EB Alleviates Load/Save Bug

This just struck me last night, when I thought about EB in a general sense, and I felt compelled to pass along some praise.

While this is probably an unintended side effect, the pacing of EB seems to largely alleviate the load/save issues that have been such a pox on RTW 1.2. I find that, due to lack of cash (which is by design) that I have fewer armies, can build less, and generally get through turns much more rapidly than in vanilla. Instead of completing only 10 turns or so per sitting, it is much easier to complete 25 or 30 in a string. That has seemed to help the AI significantly, and I think many players are seeing a more active AI, and certainly more interplay between other factions than in vanilla. It makes the game much more enjoyable when the rest of the map isn't just one idle blob, waiting to be captured. Kudos on a job well done! :jumping:

I think that fact that EB stops the AI from going broke is the main reason why the game does not get boring.

The only issue now, which I believe is hardcoded, is protectorates of the AI becoming completely passive.

Chester, I had overlooked that fact, excellent point. It would certainly seem that EB has made a significant improvement.

Hey! A fellow New Jerseyian!

Back on topic: how long does it take you to do 25 turns? With long loading times, it takes me far too long...

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Originally Posted by Alexander the Pretty Good

Hey! A fellow New Jerseyian!

Back on topic: how long does it take you to do 25 turns? With long loading times, it takes me far too long...

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Takes me on average half as long as vanilla. Probably takes even less if I wasn't reading / checking all the writtten bits in EB.

But what about battles? I rarely can do more than about 10 turns, largely because battles last longer. Heck, today I had to save a game after just 3 turns because I fought a marathon battle that lasted (no kidding) a couple of minutes short of an hour, complete with delayed reinforcements and a few stubborn enemy units of Gaesatae and flighty Leuce Epos. Normally if I don't get through about 10 I just start over the next time around, but I don't wanna have to beat that army again...

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Originally Posted by paullus

But what about battles? I rarely can do more than about 10 turns, largely because battles last longer. Heck, today I had to save a game after just 3 turns because I fought a marathon battle that lasted (no kidding) a couple of minutes short of an hour, complete with delayed reinforcements and a few stubborn enemy units of Gaesatae and flighty Leuce Epos....

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But due to the fact your not dealing with the hojo horde (old reference to STW and the mulitple stacks of full armies), you fight less battles and they seem to matter more..like they did in real life. A signifcant battle could turn the tide of a war.

Now because you fight less battle and they tend to mean more... you enjoy the game better because that repetition / boredom thing doesn't kick in as much. And you can click through turns whilst you are manouvering ..or doing nothing but building up your infrastructure and assasinating that ally's annoying son who just doesn't understand when he's outstayed his welcome ...right next to your town.

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Originally Posted by paullus

Normally if I don't get through about 10 I just start over the next time around, but I don't wanna have to beat that army again...

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Yer, I always save right after a big battle. Ctrl S I think it is?

I've also found that sometimes the load save bug has helped the AI ~:) Instead of keeping a 15 units stack with a captain near my cities waiting to be crushed, they've after a save-load retreated, recieved reinforcements, and a 5 star general... But tbh it's of course usually better when I can play many turns without pausing. Not only because EB is faster to play due to economy, but also because EB is more fun so it's harder to stop playing once you get started.

In the best case, I can play 20 turns in an hour, depending on the number of battles that I fight. Certainly, I've fought 40 minute battles, but the triple speed option comes in handy there, especially when used liberally in combination with various adult beverages. Despite those battles, there are generally 5-10 turn stretches where there is little combat, and things go nice and quickly. Although, in my Makedonia campaign, now that I've knocked off Pontus, things have become slower (stupid Hayasdan), but the AI in general is much more active and interesting than in vanilla.

I disagree that there's less battles. I'm playing as Baktria and I have to fend off the Seleukids who keep coming at me in waves, once every 2-3 turns. Their AI is stupid and sends too small armies though, so driving them away is a simple matter of attacking with my superior army and firing missiles at their units untill they turn to retreat. Still, it has to be done on the battle map and it takes a while.

I had the same situation with Baktria but eventually the hordes of seleucids calmed down, and it was possible to start expanding very quickly. Before I knew what happened I had reached the Eufrat and Tigris and had trained another army to the north, with which I went for the cities along the southern Caspian sea coast...