I Hate Egypt (in the game) [Archive]

CountMRVHS

10-20-2005, 12:19

This is hardly news, but yet again I've rekindled my passion for hating the Egyptian faction in RTW. A couple of recent things have pushed me over the brink.

After BI came out I wanted to see if any of the AI improvements/changes had carried over to RTW. So I started a Brutii campaign. Then I thought that it might be a good idea to make a special expedition to destroy Egypt early in the game, so I wouldn't have to deal with them later. I was looking forward to actually fighting the Parthians or Seleucids in Asia Minor, instead of always always always seeing Egypt take over that corner of the world. So I sent 2 family members and a stack of soldiers to the Nile. They managed to sack Alexandria, but got surrounded by some Egyptian armies. Of course, one of those armies attacked my weaker family member -- the guy who just had a couple mercenary units in his stack. It was a stackful of Egyptian peasants, so I figured I'd try my luck (H/H). When I got to the battle, I found there was no retreat, and my merc units were terrified by the large number of enemy. My general died under a swarm of half-naked dudes with pitchforks and I was mad, but I figured no big deal, I've still got my OTHER army to work with.

You probably know what's coming. I did NOT have that other army. Because we were surrounded and standing right next to each other, there was no way for this "real" army to retreat when the crappy merc army lost the fight. So without actually *fighting*, I lost that entire army.

Needless to say, that was the end of that campaign. But I figured that horrible quirk has nothing to do with the Egyptians in particular; I'll just try again.

So I tried again, this time with the Scipii. Spent some time conquering Sicily so I could get a decent economy and then built up an army to send to the Nile. However, before I even arrived at my destination I received word that the Seleucids AND the Parthians had already been destroyed. This is in the first 30 or 40 turns of the game! Angrily I rampaged through Alexandria, Memphis, and Thebes; exterminating the population and pulling down all the buildings. Then I moved up to Sidon, giving that place a similar treatment, and then to Antioch.

My army is currently holed up in Antioch, and I've come to the realization that my path of destruction has actually probably hurt the Egyptians very little. Because I can't stick around for very long and fight endless battles with my single army, I have to leave cities pretty quickly. That means the city reverts to th Egyptians, and they get a stack of the Golden Super Peasants From Hell. So despite a short-term squeeze, they probably don't notice a difference in their economy at all.

It just seems ridiculous. I'd like to play this game and know that I'm going to face some interesting enemies in the East, not just desert axemen and nile spearmen. Parthia should be the big force over there, not Egypt. So my thought the other day was, why not get rid of Egypt altogether through modding?

Any thoughts on this? Is there a place where I can give all the Egyptian provinces to rebels so they die out at the beginning of the game? Has anyone done anything like this? I can honestly say that I will never miss them. I don't ever care to fight a battle against Egyptian chariots. I don't ever want to see another campaign where the same 2 factions are wiped out before they even get a chance. And I don't ever want to play as the Egyptians, ever ever ever. Just point me to the files and folders I need to make this happen, and I'll attack them in the only place that'll make a difference.

:help:
CountMRVHS

screwtype

10-20-2005, 12:24

"You probably know what's coming. I did NOT have that other army. Because we were surrounded and standing right next to each other, there was no way for this "real" army to retreat when the crappy merc army lost the fight. So without actually *fighting*, I lost that entire army."

Oh, that still happens? I thought they'd fixed that with 1.2.

That is the *dumbest* game mechanic, and I'm saying that as nicely as I can...

Jambo

10-20-2005, 12:39

Yeah, Egypt kicks ass in the East and yeah it's dull and boring.

Now we can mod factions' diplomatic relations with each other at the start of the campaign, there are several ways to improve the situation. These include making Egypt's relations with the Seleucids more favourable and less hostile in the descr_strat file. One could also make Parthia and Seleucids more favouable with each other and more unfavourable against Egypt so they're more likely to jointly take on Egypt. Likewise, Pontus is actually quite often the faction that really cause the Seleucids the most trouble. That can be reworked too.

aw89

10-20-2005, 15:16

I think it would be worth a try to mod the general unit of the egyptians to normal cav. (Weren't\Aren't they overpowered in auto-calc\ai vs ai battles?) And as jambo said above me here, modding the relations of the factions.

Dutch_guy

10-20-2005, 15:48

I can honestly say that I will never miss them. I don't ever care to fight a battle against Egyptian chariots. I don't ever want to see another campaign where the same 2 factions are wiped out before they even get a chance. And I don't ever want to play as the Egyptians, ever ever ever. Just point me to the files and folders I need to make this happen, and I'll attack them in the only place that'll make a difference.

amen!!!

If there is one faction I have never played nor ever will, it's Egypt,

EVen in RTR , I didn't play them , not once, and in RTR they were a whole new faction...

I have never , ever seen SE silver shield infantry , in a campaign , nor any decent Parthian army, which is a shame.
SInce those factions are way more interresting than Egypt.

