EB news - Sunday, February 19

[khelvan]

Greetings Europa Barbarorum fans!

Six weeks ago we asked for your assistance in finding bugs in our modification. Your feedback has been invaluable, and we have been busy working on fixing as much as we can. A patch is near at hand, and this message will include version notes to let you know what we have been doing for the past weeks.

We know many of you are playing and enjoying the mod even though it is a beta and not a release version, but unfortunately this patch will require you to re-start your campaigns. In addition, because we packed many of our textures, models, and other work to be more efficient in terms of speed, we are currently not in a position to make fixes to unit models and textures at this time. This will most likely be included in the next full version release, currently with no time estimate.

While we have been fixing bugs, we have also been working to incorporate new things where possible. Epistolary Richard has added new custom tiles pulled from things which CA left behind, but never used. Here are some examples of things you will see in version 0.7.3 of EB.

Note that all these appear both on the campaign map as well as custom battles.


An Aedui warband on the march through the wintry lands of Britain.


An Aedui chieftain calls for his men as he is surrounded by the Casse defending their holy site of Cairncalladrydan.


The Colossus of Rhodes from the sea, the small men at the base of the trees are the actual units in battle!


Ethiopian troops owing loyalty to the Ptolemies defend Abu Simbel.



The Seleukids make their stand in the shadow of the Hanging Gardens.

The Pyramids in EB:







Release notes, v0.7.3b:

Changes from v0.7.2b

Bug fixes

Traits and Ancillaries
---------
- Fixed Desertwarrior trait
- fix for Carthage captures Syrakousai message (should have been Allied Greek Cities)
- added age cut-off for Scholarly trait (no more geezers becoming schoolboys)
- fix to prevent intelligent generals from getting checked for RomanHero and Brave twice
- Games Hater shouldn't get Gladiator ancillary; acquiring Gladiator will make it more likely to become a fan of the games
- Censor won't fine or censure himself for not being married or for living luxuriously
- Issue fixed where Censor would never lose his office
- fixed minor bug that would cause Primary Trait aggregate trait to display incorrect information
- fixed bug where son of Triumphator wouldn't get epithet
- fixed CTD issue for everybody who wins at the Olympics, set competitor as antitrait so it will go away
- fixed issue where admiral could not acquire CoronaRostrata
- fixed issue with wrong settlement names in Germany, for Sweboz Uniter trait
- fixes and refinements for Hellenic offices
- Fixed an issue where religion won't work as intended



