View Full Version : So, did anyone play the historical battles yet?
Edourius and I managed to complete one battle each for the 1.0 release. We would have liked to have completed many more (and indeed, about 15 are currently partially completed), but scripting is a big factor. Unfortunately, to get the AI to do even some simple things requires quite a lot of battle scripting so what we have is what we were able to complete by the time of 1.0. Expect many more.
So, that being said... anyone play Areios yet?
Better yet, anyone read the entire description I wrote?
Hooahguy
10-12-2007, 18:17
i read the descriptions.. but that was 2:30 AM, and i needed my sleep... sorry- but i did read what you wrote!
ps- the battles look good! congrats!
i can't wait for y'all to see things like raphia and panion...
I Am Herenow
10-12-2007, 21:41
Can you play them on either EDU?
The Persian Cataphract
10-12-2007, 21:54
Well just a bit of a heads-up but our Carrhaë will be anything but like Vanilla ~:joker:
Thats good to know, that battle was a nightmare. :laugh4:
well I played the Lusotannia vs Casse one, the battle on the river i forget the name, there werent many units and it was set on large I think, but it was still fun :2thumbsup:
im just surprised by the fact that Bactrian army is all cavalry:inquisitive:
im just surprised by the fact that Bactrian army is all cavalry:inquisitive:
Why is that?
Why is that?
well it aint Nomad or Parthia, neither Hay. just didnt expect it... but i'd love to learn more...
The Baktrians were heavy users of cavalry... really heavy users. In fact, they managed to hold off the nomads for decades; only falling at times of internal crises.
I played Areios and have a few words about it in the screenshot of the month thread. Not that I'm bitter or anything.
:beam:
Did you play as Baktria yet?
SpawnOfEbil
10-13-2007, 17:44
From my one playing through of Areios, I found it relatively easy (hint: it's an easily defensible position and you have a ton of decent phalangites).
No wonder Euthydemus lost.
Well, ideally the whole river would be crossable, which means that you can't really use it as a point of defense. We're stuck with what we have in RTW. You could try crossing the river and see what happens.
SpawnOfEbil
10-13-2007, 18:13
The Baktrian side is really fun. At first, you'd think pointy sticks+horses is insta-lose, but it's much deeper than that. I eventually managed to encircle the entire Seleukid army with my cataphracts and wipe it down almost to a single man, while sustaining heavy losses myself.
Intense stuff. Way better than vanilla, but I've come to expect nothing less ;)
What happened to me was that I screwed up the initial Hetairoi charge against the Bactrian scouts, and they began hacking me to the ground. I got the upper hand only after my Prodromoi joined the battle, and when the enemy routed, I had lost about 60% of my Hetairoi. Then I exhausted my phalangites by having them run all the way across the river, and after I had formed the army, the fresh Bactrian cavalry that had walked the whole way charged, slowly but surely slaughtering my left flank, until the whole army routed. Antiochus survived though.
Megas Methuselah
10-14-2007, 15:50
Antiochus survived though.
Well, that's good news...
*notices everyone staring at me*
...What?
Hooahguy
10-15-2007, 15:36
i beat arios.... as baktria!
heres the carnage.... in the distance is my HC chasing the remaining AS unit- some persian archers....
https://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa73/hooahguy14/battleofriverarios-carnage.jpg
heres the fleeing persians (the persian circled in red was just killed:2thumbsup:)
https://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa73/hooahguy14/riverarios-fleeingpersians.jpg
and here are the results!
https://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa73/hooahguy14/riverarios-results.jpg
i was really lucky because my HC slammed into the AS phalangites and HC just as they were reforming......
TWFanatic
10-15-2007, 16:00
Very good battles indeed. I found Baktria particularly hard - just barely managed to win on hard.
The one thing that annoyed me about Areios was purely a RTW flaw. The Seleucids would just rest on the river bank, and you can't charge them from the side (parallel to the river). I repeatedly tried to do this, but my catas would never charge, they'd just swing around and run strait into the infantry with lances up and the "marching" description, as apposed to the "charging" description. And yes, they started from a standstill. For some reason you have to enter the river crossing area from the front.
Other than that hardcoded annoyance, I enjoyed both battles immensely. Can't wait to see the other battles you guys are working on.:beam:
I Am Herenow
10-15-2007, 19:28
How does the scripting work? For example, in the Lusotana-Casse battle, the Lusotani just stood there on the other side of the river and didn't cross, forcing me to go across - would they have tried to cross otherwise?
What other stuff does the scripting do?
Eduorius
10-16-2007, 04:36
How does the scripting work? For example, in the Lusotana-Casse battle, the Lusotani just stood there on the other side of the river and didn't cross, forcing me to go across - would they have tried to cross otherwise?
