Barbarossa82's Gold Mod Collection: Vanilla Balance Mod; VBM for BI, Alexander Reborn

[Barbarossa82]

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==VANILLA BALANCE MOD V5.1==
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by Barbarossa82


CONTENTS
===============
1. Introduction
2. Mod Requirements and Compatibility
3. Principal Changes From v4.0
4. List of Changes
5. Installation Instructions
6. Using Unified Rome
7. Uninstallation Instructions
8. Credits


1. INTRODUCTION
=================================

Vanilla Balance Mod v5.1 ("VBM") is a mini-mod for Rome Total War, which has two basic aims:

* To remove some of the inherent biases in the Imperial Campaign which cause the same factions to quickly become superpowers in every game, while others are eliminated before they get close to deploying their most advanced and characterful troops. With VBM, the Imperial Campaign is less predictable in its results - the Gauls may rampage through Northern Italy, Carthage may conquer all Sicily and rule the Western Mediterranean, while war in the east could see the Seleucids, Egypt, Armenia or Pontus emerge as a superpower. Naturally the nations which habitually did well in pure vanilla can still end up winning through in VBM, but there is a good deal more variety and it usually takes longer for eventual victors to emerge. A VBM campaign map at 200BC will normally be far more diverse than that of vanilla Rome.

* To make a series of minor completion and preference adjustments to the game including upgraded non-Roman generals, greater variety of names, replacing Extermination with Suppression etc.

The changes which have been made are minimal in scope and in particular effort has been made to ensure that no faction is either unviable or unduly easy when played by a human player. Inevitably, due to the various boosts and penalties which have been given to various factions, the original campaign difficulties have shifted somewhat - playing as the Gauls, Carthage or the Seleucids is somewhat easier under VBM than pure vanilla, while the British, Scipii, Spanish, Egyptian and Numidian campaigns are harder. However none of the campaigns played with VBM are harder than the hardest campaign under pure vanilla, or easier than the easiest.

With regard to history, VBM is not a historical or realism mod, but every change to faction starting positions and unit rosters has a historical basis. Overall VBM is certainly no less accurate than vanilla 1.5.

Some examples of AI campaign map progression under VBM v5.1, at around 200 BC...

......



2. REQUIREMENTS/COMPATIBILITY
=================================

VBM v5.1 is a mini-mod for vanilla Rome v1.5. Installation over eariler versions of RTW is not supported.

By kind permission of player1, VBM v5.1 includes material from BugFixer, the popular unofficial patch for Rome: Total War that fixes many glaring and underlying bugs with the campaign. This means that you can install VBM straight over BugFixed RTW 1.5, without losing any of the fixes implemented by BugFixer. BugFixer is highly recommended for the best experience from VBM, see https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=55464 for details and download. It is not a prerequisite however, as VBM will install fine over pure vanilla.
If using BugFixer, Vanilla Balance Mod v5.1 is tested with BugFixer v3.36. It has not been tested with other versions, but no problems are anticipated if used with an earlier version.

VBM should be considered NOT COMPATIBLE with any other mods.




3. PRINCIPAL CHANGES FROM v4.0
=================================

See "full list of changes" for a full description of each of these changes.

* Added landbridges to promote development of realistic-looking transcontinental empires
* Implemented new optional Unified Rome mode

* Implemented new captain models for Greek Cities, Macedon, Seleucid Empire and Thrace
* Gave Eastern factions the ability to build sewers and paved roads
* Other small balance changes to various factions




4. LIST OF CHANGES TO VANILLA GAME
=================================

FACTION CAMPAIGNS
* All factions are now playable except for the Senate and the Rebels
* The game no longer revolves entirely around Rome, so factions' victory goals are individually tailored to their likely real-life ambitions. Whilst every faction must still conquer 50 provinces, the specific territories that must be included in those 50 now vary from faction to faction. For example the Spanish must conquer 50 provinces while ensuring that their empire includes Baetica, Taranonenis, Hispania and Celtiberia. Victory goals for the Roman families, the Gauls, the Germans and Carthage still include conquering Rome. The Successor kingdoms represented in the game - Macedonia, the Seleucid Empire and Egypt - share the goal of reuniting Alexander's empire by taking Pella, Antioch, Seleucia and Alexandria.
* Leader portraits, selection screen maps and campaign descriptions have been added for all factions that lacked them

