ALEXANDER EB

[Maksimus]

and which fix is that?

# Oppida

* Updated 2007-10-23
* If an Oppidum is present in a settlement with an incompatible culture, such as Arsé, the game will CTD when loading a battle on that tile, or viewing the settlement. Redmeth has fixed this so it will no longer crash. Unfortunately, this is part of a packed file which means the fix is pretty big (file size).
* The fix will overwrite descr_walls.txt and packs/mod_0.pak, you may want to make backups of these first.
* Download this file from Rapidshare.
* Unpack into <RTW directory>/EB/data.

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=93820

I'm going to have to lose more than 30% of my army to get out serious debt.

If you are going to get out of serious debt with Macedon or other ''hard'' factions - you will need to fight from the start and fast - like.. put a siege on Athenai right away - or go after Thermon and Sparta or Byzant.. etc..
If you do that, you will certanly lose 30% of your army but you will gain pace for new one.. It is really EB vanilla strategy - it is common so we left it that way.. In my tweaks of vanilla RTW I always left factions set so they gain money from the start - but in EB it is other way around

I say. Even when we add more income pattern for the mod - it will never be enough to feed Macedonian start-army

You need to fight your way

[Danzifuge]

If you are going to get out of serious debt with Macedon or other ''hard'' factions - you will need to fight from the start and fast - like.. put a siege on Athenai right away - or go after Thermon and Sparta or Byzant.. etc..
If you do that, you will certanly lose 30% of your army but you will gain pace for new one.. It is really EB vanilla strategy - it is common so we left it that way.. In my tweaks of vanilla RTW I always left factions set so they gain money from the start - but in EB it is other way around

I say. Even when we add more income pattern for the mod - it will never be enough to feed Macedonian start-army

You need to fight your way

you're entirely right. from what i've seen mod-wise so far, it is the eb way to go bankrupt in the beginning. i'm just not economically inclined enough (that and the fact there is no definitive faq for all eb buildings) to survive as anybody other the carthies, rome, ptolies, or seleucs.

my main issue was this style of play is there is absolutely no room for error in the beginning of the game (in battle or in building) so its not very friendly for the first time eb player (or 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 8th, or 10 time player). i've restarted campaigns so many times, i'd rather just disband everybody and hit end turn for the first 5 years.

but none of this is your problem, really. and i think i'm going to uninstall eb tomorrow. maybe try out rtr.

[Maksimus]

RTR is (well I hope that no RTR fan will see this ) ''the best of the rest''
.. There are just no RTW mod comparations to EB in any way - EB is the least I would ever go after I played RTR

If you decide not to uninstall EB - I suggest the following tweak that is definetly going to help you and your game-style

open

''descr_sm_resources.txt'' in your EB/data folder and just make those values + 10 times or 5 times so that is the way ''general income works''!

You raise those values and you have positive economic stand!

And anyway, EB is not tested or designed for ALX.exe aggresive and advanced AI that plays 5 times smarter than RTW.exe, so huge AI money assistance (for example) is needed for RTW.exe but not for ALX.exe that is using resources and army much better.

That way I think we will have to think over those ''income issues'' very widely for the finall, - let me say.. that even I have more than hard time playing only because of the money - and I win Heroic after Heroic and I still cant get out of minus for decades - that IS GONIG TO be Changed for the Finall release (even If I upload special file-stand only for those that don't like the huge debt as I dont)

[Danzifuge]

''descr_sm_resources.txt'' in your EB/data folder and just make those values + 10 times or 5 times so that is the way ''general income works''!

You raise those values and you have positive economic stand!

once again a complaint...

i know exactly how this will work. i raise those values alone and the next city or two i conquer will give me some huge profits. so by the time i conquer a good bit of territory i will already be a gajillionaire. and thats no fun either.

the key to a fun game is to start off breaking even or just a little profit (with the bigger factions), but still have enough in your treasury to recover if should you take a loss or two. and from there have every conquest of yours incrementally add to your profits while at the same time having to expand your expenditure on military to cover your ass. simply increasing the resource values without adjusting recruitment costs or anything else will make the game dull and especially easy after the first couple conquests facilitate everything you need to conquer the rest of the world.

if people play this game and are able to survive after a few conquests, what do you think simply multiplying the resource values 5 or 10x will do? they'll be rolling in money! this is not the way to do it. if this is to work correctly, upkeep costs need to be leveled with resource costs so that for every city you take the cost of garrisoning it should give you a slight profit but not too much more. i don't know if you've done this already with the higher upkeep cost, because i don't want to start a game where i'm headed for the shitter from turn 1 and have little hope of getting out of it for many many turns. SO LEVEL OUT THE PROFITS goddamit.

[Danzifuge]

i'm an asshole and had too much to drink sorry

[Maksimus]

In any case if your faction wins couple of towns and you are willing to be patient - you will be milioner

In ALXEB Beta 2 resource values are up by +30%, and that is not enough to add to income. Building bonuses are larger and numerous in ALXEB (so are negative effect of some buildings).

The finall should only have +100% tops to resource values. And this is why:

(note: this is my opinion and it is not clearly represented by facts)

I will show the meaning symbolically through index value using EB vanilla with a constant expresed through number = 100

In EB vanilla game on the Start, you have:

Access to elites 100
Bruto Army Deployed 100
Army upkeep expenditure 100
Money income 100
Building Construction cost 100
Building Construction time 100
Unit Construction cost 100
Resource values 100
Trade and Income bonuses 100
General Level of Development 100
Overall Income Pattern 100

In ALXEB (EAEM mod) game on the Start, you have:

Access to elites 300
Bruto Army Deployed 400
Army upkeep expenditure 400
Money income 150
Building Construction cost 150
Building Construction time 150
Unit Construction cost 100
Resource values 130 (will be 200)
Trade and Income bonuses 150
General Level of Development 150
Overall Income Pattern 200

So, after you take couple of teritories, while you will have greater overall income - you will have to gain new teritories by using elites that cost alot! (coz in ALXEByou will just have to use elites if you want to take new lands - at least some elites)

And since you have access to elites from the start - you will spend more money on the Army in general - coz AI will use elites so you will need to use them too if you want to win - that is the point of new balance in ALXEB.

Add that the ''Main buildings'' and ''core buildings'' now cost more and take 50% longer to build - so we deal with the expansion and ''Huge World'' this way and also with negative bonuses on population growth if you have ''military machine'' in one city.

Even when you win a fortune - you will need even bigger one to take control over some teritories by using elites and fighting some nasty foes..

Anyway, I will test it and see it by myself.. I have tested Beta abd Beta 2 - and I had like 10 Heroic and I had very hard time to get out of the minus after destroying Macedonia, KH and Romans with Epeiros.

[Danzifuge]

messing with the resource values i found that slaves, silk, and grain have no value. how come? and why are dogs worth as much as purple dye, incense, and amber? also, i recommend elephants be lowered and iron, olive oil, wine and marble be increased. i'm gonna tweak it to my own preference, but i find approximately multiplying everything by four achieves a good stability, with macedonia breaking even.

another piece of advice. i'd limit the number of animated "trade ships" there are literally probably 50 or more of these guys sailing around the map at once which is probably causing a lot of the lag in game.