Twitter discussion

[QuintusSertorius]

I'll be happy with the website in the interim, if it's going to be anything like the one for EB1.

[Shadowwalker]

That was my fault, I didn't realise until it was pointed out that that post could result in such hopes.

No, sorry, it is not the release. As noted we still have things to do before we can put out what we consider to be an acceptable release.

However we are hoping to bring something with a lot of eye candy to treat people to.

My apologies for getting peoples hopes up.

No need to apologise, Brennus. No need at all. Instead I'm glad to see that my common sense has not been completely buried under the the immense anticipation I have for Europa Barbarorum II: ;)
About the eye candy you mentioned: doesn't need to be a lot. One or two new screenshots of the campaign map (South Arabia please? ), perhaps (if available) a building icon, or another building description - that's all I ask to be happy (and busy) for several days. (Still dreaming of tutorials for the new mechanics, similar to the reform tutorial we got for Hayasdan in EB I - but since I can imagine the workload this would mean, I just hope for ingame descriptions that provide a clue or another . . . )

The last Twitter screens of the campaign map I have studied in detail (and awe) for hours on end. And yes, I know that this kind of behaviour is somewhat "nerdy".

But I don't care.

[joshmahurin]

Some new tweets

Identifying what MUST be fixed before a first release. Not that much left - The EBII Team. Europa Barbarorum (@EBTeam) May 2, 2014

Thanks to Haedar for his great work on the Akkadian (Babylonian) infantry - The EBII Team. Europa Barbarorum (@EBTeam) May 2, 2014

Battlemap UI now 90% complete. Faction banners 75% - Kull. Europa Barbarorum (@EBTeam) May 3, 2014

Sufficient research done for a comprehensive province description for Armorikos. Now just need to start writing - Brennus. Europa Barbarorum (@EBTeam) May 3, 2014

The Org is having a Medieval 2 Total War re-release party: http://t.co/nFTw7POhLJ Europa Barbarorum II might have something special to bring! Europa Barbarorum (@EBTeam) May 6, 2014

[Rex Somnorum]

a release around Christmas would be a (very pleasant) surprise.

I'm slightly more optimistic than that - and I hope the EBII team shares my outlook.

What's the installer issue, though?

[Docus]

I may be a bit late to the thread, but I'd like to say that the EB II team are nothing less than heroes in my eyes, working for years and years to create something for a small club of dedicated fans, all in their free time and free of charge. This mod was my "gateway drug" for my interest in the Classical period of history. I've probably read all the building descriptions and unit descriptions of EB1 dozens of times in their entirety. EB is one of those mods in a million where you can clearly see the passion, dedication and love the developers and writers put into it. It's truly magical.

[V.T. Marvin]

Thank you for your kind words!

But let me also express my hope that the "small club of dedicated fans" will eventually become a huge and thriving community as large as EB1 used to have.

[Rex Somnorum]

But let me also express my hope that the "small club of dedicated fans" will eventually become a huge and thriving community as large as EB1 used to have.

Likely even larger. Considering the egregious failure of a game that is Rome II, TW players in search of a graphically beautiful yet mechanically sophisticated gaming experience will indubitably navigate to EBII. If the game is as good as it looks in the previews (which I don't doubt for a minute), then all it needs is a little publicity - maybe a short playthrough by a popular Youtube gamer right before release.

What's the installer problem?

[Cybvep]

Thank you for your kind words!

But let me also express my hope that the "small club of dedicated fans" will eventually become a huge and thriving community as large as EB1 used to have.

I think that the forum will explode with activity when the open beta is released. It's not dead even now, so no worries here. The day the open beta announcement will be made on the TWC Centre will be a glorious day!

[moonburn]

the comunity ain´t dead it´s just sleeping

[mountaingoat]

occasionally lurking in the sahdows of the eb2 subforum

[vartan]

Thank you for your kind words!

But let me also express my hope that the "small club of dedicated fans" will eventually become a huge and thriving community as large as EB1 used to have.

Which I will do my utmost to exploit and entice on the multiplayer side of things. <smirk>

Keep it up!

[Shadowwalker]

Writing unit descriptions sure is difficult when your hungover. Mercenary Gauls anyone? - Brennus

Celtic mercenary descriptions complete. Nice and thorough. - Brennus

KH & Ptolemaioi family members (with traits, ancillaries, and biographies) completed & in-game - Kull, Arjos, & paullus

New, accurate, unit descriptions written for the Pritanoi units. - Brennus

Time to work on the Takashila government system - Mithridates VI Eupator

86% of unit descriptions completed - Kull

So many exciting news in the last 3 days.

And now - my (currently) personal favourite:

Descriptions written for new Roman units we didn't expect to have in time for the first release - Gaius Scribonius Curio

Polybian reform units?
In case my assumption is correct, this will make the decision whom to play first even more difficult. (Just because the Polybian army always was my favourite roman army in EB I).
Not to mention that available polybian units would be yet another reason (among so many others) to say that every day of waiting is well worth it.