* Revised faction selection maps for factions whose starting positions have changed
* Completed text for victory and defeat screens for every faction. No more lame generic "You have won, all your people celebrate" text when playing as Numidia, Dacia etc., the victory text for these is now just as specific and stirring as for the main factions!
* For reasons of personal taste, some province names slightly altered where the original name was the same as that of a faction - e.g. the province of Armenia being part of the Kingdom of Armenia. These provinces now have the suffix "proper", e.g. Armenia Proper, Numidia Proper.
* Spelling of the province of Medea corrected from Media.
* Capital of the province of Macedonia is now Pella, not Thessalonica
* There is a bonus cheat/feature, enabling the "perfect spy". This allows the player to see details of army composition and city details as if you had a spy right next to them, no matter how far away they are. To activate, press F1 while on the campaign map to bring up the keyboard shortcuts scroll. Click on the question mark and when the advisor appears, click the "show me how" button to activate the script. You can deactivate it at any time by repeating this process. For best results, use with the fog of war off.
* The range of names for women in the Pontic, Armenian and Thracian factions has been increased to reduce the problem of repetitive family names. In pure vanilla it has been known for a general from one of these cultures to have a wife and three daughters all with the same name! Thrace and Pontus have gained some carefully-selected and appropriate names from the Macedonian list, while Armenia has received a small number of names from the Parthian list. These are culturally appropriate and historically justifiable (at least no less historic than pure Vanilla).
* All factions now have a public order bonus attached to the Government building in any settlement, ranging from 5% for a Governor's House to 25% for an Imperial Palace.
* Greek factions (Greek Cities, Macedon, Thrace and the Seleucid Empire) now have new captain models on the strat map more appropriate to advanced civilisations - no more ridiculous bare-chested generals strutting around! The Greeks use a Hoplite, while the others use a Phalanx Pikeman.


LANDBRIDGES
New land bridges - narrow stretches of water which can be passed by both ships and armies - have been added to the campaign map to compensate for the poor Naval invasion AI, and to promote the growth of realistic-looking empires that straddle bodies of water. The new landbridges are:
* Strait of Gibraltar, between Baetica and Mauretania.
* Strait of Messina, between Sicilia Romanus and Bruttium.
* Hellespont, between Propontis and Phrygia
* Dardanelles, between Propontis and Bithynia.
You can now expect to see empires that take in both Greece and Asia Minor, while Carthage sometimes invades southern Italy from Sicily if the Scipii are defeated.


EXTERMINATION AND PUBLIC ORDER
The problem: In pure vanilla, you have the option to "exterminate" a settlement you conquer, and the game tells you how many people will be killed. Because of squalor, culture penalty and distance to capital, extermination can quickly become the rule rather than the exception as your empire grows. This not only makes it hard to roleplay a faction with any degree of humanity, but is quite unhistorical. Organised mass slaughter of the majority of a settlement's population was historically rare. More likely was a situation where a commander would allow his troops to basically run riot, looting, raping, pillaging and generally brutalising the settlement. The difference here is that a lot of the locals would just flee or be turned out of their homes rather than being rounded up, executed and buried in a mass grave as RTW's text and graphics imply.
The solution: Text, the "exterminator" line of traits and graphics have been changed to make it a bit more ambiguous what exactly is happening in the settlement you decide to exterminate. Instead of the option to "exterminate populace", you are now given the option to "suppress populace". The text descriptions, graphics and sounds are now more consistent with the spontaneous depredations of a victorious army set loose by their commander, rather than the 20th-century-style industrialised genocide implied by the original text. Of course if you're a complete git who loves the idea that your troops go around wiping out entire populations, the new text is ambiguous enough to allow you to believe that.


TRAITS
Under pure Vanilla, it was very easy for characters to pick up bad traits (especially corruption, expensive living and drinking-related traits) purely from living in a highly developed city or an economically powerful faction. This effectively meant that the player was being punished for success. The trait system has been very slightly tinkered with to moderate this, without in any way detracting from the characterfulness of the game (we still want to get hilariously debauched characters every now and then!)
* Treasury thresholds for corruption traits substantially increased
* Probability of picking up expensive living and drink traits slightly reduced
* Added possibility of picking up "Good Administrator" trait from Academy line of buildings
* Increased chance of getting positive skill traits from Academy line of buildings.