:balloon2:

Craterus

10-20-2005, 15:59

Mod the desc_strat file to give Egypt -1000000 denarii at the start of the campaign. This should give the Seleucids some sort of head start.

Tricky Lady

10-20-2005, 16:46

Ugh, Egypt. Yes, I really do hate them in this game too.
I have just finished a long Scipii campaign with the Mundus Magnus mod (so RTW 1.2), and there Egypt was a superpower too.
Around 230 bc I started a war agains Egypt, and this was their empire at that time:

https://img467.imageshack.us/img467/5197/map230bc8na.jpg

It was 190 bc before I conquered their last province (yes I am a veeerrrrryyy slow player). I know it sounds ridiculous but I really smiled (no I almost cried of joy) when I got the "Faction eliminated" screen. I even saved a screenshot to caress the moment, lol.
This is a screenshot from the turn before I conquered their last town-with-family-members (in present-day Arabia), so the two African provinces (conquered by me but sacked and abandoned so full with "Golden peasants from hell") turned rebel:

https://img358.imageshack.us/img358/1176/map185bc7mb.jpg

Anyway, I decided to attack them from two fronts. First only in the Libyan deserts, but after 10 years or so I launched an attack in Minor Asia too. But they kept on sending army (often full stacks) after army in that game. Only when my Northern Army reached Jerusalem and my Southern Army conquered the Nile Delta, they showed their weakness for the first time by bringing peasants to the battlefield. I swear that I didn't see any peasants until the final phase.
I also trained a few "uber-assassins" and waited for the family members to leave their towns and march up to their stacks to kill them. But even then I couldn't "contain" the Egyptians.

I must admit that I tweaked down the stats for their :furious3: chariots a little (did that somewhere mid-game), so I thought that maybe increasing the recruitment and upkeep cost too would be a good way to tune down their superpowers a little? Don't know if anyone tried this yet?
On the other hand, they provide a "challenge" :wink:

Crusader4thepeople

10-20-2005, 18:40

Strange, in my latest campaign, pontus conquered the whole of the middle east, so i dont see what the problem is.

Garvanko

10-20-2005, 19:52

Same here. Pontus killed Egypt in my game. Nevertheless, I might try a short campaign with Egypt again.

A.Saturnus

10-20-2005, 20:50

You probably know what's coming. I did NOT have that other army. Because we were surrounded and standing right next to each other, there was no way for this "real" army to retreat when the crappy merc army lost the fight. So without actually *fighting*, I lost that entire army.

If they were standing next to that army, why didn´t they come as reinforcements?

Craterus

10-20-2005, 20:55

Strange, in my latest campaign, pontus conquered the whole of the middle east, so i dont see what the problem is.

Are you guys playing 1.3? It hasn't worked on my computer so far, so I'm talking about experiences with 1.2, where they were almost always the superpower of the east.

Mouzafphaerre

10-20-2005, 21:04

.
I like corn. ~:)
.

CountMRVHS

10-20-2005, 22:19

I may have gotten the "Reinforcements Delayed?" tile at the beginning of the battle, basically preventing them from ever showing up. I understand that happens from time to time, but the fact that they were *destroyed* seemed like a slap in the face. If you know me at all, you know I'm one of those "masochistic" players, who usually looks forward to -- relishes, even! -- the thought of getting my face slapped by the AI. But this seemed like a dirty trick.

Tricky Lady -- you should put up that Faction Destroyed screenshot. Might be cathartic for some of us ~D .

I may try the -100000000 denarii approach first, as that would be easier; but I get the suspicion that the AI would just "cheat" anyway. I swear I've seen them magically produce several units in one turn as I approach their cities.

At any rate, good to know I'm not alone; seems I've touched a nerve here! Thank God there are no Egyptians in BI. Yeah, the Sassanids always seem to do well, but they don't.... bother .... me as much.

CountMRVHS

lars573

10-20-2005, 22:42

I never destroy Egypt in my easterling campagins. Especially as the Seleucids. I leave them with one city, Dumantha usually, and make them my protectorate. You know just to rub it in.

Craterus

10-20-2005, 22:45

I hate protectorates, they're a risky business. I'm still not sure if they're able to break out of it any time they want? They should all be killed, they deserve it, just for being so annoying. :evil:

Barbarossa82

10-20-2005, 23:31

I've modded the game to give all non-Roman factions their upgraded generals' bodyguards from the beginning (a workaround for the Marius-dependent upgrade problem). This also has the happy side-effect of denying Egypt any free chariots. The result seems to be that, while still powerful, they are not the ludicrous superpower they once were. No more small Egyptian forces defeating full-stack Seleucid armies at least. As far as I know 1.3 also nerfed the Desert Axemen somewhat, which has probably helped.

