best .exe to play?

[m046720]

what is the best exe to play on? i have been playing soley rtw.exe, and i love it but i read that guys are playing on alex.exe and bi.exe. what are the benefits to this?

[Apázlinemjó]

Well, night battles, navy invasions and a bit improved AI.

[Cute Wolf]

I had experience play with Both, but later, I prefer BI over Alex because a things (Swimming, and the AI ability to create superpowers with their offensive capability), but on overall field Battle, ALEX won the terms.

BI.exe = more naval invasion, capable to add swimming and shieldwalls, AI is better than RTW in terms of formation moving and muster a well balanced army, but the Ridiculously naval- centered AI and extremely exspensive EB naval upkeep means that sooner or later, you'll deal with many underfinanced enemies, and one or two Superpowers.

ALEX.exe = less naval invasion than BI, but often very well timed. The AI will always try to balance their economy first as it seems, but it often means that blitzkrieg is an effective way to deal with them (well, originally, ALEX campaign was about Megas Alexandros' Blitzkrieg on Persia). The AI will pay attention to your movement on the field of battle, and even behaves really reasonably, but on the other hand, extremely cautious AI means that they are not as offensive. (but ONCE they decide to invade you, they'll do it in terms of Multiple stacks)

[m046720]

is ales.exe like bi.exe where you need to have another disk? or is it downloaded?

[DaciaJC]

ALEX.exe = less naval invasion than BI, but often very well timed. The AI will always try to balance their economy first as it seems, but it often means that blitzkrieg is an effective way to deal with them (well, originally, ALEX campaign was about Megas Alexandros' Blitzkrieg on Persia). The AI will pay attention to your movement on the field of battle, and even behaves really reasonably, but on the other hand, extremely cautious AI means that they are not as offensive. (but ONCE they decide to invade you, they'll do it in terms of Multiple stacks)

Also, in ALEX.exe, the AI will retrain troops. Because of the substantial experience gained in auto-calculated battles, you will often see stacks of 2-3 silver chevroned troops, much like the super-stacks found in Central Europe.

[Cute Wolf]

Also, in ALEX.exe, the AI will retrain troops. Because of the substantial experience gained in auto-calculated battles, you will often see stacks of 2-3 silver chevroned troops, much like the super-stacks found in Central Europe.

NO, BOTH retrain troops.... oh, I forgot to mention that.... Thanks

[Dewirix]

In terms of the benefits of Alex.exe, I seem to remember it being a bit more challenging on the battlefield, with enemy armies making a better show of sticking together and trying to turn flanks. That said, it's been a while since I played Rome.exe, so might just be wishful thinking on my part.

For me, the greatest benefit has been stability. In my current Aedui campaign (think I'm around 218 BC), I've had about one CTD tops. Back on Rome.exe my game was falling over all the time, to the point where I used to finish a stack's turn by building a fort so I didn't have to fight multiple battles during the AI turn.

The above should come with the health warning that I'm probably not using the exact hardware/software configuration now, so it's impossible to say for certain that it's all down to Alex.exe.

I have about five minutes' experience with BI.exe, so I'm not going to comment on it.

[Ludens]

is ales.exe like bi.exe where you need to have another disk? or is it downloaded?

Alex.exe refers to the Alexander expansion of R:TW. This was a downloadable expansion, although you can also get it on a disk.

As for A.I., apart from the naval invasions I never noted much difference between standard R:TW and BI. BI does allow you to add certain abilities (swimming, shielwall, schiltrom, night-battles), but these need to be manually added or you need to download a special mod for this. I still haven't tried EB on alex.exe yet.

[dejan07]

I was playing Alx,exe for a long time and finally switched to Bi and i am having the best campaign of my lifetime.The BI.exe is the best choice.

[Whatever Scortamareva]

I've only ever played rtw.exe and alx.exe, I chose alx after hearing it was far better than BI. So far, after playing it for around a month, I'm pretty satisfied with it. The naval invasions are great, and the game seems so much more realistic in terms of AI management etc. I'd recommend it to anyone.

[moonburn]

Alex.exe refers to the Alexander expansion of R:TW. This was a downloadable expansion, although you can also get it on a disk.

downloadable where ? and for how much ?

[mountaingoat]

you can just download or obtain the alex.exe file , check out the alexsubmod forum ...

[DaciaJC]

you can just download or obtain the alex.exe file , check out the alexsubmod forum ...

You need to buy the Alexander expansion. You can try this.

You'll want this in order to actually EB via ALEX.exe.