NON-ROMAN GENERALS
* All non-Roman factions use the upgraded version of their generals' bodyguards from the beginning of the game. This does not affect the Britons. This compensates for the unfairness of the general upgrade function being dependent on the Marius reforms for all cultures, rather than just the Romans.

FACTION REBALANCING
* Summary: Various factions have been strengthened and weakened by having their starting denarii, starting provinces, armies, and sometimes units tweaked. This has been pretty successful in generating a balanced campaign. Carthage, the Gauls, the Germans and the Seleucids - the four big losers under pure vanilla - now usually survive to 200BC at least, and will expand to powerful empires in 30-50% of campaigns.

Britons
* The Britons have been banished from the mainland and had their navy disbanded. They no longer rampage across the continent immediately. Typically an AI-controlled British faction will cross the channel in approximately 200BC. This leads to longer Gaulish and German survival.
* Eburacum is now ruled by a rebel British tribe at the start of the game.
* Morale of British Chariots has been reduced as they were over-valued in auto-calc.

Gauls
* Samarobriva gained from Britons, modest garrison installed

Germans
* German Spear Warband is no longer phalanx-capable. Has same stats, abilities and costs as the regular warbands of other barbarian factions, including warcry ability


Spain
* Carthago Nova lost to Carthage
* Morale and formation settings for Iberian Infantry and Scutarii swapped, since from their descriptions and the levels of barracks buildings required to train them, it seemed inappropriate that Iberians should be more disciplined than Scutarii
* Iberian Infantry defence skill slightly increased

Carthage
* Carthaginian empire now larger at game start, with Carthago Nova gained from Spain and two totally new provinces: Corsica (capital: Alalia) and Numidia Punica (capital: Hippo Regius)

* Starting denarii increased
* Forces on Sicily slightly rebalanced
* Carthage can now recruit Scutarii at a City Barracks. Compete with unit cards and sprites (thanks to professorspatula for unit cards and implementation help)

* Carthage can now recruit two new archer troop types - levy-class Libyan Archers from a Level 2 missile building, and professional-class Poeni Archers from a Level 3 missile building. Complete with unit cards, descriptions and sprites (unit cards created by Storm_Of_Horus and originally appearing in the "Carthaginian Archers Reloaded" mod at TWCenter).

* Changes to Scutarii and Iberian Infantry noted under Spain apply to Carthage too.
* Carthage can now build the top level of temples (Temple Complexes) in Huge Cities.
* Carthaginian Paved Road building card no longer shows pyramids in the background!

Numidia
* Numidia now uses the appropriate Eastern faction intro and victory movies.

Roman Families
* Praetorian Guard and Urban Cohorts can now be recruited only in Italy (including Segesta, Mediolanum, Patavium and all Sicilian cities), reducing the unrealistic Praetorian-dominated armies often seen in late game.
* First Cohorts can now be recruited in each Roman family's starting capital, as well as Rome. Early Legionary Fist Cohorts can be trained at an Army Barracks and Legionary First Cohorts at an Urban Barracks in Arretium, Capua, Rome and Tarentum. However, they now take longer to build and are more expensive than in vanilla.

Greek Cities
* Diplomat moved from Sicily to Aetolia
* Spartan Hoplites now have a standard bearer
* Spartan Hoplites can now be recruited in Corinth, Athens and Thermon as well as their original recruitment centres at Sparta and Syracuse.

Pontus
* Chariot morale reduced
* Scythed Chariots can now be recruited only from a level 2 smith and above instead of level 1. Chariot archers are recruitable only with a level 3 smith.
* Pontus can now build sewers and paved roads.

Seleucid Empire
* Starting denarii slightly increased
* Completely new province of Lycaonia (capital: Iconium) in Asia Minor bridges gap between Sardis and Tarsus, improving empire's cohesion and survivability

* Sidon gained from Egypt with modest garrison
* Some other starting garrisons increased, with a unit of cataphracts in Hatra (most nations get a "bonus late military unit" which they can't recuit, the Seleucids originally didn't).
* Better walls around Antioch and Hatra
* Chariot morale reduced
* Scythed Chariots can now be recruited only from a level 2 smith and above instead of level 1
* In one of the most successful bits of modding, removed the river crossing from the river between Armenia and Assyria, ending the Armenians' manic obsession with Hatra and greatly improving the chances of the Seleucids surviving the first 50 years.

