Advice for a newcomer...

New to EB, but not new to RTW ;)

Just a few simple questions...

1. Why are command stars so hard to get? Compared to RTW and RTR it's taking a ridiculously long time to get command stars, negative traits notwithstanding. 99% of the battles I fight are stacked in the AI's favour, either because I'm hideously outnumbered, have a rationed/starving army, superior enemy forces, or combinations thereof.

Examples: in RTR I had a general who had one of the derangement traits 'Amulius the mad' I believe his name was. He only had a single dot of influence (nothing else), but I needed a family member to lead a fresh legion into enemy territory, and Amulius was the only free chap. A few battles later and he's 'Amulius the Honest' a 6-star general.

In my current EB game as the Romani I have a Scipio who's lead a few armies fighting the Carthiginians, Aedui, and now Sweboz. He's fought at least 15 battles (all crushing wins) and he's only a 3-star general, but he's the highest rated general I've got! :furious3:
Strangely that Scipio is also a gold chevron general, something I've never seen before.


2. What exactly does the EB script consist of? In the FAQ it's quite vague and only mentions seasons and whatnot. I ask because as I posted in the technical help forum I've got a new beast of a computer that can run vanilla RTW on maximum settings with no slow-down, but chugs away at EB. I've noticed the performance is near-perfect when the script is off....


3. How can I discreetly cut down the Seleucids? In my current game as the Romani they've already destroyed Baktria, taken most of the Ptolemy territory, and forced shrinkage on Pontus, Parthia, Saba, and Armenia. Currently neutral with them, but with established trading rights. I prefer to save factions from being destroyed by the AI, as it keeps everyone fighting everyone else until I mosey in and trump them all. Direct intervention is impossible at the moment as I only have about 4 active field armies, engaged in war with Lusotanan, Sweboz and Epeiros, and trying to stabilise former Aedui territory. The AI seems to make peace with it's neighbours before picking on just one, so I'm considering using Force Diplomacy to make them all gang up on Seleukia to remedy that, but I'd rather not have to.


4. What happens to client rulers when government types are changed from type IV? At the moment I've been sweeping through Gaul and establishing client rulers in pacified towns so my legions (and their commanders) are free to move on, and I'd rather not lose these patsys (if they even get lost).

5. Is it a bug or something I'm not aware of: I've had two family members die in battles/sieges but on the family tree they show up as 'died peacefully'.

6. Has protectorate status changed in EB? Pondering making the Arverni a protectorate at the moment. They've been reduced to a single city due to Aedui/Sweboz belligerence, but they have about 3 full stacks wandering their region, and my supply lines are getting stretched...

7. Money, money, money. Or lack thereof :(
I read in the FAQ that costs are tweaked somewhat, and I need to counteract that. As mentioned above, I only have about 4 field armies, all of which have been reduced due to combat attrition, but my economy is running into the red, garrisons are minimal (ex: Italian cities have no garrisons whatsoever) population happiness is generally high across the Republic, and I only massacre about 1 in 10 cities. Tax is auto-managed, and I have established trade rights with all but the nations I'm at war with. I need more money!

8. Absolutely love the new voice mod. It's a little bit jarring though, to hear the corny old default dialogue on the strategic map. Is there any way of changing this?

1. Having a 10 star general is meant to be rare. How effective a general and his army is in battle is now determined by morale giving traits, you need to check his traits more than his command stars.

2. Everything from reforms to 4 turns per year, from client rulers to allied rebel cities. Playing with it turned off is basically playing RTW with new units.

3. Use the give_money cheat against its enemies to boost their economy and their armies.

4. They still stick around but they will cause unrest in their cities as disatisfied monarchs looking to incite popular rebellion. Eventually they'll die of old age however.

5. No idea. We do kill some family members off at the game's beginning, are you sure you aren't looking at them.

6. We cannot change the mechanics of protectorate status.

7. EB is meant to be played a lot slower than RTW. Blitzing is discouraged and maintaining four field armies is something that you should only be able to do with a far larger empire. You should disband at least two and work on spending some money to upgrade your infrastructure.

Foot

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Originally Posted by Foot

2. Everything from reforms to 4 turns per year, from client rulers to allied rebel cities. Playing with it turned off is basically playing RTW with new units.

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Sorry, say that again: allied rebel cities? :dizzy2:

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3. Use the give_money cheat against its enemies to boost their economy and their armies.

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What would I use for the faction names? Saba, Saka etc?

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4. They still stick around but they will cause unrest in their cities as disatisfied monarchs looking to incite popular rebellion. Eventually they'll die of old age however.

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As in they'll receive the interloper trait? What about their descendents?

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5. No idea. We do kill some family members off at the game's beginning, are you sure you aren't looking at them.

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Definitely not. Arsè held out against 4 assaults due to some phenomenal luck but fell against a fifth, more determined Lusotanan assault. Checked the family tree to see how old the garrison commander was when he died (sniff) and he was listed as 'died peacefully'.

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7. EB is meant to be played a lot slower than RTW. Blitzing is discouraged and maintaining four field armies is something that you should only be able to do with a far larger empire. You should disband at least two and work on spending some money to upgrade your infrastructure.

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Ah, the speed was something I cottoned on to pretty quickly, and I was content to go with the flow until getting sucked into multiple wars. Ironically it's only with EB that I've inadvertantly blitzed.

2. Some rebel held cities are allied, through the script, to certain factions. Taking Sinope will cause the Koinon Hellenon to declare war on you as the inhabitants plea to their athenian or spartan cousins for help. You will be warned by the advisor if you step to close to such a city.

3. There have been many lists of the internal and external names. Go to wikipedia and look on the page for Europa Barbarorum, you'll find the list there.

4. Client rulers don't get descendents as they don't belong to a family tree. They exist and then they die, they have no family.

5. No idea then. That is not something we have changed as far as I know, at least not intentionally.

Foot