Aggressive factions are unrealistic

[Horatius Flaccus]

Acrually, in MedII AI factions honour their alliances better then before. So it will be less likely that you will get a superfaction early on.

[Drunk Clown]

Acrually, in MedII AI factions honour their alliances better then before. So it will be less likely that you will get a superfaction early on.

Superpowers occur just as much in Medieval II as in Rome.

[QuintusSertorius]

I'm kind of more concerned about how unrealistic siege warfare is (thanks to the R:TW engine). In antiquity, most sieges went one of four ways: surrender before the first parallel was even dug or engine sited; treachery leading to the garrison being betrayed (and a large sum of silver changing hands); surrender because of starvation after a long blockade; or an accomdation reached between besiegers and defenders, with the former moving on and leaving the place unmolested. The number of sieges won by assault were extremely rare, because a properly sited fortification was just too costly to attack.

[Drunk Clown]

I'm kind of more concerned about how unrealistic siege warfare is (thanks to the R:TW engine). In antiquity, most sieges went one of four ways: surrender before the first parallel was even dug or engine sited; treachery leading to the garrison being betrayed (and a large sum of silver changing hands); surrender because of starvation after a long blockade; or an accomdation reached between besiegers and defenders, with the former moving on and leaving the place unmolested. The number of sieges won by assault were extremely rare, because a properly sited fortification was just too costly to attack.

Well, most of the time you'll want to starve them, because siege battles aren't the most enjoyable ones. This only goes for the human player of course, the AI factions will always attack you; they'll never starve you out. But you can't change that. Luckily I don't get besieged very often.

[Ca Putt]

sadly, due to the turn based nature of EB the siege does not take a week up to half a year, but rather 1- 2 years which is quite annoying.

on agressiveness: the AI faction really are a bit too agressive but the imho the main problem is that all of them are constantly fighting a TOTAL WAR which in reality was rather seldom outside the roman republic/empire. none of the other factions in EB were as devoted to war as they are ingame. most of the time there were only minor skirmishes, meduim sized raids and maybe an overly ambituous warlord/king/general who hired a bunch of mercenaries and ran amok/went on campaign.
most of the time they did not have the whole factions support(hannibal is a good example). or internal struggles paralyzed the faction. rivality between satrapries/tribes/poleis/nobles meant that it was not possible to just pump out troops from every corner of the empire and conquer a neighboring faction.
RTW is made to represent a never ending total war between all included factions. the EB team has made the game a whole lot more complex and realisic but this is a barrier they will never overcome compleately. same goes for EB 2 just that the chances for a less stupid and trecherous AI are much better, it'll still be total war, just not all the time against you ;)

[DECEBALVS]

Really, the siege time must be limited to 1 or 2 turns of new EB [max half a year]. And the costs must be really expensive if you want to build siege weapons; maybe is not a bad idea to offer the option to build a counter-wall to be not attacked by the attacked. [Or to build a ramp, as romans did at Masada]

[Foot]

Really, the siege time must be limited to 1 or 2 turns of new EB [max half a year]. And the costs must be really expensive if you want to build siege weapons; maybe is not a bad idea to offer the option to build a counter-wall to be not attacked by the attacked. [Or to build a ramp, as romans did at Masada]

If only this was another game. Unfortunately we can only work with what we have, and those suggestions are not something we can really do.

Foot

[Horatius Flaccus]

Superpowers occur just as much in Medieval II as in Rome.

I don't agree. In my current campaign as England in SS6.4, after 250+ turns there is only one faction that has been destroyed (the HRE, ghe ghe ghe) and there is only one faction close to 'superpower' status: The Mongols (which is historical). Especially Europe is completely divided.

[WinsingtonIII]

Superpowers occur just as much in Medieval II as in Rome.

This may be true, but the diplomacy does seem to be somewhat better in that I've had allies in M2TW games (including modded games) that I have kept without them backstabbing me for the whole game (well... at least as long as I played). I don't think I've ever had that happen in EB1.