Parthia
* Parthia can now build sewers and paved roads.

Egypt
* Shrines removed from all cities to make presence of garrison more necessary at start of game
* Sidon lost to Seleucid Empire
* Numerous adjustments to cost of recruiting and maintaining units, to bring them into line with similar sized units with similar stats from other factions.
* Bonuses and immunities of Egyptian troops when fighting in hot conditions removed. Although characterful, this created an unfair advantage over Egypt's enemies, since the faction almost invariably fights in hot conditions. They now suffer the same heat penalties as equivalent units from the Greek and Carthaginian cultures.
* Nubian Spearmen can no longer form a phalanx, but to compensate they now come in a larger 60-man unit. They have identical stats to Eastern Infantry, including cost.

* Chariot morale reduced, and they can now run amok.
* Base farming levels of Nile provinces very slightly reduced. They still collectively constitute the world's most fertile region though.
* Scythed Chariots can now be recruited only from a level 2 smith and above instead of level 1. Chariot archers are recruitable only with a level 3 smith.
* Starting chariots disbanded
* A few other starting troops disbanded

Armenia
* Armenia can now build sewers and paved roads.

Rebels
* Garrisons of Petra, Bostra, Ancyra, Nicomedia and Apollonia increased, within reason

TRAIT DESCRIPTIONS (COMMAND/MANAGEMENT/INFLUENCE)
The problem: In pure vanilla, the tooltips that appear when you hold your pointer over a character's command stars, management scrolls or influence wreaths do not reflect that character's ability. For example, a character with one command star is described as a useless general. However, once the first generation of leaders has died off, you are likely to find that the average character has 0-1 stars/scrolls/wreaths. Therefore having one point of management/command/influence really makes you ever so slightly above average in that department - that's why they affect the game positively rather than negatively!
The solution: Tooltip text has been changed so that the scale between zero points and ten points now runs average - genius, rather than complete idiot - genius. Of course you can still get traits like "useless administrator", "bad attacker" etc., but if you have at least one point of ability in those areas then you are deemed to have a basic grasp of what you are doing rather than being a cretin.

EVENTS
Quite a few of the historical events found in the campaign don't actually happen as no date had been set for them. With a bit of historical research to find out when they happened, they are now back in the game. Look out for espionage in carthage and the completion of the great library at Alexandria. These have no effect on gameplay, they just restore a little flavour that CA put in and then took out for some reason.


5. INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS
=================================

Vanilla Balance Mod v5.1 comes with a smart installer. The installer will create a backup of your original data so that when VBM is uninstalled, your original files will be restored. However, you are strongly advised to make your own backups for added peace of mind before installing VBM.

To install, run the program "VBMSetup.exe", being sure to specify the correct location for the install. This should be your Rome - Total War directory, which is usually either
C:\Program Files\Activision\Rome - Total War\ (original version), or
C:\Program Files\The Creative Assembly\Rome - Total War\ (Gold Edition or Eras)


6. USING UNIFIED ROME
=================================

Vanilla Balance Mod v5.1 can optionally be played with a unified Roman faction instead of the three separate families used by pure vanilla. When playing with a unified Rome, the Senate can be either included or excluded. WARNING: When playing as unified Rome without the Senate, DO NOT CLICK on the Senate Offices button. You will get a CTD.

Switching between the original three families and the two versions of the unified Rome is easy. Simply double-click on one of the following batch files located in your Rome - Total War directory:
UniRomeS.bat - sets up Rome - Total War to be played with a unified Rome and a Senate.
UniRomeNoS.bat - sets up Rome - Total War to be played with a unified Rome and no Senate.
VBMOrig.bat - sets up Rome - Total War to be played with the original three Roman families.

When using a unified Rome, Rome begins in control of the provinces of Etruria, Umbria, Latium (either Rome or the Senate), and Campania. Apulia is under Greek control, while Bruttium and Sicilia Romanus are rebel.

Credit to Kaweh K for the unified Rome faction symbols and banners.



7. UNINSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS
=================================

Simply run the program "VBMUninstall.exe" in your Rome - Total War directory.


