one of us, one of us

[ezekiel2517]

well, after a long time lurking on and off, i have finally gotten a computer that can run EB... for now

it seems to be a lot of new people around, as i don't recognize most of the members here. I lurked constantly for a while so I recognized several guys...

Anyway, I have started a campaign with the 'yellow death'. I have wanted to play them ever since reading an AAR from Chirurgeon. I doubt I will continue it much further as I messed up several things because I am not familiar with this strange unit roster.


Anyone care to guide me what faction would be a nice early try? I know I'll get a lot of biased suggestions and It is fine :laugh4:



it is so exciting to finally be able to play that I get confused and don't know what to do :sweatdrop:

[SwissBarbar]

The Romani are the best early try faction. Easy to play even on higher difficulty levels, great unit roaster, the greatest number of reforms of all factions and a very good starting position.

[oudysseos]

The Ptolies are a good start, as is Carthage. Both have reasonably secure strategic positions and strong economies.

I envy you: to just start playing EB now, when it is in its glory.

Have fun!

[Ibn-Khaldun]

I would suggest Carthage. They are at peace with everybody at the beginning at they are in apositsion where you can fight against all types of enemies: Romani legions, Ptolemaioi phalanxes, Lusotanan, Aedui/Arverni barbarians if you cross the sea, Greek hoplites.
I think they are the best faction to start with.

[Connacht]

The Romans and the Carthaginians are suggested by the modders themselves for beginners.

They both start in a good strategic position, with few lands of battle and a strong economy.

With the Romans, you'll have only to deal with a weak Epeirote garrison in Taras, while the AI hardly will reinforce the Carthaginian settlement in Sicily. On the northern bord, the Celtic factions are far, and you'll have only some eleutheroi to deal with.

With the Carthaginians, you'll have to reinforce your settlements in Sicily and Spain, but on North Africa you'll have no enemies. Even the Ptolemies aren't a menace (for now) since they are too far, but beware that if you push your dominions over Cyrenaica they will surely attack you.

[bobbin]

+1 for carthage.

[ezekiel2517]

Alright. I am going to start with Carthage as suggested.

I\m still having some problems with the buildings... still don't really know what some of them do but it is fun not knowing wth for a while.

the voices are so great in this mod :2thumbsup:

[Cyclops]

Yep Carthage are a sensible start, with the money, infrastructure, expansion opportunities and sexy units.

As an alternative maybe Epiros? They have a good position, good roster, only one principle foe (Maco's-the Romani can be ignored if you're prepared to give up Taras), and a starting elephant! Woohoo!


...great unit roaster...

I thought they got rid of the flaming pigs? ;)

[soup_alex]

I thought they got rid of the flaming pigs? ;)
Arf arf.

Just thought I'd bite the bullet and pipe up; I'm a part-time lurker (and full-time procrastinator) who has started a glorious Qart-Hadast campaign after becoming fascinated with the Punic Wars from playing Hannibal: Rome Vs. Carthage (board game) over the holidays.

Aye, Carthage is a good place to start from what I've seen (my initial reaction to their leaky treasury was somewhat thrown into perspective after attempting to start a campaign with Sab'yn(!)); the war with Epeiros need not cause any stress as they're more concerned with the Romani and Makedon, though it helps to expand quickly in Iberia and Libya as "friendly" neighbouring Lusotani and Ptolemy (sp?) seem much better equipped to make swift land-grabs from the independents (something that can be remedied to some extent by well-placed spies).

...just remember to build the minimal regional MICs in Baleares and perhaps Sardinim, and you're in safe hands ~:)

[ezekiel2517]

i am still trying to figure out the "government" buildings. I managed to get a client ruler with a military type govt. Is the colony type govt worth it?

ps: the upkeep on those warships is heart stopping :skull:

[Nachtmeister]

Haven't played Carthage yet, but from what I've seen from other factions so far you don't really need a whole fleet of warships - disband all but one or two (although this is somewhat contradictory to actual history). And if you are as per recommendation of the modders playing @ very hard campaign difficulty, do not leave land units (especially generals) on board at end of turn as auto-calc battles always go strongly in favour of your opponent.
Government works roughly like this: Type I is the most "Carthaginian" one and enables the highest level of buildings as well as a high level of Carthaginian barracks but only the lowest level of regional barracks (which you shouldn't bother building in homeland anyway). Type IV is the exact opposite - low factional barracks but high regional barracks, as well as less other high-end buildings (which are culture-specific and thus not available for a loosely allied city). Take a look at your faction's building tree;
https://www.europabarbarorum.com/downloads_guides.html ;
it clarifies the consequences of gov't towards infrastructure. Check the recruitment viewer for where you definitely want to build "lower" levels of government than you *could* because of certain military units - probably somewhere in Iberia (the Iberian infantry is supposed to kick ass but I don't believe it because Greeks are superior to everything --- that's only *my* personal opinion tho).
In the recruitment viewer window (often abreviated "RV") select "Qarthadast" in the upper left dropdown menu, then click a province (nothing happens), then click "View => province details", then tick the box in the lower left of the popup-window marked "detailed info" (under "complex", the "12" means your faction's own barracks and "22" means regional / allied barracks). In case you installed RV with original (native) unit names, you can look up the units on the EB website under "factions" => "units".
Enjoy!

[soup_alex]

I would add that in regions where the option is available, it is sometimes wise to begin with the type III (New Colony) government to allow the population to grow more rapidly before pulling it down and re-establishing a type II (Phoenician Colony) gov.

Nachtmeister, you really should give the Iberians a shot (at the very least, Iberi Velites far excel Akontistai in every field except cost and AoR). Most carry at least one weapon that penetrates armour, the only significant drawback they suffer (in my view) is that while possessing high attack skills and AP swords, they don't have the lethality to match.

[ezekiel2517]

i have not built any ships yet. Not with that price.

It just feels so pointless to have a walled port for 220 (?) warships to have nothing but a light scout in there :no:

[Nachtmeister]

i have not built any ships yet. Not with that price.

It just feels so pointless to have a walled port for 220 (?) warships to have nothing but a light scout in there :no:


"Ships" in EB represent whole fleets; the number on the unit card does not mean "men on board" but "ships in fleet". So having a full stack of huge heptaremes would be somewhat pointless (and also indicative of unbalanced phallic issues...)
To actually get that port full from a historical perspective, you'd need maybe eight units of triremes, but that would be an imperial Carthage with absolutely unchallenged sea superiority. Something for the end-game, maybe. Right now, ships are for moving armies across water - so you are doing right by avoiding having more than absolutely necessary.
The high upkeep on ships is the same for all factions, btw. This reflects the actual amounts of resources consumed by only sustaining a fleet. And keep in mind that they didn't really have a controlled timber economy back then - woods cut down for shipbuilding material were gone when they were gone. Plus, no trucks for transporting all the wood. So, building an entire fleet/armada was tremendously expensive, not quite as heavily so as building a pyramid, but I think the comparison is not *that* far off either.

[A Very Super Market]

Really? Carthage to start off always seemed odd to me. I guess maybe it is easier to manage than the huge Ptolies

[Potocello]

I would suggest Rome. That's what i started off on. I felt that the resources and location was nice, and it's not so big that you can't control it. If your a Rome fan, it's a lot of fun

Go Rome.