0.8x AI Faction Progression

[Thaatu]

About the Ptolemy vs. Seleukid power struggle, historically didn't the Ptolemaic holdings in Asia minor rebel at some point, after which they were taken by Seleukids? In game Seleukids never seem to take hold of southern Asia minor, so if those settlements would be more difficult to hold for Ptolemaics maybe that would balance the power a little bit. Ptolemaics seem to beat Seleukids even without help from other factions, and one might argue that Seleukid Empire was stronger, but it just had too many borders to hold. So maybe Ptolemaios needs to be nerfed.


By the way, I'm playing as Baktria and in about 265 BC Seleukids declared war on me, but there were no special messages or anything. Do they only trigger when Baktria attacks Seleukids, or are they not enabled in 0.8?

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

...maybe nerf Baktria...

Second.

[Teleklos Archelaou]

Those special messages were for the old roman civil war event. With the senate gone and turned into saba, it doesn't occur anymore unfortunately. I had done those images and text work, so I'm a little sad about it, but I don't think much can be done about it.

[Moros]

Did he? As the Casse in 20 years I would think that a challenge. He didn't say that he did it that I saw - just that the Romans "were" destroyed. Was there a map somewhere?

Oh yes you're right. I mixed two posts up.

[BozosLiveHere]

Those special messages were for the old roman civil war event. With the senate gone and turned into saba, it doesn't occur anymore unfortunately. I had done those images and text work, so I'm a little sad about it, but I don't think much can be done about it.

I did the best I could to adapt event_strings (I believe that was the file) to the new culture groups so that we could still get that event. If those messages aren't showing up at all, even when the baktrian player breaks the alliance, we could try and find an alternative in the scripts.

[Bava]

Update of my makedonian compaign, 226 BCE, H/H with BI-exe and Oleo´s africa wars edit.





Well, Baktria is...just huge. They have by far the largest army and wipped the floor with poor Seleukids. The Saka, Sauromatae and Hayasdan are their protectorates and the baktria-ptolemy war has begun 3 turns ago.

Any bets who´ll win?

Sabae is one of the 5 most powerful factions (i´m third ) and at war with ptolemy atm.

The Getae are my trustful allies since turn 2 (yes, AI diplomacy works from time to time), but havent done anything meaningful yet.

Quart Hadasht keeps sending stack after stack to sicily and is a real pain in the ass as it even invades italy sometimes.

Carthaginem esse delendam!!!!!


A very interresting campaign so far!

[Oleo]

10 years later (200 BC):

Oleo - a very interesting set of pics.
-I also love that Baktrian empire and the way the parthians have expanded into their own empire in the right place (if they could continue to knock out the seleukids and even some soutwest baktrians that'd be great)

Baktria is just to strong I guess.

[Thaatu]

Observations:

1. Baktria is crazy.
2. Ptolemaioi is a little nuts too.
3. Romans first invade Gaul and maybe after that Sicily. Also they are very reluctant to attack Epirotes in southern Italy. Goes a little backwards...

4. In 1.5 AI changes capitals if their empire gets too big. Can this be disabled? It for one screws up Seleukid Empire's unrest in the eastern provinces, when they switch their capital to Susa. It would be embarassing if Romans or Carthage changed their capitals...


Edit: Too bad about the special messages. Can they be done with traits or the advisor?

[Casuir]

They do (rome and carthage)

[Barnabas]

As Pontos, 253bc running under BI.exe on VH (campaign) and M (battles)

An update at 245bc, 8 years later (I'll keep it at a nice 10 years of progression per time after this. Sorry for starting at an odd 253 )



The WEST I thought Seleucia was down and out, but they have come roaring back. They've taken another couple provinces from the Ptolemies, who are fighting hard with the Qarthadasim (at least coastal-only battles at this point). Saba lost a province to Seleucia, then sued for peace. Baktria is having problems with rebels, and Saro, Saka, the Getai, and Hadast, as well as the new Armenian faction (sorry, their name escapes me at the moment) are all stagnant and have been from the very start. Rebel provinces would've been more active, which is too bad.

The EAST Makedon was in control, but that was 8 years ago. I purchased lesbos and Nicea for around 150,000 gold each, which really hurt Makedon. Epeiros turned their focus, along with KH's help, against Makedon. I spread the plague in three Makedon provinces, in two provinces of the Epirotes, and in a rebel province near the Getai (hoping to make that faction start doing something!). The Epirotes are rolling right along with their KH brothers. Only Thermon, the "C" isle by Athens, and a small village by the Getai are still in Makedon's hands. All but the small village are sparsely defended. Makedon will be gone in 10 years at the longest.

For some reason the Qarthadastim have 3 full stacks in southern Iberia, but they have yet to move out of that point. Roman legions are fighting against Qarthadastim warriors on Corsica and Sardina (sorry for forgetting the older names). Qarthadastim has even launched a few forrays on Romanii soil, though they have not made any gains.

The Averni and Aeudi have made gains, and now are at war with the Romanii (as well as each other). A divided Gaul most likely means the Romans will take home the cake, but that remains to be seen.

