First Impressions of EB 1.0?

[V.T. Marvin]

First impression??? ..........AMAZING!!!!

- It came much sooner than we expected.
- It took less than half an hour to download for us.
- It installed smoothly and so far runs without any CTDs on BI.exe.
- It fulfilled all the expectations aroused by the teasers. (and our expectations went really high, I can tell you )
- The Pahlava intro did not work for us, but it does not matter, we watched it off-game - and its really great
- The game just FEELS great overall, and we are considering taking a few days leave at work just to play.

And who are "we"? A lucky couple who got the most beautiful gift to their 4th wedding-day-anniversary from the EB team. Thank you, guys!!! V.T. Marvin and Kari

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

P.S.- Though you have probably ruined our family fife for several moths to come. Have mercy on us - no EB 1.1. please!

[Bonny]

Does something like this have any in-game diplomacy effect (e.g. attacking a Greek city in Hellas will make the Koinon Hellenon more hostile to you, etc.), or is it just there for immersion's sake?

Yep, it immidiately takes effekt, its scripted ;-). It was always a feature of EB (sinnce 0.72) but it has been increased in 1.0 with the Rhegion event for the Romans.

[Chronos]

This is my first post hear, so, first I want to say, "Great work guys, this EB version is F*#%in Awesome" ...I'm a 20yrs Totalwar veteran (started on a board game) and have played all the total war games but this V1.0 is by far the best Total war game I have played...

I played 1 game of EB back when it was for RTW v1.2 platform and enjoyed it...I started a second game of EB last week with V0.81, playing as "Rome"...After two days of establishing a small empire, I realized that V1.0 was out...Hmmm, do I abandon my new game 2 days into it or keep playing...

I obviously abandoned my new game and tried EBv1.0...

I played as Pontus (near on impossible) playing on all the hardest settings I could think off ...I wasn't sure how long I would last but luv a challenge, so, I Immediately rose an army with all I had and took my first city by the coast and then went straight for Byzantium and took that...By now, I am in dept $55,000...So, I take on some surrounding rebels and use up my army until I had no army left, not even a defensive force...This was the quickest way to pay my dept off and it still took over 20yrs (I was careful not to attack another nation and stuck to rebel cities)...During that 20 yrs of dept recovery, I sent an emissary and spy out to spy the world and build as many alliances as I could...By the time I was out of dept, I spent another 20 yrs building my 3 cities up to produce decent soldiers...I then build an army and took 2 more rebel cities...I quickly paid that dept of again and now I am left with 5 cities, 1 third of Anatolia...If my alliances hold up for a few years, then I am now in a position to win the game!!!

Because I am new to EB I can't pick up to many things right or wrong with it but hear is what I did notice after swaping from 2 days of v0.81 and then 1 day of v1.0;

Firstly, I downloaded this v1.0 release at my full speed of 1.1m...I Had it in 15 minutes and installed on RTW v1.5 I have saved and had it running within half hour of finding it released...That was awesome to start with but then;

1. The 3d army battles are by far the best quality and fastest/smoothest running battles I have ever played on Totalwar games...This is even better than v0.81...This was very noticeable to me and it was satisfying to find such a great running game play with no lagg at all....

2. EB is can be hard at times and that is a great plus, considering how easy RTW is...EB v1.0 offers a great challenge...I played Pontus on all hard levels with RTR and walked over the game like I owned it but this EB v1.0 game, well, it has been the hardest Totalwar game I have played ever. I even doubt I will win. I have survived 1 day as Pontus but if Antiochus even so much as turns my way within the next few years, then I will be screwed...

3. I found that it loaded the game slower but this was a minor thing in comparison to having faster/smoother (no lagging) game play...It seemed to me that the game play was so much better than what I am used to...Did you guys work on that???

All I can say is "Thanks EB Crew for your labor of love"..."No financially built game can even nearly match what you guys have produced hear"...

"This is a masterpiece"...

--edited comments on religion that started very off topic discussion-- (Teleklos Archelaou)

[mcantu]

Chronos,

The recommended difficulty setting are VH campaign/M battles

[Chronos]

Chronos,

The recommended difficulty setting are VH campaign/M battles

mcantu, Are those settings universal or just for Pontus??

If I put battles on Medium for Rome or Macedonia, it would be far to easy, so I am assuming your recommendation is just for Pontus...I think you are right on that also because I doubt I will last to much longer without stronger armies...

When I said I set my game on the hardest levels I knew, I also took into account the preferences...Things like large units, limited Ammo, Moral, Fatigue, unlimited men on Battlefield and anything else to make sure it wasn't affecting real time outcomes...

It was very hard to keep alive but still enjoyable!!

[mcantu]

mcantu, Are those settings universal or just for Pontus??

If I put battles on Medium for Rome or Macedonia, it would be far to easy, so I am assuming your recommendation is just for Pontus...I think you are right on that also because I doubt I will last to much longer without stronger armies...

When I said I set my game on the hardest levels I knew, I also took into account the preferences...Things like large units, limited Ammo, Moral, Fatigue, unlimited men on Battlefield and anything else to make sure it wasn't affecting real time outcomes...

It was very hard to keep alive but still enjoyable!!

Medium battles is recommended for all factions. A lot of work went into balancing the unit stats and anything but medium does nothing but give the AI attack and morale bonuses without a smarter AI.

[Teleklos Archelaou]

Good grief, move on people. This is about first impressions of EB 1.0.

[Teleklos Archelaou]

Do you people not understand English? Continue arguing about religion or something that doesn't relate to this topic and you'll no longer have access to this subforum.

[Landwalker]

I thought we had just agreed to let it go, and thus already ended the argument?

Regardless, I just noticed something about 1.0 during my Epeiros campaign that I'd like to ask a question about: It seems that the Granaries (the first level of them, at least) don't actually increase your population growth, despite claims on the "Building Card". Is this intentional, accidental, or is there some "hidden" benefit of a granary that doesn't appear?

Cheers.

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

This is probably due to the fact you have a building that gives negative population growth. Negative bonuses can only cancel out possitive bonuses and not go below 0.

[PSYCHO V]

Do you people not understand English? Continue ... and you'll no longer have access to this subforum.

Nothing's changed. Good to see you at your benevolent best there Dave.

On a more positive note, congratulations to the team. Generally the game has been improved significantly from previous versions.

I do however have some problems with accuracy which I will post in detail when I get the chance. Disapointing considering the whole.

my2bob

[Thaatu]

I do however have some problems with accuracy which I will post in detail when I get the chance. Disapointing considering the whole.

Just remember to be polite and maybe even squeeze in a few jokes to lighten the mood. Try to give a solution to the problem, but don't demand it. If those steps are followed, we might get through this without the need for peacekeepers.

Thank you for your cooperation!

[Batahr]

My first impression was simply "wow!". There's so many changes to the already great previous release. But I still haven't started a campaign yet: all the marvellous additions to most of the factions make it too hard for me to choose

Thank you EB team for giving me this luxury problem and be assured your hard work is very much appreciated!

[SirPoot]

Fought my first battle as Rome against a rebel town, up north,stacked full of gauls. Had my entire army annihilated.

Damn naked warriors are just sooooo hard to kill. That, and the other gauls all appearing in stacks of 240 just adds to the pain.

[pezhetairoi]

And who are "we"? A lucky couple who got the most beautiful gift to their 4th wedding-day-anniversary from the EB team. Thank you, guys!!! V.T. Marvin and Kari


Wow, we have a married couple playing EB together! How sweet!