Interloper problem

Hi there,
I'm really new to EB. As I'm a very average RTW player the first campaign I started was the Qarthadastim one.
Now I'm busy to conquer the Italian Peninsula. I already conquered Rhegion, Capua and the city on the far east (Well, I forgot the name O.o). Unfortunately, every turn I get the information that some of my family members (and generals?) develop the trait "Interloper" (with every turn it get worse and worse). What are the reasons for that, and how can I avoid the developing of this trait?

- PS: As I, as I said, am a average RTW player, I let the computer fight my battles. That's not good, huh?
Are there good strategy tips for battles, I think it'd be better I fight the battles all by myself because I don't think that letting the computer do the job is recommendable...^^

EB has a government buildings system, divided in:

gov I: main factional administration.
gov II: satrapal/provincial administration.
gov III: allied local ruler.
gov IV: autonomous administration.

Therefore is a must to destroy the existing administration, to establish your own, also the interloper trait is due to a family member governing a gov IV region.
As for the battles, absolutely you need to fight them, auto-calc is very bad...

well as Arjos already pointed out EB has a bunch of buildings that determin the government in said province(it's the building with a number in the corner of the Icon) lvl. governments need Client rulers instead of family members to govern them, you can recruit a client ruler from any city that has a lvl 4 government. Family members are seen as interlopers as the subjects still believe they are autonomous in lvl 4 regions if your FMs stay in those settlements the inhabitants may find out that their government is just a puppet regime and thus revolt...
so keep family members out of lvl 4 provinces and Client Rulers out of all other settlements. read the FAQ for more information on government, It's quite important!

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As for the battles, absolutely you need to fight them, auto-calc is very bad...

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The AI has sort of an advantage, especially as their generals get stars more often. But fighting auto calc battles does not do anything bad with your generals traits. As long as you win it even gives your troops more experience. Tho losses are often much greater than if you had fought the battle yourself ;)

You mean I should destroy the existing government building whenever I capture a city?
Well, how do I actually destroy buildings, I can't really remember, although I did that in RTW before (Well, I think so - can't really remember^^)

For the battles: Is there any general strategy for certain army parts (cavalry, slingers/archers, swordsmen/hoplites etc)?

Welcome Zethos!
The trait interloper means that you are using factional family members to rule over allied provinces (Government type 4) that should be "autonomous" or at least being ruled by a Puppet ruler/allied general (the ones you can recruit using the Type 4 government building). Be carefull thought to not use them in other settlements than the ones where you build the type 4 or they'll get the trait "Impostor". Read the traits and buildings descriptions and you'll learn a lot about both history and the game.

About battles... I favor using historic and simple tactics. With Qarthadash the key is to use lots of regional troops and mercenairs. The usual deployment is a line of infantary for the center (ex: Lybians, greeks or gauls), skirmishers in the front (ex: numidians or iberians) and archers in the back. The cavalry on the flanks assisted by some mobile infantry (ex: iberians, samnites) or spearmen when facing heavy cavalry forces and some infantry reserves behind the main line to help where is most needed. Make the enemy waste missiles on your skirmishers, engage their forces with your main line, cover gaps with the reserves, soften enemy cavalry with archers then take care of it with your own horseman helped with the infantry in the flanks, and then attack them in the flanks and rear with the infantry reserves, javelins and multiple cavalry charges (charge, retreat and repeat) until they break.
To flank and not being flanked is the usual rule. Attack in enemy weakned sections to try to create mass routs and victory will be yours.
Use elefants with care and only after building a strong economy, their cost is huge and they die very easly when attacked by javelins or swarmed in melee, keep them moving and away from enemy skirmishers! They are best used t take care of enemy cavalry and then charge into tired enemy infantry backs and keep them moving until the enemy routs!


There are some battle guides around, look for them in the EB Ganmeplay Guides and AARs sectionl.
Have fun!


PS: take a look at this: https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showt...ely-use-troops

To destroy buildings, simply select one and you'll see an hammer icon, in the bottom left of its info card iirc...
As for battle roles: consider spearmen as line holders or troops able to push; swordsmen mostly flankers or shock troops; missile are missile :D, slingers are awesome against armoured troops though; cavalry depending on how heavy it is, it can charge into infantry...
Key for cavalry is to charge (but not by double clicking, let every units keep a "walk" pace before engaging) and retreat repeatedly, but don't expect too much from light mobile cav against solid infantry...

