Has anyone ever played Alx AND Bi?

**ziegenpeter** · 01-27-2010, 17:24

Good day, fellow EB-Fans!
I know that there has been some argues about those two possibilities and I don't want to start all over again, I was just wondering if there was someone who played BOTH to some larger extend, so he or she could compare Alx vs. Bi. I play Alx and I am very happy, the only thing bothering me is that the Ai sometimes doesn't use some of their armies, but let it sit around instead. Somebody mentioned that this is due to the Alx engine, to simulate the persians military fracmentation.*
Is this different in Bi?

*Or to put it that way: When you play Megas Alexandros, its not the point that the persians draw all their forces together and after killing them you just steamroll through the country. They apperantly keep some backup stacks in some regions...

**Zim** · 01-28-2010, 11:04

I remember a little while back that someone who had played both found ai factions to be more aggressive with bi.exe.

I can't say if alex.exe is worse, but I can confirm that sometimes ai armies stand around doing nothing on both rtw.exe and bi.exe.

**Blxz** · 01-28-2010, 13:31

I have played both. i prefer BI.exe. ALEX.exe AI can retrain troops which is useful. Generally it seems to fight better although it differs from game to game and so this is a very subjective analysis.

What interests me more is how other factions are expanding. I find that in BI.exe the campaign AI is more to my liking. I see regular naval invasions of some interesting places. Carthage attacks me at both Capua and occasionally Arretium/arriminium (the left-most one, i forget which it is) with 3/4 stacks from boats. I also see AI factions fighting and expanding much better in general. Although of course it differs from game to game and ALEX.exe AI has done some good expansion too sometimes. The Casse have never left their island in any of the 3 exe's so it seems nothing is perfect.

In the end its personal taste, all my best saves were on BI.exe so in the end I have just naturally decided on that one.

**Yarema** · 01-28-2010, 20:48

So BI is better than Alex? I played Rome.exe and Alex.exe.

BTW, when I launched vanilla Alex and noticed that they think battle of Salamis 480 BC was fought close to the cyprus Salamis, i almost got a heart attack

**Ibrahim** · 01-28-2010, 23:33

Originally Posted by Blxz

I have played both. i prefer BI.exe. ALEX.exe AI can retrain troops which is useful. Generally it seems to fight better although it differs from game to game and so this is a very subjective analysis.

What interests me more is how other factions are expanding. I find that in BI.exe the campaign AI is more to my liking. I see regular naval invasions of some interesting places. Carthage attacks me at both Capua and occasionally Arretium/arriminium (the left-most one, i forget which it is) with 3/4 stacks from boats. I also see AI factions fighting and expanding much better in general. Although of course it differs from game to game and ALEX.exe AI has done some good expansion too sometimes. The Casse have never left their island in any of the 3 exe's so it seems nothing is perfect.

In the end its personal taste, all my best saves were on BI.exe so in the end I have just naturally decided on that one.

that's basically on the mark with me. I personally prefer Alex myself, if only for the AI retraining.

**lionhard** · 01-29-2010, 00:06

Id go for BI iv been playing alex for months and never had any decent naval invasions or expansion of AI, battles are harder but as some 1 said earlier i prefere AI campaign expansion

**vartan** · 01-29-2010, 00:17

Originally Posted by Ibrahim

that's basically on the mark with me. I personally prefer Alex myself, if only for the AI retraining.

Seriously, this is pretty much the major reason I play with Alex. If I fail to take a heavily fortified rebel settlement, I BETTER be prepared next time, cause it'll be the same army they'll have (FULLY RETRAINED), unless the rebels dont have enough cash (I thought the script made them millionaires).

**antisocialmunky** · 01-29-2010, 02:57

Play BI if you want to see KH invade Taras with all their starting army in a Romanii Campaign. Go with Alex if you can.

**vartan** · 01-29-2010, 03:44

Originally Posted by antisocialmunky

Play BI if you want to see KH invade Taras with all their starting army in a Romanii Campaign. Go with Alex if you can.

OOPS!

I LOL'D!!!

**Cute Wolf** · 01-29-2010, 08:03

I has play them both and must say, they BOTH retrains... ( but alex has higher tendency, while in BI, the AI only retrains occasionally when they seems fit (somewhat unusual, but very noticeable))

BI had better naval AI invasion, and for more... they had horde-able factions ( I modify Saka, Sauro, and Pahlava to doing this, while give Yuezhi HA as their horde units) so nomads are harder to wiped out (especially Pahlava, since Baktrians tend to wipe them out quickly))

And yes... shieldwall and swimming units is fun... try it....

*. BUT if you prefer smarter AI in field battles, try Alex

**Silence Hunter** · 01-29-2010, 10:42

I have played BI.exe only for a short period of time and decided to stay with Alex.exe. The + and - of both engines are discussed in many threads, however what I find annoying (especially when playing phalanx factions) in anything less than 1.9 engine is the phalanx bug. The thing when your phalangites decide to moonwalk back home, get stuck in forests, or when you are hunting down 1 remaining routing enemy soldier who's moonwalked to some hard to spot grassy area or forest...

Anyway it's just personal preference. Try both and see which one you like more.

**vartan** · 01-29-2010, 19:41

Originally Posted by Silence Hunter

I have played BI.exe only for a short period of time and decided to stay with Alex.exe. The + and - of both engines are discussed in many threads, however what I find annoying (especially when playing phalanx factions) in anything less than 1.9 engine is the phalanx bug. The thing when your phalangites decide to moonwalk back home, get stuck in forests, or when you are hunting down 1 remaining routing enemy soldier who's moonwalked to some hard to spot grassy area or forest...

Anyway it's just personal preference. Try both and see which one you like more.

It has to do with the fact that in Alexander, CA HAD to get the phalanx right, because, well, it was Alexander...

**Aemilius Paulus** · 01-30-2010, 23:56

Well, you can get shieldwall in bi.exe, but ALEX, besides the retraining and somewhat better battle AI also uses the navy and naval invasions much more effectively than BI. In bi.exe you may see AI take all their troops for a naval excursion, while alex.exe makes sure AI does naval invasions, but does it more sensibly. Of course, neither works perfectly, so you will see plenty of exceptions to the expansion features.

Overall, I prefer alex.exe, although mostly because you get immortal FMs there.