Feeling alone in the world

[Shippo Fox]

Hey, guys.

I've only been playing EB for about a week, but I've played Rome:TW, Medieval II:TW, and Empire: TW before. I'm playing on Hard campaign/Medium battle difficulty as Rome.

Anyways, here's what the thread is about..
The one thing that always bothers me while playing these kind of games is that I always feel like the only one doing anything. The game tells me when alliances are set, wars are declared, and peace treaties are made, but other than that I have no clue what's really going on in the world.

I was thinking about using the fog of war cheat, but thought I'd ask this question before doing that.
Is there a way to obtain information on recent battles that occurred between the AI? Like something that pops up every turn. And if that's too much, is there any way to make something pop up whenever one nation takes over another nation's land?


Oh, and also. I'm at war with the "Safot Softim biQarthadast" (the ones to the south west of Rome over the sea), but they're not doing much.. I sent an army over the sea and captured one of their settlements, and they're trying to take it back, but that's only because it's next to their other settlements. They'll never attack me on my homeland. They never send any armies overseas to get me. Are there no naval invasions or something?

I'm playing the game on steam and I guess I'm using the RomeTW.exe, but I have the Barbarian Invasion.
I heard that there's a way to play EB with the expansion's exe, and that it includes naval invasions, but I also heard that it breaks things..

So what should I do? Should I just start anoher campaign on very hard and hope they attack my homeland more? Or only start wars with people who aren't separated by sea from me?

The tribes to the north of my lands don't attack me either, so it's pretty easy..

Thanks in advance for the help and advice!

[ziegenpeter]

Well especially in the beginning, when there is not so much war going on for you, use toggle_fow.
I always like to watch what the ai does. It keeps the turn loading less boring.

[The Celtic Viking]

Hey, guys.

Hi!


Anyways, here's what the thread is about..
The one thing that always bothers me while playing these kind of games is that I always feel like the only one doing anything. The game tells me when alliances are set, wars are declared, and peace treaties are made, but other than that I have no clue what's really going on in the world.

I was thinking about using the fog of war cheat, but thought I'd ask this question before doing that.
Is there a way to obtain information on recent battles that occurred between the AI? Like something that pops up every turn. And if that's too much, is there any way to make something pop up whenever one nation takes over another nation's land?

It might be possible to make such popups, but the easiest solution by far is simply turning off the fog of war. I'd just do that.


Oh, and also. I'm at war with the "Safot Softim biQarthadast" (the ones to the south west of Rome over the sea), but they're not doing much.. I sent an army over the sea and captured one of their settlements, and they're trying to take it back, but that's only because it's next to their other settlements. They'll never attack me on my homeland. They never send any armies overseas to get me. Are there no naval invasions or something?

I'm playing the game on steam and I guess I'm using the RomeTW.exe, but I have the Barbarian Invasion.
I heard that there's a way to play EB with the expansion's exe, and that it includes naval invasions, but I also heard that it breaks things..

Hmm. I used to play on the BI.exe before I got Alexander, and while I did notice more frequent naval invasions, I never noticed anything being broken. :shrug:


So what should I do? Should I just start anoher campaign on very hard and hope they attack my homeland more? Or only start wars with people who aren't separated by sea from me?

The tribes to the north of my lands don't attack me either, so it's pretty easy..

Thanks in advance for the help and advice!

If by "the tribes to the north" you mean the Eleutheroi, well... yeah... it's the Eleutheroi, the "rebel" faction. They never really do much offensive (with some exceptions if you play on VH; with the Alexander expansion, they can be very active - relatively speaking, at least). It's hardcoded, I'm afraid. The closest, non-Eleutheroi faction to the north would be the Aedui, and they're busy with a bloody civil war against the Arverni, and so they're likely to focus more on them than on you.

The Romans is the easiest faction in the game, so if you want more of a challenge, you should either make strict house rules for yourself to follow, or try a different faction. Besides Rome, Carthage - the Safot Softim biQarthadast you speak of - and Ptolemaioi are usually listed as good factions to start with, because they're relatively easy and start up with a rather stable economy. With other factions you are likely to have to choose to either blitz (i.e. use your starting army to quickly conquer new territories), disband or go into debt. They can be tough for someone new to EB for that reason. (Which is not to say starting with any other faction is impossible or even necessarily a bad idea; I personally started with the Sweboz, for example.)