Tricky Lady

10-21-2005, 16:52

Tricky Lady -- you should put up that Faction Destroyed screenshot. Might be cathartic for some of us ~D .

Yeah why not?

:skull:

https://img479.imageshack.us/img479/4555/00778gg.jpg

:evilgrin:

Dutch_guy

10-21-2005, 17:40

~:cheers: ~D ~:cheers:

:balloon2:

Kekvit Irae

10-21-2005, 17:52

Egypt, the one faction everyone loves to hate.
The main concern with Egypt is the amount of settlements that are buffed up (a few start with stone walls), and many of them are cashcows (though not as bad as the Greek islands). When I play as Numidia, I try to expand to the NW toward Spain. I'd rather take my chances with barbaric Gauls than buff Egyptians.
On the other hand, when I have had a bad day at work and need to unwind, Egypt is the best faction for me to play with for the very same reason. I dont need my stress levels elevated any more than needed, so playing an overpowered faction and zergrushing anything that stands in my way is a good way of venting a lot of steam. :gring:

Garvanko

10-21-2005, 18:24

What about the positives..

They have terrific units. Desert Axemen, Desert Cav, Pharoah's Guards and Bowmen etc etc. And they're not even the best. Rather than give them a financial disadvantage, why not give the Seleucids 100000 denarii from the beginning.

A.Saturnus

10-21-2005, 20:21

Celt Centurion

10-22-2005, 06:35

[QUOTE=Tricky Lady]Yeah why not?

Two questions Tricky Lady,

How does one bring up a "Screen Shot?"

and,

How does one bring up a "Faction Destroyed" message from the past?

Thank You.

Strength and Honor,

Celt Centurion

Tricky Lady

10-22-2005, 10:46

Two questions Tricky Lady,

How does one bring up a "Screen Shot?"

and,

How does one bring up a "Faction Destroyed" message from the past?

1) very easy, just hit "PrintScreen" (usually on top right of your keyboard) and the game will save a TGA-file in your RTW\TGAs folder. You can open TGA files with photo-editing programmes such as PaintShop Pro, Photoshop. There is a freeware programme that can open these files too, but I can't remember its name right now. I found a couple of freeware titles that support TGA over here, at snapfiles.com (http://www.snapfiles.com/freeware/gmm/fwgraphicedit.html)

2) you can't. I was so happy to see this screen that I immediately took a screenshot. Yes, that's sad, I know. :shame:

Taiwan Legion

10-22-2005, 11:20

I don't get it. So they were next to each other, and one army lose then the other automatically loses?

And what's reinforcement delayed?

CountMRVHS

10-22-2005, 15:11

Well, part of the issue was that my 2 armies were *completely* surrounded by Egyptian stacks. So I couldn't withdraw from the battle anyway.

Basically, I had 2 generals, each leading a "stack". The problem was, I had one strong army and one weak army: the weak army consisted of my general and maybe 4 merc units: numidian jav and some camels. The strong army, of course, had a bunch of hastati and a much more balanced force (I was very early in the game, so I don't think I could even train principes yet). When the AI attacked, it attacked my WEAK army (smart move actually). On the pre-battle screen, I think it said my other army would show up as reinforcements. I chose to have them AI-controlled because they'd show up all at once & I'd just have to delay with my crappy army until they got there.

So the battle starts up and I set up my puny forces. Now, probably what happened (can't really remember) is that I probably got a message right at the beginning of the battle that said "Reinforcements Delayed?" -- it basically means that your reinforcements won't be showing up after all.

So I was trapped with my general and 4 merc units, facing an army of the Golden Peasants from Hell with no reinforcements. This was before I really respected the Golden Peasants from Hell, so I figured I might be able to win the battle anyway (this was H/H, large unit sizes). Boy, was I wrong. My camel archers didn't even hardly touch them, and the rest of my units were so scared by being so outnumbered. My general died in a headon charge into pitchforks.

When I returned to the campaign map, I noticed that my OTHER army, the strong one, was gone too. So, somehow, the mechanics are such that..... well, you get the idea. To frustrating to talk about anymore...

CountMRVHS

Conqueror

10-22-2005, 15:51

So the battle starts up and I set up my puny forces. Now, probably what happened (can't really remember) is that I probably got a message right at the beginning of the battle that said "Reinforcements Delayed?" -- it basically means that your reinforcements won't be showing up after all.
Those reinforcements would have eventually joined once enough units had been killed, that your computer could handle adding the entire reinforcing army to the battle.

A.Saturnus

10-22-2005, 19:18

Those reinforcements would have eventually joined once enough units had been killed, that your computer could handle adding the entire reinforcing army to the battle.

Yes, on default, the game is set to limit the number of men on the battlefield. If a reinforcing army goes over that limit, it won´t show up at the start of the battle.

vastator

10-22-2005, 19:35

If you really hate Egypt that much, do what I did - download Titus Andronicus' excellent Ptolemaic mod from Total War Center. It includes some new Seleucid and Carthaginian units, and some really cool Syrian archer mercs!

