Roll Call: what version of EB, Difficulty, and why

[bigmilt16]

Please let us know which version of EB you play (standard-RTW.exe, BI.exe, or Alexander), and the difficulty (campaign/battle), and why you like those settings. It would help me out greatly.



I have RTW.exe, BI.exe, and ALEX.exe. I have been an avid EB player for years. However, I am no longer sure which version of RTW will give me the best experience.

It is nice to have the AI conduct naval invasions against me and AI factions BI.exe but they get a little out of hand at times.

Alexander appears more stable, and the battle AI is much improved, but retraining is quite unrealistic, and I don't think the EB economy was designed for Alex.

RTW.exe is fine, but I do miss the naval invasion with the AI and the battle AI on alex. any advice?

[QuintusSertorius]

Having tried BI.exe, I went back to rtw.exe. Naval invasions on BI are rubbish, they're just an extension of the equally rubbish campaign AI that has factions sending puny stacks of 3-4 units at you every other turn, rather than combining them into useful armies that are a real challenge. Only now everyone with a port on the same body of water as you can attack, not just those sharing a land border. I don't have Alexander, and don't like that the AI retrains consistently with it.

I play on M/M. I won't play on VH campaign difficulty because I don't agree with big as well as small factions getting money bonuses; all too often it just means the smaller ones get swamped and die out too fast. Plus diplomacy and naval battles are screwed up on anything over Medium.

I don't agree with statistical bonuses for the AI just for the sake of making battles "harder", which is why I play on Medium battle difficulty. I increase my difficulty through recruiting balanced armies (no stacks full of slingers and heavy infantry) and sometimes spawning additional units in AI stacks to balance them out.

[||Lz3||]

actually about alex ai retraining hability ,they don't really retrain that much , they might as well retrain several times but not always... either way makes the campaign more interesting , gives you bigger battles I guess what do you mean with the economy?

to be honest I've never tried BI , and I'm not that interested in trying it due to reported weird naval invasions...

RTW is ...fine, but it's kinda boring to know that if you're sorrunded by water you're quite safe against enemy invasions

perhaps if someone makes a poll regarding which .exe most people useb

EDIT: I play H/M , cause I'm sort of roleplaying , I don't like being attacker every turn (well actually I do..but it makes harder to cntrol other AI factions as well... :P ), but I didn't went so drastical as quintus cause I bealive that in M there are less battles.

[bigmilt16]

That's strange because I have yet to experience a naval invasion on Alexander. Does it happen with less frequency or does it need a particular difficulty? I normally play on H/M or M/M.

[||Lz3||]

not that I know of... , indeed they are less frequent but there's a hope , perhaps it's easier to get one with VH camapaign.

PS: it seems that alex AI armies usually merge better instead of attacking with several small stacks

[Olaf The Great]

I started with

.72. VH/M because I was an Oldbie.
Now
1.1(with bovi's fixes and FD) H/M Because I find it to be very stable and fun, however I would use Alex.exe if I could figure out where to get it.

[Shifty_GMH]

RTW.exe with H/M or M/M.

My reasoning is similar to QS's.

I do have BI.exe, but to date I have not tried it with EB.

[satalexton]

Alex.exe tends to send much less naval invasions, but when they do, expect a half stack of decent troops at the very least (or more).
KH will actually ship their stacks on Rhodes to Crete and the mainland, so long that there isn't a faraway rebeled settlement to screw their AI up. In my Mak campain, after i took Sinope off them they sieged Crete the next turn and now they've got a full stack of thorakitai, Eplikoi Hoplitai and the likes in a ship on the way to retake Athens.

[fenix3279]

I play with RTW.exe on (H/H). I also have both BI and ALX.exe but I don't use them. I use RTW.exe because it's easier to get it up and running when first installing EB. Once, I tried it out with BI but the naval invasions become a nuisance after a while. I would play with ALX.exe if I knew how to install the damn thing. Yes, I've read the ALX.exe install help forums and no it didn't help. I ran into way too many complications when trying to download EB into the ALX.exe folder. I couldn't get anything to work. It was pretty frustrating and I wasn't sure it was worth it anymore. Computers and I go together like fire and gasoline so maybe that's my problem? Doesn't matter though. RTW.exe does the job just fine.



