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gran_guitarra
07-11-2007, 03:29
I wanted to know a few things about EB2,
1) Will it be on Medieval 2 Total War, or its expansion, Kingdoms?
2) Will there be new factions, new units for existing factions, and new traits/ancillaries?
3) Will it incorporate the different models for units so that we don't have to suffer the Clone Wars?
4) Will it incorporate the different settlement types, castles and cities, or simply overwrite this feature?
5) Will religion play a larger role in the Europa Barbarorum or remain the same?

Just a few questions I was hoping you'd answer.
btw, I was curious,
Argyraspidai translates as Silver/Silver Shield, and Thorakitai translates as Heavy Spearmen, so wouldn't Thorakitai Argyraspidai mean something along the lines of Shilver Heavy Spearmen, or Silver Shield Heavy Spearmen?

Just out of curiosity.

MarcusAureliusAntoninus
07-11-2007, 03:49
I wanted to know a few things about EB2,
1) Will it be on Medieval 2 Total War, or its expansion, Kingdoms?
2) Will there be new factions, new units for existing factions, and new traits/ancillaries?
3) Will it incorporate the different models for units so that we don't have to suffer the Clone Wars?
4) Will it incorporate the different settlement types, castles and cities, or simply overwrite this feature?
5) Will religion play a larger role in the Europa Barbarorum or remain the same?

Just a few questions I was hoping you'd answer.
btw, I was curious,
Argyraspidai translates as Silver/Silver Shield, and Thorakitai translates as Heavy Spearmen, so wouldn't Thorakitai Argyraspidai mean something along the lines of Shilver Heavy Spearmen, or Silver Shield Heavy Spearmen?

Just out of curiosity.
1)Probably Kingdoms, seeing as it is supposed to provide more options and features.
2)Yes, probably, most likely.
3)Yes. A nice feature of M2TW.
4)Yet to be decided.
5)Yet to be decided.

EDIT: I know not Greek. But I do know that Argyraspidai means silver shield. And Argyraspidai were the elites of the Seleucids and Makedonians. So Thorakitai Argyraspidai are elite Thorakitai.

:shrug:

gran_guitarra
07-11-2007, 04:08
Thanks. Good to know, especially the no Clone Wars thing.

btw, what about the translation question?

sgsandor
07-11-2007, 06:50
Those are VERY GOOD QUESTIONS!!!

Ludens
07-11-2007, 14:07
To my limited knowledge, thorakitai derives from thorax and refers to the armour. Argyraspidai Thorakitai would mean armoured Silver Shields. The rendering of Thorakitai as "heavy spearman" is a functional and not literal translation.

Chiefwiddler
07-11-2007, 15:31
Seeing as you guys are obviously the chaps for the job, are there any plans to "do an EB" to Med 2?

I mean revamping Med 2 so that the game is more historically accurate?

Not in the EB timeframe, but in the Medieval timeframe?

bovi
07-11-2007, 15:44
If the engine allows, we will make EB2 for MTW2 (possibly Kingdoms). It will still be the ancient era. Wasn't there an MediƦval Arcturoso or something that wanted to make a historical medieval mod?

Foot
07-11-2007, 16:12
Seeing as you guys are obviously the chaps for the job, are there any plans to "do an EB" to Med 2?

I mean revamping Med 2 so that the game is more historically accurate?

Not in the EB timeframe, but in the Medieval timeframe?

We are obviously not the chaps for the job, our historians are historians of our timeperiod, not of the medieval timeperiod. There are already two other mods that will be doing what you wish, MA and MTR, there is no reason for us to spread resources even thinner than they already are.

Besides, the ancient period is way cool.

Foot

Musopticon?
07-11-2007, 17:42
^Yes.

gran_guitarra
07-11-2007, 19:23
Actually I was checking around in the forums last night and I found a mod called Feudalism Total War, which seems to be trying to achieve (or has achieved) just that. It's added several Orthodox and Islamic factions, along with a Pagan faction or two (can't remember the specifics).

