Dear EBers, would you be so kind as to post your most ridiculous and complicated campaign houserules here.
My Ptolemaioi game goes so easy you call it "Stinkin rich for doing nothing". Guys have more gold in their coffers than Carthage.
In desperate need to complicate things for myself

Thanx in advance
MiniMe.

BTW: should I say "could you be so kind to..." or I should say "would you be so kind to..."?

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Either works.

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We know what you mean either way, but the technically correct way is, "would you be so kind as to."

I plan on implementing house rules and changing the EDU a lot for my next Roman campaign in an effort to better represent the differences between the citizen militia and professional army. That remains to be seen though, I may make an AAR to show my expierment in the stage between the Polybian and Marian reforms.

This is many months away, however. I probably won't do it until 1.1 comes out anyways.

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I don't have many houserules.

1) Play with Toggle_fow off. I only turn it on every 5 or so years to see if the AI is doing any interesting expansing.

2) I only use 1 general per army unless I have a younger FM after finishing his academic courses and has a potential to be a great general, to follow along with the main one to build his skills.

3) Playing as civilized nations, I will not destroy any monuments. On the flip-side, any nomadic or barbarian play, I make sure to pillage and destroy.

4)

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BTW, only the leading general will gain command bonues, the others can only gain chevrons for their BG.

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I have tons of houserules (there is an entire thread on that topic on the TWC). Most of them concerning roleplaying of characters, up to the creation of the sub-factions, and local recruitement.

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Yes, I do it for experience and role play. Kind of how Philiip II was in charge of the army at Charaeneo (spell check) and Alexander led the cavalry.

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Here are mine, for the Lusotana campaign, as posted earlier yet slightly modified:

1. Pursue the victory conditions and don't expand meaninglessly.
2. Always build the Type I and Type II governments where available.
3. Favour building up and economy over warfare.
4. The throne remains in the Lusotanakum family from all male line. (Since they depleted as all-sons, the throne has passed to the next noblest in line, the Celtikum family.)
5. The capital can't be changed unless the candidate town has at least King's Hold and Stone Fortress. In any case, it can't be changed before next year (not necessarily 4 turns) once the turn is ended. (You may rehearse options within the same turn.)
6. Every expedition force must be commanded by a general. Small peacekeeping troops against brigands can be commanded by captains. (This has been compromised. I always auto_win against brigands using a single depleted unit. Armies with no generals are still used extremely sparingly though.)
7. No campaigning in the winter unless in defence. (Exceptions to this have been made.)
8. Never attack an ally before dissolving the alliance.
9. Never attack a neutral faction without making/creating/inventing a diplomatic excuse, such as threats etc. (Usually I demand them to attack my foe or pay me an enormous tribute, which they naturally refuse.)
10. Armies and diplomats must rest in the minor settlement tiles (mines, markets, vineyards etc.) or otherwise generals build forts, unless they mean to ambush. Spies and assassins may rest anywhere.
11. No local autonomy/local taxation. Towns without a governor are directly ruled by the King's loyal servants. Ones with governors are the fiefs of the generals.
12. [This one has recently been added] Train cheap levies exclusively for garrison duties.
13. Maximum happiness policy in all settlements
14. If you are going to keep a settlement, then;
    
    • Occupy
    • Occupy or Enslave
    • Enslave or Exterminate
    • Exterminate
    
    If you are raiding/sacking always exterminate.
15. (I toggle fow off but) Let your diplomats travel the world, learn about the states of affairs and build relations. Don't exploit the radar if the fow is off.

Some fine points, such as faction leadership, will naturally vary according to the faction. Tribal identity and influence combined will override blood relation for Getai, for instance.

I use the force diplomacy mod extensively but scarcely fall to the temptation of exploiting it.
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Mine for the Roman campaign were:

1) No slinger units of any sort. Combined with the powerful Roman infantry, it's like, ownage.
2) Garrisons should be made up of the cheapest available units nearby. Leves, Lugoae, Akontistai, Milites, Gund-i Palta. That's all that's allowed.
3) I am permitted to pre-empt an enemy if he masses a fullstack anywhere on my border or crosses it, but if he remains even one tile inwards on his territory, I do nothing.
4) Generals are purely governors. They also lead mercenary anti-rebel armies, but may not lead legions in attacks.
5) Never attack an ally without first dissolving the alliance.
6) Attack a neutral faction only if they have resources that you want or view as being in your 'sphere of influence'.
7) Fullstacks must be maintained as fullstacks and their composition must be institutionalised for the duration of a campaign, i.e. they will retain the same ratio of units throughout.
8) Reinforcements in a campaign will be delivered via halfstacks to each fullstack following about a turn or two behind. No in-city retraining allowed until the legion no longer opposes a faction.
9) Always exterminate unless the city is less than 6000.
10) Maintain tax rates on Low throughout, except for Italia, which pays Normal rates.
11) Unless the opposing side ceasefires, or to do so would result in uncomfortable proximity to another faction, the ultimate end of a campaign must be the utter destruction of the enemy.