P.S. I might give downloading EB for ALX.exe another try sometime in the future but I need to know a few things before I do. Is it readily compatible with mods like: V.T.'s SoV mod - MAA's City mod - Jarardo's Force Diplomacy mod - Fanatic's First Cohort/Phalanx mod - Darth's Player/A.I. Battle Formations - Konny's Trait Changes - Konny's Victory Conditions - and - Darth Stanlin's Romani Fix? There's one more but the name escapes me. Yeah, I know there's alot of em'. Go easy on me, I'm a recovering mod-a-holic.

[||Lz3||]

two things...

1- why would you download EB in alexander folder
:P

P.S. I might give downloading EB for ALX.exe another try sometime in the future but I need to know a few things before I do. Is it readily compatible with mods like: V.T.'s SoV mod - MAA's City mod - Jarardo's Force Diplomacy mod - Fanatic's First Cohort/Phalanx mod - Darth's Player/A.I. Battle Formations - Konny's Trait Changes - Konny's Victory Conditions - and - Darth Stanlin's Romani Fix? There's one more but the name escapes me. Yeah, I know there's alot of em'. Go easy on me, I'm a recovering mod-a-holic.

2- have you ever read my signature?

[Ibrahim]

I'm essentially an IBFD man (inspite of playing EB). as such, I prefer BI.

[fenix3279]

two things...

1- why would you download EB in alexander folder
:P




2- have you ever read my signature?

1- Uh.......I dunno?


2- Yup, just now.


lol Sorry if I seem off the wall with all the questions. I ate alot of sugar today. That stuff can really screw you up sometimes

[roman]

Hello, bigmilt16

I use the latest EB version (1.1) with all the fixes Bovi provided (thank you for all your hard work sir).

On top of that i install BI, i find that naval invasions by AI add another dimention to the already wonderful game. (Yes i do consider EB a new game compare to RTW, it is that good!)

I used to play on VH/VH difficulty setting for maximum challenge, but in the end decided that constant resupply of depleted armies and slow progress of campaigns was to much of a time sink. (I am more of a conservative player who uses hammer and anvil with realistic force composition 2-4 Cav. 2-4 range, 4-6 anvil inf. and the rest sword/spear/javelin mix depending on the faction. Only 1 or 2 elite units per stack)

Now i play on VH/H and find it just right for my taste. My current Sweboz campaign is a blast (minus the forest maps). I am finally gaining the upper hand against Roma, Both Celtic factions and Lusitanians (who control almost all of the Iberia and have Arveni as protectorate).

Hope this helps, Good hunting.

[chenkai11]

I only play EB now.....the only game I am playing now.

EB1.1 Alex.exe, M/M.

I play a lot of campaign difficulty VH before. But because EB gives you the feeling of historical reality, I much prefer M campaign difficulty now. The AI is still very active and aggresive but reasonably. With VH you will get tired and annoyed sometimes from enemy endless attacks, and blockade or sieging or blocking a trade path doesn't seem to stop their income because of the money bonus. And you don't need FD with M difficulty.

Medium battle difficulty is the best, Hard will give you a more challenge gameplay purpose. VH.....no comment, but you will see enemy medium troops evenly match to your heavy troops. And just like QS said, don't recruit a full stack full of elite units, or elephants..... or full stack of cataphracts.

Alex.exe gives you better AI, that's tested by many people, I believed. Well, at least that's my experience. AI do use ships to transport troops, sometimes. Not sure of their intention though. And for the retraining, I just accept it as historical coz I believe depleted armies can be filled with new trained units. And I noticed sometimes when I retrain my depleted unit, Ex. with 2 silver chevron, it will be downgraded to bronze chevron. The only thing I like BI is the shieldwall.

[Irishmafia2020]

I am using hard campaign/medium battle settings on BI. Hard makes for a challenging campaign, but the A.I. will sometimes agree to ceasefires of their own accord. VH campaign is too much for me. The a.i. just gets way too much cash for my taste with that setting, and there is essentially no diplomacy.

