EB2 Dev Blog discussion

[Gaius Sempronius Gracchus]

I'm liking the previews and sneak-peaks so far. If I would request anything other than what has already been requested it would be some sort of sneak-peak at some of the gameplay mechanisms; a little more about how government and associated buildings will work, for example, of PSFs etc.

[Tyrfingr]

Love the campaign map, but...

1) I notice that Jerusalem has disappeared? What gives with that?

2) Is the central, mountain part of Sardinia under "Eremos"-control?

[B-Wing]

Personally, I think they've gone overboard with permanent stone forts. Looks too clustered, and I fear that field battles (i.e., fun battles) are going to be extremely rare in certain regions. Welcome to siegeworld.

2) Is the central, mountain part of Sardinia under "Eremos"-control?

Yeah, they stated a while back that certain parts of the map that historically no one really bothered to conquer would be regulated to Eremos. Central Sardinia, western Ireland, and parts of Russia were amongst those areas. Not sure what purpose it serves in terms of gameplay, but I guess it's intended to be more accurate.

[JMRC]

Personally, I think they've gone overboard with permanent stone forts. Looks too clustered, and I fear that field battles (i.e., fun battles) are going to be extremely rare in certain regions. Welcome to siegeworld.

Not at all. All those PSFs will have non-siege battles. Imagine them as settlements that the armies will move against, but then clash in a open field.

The big advantage of this is that now you can have "real" battles. Instead of having small-size stacks roaming the campaign map, we can make the AI consolidate in these positions, so when the players attack them, he will face enormous armies in a open battlefield.

[Gaius Sempronius Gracchus]

Not at all. All those PSFs will have non-siege battles. Imagine them as settlements that the armies will move against, but then clash in a open field.

The big advantage of this is that now you can have "real" battles. Instead of having small-size stacks roaming the campaign map, we can make the AI consolidate in these positions, so when the players attack them, he will face enormous armies in a open battlefield.

That sounds like a really well worked out solution. And the PSFs also offer economic benefits, I take it?

[JMRC]

And the PSFs also offer economic benefits, I take it?

Indirectly, perhaps. The engine doesn't recognize them as separated from the region's settlement economy, so if by chance we had a region with the settlement in faction X and a PSF in faction Y, any economical benefits would be directed to faction X and not Y. So, we'll need to consider another solution.

[Ca Putt]

so no invisible immovable merchants in PSFs?

[B-Wing]

Not at all. All those PSFs will have non-siege battles. Imagine them as settlements that the armies will move against, but then clash in a open field.

Fascinating! I'm very much relieved to know this, thank you.

[Tyrfingr]

Not at all. All those PSFs will have non-siege battles. Imagine them as settlements that the armies will move against, but then clash in a open field.

The big advantage of this is that now you can have "real" battles. Instead of having small-size stacks roaming the campaign map, we can make the AI consolidate in these positions, so when the players attack them, he will face enormous armies in a open battlefield.

Interesting, but if the AI will consolidate to the PSFs, won't that make the AI very defensive or will they just gather their armies at the PSF and then roll on?

[Brennus]

As Brave Brave Sir Robin kindly pointed out, EBII is a labour of love. All of us are volunteers. Some of us are fortunate enough to be employed in professions which are directly related to their work on EBII, the rest of us make do with the jobs we have (I write this whilst wearing my supermarket uniform, my shift finished 30 min ago). Also, as we are a volunteer group we cannot hold team members accountable when they leave or go AWOL. This has been a major problem this year, indeed when the Arevaci preview was prepared it was a distress preview if you can call it that; we had lost so many older members that it didn't seem likely that EBII would be able to continue. However since then we have managed to attract some extremely dedicated members (I cannot thank @V.T. Marvin and @Saldunz enough for their tireless programming efforts, and the same goes for long time programmer @Tellos Athenaios) also many of our historians took on more work than they were initially asked to do (for example I began as an advisor on Celtic religion, now I am responsible for the Boii, Pritanoi, Aedui, Arverni, Arevaci and if I can get some good literature the Lusotannan will hopefully be added to this list as well).