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If you're looking for a challenge, the triple gold chevron elites that the Makedones have in the ALX.exe thread look pretty challenging.

Apparently, the AI retrains.

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Here's one: set camera_fov in preferences.txt to 250. That's a challenge.

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What does that do? o.O General's camera?

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Slight modifications have become necessary upon switching factions. Now I'm playing a Makedonia M/M (M because I don't like blitzing either with myself or with the AI).

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I don't have too many houserules; but here they are:
Seleuciea - Rules for Ruling

Strict recruitment Guidelines with three types of armies:
No Pantodapoi, No Hellenic Archers, No peasants allowed in my army . period.
Towns - All town garrisons are kept as small as possible. Defending is the reponsibility of the Garrisons and provincial armies.
Garrison forces - No general. Local levies and auxilia used for border defense in forts. Usually 6 units at most. To slow down the enemy, destroy rebels, or combine with other garrisons to form a provincial army in emergencies.
Provincial Armies - local levies and auxilia used only for defending borders.
Territorial Armies - Pezhetaroi, Mercs, and Thureophoroi used only for offensive operations
Royal Army - One royal army which consists of Hetaroi, Agyraspides, Babylonian spearmen, Syrian Archers and Thorakitai Agyrspides. Used to destroy whomever they want.

Most armies consist of the same type and amount of troops. 4-6 Phalanx, 4-6 Archers, 2-4 Flank guards, 2-4 skrimish type troops, General, and Cavalry.
-Seleuceia is Capitol of Arche Seleuceia
-Every town must have sewers built as far as it allows first, then roads, then traders, then temples.
-Tax rates are as high as possible unless it is a town that does the recruiting.
-Isolationist policy in diplomacy. I will leave everyone alone until I am attacked (except for Ptolemy), then focus all efforts into destroying the faction as fast as possible.
-Extermininate my enemies(Ptolemy, Pontus, Pahlava, Epirus), liberate my countrymen(Anatolia, Baktra, rebel provinces along my eastern and northern borders), enlave everyone else.
- 100% of the map is my goal. I won't stop this campaign until I have 100% of the map. Sadly I never follow this rule but I mean to everytime.

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As the Sweboz, I never build temples to Tiwaz outside of their expansion area or the Baltics. Recruiting silver chevron Hoplitai, Samnitie Infanty or the dreaded slinger seems wrong. I also usually make Roma a client state whoever I'm playing as (except Rome obviously), because it seems like the coolest thing to do with the region.

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I would make that: The capital can be under no circumstances elsewhere than in Pella, in particular not in Antiochia, Seleucia, Alexandria or any other places where the wannabe heirs of Alexander have their courts.

Only expcetion: In times of war there can be a moving court that is always in that town where the king is (or the one he has just left when he is on the march), provided the king is leading the main army.

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What would a moving court look like? Maybe drawn by horses Kind of like a antiquity version of the tractor trailor in Live Free and Die Hard?

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Cool! I shall consider that.

Thanks!
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- No reloading, except for bugs/crashes and pathing SNAFUs.

- Substantial armies move with a general and suffer seasonal movement penalties etc. [I don't worry about the odd unit moving between the MIC and the army on its own.]

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My Casse campaign:
1. no declaring war on other Celtic factions
2. no exterminating Celtic settlements (no matter who controlled the settlement at the time of its conquest)
3. encourage "colonization", i.e. taking settlements mixed with other faction's provinces or beyond provinces belonging to another faction, rather than expanding along a line. Currently I hold Burdigala and Toulon, for example, while the Arverni and Aedui control the provinces in between that an Bagacos, which I also hold. Great fun, I can't wait until the Aedui break the alliance, which they probably will next turn, because a roman stack (allied to the Aedui traitors!) is moving towards my army next to Iuvavovaeta.
4. no using toggle_fow
5. no other cavalry than missile cavalry and max 2 units until suffering defeat from or meeting an enemy with >5 cavalry units
6. no retraining more than 1 unit of a specific type at the time, i.e. after losses first merge all damaged units so many disappear due to the merging, then maybe retrain
7. at least 50% levies in each army
8. [considering to add it]: since Casse can train troops in so many settlements, roll a dice when taking it, to determine whether I will allow myself to train troops in the settlement (if I get 5 or 6 on the dice). This can simulate that some settlements were taken in such a brutal manner that prevents local support, or that there's ongoing unrest in some of them

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Organise an expedition to that island province in the Baltic and see if you can get a colony going there. Make sure you bring a big fleet though, damn pirates...

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Rule no.1 No backstabbing allies, unless playing as Rome.
Rule no.2 No playing as Rome, hence rule No.1 always applies.
Rule no.3 Generally trust your allies, unless you have valid RP reasons not to do so (e.g. they are Roman). This means that when the AI eventually backstabs you, you will be shocked and outraged. Also caught with your pants down.
Rule no.4 No campaigns without generals. Self-explanatory.
Rule no.5 If you aren't at war with a faction your ally is at war with, then you owe your ally war subsidies. Only exception is if you're monumentally getting your ass handed to you.

