Is there any way to make battles more strategically decisive?

[oudysseos]

I have reached a point in my Antigonid Campaign that I'm sure we're all familiar with: stack after stack (in this case Roman) of low-grade units attacking in waves. In reference to the Happy Cannae Day thread (there's a theme song in there somewhere), I have fought and won 3 or 4 Cannaes and Carrhaes combined, with a Pharsalus and a Marathon thrown in for good measure. My last battle I fought with one small (17 unit) stack of elites against three full roman stacks, almost all leves. I lost 152 kia versus more than 5000 roman dead.

When will these guys give up? Is there a way through traits or scripts to make major victories decisive and final? I try diplomacy after every major victory but no: "some of you still live".

I realize that this is not a fault of EB but of the RTW engine, but there's gotta be some way to make military results have political impacts. Any thoughts?

[bovi]

EB uses scripts to assist the mentally challenged AI and provide a challenge. All AI factions receive some extra command stars and monetary aid, as well as a replenishment of the population when they recruit units to avoid them recruiting them dry. The gameplay balance is not finished. If you want battles to be more decisive, you can try the unofficial money/merc modifications, a lot of people are very satisfied with those.

[Tellos Athenaios]

Out of interest: have you taken any Roman city?

If I inflict such heavy casualties (and generally I do) as to annihilate AI armies, then I find the AI often very eager to accept a no-ties ceasefire treaty.

[econ21]

If you want battles to be more decisive, you can try the unofficial money/merc modifications, a lot of people are very satisfied with those.

Does anyone have a link to these?

[Tellos Athenaios]

You'll find plenty of 'em in the EB unofficial mods subforum. After all, they are...

[Sarkiss]

I have reached a point in my Antigonid Campaign that I'm sure we're all familiar with: stack after stack (in this case Roman) of low-grade units attacking in waves. In reference to the Happy Cannae Day thread (there's a theme song in there somewhere), I have fought and won 3 or 4 Cannaes and Carrhaes combined, with a Pharsalus and a Marathon thrown in for good measure. My last battle I fought with one small (17 unit) stack of elites against three full roman stacks, almost all leves. I lost 152 kia versus more than 5000 roman dead.

When will these guys give up? Is there a way through traits or scripts to make major victories decisive and final? I try diplomacy after every major victory but no: "some of you still live".

I realize that this is not a fault of EB but of the RTW engine, but there's gotta be some way to make military results have political impacts. Any thoughts?

faced the very same issue... like Bovi said, try money/mercenary script. i cannot imagine playing without it. the game still needs farther balancing and script does seem to handle it pretty well.

i wish it was included in official EB, otherwise all the splendid work put into it gets ruined by tedious, unrealistic game play

Out of interest: have you taken any Roman city?

If I inflict such heavy casualties (and generally I do) as to annihilate AI armies, then I find the AI often very eager to accept a no-ties ceasefire treaty.

that didnt work for me, at least not against AS. in my Bactrian campaign (without script) i managed to reduce them to only a few cities, Ptoleis pushing them hard from the other side, but they would still persistently send stack after stack of high quality mercenaries my way! make very little sense
hope the issue will be addressed in future releases.

[QwertyMIDX]

If you smack them around but don't take any cities (or offer the cities you took back) they usually take a cease-fire.

[Sarkiss]

If you smack them around but don't take any cities (or offer the cities you took back) they usually take a cease-fire.

yeah, for a turn or two, and then you face the very same problem again
the only solution that worked for me is an out most aggressive and brutal policy. destroy each army to the last soldier, restlessly push forward conquering their lands and thus reducing their treasury and recruiting pools. but even these dont help to the extend it should since AI gets population, mercenaries, money injections and on VH campaign is suicidally aggressive. ...never ending war.

[PenguinLobster]

The only way your ever gonna stop the AI from mindlessly attacking you is to completely destroy them, just remember that every city you capture is one less place for them to recruit from and one more province they have to trek across to reach your important territories.

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

You could try the 'force deplomacy' mod.

Also, when I face this kind of situation in campaigns that I'm not too serious about, I'll cheat. I usually hire an all merc army then march it into enemy territory using 'character_reset' and 'auto_win attacker' to kill ever single enemy army in sight. Once you destroy 90% of their army, they will give up and leave you alone for a decade or so. I always end my war with them (at least ignore them) until they rebuild so that I don't consider it too much cheating. But I only use this in campaigns that I would quit otherwise or I wasn't too serious about to begin with.

[NeoSpartan]

yeah, for a turn or two, and then you face the very same problem again
the only solution that worked for me is an out most aggressive and brutal policy. destroy each army to the last soldier, restlessly push forward conquering their lands and thus reducing their treasury and recruiting pools. but even these dont help to the extend it should since AI gets population, mercenaries, money injections and on VH campaign is suicidally aggressive. ...never ending war.

naw dude... the war DOES end.


....as soon as you destroy the faction one question though... Why is that so hard to do????????

[Megas Methuselah]

What's this "force diplomacy" mod that was mentioned. Never heard of it, and it sounds quite useful.

Can anyone gimme some info? thx in advance.