Crusader4thepeople

10-22-2005, 20:16

Are you guys playing 1.3? It hasn't worked on my computer so far, so I'm talking about experiences with 1.2, where they were almost always the superpower of the east.

I was playing 1.2 when Pontus beat egypt. Same thing happened in 1.3 aswell.

Celt Centurion

10-24-2005, 23:26

1) very easy, just hit "PrintScreen" (usually on top right of your keyboard) and the game will save a TGA-file in your RTW\TGAs folder. You can open TGA files with photo-editing programmes such as PaintShop Pro, Photoshop. There is a freeware programme that can open these files too, but I can't remember its name right now. I found a couple of freeware titles that support TGA over here, at snapfiles.com (http://www.snapfiles.com/freeware/gmm/fwgraphicedit.html)

2) you can't. I was so happy to see this screen that I immediately took a screenshot. Yes, that's sad, I know. :shame:

Thank You. Soon, I hope to make a picture of "Faction Destroyed" of Scipii. At this point in the game, I have 94 regions, Scipii has 6, and the rebels have three. It is really neat to have only three factions left on the board, and my own outnumber the others combined by 10-1+!

It will be even better to see "Faction Destroyed" for Rebels if there is such a tile.

Strength and Honor

Celt Centurion

Celt Centurion

10-25-2005, 00:01

Those reinforcements would have eventually joined once enough units had been killed, that your computer could handle adding the entire reinforcing army to the battle.

I learned this one from the A.I.

Their cavalry literally ran from my army, around the perimeter of the battle map. I could not move fast enough to "catch" them, and never did.

But, since they had started the battle, when the time ran out, I won, (close victory).

Now I use the same trick on them. If I have a far weaker force, I move them as far back as possible at the start, and make them chase me around the map. When the time runs out, I win, again, (close victory) I do not do this often, but there have been times that it was the only way to not "lose" my army.

I never trust re-inforcements to arrive in time. Mine rarely do, and when I really want the enemies to arrive so I can beat them too, they usually do not show up.

I did have the good fortune once though of being one of the Roman Factions with one army of about 1,600 men with fully upgraded armour. SPQR attacked me with two armies, also of about 1,600 men each, but they had not taken the time and expense of upgrading their armour. I nearly had the battle won when SPQR's reinforcements showed up from the City. I let my cavalry chase down the ones running away, and sent the rest of my army as high on the hill as the red line would allow. My Legionary Cohorts still had about 30% of of their missiles. When the cavalry was done, I let them rest. By the time that the SPQR army got near my infantry and archers, they were already routing as the uphill has a range advantage over downhill. At the end, I still had over 1,200 men, and SPQR had lost over 3,000. I made sure to kill all of the reinforcements. That was the first time that I ever took Rome without yet laying siege. I had literally run out of moves, and was attacked there, and "fell into" the city. Their reinforcements should have stayed put!

This game is great!

Strength and Honor

Celt Centurion

gardibolt

10-25-2005, 16:51

It will be even better to see "Faction Destroyed" for Rebels if there is such a tile.

Strength and Honor

Celt Centurion

Nope, no such tile. You will continue to have problems with rebels (actually, even more severe, with your cities revolting like mad) after you take the entire map, should you decide to continue playing.

Puzz3D

10-25-2005, 17:10

I did have the good fortune once though of being one of the Roman Factions with one army of about 1,600 men with fully upgraded armour. SPQR attacked me with two armies, also of about 1,600 men each, but they had not taken the time and expense of upgrading their armour. I nearly had the battle won when SPQR's reinforcements showed up from the City. I let my cavalry chase down the ones running away, and sent the rest of my army as high on the hill as the red line would allow. My Legionary Cohorts still had about 30% of of their missiles. When the cavalry was done, I let them rest. By the time that the SPQR army got near my infantry and archers, they were already routing as the uphill has a range advantage over downhill. At the end, I still had over 1,200 men, and SPQR had lost over 3,000.
This happened because the AI units were exhausted. Units get big morale penalties and combat penalties when exhausted, and the AI doesn't realize it. It is possible to turn off fatigue in the preferences.txt file.

Celt Centurion

10-27-2005, 21:31

pezhetairoi

10-28-2005, 01:33

Egypt in my MM game hasn't lasted long... They conquered Carna in Arabia, Palmyra, Bostra, Petra, and eastern Africa (and later, Lepcis Magna) in addition to their starter provinces. But they didn't turn out any big armies, except one full stack, which took Lepcis Magna from me (I was Scipii).

I currently have two armies terrorising Egypt, one small one of 7 hastati 4 equites and 2 archers that just retook Lepcis Magna after Egypt sallied with its fullstack, and one trundling around in the heartlands of Egypt. Currently I have Sidon, Hierosolyma (Jerusalem to the uninitiated), Alexandria, Cyrene, Memphis, Petra and Thebes. There. All their major troop-producing cities gone. And in the course of doing so, they sent only 5-unit or 10-unit armies at me which my 20-unit grand armies with access to full retraining facilities crushed with finesse.