8. CREDITS
=================================

Mod Creator and Programmer: Barbarossa82
Scutarii unit cards: professorspatula
Carthaginian archers unit cards: Storm_Of_Horus
BugFixer content incorporated by kind permission of player1.
Unified Rome faction symbols: Kaweh K
Additional thanks: Seasoned Alcoholic
Wikipedia (for material used in faction descriptions)
Creative Assembly (for making the game in the first place)


DOWNLOAD

Download Vanilla Balance Mod v5.1 Here (16.5MB)

[Barbarossa82]

==================================
==VANILLA BALANCE MOD FOR B.I. v3.1 README==
==================================
by Barbarossa82


CONTENTS
=================
1 - Introduction
2 - Principal Changes From Previous Version
3 - List Of Changes To Vanilla BI
4 - Requirements/Compatibility
5 - Installation Instructions
6 - Uninstallation Instructions
7 - Credits


1. INTRODUCTION
=================

Vanilla Balance Mod for BI v3.1 (VBM-4-BI) is a micro-mod which extends certain features of Vanilla Balance Mod v5 (VBM) to Barbarian Invasion, the expansion pack for Sega/Creative Assembly's Rome: Total War. It also makes some very small modifications to BI to increase completion and improve gameplay balance.
Because BI in general is a much better balanced game than the Imperial Campaign in RTW, the changes required are smaller. The dynamics of the period (large but fragile Roman empires, small but powerful Barbarian states) are well reflected already in BI and are not altered by VBM-4-BI. What VBM-4-BI does is to add certain aesthetic/completion/atmosphere elements from VBM v5 into BI, and to make some minor changes to trait awards. See below for a full list.
VBM-4-BI is designed to be used by people already using Vanilla Balance Mod v5 for the Imperial Campaign.


2. PRINCIPAL CHANGES FROM PREVIOUS VERSION
=================
* Micromod is now known as "Vanilla Balance Mod for BI".
* Added Romano-British Provincial Campaign
* Reformed command star system to increase number of Night Battle-capable generals
* Added landbridges
* Repositioned Vandals
* Toned down Persians

3. LIST OF CHANGES
=================

FACTION CAMPAIGNS
* All non-emergent factions except the Rebels are now playable
* All factions have a campaign description, a leader pic, a victory movie, a faction selection screen map and an in-game victory conditions map. Credit to Professor Spatula for his superb maps.

* The Sassanid faction is now known as "the Persians", in accordance with usual historical practice in describing the Sassanid state. The term "Sassanid" is still to be found in a few places, like the faction selection screen and unit info scrolls. This is personal preference really, but I prefer to refer to the faction by the name of the nation, not its ruling dynasty. The Persians have had their starting buildings and forces slightly reduced, otherwise they roll over the Eastern Roman Empire too easily.
* The Vandals have been repositioned somewhat west of their original starting position, increasing the chances that they will set off the Burgundii and Lombardi in a tide of hairy Germans heading for the Western Empire.
* Peasants no longer suffer a penalty to their effectiveness at maintaining public order.

LANDBRIDGES
The Landbridges have been carried over from VBM v5.1, except for the Hellespont (hordes are too obsessed with Ephesus otherwise).

ROMANO-BRITISH CAMPAIGN
It is now possible to play as the Romano-British in an alternate-history Provincial Campaign which simulates a Roman withdrawal from the island several decades earlier than is historically attested. The Romano-British begin in control of Britannia Superior and Britannia Inferior. To play the campaign, choose "Romano-British Campaign" from the main menu, then "Sceptred Isle".


EXTERMINATION
* Carried over the changes to extermination descriptions/graphics/traits from VBM v5, so that Extermination is replaced by Suppression. The huns still use the old "pile-o-skulls" graphic though, as they really did get up to that kind of thing.

ROMAN EMPIRE
* Both the Western and Eastern empires now have the ability to build Corvus Quinquieremes and Deceres from a Dockyard. These ships were already defined in the vanilla BI game, and the Eastern Empire even started off with a Corvus Quinqireme. However, there was no way to build them. Their cost has been slightly increased to compensate for their ready availability. Unit cards are provided - I actually made these before I figured out that there are no faction-specific naval unit cards in BI (lazy CA!), so they are a bonus.

* Both the Western and Eastern empires can now upgrade their pagan temples to Mithras and Sol Invictus to Pantheons in a Huge City, so there is not such a disadvantage to remaining Pagan. These have the same cost and build times as the pantheons from the Imperial Campaign, with appropriate bonuses. Building cards and building browser pics have been implemented. They also appear on the battle map, though I can't explain how I got this to work!

