals the best tactic I find is use another heavy cavalry units. Infantry, even elite one, route very fast if not die from they arrows first.

[@user-gq6rv5wp2p]

@@hernanreipp6983 the only thing that was able to take them down for sure was artillery

[@donpendejo9468]

Made a video of mercenaries of barbarian invasion

[@zakback9937]

This makes it feel like the WRE roster is just utter trash compared to the Sassanids in the field

[@johnirby8847]

WRE takes on the Huns... Sarmatian Auxilia are fast moving/excellent stamina but armored which technically makes them the most OP unit in the game and the WRE has them. Try it yourself against Clibbanrii and Immortals....you exhaust the heavier units and then attack and you never lose

[@essaadeel3676]

​@@johnirby8847 the clibinarii can just shoot them from afar

[@urban_hoplite7593]

Thing is. What do you do for religion? And what religion do the sassanids have?

[@zakback9937]

Urban_Hoplite they have Zoroastrianism, which’ll slow a bit of the expansion down Edit: because most of the settlement in the game are pagan or Christian

[@joekamari8573]

Urban_Hoplite Zoroastrian and yeah the Christian settlements and that stuff gonna be a pain

[@hammer3721]

Build academies. The Sassanids are the only faction whose academies spread Zoroastrianism.

[@typhoontheseawing1556]

I won a battle vs a full Roman garrison with one unit of sassinid heavy cav

[@valennieto9795]

Plz do Western Roman Empire

[@lugotorix6173]

Yep will do, it's coming out soon!

[@ZelZarKi]

Blue.

[@beezybuzyfamily]

Sassanid last stand its conquered by rashidun caliphate/berbers

[@daswordofgork9823]

Where are their Immortals?

[@hernanreipp6983]

In this game the Immortals are the general's bodyguard.

[@ghnanrohit3029]

Levy pikemen beat limateina

[@ericcartman6573]

1st viewer!!!