[Moros]

No need to apologise, Brennus. No need at all. Instead I'm glad to see that my common sense has not been completely buried under the the immense anticipation I have for Europa Barbarorum II: ;)
About the eye candy you mentioned: doesn't need to be a lot. One or two new screenshots of the campaign map (South Arabia please? ), perhaps (if available) a building icon, or another building description - that's all I ask to be happy (and busy) for several days. (Still dreaming of tutorials for the new mechanics, similar to the reform tutorial we got for Hayasdan in EB I - but since I can imagine the workload this would mean, I just hope for ingame descriptions that provide a clue or another . . . )

The last Twitter screens of the campaign map I have studied in detail (and awe) for hours on end. And yes, I know that this kind of behaviour is somewhat "nerdy".

But I don't care.

Edit: obviously these are thumbnails. Click them to see the full version.

[clone]

Edit: obviously these are thumbnails. Click them to see the full version.

breath taking

[Thaatu]

the comunity ain´t dead it´s just sleeping

Damn right... Just wait for the floodgates to open.

[Shadowwalker]

Moros, I'd like to wholeheartly thank you for those two pictures.

I stated to be completely undecided whom to play just 2 days ago. But seeing the whole awesomeness of South Arabias map, the UI, the settlement and port models, the unit cards . . . I'm afraid 27 factions will have to wait before I play them when this masterpiece is finally released.

Thank you again.

[Rex Somnorum]

Stunning.

But coastal areas should be noticeably greener than interior. The mountains of Hejaz and Yemen especially.

[Moros]

Yes, climate mapping hasn't exactly been finished a this point, which is kinda my fault..

[Famine0]

Who's the orange faction near the red sea? Nabatea?

[QuintusSertorius]

Who's the orange faction near the red sea? Nabatea?

Must be.

I note a Celtiberian faction too, though not sure if that's by any means final. I also note there are 24 factions on that map.

[Mithridates VI Eupator]

There are 28 factions + Eleutheroi in the 1st release, all of which have been revealed, and can be seen on the minimap in the screenshots above.

The Celtiberian faction is the Arevaci, previewed in this thread.

[Famine0]

I forgot the Nabateaen kingdom got previewed together with with the Saba. Is the red faction near the Black Sea Cimmeria? I cant find the preview...
In the meanwhile these are the 27 factions that I can come up with:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Arverni
Aedui
Pritanoi
Getae
Sweboz
Lusotannan
Romani
Koinon Hellenon
Makedon
Pontus
Seleucid Empire
Ptolemaioi
Epeiros
Karthadastim
Saka Rauka
Sauromatea
Pahlava
Baktria
Sab'yn
Hayasdan

Boii NEW
Lugiones NEW
Taksashila NEW
Nabateae NEW
Massylia NEW
Areuakoi NEW
Pergamon NEW

[Tux]

You forgot the Kingdom of bosporus.

[Famine0]

Ah, yes. I see they got previewed together with the Sauromatae. Thanks!

[moonburn]

lso the casse have become the pritanoi

[Brennus]

lso the casse have become the pritanoi

Yes. The Casse in EB were supposed to represent the Catuvellauni, the most powerful tribe in southern Britain between c.50BC and AD43. It appears that the historians in EB used Daitha O'haigan's book "The Celts: A chronological history" to select the name Casse, as here he reconstructs Casse as being an early form of Catuvellauni. The problem is that the historical evidence and, arguably, the archaeological evidence does not support the notion of there being a Catuvellaunian group before the 1st century BC at the earliest. The same goes for the most powerful tribe who preceded the Catuvellauni, the Trinobantes/Trinovantes.

The EBII team therefore decided to go for Pritanoi as it is a term which predates Catuvellauni and Trinovantes, furthermore there is greater archaeological evidence to support the existence of a group(s) like the Pritanoi in 272BC.

[Rex Somnorum]

On what grounds were the family trees created? I assume you had a lot of leeway.

[Brennus]

On what grounds were the family trees created? I assume you had a lot of leeway.

It varies from faction to faction. For the Boii we have historically attested individuals who were living at that time and so we made use of these. In the case of others "Celtic" we worked on the idea, which is current in archaeolohical theory, that such societies owed to their ethonym to a semi-mythical founder. So for example the Averni (as far as I remember) start off with Aruernos as their faction leader.

But yes, much of it is educated fantasy when it comes to creating family trees. Although saying that, even if you were to play a game in EBII which was historically accurate to the nth degree, it is unlikely that, invading Gaul in 58BC, you would find the Aedui being led by Dumnorix and Diviciacus etc.

[Hank90]

Did you guys use BIATEC coins (Bratislava type) inscriptions for Boii family names? They were made from around 70 BC to cca 44 BC (until Burebista).
Some inscriptions: BIATEC, FARIARIX, EVOIURIX, AINORIX (or armorix), BUSSUMARUS, IANTUMARUS, COBROVOMARUS, COVIOMARUS,

[Brennus]

Thank you for reminding us of these. Mention has been made to them in some of the Boii descriptions, but I don't think we thought to use the names from them.