Thanks for clearing up on the translation.

Another couple of questions:
1) Will guilds be integrated into Europa Barbarorum 2? I think that some of them would be a possibility, but other would be nearly impossible.
2) Will the Knightly Orders be replaced with something appropriate (such as a mercenary army which sells its services to a specific faction) , removed, or used to create something more realistic?
3) Will Princesses still be used by certain factions? I know for a fact that Spartan women were awarded the same rights as men of the same class, except for appearing before the senate and going to war.
4) Could Crusades be turned into a sort of "Invasion" to simulate faction migrations and invasions that happened reallistically?

If the expansion is done on Kingdoms:
1) Since Kingdoms offers a variety of mini-campaigns, would it be possible to translate these focalized campaigns into EB2? For example, the British Isles campaign could become an Arche-Seleukeia campaign, in which you can play as the Seleukids trying to re-establish their empire, or one of its Breakaways or the Ptolemaioi trying to defeat the Seleukids and take control of their empire.
2) Kingdoms offers the ability, for certain generals in Historical battles, to have "Special abilities". Could this be translated into all generals of a certain faction to diferentiate more between generals? For example, the Romans could have one that made it so they do not lose morale or do not get tired for a short period of time (say 10 seconds?), call it Roman discipline or something.

That's all I can think of for now. Thanks for clarifying the translation question btw.

I Am Herenow
07-11-2007, 19:41
For number 4, do you mean would Aedui (for example) be able to rally lots of cheap, rubbish troops and swarm the Romans, Crusade-style?

gran_guitarra
07-11-2007, 20:20
Sort of. Basically certain factions, who migrated historically (like the Celts), would have the option of transforming a whole bunch of their cities population into a large force of cheap units (often lousy since they'd basically be levies/militias) and have those units attack a certain settlement. If you don't make a certain amount of progress to the settlement units could leave you behind, etc.

Basically it would be like Hording in Barbarian Invasion, but instead of losing the city you'd just lose a large part of the population and gain a bunch of mediocre/crappy units, which have to assault a city.

I guess its kind of hard to explain.

bovi
07-11-2007, 22:34
It's too early to answer such specific questions on functionality, sorry.

gran_guitarra
07-12-2007, 17:26
Okay, how about some more general ones?

Will you be able to use the different "Military Periods" (early, high, and late) to script reforms for the various factions?

Will we still be able to choose our faction heir, or go with the Medieval system (where the game automatically chooses the faction heir and the only way to change him is to kill the guy off)?

Will you move mercenaries into regional MIC's so the AI cannot spam Merc. Stacks (since Medieval has such few mercenaries to start with, that would deprive the player of any mercenaries at all)?

Will cavalry charges function like Rome (where they just need to be in formation for it to work), or Medieval (where they need to keep formation, build up speed, but are obscenely devastating even against pikes)?

Will the phalanx formation, which does not exist in Medieval, function just like it does now? Or will it work like the very strange Medieval one?

Will you use factions like the Aztecs/Mongols/Timurids to simulate emerging factions, so that factions which existed during the time-frame of the game, but not at the begining can be integrated?

bovi
07-12-2007, 17:44
Not very general :laugh4:. I don't think we'll use emerging factions as they require faction slots better spent on a faction playable by the human.

BozosLiveHere
07-12-2007, 19:28
IIRC, it's possible to have playable emerging factions.

Teleklos Archelaou
07-12-2007, 19:47
How do you play emerging factions? Just curious.

MarcusAureliusAntoninus
07-12-2007, 22:23
Okay, how about some more general ones?