What other stuff does the scripting do?
Well the "Lusotanan" stood in the other side of the river and waited for the "Casse" to cross it. Scripting can do a lot of stuff, but this battle didnt had it because the AI pretty much does what the armies did in real life.
- I am kind of sad because nobody read the awesome description that Anthony did, and also because nobody has commented about how the Prehistoric Music Ireland sounds for the battle.
Yeah! I am sure nobody read that the battle was in Ireland. :no:
AntiochusIII
10-16-2007, 04:54
Yeah! I am sure nobody read that the battle was in Ireland. :no:I did. ~;)
Quite a fun battle by the way. I only played the soon-to-be "Gaelic" side. And lost. Horribly. Sayonara Ireland as we knew it. :laugh4:
It was a colossal tactical mistake on my part anyway. I sprung the trap too soon and too many enemies are still on the ford instead of being surrounded. Even then the battle was in a stalemate (I routed and annihilated the first wave quite completely) but stupid me got the general killed. The consequence is predictable. :sweatdrop:
In my defense I wasn't playing seriously though. It was kind of a test drive to see what kind of battles you guys have.
Also had fun playing, well, myself (lol), fighting Bactria. The first charge went well even as I sent the main army across the river at the double (literally). It took a bit of pursuit to completely finish up that first wave though, and both my Silver Shields and the Companions were downright exhausted by the time they could form a solid line. Fortunately the AI took its time marching and delayed the charge for some wasteful archery duel instead of crashing into my army right away, so my troops had time to refresh.
Even the cataphracts can't break through pointy sticks held by people who knew how to hold pointy sticks. They tried though. Hard. My hypaspists guarded the flanks well and the battle went perfectly with the cavalry smashing isolated enemy units while their katanks were pinned down.
I suspect it'll be much harder playing Bactria in that battle. Horses + Pointy sticks = instant lose. Especially for a Poor Tactician inbred idiot like me. :smash:
Love the descriptions by the way. A really nice look at the anabasis.
Also, a somewhat related historical question: When did the Seleucids start using cataphracts in significant numbers? I notice the A-man haven't got any with him for a katank duel with the Bactrians.
Antiochos deployed them after his anabasis. Having fought Baktrian and Parthian cavalry he decided it would be a good idea to pick them up.
They first showed up at Panion... which I'm trying hard to finish, but scripting is intense and difficult. Once I get it done and released (maybe as an independent download), you'll get to see them in their full Hellenistic glory.
Greetings to you!
Abou, Eduorius, and the additional members of Historical Battle section. Your work is FANTASTIC!!!!! The descriptions enthralled me! Your familiar writing style are amusing; clear and understandable for every player, and these contains many-many interesting and useful information not just for battle, but for the campaign too.
I have played every two battle, and I have won! :2thumbsup:
Uhm, and I think the 15 battles are too slight! You really have to make at least additional 10 battles! (Please ~:rolleyes:)
Eduorius
10-16-2007, 18:23
Well the description for Ebhernis was made by Anthony. I didnt knew anything about the battle and he is a great writter, not like me.
I had a lot of fun playing both battles (I did read the descriptions BTW, though not entirely since the R:TW interface makes reading long texts a pain), although I did find the Celtic one rather easy. Maybe it was because I was playing the proto-Gaels, though, but both times I played the Balroa loitered in the ford, leaving their general and his kluddobro to be weakened by my Goidelic nobels and skirmishers, and finally routed by a cavalry charge.
The battle on the river Areios was more challenging. Playing as Antiochus, I saw off the scouts with ease, but I didn't have my army formed up when the Baktrian cavalry charge came, so I couldn't support my cavalry on the right flank and was overwhelmed there. The second time round I was ready in time, and won with some difficulty, although Theodotes helped things by continually charging my spear line on his own.
BTW is it just me or is it impossible to set the Persian archers to fire-at-will? I pressed the fire-at-will button repeatedly, but it always turned off after a second. They only way to make them fire was by ordering them manually (with resulting friendly-fire casualties when I my attention was diverted by the other side of the battle).
AntiochusIII
10-18-2007, 22:41
BTW is it just me or is it impossible to set the Persian archers to fire-at-will? I pressed the fire-at-will button repeatedly, but it always turned off after a second. They only way to make them fire was by ordering them manually (with resulting friendly-fire casualties when I my attention was diverted by the other side of the battle).I had that problem too. Kinda annoying.
Then again I didn't really use them in that battle anyway. They took the brunt of the archery duel prior to the cataphract charge for me, saving my precious horsemen for the real job.
Yeah, I messed something up with the scripting. I forgot to add something to the end of a line. Usually, if you mess up you get an error output or the script refuses to work, which then forces you to track down the problem. This didn't happen, so it went unnoticed until after we locked down the build.