[Ibrahim]

hands down, its alex.exe

[satalexton]

agree there, it runs faster since I don't build gamer-rigs anymore =/

[fleaza]

alexander.exe is better imo. the main reason being that EAEM adds so much to the game its a completely new experience. you wont have a rome a mere 8000 population town, it will be a 20000 man city with developed infrastructure. also, since every building takes MUCH longer to make, losing your most developed setlements can have a massive impact on your strategy. each building also provides much more benefits so if you dont manage your economy and save up to build that crucial gold mine, you might regret it later on in the campaign becuase youre losing out on 20k income per turn.

i know we're just talking about engines but maksimus did a great job on EAEM and i just wanted to give him some kudos for it lol

[tls5669]

Some people like Alex, but I dont like giving up shield wall, which I use A LOT, so therefore I use BI. It would be nice if EB/BI had schiltrom.

[plastictree]

I have two potentially dumb questions, since I'm pretty sure at some point I must have switched to using RTW.exe instead of BI.exe (there was several reinstalls a while ago), as I haven't had a single naval invasion in any campaign recently, and I'm currently up to about 170AD -

1. Can you change .exe mid-campaign? Or will it either a) not work or b) not have any impact on gameplay.

2. What is involved in changing which .exe is used? I had assumed it would be simply a matter of changing the .exe used in the EB shortcut, but not sure.

[Whatever Scortamareva]

1. No, because of the fact that the whole engine changes it isnt save game compatible, so you'll have to start a new campaign.

2. It's fairly easy, to use alx.exe (which i'm assuming you will because it's the better one ) it's pretty much a case of changing the exe and fixing a few files. Go here and all is explained.

[seienchin]

Some people like Alex, but I dont like giving up shield wall, which I use A LOT, so therefore I use BI. It would be nice if EB/BI had schiltrom.

On the oher Hand, without AI Improvement Mods BI is unplayable, because the enemy always tries to form a long line, which can be easily broken.

[plastictree]

What about switching from the RTW to the BI exe? I dont have Alex yet, and don't have money spare to buy it for a while.

[fleaza]

ive switched from rtw to BI exe and it works. the only problem is is that there is no point. BI ai isnt any better than RTW ai and units that should normally get the shield wall dont. you have to start a new game on BI.exe to gain all the new functions. otherwise the campaign works fine.

seriously, forget about rtw and bi.exe. just get EAEM and play the extneded alexander mod. i can upload a descr.strat file where the rebel stacks are weaker and it wont take the AI a couple hundred years just to expand. just send me a PM and i will send you mine.

i just uploaded my EB-Alex descr strat file in .rar form. make sure you backup your old descr_strat before replacing it. if it doesnt work just PM me

[Ludens]

ive switched from rtw to BI exe and it works. the only problem is is that there is no point. BI ai isnt any better than RTW ai and units that should normally get the shield wall dont. you have to start a new game on BI.exe to gain all the new functions. otherwise the campaign works fine.

I've you want to get the extra options of BI, such as swimming, shield wall and night battles, you'll have to edit EB because these were never included. The only noticeable difference between the A.I. of R:TW and BI is that it is not capable of naval invasions. Although this may lead to another kind of A.I. stupidity: that of pointless, undermanned naval invasions just because your faction happens to be on the opposite side of the sea.

[bobbin]

Done forget the possibilty of hordes as well, it requires a bit of work but if you do it right they work a treat.

[fleaza]

yes ive experienced ai stupidity by playing BI EB. sigh, the creators made a really good game but the technical aspects of it are shocking sometimes

[Cute Wolf]

BI.exe is marginally better than ALEX though.... undermanned naval invasion is sometimes better to act as roleplaying "raid"

And I got tired adding can_swim traits to most light infantry units..... but it worth it...

[fleaza]

ummm you cant really emulate a raid in the rtw system. its not like the AI leaves a settlement empty for you to exterminate and leave.

alx provides a better battlefield AI and when it does invade by sea it does it properly. it also retrains!

[The General]

Vanilla < BI < Alex or Vanilla < Alex < BI

Depends on preferences.

I've only got R:TW and BI, so I've only played with those two exes, and I've been liking the BI, especially naval invasions. In a recent Romani campaign Qarthadastim landed a small army near Capua without DoW, and landed more, and larger, armies later in the game. whatever reason Makedon decided that being at war with Epeiros, KH and AS was not enough (and they had lost Pella already) and landed two three-quarter-full armies near Taras and blockaded the ports of Rhegion and Taras, and so I had invasions coming from both West and East before I built up my navy.

Makes things a lot more interesting, them naval invasions.

[fleaza]

oh btw, the file i uploaded still has very powerful rebel stacks but theyre are no more double rebel stacks where one stack is standing by the entranceof the city except in india, pergamum and the steppes. i left those places powerful on purpose.

[Raygereio]

1. No, because of the fact that the whole engine changes it isnt save game compatible, so you'll have to start a new campaign.

Not true in my experience. Changing .exe's is save game compatible.

However; modding the export_descr_character_traits.txt file isn't.
If you want night battles in both BI and alex or want to avoid having the immortal family members in alex, you have to edit that file.
Once you've started a champaign with those changes allready made, you can switch between .exe's all you want.