This is hardly news, but yet again I've rekindled my passion for hating the Egyptian faction in RTW. A couple of recent things have pushed me over the brink.

After BI came out I wanted to see if any of the AI improvements/changes had carried over to RTW. So I started a Brutii campaign. Then I thought that it might be a good idea to make a special expedition to destroy Egypt early in the game, so I wouldn't have to deal with them later. I was looking forward to actually fighting the Parthians or Seleucids in Asia Minor, instead of always always always seeing Egypt take over that corner of the world. So I sent 2 family members and a stack of soldiers to the Nile. They managed to sack Alexandria, but got surrounded by some Egyptian armies. Of course, one of those armies attacked my weaker family member -- the guy who just had a couple mercenary units in his stack. It was a stackful of Egyptian peasants, so I figured I'd try my luck (H/H). When I got to the battle, I found there was no retreat, and my merc units were terrified by the large number of enemy. My general died under a swarm of half-naked dudes with pitchforks and I was mad, but I figured no big deal, I've still got my OTHER army to work with.

You probably know what's coming. I did NOT have that other army. Because we were surrounded and standing right next to each other, there was no way for this "real" army to retreat when the crappy merc army lost the fight. So without actually *fighting*, I lost that entire army.

Needless to say, that was the end of that campaign. But I figured that horrible quirk has nothing to do with the Egyptians in particular; I'll just try again.

So I tried again, this time with the Scipii. Spent some time conquering Sicily so I could get a decent economy and then built up an army to send to the Nile. However, before I even arrived at my destination I received word that the Seleucids AND the Parthians had already been destroyed. This is in the first 30 or 40 turns of the game! Angrily I rampaged through Alexandria, Memphis, and Thebes; exterminating the population and pulling down all the buildings. Then I moved up to Sidon, giving that place a similar treatment, and then to Antioch.

My army is currently holed up in Antioch, and I've come to the realization that my path of destruction has actually probably hurt the Egyptians very little. Because I can't stick around for very long and fight endless battles with my single army, I have to leave cities pretty quickly. That means the city reverts to th Egyptians, and they get a stack of the Golden Super Peasants From Hell. So despite a short-term squeeze, they probably don't notice a difference in their economy at all.

It just seems ridiculous. I'd like to play this game and know that I'm going to face some interesting enemies in the East, not just desert axemen and nile spearmen. Parthia should be the big force over there, not Egypt. So my thought the other day was, why not get rid of Egypt altogether through modding?

Any thoughts on this? Is there a place where I can give all the Egyptian provinces to rebels so they die out at the beginning of the game? Has anyone done anything like this? I can honestly say that I will never miss them. I don't ever care to fight a battle against Egyptian chariots. I don't ever want to see another campaign where the same 2 factions are wiped out before they even get a chance. And I don't ever want to play as the Egyptians, ever ever ever. Just point me to the files and folders I need to make this happen, and I'll attack them in the only place that'll make a difference.


CountMRVHS