Quote Originally Posted by Maksimus
It's just that most of what you are suggesting (or all of it) is open for talks and test-modding but with Konny, he is the one that is currently messing with a EBBS - and he has my full support.. I doubt he will ever leave CPU unbeatable..
Certainly not. I like interessting games with a lot of challanges, but nothing that is difficult beyond frustration.

The idea is like the following:

Every faction has assigned Victory Conditions. These are some towns they allready posses and much more they have to conquer. Some or all of these can be "cashcows": the AI gets money help as long as it has not conquered them, assuming that it has run in some kind of problems.

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Example: Aedui and Arverni have both the same VC towns in Gaul as tragets. They get money help for every of these towns they don't own. At the start of the game they both get the same (much) money, what is desperatly needed to get beyond the debth created by the starting army and to give them the money to develop their lands and go around conquering.

As soon as, for example, the Aedui start conquering Gaul and/or take lands from the Arverni, they get lesser money help because they now own more VC towns than before. Up to the point when the Aedui controll all of Gaul and they don't get any more money help at all.

Then again, when an invader comes along, for example a human controlled Rome, and starts stealing provinces from them, the money help again pops up and gives the Aedui money for VC provinces they lose; allowing for strong resistance even when reduced by provinces.
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Now, that's the point when frustration might come up, because you are making the AI even stronger by beating it. To prevent from this and to aviod the "Mytilene-Effect", when a faction is reduced to one remote province from where it hardly can re-conquer its homelands but is getting tons of scripted money every turn, most of the factions have a "capital province", that they need to hold to get any money help at all.

In our example that would be Bibracte for the Aedui. So, you can breake the Aedui (i.e. stop any money help for them) by taking Bibracte. I think that will add to the motivation, not the frustration, of the player?


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You see that this can only be done together with assigned VCs. Otherwise we would give the Romans money to conquer Rhegion and they would use that money to take the Alps, ignoring our wishes.

I haven't yet decided on the amount of the money help per town. That will most likely differ from town to town and will be about or a little less the profit the AI will make when controlling that town.

I haven't also decided for the "unbreakable" factions (i.e. without capital province to hold). That will certainly be the two nomads, probably Parthia because the VCs should make them somehow "horde" south, and may be the Sweboz.