Units and Buildings
-------------------
- fixed beginning placement of some buildings so that text/name would display properly
- Removed unique buildings from Skythia and Mikra_Skythia, they were showing up as Lake Avernus and Wintry Dodone.
- various fixes for unit recruitment issues, including:
-iberian velites recruitable everywhere for iberians and carthies, removed
-added turdulia line to iberian velites recruitment
-added sacred band infantry recruitment line for Zeugitana for Carthage
-added recruitment line for Dalmatia for illyrian units
-added recruitment line for KH and Mak units in Illyria_Hellenike
-added MIC 1&2 units to KH and Mak recruitment in Sardika
-removed galatian kluddolon recruitment from Scorcouw)
-added bactrian agema recruitment in Baktra, removed recruitment in Alexandreia
-added nomandherd and nomadsett recruitment
-added bataroas recruitment to Nervaea Belgae, Bellovacaea Belgae, Vindelicos, Volcallra, and Lugonesis for the Gallic factions
-limited belgae unit recruitment to Nervaea Belgae and Bellovacaea Belgae
-removed Casse, Aedui, and Arverni recruitment for belgae units under Govt 1)
-added Roman recruitment for several regional units
-removed botroas recruitment for Volcallra and Lugonesis
-removed gaeroas recruitment from Volcallra & Lugonesis
-removed clyddabre recruitment for Aedui and Arverni factions)
-added rorarii, accensi, and iphkratides hoplites to Roman recruitment in Syracuse
-added many Roman units (identical to Etruria) to Roman recruitment in Segesta
-corrected brihentin recruitment
-added Gallic units to Roman recruitment in Venetia & Aemilia
-added evocatae, antesignani and praetorian cavalry to Roman recruitment in Venetia & Aemilia
-added reformata & imperatoria cohort recruitment to Roman type 2 govts
-corrected an error in the "yeuzhi" noble name for nomad recruitment
-corrected "roman archer auxillia" recruitment
-limited praetorian cohort recruitment to Latium2 (Roma)
-commented out the building bonuses for nomadherd and nomadsett
-corrected azad asavaran, dehbad asabara, zradha shivatir, and zradhapahlavans recruitment for Pahlava
-removed unnecessary requirements from nomad buildings
-fixed late lybian spearman recruitment for Carthage
-corrected soldurii recruitment for Gallic factions
-corrected median cavalry recruitment area (identical to median javelin cavalry), and limited their recruitment to MIC3 and up 
-corrected pahlavashivatir recruitment area, added parthia, and limited their recruitment to MIC2 and up
-removed Roman early equites recruitment for MIC 2
-corrected hetairoi recruitment problems (cultures swaped/lines missing)
-corrected hypaspistai recruitment problems (cultures swaped/missing line)
-corrected pheraspidai recruitment problems (cultures swaped/lines missing)
-corrected agemata (bactrian, basilikon, kleruchoi) recruitment problems
-corrected chaeonian guard recruitment problems
-corrected galatian kleruchoi recruitment problems
-corrected galatian kuarothori recruitment problems
-corrected thorakitai argyraspidai recruitment problems
-added calawre, rycalawre, and "barb chariot heavy briton" to Casse recruitment in Cassemorg)
-removed sotaroas reruitment for all provinces for Gallic factions, left recruitment for provinces in gaul and briton
-added "merc samnite spearmen" and "merc samnite heavy infantry" to recruitment in Apulia, Kalabria, and Campania for all factions
-fixed bad faction entries for several elephant recruitment lines
-added "elephant indian armored" to MIC4 recrutiment, removed Delta_Neilou from "elephant indian armored" recruitmet
-added "greek hippeis thessalikoi" recruitment for Makedonia for Maks and to Thessalia for KH
-removed duplicate brihentin recruitment line for Vindelicos
-removed superfluous lugoae recruitment for Gallic factions & Casse
-removed superfluous sphendonetai recruitment lines for Parthians & Sarmatians
-removed superfluous toxotai recruitment lines for Sarmatians & Yeuzhi
-removed libyphoenician (early & late) recruitment for all faction except carthage, augmented recruitment area for carthage
-removed chariot recruitment in egypt for casse & gallic factions
-fixed velites recruitment, now recruitable in all roman type 1 provinces (i.e. italy)
-removed herd requirement from High King Court recruitment for Sauromatae
-removed "roxolani lancers" recruitment from MIC 4 & 5 for Pahlava, replaced it in Shahrdar Camp recruitment
-removed "steppe cavalry scythianhorsearchers" recruitment from MICs for Sauromatae and Pahlava, replaced in nomad Camps
-added "chaeonian guard" recruitment to Illyria_Hellenike for Epeiros
-removed brihentin recruitment for several factions, changed govt requirements for all non-Gallic factions
-corrected carnute cingetos recruitment for Aedui
-corrected arverni arjos recruitment for Arverni
-removed gaesatae recruitment from briton
-limited mori gaesum recruitment for all factions to Helvetis

Scripting
---------
- Apocalypse 246 fixed
- Parthian horse discounts fixed
- Baktrian, Ptolemaioi VC display CTD fixed
- Sucum-Murgi VC display problem fixed
- SettlementName condition for Roma, Swebotráustástámnoz, Ambrakia, Bin-kath, Arsé, Syrakousai, Rhodos corrected
- changes to have Triumphs trigger properly
- kill off Ptolemaioi DOA spies at the start
- add buildings to correct problems with ownership and displaying incorrectly
- corrected Antiocheiaeia_Margiane => Antiocheia_Margiane, Rhodes => Rhodos, Kashgar => Sulek, Cenobum => Cenabum, Sardica => Sardika, Angl => Karkathiokerta, Yerushalaim => Hierosolyma
- settlement name issues (should use settlement tag for everything except SettlementName condition), removed quotes from around names
- Fixed campaign script precursortype2 placement issue


General
-------
- various text edits to clean up display text throughout the mod
- fixed messages where it would say "You have been attacked by an army of Rome" when fighting Seleukids, etc.
- added pahlava and ptolemaioi eliminated images to prevent errors when those factions are destroyed
- created getai, eleutheroi defeat images by copying already existing ones to prevent errors when those factions are destroyed (temporary fix)
- swapped seleucid and julii strat map banners for FOW-shrouded settlements


