WI Rome falls in the 3rd century

Not really. The Goths themselves were a people on the move who settled in Roman territory-Dacia in their case.

Only after Roman control of the area had faltered, and it was abandoned.

Otherwise the Marcomanni and company never tried settling in Roman territory in the 3rd century.

Few barbarian groups were able to settle permanently on Roman territory that early, when the Romans still had the power to come back. Besides Dacia the Romans abandoned the Agri Decumates, occupied by the Sueves then.
 
The Goths (and the Vandals) converted to Arianism and hold to it tight. That opposed to the majority of the Roman population/elite's Nicene Christianity.
Which doesn't strike me as the ardent need to co-opt and assimilate into Roman (upper) society.

Actually that served to keep their (Gothic/Vandalic) identity apart from the Romans.

The Gothic conversion to Arian Christianity is interesting, in that it took place during a time period where three major emperors (Constantius II, Valens, and technically Julian) openly expressed support for the sect, leading for it to become the faith of choice among the Eastern Roman Empire's imperial family, the aristocracy of Anatolia, and a large chunk of eastern bishops. Remember, the First Council of Nicaea didn't end the Arian dispute - in many ways it made it worse, especially once Constantius II came to power. This policy of the Eastern Roman Empire favoring Arianism wouldn't change until Theodosius I, when he would reafirm Nicene Christianity as the state faith of the Eastern Empire at the Second Ecumenical Council of Constantinople.

However, it should be noted that while the Goths were proud of their Arian faith, their reluctance to convert served a specific purpose. It must be stressed that the Goths did not see themselves as separate from traditional Roman society through an "ethnic" lens, but through theological (which so happened to coincide with linguistic differences). To the Goths, their inheritance of the remains of the Western Empire was a natural transition similar to that of Roman inheritance of the Greek world at the height of the Hellenistic Era. Patrick Amory finds that not only was there a significantly-sized Arian community among Northern Italian believers by the 6th century (mainly centered within the Po Valley), but this community would grow and thrive under Gothic rule, and would only be extinguished with the collapse of the Ostrogothic Kingdom itself.[1]

It would seem that while ruling over a significant non-Gothic population, the Ostrogoths had hoped that the gap between "barbarian" and "Roman" would continue to lessen until the two became one, primarily through passive religious conversion and cross-cultural understanding. This is in stark contrast to the Vandals, who force-converted much of Northern Africa by the sword in an attempt to wipe out Nicene Christianity from their newly founded kingdom.

Strange, the Franks didn't convert until after the western Empire was defunct.

The Franks converted to Christianity because a number of their upper crust were nominally Christian, having served the Western Emperors as foederati and military advisors, not to mention having usurped the rule of the Western Empire in Gaul, which included a majority Christian population of Latin-speaking Gallo-Romans. Clovis needed to maintain a good relationship with his Gallo-Roman subjects, many of whom were powerful landowners. His conversion would also bring with it the respect and support of the Nicene Church, who would favor him over the Arian Goths in the struggle for Western Europe during the consolidation of Merovingin rule.

It should be noted that while the Western Empire was dead, its splendor and influence on the Germanic tribes was not. The Franks had hoped to repeat the success of their former suzerain and forge a worth successor to Rome, or in they eyes of many Frankish nobles and the Church, revive it entirely. The Goths, too, came to the same conclusion, but apporached it from the opposite standpoint, due to the influence of Ulifas and the Arian Emperors on their conversion to Christianity and early history with Rome.

[1]Amory, Patrick (2003). People and identity in Ostrogothic Italy, 489-554. (1st pbk. ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 238, 489–554.
 
The Franks converted to Christianity because a number of their upper crust were nominally Christian, having served the Western Emperors as foederati and military advisors,

Arbogast was a pagan, and the Franks were still pagan at the time of the Catalaunian plains.

not to mention having usurped the rule of the Western Empire in Gaul, which included a majority Christian population of Latin-speaking Gallo-Romans. Clovis needed to maintain a good relationship with his Gallo-Roman subjects, many of whom were powerful landowners. His conversion would also bring with it the respect and support of the Nicene Church, who would favor him over the Arian Goths in the struggle for Western Europe during the consolidation of Merovingin rule.

I note the Vandals had quite a different approach. They confiscated Roman estates and persecuted the catholic church as they were arian. Evidently confident of their power, they didn't care if they alienated the natives.
 
There's some good stuff on the effects of an earlier Fall of Rome here, but I'm wondering if anyone has thoughts on how it might be achieved, with a post 235 AD PoD?

For example, I brought up the idea before of Odenathus not stepping in to crush the Sassanid threat in the east after they captured Valerian.
 
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