My Egypt is behaving strangely... I will have destroyed Egypt in another 40 turns, probably the minimum required for travelling and storming. After all, with catapults and cities garrisoned by only 3 units, what threat can they pose to my 2 Egyptian legions?

rotorgun

10-29-2005, 05:41

Hi everyone,

I hope you don't mind an 'ole boy piping up on this subject, but I just wanted to share my condolences to anyone who comes in contact with this faction. I fought them in my Greek campaign, and it felt that I had grabbed unto the tail of a tiger at times....whatever you do, don't let go!

It is essential to carry out good reconnisance when taking this faction on. Send out plenty of spies into any provinces that you will engage them in and also into their backfield as well. I also created several detachments of Cavalry forces to delay their main armies and was able to draw them into battlegrounds of my choosing at times when these forces retreated from them. If there are any Pharoah's Archers units in their stacks never engage them from lower ground if possible. They will clean your plow! Always have plenty of Archer yourself, and make the PAs a priority target during any routs.
It's the best way to avoid having to fight them again.

If you can, try to entice them into attacking your main, family member led army with your reinforcements coming from a captain led force. You'll be able to let the computer run this force while you personally direct the other. I was able to crush an elite Egyptian army and its reinforcements by luring it into such a predicament. It was a sweet moment to savor as I also killed off two of their good generals during the fight.

I cannot overstress the gathering of intelligence. I always suffered anytime I blundered into the Ptolemaic hordes by not doing this. Remember, Cleopatra herself was a Macedonian descendant; perhaps this is why the AI makes them so tough. After all, Ptolemy wasn't exactly a slouch. He was a companion of Alexander. Would his children be any different?

Hope I didn't go on too much. I just like talking tactics.

Mouzafphaerre

10-29-2005, 07:23

.
I bribed off full stacks of Pont armies besieging the neighbouring Seleukian town just so that the poor buggers have some chance against the anachronic monsters. ~:) It's paying off.

Once the Italic barbarians (~D) are dealt with, a blitzkrieg will blow upon the as of yet neutral Aegyptus.
.

pyrocryo

11-10-2005, 14:06

aaaah Egypt....love the ladies....hate the men

same here. when i finally land my Scipii troops near Halicarnassus (owned by the Greeks here), the Egyptians are already controled central and eastern asia minor....and getting hungrier. Everywhere I see halfstack armies.

Halicarnassus is a lost cause. I took it easily but then the Egyptians moved quickly to take Sardis and besieged Halicarnassus. I lost a nice legion there since I can't quickly reinforced my beachead with most of my armies are busy controlling Macedonia and Carthage. Even my half attempt to try to engage them in the field with another legion cost me dearly. They just simply threw armies at me and I have to do a 'Dunkirk' to save what's left of a nice Praetorian Legion.

But perhaps it is a balance for luck. Not long after that, Macedonia was destroyed and Carthage was left with a single colony in Spain, surrounded by Julii. Surprisingly though, as my spies pushed north from Greece, I found Britons already controlled a huge territory from Northern France to Russia up to the Baltic Sea. More on that later.

But I digress. After consolidating my Legions, I launched an attack towards Turkey proper. A full Praetorian Legion landed near Pergamum so I can use its well-developed military complex, while another one landed near Sardis' Port and a 'Front' Legion (10 Early Legionary Cohorts) from Rhodes landed near Halicarnassus.
The Egyptian was slow to react. They did try to save Pergamum, but I managed to conquer it within two turns. Of course, a full-stacked Egyptian army with another half-stack not far. Both was dispatch quicly (albeit with heavy casualties, but no cohort lost) and by then, I think the WHOLE EGYPTIAN ARMED FORCES are gathering near Ancyra.
Then I cheat. Remember my front legion? After conquering Halicarnassus--and reinforced it with three Legionary Cohort--I sent near the bridge above Sardis, and my 'Pergamum' Praetorian Legion wait a little bit behind. My strategy was to let my Front Legion sacrifice themselves to destroy a few vital Egyptian units (Chariots, Horses, Spearmen), then withdraw. Then my Pergamum Legion will advance and massacre it.
This is where I think the Egyptian Generallissimo (read: AI) is stupid. Instead forming 3-4 full armies, he only sent his forces piecemeal. After a whole (real time) days work, I think around 6000 Egyptians died, and except of Ancyra which contain a full stack, all cities from Nicomedia to the east are left with a single defender.
A nice fallout of this tactic: I have 10 silver chevron Early Legionary Cohorts . Any idea where to dispose of them ~:)

symball

11-10-2005, 14:27

ooh blimey- I made it as a member (and after all my moaning too)

