EB news - Friday, January 28

[khelvan]

Greetings, Europa Barbarorum fans!

TTO and the EB team are proud to present our first regular (if all goes well) news release!

Our plan is to release bits of information about what we're working on, our progress, the challenges we face, and screenshots for you to ponder on a regular basis. Perhaps even weekly! For now, I will be the person who brings this to you; in the future someone else may take on this role.

So, on to the stuff you are waiting for! We have been hard at work reshaping the entire campaign. Our current success story is our wonderful mapper, Dead Moroz, who put together the masterpiece I will reveal to you about 95% on his own. He is incredibly skilled, and we all appreciate his work. The map work is not complete, but thanks to Dead Moroz's efforts, the rest is minor tweaking. Please appreciate, as we do, the awesome beauty of this work of art:



Our goal is to provide everyone with a completely immersive experience. To that end, we are not only working on the highly visible things, but small details as well, and everything in between. Part of our effort has been to redo the 2D faction icons. Parmenio has been hard at work making a symbol for each faction, and let me tell you, they're gorgeous! You can find an example of his work, Numidia, here:



Now, as you know, we're creating 300 units for your gaming pleasure. That's right, 300 units. Only 25% or so are based on CA units, and even then they're all getting a reskin. I have a couple units to show you. The first was originally modelled and skinned by Prometheus, the model modified by Vercingetorix, and skin modified by Psycho.

The Belgae Milnaht are middle-aged, experienced, but non-aristocratic Belgae tribesmen. The Belgae had lands in the north of Gaul, south of Britain, and in Ireland. The first skin, with helmet plume, are the Gallic Belgae. The second skin, wearing woad, are the Briton Belgae.




The Thorakitai Argyraspidai are an elite within the Seleukid Agemata. They are heavy assault infantry; the equipment modelled is based from archaeological finds in Syria. This unit was modelled and skinned by Prometheus.



That is all for today. If you find this enjoyable and informative, I will be happy to continue doing it.

Cheers,

-khel

[Dooz]

Well, I found that enjoyable and informative. Guess you'll have to keep doing it then.

[-Morte-]

Very nice work guys, as usual I would add.
Keep informing us on your next steps please :)

[Ldvs]

It definitely looks worth the wait

[Stuie]

I have some questions:

1. In playtesting the larger map, have you experienced the between turn slowdown that seems to plauge the RTR mod?
2. Is the start date still 270BC?
3. The Seluecids appear to be gone - did you add a faction in their place?

Looks good - can't wait to see the first public release!

[Pycckuu]

Stuie, the selucids are there, and they controll a decent chunk of land

looks very nice guys

[Crownsteler]

The seleucids are still there! and they're f*** huge!!! there is no possible way you can keep that empire together at the start. so, yes, they are still there, but their color is not tat different from the rebel provinces (it is light grey)

[Meneldil]

Answers from someone who isn't in the EB team

1 - No. Khelvan ran some tests to check if there is any slowdown, and he said everything was fine.
2 - Last thing I heard is 272BC
3 - They aren't gone, they own all of Eastern Alexander's empire (just look at the map and at the Thorakitai Agriraspyd)

[Pycckuu]

by the way, i have a minor question. the map looks awefully crowded with so many little provinces. is there any chance of scaling the actuall battle map 2 or 3 times, so it looks like you are controlling a larger landmass, and dont have cities that are glued together?

[Ldvs]

The Seleucids are still here but the Numidians are gone.

by the way, i have a minor question. the map looks awefully crowded with so many little provinces. is there any chance of scaling the actuall battle map 2 or 3 times, so it looks like you are controlling a larger landmass, and dont have cities that are glued together?

They reached the limit in terms of province number. Khelvan explained at TWC that if you extend the map it will end like in RTR with AI lag because it can't handle too large a distance between two regions. Check his post for further details.

[khelvan]

They reached the limit in terms of province number. Khelvan explained at TWC that if you extend the map it will end like in RTR with AI lag because it can't handle too large a distance between two regions. Check his post for further details.

This is more or less true. We have reached the province limit, but keep in mind you're seeing a very small version of our map. We haven't actually scaled the map down, we have made it larger. I just didn't give you the big picture, with all the detail. Greece is no more crowded than it used to be, for instance, and most areas are vastly bigger.

On the AI - this is supposition. I know that having the provinces too large causes Bad Things to happen, but I don't know that an AI delay is one of them. The AI does break on these provinces, so I guessed, but I don't know this for a fact.

Cheers,

-khel

[Pycckuu]

i think you guys misunderstood me a little. what i am asking is would it be possible to sort of "zoom in" into the map, to make the entire thing bigger without actually expanding it more.