Gameplay tweaks

Traits and Ancillaries
---------------
- tweak to Roman Patrician acquisition
- tweaked Restless Sleeper
- tweaked diplomats to make them cost more to bribe and provide bribery defense for cities
- increased bribe resistance for Loyal generals
- tweaked Bored trait
- raised fertility for Casse so births not impossible
- toned down CasseArgas and CasseBren bonuses to reduce likelihood of "uber-Barae"
- added some 'primary' traits for agents (smart, energetic, charismatic)
- Barcid/anti-Barcid for Carthage tied into adulthood of Hamilcar Barca/conquest of certain settlements
- new faction leader trait for Ptolemaioi
- new traits for Ptolemaioi
- clean-up of BattlePoints triggers, added an additional BattlePoint for large battles (makes them count a bit more for command star acquisition -- difference equivalent to differences between level of victory, not enough to overcome easy vs. even battle difference)
- tweaks and new triggers to randomize aging a bit for new generals and agents
- Made Gregarious and BlackBileHumour antitraits
- Removed almost all vanilla epithets to prevent overwriting of new epithets
- Halved chances for many ancillaries, due to 4 turns per year
- added traits for Celtic Infantry and Cavalry generals, edited triggers to obtain traits
- Note to describe Sweboz general 'adopted' into the faction's leadership
- Trait Type4Governor for spawned generals to garrison settlements with Type4 government buildings, Interloper trait for other generals who occupy settlement to cause unrest
- Disabled "Likes Easy Battles" trait
- General in settlement with Type1 government building makes it harder to bribe, better at catching spies/assassins
- Generals bribed from other factions are less likely to produce offspring eligible for a position of power and authority (hard to trust a traitor)
- new triggers to make it more likely to get healthy wife depending on husband's handsomeness/influence and health of the city
- modified/added some building requirements for a few ancillaries
- removed immediate negative effects of ForcedMarching trait. Can still domino into other traits, though.
- added trait ForcedMarchingExpert for generals who acquire certain traits or ancillaries, blocks off ForcedMarching effects
- added trait Wealthy for generals who acquire great personal wealth, various effects on other traits
- Pahlav not restricted from campaigning in winter
- Roman Patricians more fertile in beginning of the game (first 50 years)
- added triumphs over Dacia, Syria, and Parthia
- triggers added to acquire Nomad/Settled traits for steppe factions, depending on settlement buildings, activity
- made Lenient, Brutal, Warmonger, and Supervisor irreversible once level 1 reached (threshold 10)
- consolidated sickly/healthy/intelligent/ignorant wife traits
- New traits representing training for agents (diplomats, spies, assassins)
- trait for firstborn son of faction leader - +1 Influence
- removed bottom 2 levels of Diplomat's age trait, renamed top two levels and rewrote descriptions
- spies and assassins can train in a settlement with a market or better, depending on natural ability/intelligence
- diplomats can train in a settlement with an academy or better
- Bored now takes city size, city happiness into account
- increased chance to win Olympics 
- changes to have Triumphs trigger properly
- renamed theatron and odeion buildings
- renamed 3 ancillary priests to match temple names (Getai and Iberia)
- reworked Makedonian Hypermethyskos trait so it incorporates the vanilla Drink trait
- made BadFarmer and BaktrianHydreiasTechnities antitraits
- adjusted LogisticalSkill trait to remove morale bonus, since that is now incorporated into the WellSupplied/PoorlySupplied traits
- agent can get lazy and lose his good energy when sitting around in a town doing nothing
- added more triggers for Spymaster so that not every faction leader will be able to get it (now tied to Intelligence)
- adjusted priest ancillaries and "Worships X" traits to match buildings, adjusted/added some effects
- changed ancillary portraits
- Lalos (Talker) and Secretive antitraits
- Aesthetic antitrait to Miserly
- turned StrategicSkill back on
- added message for Carthaginian general conquering Syrakousai
- Slothful general won't get Bored, general under siege won't get Ennui
- new priest ancillaries
- new worshipper traits
- edited description of Magian Tutor ancillary to explain Mirror of Princes and Circle of Justice
- removed SpyMaster epithet from spies (couldn't make it go away when they left town)
- removed all trailing spaces
- civil disturbances at random when taxes high and loyalty very low, to spice things up a bit and make it less predictable
- new Epeirote ethnicities done by Equilibrium
- general who greatly outnumbers opponent becomes known as a strategist
- general who enslaves or exterminates allied eleutheroi cities gets bad reputation (negative Influence penalty)
- more triggers to tie buildings to general's traits (general in settlement with Roman villa has chance to become Wealthy, general without tavern may sober up, general with palaistra may get healthy, etc.)
- various campaign start trait/ancillary tweaks


