EB vs RTW: What is different? A Guide!!

Europa Barbarorum VS Rome: Total War Vanilla
What is different?


Europa Barbarorum ("EB" will be used for now on) is a total-conversion modification project for Rome: Total War (RTW will be used from now on). This means, that almost every aspect of the game that can be modded has been modded. Although some changes can be seen when starting your first game, most can not. This guide is written to explain what is different between EB and RTW when it comes to gameplay.



DISCLAIMER: Some of the features below might not work correctly or have yet not been fully implemented in the Open Beta.



Background Script:

Perhaps the most important part of EB, the background script have to be activated each time you start a new campaign or load a save game. If it isn’t activated the advisor will remind you constantly. But no worries, after some hours it will have become a habit.
But why is the background script so important? Well for one when activated each year takes 4 turns which makes it more realistic when it comes to army movement. But it also handles AI government control and prevents it from draining its cities for troops. It also adds Allied Rebel cities, to represent those cities that were allied with some of the factions, but are part of the rebel faction. Another important thing is that the faction victory conditions are also handled through it, and also provides with faction specific missions such as retrieving the body of Alexander, if you’re playing as Makedonia or Arche Seleukeia to bring it to Pella, or scripts events such as Roman triumphs.
The military reforms are also important for EB and they are also handled with the script, including the Roman reforms, but also reforms for other factions such as the cataphract reforms for the Seleukids.

Buildings:

Some of the buildings are basically ones that were present in RTW from the start, but every building has a unique new EB description to explain how they were used historically and alongside other structures you will find in EB (if the new description is not ready there is a placeholder, but no vanilla descriptions remain). The biggest changes you will notice will probably be in the new military buildings and in the government buildings.

The military buildings are referred to in shorthand on the forums as MIC’s (short for Military-Industrial Complex). The MIC represents the buildup of infrastructure in a province to support the raising, training, equipping, and logistical organization of the faction's military. One structure replaces not only the vanilla barracks, but also the stables and ranges, and portrays the other associated buildings that were necessary for the training of troops. These are unique for each faction, but they all begin as rather modest structures often like muster fields and they evolve over time into comprehensive facilities for the training, equipping, and housing of large armies. These structures are not tied to city levels any longer and a large one might be found in a smaller sized town, but do not make the mistake of thinking they are common. These buildings are extremely expensive and time consuming to build.

The types of troops you may recruit in each individual faction’s “MIC” will vary greatly depending upon what type of government you have chosen to put into place in that particular province, so we now move into a description of those buildings.

Government buildings are different from core buildings. The core buildings do often represent the residence of the chief magistrate or king, and change as the city size increases (this is hardcoded), but core buildings will not be able to be constructed unless a government type is chosen for each new province you conquer. The types of governments available to you will vary depending upon the faction you will control. There are generally four types: a “homeland” type, a “colonizing” type, a “subject state” type, and an “allied state” type. Again, they vary greatly depending upon the factions, and there are some exceptions to this general pattern, but these are rough guidelines to help you understand the system.

Let’s take the Makedonian government types as an example for which we can provide more details: when you begin the game, the provinces Makedonia controls will already have governments put into place for you. These types of governments are based upon the types found there in 272 B.C. Makedonia itself would have a “homeland” type (called a Patris Makedonike or “Makedonian Homeland”). Thessalia would have a “colonizing” type (called a Satrapeia Makedonike or “Makedonian Satrapy”). The Peleponnesos would have a “subject state” type (called a Nomos Symmachos Emphrouros or “Garrisoned Allied State”), as would Euboia. And finally the island of Lesbos would have an “allied state” type (called a Nomos Symmachos Autonomos or “Allied Autonomous Territory”).

These different government types give different bonuses and allow for the recruitment of different types of troops. They also allow or restrict different types of buildings for the province, but remember that they are necessary to recruit soldiers and advance city levels, so you cannot get along in the game without them. Back to our Makedonian example though... In a province with a Makedonian Homeland government, you can recruit the absolute best troops the Makedones can field. You can also construct the highest levels of buildings that exist in the Makedonian construction tree. You will probably have slower growth and maybe some trade penalties (laissez faire economics this is not), but the province would be more loyal and lawful and with your best troops trained there you would benefit greatly. These homeland governments can only be constructed in places where their actual homelands were, so you could not build one in Egypt, for example, for the Makedones. The drawback is that they are very expensive to build, and take a long time to construct, since the most loyal and most thorough expansion of your faction into a new province will take the most effort and time to ensure it succeeds. With this type of expansion, it is also logical that very few units made up mostly of “foreigners” would be available for you to recruit in these areas, but it is possible that a few very simple troop types could be gathered together from the small numbers of natives you have allowed to remain in the province.

If you have conquered a more distant province, you could create the “second best” type, your “colonizing” type government. This is very much like the homeland type, but some of the absolute highest level buildings and troops cannot be built here. It takes a while to build and is still expensive, but it is not so much or so slow to construct as the homeland type. It is still your best choice once you move beyond your homelands, or even in some of your homeland areas if you have plenty of homeland types already. You will find a few local units (not normally of your faction’s style) available to you in these provinces, especially in the lower levels of the MIC’s.

