Some questions about gameplay systems/features

[ Foreword: I'll not repeat the praise I did in the "general impressions" topic, this post will be another wall of text anyway. :laugh4: I'll just say that I still sign every word I wrote back then. I just want to add that the new music tunes are fantastic. ~:) ]

I've had around ten days with EB II by now, devoting at least 2 hours per day (in most cases way more) to the game (my social life has suffered quite seriously :creep: ).
I started campaigns with about half of the available factions (Aedui, Auernoi, Areuakoi, Qart'Hadasht, Baktria, Pergamon, Epeiros, Makedonia, SPQR, Ptolemaioi, Pritanoi, Boii, Taksashila and of course the Sab'yn).
Most of the campaigns have been played at least 50 turns, the longest campaigns so far have been Baktria (turn 176), Aedui (turn 169) and Sab'yn (turns 132).

Game settings

As soon as Granto made his AI improvements available, I downloaded them. the longer campaigns have been played using it. I also changed the hit rates in the battle_config (melee: 0.35, missile (except elephants): 0.40). I generally play on h/m (after a first try with Sab'yn on m/m which turned out to be too "quiet", even for my tastes). Recently I raised the shooting range for the celtic/britain/germanic slingers to 140-170. No other changes to the unit stats have been done.


There are still parts of the game I don't understand.

(1) The culture system

It has been mentioned several times be various people: it would be really helpful if there were hints in the building descriptions if (and if yes, which) culture a given building increases/decreases. Something like the description of the Sabaean government buildings would be wonderful. At the moment I'm completely clueless to be honest. I even tried to find the needed information in the EDB but failed.

In my current Baktria campaign I haven't been able to do anything about the lack of culture and therefore development in most of my provinces because I am not able to upgrade/convert my ally governments (which don't allow the constructions of mines, fortifications, roads, ports, markets . . . virtually anything) in the former Seleucid provinces (I bought Antiocheia-Margiane and Alexandreia-Areia from them, roleplaying it as convincing the Basileus that I will be much better able to defend the empires' northern and eastern borders, while he - with the vast sum of money I sent him - can concentrate on his war with the infamous Ptolemies) or India.
And since the "Hellenistic polities" culture level can't be raised as it seems this won't change.
If I could build Hellenistic Poleis things perhaps were better but I lack the Metropolis that I have "to conquer" as is said ingame. And the Seleucids have no Metropolis east of Seleukeia so far.
So I need to start and win a war against the frighteningly mighty Seleucids to conquer a Metropolis to raise the culture in my empire to train the troops I need to start and win a war against the Seleucids. ~D

(2) The government system

I've written some comments about that already, it's confusing to say the least. It feels as if you had only 2 options: complete assimilation/core province/"inner circle" tribe or "outlying"/ally/buffer province. Sure, there are (in most cases) several stages to both options but in general EB I gave me the feeling that there are more options. Which is pretty odd, since I expected EB II to be more complex in this regard. So, as said before, do I terribly misunderstand something about the whole system?

Related to both culture and government: how do I manage to turn a province where I can only build the "ally" government into one that allows me to build the "core" government? Where can I find (ingame?) information about that? I have the vague (very vague!) idea that it may be different for different factions but I simply don't understand how it works. Or better: It hasn't worked at all for me yet. What is an ally province stays an ally province that can't be converted even after 150+ turns. The culture doesn't raise as it seems. :embarassed:

(3) upgrading nomad camps

From the Africa preview I got the impression that one could turn camps into permanent settlements. Has this been changed? If no - what should I do to start the conversion process? I am - yet again - clueless and grateful for every hint.

(4) Loyalty, Confidence, Command and Influence

Except for the Romans every faction I played so far has caused me serious headaches because the generals lose their starting points in all those attributes, rather than gaining any. The worst example was a young man I adopted into the Baktrian Royal Family at the age of 16. With 2 Command, 3 Confidence, 6 (!) Loyalty and 2 Influence. Sharp/Charismatic/Vigorous even. I sent him to Baktra where a level 2 school had been built ( the highest level was finished when he was 17). When he was 20, his command, confidence, loyalty, influence scores were 2, 0, 1, 0. And I didn't notice any trait or ancillary that decreased any of those scores, which makes it hard to learn from the mistakes I obviously made and to prevent the next "young Alexander" I may get turn into a disgrace for the family that welcomed him.

From what I read around I am not the only one struggling with the loyalty at least, so a list of hints would be welcome by many and not only by me, I suppose.

