ALEXANDER EB

Ok, another problem! I can get into custom battles, but I can't start a campaign! everytime I try it, it returns me to the "single player - EP Main campign/historical battles/custom battle" menu. And when i quit to desktop, it shows me an error saying "could not create settlement in line 1628, column 21 of descr_strat.txt". :help: :help: :help: :help:

I'm currently un-installing and re-installing RTW, Alex, EB 1.0, and this time JUST the EB on Alex file and NOT the ALX-EB beta mod...the game is being very slow to load with the ALX-EB beta mod

Originally Posted by milt:
I need to figure out a way to get larger powers more troops, or need some good house rules.

a big reason you're not seeing huge armies is because the money assistance script no longer gives 20k to the ai on a regular basis. double the resource values. i guarantee you'll see several full stacks. of course you'll still be knocking down toy soldiers. just more of them.

this game is never decided by decisive battles. its more representative of an industrial war. whoever can recruit faster and longer wins. even if you win 10 clear victories against your opponent, if he can outrecruit you you're still screwed.

Originally Posted by gurakshun:
Ok, another problem! I can get into custom battles, but I can't start a campaign! everytime I try it, it returns me to the "single player - EP Main campign/historical battles/custom battle" menu. And when i quit to desktop, it shows me an error saying "could not create settlement in line 1628, column 21 of descr_strat.txt". :help: :help: :help: :help:

i do know the sp game edu/mp game edu files are not updated for this mini-mod. so the whole switching the "export_descr_unit.txt" file could be the problem if you're doing it

Originally Posted by gurakshun:
the game is being very slow to load with the ALX-EB beta mod

this is very true.

Originally Posted by Danzifuge:
1. a big reason you're not seeing huge armies is because the money assistance script no longer gives 20k to the ai on a regular basis. double the resource values. i guarantee you'll see several full stacks. of course you'll still be knocking down toy soldiers. just more of them.

2. this game is never decided by decisive battles. its more representative of an industrial war. whoever can recruit faster and longer wins. even if you win 10 clear victories against your opponent, if he can outrecruit you you're still screwed.

1. That sounds like it would give big nations more troops, and the little guys look fine in my game. I wasn't expecting the moon, but not even having to defeat a whole stack worth of troops in conquering six carthaginian states seems to be a real problem. I thought it would be more fair to attack them, because they were not and had not been in real war in quite some time.

2. That sounds Roman, with their infinite legionaries. sadly enough.

I'm new to this game but there are some disappointing aspects. I don't really see any diplomacy, as in reputation, relations and what not. Total war also really seems to mean total war. I mean I take six states from Carthage and they are demanding a war indemnity of some 60,000 manai(sp) for peace. This is them desperate!

I've played until 260 with the Epirotes and I see what you mean about debt. It wasn't until 263 that I was running at a profit. Also no trouble with Macedonia and Rome sending troops. But they are both "small powers." Rome refused peace, but was polite enough to wait until I was done with Macedonia to start attacking. I guess Hieron was handing their donkeys to them sicily.
Italy is so tiny, that SPQ is rather easy conquest. Especially with those gate bashing elephants. Your right about them also. They are amazing. I could defeat armies twice my size(though possibly near equal in cost), by securing my right flank with two good phalanxes and then sending my elephants rampaging from the left flank through all of their troops to meet them (in charge after charge).

I have to say, the units, graphics, depth in buildings and cultures are all amazing. The EB teams has simply done amazing work, and the Alexander mod has just improved on this. The AI and diplomacy seem, sadly, a few generations behind.

Originally Posted by Parallel Pain:
Is this compatable with TW Fanatic's first cohort/elephant/hoplite mod?

No, because TW Fanatic's mod tweaks the same files we do :grin:

Originally Posted by brymht:
Question: I saw a rumor that the max number of units had DOUBLED in alexander from RTW and BI. Is this true?

True - it is 500!

