New to EB

[Sabre]

As the title suggests I'm new to Europa Barbarorum. I played RTR 6.0 Gold campaigns and multiplayer about 3 years ago and then for one reason or another drifted away from the Total War scene. I dabbled a bit with Medieval and then Empire :dizzy2: and now I've returned to my first love so to speak :laugh4:

Anyway enough of the waffle, I just wondered what the regulars would recommend for the difficulty settings to keep both the battles and campaign interesting. I prefer to play most battles rather than auto resolve. Also what do you think would be the most interesting faction to play.

Any other tips or advice for an interesting EB venture are appreciated :idea2:

[anubis88]

Welcome to EB!

EB is balanced to play on VH campaing/M battles, but some people prefer to lower the campaign difficulty...

As for which faction to start, i would suggest Rome, just to get you in the mood for this mod. All factions are amaizing though, you can't miss no matter which you choose

[Mediolanicus]

Battles Medium, else the balance is gone with the insane boni the AI gets on H or VH.

Of course, when you play with elite fullstacks things get too easy, so play with a realistic army.


Campaign depends. VH and AI will try to murder you. H and it'll be aggresive. M and you can enjoy a slow role playing campaign.
I like role playing EB more than blitzing my way through it on VH, but that's just a personal choice.

Don't forget to read the FAQ and the other important stickies!
That's the most important advice for now.

[paleologos]

Hello and welcome.
For the first every advice sugests top difficulty for campaign and medium for battles.
For the second I don't know I have only tried Koinon Hellenon so far.
They are interestin enough.
The Seleukids have grater unit variety but starting with a huge yet underdeveloped empirre can be tedious.
Read the faction descriptions on the faction selection screen.
I hope I helped.

[Hotseat_User]

hello and welcome back! :hello:

well the recommended settings are VH/M or H/M - if you like to have a challenge in the battles then try H or VH battle-difficulty. In EB the difference in Campaign-AI lies mostly in the scripted support-money for the AI-factions and their bias against you. On VH you will never have a breath with a faction bordering you - and because they get 10k extra money via script, they will spam-elite-stack you. :juggle2:

If you like to play slow, I recommend to expand only slow and take H/M settings with the additional ForceDiplomacy minimod (to be foudable in the Submod-section). Then you can either roleplay or play as historically as you want without being forced to fight a fullstack each and every round.

Ahh and if you're new: Activate the script. without, this mod isn't EB :sweatdrop: Now to the factions: I think you should take your own one because you'll hear thousends of proposals. Personally, I enjoyed Arverni/westernGreek/Pontus-Campaigns the most so far.

Have fun and keep us updated to the progress. Ohh and don't wonder about -30k dept in the first 10 rounds. just build your economy and abadon cavallery - you have your FM's for the job unless you've choosen KH or Saba or Sweboz.

[stratigos vasilios]

Also what do you think would be the most interesting faction to play.:

Play Pontus on VH/VH... I'm sure you'll do better than what I did.

[lionhard]

Id play the romans first you can get a good look at what the AI movement is like and what faction you might prefere to play, their strengths/weaknesses and above all unit types :)

[Fluvius Camillus]

Hi and welcome to EB.

Good faction is of course more a personal thing, but SPQR and Makedonia are good starters to get a feel of the game, the units and everything else, while the campaigns are not the hardest.

What type of faction do you like?

~Fluvius

[Sabre]

Wow so many responses so quickly. Thank you for the warm welcome and advice on the settings.

I realise the faction choice will be a personal thing. I'm sort of drawn to the Casse being from the UK and also the Romans probably because I live so near to Hadrians Wall in the North of England, lots of Roman forts etc in the region. That said I'll probably go for something completely different when I've read the faction descriptions in a bit more detail. :book:

Once again thanks for the advice, appreciate it. :balloon2:

[vartan]

Welcome to EB and more importantly to the community. There are a myriad of great contributors to be found here. Response times? phenomenal. Attitude? Lovely (most of the time). Hope you have a fun time playing EB. I play anywhere from M/M to VH/M depending on how intense a campaign I desire (syntax: campaign difficulty / battle diff).

[Unintended BM]

I almost always play on M/M difficulty. I used to play on H/M, but then I tried a game on M/M and I figured out that you can actually get the AI to listen to you occasionally, so I've been on that difficulty ever since. For good first factions, I'd suggest Rome, Makedonia, Epiros, or even the Ptolemies.

Rome requires minimal fighting in the beginning, but Makedonia and Epiros pretty much require you to take all of Greece right at the start. The Ptolemies are good because you have a very safe starting position and you don't really need to do much at the starting. The Seleukids are always preoccupied with other things, giving you plenty of time to build up your economy and get a good army together.