(5) A few things that I expect to be temporary

There are features in the mod that seem to be a step back in comparison to EB I:
- every faction has access to exactly the same regional units in a given province
- every faction has access to all ships, provided they conquer the right province

To repeat my question from another post: do I take it right that this is caused by the fact that the more unique units are missing at the moment, but that the system will be reworked once more units are available?

Quote:

---

Shadowwalker wrote:"I've written some comments about that already, it's confusing to say the least. It feels as if you had only 2 options: complete assimilation/core province/"inner circle" tribe or "outlying"/ally/buffer province. Sure, there are (in most cases) several stages to both options but in general EB I gave me the feeling that there are more options. Which is pretty odd, since I expected EB II to be more complex in this regard. So, as said before, do I terribly misunderstand something about the whole system? "

---

i was discusing this matter with a eb member. in eb you had 4 options .1 for historical land, 2 colonize ,3something between 4 and 2 , 4 allied
in terms of number of goverments now you have more but all of them are on the same building tree. all four allied goverment are the same in every faction so you have only 4 unique goverment options plus some reforms . so still they are more or at least the same
due to beta many factions either share their goverments or are not fleshed out,have missing pics or info .also many factions have new goverment after reforms

this to be honest is more important
what they completely changed is goveremnt and recruitment(their relation between them). in eb if you could build level 2 goverment you could recruit approximately 75% factional troops and rest regionals. with 3 goveremnt 50/50 . Now in eb2 you cant do that, in terms of recruitment you can choose between 1 goverment and 4 . 3 or 2 doesnt exist . the only close to what you and i are saying is "native colony" but i havent still understood what this building represents ,plus not all factions can build it and those that can ,not in all cities
this is the only downsite of the mod

Bumped for answers about culture. Why does it seem that absolutely nothing impacts culture?

About culture : (Cf EBD)
-Hellenistic kingdoms (not KH, but Epeiros, Macedonia, Selucids, Pergamon, Ptolemaoi, Baktria and I think Bosphore. Ponyos can build them but with some limitations and is not of greek cullture) can build hellenistic colonies provided they have a metropolis (At the start, there's 4 metropoleis : Athenai, Corinthos, Alexandira and Pergamon : Far from bactria !)
These colonies increse greek culture by 1% every 2 turns (The bonus is only shown in building description one turn but not next etc)
First level colony caps greek culture at 30%n 2nd level at 50%, 3rd at 70%.
-Many factions can build eastern colony that work the same way but increase Eastern imperial culture instead. For Baktria, it allow to get native administration, a government that allows more civic buiildings than allied governments but less than hellenic administration. These colonies don't need to have colonists.
-IIRC, Bosphoran governments increase greek culture too (1% for 2 turns)

Thank you, Shadowwalker, for posting this thread. I too have been fairly confused by how the new government and culture systems.

If I am understanding correctly from the posts here, if you are a Hellenistic faction, you will never be able to increase your culture unless you start with a Metropolis, or conquer one. Is that really true?

For non-Hellenistic factions, how does the culture mechanic work? Do you build certain buildings? Is it tied to the government you build?

Sorry for all of the questions, I am still quite confused about how these features work.

As for converting camps into cities, I think it's simply that some factions can convert camps into cities (the option was there for me as Massylia), but others cannot convert them. Which makes sense to me.

Quote:

---

If I am understanding correctly from the posts here, if you are a Hellenistic faction, you will never be able to increase your culture unless you start with a Metropolis, or conquer one. Is that really true?

---

Nope Bosporos main governments increase hellenistic culture.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by WinsingtonIII

If I am understanding correctly from the posts here, if you are a Hellenistic faction, you will never be able to increase your culture unless you start with a Metropolis, or conquer one. Is that really true?

---

No, it's just easier because a metropolis (level 3 building of "polis-building" (not the city with 24k inhabitants) generates a colonist every 16 turns which can be used to build colonies :clown:. BUT minor polis and polis (level 1 and 2 building) can be upgraded when hellenisitc culture is high enough. There is also a conversion rate (rather slow) by just owning the province (slowly increasing the owners culture), neighbouring provinces have an effect and i'm not sure if governors have one too.

Quote:

---

For non-Hellenistic factions, how does the culture mechanic work? Do you build certain buildings? Is it tied to the government you build?

---

I've not had great experience here yet, but I think most factions have certain buildings that have a conversion bonus. i think for example for the celts it's the highest level of their farms (?).
Romanii and Karthadasht get colonist generated by a sript every 16(?) turns which enable them to build their own colonies and spreading their culture (not sure here as i haven't played either of them yet).