General Questions

[Grriffon]

I'm currently playing through EB 1.1 for the first time, and I'm just starting the Marian reforms. So far I absolutely love the game, I can't believe how in depth it is.

First question, is there just a basic guide somewhere to tell me basic things like if heavy weapons deal damage differently than light weapons, etc?

Second question, Is the testudo formation merely to avoid missiles? As in, are they not meant to hold that formation against infantry too, because mine simply refuse to.Also, they are standing up quite horribly to other heavy infantry my triarii and principes were soundly beating.

Am I doomed now to no heavy cavalry, useless siege weaponry, and sub-par infantry? My "pin with triarii/principes, flank and charge with heavy italic cavalry' strategy is gone, as now all I can recruit (that I know of) are greek medium or illyrian light cavalry, and I'm stucky with nothing but these legionaires which I really gotta say I'm not enjoying using.


I guess I'm mainly looking for a very basic guide on things like weapon types, damage dealt, etc, and any advice you have for Marian and onward Roman campaigns.

Sorry if I rambled a bit in there.

Thanks for any help.

[Ludens]

1) No, there is no difference. In fact, when it comes to combat EB has no concept of "damage". All soldiers in EB have a single hitpoint (the exception are elephants, Gaesatae, Tindanotae, officers and generals). If they lose it, they die. Chances of death are determined by two factors: the discrepancy between the attacker's attack factor and the defender's defence bonus, and the lethality of the attacker's weapon. The former determines whether a strike was successful and the latter is the chance that the successful strike translates into a kill (if it doesn't, the defender is merely knocked down). Also important is the speed of the weapon and whether it is armour piercing (the latter applies to axes, most curved swords and long cavalry lances). Armour piercing weapons ignore 50% of the defender's armour value.

2) Yes. The soldiers are packed too tightly to defend themselves effectively.

3) The Romans can recruit Brihentin in level 5 regional barracks in several Gallic provinces. Consult the recruitment viewer (it should be in your EB folder, the one on the EB website is outdated). They can recruit Brihentinregardless of whether the Gauls have achieved the correct reforms. They are the best cavalry in the west, but phale compared to the eastern heavies. However, you are mostly correct: the Romans are supposed to do with infantry. I wouldn't call them sub-par, by the way. What battle difficulty are you playing at?

[Mediolanicus]

Testudo is indeed not suited for melee.

Light or Heavy doesn't mean much actually, I thought. The classification as it is, is done so because some factions are set to recruit mostly heavy or mostly light infantry. So most of the classification is done to let AI build good armies, instead of all elites or all levies IMHO.

It is the lethality of the weapons that's more important. see the EDU or EB documentation for that.

Marian legionaries are no superhumans, they are just very well trained, very disciplined fighters.

Artillery in EB is, just as it was in reality, utterly useless and inaccurate against other units. They are for seiges only.

Brihintin (sp.) and even Leuce Epos, Thessalian heavies (as mercs) and certainly Illyrian Light Cavarly are more than enough to use as a hammer! Althought the latter is useless in actual melee.


Edit : and make sure you are playing on Medium battle dificulty, unless you really want to see a whole legion slaughtered by half a unit of Akontistai.

[Ludens]

Light or Heavy doesn't mean much actually, I thought. The classification as it is, is done so because some factions are set to recruit mostly heavy or mostly light infantry. So most of the classification is done to let AI build good armies, instead of all elites or all levies IMHO.

It is also used for upgrades and formations. However, it has no influence on the actual fighting.

[Grriffon]

Thanks for the answers guys. So where can I find a weapon lethality guide?

edit: Am I totally missing the boat on these new infantry though? In battle they are dieing like cattle, and killing nothing, and I've yet to find a situation where I was glad they could form a testudo. I think I'm on medium difficulty, but will double check.

[Strategos Alexandros]

Who are you fighting against with them?

[Grriffon]

Right now, against egypt and the greeks. Any form of phalanx, even a levy phalanx, tears them to shreds, but I don't mind that so much. It's how they die to/can't kill even the sword wielding infantry that is pretty saddening.

[Ludens]

Thanks for the answers guys. So where can I find a weapon lethality guide?

edit: Am I totally missing the boat on these new infantry though? In battle they are dieing like cattle, and killing nothing, and I've yet to find a situation where I was glad they could form a testudo. I think I'm on medium difficulty, but will double check.

If you want to know the lethality of specific units, you should have a look at the unit cards. Lethality is the number between brackets following the attack value. Unfortunatly the unit cards were not included in the new recruitment viewer, but they are in the old one. Some cards may be outdated though. You can transfer them to the new recruitment guide simply by copying them to the corresponding folder.

As a quick guide: cavalry lances have extremely high lethality values. Then come double-handed slashing weapons, longswords, shortswords, spears and at the bottom daggers. High-quality weapons tend to have better lethality values. Remember, however, that lethality is not the only things that counts. Cavalry lances have a high lethality, but due to their low attack value and long attack delay they are only useful during the charge.

