Background script question

[palmtree]

Hey, just found EB with the 1.0 release and I've been having a great time. I have a question about the background script, namely what happens if I load a game, forget to activate it, then activate it the next turn?

And more specifically, what does the background script actually do. I figure it's responsible for having the little advisor guy pop up at to tell me about the Romans at Rhegium, how crossing the Messana straits would make Carthage mad, etc, but what else might be going on under the hood?

[Thaatu]

All the scripts (4 turns per year, AI money assistance, faction reforms, special scripted events) are run through that one script, so you'll miss a huge chunk of EB if you don't use it at all. If you forget to enable it for a turn or two, it's not a big deal. But if you leave it disabled for years or decades, then you'd better start a new campaign.

[bovi]

If you forget to enable it for a turn or two, it's not a big deal.
If you're lucky, that is.

[palmtree]

So out of curiosity, what could happen? I've played for decades now without noticing anything out of order, but then I wouldn't knowif I missed something that wasn't obvious.

[LorDBulA]

I've played for decades now without noticing anything out of order
Well 2 turns per year are little obvious.

Starting background script is necessary to play EB.
Without it most of cool EB features doesnt work.
You just play RTW with EB skins and even more stupid AI since it cant use EB government system without script and this have negative impact on AI performance.

[palmtree]

I think I wasn't very clear maybe. What I meant was what's the worst thing that could happen, besides crashes, if someone loaded a game, forgot to activate the script, played a turn or two before realising it, then turned the script back on and played on as normal.

[Kurulham]

Phenomenally stupid AI behavior for those few turns is the biggest thing that comes to mind. Also, the AI won't be getting the monetary kicker it normally does, if anyone builds a type 4 government it won't get the client ruler, scripted events for that time won't trigger (which honestly is not that big a deal in the grand scheme of things, if you're worried about screwing your game up long-term; they're there mostly for historical interest rather than game balance), and the seasons won't work right for that time period so you won't get the movement effects associated therewith.

On the bright side, any reforms you missed should kick in whenever you start running the script, and the 4-turns-per-year will right itself (changing the date to reflect the actual number of turns you played at 4 turns per year). I'm not sure if the client ruler thing will fix itself, and the AI's growth and development will be... well, "stunted" is the best word for it, I suppose.

There are probably other effects but I'll leave those to an actual team member as I'm just a guy who's taken a long look under the hood.