Will you be able to use the different "Military Periods" (early, high, and late) to script reforms for the various factions?
I haven't played M2TW much, but I thought there wasn't different eras like in MTW. I thought they just had things like Gunpowder reforms. So: :shrug:

Will we still be able to choose our faction heir, or go with the Medieval system (where the game automatically chooses the faction heir and the only way to change him is to kill the guy off)?
I pray to God that that isn't hardcoded. It in on the verge of breaking M2TW for me. It makes me so made and I just ignore who is my faction leader and treat all family members the same in M2TW.

Will you move mercenaries into regional MIC's so the AI cannot spam Merc. Stacks (since Medieval has such few mercenaries to start with, that would deprive the player of any mercenaries at all)?
Mercenaries will probably work the same as in EB1. In M2TW, you can retrain merc in a region that has more mercs of those type available. Also, mercs are dynamic, changing with time, technology, and Crusade/Jihad events. Mercs in M2TW have much more possibility and most likely will stay in.

Will cavalry charges function like Rome (where they just need to be in formation for it to work), or Medieval (where they need to keep formation, build up speed, but are obscenely devastating even against pikes)?
I would amagine charges are hardcoded and are stuck working the M2TW. Charge bonuses could be changed though, to lessen devestation.

Will the phalanx formation, which does not exist in Medieval, function just like it does now? Or will it work like the very strange Medieval one?
There is a phalanx formation in M2TW. It is called Wall of Spears. It seems to be the exact same formation as the RTW phalanx, but no units have long spears in M2TW.

Will you use factions like the Aztecs/Mongols/Timurids to simulate emerging factions, so that factions which existed during the time-frame of the game, but not at the begining can be integrated?
Most likely, these faction slots will be used for more factions at the beginning of the game.

Tellos Athenaios
07-12-2007, 22:33
^^ According to the custom battle setup, there are three different era's in M2TW: Early, High and Late. So, I suppose there needs to be a way for the game to separate them, hence there should be a way for EB to use it dynamically - provided it's not hardcoded. (E.g. after a certain number turns, the game automatically switches to a different era)

Tellos Athenaios
07-12-2007, 22:37
How do you play emerging factions? Just curious.

Perhaps you start a few turns later than you normally would? :juggle:

BozosLiveHere
07-13-2007, 17:36
Yup. The game plays in hotseat mode until it's time for your faction to emerge.

Zenith Darksea
07-30-2007, 15:18
Argyraspidai translates as Silver/Silver Shield, and Thorakitai translates as Heavy Spearmen, so wouldn't Thorakitai Argyraspidai mean something along the lines of Shilver Heavy Spearmen, or Silver Shield Heavy Spearmen?

No. A thorax is a cuirass (armour for the torso). So a thorakites (or thorakitai, in the plural) is a person who wears a cuirass. So really a thorakites argyraspides is a Silver Shield Armour-Wearer.

king hannibal
07-30-2007, 19:05
who much better can you get the AI than it already is on MTW2?

will you give people with tunics, trueses and hardly any clothing +1 to armour stats?

Foot
07-30-2007, 19:47
who much better can you get the AI than it already is on MTW2?

will you give people with tunics, trueses and hardly any clothing +1 to armour stats?

We don't know the full capability of what can be modded with regards the AI, that will take a lot of research.

We have spent a lot of time developing the stat system for EB, and whilst some areas may have to alter slightly to sit with the MTW2 system, we won't be changing our policy concerning the attribution of armour points.

Foot

IrishArmenian
07-31-2007, 04:07
If the engine allows, we will make EB2 for MTW2 (possibly Kingdoms). It will still be the ancient era. Wasn't there an MediƦval Arcturoso or something that wanted to make a historical medieval mod?
Yes, but we've become MXAD: Italia Invicta, so we can move faster, we have had some personnel issues.

Great to see EB2 getting the official go-ahead.

bovi
07-31-2007, 16:43
I found the mod's forum (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/forumdisplay.php?f=161), for those who are interested. It's looking good, I am very excited about the feature previews (of which I read number 5 through 7). I think the feature-by-difficulty announced may make the modding too complex though, but have at it if you think you can pull it off!