As Maeran pointed out our plans also change. This time last year we never expected we would be able to have barbarian buildings, we may also be able to have other cultures buildings if we manage to work out some personnel and collaboration problems. Likewise we are hoping to secure new music for EBII. Some aspects of our plan, such as coding for traits and ethnicities or creating new units, will always remain the same. But the team is always on the lookout for new things which we can add for the fans.

However, QuintusSertorius does have some valid points regarding our fan relations. The old approach of releasing a large preview every 6 months, although it generated a lot of excitement, was not the best approach. Hence we have the Twitter account (which we attempt to update at least once a fortnight, if not more frequently, and the Developer Blog). Would you guys be interested in a "An interview with...." sort of series or perhaps a bi-monthly mini-preview of a new feature of EBII? For example the new religion system?

I will also have a word with the team and see if we can't release a statement saying how far along we are with the mod so you can get an idea of how things are going.

I should also add, even if you guys are not members of the team you can still help us to help you; if you know programmers, coders, artists (both 2D and 3D) or specialist historians (Lusotannan, Numidians and Arab factions are currently short on historians) please tell them about our mod and see if they would be interested in helping us.

Finally I would like to say, on behalf of everyone in the team, past and present (and very hopefully future too) Thank you for sticking with us for so long! We couldn't ask for a more loyal fanbase.

[Yavana]

Thank you Brennus for your post I must say I'm touched after reading it, that there are people like you and other members of EB team who have so much love and passion for something and are willing to share it with others. Thank you EB team! I wish you that you all will always have this passion in your lives with you! I cannot speak for whole community but I can wait for this mod another 5 years (Im lurker for more than 5 years now and check the page everyday).

[QuintusSertorius]

It's funny, immediately after I posted that, I had another look at the Dev Blog thread itself (ie the one this thread is for discussion of) and the first post had a very good summary of where things were up to 18 months or so ago. It's notable that nothing has been posted there for months, possibly because of the effort required to put a preview together that's consistent with the ones already in there. Now I'm not asking for a weekly update on that whole list in the first post, but maybe a monthly summary of the change highlights. Not more than a paragraph or two, or a few bulleted lists saying "here's the major things we accomplished this month".

I appreciate there's the Twitter feed, but not only is it possible people aren't following it (I don't have a Twitter account, personally), but it isn't really collected/compiled/constructed into something meaningful. If anything the disconnect is that you've got another source of information that, barring the occasional post in the Twitter thread, isn't making its way back here. Again, I'm personally less interested in previews (I got the one I was most keen on - Pergamon - right at the start), especially if the creation of them takes people out of working on the mod, but summaries of what's been going on help build confidence that the momentum is being maintained. That's not to say mini-previews won't interest other people, especially if they're frequent enough to start generating that buzz we used to have around here.

Just to clarify, I'm not suggesting the team rush this or anything like that. I've waited this long and can continue waiting (I'm a father now, which I wasn't back in 2007/8 when I was first playing EB1, I barely notice the days going by any more!) because I know the finished product will have been worth it. I'm relieved that the team have managed to get it back on track and are so dedicated to that vision. Hell, some of the delays have been through adding even more richness to the experience, who can complain about that?

[JMRC]

1) I notice that Jerusalem has disappeared? What gives with that?

Because during most of EB's time period, the Ptolemaioi ruled this area, and their administrative center was the old city of Acre (which they called Ptolemais-Akko). We will have Jerusalem (Hyerosolima) and other important cities in this area, as PSFs.

[Ca Putt]

Not at all. All those PSFs will have non-siege battles. Imagine them as settlements that the armies will move against, but then clash in a open field.

The big advantage of this is that now you can have "real" battles. Instead of having small-size stacks roaming the campaign map, we can make the AI consolidate in these positions, so when the players attack them, he will face enormous armies in a open battlefield.

GENIUS!! - tho sicily still really looks VERY crowded indeed.

I also like the idea of more "eremos" around the world, for gameplay this will probably mean, more reb... eleutheroi and not being able to build Guardtowers there. Will there be more regions like Sardina with a "mini-Eremos" that are not shown on the Map(you uploaded)?