Discussion and Announcements

[Roman_Man#3]

Its been confirmed that units in Alexander get retrained. The campaign AI and battle AI +pathfinding has been improved.

[Hippias]

Its been confirmed that units in Alexander get retrained. The campaign AI and battle AI +pathfinding has been improved.

Well that's good enough for me - why would anyone who had got Alexander not want to play XGM through it if this is true :hmmm: - off to the bargain bin for me.

Shieldwall - I'll miss it, but improved phalanx, pathfinding and AI is too good to pass up.

Hordes - the only one that makes sense to me is the starting Indie Celt horde in Thrace, and as they are a non-playable faction presumably Dime can do what he likes with that (i.e. a free upkeep army) so they should still feature if using Alex? Other hordes (i.e. when down to one city) I won't miss as they seem way unrealistic and/or just delay the end for an already stuffed faction.

[DimeBagHo]

Hippias: The Indie Celt horde isn't even a real horde - it will work fine under any of the exe's. It has a bunch of "horde" units only because those units have free upkeep.

Improved campaign AI, and no unit scattering bug, certainly make the Alex exe look like a good choice. I would miss shieldwall though.

[Cymera]

You could still take the BI interface for Barbarians without legal issues even if you used the Alexander exe? I know from experience from BF2, that you cannot release content from one of its boosters/expansion/main game, unless the mod uses that booster/expansion/main game.

Otherwise EA goes ninja on your ass. Legally.

If the only things that are missed are hordes (Which don't seem to work right! At least for me...) and Shieldwall (Has a special place in my heart) then XGM may be moving toward Alexander... Unless Dime likes the Shieldwall enough.

[Zarax]

I would still keep BI features, they still are important at least to me...

[CaesarVincens]

And those who don't have Alexander.

[Balikedes]

And those who don't have Alexander.

Seconded!

I also reserve a special place in my heart for shieldwall units .

[DimeBagHo]

I think it makes sense to keep XGM working with all three exe's. If enough people get interested in playing with the Alex exe I might take a look at using some of its unique features though.

[Kara Kolyo]

Personally i don't miss the shieldwall so much, but isn't it possible to simulate this feature with the unit space and guard mode? Like EB did for their hoplites? Alex looks like the exe for me and would be great if it's supported in the future maybe not the only option, but it's Dime's bussiness

[Dom9127]

Making better use of the Alexander exe is good, but replacing the other formats with only Alexander should not be done IMHO as many people don't have Alexander, or prefer playing with BI.

[Zarax]

Shield wall could be replaced by short pike phalanx like in a few EB minimods but that would require careful testing as I remember the formation being quite vulnerable to frontal charges...

[Unknown Soldier]

Dime what are the unique/new features of Alexander compared to BI/RTW Vanilla?

[lankylars]

And to add another question, XGM will run under the normal download and Steam versions of Alexander? I'm pretty much decided on buying, I just have to choose which vendor.

[Cymera]

Dime what are the unique/new features of Alexander compared to BI/RTW Vanilla?

Its been confirmed that units in Alexander get retrained. The campaign AI and battle AI +pathfinding has been improved.

There ya go!

I agree that Alex shouldn't be the sole exe of XGM, that would alienate too many. It is a good option, and I use the Alex exe for LOTR:TW.

[Hurlbut]

Hey hey guys, you missed DBH's post
"I think it makes sense to keep XGM working with all three exe's. If enough people get interested in playing with the Alex exe I might take a look at using some of its unique features though."
That mean he is already going ahead with keeping all the three exes and not going with solely the Alexander exe.

[Dom9127]

I use the Alex exe for LOTR:TW.

have to agree with Cymera there its ace, however the only unique alex feature I see as being useful is the unique battlefield generals, for say Hannibal etc

[DimeBagHo]

There are a few new features in the Alex exe that would be nice. (1) The AI can be set to keep the peace between certain factions. (2) Mercenaries can be made faction specific. (3) You can have unique family members with unique portraits, and models on the stratmap and battlefield.

The last one is not as useful as you might think though - it only works for starting family members, so I don't think we could use it for men like Hannibal or Julius Caesar.

[lankylars]

Certainly historical battles with them would be possible. Which brings me back to an earlier question: is it possible to add more historical battles? Only four are available, and that seems pretty weak.

[DimeBagHo]

Certainly historical battles with them would be possible. Which brings me back to an earlier question: is it possible to add more historical battles? Only four are available, and that seems pretty weak.

It certainly is possible. I just haven't had time to do it.

[cherryfunk]

Definitely some nice features, but does it still have hording? I love the fact that some factions go to horde in XGM, it really adds to the overall flow of a campaign, because the factions aren't extinguished but can rise from the ashes... which really puts the brakes on overall faction expansion. In fact I convinced the Roma Surrectum team to use this feature, since we'll have 4 Celtic/Germanic factions, which did horde historically.