* The Eastern Empire has lost the 5% happiness bonus it once got from its government buildings. I doubt this will have much effect, but the Eastern Roman Empire Rebels need all the help they can get.
* Stats of WRE's Sarmatian Auxilia and Scholae Palatinae tweaked so that SPs have higher attack and armour to reflect their higher cost and longer buildtime.

TOOLTIPS
* Carried over the traits tooltips descriptions changes from VBM v5 to BI.

TRAITS
* Some small adjustments have been made to traits to prevent factions being punished for success. Corruption traits now kick in at a higher treasury level, while Academy-line buildings are now more likely to provide positive traits, including the Good Administrator trait.
* It is now easier to get command stars, and the Night Fighter trait is gained at 3 stars rather than 4. Look forward to many more night battles!

PERFECT SPY
* Added the "perfect spy" cheat/feature, as found in VBM v5. However in VBM-4-BI, this is activated using the advisor at the Game Options screen (where you can choose save/load etc) rather than the Keyboard Shortcuts screen, as that doesn't appear to work.


3. REQUIREMENTS/COMPATIBILITY
=================
VBM-4-BI v3 requires the following:

* Barbarian Invasion expansion pack patched to 1.6 (Eras/Gold Edition is shipped pre-patched)
* Vanilla Balance Mod v5.1 MUST BE INSTALLED

Like VBM v5, VBM-4-BI v3 is compatible with player1's BugFixer. This means if you install VBM-4-BI, it will go straight over the top of BugFixer without damaging any of its changes and fixes, they will still be present in the campaign.
BugFixer is highly recommended for the best experience from VBM-4-BI, but is not required.
VBM-4-BI v3 has been tested with BugFixer 3.36. Earlier versions should work too but have not been tested.


4. INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS
=========================

Simply run the downloaded file VBM4BISetup.exe and follow the onscreen instructions. Make sure to tell the installer the correct directory - it'll probably be different to the default if you have RTW Gold. The required directory is your "BI" folder, which will normally be either:
C:\Program Files\Activision\Rome - Total War\BI\ (original), or
C:\Program Files\The Creative Assembly\Rome - Total War\BI\ (Eras/Gold)


5. UNINSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS
=================

Run the program "VBM4BIUinstall" program located in your Rome - Total War\BI directory. Your original files will be restored.

NB: Because BI and RTW are interlinked and rely on some of the same data, uninstalling one can affect the other. For this reason, uninstalling VBM v5 from the Imperial Campaign while leaving VBM-4-BI v3 installed over BI will lead to the reversion of the extermination pics in BI to their original versions. To avoid any unforeseen weirdness, players with RTW Gold or BI should either have both VBM v5 and VBM-4-BI v3 installed, or have them both uninstalled.


6. CREDITS
=================

Mod creator and programmer: Barbarossa82 of the totalwar.org forums
Faction selection screen and ingame maps: Professor Spatula
Creators of the original Rome - Total War and Barbarian Invasion: Creative Assembly
Source of info for faction descriptions: Wikipedia
BugFixer content incorporated by kind permission of player1


DOWNLOAD

Download Vanilla Balance Mod for BI v3.1 here (3.9MB)

[Barbarossa82]

======================
===ALEXANDER REBORN v1.1==
======================

by Barbarossa82


CONTENTS
====================

1 - Introduction
2 - List Of Changes To Vanilla Alexander
3 - Requirements/Compatibility
4 - Installation Instructions
5 - Uninstallation Instructions
6 - Credits


1. INTRODUCTION
====================
Alexander Reborn is a mini-mod for Creative Assembly's Alexander expansion pack for Rome - Total War. Its principal features are:
* Revitalised Alexander campaign with the Greek Cities and Porus's India to subdue as well as Persia
* Option to play as Persia
* Option to play as India


2. LIST OF CHANGES
====================

GENERAL
* Extermination is now Suppression, as in Vanilla Balance Mod v5.0 and Vanilla Balance Mod for BI v3.0. The associated epithets have been removed too, so no more finishing the campaign as "Alexander the Butcher"!
* Macedonian faction now uses a phalanx pikeman as its strategy map captain model.

* Persian Immortals are now better armoured and have a Standard Bearer
* The ridiculously numerous and absurdly experienced and armoured Dahae have been toned down.

