The small touches in BI....

We've all heard about the bugs and major features, but what about the little touches/tweaks in BI that have improved things? I haven't seen much mention of them except in passing and what i've seen so i'd like to see what other people have found. Heres a few that come to mind at the moment, I still feel like i'm forgetting some though.

1: Family Screen, the born/died(peacefully/in battle/title/faction leader) details, if I remember right RTW only said when they died, it didn't include all the other info.

2: Diplomacy, the system didn't really receive an overhaul but it did get some nice tweaks. Your diplomats gain/lose traits much faster, so a bad negotiation can ruin his career. Try taking a good influence diplomat and making deals that get refused. You'll end up with a loose-lipped indiscreet guy who isn't worth the upkeep.

3: Traits and Ancillaries, all the new traits/ancillaries add a nice bunch of theme. They wern't just ignored, some were tweaked for balance as well like the Mercenary Captain. In particular one that strikes me is the son of one of my Samartian generals who died to the Huns, the son ended up with the "Nervous about Huns" trait(-1 command against Huns).

4: Mercenaries and hordes, just a little touch but a nice one. When you use mercenaries in your hordes and sack a city with some in the same stack, you're obligated to pay out a portion of the loot to the mercenaries.

Thats all I can think of at the moment, now post what you've found.

On the battlefield you get notions not only when the commanding general dies, but also when the silver-star general(s) die. Also the portrait turn grey for a dead general in a battle.

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Originally Posted by ChaosLord

1: Family Screen, the born/died(peacefully/in battle/title/faction leader) details, if I remember right RTW only said when they died, it didn't include all the other info.

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That was in RTW too. What`s new to the familytree in BI is that you now can see who your former faction leaders were.

Point 1, I only noticed that last night when I saw one of my dead general's had the note "Assassinated"... I never even new that was how he died!!!

I never noticed it before in RTW, but on the battle field, it gives an explination why a unit's morale is what it is.
Eager (Encouraged by the General)
Wavering (Panicked by fire attack)
Steady (Panicked by artillery fire)
Heroic (Oblivious to the world)*
etc etc

*Lombard Berserkers and Hounds of Culann in Berserk mode

yeah , that's MTW style , I always liked the feature , and missed it in vanilla RTW.

:balloon2:

Interestingly, units on the city plaza can appear to be "feeling safe on the hill".

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Originally Posted by Conqueror

Interestingly, units on the city plaza can appear to be "feeling safe on the hill".

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Hmm... Well some of the barbarian plazas are raised (not just a hill but the plaa itself). But if you see it on Roman plazas then it is odd.

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Originally Posted by Kraxis

Hmm... Well some of the barbarian plazas are raised (not just a hill but the plaa itself). But if you see it on Roman plazas then it is odd.

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Well even the roman plazas are in a way on a hill as well.
It is a tiny hill of course but you seem to need stairs to get to it.

My favorite little thing (aside from not horrible AI) is the speech where the Roman general says:

"And I bet you are wondering about this evenings entertainment. There is enough win in camp to float a boat..." ...I love that one.

Azi

Not sure at all if they tweaked this for BI, but is anyone else finding ambushes easier to spring on the strategic map? I played for quite a bit today and actually pulled of 3 big ambushes, all of them planned, against good-sized AI armies led by family members. Great stuff! :charge: I remember trying everything in RTW and never getting a satisfying ambush.

I don't remember all the descriptions of deaths in RTW, either: Died Tragically, for example, seems new to me.

Battles seem to last longer, and of course the AI handles itself more reasonably in them and on the strategic level.

I never remember this in RTW, but in BI the other day a family member of mine actually died in a civil revolt. No rebel troops appeared, but we Huns had just taken over Constantinople and it was at 0 loyalty. So, having a possibility of your general dying from civil unrest is a cool touch.

AI uses assassins much more frequently, with some degree of success.

I just love the fact that CA has given us a game where some factions are in an honest-to-god really difficult spot at the beginning. I can't wait to try the WRE, but since I haven't won a H/H campaign yet (though I think I'm close with this Hun game) I'm saving them for later.

It also doesn't hurt that the time period is very interesting for me.

CountMRVHS

I have suffered quite a few failed (and couple sucessful) ambushes, though mostly only for transfering troops. I just seem to stumble onto rebels all the time. They have knack for hiding.

The mother in laws and maiden aunts make me smile. I don't remember them from vanilla.

More substantively, the option to lower the frequency of rebels is much appreciated.

If the AI can use phalanxes better as people have said, that will be an awesome tweak.

But what I like most about BI are the tweaks to the unit balance - raising the anti-cav power of spears, reducing the power of archery, weakening cavalry but making the charge bonus work. I'm not sure if they are small touches or major features, probably both.