How to roleplay properly

[Whatever Scortamareva]

So this might be a stupid question, I'm not sure.
I've been playing EB for quite a while, but it's starting to get a little boring and I usually end up pretty bored once I get to a certain point because I lose track of stuff and all of the plans take ages to fulfill.

For instance, I have an ongoing campaign with the Casse; I have taken the Isles and sent armies to Spain when ended up taking the whole country. I pushed out the Carthaginians, made Lusos my protectorates, whilst giving the enslaved Lusos territories in Western Gaul to fend off Aedui, and planned to create buffer kingdoms in coastal africa to wear away the Carthaginians.

But now I'm bored, my bloodline wore thin with rubbish FMs and I feel like creating a new campaign. I hear Roleplaying is something people do that makes the game harder and more interesting, but I'm never sure how to go about doing it. I have a look at my Faction Leader and get to grips with him and my culture but never seem to get properly interested in what's happening, or roleplay like you guys seem to be keen to do.

Are there any tips which i could use to get started?
chars
tl:dr- i'm bored with EB, tell me how to RP :)

[Centurio Nixalsverdrus]

A hint would be to play a more civilized faction, because forming a stable Casse / Gaul / Sweboz / whatever barbarian empire is just not very feasable. But that's up to your imagination of course.

Talking of imagination: this is the most important thing I believe. Don't act from a player point of view, play it from the King's point of view. There's quite an interesting tension-field (ah that must be a germanism :smash:) between best gameplay and best roleplay. It can be very pleasing to find roleplay-excuses.

Learn to mod the mod on your own a bit, it's really easy once you got the point. So you can adapt your empire to something resembling it's actual status. That said, it's pointless if you play Romani, they have the reforms built in. :clown:

[fleaza]

you could have a policy of never adopting. that way the only family members you get are sons who have to grow up for 16 years. i have a policy of exterminating all non hellenisitic settlements when i play a hellenistic faction.

[Molinaargh]

Read some AARs (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/forumdisplay.php?f=128), those will give you lots of examples on how people roleplay.

Personally I keep a spreadsheet even when I don't AAR my games, otherwise it feels like all I'm doing is playing a computer game (isn't it?).

My latest spreadhseet: https://img41.imageshack.us/img41/9853/ebspreadsheet.png
It's the succession of Epeiros faction leaders and what they did, as well as the most important FMs of the period in the right.

[Whatever Scortamareva]

Ok, cheers, think I just need to let go a bit when playing EB. It is kindof hard not to use your intelligent strategy to your fullest but I'll give it a go.

[m046720]

Read some AARs (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/forumdisplay.php?f=128), those will give you lots of examples on how people roleplay.

Personally I keep a spreadsheet even when I don't AAR my games, otherwise it feels like all I'm doing is playing a computer game (isn't it?).

My latest spreadhseet: https://img41.imageshack.us/img41/9853/ebspreadsheet.png
It's the succession of Epeiros faction leaders and what they did, as well as the most important FMs of the period in the right.

That spreadsheet is a great idea. I am going to start one. Although my wife will think I am even crazier than before.

[Molinaargh]

That spreadsheet is a great idea. I am going to start one. Although my wife will think I am even crazier than before.
Yeah, I love them. Here's my current one, with some upgrades: https://img406.imageshack.us/img406/8202/ebspreadsheet2.png :yes:

[satalexton]

take and hold 50+ settlements, including Rome. :clown:

[Andros Antonius]

what do you mean by roleplaying? like in a single player game? as in talking to yourself or something? i thought roleplaying was something either really bored or weird people did in mmorpgs lol. i guess you mean writing about your campaign through the perspective of your king or leader in the game right?

and what does AAR mean anyway?

[fleaza]

after action report aar

well your not wrong about roleplaying

[Whatever Scortamareva]

I did think that at first, but I kept hearing how it made games a lot harder and more interesting/rewarding, and thought I should give it a try. Still not got the hang of it but ah well

[Chris1959]

Have you look at the minimods section, many of them do add to the EB experience.

Oh, and don't re-load apart for a CTD no matter how disasterous a mistake you make!

[Whatever Scortamareva]

Have you look at the minimods section, many of them do add to the EB experience.

Oh, and don't re-load apart for a CTD no matter how disasterous a mistake you make!

Of course, no respect for someone that reloads :thumbsdown:

[thecellarlife]

Read some AARs (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/forumdisplay.php?f=128), those will give you lots of examples on how people roleplay.

Personally I keep a spreadsheet even when I don't AAR my games, otherwise it feels like all I'm doing is playing a computer game (isn't it?).


Great idea. I've been doing something like that writing down my family trees, but the details of each character are what matter. Awesome. Makes the game longer, but much more personal.

[Andros Antonius]

yeah sorry about the harsh analysis of roleplaying, but the AAR thing actually sounds interesting. i might actually consider doing one someday if i get into a campaign enough or got nothing else to do

it must get hard to keep track of so many family members after a while. then again, i tend to let almost anyone in to the family, unless they have no skills at all and are total losers

[Blxz]

Roleplaying isn't something that magically makes your game fun. What it does do is allow you to have a little fun and play a game within your game. Essentially you use the EB mod to make your own game with your own characters and stuff.

If you have an Indolent, lazy, crappy King/leader then you might want to have him sit in the capital and call people back to the centre of your empire and maybe not worry about countering threats to the empire, even if you lose a few towns. This is very much a type of reactive role-playing where you just do whatever the traits tell you (and hope your bad king dies soon so you can go back on the offensive). Maybe even do it with multiple characters, such as having your crappy king recalling troops to the home provinces while you bright talented general single handedly conquers Iberia with a skirmisher unit and half a roll of gaffer tape.

Another way is to have a more proactive roleplay angle. YOU are the king and you make your own little story that goes along with how you want it to happen. Can be quite fun especially with the use of console commands (cheats) to add/subtract money, move armies, create armies. Force diplomacy is almost a must with this style if you want something complex to form. Some AAR's make full use of this style. If you really want to go over the top you could try self modding bits and renaming, recreating alternate factions. I think Maion killed the Casse and made himself a shadow faction instead.

In the end its about doing whatever you want with the program that has been provided for you, winning and hoarding territory and slamming the AI is not the only goal anymore.