The EB/BI 1.6 project

[brymht]

I actually already did this for the BI campaign I was playing, for the most part. Keep in mind, adding shield wall and shiltrom will actually unbalance many units that were meticulously balanced by the EB folks, and quite well most of the time. So be very careful how its done. In my campaign, it generally meant that the only units who could go up against a unit of professional solders with shield_wall was another unit of professionals with shield_wall. It usally means that even high end levy troops, like alpine short swords, will be far more ineffective against any kind of shield wall troop than they otherwise would be. This is one reason I switched to Alex.

Night battle, shieltrom and other such things tend to be bonuses without any drawbacks.

Unfortunately, the warcry and berzerk attributes require a LOT of work. Warcry can often be a detriment, since it takes a few seconds for barb factions, which seems bad.

Berzerk is NOT built for EB At all. Just adding berzerk to a unit will cause it to spin around stupidly and get killed very quickly. I wouldn't use it. I took it out pretty quick.

[Maion Maroneios]

OK, that's why I would like your ideas. So berzerk should be erased... As for making factions re-emergent, it is possible.

I had the idea of making the Pahlava re-emergent through Arche Seleukeia rebellion (which tends to happen in the eastern regions), as well as the Saka Rauka through Baktrian rebellion. This is mostly to make sure those factions actually come to destroy the ones they are attached to. Like the Pahlava fighting against the AS and the Saka against the Baktrians, like they historically did.

Another idea I had, is adding the hording ability for several factions. I am actually pretty sure I'm gonna make the Sweboz and Sauromatae hording factions. For others I seek your guidance. I have managed to make this possible with the Sweboz, but the faction symbols beame the original BI one's and the option of abandoning a settlement and becoming a horde is still unavailable...

[Maion Maroneios]

Guys, I need your help in some things;

1) Which factions to become hording ones
2) What horde units there should be in each of the factions you want (6 in total for each faction)
3) Factions you wish to be re-emergent

I have already done some stuff, for example I made the Arverni and Aedui shadow each other, like the Eastern and Western Empire rebels in BI. This means that, whenever a settlement of either of those two factions rebels, it goes over to the other. Also, if one of the two is destroyed and a settlement of the one alive rebels, the dead faction will be resurrected. This also means I will probably enable the loyalty system for the Gallic factions

Another thing I am thinking of doing, is to do more or less the same with other factions. Any ideas on this as well?

[Hax]

1) Which factions to become hording ones
2) What horde units there should be in each of the factions you want (6 in total for each faction)
3) Factions you wish to be re-emergent

1) Sweboz, Saka-Rauka, Sauromatae, Pahlava.

2) I'll get back to this.

3) A good candidate would be the Koinon Hellenon for this.

Also, I'd be very happy to help with modding the stuff, so if you need any help you can give me a call. Or something.

[Maion Maroneios]

Good to see someone is actually interested to help me! I have already made the Sweboz become a horde faction, so it should be no problem to do the same with the others you proposed.

Koinon Hellenon could become re-emergent through a hard-coded event, like the Romano-British for example. I think this needs a lot of work and testing, but nothing is impossible they say

What would you also say about having the Saka shadow the Baktrians and Pahlava shadow the Seleukidai? This way, through rebeling those mentioned factions can become re-emergent and make sure they press against their enemies.

[konny]

2) Add shield_wall, schiltrom formations for specific units (semi-done)

I think shield wall would be good for Hoplites, Iphikratians and other semi-phalanx units. Needs testing, of course.

3) Add the can_swim, warcry and can_horde attributes for specific units (semi-done)

Swimming would be for unarmoured units. Horde units are clones of the existing units, but these always require a unit slot. There are some left, but not very much.

Warcry would be very much available for most Barbarian units (but the others might have such kinds of encouragements too). The only candidate for berserc I can think of are the Gaesatae.

4) Implement the religion system for EB (not done)

That's a couple of work. It was discussed in another thread. With three "religions" I would go for:
- Greek-Roman
- Western (including Dacia)
- Eastern (including Saba and Carthage)

Invasio Barbarorum has more than three religions ASFAIK. It would also require a lot of rework on the trait file and EDB.

7) Add night battles (not done)

I think the repective traits are still in the EB trait file and re just commented out.

3) Factions you wish to be re-emergent

The Successor factions might all shadow each other. I would not make Parthia or other non-Hellenic factions shadow one of these. Unfortuantly there are no faction slots left to make counterfactions. The only candidate for deletion would be Bactria by handing her province to AS and make them a counterfaction of AS (the greys will certainly lose lands in the East by rebellion very fast).

The Ptolemaioi usually have rebellions in their Southern provinces. Nevertheless these Satraps can as well declare for the Seleucid king and become grey provinces. Currently these lands go over to Saba, who do not make much out of the situation.

Makedonia and Epeiros do not suffer much from rebellion, but if they should shadow each other.

I would also keep an eye on sharing MICs to make the rebels really effective.

[Maion Maroneios]

Interesting idea, Konny! I would appreciate it if someone could post a list with shieldwall, swimming and warcry unit candidates. That way I can make my comparisons with my own idea and make a conclusion.

As for hording units, they're not clones of pre-existing units. You just add the can_horde ability to a unit, add it to the descr_sm_factions.txt and upon hording on the campaign you get the unit with 0 mani upkeep cost (untill you settle down, that is).

I have managed to enable hording, as I said before, but by enabling the bi features in the descr_strat.txt the faction destroyed pictures stop working for some reason. I've enabled night battles as well.

As for the shadowing factions, it unfortunately doesn't work as intended. You see, a shadowing faction cannot survive without the faction it shadows. So if you play as the Aedui and destroy the Arverni, you get a CTD. So the shadowing thing will probably be erased...

I will try and make the KH re-emergent, through rebellions. You see, when the KH are alive and a Hellenic city like Syrakousai rebels from a faction, it automatically goes over to them. I am curious if that will still work if the are destroyed, provided that I add the re_emergent ability in the descr_strat.txt. If this works, I can probably do the same with other factions as well. Actually, that would be the ideal solution, me thinks

For the religions system, I have a very helpful guide that will allow me to implement the system step-by-step. I would appreciate it if someone would be willin to help, but giving me ideas as to what kind of ''religions'' I should include, like Konny did, would also be very helpful.

Thank you all again for your help!

[konny]

I have managed to enable hording, as I said before, but by enabling the bi features in the descr_strat.txt the faction destroyed pictures stop working for some reason.

Yes, that's a known bug. I remember that there was a workaround posted somewhere.

As for the shadowing factions, it unfortunately doesn't work as intended. You see, a shadowing faction cannot survive without the faction it shadows. So if you play as the Aedui and destroy the Arverni, you get a CTD. So the shadowing thing will probably be erased...

Yes, I had seen that in the scriptorium too (but only after posting here). Looks like you need a seperate non-playable faction for this thing.

[Lysimachos]

Isn't the warcry a vanilla feature? So it probably is out intentionally (realism purposes?).