Units and Buildings
-------------------
- renamed theatron and odeion buildings
- changed theatre complex
- changed multipurpose complex
- various campaign start tweaks
- tweaks to temples
- various tweaks to unit stats and balance
- new animation set
- new sprites for some units


Scripting
---------
- wait times changed from 1 and 0.5 to 0.2 to speed up script during AI turns
- Removed quoted settlement names from create_building and other console_commands (should use settlement tag)
- tweaked AI assistance
- Diplomats killed off for AI factions
- renamed theatron and odeion buildings to comply with complex limit, changes suggested by Teleklos
- changed script-generated precursors for every faction except Getai and Makedonia
- Added precursors for macedon and dacia
- Added Jerusalem temple


General
-------
- various starting unit & agent placement and number tweaks, beginning diplomacy tweaks
- activated "beta" culture-specific GUIs, news ones added but unable to be displayed until next full version release
- put historical tyrant Hiero in charge of Syrakousai (replaced Alexandros), complete with traits and biography (added his name to possible names for slaves)
- replaced some vanilla quotes with EB quotes
- Fixed "died of the plague" bug where it replaced born year, various other incorrect text, by adding an entry for slave victory.
- edits to command star descriptions
- changed "Summer" to "Spring, Summer, or Fall" for season tooltip clarity 
- culled campaign_descriptions.txt to assist load time
- tweaked loading screens
- new rebel banners and captain/general banners for many factions
- made forests denser on the battle map
- tweaked strat map models
- various map tweaks
- new custom locations, including new custom tiles
- renamed Tripolitania => Syrthim, Prophtasia => Prophthasia, and Cannae => Canusium in all relevant files

Please note that unless stated otherwise, ALL pictures shown in our news posts are of works in progress. We continue to improve on all parts of EB, and even things found in the open beta and in the upcoming patch are considered "beta."

As always, if you have questions or comments, the best place to post them would be here:

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/forumdisplay.php?f=70

Or here:

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/index.php?showforum=60

We give special thanks to http://www.imageshack.us who provide us with a simple, foolproof, and free way to show you all these pictures each week.

Have a wonderful day!

Sincerely,

-the EB team

[blacksnail]

Spectacular. I can't wait to fight at the base of the Colossus!

[Cheexsta]

Woohoo! Almost here, then?

[LestaT]

Will the EB animation pack compatible or it is included in the patch ?

[khelvan]

The patch has all of our latest animations.

[The_White_Knight]

Adorable! Can't wait!

[=E.T=]

Patch is ready?

any link for download???

if not yet, when?????

tnx!

;)

[SpawnOfEbil]

I shall love the fixed recruitment areas. Playing as the Sauromatae, it gets really annoying when you can't recruit basic horse/foot archers. However, I shall miss the 0 upkeep archers

[Cybvep]

Sounds great. I have one question, though.

(...)tweaked AI assistance(...)

What do you really mean by that? Less money for AI?

[Steppe Merc]

I shall love the fixed recruitment areas. Playing as the Sauromatae, it gets really annoying when you can't recruit basic horse/foot archers. However, I shall miss the 0 upkeep archers

Just a hint, I would wait to play Sarmatians and Parthians until the recruitment is fixed in the patch.

[Wardo]

"WE WANT PATCH! WE WANT PATCH! WE WANT PATCH!"

An angry mob surrounds the EB headquarters, bricks, rocks and fireworks blast through the windows, TA is hit in the head and dies instantly, splattering blood all over his office. QwertyMIDX cries like a little baby on the corner of the room, sucking his thumb, with peed pants.

Ranika knows a revolution when he sees one, and he knows the situation is about to get out of control. "We need to put an end to this crisis, if we cannot give them what they want, we must at least distract them long enough to give us time to evacuate through the hidden emergency tunnel." - sentenced Ranika.

Khelvan, the Supreme fearless God of EB, knew what he had to do - "I'm the captain of this boat, and I'm sinking with it. You must all go now, I'll delay the barbarians". But he knew he didn't had the patch, it was all a lie, but even if he had it, what would happen if he caved in to the demands of the savage mob? Give them a finger and they'll rip off your arm, what would they demand next? A port to 1.5 in less than 3 days?

So he thought of something else, Khelvan bravely marched through the narrow corridors of the EB Mansion, ducking from time to time to avoid the pointy, sharp rocks that flew all around zooming through the windows. He approached the balcony and heard the loud angry cries from below.

"DEATH TO EB!" - the vandals shouted while burning EB flags.

Khelvan sneaked to the balcony, took a deep breathe, and rose as a valiant, brave knight.

