EB- Expectation compared with results.

[Divinus Arma]

Does the EB product so far measure up to what the team has been promoting all these months?

Far beyond imaginable expectations.

Surpassed expectations.

Exactly as I expected.

Below expectations.

Totally overhyped.

[Greek_fire19]

Hmmm, for me that question hasn't really been answered yet. I'v been looking forward to Eb with massive anticipation for a very long time, but all the talk recently by Eb members about how it would be full of bugs and hard to play and not finished and so on and so forth meant that when I downloaded the Eb I was really expecting a half finished product that crashed all the time and had a lot of stuff missing. I'v actually been pleasantly surprised by the open beta because I'v found myself having more fun and being more immersed in Rome than ever before despite it's obvious lack of polish.

Because of that I voted that it has exceeded my expectations.

However it has exceeded my expectations in ways I wouldn't have guessed. When I was reading the previews, the ones I really enjoyed were the faction previews, because I realy loved all the new units etc. However, EB puts more emphasis on the campaign map meaning you notice changed there far more than I expected, maybe even more than you notice changed to the battlemap, and because I'v only really been playing campaigns i'v been using early troops which aren't as shiny and spectacular as the later units I'v been seeing in previews.

[the tokai]

It definately surpassed my expectations, especially the traits are much, much deeper than I thought they would be and seeing the new overhand stabbing of my roman equites in action is just great. Also the bugs are not nearly as bad as I had expected after all those warnings and the unit descriptions seem far more finished then I thought they would be. And the atmosphere in the campaign is simply so much better than in vanilla and even RTR. So I'd just like to say thank you to the whole EB team for working so hard on this awesome mod. Definitely worth the wait.

[Modestus]

I would have to vote slightly below expectations at the moment but I have just begun so it is probably not a fare assessment, especially of a beta. I thought the game would be more polished, on the campaign map I think some of the graphics are over done the siege graphics I personally think are shit, but some of the so called barbarians on the tactical game are beautiful.

[ScionTheWorm]

Surpassed expectations since I didn't believe you could alter the gameplay the way you did within the frames rtw offers. I believe it will last much longer than Rtw, maybe even as long as my favourite game Master of Orion 2. Mtw was close, but all former Rtw mods has just been short term.

[Teleklos Archelaou]

I thought the game would be more polished, on the campaign map I think some of the graphics are over done the siege graphics I personally think are shit,

tact
Pronunciation: 'takt
Function: noun
Etymology: French, sense of touch, from Latin tactus, from tangere to touch -- more at TANGENT
1 : sensitive mental or aesthetic perception <converted the novel into a play with remarkable skill and tact>
2 : a keen sense of what to do or say in order to maintain good relations with others or avoid offense

[Modestus]

I personally think the siege graphics are attractively Merde.

[Joker85]

Far surpassed expectations. The ammount of depth and thought that went into this game is amazing. When you realize this isn't even the finished version, it's oustanding what you all have accomplished.

[Samurai Waki]

after 15 hours of dl' on a 56k modem, I have to say, it was well worth the wait. I think I love you guys, in as a heterosexual way as heterosexually possible for me....

[Divinus Arma]

after 15 hours of dl' on a 56k modem

[Samurai Waki]

Haha. I'm in the transitioning stage from having a 56k modem to a 1.5mb T3 connection. The only problem is that I have been to busy keeping my girlfriend happy to drive 20 miles into LA to buy an ethernet port. Perhaps tomorrow I should suggest we take a little drive...

[Inepticus]

As good as Open beta is, stay in bed with the Mrs mate.

Seriously......I have found, so far very little unpleasant about the mod, other than the lack of info on some buildings etc, but clearly this being beta 'n' all, that's what one expects. I dread to think what the final product is going to be like. The most important aspect of these type of games for me personally, is the authentic visuals during battle, and so far EB is doing pretty damn good on that front.

As far as CTDs go, I have had only one during 4 campaigns up until about 240bc each, so nowhere near as bad as I had feared from all the CTD scaremongering. I think generally, CTDs are far more to do with the users setup than the mod.

[khelvan]

As far as CTDs go, I have had only one during 4 campaigns up until about 240bc each, so nowhere near as bad as I had feared from all the CTD scaremongering. I think generally, CTDs are far more to do with the users setup than the mod.

Quite frankly, we've done very well regarding smashing CTDs and making the mod more stable. However, with the way that people tend to hype things, I wanted to make sure that everyone knew that this was a beta, and it was not going to be stable.

It is better to set expectations low and have people be pleasantly surprised, than to set them high and run the (easy) risk of having it not meet expectations. Still, we're getting close. I just discovered "filemon," thanks to Simetrical, courtesy of the RTR team, and I do believe I'm in love.

http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/Filemon.html

[Dooz]

As good as Open beta is, stay in bed with the Mrs mate.

Seriously......I have found, so far very little unpleasant about the mod, other than the lack of info on some buildings etc, but clearly this being beta 'n' all, that's what one expects. I dread to think what the final product is going to be like. The most important aspect of these type of games for me personally, is the authentic visuals during battle, and so far EB is doing pretty damn good on that front.

As far as CTDs go, I have had only one during 4 campaigns up until about 240bc each, so nowhere near as bad as I had feared from all the CTD scaremongering. I think generally, CTDs are far more to do with the users setup than the mod.

