Europa Barbarorum II FAQ
Europa Barbarorum II FAQ
About the Mod
Q: What is EB?
A: Europa Barbarorum was started to more accurately represent the barbarian factions in Rome - Total War as more than unwashed hordes but quickly expanded into accurate representations of all of the factions. Over the X years that EB has existed, EB has completely remade the Rome - Total War game with the goal of historical accuracy and fair representations of all factions. With the completion of Europa Barbarorum Version 1.1, the team has moved on to the M2TW engine to recreate the Roman Era with the new features available therein.
Q: Is EB2 going to be for the Kingdoms expansion?
A: Yes, EB2 will be designed for Kingdoms and will only work with the Kingdoms expansion, patched to 1.05.
Q: Why not use the engines of TW Empires or Shogun 2 ?
A: Because MTW2 is the only reasonably moddable engine after RTW.
Q: What is the start date / end date?
A: 272BC - AD14
Q: Is this a Roman-centric mod?
Q: Is this a barbarian-centric mod?
A: EB attempts to give all included factions an equal share and portray them as they historically were, without favouring one faction or culture.
Q: Are you affiliated with Europa Barbarorum for Rome : Total War?
A: The EB2 team started from the EB1 team, but now very few remain. Although never in great numbers, the team has managed to recruit enough modders to keep working, even if at a slow pace.
Q: When will EB2 be released?
A: Although research and concepting from Europa Barbarorum can be used for Europa Barbarorum II, all unit have to be remade. This will take a large amount of time and an accurate estimate of a release date cannot yet be ascertained. If you can model/skin units in M2TW and want to help us finish EB2 quicker, visit the Recruitment Thread and tell us what you can do.
Q: Will it be released completely in one big-bang event?
A: No. Due to the huge scope and lack of manpower, we have decided to release it partially. The 1st release will have most of the mechanics, traits, scripts, battlemap settlements and a large number of units. Subsequent releases will allow to improve those aspects considering the players' feedback and will also include more units.
Q: What previews have there been?
A: All previews are linked in this thread:
All the Previews In One Thread...
About the Factions
Q: What are the new factions that will be in EB2?
A: The list of factions is not closed yet, but EB2 will have the following factions in the 1st release:
(from EB1)
- Rome
- Carthage
- Makedonia
- Epeiros
- Koinon Hellenon
- Seleukid Empire
- Ptolemaioi
- Baktria
- Hayasdan
- Pontos
- Parthia
- Aedui
- Arverni
- Pritanoi (replaces the Casse)
- Lusotannan
- Sweboz
- Getai
- Saba
- Saka Rauka
- Sauromatae
(new in EB2)
- Numidia
- Pergamon
- Taksashila
- Lugia
- Bosporan Kingdom
- Arevaci
- Boii
- Nabatean Empire
Q: Will the Koinon Hellenon be devided into a Spartan, Athenian, and Rhodian Faction?
A: The Koinon Hellenon will remain as a faction and will not be divided up. Individually, each city-state was not strong enough or expansionistic enough to warrant the usage of a faction slot during this time period. Based on the EB system of deciding factions, if the Koinon were divided, it would be best represented by strong rebels. Therefore, the Koinon Hellenon will remain as a united league.
Q: Will there be factions available to play later in the campaign, like the Cimbri or Yuezhi?
A: No, the EB team have stated numerous times that we want all our factions to be playable from 272 BC.
About the Units
Q: How many units there will be?
A: The 1st release will have around 200 units.
Q: Units will have different faces?
A: Units will not only have different faces but also different individual features (armor, shields, weapons, etc). Armies in this period rarely were uniformly dressed and equipped.
Q: Will there be Lorica Segmentata in EB2?
A: Lorica Segmentata was not widely used within the games time frame. Even though it could be argued that it was used to a minimal extent at the very end of the time frame the team has decided not to include any Lorica Segmentata in the official EB2 releases.
Q: Will there be camel-mounted units for the Arab factions?
A: Most probably not in the 1st release. The list of 200 units is already closed, although some units may yet "creep in" until release day.
Q: How does the EB Team ensure historical accuracy when they develop units for this time period?