CAMPAIGN SWITCHING
There are now three campaigns that can be played under Alexander Reborn - the Alexander Campaign, the Defence of Persia Campaign and the Rise of India campaign. To select which campaign the game uses, simply run the appropriate batch file in your Rome Total War\Alexander directory. These batch files are:
macedon.bat - sets up Alexander Reborn to play the Alexander the Great campaign.
persia.bat - sets up Alexander Reborn to play the Defence of Persia campaign.
india.bat - sets up Alexander Reborn to play the Rise of India campaign.

ALEXANDER CAMPAIGN
* There are two new enemies for Alexander to confront as he begins his quest for world domination. The Greeks, resident in Sparta, put up resistance using their traditional hoplite tactics. Will Alexander's modern Phalanx be able to overcome this time-honoured fighting style? And in the far east, Porus and his mighty armies of India threaten to stomp all over the Macedonians with their terrifying, painted war elephants. Alexander must now take the Indian capital in order to complete his quest.
* A new unique "building" in Pella, the Authority of Alexander, gives the Macedonians a 100% public order bonus in all settlements - no more exterminating your way around the map (the real Alexander didn't, except when people really ticked him off).


DEFENCE OF PERSIA CAMPAIGN
It is now possible to play as the beleaguered Persian Empire, beset by enemies on all sides! As Darius III Codomannus, you must contend with the vast invasion force sent by Alexander to invade Asia Minor, while simultaneously protecting your Eastern provinces from the onslaught of the ambitious Indian king Porus.


RISE OF INDIA CAMPAIGN
It is now possible to play as Porus, the Indian king ruling the lands in the northwest of the subcontinent. While the Macedonian invasion thousands of miles to the west distracts the persians, the Indians must seize their chance to overrun eastern Iran. The Indian faction, as implemented in Alexander Reborn, includes:
* Campaign Map general and captain models
* A full selection of Indian male and female names
* Appropriate Indian building descriptions, including Hindu temples to three gods, Indra, Saraswati and Vishnu
* Purpose-created "empty fort/city" banner
* A new unit, Indian City Militia, a basic spear-armed levy suitable for garrisoning your cities.
* Levy archers and their female equivalents now take only 1 turn to recruit.




3. REQUIREMENTS/COMPATIBILITY
====================

Alexander Reborn requires RTW: Alexander v1.9. It should be considered incompatible with any other mods for Alexander.


4. INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS
====================

Simply run the downloaded file AlexRebornSetup.exe and follow the onscreen instructions. Make sure to tell the installer the correct directory - it'll probably be different to the default if you have RTW Eras. The required directory is your "Alexander" folder, which will normally be either:
C:\Program Files\Activision\Rome - Total War\Alexander\ (original), or
C:\Program Files\The Creative Assembly\Rome - Total War\Alexander\ (Eras/Gold)


5. UNINSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS
====================

Run the program "AlexRBUninstall" program located in your Rome - Total War\BI directory. Your original files will be restored.


6. CREDITS
====================

Mod creator and programmer: Barbarossa82 of the totalwar.org forums


DOWNLOAD

Click here to download Alexander Reborn v1.1 (11MB)

[Roman_Man#3]

Excellent Barbarossa! Can't wait to play!

Sorry Barbarossa if you wanted to reserve another post

[the greek]

AWESOME!! looks kickass ,downloading now!

[Caius]

I will download it.

[Makanyane]

Looks great, well done

(P.S. having the +++ and === as one long 'word' for posts 2 and 3 is making the text width scroll off the side of a small screen, eg mine, any chance of editing that to be a bit shorter?)

[Barbarossa82]

Looks great, well done

(P.S. having the +++ and === as one long 'word' for posts 2 and 3 is making the text width scroll off the side of a small screen, eg mine, any chance of editing that to be a bit shorter?)

Toned down

[gaiusjulii]

I have to say Barbarossa82 Well done. I have been waiting to play for ages and I really like what you have done. So i say for a lot of people thanks.

Did you add any more provinces there seems a lot more?

[Caius]

Hello Barbossa82,

Im glad I'm playing now VBM for RTW 1.5. Now, there is a Total War. (Hey, a nice phrase for advertising). Still, a bug is rounding up there, Cartago Nova is still having the error that doesn't allow this town to be upgaded to a Large Town. And I am also having a bug with Rome no Senate. It seems when I take certain town, it makes a CTD which damages the game and make it unplayable. Any help on this matter will be apreciated.

