Barbarian Raiding Scripts

[lim_lucky]

I'm a fan of EB I although I never completed any campaign. I read up on a lot of EB forum and so far I don't recall seeing Barbarian Raids been mentioned. I'm eagerly waiting for EB II to come out to play it. Meanwhile, I'm currently modding my own rtw like some players out there, and this idea just happened pop out to me. So, if this is not already present in EB I, I would like to ask whether barbarian raids are possible to scripted in EB II? Or rather would the EB II team be considering the issue of "barbarian raids"?

This idea came out to me when I though of how barbarians raided or sacked not only civilized cities like Rome (Senones in 387 BC), but they also raided other foreign barbarians (110 BC - Cimbri, Teutones raided Gaul and Iberia). Yet, when I mean raid, I'm not really sure whether they only raid major town or cities are represented in the game, they may have probably overran smaller towns or settlements which may not be represented in the game. So perhaps a unique kind of trait like "raiding" can be used to represent the barbarians looting others and can be converted to money when they return to their homes - This sort of adds another element of game play to the barbarians. =D All this being said, if EB I had this already - since I don't know, then I would be real glad.

[/Bean\]

Well, EB I does kinda have this feature already. When you take over a city, you can choose to loot it, giving yourself lots of cash from the inhabitants. You can also destroy buildings for cash. You then retreat your army, letting the city fall back into enemy hands.

As for the little villages and towns not represented on the map that your army might raid, these are represented by the destruction (rough, black texture) to the map tiles should your army stay in place for a while.

What I would like to see is some understanding by the AI in terms of the units it spawns when cities rebel, so it can determine whether you raided the city and left it intentionally for the populace to reform themselves, or if you were careless about keeping the populace in order and they rose up. The latter would be where the huge armies of slaves would be suitable, whereas raiding in EBI produces these as well, which is rather annoying.