Suggestions for v0.8

**econ21** · 03-21-2006, 03:11

If v0.8 ports over to 1.5, then that would be enough to justify a patch on its own.

I think the AI would improve a fair amount and I can't wait to adjust the rebel spawn rate right down.

20 more units would be icing on the cake.

However, if forced to recommend suggestions, there are two cosmetic changes I'd like to see. Firstly, switch the Roman general portraits and speeches back to Roman from Greek - I think Qwerty said this was intended for 1.5 anyway. Secondly, replace the peasant "placeholder" unit card graphics. You have nice pictures for each unit on the unit details, so hopefully minaturising them or something related can be done.

**GMT** · 03-21-2006, 08:27

Would it be possible to limit population growth and squalor, maybe you can create a building that has massive population growth penalties/squalor bonus once a city gets above the 24k level?

Also the distance to the capitol penalty still seems pretty excessive, I'm playing a Seleukid campaign right now and it's really a pain, like 80% in some cities!

GMT

**Quintus Curiatius Trigeminus** · 03-21-2006, 09:01

Add the centurio and the signifer to the hastati
Add the centurio to the principes
Change the name of Cnaeus Scipio Asina to Cnaeus Cornelius Scipio.
Is the problem with roman children resolved? The son of Cornelius Scipio will be a Cornelius Scipio or will he be a "something else" Scipio?
Please forgive me my English
pozdrawiam

**PseRamesses** · 03-21-2006, 12:59

1. Regarding formations vanilla had a neat feat that has long been gone and I´ve missed it since. Selecting several diverse units in an specific order then press single line the units forms into a single line in the exact order that they where selected in. As now the AI seem to "group" them together.
Ex. If I want to create a sinle line like this: Triarii, Principie, tirarii the line will probably look like TTP or PTT but with vanilla and I choosed the units like this: TPT they would form up in a line as TPT.

2. A hold formation command should always mean hold formation. As it is now when a unit gets engaged from the side it will start rotating towards the agressor. This is specially annoying when you have a line of spears/ phalanxes and an enemy unit marches up towards unit A but just before engaging unit A it turns and engaging unit B. Unit B now will rotate towards the enemy thus exposing its flank. A line formation put on hold formation command should be static.

3. Same thing with the phalanx formation plus that they break up into an obscure mass of individual soldiers. Breaking a phalanx´ formation is only about mass. A single phalanx unit will hold formation against another unit but faced with several units pushing towards it it should succumb.
Is it just me or does anyone else agree that a cavalry charge head on into a phalanx unit should not be able to break it?! As for now the cavalries easily penetrates a phalanx or spear unit and a head on charge will only cause minor casualities to the cavalry unit - it´s just ridiculous!

**Ludens** · 03-21-2006, 15:37

Originally Posted by Cheexsta

Also, I know that you guys make your own formations files, but would it be possible to look into using a (modded, obviously) version of Darth's latest formations? I haven't actually checked them out yet, but they seem like a vast improvement over previous versions...

To be honest, I am not sure that the EB team has actually done much with the formations. I might be mistaken (it is so much time ago I used them), but I recall Darth Formations 8.5 working far better.

Originally Posted by PseRamesses

1. Regarding formations vanilla had a neat feat that has long been gone and I´ve missed it since. Selecting several diverse units in an specific order then press single line the units forms into a single line in the exact order that they where selected in. As now the AI seem to "group" them together.

Darth Formations used this as well, so I assume there is some reason for this. However, it still is a bloody nuissance, and I seriously consider putting vanilla formation files back.

**john289** · 03-21-2006, 17:00

Well, this is the biggest pet peeve about EB of mine and it's not even really a big one, but, it just pisses me off how Hayasdan expands over the steppe/Russia like crazy, and the Sarmations just get rolled over every single time. I'm not sure what could be done about this, but I do understand that Eb's script adds money to a faction once they're under a certain mark in the treasury. Maybe add more money to the Sarmations so there's a bit more fight in them?

**oudysseos** · 03-21-2006, 17:51

Grain Supplies:

I'd like to see some kind of scripting that makes control of a major grain producing region a prereq or trigger for advanced growth and/or high income.
What I mean is The Athenian Empire of the 5th century BCE was predicated on control of trade with the Black Sea and its grain supplies, and Roman expansion came to rely on controlling Egypt and Sicily as major grain producing regions. Without steady supplies of grain neither Rome nor Athens could have grown to anything like the size they did. Could there be a limit to city expansion based on the availability of food supplies? Technology developement follows on: it takes a big city to build advanced MIC and train advanced troops. Without control of the necessary resources it can't be done.

**Teleklos Archelaou** · 03-21-2006, 18:03

Originally Posted by john289

Well, this is the biggest pet peeve about EB of mine and it's not even really a big one, but, it just pisses me off how Hayasdan expands over the steppe/Russia like crazy, and the Sarmations just get rolled over every single time. I'm not sure what could be done about this, but I do understand that Eb's script adds money to a faction once they're under a certain mark in the treasury. Maybe add more money to the Sarmations so there's a bit more fight in them?

There will be big changes in the way the sarmatians' buildings evolve in a later build. But I think something else needs to be done to help them more in regards to their starting economic situation. When I test them currently I totally disband every last unit I have, then sit and build for about 7 years with taxes on low in every town and sending diplomats to get trade status with all factions I can, and then I finally can get the towns to 2000 people and upgrade and start building ports and markets. The AI doesn't have a chance under those conditions compared to armenians. We won't fix this quickly, but it will get better - you can be sure of that. Plus Pontos will pose more of a threat to armenians in the future too and keep them bottled up a little better when more pontos units come into thegame.

**Gruver** · 08-27-2006, 23:13

A cavalry unit charge should break up the formation but at a high loss in troops.

**nikolai1962** · 03-21-2006, 13:06

I've been playing a lot of vanilla 1.5 as part of testing the EB buildings for the port. I wouldn't be in too much of a hurry to tinker with the formations in the 1.5 version as the patched vanilla battle ai, formations and *especially* army composition is much improved. Or it might all be due to the much better army composition. Hard to say.

Either way some of the stuff people have done to mod the formations files will be based on work-arounds for the weaknesses of the earlier vanilla game which might not work the same way with better ai armies.

(Plus the EB formations work very well imo.)