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my house rules are relatively simple

1. don't attack someone w/o a reason
2. don't attack ally
3. if an ally breaks an alliance with you don't go to war with them just cuz your mad.. unless of course say your KH fighting the Arche and Egypt is aiding you then all of a sudden the alliance breaks and they wage war on your ally the Saba.(yes that happened to me.. threw me in a war wit Arche, Egypt, and Rome. then Saba and Hai both simultaniosly broke alliance...)
4.only toggle_fow occasinally every 4-6 years to check up on expansion. put the view in the sea of course and only look at a factions land if im no where near them and wont be attacking them any time soon.
5.keep armies somewhat realistic no all elite and no all levy unless for garrison OR my economy is low.. like super low.
6.no all cavalry armies, not even as a nomad faction. i hate the thought of it and who's going to carry the siege equipment?
7.always have a general leading an army except in garrison duties does not have to
8.don't care about governors they help but not to worried about them.
9.no destroying buildings except with my KH campaign when egypt attacked me i took all of there mediteranian bordering provinces (yes even alexandria and that area.) and destoyed everything.. EVERYTHING they diserved it.
10.homeland regions get lvl 1 subjacation get lvl 2 gov. etc. unless there starting areas and they have a diffrent gov. i.e. athens has a lvl 2 gov not 1.
11.not every single city frontline or not is a military deployer.
12.no farms.. sure it isnt historical, i just hate them.
13.accept ceasefire if absolutley needing it unless your rep. is selfish(and on the front lines), disloyal, or a captain, disloyal generals and selfish generals who arent on the front lines can accept a ceasefire even if you absolutley don't want to.
14.captains cannot command a mainly mercenary army
15.preferably no all/mostly mercanary armies unless there is no chance or point in retreating from the front lines, or if the general is disloyal.
16.dont expand meaninglessly try as hard as i can to stay to campaign goals unless at war with an unrelenting foe that is outside of your campaign victory lands i.e. the Arche.
17.no capital changing unless finding a better more advantougous capital AND has been upgraded to or past the current capital in most acpects. or having a selfish ruler who wants the capital where he is.
18.no cheats minus fow to look at expansion
19.preferably only one general per army unless having a new soldier training under a veteran for like 2-3 battles or in a campaign in which the general may die of age/assassin/risky battles, and a general is a neccesity to the mission

although alot there relatively simple at least to me they are and there may be more and i just cant think of more

Cheers!

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Hi All,

I just wanted to say thanks for this thread. As a newcomer to EB I discovered much useful info to make the game more immersive and enjoyable. I'll read the posts again and make my own list . . .

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In my Karthagian campaign I use the following houserules for raising Poeni units:

Poeni Citizen Militia
Carthaginian Citizen Cavalry
Liby-Phoenician Infantry
Liby-Phoenician Cavalry

These represent the Phoenician militia. Every town that can raise them will maintain some of these units according to the town's size (for example Karthago herself has two units of militia, two of infantry and one of citizen cavalry). No more units of these kind can be raised and they can not be used outside their respective farther homelands (Africa, Spain or Sicily) and have to return to their hometowns immediatly after the campaign is over, so can not be used as garrisons elsewhere.

All other units, in particular the Libyan Spearmen and the Iberians can be raised unlimited (as long as the treasury can maintain them, the Poeni like to keep their money locked) and be placed and used everywhere. In the result the African army has a very strong Poeni element and only needs a few Iberians and Numidians as auxiliary and replacement garrisons. The other two armies have to relay heavyly on local forces and must even ship around units alot (Greek Hoplites to Spain, Spanish cavalry to Sicly etc).

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Sorry, but what does Sally mean?

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When besieged, to attack the besieging force by the town garrison. Click your besieged town, switch to the Army tab, select the units (click any, then Ctrl+Click the rest; Crtl+A selects all) and right click the besieging army to attack.
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Basic house rules:

1. No more than 4 foor archers/slings per stack. Accidental excess must disband or flee the battle if caught reinforcing unexpectedly.

2. No HA defense/fort-diplomat defense

3. Fight every battle, must use a FM if availble in range.

4. FOW on at all times, H/H minimum.

Mad house rules

1. No stack moves without FM. Unnaccompanied stacks disband unless inside city/fort (this is a pisser of a rule, battle field accidents are incredibly serious).

2. General camera.

3. No pillaging own temples, must build up available type only.

4. Faction specific building pattern (this is a flavour thing: for me it means Romans build roads, Cartha builds docks, greeks go for theatres and gyms etc). Barracks allowed, but no barrack rush (ie must not build barracks end on end, must build others uin between).

5. Disband certain troop types between campaigns espescially large spear units traditionally drawn from agricultural classes (I'm thinking non-elite pikes and hoplites, celtic spears etc) and some others: basically non-mercs/professional soliders with better things to do with their lives. Scum and elites stand to arms, the rest go R&R

Thisd is very intense and headache producing, but satisfying too.

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