Roman campaign

[lionhard]

Ok so im at the year 172 in my roman campaign using alexander, so not much is happening im gonna start it again and this time try and shape the world and its factions how i want them to be.

My question to everyone is, origionally i played it on Hard/Hard

How much harder are the battles over a long campaign period using very hard difficulity?

[applebreath]

Are you using EAEM or just playing alex, with what other mods?

Play VH campaign difficulty (if you want the hardest possible game), which still isn't that hard. Most importantly, try not to take advantage of obvious AI flaws. For example, if he sends his general ahead of the army, don't just attack it for an easy kill. Especially if it is just sitting there.

Also, I would recommend medium battle difficulty, not hard or very hard. I just don't see why people would want to see their units die against inferior units. To me, those kind of stat increases for the AI are too noticeable and hurts gameplay.

AND expand slowly..

-Apple

[lionhard]

its just EB with alex i wudnt change EB i wuv it, just want more of a challenge i wish i had done my origional campaign in very hard mode now shame iv spend 5 months running that campaign i dont have all the time in the world so shame that all that time is wasted and im doing it all over again :( oh well least i can learn from mistakes like, attacking germany be4 i was ready :P

[applebreath]

It's all a state of mind. Your time is only wasted if you truly believe that. It's all about how you look at things.

I'd recommend you add at least the following mini-mods (to improve AI):

AI Battle Formation Mods* ; by --Sinhuet and special thanks to Lysander13 for the compilation
Win Conditions; originally by JRMC and special thanks to konny for making a new 1.2 version
Phalanx mod;

Also :P, I don't know how anyone would prefer the original graphics over the following mini-mods:
RS Textures;
Naval strat map add on;
Getting Rid Of The Giant Trees Mod;

[lionhard]

what does RS textures do?

[applebreath]

Go to the following link and take a look (scroll down to find it), https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=105242.

They make the campaign graphics look very nice.

[seienchin]

Just play Hayasdan on VH/VH and you got your Challenge
And stop using Alex.exe. I got the feeling the AI is way more passive than in Rome or Bi.

[Macilrille]

If you want challenge, you should probably not play as the Romans, they are comparatively easy unless you limit yourself with roleplay and houserules. If you want EB challenge, play as Sweboz, Pontos or Bactria, Hayasdan or Saba...

[lionhard]

Wow ur right im starting to see modding in a different prespective :O thx apple :)

[applebreath]

Just play Hayasdan on VH/VH and you got your Challenge
And stop using Alex.exe. I got the feeling the AI is way more passive than in Rome or Bi.

This is such a hot topic. It is funny how it always ends in a circular argument.

I myself don't believe this. But the main reason I use alex.exe is because it IS the most stable version. You will still get CTD's, but not as many as the other .exe's.

Wow ur right im starting to see modding in a different prespective :O thx apple :)

:). EB is a great game on it's own. But there is more that they could have done with it, especially with BI and Alex. But instead, they moved onto EB2. These "mini" mods are more about fine tuning, not majorly changing an already great game, enjoy.

I can really only think of ONE EB mod that makes major changes to EB, were it's actually a different game.

[lionhard]

I think a few people should come togeather and test a few versions on EB on each game and come to a conclusion because like apple says its never ending contradiction :s

[Knight of Heaven]

This is such a hot topic. It is funny how it always ends in a circular argument.

I myself don't believe this. But the main reason I use alex.exe is because it IS the most stable version. You will still get CTD's, but not as many as the other .exe's.

I disagree, i was using Alex exe , some time ago, and at first i never had Ctd, but after some time i keep getting ctds in campaing very often, and they start to corrupt some save games.
im using RTw exe, and im very happi with it, just need to have some patience and wait when leaving the batle map, thats all.

[applebreath]

I disagree, i was using Alex exe , some time ago, and at first i never had Ctd, but after some time i keep getting ctds in campaing very often, and they start to corrupt some save games

The same thing could happen in any of the other .exe's. It can be very hard to actually pinpoint the problem.

Your the first that I've seen say alex causes more CTD's.

[Blxz]

Does anyone get CTD's when they click one of the 'Occupy, expel, enslave' buttons after a battle? I have just had my most recent of 6 CTD's there today. They are the main ones for me. It must be the script. Has to be the script. Something to do with damaging the government building, maybe it glitches sometimes?

Other times I blame the quotes. I don't know if it has been tested but I know of other mods having issues that were pin-pointed down to their quotes causing CTD's. Can't imagine how it happens, might be one buggy quote that would CTD whenever it decides to try and use that one.

Hope the EB2 mod would be more stable, any other program (i'm looking at you microsoft) would get slammed if it was as unstable as EB. Those bugs need to be ironed out if possible, they are game disrupting. I won't even comment on the spelling mistakes I have been noticing in-game.

