How about a EB PBEM game?

[Rilder]

How about we start up a EB PBEM game... maybe a barbarian faction cause of the mods name-sake :idea2:

[econ21]

I'd definitely be interested in an EB PBM game, but I think it would be best to wait for 0.8. I get too many CTDs at the moment.

[GiantMonkeyMan]

what i would love to do is a koinon hellion (sp?) pbem game where each person takes one of the 'houses' as in one person is sparta, one athens, and another rhodes and controls those provinces + the ones that they take... it would also be simulate the friction between the people when one 'house' goes to war with a faction and the others didn't want to...

[econ21]

Interesting idea - we've been trying a sort of decentralised PBM in the Throne Room with the "Will of the Senate" game. Each general fights their own battles, although the economy and army movement etc are determined by the Consul (with directions from the Senate). I've been wondering what would be a suitable PBM with a more "provincial" feel and Greece is the natural.

Working out the logistics of how to do this is non-trivial (passing a savegame around each city player each turn would slow things to a crawl), but not insurmountable.

[Wardo]

I'm in. Whatever faction, whatever you decide.

[Justiciar]

I've never played a PBEM before, so it might be worth having a go. Like econ21 said though, wait fo 0.8.

[The Spartan (Returns)]

I'd definitely be interested in an EB PBM game, but I think it would be best to wait for 0.8. I get too many CTDs at the moment.seconded. plus RTW goes faster in 1.5. (i know the reason)

[Tuuvi]

Please excuse my noob question, but what is a PBEM?

[econ21]

Please excuse my noob question, but what is a PBEM?

Here's a brief explanation:

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showpost.php?p=467491&postcount=2

Have a look at the Throne Room for some examples. Here's a fairly recent one (WRE BI) we finished:

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=60372

[Darkarbiter]

Nice but what faction are we playing? I suggest ptlemaioi or baktria are a good choice.

[soibean]

Id be interested in playing, so long as some one clears up how to take and post pictures of the campaign
any thoughts on what faction and are we waiting for .8?

[econ21]

Id be interested in playing, so long as some one clears up how to take and post pictures of the campaign

Yes, I think that is the most involved technical aspect of PBMs. Here's how I do it in 3 easy stages:

(1) I use FRAPS to take screenshots. FRAPS is a free programme you can download from the web. RTWs screenshot function should work as well, but gives me all black TGAs. FRAPS is very easy to use: download & install it, then run it before each RTW game and during the game you can press F10 whenever you want a screenshot.

(2) Screenshots are saved in TGA format and are rather big. So I edit them with Irfranview to reduce them to 75% size and save them as JPG. Irfranview is a free programme you can download from the web. Many other packages would do as well.

(3) Finally, I upload the jpgs on

http://www.imageshack.us/

Once you've browsed to your jpg and clicked "host it", imageshack will take you to a list of various links you can copy into your post. I find the one they list as "hotlink for forums (2)" works fine, so just cut and paste that link into Org post and you are done.


...any thoughts on what faction and are we waiting for .8

I would wait - I think an EB PBM would be really popular, but it would be a shame if the enthusiasm was dissipated in CTDs and other tech problems.

[eadingas]

If your tgas come out all black and you don't want to mess with graphic cards settings, run RTW in windowed mode. You can then take normal screenshots via PrtScr and then paste them in irfanview and do whatever you want.

[Dooz]

Yay econ, I wanted to suggest an EB PBEM with a more advanced version of EB at some point, similar to the "Will of the Senate" one. I'm so glad it's already going to happen. It's just so excellent, the people involved and how good it is, one based on EB would rule the universe. Or just be a lot of fun. Either way, I can't wait.

[GiantMonkeyMan]

if we do rome or a hellenic faction i'm in.... i kinda suck at the barbarians (and rome but it will still be interesting) and we should take on a single character of the chosen empire and fight their battles automating captain battles or have a 'senate' character play them

although you'll all end up laughing at my pathetic character cos i am so bad at the game :laugh4: not enough playing and too much modding :2thumbsup:

[Dooz]

A bad player is always fun for PBEM's I think. Not every general was perfect, and this reflects that perfectly for RP and for fun :2thumbsup: . Your cloud has a wonderful silver lining Giant Monkey... Man... ehem, yes.

[econ21]

It might be premature, given that 0.8 still sounds some way off, but there's a fair amount of interest in this thread. To begin preparation, I could start a poll in the Throne Room on what EB faction people would prefer. Here's a list I put together of the factions in 0.8, is it correct?