The “subject state” type will still allow you to create some of your good faction troops but you are allowing many of the natives of the province to continue their way of life alongside the new inhabitants of your faction. Your highest level troops are not able to be trained here, and your best faction buildings are not able to be constructed here, but there are plenty of other benefits to be gained. This type of government is moderately cheap and fast to create. Whether you are installing a “puppet” tyrant to govern locally for you or whether you are allowing a local tribe to govern alongside some of your strongmen, the locals are able to create some moderately good military units themselves in these places (provided that such units can be created here by the locals). Trade is not so much interrupted by the uprooting of massive numbers of inhabitants, and you might find some other bonuses such as an increase in the happiness of the local inhabitants. But it all depends upon the faction’s particulars (as the Makedonians have a stronger garrison in this type, they have better law bonuses, but worse happiness penalties). Since your highest level structures are not able to be built here, it is advisable that before you place this type of government you note whether or not this is an already advanced province. If it is a very simple one, you might not be able to gain quite as much in the end as you would like.

The “allied state” type is not recommended for smaller provinces for the same reasons. This is an ideal type to institute when you have conquered a large city with numerous good structures and a large population. You can still build many structures, but your best “cultural exports” are not available. This province is now under your control, but there is minimal change instituted immediately. Trade continues unabated (and trade bonuses are granted), there is no large transfer of population (and bonuses to population growth are possible), and the people are happy (even if they are not as lawful or loyal to you). The government needs little money and can quickly be put into place in this type also. Only your simplest troops can be trained here, but if the region has any good or elite troops that your faction could recruit, they would definitely be available in this type of province (they would not be available in this province if you had instituted a “homeland” or “colonizing” type). The local troops trained here might also gain experience bonuses as you are not disbanding their familiar training centers and techniques.

An allied or subject state type government may be destroyed and a colonizing type instituted at a later date if you wish, but the same expenses (in constructing buildings more suitable to your faction’s peoples) and delays (in introducing colonists and changes in laws and such) you would have incurred earlier would still be expected if you initiated the changes later.

For much more information, read the descriptions of the possible government types for your faction. Be aware that the AI is not restricted by time or expenses in building their government structures. The best type available for each faction in each province will be automatically placed for the AI factions upon conquering the province. When you conquer a province, you may destroy the old AI factions’ government structures, and when you look at the types of governments available to you in that province you will see if all types are available or if that region is one where certain types are not possible.

Another new set of structures you will immediately encounter are the two types of ports. You are able to create moles and docks for merchant trade fleets in almost any province that has access to the seas. But these structures are not capable of creating naval fleets. A separate set of naval ports are needed for fleets, and these are not able to be constructed in every province. They will make competition for certain coastal provinces more intense, while still allowing sea trade to continue. Some of the best naval harbors are restricted even further as you will find, to the best harbor sites in the ancient world.

You will find many other building types new to you in EB also. From Celtic Hero tombs and River Ports (only available in certain provinces) to Pahlava Karwansarai and Pairidaeza, to Baktrian Buddhist Stupas, to Hellenic Heroa, Pontic Royal Monuments, Ptolemaic Stelai, Makedonian Advance Garrisons, Sweboz Thengaz, Yuezhi hunting grounds, Hellenic Hermai and new theater structures, colonies, granaries and grain silos, doctors, gymnasia, soaparies, Celtic baths and schools, game fields, and many more, you will find many new ways the factions have been more “personalized”.

The temples in Europa Barbarorum work in a similar manner as they did in vanilla. You build a temple in a town and that temple (just as the town does) must represent multiple temples (just as one tavern represents multiple taverns). At first the temple won’t actually be a temple even, but in many places just a sacred shrine, altar, or walled enclosure. The temple you have constructed then gives you bonuses, as well as possible ancillaries, and the building can be upgraded to give you better benefits. However, a great deal of effort has been put into making the temples more historically accurate, although it might take a little more investigation to get to the details.
Most factions have now a choice between many gods to whom they will build temples in their cities. Temples in EB do not represent only one temple in the city, as mentioned above, but the patron deity of that city. The temples represent that city's most important god or goddess. As soon as you start the game you will find that most cities will have a temple built at startup, while a few will not. Some cities had one deity that was especially well known and the temple in that province will obviously belong to that god or goddess (e.g., Athenai, whose temple at the start of the game is obviously dedicated to Athena). Some cities were much more difficult and we have placed the temples to the best of our sources and abilities. Note that the deity placed in the city also has to be restricted to those possible deities that are allowed for the particular faction. Temples, in EB, represent "Patron" deities. Many cities in the classical world built special shrines or temples for, and felt an affinity with, a particular deity. Our representation does imply that other temples did not exist, but rather intends to show the particular patron deity of a settlement. It can be assumed that numerous smaller temples existed as well. Some other minor religious buildings may also be available for construction.
Something most RTW-fans have traditionally had a gripe with has been the unrealistic temple bonuses. The temple bonuses represent the impact the temple itself, its estates and priesthood, and anything related to them has on the city, the region, and its inhabitants. Additionally every temple will give appropriate traits and ancillaries should any of your faction's characters stay in a city with that temple for an amount of time.