Sweboz, Casse, and Lusotania might as well be rebel cities, as they haven't done anything all game. Casse was very nearly eliminated by a stack of Eleutheroi a few years ago, and is in critical condition at the moment.

[Cheexsta]

4. In 1.5 AI changes capitals if their empire gets too big. Can this be disabled? It for one screws up Seleukid Empire's unrest in the eastern provinces, when they switch their capital to Susa. It would be embarassing if Romans or Carthage changed their capitals...

I noticed this, too, but I thought I was just imagining things In my game, Carthage moved its capital to Mastia (before I captured it), while the Ptolemies moved their capital to Hierosolyma and the Koinon Hellenon moved theirs to Chalkis. I think it's rather interesting, actually...

Edit: Too bad about the special messages. Can they be done with traits or the advisor?

Perhaps it can be scripted using the test_message command? Just a simple monitor for a war between Baktria and the Seleucids, and maybe a counter thrown in there so the message is only displayed once...

Just an idea.

Edit: a quick update on my Romani campaign, 220BC. I'm finding it hard to get the time to play between work and modding, but I'm getting there



The Iberian Wars, contrary to history, were short and sweet; in just two battles, the Lusitani armies were crippled and their hegemony fell apart. The remains of their small 'empire' is weak and no longer a threat to the people of Rome.

Elsewhere, Epeiros conquered Makedonia, which spurred the Roman Senate to send two Legions and a diplomat to convince the King of Epirus to lay down arms and surrender Pella. Of course, the king refused and Rome declared war. Two more Legions were raised and sent to the Hellenic mainland and conquered the rest of Epirus itself. The king fled to the north, but the Roman armies were unable to pursue because of the Koinon Hellenon breaking its alliance with Rome and attacking its newly-conquered lands - clearly they were not impressed with my defence of Makedonia, with whom the Greeks were at war for quite a while. Four more Legions are being raised in Italy to deal with this new threat.

In Africa, the Carthaginians have been supplying the Epirotes with grain to support its armies - that's a clear enough casus belli, don't you think? The 3rd Punic War may well be under way soon...

[Lucasiewicz]

4. In 1.5 AI changes capitals if their empire gets too big. Can this be disabled? It for one screws up Seleukid Empire's unrest in the eastern provinces, when they switch their capital to Susa. It would be embarassing if Romans or Carthage changed their capitals...

Maybe it's out of date for this mod, but may I recall that the Romans did historically move their capital.

[Thaatu]

Maybe it's out of date for this mod, but may I recall that the Romans did historically move their capital.

Well Rome split up to western and eastern empires in about 300AD, but Rome remained the capital of the western empire. Not many of EB factions historically switched capitals during 272BC-(whenever the game ends). One that I think was Seleukeia switched to Antiocheia, I'm not sure about it though...

[abou]

Towards the end of the Western Empire's life, the capital was changed to Ravenna.

[BozosLiveHere]

Perhaps it can be scripted using the test_message command? Just a simple monitor for a war between Baktria and the Seleucids, and maybe a counter thrown in there so the message is only displayed once...

That's how we scripted them in the first place, using the roman civil war slots. My fear is that the fact that the roman factions don't belong to the roman culture anymore may be causing issues with the engine.

[-Praetor-]

Okey, the baktrians definitively need to be toned down... a lot... in 3 of the the last 4 pics we all have seen the monster they become pretty early in the game, obliterating most of the Parthians and the Sakas (WIP faction, I know).

IMHO (In my humble opinion)

On another matter, sorry that I don`t have a pic for this, but in my Makedonian Campaign, the parthians just got wiped out in 264 by the seleukids, effectively making them the first faction that I see wiped out in all my EB 0.8 games. Just felt the need to inform you of this...

Cheers!!!!

[Teleklos Archelaou]

Parthians will probably get a major major overhaul (and will be the most unique faction in the game when it's done) in the patch after our next one. One thing our next one will include is three extra spies for Pahlava at the start. We're hoping the AI sees a little more rebellion in those Seleukid territories south of the Pahlava. But it hasn't really made a big dent in the one campaign I've run so far.

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

I have just reached 230 (my AI progress is irrelevant because I have been helping out half of them and trying to cripple the other half), but I have noticed that nearly all the towns on the map are maxing out in size. (Exceptions being ipsos, desert settlements, sinope, and damaskos (ironic on the last two).)

So I have a question for those of you who have played for several decades: Are all of the AI towns (and infact your own), especially the rebels, maxed out in size for their culture?

[Gazius]

I thought there might be some interest from the results of a AI game I've been running for a while.


215 BC. No script, since its an AI game, and BI. I'd strongly recommend to any player that has the spare cash to get it in some format, I tried a game with 1.5, on accident, and it was boring compared to BI. I'd have to say the jump between 1.5 and 1.6 is the biggest improvement in AI I've seen. And I'm loving every minute of it.

-Iberians are quick pickings for carthage if they choose to attack

-carthage itself could probaby take out epeiros in italy, and sieze what it needs from rome no problem if they moved their forces out of africa

-rome.... doesn't give a rip about italy they're chasing after the large amounts of towns in the direction their heading that have VERY small garrisons

-The Aedui have larger army, but overall I think arverni control more land. Seems pretty well balanced between the two

-Casse almost control all of the Isles, however the huge number of stacks, and the overwhelming number of ships in those stacks will probably prevent a naval invasion from ever occuring.

