No way to economically kill the AI?

[name]

For there's the money script keeping the AI out of debt, so I guess that it's not possible to prevent an enemy from recruiting by ruining their economy(blockade port etc).

OR is there a way?

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

They will eventually recruit huge amounts of units that will keep their economy in balance. If you blockade them at that point, they will go into debt and not be able to build anything more. If you destroy their armies, though, they will be back in the green.

[jhhowell]

For there's the money script keeping the AI out of debt, so I guess that it's not possible to prevent an enemy from recruiting by ruining their economy(blockade port etc).

OR is there a way?

Money is so plentiful that I doubt there's any reliable way to keep a sizeable power from recruiting that way. However, I have found it effective to station assassins next to several major enemy cities, trashing the barracks every turn. The AI likely can recruit elsewhere, but they'll be far away and may be trash. In my example fighting the Ptolemies, knocking down the Alexandria and Memphis barracks every turn has kept them from making more Galatians or Klerouchikon Agema, while small stacks of Iudaioi Taxeis and Pantodapoi keep marching in from the east, and a few Ethiopian Agema from the south.

[GracchusTheGreat]

Sounds a bit tedious though, eh?

Besides, meeting the enemy's best units on the battlefield is what the game's all about! Truly frustrating is having to fight endless stacks of skirmishers and various assorted push overs.

Ultimately, the game is most fun when the player is the one having to react to aggressive enemies rather than to mechanistically build an empire at his whim. Nothing beats being pressed on all sides and then at the decisive moment diving into a risky win-or-lose-all battle against greater numbers!

I'd recommend playing by some set of "house rules" to make the game more of a challenge. The designers of EB, I believe, give the computer so much money because, thanks to CA, it can't be given any more brains! The golden rule, then, is not to do unto the AI that which the AI is too hard-coded to do unto you. No EB player has ever been massively blockaded or had his barracks sabotaged on every turn.

[bovi]

The game is not economically balanced yet. The various fanmade balancing found in the unofficial mods section is a popular choice to ease the amount of stacks the AI sends.

As for me, I send expeditionary forces to raid the enemy cities. Raze everything if you like, or only his production if you intend to retake the city and hold it a bit later. It will cripple his unit production and he'll have to resort to lowlevel units that can be easily beaten in droves.

[Liberator]

I never tried this out but you could damage all their importent recruitment buildings every turn with assassines... couldn't you?!

[Burns]

Its the only way to control Elite African Infantry spams. I do see it now though I keep killing those pesky Sweboz and more show up the next turn. I think ill just take an army and start burning their cities. What are the odds they'll go rebel instead of returning to Sweboz after I move on? Problem is that its not very effective due to all those hinterland buildings.

[bovi]

Err... The unit production facilities are not hinterland, so raiding works wonders. I think the odds are about 50-50 for faction/rebel ownership when you leave it to revolt.

[jhhowell]

Sounds a bit tedious though, eh?

Besides, meeting the enemy's best units on the battlefield is what the game's all about! Truly frustrating is having to fight endless stacks of skirmishers and various assorted push overs.

I'd recommend playing by some set of "house rules" to make the game more of a challenge. The designers of EB, I believe, give the computer so much money because, thanks to CA, it can't be given any more brains! The golden rule, then, is not to do unto the AI that which the AI is too hard-coded to do unto you. No EB player has ever been massively blockaded or had his barracks sabotaged on every turn.

As soon as the TW series includes a real diplomacy system, I'll start using more restrained house rules. The tedium of knocking down barracks and whacking small low quality reinforcement armies is nothing compared to the tedium of wiping out elite full stacks - kill count ~15-20k of Ptolemaioi elites by now. They've lost the war, the game just doesn't have the diplomacy system for the AI to recognize the fact and stop bothering me (if I were willing to let them, which I am in this case). And I'm using one of the money scripts - I dare say I would have quit by now without it. Even so I doubt I'll have the patience to get to the Marian reforms... Especially if the new EB release comes out soon, as people seem to be speculating!

[Morte66]

I'd recommend playing by some set of "house rules" to make the game more of a challenge. The designers of EB, I believe, give the computer so much money because, thanks to CA, it can't be given any more brains! The golden rule, then, is not to do unto the AI that which the AI is too hard-coded to do unto you. No EB player has ever been massively blockaded or had his barracks sabotaged on every turn.

It says on the EB main page "you have brains and the AI has money". You figure I should let the AI operate armies three times the size of what a player could afford from the same cities, but switch off my brain?

No way, Jose.

[micasa]

I've noticed that everyone likes playing their own game. With the historians, academics and archeologists on this site (the sheer number did surprise me in the beginning) I'm sure many of them prefer to replicate history as much as possible.

For people like me who grew up with picture books of Roman legions building forts, conquering cities with impressive siege engines and ranks of disciplined soldiers, bashing heads, bribing, gifting and, occasionally, running away, is fun.

I turn to assassins sabotaging buildings every turn when the fun factor dips and turn away from them when it rises. Sometimes I strike deep into enemy territory with a full stack just because I can and it's fun to see how long the general and his army will survive and what they can accomplish. Sometimes I just want to know what's going on on the other side of the map and send a fleet with a couple of spies and diplomats to check it out. But mostly I enjoy large scale, set piece battles in open terrain where I can see what's going on and try to out-manoeuvre my opponent. And, of course, putting together half stacks to battle full enemy stacks just to see if it can be done and which units work best.

On that note I enjoy a gaggle of Triarii employed like a phalanx with some Hellenic Heavy Skirmishers and Heavy Roman Cavalry dodging around the flanks to hit them in the rear. It's all fun until my General loses an eye!

But, ultimately, as the guide states, the player has a brain and the AI has money and so I seek and take all the opportunities that I can while allowing the AI to capitalise on its own. It keeps me on my toes.