here are a few questions about BI

Cheers my fellow Orgies,

I bought Bi as soon as it came out but never really got the urge to play the game to its fullest.
To hooked on rtw and by the time I was bored with it my interest in Bi went with it.

Now finally I decided to play a descent campaign but before I begin I need to know some basics.
Don’t want to spend to much time in research.


So here are a few questions about BI

When conquering a hordable faction does the horde try to reconquer its lost land or maybe hold a specific grudge against your faction for kicking it’s ***?

Are your units better protected from enemy missiles when under shield wall formation?
Or is it better still to use loose formation?

When does a roman Family member revolt?
2 loyalty stars or less? Something like that?

Much obliged

Haven’t played this time in time. All I know is that hordes are as scary as hell; likely the high wall of Constantinople was able to keep them out early on. The Goth came first, then the Hun, Sarmatian and then Vandals. I know not to mess with them. The generals seem to get greedier the more battles they won. So I only give huge armies to faction leaders and heirs to command. The shield wall is like the Phalanx, very defensive. Not sure about the game but historically they are meant to deal well against missiles fires, if facing the right direction. I find the schiltrom formation to be extremly useful, expect the fact they get masscred by missiles……

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Originally Posted by Upxl

Cheers my fellow Orgies,

I bought Bi as soon as it came out but never really got the urge to play the game to its fullest.
To hooked on rtw and by the time I was bored with it my interest in Bi went with it.

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I know the feeling too well - I came to BI about seven months after I finished with R:TW for the first time. Although BI was much better, playing any game or game type constantly can make it a little bit of a bore. A rest is often needed before one can go back and enjoy it again.

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Originally Posted by Upxl

When conquering a hordable faction does the horde try to reconquer its lost land or maybe hold a specific grudge against your faction for kicking it’s ***?

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The AI seems to target its old lands, but I'm in doubt over whether this is simply because it is land closest to where the horde started off or whether it really is based on "grudges".

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Originally Posted by Upxl

Are your units better protected from enemy missiles when under shield wall formation?
Or is it better still to use loose formation?

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That's an interesting questiom, especially since I've never really looked into the sheild wall formation especially well - I always played as the Western/Eastern Romans or the Sassanids. From my experiences the shield wall does seem to provide some protection vs missiles, like the phalanx formation of R:TW did, but I'm in doubt over how loose formation compares. It would be interesting to find out, however.

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Originally Posted by Upxl

When does a roman Family member revolt?
2 loyalty stars or less? Something like that?

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I think, so don't quote me on this, a family member only revolts if he's in a settlement when it turns to the rebel "shadow" faction. It's a bit of an exploit of sorts, but I often remove a lower loyalty general from the settlement before it gets to this stage.

Logically the lower the loyalty the higher the chance the family member has of defecting, although I've only ever had family members defect if they have four or lower rings of loyalty. Likewise I've never seen a five or above loyalty general turn away from me. It would be interesting to hear what other members have to say about this.

~:)

His questions made me wonder...:idea:
Does anyone know if adding a very loyal general to an army commanded by a very disloyal general will decrease the chances of the disloyal general rebelling?

Unlike the phalanx,I myself have always found the shield wall to be a severe disadvantage when faced with missile infantry or cavalry,but I play mostly as the Romans (which can be a bit intimidating to begin as with so many provinces in their posession) and I've edited all of their heavy infantry types to use the testudo instead,which I've found far more useful in BI than it was in Rome (and that's saying a lot because I've found even incendiary pigs to be of more use in that game than the testudo).

The schiltrom,however,is equal opportunity. It'll skewer both infantry AND cavalry with horrific efficiency (but cataphract cavalry is somewhat of a wild card,as I've had Sassanid and Eastern Roman cataphract charges bust through it with relative ease on some occasions and route in defeat on others).

If playing as one of the Roman factions,COUNT ON your Eastern or Western counterpart to instantly denounce and attack you. You may be tempted to point your concerns elsewhere,but the most dangerous factions in the game are the Eastern and Western Roman Empires (and those cursed Huns,which I'll highlight below). They may be in their twilight,but they're still the most formidable fighting force in the game.