[mlc82]

There's also a file floating around here someplace (can't find it on the board quickly, thought I had it bookmarked but I don't) that tweaks the campaign AI to be more aggressive toward certain targets, ie the AI Romans will go after Sicily (among many others), Epeiros seems to prioritize invading Italy, and various other factions have certain "target" areas that they expand for more rapidly.

I've got it ready for my latest campaign but haven't tried it out much yet, can upload it here if you want though I'd like to be able to give credit to whoever put it on here in the first place. It's just a desc_win_conditions text file that goes into your "Imperial Campaign" folder in the EB data files, hopefully someone here will read this, know what I'm talking about and link to it.

[Ludens]

There's also a file floating around here someplace (can't find it on the board quickly, thought I had it bookmarked but I don't) that tweaks the campaign AI to be more aggressive toward certain targets, ie the AI Romans will go after Sicily (among many others), Epeiros seems to prioritize invading Italy, and various other factions have certain "target" areas that they expand for more rapidly.

It's in this thread (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=86313) (check out the later pages: the one on the first page is for an older version of EB).

[Shippo Fox]

Thanks for all of the help, guys!

So I guess what I'll do is what is said in this post
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showpost.php?p=1433613&postcount=85
to use EB with BI

Do what was said in this thread as suggested by mlc82 and Ludens
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=86313
to get the win conditions
Edit: I'm guessing the download link on this page is the newest version
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=86313&page=6

And do what ziegenpeter and The Celtic Viking said and turn off the fog of war.

And I'll keep in mind that the Eleutheroi aren't very aggressive.


I think I'll try out Rome again, because I enjoy their history and really like heavy infantry.. And I'm guessing that it'll be a lot harder than it is now.

Thanks for the help, guys!

[Blxz]

A good idea if you are going to play continuously with fog of war off is to choose to not follow AI characters. Makes turns play at normal speed so you don't have to watch everyone, but you can still check up on them easily and the minimap will show you when they change territories.

EDIT: If you really do feel lonely even after you try your new game you can always try Pontus, Hayasdan, Baktria or the Parlav. When you have regular visits from your neighbours you will begin to appreciate the joy of being left alone.

[Imperator Invictus]

sorry for my remarks.....(I've edited my previous post)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diadochi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carthage

[athanaric]

It's good that you know this stuff, but it is useless to put it across in such a snide manner. Remember that everybody starts of with zero knowledge at some point, and if the OP is willing to learn about history, then the main goal of EB has worked for him.
However, too many people have been deterred from getting into a subject by the arrogant manner of "insiders", be they scholars or not. Superior knowledge is not a green card for patronising behaviour, and does not eliminate the need for some etiquette.

[Shippo Fox]

LOOOOL
the ones to the south west of Rome over the sea......LOOOOOL
that is Carthage
You never heard about Carthage?????
:wall:

The tribes to the north
:laugh4: :laugh4: :laugh4: :laugh4: :laugh4:

You should try to read sometimes...:book:

I knew that they are Carthage, but I didn't remember what their in-game name is. Their in-game name isn't Carthage, and I didn't want to confuse anyone.

Grow up.

[Maestro Ugo]

I don't like playing without FoW, but it can be a blast developing a diverse and efficient spy network. Spies have traits, and grow and develop, which makes the spying game even more fulfilling. They are relatively cheap, and it helps with Roleplaying.

[Fixiwee]

Also I wouldn't look at spies like some sort of hooded ninja. Spies are just people in some minor keypositions sending word to you.

[Ludens]

It's good that you know this stuff, but it is useless to put it across in such a snide manner. Remember that everybody starts of with zero knowledge at some point, and if the OP is willing to learn about history, then the main goal of EB has worked for him.

QFT

As the post in question has been changed into an apology I shall leave it at this, but it's not the kind of behaviour we want here.

[Maestro Ugo]

Also I wouldn't look at spies like some sort of hooded ninja. Spies are just people in some minor keypositions sending word to you.

I'm struggling to understand the implications of this statement.