A: The historians and archaeologists start things off by discussing what sorts of units are attested in the physical and documentary record of the period. Then a "unit concepting thread" is created (every unit has it's own), and all sorts of evidence is presented to back up the concept. If the unit is supposed to have helmets/swords/spears/knives/shields, then evidence for each type has to be presented and discussed. Types of cloth, ornaments, shoes, decorations, tattoos - what ever is being suggested has to have back-up to justify it. If there's horses involved, now you need evidence for bridles, saddlecloths, horse armor, horse decorations, etc. When we have them, 2D artists then draw up visible representations, guided throughout the process by the historians and archaeologists. And when guys with those skills are lacking or don't have time, the historian/archaeologist/faction leads draw up rough sketches or present a detailed "verbal sketch". Then the modelers build the frame of the unit based on the work done so far. Which in turn is subject to comment and edit ("shorten the spear", "wrong kind of scabbard", "cloak should drape like so", etc). Finally the skinners get to work, and once again, there's an edit phase. And finally, often years later, the unit is complete.
So what you get in the end is not just a work of art, but something that meets pretty solid scientific standards.
About the Gameplay
Q: Will settlements/forts/etc look Medieval or Ancient?
A: They will look Ancient.
Q: Will we see the RTW ancient formations in EB2 (phalanx, testuto, etc)?
A: The phalanx formation is in EB2, but Testudo will not be in because we can't make it work under the MTW2 engine.
Q: Will there be Roman civil wars?
A: The use of a Roman counter-faction has been decided against. Not only does this require the use of a faction slot as a non-playable faction, but this would be too Roman-centric. The Romans were not the only ones with civil wars and devisive conflicts at the time. If the Romans got a counter-faction then many other factions should get them too, such as Arche Seleukeia and the Ptolemaioi. Internal conflicts can and will be represented, however, with scripting and the loyalty feature of M2TW, for many factions.
Q: Will the new agents be used (merchants, priests/imams, & princesses)?
A: There was a lot of discussion about possible uses but since none of them involved historical necessity, we have basically ignored them for now and they won't be in the 1st release at least.
Q: Will the Pope and Cardinal elections be used in any way?
A: No, since there is no historical perspective that could require them in the Hellenistic period.
Q: Will the Crusades/Jihad features of the M2TW engine be used?
A: No, since there is no historical perspective that could require them in the Hellenistic period.
Q: Is the campaign map larger?
A: Both Rome - Total War and Medieval 2 - Total War have the same hardcoded number of provinces (199), so no additional settlements can be added to the game, although there are new regions in place of others that we removed. However, the scale of map will increase (approximately 1.3x).
Q: Will historical characters be scripted to appear throughout the campaign (eg. Hannibal, Julius Caesar, etc).
A: No. EB is commited to the philosophy of setting the stage in 272 then allowing the game to play out as it will. Characters who are not alive by 272 will not appear later in the game as this would conflict with this. There are too many causes that cannot be replicated in the game to accurately represent these characters later in the game. EB is about making your own Hannibal, or your own Julius Caesar.
Q: Will historical invasions like the Cimbri invasion in 113 BC or historical events like Spartacus' slave revolt appear?
A: Any invasions and mass-migrations that originated in the geographical area represented by our map will not be in, but invasions that originated outside the map will. When it comes to major invasions & events on our map, they will only be included if they can be recreated with the MTW2 engine following a set of conditions that simulate what happened historically.
Q: Will you represent cultures? How and which ones?
A: We will use the religion mechanism to represent socio-political affinities, which are in competition in varying degrees in any given settlement. This competition may end up in civil unrest, if a culture gets closer in importance to the dominant one. Certain factions will need to evolve to another culture, which will certainly trigger unrest throughout the territory, and that transition will be harder if the player wants to do it too fast. The cultures are:
- Arid Nomadism
- Steppe Nomadism
- Eastern Imperial
- Eastern Tribal
- European Tribal
- Forest Tribal
- Western Mediterranean Polities
- Hellenistic Polities
- Indian Tribal
Re: Europa Barbarorum II FAQ
Originally Posted by Foot
Pleeeeeeeeeeease?
(Okay, just once)