I use BI.exe and it seems fine. My current campaign as KH has included a number of a.i. naval invasions, but they have been full stacks. In fact Carthage surprised me in Italy by landing two elite stacks to the North of my holdings, and hitting me in Sicily with another stack on the same turn. I faced a an actual pincer movement in the strategic campaign, and I lost Taras as a result. Also, the Ptolies have dropped a full stack off right on Crete twice. Seriously, I am getting very impressive Naval invasions that have forced me to rethink my military doctrine. I now organize my home garrisons so that I can quickly raise a full stack reserve force (my home guard) and I keep strategic fortresses even in areas that are far away from active fighting. I really appreciate the Naval invasions in BI, and I have yet to see a worthless attack conducted by the a.i.

[bigmilt16]

Finally had my first experience with naval invasions on Alexander. difficulty VH/M (EB recommended). It was 245 during the first punic war. I had never faced such a stiff challenge for the isle. The AI sent 2 big, nice stacks to defend libelo once they discovered they were on the verge of losing the island. Even before I finished Messana, they had begun shipping over two stacks to defend Libelo. The amazing thing is that after I seiged the town, they sent another stack. After I nearly lost the entire isle, outnumbered, but not out, I held my siege of libelo with my hardened legions (dwindled in number but ferocious thanks to the italian wars).

Get this though... they retreated. In BI, I would expect countless attacks, but they knew when to stop. Alexander AI has definitely won me over.

[fenix3279]

Finally had my first experience with naval invasions on Alexander. difficulty VH/M (EB recommended). It was 245 during the first punic war. I had never faced such a stiff challenge for the isle. The AI sent 2 big, nice stacks to defend libelo once they discovered they were on the verge of losing the island. Even before I finished Messana, they had begun shipping over two stacks to defend Libelo. The amazing thing is that after I seiged the town, they sent another stack. After I nearly lost the entire isle, outnumbered, but not out, I held my siege of libelo with my hardened legions (dwindled in number but ferocious thanks to the italian wars).

Get this though... they retreated. In BI, I would expect countless attacks, but they knew when to stop. Alexander AI has definitely won me over.

That sounds awesome. I'm in the process of installing ALX.exe for EB this very second. Man! I'm so hyped up now, I can't wait to play.

[burn_again]

I play 1.1 RTW.exe, never tried BI or Alex, cause I don't have them. The advantage of using BI seems to be that you have more naval invasions, which is mostly irrelavant for my favorite factions.

I find M/M is better suited for roleplaying and expanding slowly than VH/M, because the AI factions don't steamroll each other and diplomacy is working a bit more reasonable. The only disadvantage on M/M is that stronger AI factions tend to make lots of protectorates, which can lead to odd situations in the later game.

[teh1337tim]

rtw.exe

m/m or h/m

its easier on diplomacy and battles + enemy armies are reasonable and they are quite... intersting sometimes as well
- knocked epirote out of greece as makedonia 5 years later they bribed side n fortified it way UP in less than 10 years
(by this time they stalemated rome in taras and took rhegion)
then i saw the unbelievable
they built a fleet of sheeps to transport 1/2-3/4 troops of mixed types (deutoria,klearouchi,kazali,hillmen,archer everything)
3 fleets 1 go from italy to side n back
atm
they took entire sicily and my spies is seeing naval invasions from sea onto northern italy
and huge full silver-gold hypsita,epirte elite phalanx etc taking on roma itself

sometimes rtw can really surprise u
(theyre ranked right undre me and im taking a hell of a beating from pontos/hayasdine/seleukid at same time)

O.o and if ur playing rtw or something and got a ceasefire with seleukid but get it broke of naval invasion
put the seleukid navies in the caspian sea (requires some cheating)
guranteed no more naval blockes :)

[Ravenfeeder]

BI.exe H/M

BI because of the Naval Invasions and slightly better AI overall. On H difficulty the Naval Invasions start off as small stacks but don't stay that way.

I've tried VH campaign and became annoyed with the level of aggression and the constant stream of elite full-stacks thrown at me.

Conversely, M campaign which I tried recently, has the AI acting much too passively and only using tiny stacks. They never hire mercenaries which is one of the things that hobbbles naval invasions at this difficulty.

I always use M battle difficulty because anything more means I have to start micromanaging battles a lot more, which I don't enjoy.

[Swordmaster]

RTW.exe: that's what EB is designed for after all.

