BI or Alex engine?

[Duguntz]

Greetings! I'm sure the question have alreadu been asked, but between the hundreds of threads, I didn't know where to loko, so here I ask :) Wich is the better engine to play EB? I heard that the Alexander engine had improved AI but that BI had shield walls and night battle (with are neats!!!) so, from those who experianced those engine, wich one should I choose for a great experiance?

Thanks in advence!

[Skullheadhq]

BI, I switched to it from ALX with my friends in a Makedonia hotseat, and the next turn Carthage does a naval invasion in Northern Italy (Only piece of Italy the red barbaros had left).

[Titus Marcellus Scato]

ALEX has better AI as it was the last RTW engine to be patched.

However, the ALEX engine causes the AI to retrain its units whenever they end up in a city that can retrain them. Some people really like this. But personally, I hate it. Why? Because a defeated enemy army can retreat back into a city, retrain when the turn ends, and next turn be pretty much back up to full strength - thus virtually negating your victory on the battlefield. Especially if you haven't managed to retrain your own depleted army!

ALEX engine was designed for the Alexander campaign against Persia, which is basically meant to be one gigantic blitz from start to finish. Now if you like blitzing your EB campaigns, and want non-stop fighting and rapid expansion, then you'll love the ALEX engine. If you don't like blitzing the map, and like to take things slowly, and like for your battlefield victories to have a lasting weakening effect on the enemy, then you won't like the ALEX engine.

[Duguntz]

Hmmm, thanks for the info. I'm not a blitzer and is it is so, I'll try the BI engine! thanks a lot!

[TheStranger]

I'm also not a blitzer and use the ALX.exe. In my opinion there is no big difference; only that the ALX.exe produces least ctd. I also saw (small) naval invasions, but ok I'm playing with Carthage.

btw. you HAVE night battles with ALX.exe.

[Duguntz]

oh gosh, it's complicated :) Hmmm about alex, in the original, we had a turn limit, wich made the AI blitz quiet a lot... is that so in the EB using Alex engine? or can we go to our own rythm, for let's say, roleplay reason... I mean, I'd not want to have to defend myself against full stack of Getai, Roman and Celtics at the same time 10 years after the beginning!

[mountaingoat]

i find that the AI rages no matter what .exe you play

i find alex to run much smoother

[Gromski]

Try it yourself, and decide it yourself. Every engine has advantage on its own.

[TheStranger]

I'm playing now a campaign with Carthage and I'm in the year 230 and nobody has declared war on me (ok the romans now did cause they besieged Messana). And I also attacked several rebel cities. The campaign before that was with the AS and the only real enemies whre the Ptolies, Saka and Pahlava. I didn't finish it but I have to say that the diplomacy is more stable than on the RTW.exe. I was allied with Hayasdan, Pontos and Baktria. So the alliances hold much longer I suppose. Btw. I'm playing on hard/medium.

[Skullheadhq]

second that
If you declare war on Pahlava first, your other satrapies stay loyal, and you can take them out one by one

[Duguntz]

on Alex?

And another question that will make me look really like a duche concerning computer and proove once and for all that I did live all my life on a farm : I play on Rome exe... how do i do to play on the other platforms? Do i just incert the cd and start EB? it sound stupid, but I really didn't tried anything of that!

[Skullheadhq]

Look at the minimod section, there should be the ALEXANDER pack (By Maksimus) and the BI installer.

[Duguntz]

I just come back from the mini mod section, and i was really interested ibn the alex exe, but i saw there's a new installer for the BI wich also grant troops restauration, night battles, improoves AI and also has all the BI related stuff (shield walls and so). in any cases, is that really better? or is the Alex still better due to AI and stability?

i don't know if it can help, but my comp configuration is good enough to run on max details... so no matter what exe run slower or faster, it won't be a prob (yeah, although I'm not a casual gamer (two hours a day on a comp isn't really hardcore gaming!) I made myself a neat christmas gift this year!) so here's the new comp!)

[Ludens]

I haven't played Alex, so I cannot vouch for it's A.I., but I am certain that BI has no A.I. improvements other than naval invasions. And while the BI A.I. is capable of full-scale naval invasions, I've seen plenty of pointless attacks with small stacks too. For example, in my KH campaigns the SPQR cannot resist landing 6-unit stacks to attack Corinth. Not only does this make no sense as they haven't taken Taras yet, but they have no hope of sending reinforcements should they succeed in capturing it (and they never do because I can use the Athenian and Spartan garrisons to attack them). I am in fact surprised they can even see it.

BTW, this question has been asked and answered several times in both the main EB forum and the submod forum. Please do a search before asking a question next time.

[Skullheadhq]

This should probably be set in the FAQ, with the pros and cons of each engine and instructions, so that people stop asking and if such a thread comes again we can just use this smiley
Saves a lot of time actually.