"Fans of EB! Hear me!" - announced Khelvan.

The crowd suddenly froze, there was absolute silence, except for the sound of the burning flags, and some random screams from EB members who were hit by harmfull objects. But it was silent enough. And then, the crowd finally realized it was Khelvan, their God, and they bursted in joy.

"Khelvan! Khelvan! I love you! Marry me!" - said one of the protesters.

"My loyal worshippers, you gave your blood, your gold and your life for me. For that I am grateful. Without you, EB wouldn't be possible. I have promised a Patch, and I will give you a Patch."

The mob cheered.

"And now I present you, the PATCH!" - And then Khelvan took this out of his pocket and lifted it high in the air.

"Ooooooh! It can't be! He came out of the closet!" - said one of the mobsters.

Flames sparkled in the eyes of every protester, they have been fooled, by Khelvan, their God was a fraud. Before Khelvan knew it a throwing dagger hit him in the crotch - "Yeouch!" - he cried.

Then he heard someone scream - "That's what you get for modeling naked fanatics without Tiger-pattern thongs!".

He looked down at his crotch in severe pain and noticed something had been chopped off.

"Don't worry Khelvan, that's what you always wanted, now your sex change surgery will be cheaper" - said Ranika, offering his hand to Khelvan, who was now kneeling at the floor in pain - "Come now, it's time for us to leave".

And since then, nobody heard anything from Khelvan, EB or the Patch ever again.

[SpawnOfEbil]

That story brings a tear to the eye

[Masy]

Oh, the humanity. Khelvan's manhood being lopped off was the master touch.

[Urnamma]

Why is Khelvan gay, and why is it poor old Qwerty who has to cry and pee his pants? Qwerty will have you attacked by the guards of the historical revolution, you'd better watch your step!

[Big_John]

Why is Khelvan gay

some say nature, others say nurture.


a tiny few say it's the sweet seduction known as big john...

[We all need someone]

That was a pretty funny story, but let's hope we aren't shattering khelvan's self-esteem.

And it's still not as funny as the Gummy Bear poem somewhere on this forum. Under "Numidia replace the Yeuzhi" or something.

[Steppe Merc]

While it's a great song, not sure how well that name will go over with some of the people on this forum...

[fallen851]

So after this new patch, is the plan to port to 1.5 or do another patch for 1.2?

Thanks.

[Reenk Roink]

some say nature, others say nurture.

a tiny few say it's the sweet seduction known as big john...

[Teleklos Archelaou]

There will be a full repacking for a new release in 1.2 for sure - since we want to get all the new units and graphics corrections in. But we'll start trying to port to 1.5 in the meantime also.

[Masy]

God Bless EB

[Moros]

While it's a great song, not sure how well that name will go over with some of the people on this forum...

sounds like the teddy bear picnic song from frank zappa and captain beefheart.

[khelvan]

What self-esteem?

[We all need someone]

figures it would be the big Z and the Captain.

And hey, if people can't handle thinly veiled, dirty songs from the Stones, then they can go crowbar that stick out of their ass.


The tin teardrop, bulbous also tapered.

[VandalCarthage]

"DEATH TO EB!" - the vandals shouted while burning EB flags.

Huh?

[booker]

Sounds great. I have one question, though.


What do you really mean by that? Less money for AI?

Yes i really want to know this... what type of tweaks?

[Steppe Merc]

And hey, if people can't handle thinly veiled, dirty songs from the Stones, then they can go crowbar that stick out of their ass.

Hey, I love the Stones, you'll get no arguments from me. Just some friendly advice.

[Wikingus]

Those screens are SWEET!
I cannot wait to battle it out under those glorious monuments. Excellent!

[soibean]

sorry if this was cleared up or answered already but I didnt see it in the notes for the patch but...
Did you fix the AI's ability to mass produce units even though they are in huge debt? i.e. Im fighting the Aedui, I take over 4 of their towns, but they can still form 3/4 full armies to march against me AND send more armies to rebel towns to expand their empire, meanwhile every town is earning -5000 and less.

Have you fixed the auxillary recruitment in Greece? I was psyched to have conquered Athens, Sparta, and Corinth, only to find that even with a level 2 government and a level 3 barracks I could recruit 1 roman unit after the marian reform.

Good work on all the updates though, sorry to whine as well, Im very excited to play the newer version.

[Teleklos Archelaou]

There are lots of recruitment fixes. But there will still be more fixes needed. It's not a final release or anything. But it will definitely be better in regards to unit recruitment. Just keep helping us out in these things.