Heya

[IrishHitman]

Alright lads, great mod, especially loving the historical notices.

A few questions.
I can run battles with max unit size perfectly, but the campaign map runs strangely slow.
Is it a scripting problem/bug?

What faction would you recommend to have a go at other than the Romani?

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Try turning off the shadows option from the campaign map options menu to get some more speed.

[Celtic_Punk]

campaign map runs slowly because of the script.

I suggest you try Koinon Hellenon. That was my first faction. that or a celtic faction.

[Zeibek]

What faction you should start with really depends on you yourself. I started with a fairly difficult Pahlava campaign because of my interest in them, but as a rule nomadic/steppe factions (Pahlava, Sauromatae, Saka) are exceedingly difficult to play with and are only for players looking for a real challenge.

Rome and Carthage are both good factions for people still getting introduced to the mod, and especially Carthage has a very diverse unit roster through which you can get to try out and get a feelt to different unit types. I haven't played as Rome at all so I can't really comment on them but from what I gather they're flexible and not too challenging, meaning that you can really learn the fundamentals first without having to learn specialized combat (like phalanx or horse-archer).

If you're looking for good old-fashioned hoplite warfare then KH is what you're looking for. Their campaign isn't the easiest, but most philhellenes don't mind. The Ptolemaios serve as a good and not too diffucult general introduction to phalanx-dominated successor warfare, and Epeiros could be classified between the Alexandrian hammer-and-anvil armies and more conservative Greek tradition. Baktria is the most exotic (and by far my favorite) Hellenic faction but can be a tad too difficult for beginners. I'd personally recommend Epeiros since they're like like both Makedonia and KH except with some more interesting twists.

As to the "barbarian" factions the two continental Celtic factions, the Aedui and the Arverni, are the most easily accessible. They start at war with each other and are in close proximity, so you get to fight your way through enemies and debt in the beginning but after a while you'll balance out. I really enjoy most of my campaigns with them, and since they pretty much force beginners into debt they're a good intro for EB gameplay. The Casse or Britons are very hard to play with, and even for more experienced players they can prove out to be troublesome.

As for non-Celtic barbarians I found the Getai to be the easiest to begin with. Not only can you build a solid base soon and get access to some of the game's most deadliest units (Thracian auxilaries and Cordinau Orca) but you also get to wreck havoc on those effeminate Greeks. The Sweboz might start out a bit slow but I personally enjoyed playing with them out of interest. They might work fine for beginners, though I really wouldn't recommend them unless you're interested in them historically. And finally the Lusotannan can have a hard time economically early on, but once you get past that phase they might prove to be interesting, though a while ago the EB team removed their coolest units...

Hope that this proved helpful!

[Chris1959]

Decide if you want to "roleplay" or smash and grab, read the forum a lot and the FAQ, don't be afraid to ask questions someone will usually give a good answer.
The slow campaign moves are probably down to the background script, if you look in the technical help section there are some fixes which can help and another is turn off follow AI characters movement that speeded up my computer.

Have fun and never mention lorica segmenta

[PriestLizard]

If you have the official Alexander Add-On, you might want to try out using ALX.exe for running EB. Check the sub-forum for a guide -- it will make the campaign map run much faster/smoother.

I'm not an EB expert myself but I have some experience, especially with the first years of several campaigns. I really love Baktria, but like Zeibek said, they seem to be a little bit too difficult for the first start. I'd also recommend Carthago or Epeiros as the starting faction as they both have a rather easy start. Carthago has very powerful economics and a strong army right from the start.

Epeiros is a little bit weaker early on but they have "straight-forward" battles ahead of them against greek or macedonian armies. Its not too hard to win these battles. Just be careful with the Elephants you have right from the start: Either disband them (they have a huge upkeep) or use them to blitz some villages and raize their walls.

Enjoy the mod :)

[Maion Maroneios]

Well, big numbers tend to push the engine to its limits. I personally play on "100" size, edited from the preferences.txt. I find that size the most convenient; not too many, nor too few numbers, plus you can easily have a huge 1 vs 1 fullstack army battle (at least my pc does).

As for the faction I recommend you to play as, I would say Makedonia or Epeiros if you have some experience with phalanx-based factions, or Karthadast (Carthage), as they have a very good starting position and tend to make lots of money from the beginning.

Maion

[Celtic_Punk]

I found Baktria disgustingly hard in a way. Only because the Steppe's people refuse to engage you. I recommend staying in reach of the Mediterranean till you get a feel for EB. The campaign is most rewarding on Hard or VH difficulty as the Independents will actually attack you, or lay siege to you. Given that, play battles on Medium, as they are balanced for that setting.

No matter what faction you use, I find it sort of prudent to disband any navy you have till you can afford it. Getting on your feet economically is a problem, so the first few turns are snatch n grabs, and all out war for your own survival. One of the reasons KH is good for this is their units are quite reliable, especially in seige battles on the streets (not so much on the walls, its best to hire some celts or thracians with swords or falxes to win on the walls) and your first few battles will definitely be sieges.

If you're new to RTW Carthage or Rome would be your best bet. But I personally found Rome a bore. Too easy, and their units really don't hold much appeal to me. But for best effect as Rome play the Imperial March whilst you subjugate the world.

KH has a challenge, a pretty good and reliable unit selection, many foes to smash, and in a unique position in a way. They rely on classic hoplites (ones that fought in the same fashion at Marathon) and infantry, and are weak in terms of cavalry. But most of their units are heavy spearmen, so unless you are flanked and surrounded (unless you've got your spartans hehe) enemy horses are not a huge deal (makedonian family members are DEADLY!!!!!!)