Originally Posted by milt:
I'm up to about 239 with Rome and it has been a learning experience. I started a war with Carthage by invading Sicily and have really been disappointed with it. Carthage simply does not have enough soldiers, and those it does are in Iberia or trancing around the desert. They had eight units in Sicily. In Carthage, Utica and another north african city right, there were six units. Sardinia and Corsica had 2 or three units each. Cartage itself had only a governor. Their navy was made up of one qaudreme and two or three of the dark age (Pent..) boats.
I've turned off the fog of war. It seems that larger powers do not have enough troops. Smaller ones seem fine. Pontos is doing really well! The Audi seem to have an edge in Gaul. Casse has three cities. Some of the nomadic states look really healthy. Sweboz has completely stalled.
The AI seems to NEVER make peace with other AI nations. I saw Lusutanne(sp) become a client state of Carthage, but that seemed scripted.

I'm playing on very hard, hard and so expected a challenge and the Eloitheroi(sp) were rather challenging. I need to figure out a way to get larger powers more troops, or need some good house rules. Does the AI time to prepare for war? I did take a cheap shot against Koinon Hellenon when I saw them in danger of falling to Macedonia, which I regret now. I guess I am asking for game play advice.

Like I said before, I'm new to TW and EB. Have troop levels / income been reduced from EB vanilla for large AI states? I really want a more supercharged AI, even if that means it simply has more money than me.
Please help as the game has turned into knocking down toy soldiers and building up my cities. I'm otherwise impressed.

Other Issues: Battles open with viewer turned around backwards, except in the case of the enemy sallying out of its walls.
CTD/error caused by faulty general in Crete.
Playing Pontos from the start, I was forced into a war with the Seleukid (sp) when given the option of supporting them in a scripted war. Both choices destroy the alliance and lead to an invasion.
Most advanced faction message seems bugged. I got it un the early game with Casse.

The issue with more armies and more retreaining features for large factions is solved with simple population spawns in the capitals (which is vanilla EB feature we expanded a bit). This way, large factions will have large armies, now, the CTD issue will be fixed (it happens sometimes with no reason but it might be the missing files - will check it:shrug: ).
The Most advanced faction message is nothing I can solve And the Carthage army in Sicily is low becasue AI ships away the armies from Sicily to Africa and Spain - bit will see it more. (note: there are more soldiers for the finall :curtain: )

Originally Posted by gurakshun:
Ok, another problem! I can get into custom battles, but I can't start a campaign! everytime I try it, it returns me to the "single player - EP Main campign/historical battles/custom battle" menu. And when i quit to desktop, it shows me an error saying "could not create settlement in line 1628, column 21 of descr_strat.txt". :help: :help: :help: :help:

I'm currently un-installing and re-installing RTW, Alex, EB 1.0, and this time JUST the EB on Alex file and NOT the ALX-EB beta mod...the game is being very slow to load with the ALX-EB beta mod

That is not the files issue - if it happens again - than quote the message entirely - it says what is the problem we can address (note: the descr_start.txt probs are not big ones, it is fixed in a matter of minutes)

@Danzifuge - all your info is precious, thanks man

@milt

The CTD issue with the Kydoni general persist only on your save game, I have loaded it and it gives me the CTD too, but not a new game.. It is the DATA BASE error :shrug:

If it happens again than you note it to me :yes:

sadly ive given up on eb, so no more campaign info. it's just that i came into eb with the expectation that its realism would entail how wars were fought. in that i mean if for example i were to play the getai i would be able to defeat the macedonians with one full stack vs. three full stacks. 1 to 3 seems fair enough considering how minor a power the getai are vs. the average power the macedonians are. instead i'm seeing that i would need to defeat 6 or more full stacks of macedonians to actually be able to begin to claim any kind of victory (all this without being able to retrain any new recruits and having spent 20 years attempting to build up a decent economy). to me this just seems very unrealistic.

another big issue i'm finding is the lack of any kind of diplomacy policy by the ai. this is probably not entirely the eb team's fault, more of a problem with vanilla rtw, but i thought maybe some diplomacy changes may have be undertaken. i guess i was wrong. realistically peace treates were often signed after two or three victories by one faction. there are exceptions when one side refused any such deal. alexander vs. persia. rome vs. carthage. but total war seems to be literally the thoughts of the ai in the eb campaign. they don't sign a peace treaty until they're destroyed. and only then because they've ceased to exist as a faction.

