new to EB - the questions of a beginner

[frenchyvinnie]

Hi everyone!

I'm a fresh-faced new guy on this forum (pleased to meet ya all!).

I downloaded EB1 a few weeks ago and I've got some problems and questions concerning the mod.

The problem that's bothering me the most ATM concerns the military reforms. I've started a roman campaign, I'm currently in 200 BC, I own all of Italy and a good deal of the western Mediterranean, and yet, I'm still stuck with the good ol' units from the Camillan era.

Don't bother linking me to the mod FAQ, I'm not an idiot, I know it by heart already and I wouldn't be coming here had I found the solution to my problem in it.

The FAQ says that to unlock the Polybian reform, you need a selection of italian towns (I have them all) OR you have to wait until 210 BC (as I've said earlier, I'm already in 200 BC). The FAQ also says that you "need to upgrade your MIC to get the new units". But I can't build any new MIC in my Italian towns and I can't destroy the Camillan MIC!



Any help?

EDIT: And I've also noticed that other threads are already talking about this, but I've read them all and I am still none the wiser. Besides, I thought that hijacking someone else's thread would be rude. So... yeah, I'm basically spamming the forum. My bad.

[TheLastDays]

No worries about asking, that's what the forum's here for! Welcome!

No to your question:

Did you activate the EB script every time you started/reloaded your campaign?
You cannot destroy the Camillan MIC? If you right click the building in the town building browser, is the destruction button greyed out or what do you mean?
Do you own Sicily?

[Ca Putt]

welcome to EB! :)

Ehm, sounds strange to me. You did turn on the script, did you?

edit: yeah what he said :D

[Brennus]

Welcome! Hmmm, this is odd. Sorry I can't add anything more to your thread, I tend to spend most EB games killing Romans rather than leading them

[Maeran]

Welcome to the forum, and more importantly to EB!

When you say you cannot destroy the Camillan MIC, could you possibly be mistaking the 'Camillan Era' card for a barracks? The Era cards (Camillan, Polybian, Marian, Time of Soldiers etc.) cannot be destroyed, but they aren't the same as MICs. MIC of course being a shorthand for barracks, stables and so on that you are probably quite familiar with already, but I have to cover the bases just in case.

The big question is about the script. It includes a turn counter for all the "not before 242BC" conditions used by reforms, so if you haven't been turning it on every time you start then the script has no idea what year it is.

Also note that the MIC in each city has to be upgraded to get the reform units. The reforms will have happened (the advisor gives you a message and a "Polybian Era" card is added to every city) but if you have maxed out your MIC upgrades then you would actually have to destroy them and rebuild from the bottom (a good reason not to max them out early on.)

[frenchyvinnie]

Thanks a lot for all the replies so far guys!

Here are some more details on my situation, maybe they'll give answers to some of the things you pointed out. The EB FAQ says the following: "To unlock the Polybian reform, you need two of those cities: Segesta, Mediolanum, Patavium, Bononia (I have them all) OR own Sicilia (I conquered it a while ago already) OR wait until 210 BC (my campaign is currently in 200 BC)."

In addition, I received sometime after 210 BC a message saying that I had just unlocked a military reform.

Yet, I still cannot build the "polybian icon" in my italian towns, I'm still stuck with the Camillan units.


I read your suggestions, and notably destroyed and re-built the MICs in my italian towns, to no effect.

PS: I did confuse the MICs as barracks, stables, etc and the icons for the historical eras in your building browser. Thanks for pointing that out guys.


Now, I think the heart of the problem lies with the script...
What the hell is it supposed to be? How am I supposed to turn it on? The FAQ was a bit cryptic on the question.
I think it's the heart of the problem.

[Brennus]

When you start a new game or load a new game watch for the in game advisor button to appear at the top left of your screen. Clicking on your faction button or one of your cities will cause him to appear. Having clicked on his portrait he will ask you to activate the script which is done by clicking the "show me how" button immediately below his portrait.

[TheLastDays]

Well, if you actually got the message about having unlocked a military reform, you must have had the script acitvated.

Now it's really weird that your MICs are still Camillan. Maybe XSamatan has something to say about this.

[frenchyvinnie]

Thanks a lot guys!

Ok, so I activated this "script" (I never check the personal adviser, which explains why I never noticed it), ended on turn and something really weird happened. My campaign map didn't change nor did my family tree or anything in relation to the campaign itself except that the date was reverted to 236 BC (I was previously in 200 BC)! Which is quite weird because some people in my family tree are shown having died in a future date...

And I also have famous battles that will take place in the future with factions that no longer exist... Wait, what?

But I finally got my hands on the polybian era, that's the only thing that matters.

Thanks everyone!

[d'Arthez]

It seems like you never had activated the script before since 72 * 2 / 4 = 36, and 272 - 36 = 236.

Which probably will mean that all the other factions have not done much, since without it, they'll all be extremely deep in debt. Don't expect anything resembling quality opposition from your adversaries.

[frenchyvinnie]

It seems like you never had activated the script before since 72 * 2 / 4 = 36, and 272 - 36 = 236.

Which probably will mean that all the other factions have not done much, since without it, they'll all be extremely deep in debt. Don't expect anything resembling quality opposition from your adversaries.

Ah, that explains a few things too. So far, the campaign was somewhat of a walk in a park, except for the Ptolemaioi, who are already insanely powerful and beating the crap out of the seleucids (reminds me of vanilla TW actually).

By the way, do I have to activate the script each time I load my campaign until I reach the final reform?

[TheLastDays]

Ah, that explains a few things too. So far, the campaign was somewhat of a walk in a park, except for the Ptolemaioi, who are already insanely powerful and beating the crap out of the seleucids (reminds me of vanilla TW actually).

By the way, do I have to activate the script each time I load my campaign until I reach the final reform?

You should actually activate the script every time you reload/start an EB game because it is not only responsible for the reforms but also does a load of other things that enhance the EB experience. Playing without it really doesn't make much sense. Althoug, unfortunately, even the script doesn't do much to stop the Ptolemaioi.

[Blxz]

How do people still fail to activate the script? The advisor pops up and continues to pop up every turn you don't activate it. Wouldn't you be curious? Maybe he was trying to tell you what was wrong with your reforms?

[d'Arthez]

Not only will AI factions bankrupt themselves in the majority of cases without the script, it is also likely a lot of 400-populated ghost towns will be all they have. There is no challenge in it without the script: it is practically like beating someone at chess, when your opponent does not know the rules.

[Taedius]

How do people still fail to activate the script? The advisor pops up and continues to pop up every turn you don't activate it. Wouldn't you be curious? Maybe he was trying to tell you what was wrong with your reforms?

I don't know about other mods, but if he's used to vanilla, he's learnt to _ignore_ the advisor.

Can such a game be salvaged? You better start a new campain, my friend.

As for the script. Since I have virtually no knowledge of programing, and the workings of my computer is basically magic, I like to think of it this way: The Script is the deity of EB, and the proper form of worship is to bring up the advisor and click 'show me how' at the start of EVERY gaming session. Woe betide those who forget.

[Blxz]

True that, I'd go further and say that the script IS eb. Everything else is a nice pretty skin with a few mechanics changes. The script maketh the game, or at least enough of the core part of it.

[Kromulan]

That's pretty funny... the first time I came to this forum was to try and figure out how to make the stupid advisor quit popping up every turn.
<DOH>