Europa Barbarorum 2.08e is released!

[QuintusSertorius]

Changelist for 2.06a:

• Eastern and Steppe Client info card replaced with one that won't cause CTDs. Steppe Client Rulers added to Parthia. Fix to silver surfer Client Rulers. Adjustment to what is available in Arabia - east now gets Iranian Clients. Fix to stop Client Rulers becoming Hegemons. Fix to recruitment in villages.
• Replaced eastern_axeman model with one that actually has javelins - thank Sylon for that.
• Sauromatian and Sakan early government buildings brought into line with the Pahlavan ones which are the model. This means regional recruitment options both pre- and post-reform.
• Removed the requirement for your own army to be 1000 or more men from the Pergamon reform script.
• Fix to the "Olympic cycle" script that was failing to fire in the case of Carthginian (and possibly Hellenistic) colonisation.
• Removed colony-point cost of Carthaginian precursor colony. Gadir and Atiqa upgraded to carthage_polis governments.
• Update to projectiles that was preventing archers and slingers firing properly with their new BAI.
• Reduced Roman colonial recruitment pools.
• Unreachable Rebel in Saka-land moved. Saka can now build Native Colonies after their reform.
• Another rejig of the money script - moving debt relief and withdrawal of assistance above the annual bounty and adjusting for the weaker factions.
• Major overhaul of the Hellenistic Colony - now regionalised and varied. No more Kretikoi in Afghanistan.
• Some tweaks to Numidian government pools (numidia3 and numidia4) to give them some better options if they take Carthaginian territory. Also in Libya (using Carthaginian-Libyan units).
• Changed relative recruit_priority_offset of Libyan Infantry and Numidian Cavalry to encourage AI-Carthage not to spam the former.
• Changed rename of Mastia when taken by Carthage to Qart-Hadast just in case same name as the capital causes issues.
• Added a free upkeep slot to Carthaginian Settler Colonies.
• All Iberian cavalry (not just the skirmisher) put on ponies - the Iberian horse was quite small.
• Relaxed the prerequisites on some infrastructure buildings so that more can be done with an Allied Government.
• Updates to archer formations and BAI to make them usable again. Distinction between levies and more professional types - the latter can fire co-ordinated/synchronised volleys.

[Artemisia]

Two issues I've noticed:

Firstly, CAI tends to ignore undefended settlements (major and minor). Its behaviour is much more logical if they are garrisoned.


Secondly, there's this ford that can't be used since one of its banks is mountains:


I'm not sure if it's meant to be usable or not, but I think either there shouldn't be a ford or both banks should be passable.

[HFox]

Really like the way the game play has developed with these set of releases, couple of thoughts:
The upkeep of fleets, does their maintenance/support ever alter when in port? My thought being it should be lower.
Also could they be damaged from extended periods away, such as settlement building being sabotaged, and so need a refit from a home port?
Also ( I know you mentioned this before but I can't find it) what happened to storms at sea?
Finally - would you ever look at armies surrendering/capitulating after a siege rather than the futile sally forth? I have only seen this once when besieging a village, with a small rebel army occupying it and outnumbered by 170%, but never in a settlement siege?

[Sylon]

Two issues I've noticed:

Firstly, CAI tends to ignore undefended settlements (major and minor). Its behaviour is much more logical if they are garrisoned.


Secondly, there's this ford that can't be used since one of its banks is mountains:

I'm not sure if it's meant to be usable or not, but I think either there shouldn't be a ford or both banks should be passable.

The bug about AI ignoring undefended settlements is hardcoded, I think. I've seen it mentioned in regards to a couple of mods, but all anyone ever discussed was how to work around it, as opposed to fix it. So I'm guessing it's hardcoded.

There are a couple of terrain bugs around. Our last mapper disappeared a couple of months back, so we don't have anyone capable of editing the map terrain itself. Still, thanks for the feedback.