naval warfare is non-existent. unless you consider endless battles with pirate ships to be representative of naval warfare in the mediterranean. as the ai doesnt really give a damn about their navies and blockades have virtually no effect, theres really no point in building much of a fleet unless you really like fighting pirates. again, this is may have more to do with a fault with rtw, but i thought the eb team would be able to do something about it. historically however, navies played a huge role in the mediterranean and often were a deciding factor in victory. if ships couldn't resupply their armies, the war might grind to a screeching halt.

also, i'm tired of tinkering with any files to try to get my shit-poor faction out of the great depression most of them start in. this essentially means that you cannot lose a single battle for the first several years or however long it takes for you to get back on your feet, or otherwise you're screwed for the entirety of the game. the ai won't sign a peace treaty with you for no amount of tribute or territories you offer them (not that you have anything to offer them anyway), so the game is over because they invade you and your faction is destroyed all because you lost one battle. shit you could have won 5 before that, but that doesnt matter. in reality battles were won and lost and stalemates occured but not so in this game. you are at severe disadvantage of not being able to recruit after losses because your economy is in the shitter early game.

everyone says rtr is inferior, but if it resolves one or more of the issues mentioned, i'd be enormously overjoyed.

i'm starting to believe that eb really stands for 'endless battles' or perhaps in my case 'endless brooding'

I am honestly rethinking of cutting down the upkeep costs by 50% or raise resources values by 100% +

What do you think?

I mean, I am a veteran, so I usually win all battles and only then boost the economy..

What is the solution by your opinion?

To cutt the upkeep costs? - tahat might be the answer :thinking2:

@Danzifuge

AFAIK diplomatic and naval problems are hardcoded, but things go a lot better in M2TW, despite of people blaming it without ever give the game a chance, so we have to wait for EB2 to have the possibility of modding diplomacy and AI (Artificial Idiocy) for example. And regarding battles... Many people seems to have problems in dealing with the large numbers of enemies you face in EB, but (I don't want to offend anyone) with a minimal tactical skill you can eat stacks for breakfast commanding largely inferior armies, because of course of the infinite dumbness of the AI. Sorry for people who don't enjoy battles against odds, but is really the only way to give veterans players a challenge to face...
P.S. I'm playing on H/M

Originally Posted by Aper:
@Danzifuge

AFAIK diplomatic and naval problems are hardcoded, but things go a lot better in M2TW, despite of people blaming it without ever give the game a chance, so we have to wait for EB2 to have the possibility of modding diplomacy and AI (Artificial Idiocy) for example. And regarding battles... Many people seems to have problems in dealing with the large numbers of enemies you face in EB, but (I don't want to offend anyone) with a minimal tactical skill you can eat stacks for breakfast commanding largely inferior armies, because of course of the infinite dumbness of the AI. Sorry for people who don't enjoy battles against odds, but is really the only way to give veterans players a challenge to face...
P.S. I'm playing on H/M

yeah i eat em for breakfast stack after stack too. the problems start to arise when i can't recruit any more units due to the shit poor economy i start out in and the ai keeps throwing stack after stack at me. then i just get pissed and say fuck this game.

took a look at rtr and they actually start your economy pretty decent making a small profit. less units of course, but in a way they've simplified it by doing this instead of having to pour over a recruitment viewer constantly

We have solved the issue by tweaking -50% unit upkeep cost, which provides large armies (which menas you/we are not begginers that need to fight one great battle and win the war)

Also, the expansion is much more slower now :grin:

And now, the minus is depending on war-peace diplomatic realationship far far less (and some even make profit!) :grin:

How do you play on Alexander without downloading your thing which changes a lot of things it seems.

Night battle and the AI stuff are really all I want.

And if I don't tweak those files, maybe I can keep my first cohort/phalanx/elephant mod and AI formation.

