Some Positive Reinforcement for the EB Team

[jabarto]

Now that EB is more or less done, I thought it would be appropriate to thank the development team for all the hard work they’ve put into the mod. For over a year and a half now I’ve enjoyed EB, and I don’t think I’ll stop until EBII is released. But rather than simply saying thanks, I want to provide examples of just what it is about this mod that makes it so great. I’ll start with the little things, things which, on their own, might seem minor, but when taken as a whole, contribute a great deal to the overall atmosphere and fun of the game.

The first thing would be graphics. Let me preface this by saying that graphics do not easily impress me. EB’s graphics impress me. This is evident from the terrain enhancements they’ve put in; I tried playing a game of vanilla RTW recently and was surprised at how washed out and fuzzy the ground looked, never mind the lack of cloud reflections on the water. Even something as simple as that makes the game so much more realistic.

But I believe the true eye candy of EB lies in the unit models. From the blue paint on the Casse gaeroas, to the beautifully detailed scorpion on the shield of the hoplitai, epilektoi (I’ve said in the past that whoever skinned the latter should get a medal), the units are simply a marvel to behold. In every battle I fight, I can’t help but pause the game at least once or twice and zoom in on the action and admire the unit artistry.

One of the biggest selling points for me in any game is the music, and EB delivers this in full. Listening to Prehistoric Ireland’s music while playing as the Celtic factions is almost surreal. Nick Wylie and Morgan Casey’s work with the eastern, Greek, and Roman themes is fantastic. But my favorite soundtracks are those by TPC for the eastern and nomadic factions; the campaign music has an eerie, yet relaxing quality to it, whereas the battle music is jarring and captivating. I never get tired of listening to any of it.

Then there’s the historical knowledge contained within the mod, particularly with the unit and building descriptions. Even just a paragraph or two would be sufficient, but some of these things have an entire page’s worth of info attached to them. I’ve developed a serious obsession with the Classical era thanks largely in part to EB; I’ve already bought 9 books on Carthage and Greece alone, and I’m going to get even more in the future.

What truly sets EB above the rest, however, is the game balance, which, given the sheer size of the mod, is nothing short of miraculous. This is rather difficult to quantify, as there are simply so many factors involved in it. But just playing a battle or two will illustrate the amount of testing that must have gone into EB’s creation. No unit is invincible, yet even the weakest can have it’s moments. There’s always enough time to strategize, something which was difficult in vanilla due to cavalry having roughly the same stopping power as a runaway semi, among other things.

I suppose that about wraps it up. Once again, I would like to thank all EB team members, past and present, for providing such a harmonious blend of education and entertainment, and I would invite others to do the same.

[Olaf Blackeyes]

I'd have to agree with you on ALL of these points and a few more.
1. I think that if there is a pantheon of GREAT historical mods for the TW series games it would have to be these.
RTW-EB (Europa Barbarorum)
BI-IB (Invasio Barbarorum)
M2TW-SS (Stainless Steel) or BC (Broken Crescent)
2. EB has taught me things about history that i never knew, even after years of being a reader of these kinds of books. For instance i learned almost everything i know about the Arche Seleukia from EB. I knew before EB that it was a Successor state based in Syria that was conquered by the Romans. After i discovered EB i learned about ppl like Antiocus the Great and Antiocus Soter. I learned that there were a ppl called the Galatians that were Celts that invaded Turkey. I learned about Baktria's history in depth. I learned of the Konion Hellenon.
3. Id have to disagree with you about the best musical score. My fav is the German/Celt one. However i do agree that whomever did this must be a music fanatic, and cared a WHOLE LOT about what he was doing.
4. All of the AI problems/ the imbalance problems are the fault of the vanilla programming. The EB team has done their absolute BEST to cover these issues and for that i thank you. The only real complaint i have about the game are the stability issues that cause so many CTDs. For me 1.2 erased many of those, but they still happen from time to time.

Honestly if it wasn't for the copyright issues i would ABSOLUTELY tell the EB team to sell this product.