No matter what faction you play as,you WILL fight the Huns. And it will be a LONG fight. Just like in history,they're nearly unstoppable. They'll cut their way through the northern barbarian factions like a knife through hot butter. But tend,however,to commonly lower their aggressions once they settle in the Campus Iazyges area,though,which happens occasionally. Bad news is,that sends the Visigoths hording right into the Eastern Empire. And at that stage,it's a really difficult threat to repell (I went into my files and created standing armies to block the bridges that span the river that acts as the Empire's border with those settlements,but that's just my preference).

Good luck.

The hordes are nasty in BI, but if you play it smart you can beat them easily with the right unit mixture. Right now in my ERE campaign, I've knocked out the Samaritains and I'm in a nasty little war with the Slavs. The Slavs are horded, but they haven't contrataed forces like the hordes do, so I've beaten them with just one army in a campaign in what is now Hungary. I supplemeted my infantry cohorts with Equites Cataphracti and Equities Clibnarii.

The hordes do both. They will first try to reconquer their own settlements and then (forever while they live) randomly raid against random settlements under your rule.

My advice kill the enemy army's before they have a chance to launch a counter attack, then and only then should you take their settlements.

I dont know the answer to the last question however the second question I find right.

The simple fact is that in shield wall mode you can guard more of your body, and then there is less of a target for arrows.

Glad I could share my knowledge.

I find that hordes don't just sack settlements that they are currently at war with. They tend to just sack anything in their path, if they have to go to war with everyone else in the world to do it.

About the shield wall, I suppose it's like a defensive phalanx-- it lacks to offensive 'punch' of the phalanx, of course, but I think it protects better.

I have played BI, I turned my Franks into Hordes then took Rome out from the Italian Peninsula. Ive managed to repel the Sarmatians and Vandals, the Huns are no where in sight. If you have the choice of hording and you are in Hun/Vandal/Roxolani/Sarmatian way, go with it, but sell all buildings to collect as much money as you can.

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Originally Posted by gaiusmarius8

I have played BI, I turned my Franks into Hordes then took Rome out from the Italian Peninsula. Ive managed to repel the Sarmatians and Vandals, the Huns are no where in sight. If you have the choice of hording and you are in Hun/Vandal/Roxolani/Sarmatian way, go with it, but sell all buildings to collect as much money as you can.

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I find thats a useful tactic with many barbarians - the number of troops one can get from a horde is immense and can be used to move to better lands than the poorer areas that the Barbarians reside in.

With some factions though, such as the Sarmatians or Goths, you may have no choice but to horde if you wish to combat the Huns with any level of sucess. They always seem to charge down in that direction, and a moving to safer regions can help prevent getting engaged in a losing war.

~:)

The problem with hording is.. That when you take a city, it always loses money. So I Exterminate the Populace and take big cities lol.

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Originally Posted by gaiusmarius8

The problem with hording is.. That when you take a city, it always loses money. So I Exterminate the Populace and take big cities lol.

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No city does ever lose money - its the size of your army which is causing the cash drain. Although hordes do not demand payment when they have no settlement to call there own, the moment one is captured they request their wages which is an epic drain on any captured location.

Exterminating the populace is inadvisable unless the populace is seriously unhappy - the more people in the city, the more people there are to pay taxes to you and fund your remaining horde. Although the system makes out that larger cities contribute less to your economy than smaller cities, this is not the case - more military upkeep is deducted from large settlements before the figure is shown to you, often making its contribution look a lot smaller than it actually is.

~:)

That's the challenge to being a horde faction I suppose-- the first few turns of settling down will be a huge financial drain, so just make sure that you've sacked enough cities to stock up on cash before you settle down.

One tactic that I find helps with reducing this drain is targeting a few major adjacent cities in a region and coordinate their capture, so that you will have a bunch of cities making money right from the first turn of settling down.