Yeah, I messed something up with the scripting. I forgot to add something to the end of a line. Usually, if you mess up you get an error output or the script refuses to work, which then forces you to track down the problem. This didn't happen, so it went unnoticed until after we locked down the build.
Ah, I see. Any simple way of correcting it?
The simplest way is to go to the folder containing the battle, open up the text file descr_script_areios.txt, and delete lines 85-89. That should work while still allowing you to toggle fire at will mode.
Those lines probably weren't necessary anyway since I released all the units under AI control except the Baktrioi Hippeis.
Thank you. I will try it when I get back to my own computer.
Greetings to you!
Abou, Eduorius, and the additional members of Historical Battle section. Your work is FANTASTIC!!!!! The descriptions enthralled me! Your familiar writing style are amusing; clear and understandable for every player, and these contains many-many interesting and useful information not just for battle, but for the campaign too.Thank you very much. You would be surprised at how consuming those descriptions are, and it is good to hear a positive response concerning them.
Centurion Crastinus
10-20-2007, 06:01
Is there any chance of a battle depicting Boudica's rebellion, with the 14th GMV versus a ton of Britains? I know it takes place in A.D. 60 or so (obviously outside of the time frame for EB), but that would be such a kick ass battle to fight.
Good question. As it stands, it has not been planned, and it is indeed a bit out of the time frame. If anything, it will be a very low priority battle.
Don't fear though, if you want a battle with insane odds and involving Romans, Zak and I are working on Arausio. Although, not to lie to you, depending on whether extensive scripting becomes necessary, it may fall to a lower priority.
Centurion Crastinus
10-20-2007, 06:32
Since the battle of Arausio allowed Marius to initiate the Marian reforms, I am guessing that Polybian units will be used. Is that correct?
Most certainly, my friend.
Oh, just to let you know. Those descriptions are simply amazing! I can't empasize that enough.
Pharnakes
10-20-2007, 16:53
Would there be any involving Pontus in the works, at all?
Eduorius
10-20-2007, 18:04
What you think?
Pharnakes
10-20-2007, 18:14
Yes?
Griever14206
10-20-2007, 18:29
I must admit I didn't even notice that there were any historical battles until I read this read. After doing that I played both battles on each side, and they were very fun.
The descriptions are very impressive; I can't play a historical battle without reading the description because in order to fully enjoy the battle IMO you need to know the back-story.
I loved the Vanilla RTW historical battles. The narration was very interesting and exciting, as were the scenes of the armies maneuvering before control was turned over to the player. I know EB recently recorded a new voice mod, perhaps you could record pre-battle narrations for the historical battles?
Eduorius
10-20-2007, 19:05
About Pontus, Chaeronea and Zela seem the best options for that faction right now.
About the descriptions I am glad you like them and as I said for the Ebhernis description all praise must go to Anthony.
A question to fans. You know that the descriptions at the end has an explanation of your situation and how to play with the army you are controlling.
Should we explain better and tell you what you must do or give you a fair challenge and just the situation of the army, or none and see what you can do?
A question to fans. You know that the descriptions at the end has an explanation of your situation and how to play with the army you are controlling.
Should we explain better and tell you what you must do or give you a fair challenge and just the situation of the army, or none and see what you can do?
Maybe the situation should be explained first, and only then the historical perspective. That way players could choose to read only the "briefing" and ignore the "what really happened" part, so they could try it out on their own first and after that read the whole thing.
Eduorius
10-21-2007, 01:57
People love to read those long descriptions to get in the mood for playing the battle ;)
TWFanatic
10-21-2007, 02:54
I loved them just the way they are for the reason Eduorius stated. After all, EB is meant to be not just fun but educational.
Well, most people would still read the whole thing before the battle. Currently if you want to play the battle without "spoilers", you have to search for the description of the situation, while trying to keep a blind eye on complete text. I do read the whole description, but I'm just wondering if there are people out there who like to do it differently. What I suggest is that the first part would be from a perspective of a general at the time, and the second from a modern perspective. It wouldn't really change the descriptions that much, it would just offer some options to the player.
Pharnakes
10-21-2007, 14:34
I agree, this would definately be the best way.
Eduorius
10-21-2007, 23:20
Interesting :yes:
I ask this because I have a cool battle ready, but I dont want to tell the people how they can win it.
I ask this because I have a cool battle ready, but I dont want to tell the people how they can win it.
Is it something that actually happened in the battle? If so, you could just put the "what happened" to the latter part of the description. If not, maybe it's better to let the player figure it out.
Eduorius
10-22-2007, 21:48
Ok then you will have to figure it out. I dont think is so hard anyway. Maybe by the 2nd try you will discover it.
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