[khelvan]

By definition, you're talking about increasing the size of the map provinces. The settlements cannot be more than 50 tiles by road away from each other. If we increase the scale of the map we will be extending the distances beyond this limit, thus breaking the game mechanics.

[Pycckuu]

ah thats a shame.
the game will still be awesome, though.

[Crazed Rabbit]

That's an amazing map!! I found this to be very enjoyable and informative!! I do beseech you to continue!

The Seleucids are still here but the Numidians are gone.

I dare say that the Numidians remain, as that bluish province near Carthage, and due to the sample shield shown.

Just one question: If we get to the Indus, will we be able to fight an Indian army with loads o' elephants?

Crazed Rabbit

[Zero1]

Wow...Just...Just WOW!, that is the most AMAZING map I have ever seen, Dead Moroz YOU ARE A FRIGGEN GENIUS!, I can NOT wait for this mod...Wow...I am beyond impressed.

[Big_John]

khelvan, hypothetically speaking, IF you find a way to add factions and go past the 300 unit limit, how many factions (give or take) do you think EB could finalize?

[khelvan]

I'm sure our group members would love to be able to add a lot of factions. There are smaller tribes all over that would be added, if that were the case. Of course it makes more sense if we can add more provinces as well, and we don't have the distance limit between settlements. Those are all big ifs, though.

[Little Legioner]

EB is not a mod! EB is a complete game. EB like a history thesis. Awesome project i've ever seen TW history. Keep up fellas.

I want to ask a question? Do you think expand the battlemaps like STW and MTW battlefields? or is it possible or moddable? I think larger battlefields was giving more tactical oppurtunities to player. Different directions to close enemy more usage terrain. Heights, forests etc.

It can better battle experience and i'm not still understanding why CA did them small? I do not like hardcore, arcade battles.

Best Regards

[Goatsong]

Howdy

Great map, but surprised to see Numidia still on there.

I thought i had seen Khelvan post on another forum to say that Numidia and another faction were out, to make way for two new factions, including one in the east starting with B (Bactria?)

Change of plan?

[Valuk]

Hey guys shouldnt we keep this thread clean i mean just for news. The news will just go lost in the quastions

[Ldvs]

That's an amazing map!! I found this to be very enjoyable and informative!! I do beseech you to continue!



I dare say that the Numidians remain, as that bluish province near Carthage, and due to the sample shield shown.

Just one question: If we get to the Indus, will we be able to fight an Indian army with loads o' elephants?

Crazed Rabbit

No, in fact they had to remove Numidia to make some room for another faction.

Maybe we should leave this thread clear for news like Valuk suggests.

[khelvan]

No worries, I will start a new news thread each time I give news. This way you can all babble to you hearts' content.

As I said, this is a preview of the map, not the finished version. Our work on faction research and units is done separately from the map work.

[SpartanCaesar]

Awesome work, guys! Simply a Grand Job! I have one question: Will I still be able to play the vanilla version once this has been installed?

[khelvan]

We may be able to use the rmod format so that you can switch back and forth, but you can't play the vanilla version with this mod installed. It changes the majority of files in the game.

[SpartanCaesar]

Ah, I see. Will you guys be sure to test if this can work with RMOD? Once again, guys, great work. And that map is astounding! That was the clincher for me that made me say: "I'm downloadin' this when it's done!"

[Big_John]

just a curious question.. is the aral sea big enough on that map? just "eyeballing" it, it seems a little small, for the time period (compared to the caspian at least). could be way wrong.. besides, i don't know what sort of projection you're using for the map anyway. probably some form of mercator, right? different projections would deform it differently anyway.

here are a couple of figures (note: they're not exact, i'm sure):
http://www.thewaterpage.com/images/aralmap.gif
http://www.fragilecologies.com/img/aral_locator_72a.jpg

[Byzantine Prince]

Why are there so many provinces and cities in the Sahara. Cities in Sahara are non-existent even today. Also Arabia has too many provinces.

Also Germania and Dacia are too small. Give them more provinces.

[Gangstaman590]

Why are there so many provinces and cities in the Sahara. Cities in Sahara are non-existent even today. Also Arabia has too many provinces.

Also Germania and Dacia are too small. Give them more provinces.

Germania and dacia were tribes not humongous nations. They didn't all get along with one another so they couldn't be united. But to keep it balanced they must give them some provinces as if you were playing with more then one tribe but not all. At least thats what I think.

[Byzantine Prince]

Gangsta man I know they are tribes: NOT!

They are made up of tribes Dacians are a type of tribe. Germans are a type of trybe. So if you are gonna include a faction called Germania, why not give it all it's tribal lands as well? I think this is a legitimate question.