[Barbarossa82]

Hello Barbossa82,

Im glad I'm playing now VBM for RTW 1.5. Now, there is a Total War. (Hey, a nice phrase for advertising). Still, a bug is rounding up there, Cartago Nova is still having the error that doesn't allow this town to be upgaded to a Large Town. And I am also having a bug with Rome no Senate. It seems when I take certain town, it makes a CTD which damages the game and make it unplayable. Any help on this matter will be apreciated.

Hi Caius, glad you're enjoying the game and thanks for your feedback.

The Carthago Nova bug (also affects Sardis and Hatra) is fixed by the updated descr_strat.txt you can download from the first post. If you've tried this fix but it doesn't seem to be working, it could be because you're using an old savegame, or because Windows Vista Account Control is preventing you from overwriting the original file. You could check inside the descr_strat file inside your game's directory and compare the Carthago Nova entry to that in downloaded version to see which of these issues is the likely cause.

I have seen a few CTDs with the unified Rome but hoped I had ironed them out. Could you tell me which town is causing the problem? And also keep a saved game to send me if I need to see it? Many thanks.

The mods work with previous saves, but I noticed a wierd cosmetic bug in my Persia and Eastern Empire campaigns. For some reason the world map and the detailed campaign map switch the faction control indicators in both Maurtenia and Arabia Superior (boundry color in campaign map, provience color in mini-map) between the factions controlling the two proviences at the time I installed the VBMods. When I place the cursor or have an agent in site of Dumatha, however it tells me that the provience is controlled by the oppisite faction as Tingi (In my Persia save, its ERE, in my ERE save, its Persia, with both 'switching' with the Berbers)

It doesn't seem to effect gameplay though.

I'll post an update when I take Dumatha with the Sassinsids the next time I play the campaign.

Hi Hound of Ulster,
That's an interesting effect you describe, and not one I would have a clue how to cause if I tried! However it seems from your message that you may be using VBM-4-BI over a pre-existing savegame. Some weirdness must always be expected in such situations. My advice is always to start a new, clean campaign with VBM.

[Caius]

I thank you for this great mod.

The Carthago Nova bug (also affects Sardis and Hatra) is fixed by the updated descr_strat.txt you can download from the first post. If you've tried this fix but it doesn't seem to be working, it could be because you're using an old savegame, or because Windows Vista Account Control is preventing you from overwriting the original file. You could check inside the descr_strat file inside your game's directory and compare the Carthago Nova entry to that in downloaded version to see which of these issues is the likely cause.

I downloaded the fix you posted in the post, but such error still exists. I think this is because the starting population of Cartago Nova is 2000, and RTW make an error. I tried to change the governament place, but my in current campaign as Brittania Cartago Nova still is a town, despite the population is 2200.

I have seen a few CTDs with the unified Rome but hoped I had ironed them out. Could you tell me which town is causing the problem? And also keep a saved game to send me if I need to see it? Many thanks.

Its Sardinia. Sometimes I get a Regions_DB generic error when I exit the game, I started as Brittania, and there is not any trace of this bug. Since Rome did not invaded Carthage, such error doesn't exists.

Thank you for the sooner response.

Caius

[Barbarossa82]

I thank you for this great mod.


I downloaded the fix you posted in the post, but such error still exists. I think this is because the starting population of Cartago Nova is 2000, and RTW make an error. I tried to change the governament place, but my in current campaign as Brittania Cartago Nova still is a town, despite the population is 2200.

Its Sardinia. Sometimes I get a Regions_DB generic error when I exit the game, I started as Brittania, and there is not any trace of this bug. Since Rome did not invaded Carthage, such error doesn't exists.

Thank you for the sooner response.

Caius

I've checked the new descr_strat and it definately gives Carthago Nova a population of 1970. 2000 was the value from the old one which caused the bug. You must be experiencing a problem with overwriting the old file. And actually, I've just thought of why - it's to do with using the unified Rome switch. Solution - put the new descr_strat into your "VBMOrig" folder as well as into data\world\maps\campaign\imperial_campaign.

I can see I'm going to have to release a new 5.1 installer

As for the Sardinia issue I'll look into it and see what's going on there.

[the greek]

is the moral higher in this mod?

[Caius]

is the moral higher in this mod?

Yes, I think chain routs are no longer effective.