Best advice is to figure out your own fighting style, and the faction best suited for it...
After that you can tackle anything I think, each faction/culture is very unique, so they all give different experiences...

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Originally Posted by Arjos

Key for cavalry is to charge (but not by double clicking, let every units keep a "walk" pace before engaging) and retreat repeatedly
Best advice is to figure out your own fighting style, and the faction best suited for it...

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That means no charge bonus, how effective is that? Just curious, never seen anyone doing it. I'm allways carefull to have perfect charges with lowered spears. :shocked2:

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Originally Posted by Arjos

After that you can tackle anything I think, each faction/culture is very unique, so they all give different experiences...

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Thats true and what is so amasing about EB! :2thumbsup:

He means by single clicking on the enemy with your cavalry rather than double clicking. This means they walk to the enemy, then charge when at the right distance. Try it out, it actually yields better results than double clicking so that the cavalry run to the enemy and then charge.

Also, I think you might have read the advise wrongly. Don't destroy all buildings. Only destroy the associated government buildings of the enemy faction. these should (almost always) have been fully damaged and turned red. When thats destroyed you can build the blue 'military occupation' governement. Then the other governments. I know waiting 10 turns for the level ones and 6 turns for level 2's is hard sometimes but its recommended to build those whenever possible for most factions.

When you understand recruitment a bit better you can mess around with your governments more but for now I think building the type that takes the longest available time will be best for you. Gives you better troops in your core territories which you WILL need if you auto calc everything.

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Originally Posted by I_damian

He means by single clicking on the enemy with your cavalry rather than double clicking. This means they walk to the enemy, then charge when at the right distance. Try it out, it actually yields better results than double clicking so that the cavalry run to the enemy and then charge.

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Ah, ok, thanks, didnt knew about that!
Damn, to think that after 7 years (?!?) of playing RTW I still don't know all the tricks on the engine :laugh4:

Well I don't even remember how vanilla was :D
But for example in M2TW you can double click, halt, drink a coffee, anything as cav and you'd still annihilate any foe XD
Thankfully in EBII charging via double click means units get tired and have less impact, cav also, as you said, doesn't lower lances and basically knocks the first line only :P

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Originally Posted by I_damian

He means by single clicking on the enemy with your cavalry rather than double clicking. This means they walk to the enemy, then charge when at the right distance. Try it out, it actually yields better results than double clicking so that the cavalry run to the enemy and then charge.

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Yes, although the auto-charge distance is a bit too short when two cavalry units are charging at one another simultaneously.

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Originally Posted by Blxz

Also, I think you might have read the advise wrongly. Don't destroy all buildings. Only destroy the associated government buildings of the enemy faction.

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Just to add that you can (but it's not obligatory) destroy the barracks of other cultures, as these are most often useless. Certain factions "share" their factional barracks building (for example Epiros and the KH), so they can use one another's barracks, but not those of other factions. Regional barracks are shared by all factions within a culture. This is not really important for Carthage, though. IIRC they only share their regional barracks (with the Sabyn), so feel free to tear down other people's barracks. Just watch for regional barracks in the Arabia region.

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Originally Posted by Blxz

When you understand recruitment a bit better you can mess around with your governments more but for now I think building the type that takes the longest available time will be best for you. Gives you better troops in your core territories which you WILL need if you auto calc everything.

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True, although again for completeness I want to add that in order to trigger the Carthaginian reforms, you will need to level 5 regional barracks in several cities, and these are only available under a type IV government (check the FAQ for details).

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Originally Posted by Arjos

Well I don't even remember how vanilla was :D
But for example in M2TW you can double click, halt, drink a coffee, anything as cav and you'd still annihilate any foe XD
Thankfully in EBII charging via double click means units get tired and have less impact, cav also, as you said, doesn't lower lances and basically knocks the first line only :P

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I remember slaughtering gaullish full stacks with just 3 or 4 round shield cavalry (one of the worst, just armed with shortswords and small shields) and 2 iberian general bodyguards). Good old Imba times :laugh4::laugh4::laugh4:

Btw, to make the topic starter's life easiest:
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showt...actical-Advice

Take a deep look into the EB-FAQ it will answer most of your questions.

This thread gives EB-related advices.

Last but not least I would ask that you look up your build number shown in the main screen. There has to be 1.2 if not you installed the patch wrong.
In that case, follow this guide to install EB right. Keep in mind that 1.2 is not savegame-compatible.

XSamatan