Really like the way the game play has developed with these set of releases, couple of thoughts:
The upkeep of fleets, does their maintenance/support ever alter when in port? My thought being it should be lower.
Also could they be damaged from extended periods away, such as settlement building being sabotaged, and so need a refit from a home port?
Also ( I know you mentioned this before but I can't find it) what happened to storms at sea?
Finally - would you ever look at armies surrendering/capitulating after a siege rather than the futile sally forth? I have only seen this once when besieging a village, with a small rebel army occupying it and outnumbered by 170%, but never in a settlement siege?

1) No, it doesn't. There is no way to lower or remove upkeep of fleets when in a port.

2) I don't think so, unless you use disasters to design some sort of system. I highly doubt such a system would be designed, however. For starters, you would need some way to differentiate between a fleet in a port and a fleet outside a port in the script. There is no way to do so, to my knowledge.

3) I'm not sure. They're used to remove pirates in lakes, but that's about all I know of.

4) I remember reading something somewhere about a 'siege capitulation' script. I can't remember what came of the discussion, however. So the best answer I can give is 'maybe'.

Finally, please keep in mind that we're modding a game, and thus our ability to implement new gameplay features is limited. Nevertheless, we appreciate your feedback.

[z3n]

Two issues I've noticed:

Firstly, CAI tends to ignore undefended settlements (major and minor). Its behaviour is much more logical if they are garrisoned.


Secondly, there's this ford that can't be used since one of its banks is mountains:

I'm not sure if it's meant to be usable or not, but I think either there shouldn't be a ford or both banks should be passable.

Yeah Sylon is right, I believe the only way around this is changing the strength 'strong' & 'weak' equations which in turn change the algorithm that controls army assignment. To explain the armies (or any unit) which gets moved into a fleet are viewed as insanely strong which is probably in effort to make the AI sink the ships.

However, when there are absolutely no armies in a town, I suspect that the town is viewed the same way because there is no assigned strength to it but yet it's an enemy objective the default value for such an up in the air target may also be insanely high. As such, the only way I've ever seen the AI regularly take such a town is a) if it's a part of their victory conditions and b) if the str limit is at 999 (effectively disabled or insanely high enough that the AI tries to take the town). The major downside with that, is that it induces chaotic behaviour in other areas, for example field battles, sieges and naval battles with all often be lopsided in your favour without the limiting factor of the highest strength army the AI can engage.

There are many other factors as well that come into play where the LTGD is involved, nevertheless changing the str limit is definitely something I don't want to do after tests and recent reports about how the AI is behaving with a new more 'astute' value which aims to have the ratio be 1:1 when engaging.

edit:
I forgot to mention in vanilla it was a value of 99, probably contributing towards the random once in awhile 'suicidal' attacks. However, it may have also played a role in AI behaviour towards empty towns fixing that bug. I however, find that in EBII towns almost always have a garrison as without one your public order will be nearing revolt or at a revolt level. Therefore changing the value isn't a necessity, unless of course you find differently... I haven't read many, if any, reports about that part of the game. (how the player garrisons their city)

[Artemisia]

Something is broken in the AI in 2.06a. The AI factions can fight each other and the player but they don't expand into rebel territory, they're almost completely unable to take rebel provinces. They may be less aggressive in general as well, but it's certain they're terrified of rebel lands.





Two different games (player Epirus, player Baktria), both on the recommended H/M settings with scripts activated etc. As far as I can tell, over the two there was only one rebel province conquered by the AI, and that was by the Ptolemies after over 10 years (it then rebelled to Saba and was recaptured by the Ptolies).

[z3n]

I've gone through and revised it. A variant of 2.03/2.05 will be in the next releases although I still plan to revisit this one in the future for those who like longer campaigns with roleplay involved.

[Gaius Sempronius Gracchus]

Something is broken in the AI in 2.06a. The AI factions can fight each other and the player but they don't expand into rebel territory, they're almost completely unable to take rebel provinces. They may be less aggressive in general as well, but it's certain they're terrified of rebel lands.





Two different games (player Epirus, player Baktria), both on the recommended H/M settings with scripts activated etc. As far as I can tell, over the two there was only one rebel province conquered by the AI, and that was by the Ptolemies after over 10 years (it then rebelled to Saba and was recaptured by the Ptolies).

Well...that seems pretty early game, and I quite like the idea that the main factions aren't just steam-rollering the eleutheroi.