What about these “unique buildings”?

There are many new structures we refer to as “unique buildings” that are present in provinces at the game’s start. These are not buildable by the player or AI, but they do provide bonuses to most factions (some have better bonuses for particular factions or worse ones to others). Most of these are able to be destroyed by the human player, but some are not. These include many buildings (such as the temple of Apollo at Delphi, or the Mausoleion at Halikarnassos), complexes (such as that at the holy hill of Teamhaidh, or the Megalithic Maltese Temples), holy sites (such as the Nêrthuhárugáz, or the sanctuaries of the Ustyurt Plateau), tombs (such as the tombs of Cyrus, Alexander, the Pontic dynasts), or other unique structures (such as the Diolkos of Korinthos, or the Great Pyramids). There are some unique buildings that are indestructible though. These include some trade chokepoints (such as the Pillars of Herakles or the Bab El Mandeb), some other natural features (such as Lake Avernus, or the Sahara), some holy mountains (such as the ones at Sinai or Sleza), or even some traditional trade routes (such as the Silk Road, the Amber Route, or the Persian Royal Road). All of these will (we hope) add to the educational uses of the game as well as making it more personalized for each faction and more enjoyable to the player. The names of the unique buildings are determined by the faction or culture that controls it at the start of the game.

Also, you will quickly notice that a majority of the "constructed images" for buildings are not yet in the game. We focused on trying to get as many of the icons for buildings ready for the open beta as we could. There are currently so many constructed images (the larger rectangular ones above the buildings' descriptions) that it would be futile to compile a list currently of the ones that need adding. This situation will be rectified in subsequent builds, but for now the icons should be enough to make the open beta experience enjoyable.


Battles:

Battles work the same in EB as in RTW. The changes here are mostly cosmetic and some rework on the animations. However, the battle start-up deployment formations have been altered and this seems to have made the battles actually more challenging and fun.

Unit recruitment:

Unit recruitment is handled a bit differently in EB as aforementioned in the Buildings paragraphs a bit. Every faction has access to a number of units they historically did have, as well as being able to recruit regional units, where historically (and in some cases logically) they would be able to do so, such as Skythian Horse Archers in modern-day Ukraine and Indian Longbowmen in the Indus valley.
A new change is that the more elite the unit is, the longer it will take to train it and its upkeep will also be much higher. A Taxeis Hoplitai unit for example which represents peasants and servants of the lords will not have high upkeep, as they are just banded together in crisis and given some clothes and a spear to fight with, while a unit of Hetairoi which are the aristocracy of your state and armed with the finest arms available as well as warhorses have a much higher upkeep. Rule of thumb when it comes to upkeep: The better they fight the more money they cost in training & upkeep. An elite only army might be nice, but it will drain your treasury and limit the number of troops you can have as a result.
Another thing to make a habit of is to check your different cities to see if you can recruit different units. There are many regional units available and they might help you out in future battles. Hellenic phalanxes supported by horse archers can be a possibility if the right provinces are under your control.

Fleets:

Naval fleets work in almost the same way as in RTW when it comes to movement and combat, but there stops the similarities. In RTW each naval unit represented one single ship. In EB one naval unit represents an entire fleet. This means that if you wish to build a strong naval power it will drain your treasury.
The naval battles are also altered when it comes to casualties, as now every fleet will take higher casualties than in RTW. And it isn’t just to train a new fleet after it’s gone, since it isn’t a ship anymore, but an entire fleet we’re talking about, it will take much longer to recruit new fleets, which means that if you lose a crucial naval battle it will hurt.

Economy:

The economy system in EB has also been given a minor overhaul, with the farming, resources and trade routes made after what the ancient sources tell us. In the classical age there existed famous trade routes like the Silk Road or the Persian Royal Road, which gives trade bonuses to anyone holding them.
As mentioned before, both buildings and units now cost a lot more. Ports have been split into commercial and military ports. In EB ports that can put out huge trade fleets are limited based on natural harbour capacities and a few other factors. Each port is rated on how big it can be built. This means that historically large ports like Rhodes or Alexandria become very important.

Traits:
The major change to the traits system for EB is the addition of primary traits as determinants of the likelihood of getting other traits. You may want to watch your generals more carefully, because 2 generals in the same situation will develop differently, now. More details on this are in the FAQ.

For the ancillaries, the major change that the player will notice is that they have been nerfed. You will also notice that acquiring an ancillary may affect your general's traits. Historical ancillaries are now more historical, and some can only be acquired in cities like Alexandreia or Athenai.