[/critisism]

[applebreath]

You can limit those kind of CTD's if you just wait a good 15 seconds after your battle ends. You do this wait when you are looking at the statistics of the battle, before you actually exit that screen and move onto the "Occupy, expel, enslave button" part. You also should NEVER save right before a battle. That will cause the same kind of CTD's.

I also don't quite understand why there are these CTD's. I don't think they do either.

[lionhard]

Apple how much harder exactly is very hard than hard mode, im not joking its a daunting task recompleting in very hard what iv done in hard mode, i know u say its all a state of mind but i cant get this off my mind :s

[lionhard]

Il re-phrase that, is it much more noticable, ecpecially when it comes to the AI being more aggressive to other AI factions boardering them, on hard mode things between AI factions r slow after 30 years pass

[applebreath]

Apple how much harder exactly is very hard than hard mode, im not joking its a daunting task recompleting in very hard what iv done in hard mode, i know u say its all a state of mind but i cant get this off my mind :s

I'd say the difference is significant. The AI is more aggressive. They will build better/more of everything. This will lead to them "spamming" armies against you, which could lead to you losing some battles. Still, you as the human will eventually win the game. But, imo, the process of victory is more fun in VH.

Expand slowly though..

Another thing to keep in mind is that the more you expand, the more enemies (spam) you will be against, as diplomacy is non-existent (relatively) with VH.

Il re-phrase that, is it much more noticable, ecpecially when it comes to the AI being more aggressive to other AI factions boardering them, on hard mode things between AI factions r slow after 30 years pass

For some reason, this can vary from game to game. But with VH, and imo with the "win conditions mod", you have the highest chance of the AI expanding the most.

I usually take about 10-15 cities quickly (what I call my core cities), then roleplay civ-like building (among other things) for a long long time before I expand more (I'll probably have in the millions before I start expanding again). Then I go very slow expanding. This gives the AI plenty of time to expand. I have seen some pretty huge AI empires before, even in vanilla. It just varies.

[Marcus Ulpius]

Well, the diplomacy is non-existent at any difficulty level. After some time the AI will refuse any ceasefire, or will make ridiculous demands (like demanding a tribute for ending the war, while being torn to pieces). Sometimes I think what a wonderful game would be RTW EB with EU diplomacy.

[lionhard]

Whats EU?

[Blxz]

Whats EU?

EU is a game that claims to have beautiful diplomacy but has a similar major failing as TW games. Some wars end up being 50 - 80% and the only way to end them is by suggesting a white peace. Stupid AI refuses peace sometimes. Frustrating.

[Marcus Ulpius]

EU is a game that claims to have beautiful diplomacy but has a similar major failing as TW games. Some wars end up being 50 - 80% and the only way to end them is by suggesting a white peace. Stupid AI refuses peace sometimes. Frustrating.

EU diplomacy is not perfect, but in most cases is reasonable and plays an important role in the game. On the other hand, in RTW you could remove the diplomacy altogether and you'd hardly notice that. I understand that EU and RTW are not the same type of game, but in RTW at least some diplomacy could be expected. Unfortunately, there's none.

P.S. Btw, EU = Europa Universalis.

P.P.S. My 200th post :)

[Leão magno]

Try force diplomacy. I was not sure about it so I did not used it for long, but now, I am loving the idea of shaping diplomacy my way (not necessarily in my favor).

[seienchin]

Well, the diplomacy is non-existent at any difficulty level. After some time the AI will refuse any ceasefire, or will make ridiculous demands (like demanding a tribute for ending the war, while being torn to pieces). Sometimes I think what a wonderful game would be RTW EB with EU diplomacy.

Thats not true.
I fought so many battles in EB and the AI always asked for peace after some time. On Hard mode.
My problem with VH is that every Ai factions is activly working against the player if hes is near to them and completly ignores the other AI factions.

[lionhard]

ser my problem with hard mode is that the AI factions dont seem to want to fight each other, so i have recently started very hard mode, to try and get the aggression between AI factions higher, Also its more of a challenge i read due to the AI spawning more men and teching up faster

[Cambyses]

EU is a game that claims to have beautiful diplomacy but has a similar major failing as TW games. Some wars end up being 50 - 80% and the only way to end them is by suggesting a white peace. Stupid AI refuses peace sometimes. Frustrating.

Come on, the diplomacy in EU is vastly superior to TW. A "white peace" is also a very common solution in real life peace deals, when one side is not prepared to actually surrender. Although Im not sure the small gains you get from winning most wars are necessarily more realistic - in game terms they are an excellent way of slowing down the human player from expanding too quickly.


Anyway, back on topic. The best settings for an experienced player that wants a challenge without having to play in a gamey way is IMO very hard campaign / hard battles. Most people can win in their sleep on medium, so you do need to give the AI some kind of advantage! The higher casualties at hard level also tend to help slow your advance down and even occassionally make you lose *shock, horror, gasp*.

[lionhard]

If only their was a mod that would give the AI a brain to field better armies making sure a suitable family member or general led them it would be a good enough challenge