I think the CTD's have more to do with random occurences more than user setup, or at least that's a big part of it. An AI faction might do something in someone's campaign at a certain year in a certain circumstance that it might not in another's, regardless of the user's setup to cause a CTD.

Damnit, I tried to hold myself back from dl-ing and playing the beta because once I get into a game, I really get into it and hate breaking off a campaign. Started as the Casse, had the best few hours of my gaming life playing, staying at peace and building up a nice little surplus. Finally took the other southern village to my west and CTD. Broke my heart... but made me fiend for the completed version more than ever.

[GeWee]

Because of the performance issues on the battlemap and the issue with the long loading times I haven't been playing much (at all), so it wouldn't be fair to give a vote until these issues are resolved.

[Chester]

I think EB is a fantastic mod. Playing one faction alone will not give you the full picture either. Games in the East are different than Western ones.

I don't mind the lack of descriptions, the CTD's, or the peasent placeholders.

My problem with EB is one that is inherrent with RTW MODS. RTR and EB both suffer from extreme waiting periods while the AI makes it's moves. This is especially apparent in the mid to late game where the time it takes is over 3 mintutes.

It's not my computer, Vanilla never did this. I think it has to do with the limitations CA has put on Modders. The scripts and whatnot can never be as efficient as they should be.

I hope I'm wrong though. That wait is a real killer.

[Divinus Arma]

wait=killer. Yep. It is a top priority in the dungeons below. Our midgets are hard at work inside the game tearing up the doo-dads and knicker-knackers.

So far we have found a heap of crumbs and bottlecaps, $4.53 in U.S. change (mostly pennies), two old combs, a remote control from a Betamax we had in 1986, and a mummified hamster with a really really old piece of cheese pizza next to it.

[Simetrical]

wait=killer. Yep. It is a top priority in the dungeons below. Our midgets are hard at work inside the game tearing up the doo-dads and knicker-knackers.

So far we have found a heap of crumbs and bottlecaps, $4.53 in U.S. change (mostly pennies), two old combs, a remote control from a Betamax we had in 1986, and a mummified hamster with a really really old piece of cheese pizza next to it.

I just found a bunch of floorboards, dozens of them. Should I bring them up for examination? I'll need a crowbar.

[jerby]

voted "as expected"

but i played .69...and i sure as hell was tripping then...
i couldn't understand where the extra three faction icons came from...

[Conqueror]

The OB is an uncut diamond, just as I expected

[Ianofsmeg16]

Hard choice as I had expected EB to be the best mod out there....but with the addition of the three new factions, and all the other scripting etc that has gone on without my knowledg, it easily exceeded my expectations...absolutly fantastic work fellas, and Kudos to Khelvan for keeping EB alive for all this time

[Ano2]

I can't wait until we all get further into it, Surely the Seleucid-Parthia-Backtria split is coming soon?

[TB666]

I voted that it surpassed my expectations.
I had expected a unbalanced buggy crap but was surprised by how nicely balanced everything is(could improve of course but for a beta it's good) and I haven't had a ctd yet.

[Chester]

You're lucky, I've CTD'd on all my campaigns. You must have the script turned off.

[TB666]

You're lucky, I've CTD'd on all my campaigns. You must have the script turned off.

Nope, I turned on the script everytime I load the game.

[QwertyMIDX]

The script doesn't cause many CTD's AFAIK.

[The_Mark]

As he said. Script-caused CTDs are rare, mostly because they are quite easy to recognise (as long as it is due to erroneous scripting, and not because two non-interconnected commands were in the wrong order), and thus easy to kill. And, most scripting errors disable loading the script, and in some cases, the game.

[Dooz]

One good thing I've found concerning CTD's is that sometimes, they aren't campaign ending. When I get a CTD with the fow off, I'll load the last savegame, make a slight change here or there with what I did (don't know if it actually matters) and turn fow off. During the AI turns, I leave their movement speed normal, not sped up and I can go on. In my Casse campaign I mentioned, I tried this and have played many a fruitful years past my expectations, still playing now actually. I've almost conquered all of Britain, seiging the last stronghold to the North now. Unfortunately, rebels have started popping up now and I'm getting distracted. Does lowering taxes help lowering rebels appearing? Even though all the towns are happy with vey high taxes, I assume it might still have an affect?

[Ajantis]

Im not going to download until the finished product, its killing me. hurry.

:)

[Divinus Arma]

One good thing I've found concerning CTD's is that sometimes, they aren't campaign ending. When I get a CTD with the fow off, I'll load the last savegame, make a slight change here or there with what I did (don't know if it actually matters) and turn fow off. During the AI turns, I leave their movement speed normal, not sped up and I can go on. In my Casse campaign I mentioned, I tried this and have played many a fruitful years past my expectations, still playing now actually. I've almost conquered all of Britain, seiging the last stronghold to the North now. Unfortunately, rebels have started popping up now and I'm getting distracted. Does lowering taxes help lowering rebels appearing? Even though all the towns are happy with vey high taxes, I assume it might still have an affect?

The rebels, brigands actually, are out of our control IIRC. I believe you can reduce their frequency if you play on easier campaign modes......