For building up your economy, first you need to get rid of some of your more expensive units. Navies always cost much more than any of your troops do at the start, so you should disband those as soon as possible. Next, either consolidate all of your various starting garrisons and armies into one or two larger armies to conquer with, or disband some of the garrisons of towns that don't need them. After that, spend money on mines, roads and ports. Also, anything that gives a health bonus is important too. Set your cities to the highest tax level possible without them losing population. After doing all that and using your starting army to take a few towns or whatever, you should be making plenty of money with just about any faction, except some of the really hard ones.

[Apázlinemjó]

Welcome here.

Hayasdan and Pontos are probably the hardest campaigns in the game, so don't start with those.

[Duguntz]

Hello and welcome! you should DEFINITLY try Sweboz! they're insanly fun to play! I mean, it's in my opinion, the most ''brutal'' faction... a lot of fun when you scream WAAAAARRRRRGGGHHH in front of your screen while your Clubmen charge roman legions (or any other who dare to oppose your right to plunder!)

[vartan]

Hayasdan and Pontos are probably the hardest campaigns in the game, so don't start with those.
Caveat: If you're Armenian / Pontic Greek and/or have some sort of emotional or inherent attachment to these nations feel free to engage. It will be hard, but you'll be more motivated than your average player for obvious reasons. Case in point...

[Teucer]

Baktria is fun too (cool units, interesting area and political situation), but you have to expand quickly, or the Seleukids will come knocking and you won't know what hit you.

[Zim]

For those that play with Hard Campaign difficulty, do you still find the game challenging? I've played on VH I worry the game will be too easy if I lower the difficulty, but some of the things I've heard about H campaign difficulty sound promising.

[Mediolanicus]

For those that play with Hard Campaign difficulty, do you still find the game challenging? I've played on VH I worry the game will be too easy if I lower the difficulty, but some of the things I've heard about H campaign difficulty sound promising.

I play on medium and it is hard at times. Just give the AI time, don't blitz and don't exploit their stupidness.

[paleologos]

I play on medium and it is hard at times. Just give the AI time, don't blitz and don't exploit their stupidness.

How do we define "blitz"?

[Mediolanicus]

How do we define "blitz"?

like in blitzkrieg... Fast as lighting to conquer everything that may oppose you. Like having half the Roman Empire by the time you get to the Polybian reforms. I only take Sicily by the 240-30 BC. That way the other faction can get their act together and I get a real challenge mid-game.

Playing on medium also means I won't be attacked from all sides, only on two or three front and not with suicide attacks from 1 region factions.

[Sabre]

Just a quick update. Once again thanks for the advice.

I've started my first EB Campaign and it is thoroughly enjoyable, it really has rekindled my love for what is in my opinion the best Total War game. The EB modification takes the game on a level, the historical information and unit details are simply superb.

In the end I went for the Casse as my faction and have been taking it nice and slow just getting a feel for the game again. I've managed to conquer the British Isles and have launched my first overseas element of the campaign by taking on and defeating the Auedi. Thankfully the Averni have only taken a passing interest, though they are my next target. The Sweboz are proving a bit of an annoyance, constantly breaking the peace with border raids to my east.

I also have a suspicion the Romans are going to make a move soon :dizzy2:

Anyway enough of my rambling, superb, thoroughly enjoyable mod.

Congratulations to the developers, thank you. :balloon2:

[Olaf The Great]

Just remember, when playing a Barbarian nation to use your current troops to capture a settlement or two, but use all starting money and loot to build sanitation, farms,granaries, and markets before you really start expanding.

[woodyman91]

Just a quick update. Once again thanks for the advice.

I've started my first EB Campaign and it is thoroughly enjoyable, it really has rekindled my love for what is in my opinion the best Total War game. The EB modification takes the game on a level, the historical information and unit details are simply superb.

In the end I went for the Casse as my faction and have been taking it nice and slow just getting a feel for the game again. I've managed to conquer the British Isles and have launched my first overseas element of the campaign by taking on and defeating the Auedi. Thankfully the Averni have only taken a passing interest, though they are my next target. The Sweboz are proving a bit of an annoyance, constantly breaking the peace with border raids to my east.

I also have a suspicion the Romans are going to make a move soon :dizzy2:

Anyway enough of my rambling, superb, thoroughly enjoyable mod.

Congratulations to the developers, thank you. :balloon2:

Great choice! I chose them as my first serious campaign as well. It's a bit tedious working all of the U.K. under your control but definentily worth it. I switched over to the Romani right after I took the coast of gaul with the Casse so keep us posted on how it goes!