Total War: Rome II - Empire Divided adds so much more to the game series
The Roman Empire is in crisis in the latest Total War: Rome II DLC - and their fate is in your hands.
Empire Divided takes place in the year 270 AD, where the actions of incapable emperors and usurpers vying for power has led the Roman Empire into near-total economic collapse. With Rome weakened, barbarian tribes gather at the borders, while the Sassanids set out on a grand conquest to claim Roman lands in brutal fashion.
The only thing preventing the Sassanids' path to Rome is Queen Zenobia and her Palmyra faction, but will players manage to withstand enemy attacks and hold their own?
With Rome's future in the balance, Aurelian stands ready to take the reins of what appears to be a very daunting and dangerous task.
Campaign and features
As well as a large campaign to enjoy, Empire Divided also has new features including plagues, cults and banditry - as well as a number of Heroic Factions.
Cults
There are three different cults available in the game - Christianity, Mithraism and Manichaeism - and each cult is represented by special building chains that can be constructed by any faction in any settlement.
Plagues
When a plague creeps into a settlement, it hampers growth, has an effect on public order and reduces income made. Diseases can move between neighboring territories, spreading to traveling armies and along trade routes. Players can prevent plague outbreaks by building Sanitation buildings, and key technologies can improve sanitation faction-wide.
Banditry
Each province now has a variable Banditry level which increases with the size of your domain and the presence of certain local buildings. The presence of armies, generals and special buildings can reduce Banditry. If players fail to control it, Banditry can have an impact on food levels, threatening faction-wide shortages. High provincial Banditry can also trigger special Bandit events.
Heroic Factions
In Empire Divided, five of the ten playable factions are classed as Heroic factions - Rome, Gallic Rome, Palmyra, the Sassanids and the Gothi. The benefit of these Heroic factions is that they have grander and more elaborate victory conditions, and unique named faction leaders who cannot be killed in battle.
Heroic factions also have their own bespoke event-chains, representing the tales of these characters’ lives, which bring bonuses to their abilities and enable the player to make meaningful choices regarding their development and that of their faction.
