I like the alex.exe

[Unintended BM]

First of all, the game runs way better on my computer with alex than it did with BI or RTW. The battles are smoother. I also rarely get crashes after battles. Plus, that annoying phalanx bug was fixed in it.

Second, the campaign map AI is noticeably better. With more retraining (as far as I've noticed, I could be wrong) the AI actually makes decent armies. There's still the silver shield and pedite spam, but I didn't expect that to go away.

What I really enjoy is the diplomatic AI. On M/M on both RTW and BI, I've had long saved games with various factions, and unless I had huge amounts of money, the AI would always refuse just about any logical ceasefire. On Alex, I can actually finagle regions out of the AI for a ceasefire, and not have to pay unreasonable amounts. They're still hesitant when you border them, but it is totally possible to get a ceasefire most of the time. You can go up to them and offer a ceasefire, and they'll tell you what they want for a ceasefire instead of just flat out refusing. Protectorates still require huge amounts of money, but they're more possible on Alex than the other .exes, from what I've seen.

I'll post pics of my fun Roman game later to make this thread better.

[stratigos vasilios]

I used to play on the standard RTW but now I'm on playing with RTW:Gold. It seems to work much better than the original, but unfortunately I didn't play with the original long enough to compare!

[Duguntz]

Well... Alex.exe is the ONLY exe where there's retraining! Gosh I hate that... That's why I play on BI

[DaciaJC]

I'm suddenly very interested in continuing one of my campaigns with ALX.exe. Is it possible to carry over a savegame from one .exe to another without major side-affects?

[vartan]

I used to play on the standard RTW but now I'm on playing with RTW:Gold. It seems to work much better than the original, but unfortunately I didn't play with the original long enough to compare!
They are the same game. Gold just means Rome with its first expansion, BI.

I'm suddenly very interested in continuing one of my campaigns with ALX.exe. Is it possible to carry over a savegame from one .exe to another without major side-affects?
Impossible. Sorry.

[Kikaz]

They are the same game. Gold just means Rome with its first expansion, BI.

Impossible. Sorry.

I've carried my Arverni campaign from original to BI.exe with no problems


Well... Alex.exe is the ONLY exe where there's retraining! Gosh I hate that... That's why I play on BI
BI.exe retrains too, just less often.

[seienchin]

Well until this point nobody has ever prooven any AI improvements in Alex over the other Exe, but retraining is a nice feature.
I personally think/experienced that the Alex AI is very passive and sloppy protecting their settlements from other factions, but again this is my experienced. It might not have anything to do with the Exe.

Diplomacy I would say is just a matter of your playing and luck. I played long rome.exe sessions were I had large armies at the boarder of my empire and I never atacked any other player and in Return I had a long time peace with the other factions.
On Alex I had a fullstack of carthagenian troops guarding a bridge and the ptollis atacked me with just 2 phalangitai...
I guess it just might be random sometimes, because the AI just picks a target city and than tries everything to get it.

[Blxz]

Well I am about to be steamrolled by the AS in my Rome.exe game. Only the islands are safe. AI is decent enough once I corrected (modded) a few things.

But as long as Mr bowel movement (unintended or not) is happy with his exe then all the power to you. Would love to see those pics you promised.

[Unintended BM]

I keep on forgetting to get screenshots of my Roman game. I will though, since I said I would.

It's around 230 BC, I own all of Italy, Cisalpine Gaul, Massalia, Tolosa, and the first town down the east coast of Iberia, I forget what it is. Those areas are easy to hold, but I'm having a huge war over in Greece. I'm supporting the Epirote Administration in Macedonia, so I'm trying to beat back the KH who are actually winning against me at the moment. I took Thermon earlier in the game because it was still rebel, and that angered the KH, who attacked and eventually conquered the town. I came back in full force and took back Thermon, along with Korinthos and Sparte. Then the KH pulled at least three full stacks out of nowhere and detroyed two of my armies and took back Korinthos for themselves. They even managed to kill my main general in the area. I've since replaced the general and brought in reinforcements from Italy to try and take Korinthos back. I managed to destroy two of their full stacks at Korinthos, but they still have one at Demetrius and a half stack at Athenai. I'm constantly building new armies to try and reinforce my failing Greek conquest.

My army compositions are as follows:

1 Legion =
2 Hastati
2 Principe
1 Triarii
1 Velites
1 Eqvites Romani

I usually put two of those together. For a Consular army, I just add in a unit of Pedites Extraordinarii and Eqvites Extraordinarii. It's difficult fighting the KH with all of their elite troops, but it's fun actually losing sometimes.

Screenshots tomorrow.

And woo alex.exe, etc.

