Rome: Total War - Collection: Complete Guide

A veteran's guide to the original Rome: Total War and Barbarian Invasion: store status, campaign management, battles, faction picks, the Senate, and how to get the 2004 game running well on a modern PC.

Researched September 2026 — current as of the final 1.x patched Steam release (Rome: Total War plus Barbarian Invasion); the Collection is now unlisted on Steam. Live games change; check the linked sources if something differs.

Store Status

The Steam listing for Rome: Total War - Collection (app 4760) is unlisted at the publisher's request and no longer appears in search. If you already own it, it stays in your library and can be downloaded and played. New players looking for the same game in a modern package should look at Total War: ROME REMASTERED (released April 29, 2021, developed by Feral Interactive), which adds updated visuals, 16 extra playable factions, a redesigned UI, merchants and Workshop mod support. Almost everything in this guide applies to both.

The Collection contains Rome: Total War and the Barbarian Invasion expansion. The Alexander expansion was a separate product.

Quick Start

1. Start with the Julii family. Of the three Roman houses, the Julii (north, vs Gauls) have the most straightforward start. The Brutii (Greece and Macedonia) and Scipii (Sicily, Carthage, navy-heavy) are fine second picks.
2. Keep your cities happy and orderly. Public order and squalor are what cause revolts, not enemy armies.
3. Put good governors in big cities. A family member with high Management raises income and order.
4. Win battles with combined arms. Infantry holds, cavalry flanks and chases, missile units soften. Charge cavalry into the enemy's flank or rear, never head-on into spears.
5. Play Senate missions. They pay money and units and keep your standing up. Ignoring the Senate is fine later, but the civil war arrives on its own schedule.
6. Don't expand faster than your treasury. Each new settlement needs a garrison and often a temple before it pays for itself.
7. Unlock more factions by finishing the Imperial Campaign (and by defeating factions), or use the well-known descr_strat.txt edit.
8. Consider unit size and battle time limit in the options: bigger units look great, and turning the battle time limit off stops timeouts in sieges.

Campaign Structure

The Imperial Campaign starts in 270 BC. You play one of the three Roman families under the Senate, or (once unlocked) an independent faction.

For the Roman families, the long game always ends in a showdown with the Senate and the other two families.

The Senate and civil war

• The Senate issues missions (capture a city, blockade a port, make an alliance). Completing them grants money, units or standing.
• Your popularity with the people rises as you win. Eventually you become too powerful and the Senate turns on you, or you choose to march on Rome.
• Prepare for the civil war before it triggers. Garrison the cities that border the other Roman families, and have full-strength armies within reach of Rome. The moment it starts, the other families and the Senate's forces attack you.

Settlement Management

Rules of thumb:

• Taxes: set high in stable cities, low in new conquests.
• Temples: pick gods that fix what the city needs (law, happiness, growth, trade).
• Roads and ports raise trade income; prioritize them in your core.
• Farms early in cities you want to grow.
• When capturing a city, you can occupy, enslave or exterminate. Exterminate kills population and drops unrest in big hostile cities; enslave moves population to your other cities. Occupy keeps everything and is best for small or friendly cities.

Characters and Agents

Family members

Generals and governors have three core stats: Command (battle), Influence (diplomacy, loyalty) and Management (city income and order). They gain traits from what they do and retinue members (ancillaries) that add bonuses.

• Keep good managers in big cities; keep good commanders in armies.
• Idle generals sitting in low-order cities can pick up bad traits. Give them a job.
• Marry off daughters to capable men to add family members.

Agents

Trade rights with neighbors are an easy, safe income boost; send diplomats early.

Battles

Core principles

• Hammer and anvil. Pin the enemy with infantry, then hit the flank or rear with cavalry.
• Spears beat cavalry. Don't charge cavalry into spear or pike formations from the front.
• Missiles first. Archers, slingers and skirmishers soften units before contact.
• Morale wins. Units rout when flanked, surrounded, tired, or when the general dies. Killing the enemy general is often decisive.
• Terrain. Defend on high ground, use forests to hide units, and don't fight uphill if you can avoid it.
• Fatigue. Running everywhere tires units. Walk until the charge.

Formations and abilities

• Phalanx (Greek and Macedonian pikemen): unstoppable from the front, weak on the flanks and rear.
• Testudo (Roman legionaries): turtle formation that shrugs off missiles but is slow.
• Fire at will, guard mode and skirmish mode are toggles worth learning for missile and skirmisher units.