Back to business: I have always found that the best way of taking egypt is a naval assault on the nile cities. They are always quite low on defenders so using a couple of stacks of reasonable troops you can overrun them quite easily with a blitzkreig style attack. Also by virtue of having the pyramids they are easy to hold and with those big walls you can just sit there and let their relieving armies burn themselves out until you have retrained and recruited enough of a garrison to start a campaign against the middle eastern cities.

once the nile has gone egypt is a spent force and falls quite quickly.

scotchedpommes

11-13-2005, 19:22

Have to say all of this looks interesting, but I've never had any experience
against Egypt. In all my games as the Brutii I've never come into contact with
anything more than a diplomat demanding payment in exchange for trade rights.
By the time I began my expansion to the East the Egyptians were already gone,
and I didn't realise at the time who had exterminated them. That was until my
newly conquered settlement at Rhodes was overrun by a ridiculously huge Pontic
army.

Then began to receive missions from the Senate demanding conquest of Pontic
lands, so sent a few of my main armies across, delayed mainly by the remains of
Greek navies, and later those of Pontus herself. Was met with seemingly endless
advancing forces. Slowly being pushed out of Pontus after depleting my
treasury through bribing several armies, and suffering irreplaceable losses to the
legions thanks to their chariots.

Seasoned Alcoholic

11-15-2005, 00:05

So my thought the other day was, why not get rid of Egypt altogether through modding?

Any thoughts on this? Is there a place where I can give all the Egyptian provinces to rebels so they die out at the beginning of the game? Has anyone done anything like this? I can honestly say that I will never miss them. I don't ever care to fight a battle against Egyptian chariots. I don't ever want to see another campaign where the same 2 factions are wiped out before they even get a chance. And I don't ever want to play as the Egyptians, ever ever ever. Just point me to the files and folders I need to make this happen, and I'll attack them in the only place that'll make a difference.

:gah2:
CountMRVHS

As others have said, you don't have to remove Egypt from the campaign, just mod them down so they don't steamroller their neighbours each new campaign. The main text files you'll need to change include:-

descr_strat @ C:\Program Files\Activision\Rome - Total War\Data\world\maps\campaign\imperial_campaign
This is where you specify starting: populations, armies, family members (in the family tree), buildings, denari, province ownership, AI recruitment / construction biases, and so on.

export_descr_unit @ C:\Program Files\Activision\Rome - Total War\Data
Here you specify a list of units that are recruitable in the game, both faction-specific and area-of-recruitment mercenaries. You can also change specific unit stats here - one of the first things I changed was Egyptian Bowmen, Desert Cavalry, Egyptian Chariots' unit sizes. Other things you can change include attack / defence values, hitpoints, training influences, mentality, formation capability, and so on. Note that for a unit to appear in game, it has to be present in export_descr_buildings.

export_descr_buildings @ C:\Program Files\Activision\Rome - Total War\Data
This file lets you decide which units are recruitable at specific buildings, EG Spear Warband are recruited at a Muster Field by default. You can seriously limit certain factions (and overpower others) by modding this text file. Also used to restrict / allow certain buildings from being / to be constructed by certain factions.

descr_model_battle @ C:\Program Files\Activision\Rome - Total War\Data
Here you specify a unit's skeletal properties involved in both its primary and secondary attacks, as well as animation and texture settings. I found this useful when I removed the phalanx capabilty from Nubian Spearmen.

export_units @ C:\Program Files\Activision\Rome - Total War\Data\text
You create unit descriptions here, relates to export_desc_unit.

export_buildings @ C:\Program Files\Activision\Rome - Total War\Data\text
You create building descriptions here, relates to export_descr_buildings.

These are some of the main ones, obviously there are many more which you can edit too. Remember to create backups of all your original text files before you start any editing, saves you having to reinstall RTW to get the original text files back! ~D

CountMRVHS

11-15-2005, 03:35

Cool; thanks for that very specific advice, Seasoned Alcoholic!

I feel like a sellout after starting this post, but I'm trying a Brutii Imperial Campaign (H/H) YET AGAIN with the intention of wiping out Egypt before they can destroy another faction. This time I was a bit more methodical and patient.

I took Appollonia on turn 1 and started to build an Egypt Assault Army. I got an alliance with Macedon and trade rights with the Greeks; of course that lasted all of 3 turns. By the time my 1-stack army was halfway across the Mediterranean, the Macedons attacked and threw me out of Apollonia. I started to go into the hole a bit, but was able to take Alexandria and get back into profit.

This time, rather than sack towns, I accepted that I'd have to stay put and hold them until Egypt was utterly dead. The last couple times I tried this I would take the town, exterminate, and raze all buildings -- but when I left I'd get a stack full of the Uber Golden Peasants for my troubles. No more of that, thanks. I took and held Alexandria and Memphis, and currently I'm right outside Thebes. I know Egypt has Jerusalem and Sidon, but hopefully they don't have Antioch yet... oh who am I kidding. I'm lucky the Seleucids are still alive; their map information showed they only have 2 provinces, far away from each other. Maybe Parthia will be the big power in this game... don't I wish!

