So, who plays EB online?

[Subotan]

I have never played any Total War game/mod online.

Me neither, although I've heard from friends that a lot of the battles have phalanx circles nudging up to each other.

[Dayve]

I played RTW online about 10 times, and every single time i played it the people i played against used 1 of 2 armies with one of two cheapass tactics.

NUMBER 1 - Spartan hoplites arranged in a pentagon, spears pointing outward, cretan archers in the middle.

NUMBER 2 - 20 units of persian horse archers. I assume at this point they just set them to FAW and skirmish and went to take a dump or have a cup of tea or whatever. There is no way to beat this army and horse archers should be banned from multiplayer, if not banned then literally, LITERALLY limited to 1 unit.

[Indomenos]

i once played a friend who miscontrued my messages and believed that i would be deploying an all-cavalry army, his subsequent phalanx ring succumbed to sustained tindanotae assaults...

i rarely play MP, and when i do i play with a sort of 'clan' - although it hardly warrants the name - so we have certain unspoken rules and codes of conduct which limit the use of cheap tactics and encourage army balancing. i find EB MP a vastly more enjoyable experience than vanilla, sadly my clan mates dont seem to think so (i guess they're just tired of losing :P)

[Novellus]

Playing an opponent you actually KNOW makes it a very enjoyable experience. A friend and I played using a LAN connection, and we had some pretty tough battles. The fun part was that we tried to be as historical as possible when we chose units and tactics. It's a fun experience.

Oh, and the single-player campaign is far from the Vanilla Rome: Total War. It is so much more in-depth, thanks to the Europa Barbarorum team. The only limitation is the AI, but you'll find that the campaigns are no cakewalk. So much work was put into the project that one could spend months not just playing, but learning from what the team had to offer. Whatever happens, I'm sure you'll find Europa Barbarorum to be a truly entertaining and informative experience.

Enjoy!