1. SPQR (Rome)
2. Karthadastim (Carthage)
3. Arverni (Gaul)
4. Audei (Gaul)
5. Sweboz (Germania)
6. Casse (Briton)
7. Iberia (Spain)
8. Sauromatae (Samartia)
9. Hayasdan (Armenia)
10. Pontos (Pontus)
11. Pahlav (Parthia)
12. Arche Seleukia (Seleucia)
13. Ptolemaioi (Egypt)
14. Baktria (Bactria)
15. Makedonia (Macedon)
16. Koinon Hellenon (Greece)
17. Getae (Dacia)
18. Epeiros (Epirus)
19. Saka-Rauka (Scythia)

Please point out any spelling mistakes or if the bracketed English translation is 100% wrong (99% is ok so long as there is a grain of truth; it is just for ignoramuses like me who often don't know roughly what the faction represents from its EB name alone).

[Ignoramus]

If you do one, can you allow players who don't have the mod to play a part in it? Like in The Will of the Senate?

[Darkarbiter]

Isnt sythia like ages away in a different direction. Id suggest putting something like north eastern steppe faction for saka ruake as sycthia is comepletely different.

[Dooz]

I would like to see a Carthage game played, because I think they had a similar system to Rome as far as the Senate or republic goes so it can be similar to "Will of the Senate", with a lot of participation and everything else. Plus, it's a awesome faction and would be tons of fun to play. Although, I also wouldn't mind a Greece or Epirus game, I'm sure some cool things can be done to make the game as interesting as WotS.

My votes are as follows, in order:
1.) Carthage
2.) Epirus
3.) Greece

[Darkarbiter]

1. SPQR 7
2. Karthadastim 8
3. Arverni
4. Audei
5. Sweboz *5*
6. Casse
7. Iberia
8. Sauromatae
9. Hayasdan
10. Pontos
11. Pahlav
12. Arche Seleukia**4**
13. Ptolemaioi *****1*****
14. Baktria ***2***
15. Makedonia ***3***
16. Koinon Hellenon
17. Getae
18. Epeiros
19. Saka-Rauka -6-

as far as im concorned i dont think any other are worth playing in PBEM due to them being overly easy to stuff up or sometimes not much stuff happens in a lifetime of a king (koinon hellenon sometimes get stuck with greece and cant expand)

[econ21]

Ok, no need to try to vote in this thread - here's a separate thread with a proper poll:

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=68040

Any EB team member want to comment on Saka-Rauka = Scythia translation?[1] The preview mentioned a couple of times that ancient writers sometimes referred to some Saka peoples as Skythians. No other translation suggested itself from the preview ("north eastern steppe faction" doesn't have a snappy ring to it).

[1]Please be gentle. :sweatdrop:

[eadingas]

Saka Rauka is Scythians, but not Scythia... if you get the difference :)

[The Celtic Viking]

I'm in too, if you will allow it. All that daunts me is writing up a little story, but I guess it would be worth it. :)

[Justiciar]

Looks like the Saka are winning so far. So how are we going to do it? Play by reign? Controling individual generals? Taking n turns each and then switching?

[econ21]

Looks like the Saka are winning so far. So how are we going to do it? Play by reign? Controling individual generals? Taking n turns each and then switching?

I'm inclined to wait for 0.8 before fixing anything in stone. One possibility is to have several different PBMs, with different factions, on-going at the same time. For example, running a Saka game and a Greek game alongside would be fine. (I have become intrigued by GiantMonkeyMan's idea of trying to decentralise the game to the level of individual Greek city states.) But you'd probably want at least 6 committed people before starting.

My instinct would be to combine playing n turns then switching with delegating battles to the player controlling individual generals. This is what we are doing in the Will of the Senate PBM and it is working well - it is a way of keeping a group of people actively involved. Alternatively, simply playing 20 turns and then switch is a reliable method and allows for good story-telling. Playing a full reign is surely out of the question given the 4TPY mod (it would be exhausting).

My plan is to wait for 0.8. Set up the most popular PBM, confirm the players' availability and then agree the logistics among them. If a simultaneous second PBM then still seems possible, I'd do the same with that.

[QwertyMIDX]

Any EB team member want to comment on Saka-Rauka = Scythia translation?[1] The preview mentioned a couple of times that ancient writers sometimes referred to some Saka peoples as Skythians. No other translation suggested itself from the preview ("north eastern steppe faction" doesn't have a snappy ring to it).


Scythians is fine, although Sakas would be more accurate. Scythians is based on the general greek term for steepe peoples while Sakas is based on the persian, which is closer as the langauges of the Saka people seem to have been part of the iranian family of languages.

[Zastrow]

I'd be interested in playing, I vote for Carthage or Baktria for countries.

[Fondor_Yards]

Depending on when this starts, I'd like to join.

[Rilder]

Glad my ideas catching on =D