Sieges

• Build siege equipment (rams, ladders, siege towers) during the siege turns, or bring artillery.
• Spies can open the gates of a city under siege.
• Inside the walls, fight around the town square; holding it wins a defending battle.
• Starving a city out works if you have time.

Roman units, before and after the Marian Reforms

• Early Republic: Hastati, Principes, Triarii, Velites, Equites.
• After the Marian Reforms: Early Legionary Cohort, Legionary Cohort, Legionary First Cohort, Praetorian Cohort, Urban Cohort, and later cavalry.
• The reforms fire mid-game as the largest Roman cities grow and develop. After that, older unit types can no longer be recruited, so plan your army around the change.

Faction Picks

Unlocking factions: finishing the Imperial Campaign unlocks further factions, and defeating factions in the campaign also counts toward unlocks. The long-standing community trick is to edit the campaign's descr_strat.txt file and move factions from the unlockable list to the playable list. Back up the file first.

Barbarian Invasion

Set several centuries later, during the decline of the Western Roman Empire.

• Hordes. Some factions (such as the Huns and Vandals) start with no provinces and exist as hordes, entire migrating peoples as armies. Capturing a city lets a horde settle, or you can sack it and move on.
• Religion. Paganism, Christianity and Zoroastrianism. Provinces convert over time; religious conflict causes unrest.
• Night battles and swimming units crossing rivers are new tactical options.
• The Western Roman Empire is the famous challenge start: broke, rebellious and surrounded.
• The Eastern Roman Empire is richer and faces the Sassanids.

Running It on a Modern PC

• Unit size and settings: Set unit size in the options to match your hardware. Large or Huge looks best on modern CPUs, but very large battles can still stutter.
• Resolution: The game supports modern resolutions through its options and preferences file; community guides on Steam walk through the exact edits.
• Launch options like skipping intro movies are commonly used; see the community fix guides in the Sources.
• Large address aware (4GB) patching of the executable is a common community fix for crashes in big battles and with mods.
• Mods: Rome Total Realism, Europa Barbarorum and Roma Surrectum are classic overhauls. Follow each mod's own install instructions, since the Collection predates Workshop support.
• Console: press the backtick/tilde key (left of 1) to open the console. Commands include add_money, toggle_fow, process_cq and auto_win. Use them for testing or fun; they can break immersion or saves.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Over-expanding without garrisons or temples; revolts follow.
• Charging cavalry into spears.
• Letting cities grow without squalor control.
• Ignoring the civil war until the other Roman families are already marching.
• Leaving bad governors in big cities.
• Using exterminate everywhere. It kills your future tax base; save it for large, hostile cities.
• Fighting every battle manually when the odds are overwhelming; autoresolve easy fights to save time.

Advanced Tips

• Pick fights you can autoresolve and play the hard ones yourself; the battle AI is beatable with flanks and missile focus.
• Trade rights early is some of the easiest money in the game.
• Stack Management retinue on your capital's governor.
• Use spies before sieges to open gates and save siege turns.
• Bait the AI with a single unit to pull its army out of formation, then flank.
• Plan the Marian Reforms. Don't overbuild early barracks right before the reforms change your roster.

FAQ

Can I still buy Rome: Total War - Collection on Steam? No. It's unlisted at the publisher's request. If you own it you can still play it; otherwise, Total War: ROME REMASTERED is the current version.

Is Alexander included? No, the Collection includes Rome: Total War and Barbarian Invasion.

How do I unlock all factions? Finish the Imperial Campaign, defeat factions during play, or edit descr_strat.txt to make them playable.

Which faction is best for beginners? The Julii.

Does Rome Remastered replace the original? It's a separate product with upgraded visuals and extra features, including extra playable factions and merchants. Many players still enjoy the original with classic mods.

How do I open the console? Press the backtick/tilde key, to the left of 1 on most keyboards.

Sources

• Rome: Total War — Wikipedia
• Rome: Total War: Barbarian Invasion — Wikipedia
• Rome: Total War - Collection on Steam (unlisted notice)
• Total War: ROME REMASTERED announcement (Steam news)
• Rome: Total War Cheat Guide (Steam community guide)
• Steam community guides for Rome: Total War