My plan is to destroy Egypt, then get out of that part of the world altogether and go back to fighting Greece & Macedon. As I conquer in the middle east, I'll plant Roman temples & buildings to make my eventual return that much easier. I know my economy will take a hit when I leave all those rich towns, but I should be able to make it all back by disbanding and taking Greece.

I'll let you know how it goes. So far the Egyptians haven't done anything "cheaty", and I'm hoping to stick with this... for real.

As a side note, I noticed the Scipii have taken that town on Corsica or Sardinia... the island west of Sicily. They have that town plus 2 towns on Sicily (Carthage stil has Lilybaeum). I just thought it was interesting that the Scipii actually expanded beyond Sicily in a 1.3 game... To be honest though, I'm kind of looking forward to fighting a strong Carthage by myself at the end. :charge:

CountMRVHS

Seasoned Alcoholic

11-15-2005, 12:52

Another important file that you should mod down for Egypt is:

descr_regions @ C:\Program Files\Activision\Rome - Total War\Data\world\maps\base
If you look at base farm level, you will see part of the reason why Egypt steamroller the Seleucids - Egyptian population growth rates are larger than most other factions.

If you combine that with high starting populations (therefore bigger cities), a better economy, and a bigger starting military than the Seleucids, its easy to see why Egypt (and Pontus, Parthia etc) always make the Seleucids the first faction to be destroyed.

Egypt can simply churn out full stack armies like there's no tomorrow ~:angry: Also, their 'elite' units, such as Pharoahs Bowmen and Pharoahs Guards are dirt cheap compared to other faction's elite units ~:rolleyes:

CountMRVHS

11-15-2005, 21:52

Well, if I manage to beat them in this campaign I'm going to savour it, as it'll be the LAST time I confront them without some major modding. Maybe something as simple as only allowing them to train peasants, denying them access to all other buildings....

I'm afraid though that Pontus will become the next big bully if Egypt gets toned down. Probably have to take away their chariots to even things up on the autocalc when the AI factions are fighting each other.... oh well, I'll burn that bridge when I come to it.

CountMRVHS

CountMRVHS

11-20-2005, 05:39

hrvojej

11-20-2005, 06:12

This happened because the AI units were exhausted. Units get big morale penalties and combat penalties when exhausted, and the AI doesn't realize it. It is possible to turn off fatigue in the preferences.txt file.

Sorry for being OT, but can anyone confirm that this works? In a desperate attempt to finally make the AI armies not rout upon contact, I've decided to give this suggestion a try. However, I still see the fatigue indicator changing to "warmed up" etc. for both my own and the AI units. Do I perhaps need to start a new campaign for it to have an effect? Though I don't see why that's how it should be, since most other changes in the preferences.txt file have immediate effect.

Btw, there is no other way to turn off fatigue and at the same time leave the limited ammo and morale on, right?

Rilder

11-20-2005, 08:37

I have never had problems with egypt, to counter there charriots i send in my more maneauverable general adn he makes quick work with them usualy ending up behind lines in the process which he then goes to taking out there archers... hell in my scipii campaign most of the battles werent even fought with infantry... they just ended up there for "show"

Seasoned Alcoholic

11-22-2005, 19:15

Seasoned Alcoholic, I just looked into descr_regions and was wondering which of those numbers to change in order to mod down the pop growth rate.

After a couple lines of text, there is always a series of 3 numbers on the same line, like this:

14 244 213

followed by a couple single numbers, like this:

5
9

I'm not sure what does what in there...

Anyway, so far here's what I've done:

-Taken away all Egyptian starting armies (and navies) except family members.
-Changed Egyptian starting cash to 100 denarii
-Changed pop levels in all Egyptian towns to 100 (however, I noticed that despite setting this level myself, the pop in game seemed to be 2000 for all towns... odd).

This meant some towns started off with no garrisons, and the Egyptians would have to wait a bit before they could start to make an army.

However, after playing many turns of a new Brutii campaign to see how this worked, I noticed Egypt was doing too well for my tastes. Seleucia was ganged up on (no surprise) and down to Hatra, which was periodically under siege by Armenia. Parthia had Seleucia as a protectorate (yay Parthia!), and Pontus was the other big power in the area, with possession of Tarsus and a few big stacks floating around Antioch. However, Egypt had Antioch itself and all towns south of it, and was threatening Hatra and Tarsus with some large stacks.

So I quit that game and changed some more things. In addition to the above, I did this:

-Took away ALL buildings from all Egyptian towns.
-Changed settlement level to "village".

