EB2 Dev Blog & Sneak Peek - The comments section

[Wulfburk]

looks great! But how is the work on the new shield grasp animations?

[amelius]

The new romani pics look so much better than the older ones, GJ EB Team.

[smoesville]

The Aedui look really cool

[BroskiDerpman]

bravoooooo!!!!!!!

EB1 sounds: Wolololololololololololololo!!!!! <<This one made me laugh all day long when my gallic troops got shot to pieces by horse archers as they do a suicidal charge.

[Petroniu]

That sweet new action between the Romani and the Aedui in the Sneak Peeks really got me on for EB2 since that is part of my area of interest: Romans, Carthaginians, Greeks and so on.

[Coldfire88]

They look great and all but its alittle disappointing to play a whole roman campaign with early units instead of the later "professional" armies, it just doesnt feel the same trying to recreate the mid/late roman empire (in size atleast) with very early units.

oh well, i guess il use that time to explore new factions.

[torzsoktamas]

Awesome screens!I love the camillan romans!
And the arverni soldiers look great too!

How far are you from a beta?

[BroskiDerpman]

Do you guys still think this is interesting? (Men on towers part)

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...93#post3074993

It seems like you guys had interest in this a while ago, because one of the Eb team members told you guys about it. I think the men on towers/building really interesting.

[Murfmurf]

They look great and all but its alittle disappointing to play a whole roman campaign with early units instead of the later "professional" armies, it just doesnt feel the same trying to recreate the mid/late roman empire (in size atleast) with very early units.

oh well, i guess il use that time to explore new factions.

I'm pretty certain the game's time period goes up to the Marian reforms, so you'll get to play with the soldiers you're thinking of.

[Wulfburk]

i think he is talking about that at the first release we might not see units from reforms, or a a reform at all.

Im hoping we get at least polybian units! they are awesome!

[Murfmurf]

Aren't the starting Romani units Polybian?

[smoesville]

The Camillan Roman system was first followed by the Polybian and then the Marian and Augustan reforms, only ever got as far as the Polybians myself in EB.

[Murfmurf]

Ah gotcha. I guess we might see the first 2 in the first release then. Maybe Marian in the update, and Augustus becomes imperator on the closing date of the mod iirc.

[smoesville]

Iirc the end date is 14AD, which is in fact the year of Augustus' death.

[Darios]

The latest screenshots alarm me in the sense that those Romans look more like they belong to the year 300 B.C. rather than the Romans of the Punic Wars. I'm sure that the EB guys have done far far far more research into this than I will ever muster in my life but did the Aedui really have techniques for dyeing clothes while the Roman civilization never quite got around to learning to dye clothes? Will the Romans start off with units that are considerably weaker than even their Italian neighbors? I always lamented the fact that the Romans were the only faction on EB that relied so heavily on non-Roman or mercenary troops. I also hope that reaching the Marian reforms will be a more easy/simple process this turn around because I would really be turned off to the Romans on EB II if I have to rely on Pedites Extraordinarii and local mercenaries for so long into the campaign. I am not a Romanophile in the slightest sense, but I always felt that EB shafted the Romans in the sense that they have to do so many impossible tasks with ridiculously weak troops while the other factions can get their own elite troops far easier. By 200 b.c. (in the campaign) you're still stuck with Polybian Romans while the Hellenistic factions can field full stacks of elite Phalanxes that the Romans simply cannot resist. I love EB's historical accuracy, and I would rather play EB II than CA's RTW II (Because I'm sure they will find a way to screw it up), but I just wish the Romans were more powerful and fair to play with. I'm sure that the Aedui did not always field full stacks of elite, colorful troops.

[Wulfburk]

Those units in the latest screenshots ARE from 300 b.c iirc, they are camilian units, the ones you start off in EB1, and uh.. in the second screen the romans are pretty colorful to me....

I really dont know what are you talking about... polybian and even camilian units are great in EB1 and probably will be great in eb2.
And you ARE supposed to have quite an ammount of mercenaries (and italian allies) in your armies.

My romani campaign ive been playing my legions (camillian and polybian, only difference is the absence of the rorarii in the later) have this composition:

1 FM
2 hastati
2 principe
2 triarii
2 samnite
2 mercenaries
1 slinger
1 velites
1 pedites extraordinarii
1 elite cav from the italic allies
and the 2 roman cavalry i forgot their names.

And i kick butts! Be it carthaginian, greek, makedon, lusotannan, aedui or pontus!

[Darios]

Camillian and Polybian units are good, but not great. They're done quite beautifully, but aren't truly capable of fighting powerful Hellenistic factions without mercenary help. Watching the AI play as the Romans in the campaign illustrates that. I just hope that getting Marian units will be an easier/smoother process in EB II. After constructing the Latifundias, conquering the necessary provinces, etc. I found it nearly impossible to create the right general. It leaves too much to chance, rather than the skill of the player.

[Future Filmmaker]

Camillian and Polybian units are good, but not great. They're done quite beautifully, but aren't truly capable of fighting powerful Hellenistic factions without mercenary help. Watching the AI play as the Romans in the campaign illustrates that. I just hope that getting Marian units will be an easier/smoother process in EB II. After constructing the Latifundias, conquering the necessary provinces, etc. I found it nearly impossible to create the right general. It leaves too much to chance, rather than the skill of the player.

Have you ever actually played as a Hellenistic faction against Rome? I bet that you haven't done it very much because playing Epeiros against Rome is extremely difficult. My only real savior against Triarii is a head on phalanx engagement or an elephant charge. I've surrounded a single unit of Triarii with my entire army and it routed every one of them.

So perhaps you shouldn't complain so much about Camillian units being weak.

[Irishmafia2020]

The details in those screen shots are brilliant! I always thought that Kingdoms had a beautiful engine, and it looks like the mod artists are using it to its capacity! Thank you for showing these...

[BroskiDerpman]

I actually think Camillian units look cooler, and are quite fun to play with as I usually don't see them in mods. Most mods start from Polybian.