Stormbringer 1.3 for Barbarian Invasion has been released! news - Scorched Ground mod for Rome: Total War

Storm is coming! Stormbringer for Barbarian Invasion has been updated to version 1.3!

Scorched Ground is a massive overhaul of Rome - Total War: Barbarian Invasion, which changes the models and textures of every single unit in the game, adds a lot of new troop types, and enhances various aspects of the game for better immersion. It feels like a horror movie now, but that's how a real life was for a common folk during the Great Migrations!..

The mod aims to make the game experience more dynamic, unpredictable and unforgiving by carefully adjusting combat and campaign aspects. Dozens of music tracks were collected to increase the dramatic effect for both battles and campaign. The tension is real now, and battles feel as they should: brutal, action-packed and ultimately designed to awaken the inner barbarian in you!

Stormbringer - Scorched Ground beta version - now receives its biggest update, which makes it even closer to the final release. Version 1.3 patch brings tons of content, optimization and bugfixes.
First of all, it incorporates a customized Mundus Magnus map to the game. Common for Classic Antiquity mods, it provides a rare, welcoming sight in Late Antiquity one.

Two more playable factions, Hephtalites and Eastern Roman Empire, have been added, and also Romano-Britons were introduced as a fully playable faction in the main campaign, raising the amount of playable sides to 17 (the rest are 3 rebel shadow factions and a free rebels). Hephtalites act as a counterweight to the Sassanid power in the East. A terrible threat loomed over the Sassanid Empire... Will the Persian armies hold out or turn to dust before another wave of steppe invasions?

Enemy units became even more stubborn and resilient in battle. Now you need to pay attention to the stats of units more carefully for the effective use on the battlefield. Terrain bonuses, cultural-affected climate bonuses, weapon-influenced penalties and tactical options, unit origins and social class, factional strengths and weaknesses have been made more precise, with the option to compensate roster gaps with specific regional units and mercenaries. In general, the rosters received some diversification in certain areas to increase tactic flexibility and make it so that every unit remains useful throughout the course of the game.

The campaign logistics and the supply of reinforcements is a crucial part of gameplay now during the long military campaign. Resisting invasions of a numerically superior enemy - a modded more powerful hordes - is a real test of player skills. The regular rebels random respawn on the map has been reduced to not distract both player and AI from the main constant war against barbarian hordes.

A few adjustments such a high fertility in key regions and a targeting system help the AI to prioritize cities to conquer in campaign. With the starting armies added by flexible first turn script, player will always be challenged, no matter what faction he will choose to play as. AI is active both on land and sea, with Saxons invading Britain, Romano-Britons invading Gaul, Germanic tribes fighting each other to death and hordes casually taking border settlements one by one.

The color design of the world map has been changed to better correspond with a grim and dark feel of the mod. A few familiar models such as the siege symbol or heroic victory symbol has been replaced with a grotesquely more evil versions, which will serve as a terrible reminder of the cost of victory and defeat.

A huge optimisation work has been done compared to the previous release. Every unit received proper LODs and sprites, so performance increase in battles is now up to 50-100%. Dozens of minor bugs and crashes have been eliminated, to make this new version as playable and enjoyable as possible.

Fight for a every tiny piece of land watered with the blood of thousands of warriors and where many more thousands will die. Use all your talents as a commander to lead your people to victory in the chaos of crazy battles. Will you fight to the last man for your land or will you leave the graves of your ancestors for the sake of new lands? Can you challenge the hordes in open battle or you will turtle behind stone walls like a true lazy, corrupted late Roman? Forward! May the sword be the answer to all questions and lead you to greatness or death...