Hopefully, with absolutely no buildings to work from, the Egyptians will have a harder time. The big problem, though, is that no matter what I do, Egypt is pretty much guaranteed a 7-8000 profit on turn 1. Can you give a faction a NEGATIVE starting income?

The other big problem is that Egypt is basically guaranteed a quiet game. Seleucia is their only northern neighbor, and Seleucia gets picked on by Pontus, Armenia, and Parthia by turn 5. Egypt's only other neighbor is Numidia, with that crappy town west of the Nile very far away from the Numidian center of power. So while Seleucia is getting banged up north, Egypt can take its sweet time and get everything in order.

Oh well. See how this goes.

CountMRVHS

If you look at the very top of descr_regions, you will see a list which describes the structure of each (or most) rows in each section. So from this list, the 3 digits appear to be RGB values. The 2 following digits look to be triumph point value and base farm level. If you want to weaken Egypt's population growth rate, you will need to lower base farm level accordingly.

Give Cyprus (Salamis) to the rebels - any islands a faction owns can really rake in trade income (through sea exports). But Salamis in particular can be a real earner ~D

The reason they appear to be making so much each turn could be that you've removed all their starting armies, so they are paying no upkeep on that. Leave them some armies and family members to start with so this drains on their income. Also, the more starting provinces a faction owns, the more trade income it will generate. Strange though that you've removed all buildings and this is still the case...

Also, for each Egyptian starting province (in descr_strat), did you change level large_town (level minor_city, level town etc) to level village? This could be the problem you're running into here.

Think of ways to screw them over financially ~:thumb:

[EDIT:]You may also want to do the following in order to resolve potential bugs you come across when modding:

* On your desktop (assuming you have a shortcut there), right-click the RTW shortcut and select Properties from the list menu.

* Select the Shortcuts tab.

* In the Target text box, you should see "C:\Program Files\Activision\Rome - Total War\RomeTW.exe"

* Simply add the following to the end of the target location:

-show_err

* Note that you must leave a space between "C:\Program Files\Activision\Rome - Total War\RomeTW.exe" and -show_err, like so:

"C:\Program Files\Activision\Rome - Total War\RomeTW.exe" -show_err

* Each time the game finds something in the text files it doesn't understand, it should give you prompt text box highlighting the problem text file reference. Simply browse to the appropriate text file and change what is requested.

Emperor Aurelius

11-24-2005, 14:30

Egypt is a tough fellow to beat. Unluckily I was expanding into Asia Minor while Egypt was AND fighting a civil war with other roman factions. In my campain I am the brutii. I took Greece,then Western Asia Minor, then Italy,then Macedonia and all of the THracian and part of the Dacian Empire. WHen war broke out I sent my commander Opius Dio in there. So far all of my top generals are dios. I have Cassius Dio,Augustus Dio, Herenius Dio, Oppius Dio, and another dio. Each of them was given their own sector. Herenius got command of the Dacian Legion. Cassius is now dead of old age. He was the father dio and had command over the Italian Legions. Augustus finished the conquest of ITaly and is now fighting in Gaul and Spain. And Hector Dio is fighting in Sardinia and Siciliy! Oh yes and Oppius got command of the legions in Asia Minor against Egypt. I had also generals of the paulinius family who have 6 family members aiding the Dios in other parts of the Empire.

I like managing my generals you see.:)

So oppius took all of Asia Minor except Mazaka which is part of Pontus. Pontus is now my ally and control part of Armenia,Mazaka, and Hatra. THey only control 3 cities but they are a buffer against the Parthians.
So now both me and the scipii advanced into Palestine and the MIddle East. It was a 3 way war: me vs scipii vs Egypt. The 3 of us foght it out all over the place. Luckily I took cyprus which produced Legionary Cavalry, Praetorians, and Catapults. I constantly shipped reinforcements from Greece and Asia Minor into the middle east and even my pontus allies sent soldiers to my aid! The pontus army even managed to capture Hatra from Egypt!

Finally the Egyptians were thrown out of all thje coastal cities but stilll controled Petra, Bostra, and Palmyra and Damascus. While these cities were not on the Coast they were areas were Egypt was amassing nearly ALL of its armed forces! I sent several generals using the regular root: transport from greece takes generals and their armies into asia minor. From ancyra, halic, nicea, and pergamum more reinforcements join them unitl an army of over 3,500 soldiers bursts out of Asia Minor. I had to send several Collossal armies like this in there to fully eradicate not just Egypt but Scipii too! Scipii actually lost Alexandria to me but they snuck an army into Palestine and took Jerusaleam. Also my best general in teh area ,Oppius Dio, was unable to do anything due to the fact taht him and his army were being beseiged by the scipii in Alexandria.

Well I suffered some bad defeats at the hands of Egypt and the Scipii but in teh end I have taken all territory under Egyptian control except Memphis, Cyrene, and Thebes. I intend to seize Cyrene but will get a ceasefire with Egypt afterwords.