Does cantabrian circle work on alex.exe? I tried it with dahae and baktrioi hippotoxotai - no effect (thankfully no CTD either)

EDIT: I`m dumb, they circle allright but only when within range.

Originally Posted by Parallel Pain:
How do you play on Alexander without downloading your thing which changes a lot of things it seems.

Night battle and the AI stuff are really all I want.

And if I don't tweak those files, maybe I can keep my first cohort/phalanx/elephant mod and AI formation.

If you go to the first page of this thread there are instructions available there (note that Maksimus has two (main) packages available, the ALEX mod itself and also a pack to simply "convert" your normal EB install to run on RomeTW-ALX.exe.
There is also a step by step to do it manually under the heading "EB-ALEX STEP-BY-STEP START!"...in big blue letters...in like the second paragraph :laugh4:
Hope that helps mate
Cheers

Originally Posted by Parallel Pain:
How do you play on Alexander without downloading your thing which changes a lot of things it seems.

Night battle and the AI stuff are really all I want.

And if I don't tweak those files, maybe I can keep my first cohort/phalanx/elephant mod and AI formation.

overweightninja made a clear answer :grin:

Anyway

!these are the links for what you need:


http://http://www.zshare.net/download/5651118871ec8a/
http://www.divshare.com/download/3127098-623
http://files.filefront.com/EB10+on+A.../fileinfo.html

Originally Posted by Maksimus:
overweightninja made a clear answer :grin:

Anyway

!these are the links for what you need:


http://http://www.zshare.net/download/5651118871ec8a/
http://www.divshare.com/download/3127098-623
http://files.filefront.com/EB10+on+A.../fileinfo.html

Ahh Maksimus, nice to see you again, I hope you're still around. I installed you're mod earlier today and got the error "Please select an item from the list" when trying to start a new campaign. So I've started again now I'm back from work, checking to see if the campaign will work at each major step from EB install onwards. I have just used your ALX.exe download (not the ALEX mod), and the error has come up again at this stage.
This is what I've done:
Installed RTW, patched 1.3, then 1.5.
Installed Alex
Installed EB
Installed all permanent and optional fixes
Installed you're tweak, switched shortcut to run off ALX exe

I swear I had this problem before and got round it somehow but I can't remember how, and my googles and searches of this forum have proven fruitless. Is this a known problem? Can you give me any advice?
Thanks in advance :D
Cheers

EDIT
Oh and btw I was going to have a stab around for myself first but as I'm asking questions anyway...
How would I go about force diplomacy? Is it included in the mod, can I install it normally, or would I have to manually change export_descr_advice.txt etc? Thanks :p

export_descr_advice.txt is not tweaked by the ALXEB mod

And the only thing you might look again is to chech the target line as specified or use working ALX.exe :grin:

Originally Posted by Maksimus:
export_descr_advice.txt is not tweaked by the ALXEB mod

And the only thing you might look again is to chech the target line as specified or use working ALX.exe :grin:

Not a problem with ALX install I think, tried a quick custom battle and got past the error on the menu with vanilla ALX, problem only occurs when trying to use EB.
Shortcut shouldn't be the problem either, game loads fine, the error occurs when I click EB Main Campaign from the menu. Nonetheless...

"C:\Games\EBALX\RomeTW-ALX.exe -nm -mod:eb -show_err"

Unless you can add anything further, I'll do the files manually I guess, let you know how I get on :|
Good to hear about force diplomacy btw.
Cheers

Originally Posted by overweightninja:
Not a problem with ALX install I think, tried a quick custom battle and got past the error on the menu with vanilla ALX, problem only occurs when trying to use EB.
Shortcut shouldn't be the problem either, game loads fine, the error occurs when I click EB Main Campaign from the menu. Nonetheless...