Testudo is useful for nothing but taking missile fire. You should use it in sieges, as the Romans did historically, but nowhere else. Hell, given how slow and tiring the testudo is, you might as well ignore it all together.

Right now, against egypt and the greeks. Any form of phalanx, even a levy phalanx, tears them to shreds, but I don't mind that so much. It's how they die to/can't kill even the sword wielding infantry that is pretty saddening.

You mean pike phalanxes or hoplite ones? The only thing that can effectively take on a pike phalanx from the front is another pike phalanx. You should try to tear up their formation and take them in the flank. If it's hoplite phalanxes you have a problem with, something is very wrong.

[Grriffon]

If you want to know the lethality of specific units, you should have a look at the unit cards. Lethality is the number between brackets following the attack value. Unfortunatly the unit cards were not included in the new recruitment viewer, but they are in the old one. Some cards may be outdated though. You can transfer them to the new recruitment guide simply by copying them to the corresponding folder.

As a quick guide: cavalry lances have extremely high lethality values. Then come double-handed slashing weapons, longswords, shortswords, spears and at the bottom daggers. High-quality weapons tend to have better lethality values. Remember, however, that lethality is not the only things that counts. Cavalry lances have a high lethality, but due to their low attack value and long attack delay they are only useful during the charge.

Testudo is useful for nothing but taking missile fire. You should use it in sieges, as the Romans did historically, but nowhere else. Hell, given how slow and tiring the testudo is, you might as well ignore it all together.



You mean pike phalanxes or hoplite ones? The only thing that can effectively take on a pike phalanx from the front is another pike phalanx. You should try to tear up their formation and take them in the flank. If it's hoplite phalanxes you have a problem with, something is very wrong.

Thank you for your reply. I am now checking the cards from this post https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=93896 which has been very helpful. If anyone knows what the number of hearts at the bottom of the cards means, and the letters or symbols to the left of the hearts, that would be helpful as well.

As far as which phalanxes my legos are dieing to, they die to hoplites as well. I haven't really found an infantry unit they can stand toe to toe with and come out on top. Even against skirmishers they seems to trade kills at best, and lose at worst. I'm sure I'll figure something out though, and if all else fails, I'll mass local conscripts I guess, lol.

[Ludens]

Hearts indicate whether a unit has normal stamina or is hardy or very hardy. This determines the rate of fatigue. Letters indicate the reforms the units are tied to. For the Romans, the only relevant ones are Camillian, Polybian, Marian and Augustean. Regional units are independent of reforms (so you can recruit Brihentin and Neitos at the start of the game while the Gauls have to wait until the second reform). The number of dots indicates the level of barracks (MICs) required for recruiting them. Other signs are the tree (combat bonus in forests), the bush (can hide in high grass) and the skull with an I or C (scares infantry or cavalry respectively). BTW, missile weapons do not have a lethality stat: the number between brackets following their attack factor represents ammunition, not lethality.

Konny only included unit cards relevant for the Romans. If you want to get all available ones, you should download the old recruitment viewer available here.

It really sounds like you are playing at a battle difficulty other than medium. Sadly, higher battle difficulties do not make the A.I. more clever. They just give its troops a stat bonus, allowing their levies to beat up your heavies. This cannot be modded.

[Grriffon]

BTW, missile weapons do not have a lethality stat: the number between brackets following their attack factor represents ammunition, not lethality.

So if a card says Sling 2 (30) it doesn't have an enormous lethality, just a lot of ammo? Or am I reading that wrong? Also, I assume AP is armor piercing? And I think the only other symbol on the cards I don't recognize is the triangle.

Thanks again for the help

[Apgad]

So if a card says Sling 2 (30) it doesn't have an enormous lethality, just a lot of ammo?

In the folder "C:\Program Files\Recruitment Viewer\UnitCards" (or wherever you put it) along with the unit cards there should be a readme.jpg file. That explains what all the extra symbols mean. And yes, the number in brackets for a missile weapon is the ammo. Ammo will always be whole numbers greater than 1, while lethality will be between 0 and 1.

[Ludens]

So if a card says Sling 2 (30) it doesn't have an enormous lethality, just a lot of ammo? Or am I reading that wrong? Also, I assume AP is armor piercing? And I think the only other symbol on the cards I don't recognize is the triangle.

Correct on both counts. The triangle means the unit can assume wedge formation, which is useless for anything except possibly fast manoeuvres.

[LorDBulA]

To check detailed unit stats refer to EB Unit Documentation.
You had opportunity to install it along with EB (default option ).
If you didnt you can find installer in your RTW folder in 'extras' folder.
After installing you can access it by Start Menu -> All Programs -> Europa Barbarorum -> Documentation

Unit cards are a bit outdated right now.