Another good faction is Makedon. Some of the best cavalry in the world, Dependable infantry, a good starting position, and lots of foes.

I've only played as Adeui, Averni, Casse, Sweboz for the "Barbarian" factions, and from what I've played Averni are the best to start off as. Decent challenge, you'll fight your fair share of battles against both the Adeui and Rome, good troops, cheap levies to overwhelm your enemies with numbers, and are exellent in forest battles, which is a must in Northern Europe. In some ways their warriors are totally superior to the Romans, but in some cases you can be totally routed by a simple mistake due to the discipline of Roman soldiery, and the lack there of your levies.

Like said before It all depends on your style, and what kind of challenge your looking for. Personally I believe there's no point playing a campaign that gives you no challenge, else you get disinterested quickly.

[IrishHitman]

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I found Baktria disgustingly hard in a way. Only because the Steppe's people refuse to engage you. I recommend staying in reach of the Mediterranean till you get a feel for EB. The campaign is most rewarding on Hard or VH difficulty as the Independents will actually attack you, or lay siege to you. Given that, play battles on Medium, as they are balanced for that setting.

No matter what faction you use, I find it sort of prudent to disband any navy you have till you can afford it. Getting on your feet economically is a problem, so the first few turns are snatch n grabs, and all out war for your own survival. One of the reasons KH is good for this is their units are quite reliable, especially in seige battles on the streets (not so much on the walls, its best to hire some celts or thracians with swords or falxes to win on the walls) and your first few battles will definitely be sieges.

If you're new to RTW Carthage or Rome would be your best bet. But I personally found Rome a bore. Too easy, and their units really don't hold much appeal to me. But for best effect as Rome play the Imperial March whilst you subjugate the world.

KH has a challenge, a pretty good and reliable unit selection, many foes to smash, and in a unique position in a way. They rely on classic hoplites (ones that fought in the same fashion at Marathon) and infantry, and are weak in terms of cavalry. But most of their units are heavy spearmen, so unless you are flanked and surrounded (unless you've got your spartans hehe) enemy horses are not a huge deal (makedonian family members are DEADLY!!!!!!)

Another good faction is Makedon. Some of the best cavalry in the world, Dependable infantry, a good starting position, and lots of foes.

I've only played as Adeui, Averni, Casse, Sweboz for the "Barbarian" factions, and from what I've played Averni are the best to start off as. Decent challenge, you'll fight your fair share of battles against both the Adeui and Rome, good troops, cheap levies to overwhelm your enemies with numbers, and are exellent in forest battles, which is a must in Northern Europe. In some ways their warriors are totally superior to the Romans, but in some cases you can be totally routed by a simple mistake due to the discipline of Roman soldiery, and the lack there of your levies.

Like said before It all depends on your style, and what kind of challenge your looking for. Personally I believe there's no point playing a campaign that gives you no challenge, else you get disinterested quickly.

I've been wondering why the campaign has been easy... I'll probably have a lash at max difficulty.
Economically, I've been doing grand, I secured Southern Italy by 269-68BC with ease, and was planning to ignore the North and concentrate on grabbing the rich trade regions around the Carthaginian Empire and Greece. Note the past tense there, I noticed how the reforms worked after a little while.

In Vanilla, the KH (or their counterparts) were my second choice. Seems like them or Makedonia shall be my second EB choice.

Lorica segmenta!!!!!

[Celtic_Punk]

don't say that if you want to have friends around here lol, some people hate that word so much, they only refer to it as... LS... loool

I personally dont care.. It's a badass looking armour

[IrishHitman]

don't say that if you want to have friends around here lol, some people hate that word so much, they only refer to it as... LS... loool

I personally dont care.. It's a badass looking armour

Question: Are the much lauded Agrianes available to Makedonia?

[Celtic_Punk]

I think so... dont quote me on it though.

You should check out the AAR forum. Got lots of good stuff in there. Like my new AAR, A Spartan Future. plus some good guides such as how to use cavalry in EB.

[Maion Maroneios]

Well, I can't really see the point of someone new to EB reading AARs, but there sure are some good guides in that section. You can basically find many threads that discuss good/bad units, tactics and formations and much more. Just take your time and do some exploring.

Maion

[Pontius Pilate]

Lorica segmenta!!!!!

HELL YEAH!!! LORICA SEGMENTA FOREVER!!

[Intranetusa]

HELL YEAH!!! LORICA SEGMENTA FOREVER!!

BURN IN DA 9TH PIT OF HELL LORICA SEGMENTATA!!! >_<

[Intranetusa]

Alright lads, great mod, especially loving the historical notices.

A few questions.
I can run battles with max unit size perfectly, but the campaign map runs strangely slow.
Is it a scripting problem/bug?

What faction would you recommend to have a go at other than the Romani?

It's funny, cuz I can play Crysis on my PC on very high with good fps, but my PC starts to lag when I get to EB's campaign map. lol XP

[Celtic_Punk]

its because the engine cant handle it.

[a completely inoffensive name]

I am predicting this thread will be stomped on by the Foot very soon for above LS posts.

[Pontius Pilate]

I am predicting this thread will be stomped on by the Foot very soon for above LS posts.

I am predicting it won't because Foot loves LS.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Just kidding.hahahaha.lol.

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

One more off topic mention of LS and I'll close this thread.

[Pontius Pilate]

One more off topic mention of LS and I'll close this thread.

Geez you guys, it's just a piece of armor.