[Unintended BM]

https://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w276/Indoril_Jarsa/EB%20pics/RomeTW-ALX2010-11-2118-43-14-47.jpg
The situation in Greece. The KH had a full stack in Korinthos and one just outside, both of which I defeated the turn before this screenshot was taken.
https://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w276/Indoril_Jarsa/EB%20pics/RomeTW-ALX2010-11-2118-43-32-35.jpg
Northern Italy and Cisalpine Gaul. Nothing much going on, except my constant stream of reinforcements heading to Greece. Also, I have an army attacking Segestica. It's rich and my war with the Greeks is bankrupting me. I still make about 20k a year, but that's not enough to keep the war effort going and continue to build up my economy.
https://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w276/Indoril_Jarsa/EB%20pics/RomeTW-ALX2010-11-2118-43-41-94.jpg
Sicily and southern Italy. Even less going on.
https://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w276/Indoril_Jarsa/EB%20pics/RomeTW-ALX2010-11-2118-43-49-65.jpg
Sardinia, Corsica, my little area of Transalpine Gaul, and my newly taken territory in Iberia.
https://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w276/Indoril_Jarsa/EB%20pics/RomeTW-ALX2010-11-2118-44-39-57.jpg
Anatolia. I had bribed Halikarnassos off of the KH, but then I gave it to the Seleukids to try and balance the power around there. I think it's probably a lost cause by now, since the Ptolemies now hold Babylon and Seleukeia, but I will try to help out the Seleukids. Before my war, I would frequently give the Seleukids 100,000 mnai every few turns, and it was working pretty well to balance things out, but I haven't been able to support them as much lately. That FM of mine is actually a mercenary governor I had in Halikarnassos. I haven't bothered moving him out of their yet, and I probably won't for a while, just because it's funny having the Ptolemies constantly tell me they're going to attack me if I don't pay them 986 mnai or something crazy like that.
https://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w276/Indoril_Jarsa/EB%20pics/RomeTW-ALX2010-11-2118-45-06-19.jpg
A bribed Ptolemy general running around the Levant. It seemed interesting when I hit the print screen button, so I might as well post it here.
https://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w276/Indoril_Jarsa/EB%20pics/RomeTW-ALX2010-11-2118-46-19-09.jpg
One of my reinforcing armies heading to Greece. I'm running out of generals to send over there.
https://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w276/Indoril_Jarsa/EB%20pics/RomeTW-ALX2010-11-2118-47-11-68.jpg
Looks like me and the Ptolemies are just about tied. I actually had more regions than them for a while, but they did a lot in the last few turns.

[Blxz]

I like how the KH is wiping the floor with you even though you are the top worldwide faction and they aren't even in the top 5. Whats your difficulty? VH/H?

[Unintended BM]

M/M

My old armies used to be smaller, and the KH really like their elite hoplites. I took Athenai and Chalkis since those pictures.

I've actually given all of my Greek holdings to the Seleucids though. The Lusotanan's and Carthaginians have attacked me in Iberia, and I figure I'll focus over there so I can get their rich mines, then I'll use my new found wealth to take over Greece. The Seleucids are my good allies, and I've been supporting them in Anatolia, even if I've lost almost all of my trade partners in the last few turns. In the same turn, the Ptolemies and the Aedui attacked me, then a few turns later, Carthage blockaded a port and the Lusotanan took Arse. I finished a level 2 mine in Tolosa though, so that gives me a boost, and I've disbanded most of my powerful navy to keep the land war going. I keep on bribing Ptolemy settlements and giving them to the Seleucids to try and maintain the balance so the Ptolemies don't wipe everyone out over there. It's been working well enough, because it distracts the Ptolemy armies who are trying to take all of the Antigonid cities over there.

And I don't even have forced diplomacy...

[vartan]

I could swear I saw myself in one of those screenshots...

[Kikaz]

I could swear I saw myself in one of those screenshots...

That IS you!

[stratigos vasilios]

I could swear I saw myself in one of those screenshots...

Outstanding! Hahaha you quick witted kataphract!

[AstroCat]

Using the below setup I am having a good game as the Romans on H/M settings. Although it has not been too hard so far, no one has really been a problem yet as I slowly expand out. I don't think I mind the AI retraining, so far I have not found it to be an issue but I am on year/turn 259BC. Unless anyone has any more suggestions, which I am always open to, I think my setup is pretty good. :)

Europa Barbarorum 1.2 submod pack 3.1 which includes:
* ALEXANDER.exe; thanks to maksimus for the wonderful instructions on how to make the swap between exes.
* AI Battle Formation Mods* ; by --Sinhuet and special thanks to Lysander13 for the compilation
* Spoils of Victory; by V.T. Marvin
* Some trait changes (command stars & cursus honorum) by konny.
* Win Conditions; originally by JRMC and special thanks to konny for making a new 1.2 version
* Roman Allied Legions; by konny
* Aquilifer unit; by lt1956, creator of the SPQR mod
* Force Diplomacy Minimod; by DimeBagHo , update byJarardo
* Darth Stalin's 1.1 Romani Fix with "corrected" Gallic Helm
* MP Swapper; by ||Lz3||

I added:
* Phalanx mod (above mod pack compatible version)
* Marcus Camillus Player Formations
* RS Textures
* Getting rid of the giant trees mod
* Archer Skymod BI
* Some custom music added