Sarkiss
07-31-2007, 20:14
hey, they have managed to make viewing your cities possible in M2TW!
will EB implement this feature into EB2?

Foot
07-31-2007, 20:54
hey, they have managed to make viewing your cities possible in M2TW!
will EB implement this feature into EB2?

Well I imagine that is hardcoded. The button no longer appears on the settlement scroll, and we won't be able to add a button for that function (if that function even exists in MTW2). So we won't be implementing it in EB2, unless some budding young modder finds a way to do it.

Foot

bovi
07-31-2007, 21:03
Italia Invicta has found that way, see their feature preview 1. That particular feature is uninteresting to me though, as I've only viewed my settlement once in RTW.

Kepper
07-31-2007, 21:39
EB will be base in MTW2 Kingdoms correct?
If a read correct MTW2 Kingdoms is got to add 15 new faction to MTW 2, so in total they are 45 faction in EB 2?

BozosLiveHere
07-31-2007, 22:24
CA will probably just use the free slots they've already left there, meaning I don't expect the limit to increase.

MRY6
08-01-2007, 04:42
Awesome and logical that'll it be on Kingdoms, so many features, and since im a "smart" geek in that i wait for the complete collection is bundled AND at half price, well itll be nice to use the Kingdom CD as well. :)

Satyros
08-01-2007, 14:07
Is there anyone who can shed light on the diplomacy of the M2TW game?

What to expect ?

Something among the lines of the ( virtually non existent ) diplomacy of RTW ?

I haven't played more than 13-14 hours M2TW . I do not yet own the game , though I owned the English as the Scots . :beam:

Satyros

Tellos Athenaios
08-01-2007, 14:39
It appears that there are specific files dealing with campaign AI, and diplomacy. Whether or not these are in fact moddable, I don't know. Hopes are they can be modded - there are concepts of what could be added out there already. (IIRC in the Medieval Auctoriso previews.)

But again, I am not sure about how much EB2 will actually be able to change. Vanilla M2TW diplomacy = RTW diplomacy + demeanour, oh and even more agression towards the human player.

Satyros
08-01-2007, 14:55
Allow me to answer in my mother tongue (though translated).

*looks down *

Ahhh , mother !

Satyros

P.S. : Hope you can do something about it . Poor human player ....

BozosLiveHere
08-01-2007, 17:06
It appears that there are specific files dealing with campaign AI, and diplomacy. Whether or not these are in fact moddable, I don't know. Hopes are they can be modded - there are concepts of what could be added out there already. (IIRC in the Medieval Auctoriso previews.)

But again, I am not sure about how much EB2 will actually be able to change. Vanilla M2TW diplomacy = RTW diplomacy + demeanour, oh and even more agression towards the human player.

M2TW diplomacy is pretty much moddable. While we can't create new options, like the much desired 'get off my lands!!!', we can completely reshape the AI's attitude towards the player's and other factions' actions.

I Am Herenow
08-01-2007, 17:33
M2TW diplomacy is pretty much moddable. While we can't create new options, like the much desired 'get off my lands!!!', we can completely reshape the AI's attitude towards the player's and other factions' actions.
Oh right, so you'll be able to make AI factions concentrate on something in particular (e.g making Baktria's goal always to hinder Arche Seleukeia's progress as much as possible, and unite with anyone it can in order to achieve that goal)?

BozosLiveHere
08-01-2007, 17:43
Seems possible, theoretically. We can never know if this engine will actually behave as intended before testing.

Satyros
08-01-2007, 23:48
I sure hope it is possible .

I'm also sure that you 'll do your best .

It is obvious .