M/M: I like a more relaxed campaign, spending a few turns without having to fight actually.

[johnhughthom]

RTW.exe, tried BI.exe and hate those pointless armies the AI sends by sea. Usually H/M difficulty, sometimes VH/M.

[Skandinav]

I play with the ALEX.exe after having tried both BI.exe and the normal RTW.exe as I have found the ALEX.exe to be generally more intelligent and there are naval invasions but they are few and reasonable and I´ve gone back to playing on H/M ( concerning the battle difficulty, I, as others in this thread, see no point in the added bonuses ) from playing two campaigns on M/M; the AI´s aggression towards itself on Medium campaign difficulty is really not as limited as opposed to Hard as I had hoped for when trying it out in the first place; neither did it spare me the effort of constantly cultivating the map and supervising the AI factions from not destroying each other and to stay within their historical boundaries - rather it merely made its attacks on me more rare and less organized ( almost no full stacks and no will to make real war even when I spawned great armies for it and filled up its coffers ) and actually I felt I had to begin a long campaign anew because of the lack of proper enemy armies, which is a shame, I had hoped the medium difficulty could be a part of a solution to the rampant AI, but this is rather done manually through forced diplomacy and console commands, giving and taking regions, units and money especially.

[Che Roriniho]

RTW.exe M/M

Because I feel that M/M is realistic without being unfair. If I start another campaign I might do H/H, as I seem to have won almost all of my battles, which is fun, but it takes some of the challenge out of it.

[bigmilt16]

so medium campaign difficulty actually does nothing to slow the AI's expansion?

Also, I guess I finally figured out Alexander's use of naval invasions. The AI will only ship troops by sea when overseas territory is threatened, but when it is, they ship efficiently and cruelly. The retraining in Alex.exe really makes for some tough battles, because for the first time, I must go against "elite" stacks of well experienced troops and not just guys fresh outta boot camp.

[polluxlm]

I'm convinced.

Alex.exe on the way to my mailbox.

[Tyrfingr]

Alex.exe with VH/M. The AI is raping me...

...

...

not really, but I'm far more impressed by the Alex-AI than the original RTW and BI-AI. Alex even launched a couple of naval invasions against me. The greeks were reduced to Rhodos and landed at Mytilene with 6-8 decently good units and a FM and it was pretty fun.

Otherwise, I don't mind the abscense of naval invasions, since they were very rare during the antique.

[Marcus Ulpius]

1.1 EB version, only RTW installed. I'm playing on M/M because I think that EB was designed with that setting in mind. I also don't like unrealistic difficulty which only have the goal of making a game more difficult for you, sacrificing the balance and logic (like all AI factions hate you, or AI militias fight better than your professional soldiers).

[Ludens]

EB is designed for VH campaign, M battle. I personally play EB1.1 at H/M, because diplomacy is a bit more reasonable at this difficulty level (i.e. factions won't refuse to make peace when you've taken all but their last city). Currently, I have no mods installed, although I am considering the VC and formation mods. I used the latter with every previous version of EB, but wanted to see how the formations shape up this time.

Similarly, I am playing with RTW.exe and considering using ALEX.exe. I played EB1.0 with BI.exe, but the irrational naval invasions put me off. I prefer it when the Romans are capable of invading Africa and taking out Carthage, but this is not going to happen when they'd rather send small stacks to annoy me. That's why I want to try ALEX.exe, however I've been told many times that a new mod really improved A.I., and always ended up disappointed.

[Skandinav]

so medium campaign difficulty actually does nothing to slow the AI's expansion?

There is a noticeable difference in the beginning of a new campaign when the AI has yet to build up its economy but this impression is soon replaced by a behaviour very similar if not (nearly) identical to the dreary, endless warring on the Hard setting and as far as I can tell - and I monitor the AI in every turn - settlements change hands as frequently, although through the means of smaller armies.
Rebels besiege settlements on Hard aswell by the way which I have yet to see on Medium.

But as some have pointed out Medium difficulty could be a good choice for a smaller faction, whereas my Medium romani campaign was a failure my swêboz worked pretty well as I restrained my expansion.

Some say that the difficulty are also influenced by which version, BI, RTW or ALEX, of EB you are playing.