- Sweboz, sarmatians, and Getai are the undead. Doesn't the script where, if they have armies in other people's land, they get money, at least for sweboz and getai? Could that be boosted if the faction is played by the AI? I get the same results whether its a game I'm playing, or just an AI game. I've yet to see the getai and to a large extent sweboz expand beyond their starting positions in any of the games I've played.

-Epeiros just attacked carthage, so we may see a punic war with them instead of Rome, that should be interesting, especially if carthage navally invades greece. I'd say their forces in the area are well matched, epeiros might have the upper hand at the moment, but I suspect carthage will get off its ass and attack

-KH is about ready to take out pella, and it looks like chalkis shouldn't be far behind, considering that they have a huge army at athens

-Hayasdan have the way, but not the will, same with saka.

-Baktria could pose a threat to seleukia if they could make a stack. They probably have two full ones, but their so splintered its pathetic.

-Pahlava are making a half-hearted attempt at Baktria

-Saba seems to have the most life in the east, and after this was taken they started to make a come back. (214)

-Despite the map mod, carthage still has a army in the province south of Kyrene, and Ptolemy, albeit in a very stupid direction, is heading over to attack I think. They could challenge Seleukia if they wanted, but they just mill around.

-Pontos is fish food

-Seleukia surprised me by controlling so much. However, their army/empire size ratio is quite low, thankfully there's no strong opposition to them at the moment otherwise I imagine they'd collapse. Not that there's a event or trait like the EB page describes as far as I know. They're rtying to push KH out of asia minor right now.

That about sums it up, I can't think of anything else to note on.

[Bava]

Makedonian campaign, 220 BCE, BI-exe.





Count the baktrian stacks

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Even if i wanted to fight all these armies on the battlemap (i dont), it would be impossible as most of them have 1 or 2 Baktrian Hippeis (-> CTD).
At least the army upkeep has put a serious dent in their economy...their treasury is below 400,000 mnai now.


Reminds me somehow of RTR Macedon (the black plague ).

@MarcusAureliusAntoninus

Yes, even the most remote towns have a population of ~ 20000 now.

Despite the map mod, carthage still has a army in the province south of Kyrene

I noticed the same, they´re sending their stacks to kyrene with ships now.

[Justiciar]

I like how the Romans are no longer Roman, and are instead some strange Central European power founded, essentially, by remnants of the Roman army cut off at the frontiers. Brulliant. Some really interesting games going on here.

[Kugutsu]

Bactria in my campaign has become a monster too, protectorating Saka and wiping out the Parthians. Im hoping that they will take some Seleukid attention away from me soon, but Im not looking forward to the day when we meet...

I noticed that every town is a large or huge city, population growth needs to be seriously limited. It ridiculous to have a world in 240BC littered with towns of 30-odd thousand people. And thats even on the steppes...

Rome also has remained steadfastly allied to Carthage, and is instead pursuing a crusade against the gauls. The Arverni have already fallen, and the Aedui are on the ropes. No Punic wars in sight.

Changes from 249BC:

To 242BC:


Casse, Sweboz and Lusetanns have still done nothing, Getai finally made a move and took the province to the south of their start point, but a full stack of epirots is lurking near that city, so I dont know how long they will hold it for. The fact that Epeiros has nearly surrounded the Getai doesnt bode well for them...

[Sdragon]

I like how the Romans are no longer Roman, and are instead some strange Central European power founded, essentially, by remnants of the Roman army cut off at the frontiers. Brulliant. Some really interesting games going on here.

Indeed, the Holy Roman Empire has arrived early in that game.

[Bava]

Indeed, the Holy Roman Empire has arrived early in that game.

Good one.

Maybe i should give the getai a new home at the lovely shores of Quart Hadasht? Would be nice to have some vandals in the game, imo...

[Gazius]

I won't be continuing as it constantly CTD's on Epeiros turn.

[QwertyMIDX]

Is this an -ai game or are you controlling one of the factions?

[Gazius]

No script, since its an AI game, and BI.

As mentioned in my first post.

[Moros]

love the aedui in that game!

[Zero1]

Makedonian campaign, 220 BCE, BI-exe.





Count the baktrian stacks

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Even if i wanted to fight all these armies on the battlemap (i dont), it would be impossible as most of them have 1 or 2 Baktrian Hippeis (-> CTD).
At least the army upkeep has put a serious dent in their economy...their treasury is below 400,000 mnai now.


Reminds me somehow of RTR Macedon (the black plague ).

@MarcusAureliusAntoninus

Yes, even the most remote towns have a population of ~ 20000 now.




I noticed the same, they´re sending their stacks to kyrene with ships now.

HOOOOOLY SMOOOOKES!

Look at Baktria go!, they've formed a neo-Persian Indo-Greek empire

[Constantine the Great]

I counted roughly 14 stacks, when you add some of those smaller armies together. They may be impossible to stop.