Satyros

Cang
08-02-2007, 00:42
I can assure you that the AI in MTW2 is way much better then RTW. Right now i am fighting with my self on if i should play EB which has a much better game play but has the worst AI ever (thanks to RTW) or play MTW2 which has great AI but no real gameplay (too easy and unbalanced). :furious3: But one thing i love about MTW2 is the fact that my best friend in my game can be the faction who shares 5 borders with me. You can even go off an colonies other parts of the map without the certain attack of the factions near by.

Thorwald
08-03-2007, 22:10
Is it possible to create a 'castle builder platform'?

In ME2TW I know that you can choose your town to become a city or a castle. But as a general in RTW it is possible to construct a fort. And when this fort is attacked you can see that is has always the same structure.

It would be magnificent to create your fort out of different types of gatehouses, towers, barracks, arsenal, donjons, walls, wells, surrounded with or without moat, on a hill, at a river, ... . Or to choose your fort out of a fortress browser (which can be added with customized forts) Naturally based on different turns, capital and number of your troops (to build it). And this fort will not vanish once you leave it, so if come back to that fort you can use it, although it will cost you some turns and capital to repair it. Of course units can not be trained here to their maximum but can be trained with more armour and weapons.

It is also possible to create religeous fanaticism (when the general has a priest who carries the holy grale, ...) besides the grade of troop chevrons, armour and weapons.

There are enough custom battles, but why are there so few custom campaigns?

Zaknafien
08-03-2007, 22:20
If its not possible in M2TW, it wont be possible in EB. We're modders, not game developers bud.

Ritterlichvon86
08-05-2007, 10:40
Will you include a hotseat function / exe for EB 2?

I cannot wait, the only reason we're not playing EB regularly is because it has no hotseat function. carthago vs Roma vs Ptolemaoi gets an all new different exciting spin.

I'd love to try to keep a human carthago's fleets away from Rome while fighting off AI barbarians in the north.

Wow :dizzy2:

LotW89
02-06-2008, 16:44
Yeah, a hotseat in EB2 would be great!
*dreaming about playing with 3 factions*

Lusted
02-06-2008, 16:48
If EB2 is based off of Kingomds I can't see a reason for the EB team not to include a Hosteat mode given the fact it's in Kingdoms by default.

Copperknickers
02-06-2008, 22:39
I don't suppose there is a way to be able to fight the battles in hotseat without bugs?

Mithridates VI Eupator
02-07-2008, 16:22
Hotseat with Real Time battles!!!
That would really be great, but as far as I'm concerned, it is impossible.

I have tried to find someone in the M2TW forums, who were able to make this work, so it appears as though it is hardcoded, but I do not know this for a fact.
I have seen the EB-team work miracles before, though, so one must never lose hope!

Hax
02-08-2008, 12:35
Yeah, a hotseat in EB2 would be great!
*dreaming about playing with 3 factions*

I believe it is impossible. IIRC, you'd get problems with the 'Homeland', 'Expansion', 'Subjugation' markers, etc, since the game allows only one faction to use it.

Carthage
02-08-2008, 16:43
hey don't listen that... you make right things, it's all ok, just do it...
i hope this mod alive, and not like MTR2(((

Foot
02-08-2008, 17:33
hey don't listen that... you make right things, it's all ok, just do it...
i hope this mod alive, and not like MTR2(((

WTF! :inquisitive:

Foot

Copperknickers
02-12-2008, 23:06
I have heard shady rumours from hooded strangers in dark alleys that the Intalia Invicta team-through what can only be some kind of unholy shamonic necromancy-have managed to resurrect the old 'view settlement on battlemap' feature. So, would that be a possibility?

Hax
02-25-2008, 02:22
hey don't listen that... you make right things, it's all ok, just do it...
i hope this mod alive, and not like MTR2(((

I believe the poor guy tried to say:

Excuse me, but I would like to express my worries that you might take Hax's comments serious, and I also wish to say that I am sure of the fact that everything is well, and also press on my hopes that you will finish the project.

I hope this mod is still in-progress, unlike some other mods, such as "Medieval 2: Total Realism"

In my best English.