"C:\Games\EBALX\RomeTW-ALX.exe -nm -mod:eb -show_err"

Unless you can add anything further, I'll do the files manually I guess, let you know how I get on :|
Good to hear about force diplomacy btw.
Cheers

add the command -noalexander, i know this one had me fooled for a quite a while until i finally figured it out

Originally Posted by gurakshun:
add the command -noalexander, i know this one had me fooled for a quite a while until i finally figured it out

:wall: :wall: :wall: :wall:
Damn...I knew it was something simple last time. Thanks a lot mate, you're a star, have a balloon:
:balloon2:
I guess it would have worked if I'd done the files manually then, lucky the EB uninstaller takes so long to load up :)
Maksimus, perhaps worth putting that bit of info outside of the spoiler for the manual step by step? Could perhaps save some effort in future :beam:
Cheers

Ok last question.

Does this supposedly superior battlefield AI know "punch centre" and "hammer and anvil"?

Or does it only know double envelopment as shown in the screenshot.

@Parallel Pain - I am not sure what you mean really :thinking2:

AI is much more agressive, if you attack a wooden walll and you get your units closer - AI will run with units placed in the city and attack your ones (manly it is the case when archers get too close so AI sendt infantry to take them down - but as soon as you send your infantry AI pools back in the city!)

And, the ''-noalexander'' target line is quite there in the main post - maybe I just add it up before :grin:

Hello

This is probably been asked before but I am not keen in trawling all the pages so I apologise.

I play original EB on ALX (not the mob but I will try once it is 1.1) and want to use city mod. Is it okay to install this over the ALX.exe?

Thanks

Yes it is ok to use City mod, if you are not using the our mod it is ok

My engine can't find "eb/data/models_unit/textures/indian elephant regional " (note the extra space after the l)

the standard naming protocal seems to be "indian_elephant_regional.tga.dds" and there is a file by that name. There are three of four other naming protocols used in the textures folder.

If I rename the file to what the engine is looking for, it changes my crash so that I no longer get the error message.

Help please, and please recommend a work around if a quick bug fix is not possible. I tried looking around at the files, but couldn't read them.

Auto-resolving the battles here is too expensive.

Macedonia recruited a unit of merc elephants in their homeland, and they are crashing my game as Rome. I don't have any trouble with non-merc elephants from Epiros or Carthage.

Also, my "cretian general bug" happens regardless which nation I choose. Auto-resolve is not so painful there.

On a positve not VH/VH seems about right for Rome. Still need the kid gloves with Carthage, as they have very few troops. They took Syracuse but gave it back (riots?). I'm am still allied with them in 238. Mac declared war on me after a I refused their demand for the paltry sum of 300 monetary units. Carthage did not come to my aid, nor did there seem to be a request for assistance from my side.


Thanks

The elephant issue is soleved :smash:

http://www.MegaShare.com/385342

It was just my impression that EB team made DMB protocols for Elephant Mounts that are used for mercenaries, I just added manually now :grin:

And the Krete general is fine... maybe there is some unit around him that is not :thinking2: - I just uploaded a battle in Kydonia :shrug:

FOR ALL THAT WANT TO BETA TEST THE PRE-FINALL RELEASE PLEASE START NEW CAMPAIGN

http://www.zshare.net/download/99295978a7257e/

We need comments, advices and testings even if it is Casse testing!

:grin:

Thanks for the fix!

As for the Cretan general. Perhaps it is a problem related only to my install?

I'll think about a new campaign.

A few other things: I couldn't get forest elephants to charge with Carthage, and was having trouble with their sacred band calvary.

I assume units not charging would have nothing to do with this mod though, no?

Why can Rome not build mechanical weapons?
Also, I read a beginners guide and it said infantry units can push ladders off walls. I have yet to be able to do this. I use towers in sieges, so I can't speak for the AI.
In one siege I had a unit teleport outside of the walls. Then their ladder units froze and didn't wake up for the duration of the assault.


Like I said, I'm new to the game, so maybe some of this is just my ignorance. :)

Thanks

Not charge?

What units? :thinking2:

I tweaked the distance of those charges.. so you can have them i full charge sooner

I dont know why Rome cant build mechanical weapons :shrug:
I did not touched that :no:
It is a vanilla issue. But I think maybe we add them:yes:

And the siege issues are common in the game

As far as I remember Rome can not build artillery (scorpions, stone projectors, balistas etc.) before the marian reform. It is an EB feature, search the forum if you want to know why.
G